Heart of Dixon
Chapter 10: Knight in Shining Armor
A/N: For those who read it before the rewrite, I had Robin wanting to kill Shane for inadvertently killing Jacob. I decided I didn't like her being that dark or I changed it up a bit, hope you like the newest changes. For new readers, I hope you enjoy and review!
The Walking Dead does not belong to me. Only Robin does.
Daryl's POV
We rode in my car in silence except for the wind blowing in and the sound of her writing in that damn book. I wanted to know what the hell she was writing. I bet she wrote about the small fight and my hard on. I was curious about what she could have thought about. She probably thinks I'm some sort of pervert, but she's riding in the truck in me so I doubt she feels uncomfortable. She had her chance awhile back to ride in the RV with Shane, when we stopped to try out her food canning warehouse idea, but the inside was filled with walkers. Shane nearly got killed in the process of getting away. Since we started driving again, she'd been frowning and writing in that damn book. I knew she was upset about her only plan turning to shit, I knew I should say something but I had no clue.
I opened my mouth several times to say something; I wanted her to stop frowning I liked it better when she was wearing that dumb goofy grin, but nothing came out. What the hell do people do when they want someone to cheer up? Finally I thought of something.
"Who know your plan, the warehouse; you couldn't have known that it was shit idea." I said hoping that made her feel better.
She looked up with a bigger frown, her brows furrowed, "Thanks…that uh…means a lot…I think." She had a bit of an edge her to voice but she wasn't trying to be a bitch about my crappy comforting.
"Not good at this shit." I mumbled. I shot her a look again, she no longer looked mad. She nodded her head and got back to writing.
"I know what you mean, you know about not being used to comforting people." She let out a small humorless chuckle, "Thanks, really by the way, it just threw me off a little. It takes me a minute to figure out what you're really saying."
"What was I really saying"?" I glanced at her again, and then back at the road.
"Well, pretty much what you said already." She laughed, "It wasn't my fault that my one and only plan nearly got Shane killed." She frowned.
"That's not all, is it?" I asked.
Her eyes seemed to glaze over as she stared ahead at the RV in front of us, "I can't stop thinking about Jenner said and my brother. What if some mindless shell wearing my brother's face is stumbling around looking for his next meal?"
I realized that I never told her, but it wasn't my proudest moment. I can still remember the screams. Jacob laying halfway out of the truck sit while walkers tore into him. He screamed so loud and begged for help. I wanted to go back and do something but Merle told me there was nothing we could do. All it takes is one bite, and you're infected and Jake was surrounded by so many.
I did something I still regret. I couldn't run away like Merle suggested, it wouldn't have been right. So instead I took Merle's rifle and shot Jacob in the head. Shane didn't do anything, he didn't kill Jacob. I did.
"I put him down." I confessed. Robin's head jerked towards me. Her big brown eyes seemed only to get bigger and tears started to form making my gut clench but I continued and told her what happened.
I waited for her to yell, to scream murderer at me. She didn't. I felt her small hand curl around mine that hovered over the stick shift. I took a moment to look away from the road and glimpsed at her. A tear ran down her face but she was smiling softly.
"Thank you." She whispered, "I can't sleep better knowing that my brother…" She stopped for a second, "Thank you." She repeated.
I didn't know what to say so I nodded and looked away. I wanted to change the subject, you know take her mind off of it, I didn't like seeing her so upset. Anything to make her laugh or smile again would be nice but I couldn't think of anything. But then it dawned on me.
"Hey, check my pack." I ordered. She looked confused but did what I said. She pulled my old back pack into her lap and opened the top flap. Before digging through she turned for further direction, "Inside you'll find some pill bottles."
She searched until she found two bottles of iron tabs and large bottle of gummi vitamins. She held them in her hands reading the labels then slowly turned to me, "Where did you get these?"
I shrugged, "After we ate dinner, I asked the doc if he had any. He told me where they were and I grabbed some. If I had known the place was going to explode, would have grabbed everything they had."
She smiled again but wider than before, "Thanks Daryl."
"Now I want you to take those things like it's a religion. I don't want to see you weak like that again. You hear me, Bitty?" I ordered gruffly.
