Still Chuck knows where in Georgia
While Michonne and Carl rested inside Lottie, Taylor brought a few water bottles, her first aid box, and her journal. The two men sat side by side on the ground, murmuring, and she felt bad for interrupting them but sat in front of them nonetheless. Taking out a clean rag, she wetted it and passed it over to Rick. She repeated the process and handed the other to Daryl. Slowly Taylor reached inside the kit, taking antiseptic wipes and a few butterfly closures.
Once the man with a leather vest cleaned up his face, she had a more detailed view of his scruffy beard, high cheekbones, and amazingly bright blue eyes. Taylor shuffled and got to her knees, outstretching her hand towards his face. Her eyes widened when he flinched and stiffened, her eyes connecting with his. She stilled her movements, pondering her next move. Her dad sometimes withdrew like that when he thought of his old man too much.
"Just wanna make sure it won't get infected. And you have quite a deep cut on your cheek and forehead. It will be easier if I'd do it, but I can try to find a mirror for you," she told him softly, barely aware of Rick's eyes dancing between the two of them.
"Alright," Daryl mumbled, averting his gaze and clenching his hands.
Slowly and gently, Taylor swiped at his wounds with an antiseptic, ignoring how his skin felt underneath her fingertips. She was glad for the darkness of the night, so they couldn't see her blush. In a few short moments, she placed closures over Daryl's wounds and did the same for Rick.
"So demons," Rick started when she threw away used wipes and took a swing of her water, "and what was with that canteen? You made us drink from it."
"She ain't made me," Daryl grunted, and Taylor's eyes widened. Getting up, she quickly went to where she had left it and brought it back to the men. She passed it to Daryl, who peeked at it suspiciously. "I ain't one of 'em."
"Then you won't burn your insides drinking it," Taylor replied and pressed her lips into a thin line. The man rolled his eyes but took the canteen eventually, one hand around it, the other on the cap, finally taking a sip of holy water. When nothing happened, she breathed out a sigh of relief.
"So, what was that about?" Rick asked again, and she sat back down, reaching for her journal.
"It's made of iron and will burn most demons. Also good against ghosts, wendigos, and it blocks witch's powers." She chuckled when Daryl cautiously touched the canteen again before handing it over to her. "The cap is silver and will burn werewolves, skinwalkers, shapeshifters, and wraiths. And, of course, holy water - you've seen what it does to demons."
"Those... are real?"
"Well, I bet you didn't believe Walkers were until the first one tried to eat you," Taylor argued.
"What else?" Daryl asked, finally lifting his face to meet her eyes, and something flashed through them.
"Um, you know... a lot of shit. Angels are real. I actually have a friend, Castiel; he's with Dean, one of my brothers - we're not related, but he's like a brother to me-"
"What about Chupacabras?"
Taylor tilted her head and cocked her brow at a weirdly specific question. Swiftly she opened her journal, skipping through pages until she got to the one she was looking for. A sketch of a bulky creature crouched down on its back legs. Its body was covered in hair, with a head resembling a dog or wolf. There was a short description next to it and a note of where Taylor encountered it. It was no fun hunt, especially since she was by herself. Alright, she had Garth with her, but he was highly unhelpful. The woman twisted the book and passed it to Daryl, Rick shuffling closer to also have a look.
"Why do you ask?" she tried to pry gently, but they both stared at the pages as if enchanted. She let them read through it and study her drawing until she cleared her throat. It seemed like she was missing something from how Rick looked at the other man.
"I saw it," Daryl admitted quietly, and Rick shook his head, chuckling to himself.
"Man, we all thought you've been on mushrooms or something."
"Would you guys mind filling me in?"
"I saw it. Years ago, I went huntin', my brother was doin' stunt in jail, again. 'Nd I fuckin' saw it, got my deer before I could bag 'er."
Taylor gasped and couldn't believe that this guy saw real-life Chupacabra and yet lived to tell the tale. "How did you get away? I know the myths say they're goat-sucking monsters, but that's lots of crap. They'll really do with any kind of blood."
"Shot it right between the eyes," Daryl patted the weapon that lay next to him and almost smirked.
