"Better Days"

Author: carmen_085

Disclaimer: I don't own any Walking Dead characters. Original characters are mine

Author's Note: This story if AU an in it Sophia is never a walker. Daryl also never gets hurts while looking for her. On a side note, I plan to write Daryl's character using normal English. Sometimes I might use slang but if you're looking for all the "fers" and "yers" this won't be the story for you. On the show I feel like Norman Reedus mostly uses plain English for Daryl and I want to keep the character I am writing as close to the one on TV.

Chapter Two

While he might not always have excelled in school, Daryl had something that many very intelligent people lack. Practical knowledge. It was almost instinctive to him and coupled with the ability to think under pressure he was far more intelligent than he would ever give himself credit for. The minute Carl pointed out the darkened skies, Daryl immediately began scanning the forest clicking through his options. They weren't making it back; that much he knew was true. It was too far and too dark but most of all it was too dangerous. Up ahead Daryl saw a rock face with a slight overhang. Carefully stepping toward the area he started making a mental list of all the things he had to do. Find branches and leaves, build a shelter, make a fire, check Sophia out, try to find some clean water and if God was feeling particularly generous some food. His chest tightened; it was a lot to do in the dark. If he was alone it wouldn't be a big deal but he had two kids to take care of now.

Carefully he laid Sophia down under the lip of the rock overhang. Dropping the cross bow and a small bag that he had been carrying next to her, he eyed Carl carefully. Kneeling down he reached into his waistband and produced his gun. A black hand gun like Carl had seen in the movies his eyes widened with surprise. "Carl. I need to go get some branches and make a shelter." Handing the gun to the boy, Daryl looked at him carefully. "Do you know how to use this?"

Carl had never used a gun like this, only his father's revolver. This had a clip and looked like something he wouldn't imagine Daryl using. This was city gun; Daryl was a southern country boy it didn't make much sense. Still Carl couldn't help but to smile a little. This was so cool. "I've used my dad's gun: not one like this though." Daryl nodded, as he showed Carl the tab on the side that turned the safety on and off.

"Ok, when this tab is up the safety is on. When it's off like this," Daryl turned the gun sideways in his hand so that Carl could look. "It's ready to fire." Flicking the tab back and forth Daryl watched to make sure Carl understood. "On, off, on, off. OK?"

Carl nodded. Daryl handed him the gun while looking at him seriously. "Listen to me, Carl you don't dare use that unless you have to. It's a dangerous thing, ok? Once you pull that trigger there's no going back."

Daryl imagined that Rick had talked to Carl about guns but still he couldn't leave the boy alone with a semi-automatic weapon and not feel the need to impart some advice. Truthfully, Daryl didn't want to leave the gun with him at all but he needed to find something to build a shelter and he couldn't leave Sophia behind unprotected. Daryl knew that Carl had a hunting knife but doubted that the boy could take down a walker by himself in hand-to-hand combat. So even though he didn't like it; he had no other option.

Standing up Daryl handed the gun over to Carl with a nod. "I'll be back in a couple of minutes." Slinging the cross bow over his shoulder he turned back as he started to walk away. "Only if you have to." Carl nodded seriously at Daryl sensing the older man's apprehension but not acknowledging it. Even though he was only twelve years old, Carl could see that Daryl was in a hard place. While he liked to think he could fight off walkers with the best of them, Carl knew that both he and Sophia could be easily overpowered simply because of their size. Not only would Daryl need to protect himself he needed to protect them too. No wonder he looked nervous.

When Daryl disappeared from sight, Carl turned to Sophia. A flash of lightning illuminated the sky as he jumped. She was sleeping. She was dirty and thinner than he remembered but her face was still the same. Carl wished that they were back in the RV at the quarry camp playing cards and laughing about nothing in particular. Taking a deep breath he tightened his grip on the gun as a clap of thunder echoed in the forest. He wanted Daryl back. The thought made Carl smirk. Two months ago when he met Daryl the man frightened him. He and his brother, Merle, had been at the camp only a few days when one afternoon Daryl stalked back to camp with at least a dozen dead squirrels on a string. Products of a cheeseburger nation, the rest of the group stared at him in horror. Suddenly feeling awkward, Daryl did the only thing he knew how to do. Scowling he said, "What the fuck ya'll lookin' at?" Carl felt his mother draw him closer as she shot Daryl a disapproving look. That was a long time ago, though, and there were many more things to fear in this world than a rough talking, squirrel eating redneck.

