*Everyone's POV*
The remainder of the group sat around the living room of the Greene's home. Everyone was silent; heads hung low, tension laid thick in the air.
"I'm going after them." Andrea said suddenly, breaking the silence and standing up.
"Don't." Lori said from her seat across the room. "If Randall comes back, we'll need you."
Just then the front door creaked open and Glenn and Daryl walked in.
"Rick and Shane ain't back?" Daryl asked as he scanned the room.
"No." Julian said.
"We heard a shot." Daryl said.
"Maybe they found Randall." Lori suggested.
"We found him." Daryl said.
"Is he back in the shed?" Patricia asked.
"He's a walker." Daryl said.
"Did you find the walker that bit him?" Herschel asked.
"The weird thing is, he wasn't bit." Glenn explained.
"His neck was broke." Daryl said.
"So, he fought back?" Patricia said.
"The thing is, Shane and Randall's tracks were right on top of each other." Daryl said. "Shane ain't no tracker. He didn't come up behind him. They were together."
Lori stood up and crossed the room to Daryl. "Will you please-"
Daryl held up his hand to stop her. "Where's River?"
Everyone looked around at each other, waiting for someone to answer.
"I thought she was upstairs with Maggie." Greyson said.
"No." Maggie said, shaking her head. "Last time I saw her she was in the parlor."
"So, no one knows where she is?!" Daryl yelled, looking around at everyone accusingly.
"God dammit!" He yelled as he stormed towards the front door and pushed it open with more force than necessary.
*River's POV*
I walked along the field back towards the house with Rick and Carl. I hung behind them, letting them have their space. I knew the severity of what had just happened was looming over the pair. I couldn't imagine what Rick must be feeling right now, and all the questions running through Carl's young mind. I wrapped my arms tightly around my chest as the cold pierced me to the bone. I hadn't had a chance to change out of my shorts; in the South, the weather was unpredictable when fall neared. The day could be warm and sunny, but as the sun set, it could turn into a frigid cold, as if it were skipping fall completely and jumping straight into winter.
"What happened? Were you attacked? I mean, I heard a gunshot." Carl asked his father. "I didn't see any walkers nearby. How did Shane die?"
Rick stopped in his tracks, looking over at his son, debating how to tell him what had just happened between him and his former friend. I could see the dilemma behind his eyes. I did not envy him right now.
I heard an odd noise from behind me. As I turned around, my heart stopped.
"Oh, fuck. Rick!" I said.
Rick turned and saw what I was seeing. A herd of walkers were crossing the field. There had to be a hundred of them, easily. My heart began to race with panic. The gunshots must've drawn them here.
Rick grabbed the sleeve of my sweater and with his other, Carl's shoulder. "Go! Go! Go!" He said quietly.
We ran as fast and as silently as we could. We paused by a tree, crouching down, assessing our situation. They were coming from every which way now. I tried to calm myself by taking deep long breaths. I pulled out my gun, checking the magazine, and getting it ready. I quickly did the same with Daryl's gun, but turned the safety back on and placed it back in my shorts, opting to use my own first. I felt more comfortable with it, and with the panic I was in, handling an unfamiliar gun right now wasn't ideal.
"We got to get to the house. Warn the others." Carl said.
"We'll never make it through that. The barn is closer." Rick said. "Stay close."
He looked at both of us before he stood back up straight and we took off through the sea of walkers, dodging the ones that drew near.
We darted into the barn, just as a dozen walkers neared. Carl and I shut the doors and leaned against them as Rick grabbed a metal bar and shoved it through the handles to try to secure it. But it was a temporary solution. With as many walkers as there were, the door would break down in no time.
I watched Rick as he scanned the barn, looking for any sort of plan. I saw his eyes fall on the large containers of gasoline and I immediately knew what he was thinking.
I followed him over and grabbed one, handing it back to Carl and picked up one for myself. We quickly swept across the barn floor, dumping gasoline onto the hay that littered it.
