okay my people, this chapter was turning out wayyyy too long, so i had to divide it in like three parts or something
shout out to those showing me love with reviews and faves/follows, i very much appreciate you!
oOo
"No no no no no," Diana muttered in pure desperation, heart beating like her ribcage was too tight and wide eyes on her sister while she was chased, no Felix in sight.
Where was he? What was she doing? What was she thinking?!
Diana made to stand up, to bolt down the ladder, to call their attention upon herself, anything, anything! Dale held her down, hushing her, but his efforts to calm her were for naught.
She would not be losing anybody else!
oOo
Alice was big enough a person to admit when fear touched her. And right now, it had its filthy hands all over her. She wouldn't let that deter her, though, she had shit to do. Like not dying. And she really had to pee.
Their soiled claw-like hands swiped at her feet and ankles, leaving very little free space for her to move. She only hoped she'd be able to keep her balance, and she thanked fuck that it was a tall truck.
The Hummer was surrounded by little more than a dozen walkers, reaching over each other, pushing and crushing themselves against the truck. The smell was horrendous to Alice's sensitive nose, and she had to cover her mouth and nose with her forearm for a second to keep herself from gagging.
She had to be clever and think quick, but that was nothing new to her. She was lucky these strays hadn't attracted the rest of the massive mob as they'd chased after her. She selected her target and her grip tightened around what used to be her dad's knife. The blade struck true and deep and then was gone, dropping the walker. Alice watched it be swallowed by the others and replaced just as soon.
She dropped the next one on the other side of the truck. She didn't want them using the corpses to climb over each other and reach her.
While pivoting, her ankle twisted and gave way, and she fell on her butt. A walker caught the toe of her boot but she was able to kick it away, but then another snagged her wrist.
She yelped and switched the knife to her free hand, stabbing blindly at the walker's arm and then the crown of its head until its grip loosened and it fell away.
She had to get up quickly. On the way up, another hand got hold of her ankle and pulled hard, bringing her to one knee, supported by her forearms. Before she could rise to her hands or pull her leg back, one of them managed to grab her by the crook of her elbow.
That walker stood taller than the others, standing on its felled kinsmen, and used both hands to guide her forearm to its snapping mouth. Panic stabbed her in the gut. Omfg, you stupid fuck, put that thing back where it came from or so help me.
Alice thrashed her leg, but the grip was steadfast. She began anticipating the wet warmth of the creature's mouth as it encompassed her flesh and tore into it with blinding pain. But she'd only give up once she was dead.
A wet thud sounded and suddenly her leg was freed. She didn't question it, just focused on gathering her balance and thrust the knife into the joint of the walker's jaw. She twisted and the jaw came unhinged, hanging only by the remaining joint and the rotting flesh that kept it in place. It could no longer bite.
Try me, fucker. Mom and dad would be so proud.
She pulled the blade out and stabbed its temple, then pried her arm from its loose grip and pushed it on top of the other walkers, seeing them topple over, trapped by its weight.
One climbed onto the hood of the truck, followed by another and another. The one closest to Alice was struck down before it came within arm's reach, causing her to flinch unexpectedly. A shot to the head that had it fall in a heap onto the windshield, tripping the other two, which were the next kills in the succession.
Then Alice saw her in her peripheral vision, a sudden reflection of sunlight caught her eye, and another walker fell with the whoosh of an arrow.
Alice almost scoffed. Was that binch trying to steal her moment? How dare she? She smirked, though, knowing she had her back.
Together they thinned the small group of walkers, Alice's heart in her throat the entire time. She'd ridden Silver Star plenty of times, she being somewhat of an adrenaline junkie and it being the tallest roller-coaster in Europa-Park, but the exhilaration of all those daring drops could never compare to this feeling. It was a crazy rush, almost addicting.
In the likes of an edgy horror take on the Pokémon franchise: she was gonna kill 'em all.
All jokes aside, her hunger for revenge was only heightened by this feeling of power; she felt inebriated with it.
She would see it through, she would fill the hole in her soul with their dark clotted blood.
…
That sounded so disgusting and badass at the same time.
Only two of them were left and Alice saw Daryl approach from behind a car. He stepped over the corpses while she grabbed a handful of hair before plunging her knife into the walker's eye socket. Daryl pulled the last one back by its collar, causing it to trip and fall, and he killed it swiftly.
Alice felt the breath leave her in a long exhale as her butt plopped onto the roof. She let her back hit the burning metal, her sweaty skin almost sizzling against it, the heat radiating through the fabric of her top. It burned with each heavy breath that expanded her chest.
