"Scout, come in." The radio crackled on the floor of the passenger side of Sammy's truck. "Scout, do you copy?"
Scout held the radio to her mouth, a lump in her throat as she recognized the voice. "Daddy! I'm here. Where are you?" She was relieved to hear from him, even if he did sound tired to everyone listening.
Scout was forced to drive when Sammy ended up passing out from shock, leaning heavily against Daryl who quickly picked her up and carried her into the truck. He didn't replace her sticky, Walker blood coated shirt, but ripped off the sleeve from her right shoulder. Before Scout moved, he had jumped into the back of the truck to sift through Sammy's boxes and came back with a first aid kit.
Sammy had been lucky it was just a graze, but having never been shot before, she laid on the dramatics. She was groggy and whiney when Daryl cleaned off her arm, saving the antiseptic for last, just in case he got the black blood in her wound.
"Hey kiddo, I'm—" Coughs echoed over the radio as Scout's father tried to clear his throat. "I'm heading to Palmetto to see you. Are you safe?"
The coughing had thrown Scout, a frown forming on her lips as she asked her own question. "Daddy, are you okay?"
"Scout, everything is going to be just—" More coughing was heard. "Fine. You be very careful, and I'll see you at the evac point."
"Alright, I love you dad." She had no choice but to accept his answer. There wasn't anything she could do for him until they met up together.
"Yeah, I love you too, honey." The radio went silent as Scout placed it in a cup holder.
Sammy yelped in pain before sending a glare at Daryl, who was holding hydrogen peroxide in his hand. He rolled his eyes at her, not looking at her face as he kept dabbing her wound with the cotton ball. "Quit bein' a baby." He mumbled as he tied a bandage around her arm. She huffed at him, letting him fix her up as they continued their way to Palmetto.
When she asked about the army guys, Daryl and Scout both told her they caught the wrong trail. Somehow the army caravan had gone off course and the information some kid told Daryl, was wrong. Hearing it made Sammy a little angry. She had been hopeful to see Timmy again since she had heard his voice over the radio. She was devastated they lost them, falling into slight despair at getting ripped away from her family again. All she had to cling onto now, was Daryl and the evacuation point. She knew Timmy was out there, fighting off whatever kind of plague this was, but it was hard to picture him finding her.
"We're here." Scout slowed down in the truck, the bright beams from the headlights showed off abandoned cars and empty brick buildings. Luckily, there wasn't any Walker in sight though it made Sammy nervous as to where they could be hiding in the dark.
From her small experience with the Eaters, it wasn't a good idea to go out after the sun went down. There was more risk to getting bit or mistaken for an undead if you didn't move fast enough. Earl lost one of the guys in the biker gang that way. While Sammy had been enjoying the liquor behind the bar, they tried to sneak out in the cover of night, thinking there was plenty of others for them to snack on. Earl had come back by himself, losing the other guy and was empty handed.
Sammy shook her head as Daryl went to grab for the door handle. "I don't like this, Daryl. We shouldn't be going out in the dark." She latched onto his arm seeing the slight hesitation in his eyes. "Can we just find something to hide in for the night?"
"My dad is out there looking for me, Sammy." Scout said softly, looking at the scared woman with pleading eyes. She wanted her to see how much she needed to reconnect with him, and Sammy did understand. She just wanted them to be safe and not take any unnecessary risks.
Both Scout and Daryl left the car, the big vehicle still running as Sammy moped inside it. They looked around the area quickly, not seeing anything out in the dark before bending down to the ground highlighted by the headlights. They conversed for a moment, Sammy not being able to hear their words as she sat in the truck.
They got up and returned to the truck a moment later, telling Sammy about the tracks they found. "Could it be from the army caravan?" Sammy asked, her voice held out hope. Daryl shrugged at her, but she was getting excited again about potentially finding Timmy.
