Alright guys! This chapter a little longer than the others and it's also set ahead about three months in the future! I promise there won't be anymore time jumping anymore:) I hope you enjoy, and of course reviews are loved and cherished for all eternity! -D
"Maggie, you and Glenn were made for each other. Why do you think he would ever even look at someone else like that?" I ask her lightly, as I finish cutting her thick brown hair.
Maggie and I had quickly turned to each other for advice on all different levels, from guys to grieving for her sister, Beth. I still don't think Maggie has given up on her yet, from what Daryl had told us a million times, Beth had been kidnapped and for the past two months since Terminus, we had all done our share in finding the girl. From what I know of her, she seems like a head strong young woman, with a new found 'give it hell' attitude, as Daryl lovingly described their adventures for booze. She seems like the person my daughter would have grown up to be, and my heart begins to ache before I can chase the vivid memories of her from my mind, so I tune back in on our conversation,
"I think I'm just crazy, everythin' we've been through and now things have been so quiet.. Just doesn't seem right anymore, ya know?" Maggie inquires, and I nod my head, understanding exactly what she meant.
When things get too 'normal' during these times, it puts us all on edge, like we're just waiting to lose someone else or for another herd of walkers to find us again. I guess that's just how living with the undead nightmare for the past three years has effected us all, we learn to not trust anything, anyone, or anywhere for that matter. Yet, we've been squatting in this abandon country club for coming on three weeks now, all of us simply waiting for the absolute worst to happen.
"I hear ya." I reply, brushing the hair away from her neck and setting the scissors on the side table, "But, you have nothin' to worry about Maggie. And you know I got your back if we need to rough him up a little." I say with a wink before handing her the broken piece of mirror to inspect my work. With an easy laugh, she gives me hug,
"Thank you, my hair was gettin' to be a mess." Maggie says, before her face grows more somber, "I'm glad you found us. I think you've brightened us all up a little, made it a bit easier."
I shake my head, "Oh please, don't make me cry with all that serious talk!" I exclaim, sweeping the cut hair out through the open door that leads to the patio. With that, she walks away chuckling and I'm left sweeping the hair towards the grass now as I hear footsteps behind me.
"You ready to go out again?" Daryl's voice booms from my left and I turn, giving him an innocent enough glare, "Or, would you rather play house-wife all day?", he adds, knowing how to really stomp all over my nerves.
I quickly toss the broom at him, and am able to land a mean punch to his ribs before pulling away from his grip, running into the house to retrieve my trusted rifle.
Daryl had taken the longest, by far, to get close to but after he finally opened up, he proved to be loyal and trustworthy and surprisingly had a huge heart. Everything he does is for the better of the group, and in our search for Beth, he has always been the first one out and the last one back. But, whether he knows it or not, I can see the guilt in his eye on those rare occasions when he truly opens up, which are a far and few between, and I feel the anger and sadness he keeps so close to him because he really feels responsible for her disappearance.
Yet, when he wasn't searching for Beth or food, I had somehow managed to talk him into to teaching to me track like he can. Or at least a close approximation of how good he really is.
"Let's go. We ain't got all day, girl!" I hear him yell up at me as I descend the wooden steps, pushing past him at the bottom. I'm well aware that our relationship is rocky even on our best, most civil, days but pushing his buttons has recently become one of my favorite past times. Only because seeing him get really riled up is quite the show in itself, "Watch it." Daryl calls behind me, a warning in his tone.
With a simple wink in reply, we head out for the wood line, informing Rick and Abe of where exactly our tracking grid would be for the day before continuing on our way, letting the dappled sunlight and cool shade envelope us as we venture deeper into the pines.
"Let's see if you learned anythin' yet," Daryl stops, looking up through the canopy of trees, "when will the sun set?" He asks, putting a hand on his in hip impatiently.
