Just trying to get some ideas out of my head. This season has been amazing so far. Def need more Lydia.
He startled awake, his back slamming against the tree his body was currently slumped under. He immediately kicked his leg out, knocking the person back that was holding him down.
"Who the hell are you?" he asked, trying to sit up straight, his hand pressing hard on the deep wound on his thigh.
"Relax. Your kid went to go get some water to bring back for you. I was just putting pressure on your wound so it would stop bleeding. No need to kick me in the head." the stranger explained, standing up and taking a few cautious steps back from the hunter. She had long blonde hair that came down to the middle of her back and looked to be in her mid thirties. She was rubbing her temple in pain where his boot had hit her.
"What kid?" he asked, pushing his palms hard into his eyes, trying to force himself to be more awake and aware then his body wanted.
"Dark haired teenage girl. Had a crossbow on her back. Said she could take me to some community she knew about but then I guess she saw you and ran off. Barely had time to follow after her before you went down and we dragged you up here. Was pretty sure you were going to die but she refused to even think that way. Said you were all she had." the stranger explained, sliding down the tree a few feet across from him and waiting.
"Daryl! You're awake." Lydia's voice rang out through the trees as she ran over and kneeled down next to him. She passed him her canteen filled with fresh water and watched him take long gulps.
"How'd you find me, girl?" he asked, holding on to her for support as he stood, putting most of his weight back against the tree, leaning on his uninjured leg. "You been out here in the woods this whole time?"
Lydia nodded, wringing her hands nervously. "Just been watching you. Watching them. Deciding."
"Deciding what?" Daryl asked, looking at the young girl even though she didn't meet his eyes.
"Deciding who I wanted to be. But I saw what my mother did to you and I realized you've done more for me then she ever did. Knew I could count on you. Didn't think it made much sense to give that up."
"And who's this?" he asked, nodding towards the older woman who was still sitting silently at the foot of a large oak tree across from them.
"I'm Melanie. Met your kid out in the woods." she explained vaguely, running her fingers across the cold ground, her hands closing around the fallen leaves and crushing them in her palms.
"She hurt you?" Daryl asked, putting more weight on his injured leg and trying to walk.
"No, she didn't hurt me. I stepped right into a bear trap and she came out of nowhere and helped get me out."
"Before you ask, yes I had been watching her for a while. Was hoping she might show me where her camp was. But as luck would have it, all I get is you." she said with a roll of her eyes.
Lydia unwrapped the crossbow from her back and handed it to its owner. "Picked this up for you. Thought you would want it back."
"Been worried about you, Lydia. It aint safe to be out here in the first place but even more dangerous with your mom out here." he took the crossbow from her and swung it over on his back. "You're coming back home now right?"
"Home?" she repeated, the word sounding foreign on her tongue.
"Yea. You're my responsibility now, aint ya? Been trying to find you ever since you ran off." he limped over to where Lydia's backpack was and rummaged through it. He found his knives inside and holstered them back at his hip.
"I didn't kill her. I couldn't. And now she will be bringing her horde to Hilltop. You don't want me coming back with you. This is all my fault in the first place. I'm better out here on my own." Lydia said.
"I need to get back to help fight. There are kids there that I need to keep safe. And I aint leaving without you so let's get your shit and go." he said, leaving no room for arguing.
"Can she come back with us?" the teenager asked, walking over to the newcomer who was now on her feet.
"You know how to fight?" he asked her.
She shrugged. "Survived this long so I guess I know enough."
"She's being a smartass." Lydia interjected. "She's a genius and a fighter. She would be great to have at Hilltop."
"Don't know about all that." Melanie said, shooting the younger girl a smile. "But I did find your bike and bring it here. Just in case you died, I thought it might be useful." She explained, pulling her hair back into a ponytail and leading them half a mile further into the woods where she had hidden the motorcycle under a pile of branches and leaves.
"You touched my bike?" he said, leaning on Lydia for support as he hopped over to it.
"Rode it actually. After Lydia and I dragged you a safe distance away from that crazy woman I went looking for your supplies. Imagine my surprise when I found this beauty." she said, pulling the branches and brush away from the bike and grabbing the keys from inside her tall brown boot.
"Not sure I like you much." he said, hopping on the bike and snatching the keys from her small hands.
"I'd be a little nicer to me seeing as though you can barely walk and I could have easily taken all your gear and left." she said, glaring at the older man with her dark brown eyes.
"It's gonna be a tight fit with the three of us. Lydia, sit up front as close as you can. Your friend can sit behind me. I'll steer from behind you just hold on to the front of the bike. We're gonna have to go slow anyways, you wont be flyin off." He showed the teenager where to hold on and then took control of the handlebars. When he didn't feel anyone get on behind him he glanced back over his shoulder.
