AN: Hi guys! I'm sorry I haven't updated in a little bit! I've been super busy with prom & all my senior arrangements. But I'm here now! Enjoy the chapter!
"Follow me," Felipe said, motioning us towards the back. Our guns instantly lowered as we took a closer look around the place. As I took a closer look around the place, I saw countless rooms, each labeled with a unique number. "This used to be some kind of medical facility. See?" I said, pointing to what appeared to be a hospital bed with the railings taken off. "I'll be damned." Daryl muttered under his breath, his cautious eyes frantically searching the rooms.
"Glenn!" I hollered, whenever I saw a red baseball cap talking to an old man in a wheelchair. "Hey guys!" he said, smiling. "The hell man! I thought you were getting torn to pieces by some dogs or shit." T-Dog said, exasperating a long sigh. "It's just an asthma attack. I had those when I was younger. All he needed was he inhaler." I let out a laugh. "Glad to see you ain't been eaten by the nastiest man eating bitches I've ever seen." I said sarcastically, looking at G. He let out a small shrug. "I thought you guys were gonna be vicious. The looks of people these days influence a lot." My head titled. "You saying we look dangerous to you?" I asked, incredulously. He paused a moment before saying, "No offense, but you and your husband look a little-" He stopped, either trying to think of a word or try to not offend us. "Different?" I said. He nodded. "We'll go with different."
"Alright, well tell us about this place." I said, sitting down in an empty chair. "It's pitiful." G began. Daryl instantly moved in behind me, placing his hands on the back of the chair. "It was a nursing home before all this." I felt Daryl's hand move to my right shoulder, lightly gripping it. I placed it over top and lowered my head. "So you use to work here or something?" I asked, looking back up. He paused, once again before saying, "I was a janitor here." All of us nodded our head. "So, you were on duty when it hit or what happened?" Rick asked, leaning on a door frame. "I wasn't. I was at home and I was out this way, and I came through here, and people just left their 'loved' ones here. Ain't so sure they were loved, if you get my drift." We all nodded in silence.
"So now, I run this place. Me and Felipe here, go on runs, get needed things. Be mean to people if we need to you know? I honestly, didn't think you were gonna come in here locked and loaded, we never were going to harm you. Honestly." He said, rubbing his hands together. We all were silent for a moment. "Here," Rick said, holding out a pistol. "No, no. You need those." G said, shaking his hands. "Take them. I know you're going to need them to defend what you have here. This is a great thing. Take them." After a sorting of weapons, we gave them at least a third. It was honestly a little much, but at least we were being gracious. "I'm sorry we can't stay and help, but we've got to get back to our camp." G nodded his head. "That's understandable. We can't thank you enough."
As soon as the doors closed, we took off towards the van. "Sun's gonna be down soon," I said, shifting my eyes across the sky. "Which means we'll need to get back soon." Daryl finished for me. Rick nodded and we quickly began jogging to keep up with him. "Son of a bitch!" I said, as all of us looked around where the van was supposed to be. "I know that I parked it here. Who would take a van?" Glenn said, shaken. "Merle. He thinks that we left him, so he's fending for himself now." Daryl said, slamming a rock down that he'd picked up. "Let's get to running," I said, as Daryl and I both started to take off.
We crested the final hill to camp whenever I heard an ear piercing scream let out. Our paces instantly picked up, as we ran towards camp. The sun was already down, so our visuals were incredibly decreased, but anyone could see the massive amount of walkers that were streaming into the camp. I turned a hard left, while Daryl took a right trying to expand the ground so we could kill as many as possible. People were running all over camp, weapons flying killing any walker in the way. Time seemed to slow as I pulled the trigger on my crossbow until I had none left. I pulled my hunting knife out of its sheath, and impaled a walker in the skull, one by one until I heard nothing. No screams, no gunshots. Just heavy breathing. My eyes scanned the crowd instantly, finding Daryl standing on the opposite side of the camp. I let out a breath as my feet immediately took me to him. My hands instantly wrapped around his neck, as his free arm wrapped around my waist, pulling me close. "Thank God you're safe." He nuzzled his face into my hair as I felt him kiss it. Public affection wasn't our thing, but this time it was needed.
"Amy!" I heard Andrea wail out. I nuzzled further into Daryl, not turning around to see the sad sight. "Please, Amy! No, no, no." She continued to wail out. "Anyone else?" I mumbled. I felt him shake no as I nodded. "Thank god." I let go of him unwillingly and took a look around camp, skipping over Andrea. There was a countless number of walkers lying on the ground, each one with a different wound to it. Everyone was still on high alert as Glenn, Daryl, and I walked around the perimeter of camp two times, making sure we were fortified.
