A/N: I know it's been close to a year since I've last updated this story. I promise, I did not abandon it but life happened and things got more than a little crazy. I'm hoping that things have calmed down enough now that I can re-focus my energies into getting this story back on track. Enjoy!
Chapter 6
The next morning I was woken at the ass crack of dawn by the sound of someone rustling around the tent. Slipping my knife out from under the pillow, I carefully stalked towards the flap and lightly tugged the zipper up and over. As I pulled the flap back I was met with Andrea's ass in my face. Sighing, I quickly tucked the knife away in my belt before she had half a mind to turn around.
"The fuck do ya think you're doing snooping around here? Trying to get yourself killed and wind up in a grave next to your sister?"
"Just packing some stuff up, Rick and Shane want to be out before noon." She startled at the sound of my voice, her hand over her heart as she turned around.
"I can pack my own shit, don't need no damn help. Dump it and go find something else to do."
All the bitch did was roll her eyes, drop the bag she was packing, and stalk off back towards the main gathering point. By the time she was finally out of sight the sun was working its way up and damn near blinded me; using my hand as a shield I figured since that dumb bitch woke me up, I may as well stay up and get my shit packed so we could get this day over with.
I didn't know where to start but Merle's stuff seemed to be the easiest since all he had were his clothes, cot, and drugs. The cot could be folded up and put in the bed of the truck and the clothes could just be thrown in an old garbage bag he'd been using the last few weeks. The drugs? So no one would see them, I'd probably have to stuff those in with the clothes then put 'em in the saddlebags of his bike. God forbid I leave that behind…I ever see Merle again he'd never let me hear the end of it.
Most of my stuff was already packed; all I had to really worry about was my cot and the tent. I hadn't bothered to change clothes in the last couple of days because who really gives a fuck? We all stink, it's hot as shit, and yeah I could go down and wash up but I'd be getting filthy all over again in five minutes. Besides, it ain't like I'm going to some fancy, overpriced restaurant where they serve a steak as big around as a wine glass.
Officer Friendly and Deputy Douche were taking turns calling out instructions on where to put things and who was driving with whom. Their voices carried so it was hard not to hear what they were saying. As I finished stuffing the drugs between the clothes in the middle of Merle's bag a throat cleared behind me and I couldn't help but stiffen at the thought that it was Walsh finally ready to take me down like he always wanted.
"Daryl?" the voice asked, almost timid and a bit nervous to even be talking to me in the first place.
"What?"
"I'm sorry about Merle. This was the first time I ever took a group into the city with me, I never meant for it to go as bad as it did and I never meant for any of this to happen. It was just supposed to be a simple run and-"
"Ain't your fault kid, 'preciate ya going back with us yesterday just don't make getting yourself kidnapped a habit."
"I'll try not to. We're leaving in an hour if you need any help packing."
"I'm good, unless you got a ramp so I can load up Merle's bike." I glanced sideways at the Chinaman and saw a smile flash across his face as he ran off. Must've had a moment of brilliance strike him because he came back a few minutes later showing off a plank of wood.
"We found it near the water when we first got here, we kinda tossed it to the side and I didn't even think about it until you said something just now. You think this'll work?"
I nodded and turned towards the tent flap with Merle's clothes and drugs slung over my shoulder. The Chinaman followed me over to the truck and waited patiently for me to put the tailgate down so he could follow suit with the plank.
"I got it from here, thanks for the help kid."
"You sure? Maybe I could help tie it down or something?"
"Nah, I got it. Got a few things I need to do before I can load the bike up."
The kid nodded and wandered off to where Officer Friendly and his family were by the RV. I shook my head and wrenched open the driver's side door to fish out Merle's stash, keeping a watchful eye out for Shane in case he decided to stick his nose where it didn't belong. I felt like an idiot tucking the bag under my arm and looking around like a cartoon thief but I couldn't be too careful. This group was all I had until something else happened and I needed to stay with them more out of necessity than anything.
Lifting the flap of the saddlebag on the left side of the bike, I tucked the drugs away safely then kicked the stand up so I could get it loaded and tied down. By the time I had the tailgate closed everyone was gathering around the cars while Shane laid down the law on how this road trip was gonna go. Morales and his family though opted to head the other way towards Birmingham. I chewed my thumb, watching everything unfold and secretly wished that I wasn't so alone. Claire always had a funny way of making sure karma would bite me in the ass one day. Her words to me and Merle that night in the hospital have been playing on repeat for hours and I couldn't shake the feeling that things were gonna get worse before they'd ever start getting better.
Shaking my head a little, I brought myself back to reality just in time to see Rick and Shane hand over a pistol and half a box of ammo; scoffing, I turned back towards the truck to finish getting it loaded. Thankfully all I had left to do was throw my duffle in the truck, break down the tent and walk that, along with the cots, to the truck and toss it in the bed.
Within the hour, like everyone had wanted, we were on the road; Morales and his family heading in the opposite direction. It was understandable, why travel with a group of strangers for a few hours when you had family the other way knowing you'd get there in the same amount of time? The trip in itself was pretty quiet; I had the air on and an old cassette I found in the glove box playing some decent tunes. It gave me time to actually think without having to listen to Merle talk my ear off.
