The Places We Hide
Chapter 4
Pairing: Daryl x OC
Rating: M
Location: The Quarry/On The Road
After the group left to get Merle back, the entire camp was tense. Shane looked like he would punch the next person that talked to him so everyone was giving him a wide berth. It didn't help that Harper had bust his lip open and Lori was giving him the cold shoulder. Harper didn't think anyone else realized how close the two had gotten besides her and maybe Daryl so the camp was confused about Shane's recent attitude change.
Harper decided to leave the man alone and not work him up anymore than she did earlier. His split lip still looked red and angry.
"Harper! Carl said you fixed his knees when he fell down! Can you teach us how to take care of ourselves too?" Sophia asked, bounding over to her with Carl in tow.
"Well what exactly do you guys want to know?" Harper asked with a small smile gracing her lips. It amazed her that even when the world was turned upside down kids still found reasons to be happy.
"What do we do if we cut ourselves?" Sophia asked, sitting on the ground in front of Harper. Carl followed her lead, giving her his full attention. She noticed from the corner of her eyes that a few of the adults also stopped to listen.
"Well first you would need to see how bad it's bleeding. If it's a deep cut, you need to apply pressure with anything clean like a towel or a shirt. You should really try to use a bandage, but those are hard for us to find now. Once the bleeding is slowed down, you need to clean it. Don't pour just any water over it. Even if it looks clean, you need to use water that's been boiled and is safe for drinking."
"Why? The quarry water is safe for us to use," Sophia told her.
"We still boil that water. There a germs that are so small, we can't see them. And if you pour that water over your cut, you're letting all those germs in." Sophia nodded and let her continue.
"Most of the time, cuts are small enough that we can just wrap them up to let them heal. Some need stitches, like Morales' hand did. You need a needle to do that and an adult to help you."
"You're so smart, Harper. I want to help people like you do." Harper leaned forward and ruffled Sophia's short hair.
"I can teach you, Sweetie. Just come with me next time someone needs help."
"Sophia," Carol called from the edge of her smaller camping area. She had her arms crossed and a worried expression on her face. Ed grumbled something behind her, but Harper couldn't make out what it was. Sophia frowned and got up to go back over to her mom. Harper felt bad, but she wasn't going to get involved in their family issues. Not unless Ed decided to lay a hand on the child.
"What about you, Carl? You gonna be a nurse in the making too?"
"Nurses are girls," Carl told her.
"Not always. It's true that many of them are women, but a lot of our ER nurses and ICU nurses were men. We needed some strong guys around to help when things got crazy."
"Really?" Carl asked with big eyes.
"Really!" Carl smiled at her and stayed on the ground next to her feet.
"What's up, Bud?" She asked, sensing that there was something else he wanted to talk about.
"It's just… I'm happy my dad's back, but things feel weird now…"
"Weird how?" Carl just shrugged and looked at his dirty sneakers.
"My mom and Shane aren't talking, and I think my mom is mad because Dad went back to Atlanta. They should be happy we're together again."
"Grown ups are weird, Carl. They're the ones to say that you should talk to someone if you have a problem with them, but half the time they don't follow their own advice. Don't worry about your parents. Your mom is probably just upset because she wanted your dad to be here with y'all instead of leaving so soon."
"Yeah, I didn't want him to leave either," He mumbled.
"Well you're the one that was going on about how cool he is. He doesn't seem like the person to leave people when they need help."
"No, he's always helping people. That's just how he is."
"Then be proud of him and be ready for when he comes back. As for Shane and your mom, I don't know what to tell you. They could have just had a fight; everyone has them. I'm sure they'll be okay later, they just need some time."
"Thanks, Harper," He whispered, eyes falling closed as he leaned his head against her legs. Harper gently brushed his hair away from his face and looked up, seeing Lori watching them. She nodded at Harper, silently thanking her for talking to him.
She wasn't doing it for Lori. Harper wasn't a fan of hers, but Carl was a sweet kid. He needed somebody in his corner when all the drama between his parents and Shane came to light.
