Disclaimer: I do not own anything that you recognize. Although I would love to have my own personal Daryl Dixon. Short and sweet.
AN: So I have decided that the way that I will update is once during the week and once during the weekend but I won't be near my computer to update this weekend so I am updating this chapter early.
I am now several chapters ahead and am doing great so I hope yall read and enjoy.
Chapter 16
Adrian never took her eyes off of Hershal after dropping her bomb. "I don't know what you're talking about." Hershal said. "Don't play dumb with me, Hershal. You're too smart a man to play dumb and you should know by now that I'm smart enough to have proof before being up such a subject." she said.
"I went hunting early this morning. Except I didn't go through the field. I walked by the barn. You've been pretty adamant about keeping us away from that place. It's pretty far out in the middle of nowhere out here. So why, after everything went down and there are so few humans left, would you not only bar the barn doors but chain them? If it was to keep something as simple as farming equipment inside, barring the door should be enough. But keeping alot of something dangerous in such a place, now that's a good reason to lock up those doors pretty tight." she said as her muscles started to tense up.
"They're sick people. There are people I care about in that barn and I won't let the likes of you people tell me how to handle them." Hershal demanded firmly but his tone just rolled off of Adrian.
"Sick people? Is that what you think they are?" she asked confused. "Yes. It's only a matter of time before a cure it made and then they can get better." he said firmly believing what he said.
"A cure? Seriously? And just who is going to make this miracle cure, Hershal? We don't have doctors or chemists anymore Hershal. So just who in the hell is going to make this cure for these so called sick people?" Adrian demanded taking a few steps towards the older man.
"It's just another disease. Just like yellow fever and the plague. A cure will come around eventually." he said.
"Yellow fever and the plague never had a cure, Hershal! It killed hundreds of thousands of people! And those diseases didn't bring people back from the dead to eat people! They had the good sense to stay dead! There is no cure coming Hershal! You don't like me or Rick's people, fine whatever, no skin off my nose. But you have a barn full of dead people and you have you, your daughters, and Patricia living a stones throw away from them. You don't like me because I'm rude, impatient, and don't know my place. But I'm a realist dammit! I don't have the luxury to be nieve about other peoples safety." she hissed angrily at the man.
"You're right. I don't like you much. You don't listen to what people tell you, you're rude, explore places you shouldn't, like my house at night obviously." Hershal said.
"Well all I have to say is that I hope you have some form of protection around here because when those things get out, and they will at some point. I just hope you have the courage to put everyone out of their misery, whether it be them or your family." she said before she stormed out of the house, slamming the door behind her.
"Hey, Dale. You seen Daryl around? I was gonna go with him to help look for Sophia today." Adrian called up to Dale, who was on top of the RV. "He took a horse and left out hours ago." Dale said back. Looking towards the woods across the field, Adrian suddenly got a gut feeling that something wasn't right. "Thanks Dale." she said walking towards her tent.
"Kale. Skin and gut the rest of the game." Adrian said as she passed the boy. Looking up from gutting the fish in front of him, Kale noticed that Adrian was practically geared up for war. "Roger." he said going back to cleaning the fish. An hour later, Kale was cleaning the last of the rabbits when Shane showed up. "Where the hell did all of this come from?" he asked like the prick he was.
"Adrian went hunting this morning." Kale clipped out, not wanting to talk to the ill tempered man anymore than he had too. "So why the hell ain't she the one cleanin' 'em?" Shane scoffed. "She went off into the woods again." he sain never looking up.
"So why the hell didn't she tell anybody else. You special or somethin'?" Shane demanded, not liking that the woman walked around camp as if she owned the place. Kale scoffed. "And you think she told me where she was going, why?" Kale asked.
"If she didn't tell you then how in the hell do you know where she went? Why don't you stop talkin' in riddles all the damn time an' just give me a straight answer." Shane said loosing his temper.
"Because I actually pay attention to shit. She was geared up for war pretty much. Bow and arrows, knife, and gun. Now that you know where she is, not that it's any of your business, will you leave me alone now. Besides, she went hunting this morning to bring food back for everybody, so why don't you stop complainin'." Kale said basically dismissing the older man.
Shane stalked away without another word.
After Dale had told her that Daryl had taken a horse out to look for Sophia this morning, Adrian had gotten a bad feeling which was why she had decided to go look for him. And she hated when her gut was right about something because she knew something wasn't right when she had seen saddled horse with no rider running through the trees.