After most had went to bed with the intentions to sleep, I started making my way to our tent. "We should try and get some sleep." I said, slumping my shoulders. Daryl nodded, and picked at his fingernails. "Let's go Mels." I slowly walked towards the tent, stopping briefly to see about Andrea. She was still sitting on the ground with Amy placed on her legs. She'd stopped crying, and was just staring at her face now whispering things I couldn't hear. "Come on," Daryl said, placing a hand on my small of my back and lightly pushed me towards the tent. "You're dead on your feet."
I placed one foot in front of the other, slowly making my way inside the tent. I kicked my boots off and placed them right by the sleeping mattress in the tent. I sat down and took off my socks, looking at my feet. I picked a piece of sock fuzz off whenever I felt Daryl lay down beside me. "C'mon." He said, stretching out his arms. I instantly tucked myself into him and let out a long breath. "I don't think anyone is gonna get much sleep tonight sweetheart." I mumbled into him. I felt him nod his head. "Everyone's gonna be on high alert. You get some sleep. I fall asleep after you, remember?" he said. I let out a small chuckle. "Ever since we've been married you've done that." I traced my fingertips up and down his chest. "That's the way it's supposed to be," he said, nuzzling his face into my hair and kissing it. "I need a bath."
"We both do. We'll go out early tomorrow and get one." He said, letting out a slight yawn. "Sounds like a plan," I said, somehow managing to snuggle further into Daryl. "Go to sleep." I shook my head. "I love you." I said, yawning. "Love you too."
–
"Mels, hon, wake up." My eyes slowly drifted open, still groggy. "What is it Dar?" I asked, sitting up and grabbing my socks instinctively. "Baths, remember?" I nodded my head, remembering our conversation from last night. I threw on my shoes and slowly undid the zipper, peeking my head out. My eyes ventured to the RV seeing Shane pacing on top. Shane's eyes instantly picked up on our movements as I showed him our extra clothes and pointed to the smaller quarry. He nodded and mouthed, 'hurry'. Daryl clambered out of the tent, closing the flap. "Let's go," I whispered. After walking a bit, we came up on the quarry. "You or me first?" He asked. "You go ahead," I said, playing with an arrow. "Okay." he gave me a swift kiss on the cheek before instantly stripping down.
"Stare much?" I heard him call out after he cleaned up and down his arms for a bit. "You're my husband, I can do that from time to time. I think it was in the contract or something." I let out a small smile. "Some shit like that," he said, letting out a small laugh. Our laughter decreased whenever he began to scrub his back. "They're not all that bad." He said. "Daryl," I began. "Melanie, don't." I instantly stopped. He never called me Melanie unless it was serious or we were in danger. "Fine. You knew what I was going to say anyways Daryl." I heard him let out a sigh as I scanned the perimeter once more. "Yes, you were gonna say that yours are worse, and to be told they are, but we've moved on from that. That ain't our life anymore."
My eyes returned back to his muscled form coming back to me. "Ain't our fault we had pricks for fathers." My eyes immediately cast downwards, looking at the dirt stained boots. "But look where we are now." I looked up and let out a small smile, "Can't thank you enough for getting me out of that hell hole." He lightly pressed his lips to my head. "I know, now go take a bath." I side stepped him and immediately began taking off my clothes. My fingers lingered on the hemline of my pants before I began pulling them down. I absolutely hated the long scar that ran from my hipbone to my mid thigh.i shuddered at the memory and instantly dived into the water. I cleaned myself as fast as I could, running the soap quickly over unwanted scars.
"Almost finished," I said, smiling. I met Daryl's eyes. "Good. We need to talk about Merle." My smile slowly faded back. I walked out of the water and let myself air dry a second before putting on my new clothes. "We both know that nothing can kill Merle but Merle. He's out there somewhere, you know that. We just gotta find him." I instantly rubbed my hands up and down his arms, comforting him. "Ain't nothin' gonna kill Merle but Merle." he said, taking my hand in his. "Let's head back to camp." Our quiet footsteps sent us back to camp in a somber mood. "What do you think Andrea is gonna do about Amy?" Daryl's lips pursed for a second before saying, "Hell, I don't know. She's gonna have to make a decision quick." I nodded my head. "It was still her baby sister though." He just let out a sigh. I kept quiet, and let him mull over our thoughts as we walked into camp.
"We need to make sure all these walkers are dead." I said after a large amount of the group had woken up and walked out. "Yeah, we do." Rick said, rubbing his head. I picked up a pick ax and handed Daryl him one as we began making our way around the campsite, stabbing each one numerous times, making sure there was no way in hell it was coming back. I wiped the sweat off my head with the back of my hand and took a breath. I leaned the ax on the ground and placed my weight against it. I looked around the group to notice the figures similar to mine, slouched over breathing heavily. I saw Daryl and Rick conversing with Shane, but thankfully it didn't look to heated. My eyes turned to Andrea still holding onto Amy. Sooner or later something was going to have to be done, but now wasn't the time. When it would happen, it'd happen.