"Don't get yer hopes up, Sam. It could be someone else." Daryl warned her. He motioned to one of the buildings. It was Danvers Research Lab. "I'm going to start a search in that research building. If they're in there, they might be protectin' a cure or somethin'."
Sammy suddenly grew suspicious of Daryl. He hadn't been willing to make eye contact with her much after her grandparents died and even though she knew it made him slightly uncomfortable, he was able to manage most of the time with her and Merle. Those he knew well enough, anyway. She knew in that moment; he was hiding something from her. "Then I'm coming too."
In an instant, she knew he wanted to protest. "Just stay here, Sam." He said moving to the back of the truck to grab a few things to take with him.
Sammy stubbornly followed while Scout gave them a moment of privacy by hopping into the truck. Taking the opportunity given to her, she grabbed her own supplies and a small backpack. "You're hiding something from me, so either be honest and tell me, or I'll follow you and find out myself." She had a pretty good guess as to what he was keeping from her, but she wanted him to be a man and say it.
He stopped shuffling through his pack, giving her a once over before finally nodding. "I ain't sayin' there's any hope, but I heard a rumor. This research lab might be closer to a cure or somethin' to help prevent this mutation or whatever it is." He gestured to the building again.
Sammy looked inside her pack, feeling empty all over again. "So, there's absolutely nothing we could have done for my grandparents? There isn't a way to undo this disease?"
Daryl put his hand on her uninjured shoulder, making her look up at him. "I don't know, Sam. That's what I'm goin' to try to find out."
She cleared her throat, wiping at her nose, and steeled herself. "Then I'm coming too. I need to know for myself."
Instead of arguing with her to stay in the truck like she knew he wanted to do, he nodded. He gave a wave to Scout after he spotted their entry point, clipping the radio the redhead lent him to his belt. He darted off first, crossbow raised and ready to attack as Sammy kept up with his quick pace. They were both quiet as they moved toward a parking garage, the only noise being small echoes from things they couldn't see.
Both Daryl and Sammy held flashlights to fight back against the black night. The moon, which normally gave off a small amount of light, was nowhere in the sky. The fear of traveling in the dark when feral people were eating others had flared up within her again. Daryl grunted and stopped just before they made it inside. He pulled out some duct tape from his bag and fastened a small strip around his crossbow and flashlight, effectively freeing his left hand.
Picking up his pace to make up for the minute of lost time, he led them into the parking garage. Sammy held her breath as the door shut behind them, only making a small latching noise as she kept it from slamming. She heard nothing but the gravel of the loose asphalt beneath her feet and a slowly leaking pipe from somewhere nearby.
They had come across a set of elevators, both shut off with no working power. Daryl tried the button despite knowing about the lack of power, hitting the down arrow twice before shrugging and looking at her. "Had to try."
Sammy pointed to the hidden stairwell to the right of the elevators, a small smirk on her face. "This way, dummy." She moved back a step to let him slip past her, liking that he was able to lead them without the same fear she felt. She tried to shed her fear, but the image of her grandparents' rotting faces flashed before her eyes and her smirk fell into a frown. She instantly pushed their images down and caught up to Daryl.
"Gotta go up, keep up." Daryl told her, waiting on the first step for her. She nodded, keeping her mind focused on the task at hand. At the top of the stairs, before it shot up another level, there were three bodies laying motionless. Daryl paused for a moment, pointing his crossbow at each of them while tapping his foot slightly against the metal of the stairs. When nothing happened, they moved easily up another two flights. At the top of the stairs, two undead were in a battle to get through the doorframe. In one swift movement, Daryl kicked the skinnier one forward while grabbing the back of the bigger one's shirt, yanking him back from the door and letting him fall on his butt. He fired a shot into the fallen man's brain while Sammy jabbed her knife in the back of the other man's head.