Eventually, Lori walked over to them and woke up Carl so he could go to bed. It left Harper feeling lonely. Without Daryl or one of the kids with her, she realized how few people she actually talked to. There was Dale or Glenn on occasion, but no one she was exactly close to.
Tomorrow she decided she would make more of an effort to get to know the people she was living with. If they were going to survive together, might as well befriend more of them.
The first scream came from Ed's tent, but before the camp could react, dozens of walkers came rambling in from the trees. Harper jumped up and unsheathed Daryl's knife. She saw a few campers go down but looked to see where Dale was.
He was standing at the entrance to the RV waving his hand at her to get over there as fast as she could. Harper stabbed a few walkers in her way and saw Shane get Lori and Carl there as well.
"Where's Carol?" She asked the group, scanning the campsite.
"I'm here!" Carol said coming up from the side. "Sophia and I — Sophia? Sophia?!" She screamed looking beside her for the small girl. A high pitched scream drew their attention back to the mass of walkers near the fire. Sophia was dodging the grabbing hands of a lone walker near the tree line.
"Sophia!" Carol went to run to her, but Shane grabbed her around the middle and held her in place.
"We can't Carol; there are too many of them!" Shane yelled over Carol's heart wrenching screams and sobs.
"You fucking coward," Harper seethed and ran down the small incline back into the fray. Knife ready, she came up behind the walker and rammed the blade into the back of its skull. Pulling Sophia back up to her feet, she dodged another walker and slammed the knife into its eye socket.
"Hurry! Get up to the RV," Harper pushed the girl ahead and ran to follow but was stopped short. Gnarly fingers had reached out from the trees and tangled in her blonde hair, keeping her from following after the child.
Harper grunted and tried to swing the knife backwards but kept missing its head. Barely managing to keep its teeth away, she almost cried when she heard the guns and Daryl's voice.
"Harper! Where ya at?!" His deep voice barked through the chaos.
"Daryl! Over here!" She called out, swinging back again, trying to stab the walker in the head. She heard the whiz of the arrow before the sound of it penetrating rotting flesh filled her ears.
The walker dragged Harper down with it, it's fingers still embedded in her long hair. Daryl was there in a second, pulling the body off and freeing her from its clutches. Harper threw her arms around Daryl, tears rolling down her cheeks.
"They were going to leave Sophia to die," She whispered, tucking her face into his neck. Daryl held her against his body and shushed her.
"S' okay now; I gotcha. Ya did good, girl. Real good."
After she calmed down, Harper finally released Daryl, flushing a little from reacting the way she did and attaching herself to him. Daryl looked her over critically.
"Ya bit? Scratched?"
"I don't think so. It just had a hold of my hair. Where's Merle?"
"Sumbitch wasn't there. Cut his own damn hand off ta get off that roof," Daryl said, looking away from Harper's eyes.
"I knew he was too stubborn to die out there. He'll find his way back to you." Daryl nodded and gestured towards the RV. They slowly walked over to the others and it didn't take long for Carol and Sophia to attack her.
"Thank you for saving my baby," Carol cried. Sophia wasn't much better, sobbing into Harper's stomach.
"It's okay, Carol. We have to look out for each other now," She told her softly. They let go of Harper and nodded. She ruffled Sophia's hair again and met Shane's hard eyes.
"Look-" He started.
"No, you don't get to speak to me. Not after that. You're true colors are out now, you can't hide them anymore."
"What's going on?" Rick asked, cluelessly, but they both ignored him.
"I wasn't going to risk the lives of the others!"
"It was one walker and a child. You had a gun. Don't give me that bullshit."
"I told you not to talk to me like that!" Shane snapped, grabbing her arm and yanking her closer to him. Things happened quickly after that. Daryl's bow was pointed at Shane's head and Harper had her knife at his throat.
"Woah! Everybody calm down!" Rick yelled, but no one moved.
