-Carol-
Carol woke up realizing she was sleeping on Daryl for most of the night. It was the best she had slept in a long time and was surprised when she didn't have another nightmare. She lifted her head and stared right back into the clear blue eyes of Daryl Dixon.
"Mornin'" He mumbled
Carol got off him and stretched, "Moring."
She reached over to her neck and grabbed her necklace in her hand making sure it was still there. She was stunned when Daryl gave it to her and was surprised he said he would miss her if she decided to opt out.
At first when she woke up not remembering a thing suicide wasn't something circling around in her brain but after finding about Sophia's death, and the fact that the walking dead was roaming the earth she thought about it but put it behind her because she promised she would try, but as the days went by she felt the energy drain out of her and the thoughts becoming more persistent. That's when she started asking herself questions like who would miss her? After everything that has happened to her she has no idea if she wants to end her life. Would it prevent her from a horrible death maybe a few months or even days later?
She was deep in thought she didn't hear a thing Daryl said.
"Carol?"
"What? Sorry I zoned out for a sec…"
Daryl sighed, "I was sayin we might make it back late tomorrow if we gather our things an leave now maybe finding another place ta crash before night fall."
"That sounds great." Carol said smiling.
"That doesn't sound great." Daryl huffed, "Sounds like a hell of a lot a walkin if ya ask me."
Carol chuckled, "It won't be that bad! Where's your sense of adventure?"
"Gone, along with more than half of tha population…"
"Well than I guess you better find it." Carol said grabbing her backpack, "What about the truck?"
"We can get someone to come back for it. It's not like there are thieves anywhere plus its outta gas."
"True! I guess we better go. Lead the way!" She said in a joking tone. Daryl grunted a small smile playing on his lips. He grabbed his bag and crossbow before they headed off on their so called adventure.
-Daryl-
Today wasn't getting better like the two adventurers thought. The morning was the highlight of the day and it looked like everything was going to be okay for once but then as the day went on nothing was going right they were tired, hungry, and thirsty. The walkers didn't stay quiet like they were the day before, more than Daryl expected but they managed so far. About three hours into walking the clouds started getting darker and the wind was starting to pick up. Two hours later the sky was filled with dark grey clouds.
"You think it's going to rain?" Carol asked as she walked along the road.
"Probably…" Daryl said, "Looks like a storm might be comin through."
Carol nodded, "we should find another place soon then. I don't want to get caught in this storm."
Daryl smirked, "What ya don't want ya hair ta get ruined?" He said sarcastically.
Carol looked away from Daryl, "Can we just keep walking please? I want to find a place before the storm starts."
Daryl looked at her confused that was not the reaction he was expecting from her. He was expecting her to laugh or at least say something back to him other than putting him down. He sighed maybe she wasn't in the mood for jokes they had been walking for hours and their food and water supply was dangerously low.
They turned down a side street in hopes that a cabin or some type of shelter might be nearby. Carol spotted a couple of walkers in the distance and nudged Daryl's shoulder pointing to them.
"Should we find another way?" She whispered when they noticed more of them come out of the forest.
"Do you think we can take em?" He said slowing down.
"Daryl I'm not so sure I can…" She said stopping.
Daryl knew if he was with any other person from the prison they would have no trouble taking out those walkers but he knew how Carol froze up when she was re learning how to kill walkers. He would have pushed her to try but he didn't want to risk it. He couldn't have something happen to Carol because he pushed her to try something she wasn't ready to do.
Daryl nodded, "it's okay… We can find another way through." He looked around and motioned her to follow him again. He led her into the woods and continued walking.
About an hour later thunder could be heard in the distance.
"Daryl?" Carol said almost panicked, "Can we please find a place soon?"
Daryl noticed the panic in her voice and nodded, "Ya keep an eye out for anythin."
They continued walking and Daryl noticed Carol shifted closer to him since the thunder could be heard.
"Daryl?"
"Ya?"
"Do you hear that?" Daryl stopped walking and they listened for a moment.
"I hear it… Stay here, and try to stay safe."
"Where are you going?" She asked grabbing his arm, "Please don't leave me here alone!"
"I ain't leavin ya. I'm goin to go see if these people are friendly. Maybe they can help us." Carol slowly let go of his arm and he took a couple steps away from her.
"What happens if walkers show up?"
Daryl turned his head and let out a breath, "Fine, come with me but if these people are bad you run." Carol nodded. Daryl wasn't going to leave her out in the open as walker bait. He knew very well if he decided to leave her alone in the woods as he looked for the source of the voices something would happen and he would never forgive himself. He knew Carol was strong but she still froze when it came to walkers and he wasn't going to risk her life maybe the voices belong to people that could help them, besides they need as much help as they could get.
Daryl moved through the forest as quietly as he could with Carol following behind. They soon reached the source of the noise and hid in nearby bushes. It was a group of three, two males one in his late forties and the other late teens and one woman that looked around twenty five. They seemed to be bickering about something but it was still unknown.
"Fuck guys… Just fuck! Why did you think we could trust them?" The woman said. She had long brown hair that was tied up. She was skinny and wore black cargo pants with a blue hoodie that was stained with blood.
"Jen calm the fuck down!" The older man said, "Those douche bags are long gone by now… They were con artists." The older man had black hair speckled with grey and stubble that matched his hair.