She was bone-weary but jittery with lingering adrenaline. Her eyelids were painted red against the sunlight and if not for the circumstances, she could've fallen asleep right there. The knife fell from her grip, the skin of her hands stiff with drying blood.
Daryl approached her, his footsteps emphasized by hateful kicks directed at the walkers' still forms. "You did great, kid," he said, a hand squeezing her bicep in encouragement, "but your sister's gonna kill you."
"Let her," Alice mumbled, cracking an eye to see her storming silhouette plowing towards them. She swore she could see the trail of smoke coming out of her sister's ears from here. "I'm ready to leave this plane of existence."
oOo
Diana felt her eyes sting with tears – of fear, of relief, of anger. She forgot that she meant to thank Daryl for his assistance and marched straight past him. The pulsing bow found its way to the ground, and Diana clambered up the Hummer, feet uncharacteristically clumsy.
Alice had already sat up by then, hands outstretched to bar her descent on her. It didn't stop Diana – but to be honest, not even a fully equipped army would've been able to keep her from any of her siblings -, and she had her arms around Alice despite the girl's protests, holding on tight, enduring the abuse aimed at her.
"Shut up!" Diana yelled, voice cracking. Alice flinched and stilled, hands dropping to her sides. Diana decided not to abuse her luck and held her at arm's length, trying her best to glare at her without bursting into tears.
Alice grabbed Diana's wrists and removed her hands from her shoulders, pushing her off gently. "Get off my lap, it's fucking weird."
Diana complied, but her wannabe-glare faded to a worried groove between her eyebrows. She grabbed her right arm, inspecting her skin, searching for bite marks or scratches. She found none, then repeated the process with her left arm, her ankles, and calves, and pulled up her top, which earned her a shove and a heavy slap on the hand along with a screech.
Nothing, she was clean, beautiful brown skin intact. All threats and reprimands got caught in her throat.
The relief was swiftly replaced with dread.
With a dry throat and thick tongue, she managed, "Felix?" His unexplained absence made her heart heavy, an acrid poison spreading through her veins, and she pretended to be ready for the worst.
"He's fine, I hid him," Alice sighed in two-part annoyance one-part understanding. Diana's eyes fluttered closed as she sighed, deflating.
oOo
Felix's insides were still trembling and it showed in his hands. That godawful sound was gone now, but he still hadn't found the courage to look out the tinted windows, to give his doubts an end. He was too scared that he would be shown otherwise.
He startled when the door clicked open, straightening and pivoting towards it, hands steadfast on his bat. His pulse spiked through the roof, beating in his ears at the speed of light, but his heart fell at the sight of Daryl.
Why was he-? Where were his sisters?
His stomach turned as he was hit with sudden nausea. He stumbled out the door and doubled over, heaving on an empty stomach, bitter bile lacing his tongue. His throat burned from that and having to suppress sobs.
Daryl patted his back in a manner that screamed pity to him, which had Felix glaring down at him once he straightened himself. He spat leftover saliva and wiped the corner of his mouth on the back of his hand, which he wiped on his pants. Maybe it would've looked more like a glare and less like a mousy stare if his eyes hadn't overfilled with tears until he couldn't see.
"See, totally fine. Told you," the sound of Alice's catty voice had his head whipping around so fast that he felt like he pulled a muscle in his neck. He saw Diana's head and the top of Alice's braids over the roof of the car, the heat waves coming off the metal plus his watery eyes making their image sway like a mirage.
They rounded the front of the car and before he knew it, he and Diana had slammed into each other breathlessly, her head tucking under his chin like a puzzle piece. His heart felt too big in his chest, overflowing, and he tightened his arms around her.
He peered at Alice, who was uninterested in joining in. Her hazel eyes caught his and that's when he grabbed her by the front of the shirt and pulled her in, sandwiching her between himself and Diana. He was pretty sure he was crying and laughing at the same time, feeling complete once more.
oOo
Alice watched Felix endure the same examination process she had while she held on to Diana's all-purpose-bow.
The bitter realization fell on her that if her sister hadn't intervened, she could've been bitten. Her pride almost didn't allow her to admit it. At the moment of the act she'd been too caught up and high off endorphins to give it much thought.
What she'd done… It had felt… amazing. Not gonna lie, not even her medication made her feel so whole. Catch her curing her depression by taking up killing zombies as a coping strategy.
If only.
Oh shit, Diana was turning to her. It was funny to see her worked up, she couldn't even get properly angry.
The scolding was thankfully interrupted before it could even begin by Shane, of all assholes, as he called them back to regroup. He was saying that Sophia had run off, chased by a couple of walkers.
