I take no credit for any Walking Dead charatcers or themes.
I've got to upload this quick, I have class in about 5 minutes. Thanks for all the reviews, they mean so much to me and keep me going! I hope you guys like this one, please let me know what you think! I rushed a little at the end, so I apologize if something seems off :P
At about mid day with the sun high in the sky, the stream of cars leaked onto an abandoned highway in a straight line. Rick Grimes led the way in his van with his wife and son, behind them was the Winnebago holding Glenn, the newly acquired Maggie Greene, Andrea, Dale, and Carol. Following was Daryl Dixon driving his pickup with a bewildered Eve Bishop in his passenger seat, his Harley motorcycle carefully protected in the bed of the truck. Shane Walsh trailed at the end in his Jeep by himself.
The group had lost two members that day; T-Dog and Carol's daughter, Sophia. The news of T-Dog's death was not known by all, however. In the Winnebago, Glenn sat at the table holding his girl, Maggie. Maggie was quietly crying in his arms, feeling guilty for having left her father and other family members behind. Glenn held her close to him and whispered reassuring thoughts into her ear.
Andrea sat at the other side of the table, wide eyed at everything that had just happened. She couldn't believe they had all been that stupid. Of course the walkers would have heard the gunshots. There were so many of them. Everyone just panicked.
The blonde woman's head shot up and she reached up behind her and rested her hands on the back of the bench seat around the "kitchen" table. She looked frantically around the camper, catching the attention of Glenn.
"You okay, Andrea?" Glenn asked with confusion and concern.
"Where's T?" Andrea questioned.
Glenn's head moved back and forth as well as he glanced around the camper frantically. He saw nothing. "Oh shit."
Shaking her head in disbelief, Andrea spoke, "He could be in one of the other cars, right? He could be riding with Rick, or maybe even Shane. I saw him shooting the geeks while we got all our stuff. He probably jumped in one of the other cars. Right, Glenn?"
Carol, who had now composed herself slightly after just seeing her daughter shot, turned back to face them from the passenger's seat in the front of the camper. "What's wrong?"
Glenn turned to the woman with concern on her face, "We don't know where T-Dog is."
Carol's face turned bleak when she heard this. She turned to Dale with raised eyebrows. Wordlessly Dale grabbed the walkie talkie from the dashboard and brought it to his lips, holding it sideways while pressing a few buttons simultaneously.
In the van, Rick led the way back down the highway where the group had been a few weeks previously. Luckily while they had been stationed there, searching for Sophia, a few of the guys had taken it upon themselves to clear the way of cars and bodies. The road to Fort Benning was clear at this point, and it was one thing less for Rick to worry about.
Next to Rick was his wife Lori, who was clutching his hand desperately looking for some comfort. Carl was sitting in the backseat quietly gazing out the window. Every now and then he sniffled and teared up when he thought of his lost friend, but for the sake of his parents he was trying to act like he was okay. The last thing he wanted to do now was stress out his parents. Carl was growing up fast.
From the driver's side door, a beep came. Rick reached down into the compartment at the bottom of the door on his left and grabbed the beeping walkie talkie. He pressed the button to indicate that he was ready to listen.
"Hey, uh, Rick? Have you seen T-Dog?" Dale's wise old voice rang through with a small amount of static shuffling his message slightly.
Rick understood the message but furrowed his eyebrows and looked back at the cars behind him through the rear view mirror. Behind him was Daryl, driving the pickup truck with one hand on the wheel and the other around Eve's seat. There was no one else in the car.
Pressing the button on the side, Rick spoke into the handheld radio, "No. No, I haven't Dale. I thought he was in there with you guys."
Lori put her head in her hands looking upset. "Do you think he got hurt, Rick?"
Rick shook his head, "I don't know. I was busy keeping you guys safe. I wasn't even paying attention!" Rick angrily slammed his fist onto the dashboard, and then pressed the button on the walkie talkie to send his message to Dale, "I'm going to pull over. Maybe he's with Shane."