"No shit, Dave." The teen said, "We should have sent them packing when we first came across them." The teen had shorter brown hair with a ripped up and blood spattered t-shirt and a pair of jeans filled with holes.
"What the fuck are we going to do?" Jen said turning to the two men, "I mean we have no food or water and those fuckers took all of our supplies and took off while we were gone… we have nothing and there probably isn't a building in miles."
"Plus this storming is rolling in pretty fast!" The teen said.
"Shut up Matt." Dave said, "We have to find shelter soon."
"Daryl… Daryl!" Carol said nudging Daryl's shoulder, "They seem pretty angry right now, what we should do?"
"I don't know. They seemed to have gotten fucked over… they might not trust us."
Their conversation was broken by the woman named Jen's screams. They looked over and saw that walkers stumbled onto their path and was cornering the woman.
"Daryl we need to help them!" Carol whispered, "They are going to die!"
"What if we die tryin ta save em? What if ya get hurt! Stay here I got it cover-"
Before Daryl could finish his sentence Carol had her knife and gave up their hiding spot.
"Shit!" Daryl cursed before grabbing his crossbow and chasing after her. He quickly caught up to her and pushed her behind him taking out a walker that decided to get too close. "Stay back." He mumbled pushing her farther back.
Daryl turned towards the group getting cornered and quickly shot two of the four walkers cornering them. He took out his knife and stabbed the third one. He suddenly felt something grab him and found the last walker trying to take a bit out of him. He dropped his crossbow and tried reaching for his knife but the walker pushed him down. It was too strong; he must have been a pretty big guy before the world fell.
Daryl swiftly turned around trying to reach his cross bow he could almost reach it when the body fell limp on top of him. Disgusted he threw the rotted corpse off of him and looked into the eyes of the person who saved his life, it was Carol.
She ran into his arms with tears filling her eyes. Daryl eyed the mystery group but they were still in the same positions as they were before carefully watching the two. He felt a little uneasy with Carol hugging him so suddenly and the fact that she was crying but he wasn't going to push her away when she needed him. He slowly wrapped his arms around her and she hugged him tighter. After a couple minutes of the other group eying them down Daryl moved and lifted Carol's head up to look at his.
"Ya okay?" He said looking over her. She looked fine no bites or scratches could be seen so he was relieved when she nodded.
"I thought you were going to die! I…I killed it… I killed it!" She wiped her tears and smiled, "Are you okay?"
"I'm fine." He said removing his arms from around her and moving closer to the other group. They eyed him but standed their ground.
"Stay there. Don't move any closer." Dave said, "I'd ask friend or foe but would you really answer us truthfully?"
Jen punched his arm, "Dave!" She muttered, "Thanks for saving us." She said turning her attention to Daryl.
"No problem." He said, "Couldn't help but over hear ya guys got fucked over…"
"Yes we did get fucked over…" Jen said, "We got fucked over badly…"
"Which way ya headed?"
The group looked at each other with caution. They stayed silent switching their eyes from Daryl to Carol and then back again.
"What's with her?" Matt asked pointing to Carol who moved to sit with her back against a tree and her head was in her hands.
"Tough day" Daryl replied, "Ya didn't really answer my question."
"We don't even know your names…" Dave said, "I'm Dave, this is Jen" He said pointing to the woman, "and this is Matt." He said pointing to the teen.
"Daryl and that is Carol." He said pointing to Carol who was now just leaning against the tree watching them.
"Okay I guess we can answer your question" Jen said, "We are wandering around… No real destination in mind. How about you guys?"
"We got a place… A prison not too far from here we take in others if you are interested."
The group asked for time to talk his offer over so Daryl decided to check on Carol. He was surprised to see she had gotten up and moved towards him meeting him half way. She looked almost scared.
"Daryl, we don't know these people. Are you sure it will be safe to just bring them in?"
Daryl sighed, "We take in anyone as long as they answer three questions. Council made it up with the help of Rick."
Carol nodded, "Okay I guess we could use the help getting back and Jen seems really nice."
Daryl nodded at her giving her a small smile before they both went back to the group of three who were finished discussing whether or not to take Daryl's offer.
"Okay, we will come with you guys." Dave said, "Just don't expect us to hand our weapons over…"
"Won't expect ya to" Daryl replied, "But before you come with us I gotta ask you some questions."
"Shoot" Said Matt eagerly.
"How many walkers have ya killed?"
"Too many to count." Said Jen with the other two nodding.
"How many people have ya killed?"
They looked at each other shrugging before Dave answered, "Five… I think."
"Why?"
"They tried to kill us first… well they did manage to kill most of our group leaving it just me, Dave, and Matt…" Jen said.
"Okay. We have a prison not too far from here."
"That's it?" Matt said, "Did we pass?"
"I reckon ya did pretty good…" Daryl said, "Come one we gotta find shelter before this storm starts." He started walking away from the way they came heading in the general direction of the prison. The three shrugged and followed Daryl and Carol away from the woods and back onto the road. The thunder was getting louder and lighting was now flashing across the darkening sky. Carol shuddered.
"But we killed other people… How did that pass your test?" Jen asked following Daryl.
"In this world it is kill or be killed." Daryl said, "It doesn't matter that ya killed only if your reason didn't add up. Unless ya lyin'?"
The three people nodded and continued forward following Daryl and Carol. After at least an hour of walking in silence it started to pour but Matt spotted a cabin not too far from where they were so they decided to camp there for the night.