Chapter 23
Daryl sat on the edge of the bed ready to get up and Emma saw the white bandage, now stained with blood. It definitely needed to be changed. "Wait before we head down, I need to replace that bandage and you need antibiotics too," she told him.
"Might as well get it out of the way," he agreed.
Emma found her pack that contained the supplies that the doctor had given her. She laid everything on the bed, before she went into the bathroom to wash her hands. She wasn't worried about getting any of his blood on her, she just didn't want to do anything that may cause an infection. When she was done she peeled the tape off his skin that held the gauze pads in place.
It was her first experience with a bullet wound so she didn't know what to expect. Emma removed the gauze pads and slowly pulled them away from his skin. The dried blood made them stick to him. Then she took the packing out of the bullet hole. Daryl winced when she pulled it out. There was still fresh blood on gauze and the wound began to lightly bleed again, but Dr. Carson had warned her that this may happen until the hole closes.
Emma wet some of the gauze and cleaned around the hole removing the old and fresh blood. Then she took some antibiotic ointment and placed it on a new pad. She needed to pack the wound again and she expected that may hurt.
"How are you doing?" she asked Daryl. He had been completely quiet so far.
"Fine."
She could not tell with his simple answer whether he really was doing okay, or if he was suffering through her ministrations. "I have to pack it again, so this may hurt," she warned him.
Daryl gritted his teeth in anticipation and he wasn't disappointed. It felt like his raw muscle was being shredded. His hands curled into tight fists that gripped the bedspread and his entire body tensed, but Daryl never uttered a sound.
Emma instantly felt him tense up and hated that she was causing him this pain, but she didn't have a choice. The hole needed to heal without leaving any pockets, so packing was the only option. The process only took less than a minute, but to Daryl it felt like forever. He still didn't complain.
"All I have to do is cover it and we're done," Emma told him. Daryl instantly relaxed knowing the worse part was over. Two four by fours were tapped into place and the dressing was officially changed. Emma handed him two antibiotics and he downed them easily. The shoulder was back to viscously hurting again.
Daryl took the bottle of pain pills off the nightstand and popped one; he considered doing another when Emma stopped him. "You just had one not too long ago, don't take another," she advised him.
He knew she was right, so he placed the bottle back on the bedside table. "Thanks," he told her forcing a smile. "Let's go eat," he said standing up carefully.
"I'm sorry it hurt."
"Don't worry about it," he told her. It was not her fault, it was the prick's that shot him fault and Dwight would pay the price at some point. Daryl dropped a gentle kiss on her forehead and nudged her to the door with his good arm. "I'm starving, let's go."
The both headed down the hall and then the staircase with Emma ahead of Daryl. Going down the stairs, Daryl no longer felt winded and he was stronger, but he wasn't back to his old self at all. He still had a fair way to go. He knew it would be a while before he could lift his heavy crossbow, but then it hit him he no longer had it. Dwight had stolen it…again. He would get it back this time for keeps, plus his bike. When he was feeling up to it, he would go back to where he hid his motorcycle and bring it back.
Once they were downstairs in the kitchen, Emma threw together a quick breakfast of oatmeal while Daryl watched on. It was late morning and the house was quiet. Everyone must be out of the house. As they ate together at the table, Emma imagined that this big beautiful house was just theirs and their lives were normal again. It was a crazy wishful dream of her and Daryl living in his upscale house and raising a family.
After cleaning up the dirty dishes they went outside to sit on the front porch. They sat together on the swing and Daryl lit up a cigarette.
"You're still smoking?" Emma asked him.
"When I can. Can't always find smokes."
Emma rolled her eyes. The only real thing they ever fought about was his smoking. She had always begged him to quit. Looks like somethings never change.
They sat outside for a while enjoying the fresh air and each other. Daryl was telling her all about Alexandria when Rick and Tobin walked up to the house.
"Hey," was Daryl's typical greeting.
"Feeling better?" Rick asked.
"Yep."
"Good, let's get Michonne and talk about hiding weapons and food. There's no time to waste," Rick suggested. It was bad enough that they were in the position they were in, but he would be damned if he gave everything away to Negan. Rick completely blamed himself for being too overconfident and underestimating the Saviors. His arrogance had gotten Abraham killed and put them all in jeopardy, even Carl. If anything had happened to Carl, Rick knew he would lose any of the sanity he had left. His kids were the most important things he had in this world.