"Climb!" Rick said, pointing to the ladder.
"What about you?" Carl asked.
Rick handed the boy a lighter. "I'll be right up. Drop it when I say. We'll stop some of them from reaching the house and give us a chance."
"No." I said, shaking my head.
"We don't-"
"You have a kid and one on the way. Get up there with him. I'll do it." I said.
"There's no way." Rick said, shaking his head.
"Now!" I yelled. "Just go!"
He put his hand on my shoulder. "If something happens to you, you know Daryl will kill me."
I smirked. "Nothin' is goin' to happen. Now, climb!"
I ran towards the doors as they made their way up the ladder. I banged on the door, yelling at the top of my lungs to draw as many near as possible. I pulled the metal bar out of the handles and yanked the doors open. There were at least thirty of them that started in towards me, pushing against each other, trying desperately to get at me. I started backing away immediately as fast as I could.
"C'mon!" I yelled, coaxing as many of them to come into the barn as far as possible. "Over here!"
I rushed over and climbed up a few steps of the ladder. "C'mon!"
"Now, Carl!" Rick shouted as I started back up the ladder with haste. I barely got out of their reach, feeling a hand grab my boot, but I jerked away fast enough.
I got to the top as the lighter hit the ground and the flames consumed the barn floor and the mass of walkers. I crinkled my nose up as the smell of burning decayed flesh began to fill my senses. Though the panic of being surrounded by walkers was subsided, now the panic was replaced by the fact we were in the loft of a barn that was on fire.
I heard in the distance the familiar rumbling of Daryl's motorcycle. I ran to the opening that led to the ledge to look out. I saw the cars heading towards us. Maybe they could see the fire.
"They're comin'." I said to Rick.
A chorus of gunshots filled the air as I saw Glenn, Andrea, Taylor and Julian hanging out of different cars, firing shots at walkers. I watched as one by one, with each gunshot, walkers hitting the ground.
To my relief, I saw Daryl's motorcycle and the RV heading our way.
"They're pullin' the RV over here!" I shouted.
We dashed out on the landing as we saw it approaching. Daryl darted off back to help the others. As the RV pulled up, I saw Greyson in the driver seat.
"C'mon, baby girl!" He yelled.
Rick jumped from the landing onto the roof beside it and extended his hand. I helped Carl over to him then leapt over myself. We rushed across the wooden roof and onto the top of the RV that was level with it. Just as Rick was about to help me down the ladder, I heard the door of the RV shove open with force and Greyson scream.
"NO! NO!" I screamed at the top of my lungs.
I tried to push past Rick and make it to the hatch to get into the RV to help my brother but Rick grabbed me around the waist.
"There's nothing you can do." He said.
I sobbed and screamed my brother's name. "I have to help him!"
"There's nothing you can do." He repeated again, pity in his voice. "I'm sorry."
My grief was instantly replaced with anger. I shoved Rick off of me, climbed down a few steps of the ladder and jumped the rest of the way down. As I landed I turned and started firing off rounds into the walker's heads. With each shot came a choked sob. My vision was blurring from my tears. My gun finally only clicked when I tried to shoot again; sobbing still, I pulled out Daryl's gun and stuffed my empty one in its place.
As Rick's feet hit the ground, he grabbed my arm and pulled me away from the RV. We sprinted through the walker's once more, weaving through them, shooting them down when needed, and trying desperately to make it towards the house. In my grief and anger, I kept shooting, as if it would calm me somehow or another. I couldn't stop crying, but I couldn't slow down. As we had passed the RV, I could still hear my brother's screams. If I lived to see the morning, I knew that would haunt me for the rest of my life; just like what happened with my sister, Cora, and my boyfriend, Nick.
Suddenly, a few walkers came out of nowhere, cutting me off. Rick and Carl didn't notice and kept running ahead of me. I aimed my gun, but when I pulled the trigger, nothing happened. I looked at the gun in disbelief. I was out of ammo. And I didn't have my bow and arrows with me. I pulled out my knife and stabbed the closest walker in the head.