Daryl was careful not to go too far from where he left Carl and Sophia. A small flashlight in hand, he perused the ground for branches big enough to make a lean tomb of sorts. This wasn't what he wanted. He could only imagine the level of hysteria that was taking place at the farm right now. Surely Lori and Rick had noticed that Carl was missing in the dark. Hopefully, they would also notice that Daryl hadn't returned and assume that he and Carl were together. In the distance he heard a hissing sound as a few raindrops hit his face. Pausing for a moment, he squinted into the dark. He couldn't see anything but also couldn't shake a feeling of uneasiness. Something wasn't right. A flash of lightning illuminated the forest and for a split second Daryl's heart stopped. Walkers. A whole fucking herd of them. Dropping the branch he ran as fast as he could back to Carl and Sophia. His cross bow bounced against his back as he briefly contemplated standing his ground. There had to be hundreds of them, though, there was no way he could take them all out. When he got back to the spot, Carl raised the gun with shaking hands pointing it at him. Daryl wasn't surprised the boy probably didn't expect someone to roll up on him that fast.

"CARL! It's me…It's me!" reaching out he pushed the gun down.

Jesus, Carl had almost shot Daryl. "I'm sorry, Daryl…I.." Before he could ramble on Daryl held his hand up.

"It's ok. It's ok. We gotta go, though." Reaching down he roughly shook Sophia awake. "Sophia, get up!" Carl was starting to panic.

"What's wrong?" What's going on?" He was on his feet in a second.

Daryl looked at him for a moment as he hauled Sophia up to her feet. "Walkers, they're coming. A lot of them." No use lying to the kid. Carl felt tears spring up in his eyes; he was scared shitless. Daryl saw this as he bent over and picked a lethargic Sophia up. Looking at him he tried to sound reassuring. "It's ok. We're going to be ok."

When they started back down the path, Daryl could hear the hissing and moaning coming closer. They moved as fast as they could but still he could hear them gaining on him. Stopping he turned and looked back. The sky illuminated with another bolt of lightning as the rain started to fall. They were close, probably only fifty yards away if they were lucky. Eyeing a tall pine tree, Daryl broke off the trail running with Sophia in his arms and praying that his didn't trip. Coming to the base of the tree, he looked up. Seeing a good amount of sturdy branches he reasoned this was their only option. Putting Sophia down on her feet, he gestured toward Carl. "Come one, I'll boost you up." Walkers were closing in as Carl hesitated for only a second. Lifting the boy up, Daryl watched as he climbed to the second tier of branches wrapping himself around a particularly sturdy one. "Now you hold on tight, boy, ya hear?" Carl nodded afraid to move a muscle. Turning to Sophia Daryl knew this was going to be the hard part. Her eyes were wide with panic as she watched the walkers close in all around them.

"Daryl…." He knew she was scared out of her mind because he was too.

"I know. Now you gotta do this for me, ok? Use everything you got to hold onto that branch." Picking her up before she should protest, Daryl hoisted her onto the fist level of branches. Turning back the walkers were there. Grunting he pulled himself up next to her as he felt one them latch onto his boot. Sophia screamed as she felt the branch they were both holding onto bend and shake. Kicking as hard as he could, Daryl managed to get free. Wrapping his arms around Sophia he was breathing hard. Pushing her up to the next level next to Carl, he only hoped that she could hold on for a second. Her knuckles were white as he wrapped herself around the branch next to Carl tears running down her face. Carl wanted to reach out and comfort her but he was terrified of falling.

"Sophia…it's ok." His words were small and weak but it was a good effort.

