Disclaimer- I do not own the Walking Dead or any of it's characters.
acetwolf94- Thank you, here's your more. Hope you enjoy it.
shadowoftheblackdeat- Never even crossed my mind to have Merle say that. Feel like I missed an opportunity. The little idea you gave me is in this one, I hope it's somewhat like you wanted it.
Credit to an idea used in this chapter goes to shadowoftheblackdeat. Thank you.
Enjoy :)
Danny's POV
7 months and 14 days.
I let out a small gasp of pain causing four pair of eyes to instantly land on me as I climb out the back of the truck. I stop mid way through lowering my foot to the floor and look at them all.
"I got kicked". The instant relief on all of their faces is obvious and is the one and only reason I try not to make a sound every time the baby moves or kicks, it worries them because they automatically think somethings wrong until I tell them what it is. I think they are completely on edge now that I'm over seven months pregnant.
I shut the car door and swing my bag onto my back but keep my bat at the ready. The street we're on is empty of any Walkers but we're still a little on edge with the fact that yesterday we went to stop at a house but it had some pretty obvious signs that someone was still living in it, or had been up until pretty recently. We got out of there pretty quickly and just kept travelling all night but we've finally had to stop as I really needed to get out of the damn car. The travel sickness hasn't gone away and now sitting down for too long makes my lower back ache something awful.
Sophia comes and stands beside me as Daryl turns to us three women. "You three stay out here, Merle and I are gonna check a couple of these buildings, see if there's anything of use left."
I sloppily salute him at the exact same time Sophia does it to. Although she stands to attention first making me grin.
"No, no", Merle comes charging forwards and pushes his way between the two of us, separating us. "Nope, not happenin'. She's already givin' birth to a baby her I don't want three of you". He points at Sophia. "Stay away from her".
Carol laughs out loud while I watch Daryl turn his head away trying to hide his smile.
"Aww is someone jealous that I'm a better role model than him?"
He glares at me. "Am I fuck. Ya ain't a role model, ya've turned her into a fuckin' smart arse".
"Hey, that is my daughter you are bad mouthing." Carol steps forward, arm crossed over her chest. Mama bear mode activated but Merle's already on a tangent.
"Yeah and ya wanna know what ya daughter did the other day. She rolled her fuckin' eyes at me".
Sophia lets out a humourless laugh, "Every time something comes out of your mouth it makes people role their eyes at you". She took the words right out of my mouth.
Merle points between the two of us, "See, you hear that. Disrespectful. How dare yo...
Daryl grabs a hold of the neck of Merle's top and yanks him backwards, effectively shutting him up. "Merle, shut up. Ya fuckin' outnumbered. One is the mum, the other is pregnant and she's", he nods at Sophia, "a fuckin' carbon copy of said pregnant women. Ya really wanna piss them all off 'cause if ya wanna keep goin' I ain't savin' your arse."
Merle remains still for a couple of seconds and then shrugs out of his brother's hold and stalks towards the building he want's to go in.
Daryl smirks at me before following after his brother who is mumbling to himself. As soon as Merle puts his hand on the door handle I know he's about to bypass all the ways we put into place to make sure we know what's inside a building when we open a door. Merle forcefully pushes the door open, the sound that comes out of Merle's mouth when the Walker suddenly appears before him is one of sheer panic and is almost laughable. My gun is out at the same time Daryl raises his crossbow but within seconds Merle fling his fist forward and punches the Walker straight in the face. He then immediately slams the door shut and turns to stare at us, I don't think I've ever seen Merle embarrassed before but the look he has on his face right now clearly reads, 'I can't believe I just did that'.
I laugh so hard. Harder than I have in a very long time.
"Shut up". He huffs at me.
I hold a hand up as my other one rests against my stomach. "Oh god, I think I'm gonna pee". Carol stands beside me with a hand over her mouth as she tries not to look at Merle.
Sophia leans in a little closer but she doesn't whisper. "Don't let him be a role model for your baby".
I laugh again. "Oh, that definitely won't be happening."
Daryl lets his crossbow drop down to his side. "You're a fuckin' idiot. Why the hell did ya just open the door for?" Merle just continues to stare at his brother, completely at a loss on what to say. Daryl sighs. "Maybe you should stay out 'ere, ain't trustin' you for shit now".
I accidently let out another chuckle which causes Merle to scowl at me. "You punched it in the face Merle. You panicked and punched it".
"Shut up princess. You'd 'ave probably screamed and did ya little freak out dance."
"I wouldn't have opened the door without knocking first. Daryl I don't think Merle should be allowed on door duty for a while". Daryl winks at me with the tiniest hint of a smirk.
Carol is walking back and forth across the street that Sophia and I are stood on. Sophia has her back to mine and is watching out behind me while I keep an eye on the road ahead. Daryl and Merle are inside a shop looking for anything of use, so far they've come up empty handed. This place has been scavenged through already, just like a lot of other towns we've been through. We're running out of places to go, the herds are keeping us trapped in and none of us know how long we have left before they pin us in too tight and we have no where else to go.
At first I think I imagine the sound that I'm hearing but when Carol stops walking I realise the music that is blaring is real, and it's getting closer. Carol comes over to join the two of us with her gun at the ready just as we spot the first car come round the corner. It's too late for the three of us to move, there's no way they haven't seen us not only that I don't want to leave our truck sat out here without protection. We are not losing everything we worked hard to get. I hold my palm out behind me hoping that either Daryl or Merle have heard the music and come to the window. They should stay put, stay hidden. We might need them.