"I told you next time you put your hands on me, I would kill you. Let go of me, Shane," Harper growled, seeing Rick's jaw drop at her words. Shane snarled and shoved her arm away. Harper stepped back, moving closer to Daryl.
"We're done here, Shane. Don't come near me again." Harper spun on her heel and left. She heard footsteps behind her and expected to see Daryl, but when she turned around it was Rick coming after her.
"Harper, what just happened? What's going on with you two?"
"Rick, I can't complain to you about him. He was your partner," Harper groaned, moving closer to her tent.
"I don't care if he was my partner. I want to know what's going on."
"Look, we haven't gotten along since the beginning, but things have escalated recently. He doesn't like it when I tell him what I think of him. He grabbed me before and I warned him not to touch me again, but he obviously didn't care. I also told him that his true colors would come out, and he would save himself. That's what he did tonight. He could have saved Sophia or even let Carol go after her, but he didn't do either. He was going to let that little girl die in front of her mother."
"Harper, I didn't know about any of this," Rick told her sadly.
"Of course you didn't, Rick. You just got here. But that's why I told you to be careful. I don't know what Shane was like before, but right now, he's acting like a wolf in sheep's clothing. I don't trust him. I want to stay with the group, but I can't be around him anymore."
"I don't blame you for feeling this way. I'll talk to Shane and see if I can get him to back off." Harper nodded and closed herself inside of her tent. She just got settled and grabbed her book to blow off some steam when she heard footsteps outside her tent.
The person hesitated before finally speaking up. "Ya okay in there, Princess?" Harper snorted and unzipped the flap to the outside.
"Just peachy. I didn't realize you started making housecalls."
"Don't get used ta it. Trainin' again in the morning," Daryl grunted and walked away. Harper smiled at his retreating back and closed herself back inside the tent. She took a moment to think about what just happened with Shane and realized how fast Daryl was to come to her defense. He was ready to take Shane out to protect her.
True to his word, Daryl woke her up at dawn and led her out into the trees, away from prying eyes. He took the time to show her different swinging motions with the knife and ways to balance herself during an attack.
"Use force and aim for the soft spots. Temple, eyes, under the jaw," Daryl explain as he watched her movements with a critical eye.
Harper got more confident as she moved through the different stances, the weight of the knife in her hand growing more familiar.
"Ain't gonna have guns forever. Ya gotta know how ta use the knife."
"Daryl, how would you have gotten away from the walker that grabbed me last night?" She asked, pausing to take a breath. Daryl was quiet for a moment, thinking about last night and seeing Harper almost die a few yards away from him. He cleared his throat and looked at the trees behind Harper instead of at her.
"Woulda swung back with ma left elbow ta break the hold and followed with the knife in ma right hand." Harper tried to picture it in her head and nodded. She had just panicked and kept trying to swing backwards with the blade without getting bitten.
"Cain't let yer guard down anymore. Dead or alive," Daryl told her.
"Shane made that pretty obvious last night," Harper grumbled, thinking about the last time Daryl warned her against other living people.
"E'ery man for himself now." Daryl decided to leave after that, deeming her competent enough in knife handling to survive a while longer. Harper walked back to the camp and saw everyone doing damage control. A lot of people were packing up supplies and others were figuring out what to do with the bodies.
She saw Glenn building a fire near the edge of their clearing so she walked over to him to help. They gathered more wood and threw it into the fire to build it up.
"Are we burning the walkers?"
"Yeah, no telling if their bodies will infect the soil. And they reek," Glenn grumbled, eyeing one not too far away. Harper helped Glenn lift the body and swing it into the flames, the smell of burning flesh filling the air. Harper wrinkled her nose and moved back a few feet.
Looking around the camp, she saw Daryl and Morales sliding their knives into the skulls of the fallen to make sure they didn't reanimate later. Rick and Shane were arguing near their tents, Lori interjecting every now and then. Carl and Sophia were sitting at one of the outdoor tables near the central campfire. Tents were being packed up all around her.