On the other side of her Daryl had pushed himself up so that he was sitting between two sturdy branches. Resting his head against the bark of the tree he took a deep breath. His heart was pounding and his hands were shaking. He couldn't believe that had just happened. Below him the majority of the walkers continued to press on toward the farm while a small crowd hissed and moaned at the base of the tree. His crossbow was laying on the ground, too heavy and awkward to even considered bringing up here and unless some dumb dead bastard figured out how to use it he reasoned that it would be safe. Turning to Sophia and Carl he saw Sophia trembling so bad that the whole branch she was on was shaking. Surely a mixture of fatigue and fear, he couldn't let her stay like that. Wrapping his legs around one the branches he scooted closer to her to that he could reach.

"Sophia," she turned to look at him; her face twisted with pure terror. "Give me your hand." Reaching out for Daryl she carefully scooted herself back on the branch never once unlatching her legs. When she got close enough Daryl, grabbed her under both armpits and pulled her over into his lap. Steadying himself, he found a spot where he could sit back against the tree. Wrapping his arms around Sophia, he felt her press her face into the crook of his neck. A few stray raindrops dropped through the tree hitting his face as he looked up. Sophia was trembling and crying although he wasn't necessarily bothered by it because this way she wouldn't notice how much he was also shaking. "It's ok. Shh.." He didn't have much experience comforting twelve-year-old girls. Stroking her hair gently he felt her nuzzle closer to him. He must be doing something right.

"Carl…hey Carl." Out of the corner of his eye, Daryl could see Carl turn his head. "You ok over there?"

Carl was not ok. He was scared to the point of tears but he knew there wasn't much Daryl could do about it. So he sucked it up. "Yeah."

"Hold on tight, ya hear? Don't let go for nothing." Daryl estimated that they were about twenty feet up. If the fall didn't kill Carl the herd of walkers below would. Pinching his eyes shut, he didn't even want to think about it. He also didn't want to think where the hundreds of walkers below them had come from or where they were headed. Really, he knew where they were headed and if he could have he would have warned the group. It was too late for that now, though. Rick and Shane would know what to do. He half consoled himself with that thought as Carl's voice broke in.

"Daryl…" A clap of thunder echoed as the world was illuminated a bright white. Sophia twitched and clutched onto his shirt tighter.

"Yeah?"

"What if this tree gets hit by lightning?"

He had already thought about that and it made the hair stand up on the back of his neck. They shouldn't be here, he knew that, but he had no other options. With walkers coming at them from all angles, Daryl had to make a call between a bad decision and a worse one. He chose the tree and hoped that luck would be on their side for once. He couldn't tell Carl and Sophia that, though, so he licked his lips trying to figure out what to say.

"Don't you know what kind of tree this is?" Carl shook his head in the dark but Daryl couldn't see it so he continued. "This here is a Georgia Spruce, big and strong. Hardly ever gets hit by lightning. So don't you worry about it, Carl." A complete fucking lie. This tree could get hit just as easy as any other, but Carl didn't need to hear that. Daryl was usually blunt to a fault and rarely felt the need to sugar coat the truth, but these were kids and they were terrified. So he lied because it made them feel better.

Readjusting Sophia in his arms, Daryl leaned his head back. If they got through this night it would be a miracle.

"I can't believe this!" Lori paced back and forth on Hershel's porch as Rick gripped the banister trying to hide his distress. "Where could he be?!"

Rick looked out into the darkness. "When did you see him last?"

Lori stopped a fistful of hair in her hands and she tried to think. "The last time I saw him he was with you." Taking off down the porch stairs she began running toward the woods. Rick chased her immediately.

"LORI! Where the hell are you going?" Grabbing her by the arm, he roughly spun her around to look at him.

"I'm going to find him. Rick! He's out there. I know it." In the last hour the entire group had searched the farm top to bottom for Carl. Rick pulled her into his chest as he stared at the darkened woods line. He went to find Sophia. He knew that Carl was upset after their argument but he never thought he would run off like that. Rick's stomach turned over; as he thought about his child in the woods alone at night. He shouldn't have argued with Carl, shouldn't have left him go off alone, but most of all he shouldn't have left Sophia out there in the first place. He had to do something. Letting Lori go he turned back to go into the house and find Shane. They were going to find Carl end of story.

