Thank you all again for your feedback. I promised more action, so more action shall I deliver! We are nearing the end of the last season, as well as the last of the "The Walking Dead" graphic novels that I own, so I will be taking some liberties from here on out. Once the series comes back on, if I'm still writing, I will try to find a way to tie the two back together.
Oh, one last thing; I will be referring to Star/Rylynn as "Star" in the narrative, but characters will still refer to her as Rylynn, unless they learn her real name.
Onwards and upwards!
Star was the first to fall asleep, dozing off around two in the morning after helping Daryl rinse out his dirty clothes and hanging them to dry in the garage. Daryl, not sure if he was supposed to stay on her mattress or wander off to find his own, chose to do neither, and instead took some time to better examine the stash of weapons and vehicles in her garage.
The green and black bike seemed to be a hybrid of sorts, with wide, treaded tires like a mountain bike but a lightweight frame like a street racer. She had two pannier bags mounted on the back, and a triangular bag attached to the middle of the frame. Inside the bags he found a first aid kit, energy bars, two filtered water bottles, flares, lighters, an assortment of small knives, and a strange strap. He pulled it out of the saddle bag and closely examined it. It was made of woven materials, and had a loop on each end that slid to widen or tighten. He gave up the puzzle, deciding to ask her about it later.
The jeep was closed-topped, but had the option to remove the material over the trunk to make it open air. Smart choice, he thought. She had packed the back of the vehicle with non-perishable food, sleeping bags, first aid kits, and tents.
She knew this place was screwed 'fore we even got here.
Turning back to go into the house, he saw a strange object leaning on the wall next to the entryway. It looked like a thick, black pole with a grip down the middle. He picked it up and almost immediately dropped it. Confused, he picked it back up again and lifted it to rest on one hand. The pole swung to the ground on one side, but didn't completely fall this time.
It's weighted, Daryl realized. Only…it's weighted wrong. One end of the pole was clearly heavier than the other, although both were weighed down.
Strange, he thought, putting it back in its place and making a mental note to ask Star about that at daylight as well.
He quietly re-entered the house, satisfied with her preparations. He crossed the living room and saw her still sprawled out on the mattress. He quietly bounded up the stairs and picked a door to open at random. Finding a mattress on the floor of what appeared to be a spare bedroom, he plopped down on it and, unexpectedly, promptly fell asleep.
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Star awoke to the sun streaming in the patio windows. She groggily rubbed the back of her hand over her eyes and was about to doze off again when she recalled that Aaron wanted to meet at his place at sun-up.
"Shit!" she swore, leaping to her feet and looking around for Daryl. The hunter was nowhere to be found. She dashed into the downstairs bathroom, the only one she had ever used, and pulled on a pair of green cargo pants fitted around her ankles, a black sports bra and matching sports tank top, tossed a longer black sports jacket over that, and shoved her black and orange running shoes over her feet before making a dash for the garage. She gathered Daryl's clean-ish clothes, thankfully mostly dry, and bolted up the stairs.
"Daryl?" she called, knocking on the first door she saw. A groggy "Hmm?" confirmed that she had chosen right.
"Daryl we have to go, we're going to be late and I can already see the smirk on Aaron's face when we show up late and together."
The door flew open, and Daryl appeared and grabbed the clothes from her hands before she had a chance to hand them over. She laughed as he disappeared behind the door again.
"What?" he inquired, muffled since he was struggling with his shirt.
"Nothing," she called as she made her way back to the first floor. "Meet me in the garage."
He appeared less than two minutes later, crossbow being slung over his back as he stepped into the garage. Star was doing a last-minute check of her bike, and had the strange strap hanging over her shoulder.
"What is that?" Daryl asked. She looked up and smiled before bending down to make one last adjustment to her brakes.
"It's a carrying strap," she told him. She grabbed the strange pole from next to the door as she mounted the bike, set it down across the handlebars, and then wheeled up to the garage door. He followed close behind and bent down to raise the garage door with her. She wheeled underneath as he held it up, and then he crossed under and dropped it shut behind them.
"Fer what?" he asked again as she picked up speed towards Aaron and Eric's house, laughing at him as the distance between them grew. He took a few jogging steps in attempt to keep up, but resumed walking and waved a defeated hand at her back.
When he arrived at Aaron and Eric's house, he found the trio on the floor of the garage, working away on some project.
"Something broken?" he inquired. Aaron stood up and greeted him.
"Morning! No, nothing broke. Rylynn was just showing us a weapon she has been working on."
