Chapter Twenty-Five

"Tell me, somethin', kid."

"Hm?" I asked sleepily. Daryl and I decided to go down to the river for my weekend back from college and I had fallen asleep topless under the sun. I knew that I hadn't been asleep long for the bottoms of my bathing suit were still wet. In this Georgia sun, it doesn't take any longer than an hour to get completely dry.

"Why me?"

"Why you what?" I asked rolling over to my side with my head propped up on my hand.

"Why did yew pick me?" He asked, avoiding my eye contact as he outlined the curves of my breasts with his right index finger.

"Where is this coming from?"

"Forget it."

I stroked the side of his face and smiled. "Because I love you."

He thought for a moment, almost trying to decide if he wanted to reply to that. Finally, he did. "Now you do, but then, in the beginnin'..."

"Honestly?"

He nodded.

"I thought you were kind of dangerous and that was exciting. Then the more I got to know you, I just fell for you."

He flashed me his famous crooked grin. "Dangerous, huh?"

"You know," I continued. "You had this troubled look about you. Like you were ready to go off at any moment. It was exciting. I needed that. I needed a distraction from my life, from my every day bullshit that I had to deal with. And you, Daryl Dixon, were that for me."

"Were? What am I now?"

"The love of my life."

...

"Last stop," Rick said as we approached the beginning of a small town.

"Can I go look for a comic book store?" Carl asked.

"I'll go with him," Michonne offered.

Rick nodded. "Stay close. We're leaving for Terminus first sign of daylight. I want you back before dusk."

"Yeah, for sure," Carl responded

"Be safe," Rick said to Michonne.

"We'll be fine."

I hung behind Daryl and Rick the next few yards after we parted ways with Michonne and Carl. Although Rick and I had made our peace days ago, I still wanted to give him and Daryl time together without interfering.

"I don't know about y'all, but I could use a drink," Rick said as we approached a bar. "What do you say, brother?"

"Hell yeah."

"Juliet?"

"Yeah, sure."

Upon walking into the bar, a musky smell filled my nostrils. "Think there's any left?"

"One way to find out," Daryl said as he hopped over the bar.

I sat down on a stool across from Daryl.

"We got booze," Daryl said proudly as he displayed a bottle of Wild Turkey. "Dusty as hell, but it'll still taste just as good."

"Make mine a double," I partially joked.

Rick sat a couple stools away from me and cleaned a glass with his handkerchief. He cleaned three that way and passed them all to Daryl so he could fill them.

Daryl sat down next to me to partake in the drinking.

The three of us sat there in silence, enjoying the quietness of the place. It was rare, to be apart of a moment like this. None of us had words to say, so instead of making small talk, we embraced the silence.

Still something wasn't spot on right. "I need a chaser," I finally admitted.

Daryl turned to look at me. "Since when does Juliet Robinson need a chaser?"

"Excuse me for being out a practice. I've only been dealing with the apocalypse." I stood up and walked behind the bar. Everything was covered with dust. Even after I wiped off one layer, another would appear.

"You were the drinker back in the day?" Rick asked me.

"Was she," Daryl answered. "She could almost drink me under the table." He paused to look at me. "Almost."

"Hey, I out ran you in the beer mile race."

"Beer mile race?" Rick asked.

"You've never done one?"
He shook his head, intrigued.

"Okay, well basically you chug four beers and run a mile. Whoever can drink the four beers the fastest and then completes the mile first wins."

"She beat you?"

Daryl shrugged. "Once."

"Um, by once you mean twice, then yes, once."

Rick laughed, which made Daryl smile. "Whatever, kid."

I stuck my tongue out at him. "We could go again."

"Let's save that for Terminus," Rick said, still laughing.

I giggled to myself as I squatted down under the bar. There had to be some kind of chaser left.

"Well, look at this," a voice said.

I stayed on my knees but looked toward the door. There were three men in the doorway.

Daryl and Rick both stood up. Daryl moved in front of the end of the bar, blocking me from their sight. He looked over his shoulder at me as he slowly handed me a pistol that he kept in the back of his pants.

"Hey there, fellas," Rick greeted.

"Hi boys," the biggest of the three answered. "Surprise to find some people who aren't eating other people."

"No kidding," Rick said. "Always a pleasure to meet new folks. I'm Rick Grimes."
"Jeremy," the bigger one said. "This is Danny in the hat and that's Alfred."

I could hear the tension in his voice. "Daryl."

"Good to meet you," Jeremy said.

Alfred walked away and sat down at one of the tables across from the bar. I saw Rick pick up the bottle of Wild Turkey and I heard him set it down on the table. "You enjoy. We were just heading out."

"What's the rush?" Danny asked. "Why don't you stay and have a drink." That one wasn't a question.

