AN
Ok so I struggled a bit with this chapter. I knew exactly what I wanted in my head but when it came to getting it down...well it just wasnt getting down! But hey it is what it is.
I decided to put in a wee flashback just a bit of fluff really. Thanks to all the readers who fav/follow and the few shiny stars who reviewed! You giving me life!
:P
Daryl pulled up to the trailer it was just pass midnight and stiffling hot still, the kind of heat that was difficult to breathe and drained you of energy. Today had been an especially long day for the redneck he'd worked a double shift nearly 16 hours and all he wanted was his bed.
The door was slightly open sitting just off the frame and he stepped inside and pulled it closed waiting for the click, not that any sane person would try and break in. Inside the place was in its usual state of mess. Empty bottles scattered across the coffee table, the tv blaring a mindless infomercial into the dark empty room. Daryl sighed and kicked the plug out of the wall with his boot then made his way down the hall a yawn escaping his mouth, his back was aching something wicked and every joint creaked like a man forty years his senior.
He nudged Maddies door open and ducked in but quickly pulled back and sighed again this was becoming a habit, the bed was empty and there was no doubt where she'd be.
His room was like a sauna and when he entered a wave of hot air hit him in the face 'fuck sake' he muttered quickly making his way over to the window and shoved it open, and although it was only a few degrees cooler outside, it was still a welcome relief.
There was a groan behind him and he followed it to the little body that was currently lying across his bed, well twisted up in the sheet.
"Wha you doin in 'ere rabbit" He thought out loud and began the difficult procedure of separating human and fabric.
A small foot kicked at his arm and he growled but managed to re-frame himself from giving it a wack back.
"It's too hot!" Madison whined as two hand grabbed her legs and slid her round til she was facing the right way.
"That's cause you got the windows closed dipshit" Daryl grumbled "Sit up" He ordered impatiently and she pushed herself up to a sitting position rubbing the sleep from her tired eyes, through the darkness she could just make out the outline of her brother as he lent over her.
"Arms up" Daryl ordered gruffly and grabbed the bottom of her singlet and quickly pulled it over her head throwing it into a pile of growing laundry beside the door.
"What time is it?" Maddie lay back on the pillow feeling a little better now her hands tucked behind her head.
"Time ta git back ta sleep" Came the clipped reply and she yawned and closed her eyes listening to her brother rustle around the room.
"Merle made spaghetti for dinner" She mumbled drifting in and out of consciousness.
Daryl ignored her and stripped his jeans and t-shirt off and sat on the edge of the bed taking a moment to let the hardships of the day melt away.
"He let me watch this movie about these soldiers in a war" Maddie continued the fight to stay awake.
Daryl shook his head and swiveled round til his head hit the pillow and feet dangled over the edge of the bed trying not to think about what else Merle had let Madison get up to...hell he was just grateful his brother had managed to get something together for dinner.
"Well don't wake me up when ya hav'n nightmares" He closed his eyes and immediately started to drift off, heat and exhaustion finally catching up.
"Well you don't wake me up with your snorin then." Madison retorted
"And I aint scared" She quickly added in annoyance.
"MMMhhhmm" Daryl managed before sleep took over.
Madison's eyes sprung open then quickly snapped back shut as sunlight burned into them. She moaned and rubbed at them then tried it again. This time the light wasn't as blinding and she blinked a few times until the blurry room came into focus. The window was open and outside a chorus of birdsong was going off like a rock concert and she crawled off the bed shut the window and pulled the curtain closed. It was thin and full of holes but at least it kept some of the light out.
She climbed back up on the bed and lay down trying to will herself back to sleep after a few seconds though she gave up and sighed staring up at the ceiling. Beside her Daryl was lightly snoring and had been all night. Thankfully he weren't as bad as Merle, his snores could be heard two rooms away and when he drunk (which was most nights) you could hear them through the whole trailer.
Maddie shuffled over to her sleeping brother and studied the crisscross of scars on his back. Some were long and went nearly the whole way down others short and sharp. She traced one big ugly purple one with her finger, it ran from his shoulder all the way down to the small of his back. Daryl said it was from their Pa,he was always drinking and always angry and secretly Madison was glad when they buried him. She couldn't really remember him but when ever she thought about their father the hairs on her arms always stood up.
"Girly ya best be git'n back ta sleep" The snores ceased and a tired and rather grumpy voice sounded.
The younger Dixon sighed and sat up resting her chin on his arm.
"I cant I'm awake now" She huffed letting her arm dangle over.
There was a growl of annoyance and Daryl tried unsuccessfully to shake the little body off him, instead this resulted in high pitched giggles which only made him more grumpy.
"Wha's the god dam time" His annoyance was clear and suddenly the little body had wriggled right over him and settled on the edge of the bed.
"The time is two minutes passed six!" Madison checked the watch on the side table then wriggled around til her head was on the pillow and face inches from his.
"Rabbit..." Daryl warned his brow tightening and his blues opened slowly to meet hers.
"Morning" She grinned enthusiastically, playing with fate. Waking up a Dixon could be a costly exercise.
Thankfully though Daryl was too tired to do anything and his eyes closed again.
"Go play in ya room" He buried his face into the pillow and Maddie wiggled down and curled up in the small space left on the mattress.
"I'll be quiet" She promised although her brother knew that would never happen but couldn't be assed arguing.