"Jim's bit!" I heard Jaqui holler. I instantly turned to the sound of my husband's angry shouts through the air. My feet instantly took me across the way but instantly stopped whenever Rick cocked his gun to his head. Makes that twice now. "We don't kill the living." Daryl's hard country accent came shining through. "Funny, considering you just put a gun to his head," I spouted off. Rick's eyes came upon mine instantly and relaxed a bit before putting the safety back on. "What happened to zero tolerance for walkers?" Daryl spat back at Rick. "He's right, and I'm not only agreeing cause I'm his wife, but he has a major point with this." I said, leaning back onto my ax. Dale spoke up. "I agree too. Zero tolerance for walkers." Daryl and I both shared a look before giving Dale a nod.
I turned back to my husband and stared at his eyes for a minute. I started to walk forwards whenever I heard a growling noise. My eyes searched the perimeters and saw Amy's body starting to move. My hands reached for the knife on my thigh in case she couldn't do it. I saw her hand slowly move to her gun as she whispered something in her ear. The gunshot rang throughout the camp as Andrea's sobs quieted once more and ceased. She got up and knocked some dirt off her pants and came up to Rick and Shane, slowly. "I'm telling you that the CDC is the way to go." Rick spoke, trying his hardest to make Shane understand. "No, Fort Benning would have weapons, food, ammo, and tons of things that the CDC wouldn't have." Daryl and I slowly made our way to the fire pit and sat down for a while. "Don't matter to us where we go if you're asking which one," I said as soon as I heard Shane's footsteps. "Don't misconstrue our words either." He nodded and took back off to Shane.
"Melanie?" I heard Sophia call out. "Yes hon?" I asked, turning around, speaking softly. I still couldn't get the imagine of Ed's eaten face and body out of my head. Stupid asshole deserved it, but they still lost someone. "I don't want to go to the funeral burying thing. Can I stay with you and Mr. Dixon?" She said looking down, peering at her shoelaces. "Come here hon," I said, opening my arms. She instantly climbed in and went to sleep as soon as she got comfortable. "You staying here?" I asked speaking incredibly low. "Of course." Daryl scooted his chair closer to mine. I laid my head on his shoulder and took in a breath. "We don't do funerals anyways." I felt Daryl's arm drape over the back of my chair and the next thing I knew, I was in a deep sleep.
I felt a weight be lifted off me. My eyes popped open to see Carol taking a still sleeping Sophia off my lap. Daryl nowhere to be found. "He's over by his truck. We decided we're going to the CDC instead of Fort Benning. I can't thank you enough for taking Sophia from me while we- you know." I shook my head. "Thank you Carol. If she ever needs some time tell her to come to me. Daryl and I don't mind. I'm sorry for your loss." She nodded her head before walking back over to her, well little was left, tent. I stretched and folded up our chairs and headed back towards our truck. It's technically Merle's along with the bike, but I guess it was ours now. "Hey," I quietly said, kicking up dust with my boots. "Going to the CDC sound fine to you?" I nodded, finally looking up. "Not too excited about going back in to Atlanta though." I laid the tailgate down and hopped on the bed. "Me either Mels. It was easy last time, but I don't feel this time's gon be easy." I nodded and swung my feet.
"Rick said we're about to leave," Daryl said. "Well what are we waiting for?" I said, hopping off and slamming the tailgate shut. I walked over to the passenger side and hopped in, taking off my shoes and placing my feet on the dash. Daryl quickly climbed in and started the truck up, letting it idle for a minute. "I really don't like this Mels." He said, looking over at me. "I know you don't, but we'll get through this. Nothing can come between you and I, remember?" I said, taking my hand in his and squeezing it a second before letting go. "You and I," he said, placing his hand on the gearshift, pulling it to first gear. "Let's get the hell outta here." I said, rolling my window down, flinging my hand out of it.
"Georgia's beautiful," I said after we had driven for a few minutes. I saw him nod out the corner of my eye. "Definitely my favorite state." Daryl let out a little chuckle before shifting gears again. "You've only ever been in Georgia, Mels. Hard to decide what's your favorite one dontcha think?" I shook my head. "You ain't left here either!" I laughed. "But I know one thing's for sure. It's home." Daryl was silent a moment before smiling, "I wonder what our house looks like?" I uncertainly shook my head. "Hell, there ain't no telling, probably still the same way it was when I ran out of there." He nodded and shifted down gears. "It looks like they're slowing up a bit." I said, as we turned around a curve. "Don't know why they would be. They don't wanna be late for this CDC shit. I mean, hell, come on people, we're on a time schedule." I nodded. "They still keep on slowing," he said, looking down at the speedometer. Suddenly the RV veered over to the side of the road. "What the hell." I said, pulling on my boots.