"Whatcha waitin for?" he snapped, wanting to get home as soon as possible.
"I don't know you. I don't know your people. Just contemplating my options."
"Well you'd be a fuckin idiot if you trusted me right away. But I can promise ya it's safer where we're going then it is to stay out here." Daryl said. "And I owe ya one for finding her."
She took half a second longer before swinging her slender leg over the bike and holding on as lightly as she could to his waist. He took off immediately and it felt like barely a moment had passed before they pulled up to a large set of wooden gates. They opened right away as the bike creeped up to them and the teenage girl got off and ran over to one of the houses.
Before Melanie could ask where she went, Daryl answered.
"She's going to get the doctor for my leg. Girl worries too much." he said, getting off the bike and walking to the infirmary with only a slight limp. The woman had no choice but to follow after him.
Lydia was already inside pulling open drawers to find the materials to clean his wound.
"Do you guys have a doctor here?" The older woman asked, taking the supplies from Lydia's shaking hands and patting her shoulder softly. "I'll take care of it. You go tell your people where we are."
"No doctor. Not anymore." Daryl said, trying to snatch the medical tools out of her hands to take care of himself.
"Oh, knock it off, would ya." she said, shoving him down hard on the floor and looking at the wound. She peeled back the temporary cover they had fashioned in the woods and wiped it clean with water and then antiseptic.
"I can handle it myself." he grunted, trying to push her hands away. "You aint no doctor."
She actually laughed at this. A real, genuine laugh. A sound Daryl realized he hadn't heard in far too long. But it still made him narrow his eyes and stare her down.
"Somethin funny?" he snapped at her, ignoring the pain that shot up his body as she put all of her weight on his leg, her hands both pressing down hard on the large cut with a pile of gauze.
"Hold this here." she said, a small smile still on her lips as she grabbed his hands and place them right where hers had been. "As hard as you can."
She crossed the room and pulled open the drawers until she found the binding she needed. She kneeled back down in front of the injured man and wrapped it many times around the wound, holding the thick layer of gauze in place.
"Better?" she asked, standing up and offering him a hand which he ignored. He pushed up from the floor and put weight on his injured leg.
"It's fine. Come with me. You aint leavin my sight until this is all over. Don't know if I can trust you and I'm not letting you walk free around here until I do." he said, walking out back into the center of town where everyone was gathered.
The newcomer was surprised to see everyone was well armed and had suitable armor on as well.
"My mother is coming." Lydia said loudly, addressing the crowd. "Her horde has thousands of the dead. And Beta will be with her."
It took only a few moments of planning before everyone was ready for what was coming.
"Lydia, I know you're not a little kid but I need you to go inside the main house and wait with them." Daryl said, chaos going on all around them while the community prepared for the impending fight.
"No way!" she exclaimed. "I can fight. I can help defend this place."
Daryl opened his mouth to fight with her but Melanie spoke first. "He doesn't want you with the little kids because he thinks you are one. He wants you to protect them because he knows that you're strong."
Before he could say another word, the teenager ran up and threw her arms around his neck. "Please don't die." she said simply, tears soaking the shoulder of his jacket.
"I haven't died so far. I'm not planning on startin today. Now go inside and keep those little ones safe. And keep an eye on Judith. She's a runner like her mama." he said, patting Lydia's back gently before she ran up the steps and disappeared into the main house.
They all walked out to the battlefield as the horde came through the clearing, their moans louder then Daryl had ever heard before. He had seen a lot of herds, lots of walkers, but never had he seen this many together at once. He looked over at the newest member of the community and frowned.
"You look like you aint got a care in the world. Got somethin you aint tellin me?" he asked suspiciously, getting into formation at the front of the fighters, both knives in his hands.
She shrugged. "I'm not too worried about the dead. More worried that I'm going to solve this problem for you guys and your community turns out to be the bad guys. Hoping I don't take care of these walkers for you just to have you turn around and kill me." The horde was getting closer to their gates, about half a mile away now.
"I wouldn't kill you for no reason. And so far, got no reason to hurt you."
"Well, let's get this over with then." she said with a sigh, grabbing a bow and a single arrow.
"No use using that with this many of em. Get yourself a spear." Daryl said, signaling for his team to get ready.
Melanie lit the tip of the arrow on fire until it was burning strongly. She then armed her bow with it and pulled it back tightly.
"You know, something you should know about me, is that I really hate being told what to do. Especially by a man I hardly know." she said with a glare in the hunters direction. He was about to snap back at her when she released the arrow and it went soaring across the open field. Landing with a thud on the ground half a mile away.