There are four cars that pull to a stop in front of us and then nine men get out of those vehicles. A man from the front vehicle slowly shuts his door and then takes a couple of steps forward, I'm not holding my gun but Carol is, I put my hand on her arm just as she starts to raise it.
"You girls all alone?" Front man looks around as he asks us. Our truck is angled across the road and Daryl's bike is hidden behind it. Hopefully they don't spot it because if they do then Carol's gonna have to become a biker.
I put the tip of my bat on the ground and lean on the other end a little. "What does that mean?" Has he just got one look at us and thought, they can't have survived on their own, urgh.
"It means, is there any men here that are gonna jump out and ambush us".
I narrow my eyes at him but Carol full on scoffs. "Men!"
The man who is obviously the man in charge rolls his eyes a little. "She's clearly pregnant", He points at Sophia, "That's a child". He does a gesture with his hand towards Carol, "And then there's you. Don't exactly look like you'd survive out here without some help. No offense".
Some taken. "We do pretty well on our own thanks, we don't need anyone to ambush you." I wave my bat a little in front of me, "So do you mind moving on, we were here first".
He remains quiet, staring at the three of us in turn before just setting his eyes on me. Finally he sighs. "I just don't believe you. So I'm going to have to politely ask that you get on your knees and hand over those weapons." He pulls out his gun as he takes a step closer to us. From what I can see only a couple of his group are holding guns, most of the others are holding melee weapons.
I gesture for Sophia to put her knife and gun on the floor and then to get to her knees, Carol does the same. I lay my bat on the ground and pull my knife out it's holder and lay that down to, but I don't remove my gun. My gun is attached to the makeshift bat holder on my back and I'm still wearing my hoodie. I think the gun is pretty camouflaged, they'll only find it if they actually search.
With Carol's help I make a show of struggling to get down on to my knees, I see the flicker of concern in the mans eyes but then he blinks and it's gone. Maybe he isn't that bad.
He comes over to us and picks up the weapons and moves them back out of our reach and he doesn't pat us down, instead he does a quick glance over everybody probably to see if anything sticks out.
"My names James" He looks behind him at his men quickly. "We ain't bad guys, we ain't gonna do anything to hurt you I just don't believe you don't have a group somewhere. So we keep you as our hostages" He makes the word sound like a slur that he hates to say. "Until we're certain we're safe".
"Well you won't be safe for long", he looks directly at me assuming I'm about to cop to a hidden group. "You came here blaring out music. It won't be long before the Walkers start showing up. Ooh," I point behind their cars. "There's one now".
James nods at one of his men who walks over to it with a crowbar.
I'm not going to lie I am really conflicted. Are these guys just genuinely worried about their safety because of a possible ambush which I really do get. If there was just three women stood in the middle of the road doing absolutely nothing I would be thinking it's a possible trap to. Or is this all a trick. Are they just wanting to make sure we're definitely alone before stealing all of our supplies. Is this relatively polite attitude just a façade?
"James"! One of his guys shouts his name urgently.
James turns at the call of his name, as soon as his eyes are off of me I pull out my gun, get back to my feet and have it pointed straight against the side of his head. He freezes so I reach out and take his own gun out of his hand.
The guy that called James hasn't noticed the new situation and pulls someone from the back seat of their vehicle. The man drops the body onto the floor and then looks up at James. As soon as he realises the situation has now changed he slowly reaches for the gun he has in a holster on his hip. I load a round into the chamber and push it further against James' temple. James holds his hands up to his men, silently telling them not to move and hopefully telling them no do anything stupid.
Carol and Sophia rise up beside me but it isn't them that speak.
"Put ya weapons on the ground". Daryl's voice sounds loud against the dead silence it was a second a go.
My god does James look pissed. His eyes narrow and one side of his lip pulls up in a sneer but he gives the nod for his men to put all their weapons down.
I flick my eyes quickly over to the guy not moving on the ground. "What happened to him?"
"He had cancer. Look this has all been a misunderstanding. Ya'll gotta let us..." James takes the tiniest of steps.
"Don't move", Merle's thunderous voice stops James. "Or I let her shoot".
James tries to see the two men who have come out of nowhere but he doesn't seem to dare move his head. "You don't underst..."
"No, you don't understand. Ya'll put my pregnant wife in danger. I ain't got a problem with lettin' her shoot all you fuckin' arseholes". Not gonna lie, and it's completely inappropriate timing, but I love the way he just called me wife.
"I know. I'm sorry, this wasn't, we didn't mean harm but you have to believe me. We can't leave him lying there. He'll turn and he could hurt someone".
What? "You said he had cancer, is that not how he died?" If this is some lie to get us to lower our weapons he could at least be consistent with the story.
"Yeah but he'll..." James head suddenly turns my way, completely ignoring the gun still pressed into his head. He stares at me, eyebrows pulled down in confusion and then all of a sudden they shoot up. "You don't know".
Carol steps closer, her arm pressing into mine. "Know what?"
"We all turn, we're all infected whether we're bit or not."
My baby.
My arm drops instantly to my side as I take a few steps back in shock. No, no. Everything disappears around me as my breathing picks up, I'm fully aware my head is shaking but I can't seem to stop it. The gun is pulled from my hand and then suddenly Daryl is all I see. His hands rest against either side of my head as he forces me to look at him. His lips are moving but I can't hear him, I can't focus on it.
My baby. My baby could tear me apart from the inside or I could rip it apart if I don't make it through.