Daryl shut the truck off as I hopped out, pulling my crossbow out, just in case. "You coming or staying?" I asked, letting out a slight yawn. "I'll come." Both of us held our weapons slightly ready, waiting for anything that came our way. "What happened?" I asked, nearing the RV. "Radiator hose blew out," Dale said, fanning some smoke out of the way. "You got any duck tape? That'll fix it." I said, moving closer. "That's all its made out of now," Glenn said. "I told y'all you needed the one off the moving van Rick brought in," T-Dog said. We all let out a collective sigh. I was about to bring up another improvisation whenever Jaqui came sprinting out of the RV. "Y'all it's Jim." My face scrunched. "I don't think he can take much anymore. Each bump we hit, he cries out." I brought my free hand to my face and rubbed it. "I'm going to the bathroom." I told Daryl as I touched his arm. He nodded before walking off to where Shane and Rick were standing now.
I walked over to the red Chevy that I knew Sophia and Carol were in. "Hey," I said leaning on the door, placing my hands where the window was rolled down. "I'm going to the bathroom, either one of you two have to go?" Sophia looked at her mom for a second before saying, "Yeah." Both of them got out of the car and wiped their pants. "Let's go," I said taking them into the trees. My crossbow was ready, leaning on my right shoulder, arrow ready to fly. I quickly let Carol and Sophia take care of their business. Sophia finished first and came practically running over to me, wrapping herself around me. "You okay?" I asked. She nodded slowly, whispering "I just don't want to be alone." Carol came slowly, still somewhat distraught over Ed. "I'll watch for you," she said, leaning Sophia against a tree. "Take my knife," I said pulling it out and handing it to Sophia. "Just in case. Mom has one too."
I took off a little ways and quickly did my business. "Melanie!" I heard Sophia call out. My feet quickly carried me back to see Sophia looking at Carol who was frozen in spot as a walker slowly approached her. Before anything was said, I pulled the trigger, letting an bolt fly through the air, impaling the walker in the head. Carol let out a shaky breath as she grabbed Sophia instantly. "Let's move," I said, grabbing the bolt out of the walker, and pulling Carol's arm. We quickly made our way to the vehicle where they got in instantly. "Ain't gonna let anything get you," I said, stroking Sophia's hair. Carol muttered a thank you as I walked back over to Daryl. "Why you breathing like that?" he said, placing his hand on my back. "Was peeing and a walker tried to get Carol. Just one though. I made sure." He nodded before squeezing me once and letting go. "We're dropping off Jim here," he said, chewing on his bottom lip.
I turned to face him. "His choice or Shane's?" I asked, jutting my head to Shane. "His. He doesn't want to be a burden. They're fixing to move him out of the RV, gonna say goodbyes and then we're leaving." I nodded once more. "Sounds like a plan." I leaned up against a tree off the side of the road as Daryl stood closer to the RV. T-Dog and Rick slowly came out carrying Jim, slowly. They sat him down at the base of tree, wiping their hands on their pants. I slowly carried myself to Daryl as I draped my hand on his stomach. Everyone had said their goodbyes, and now it was our turn. Daryl slowly walked up to him and said, "Sorry" before walking off. "Sorry about him. I wish you the best, Jim. Go see your family." He nodded and closed his eyes.
I quickly ran back to our truck and hopped in, placing my bow on the floorboard. "Let's go," I said, closing my eyes.
"Mels," I heard. I let out a soft grunt, not wanting to wake up. "Melanie Rose Dixon, you get your ass up now or you'll regret it." My eyes instantly popped open and said, "Daryl James Dixon, don't you even. What's going on?" His eyes were smiling as he laughed at my choice of words. "We're here Mels," he said. I quickly picked up my bow. "This is all or nothing, Mels. I want you by me always." I let out a sigh, "I'm always beside you." He leaned over and gave me a kiss before hopping out of the truck. As soon as we got out, we were met instantly with the smell of decay. My voice instantly left and my stomach bottomed out. Now I know what Daryl meant. This wasn't good. There were bodies upon bodies all scattered around us. I hesitantly put one foot in front of the other, trying not to step on anything. I readjusted my backpack whenever I heard something.
I turned around and let out, "Walkers!" Everyone instantly went on high alert. Weapons were flying left and right, popping off rounds. After most of the walkers were down, I heard Rick screaming at the doors. "You're killing us! You're KILLING us!" I heard him shout as I stabbed another walker in the head. "Rick, we have to go!" I hollered out, trying to make him hear me. "PLEASE!" I hollered as Daryl grabbed my arm, pulling me closer to him. "You ain't leaving my sight! Come on, let's get back to the truck!" Just as soon as we started heading back a bright white light overtook us, causing us to stop completely.
My eyes turned to Daryl as he muttered, "What the hell is this?"