Daryl and Sammy looked at each other, giving the other a nod before a hand shot out for Sammy's neck. She yelped and jerked herself backwards, falling on her butt as Daryl launched forward and buried a large knife in the woman's head. She was wearing a lab coat covered in dark red blood. Under the light of her flashlight, Sammy realized the blood was still wet, like the attack just happened.
As they walked further into the lab, they came across two separate paths, right or left. They went left first, coming into a sort of break room or waiting room. It was loaded with snacks and single serve coffee pods. Sammy gasped and stuffed as much as she could fit in her bag. Daryl watched the entryway for any undead to allow her time but waved her back when he was ready to move on.
Going back in the other direction, they came across a large office full of cubicles. A few heads were visible over the small four-foot walls, growls and little grunts coming from them. Daryl motioned for her to go left, but Sammy shook her head, not wanting to be out of sight from him. He tried to offer her the right, but again, she shook her head. "Not separating." She whispered.
"Dammit, Sam—" His scolding stopped as a few undead sniffed them out, their loud moans alerting others that there was prey. Daryl immediately acted, firing a shot at the closest Walker. Sammy took her time, her exhaustion slowing her down before she picked one that was lanky and looked easy to push over.
Sammy put all her strength in the blow she delivered to the guy, taking him down. Though, when she needed to retrieve her knife, it took her a lot longer to successfully pull it free. She cleaned it on his clothes before looking through the cubicles Daryl cleared.
As she suspected, there wasn't much in terms of supplies. If she was in the market for paper, this was the place to be. Though, a few drawers had some candy bars hidden in the back as a means to hide them from their co-workers. She took all of them, even the ones with peanuts, which she wasn't fond of. Though there was no luxury of being picky anymore.
She moved behind Daryl, letting him clear out the cubicles for her to shift through. She was no more than two behind him, deciding to ditch a couple if he moved too fast. Once her bag and pockets on her person were filled, she tapped Daryl on the shoulder and whispered it was okay to move on. She looked at the filled five-gallon jug of water by his hip, wishing she could take it with them, but also knew it was too heavy to lug around. They did take a moment to get a drink from it and fill any bottles they had.
Coming to the end of the cubicles there was another long empty hall with a gate. Daryl walked up to the green-flashing keypad and the gate lifted, rolling back up into the ceiling. It led into another stairwell going down. Sammy looked at the labels by the stairs, 'Offices' and 'Labs'. "Looks like our only option is down." Daryl moved past her, crossbow raised and peered down the stairs. "Do you really think they have a cure in this tiny little lab? Why wouldn't the CDC be working on it in theirs?"
"Probably sharing the load if this is as bad as I'm thinkin' it is." Daryl passed a door, trying to pull it open before moving on when it was locked.
When they finally made it to the bottom floor, Sammy had to cover her nose. The stench of the undead was too much for her, not to mention the bodies and blood that were all over the floor. "If the attack just happened here, why do they smell like they've been dead a week?"
Daryl coughed, letting her know the smell bothered him a bit too. "Dunno. But it is a lab, so maybe they've known a lot longer than the public."
"Looks like gramps is right! Conspiracy theory proven!" Sammy faltered, realizing she spoke in the present tense, and frowned. "Was… Was right," she corrected. Daryl decided not to say anything as Sammy shoved past him and led them further into the corridor.
Sammy wasn't ready to let go of her grandparents, she knew that they weren't coming back, but in her mind, they were still alive, like what happened to them hadn't really happened. Her only focus was getting to the safe zone, not anything after. She refused to think about what she would do if they all got sent home and everything was safe again. There was nothing for her to go back to since Daryl was with her.
She latched on to Daryl like a leech would skin. She would do her best to follow him wherever he went, like she used to when she was a child. He had been the only one around who was closest to her in age other than Timmy, but Timmy lived with their father. She learned pretty quickly that Daryl knew how to take care of himself and wasn't all that friendly with new people. She did her best not to cry when he got upset with her for following him and eventually grew thick skin because of him and Merle.