Daryl looked around the man to see the strange pole in Star's hands, but now two of her longer knives had been mounted to bands at the two ends.
"Meant to tell ya," he told her, "that pole's broken. Weights are off."
She gave him a broad grin. "I know! That's the point."
Eric dusted his knees off as he stood up, too. "It's quite a smart idea, really."
Daryl felt left out. "What is?"
Star picked up her new contraption and carried it over to him, placing it in his hands. "Here, try it. It's just like a double-headed spear. Go out to the driveway and try to swing it around."
"I did, last night," he told her. "Dropped the damn thing. Like I said, weights are off."
"When did you do that?"
"When ya were sleepin'," he said, and she nodded.
"Wait, what?" Aaron said. "When she was sleeping…last night?"
Daryl flushed a deep shade of red and shot a glare at his friend, but Star kept her gaze fondly fixed on her weapon as she said, "Aaron, do not give me an excuse to give a demonstration of this right now."
Eric laughed and patted his partner on the back. "Oh come one, love, let them be. Besides, you all better get on the road before you're burning too much daylight." He affectionately pecked Aaron on the lips and gave him a tight hug, and Star stepped in to give him a hug as well. Eric clapped Daryl on the back with a request of, "Take care of them", which Star snorted at.
Star's bike had already been loaded into the back of the Subaru, along with other provisions they would need, so Aaron got behind the wheel and Star took the passenger seat as Daryl mounted his new motorcycle. The three headed out of the gates of Alexandria just as the sun hit the lower branches of the trees.
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They had been driving along for several hours when Star suddenly hollered, "There!"
"What?" Aaron reacted. "Jesus, Ry, don't do that!"
She ignored his protests and pointed through the passenger window. "I saw a guy! Red poncho, tan pants. He's alone."
Aaron signaled for Daryl to pull over, and the car was barely at a stop before Star was out on her feet. Daryl turned off and dismounted the bike, noting that the spear was now in the carrier strap across her back, one blade pointing down to the ground but angled away from her body, the other point high in the air above and behind her shoulder. He approached her and touched her elbow lightly to get her attention as Aaron came around the car.
"Ya see somethin'?" He asked. She nodded and pointed through a section of the forest.
"I thought I saw someone in there, wearing red," she said quietly. "But I don't see him now."
Daryl led the way into the thicket, studying the ground while Star and Aaron followed behind.
"Somebody came through here," he confirmed.
"If we see them, we hang back and set up a mike. Watch and listen only, for now," Aaron instructed them.
"The usual drill, got it," Star repeated back.
"For how long?" Daryl asked.
"Until we know for sure," Star responded.
Aaron nodded in agreement. "We have to know."
This didn't sit too well with Daryl. Who knew what this guy had been through, or how much longer he could hold out? It was unfair to bet this guy's life while the good town of Alexandria made up its mind about a stranger.
"Ya send people away?" Daryl asked. It made more sense to bring him in and send him back out if he didn't work out.
"Yeah," Aaron said shortly.
"Those were the folks I was telling you and Rick about," Star supplemented. "It was three people, two men and a woman. Davidson, smart and strong as hell, was their leader."
Aaron sighed and shook his head in disappointment at the memory. "I thought it'd work out…but it didn't. I brought them in and I had to see them out. Me, Aiden and Nicholas drove them out about an hour, gave them a day's worth of food and water, and left them there."
"They just…went?" Daryl asked, disbelief evident in his voice.
"We had their guns," Aaron said by way of explanation.
"They came back, though," Star finished. "They found their way back to Alexandria when I was guarding the wall. Davidson and the other man tried to scale over one of the walls. I had to shoot them down."
"Those are the two men ya killed?"
"I consider them kills. I hit Davidson in the thigh and the other guy in the shoulder. They both fell from pretty far up. We didn't find their bodies the next morning, but there's no way they got far before being attacked or bleeding out," Star admitted.
"It was my call that led to them trying to take over, and failing, and being exiled. It was my call that led to Star having to kill people who weren't about to turn," Aaron said angrily, looking guiltily at Star. She shook her head at him, and Daryl recognized it as her warning him off of that guilt. "You understand why I can't make that kind of mistake again."
"Shhh! There!" Star hissed suddenly. Daryl crouched low and swiveled to face the direction she was pointing in. He made his way over to Aaron's backpack and produced a pair of binoculars, peering across the meadow. Sure enough, a man in a bright red poncho was making his way across the grass.
"What's he doing?" Aaron asked, pulling the listening equipment from the same bag.
