oh damn, I'm finally back. I got sick with Covid as did most of my family, but we are all back on our feet. Of course not everyone can say that. I sincerely hope you have all been well and that your loved ones have remained healthy during these obviously difficult times.
I had missed writing this story so much. Now that I finally graduated and don't need to use up my brain juice on studying, I will try to pump out more chapters while the inspiration hits! To any of you coming back after my hiatus, thank you so much for staying loyal, it means the world to me that you're still interested in this story. Now get on with reading!
.oOo.
The red sun warmed their backs as it began to set, but a chill started to raise goosebumps on any bare skin. The search for a new home had come and gone and come again. A neighboring farm had become their second abode, enveloping them in a wave of underlying anxiety, setting off a subconscious countdown until the day of their inevitable departure. Then, finally, the clock reached zero short of two weeks of antsy living.
Walkers, once again – the bane of their comfort.
They lost two of Hershel's people on the flight. Patricia joined her husband in whatever plane of existence came after their hell on earth. Beth lost Jimmy to a stray bullet – a tragic accident that caused her to discredit anyone who had wielded a firearm on that fateful afternoon.
A somber lull marked their steps as the forest shadows grew longer and extended their twisted fingers over them. A week on the road behind them – surviving off minimum rations and hoping their fuel lasted them enough to find sanctuary. Then smoke rose above the treetops. Maybe some charitable souls, one could only hope. If not, Diana hoped their large number would work as intimidation. Hunger and exhaustion, and stress had made her irritable – and not only her.
Light blue paint peeling off wooden panels greeted them as leaves crunched softly underfoot, and they camouflaged into the growing darkness, just out of sight of the clearing of the house. Candlelight shone mutely through every lower level window, the chimney smoked, and the murmur of voices moved throughout the house.
Two horses were tied to the side fence, agitated by their silent presence. Rick signaled the group to circle to the back of the house, away from the animals that would call attention to them. The air was dense, and a chill began to descend on them. Every sound was sharpened by the darkness. Diana could hear everyone breathe.
If they were lucky, two horses meant two people. That could be easily handled if a diplomatic approach failed. She hoped it wouldn't come to that.
There was something eerie floating in the atmosphere that evening, or maybe it was Diana's imagination. She contemplated the next steps. Would they simply walk up to the door and knock? That seemed like the obviously naïve option.
Instead, T-Dog and Daryl sneaked up to the two windows to peek inside and analyze the situation. Once they returned to their side, T-Dog reported, "Three people at the dining table. They having turkey for fuck's sake."
Diana's stomach ached. She pressed a fist against her belly.
"We can take 'em," Daryl said with a determined nod, to which Hershel reacted immediately.
"Or we can ask them," the old man countered. "Like civilized people. Or have we resorted to savagery?"
"I couldn't agree more," Dale nodded, making himself heard for the first time in a while. After Andrea left, he had deflated, falling into a hole, and almost accepting his presence in it. Some had tried to comfort him, but the coddling hadn't done much.
He snapped out of it after Alice had called him out on his pathetic behavior. Since seeing as the blonde wasn't dead, him moping around wasn't going to bring her back to them. He was simply dead weight. She had been harsh, very much Alice, but it got the job done.
Since Alice had only confided their exchange to her siblings, the sudden change in Dale's behavior had been a welcome albeit mysterious one.
Daryl's lip curled as he made to respond but was cut off by the nervous neighing and stomping of the horses at the front. The sound only grew more frantic, and then Diana heard the cause: walkers. Frustration at their endless parade made her eyes sting. But a lightbulb went off in her head.
The following string of events took place almost if inside a movie reel, fragmented into slides.
Slide. The front door slammed open and figures rushed out. Slide. Diana broke away from the group, running towards the fray and ignoring calls of her name. Slide. The walkers were felled by bullets and arrows. Slide. Three rifles aimed at her, hands in the air, bow at her feet. Slide. Rifles wavered as the others emerged from the shadows. Slide. The bow sang victoriously in her hands as she was pulled back.
"Put the guns down," Lori snapped after a tense minute of silence and glares. Her hand prominently covered her flat lower belly as she held Carl close to her side. "We're here in peace."
"Are we?" Daryl asked snidely. Diana could understand his annoyance as he carried some responsibility of protection over them. Still, she didn't like this trigger-happiness. What good would it do to kill these people in cold blood? They had done them no wrong. It was simply unethical.
"I wanna start a dialogue," Diana said to his back. "Not a massacre."
Rick holstered his gun at that. He exchanged a look with Daryl, who reluctantly lowered his crossbow. Glenn, Maggie, and T-Dog followed suit.
"Who are you?" asked the heavyset woman from her porch, her grip loosening on her rifle. "What do all y'all want from us?"
"Help," Hershel began. "We come for your help." Diana cringed at the vulnerability he showed. It was the truth, but it made them seem weak and fragile. Besides, who gave him the right to answer for them? Seniority did not mean leadership.
