The 6 walkers weren't that easy to get through but with a little creative footwork, a few well placed leg kicks and our priorities in the right place, they went down easily enough. And it was just as tiring as it always is and I staggered a little on the uneven ground but T-Dog covered me and got the last one.
I panted, leaning over on my knees trying to catch my breath.
I should be sweating but I'm too dehydrated. My head is pounding though, and I feel like I'm gonna pass out.
I glanced at T-Dog mirroring my position and he looks just as bad, maybe worse.
The dark circles under his eyes make it look like his eyeballs are retreating into his head and it doesn't take a genius to figure he probably didn't sleep more than a few winks last night.
At least 1 night without sleep won't kill you outright. If he'd been on his own any longer he may have not made it to be honest. Sleep deprivation is a dangerous thing, especially when you literally have to run for your life.
I grabbed T's elbow, helping him straighten up and get moving.
I know he's tired but we have to go, before those other walkers notice us.
T-Dog didn't complain as I dragged him out and followed me along the outside of the fence, both of us keeping low and edging along trying not to move in any super noticeable way.
We could just leg it but that's reckless right now and will attract a lot of attention as well as burn energy we don't have to waste.
We're both exhausted, dehydrated, and starving. And judging by how many aches and pains I've got, I can only guess as to how many he's got.
It didn't take us more than 10 minutes to wind our way around, avoiding and killing a few walkers along the way. There's way more walkers on this side of the prison than there is on our side but there's no way they all just wandered in yesterday. Most of them had to have been here already, and I'm guessing they're the reason the tombs seem to have an endless flood of them just roaming around inside. No wonder the prisoners couldn't get out. We're experienced as Hell and even we barely got out of there.
Halfway back to the opening in the outer fence that we're gonna have to go through since the gate is locked, I looked into the yard trying to spot anyone in the guard tower but I barely even looked because a figure moving in the field caught my attention.
My heart dropped as I grabbed the chainlink, desperately trying to look closer from this distance.
It can't be. Please no—
My heart leapt out of my chest and I have never felt such a flood of relief in my life as soon as the figure with the hunting contraption on and the angel winged vest very humanly and in a very much alive way, took a knee in front of a small construction of a cross, taking a moment before standing back up.
I staggered, my head swirling like I stood up too fast and almost collapsed. The fence dug into my fingers as I gripped it more firmly, trying to keep myself from falling over. My forehead bounced off the chain link as I let it fall against the metal, closing my eyes for a brief second. Just long enough to release the dizzying relief in the form of a sigh.
That was the single most heart-stopping moment of my life — And that's saying something.
It utterly terrifies me how fast I went from pure terror and dread to completely relaxing — to the point of almost going limp, at just knowing that one flicker of a thought and how quick it was proven wrong.
I forgot where I was. I couldn't breathe and it scares the shit out of me how many horrifying things I felt — that I don't even know the words to describe them, in the span of just a few seconds.
A few seconds, that's all it was. But it felt like the entire universe froze, ceasing to exist for an eternity, and then with a single snap another big bang happened and everything went right back to where it was.
"Eve?" T-Dog asked carefully, worried and on edge but not worried about me so much as about something else.
My eyes widened, realization hitting me like a bucket of ice water that I'm— we're still on this side of the fence with my back facing the walkers.
I flung around and in a heartbeat assessed exactly where every single walker in the vicinity is, starting with their proximity to us and how clumped together they are.
There aren't many close enough to be a threat just yet but there's more farther and farther back and even more along the fence lines. We shouldn't stay out here any longer than we have to.
The fence opening isn't that far from us but with this many walkers around I don't think we can get it open fast enough.
With the fastest thought I've ever had in my life, I curled my lips and T-Dog jumped like he'd been hit with a defibrillator as a high sharp as steel tone resonated from my lips. Loud as a train whistle and just as startling.
Daryl's head instantly snapped over and the second I started moving along the fence again with T-Dog right behind me, blue eyes found me.
The second his eyes landed on me, Daryl froze and all the walkers looked in our direction, but that was a risk I was willing to take.
"What the Hell are ya doing?!" T-Dog panicked and I grabbed his arm and dragged him into a run, weaving around walkers like a game of octopus.
I couldn't have made it any quieter if it was going to reach his ears, and now Daryl can open the gate for us. This risk is much less than trying to get the fence open fast enough.