Tylor gaped at him for a long moment with wide eyes until she finally threw her head back, and a rich, belly laugh escaped her lips. She couldn't remember when was the last time she was so cheerful. Definitely, before Purgatory, and before she watched her father get shot by the hand of Dick Roman, and when he breathed out his last breath in her arms. And if she thought about it, it was probably even longer. Before Leviathans, before all that crap with Apocalypse and the war between Heaven and Hell.
She missed simple cases, she missed Sam, Dean, and Cas, and above all, she missed her dad. But it felt so good to laugh again, to find someone else that makes her feel comfortable enough to loosen up.
"You're a lucky son of a bitch. That thing could tear you to shreds, and no one would ever find or recognize your body," Taylor finally told him, her eyes locking with Daryl's for a second too long before she averted her gaze.
"So that's what you been doing in life? Hunting... weird things?" Rick asked her, wincing lightly when he shifted beside the car.
"Well, yeah," Taylor admitted. Her eyes clouded over slightly at the memories swirling in her mind. "My dad was kind of... a lore guru. After he found the demon that killed my Ma, that is. He was a man everyone in the community called if they stumbled upon something they had never encountered before. I was helping him most of my teenage years and then traveled with Dean and Sam - those adopted brothers I told you before?"
"How? How did ya manage?" Daryl asked, making her shrug lightly.
"Oh, you know. A bit of credit card fraud, a pinch of fake IDs..."
Taylor trailed off, noting a smirk that formed on Daryl's face and Rick's widened eyes.
"Wait. Sam and Dean. And this... this demon said something about Winchesters. Like those Winchesters that went on a killing spree about a year before all this started?" Rick questioned her, sitting straighter.
"Um, possibly. But it wasn't like this. They didn't have anything to do with those murders," Taylor rushed with the explanation. "It wasn't them. There was... ah, there was so fucking much. But, very long story short, someone else was impersonating them, making it look like it was them."
"Why?"
Taylor chuckled bitterly, looking up into the slowly brightening sky. "To flush us out, to make our lives even more difficult? To make sure that we couldn't just stroll into the town without being recognized and arrested. Who's to say? Look, I'm sorry. I don't necessarily want to talk about it if I don't have to. I'm not dangerous, not to you, I promise you. I spent most of my life protecting regular folks from nightmares. That's why I offered you guys a ride. It's still who I am. It has to be. Otherwise, what's the point of living."
She looked away, and with a heavy sigh, she stood up, picking up her stuff to take it back to Lottie. It was almost morning, and soon they would have to move. She did promise to take them to that Terminus place, and she wasn't about to break her promise.
Terminus, somewhere in Georgia
Taylor dropped the small group off some ways away from the actual Terminus. They wanted to approach it on foot, and she couldn't blame them. It was precisely what she would do in that circumstances, scout around, stash some weapons around, just in case. She wanted to go with them, and for a second, she seriously considered it, but in the end, the need to find Sam and Dean won over.
So she dropped them off, let them take some of the supplies in case that place would be a bust, and wished them good luck. Before she left, she instructed them that they could find her in DC if this place wouldn't pan out.
And then she was back on the road, first driving through the bumpy road rails, just to turn to the small backroad. Taylor was greeted with a small southern town consisting of tiny white houses and few stores. It was empty except for a building she passed, which seemed fully packed with Walkers. On a whim, she slowed down and parked by the side of the road.
This tiny town looked abandoned, and for a long time at that. There could be things of use here. After her encounter with Rick and his small group, she had fewer supplies than she would feel comfortable with. Here she could try to stock up on gas, maybe some food, and medical crap. From what she could see, there were a few small convenience stores and a gas station. On top of that, there were plenty of cars scattered around which still could have something in them and in the tank.
And it had nothing to do with the proximity of Terminus. Nothing at all.
Getting out of the car Taylor took her gun, knife, and sword, processing towards first of the houses. It was the time to focus purely on survival and getting to Sam's place. She slowly moved from building to building, searching for anything worth finding. Clean sheets that could be used for bandages if and when she would need them; any remaining feminine products she could scavenge in the dusty bathrooms; bottles of alcohol stronger than 30%. There was less than she wished to get in the first few buildings she entered.