Daryl got up off the swing and followed Rick and Tobin inside. Emma had already told him that she would stay outside. She didn't feel comfortable being involved in the discussion as she felt too much like outsider. She hadn't even been there twenty-four hours yet.
Rick had Michonne join them and the four of them sat down at the table to strategize. Rick wished Glenn and Abraham were there. He always looked for their ideas and opinions. Whether or not Glenn was coming back to Alexandria was unknown and Abraham was simply gone. Rick also wanted to get Aaron involved too. He was smart and their direct link to the original members of the community.
The Saviors could arrive at any minute to take the half share and Rick didn't want them to literally get half of what they had, he needed to retain some control. "We need to hide weapons first and food second," he told the group. "We have to come up with places really fast that they won't look if they search us. We do this until we can figure out how to wipe their asses out. Any ideas?"
Suggestions were tossed out and rejected until they agreed on two locations – the church and Jessie's old house. Rick remembered that Jessie had told him about a special access panel in Sam's closet that he wanted to check out before saying anything. They would pull up the floor boards under the alter to hide the weapons. The carpet that was there, plus the alter itself, would help to hide the work they needed to do. Jessie's house would need to be thoroughly searched for the right place, including Sam's closet.
Tobin left quickly to get started on the church, while Daryl, Rick and Michonne got up to head to Jessie's house. Rick pulled out a set of master keys an unlocked the front door. No one had been inside the house since Jessie and her two son's had died the night of the walker invasion into Alexandria. It felt closed up and unused, which is what he wanted for the Savior's to see.
Rick was sad about what happened to Jessie. He had genuinely liked her and was started to pursue a relationship with her when the tower fell taking down the wall. All hell broke loose after that. He realized after her death that the two of them would never have worked out, especially with the problems that both her sons had. He'd never forgive Ron for shooting Carl that night and blinding him in one eye.
Michonne was a much better fit for him. She got him and knew everything there was to know about him, he didn't have to explain why he did what he did, she understood. She also didn't hesitate to call him on something that she didn't agree with. He could have been with Michonne for months if he had only opened his eyes sooner to what was right in front of him. She fit in his life and those of Carl's and Judith's perfectly.
They quietly entered the empty house and looked around. To anyone else it looked like they had just left and were due back any minute. It looked lived in, but you could feel something was off.
Michonne was the first one to speak. "Rick, why don't you look upstairs and Daryl and I can look around down here?" she suggested.
"You okay with that?" Rick asked Daryl.
"Yep. Let's get this done."
Daryl looked around downstairs going through all of the rooms one by one. Michonne was following him so they missed nothing. The more he looked the more pissed off he got that they had to do this. The war they were fighting should be with the undead, not with the living. Technically, he and Rick didn't start the problems with the Saviors. That group that stopped him, Sasha and Abraham on the road did. Blowing them to bits shouldn't have been as much fun as it was. The leader had been an asshole and he ended up in a million different pieces along with douchebags with him. The only thing he regretted was all of the motorcycles that got incinerated, he would have liked to have one of them.
"Hey Rick," he called up the stairs. "Got nothing good down here, how 'bout you?"
"Actually, I found a great spot. Come on up to Sam's room," Rick told him. While he and Jessie hadn't been together that long, she had told him more about the drunken rages that Pete would go into. Not only had she put a lock inside Sam's closet so he could lock himself in and hide, she had found by accident, a panel in the closet that came out, and there was a storage space behind it. Maybe it was for hiding or just a unique place to store items, but it would work.
It had taken him a little while to figure out how it opened, but he finally did. It was basically non-detectable unless you knew what you were looking for. Jessie never did tell him how she found it.
Rick closed the panel so he could show Daryl how it looked. Michonne stood off to the side as Daryl entered the room. He was slightly out of breath from the stairs, but did his best to hide it. "What ya got?"
"Jessie had this closet set up for Sam to hide in when Pete got drunk. She installed a lock on the inside for him, but at some point she discovered this." Rick pressed in below the corner of what looked like molding on the left side of closet wall and the door popped open. "It looks perfect for what we need."
Michonne and Daryl both peered into the closet and it looked like the opening could easily fit the length of an automatic weapon. Rick then closed it and they saw how it wasn't noticeable at all.