Eyes sliding closer to the RV, she finally saw the two sisters. Harper stayed far away from Andrea and let her mourn over her loss of Amy. They may not have gotten along, but the woman just lost her baby sister. That and she saw how she reacted to Rick getting too close and decided it was better to give her room.
"There're so many," Harper mumbled to Glenn, looking up from the burning pile of walker bodies to those of their dead campers. They hadn't lost any children, but there were at least half a dozen adults that didn't make it.
"This never should have happened," Glenn's voice broke, following her line of sight.
"Glenn, don't do that. You and the guys got back as fast as you could. There was no way you could have known they were coming even if you were here." Glenn nodded and frowned when he saw Daryl and Morales dragging one of their own over to the fire.
"What're you doing? Ours go over there!"
"What does it matter? They're all infected now!" Daryl snapped.
"They were someone to us! We don't burn them. We bury them!" Glenn yelled, emotions bubbling under the surface. Harper squeezed his shoulder and picked up a shovel.
"Let's give them a proper burial then," She spoke softly and looked at both men. Daryl grunted and moved the body with Morales' help to the other side of the clearing. Harper heard him grumbling under his breath about the camp and them leaving his brother.
"Hey, come give me a hand." Daryl's eyes snapped back to her like he was about to go off on her too, but he took a deep breath and snatched the extra shovel from her hand. They walked away from the group and out to where Jim had been digging a few days ago before he suffered from his heat stroke.
Harper had been creeped out when they first saw him digging graves, but it was almost like he knew that this would happen. They only needed to dig a few of them deeper.
"I heard Rick talking to Shane about leaving the quarry," Harper broke their silence once it was just the two of them digging.
"Too close ta the city. Walkers startin' ta move out. Lookin' for food." They dug in silence for a few more minutes.
"Are we going with them?" Daryl paused and looked up at her from his hole. If he was surprised about her asking if they were going to head off on their own, he didn't show it.
"Better ta stick with the numbers. For now." Harper nodded again and continued to scoop dirt out of the grave. Deeming the holes deep enough, Daryl tossed his shovel aside and held a hand out to Harper to pull her up and out of hers.
"Better go figure out what the plan is."
"We have two options. We can go to the CDC or Fort Benning. We'll take a vote and go where the majority wants to. If you don't want to come with us, you can go your own way if you choose to," Rick explained to everyone. They'd just finished burying their dead, among them were Ed, Amy and Jim. Everyone seemed ready to move on from the quarry.
"If there's anyone at the CDC, we could get some insight into what's happened," Harper added. Rick nodded in her direction.
"Fort Benning has the military and supplies. We'll be safe with them," Shane told everyone.
"The military are the ones that bombed the city. How can we be sure that they would be friendly with strangers walking up to their basecamp; if they're even still there?" Dale asked, the always present Devil's advocate. Several campers were whispering amongst themselves until Rick called for the vote.
Harper and Daryl voted with the majority to try the CDC first and go from there. Most of the camp had already packed their things; they just needed to load up their vehicles and plan the route. Daryl was silent as he packed Merle's stuff up and loaded the motorcycle into the bed of his truck.
"Merle's okay out there. Remember, he's too stubborn to die," Harper said lightly, trying to perk him up.
"Toughest sumbitch I know," Daryl mumbled with a short nod and looked around the empty campsite.
"If he's anywhere close to as good of a tracker as you are, he'll find us." Daryl looked at her for a second before dipping his chin and grabbing her tent to throw it in his truck with his stuff. They didn't talk about what car she was riding in, they communicated silently, a habit they were starting to do more often together.
"We'll be okay too," Daryl told her softly.
"Survive long enough to live again," Harper agreed with a small smile.
Rick called everyone back together and told them it was time to head out. A few families decided to part ways, and Harper was sad to see Morales' family was one of them. She climbed into Daryl's truck feeling a little more depressed than before.
After a few minutes of silent driving, Daryl had enough. "What's wrong now?" He asked, never taking his eyes off the road. Harper sighed and watched the trees pass by outside the window.
