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 here is chapter 18. Please let me know what you guys think of the story so far. I am always up for suggestions and any suggestions I like can be incorporated into the story. So please let know what you guys think so far. And don't worry, there is some real Daryl/Adrian action coming soon. Enjoy.
Chapter 18
The next morning everyone was sitting around the fire eating breakfast when a very uncomfortable Glenn got up. "So, ummm, the barn's full of walkers." he said rather quickly. Everyone became very quiet and tense.
Everyone then got up and made their way towards the barn. Shane, hostile as ever, was made sure that his opinion on the matter was heard. "We can't let this stand. We either gotta go in there and deal with this or we go." Shane said pacing.
"We're not gonna do anything until I talk to Hershal. This is his land and if we go in there to clear out the barn, I gotta talk him into it." Rick said trying to get through to Shane. "Hershal sees those things as people. Sick people. His wife and step-son are in there." Dale said to Rick. "You knew about this?" Rick demanded. "Yesterday." Dale said.
"You can talk to Hershal if you want, but he's already made it clear that he wants the barn, and it's contents, left alone. He thinks that they are just sick and that when a cure is made that they will all be back to normal." Adrian said from between Daryl and Kale.
"You knew too?!" Shane yelled at her. "The day Daryl got hurt. I went out hunting early that morning and noticed how secure the barn doors were. Awfully strange to have such tight security on a pair of barn doors when there are more zombies than human thieves walkin' around." she said not the least bit intimidated.
"Besides we can't leave. My daughter's still missing. We can't leave without her." Carol said. Adrian didn't know the woman but she did feel bad for her. And even though she hated Shane with every fiber of her being, she had to agree with his assessment that she might not be alive. There was a chance that she could still be out there, fighting to survive and just waiting to be found. But Adrian's hopes weren't very high of the little girl actually being found alive and well. But she would be damned if she would admit such a thing.
"Man even if Sophia is alive and she seen you the other day, she woulda ran in the other direction as fast as she could!" Shane yelled at Daryl. Daryl and Shane went to go for each other but Rick got in between them just in time. Adrian ran to help Rick out by wrapping her arms around Daryl's shoulders and pull him backwards.
For all of Adrian's fitness, upper body strength was not one of them. So even though she was somewhat holding Daryl back, it was really Rick who stopped the fight.
Daryl threw her arms off and took off back towards the camp. When Adrian made it back to camp she seen Daryl walking out of the tack room in the stables with a saddle. 'He's trying to get himself killed.' Adrian thought. She then seen Carol walk into the barn and figured that Daryl would be okay and went out in search of Dale.
Adrian walked up to the RV to see Andrea walking out of it. Not saying anything to each other, Adrian walked inside to find Dale deep in thought while looking at the bag of guns.
"I know where we can put them." she said quietly to the older man. Dale looked up, seeming shocked to see her. "What?" he asked a little confused.
"You want to hide them. I can read it in your face. I know where we can put them that they might be safe." she said. "What do you mean?" Dale asked as if he had no idea what she was talking about.
"The guns need to disappear to keep anything dangerous or stupid from happening. I knew that the moment I found out that Glenn told you about the walkers in the barn. Shane wants to keep us safe, fine, but he's not rational about it. All he sees is math. There are walkers in the barn and we have alot of fire power so therefore, in his mind, the problem is solved as long as the barn is cleared out. But it's not his call and if he keeps up his impulsiveness then he's going to get someone killed." she said still keeping her voice low.
"You want to hide the guns and I know where we can go." she said looking him in the eyes.
"Hey Glenn. Can you go get me some water?" Dale suddenly asked. Glenn left the top of the RV to go get Dale some water while Dale and Adrian grabbed the guns and took off to go and hide them.
They had been walking for about ten minutes in silence when Dale broke it.
"So why are you doing this? I mean you told Rick back in Atlanta that you wanted to become part of the group. But really, other than Carl, Kale, and occasionally Daryl, you never go out of your way to try to become part of the group. So why show me a place to hide the guns?" he asked.
"I don't like guns in general, thanks to my life before all of this. My childhood mostly. My father, who was not only a drunken bastard who liked to beat his only daughter, he was a murder. He killed my mother and then my grandfather after my grandfather took me away from him. I ran away from home when I was fifteen and never seen him again. I often hope that dozens of walkers attacked him and that he was took drunk to defend himself. I hope they ate everything, down to the bones of that evil bastard." she said getting quiet for a moment.
