Disclaimer: I do not own anything Walking Dead related. The only things I lay claim to are my OC's. Anything you recognize from the show or comics does not belong to me.

Chapter 44

Daryl decided to look around for Adrian after discovering no one knew where she was. She had to be within the fences. After looking in their cell he found none of her clothes missing, her bow and arrows were where she had placed them the day before, as was her knife. But her gun was missing.

Daryl thought it odd that Adrian would wonder off with her gun but not her bow or knife. Everyone knew how she felt about guns, so why only her gun? Daryl got his gun and knife and decided to look around inside first. She wasn't in any of the cell blocks, so that left the tombs.

Daryl was on his way to the tombs when he was stopped by the man Adrian had brought in a few months before, Luke, who asked to join him. Daryl wasn't all that happy about the company but had no real reason to say no. Besides, knowing Adrian, he could probably use the help when he found her.

They had been searching for about fifteen minutes before Luke broke the silence. "So, is it usual for Adrian to just wonder off without telling anybody where she's going?" he asked Daryl. "Depends on what she's going to do, I guess." Daryl answered lowly, cautiously making his way down the hall.

"Such as?" Luke asked. "Such as going outside the fences to kill walkers without backup. Or just straight up running off into the woods to go on a walker killin' spree." Daryl answered. "I've seen her outside the fences a time or two. I just always assumed somebody knew what she was doing." he said.

"Oh, we know. We just don't say anything about it." Daryl said turning down into another hallway. "Isn't that dangerous though? I mean, why haven't you or the council make her stop?" Luke asked, sounding confused as to why none of them had thought of the idea long before.

"Have you met her? We all learned long ago that you can tell her to not do something all you want but she'll damn well do it anyway. Woman is too damn stubborn for her own good." Daryl said. "How long have you guys known each other? You're original group, I mean." Luke asked.

"Started just outside Atlanta. A large group of us, maybe thirty or so, were camped out in the woods. Adrian and Kale were in their own camp not far from us. I would see their tracks in the woods around our camp every so often. Then one day Carl wondered off and got lost. Adrian found him in a tree surrounded by walkers. She took him back to her camp." he said.

"Why didn't she just bring him straight back? Didn't she know that Carl belonged to Rick?" Luke asked. "Rick hadn't shown up then. Carl and his mom thought Rick was dead. About two days went by before we found Carl. He was out in the woods picking food off the ground when we found him. Adrian showed up and pointed her bow at us, me and another guy from our group." Daryl said pausing to listen.

Not hearing anything he continued. "Well she sent Carl back with us but told us not to try to find her or Kale. Said she would be by, since we had the closest water source. Well we tried to find them anyway, not trusting them. She knew, of course." Daryl said.

"What doesn't she know?" Luke asked sarcastically. "Then, one night when she and Kale were close by for water, they heard our camp being attacked by a small herd of walkers and came to help out. Rick, who had shown up a few days before, asked her to join us. A few days later we met Hershel, Maggie, and Beth. All been together ever since." Daryl said turning into another hallway, making their way deeper into the tombs.

"How long ago was that?" Luke asked. "About a year ago, give or take." he answered. Another few minutes of silence went by when Daryl heard a slight shuffling of feet down the hallway they were fixing to turn down. Daryl turned his head around the corner and seen Adrian standing in the middle of the hallway.

Her back was facing them and from what he could see in the dim lighting, her hair was a slightly tangled mess and she was still wearing just the long sleeve she had slept in the night before. Luke scrapped his boot along the floor too loudly, which startled Adrian.

She quickly turned in their direction and quickly fired her gun. Daryl took cover back around the corner when he heard the gun go off, hearing the bullet hit a wall somewhere. "Damn crazy ass woman!" Daryl yelled. The silence was deafening. Daryl heard her pant heavily before she weakly called out. "Daryl?"

Daryl slowly checked around the corner to make sure she wasn't going to shoot him in the face. He seen her pointing the gun at the floor, but knowing her, that could quickly change. He and Luke walked the short distance down the hallway and looked at her.

She was still pale, he could tell that even in such low lighting. Her hair looked a little wet, most likely from sweat. She was still panting slightly. Her gun was shaking a little which meant her hands were as well. And no shoes. Or pants.

"Adrian, what the hell you doin' down here? How long you been down here?" Daryl asked her, gently taking her gun, which she easily gave him. She scrunched her brows, as if trying to think of the answer. "I don't know. The last thing I remember was you putting me in the bed and then going on the run." she answered.

"That was yesterday mornin', Adrian." Daryl told her, as if she should remember. "I don't remember. All I know is that my head feels fuzzy and I'm tired." she said, starting to look unstable. Daryl tucked both of their guns into the waist of his pants and picked Adrian up bridal style.

He knew from the way she had been swaying around that she wasn't going to make it back to their bunk of her own.

TWDTWDTWDTWD

Adrian was just starting to dose off in their bed when she and Daryl heard gunshots. Adrian jerked awake and looked at Daryl, who was looking out of their cell door. Daryl jerked up off the bed and grabbed his crossbow.

When Daryl had jumped off the bed Adrian sat up was crawling towards the end of the bed when Daryl quickly turned to her. "Stay." he said pointing a finger at her. "But I can help." she said as she crawled off the bed. "I said stay here dammit." Daryl yelled as he ran out of the door and down the stairs.