"Will do, Pookie-Bear." She winked.
"Pookie Bear?" I frowned.
"Every time you call me 'Bitty' I'm going to call you a ridiculous nickname. Maybe you'll come up with a more appropriate nickname. Or call me Robin or Robby." She explained.
"I told you already, Robby is a shitty nickname. You're Bitty, and always will be." I nodded and smirked seeing her pout.
"Whatever you say Snuggle-butt." She rolled her eyes.
"What the fuck is a snuggle-butt?" I snapped.
"You are. You have such a nice butt, I wouldn't mind giving it a snuggle." She laughed when I blushed.
"Bitty, you are one weird girl." I shook my head.
"Tell me something, I don't know…Darey-bug." She gave me a wide grin.
I couldn't help but laugh. Normally if a woman ever called me that, I'd pull over and tell her to get the hell out of my truck but the way she smiled at me made it impossible to even pretend I was mad that the girl.
"You come up with the worst names." I chuckled.
Bitty laughed too, "Says the man who nicknamed me after a baby chicken."
"Well bitties are cute...and you're kinda cute." I shrugged then blushed. I just called a girl cute and to her fuckin' face. Merle would beat my ass if he heard what came out of my mouth.
Bitty's face turned a bright pink and she smiled sweetly, "You think I'm cute, Daryl?"
"Now, don't go a make a big deal about it. You're cute alright, just stating the facts, doesn't me I like you or nothing." I grunted.
"Oh, no of course not." She nodded sarcastically. She sent me another wink.
"For the record, you're not half bad either." She nudged my arm playfully with her elbow.
"Whatever." I rolled my eyes and couldn't help me blush again. Damn, this girl makes me feel like a fucking teenager.
"I mean it, you're drop dead sexy. Totally lickable. You have beastly arms, beautiful eyes, and a deep voice that makes panties spontaneously combust." She laughed her face still red.
I remembered back a couple days ago, she said she liked me. I didn't think she meant it…I still don't. Girls like Bitty didn't date guys like me. They avoided me, but she just said she thought I was hot and lickable? I nearly wanted to groan thinking about Bitty's tongue exploring my body and dick. But she didn't mean any of that. She was just trying to get on my good side. I remembered what my dad and Merle said; women always want something and its best you don't give them anything. If you give me one thing, they'll think they own you.
"Shut up." I said not playing. It hurt when her smile faded away and hurt filled her eyes. I wanted to see that smile again, "The women I grew up around thought I stayed away from me."
Bitty no longer looked hurt but still sad. She was quiet for a moment until she said, "So the women in your town were idiots. Or were they blind?"
I kept my eyes on the road, but her words affected me more than I would have liked. I was already battling a hard on, but I could help but wonder if she was serious. I really wanted to know, but I wasn't going to say or act on it in case she was teasing.
"I'm serious. You're so hot my panties explode! Why do you think I stopped wearing underwear?" She asked.
I jerked my head away from the road, if I wasn't hard before, then I had a fucking rock for a dick then. Damn this girl!
"I'm kidding. Eyes back on the road." She pointed towards the road with a smirk.
"You shouldn't play that way with a man." I grunted. I couldn't get the image of pulling down her pants to find a skimpy thong and her dripping wet for me. Bet she had a cute little bush too.
"Why?" She said with a hint of a challenge. I didn't get to answer her when I noticed the caravan ahead stopped. Looking around I knew we were in the city where we lost Merle and the Chinaman got captured.
"Why are we here?" She asked. She looked over to me with concern. I wonder if she'd grab my hand again. Every time she looked worried or was scared, she grabbed my hand or arm, I felt awkward so I just pulled it away. I regretted every time she looked hurt, but I wasn't good at comforting. It felt like a kick in the gut every time she looked at me with those big brown eyes, she looked like a sad puppy.
"We're not too far from the nursing home that the Vatos run. Maybe Rick is going to them for help." I thought.
"You think it's a good idea?" She asked. She didn't look like she doubted the plan, just wanted to know.
"I think they'll help us, after all the freakin' guns we gave them. Though I did shoot one in the ass." I added.