I glanced back at the yard and it wasn't difficult to find Daryl running across the field in a dead sprint for the gate, the keys already in his hand clattering loud enough to draw the attention of the walkers outside the fence closer to him.
I took another fast glance between dodging and covering T's back as we ran, to see the door of the upper guard tower fly open and Randall's distinct figure come running out, heading for the lower gate as well.
They reached the gate much faster than T & I and almost the second the both of them reached it, the walkers up against the fence started dropping and Daryl got the gate open so fast he almost took his finger off.
I slowed down for a half a second to pike the back of a tall skull and jumped over the freshly fallen corpse of the one T took care of in front of us and a few gunshots popped off, dropping corpses in our path before the gate ripped open and all the walkers near it were on the ground.
T-Dog was about 4 yards in front of me and I reached my hand down as a skull with an arrow sticking straight up out of it came up and yanked the arrow out as I passed, right as T-Dog ran inside the gate like a home run.
Daryl backed up the closer I got until he was inside the gate and dropped his crossbow into the gravel right before I passed the 'finish line' and Randall and T slammed the gate shut behind me so fast I swear I felt it clip the end of my hair.
My shoes slid on the gravel as I barely managed to slow down just enough that I wouldn't knock him over when I plowed straight into Daryl's chest but that's exactly what he wanted.
His arms closed around my back like a bear trap the moment I ran into him and absorbed all of my momentum without even losing his footing.
My muscles turned to Jell-o the second I set foot back in safe territory and my knife dropped from my hand without a single thought as well as the arrow, and my arms took on a mind of their own, wrapping around his shoulders so tight it felt like managing to catch a hold of my lifeline before it zipped away from me.
That's when the shaking I had been suppressing for so long finally rushed me full force.
Daryl's hands around my back so far they're touching my opposite sides triggered something in the back of my head that I'd been unknowingly clinging to. Like I had been subconsciously promising myself that I only had to hold on until this moment, and then I could just let go.
Daryl's head pressed against the side of my own, the scruff of his beard scratching my collarbone as my shoulders were raised up to my ears, my leathered arms wrapped around his neck like a scarf and I buried my face in his shoulder like the rising sunlight will burn my eyes to ashes.
I squeezed my eyes shut tight, trying to get my arms around him even tighter. I don't even care if he's suffocating in my shoulder, and evidently he didn't either as his arms tightened around my back, almost tight enough to feel like my rib cage is being crushed.
"Thank god."
I barely made out what he muttered into my shoulder muffled by my jacket but even if I didn't hear him, just the way his arms snaked around me even further, trying to pull me as close as humanly possible even though we already are, would've been enough.
My breaths shook like the last fall leaf desperately clinging to the branches as the tremble migrated out of my arms and through my whole body, slowly spreading itself too thin and after what felt like forever and no time at all, finally subsided.
3rd Person POV
The second Eve was in his arms everything was ok again.
All the tension he was carrying both the realized and the hidden, just melted away.
Eve didn't care that she could barely breathe and neither did he. Nothing else outside the two of them existed.
Daryl knew she had to be ok but there's always that fear, and when he came back last night and she still wasn't here… He barely got a wink of sleep last night and it was only because of Glenn's idea to rotate going through the tombs to find her that he even managed to let stress and pure exhaustion close his eyes for the precious hour or two he was able to get.
He was up almost all night waiting for exactly this moment.
This moment that's happened way too many times now. Where she's out of his sight, gone too long, and gives him just enough time to have a heart attack before she pulls a miracle move and shows up where & when he leasts expects her.
She smells like dust and congealed blood and sweat but he couldn't give a rat's ass. If she was covered in tar, cow patties and feathers he'd still hug her the exact same way he is and be glad that the tar would stick them together. Maybe then this will stop.
He doesn't know how much more of this his heart can take.
They finally pulled back from each other just enough for Daryl to put his hand on her cheek, his fingers curling around the side of her neck and barely brushing the edge of her hairline behind her ear. For some reason he just felt like he needed to, like the action will somehow reassure him that she's fine and that this is real, and it worked. The longer he felt her pulse under the palm of his hand, the more convinced he was.
Eve leaned her forehead against his, brushing the side of his nose with hers; both as her own reassurance and to convince her mind it's over.
"Don't do that again." Daryl tried so hard to growl it at her but he couldn't keep the relief out of his voice if he'd tried a hundred times harder.
"I mean it this time, I ain't gonna come save ya if ya get in trouble."