"There are alot of things I remember about my so called father but one of the things that I remember most about him is the cold look that always seemed to be in his eyes. He killed not only his wife and his own father, but he tried to kill me on a few occasions as well. And I'm starting to see that same look in Shane's eyes more and more every day. He thinks that he's hiding it but none of you have ever really looked into the eyes of a killer. It lessens when he looks at Lori or Carl but it's always there no matter what. I'm a part of the group but I like to stay on the outside, keep my eye on everybody. I notice things that I have no business knowing really. I spied on y'all for weeks when you were camped outside of Atlanta." she said looking back at Dale to see his expression.
"Weeks? Why would you possibly want to spy on us? We wouldn't even have known anything about you or Kale if it hadn't been for Daryl." Dale asked wanting to know more now that she seemed willing to talk.
"I knew you were no threat to me or Kale because you didn't know where we were at and as long as we were left alone, I didn't see any reason to make contact with you. But I didn't want to meet up with a member of your group without knowing who I was dealing with. I would mostly find a nice place high up in a tree and just watch you. I knew about how Carol's husband beat her and was a poor excuse of a man. Glenn was always the one sent to Atlanta for any supplies needed. I knew that Merle was a racist junkie redneck that expected everyone to jump on his command and that Daryl enjoyed getting out of that camp as much as possible. I knew about Lori and Shane, that is something I wish I could burn out of my memory. And I also know that Amy and Andrea were very close and that it was devastating for Andrea to have to shoot her sister." she told him.
Dale was amazed at how much the girl had learned about them when they hadn't even known that she was there. But he supposed that you learned alot about people in their natural habitat.
"I remember, back in Atlanta, that Kale said that you had shot a little boy that you were trying to save from the city because he had been bitten. Is that true?" he asked. She was quiet so long that Dale thought that she had just decided to ignore his question.
"Yes." she answered quietly.
Stopping in from of a large cyprus stump Adrian turned to look at Dale with an emotionless face.
"I've killed people Dale. Almost all of them after all this started. There was only one from before. But it was always for the safety of myself and those I was responsible for. They seen a lone woman and a small boy or a woman and a teenage boy and that they we were easy targets. Kill the boys, use me for their pleasure then kill me and take our stuff. But they underestimated me because I'm a small woman but as the saying goes "dynamite comes in small packages". Well they lit my fuse when they attacked me and mine and died for it. I'm not afraid to kill when I deem it necessary and only as a last resort. To protect everyone on that farm, the group and Hershal and his family, I will do what I have too. Hiding those guns will hopefully protect us for a short while longer." she said looking around.
"I'm going to keep a look out in case someone thought to have followed us or something." she said walking past Dale. She was a few dozen steps away when Dale called out to her. She turned to look at him.
"The one from before. The one you killed before all of this, who was it?" Dale asked. Adrian looked at the ground for a moment before she looked back up at him.
"The boy's father." she said turning without looking back at him.
Adrian had been looking around for the last five minutes for any signs of them being followed. She noticed a pair of boot prints overlapping her and Dale's track and swore as she headed back towards Dale. She seen Shane standing in front of Dale from her hidden position just behind the tree stump. "Don't make me shoot you Shane." Dale said. "That what you're gonna do if I don't leave Dale? Shoot me?" Shane asked moving to place his chest against the barrel of Dale's rifle.
"If I have to." Dale said, his voice a little shaky. Adrian gently pulled her gun out from the small of her back, held her gun up, and took a deep breath. "No you won't, Dale. Because you don't have the spine for it." Shane whispered. Adrian opened her eyes and loudly cocked her gun. Knowing that she had their attention she stepped out from behind the stump, barrel pointed at Shane's face.
"You may not think Dale has the stomach for it...but what about me Shane?
We've been havin' this little dance of ours for a little too long I think." she said slowly stalking towards Shane as Dale moved back.
"You may have been a cop, and probably a good one, before the world went to shit and everyone we know was eaten by dead people, but now..." she said giving him a slow once over.
"Now you're nothing but a cold, calculating, envious, and impulsive bully who wants to be in charge. And a murderer on top of it all." she said as she finally reached Shane. She knew that he could take the gun from her if he wanted. But she was also armed with more than just a gun and quick on her feet. And she knew that he seen the cold, calculating look in her eyes as she locked eyes with him.
"I know that look in your eyes. And I know you see it in mine as well because I've seen it in the mirror a time or two myself. So tell me Shane...will I pull this trigger on you if I think it will keep the others safe?" she whispered up at the ex-cop.
It was in that moment that Shane realized just how dangerous she could be. And she seen much more than she should. She tended to know things that she didn't have a right to know.