She let up a snort of laughter and covered her mouth looking at me. Her brown eyes looked carefree and cheerful again. They were so much different than the others' who looked like they were dead inside. I was determined never to let that light in her eyes die.
"Come on, looks like we're heading that way. Stick close to me, Bitty." I ordered.
She saluted me playfully, "Aye-aye, Captain Cuddlesworth!"
I rolled my eyes at her, and then grabbed my crossbow, gun, and pack. She grabbed her pack and a large duffel bag. I wondered what was inside; when we left the CDC she didn't want anyone to leave it.
We walked to meet up with our group. I kept Bitty close to the group, I told on the other side of her with my crossbow ready to protect her from the walkers. She knew what I was doing and rolled her eyes with a smile. Right when we got close to the front I heard Andrea say, "Looks like they're barely holding on. What makes you think they'll take in strangers?"
"With all the guns we gave them, they probably throw us a party." I retorted so she'd shut up. Her voice was annoying.
"Except for you." Bitty smiled, "You probably won't be invited since you shot that guy in the ass, but don't worry I'll steal you some cake and ice cream." She winked. The rest of the group chuckled at her goofiness but said nothing else.
We climbed through the back building's broken windows. I helped Bitty through even though she sent me an annoyed look. Right when I got into the empty courtyard behind the nursing home, I knew something was wrong. Last time we were here, it was crawling with sentries. Someone should have seen us right away, but nothing.
"Where are the lookouts?" The Chinaman said aloud what I was thinking.
"Bitty, get over here." I growled. I pulled her over by her belt loop, "You stay behind me always." She didn't call me a gross nickname, she just nodded somberly. She had a bad feeling too.
I looked around the tops of the building for any sign of life or death. When we rounded the next corner, we found several walkers eating the corpses of the Vatos. Right away I saw the bullet hole in their heads. Walkers didn't do this.
Bitty let out a small gasp, barely audible, but the other women immediately started freaking the fuck out getting the walkers attention. The walkers got up making their way to us when Rick decided to fuck making noise, and we all shot the walkers. The women were going hysterical except for Bitty, who just looked at the bodies with a haunted look. That's how she looked at all bodies.
We made it inside, we didn't find a single person alive only dead folks. Inside the doorways of each room was an old folk shot in the head execution style. Who'd do this to a bunch of harmless people?
Behind me I heard Carol's little girl starting to squeal. If she kept that up, any walkers in the building would be making their way to us. I turned around; "Put a sock in it" I whisper yelled.
"You leave her alone!" Carol whispered back pulling her girl into her arms.
"You shut her up, or I will!" I retorted.
"You cut that out right now, I mean it." Lori snapped. I didn't hear the other thing she said. Right now all I could concentrate on was Bitty's disappointed face as she helped calm down the kids. I was really only thinking about the group, I think she knew that, but thought I should go about it the other way.
She came over to me, "Try having a bit more tact, you'll get better results." She growled.
"Fuck tact. She needed to shut up." I growled back.
"She's a little girl, Daryl; it's a normal reaction when they see tons of massacred people. Not all of us are a tough crossbow yielding warrior." She snarled in my face.
"Whatever, Bitty." I walked away with Shane and Rick to help do the sweep of the building. I didn't want to leave her behind with the others. T-Dog was good at killing walkers but the others weren't so much. I knew Bitty could take care of herself, but I still felt like she should be somewhere I could see her.
We did the sweep finding more and more dead bodies all shot in the head. Rick and Shane didn't seem to notice, some police they were. When we found no walkers inside, we went back for the others in the group. I let out a sigh of relief when I saw Bitty was ok.
We led them to a game room that had a few bodies in it. Bitty went off to a corner and brought her knees up. She buried her head into her arms. I stood next to her, feeling protective over her. I gave Shane a warning look who wanted to come over and check on her.
"Upstairs is our best bet. We cleared a few rooms; we can barricade those if we have to. We'll be alright." Rick said to the group.
"Do you mean it this time, or is it like all the times before." Carol said harshly pulling Sophia into her lap.
"That's uncalled for and no help at all." Lori said defending her husband.