"If we pile up some of Sam's junk in front of it then this looks like a kid's messy closet. Good find," Daryl told him. "How much are we going to need to hide without them suspecting anything?"
"Good question," answered Rick. "We need to minimize without looking like we did. I say the armory is our next stop."
The three of them spent the rest of the afternoon deciding what to hide and what to keep. They did the same thing with the food. Everything was going to be split up between the two locations and now that they knew what they were doing, it was time to start to move the supplies to Jessie's house. Tobin was still working on the floor in the church.
Michonne noticed that Daryl's face was pale and he was leaning against the wall. She touched Rick's arm to get his attention. "Look at Daryl," she told him. "He's hurting and you and I both know he won't admit it."
Rick nodded his agreement and headed over to his friend. "Hey we got this, why don't you head back and take it easy?"
"I'm fine."
"You're not."
"Am."
Rick knew he wasn't going to get anywhere with a stubborn Daryl. The important decisions had been made, so they only needed to move the weapons and food supplies that they had chosen. He didn't need Daryl for that. Rick looked over and caught Michonne's eye and shook his head. She headed over to Daryl as Rick went to talk to Aaron who along with a few other Alexandrians were assisting in the relocation.
"I ain't going anywhere," Daryl told Michonne as she approached him.
"You sure are stubborn," Michonne laughed. "Now what good do you think you are doing us here? We have able bodies to move the guns and food supplies. And frankly, you only have one good arm so you won't be any help to us. We got this, Daryl."
He hated not being able to help. It made him feel weak and worthless. "I could still…supervise," he said trying not to let his anger at his disability show.
"What now you're trying to take my job?" Michonne teased him. "Go on, Emma's been by herself all this time and you know she doesn't really know anyone yet. Rest up and then show her around. We need you strong and with this we don't need you anymore. Okay?" Michonne understood Daryl pretty well and knew he would stay until he passed out unless she forced him to go home. Emma would be the perfect excuse to get him back to the house to rest.
"You gonna make sure that everything we talked about gets moved?" he asked her stressing the word everything.
"I will personally see to it, okay?" Michonne told him. "I got it Daryl."
"Alright, but if you need me for anything, you'll come get me?"
"Of course, but we're okay. Go find Emma, I bet she's very bored by now."
Daryl started to leave and turned back to Michonne. "Thanks," he told her before heading home.
Rick joined her as they watched Daryl leave. "How'd you get him to go?"
"A little honesty and a little guilt," she explained smiling at Rick. "Told him we really him to regain his strength and that Emma was most likely bored to tears by now being by herself. I think that's what got him going more than anything." Michonne hesitated for a second before asking Rick," Did he ever talk about her?"
"Not a word. You didn't know him in the beginning, but he had a chip on his shoulder the size of a damn mountain. He was angry all the time and cared about no one but himself. I got to know him after that mess with Merle in Atlanta. We certainly didn't start off on good terms at all, but slowly he realized that he needed us as much we needed him. He's still the loner he always was, but he now puts everyone ahead of himself. It was interesting to see him and Emma together. Brought out as different side of him I had never seen. He actually looks happy"
"You're right he is happy around her and I would never have believed it if I hadn't seen it myself," Michonne agreed. "I think finding her again he'll become a different man and I'm looking forward to seeing that."
"Me too," said Rick. "Now let's get this shit moved to Jessie's house. The sooner it's done the better I'll feel." Rick leaned in a dropped an unexpected kiss on Michonne's lips and went to grab an arm load of guns.
Their relationship was a surprise for her, but it made so much sense that she didn't understand why they hadn't gotten together sooner. Michonne watched Rick leave the armory with Aaron and the weapons they were taking with them. She was enjoying her time with him and hoped it would lead to something more. Only time would tell.
Michonne headed over to the church to check the progress that over there as they had no time to waste trying to stay ahead of Negan. Even though they were facing a showdown with him and the Saviors shortly, there was a lightness in her step as she thought about Rick and the family that she now considered hers. She had found her happiness amongst the uncertainly of the apocalypse.
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A/N - Thank you to al the new story followers/favs. Glad you'e enjoying GONE. Check out my other stories if you haven't already. And a big thanks to everyone that takes the time to leave a comment. I love to know what you are thinking!
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