Eve smiled, eyes closed and raised her own hand to Daryl's cheek. "Don't worry, I don't think there are any sinkholes around here."
Daryl bonked her head with his as Eve laughed at her own stupid joke — at her own expense! But Daryl found himself smiling nonetheless.
Eve certainly knows how to let the pressure off a serious moment.
T-Dog and Randall finally decided to just leave the two of them instead of standing here awkwardly, waiting for them to finish their little moment and remember they're still here. It's obvious that they have no plans to any time soon. Which is still weird because it goes completely against both of their personalities, but they did just spend a whole night not sure where the other was and if they were safe or if they'd ever see each other again; so it's understandable they'll be a little uncharacteristically affectionate even if there are witnesses. No matter how unlikely it actually is that they'd never see each other again cause I mean come on. It's Eve and Daryl. They're gonna outlast everybody.
T-Dog on the other hand wants only 2 things right now. Food and to not wake up until sunrise tomorrow.
Some food and rest is in order.
Daryl didn't forget about their presence though, and as soon as they were leaving, he took half a second to glance over his shoulder and make sure they really are leaving and don't look like they're gonna turn around, before he turned back.
Eve looked a little confused about what he was looking at and her arms loosened slightly so now her hands are resting on the outside of his biceps but as soon as he looked back to her, her bright eyes gleaming like the finest Egyptian gold in the intense orange rays of the early morning sun met his.
His deep cerulean eyes traced the delicate slope of her nose and her smooth eyelids as she blinked, long eyelashes like strokes of black ink against her pale cheeks. A complexion surprisingly resistant to the rays of the Georgia sun. A few small beginnings of pimples here and there from grime & blood splatters resting on her skin for too long.
The sun reflected off her cheek making it look like she was glowing and his eyebrows furrowed just staring in internal confusion at how he could ever actually think crap you'd read in a damn romance novel, like how he wants to just freeze this moment and stay awhile. Maybe not forever — he's not that far gone. But just… for a while. Just long enough to burn this image onto the inside of his eyelids like an afterimage. Or like how this is the one time he's ever wished he had a camera so he could take a photo of one of the few things he'd actually be angry about forgetting.
But he's not too upset because this isn't something he'll forget easily, especially after he does this.
Eve unintentionally held her breath as Daryl gently pulled on the back of her neck. She swallowed, stopping herself from biting or licking her lips as her eyes unconsciously drifted down.
He's never tried more than just a quick kiss before but he already knows that's not gonna be enough this time. And he's choosing to ignore how that makes him simultaneously uneasy and feel like his feet aren't touching the ground.
Daryl's nose brushed hers and the corner of his lip twitched when he noticed how warm it was, and how much redder her face has gotten (not that his is much better, but he will never admit that), how she's trying so hard not to fidget with her lips; a habit neither of them were aware of before they started actively kissing. It happens every time they lean in for a kiss and it never fails to make his stomach feel like that moment right at the top of a roller coaster.
The blood pumping in Eve's ears drowned out everything — even the massively annoying growling and rattling of metal fencing not 20 feet behind her, and her toes curled and uncurled in her boots, trying desperately to keep the fidgeting under control until that breath she was holding was stolen by warm pressure against her lips, and she returned the pressure every step of the way as it just sank deeper and deeper.
Her lips aren't as velvety as usual, dry from dehydration but somehow they're still as soft as ever to him, and it's everything Daryl needed and more.
Time seemed to be a nonexistent concept as they stood there. Weapons and walkers forgotten, the uncomfortable cling of blood and sweat on skin gone and replaced with nothing but the warm sensation of wherever they're making contact.
Daryl's hands wrapped around her waist, pulling her closer as Eve's hands slid up, cupping his jaw and gently curling her short nails through the stubble on his face. Never in his life did he ever think that would feel so good.
Eve never thought there was actually a place she doesn't mind being trapped in — even feels safe, but it's right here. In this space. Perfectly content with however much freedom to move as Daryl intends to give her, even if it's none at all — in fact, she kinda likes it.
It felt like hours before Daryl needed oxygen and their lips finally separated, eyes still closed and leaving the both of them panting for several long seconds.
Eve finally licked her lips, this time tasting the salt from Daryl's as he rested his forehead against hers, completely relaxed as her fingers curled through the hair at the base of his neck and something he never thought he'd say to someone in all his life, just slipped out. As easy as breathing.
"I love you."
Srry no time for editing
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