Disclaimer: I do not own The Walking Dead. I also have no claim on any pop culture references that I may use throughout my writings. I only own my OCs. Enjoy the read.
0o0o0
~103 ~ 3987
Isabell quickly managed to pull her arm out of Daryl's grasp. She didn't really want him to be protective of her. Isabell handled things. At the act, Isabell received a surprised look from Daryl. She could tell, though, that he was angry. Isabell didn't know if he was angry at her for going in the street with Glenn or if it was anger towards himself for letting her get taken. She had, honestly, hoped that it wasn't either option. Neither was anything that could have been changed. But Isabell knew Daryl. She knew that he'd probably be blaming himself. Isabell knew him well enough to know that.
The two stared at each other for a long while without saying anything. They tried to figure things out in their heads because they started to shout stupid, unnecessary words at the other.
Just as Daryl opened his mouth to say something to her, he was stopped.
Glenn was standing by a door that was off to the side of the room, different from where they came. "Iz!" He called.
Isabell turned her head, but she could feel Daryl's eyes, burning a hole in her head.
Glenn waved them over, wanting Isabell and Daryl to follow him and the rest of the group.
Isabell nodded and slowly jogged over to Glenn, not bothering with any explanation to Daryl. When she caught up with Glenn, she heard Daryl's heavy footsteps following after.
Daryl was mumbling some sort of nonsense to himself in his frustration. He wanted to talk to Isabell about what happened in the alley. Why he was so focused on the kid, asking him about Merle, and not stopping her from getting taken.
Isabell didn't want to talk about it anymore. She was perfectly okay with admitting that she had let her guard down for a second. Isabell had practically let herself get taken. But she was alive, and she was with Daryl and the rest of his small group. Isabell knew that this wouldn't be the place to talk about it anyway. They would need to be alone and away from everyone to truly get something out of Daryl.
The group was led into a small room with the leader, G.
Isabell, not wanting to include herself in whatever conversation was to come, sat herself in a chair close to the door.
Daryl came in seconds later and moved a stray chair right next to hers.
Isabell rolled her eyes as she felt his arm go to the back of the chair and around her shoulders.
What Daryl did next surprised even himself, but it managed to calm Isabell down significantly. He hooked his thumb under the neck of her shirt and rubbed the digit across her shoulder. This was something Daryl always did when he knew that Isabell was stressed out.
Isabell looked to him, shocked by the gesture.
Daryl shrugged and looked to Rick and the leader, listening in on their talk.
Rick stood in front of G. "How about the rest of your crew?" Rick asked. "Who are they?"
G shrugged. "The Vatos come to check on their family. Then, they see how great things are and most stay." He said. "It's a good thing, too. We need all the manpower we can get. We've encountered a lot of people who claimed to just be passing through." G admitted. "The worst kind, the plunderers, they would take this place by force without a second thought."
"That's not who we are." Rick stated boldly.
"How was I to know?" G questioned, with his brows pushed together. "My people get attacked in the alley — "
"Ours did, too." Daryl argued, tightening his grip on Isabell's shoulder.
Isabell tried to shrug him off, slightly wincing at the pinch.
Rick shot a look to Daryl, signaling to him that he needed to calm down.
Daryl shrugged and slumped back into the chair.
"We were attacked." G continued. "You showed with Miguel hostage. Appearances." He said with a shrug.
Daryl took his arm from Isabell's shoulder and stood, taking steps towards the leader. "Well, it appeared to us you was gonna throw your hostage off a buildin'."
Isabell tried to grab his shirt to stop him from going further, but the fabric slipped through her fingers.
"We didn't." G stressed.
Isabell got up and grabbed Daryl's arm, pulling him back. "Daryl, stop. I'm fine."
Daryl's flexed arm relaxed under Isabell's grip, and he followed her back to their seats.
T-Dog rubbed his hand down his face. "Guess the world has changed."