By the time she looked through the fifth house, the sun was slowly dropping, and Taylor decided to retire for the day. As per usual, or as usual this new world order went, she packed Lottie, double-checked her defenses, and then moved the car to the isolated location, where she was easily hidden from the human eye. Of course, there was no guarantee that this would be enough or that the Walkers wouldn't smell her, but she was confident in her swift reactions.
Hoping to grab at least a few hours of sleep, she propped herself on the doors and closed her eyes. Just for a second.
The stench of blood was everywhere in the air. Crimson covered the walls and the floor, painting a gruesome picture. Taylor remembered that day perfectly. It was one of the first hunts she went on with the Winchester brothers. They spend a week in Indiana, chasing a pack of werewolves, following a trail of bodies with a gap in their chest.
Standing in her own younger body brought back all the memories. Reading through the papers, all the time she spent in the local library looking over the files and registers. They finally found a female, nervous and sweaty, her body slowly reacting to the incoming full moon.
It was the first time she saw what the boys were doing and how they dealt with that situation. Starring down at the blood and decapitated bodies, Taylor shook, chills running down her spine. Generally, at that point in the dream, the last werewolf jumps on her, slowly dipping his hand into her chest to rip her heart out, and she wakes up sweaty and exhausted.
But not this time. This time there was a hand on her shoulder, making Taylor jump and spin to see who else was there. Blowing out a shaky breath, she chuckled and shook her head.
"I preferred dad's porch, Cass," she told the surly angel, but his expression didn't change, not that she expected that.
"You were having a nightmare. What is it?"
"My first proper encounter with werewolves," Taylor explained quietly, unwilling to dive into the painful memories. She was young and naive, almost costing Sam his life. "Why are you here, Cass?"
"I wanted to tell you that those people? You need to stay with them, Taylor," Castiel stated as if it was the most obvious thing in the world. She cocked her head to the side, unsure how to process his words.
"Whatcha mean by that?"
"The old world needed Winchesters. But this new one, where the dead roam the Earth? It needs Rick Grimes and his family. You need to bring them to Alexandria with you."
"Alexandria?"
"It's the community Sam built in DC."
"Are you there already?" she asked, taking his hand. She really did miss her friend, Cass could be awkward and missed sarcasm and cynism 90% of the time, but he was there for her, for all of them when they needed him. Sure, he made a few stupid mistakes and wrong calls, but it was still Castiel.
"Dean and I are on the way. We should be there in a few days. Sam knows we're coming."
"What about Benny?"
Cass glanced down at the petite woman by his side, hesitantly placing a comforting hand on her shoulder. "He left. It was better that way."
"Left! What the fuck do you mean by that? He wouldn't just split on us like that!" Taylor argued, entirely shocked by the angel's words.
"That was the best. It was hard for him to control his urges before he died. But now? There is blood and guts everywhere. And Sam was concerned that having a vampire... acquaintance and bringing him to the human camp might not be the best of ideas."
"I- he, what? I don't even have words! So you just what? Ditched him? Like he was nothing? Like he didn't help us and didn't fucking save our asses more than once in Purgatory?!" She was fuming, her words laced with venom.
"No. Benny made that decision himself. Said that if anyone can survive by himself, it's him. Trust me, Dean tried. But Benny was right. He knows he can be a danger, he's in control now, but he's not sure if that can last."
Taylor paced, her boots sinking into deep red liquid, barely noticing as her thoughts swirled in her head. Benny saved them! More than once, his knowledge of Purgatory helped them stay alive all this time. Sure, the plan was to split when they make it back to Earth, but plans change, and juiced Zombies walking around would classify as a change of mind. And he didn't deserve to be left alone to his fate. He was a monster in hunter's books, but he wasn't at the same time.
There were nights, cold and full of fear when Taylor was terrified to close her eyes, and surprisingly Benny was there. They shared a little of their lives and stories, and she knew he had changed despite Benny's bad deeds in his younger years. He could turn his life around, stay clean of human blood, and live among them. And yet, she knew exactly what he was thinking about. Benny could seem selfish, but deep down, he felt for others and their needs. It made sense to stay away from Dean and other humans just in case something happened. She couldn't even imagine how much will and self-discipline it took to control the hunger. And nowadays, blood was everywhere, old, fresh, deep brown and sluggish, crimson. Walking Earth again like this probably wasn't what Benny had in mind when he showed them the escape route.
