Disclaimer: As always, I don't own the world of TWD, just borrowing its characters for my story.
I want to send out a huge thank you to all my reviewers! Not only am I happy about your kind words, but also about the fact that you all take the time to tell me what you like about my story. And I'm still getting followers, yay! I know I haven't been very fast with an update and I'm very sorry. First things were crazy at work and then I got ill, so all in all I didn't have much energy to write. But now I'm back and I hope I'll be able to update a more speedily from now on. So, on with the next chapter. And yes, we have reached the van scene. Will it go down the same way as on the show? Read on to find out!
7. Starting and stopping
"Fuck, fuck, fuck!" That was the last thought going through Daryl's head as the van started tipping over. Why did he always land them in shitty fucked up situations like this one? Carol should never have gone with him to check out the van. But still he'd let her, cause he'd just got her back, not just in body but finally in soul to. His Carol was with him again and he'd be damned if he let her out of his sight ever again. So they'd both gone to look for clues in the van. That's when it'd all gone to hell.
Fifteen minutes after they'd made their way down from the sky bridge, Daryl and Carol reached the van. Managing to escape walkers on their way there was nothing but pure luck. Still, there seemed to be more of them in this area and both Daryl and Carol knew they had to work fast when looking for clues. He'd gone in first, in case there were walkers inside. The van's interior didn't contain much, by the look of it, but he carefully, so as not to disturb the ill-placed vehicle, moved to the front seat, looking for anything that might tell them where Beth was. He heard Carol tell him that walkers were moving towards them and he felt the van jiggle as she stepped inside as well. Glancing backwards, he saw her holding her gun at the ready, peering out through the windows. Daryl groaned. There were plenty of papers and such up front, but none of them held any information on where the van might have come from.
Suddenly Carol spoke up again, this time with concern evident in her voice.
"There's more coming. We're going to have to fight through".
Turning to his left, Daryl saw walkers approaching from that side to. "Yeah, I see 'em" he said grimly.
Leaving the front seat and joining Carol, Daryl notices a stretcher lying on the floor. Carol tells him that they need to go, and he knows that they do, but he just needs to check out that stretcher. If they can find out where Beth's been taken, if he can bring the girl back to her sister, then that fresh start he's been talking about can really begin. For all of them. So he checks the stretcher over, even though he knows they need to get the hell out of there. He finds nothing except the letters G. M.
"G. M. Is that a hospital?"
"Grady Memorial maybe" Carol says hurriedly as she gets out of the van, Daryl following behind her.
The walkers close in on them the moment they step outside. Daryl fires a bolt into the head of a couple of the ones closes to him, then draws his knife and stabs a few others. Carol's shooting as many as she can, but they both know the gun doesn't have many bullets. The walkers are still closing in on them and Daryl realize that there's no way out; they're not going to be able to fight through.
"Daryl!" Carol shouts, while retreating backwards into the van again.
"Go, go, go!" he yells at her, while fighting off the walkers closest to him. He heaves himself onto the back ledge of the van, grabs on to the top and while lifting himself up and swinging out, he manages to kick away the body of a longhaired guy who seemed to have had a bad fashion sense while still alive. The walker stumbles into the other geeks around him, giving Daryl time to close the door. As soon as the doors shut, he can hear the reanimated bodies outside clawing at the van, pressing up against it. The horror rips into Daryl as he realize that they're trapped and that if the walkers keep pushing, the vehicle is going to fall of the ledge.
Carol seems to have come to the same conclusion as she frantically searches the van with her eyes and asks "Anything we can use?"
"Nothin' but what we got" he tells her and that won't help one bit. There's only one thing they can do.
Moving forward, Daryl gets in the driver's seat and Carol, though clearly frightened, catches on immediately to what he's thinking and gets in the passenger's seat. He tells her to buckle up while doing the same himself. Carol fumbles with the belt, looking every bit as scared as he's actually feeling, but a second later he hears the click and knows she's got the belt on. The van starts tipping over, as the walkers are building up around the van, putting more pressure on it. Daryl can hear Carol gasping for breath, her fear so clear and he understands, he's feeling it to. He knows, and she knows, that they're going to fall. He thinks about the baby, their baby, and what might happen when the van falls off the bridge. What the fuck was he thinking, bringing Carol up here? Everything's going to hell and it's all his fault. Fuck, fuck, fuck!
Bracing himself against the dashboard, waiting for the van to drop, Carol's hand suddenly slams on top of his. He turns to her and he can see the tears threatening to fall from her eyes. He can see how scared she looks. Not twenty minutes earlier he'd told her that he loves her and now he can't seem to get the words out. These could be their last moments together and all his brain and mouth can come up with is "You hold on!"
But it seems to be enough for Carol, because she gives a slight nod and then she leans back against the seat, closing her eyes and she holds on to the seat for dear life. Daryl's own grip is hard and he to closes his eyes as the van finally can't take the pressure from the walkers pushing up against it, and it drops.
Miraculously they land on the wheels. The impact is hard and even though they've held on as tightly as possible, they're still shaken about as the van crashes into the ground. It takes them a couple of moments to react, to catch their bearings. Daryl slowly lifts his head from the now punctured air bag, letting out a groan. He can't believe he came out of that fall unharmed. Turning to Carol, searching her for any kind of injuries, but seeing none. She smiles and softly whispers "We're okay". A smile touches her lips but he needs to know that she really is just that, okay.
"Ya sure?"
"Think so"
A walker comes crashing into their wind shield, startling them. They hear more falling down on them from above. They wait, until they no longer hear the sound of objects hitting the van, then they get out of the van. Carol's struggling it seems and Daryl realize that she's not entirely okay. As she walks around the van towards him, he can see that she's limping and her right arm looks a bit slack. Reaching for her, he throws her left arm around his neck and supporting her, they start to move away from the wreckage, back towards the city.
"Where are ya hurt?" he asks her as they walk.
"My right side's a bit banged up, but I'm okay. I've had worse, I'll be fine". She tries to sound reassuring, but the tone of her voice contradicts her. Maybe that's why his own voice shakes when he asks the next question.
"A-and the baby? Ya think it's alright?"
Carol stops, just for a second, as if the check, to see if things seem fine, then she moves forward again.
"Yeah, I think everything's okay. Heaven knows it shouldn't be, we shouldn't be, that fall…"
"Want me ta carry ya?"
She stops again and turns to look at him. Worry is etched all over his face and her heart swells at his concern. Always thinking of her first.
"Thank you for offering Daryl, but I think I'll manage to walk. With your help, of course" she adds and shoots him a smile that momentarily wipes off the worry.
"Alright, but I ain't askin' again" he replies playfully and Carol lets out a snort as they start walking again. "Can't be startin' an' stoppin' all the time" he adds.
"No?" she asks. "I thought that's what we did best" she snickers, feeling happy that despite everything that's happened, they can still joke around like old times.
"Yeah, well, we're done with that, aren't we?"
"Yes, Daryl. Yes we are".
They fall into a comfortable silence after that, moving back into the city, seeking out the nearest safest looking building to rest up in.
Alright, I'm ending this chapter here, as I think it's a good place to stop before the next one. I realize that this chapter's a bit of a filler really, but I had to have the van scene, didn't I? Also, it was necessary for things to come. Will Carol get hit by the car or not? Stay tuned for more chapters to find out. Reviews are gold!