G shook his head at the notion. "No, it's the same as it ever was." He said. "The weak get taken. So, we do what we can to protect these people." G explained. "The lowest windows are barred. All but one entrance is welded shut. The Vatos go out and scavenge what they can. The perimeter is watched twenty-four hours. Vatos work on cars to get us all out of the city, but most can't go to the bathroom by themselves."
As Isabell listened to his monologue, her heart broke for these people. Abuela had been so nice to her. Isabell couldn't imagine her own parents or grandparents being left to rot in this. No matter how awful her relationships with her parents had been. Isabell was glad that they had all died before the world turned to shit.
"Everyone here looks to me." G told the group solemnly. "I don't even know why. I was only a custodian."
Rick cleared his throat. "Because they can." He assured the leader. "It's all they've got." Rick tightened the grip on the shotgun in his head, but eventually handed it to G.
Isabell quickly tried to stand from her chair to argue, but Daryl's arm over her shoulder had pushed her right back into the seat. She gave him a firm look, telling him to let her go, but he wouldn't. Isabell shook her head.
Rick pulled the sheriff bag from around his body and began to empty some of it onto the desk next to him.
Once the weaponry was split, the leader thanked Rick again. He started to lead everyone towards the exit of the compound.
The bag Rick held now had a significantly less amount of guns.
Isabell scoffed at the sight. She believed that these were nice people, but Daryl's group needed the guns and ammo more. They had stitched up Isabell's leg and let her go free without argument, but she couldn't disregard their attempt to push her off of a building and their assault on Daryl.
The five of them had been walking back towards the city for a while now and it was slowly getting closer to sunset.
Isabell squeezed her eyes shut, trying to wake herself up. When she opened them, she noticed that she was far ahead of the group as they all walked the deserted streets. Isabell's anger had gotten the best of her, and she had been walking faster than the others. Thinking she should rejoin their cluster, Isabell slowed her breath and her footfalls, letting them the group catch up. She wanted to ask Daryl how he was holding up since being bludgeoned with a baseball bat, but she couldn't get up the courage.
"Admit it." Glenn said, breaking the silence that had come over them. "You only came back to Atlanta for that hat."
Rick shook his head. "Don't tell anybody." He requested.
Isabell scoffed. "What? Don't tell anyone that you handed over most of what you had in that bag?" She asked. "I risked my life for that stupid duffle and you're just handin' shit out like candy."
"It wasn't even half."
"All for what?" Daryl asked, chiming in. "A bunch of ol' farts who are gonna die off anyhow?"
Isabell rolled her shoulder back, feeling slightly stiff. "Sure, those people need protection, but how long do you think they'll need protecting?"
"How long do any of us?" Rick debated.
Isabell let out a laugh. "Well, I got lots longer than them, that's for sure." Isabell looked to the men and slowed when she'd noticed they'd halted. "What?"
"Oh, my God." Glenn gasped, a shocked look on his face.
"Where the hell is our van?" Daryl asked to no one in particular.
Isabell rolled her eyes. "You guys left the getaway car out in the open?" She criticized, hands on her hips.
Daryl's eyes shot to Isabell. He opened his mouth to say something, but Glenn spoke first.
"We left it right here." The youngest guy said. "Who would take it?"
"Merle." Rick answered as if it were fact.
Daryl turned to Rick. "He's gonna be takin' some vengeance back to camp." Daryl admitted, squinting his eyes as the sun beamed down on him.
Isabell groaned. "Seriously?" She said quietly. Unfortunately, though, she hadn't been quiet enough because four pairs of eyes shot to her. "There's just — there's a lot of drama with you people. It was so much easier on her own." Isabell said.
"Then go be on yer own." Daryl said.
Isabell was taken aback by his comment. She shook her head. "You don't mean that."
"Maybe I do." Daryl shrugged. "I don't know what's going on with you, but you been a real bitch since we got you back."
"Are you fuckin' kiddin' me, Daryl?"
