Ch.13
Daryl helps me get to my feet. He takes one look at me and turns bright red. I try to cover myself as much as I can blushing. He hands me my pants, and turns around so I can change. I quickly pull them on.
"Come on. You can sleep with me." I stare at him trying to calm my brightening cheeks. "You know what I mean." he quickly corrects himself. I cover my chest with what's left of my shirt as we step out into the hall. I sigh in relief when I see no one else in the hallway.
I hide behind Daryl the whole time. He shuts the door and turns around to me. "Do you have any other clothes?" he asks trying not to stare at my open chest. "This is the only thing clean." I hug myself tighter.
"Here. You can borrow this." Daryl throws one of his clean shirts at me. I catch it with an 'oof'. He walks into the bathroom to rinse the blood off his hands. I stare at the shirt for a while before I peek around the corner to make sure Daryl's still in the bathroom.
I peel off my old shirt and throw it in the trash. "I'm gonna need to get more clothes." I sigh unfolding the new shirt. I quickly pull on the tank when I catch Daryl staring in the doorway.
He coughs as he pretends not to look. My cheeks flare up and I finish smoothing out the tank. I don't think he saw anything, though. My heart is pounding at full speed as he walks up to me.
"Thank you. For everything." I fold my arms over my chest. "Uh...you're welcome." Daryl rubs the back of his neck trying to relieve his embarressment. We stand there for a while, not looking at each other, until I decide to go to the bathroom.
I rub my cheeks after splashing water all over my face. I sigh before walking back out to see Daryl pacing. "Um. I'm tired now. I'm gonna lay down." I say walking over to him.
Daryl stops pacing to look at me and nod. "You can have the couch." he scratches the ruff of his beard. I thank him and lay down on my bed. He walks over and lays down on the floor beside me. "Goodnight." I smile at him before closing my eyes. "Night." I hear him say as I drift off to sleep.
I wake up laying on top of Daryl on the floor. I yawn into his chest before I hear him grumble. I try to get up, but his arms resting on my back stop me. "Daryl." I try to wake him up. He slowly opens his eyes and looks at me.
I give him a confused look as I point toward the empty couch. He lets go as soon as he understands what I was asking. "You were freaking out, so I pulled you down here." he explains.
I give him a quick peck on the cheek before standing up. "Thank you." I smile at him. He stands up, too. "How's your cheek?" Daryl brushes my cheek with his fingers.
"Hurts like hell, but I'll live." I laugh at Daryl and he smiles at me. "Come on. Let's go eat breakfast." he leads me out of the room to the dining area. His hand still on my lower back for support.
As we walk to the dining table, Glenn is complaining about his hangover. "Protein helps with hangovers." T-dog hands him a plate of powdered eggs. Glenn moans in response. I laugh at him and he glares at me.
"Don't ever let me drink again." Glenn groans into the table cloth. Carol notices my cheek when I sit down beside her. "Honey, what happened to your cheek?" she asks and I tense up. Daryl sits beside me and sends Carol a stern look.
"I don't want to talk about it." I say as I shove my food into my mouth. Good thing Trevor wasn't here, or I would break down. Plus, Daryl would have caused a scene. His threat was real. I could see it in his eyes.
Carol gave me a knowing look. "Okay. I'm sorry." she apologized. She had to have known given how many times she had to deal with Ed. She gives me a small smile and I look to Daryl for comfort.
"The hell happen to you?" T-dog asks Shane as he dishes food out on a plate. Shane looks at him a little pissed. "You're neck." T-dog points to his neck. He had three scratch marks across his jaw going down his neck.
"Must have done it in my sleep." Shane grunts. "Never seen you do that before." Rick speaks up to Shane eyeing him. "Me neither." Shane looks over at Lori like she knew what happened. She scoffs at him as she eats.
After breakfast, Dr. Jenner leads us to a room with a huge screen. He shows us a playback of what he learned about the virus so far. He says he still can't tell us what it is. We all look at each other trying to comprehend what Jenner just said.
Daryl turns around covering his face. "Man, I'm going to get shit-faced drunk again." he says leaning on a computer monitor. I put my hand on his shoulder. "What happens when that clock hits zero?" Dale notices a clock on the wall counting down.
"The basement generators - they run out of fuel." Jenner states sadly. I look wide-eyed at him. "Vi, what happens when the power runs out?" Rick commands an answer. The automated voice explains to us that decontamination will occur. My eyes go wide at that.
"What does that mean? Is the place gonna blow up?" I shriek. "Is that true?" Glenn asks Jenner freaking out. "We need to find a way to stop it." Rick states. He grabs Glenn, Shane, and T-dog to go down further into the basement to fix the problem with the generators.