Disclaimer- I do not own the Walking Dead.
FoxLix, Weida, Volkov666, KEZZ1, Poty90, acetwolf94 and CD819. Thank you for the lovely reviews on my last chapter.
Volkov 666- Yes, that is exactly what I was insinuating with the herd. And thank you so much for the great review, I love that you love this story so far.
It's a short one but I just wanted to get a chapter out.
WOW, this chapter was so difficult to write which is why it took so long. I have plenty of ideas for their adventures through the winter months but I can't fill every chapter with dilemmas or action. I need to have some filler chapters, and I'm afraid this is the best I could come up with.
Danny's POV
It's been seven days since we left the farm and we think we've finally found somewhere where we can stay for more than a couple of days. It's a house but this house is set back from the road and has a 5ft wall that goes all the way around. The person who lived here liked their privacy. The gate at the back is just solid metal that has plants growing all along it, I doubt the previous owner used it very much. The front gate is just your generic gate, this is the pretty much the only weak spot this place has, although I'm not fooled in to thinking something won't go wrong, they always find a way.
We made sure not to unpack everything from our car but Daryl took note of the bag I always have and has decided to make everyone pack a getaway bag, just in case we can't use the vehicles to escape. Which, touch wood, I hope never happens.
The sun is still up and despite it being cold outside we're all still out in the front garden. Sophia and I are fully wrapped up for this weather both wearing scarfs, hats and gloves. Carol, Daryl and Merle aren't as dressed for this. They're just wearing jackets which I have scolded the brothers about, if they get ill they are not allowed to be babies about it because it will be their fault, and they won't have my sympathy.
Merle is finally teaching Sophia some moves, I'm helping. I'm demonstrating and then she's giving it ago. Carol is also watching, having a go every now and then. Merle has forbidden me from actually hitting him because apparently I hit too hard.
I step back for a breather, I don't wanna sweat under all these layers. I move my attention over to Daryl, he's sat on an old crate of some kind. Stuffing my hands in my pockets I make my way over to him.
I step up behind him and slide my arms around him and rest them against his chest. I kneel on the back of the box and press against his back.
He doesn't move a muscle. "What ya doin'?"
I rest my chin on his shoulder. "I'm keeping you warm, sharing my body heat." I chuckle to myself. "In fact I remember someone telling me it'll work better if we're both naked". He makes a noise and turns his head slightly so I can see the small tilt up of his lips.
After a beat of silence I tighten my arms in a gentle squeeze. "What are you thinking about?"
"Nothin' just watchin'"
"Don't lie. You've been quiet all day, more than usual."
He sighs and brings up one of his hands to lay against mine. "We gonna have our work cut out to survive this winter. With herds that big, it ain't gonna help".
"But we have plans in place". When we arrived here the first thing we did was get maps of the area. Picked a couple of places where we should all meet if we get separated. We're also gonna go out every day and keep watch on the area, see if anything changes. Advance warning.
"Plans fall through".
I detach myself from him and step in front of him making him crane his neck back to look up at me. "Not these ones. You're the one that told me we could do this back at the farm. You're not allowed to change your mind now cause if you stop believing we can do this then it ain't gonna work." I don't want to put this pressure on him but he's the one that makes these plans that work, he knows how to survive and if he stops thinking we can do this then so will I. I'm already hanging on by a thread. I'm trying so hard not to regret our decision to leave. I don't want to regret it.
"Ya 'ave way too much faith in me".
"Nope, I have the right amount of faith in you." I squat down and rest my arms across his thighs. "We gotta get you some better winter clothes though. This jacket isn't enough".
He lets out some air, "Fine" He nods his head towards the other three. "How's that goin'?"
"Like I knew it would. She's pickin' it up pretty quickly. Merle's teaching her how to take down a walker at her size". I smile up at him. "I was helping but Merle didn't trust that I wouldn't accidently hit him." He chuckles. I shift my weight with a groan. "You've gotta help me up, getting down is the easy part. Getting up is a different story".
He scoots back on the crate and then pulls me up to sit on the small space he created between his legs. He rest his arms on either side of me on my thighs. "We should find some playin' cards, we got some long nights ahead of us and it's gonna get borin' pretty quickly".
"What about board games, I can see you playing Cluedo, Monopoly. Collecting your little hotels".
He scoffs, "Ya think Merle can play those?"
"Yeah you right. He'll have that board ripped to pieces and burned first time somethin' doesn't go his way. Cards is a better idea. Didn't everyone own a deck. I mean we had some in our house and we never used them. There's probably some in the house". I get to my feet.
"Where ya goin'?"
"To find some cards. You coming?"
He moves his attention to the gate, I can see the wheels turning in his head.
"There are two more people over there", I gesture towards Merle and Carol with my head. "Who are more than capable of keeping an eye on our surroundings. We can survive for 15 minutes without you specifically being on watch.". He gives me the tiniest of nods so I grab his hand and force him to his feet.
"Oi, Shithead. Pay attention".
Merle just flips Daryl off but we know he's gonna do what he's been asked.
I shut the cupboard door and open the drawer that was above it, nothing in there either. I found us a deck of cards ages ago but once I started rootling through the house I couldn't stop. I haven't found anything that interesting or anything that's useful. I smell the perfume that's on the dresser and wrinkle my nose. A little overpowering and way too sweet, definitely not my cup of tea. I place it back where I found and move on to the bed which I immediately flop backwards on to. Yeah, I'm sleeping on this tonight.
I sit up when my name is called.
"Get ya arse down 'ere".
I appear at the top of the stairs and stare down at Merle. "What?"
"Grubs ready".
"Okay but I bagsy the master bedroom". He just rolls his eyes and then leads the way back out front.
There's a little fire going and they have chairs sat around it. Sophia has a blanket wrapped around her and there's also one sat on the only remaining empty chair. As I sit down half a can of chili is placed in my hands, the heat from the can seeping through my gloves. It feels great.
I scoop a little bit out on the edge of my spoon and put it in my mouth. Urgh, I eat it but it tastes disgusting. I lift the can up and take a quick look at the bottom where the date is stamped, but it's still in date, plus with can it really shouldn't matter.
"Are you okay?"
I cast my eyes over to Carol who has stopped with her fork half way to her mouth and is staring at me.
I try another mouthful but I can't, nope, not happening.
"This tastes funny, I think it might have gone off".
Daryl takes it from me, and I immediately miss the heat. He gives it a sniff. "Smells fine. Ya sure?"
"Yeah, it's vile. I basically survived off canned chili while I was at Uni so I know what it should taste like and that ain't it".
He turns the can around in his hands. "Can looks fine, maybe it wasn't store properly. Merle maybe ya shouldn't eat it either". Merle has the other half of the chili in a little bowl, we're starting to really ration our food because nobody knows how bad of a winter it's going to be.
Merle frowns at me. "Ain't nothin' wrong with it. This shit tastes good." He follows it up by shoving a huge spoonful into his mouth.
Daryl hands my can over to his brother. "Ya've got an iron stomach, used to eatin' shit. If ya get sick don't expect me to feel sorry for ya".