Chapter 13-Getting a win
Two months later
Daryl's P.O.V
Daryl walks out of his room with his crossbow on his back. He was wearing a heavy black winter coat with his vest under it. He had jeans on with boots. Daryl walks outside and sees the snow on the ground. It started snowing the day before. "The walkers will be slower now," Merle says as he walks up to his brother.
"Yeah, they will, but it will be harder to move around," Daryl says.
"We finished the wall. Nothing is getting in here," Merle says. "We can't use the bike as much. Are you sure you'll live?"
"I'll be fine. Come, let's go eat," Daryl says. Merle nods as he follows his brother. Daryl walked up to where the group ate and sat beside Lori as Merle sat beside T-dog.
"Are you still in on the run today?" John asks Daryl. "Hoping we can find some livestock before they freeze to death or starve,"
"I'm in," Daryl says to him.
"We'll finish the stable today. If you bring anything back, they will have somewhere to sleep," Strand says. They nod as they continue to eat after they finish eating, Daryl, John, Alicia, Ofelia, Rosita, and Abraham head for the truck. They had two trailers and two trucks. Daryl, John, and Abraham climb into the first truck while Alicia, Ofelia, and Rosita get into the second one. Eugene pulls the gate open, and they leave.
Shane's P.O.V
Shane walks through the field until he gets to Lori's room. He knocks on the door. Lori opens the door and looks at him. Lori's stomach was starting to show. "What?" Lori asks him.
"I think we should talk," Shane says.
"We have nothing to talk about," Lori says.
"Yes, we do. Lori, it's been two months, and we can't avoid this forever. I'm not asking you to forgive me or even like me, but we have to have this conversation," Shane tells her. "So we can either get it over with now, or I can keep coming back here until you give up." Lori looks at Shane for a moment before she moves out of the way and lets him in. Shane steps into the room. Lori shuts the door and goes to sit on the bed. "Regardless of if you want to admit it. That baby is mine,"
"Yes, it is. Now, what do you want?" Lori asks him.
"I want to be a part of the baby's life," Shane says. "The only way you are keeping me from this baby is by killing me," Shane turns to the door and leaves.
"Shane," Merle says as he walks up to him. "You should see this," Merle tells Shane as he motions for him to follow. Shane follows Merle to the top of the stadium to see smoke coming out of some trees. "Might have been there this morning. I think someone should go check it out,"
"Take a small group. Take Glenn, Lexie, T-dog, and Daniel," Shane tells Merle, who nods as he walks away. Shane watches the smoke. Shane goes back down to the field and goes over to Andrea and Michonne. "Hey, can you two walk the stadium and parking lot?"
"Why?" Michonne asks.
"Merle saw some smoke. He's taking a group out, but I want to make sure there is nobody around us," Shane says.
"Yeah, we'll do it," Andrea says. Shane nods as he walks away.
Alicia's P.O.V
Alicia stops the truck behind Daryl and turns it off. She opens the door and climbs out. "Okay, we got three barns. Alicia and Ofelia take that one. John and I will take that one. Abraham and Rosita take the last one," Daryl says. Everybody nods as they split up. Alicia and Ofelia walk towards the barn, and Alicia pulls out her hatchet and nods to Ofelia, who pulls the door open. Alicia goes inside the barn and looks around.
"I don't see anything," Alicia says. Ofelia comes inside with her knife out.
"Okay, let's look around," Ofelia says. Alicia nods as she starts to walk through the barn. The barn was large with two stories. It had pens on both sides and a door at the back, as well as a small path heading to the other side of the wall. Alicia walks towards the back of the barn and stops when she sees a closet with a pipe in between the handle. She grips her hatchet as she grabs the left side of the pipe and pulls it out. The door comes open, and a walker falls to the ground as Alicia jumps back. The walker didn't have a shirt on and was skinning. Alicia could see its ribs. The walker stays on the ground as it reaches out towards Alicia. Alicia brings her hatchet down its head, killing it as Ofelia comes over.
"Did you find anything?" Alicia asks.
"A few bags of feed and grain, but that's it. Jesus look at him," Ofelia says.
"He was locked in the closet," Alicia says as Ofelia turns the walker onto its back.
"No bites," Ofelia says. "He must have starved to death and turned in there."
"He didn't put himself in there. Come on. I don't want to be here anymore. Let's grab what you found and leave," Ofelia nods as she leads Alicia away from the body.
John's P.O.V
John pulls the door open, and Daryl goes in with his crossbow raised. "Clear," Daryl says. John comes in with his gun in his hands. Daryl looks and sees two cows in pens beside each other. "Looks like we may have caught a break," Daryl says as he lowers his crossbow. He walks towards the animals. He looks inside.
"What is it?" John asks.
"We aren't alone," Daryl says. "Someone else is here. They have been fed," John looks around the barn and stops when he hears something above them.
"Ladder," John says as he motions to it. Daryl nods as he goes over to the ladder. Daryl climbs the ladder and gets to the top with his crossbow raised. John follows him up. "Who's here? We aren't here to hurt you. Come on before someone does something they would regret." They both turn their weapons when they see a girl. They both lower their weapons.
