STRANDED PT 5


The farmhouse loomed just ahead and Lana found herself edging closer to Daryl. They'd done another quick sweep of the woods and after; Lana insisted that she was going to be with her nephew. Daryl tried to stop her at first, but when it was evident that nothing he said would work to keep her at the RV, he quietly stood and held out his hand, pulled her up off of where she'd been sitting, talking to Carol who was lying down in the bed in the RV.

"You two be careful out there. And tell Lori I'll try to pray but I make no promises as to whether they'll even be heard or not." Carol had called out behind them, Lana sighed sadly and shook her head because it was disheartening; seeing a woman with faith as strong as Carol's losing literally everything, her faith included. Daryl sighed too and mumbled in a whisper, "We're gon find her. I'll drag every foot o' these woods if I gotta."

"I know, sw- Daryl, I meant Daryl.." Lana blushed under the cover of darkness, had she really almost called him sweetheart? What she didn't see was the brief seconds light in Daryl's eyes as she almost said it. He coughed and his hand found hers, giving a squeeze. "It ain't a good idea, bein out here at night. But I can't say I blame ya. Reckon if it was Merle or a kid of Merle's I'd wanna be there too. Family's all we got right now."

"It really is." Lana answered, giving Daryl's hand a gentle squeeze of her own. It was the first time in quite some time that Merle's name had come up and Lana could hear the pain in the otherwise tough and hardass redneck's voice. "He's out there, Daryl... Man was a stubborn old ass... Just like someone else I know and care about a lot is."

Again, Daryl couldn't help but smile in the darkness at her words as they edged closer to the farmhouse with only one kerosene lantern in the downstairs window. The door was open, Shane was standing in it, the Mossberg across his shoulders as he talked to another guy, looking solemn and serious, and a shorter and curvy brunette who seemed to be giving them directions, talking with her hands mostly. And then Shane and the other man took off, Shane telling Lana on his way past, "Carl might just be okay... I have to.. I gotta go get some things... Do you need anythin'?"

Daryl spoke up, it didn't go missed by Lana how he pulled her closer and then Daryl surprised her by saying, "First aid kit... And vitamins if ya kin find 'em. Tylenol too... We're runnin real low on a lot of shit we're gon need sooner or later." before Lana could even mention that the few vitamins that Andrea found for her earlier, when they'd first gotten stranded on the highway, were running out.

Shane glared but he saw the already stressed look in Lana's face and thought to himself 'Least somebody's gon take care of 'er if she ain't gonna let me be the one to do it. And Dixon ain't no bad guy... for her sake, for the baby...' and bought himself to reply quietly, "Yeah... Reckon I can handle that. Ya'll might want to git indoors, Rick... Lori ain't no real big comfort for the guy and I gotta go do this."

"You need a hand?" Daryl shocked himself by asking, grumbling in annoyance with himself when he did so, but Shane shook his head, said calmly, "Lana's never been a real big fan of blood and gore. And she's gonna be upset too, 'specially if Carl starts havin another spell... So stayin here's better."

Lana and Daryl walked into the Greene farmhouse and Lana made her way over to Rick with Daryl at her side. "He'll be okay. If I have to, Rick, I'll pitch in with the guy who's doing all this."

Rick looked up and then nodded to the brunette in the doorway as he explained, "It's her and the man, Hershel. They could probably use some help. I'm givin as much blood as I can. They said I can't give no more for a while though..."

Lori sniffled, she'd just come back into the room from sitting on the back porch of the house, crying. Lana stiffly hugged her sister and then said quietly, "It'll be okay."

"The hell it will." Lori grumbled, starting to cry even more. Lana sighed and then said quietly, "Dale said that the rest of 'em are going to try and make their way out here tomorrow. Everybody's worried."

Then she and Daryl walked back out to the back porch where the brunette had vanished to, moments before. The girl was out there, little girl in her arms, mumbling. When the two of them got closer, it seemed as if the other female was praying. She finished and looked up as she said quietly, "God I just hope that kid is alright."

"He will be."

"It all depends on if that man, Shane, if him and the other guy, the jackass that did this in the first place, if they make it back with the medicine and supplies in time. Kid's had 2 seizures, if they get longer and more frequent... I can't, I'm not even going to think about it." Abigail said as she asked, "What's your names?"

"Daryl."

"And what's your wife's name?"

"I'm Lana..." Lana started to correct her but for some strange reason, neither Daryl or Lana bothered correcting the other woman's assumptions. And neither of them mentioned why, either. Maybe it was because they both figured this whole ordeal was temporary and they'd only see this woman a hand full of times or maybe, and the most likely reason, was that it didn't honestly bother either of the two.

There were worse things to be mistaken of, especially right now.

There was more going on around them than everything going on between them and the two were just sort of still trying to figure things out in all honesty. But the fact that neither corrected her, well... It spoke v olumes about everything if anyone else were to stop and think about it. And right then, both of them were wondering why the other hadn't but neither was brave enough to actually ask.


CAVEAT LECTOR:

Another chapter posted and I am seriously beyond amazed at this point because I now have 33 reviews 45 favorites and 64 follows. And a special thanks to everyone who's favorited and followed and left reveiws because they mean the world to me and they keep me encouraged.

This chapter sort of ties into my latest WD story, Endings and Beginnings. A few fluffy things in here, more tension and they're now getting to the farmhouse part of the story... And they're just a teeny bit closer to becoming a thing. ;p