Knowing that there was no chance of actually catching the horse she let it go on
it's way and kept following the horse tracks she had been following since she left the farm. Adrian had been following the tracks for a few hours when she found where she assumed was the place where Daryl and the horse got separated. Which looked like ended at the bottom of a very steep hill.
"Damn it, man. Seriously?" Adrian muttered to herself. Giving a heavy sigh Adrian strapped her bow to her back and slowly started her decent down the hill.
About half way down Adrian had noticed some blood and kept finding traces of it the rest of the way down the hill. Once she had reached the bottom she noticed a nice sized smear of blood on the rocks before it led into the creek. She didn't know how long ago he had been here, but he had been here at some point today. What worried her though was that she didn't know how badly he was hurt. And if he had been seriously hurt he might not be able to fight any walkers he came across and she also knew he had few arrows left.
Looking towards the bank on the other side of the creek she seen the dead bodies of two walkers. "Looks like I get to go swimming twice in one day. Can't ask for more than that these days." Adrian laughed to herself as she dove into the shallow creek water, knowing she shouldn't get her gun wet but didn't really care.
Getting to the other side she discovered not only the dead bodies of the walkers but also a squirrel carcass sitting on a log. She walked to the hill an looked up.
"Damn these steep hills." she muttered to herself. She seen a spot that looked pretty disturbed and decided that that must be the place where Daryl had started to climb up. The higher she climbed, the more her suspicion was confirmed. By the time she she reached the top she was dripping sweat.
Once she got to the top she sat down for a minute to catch her breath. She she looked up, she noticed a trail of boot prints and drag marks beside them. After another hour of following the tracks, Adrian finally made it to the tree line.
She just walked out into the field only to see Glenn, Rick, T-Dog, and Shane all armed standing in from of what seemed to be a walker but none of them had attacked it and then she looked down to notice the crossbow being dragged behind it and realized that it was Daryl.
And then she seen Daryl drop like a hot brick moments before she felt a flash of burning pain on her left cheek. "No!" she heard someone yell. "No!" they yelled again. Adrian looked towards the group to see them all running towards Daryl who was on the ground. "Daryl!" she shouted before she ran towards the small group of men. She had just reached them when she heard Daryl's shocked voice. "I was just kiddin' man."
"Good Lord, Adrian, are you okay?" Adrian heard T-Dog's shocked voice ask her. She looked at T-Dog confused but then remembered the pain in her cheek. Reaching up to touch it she pulled her fingers back to see them coated in blood. When she looked up she seen that Shane and Rick were carrying an unconscious Daryl.
They all made it back to the house and Shane and Rick took him inside for Hershal to check over. Hershal also told her to come inside so he could take a look at her face. About the time they got Daryl inside and on a bed, Daryl was awake but wasn't complaining about being in any pain. When Hershal tried to look at her first, she insisted that he deal with Daryl first while she went to go wash up.
She walked into the bathroom and turned on the cold water and then wet a rag she had grabbed. Looking up into the mirror gave her a bit of a shock to see the bloody and filthy woman starring back at her. Knowing that Hershal would be with Daryl for a while, she cleaned her cheek and noticed that she had a nice sized bullet graze now gracing her cheek.
Touching the sore cut a thought occurred to her and she headed outside to her tent and then took back off towards the woods while Hershal tended to Daryl's wounds.
Adrian made it back to the farm just before sundown. She noticed that nobody was outside and remembered hearing one of the women say something about cooking inside for Hershal's family. Not really in a mood to be around people Adrian went into her tent and looked around in one of her bags until she found what she was looking for.
She placed the ceramic mortar and pestle on her tent floor, grabbed a book, a bottle of water, and got to work.
An hour later everyone way coming outside when Adrian walked by them and into the house seeking out Hershal. Finding him on the second floor walking out of the room Daryl was in she asked if she had permission to take a quick shower. After a reluctant yes Adrian went to the bathroom and quickly took a lukewarm shower not wanting to get used to hot water.
After a 15 minute shower, Adrian stepped out of the tub and loved the feeling of feeling human again. She put on a pair of grey baggy sweatpants, a thin, black cotton long sleeve, and brushed her long hair out.
Adrian left the bathroom with her dirty clothes and silently made her way to Daryl's room. He must not have heard her open the door because it wasn't until he heard the click of the door closing that he turned around.