"Why should we do that?" The woman spoke again, voice full of self-importance, and Diana noticed how the two men stood in silence. She seemed like the matriarch. "You sneak around our property- I oughta shoot you for trespassing right now." The men reacted with a renewed grip on their firearms. This bunch was Southern hospitality personified.
"We can help each other," Rick salvaged, coming forward with his best persuasive voice. "We have been surviving on the road for months," – somewhat of a lie – "we have skilled people, hunters, trackers, healers. In exchange, all we ask is for a few nights of rest under your roof."
Not gonna lie; Rick knew how to sell. He made them sound like the apocalyptic dream team. He made them seem like invaluable assets that had been delivered right to their door. What a way to flip the script.
The scrawny man standing to the woman's right leaned in to whisper something in her ear while gesturing at them with his head. Diana's eyes caught the identical wedding bands on their fingers. Husband and wife. How romantic. She wondered if the third person was their son, as he shared the woman's weak chin.
The woman's eagle gaze scoured over them and landed heavily on Diana, in a way that made her feel violated. Then a smile grew slowly on her thin lips, pulling her round cheeks and showing slightly yellowed teeth. "Alright, you are welcome to stay, you poor souls. On the road for months, y'all said? That's unfortunate. Please come in. Let's get y'all something to eat."
"Suddenly, I'd rather get eaten by a walker than set foot in there," Alice whispered in Portuguese, to which Diana nodded, agreeing with the sentiment.
The sudden change in attitude was shifty.
"Major creep vibes," was Felix's addition.
There was a long minute of hesitance as everyone looked at each other, pondering the offer, even though it had been their goal from the beginning.
Hershel was the first to stick out from the group, climbing up the porch stairs and introducing himself with a handshake. Out of everyone, he had been the most distrustful back in his farm, with Diana as his main target due to recent discoveries, yet now that it convened him, he put himself out there like a damn social butterfly. The word self-serving came to mind. But she couldn't blame him without sounding like a hypocrite.
The hesitance broke in their group, and soon everyone trickled into the blue house, except for the husband and the weak chinned one. Diana watched them drag the felled walkers back into the forest. For what reason, she couldn't fathom.
Their lone host introduced herself as Louise, who found space for everyone in her dining and living room. Food was divided into small portions and devoured, drowning the kind words she spoke to them, her coos and false pity. Hunger and exhaustion trumped over the fear of the unknown. At least for some.
Diana caught the glances exchanged between Daryl, Rick, and T-Dog. The tension was palpable when the two men returned with rifles in hand and knifes at their hip, stinking of putrefaction. They slinked their way to the table and occupied the seats beside Louise, shortly introducing themselves thereafter. Diana didn't bother to retain their names, simply referring to them in her mind as One and Two; One being Louise's husband. Was it rude? Yes. Did she care? Not really.
Her shrunken stomach couldn't take much food, and soon, digesting the bland and dry turkey started to drain her energy. Adrenaline could only take her so far, but her body needed rest. The same could be said for those who sat stiff-backed in their seats as if slumping forward would make them fall asleep on the spot.
She spotted Alice observing every interaction and exchanged courtesies with keen eyes from behind her interlocked hands. She looked fierce and more mature. It scared Diana as much as it awed her. Losing Sophia had been yet another hit, and loss was a familiar stench by now. Grief had made her colder and hellbent on revenge, but it had brought the three of them closer.
Felix was one of those who would fall asleep if he blinked half of a second longer, but he was trying hard to remain alert, subtly pinching the back of his hand under the table. He had had another fever scare a little more than a week ago. It had weakened him considerably in combination with malnutrition and dehydration. Still, he had recovered as much as had been possible. He needed as much rest as he could get, which he hadn't gotten on the road.
Louise fired questions which were answered mostly truthfully. Where had they come from? What had brought them there? What was their next goal? How had everyone come together? Had they noticed anything or anyone out of the ordinary before their arrival?
In an attempt at humor, Dale had asked what wasn't out of the ordinary out there. It had prompted some forced chuckles from around the table, but the question went unanswered.
By the time Felix yawned the third time in as many minutes, Diana nudged him with her elbow and gestured for them to slip away. Alice followed once she noticed the action, which made Glenn, who had been sitting next to her, turn and ask where they were going. O sweet Glenn, thy voice is not very quiet.
The fragmented conversation paused, and the clink of tableware trumped over the stares.
"You happen to have a free bed?" Diana asked Louise, whose smile still hadn't left her red cheeks. She would rather everyone sleep within each other's sight and earshot, but Felix needed rest and she wouldn't deny him that any longer. "My brother is sick."