"I spy, with my little eye, something blue."
"Really? You expect me to play this stupid game?"
"C'mon Daryl, humor me. We've got at least another hour to go before we get to the cabin and I'm bored. There's nothing good on the radio and we've listened to this same cassette three times already."
She had a point and truthfully, had she not spoken up, I'd probably be falling asleep right about now. Claire woke me up at 2am because I promised her we'd go fishing at the cabin this weekend and she wanted to make sure we had everything packed and ready to go so we could "beat the traffic." Can't say that I blame her for wanting to beat traffic on Memorial Day weekend but the cabin is on private property and so is the water. My granddaddy owned a good 10 acres or so of land out there and anyone with half a brain knows better than to trespass on Dixon property unless they want a bear trap eating into their ankles.
"Something blue, huh? The sky?"
"Nope."
"My eyes?"
"Good guess, but no."
"I dunno, my truck?"
"Try again."
"Water?"
"Getting warm."
"The river?"
"Getting cold."
"I give up, what is it?"
I watched from the corner of my eye as she smiled to herself and shook her head. "The car in front of us."
"That's a beat up piece of shit and it's red. There's no blue and sure as hell ain't no water pouring off of it."
"They have Alabama plates, there's water on the plates and it's blue."
I had to speed the truck up to the point I was nearly riding their ass to see what the fuck she was talking about. They brake-checked me when they thought I was getting too close but I could see what she was talking about.
"Your turn."
"Nah, how about you take a nap and I'll wake ya when we get to the cabin?"
"Buzzkill."
There was no hint of anger in her voice just amusement as a yawn cut loose and she made herself comfortable against the passenger side window. Within seconds, her eyes were shut and the only noise came from the muffler.
I was shaken from my memories when I caught sight of smoke coming from the RV; everyone pulled over and gathered around the crumbling piece of shit trying to figure out what our next move would be.
"I see something up ahead." Shane called out, dropping the binoculars from eyes, "gas station if we're lucky."
"Ya'll its Jim, it's bad. I don't think he can take anymore."
"Hey Rick, you wanna hold down the fort? I'll drive ahead, see what we can bring back."
At Jacqui's words I had to take a peek inside the RV to see for myself. What I saw? All I could really see was my life flash before my eyes and a thought entering my mind as to whether or not I'd come to meet the same fate if I ever got bit. Jim was dripping in sweat and looked paler than I ever did that time I got the flu. His eyes were sunken in and held a look of longing, for what though was between himself and whatever God he believed in.
Rick made his way inside after I had my peek and emerged a few minutes later. Once Shane came back with T we gathered 'round the door of the RV to wait for the news. It was evident that no one liked the decision but there wasn't anything that could be done.
"It's what he says he wants."
"And he's lucid?"
"He seems to be. I would say yes."
"Back at the camp when I said Daryl might be right and you shut me down, you misunderstood. I would never go along with callously killing a man. I was just gonna suggest that we ask Jim what he wants. And I think we have an answer."
Huh, never thought I'd live to see the day when the old man, or anybody in this camp for that matter, ever agreed with me.
"We just leave him here? We take off? Man, I'm not sure I could live with that."
I had to stop myself from sneering and scoffing again for the umpteenth time today. Shane's a bigger asshole than he lets on and we both know that if it were me in that RV instead of Jim that he'd have no problem leaving my worthless ass behind. Hell, had it been Claire, Shane would probably have acted like Rick and try to talk her out of such a choice. He'd probably drag her straight up to the front doors of the CDC regardless of whether or not she survived the rest of the trip there.
He's just saying this shit to save face.
We held a final good-bye for Jim once Rick and Shane drug him out of the RV. I was the last one to walk down that hill after a quick nod, my crossbow resting against my shoulder as I trekked down and back to the truck. It was eerie having to drive past him, watching as his head dipped forward and his chest stopped moving altogether. There was no gunshot, just stillness. I watched from the rearview mirror to see what would happen but he was out of sight in almost no time.
"Daryl! Quit fucking playing around! I'm cold and it's raining, open the damn door!"
Claire had just gotten off work; we both took half days so we could make a trip into Atlanta for an auto show that I had been talking about for months. She surprised with a pair of tickets for my birthday and already said she approved my half day off after talking it over with her dad. In all honesty, it was the first birthday present I ever got that actually had meaning to it.
Only problem with this planned trip was the rain and since Claire decided to run late leaving work, I decided that a little rain wouldn't kill her. I had been waiting a good ten minutes before she came out of the building, pulling the hood of her jacket over her head. As she made her way around to the passenger door I scooted the truck forward, laughing a little bit more each time she tried to reach for the door handle.
"If you wanna be an asshole, fine, I'll go home and you can go enjoy your birthday present by yourself!"
I watched as she fished her car keys from inside her jacket and stomped off towards her car. Just to piss her off even more, I parked the truck directly behind her so she couldn't get out of her space. I could see the fire burning in her eyes as she glared at me through the rearview mirror and knew I'd be in for it when we got home but I also knew she'd forgive me eventually.