"This isn't the Izzy I know." Daryl insisted.
"I've been on my own for a month without accident." Isabell told him. "The second I group of with you lot, I get kidnapped. I was more afraid bein' locked up at the old folks home than I would have been alone in the woods."
"We went for ya, didn't we?" Daryl reminded. "We saved yer ass."
"Just like when I got stuck in that herd?" Isabell asked, words struggling to get out behind her clenched teeth.
It was at this point that Rick, T-Dog, and Glenn seemed to notice that Isabell and Daryl's argument was about much more than Isabell's attitude. The three men stepped away from the fighting couple and tried to formulate their own plan to get home.
Daryl shook his head. "I told ya. Merle said you was dead."
"Merle is a jackass who's had it out for me since we were kids." Isabell recalled. "Christ, you were so busy questioning your hostage about your brother, you didn't even see those bastards grab me. All during this, Merle was stealing yer car and headin' back to camp."
"If you didn't go out in the street, I wouldn't've had ta worry 'bout you bein' grabbed."
"It wouldn't've happened if I was alone." Isabell whispered harshly.
Daryl took a couple angry steps closer to Isabell, making her cringe back away from him.
Isabell didn't know what he was doing. Daryl's never hurt her before, but apples don't normally fall far from their trees. It scared Isabell to think of what he was capable of.
Daryl noticed her fear and reached for her arm, softly, feeling her jump underneath his touch. "Hey." He sighed.
After opening one of her eyes, Isabell saw that Daryl wasn't angry and his hand hung loosely around her wrist. She swallowed her fear and took a deep breath in.
"We just need calm." Daryl insisted.
Isabell looked around, finding the others. They each had their gaze on anything that wasn't the two of them.
"You can't go." Daryl said, bringing Isabell's attention back to him.
"You just said that you wanted me to."
Daryl shrugged. "I was angry." He told her. "You can't go. I just got you back."
Isabell pulled herself from his grasp gently. "You may have found me, but you didn't get me back." She shook her head. "I know we kissed, but it was, uh, a moment of weakness. I don't want any sort of….thing going on between us."
Daryl shrugged his hands into his pockets, wishing she would say anything but that.
"I'm not sure I can trust Rick." Isabell said, getting off the hard topic that neither of them wanted to talk about. "Not with his decision about the weapons. I'm not sure I can do this group thing."
Daryl sighed. "So, we go back to camp. Stay a night, for rest. Get Merle. If you still wanna be alone in the mornin', we'll go."
"I'll want to go."
Daryl nodded, not sure if he believed her.
Isabell groaned internally. She didn't want to be part of a group. There were so many things to worry about and more mouths to feed. Isabell didn't need all of that. She did have a caring nature about her, but she knew that she would try to make sure that everyone was well-fed before she was. Being on her own for so long, Isabell had managed to care for herself. She had eaten and was full on the nights she did some hunting.
Daryl and Isabell joined the three other men, ready to head back to the camp.
Rick has asked what their plan was. He liked the idea of them going back with them, and he hoped that they would stay. Rick seemed to think that staying with a group was the best plan in this world.
The group began to trek their way back to the campground.
Daryl and Isabell held themselves a little farther behind from the rest. Neither of them talked, but with their outbursts towards each other, what would they say?
After about an hour, Isabell ventured to the edge of the road in search of small branches and a stick that she could make a bow and some arrows from. She needed to keep herself busy. Isabell could feel Daryl's eyes on her, knowing that he had her back if any walkers came around. She broke off a branch from a tree that she deemed would work for her bow. With the string in her pocket from the last bow that she broke, Isabell made a new weapon. When she finished, she slung the weapon over her body and used her back pocket as her quiver while she carved out arrows as they walked.
"'Member how to do that?" Daryl asked.
Isabell looked up at him for a second as she walked back towards him. "Are you kiddin'? I remember everythin' you taught me." She responded, proudly. "It's the only way that I woulda made it on my own." Isabell shrugged.