"I'm just... I didn't have a chance to say goodbye," Taylor finally admitted, glancing up at the angel, who surprisingly looked at her with a pinch of pity.
"I understand. It's for the best."
She sighed heavily, calming her racing heart, and eventually nodded to herself. "Maybe. So, I'm afraid I have already left Rick and his people. I'm not sure if I'm gonna be able to find them again."
"Seek, and ye shall find-"
"Don't give me that Chuck crap, Cass!" Taylor hissed, turning serious. "There are no cellphones, no fucking internet, or GPS. I don't have an angel radio in my head, so I apologize, but my search options are limited."
"Maybe you should go to church?" Cass asked her, his face turning into a smirk before he brought his fingers to her forehead.
"No, no, no!"
Gasping, Tylor sat down in her chair, blinking rapidly, and nearly jumping out of her skin, when she spotted a man figure walking away on the other side of the street, towards the forest. It was a fucking miracle he hadn't spotted her. He could have stolen her things, killed her, and she wouldn't be any wiser because she was stuck in a dream with Cass!
"Thanks so much!" she grumbled under her nose and shuffled in her seat to get to her bag. Taylor slept through almost all night, obviously not realizing how tired she actually was, and yet that didn't stop an uneasy feeling in her stomach. That kind of sleep was dangerous with all the Walkers strolling around.
She pulled her bag to herself and went to grab a granola bar, which was not yet expired, flushing it down with water. As she slowly chewed on it, she thought of her options. Cass said to stay with Rick, which wasn't the worse option in the world. It was always hard to be alone on a hunt without a backup, but now? Being by yourself was even worse.
So that's what she would do. She would go through the few remaining houses and get to the three shops she saw earlier, hopefully by the early afternoon. And then, she would make her way to the small church on the outskirts of town she had seen earlier.
Taylor rolled her eyes. It seemed way too ironic to follow angel directions, which led to a fucking Church. Maybe she would see Chuck?
But then what if she found them? How could she protect them? Sure, the amulets could be reliable, but only to a point - they could be ripped off. She also needed to make a hex bag against demons, but she needed to know exactly how many people Rick had.
Tylor shook her head, focusing on here and now, putting Lottie in gear and driving towards one of the more promising buildings.
She scavenged three houses, getting some good stuff from them, plenty more canned food and dried pasta. She found some good meds, and whoever lived in one of the smaller buildings had a slight drug problem. But the best score so far yet was a tiny shop wedged right behind the convenience store she went to search.
The store itself was prettily well picked through; however, she found some cigarettes and booze, her thought going back to Benny and Dean and how they both would enjoy her findings. Hell, maybe she could enjoy them one night. If she were to join the group, she wouldn't be alone at night anymore and wouldn't be the only one keeping a watch. Not that it went that well the previous night. On top of that, there was a good stock of batteries, and Taylor took every single one of them, happy to change her flashlight once she got to the car. She tried the back door, and that's how she discovered a small, well-hidden tattoo shop.
Her heart rate spiked up, and all the logistic issues seemed solved. Glancing around the alley, she noted the amount of blood splattered on the walls of the building. Reaching for her sword, Taylor slowly made her way to the doors, using the hilt to knock on them. After a few moments, she heard movement inside; a vague shuffling was heard, making her ready the weapon. Stepping back, she inhaled deeply and kicked the door, forcing them open. Gripping her sword tighter, she got ready for the first Walker, and a woman's old, deeply decomposed body stumbled through, lounging right at her.
Swinging her blade effortlessly, Taylor decapitated the Zombie, not stopping as another three emerged from the shop in ripped clothes covered in blood. She stabbed the first one in the head, but the other was too close, too fast. Taylor stepped back, doing a low half spin, kicking the next corpse in the chest, making it stumble into the last one. With both of them on the ground, she finished them instantly, panting gently. Gazing around, Taylor waited for a split second longer before marching inside the shop.