'What are you doing here?" Daryl asks her.
"My parents and I were staying here," The girl says. "They are dead. The dead showed up, and they died. T-they turned, and I locked them up."
"Where are they?" Daryl asks.
"B-basement," She says. "I didn't know what else to do, so I fed the cows and then heard you guys. There were two more people here at one point. They left, and we stayed and took care of them."
"What's your name?" Daryl asks her.
"Charlie," Charlie says. Charlie had dark brown hair and eyes.
"Okay, Charlie," John says as he holsters his gun. "I'm John Dorie, and this is Daryl. Why don't we deal with your parents,"
"Okay," Charlie says. Charlie goes down the ladder first, followed by Daryl and John, who follows her to a door at the other end of the farm. Charlie pulls the door open, and Daryl shines a flashlight down there. On the stairs were two walkers: a man and a woman. The man had short brown hair and brown eyes, as the woman had blue eyes and dark brown hair.
"You don't need to see this," Daryl says.
"Yes, I do," Charlie says. Daryl nods as he raises his crossbow and shoots Charlie's Mom through the head. She goes down the stairs, and Daryl reloads his crossbow. He shoots Charlie's Dad in the head. Daryl lowers his crossbow and goes down the stair. Daryl pulls his bolts out of the heads of Charlie's parents and walks back up the stairs. He shuts the door again.
"Come on. Let's go check on the others," Daryl says. They nod as they leave.
Merle's P.O.V
Merle stops the truck not far from where they saw the smoke. Merle, T-dog, Lexie, Glenn, and Daniel get out of the truck. "Stay alert, y'all," Merle says as he pulls his handgun out. The others nod as they pull their guns. They walk towards the camp with Merle in the front. Lexie and T-dog are in the middle, and Glenn and Daniel are in the back. Merle slows down when he sees a tent. "Hello?" Merle says. "Saw your smoke from our camp. Anybody there?" Merle asks. They hear a growl as a walker comes out of the tent and over to them. Merle stabs his knife through its jaw. He pulls the gauntlet knife out and wipes the blood off. They go towards the camp and stop. On the ground were six people. All six of them were dead, and three walkers were eating at the bodies. They walk towards the group. Merle stabs the first one through the head as Lexie stabs her ice ax through the side of the second head as T-dog stabs the last in the forehead. Merle goes up to one of the bodies and sees a bullet hole through the corpse's forehead.
"There is a bullet in the head of this one," Glenn says.
"Same," Merle says. "Check 'em all," The group nods as they check all the bodies. They all had bullet's through their forehead.
"Why didn't we hear this?" Glenn asks.
"Suppressors is my guess," Daniel says. "There is a dangerous group out there, and they are around here somewhere. This place has been picked clean. The only things left are the tents and the bodies."
"Let's get back," Merle says before he walks away from the bodies towards the truck.
Daryl's P.O.V
Daryl drives the truck back into the stadium as the sun is setting. Abraham and Rosita had found a few chickens and some heat lamps as well. They stopped the trucks as Madison and Shane walked up to them. Daryl climbs out of the truck. "7 chickens and two cows. We got food for them as well as some heat lamps. We'll need to use the generator to get them working," Daryl tells them.
"Good job," Shane says. "We got another problem?"
"Strand didn't finish the pen, did he?" Abraham asks.
"No, that's done. A few miles from here, Merle, Glenn, T-dog, Lexie, and Daniel found a group dead with bullet holes through their heads. Everything was gone," Madison says.
"Great," Alicia says.
"Who's the kid?" Shane asks.
"Charlie. She was in one of the barns," Daryl says. "I'll watch her."
"Okay, let's get these animals unloaded," Shane says. They nod as they go to the back of the trailers.
Night
Daryl takes Charlie into his room. "You can sleep on my bed until Madison gets you somewhere to sleep. I got a sleeping bag," Daryl tells the child.
"Are you sure?" Charlie asks him.
"Yeah, it's been a long day. Get some sleep," Daryl tells Charlie, who nods as she crawls into the bed.
"Daryl," Charlie says. Daryl looks at her. "When it warms up, we have some time. Can we go back to the farm and bury my parents?" Charlie asks him.
"Yeah, we'll bury them," Daryl says. Charlie nods as she closes her eyes. Daryl sets his crossbow down and pulls his sleeping back out, and lays it down. He lays down in it and goes to sleep.
Outside
Outside the stadium close to the woods, a man watches Luciana on watch through his binoculars with a smile. "The boss is going to be so happy. We might get some more food," The man says to his friend, who grins as they go back to their car.
Thanks for reading. We went a little further in time, and I'm excited to do a part of this story in the winter as I think it will add a challenge to the threats the groups are facing with this new group for sure. This new group will be an Oc group and will be the next villains. I brought in Charlie early because my story for her requires her to be in the group instead of with the Vultures. As always, suggestions, ideas, and feedback are welcomed. Until next time.