"He's smearing dirt on his skin," Star said.
"Sonofabitch knows how to keep mosquitos off of him," Daryl said in an admiring tone. "Come on," he called. The man was about to hit another thick of trees, and he didn't want to lose him.
"Wait," Star said, placing a hand on his arm. "Something's wrong about this."
"What is it?" Aaron asked.
Star's brow furrowed, and she ran a hand along the length of her pony tail. "It just…seems peculiar. He's trying to protect his skin but he's not covering the poncho. That color makes him a target, and he's not trying to camouflage it."
Aaron shrugged. "Maybe he wants to be found."
"Maybe. Or maybe he isn't afraid of whoever is out here," Star countered. She looked at Daryl for his input. He was caught; they both had strong cases.
"We keep followin', watchin' and listenin'," he decided. But by then, the man had disappeared from sight.
They trampled through the woods for another hour, but to no avail. Star even went back to the car to get her bike, and rode around the perimeter of the forest on the roads, but saw no sign of the red poncho man. She did, however, find something else of interest.
They brought the bike and the car back around, with Star taking the lead on her road bike. Following behind her, Daryl took the time to admire her athleticism again. She had no trouble keeping the bike over 25 miles per hour, even with the weight in her saddle bags and the awkward spear on her back. Her gold and brown hair flew backwards in the wind, and a few times she lifted her butt off the seat to stretch out her calves, giving Daryl the perfect view of the newfound object of his fantasies.
Lost in his thoughts, he almost didn't notice as she slowed to a stop and signaled for him to cut his engine. He parked the bike across the street on the shoulder, and Aaron followed his lead. The trio found themselves outside the gates of a large Del Arno market.
"Look!" Star whispered, gesturing across the lot. At first, Daryl thought she was referring to the small hoard of zombies roaming the parking spaces, still looking for the poncho.
"I don't see 'im," he told her. She gave him a sad smile and shook her head.
"I'm sorry, I didn't find him. But I did find those," she suggested, looking at the back of the lot to two large delivery truck trailers.
Aaron was clearly excited. "We checked the forest. We checked the roads, and we can't find him. Sometimes they just slip away. But you don't come across something like this every day!"
Daryl wasn't convinced. "We do this now, means we're givin' up."
Aaron tried to reason with him. "Home is fifty miles back, and we are losing sunlight. It's time to go. There's bad people out here."
"That's why we gotta keep lookin' for the good ones," the hunter muttered. Star put a consoling hand on his shoulder.
"We do need more people, good people, and we will keep trying to find them," she promised. "But when we do, we'll need to feed them."
Daryl looked at her. He knew that Aaron's first priority was the people already Alexandria, and that his own judgement was clouded by his family's close calls on the road. But Star had seen both.
"Alright," he caved in, knocking his knife hilt against the chain linked fence. With the three of them, eliminating the parking lot walkers through the fence took a few short minutes.
Aaron took the lead, rushing across the lot to the three trailers. Daryl felt a shout of protest rise in his throat, but kept it to himself. He turned back to check on his female companion, who was looking around with a skeptical expression on her face.
"What is it?" he asked.
"It's…just doesn't feel right," she responded as she removed the spear from her pack and held it ready in her hands. Daryl couldn't figure out what was spooking her, but kept his knife available, too. They jumped up to the loading dock, where Aaron was prying an Alaska license plate loose. He gave them a grin.
"Not every day you see one of these out here! Here's the thing, Daryl; I don't like giving up either. But the guy's in a red poncho. You can see him from a mile away. We'll find him again."
"We've gone a lot of miles, and no sight of him," Daryl argued.
"Which is weird, if he wanted to be found," Star added.
"Regardless, if we come away with a trailer full of cans, I'd say it's a good trip," Aaron responded, grunting with the efforts of lifting the trailer door.
"It's still latched," Daryl informed him, and bent down to unhook the door. The two lifted, and as the door rolled up, a projectile shot from the top of the open bed.
The open bay revealed, not the stash of food Aaron had been looking forward to, but a truckload of walkers, some impaled on rusted pieces of steel, others free and mobile.
"RUN!" Star shouted, and started sprinting towoards the other end of the loading dock. The other two trailer doors shot open, and she corrected, "DOWN!", hot on Daryl and Aaron's heels as they jumped to the lot level and sprinted between two of the trailers. Daryl cleared the opening first, stabbing one walker in the head before seeing how badly they were outnumbered.