He looked her up and down before he said anything. "What're you doin' here? Figured you'd be sleepin' by now." he said as he pulled the sheet up over his torso.
"Little pointless hiding what I already know is there, isn't it?" she asked in a soft voice. 'Dammit.' Daryl thought, forgetting that she already knew about his scars. "You never answered my question. What're you doin' here?" he asked again starting to get uncomfortable. "Brought you something." she said holding up an old, beat up Altiods can. "And why would I need those?" Daryl asked confused.
Dropping her clothes by the door, Adrian walked over to the bed and sat down on the edge. "It's not candy, dick." she said lightly laughing. "It's medicine." she said reaching for the bandage wrapped around his head.
"Hershal already gave me some, so quit." Daryl said now really uncomfortable.
"Stop arguing like a woman and be still." she said after she took the bandage off and putting it aside. She looked at the graze on his head and then grabbed the small tin can and popped it open to reveal a tin packed full of grimy green goo.
"You ain't puttin' that shit on me." Daryl said starting to move away from her. She grabbed a handful of hair on the uninjured side of his head and pulled his head back.
"Shut up. It's just herbal medicine you big tit sack." she said lightly applying the herbal medicine. "Where the hell did you get that stuff anyway?" Daryl asked still eyeing the tin can.
"There's this nice little apothecary shop down the road. Went in and told the guy what I needed. The woods, you idiot, where else would I get it?" she said with a straight face, minus the small twitch of her lips to keep herself from smiling.
"I went back out after they got you up here to go and look for the plants I needed and made it myself back in my tent. My grandfather liked his herbal medicines and taught me a bit while I stayed with him. As I got older I discovered that I like some herbal medicines better than store bought meds so I picked up some books about herbal plants and such. Never thought that they would be useful when I bought them." she said finally taking pity on him so he would loosen up a bit.
"What happened to your face?" he finally asked after a long silent minute. "The same thing that happened to your head. Andrea's bullet decided to feel special and hit two targets instead of just one today." she said getting up off the bed and grabbing the sheet to pull it down. Daryl grabbed it first and firmly help it up. Adrian gave him an exasperated look.
"Really? I'm just putting some medicine on the would on your waist. No big deal." she said but he didn't let g of the sheet. She threw her head back and gave a heavy sigh. "Fine. If I show you mine, will you show me yours?" she asked gesturing towards his covered torso.
"Excuse me?" Daryl asked shocked and confused.
Adrian placed the herbal can on the night stand and grabbed the hem of her shirt and pulled it over her head quickly.
Daryl was not only shocked but uncomfortable to untold degree. Then he noticed the scars. There weren't many but the ones that were there were long. There were a few dark pink scars that he could make out over places where her vital organs were, such as her liver and kidneys. The scar that drew th most attention though was the long light pink line that reached from the middle of her ribcage and went downward and continued towards her waist and her back.
He looked up from her stomach, seen her light grey sports bra, and up towards her face to see her not only looking as uncomfortable as him but also blushing as if extremely embarrassed.
"There now will you let me do what I came to do so I can gt outta here? Hershal doesn't like me in the house at night." Adrian said quickly grabbing the sheet and pulled it down. She didn't take the bandage around his torso off like she did with his head, only loosened it so she could pull it down.
"So." Daryl said in the uncomfortable silence. "Why did you go out and get all the stuff to make this anyway?" Daryl asked knowing that even if he asked about the scars she wouldn't answer. He wouldn't, had someone asked him.
"Call it an apology for not finding you in time to keep you from getting shot. I was only a few minutes behind you. Had only just came outta the woods when that bullet whizzed by." she said not looking him in the face.
"You went looking for me? Why?" Daryl asked, now really confused. Even if anybody else in the camp could have tracked like he could, they wouldn't have.
"Dale told me that you had gone off looking for Sophia. After he told me that I got a bad feeling in my gut. I've always had a good sixth sense for trouble so when it comes a callin', I answer. Hasn't steered me wrong so far." she said still not looking at him.
She finished applying the medicine to both stitched up sides of the arrow wound, retightened the bandage, and got up. She picked up her discarded shirt from the floor and quickly put it back on.
"I'll pop by your tent sometime tomorrow to put some more of this stuff on those wounds. Can't keep depending on modern medicine now a days." she said quickly gathering her clothes and walking out of the room, and the house, without o much as a backwards glance.