"Not for everyone, we don't. But you go right ahead, darlin', upstairs far room to the left, bathroom is right across the hall. Y'all can share, I suppose?" Diana nodded to that. Louise addressed the others, "There's another room upstairs, perhaps for the boy and his mother? I'm sure we have enough pillows and blankets to make everyone else comfortable down here. Is that alright for all y'all?"
Gratitude and modesty were exchanged, and Diana didn't stay for the rest. Gently, she guided Felix by the elbow as Alice followed. The stairs creaked, and the air smelled intensely of smoke the higher they climbed as if it was ingrained in the wood. It was like hundreds of incense sticks had been lit at once and left to consecrate the house.
The room to the far left was small but not very cozy. It read guest room in a way where you want your guests out the door the following day. Every detail was bare and cold, from the scratchy white blanket on the naked mattress and the single pillow to the curtainless windows. Maybe prison cell fit the description better. Unfortunately, the smell wasn't any better either. It burned the nostrils to numbness.
"Lovely," Alice sneered.
Diana shrugged. "It'll do." She nodded at Felix, "Get to sleep. I'll get our stuff. Don't want them going through my meds and shit."
"Can you stay? Just until I fall asleep?" Felix asked as he threw open the blanket and his nose wrinkled at the stained mattress.
"Alice's right here, plus I won't be long."
He looked down at his fiddling hands, looking years younger, nearing pitiful. Was he scared?
She crossed the floor to sink next to him on the bed. "Everything okay?" Her hand reached to interlock their fingers together.
Alice glanced at them in fake disinterest as she inspected the cloth covered mirror.
"Everything's just fucked up ever since mom and dad died. I don't even know how long ago that was. It all just blurs together into a massive pile of shit."
Alice threw an "Amen" into the air.
Diana sighed, gathering herself after the unexpected outburst. She also struggled with her grief, it was strange and nonlinear. Since loss had become a regular occurrence in their lives, the grieving process had become shorter and shorter. She understood Felix.
He leaned into her, which prompted Diana to guide his head to the crook of her neck and drape her arm around him. She kissed the top of his head fondly. Thinking of anything she could say to make the weight a little bit lighter. "I have no answer," she whispered to the room. And it was the truth.
.oOo.
Daryl was stepping out of the bathroom with dripping hair when Diana closed the door behind her. He gave her a tired smile, which she returned. The last month hadn't been easy on anyone, but Daryl had been a steady pillar to her family. He had been there when she needed to vent, to cry, to just have someone hold her hand in silence. Alice had found solace and empowerment in his knife-yielding tips. Although Felix kept more to T-Dog as a brother figure, he admired Daryl's tracking skills and had expressed the wish to learn from him.
"Smart, takin' a bed soon as possible." His hair stuck to his forehead and stood at odd angles like he'd toweled it dry carelessly.
"Yeah, it's a super welcoming place. Definitely leaving a shining review on Apocayelp." Her fingers combed his hair down. "What are you thinking?" She trusted Daryl's judgment of character. Of course, they were on opposite sides of the trusting spectrum, but she valued his opinion.
"I don't buy that two-faced show," his voice dropped as he leaned closer. "Push comes to shove; I don't think this shithole is worth the fight."
Diana nodded as they reached the staircase. She wanted to give them the benefit of the doubt; they had offered them shelter and shared their food after all, but it felt insincere. She'd gone from staring down a shotgun barrel to sleeping in their guest room. It threw her off.
It didn't matter. Felix and Alice had a roof over their head and no walker on their heels. That was priority number one. Everything else faded to the background for the moment.
Before her foot could hit the first step, Daryl's hand found her wrist unassumingly. The touch was a question, not a command. She rejoiced in the gentleness of his fingers as they made their way up her arm, raising goosebumps on her skin. That tenderness paired with eyes so clear that she could see them in the dark made Diana's body move to his like a magnet to its opposite pole.
Their chests would touch if one took a deeper breath, but Diana felt breathless. Heat bloomed in her cheeks as his fingers grazed up the side of her neck. Gazes flickered from eyes to lips as the short gap between them was closed.
The last weeks had seen no more than forehead kisses full of comfort or pecks on the cheek in gratitude. When they had found themselves alone, intimacies had been more emotional than physical.
"Kiss me." Daryl's blue eyes pleaded as much as his words, making Diana lean into his clean scent and comply.
Her body pressed against his until his back met the wall. She forgot they were in a stranger's home, forgot that at any moment someone could walk up the stairs and meet that sight, forgot her initial goal.
They were hands full of need to touch, to caress, to hold. They were lips clashing like two suns in the sky, chaotic and heated. They met each other time and time again until the explosion simmered to a flame, warm and soothing, bodies holding each other tightly. There was relief in their slow kisses, gladness, and comfort.
Returning to reality felt like a punishment.
I'm straying a bit off the TWD plot for my own reasons. Hopefully, you will find it as cool as I do. Please leave a review to tell me what you think, it's always a pleasure to read them!