Jerking it back out of its skull, I knew I was about to die. There were too many and I was surrounded. There was no way a knife was going to get me out of this alive.
Ever since the start of the apocalypse, I'd mentally prepared myself for death. I knew how my life would end… at the hands, or jaw, of a walker, the tip of a blade or staring down the barrel of a gun. I was okay with it. I had accepted it. It was inevitable.
But as I stabbed each walker in the head, blood splattering all over my face and front of my shirt from my haste, mixing with the fresh tears that ran down my cheeks, I suddenly wasn't okay with it. But I wasn't fighting for my life. I was fighting for someone.
Because in that moment, the moment I realized this was the end, the only thing that went through my mind was one man. Daryl.
As if some higher power heard my thoughts, I heard the rumble of his motorcycle. I looked around wildly, heart racing a mile a minute, as I jerked my knife from the skull of a walker once more. I spotted him, maybe twenty yards away.
As the walkers inched closer, I took a moment to throw my hands in the air. "DARYL!" I shouted as loud as I possibly could. "OVER HERE!"
I saw him turn his head and lock eyes on my location. He jerked the motorcycle and gunned it in my direction.
I had to look away and start stabbing walkers once again. As he neared, I heard gunshots and saw walkers around me dropping.
"C'mon!" He yelled as he pulled up near me. "Let's go!"
He continued to shoot down approaching walkers as I quickly put my knife back in its stealth and hopped on. As soon as I wrapped my arms around his middle, he took off.
"Get the gun in my saddle bag!" He yelled. "I grabbed an extra for ya!"
Normally I would've smiled knowing he thought of me. But I had no time to. I reached behind me and opened the saddle bag and grabbed the gun. We shot down any walkers near us as we darted through them. In the distance, we saw the blue pickup truck leaving the farm.
"We have to go!" I said as I shot down another walker.
He nodded and took off across the yard as I saw the silver SUV shoot past a dozen or more of walkers and follow the blue pickup out.
As we drove off of the farm, I took one last look behind me as the sky was fading from dark to light. It was the last time I'd lay eyes on the Greene's farm. The last place I'd seen my brother alive…
A while later, as we were headed back towards the highway where the group had broke down before finding Herschel's farm, I spotted the silver SUV behind us.
"Look!" I said.
He glanced in the rear view mirror and nodded.
As we pulled up to the spot on the highway where Daryl said they'd left supplies for Sophia when they were searching for her, we spotted Rick, Herschel and Carl. I prayed my brothers and Glenn were in the SUV. I internally said thanks that everyone had thought to come here, since we'd fooled ourselves into thinking we were safe on the farm and had never even discussed a place to meet up. When we parked, I watched as a red head of hair appeared from the back of the SUV.
I jumped off the motorcycle and ran over. Taylor picked me up and whirled me around.
"Oh, thank goodness!" I sobbed.
"Where's Greyson?" Taylor asked.
I hung my head as tears cascaded down my cheeks. I shook my head.
Taylor began to sob as he pulled me into a hug.
Just as I was about to ask where Julian was, I heard the familiar rumble.
"Oh, thank God!" I yelled rushing over as my black Impala pulled up.
I ran up and yanked the driver door open before he even had a chance, Taylor right behind me.
"I'm so glad you're okay! And you saved Baby!" I said, wrapping him in a tight hug.
We all embraced in a group hug before walking over to Daryl who stood beside his bike.
Maggie held onto Glenn on one side, Beth on the other, wrapped in her father's arms near the motorcycle.
"How'd you find everyone?" Rick asked Daryl.
"Saw this guy's headlights zigzagging all over the road a while back; figured he had to be Asian drivin' like that." Daryl said.
"Oh, good one," Glenn scoffed.
"Where's Greyson?" Julian asked.
I looked to Taylor before walking off. I couldn't say it again.