"Right," Dale sent the last message then turned the walkie off.
Rick put his blinker on and slid onto the side of the road. He wasn't even sure why he was going to the side of the road, it's not like there was going to be any more traffic passing through that they needed to yield to. Force of habit, Rick parked his vehicle in the emergency lane with the rest of the group parking behind him. Before stepping out of the van he gripped his wife's hand harder and stared her into the eyes with a slightly reassuring smile before speaking, "You guys stay here. I'll only be a minute."
He jumped out and placed his hands on his hips, then walked towards where Dale was standing.
Inside the pickup, Daryl shook his head and rolled his eyes. "Aw what the fuck are we stoppin' for?"
Eve sat in the passenger seat with her feet pulled up in front of her. She hugged them to her chest, squishing her large breasts together slightly. Daryl turned to her, catching this sight and lingering there for a moment before pulling over and parking behind the camper.
"You still got that gun right?" Daryl questioned the girl.
Eve looked down at the bottom of the car where her feet should be. The gun Daryl had given her sat in the shadows, glittering under the few beams of early fall sun. Gingerly, Eve leaned over and picked the gun up delicately in her small hands. Her pale blue eyes glanced at Daryl before he nodded.
"I'll be back in a second. These idiots'll get us killed if we stay for stay for too long. I'll be watchin' you from over there." He pointed at where Rick and Dale stood and where Shane was headed before squeezing her knee reassuringly and jumping out of the truck and angrily walking over to the other men.
"You idiots remember what happened last time when we sat like fuckin' ducks in the middle of the road?" Daryl trudged up with his hands in his pockets.
Rick waved him off, "We aren't staying long." He turned to Shane, "Is T-Dog in the Jeep with you, Shane?"
Kicking some dirt, Shane swept a hand over his buzzed head, "No."
Rick threw his hands out in front of him in annoyance, "Then where the hell is he?"
Daryl scanned the area around them, searching for any signs of danger. He almost wished he had Eve by his side because she seemed to have more sensitive ears than he did. She was always pointing out danger a few seconds before he heard it. While he would rather have her with him if something did go down so he could properly protect her, Daryl wouldn't want her to be out where the trouble was happening. She was safe in the car. He glanced back at the pickup for a moment to make sure she was okay before angrily interjecting, "This is why we're out here? Are you fuckin' serious? We need to get our asses out of here. Now."
"He got bit." Shane blurted out with little remorse.
Dale's face went sour. Dale didn't trust Shane, not for the life of him. "Maybe we should go back."
Daryl put his fingers between his eyes on the bridge of his nose like he had a headache, "Oh for fuck's sake. He deserved it after leavin' Merle chained to a goddamn rooftop and getting' him killed. The guy is dead. We're not. We need to fuckin' leave."
Pained at the news, Rick replied, "I know, Daryl. But bitching about it isn't going to get us moving any quicker. T-Dog was a good friend of ours and deserves a proper burial, but given the circumstances, I don't think we can go back."
Dale interjected, "That's not why I wanted to go back."
"Oh, so you think I'm a liar, old man?" Shane glared at Dale from across the small circle they had gathered in.
"Uh, yeah, actually. I do." Dale looked at him with his usually raised eyebrows and wide eyes.
Rick put his hands in between the men, "Enough. Dale, I understand the concern, but Shane wouldn't just leave someone behind. We were all there, if anything like that would have happened we would have seen it." He paused for a second to regain his thoughts. T-Dog was on his mind and plaguing his conscious, but if what Shane said was true he couldn't linger on it. His family needed protecting and he had to continue on. "We need to make a course of action now that we're back out in the world again. It's been a while, but you guys remember how it was last time. We need clothes, food, more ammunition. We need to find somewhere where we can collect everything we need."
"Glasses," Daryl interjected.
The three other men turned to him with confused looks.