Glancing up at the familiar sign of the female restroom, she gasped and darted for the door, not listening to Daryl's hushed calls of her name. She hadn't been able to use the bathroom sometime before she got shot and wasn't sure when she would have another opportunity. She rushed into the first open stall, grateful it wasn't clogged with wads of toilet paper, and pulled down her pants to her knees.
Her bladder sang as it emptied and Sammy quickly finished, pulling her pants back up and flushing loudly. As she unlocked the stall door, she heard shuffling and the sound of someone sniffing making her stop her movements and slowly lower her eyes to the floor. A bare foot and a pump were pointed in her direction, the bare foot smeared with blood along the once pretty pink nail polish.
Sammy realized that she was stuck.
The stall door could only open one way, toward herself which would give Pinky an opening for her. Even if Sammy had her blade ready, she didn't know how tall the girl was which meant she was at a disadvantage. She thought about ducking under the stall, but the other stalls might be occupied by more undead women. All she could do was hold the door closed, not move, and hope Pinky moved away from the door. Her only other option was to yell for Daryl, but she didn't know how many were in the bathroom. Not to mention Pinky would know she was there for sure and try to fight her way in the stall.
She really was stuck.
After waiting a few minutes, Sammy forced herself to make a plan. She slowly took out her knife, getting ready to throw the door open, and screamed as loud as she could. Both the bathroom door and the stall door were thrown open simultaneously as Daryl fired his bolt in Pinky's skull. She dropped to the floor as Sammy jumped over her, stumbling into Daryl when her legs refused to work.
"Takin' an awful long time to take a piss." Daryl started, bending down to grab Sammy's knife resting on the floor by his boot.
She shot him a dirty look, getting up to dust off her hands. "We got caught up talkin' about old boyfriends and doin' each other's hair." She spat, sarcasm dripping with every word. She took her knife back from him, placing it back in the sheath on her body.
"Shoulda used the men's room, ain't no talkin' in there." Daryl watched her roll her eyes before shaking out her arms to gather her composure.
Sammy stopped what she was doing for a moment, focusing on the sudden breeze she felt on the back of her legs. She turned, looking at the concrete wall behind her, noticing there were no vents at leg height. "If this is some hidden movie shit—" She moved toward the wall slowly, tapping her foot carefully on the tiles like she saw on tv. Nothing happened until she got within a foot of the wall. It hissed oxidized air in her face as the wall slid open like a sliding glass door.
Daryl quickly retrieved his crossbow bolt from Pinky and reloaded the bulky weapon, raising it and quickly moving in front of Sammy. Another hidden door made to look like a wall hissed open like the first, allowing them to look in a tiled, sterilized hallway. It resembled an old-fashioned hospital with white tiles going partially up the walls with metal doors and large plexiglass windows. The large fluorescent lights above were either turned off or eerily flickering at the end of the large hallway. As they stepped into the massive lab, the door closing behind them with a final hiss of air, they heard angry muffled growls and distant pounding.
Sammy found herself patting her pockets for a cigarette, knowing that the half pack were hidden in the glove box of the truck. She would have gladly chewed on her nails but after glancing down at her hands, she thought better of it since they were bloody and covered in dirt. "Another point to the conspiracy theorists…" She mumbled, glancing at a few abandoned sheets of paper on a tray. It was all medical jargon she couldn't understand, but she recognized enough to know Clive wasn't crazy after all.
"Hey!" Sammy and Daryl spun around to the new voice. It belonged to a woman who was slightly hunkered down in one of the labs. "What are you doing here?" Her tone, Sammy realized, was harsh and judgmental as she waved them over.
Daryl moved first, getting as close to the plexiglass as he could to hear her. "What happened here?"