"You aint even hit a single walker. Just wait for them to get closer and -" but he was cut off by the deafening sound of a roaring fire appearing from that same spot on the grass. It spread faster then he expected, taking every single walker and whisperer out with it as it started to spread through an entire acres worth of dry brush and dead grass in that field.
He could faintly hear the whisperers screaming from inside the group of walkers as they all caught fire but he barely had time to care.
"Fall back!" Aaron yelled, urging his group of fighters to retreat back to the main house.
"You've just killed us all!" Daryl screamed, shoving passed Melanie and running after his friends towards the main gates. They were thrown open just in time for him to storm inside.
"Do not let her in. She aint one of us" he said, pointing his finger at her angrily before the gates shut, separating the two of them.
"I just saved your community!" she screamed, tears filling her eyes. She had no idea what he thought she did but she had soaked the grass with maple sap days ago with Lydia when the two had come across each other. Lydia had told the older woman of her worries and Melanie had come up with a solution. And now Daryl had condemned her for it. She couldn't lie to herself, she would miss the dark haired teenager she came across in the woods. But she had survived on her own this long, she could do it again. She turned her back on the gates and stared out into the field as it continued to burn, bodies crumpling to the ground like dried up paper. She started to walk east, planning to go around the large flames and head back into the woods. It was what she knew and she was comfortable living with nature and surviving off the land.
"Did it work?" Lydia's voice rang out as she ran down the steps and stopped right in front of Daryl near the main gate.
"Did you know about this?" he asked angrily, pushing passed the girl and taking the steps two at a time inside of Hilltop.
"Yea, Melanie and I soaked the field with maple sap days ago. She said it was highly combustible. It should've taken out all the walkers and whisperers." the young girl was out of breath after chasing Daryl into the house, finally bending over to suck in a long draw of air.
"And now it's going to kill us all too. That fire is going to spread in a matter of minutes right to Hilltop and burn down half the forest with it!" he exclaimed, taking her by the shoulders and giving her a hard shake. "Go get the kids and get them into the jeep. Pack up as much food as you can. We have to get out of this graveyard." he didn't give her time to answer before turning to Aaron.
"Daryl." a man called from up on the watch tower, binoculars over his eyes. "Get up here, you need to see this."
He didn't ask questions as he headed up to the tower, Lydia right on his heels.
"Wait, you gotta listen to me." she said, trying to make him hear her.
"What is it, Luke?" he asked, ignoring Lydia and taking the binoculars from the mans hand.
"It's not spreading. Not even a little bit." the watcher answered.
Daryl looked through the binoculars and saw how true this was. The fire was completely contained in a large square, not a single flame moving outside of it. Almost all of the dead were lifeless on the ground, a few whisperers trying to crawl away as their bottom halves burned.
"How is that possible?" Daryl whispered to himself. "It should be burning the entire place down by now.
"I don't know what she did but when I told her I was worried about the fire spreading to our community she said she had a solution for that. I went to pack up our stuff to head back home and she finished the rest. No clue what she did but I looks like it worked." the young girl said with a smile. Everyone around him cheered but he just stared at the burning field.
"Shit." he muttered, shoving the binoculars hard into Luke's chest before rushing out of the front gates again.
"Daryl, what's going on?" Aaron asked, the rest of the community waiting for their orders.
"The fights over. We have to go out to the field and take care of the stragglers. Check the woods for any that may have escaped. But by some fuckin miracle, that new girl burned down all our enemies for us. And I made her leave." he said, going over to the table of weapons and loading up his person. He holstered his knives, swung his crossbow over his back, and started packing his bag. He was throwing water and cans of food inside when Lydia stopped him.
"She tried to explain and I didn't let her. Just shut the fuckin gates in her face. Don't even know which direction she went." Daryl said, pushing his fingers into his eyes to clear his head.
"I know where her camp is. She said she moves a lot so if we want to catch up to her we gotta leave now." Lydia said, shoving supplies into her own bag and following the hunter back to the main gates.
"Aaron, take as many with you as you can to take care of that field once the fire burns out. Make sure all of them are dead and find Alphas body. I don't want any surprises." Daryl instructed, hooking his walkie onto his pants and pulling Lydia behind him as he left Hilltop. Ezekiel was guarding the kids and soon Aaron would put an end to the last of their problems. It almost seemed too good to be true. Once Alphas body was identified, his family would be free to live, once again, safely inside their strong walls.
Now all that was left to do was find Melanie and convince her to come back to Hilltop with them.
If you read, please send me a review. I would love to know what you think even if it's just a quick word. Hope to update soon.