Daryl further explained, "I need ta' find a pair of glasses. Good glasses, strong ones."
Rick asked with an inquisitive tone, "Your eyesight going bad, Daryl?"
"It's for his girl. I see her squinting a lot," Shane answered nonchalantly. He had been keeping an eye on Eve when he could and had noticed the odd tendency.
Daryl nodded and agreed with Shane, "Yeah."
"Right, glasses. So it sounds like we need to find a shopping center or mall or something. Everyone keep an eye out while we drive, we should come across something soon. If there are any problems, wave out of your car or use the walkie talkies. We'll all pull over and discuss whatever's going on. Anything else?" Rick looked to the men for any further comments or questions. Nothing. "Okay, let's get back on the highway and try to make some progress before nightfall."
Daryl quickly made his way back to the pickup truck, examining the environment around them for anything askew. Confident that there were no walkers lurking about, he jumped up into the driver's seat and slammed the door behind him.
Eve sat still with the gun gripped in her hand. When Daryl got into the car she turned on the safety and shoved it into the glove compartment, not wanting to hold it any longer. "What's going on?"
Daryl turned the key in the ignition and pulled down the emergency break before speeding out into the road and resuming travel behind the other cars. He glanced in the rearview mirror at the Jeep and made sure it was following.
It was at that moment he realized he almost didn't want Shane to follow. If he sped off and went somewhere else Daryl wouldn't give a fuck. The only thing he was good for was shooting walkers, other than that Daryl thought he was sketchy as hell. When Shane had commented on Eve's eyesight it made his blood boil. Obviously Shane was watching Eve and Daryl didn't like it at all. Feeling protective, Daryl put his arm around Eve's shoulders before answering, "You remember that black guy?"
Eve felt comfortable with his arm around her, and a feeling of safety overwhelmed her. She nodded in response.
Eyes on the road, Daryl responded, "He's dead."
Eve's eyes went wide, "Oh. That's too bad." Never having talked to him, Eve wasn't really sure how to respond. He seemed like a good guy though, and the plain fact that he was part of the group and passed away in whatever fashion bothered Eve. She was a little more sensitive than other people. Her thin brows furrowed in sadness and she studied her hands and started removing the dirt from her long ago painted fingernails.
"You feel bad or somethin'?" Daryl noticed her melancholic reaction and glanced at her with slight concern.
The girl swiped a lock of hair behind her ear, exposing a pair of small, glittering stud earrings on her lobes and answered quietly, "Yeah, I do."
"Why? That guy didn't do nothin' for you ever."
Eve shrugged her shoulders, "I'm not sure. I suppose I just feel like all human life should be respected, or, I don't know… grieved? Appreciated? He didn't do anything for me, but he didn't do anything bad to me either."
Lips pursed in a thin line, Daryl responded, "He got my brother killed."
Quickly turning her head, Eve looked up to the man next to him with concerned eyes, "Huh?"
Daryl drove the pickup quietly for a moment before responding, "Before we were here we were shacked up in a camp outside of Atlanta. My brother and some other guys went lookin' for supplies and everythin' went to shit. Fuckin' officer Rick Grimes showed up, handcuffed my brother to a rooftop, gave the keys to that black guy who died, and left my brother behind. T-Dog lost the keys and left him to die. My brother sawed his fuckin' hand off and left. And now he's probably zombie food, or he's a walker off rottin' his face off! God dammit!" He lifted his hand off of Eve's shoulders and gripped the steering wheel angrily, remembering the events of the past.
Eve was in awe. The way Daryl made it sound was horrible. Realizing how the actual events could have been a little skewed in his point of view, she quietly reflected on what he said had happened and formulated her own opinions. Her heart ached for Daryl's loss though. Apparently she wasn't the only one who had lost their family even though she wasn't quite ready to discuss what exactly had happened to her yet.