We were at a stalemate and neither of us were ready to call it quits just yet until a pair of red and blue lights flashed behind me. Quickly turning around, I saw that it was Deputy Douche sitting in the driver's seat, shoving the door open and putting his hat on. I cursed under my breath then turned back to see Claire with a wolfish grin plastered across her face.
Dirty bitch…
"Ya know, I got half a mind to arrest you right now but you're lucky that's not what Claire wants."
"Was just having some fun with her is all." I cracked the window enough to carry on an unnecessary conversation, but not enough for the rain to get in.
"Not what she told me, said you wouldn't let her leave work. Why would she lie to me, huh? You got your truck parked in front of her and blocking her only exit."
"Shane, I did not say that, quit making shit up." She called out, slamming her car door shut and throwing the hood of her jacket back over her head.
"What'd you tell Dipshit here, then? Trying to get me arrested or something?" I hollered through the glass.
"I said that if you wanted to be a jerk that I was gonna home and you blocked me in. I asked if someone could come up here and tell you to move your ass. I never said anything about arresting you, why would I ever want that?"
"Why would you even call that bastard anyway? I was just having fun!"
"Stopping the truck and pulling it up a little is fun, blocking me in and not letting me leave is not. It's pouring out here and it's freezing, so if you could make up your mind I'd appreciate it. Can we go to the car show for your birthday or are you gonna go by yourself?"
I nodded over to the passenger side, silently telling her to get in the truck but Shane wrapped a hand around her arm, stopping her in her tracks. My blood started to boil as I watched him tighten his grip around her arm. She managed to shake it loose and pulled him into a side hug with a quick 'thank you,' darting around to the other side of the truck.
"You pull anything like this again Dixon and your ass is going to jail, do I make myself clear?"
"Yeah, yeah, yeah," I muttered, rolling the window up and leaning over to unlock the passenger door. The sound of heavy rains penetrated the quiet cab and quickly went silent again when the door shut. Pulling out of the parking lot, we silently made our way to the convention center; the air around us was more than tense and I waited until she spoke before getting pissed all over again.
"Just so you know, I didn't call Shane directly. I called the non-emergency number and Ashley said she'd send someone over. I told Ash that we were supposed to be going to the auto show today but you were being a bit of a jerk when you didn't let me in the truck and when I tried to leave you parked the truck behind my car. All I asked for her to do was send someone and ask you to move so I could go home. I don't know why Shane showed up, he usually patrols closer to the shop so he can harass my dad about getting parts for his jeep."
"I was just having some fun, shit can't ya take a joke? Merle always says ya got a stick up your ass about something. Why were you late coming down anyway?"
"Mr. Miller wanted to get my annual review done before I left and it ran a little late. He's happy enough with my work that he's giving me a raise and an increase in my bonus at the end of the year."
"Didn't you just get a bonus?"
"Yeah, but that was back in December just before the Christmas party. Starting next pay period I'll be making $16.50 an hour and if I keep up the good work then I can expect my Christmas bonus this year to be a little over a thousand dollars. We'd finally be able to take that trip to Florida we always talked about."
The convoy pulled to a stop in front of the CDC; everyone piled out of the cars carefully, quietly letting the doors slam shut behind them as we stood looking around in disbelief. Bodies lay limp over sandbags and flies buzzed around laying eggs in any open cavity they could find. The smell alone nearly had me gagging and the sun drying 'em all out didn't do us any favors either. We silently maneuvered around the corpses, unsure if they were truly dead or playing possum.
One guard was slumped over with a military checkpoint sign behind him that read 1st Cavalry; his blood was sprayed against the yellow backdrop of the sign and it was clear that he was never getting up again. Poor bastards probably got caught up in all the rioting when shit hit the fan and judging by the other bodies around him, he was likely one of the first to go.
As we approached the building we could see the blast doors were down and we all feared the worst; as Rick and Shane tried to rattle the doors I knew it'd only be a matter of time before their panic would set in and the geeks would be coming down on us. I prepared myself the best I could and got my bow ready, a gun slung over my shoulder just in case.
"Walkers!" I fired a shot at the one coming closest to us and all my rage came to a head, "you led us into a graveyard!" and I made sure every one of those pricks knew how I felt on the subject.
"He made a call."
"It was the wrong damn call!"
Before I could really lay into Officer Friendly, Shane was there to meet me, pushing a hand into my chest and trying to get me to back down.
"Just shut up, you hear me? Shut up, shut up!" and just as quickly he was turning on his pal trying to convince him that it was a dead end and that Ft. Benning was still an option.
Chaos descended upon us as Rick continued to beat the doors, drawing more attention, pleading with a camera and hoping someone was there to let us in. Shane, myself, and the others were trying to get everyone else back to the safety of the cars as the sun sank lower and lower in the western sky. It seemed like the darker it got the more active the walkers became. I had the gun pointed towards the parking lot, a walker in my crosshairs when a bright light appeared from over my right shoulder and the doors slammed open. It all seemed too much like a dream as the weight of the gun became too much and it came down, almost in slow motion.