"Shane!" His former partner appeared in the hallway. "Carl's missing. I need to go find him." Rick slung a shotgun over his shoulder as he loaded his pistol. "I think he might have went into the woods to find Sophia alone."

Shane didn't look happy but Rick knew that he would never refuse if Carl were in trouble. Picking up a shotgun he loaded it.

"Is Daryl back yet?" Rick hadn't even thought about Daryl. He wasn't back. Maybe he and Carl were together. It was a long shot but he could hope. Shaking his head he refused to look up. "Maybe he's with Daryl and they're just going to spend the night and come back first light." It made some sense but Rick couldn't shake the sense of doom that was clouding his judgment. Carl was friendly with Daryl but he couldn't see his son running after the older man into the woods. Something was wrong.

"Maybe he is…maybe he isn't. Either way I'm not going to wait around until morning. This is my son! Either you're coming or you can get the hell out of my way." Rick stood up straight looking Shane in the eye. In their past lives, Shane wouldn't have hesitated a second. Now…things were different. Pushing past him Rick walked out into the porch in time to hear Lori scream.

Walkers. There were hundreds of them coming across the field. His eyes widened as he ran back into the house tripping on the porch stairs. "Everyone out!"

The group looked around in fear at Rick's sudden outburst. "What's going on?" Hershel moved past Rick and looked out the door. In the darkness it looked like his field was moving. "Oh my God."

The walkers had begun to dissipate under the tree as Daryl felt Sophia beginning to calm down. His back hurt from the way they were sitting but that was irrelevant now. There was no way they were coming down before daybreak. He couldn't do this again.

Looking to the left he saw Carl still wrapped tightly around the branch. He would have to make sure that Carl stayed awake all night. He couldn't risk the boy falling asleep and letting go. It would make him feel better if the boy was in arm's reach but he wasn't. Daryl had never been much of a talker and relating to other people wasn't really something he felt comfortable with. But that didn't matter anymore; he had to do something.

"Hey Carl." It was silent for a moment as Daryl's heart began thumping in his chest. What if he had fallen asleep?

"Yeah?"

"Are you ok?"

"I guess." His voice was small and tired.

"Ok. Are you getting tired?" Obviously he was tired.

"Yeah."

"I know you're tired, buddy, but you can't fall asleep."

"I won't." The one word answers weren't making Daryl feel any better. Carl sounded like a kid who didn't want to go to school. Awake but on the verge of sleep any second. Daryl was quiet for a minute. Sophia had her eyes closed against his chest but she was too tense to be sleeping. Wrapping his arm around her tightly, he looked over at Carl as he gnawed his bottom lip.

"I'm sorry. I should have got you guys back." The guilt in his voice was evident even to a kid. Carl sighed as he looked at Daryl.

"It's ok. You did your best." Daryl raised an eyebrow had he done his best? "Hey Daryl?"

"Yeah?"

"I'm sorry for what I said earlier about you not being able to find shit."

It had stung at the time, Daryl wouldn't deny that, but he had deserved it. "It's ok. You were upset."

They were silent for a moment as Daryl struggled for a way to make conversation with Carl.

"How old are you?" Carl's voice broke him out of his awkwardness as he let out a small chuckle.

"Don't you know that it's rude to ask that, kid?" Carl laughed a little bit. To him people were either kids or adults; age didn't really matter. He was just trying to think of something to say to someone he barely knew. A few seconds went by before Daryl quietly replied. "I'm thirty three."

"Holy shit that's old!" Carl laughed to himself causing Daryl to smile a little.

"You're going to be that old one day and I hope you have some little shit there to tell you about it." Carl snickered as he came up with another question.

"What did you do?" Daryl laughed softly carefully not to disturb Sofia.

"I was mechanic." He laughed again.

"Why are you laughing?"

"Oh I was just thinking some good it's doing me now. If I had known the world was going to end I would have been a paramedic or something useful."

"I think a mechanic is useful. What if we're running from walkers and we find a car but it won't start. You could make it work."