Daryl nodded.
Not being around him for so long and the silence between them now, made Isabell realize how much the two of them used to talk. Seeing him, Isabell could tell he may have closed himself off.
"How's yer leg doin'?" Daryl asked.
Isabell had actually forgotten about the injury and it took her a moment to respond. "It's fine now. Don't hurt since it's stitched." She looked over at Daryl, but he looked away. Isabell could tell that he was blaming himself. "Since I knew yer beatin' yerself up over it — "
"I ain't beatin' myself up over nothin'." Daryl said defensively.
Isabell nodded, though she knew otherwise. "Well, either way. It's not yer fault that I got taken, or that I got caught in that mob." She shared. "Obviously I have a bad habit of letting my guard down at really stupid moments."
"You shouldn't've gone out in the street in the first place."
Isabell shook her head, not knowing how Daryl was still so blown up about it. "I don't want to argue anymore. Especially about this. What's done is done." She returned her full attention to the arrow that she was carving.
"Fine." Daryl snapped, taking quick steps to catch up with the group.
Isabell stayed behind the rest. She didn't know them, and she didn't want to. If her and Daryl were going to bail in the morning, there was no point in getting attached.
It got dark rather quickly. Rick had decided that each of them should be carrying a gun and passed them out.
Isabell didn't want to take the weapon, but she did. She didn't like using guns anymore. They were too loud, too attention grabbing. Another thing that Isabell wasn't too pleased of was that the five of them started jogging. The new world they were in was much more dangerous at night.
Daryl discreetly started to slow his stride so that Isabell was in front of him.
Isabell hated when Daryl played alpha male and thought that she had to be protected. Trying to avoid the fight, Isabell ignored the action and let him have his paranoia. Now that the group was jogging, though, the wound on her leg was starting to sting. Isabell felt herself slow down. She couldn't slow too much with Daryl behind her. Isabell knew that he would start to worry, so she pushed through the pain, ignoring the stabs driving through her thigh.
Out of nowhere, the group heard gunfire. Everyone stopped, looking around them.
Isabell doubled over, a hand grabbed one of her knees as she tried to catch her breath. "What the hell was that?" Isabell asked. She looked at her wound. Fresh blood was caked around the cut. Isabell had torn the stitches. "Great." She mumbled.
Rick listened for another shot, and he heard screams shortly after. "Oh, my God." Rick gasped, taking off running.
Daryl grabbed Isabell's arm and pulled her up. "C'mon, Izzy."
Glenn started urging the group to go forward, running through the trees with Rick in the lead.
Daryl and Isabell were closely behind the others. He still had his hand wrapped around her upper arm, pulling her along.
Isabell guessed that he had noticed her struggle.
Another minute of struggling through the rough terrain, Daryl let go of Isabell's arm and started taking aim with the gun he had.
Isabell figured that they were close to camp now, so she readied her own weapon.
"Stay close." Daryl grumbled loud enough for Isabell to hear over the shots. The group emerged into a small clearing being used as a campsite.
Isabell looked around. There were tents, fire pits, and cars scattered throughout the site. There was even someone who had an RV. Isabell quickly wondered how big Daryl's group was. Isabell hurriedly crept forward after Daryl, taking shots on the herd of walkers that stumbled along the camp. She stayed glued to Daryl's right side, shooting the walkers who were far away and hitting the ones who were close over the head with the butt of her gun. Isabell took expert shots, trying to use one shot per walker. Everyone around her may have been using up ammo and making noise, but another herd rolling through wouldn't be on her hands.
Daryl had taken steps away from Isabell to go further into the camp.
Isabell turned towards Daryl, taking shots at walkers on his side. She went to move next to him, but she tripped. Isabell looked over her shoulder seeing that a walker had managed to grab ahold of her ankle. She landed on the ground with a thud that grabbed Daryl's attention. Isabell was about to kick the monster when Daryl came close to her and hit the walker in the head repeatedly with his gun.