Rick sat back down, but Daryl waited to do the same until I was out of Jeremy and Danny's view. Tension could be felt in the air as Rick poured himself and the other four men in the bar a drink.

"Where are you camped out at?" Jeremy asked.

"No where really," Daryl answered. "We're on the move."

Danny kicked at our bags that we had set down. "A lot of stuff for the two of you."

"We had others," Rick said.

"They didn't make it?"

"No."

"What about you? Where are your people?" Daryl asked, undoubtedly trying to get the questions off of him and Rick.

"We have a camp a about ten miles from here. Just making a run," Jeremy said.

"We haven't ran into you before," Alfred pointed out. "You new around here?"
"Like he said, we're on the move," Rick answered.

"Just the two of you?" Danny asked suspiciously.

"Yep," Daryl answered.

"Don't it get lonely?" Jeremy asked. "Just the two of you?" When neither Daryl nor Rick responded, Jeremy continued. "I know I would. Hell, it's only been a few days and I miss fucking some good pussy. I was hoping we would stumble upon some girls on the way."

I swallowed hard as I tried to steady my breath. I'll confront walkers any day over people. Walkers were predictable, people weren't and that made them dangerous.

"I'm sure your wife or girlfriend is waiting for you to get back. We'll get out of your hair," Rick said.

"Shit, I don't have a wife or girlfriend." He paused. "We have about five or six girls in our group. We keep them safe and in return, they wash our clothes and cook us food."

"And do other things," Danny added.

"But it gets boring. Passing around the same girls."

I had to cover my mouth to keep from throwing up. I could only imagine what those creeps would do to women who weren't prepared for this kind of world. Dust filled my nostrils from my hand covering my mouth.

"That ain't really our style," Daryl said.

"Why?"

Suddenly, a sneeze escaped my lips. The dust in the air and behind the bar was too much.

I heard several sets of feet hit the floor.

Shit. I didn't know whether to stand up or to stay crouched down.

"What was that?" Alfred asked.

I heard a set of feet walk in my direction. My palms started to sweat. I put the gun in the back of my shorts and pulled my shirt over it.

"It ain't nothin'," Daryl said.

"I don't know about that," Jeremy challenged.

I looked up to see Jeremy standing over me.

"Hey there, little girl."

I stood up and immediately looked over at Daryl. He was walking towards us. Rick was holding his ground next to the other two men.

"Looks like you lied to us, Daryl," Danny said as he looked me over.

Again, I had to fight the urge to puke.

"Fellas, you can't blame us," Rick said. "This world isn't safe for women."

"You can say that again," Alfred smiled.

Daryl stood in between Jeremy and me. "It's time for us to go."

"Why? We were having such a good time. And now, it's a party with this one."

It took all I had to bite my tongue. I knew anything I said could possibly make this worse.

Daryl shook his head. "It ain't gonna' happen."

"She yours?" Danny asked.

Daryl's fists clenched at his sides and the muscles in his arms contradicted. "Yeah."

"Something tells me you've never liked sharing your toys," Jeremy said. "Shame. I bet she fucks like a whore."

Daryl's jaws clenched and unclenched. I gently ran my hands over his right arm, reassuring him that this man's words didn't mean anything.

"Good luck to you," Rick said as he walked towards our bags. "We're heading out."

Danny moved his shirt back to expose a pistol in his jeans. "We're not done here."

"We'll make it easy on you," Jeremy said. He looked at me over Daryl's shoulder.

"What's your name?"

At first, I didn't answer, which only seemed to fascinate the creep more. "Juliet."

"Jul-i-et," he said slowly. "There here is your Romeo?"

Again, I remained silent.

"Timid little bitch you got there. I like that." He licked his lips. "You don't have to stand behind Romeo, doll. Let's get a good look at you?"

I was surprised that Daryl pulled me out so that I was now in front of him. Rick seemed to question that too because he stepped closer to us.

Still, I thought about taking out the pistol and shooting the asshole in his face. But I wasn't sure if I could actually kill a human without him posing a real threat on us.

"You like to fuck?" He asked.

"Not you," I spatted quickly, almost by reflex.

Jeremy extended his hand towards me and grabbed my face.

Before I knew what happened, I felt a hand pulling me down by pushing on my shoulder and heard two gun shots back to back followed by a third. My ears rang as I struggled to see straight. I was on my knees when I saw Jeremy's body limp in front of me. Blood pooled around his head.

A pair of strong, calloused hands that I recognized pulled me up. Daryl turned me around so that I was facing him. "We gotta' get out of here."

I nodded, barely understanding what he was saying. I looked at Rick who was putting his gun away. He must have fired that third shot.

We had barely gotten our bags before Michonne and Carl joined us inside the bar. Michonne saw the bodies first, so she blocked Carl from entering. "What happened?"

"Bad people," Daryl replied.

Michonne only nodded.