I follow his eyes upward, placing the sun to be past it's noon position in the sky and come up with the current time to be close to three o'clock. Looking down to my digital watch, I'm pleased to find my estimation to be close enough to correct, and then proceed to map out the next few hours in my head,
"It'll set close to eight o'clock, maybe a little after." I reply, obvious question playing in my caramel eyes, looking to him for any correction. When the usual battering doesn't come, I smile brightly, "See, I'm a better student than you thought, Dixon." I say, a little too much cockiness shining through.
"I thank your head's gettin' bigger already. Let's go." Daryl says with a shake of his head before heading eastbound through the trees. I walk beside him for awhile in silence, him watching me ever so often as I search the ground intently,
"There." I say, kneeling down, pulling my hair up into a bun before pointing out the faint track of a, what I believe to be, coyote in the damp ground, "Coyote?" I inquire, looking at him for reassurance and with a nod, he stretches up again and we move to either side of the barely-there trail. Following in tandem for nearly half of a mile before I'm unable to make it out anymore,
"Damnit." I curse to myself, shaking my head and kicking the leaves to find anything to go on. By this time, we're both drenched in sweat from the withering humidity and my anger is quickly soaring higher than the Georgia heat.
"It's still there. Kickin' shit around ain't gonna make it any easier to see." Daryl says, a snide tone to his voice that makes my blood boil in frustration.
"Yeah, well I don't see a damn thing. I'm done." Is my reply as I angrily push him out of my way.
"Hey," Daryl grabs my arm, spinning me to face him, his blue eyes lit with anger now as well, "you wanna learn somethin', or act like a brat that ain't gettin' her way?"
A devilish grin comes to my lips as the sweat drips off my chin, and I clench my fist, turning away from him before quickly feigning, swinging with a good amount of force, that would have really hurt if it had connected with his jaw like planned. Instead, he grabs my hand, twisting it behind my back at a rather odd, almost painful angle, as he forces me into the solid trunk of the nearest tree, the bark scraping my face and chest.
"Daryl, I swear to God, get the hell off me." I say, my voice seething with a burning type of anger. I can feel my whole body shake, until his body is right against mine, his mouth right next my ear, his breath sending shivers throughout my entire body,
"Calm down, and I'll let you go." He says, keeping his mouth there by my ear, still causing chills to rush through me. We stay this way for another moment, and I feel the anger being replaced with something else, something closer to lust. I hadn't felt an emotion so raw as this now in years, and as he let go I slowly turned my body to face his, and lean my head against the bark. We're inches away from each other, and I try to stop my eyes from wandering to his lips, but I just keep thinking what they would feel like against mine. My chest rises and falls quickly, my breathing becoming more erratic the longer I feel his body so close to mine. I notice his eyes looking over me in the same way, that almost animalistic gleam playing in his irises again, and the way his arms have me pinned to the tree, I could scream from this new kind of frustration surging through me.
-Hang on, what the hell is wrong with you?
As soon as the question crosses my mind, I see Jack's face flash through my vision and nearly choke on the guilt that now rose from the pit of my stomach. With my lungs on the verge of stopping altogether, I duck beneath Daryl's arm, grabbing my rifle and practically run the way we came, tears threatening to spill over because how could I feel like this about another man, how could I want someone else the way I had only ever been with Jack? It seemed awful and wrong and I just can't believe the things that had crossed my mind back there with Daryl. Ashamed is the best way to describe how I really feel as I burst through the wood line, avoiding Carl and Judith's stares at all costs.
"Nora, wait up!" I hear Carl's voice behind me, wishing he would've just let me be, "Find anything good?" He asks now, Judith perched on his hip, sucking away at some plastic baby thing.
"Lost the trail, have to see if we can pick it up again tomorrow, I suppose." I reply, trying to smile but all I want to do is go down to the creek and wash away the sweat and the feelings that still linger, as if they know how much I despise them. "Goin' down to the creek for a swim, C." I call back to them, grabbing my bag and a worn out towel before heading in the opposite direction of anywhere near where the blue-eyed hunter would be.