At his nice tone and lowering of his weapon, the woman relaxed a little. She was older, maybe late forties or fifties, with dark brown hair wrapped in a pink wrap on top of her head. She was dressed for winter, wearing a thick wool sweater and blue jeans which was odd since it was summer. The Georgian summers were brutal, and it was only just beginning, so why was the woman dressed for heavy snow? "My name is Sheila Schneider. This place is down except for that security system." She gestured to the wall to her right.
Nodding his head, Daryl skimmed the wall above them, "Yeah, we met." Sammy raised an eyebrow, they did?
Sheila nodded, "Yeah, its real cute. Shuts the gate, cuts the power, trapped me in here. I haven't seen my team—"
"I did," Daryl said. "Didn't make it. What about the serum?"
Sheila sighed, looking slightly sad at the news. She didn't meet Daryl's eyes, looking from side to side but not directly at them. "Their research results – no cure, no serum." She sighed, forcing herself to finally meet their eyes. "They never found it. A lot of people died for a fairytale."
Daryl shifted uncomfortably by Sammy's side, not looking at her as they were told the one thing they didn't want to hear. "I'll be damned…"
That's not what Sammy wanted to hear though, she wanted to be told her grandparents could be saved, could be brought back to life. "It's all phony." It wasn't a question but hearing it out loud and from her own lips, made it clear there was no hope anymore. There was no cure, so how would they stop it from spreading? How would they save the rest of the state? The nation? The world? This single, trapped scientist couldn't have been the only one working on the cure. The government was possibly involved, especially with how fast things were progressing now. Surely, the people at the CDC were far more advanced than this private funded lab. That was something Sammy had to believe. Her grandparents believed in it, so she would as well, just for them.
Loud ringing throughout the building pulled Sammy from her thoughts, eyes running over Daryl who was starting to panic a little and the woman behind the plexiglass who was shouting at him. Sammy fixated on the alarm lights that were red and angry, illuminating the large hallway above the elevators while Daryl and Scout yelled at each other.
A few feet away, another door hissed open, causing Daryl to toss Sammy the radio and take out the Walkers that started coming through. "How about this?" Scout's panicked voice crackled through the radio.
"Tell her to stop helping!" Daryl shouted, pulling a bolt from one of the Walkers and using it as a knife, driving it in the head of another Walker that was coming too close.
"Scout, turn everything off then go!" Sammy hurriedly clipped the radio to her belt and pulled her own blade free, moving forward with adrenaline as the only thing keeping her going at this point.
They both ran down to the end of the hall, pressing their backs against the elevator doors as a few more Walkers trickled after them. Sammy looked to the right, past Daryl, and saw double doors that might be another way out. She shoved Daryl's arm toward the doors, getting him moving again as she stabbed at a Walker and followed.
The doors spilled out to a smaller hallway with a single door that Sammy moved to as Daryl closed the double doors behind them. She opened the single door, noticing it led them into another parking garage that was pitch black. Sammy pulled the radio free and signaled to Scout. "Were in a parking garage, can you come to us? We'll try to find the exit by following the signs."
"I think there's a private parking garage through some fences. I'm heading there now." Scout told them, the starting of the engine being heard over the radio.
Daryl pushed Sammy forward gently, keeping her moving as their flashlights lit up the signs that directed them out of the parking garage. They were fortunate not to see any Walkers lingering by the abandoned cars as Scout pulled up to them the same moment they spotted her.
They tossed their bags in the back of the truck, turning off their flashlights, and jumped in the cab. Sammy instantly relaxed when she was sandwiched between Scout and Daryl. She could almost feel the adrenaline seeping out of her as she let her head fall back.
"Did you turn off the alarm?" Scout asked as she pulled out onto the road. "What about a cure?"
"Alarm is still goin' and there ain't no cure." Daryl told her quietly, he was staring out the window, processing the information. "All them scientists were dead, 'cept one. Got locked in until the alarm went off. She told me there was nothin'."
Everyone was quiet after that. Sammy cracked open a water bottle and ate a granola bar before settling down to sleep. She leaned her head on Daryl's shoulder, causing him to tense up, but he didn't push her away. She knew sleep would have her soon and tried not to think about their drive or the people they left. A few more minutes passed, and she was out cold.