He had always underestimated her skills and now he seen the same look in her eyes that he had seen in his the night he had left Otis for dead. Shane knew that he would kill anyone and anything that stood in his way to keep him from protecting Lori and Carl. What he hadn't realized was just how far Adrian would go to protect whomever she seen as hers to protect as well. He would have to keep a closer eye out on her.
"Give me those damn guns." Shane whispered down at her, not loosing eye contact.
"Give him the guns Dale. He wants to play the hero, let him. But he has to live with the consequences of his actions. Which no doubt will turn out badly." Adrian said uncocking her gun and replacing it back in the waist of her pants.
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Adrian was hot on Shane's heels when they made it back to the house but she never said a word to him. She seen Daryl walking towards them. "What's this?" Daryl asked pointing towards the guns.
"You with me?" Shane asked holdng out a shotgun to Daryl, who took it. Adrian stopped when Shane started handing out the guns. She seen Daryl pump his shotgun and kept herself from groaning out loud.
Not only at the situation now getting out of hand but also because seeing Daryl with that shotgun was one of the sexist things she had seen since she had been practically eye raping him in the woods the day he cut open that walker to make sure it hadn't gotten Sophia.
She knew what Shane was going to stir up, so instead of paying attention to his stupid ass, she decided that now was as good a time as any to check him out while everyone's attention was on Shane and his ranting. He was wearing a grey sleeveless shirt, a pair of dark baggy jeans with that silly red rag hanging out of his back pocket, and his normal faded shoes. He was sweaty and dirty but he couldn't have looked better to not only her, but to her libido as well.
'Dammit, I need to get laid.' she thought practically stripping his clothes off and raping him with her eyes. She was damn lucky no one was looking at her at the moment.
"Oh shit." she heard T-Dog say in the middle of her Getting-Daryl-Alone-So-I-Can-Please-My-Vagina daydream. She seen everyone look out past the barn to see Jimmy. With Hershal and Rick behind him with walkers attached to poles. "Dammit. There's no stopping this now." she muttered as everyone took off running towards the barn to meet up with Rick, Hershal, and Jimmy.
She seen Kale among the crowd carrying his gun as well and ran after them. Too many people were talking to keep track of the conversation so Adrian just walked up to Kale who was standing beside Daryl, pointing their guns at the walkers.
When Shane pulled out his gun and fired three rounds into the walker that Hershal was holding Adrian looked over towards Carl who was in the arms of his mother.
"Shane! That's enough!" she heard Rick yell. "Damn right it's enough." Shane said walking up to the walker and putting a round in it's head. Hershal seemed to be in shock while everyone else was either scared to geared up for a fight. Then Shane ran towards the barn to rip the doors open to finish what was started.
Adrian shot another look towards Lori and Carl to see Lori pushing Carl behind her. After drawing their attention to the doors of the barn, Shane backed up and readied his weapon just as the walkers started pouring out. Shane started firing and then Andrea and T-Dog joined in. And then Daryl joined in, as did a torn Glenn after getting permission from Maggie to do so. And then Kale looked at her and then back to the walkers and stepped up beside Daryl and started firing as well.
Adrian then walked up to Rick who seemed a little in shock, who's walker had been shot by Shane in the middle of all the gunfire, but she kept her gaze upon the graveyard that was now the front of Hershal's barn.
"We knew it was going to happen eventually Rick. I just wished it hadn't been like this." she said still not looking at the former sheriff.
And then everyone heard another moan come from inside the barn. Everyone who had been involved in the shooting readied their guns while everyone else waited for the walker to come out. But none of them were prepared for the small body of the walker to come out.
"Sophia." Adrian whispered feeling all of the blood drain from her face.
The walker that used to be Sophia stumbled out of the barn growling and snapping and slowly making her way towards them. "Sophia." she heard Carol chant as she ran forwards. She was going to reach out and stop the woman but Daryl did by the time Adrian thought to move.
Everyone seemed horrified to see Sophia walking around as a walker. They had been so hopeful and been searching so hard, Daryl more than anybody. Carol was crying, crumbled into the dirt still calling Sophia's name with Daryl still holding her.
What Adrian didn't realize was that she was silently crying as well.
"Rick. You have to do it. She doesn't deserve this. Please." she whispered still looking at Sophia.
Rick then walked towards Sophia with his gun drawn but not raised. Stopping just a few yards in front of Sophia, Rick raised his gun, and then fired.
Sophia's now fully dead body crumbled to the ground.