The next morning, Jenna woke to find her face buried into Daryl's chest. His steady breathing and the way his fingers absently stroked the small of her back let her know that he was still in a deep sleep. She closed her eyes again trying to let his heartbeat lull her back to sleep; she didn't want it to be morning, because morning meant that they would have to get up and let go of each other. But, when she failed to go back to sleep, she decided that it would be best to go outside to stretch her legs and get ready for another day of searching for the rest of the group. First, she'd have to find a way out of Daryl's arms without waking him up. But, the second she tried to slide out from under his arm, she felt his grip tighten on her. There was an inaudible grumble followed by a sigh and he loosened his hold again. Jenna could tell that he was embarrassed by his decision to act on his impulse to sleep next to rather than away from her. Though the act of quickly moving his arms away from her and moving to open the back doors of the van was not an act of disgust, she couldn't help but feel tightness in her chest at his sudden distance.
There were no words exchanged that morning as they looked around for any sign of the group. Jenna pursed her lips and silently took her seat behind Daryl on the bike, this time sitting upright with her hands lightly gripping his sides as opposed to her usual "monkey-back" position. Her solemn attitude was soon lifted when her eyes came to rest on a car she had seen Glenn and Maggie drive off in the night the farm was lost. They came to a stop and Daryl went to look around to see if he could find a way to track where they had gone.
"Looks like there's some tracks goin' into the woods" he said thoughtfully. Deciding that there was no other option, they moved toward the forest. Daryl pulled a large buck knife from a side holster and handed it to Jenna. She moved it around in her hand for a moment before accepting that this was the only weapon he had to spare. After a good thirty minutes of walking in silence, Jenna chose to tell him what she had been thinking about since the outbreak.
"Those religious nuts who go on about this shit bein' the 'wrath of God' might have the right idea" she mumbled, when Daryl looked at her, she went on, "Did you know that over in countries like Romania and China believe that if you don't bury the dead right, they come back to take revenge on the living? They come back because they're pissed that we're alive and they're not."
"That's all a buncha bullshit." Daryl replied with a scoff.
"A couple years ago, you probably thought the idea of zombies chasin' you down was bullshit."
Daryl looked as though he was going to say something, but shut his mouth and nodded.
"Maybe this all started with improper burials. Maybe the dead are back for their revenge."
"How's that explain that it's spread through bites?"
"The dead can't take over without an army."
"You're a weird one."
Jenna just smiled and nodded in agreement. She thought spending time with him after the awkwardness they felt when he woke up would feel weird, but it was no different than it was before. Now she just knew that he cared more about her than he'd like to admit. Just as she was going to ask him about his reaction to her that morning, they came across an old house nestled in a small clearing.
"Well, how many forest people do you have in this damn state?" Jenna asked gawking at the run-down building.
"The real hicks come out here for better huntin'" Daryl replied pointing at the front porch, "Looks like we've got some squirrel lovers."
There was a line of rotting squirrel carcasses strung up across the railing of the porch. Jenna grinned and nudged his arm.
"You kin to them?"
Daryl scoffed and fought back a smile, shaking his head a little.
"Where're you from anyway?" he asked as they cautiously approached the house, "Louisiana?"
"Close," she answered, "Texas. Born and raised in Killeen." –Daryl raised a brow—"It's a couple hours from Austin."
When they came closer to the house, Daryl held his finger to his lips and Jenna got quiet. They crept silently toward the rickety driftwood house with Daryl taking the lead. He held a hand up to stop her while he went ahead with his crossbow in hand. Jenna could hear the creaking of floorboards on the front porch as she waited against the side of the house. Her heart skipped a beat when she heard a sudden silence, one lone creak, and then the scuffling of a struggle. She gripped the handle of the large buck knife Daryl had given her. When she moved to see what was happening, she was stopped dead when she heard him shout from inside.
"Jenna, run!"
She moved to run into the surrounding forest, but her feet wouldn't budge. Whether it was shock or the reluctance to leave Daryl behind, she didn't know. It wasn't until she heard the sound of heavy footsteps hurrying toward her that her instinct kicked in and she took off toward the thickness of the trees. There was a loud grunt and a THUD from behind her and then she felt a strong grip on her leg and fell to the ground. Jenna could feel the dirt and twigs digging into her skin as she tried to fight the large, bear-like man off. When she moved to punch him, he just laughed as he swatted her hands away.