Putting her feet on the floor of the truck for stability, Eve leaned over and rested her head on Daryl's side, wrapping her right arm around his front and hugging his muscular body slightly. She closed her eyes and softly cuddled his side, trying to comfort him in some way. "I'm sorry that happened, Daryl."
Daryl sat quietly and felt the warmth reverberating off of her body for a few moments, just enjoying her company. She smelled sweet and innocently pure. The long auburn locks of hair spilled over her shoulder and onto his lap. Strands of hair glowed wine red in the sunlight but remained a deep coffee brown in the autumn shade.
Reacting, Daryl let go of the steering wheel with his right hand and draped it across her side, softly rubbing her hip in return but saying no words.
The group continued down the highway for a few more hours until the camper ran out of gas. Luckily all along side of the road were abandoned vehicles, so all they had to do was set up a watch on top of the Winnebago and have a few others collect gas for all the cars. Daryl had stood on top of the camper while Glenn and Rick siphoned gas out of the forgotten cars. Shane and Dale put the gas in the vehicles and then they were back on their way. They had seen a few walkers on the sides of the roads and such, but none of them woke up to cause any trouble.
When Daryl hopped back in the truck he saw that Eve had fallen asleep, her head smooshed up against the glass window on her right. They had separated about an hour ago, but quietly sat next to one another just enjoying each other's company. Eve wanted to talk to him but felt guilty after he had revealed to her what had happened to his brother. She felt like she had to explain her past a bit in order to be fair.
Everyone started their freshly filled cars and continued back on the highway. It was starting to get dark, the sun setting softly in the distance and casting a soft red glow around them. After a quarter of an hour Eve started to move in her sleep slightly. Her left hand clenched the seat underneath her and her eyebrows furrowed together as if she was in pain. A soft moan came from her lips.
Daryl glanced over at the girl who was obviously having some kind of nightmare. She shifted in the seat and said something softly under her breath that he couldn't make out. Daryl reached over and gently patted her thigh. Eve woke up with a start. She sat straight in her chair and grabbed her chest, looking around her wildly as if she was expecting something to be there.
"Hey now. You were dreamin', Eve. Everythins' alright."
Eve's ice blue eyes were wide. Her full pink lips started to quiver before she broke out in tears. "Daryl! It was terrible!" She sobbed.
Daryl looked over to the frail girl who looked so delicate and breakable at the moment. He flashed his lights to indicate that everyone should pull over before he turned onto the side of the road and parked.
The strong man turned to Eve and spoke, "Woah there. Yer' safe, nothin' to cry about, doll."
Eve shook her head, "You don't understand! Before you got me I thought it about what happened all day, dreamt about it every night I was in that fishing shack. My step father boarded me in, Daryl! We were out in the woods, trying to scavenge for food. There was nothing, none of us knew how to hunt. My step father led the way through the trees with my mother behind him and me in the back. I could barely see my own hands! It was so dark and I have such bad eyesight anyways. Walkers came all around us! We hadn't seen them because it was so dark! We just started to run but as soon as I took a step I tripped over a root I hadn't seen and twisted my stupid ankle! They heard me scream and hurried to us faster. My step father was shooting the ones that he could, but there was so many! My mom turned around to help me up, but as soon as she did she got bit! All the sudden there were walkers all over her, ripping off chunks," she paused to take a breath, a disgusted and horrified look in her eyes, "They were eating her, Daryl! They ate my mom! My step father grabbed my hand and pulled me away from them while they were distracted. I didn't want to leave her behind but there was nothing I could do! We ran for so long, it hurt so bad but I just kept going. We ended up by that creek and found that shack, then slept in it for the night in order to keep safe. I was so traumatized, I just passed out! When I woke up it was light out and I was alone. I tried to open the door but it wouldn't budge! He left me with a couple cans of food and a bucket, Daryl! He left me behind! And it's all my fault! I deserved it! I would have killed him too if I had stayed!"
Daryl sat in silence and stared at the sobbing girl in the passenger seat of his parked truck, unsure of what to do.