I walked up to Glenn and Maggie and embraced them in a tight hug. As I started to walk back over to my brothers and Daryl, I saw Taylor rush over to Beth, pulling her into a tight hug. I widened my eyes; this was the first time he'd shown any affection towards Beth in front of Herschel and I half expected him to knock Taylor out. But he didn't, he wore a small smile on his face as he watched both Glenn and Taylor embracing his daughters.
"Where's the rest of us?" Daryl asked as I walked back over to him and Julian.
Julian grabbed me and wrapped me in his arms tight, tears streaming down his face.
"I'm so sorry you had to be there. To hear it," He said silently in my ear. "I can't believe he's gone. What am I gonna do without him?"
"You live your life. We all do. He'd want us to go on, not give up. He'll always be with us." I said as I felt his tears soaking the side of my face. He pulled away and smiled warily at me before planting a kiss on my forehead.
"How is it you're the baby and yet you're the wisest." Julian said, smirking slightly.
I scoffed and shook my head.
"This is all that's shown up so far." Rick said answering Daryl.
"Shane?" Lori asked.
I glanced over at Rick, who stared back at me for a moment before shaking his head. Lori gasped lightly and placed her hand over her mouth.
"Andrea?" Glenn asked.
"She saved me then I lost her." Carol said.
"We saw her go down." T-Dog said.
"Greyson?" Beth asked.
I shook my head, a tear trailing down my cheek. I felt an arm wrap around me to try to comfort me. But the arm had come from my left side, not the right, where my brother stood. I glanced over at Daryl for a moment before turning to look at Beth.
"He died when he was rescuing me, Rick and Carl from the barn." I said my voice slightly shaky.
"Patricia?" Herschel asked.
"They got her too; took her right from me." Beth said as she began to cry.
Taylor pulled her close to him and stroked her hair.
"Where do we go now?" Lori asked.
"I say we head east." T-Dog said.
"Stay off the main roads." Daryl said, letting go of me. He walked over to his bike and got his crossbow. "Bigger the roads, more assholes like this one. I got 'im."
"I have an idea." I said as the kathunk of Daryl's crossbow shot through the air.
All eyes immediately turned to me.
"Our parent's house," I said.
"Yeah," Taylor said in agreement. "It's in a gated community. It's got a gate around it too. There's lots of space, running water…"
"Why didn't y'all stay there?" T-Dog asked.
"We were in the city when the outbreak happened. We made it there and scavenged some weapons and food, but we couldn't bring ourselves to stay. We'd watched our sister get eaten alive, we couldn't find our brothers… we couldn't handle it." I said. "Once we used up all the food, we left."
"Greyson and I had gotten there after they'd already pillaged the house. We knew it was them, they were the only other ones who knew the combination to dad's safe and it had been opened, not broken into. Cora couldn't even remember her own phone number half the time, let alone a combination." Julian said. "We left a note for them in case they came back to let them know we were alive. We didn't stay because we had to go find food and weapons. That's what we were doin' when her and Daryl found us in the woods."
"Where is it?" Rick asked.
"About twenty miles east of here," Julian said. "Not far at all."
"Alright," Rick nodded. "It's worth looking into."
We piled up into the cars again. I got on the back of Daryl's bike and we took off, leading the way. The sun was beginning to set as the air began to cool off as it whipped my hair around. I held on tight to Daryl as we sped along. We'd been up all night and I felt my eyes begin to get heavy. I laid my head against his back and watched the scenery whiz by us.
We'd left a few cars behind, to keep from having so many vehicles to keep gas in. Julian, Taylor, Beth, Maggie and Glenn piled into my Impala, telling them I refused to leave my car behind. Rick, Lori, Herschel, Carl and T-Dog had gotten into the Hyundai and of course, I'd hopped on the back of Daryl's motorcycle.
After a while, I looked back suddenly when I heard a car honk. Daryl pulled over to the side of the road. He climbed off before offering me his hand to help me off the bike as well.
"What's goin' on?" He asked as Rick approached us. "You out?"
