Disclaimer: I really wish I owned the characters from The Walking Dead, but sadly, I do not. I am simply borrowing them for entertainment. All characters belong to the creators of the series.

The Wild Unknown

Chapter 1

You ain't leavin' this goddamn house! Where you gonna go? What you gonna do? She's dead, Carol! She's fuckin' dead, and now we're all we got!

She sat straight up in bed, chest heaving. Sweat beaded at her brow, and her lungs burned with each heavy breath. For a moment, she'd been back in that house, back in that room, back with him. He didn't visit her nightmares nearly as often as he had in the beginning, but he still found his way in. She'd been restless, and he'd found his opportunity.

The bed shifted next to her, and she heard a sleepy, gravely groan in the dark. She was trembling, and she didn't even realize it until she felt a warm hand against her back. Her nerves immediately calmed, and she blew out a heavy breath.

"Another bad dream?"

"Hmm." She bowed her head and focused on her breathing while the calloused fingertips rubbed gentle circles against her lower back.

"S'over now. Gotta get some sleep."

"Time is it?"

"Ain't quite dawn yet. Lay back down." Carol sighed wearily, resting her head against the pillow and turning onto her side to get comfortable. It wasn't long until his familiar arm curled around her, and he scooted up against her to bury his face against the back of her neck. His warmth took the chill out of the air immediately, and she took a shaking breath.

"We could stay here a little longer," Carol whispered. "Just a little longer? It's been nice here."

"Runnin' outta supplies. Runnin' outta food. We been through near every house in this town. Time to move on."

"I know. You're right. I just thought this was the place, you know?"

"I know. And I promised ya a long time ago I was gonna find that place for ya, didn't I? That place you can plant a garden and hang up pictures. We're gonna find it." Carol turned in his arms, seeking his face in the dark, and though she couldn't see his face, she traced the outline of his jaw with her thumb before brushing it over his lips.

"I love you," she whispered. "Have I told you that before?" His shoulders shook with his laugh, and he pulled her closer.

"Never hurts to hear it again," he murmured, pressing his lips against hers. Carol sighed heavily and gave herself over to the kiss. His hands wandered down her bare hips and over her ass. She could feel him, hard against her thigh, and her breath caught when he brought his hand behind her knee to drape her leg over his hip.

"Thought you wanted me to get some sleep," she whispered against his mouth. That familiar tingle, the rush of heat to her core, the way her nipples pebbled up as the hair on his chest chafed against her. It was all so good and certainly a distraction from the nightmare she'd woken from.

"Long as we're both up," he chuckled. Carol kissed him then, throwing herself into her desire to make him feel good and to feel good in return. They'd started this so long ago, at first a clumsy tangle of trembling limbs and uncertain glances and touches. Now? It was still as exciting as the first time, but they'd gotten much better at this.

"Oh!" She giggled when his hand slid between her legs, stroking her slowly, touching her the way he had countless nights before. "Daryl, please…"

"S'alright, sweetheart. Gonna make you feel good." He buried his face against her neck, nipping and sucking along her collarbone, while she reached between them, curling her fingers around the base of his cock and shifting her pelvis until he slid inside. She gasped, digging her nails into his shoulders, her every nerve ending alight with need. He groaned, shuddering as her warm walls clenching around him, and he rocked his hips against hers until they were both shuddering and crying out their release.

...

Breakfast consisted of what was left from the beef jerky only six months past its expiration date. While Daryl loaded up the back of pickup with three full, large gas cans, Carol busied herself with making sure she'd packed up all of the clothes they'd brought with them and a few other things they'd decided to take along as well.

They'd been in this beautiful home the longest of any of them they'd stayed in. It had been over a month, and they'd agreed right at the start that they'd only stay as long as the food lasted. It wasn't smart to push their luck, especially with winter coming. It was sure to be colder than last year, and Carol wasn't willing to risk getting stuck.

Despite the fact that they were in the middle of town, the lack of people meant that wildlife and plant life had started to take over around them. There were always fresh deer tracks in the yard every morning, and Carol was certain she'd seen a family of foxes slip under the front porch of the house next door.

She really did like this house. It was big with a wrap-around porch and a cozy fireplace. It had plenty of big rooms and one of those claw foot bathtubs. In the corner room upstairs was a partially-decorated nursery with plastic sheeting still covering the bed. Carol often made up stories in her head when she couldn't sleep at night. Her hope was that the family had been immune and that the mom, the dad and the baby were all someplace safe. Though she knew the true story was likely grimmer, it was nice to at least think that someone else might have survived like they had and hadn't completely given themselves over to the wild.

"You about ready?" Carol turned to see Daryl in the doorway and offered a nod in his direction

"Yeah. I think I have everything." She scanned the room before her eyes settled on the wall by the fireplace. "Oh! Almost everything." She hurried over to pluck the calendar off the wall. They'd found it in a shopping mall east of town. Carol had tried her best to keep track of the days and the months, and by her count, it was currently October 29th. After the new year, she was going to have to do the best she could to keep track. For now, though, it gave her some peace to at least have some grasp on time, even when the days seemed to blur together now.

She looked at him with a nervous smile. She ran her fingers through her curly brown hair to pull it back from her face for a moment. She still wasn't used to having so much hair to deal with in the morning. She missed the pixie-like cut she used to wear, though she didn't miss the reasons why she wore it like that. Since finding him, all of those anxieties and fears only came around at night when she slept, and only once in a while, like early this morning. The bad dreams were fewer and far between. She had new worries now. New fears. And if it wasn't for Daryl, she was certain she'd have been dead a long time ago.

"Hey." His voice was soft, the way it usually got when he was trying to ease her worries. She looked at him again, and she saw that little bashful half-smile he only ever used on her. In the beginning, she'd been lucky to get one or two words out of him. It seemed like a lifetime ago they'd met, two lost souls desperately searching for something worth holding onto in a world that died and left them to watch it rot.

He took a couple steps toward her when she rolled the calendar up and stuck it in her jacket pocket. He reached out for her hands, a small gesture but one that meant the world to her considering how he'd been half afraid to touch her once upon a time.

"We're gonna find that place, alright? We're gonna be ok." He leaned in for a soft, slow kiss, and when he pulled away, he caught the faint hint of a grin on her lips. "You believe me?"

"Always," she assured him.

"Good," he murmured, looking down between them. He reached out, gently stroking his hand over the swell of her stomach. A little nudge against the palm of his hand surprised him, and his brows shot up. He searched her eyes, and she let out a little laugh. "That don't hurt?"

"No," she chuckled. "I'm used to it." He smiled then, a big, wide smile that warmed her heart. It was a sight to behold, because Daryl Dixon wasn't a man who was used to smiling. He, like her, was used to pain. It had been a part of his life from a young age, and the fact that they'd found something worth living for in a dead world was enough to make him smile a hundred times over.

"Well, we best get goin'. Next town's a while away, and I wanna get settled 'fore it gets too late. Come mornin', I'm gonna scout, and I'm gonna find us a place we can hole up 'til the baby comes. Sound good?"

"Yeah," she agreed with a bob of her head and a that nervous little smile twitching at her lips. "That sounds great."