For five short blissful minutes there wasn't so much as a peep from the seven year old, however at five minutes and one second this was broken suddenly when a finger prodded Daryl sharply in the chest and he jerked back into consciousness after just managing to drift off again.
"Wha the hell girl!" He glared down at the top of her head her honey locks looking more like a birds nest "Ya bout ta get the back'a my hand" His tone meant business.
"Sorry Daryl but..." She paused and thought for a second. "But...But I thought that boys weren't meant ta have boobs and you kinda do?" She looked up perplexed and Daryl rolled onto his back and pulled the sheet up to his neck it was way,way,way to early to be answering these types of questions.
The finger prodded him again in the chest and he batted it away and glared at the seven year old who didn't look like she was giving up anytime soon, she was now up looking to him rather confused.
"Buuuuut your boobs are kinda hard though, I think boobs are meant ta be soft" She looked down at her own chest which was flat as a pancake and sighed.
Daryl tried his best to ignore his little sister. He had had to field many awkward questions as of lately most of which he didn't even have the answer to.
"There's a girl at school called Courtney and she has massive ones! Sometimes she shows them to the boys in the bike shed" The seven year old covered her mouth with her hand suppressing the giggles that were fighting to come out her eyes lit up in what could only be described as child like amusement.
"Well you just stay the hell away from 'er ya hear?" Daryl warned and Madison rolled her eyes.
"She's thirteen! She only hangs out with the big kids" Maddie stated as though it was the most obvious thing in the world.
"I knew that school would be no good" Daryl grumbled turning away from the little human being who persisted on disrupting his morning rest.
"Hey you never answered my question?" Madison shook his arms and suddenly it was pushing back and before she knew it she was sprawled out on the floor her butt aching.
"OWWW!" She jumped up and crossed her arms angrily and glared at the back of her brother.
"Why'd ya do that?!" She rubbed her tailbone which was now a little sore.
"I told ya ta quit buggin' me" Daryls muffled voice replied "Now go play'n ya room and keep the racket down"
There was a huff followed by deliberate thumping footsteps as the seven year old made sure to make as much noise as she could as she left the room her last act was to kick the washing basket which came close to tipping over but thankfully didn't (as that would of definitely resulted in an ass whooping).
As soon as the door closed and footsteps faded away Daryl let out a sigh of relief and pushed the sheet away. Hell who knew something so small could still make so much noise, it was lucky Merle slept like the dead or else there really would have been hell to pay.
The redneck rolled onto his back and closed his eyes a small smile tugging at the corners of his lips. Maddie could be annoying as hell some times and get on the last of her nerves, but for some strange god forbidden reason he wouldn't change it for the world.
It took till mid morning for Rick Grimes to finally locate his target and he didn't so much as locate her as stumble upon her small crumpled up body.
His heart dropped at the sad sight and he approached timidly airing on the side of caution.
He was to late.
Rick crouched and shuffled forward knowing there was a strong possibility she could already be one of them. There was no movement and he ran a hand over his face wiping the sheen of sweat from it.
The thought of taking her little body back to camp to her brothers filled him with dread. Cold dark dread. The kind that only a parent who has lost a child could ever feel. He couldn't quite bring himself to look at her face, sure he'd seen plenty of bodies in his line of work some barely even looked human but a childs face? Now that was by far the hardest to see.
Rick studied her feet instead, tiny and pale covered in cuts and bruises, for a little child she'd run a long way at least five or so miles.
She was dressed still in her sleepwear a pair of pale yellow shorts that had a safety pin through the waist band keeping them up and a white singlet top smeared with dirt which had ridden half way up her torso. He grabbed the bottom of it and pulled it down with a shaky hand his fingers brushed her stomach and he froze.
It was warm?
He moved closer and checked the pulse in her neck, there was a very faint beat and he then moved his hand over her chest and felt it subtly rise and fall.
She was alive!
"Maddie? Maddie?" He now moved more frantically brushing the hair from her face and checked her airways. Surely enough there was life and a new found hope surged through his veins.
"Come on, stay with me kid" Rick sent up a pray and gathered her up starting back the way he came.
However only 50 or so meters later he'd come to an abrupt halt, through the trees up ahead there was movement, a lot of it.
Walkers.
A herd of them heading their way. Rick spun round trying to find a route of escape he could backtrack and try get right round them but the herd could be spread for miles and he couldn't risk getting caught.
Then he saw it! An opening in the ground where the roots of a large tree erupted from a bank, it was just big enough for him to squeeze into and he managed to do so whilst juggling Madison. The crawl space went four or five meters into the ground and opened up enough for him to sit up in, probably at one stage some sort of animal had lived her but thankfully didnt anymore.
He moved his fragile cargo into a more comfortable position, outside the first of the walkers was already stumbling down the bank moans and other unworldly sounds could be heard and he unconsciously held his breath. Legs could be seen shuffling past and Rick could feel beads of sweet run down the side of his face despite the rather cool temperatures of the earth around him.
After several long and excruciating minutes the moans started to become less frequent and he slowly started to relax a little, outside there was still walkers milling about but only a handful now and they were starting to gravitate away, a sense of relief washed over him and he sighed.
That however was short lived when the bundle in his arms surged suddenly into life and before he knew what was happening a high pitch scream erupted echoing out into the forest...