Daryl grumbled and grabbed Isabell's arm, pulling her hard to her feet.
The entire group looked around, aiming to take another shot, but there was only one more monster that Daryl was taking care of.
Isabell looked around, seeing the group react to the ambush in their own way.
Rick fell to his knees, embracing a little boy who'd run over to him and picked the child up. He was joined by a brunette woman who hugged them both. This was the family that Rick fought through hell to find.
Glenn walked in circles, freaking out, making sure that all the walkers were finished.
T-Dog and Daryl kept their weapons in their hands, ready to shoot again, if necessary.
A woman with short hair was close to her, coddling a little girl.
A blonde woman was bent over another blonde who had been bit. The younger one needed to be taken care of before she turned. However, just seconds after the thought crossed everyone's minds, the bitten girl let go.
The blonde over her started to wail, screaming. "Amy!" She continued to cry, repeating the name.
Isabell's eyes watered at the sight of the group with their loved ones. She could sense Daryl standing a little way behind her. Isabell knew that he wouldn't comfort her, not in front of the surrounding people. She knew that Daryl wasn't fond of public displays of affection. At that moment, though, Isabell wanted nothing more than to turn around and wrap her arms around Daryl's neck.
A tall, scruffy man turned towards the blondes next to the RV. "I remember my dream now. Why I dug the holes." He said.
Isabell furrowed her brow, confused by the sentiment. She joined the rest of the group as they formed a circle around the middle of camp, Rick and another man in the center.
Daryl came from behind Isabell, took her arm in his hand, and pulled her with him to the outer ring of the group.
Rick cleared his throat before speaking. "I know tonight's been hard. But we all need some rest." He shared. "Shane and I are going to go around, make sure all the walkers are gone. Everyone else, get to your tents and get some sleep. Someone will keep watch overnight. We'll clear out the bodies in the morning."
Everyone retreated to their tents without argument.
Daryl and Isabell remained. "Ima help." Daryl told Rick, getting a nod from the sheriff.
"Me, too." Isabell said, joining in.
Rick looked to Daryl as if asking whether or not that was okay.
Daryl shook his head, looking to Isabell. "You gotta get some rest. C'mon." He told her, pulling her away from the other two men.
"Daryl, I'm not a child." Isabell argued. "This will take five minutes." They quickly came upon a tent that she recognized. It was away from the most of the group, which didn't surprise Isabell. The Dixon brothers loved their privacy.
"Iz, just stay here." Daryl begged. "Close to the tent, so I know yer safe."
As much as this side of Daryl annoyed her, Isabell couldn't say no to him. She nodded and stepped into the tent.
"Take my place. Merle don't know how to keep clean." Daryl reminded her. "I'll be back." With that, Daryl left Isabell, closing the tent behind him.
Isabell laid down on Daryl's bed. Everything around her smelled just like him. Isabell wrapped the blanket around herself even though she was far from cold. She wanted the comfort.
Isabell thought quickly to all the people who were lost in this group. The number had dwindled in a matter of minutes. Then, Isabell thought to those who were left behind. The ones who had lost people. The children. The little girl, crying over the loss of her father.
Isabell didn't notice when she started to cry. She didn't even know these people, but she felt their pain. Isabell didn't want to remember the last time she cried. It was one of the hardest things she's ever thought about.
Minutes later, the tent opened up.
Isabell wiped her face of the tears quickly and turned over to see Daryl entering the tent.
Daryl didn't look her way, so she rolled away from him and sniffled. He surprised Isabell, and himself, by laying down beside her. Daryl put an arm around her waist.
Without a second thought, Isabell moved the blanket over him, too. She turned over and curled herself against his body. "Why didn't you warn me?" Isabell asked. "About the children?"
"'M sorry." Daryl whispered against the top of her head. He held her tightly and let her cry softly until she drifted to sleep.