A knot of guilt formed in Alice's stomach as she shoved the bow in her sister's hands and jogged after Shane. "Thought I got 'em all," she stated the question, frowning.
They came upon the RV and Shane's answer went ignored when she saw Carol crying her eyes out into Lori's shoulder next to a shaken up Andrea.
Glenn was fussing over T-Dog, who had a fountain of blood flowing down his forearm. Diana got right on that, making it her first priority.
Alice, closely followed by Felix, approached the weeping woman gingerly. She wanted to attempt some words of comfort but didn't feel comfortable enough with the audience for that, so she just watched.
Lori was hushing her, arm around her back and stroking her cropped gray hair, whispering what were probably promises about her daughter's well-being.
Alice's hands itched, fingers flexing, twitching towards the knife on her hip. Sophia was in danger, that sweet, smart little girl that understood her math tutoring better than other kids, that was patient when she struggled to find the right words in English when explaining something.
A hand grabbed her wrist, pulling it away from the sheathed blade. Alice's hazel eyes followed the appendage up to the person's face. Felix stared at her with apprehension, as if reading her intentions, and said, "Dale said Rick went after them."
He waited for some kind of acknowledgment from her, pinning her down with his bloodshot dark eyes. Alice couldn't hold his gaze, knowing what she'd been about to do, and nodded.
His hand squeezed her arm once before dropping it. Alice watched him leave, joining T and the others, then her eyes betrayed her, turning to the place of the massacre and then the rustling foliage beyond the guardrail.
oOo
Diana pressed an antibiotic against T-Dog's palm, followed by a bottle of water once the pill had been swallowed. Then she turned back to his arm to ensure that the dressing would hold. He hissed with a twisted grimace when she patted the gauze tape.
Felix's hand was on his shoulder in brotherly comfort, his eyes anywhere but on the bloody gauze balls she'd used to clean and disinfect T's wound.
She shook her head at T-Dog. "Your timing, bro, it's spectacular. How the hell do you manage to do this kinda stuff at the worst possible time? Probably smelled like a barbeque on legs to them."
Shane and Glenn passed by them at that time, exiting the RV while carrying a dead walker by both ends. Glenn looked like he was ready to log off at any time, nose scrunched and distant eyes. Both men took the corpse to the side of the road, where they tossed it. Shane walked back, but Glenn stayed, hands on his hips, seeming to be catching fresh air.
She saw Alice join him but then her attention was cut back to T-Dog, who said, "Ain't my fault I got spooked. Watch an entire parade of zombies drag themselves in your direction then we'll talk."
"Places I've been: there, things I've done: that."
T-Dog raised his brow in quiet consideration at Felix's words. Then he broke out of it, looking Diana in the eye. "Can't believe I got Dixon to thank that for my life. I'da been just another dead brother…"
She was grateful for that as well, T-Dog was important to them, his death would have put another dent in their world. And he was young, it wouldn't have been fair for his potential to go unlived.
There was also a swell of pride in her chest. They were starting to realize that Daryl wasn't the demonized person they thought him to be. He still had a long way to go until his public self resembled the person he was in her sole presence. A lot of internalized Merle-influenced bigotry to get rid of.
"I'd take it a sign that he doesn't resent you for the whole Merle-roof thing."
"Damn, feels like months since that."
"Not really," Felix interjected, eyes downcast.
oOo
Glenn joined them after a while, saying that the herd should be far enough away by then and Shane and Dale had wanted to open up a path on the road so they could leave once Rick was back with Sophia.
Diana had wondered whether or not she should talk to Carol, but couldn't think of anything helpful to say. Still, she ventured towards the three women.
"Carol," she called and cleared her throat. The woman looked up with her bloodshot blue eyes, eager, as if Diana was the bearer of good news. It made things more difficult. "She'll be back. Sophia, she'll come back to you." She cracked her knuckles out of habit, and startled when Carol stood and stepped to embrace her.
"Thank you," she muttered in a watery voice. Diana rubbed her back and rested her temple against Carol's gray crown. "I'm so scared," she said, and her weeping began anew, "it's my baby."
"I know. I understand." But she didn't, not really. Andrea joined their side, her hands caressing Carol's shoulders comfortingly, eyes full of pity and real understanding.
Had Diana ever told her how sorry she was about Amy? The stab of guilt in her gut told her she hadn't, but it felt too late to say it now, and very misplaced considering the situation.
She just averted her eyes and slowly released Carol when she began stepping away. She looked tired but rested an affectionate hand on Diana's cheek with a small smile that didn't reach her eyes.
"Hey, y'all seen Alice?"
wow another cliffhanger
so original amirite?
i love them so much thoooo