"Runnin' on fumes." Rick said.
"We can't stay here." Lori said.
"We'll make a run for gas in the morning." Rick replied, not looking or acknowledging his wife.
"And spend the night here?" Carol asked.
"I'm freezing." Carl said.
"We'll build a fire." Lori told the boy, rubbing his arms.
"River and I will go get some firewood." Daryl said.
"We can't just sit here with our asses hangin' out." Maggie said.
"Watch your mouth. Everyone stop panicking and listen to Rick." Herschel said.
"Alright, we set up a perimeter. In the morning we'll find some gas and some supplies. We'll keep pushing on." Rick said.
"Glenn and I could make a run right now." Maggie suggested.
"No." Rick said, shaking his head. "We're not splitting up. What if you got stranded?"
"Rick, look around. We're stranded now." Glenn pointed out.
"Look, I know it looks bad. We've been through hell and worse, but at least we found each other." Rick said. "I wasn't sure, I really wasn't. But we're together. We keep it that way. We'll find shelter somewhere. There's gotta be a place. It may be River's parent's house. It may not. We'll make camp tonight over there." He pointed to his right where there were a couple brick walls and a tiny waterfall. "Get on the road at the break of day."
"What if walkers come through here or a group like Randall's?" Beth asked.
"You know, I found Randall, right? He'd turned but he wasn't bit." Daryl said.
"How is that possible?" Beth asked.
"What the hell happened?" Taylor asked.
Rick once again glanced at me, as if I was gonna burst and spill my guts to everyone.
"Shane killed Randall just like he always wanted to." Daryl said.
"And then the herd got him?" Lori asked.
Rick still had his eyes locked on me. I didn't break eye contact; I only hoped my eyes could get the message I wanted him to know across. I wanted him to know I wouldn't say a word to anyone. This was his business. Not mine. I didn't want in it.
"We're all infected." Rick finally said.
I looked at him curiously.
"What?" Daryl said.
"At the CDC, Jenner told me." Rick explained. "Whatever it is, we all carry it."
Daryl had told me about how before they'd broke down on the highway, where they lost Sophia and found the Greene's farm, that they had went to the CDC searching for shelter and answers, only to find neither. But apparently, they did find out some information.
"And you never said anything?" Carol asked.
"Would it have made a difference?" Rick asked.
"You knew this whole time?" Glenn said.
"I wasn't for sure. You saw how crazy that son of a-"
"That's not your call!" Glenn snapped. "When I found out about the walkers in the barn, I told for the good of everyone! Despite a promise I made!" He gestured towards Maggie.
"I thought it was best for everyone." Rick said, defending his actions.
I felt Daryl's hand on my back as I shifted nervously. Rick looked down before he turned and walked away. I watched as Lori passed us, going after her husband.
"C'mon." Daryl said. "Let's go get some firewood."
"We'll go on this side of the road and gather some too." Taylor said, heading in the opposite direction with Julian.
"Hey." Daryl said suddenly just shortly after we entered the woods. "Stop for a sec."
He pulled his red bandana out of his back pocket and grabbed a water bottle from his back pack and poured some over it.
"Let's clean ya up." He said.
He stepped close to me and started to gently rub the wet cloth over my face, wiping the blood and dirt away. I felt myself breathing slightly ragged and a weird feeling pass through me once he got so close to me. It was like there was electricity flowing through my body and the air surrounding us. I wondered if he felt it too. I watched his facial features since he was so close to my face; his ice blue eyes held tenderness and concentration and he bit his bottom lip slightly as he worked.
As he reached my chin, I reached up and grabbed his wrist to stop him. He looked at me curiously. And before he could ask me what I was doing, I made my move before I lost my courage.
I quickly leaned up on my tip toes and locked my lips onto his. I felt him tense up for a moment before finally relaxing into my kiss. He slowly and timidly ran his hand to the back of my head and wound his fingers in my hair. I deepened the kiss and he didn't resist it. Our tongues explored each other's mouths feverishly. I hadn't realized how badly I had wanted this until I felt his lips against mine; they seemed to fit perfectly. It felt so good, so right… like it was my first kiss and the last.