Daryl was doubtful that he could fix a broke down car with nothing but his hands but that wasn't the point. He had a very subtle way of putting himself down or making himself seem less than adequate. It was the result of years of abuse and neglect. Even though Carl was just a kid he had clued in on it was trying to his best to make Daryl feel better about himself.

"Maybe." It was all he could say although he couldn't deny that he was touched by the fact that Carl wanted to make him feel better despite their dire predicament. "Want to play a game?"

Daryl needed to keep Carl talking although he was slightly uncomfortable letting Carl do that by asking him questions. They still had hours to go and eventually his questions would probably lead to something Daryl didn't want to talk about.

Carl perked up a little bit as he nodded. "You know how to play twenty questions?"

"No." Daryl sighed; kids today lacked creativity. Force-fed entertainment through the TV or video games they had no imagination.

"OK, well here's how it works. I'm going to tell you a category like 'animal' and then you need to figure out what I'm thinking of by asking questions I can answer with yes or no. If you can guess it in less than twenty questions then we switch."

It sounded simple enough. Carl agreed, "Ok. What's the category?"

Daryl thought for a minute. "Animal."

Carl started guessing his first question made Daryl laugh, "Have you ever killed one?"

"No." Carl pushed himself up so that he could watch Daryl's face closely.

"Is it in Georgia?" Daryl pretended to be thinking although he already knew the answer.

"No."

"Is it big or small?"

"Small." The thunder had subsided as the rain began dumping down. They had been mostly shielded from it but not Daryl could feel himself getting a little wet. "Carl you hold onto that branch tight, ok? Don't want you to get wet and slip off." Carl did what he was told hugging the branch tightly.

"Does it live in the hot or cold?"

Daryl stretched his one leg out under Sophia before he answered Carl. "Cold."

"Does it swim?"

Daryl had to think about this one. "Yeah I think so." Before he asked another question Sophia piped in.

"It's a penguin." Daryl was surprised that she was listening. Offering her a small smile he nodded.

"That's right."

"Shit! I was just going to say that!" Daryl smirked at Carl.

"Do you talk like that in front of your momma, boy?" Carl looked away. "That's what I thought." Turning his attention back to Sophia Daryl studied her drawn face and tired eyes. "You doing ok?"

Sophia nodded slightly. Daryl was not convinced. Letting go of her with one hand he dug into his back pocket. If he remembered correctly he had half a Hershey bar in there. Pilfered from one of their man trips into town he kept them in case of an emergency. It was smashed against the wrapper as he pulled it away. The rain was coming down now his hair was matted to his forehead. His left arm brought Sophia's head close to his chest as he held the chocolate up to her lips with the other. Her eyes widened. She hadn't had much to eat in the last week. Daryl was relieved when she took a bite and then another.

"Good, huh?" She just nodded looking up into his eyes with a mixture of relief and fear.

Pushing his hand away she said, "Give the rest to Carl."

"Carl. I got a piece of chocolate if you want it." Daryl held it out for him but much to his surprise Carl shook his head.

"Give it to Sophia. She needs it more than me." Just like his daddy. Turning back to Sophia he gently fed her the rest of the chocolate before she closed her eyes resting her head against his chest. "Can I pick a category now?"

Daryl tightened his grip on Sophia before looking at Carl. "Sure."

The farm had descended into chaos as Rick charged off the porch firing at the first few walkers. Hershel refused to leave so they were going to make a stand for as long as they could. Gunshots echoed all around him as people split up into cars picking off walkers as they drove in circles. Behind him Shane fired off a shotgun in every direction. Even if they used all their ammo they couldn't fight off all these walkers. They had to go. Grabbing Lori he threw her into the back seat of a car. "HERSHEL! HERSHEL WE NEED TO GO!"

Although Hershel wanted to make a stand, Rick could see that the old man knew he was in over his head. Pushing Carol into the car with Lori, Rick went after Shane. When the others drove past he screamed as loud as he could. "Go!" Pointing toward the road he gestured wildly. "Get off the farm!"