"I'm not some dog who blindly follows your orders jackass!" she growled as she grabbed her gun and quickly stumbled out of their cell and down the stairs. Adrian was just inside the door that lead outside when she heard Daryl yell "Walkers in the cell block!". Adrian heard Rick's voice ask something back but didn't hear his answer.

Adrian started to get winded half way to D block but kept lightly jogging. She wasn't far behind the others but she did hear a lot of gunfire in the cell block. Everything had just went quiet when Adrian reached the entrance to D block. Adrian realized as she leaned against the bars leading into D block that she still didn't have any pants on and that her hair was still down, but at the moment all she cared about was breathing correctly.

Rick, Daryl, Hershel, Dr. Caleb, and Bob were looking at the body of a walker that had been locked in his cell upstairs. "No bites. No wounds. I think he just died." Rick said to no one in particular. "Horribly too. Pleurisy aspiration." Dr. Caleb said looking at the body.

"Choked to death on his own blood. Caused those blood trails down his face." Hershel said. "I've seen them before. On a walker outside the fences." Rick told them. "I saw them on Patrick too." Daryl said.

Dr Caleb explained to them how pressure had caused them to bleed out of their eyes, ears, mouth, and nose. "It's a sickness from the walkers?" Bob asked. "No, most likely an aggressive flu strain." Caleb said. "Somebody locked him in just in time." Hershel said. "Nah, Charlie locked himself up. Used to sleepwalk. Hell he was just eating barbecue yesterday. How can somebody die in a day from a cold?" Daryl asked.

"I had a sick pig. It died quick. Saw a sick boar in the woods." Rick said. "Pigs and birds. That's how these things spread in the past." Hershel said. "We need to do something about those hogs." Hershel told Rick. "Maybe we got lucky. Maybe these two cases are it." Caleb said. "I haven't seen anybody get lucky in a long time." Bob told them.

"Bugs like to run through tight quarters. Doesn't get much tighter than this." Bob said. "All of us in here. We've all been exposed." Hershel told them. "Speaking of exposed, I heard you found Adrian this morning. Is she doing any better?" Hershel asked Daryl.

"A little pale and tired. I left her in our cell." Daryl said. "Well, she didn't stay there." Bob said turning around to look down at Adrian, who was still holding up the door to D block. "What, you think that she might have this too?" Daryl asked them.

"She is sick." Rick said. "Yeah, but she's been sick for longer than a day. I mean if she had what Charlie and Patrick had wouldn't she have died by now?" Daryl asked. "Get her back to your cell and I'll come look at her." Caleb said. Nodding, Daryl headed down the stairs to his extremely stubborn girlfriend.

"I thought I told you to stay in the damn bed and rest." Daryl said as he walked up to Adrian, Caleb a few steps behind him. "I'm not a damn dog you can tell to stay put." she panted out. "Shut up and let's get you back to bed. Doc's gonna take a look at ya." Daryl said taking her gun from her and putting his arm around her waist to help her walk back to their bunk.

TWDTWDTWDTWD

When they got back to their bunk Daryl helped her onto their bed and moved aside so Caleb could look at her. He checked her pulse, eyes, throat, and listened to her breathing all while asking her questions. "How long have you been feeling bad?" Caleb asked. "A little over a week I guess. At first I would get nauseous, haven't felt like eating much. Then the headaches started." she said.

"Tell me about the headaches." Caleb said as he checked her pulse. "They start out pretty mild. A dull ache at my temples and then after a few hours I feel like my head is gonna explode." she explained. "And the naeusea?" he asked. "It varies. Sometimes it's just mild discomfort and other times I'm just waiting to throw up everywhere." she said.

"How come this is the first time I'm hearing about this?" Daryl asked. He knew that she hadn't been feeling good but he didn't know that it was that bad for her. "You had enough to worry about with the run, I didn't want to burden you with my problems." she told him.

"Well I think you're just a little malnourished and dehydrated but other than that I think you'll be okay." Caleb said as he stood up. "Thanks Doc. I'll come see you if I need anything else." she told him as he walked out.

"So, are you going to tell me what's going on?" she asked as she stretched out on their bed. "Charlie and Patrick are dead." he told her. " I seen a lot of dead people in that block. What makes them special?" she asked, sighing as she closed her eyes.

"They weren't bit." he said. Adrian opened her eyes and looked at Daryl. " Well we are all infected with the virus that turns us into walkers, so what killed them?" she asked. "Caleb said that they choked to death on their own blood. Both of them dead within twenty-four hours." he told her.

"And you had Caleb come check on me in case I was sick with whatever they got?" she asked. Daryl didn't say anything. "I'm not stupid Daryl. I can add one plus one." she said, turning in his direction. "I know you ain't stupid. And I doubt you got whatever they had. You've been sick for longer than a day." he told her.

"Daryl." Adrian and Daryl looked from where Daryl's name had been called to see Glenn standing in their doorway. "Hershel called for a counsel meeting." Glenn told him. Daryl turned back to look at Adrian. "Stay here and get some rest." Daryl told her as he leaned down to give her a quick kiss on her forehead.

"I'll let you know what's goin' on when I get back." he said as he turned and left with Glenn.

As Daryl and Glenn were walking out of the cell, they heard Adrian cough.