As I pulled away, I was greeted once again by his beautiful blue eyes.
"I really like you, Daryl Dixon." I said.
"I like ya too, River Holden." He said.
"Y'know… back at the farm, when I was surrounded… I was prepared to die. I've accepted it for a long time that my time could be up any minute. But when I realized my gun was out of ammo, and that it was probably the end for me, I suddenly wasn't okay with it. And it wasn't because I was scared. It wasn't because I feared dying, or felt sorry for myself. It was because I couldn't stop thinking about you." I said, looking down at my feet. "I had to get that off my chest. I don't want to die without you knowing how much I like you and how much you mean to me."
I held my breath, waiting for him to say something; anything at all. But nothing came, until I felt his hand on my chin, raising it up. I looked up into his eyes. He leaned in and kissed me.
"Nothin' will happen to ya. Not on my watch." Daryl said. "Listen… I'm no good at this typa stuff. But I do care 'bout ya, Riv. 'nd as more than a friend. As soon as I picked ya up in the woods when ya got shot, I knew there was somethin' 'bout ya. The whole way to tha farm, I couldn't take my eyes off ya. Ya was so perfect."
I smiled at the man in front of me and flung my arms around his neck, pulling him into a tight hug.
"So, are ya bruthers gonna try 'nd kill me now?" He asked.
I laughed and pulled away from him, shaking my head. "No. They really like you. Never seen 'em give me shit for sayin' someone wasn't my boyfriend, normally it was vice versa."
"Good." He said. "Now let's get that firewood. Yer cold as ice."
That night, we sat huddled by the fire we'd sat up around the brick walls. Daryl had brought me a blanket he had stowed in his saddle bag. He sat beside me, feeding the fire. Rick and T-Dog stood watch by the openings in between the walls.
"We're not safe with him." Carol whispered from the other side of Daryl. "Keeping something like that from us. Why do you need him if he's just gonna pull you down?"
"Nah, Rick's done right by me." Daryl said.
"You're his henchmen and I'm a burden." Carol said. "We deserve better."
"Will you shut up with your damn whining? He did what he thought was best. End of story." I snapped at her.
"What do you want?" Daryl asked, placing a hand on my leg.
"A man of honor." Carol answered.
"Rick has honor." Daryl snapped.
Suddenly there was rustling in the woods nearby. Daryl, Glenn, Julian and Taylor jumped to their feet.
"What was that?" Carol asked.
"Could be anything." Daryl said.
"We need to leave. I mean, what are we waiting for?" Carol said.
"The last thing we need is for everyone to be running off in the dark." Rick said. "We don't have the gas and no one is traveling on foot."
"I'm not sitting here and waiting for another herd to blow through." Carol said. "We need to move now."
"No one is going anywhere!" Rick shouted, getting angrier by the second.
"Do something." Carol said.
"He is doing something!" I yelled. "More than you!"
"I'm keeping this group together! Alive!" Rick shouted. "I've been doin' that all along, no matter what! I didn't ask for this! I killed my best friend for you people, for Christ's sake!"
He looked around angrily at everyone.
"You saw what he was like. How he pushed me. How he compromised us. How he threatened us. He staged the whole Randall thing, led me out to put a bullet in my back. He didn't give me no choice! He was my friend… but he came after me. My hands are clean." He said.
He paused once more and looked around the group. No one said a word.
"Maybe you people are better without me. Go ahead. I say there's another place for us, maybe it's just another pipe dream. Maybe I'm foolin' myself again. Why don't you go find out yourself? Send me a postcard! Go on, there's the door. You can do better; let's see how far you get."
Again, he looked around. My eyes were fixed on Carol.
"No takers? Let's get one thing straight… if you're stayin', this isn't a democracy anymore."