"BACK!" he shouted to the other two, stumbling and struggling back. Star appeared from behind him and thrust her spear into the head of a walker that had his jacket in its gnarly hand. The trio backtracked to the trailers, but found the space quickly filling with more of the undead. Daryl dropped to the pavement and rolled under one of the trailers, Star and Aaron soon appearing next to him. Only one walker had made it underneath their hiding spot, a mummified woman with a fresh "W" carved into her forehead.
Daryl kept rolling until he emerged on the other side of the trailer, Star popping out after him, closely followed by Aaron. They each took out a few walkers before becoming overwhelmed, dragging themselves and any attached walkers to an abandoned car in the middle of the lot. Star was the first in, and flung herself over into the back seat to make room for the two men. Daryl vaulted in next, crawling into the driver's seat. Aaron made it into the passenger seat, slamming the car repeatedly on a walker skull before it burst like a squeezed lemon and the door latched shut.
"Oh my God," Aaron gasped, Daryl and Star merely panting in agreement. Daryl turned around to check on his friend.
"You ok?" he asked her, looking her up and down for signs of injury. She nodded, responding with, "You?"
"I'm good," he said.
"Um, I hate to break this up," Aaron cut in, lifting a small piece of paper from where the zombie brains had coated the car, "but…"
Star and Daryl leaned in to read the small scrap of paper. In rushed, sprawled handwriting, it simply said, "Don't stay."
Star groaned and dropped her head into her hands. Daryl, unexpectedly, laughed.
"What?" Aaron asked.
Daryl shook his head. "This feels right. Back in town…it's so closed up back there. But now…this just feels more like me. That's pretty messed up, huh?"
Star put an arm across his seat to rest her hand on his shoulder. "Some of us just know living with fighting now."
Aaron saw it differently. "You were trying. I saw you out there with your group on the road. You led your people to safety. You were doing what was right for them, not just for you. That was when I knew I had to bring you people back." He sighed and let his head fall back onto the seat. "I guess you were right about the guy in the poncho. I shouldn't have given up on him. Now look where it got us."
Star extended her other hand to rest on Aaron's shoulder. He gave her a half smile and took her hand in hers.
Daryl turned to look at the two of them. Aaron was risking his comfortable life in Alexandria every day for the strangers he brought in from the woods. Star constantly put her past aside to listen to their trials and give them a safe, genuine person to confide in. After living his entire life surrounded by selfish, cruel people, he was going to die with two of the most selfless, caring people left on the planet. It seemed bitterly ironic, and terribly harsh. Who was left to be comforting and daring for the sake of everyone else? Rick had to protect his family, Deanna had to think about the people within her walls. The world needed these two people.
He pulled a cigarette from the inside of his jacket, one of the few he had left. Then he opened his mouth and said, "I'll go."
To his utter shock, his voice was not the only one saying the words. Star's voice had uttered the same ones at the same time. They looked at each other, and the look of shock quickly turned to glares.
"No, I'll go." Star insisted. "You two have skills that are rare and irreplaceable. It makes more sense."
"Like hell it does!" Daryl snapped angrily at her, and he saw her flinch. "Who else is gonna talk to all the people an' keep em sane? I'll go out the back, you two make a run for the fence."
"Daryl, I am not BAILING while you DIE!" Star shot back, just as angrily.
"I ain't asking ya, woman!"
"Don't you DARE 'woman' me NOW!"
"Guys! Guys!" Aaron interjected, shocked at the emotional outburst from his two friends. "This was my fault!"
"It was your decision. Ain't no one's fault," Daryl corrected more calmly. "Let me finish this smoke first."
"If you think I'm getting out of this car without you then you're in for a big disappointment," Star said somewhat evenly, some anger still seeping through her words. Daryl stared at her, challenging her with his glare.
Aaron decided to put his foot down before one of them started shouting again. "She's right, Daryl. We don't run away. We fight. We go for the fence. Whether we make it or not, we do it together." He looked at the two, whose eyes were still locked. While they seemed angry on the surface, he saw beyond it. How often had he and Eric gotten in similar fights? Sure, they were frustrated with each other's iron wills, but beneath that was fear of losing the other, a terror of someone so dear being ripped away. "We do this together. We have to."
Daryl finally broke eye contact. "Alright. Star, get up here."
She clambered her way up to the center console, perched on it and ready to spring out after them.
"Go on three," Daryl instructed. "One…two…"
A walker that was intent on gnawing its way through Aaron's window was suddenly missing an eyeball, replaced by the sharped end of a stick. Aaron and Daryl jumped in surprise, but Star kept her balance and her weapon steady.