Her mind swirled with the events of the last few days. She dreamed of sassing Jake, flirting with the Savage Sons, drinking with the younger Dixon, and then her dreams grew dark. She saw bloody bodies dragging themselves through the streets, acting like normal people knocking on doors before ripping into the flesh of those who opened them.
She was at her house, sitting on the couch and watching tv with her grandparents, like it was a normal night for them. Though in the back of her mind, she knew she would be out on a date or working at the bar. She hadn't had a night in with her grandparents since she got her driver's license.
A light tapping was heard on the front door during one of the commercials and Marge excused herself to see who it could have been. Sammy knew the Dixon brothers would have come through the back door, not shy about not knocking. She watched her grandma's steps, slow and preppy, like she was buzzing with happiness while spending time with family. A dreadful feeling entered Sammy's gut as Marge made it to the door.
She wanted to warn her, tell her not to open the door because there were Walkers out there. Literal people who would eat her if she didn't come back to the couch. Clive tapped her arm, trying to get her to see that the commercials had ended, but Sammy couldn't look away from the door.
As Marge unlatched the locks, the backdoor swung open as the Dixon brothers joined, sitting themselves on the couch. Merle and Clive began to bicker over the stupid show while Daryl and Sammy sat there in silence. She wanted to scream at this point. Most of the people she loved were here in this room and there was a danger just outside the front door. How could they not see it or feel it?
Sammy tried to will herself to stand, to go to the front door and keep it locked, but she was still stuck, watching. Marge finally twisted the knob on the door, pulling it open just a little to see who was there. Sammy began to whimper, her mind screaming, but Marge looked fine. She was having an actual conversation with the other person beyond the threshold.
Marge beckoned Clive over, a sweet smile she put on for guests pulled at her lips. Daryl moved over, sitting closer to Sammy as she felt the cushion beside her sink. She continued to watch, frozen in her place, as Clive reached out and shook the persons hand before gesturing them to come inside.
The door swung open the rest of the way, but Sammy only saw a blacked-out silhouette. She wanted someone to turn on one of the lights so she could properly see them. With every step they took coming back toward the living room, Sammy felt panic rise in her belly. Even though she couldn't see who they were, she knew it was a man, and a man she knew.
Before they all made it back to the couch, the shadowed figure suddenly pulled Clive back and bit into his arm, causing everyone to yell. Merle took off back through the back door, Daryl pulled out his crossbow from his back like he had it all along, and Marge was standing next to the man screaming.
Sammy blinked and felt everything blend before realizing she was suddenly in the kitchen, a large knife in her hand. The shadow man was still there but he was off in the corner, just watching like Sammy. Clive had turned and barely took a bite out of his wife before both of them were looking at her as their next meal. She went to close her eyes and plunge the knife in Clive's brain, but suddenly shadow man was in front of her.
Holding the hand with the knife, he dragged her into the light. Sammy was screaming. Not only did she recognize who the man was and where she knew him from, but she also suddenly realized how it was all her fault. "Thanks for these." He pushed something in her empty hand, sunken eyes lifting with his smile.
"Sam!" A hard shake pulled her from her slumber. She looked up at Daryl, tears falling from her eyes as her dream hit her hard.
"It's all my fault, Daryl." She sobbed, pulling into herself as Daryl tried to comfort her with awkward pats to her back. "I told him where to find the town. It's all my fault."
He stopped, frowning at her. "The hell you talkin' about?"
Sammy covered her face as her sobs grew louder. "The man who took my underwear. He was infected and I told him where to find the town." She killed everyone, even her grandparents. It was all her fault.
Sorry for the long wait! I had a really busy few weeks. My mom got married this past weekend and I had zero time to write. I literally just finished this chapter, so if its crap, I'm sorry!