"SHANE! WE NEED TO GO!" Popping walkers left and right Rick cleared a path toward his former partner.

Shane looked at him with a crazed look in his eye. Cocking the gun he leveled it at Rick's chest. "FUCK YOU, RICK!" Rick backed away as Lori and Carol were screaming from the car. Shane had finally lost it.

A walker hissed in his ear causing Rick to jump back popping a round off into the zombie's head. Keeping his eyes on Shane finally turned and broke out into a run toward the car. Grabbing Hershel by the shirt, Rick ignored the old man's protests as he shoved him into the front seat. Rick walked around the car, shooting a walker hanging on the side mirror. Slamming the door he stomped on the gas, mowing down three or four bodies in the process. Behind him the shotgun blasts echoed in his ears.

"What about Carl!? WE NEED TO FIND CARL!" Lori howled from the back seat as Carol tried her best to comfort the distraught woman. The inky blackness of the road burned holes into Rick's eyes as they watered involuntarily. If God could do one thing for him in his whole life he would want it to be that right now Carl was with Daryl and they were both safe. It wasn't much, but really it was everything he could hope for.

In the distance Daryl heard a flurry of gunshots. They were faint but he knew what it meant. Carl continued playing twenty questions not letting on that he heard a thing. So Daryl talked louder and hoped that the boy didn't put two and two together.

Daryl's body ached as the first hints of daylight peeked through the tree. He was cold and wet but it didn't matter as he looked down at Sophia in his arms. She had eventually succumbed to days of fatigue and fell asleep; her head pressed against his chest.

"Carl? You ready to go?" The boy had to be exhausted. Some how, some way Daryl had managed to keep him awake all night. He didn't think he had talked to one person so much in his whole life but it worked.

"I guess." He sounded unenthused

"When I get you guys somewhere…somewhere safe. I promise I'll let you sleep all you want." Carl noticed that Daryl hadn't said when we get back to the farm. Carl saw the herd of walkers last night and which way they were going. He didn't want to but he could only assume the worst. Carefully nudging Sophia awake, Daryl assisted her onto a branch next to them. "Hold on tight, Ok? Just for a few seconds."

Wordlessly she complied, hugging the branch for dear life. Climbing down, Daryl pulled her down onto the next level of branches before lowering himself to the ground. To the right a walker ambled toward him hissing. Stepping over he pulled out his hunting knife shoving the blade into the corpse's skull. It made a sick sucking sound as he pulled it back. Sophia teetered on the branch too weak to climb down herself. Reaching up she let go before he had his arms around her as they both went tumbling backwards to the ground. The shock of the fall startled Sophia as she jumped up quickly.

"Are you ok?" Daryl saw the started look on her face and mistook it for pain.

"I'm ok. I'm ok." Pushing himself up, Daryl brushed his pants off. Patting her back he motioned for her to stand aside just in case Carl did the same thing. Thankfully the young boy was sure footed as he lowered himself to the ground.

Picking up the crossbow without being asked Carl started walking toward the farm. Daryl stretched out his back before bending down to pick up Sophia. "No…No I can walk."

She looked dehydrated beyond belief but her eyes were bright. Nodding his head he took his cross bow back from Carl as they started down the path. Within a few seconds Sophia was lagging behind. This wasn't going to work. Without saying a word, Daryl bent down and picked her up.

His arms were aching and his back was wracked with spasms but that didn't stop him. Carefully they trudged through the forest. When the edge of the tree line was visible Carl ran ahead. Daryl was scared of what he was going to find. The walkers, the gunshots, it was adding up to a reality he didn't want to face. After he broke out of the woods Carl stopped dead in his tracks. Daryl could feel his heart pounding not want to know.

It was worse than he thought. The fields, the house there were bodies everywhere. The cars were gone and he didn't see a single sign of life anywhere. Gingerly putting Sophia down on her feet, he sunk down to his knees. Looking around he couldn't believe his eyes. This couldn't be happening. Sophia was too dazed to comprehend what they were seeing. Carl on the other hand turned to him tears in his eyes.

"They left us."

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