The walls were dirty, and the surface was covered in dust but untouched. Just as she predicted, after all, it wasn't a place people needed to scavenge to survive. Of course, unless you were a hunter - in that case, a nice tattoo pen was a valuable thing to have. And even more so if you were about to recruit a bunch of new ones.
Stepping over some glass and a pile of papers that seemed to be designs, Taylor walked from one station to the other. She searched every table, every drawer, finally coming up with all the items she thought would be helpful. Two battery-operated pens, a few boxes of replaceable needles, lots of ink, and even more than anything, gauze, and bandages. That was indeed one of her better ideas, and she couldn't wait to brag all about it to the boys. Did Sam figure it out? Did he provide his group with a way to make anti-possession tattoos?
But she was getting ahead of herself. She has yet to find Rick and others. Taylor really couldn't wait, those past weeks traveling alone were genuinely challenging, and his group seemed kind and capable.
While Rick himself was ruffed up, he still visibly protected the others, even going as far as physically ripping out someone's throat. Yeah, it was a little unhinged, but Taylor saw worse in her life as a hunter.
Michonne was like a fucking Amazon, tall, willowy, with absolutely gorgeous ebony skin that glistened in the sun. She had a fricking katana on her back and seemed like she knew how to use it. Also, from what Taylor could gauge, she was understanding and preferred to use her words first rather than a fist. A policy Taylor tried to follow through herself but not always managed, especially with Dean by her side.
Carl, well, Carl reminded her of herself and the Winchester boys. Back in the days when they were just kids thrown into hunter's life, not thinking about any other possible future - well, except Sam. Chasing monsters while kids their age went to the mall and movies and played with toy soldiers or dolls. Now the same thing was happening to Carl. Too old to be just a kid, so he fights as well, but too young to be a real adult. He would grow up in this world, witnessing and believing in monsters.
And then there was Daryl. This one Taylor couldn't get a good read on. He appeared out of nowhere, had the crap beaten out of him, and was nearly killed by a demon. And yet he just sat there, watching her, let her treat his bruises and cuts, and seemed to accept the weird, freaky world she lived in without hesitation. Fuck, the guy killed a fricking Chupacabra. By himself. With a regular crossbow. And when he read through the passage in her journal, his blue eyes sparked, crinkling slightly, as if she told him the best news in the world. He had some truly captivating eyes; when he looked at her for a second, she felt lost.
On top of that, he was a hunter too. Different kind, of course, but he knew how to track, how to be quiet, and how to operate that giant ass crossbow of his. That was something Taylor had to admire.
Glancing one last time around at the instruments around her, she made sure she had everything that would help her along the way and left the shop. Her next, hopefully, last stop before seeing the group again was the church. So that's where Taylor directed Lottie after getting all her gathered supplies into the back.
It took her only a short time to get to the small off-white building by the edge of a town. If she was to trust Castiel, she should wait here for Rick's group. The only question was, for how long? There were no signs of anyone living around, doors were closed, and there was no car. Swallowing harshly, Taylor left Lottie, baring her blade in case those Juiced Zombies were hanging around. She made a full circle, discovering a bus at the back, and then she inspected the building again, in more detail this time.
There were some scratches near the windows and one alarming sentence about burning in Hell. The carvings seemed old, but Taylor tried to enter the church just to be sure. Using her lockpick, she opened the doors quickly, rolling her eyes at the lack of any kind of preparations to secure this place. And it definitely seemed that someone lived in there. There was no speck of dust neither on the floor, altar, or pews.
Growing more curious and a little suspicious, Taylor quickly scoped the church. There were two rooms, an office with a small bathroom and what seemed to be a preparation room for the mass. Whoever was living in there was probably coming back soon. All she had to do was to convince him she was not crazy and that she was waiting for... for who exactly? They were hardly friends. After all, they had known each other for a day. That was not the point, though. Cass said to haul their asses to DC, which was precisely what she would do.
Using a piece of chalk, she created devil's traps right by the doors and underneath every window. Then she added warding sigils against angels, and when she was done, she went outside to wait. For what? She wasn't sure at that point for what or who, but she would wait patiently, just like Castiel stated.