"I'm just worried about the people that didn't come with us."
"S'their fault if walkers get 'em," Daryl's voice was soft but irritated. Harper knew he didn't like that the group split up either. Rough as he was, she knew he worried about the others more than he let on, especially the children in the camp.
"I hope they don't… What do you think of Rick?" She asked, wanting to get off the subject.
"Don't know yet. If he's like Shane, we're gonna have a problem."
"I think he's more sincere than Shane and wants the best for us. At least for now. No telling what will happen later. He could be another Shane in disguise."
"If Shane gets handsy again, they're gonna find 'im dead inna ditch," Daryl growled, fists tightening on the steering wheel.
"I'll be right there helping toss his body in," Harper told him, morbidly. "I wonder if there's anybody actually at the CDC."
"Won't know 'til we get there."
Harper settled back into the bench seat and looked out the window again. It wasn't until she noticed that trees were passing by slower that she realized Daryl was beginning to stop the truck. Looking forward, the entire caravan was coming to a stop behind Dale's RV, smoke billowing out from under the hood.
Harper got out with the others and joined Dale by the smoking engine.
"I told everyone the hose was bad. We need to find another one or this thing won't be going anywhere. If Jim were still here, he'd be able to help me out," Dale mumbled the last bit sadly. Harper reached out and squeezed his shoulder silently.
Everyone began looking for a replacement part in the nearby cars while Shane drove ahead to a gas station to look for supplies.
"I know nothing about cars," Harper grumbled and shoved a hood up. "Give me a seizing patient or someone having a heart attack and I can handle that. Ask me to find a hose for something or other in a car, and I have no idea what I'm doing."
Daryl snorted and rooted around under the hood, looking for anything that could work.
"What? You do? Are you some kind of mechanic guru we don't know about?" Harper questioned, leaning against the driver's side door. Daryl popped back up with a hose in hand.
"I ain't clueless, Princess."
"Oh come on! I know how to change a flat and check my oil. I'm not clueless, Dixon!" She called after him as they walked back to Dale.
"This good?" Daryl asked, handing Dale what he found.
"It's a little small, but I have some dutch tape. We could make it work until we find something better. This won't last forever." Harper watched Dale lean into the RV and try to rig the hose to fit where the old one used to be.
When Shane returned, he had a few cans of siphoned gas to refuel the cars with. He'd also found a few energy bars that he passed around. Harper was careful not to make eye contact with him, wanting to keep the peace while they were on the road.
Harper got one and crawled back into the truck with Daryl. She broke the bar in half and gave on side to Daryl so he could munch on it while he drove. It didn't take long for everyone to get back on the road in their single line formation.
The drive was quiet again until they finally saw signs for the CDC up ahead. Harper perked up and leaned forward in her seat.
"I guess this is the moment of truth, huh?" She whispered and opened the door once they stopped. Grabbing a couple of their bags just in case but leaving the majority of their things in the truck, the two followed after the others, weaving through the undead bodies to get to the front entrance of the large building.
It looked like the military had tried to protect the building and failed. No telling if Fort Benning was still standing or not. A few walkers were noticing them and started to head their way, snapping their jaws and snarling.
Harper kept looking over her shoulder while Rick banged and yelled at the door. The walkers were starting to close in on them, and Daryl was beginning to react.
"We gotta go!" He yelled at the group, taking out the closest walker to them. Grabbing Harper's arm, he shoved her more behind him to shield her from the oncoming bodies.
"You're killing us!" Rick screamed again and finally began to step back so they could make a run to the cars. Daryl had already grabbed Harper again to drag her to the truck when the front doors opened and blinded them all with white light.
Note: Yes. I ended this chapter just like the episode because I loved it. Sorry for the wait! Enjoy! I already have the next few chapters basically written out, but I'm still changing the details around so it may still be a little bit of a wait before they get posted.
Thank you all for reading! Leave a review and let me know what you think.
~LL