"You've got some fight in ya" he grumbled standing up and hoisting her to her feet, "I like that."
When he realized that he wouldn't get her into the house without a struggle, he slung her over his shoulder doing his best to ignore her shouts of protest and the beating of her fists against his back. The sudden lack of sunlight let her know that she was in the old house and her stomach twisted into knots. She heard the sound of a chair being drug across the floor and was thrown onto a hard wooden rocking chair. Before she could even think of trying to run, the man had her wrists duct taped to the arms of the chair and her ankles to its legs. She looked up to see Daryl sitting in a chair across from her, his face bloodied and his chest rising and falling with his rapid breaths. The man who caught her stepped in front of her obscuring her view, twirling Daryl's knife in his fingers.
"This is a big knife for a lil' girl." He grumbled. It wasn't until she heard a low chuckle from the other room that she knew he wasn't alone. She winced away from him when she felt the coolness of the blade against her cheek.
"Don't touch her!"
Daryl's sudden outburst made Jenna jump and the man smile. He turned to look at Daryl and then back at her and laughed a little as he continued, "What, are y'all fuckin'?"—Jenna pursed her lips and Daryl averted his eyes—"Ah, I'm sensin' alotta sexual tension goin' on here."
"Maybe the bitch thinks she's too good for guys like us." The other man seemed ready to make his presence known, "We oughtta loosen her up a little."
"You're right Willie" the larger man replied, "Since it was your idea, you get first go."
The man they now knew as Willie smiled brightly and hurried to drag Jenna and her chair out of the room. Daryl shouted for them to let her go and filled the air with threats if they should so much as look at her wrong, but all the large man did was laugh.
"Will's a little shy," he mumbled ruffling Daryl's hair, "but I'm gonna make sure you see everything I have in store for that little thing."
Jenna could hear Daryl's muffled curses from the room she was now alone in with Willie. His eyes were filled with a sort of sinister hunger that made her insides turn over. She moved to run to the door, but Willie pulled Daryl's knife out and shook his head.
"You're not goin' anywhere" he grinned, "You're gonna strip for me first. I ain't seen a woman in a long time, so we're gonna make this good."
It was clear to Jenna that he wasn't the smartest man in the world, but most certainly wasn't the dumbest. She had to play her cards right. If she seemed too eager to comply with him, he would know she was trying to fool him. She had to seem weaker than she actually was. Willie seemed an easy enough target to take head-on, but she had to make it quiet. If she wanted to take the other one out, it would have to be a blitz attack. Keeping this in mind, she slowly and reluctantly stripped down to her underwear. Willie's face broke into a crooked smile as he grabbed her by the hips and pushed her against the wall. His breath was foul and his body odor made her want to vomit, but when he forced his lips against hers, she only slightly struggled. He pulled her arms around him to bring them closer together as he let his hands roam her body. She rubbed his back gently as his command and moved her hands down to the back pockets of his jeans where she felt the knife. Before he could say anything, she quickly pulled it out and stuck in the small of his back.
"Feel the numbness in your legs?" she asked snidely while he sunk to the floor, "I just paralyzed your sorry ass."
She pulled the knife out and pushed him to the floor before climbing on top of him. A smile found its way on her face while she straddled him and rubbed his blood on his shirt. He opened his mouth to speak when she plunged the knife into his chest. For a moment, he just laid there, his eyes staring wildly at her. And when she pulled the knife from him, he let out one last breath before his eyes went from a stunning green, to soulless and empty. Jenna wiped his blood on his shirt again before redressing and opening the door quietly. She could hear the other man taunting Daryl with scenarios of what Willie might be doing to her at that moment. When she entered the living room, Daryl pursed his lips and looked down as if ashamed of what he was hearing.
"I'm wonderin' why they ain't made a peep." The man mumbled. When he turned to walk to the room, Jenna rushed him and sunk the knife into his heart as she had to Willie. Tears stung the backs of her eyelids as he fell to the ground, dead. She pulled the knife from him and hurried to cut Daryl's binds. Almost the second she cut the last bit of duct tape, Daryl jumped from the chair and pulled Jenna into his arms. Jenna buried her face into his chest and closed her eyes. Then, she felt him move his hands to her face; he moved her face to his and kissed her lips with such a passion she had never experienced before.