The walkers outside Aaron's door were violently picked off one by and one, and a hand wrenched the door open by the handle. Aaron sprung out, wielding his machete at every walker skull within his reach. Star leapt out after him, keeping close to his back and fighting by his side. Daryl followed them out and made for the fence through the small path they were creating.
"Come on!" he hollered once he reached the gate, pulling it closed and leaving a small gap for them to run through. Aaron, the newcomer, and finally Star squeezed through, and Daryl slammed the gate shut.
Aaron was out of breath and stunned by the sudden turn of events, but Star was much more focused on the newcomer. She had one end of her spear pointed at his throat, hovering a mere three inches away.
"Ry!" Aaron protested.
"We don't know if he's the one who set the trap," she justified. The man had his hands in the air, his bloodied stick still in his grip.
"I can promise you, I'm not," he informed her.
"Ry, put it down," Aaron said forcefully. She finally lowered her weapon and took a step back. Daryl took a step forward and wrapped a hand around her wrist.
"It's ok," he mumbled to her.
"That…that was…thank you," Aaron gasped at their savior. "I, uh, I'm Aaron. This is Daryl, and that's Rylynn."
The man nodded at them each in turn. "Morgan."
Daryl was appreciative of Morgan's actions, but Star's suspicions had him thinking. "Why?" he asked.
Morgan looked at him incredulously. "Why? Because…all life is precious, Daryl."
Star was looking around at their surroundings. "If you didn't set that trap, Morgan, than whoever did is coming."
Aaron was more focused on their newfound luck. "Morgan, I have good news. We have a community not far from here, with walls and electricity. It's safe. If you'd like to come join us…"
Morgan cut him off. "No, but thank you. I'm on my way somewhere. Fact is, I'm lost, so if you could tell me where we are…" he handed a folded, dirty map to Daryl.
Daryl stared at the map, and then back up to Morgan. Star leaned around him to look at the map.
"We're right…" she pointed, but then saw the markings that had stunned her companion.
Sorry I was an asshole. Come to Washington. The new world's gonna need Rick Grimes."
She looked up at Morgan in shock. "You know Rick?!"
He blinked back at her, equally surprised. "YOU know Rick?"
Daryl cut in. "Rick is at the community."
"Then that's where I want to go."
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The dirty, blood-covered, weary travelers reached the gates of Alexandria after dark. Star jumped out and opened the gates after several minutes of waiting for the guards to let them in.
"I wonder where everyone is," she mused as they shut the gates behind them, peering down the empty streets.
"Prob'ly there," Daryl said, gesturing to the one lit area outside of Deanna and Reg's house. The group made their way over to the flickering lights and cluster of shadows.
"How many people are here?" Morgan asked.
"We're getting close to fifty," Aaron said proudly. "We're hoping to bring in at least fifteen more by…"
His information was cut off by a wailing scream and a collective sound of panic. Star and Daryl immediately broke into a sprint side-by-side, but Star soon out-ran Daryl and reached the courtyard first.
"What the HELL?!" he heard her exclaim, and he sped up, bursting through the space with his crossbow drawn. The first thing he saw was Star's face turned towards him, covered in blood and tears in her eyes.
"What…?!" he exclaimed, kneeling down next to her and pulling her away from whatever had done that to her. She struggled against him, fighting to get back to the crumpled body on the floor. Only then did he realize that it was not Star's blood, but the body's. A wail rose up again, and he took the full scene in; Reg dead on the floor, his throat cut wide open; Deanna crying with her husband's body in her arms; Star trying to close the spurting wound with her bare hands; Rick's face covered in dried, dark flesh and blood; Pete at Rick's feet, staring down the barrel of a gun.
Deanna's wails ceased as she turned her face to her husband's killer. "Rick…do it," she ordered.
Wordlessly, without hesitation, Rick fired a shot into Ron's temple. Julie cried out.
"Rick?!" a voice called from side of the gathering place. Daryl turned to see that Morgan and Aaron had made it to the scene. Rick turned to see his old friend staring in ghastly horror at what had just taken place before his eyes.
"Oh shit," Star whispered. Daryl tightened his grip around her and lifted her up from the ground, wanting her out of the middle of the altercation. She came willingly this time.
As they both moved to the sides of the courtyard, Morgan's words echoed across both their minds; All life is precious.
Annnnnd with that, we conclude the TV show's current progress. Reviews are much appreciated and always savored!