"What the hell happened here?" the Chinaman asked looking at the bodies.
"What do you think?" Andrea walked away, my guess trying to look dramatic, "They were overrun."
Bitty and I let out a scoff at the same time. Bitty lifted her head to give Andrea an amused look. She noticed the bullet holes too. I knew my Bitty was smart…wait my Bitty?
"Got something to say?" Andrea took out her hip and crossed her arms. Typical pose for bitches who thought they were better than everyone. Never liked her for that reason. She was just another dumb bitch who thought she was smarter than everyone. Not to mention she was always bringing up how we didn't let her do stuff because she was a woman, no we didn't let her because she was shit at everything.
"Yea, how about observant?" I said.
"Observant…that's a big word for a guy like you, a whole three syllables."
Bitty shot up looking ready to punch a bitch, "Walkers didn't do this, ya stuck up bitch." Andrea's jaw dropped and I couldn't help but smirk. That's my Bitty…again what the hell with this 'my Bitty' shit?
"Geeks didn't show up until after all this went done." I added on, "Somebody attacked this place. Killed all these people and took whatever they wanted."
"They're all shot in the head, execution style." Bitty explained more. Rick bent down to look at the unmistakable bullet hole in a man's head.
"Y'all worried about walkers. I'd be much more worried about the people who came and did this." I motioned to the dead bodies. I looked up at the shocked dumb bitch, "Get a dictionary. Look it up. Observant." I pointed at my eyes.
"Bitch got told." Bitty added on looking at Andrea with a smirk, "Mayhaps this will teach you not to be so uppity in the future?"
"Go fuck yourself!" Andrea sneered. I turned around and shot her a glare and she shut up right away.
"Come on, Bitty." I said. Robin looked so happy that she actually skipped over to my side.
"Coming, Stud Muffin." I really wished she didn't call me that in front of the others.
We went into a large walk in storage room. Shane and Rick found a can of beans. Shane handed it to me so I could open it up and the Chinaman pulled out some paper plates to divide it equally.
"Is there any water?" Sophia asked.
Shane dug into his bag pulling on one bottle of water for everyone to share. When he pulled out snacks and MREs he raided from the CDC, he pulled out a bottle of whisky. He handed the bottle over to me. He promised to be nicer to me from now on, but I knew that wouldn't last long.
"Don't drink too much, don't forget where we are." Lori said.
"Yes ma'am." I replied.
"Shane isn't the only one to do some raiding." Robin pulled the bag in front of her. She unzipped it to reveal tons of foods. Some were energy bars, MREs, and even a few cans.
"When did you get this?" Rick pulled the bag over to him.
"While you were checking the generators and everybody else was doing whatever. I knew we'd be leaving soon, so I snatched a few things." She smiled proudly.
"Way to go, Robin." Shane smiled. They pulled out the cans and added carrots, corn, and cold chunky soup to our plates. We each grabbed a bag of cookies or jerky.
"I was getting water when the lights went out. So I'm sorry I didn't grab some." She frowned a bit.
"This is fine. We'll all be full tonight thanks to you and your quick thinking." Rick praised with a large smile.
After we ate in silence, Rick formed a new plan. He decided he was going to go with Shane's idea to go to Fort Benning. To save on fuel, we were going to drive fewer vehicles and siphon the fuel out of the other cars. I told them they could take the rest of the fuel out of my trunk and I would just drive Merle's old bike. It sucked that Bitty wouldn't be able to ride with me anymore, but she'd be fine. I'd be fine.
When I went back to the group, I found Bitty asleep on the floor. I scooped her up and took her into a bedroom that was cleared of dead bodies. I slipped off her shoes and set her into bed. I took a second to look at her while she slept. Her usually goofy smile was gone and replaced by a peaceful smile. I was walking away when I heard her call my name. She was still asleep when she said it, so I knew she was dreaming about me. I smiled down at her, "I hope you ain't toying with me Bitty. I don't think I could take it if ya were. But I do like ya, girl, so I'll make sure you're always safe. That's all I can promise you that and I'll never leave. But I can't be that knight in shining armor all you girls like. That's not me."
"Sleep tight, Bitty."