With that, he turned and walked through the doorway and out into the night.
"Don't you wanna get going? Y'know… since he has done soooo much wrong?" I said sarcastically to Carol.
"You're sucha smartass, River." Taylor chuckled.
When she folded her arms across her chest and turned away, I glanced over at Daryl.
"You knew he killed Shane, didn't ya?" He asked.
I hung my head. "Yeah. How'd you know?"
"How?" He asked. "And I know ya. It's written all ova yer face and tha way every time it was brought up Rick looked at 'cha."
"I wasn't at the house because I went after Carl. I saw him heading towards the woods. When I caught up with him, we found Rick and Shane, already dead." I explained.
He nodded. "Ya did the right thing by not tellin' anybody."
"Thanks." I said. "It wasn't my place to."
"C'mon." He said, putting a hand on my shoulder and pulling me towards him. "Let's get some sleep."
We arrived at my parent's old home the next afternoon. It was unreal to be standing outside of the large iron gates again. I clutched the gate as I peered through. Besides the overgrown grass, the house looked untouched.
"How do we get in the gate?" Carol asked.
"Generator should still be good." I said. "Got the code."
I walked over to the dial pad and punched in the code I'd become so familiar with. As if magic, the gate began to creak open. I glanced over to Taylor and Julian and gave a wary smile.
"You ready for this?" Daryl asked as he came up beside me and put his hand on the small of my back.
"Ready as I'll ever be." I shrugged.
"Holy shit!" T-Dog said, his voice echoing through the house as we entered.
"How many bedrooms is this?" Carol asked.
"Six." I answered, trying the lamp beside the desk. "And the generator still works! We have electricity people!"
There were cheers from around the room.
"Alright, bedrooms are upstairs, along with most of the bathrooms." I said to everyone. "I call my old one."
"Same here." Taylor said.
"And here." Julian added.
"Kitchen is to the left here, along with the dining room. To the right are the living room and the sunroom. Down the hall is a bathroom and the door to the basement and the wine cellar." I said.
"Wine cellar?" Carol asked, raising her eyebrows.
"Yup, that's exactly where I'm heading once I drop my stuff in my room." I laughed.
As everyone explored the house Julian, Taylor and I once called home and settled in, I headed straight up stairs and to my room; located at the back of the hall to the left. I opened the door and sighed; it was exactly how I left it all those years ago. I'd stumbled and fell in life before; returning to my parent's home to get back on my feet, but the one thing that remained the same in all that time was this room. Even now, at what seemed to be the end of the world, this room was still the same as always.
The walls were a light tan color; the queen sized black metal framed bed laid against the far wall. The wall to the left was partially a built in bookshelf, holding hundreds of books and records; just beside it was the door to my bathroom. My dresser and desk were to my right; pictures of a life long gone sat upon them, along with a laptop, an old typewriter and record player. The walls held posters of bands and such; The Beatles, Led Zeppelin, Bob Dylan, and even Star Wars. If anyone would've walked into the room without looking closely, it could've easily been mistaken for a boy's room. I heard Taylor's door, next to mine, open up and close quickly behind him.
I finally walked through the threshold and placed my bag on the bed. I took my time organizing my things, gently moving things around, touching things in the room I thought I'd never see again. I felt dazed, as if none of this was real. It couldn't be. Just across the hall was Greyson's room… and Cora's; they would never step in it again. They'd never return home. I fought back tears as I ran a finger across a picture on my dresser; all five of us stood on the beach, smiles as wide as the Mississippi river, happy and huddled together. My eyes lingered on the two faces I would never see again.
I heard footsteps coming up the stairs that broke my concentration. I slipped across the room and into the doorway to see Daryl coming onto the landing.
"Hey." I said timidly.
"Hey." He said, stopping suddenly. "I was jus' comin' up ta find a place ta crash. I dunno…"
"Taylor and Glenn took his old room, Julian and T-Dog are taking his old room, Herschel, Beth and Maggie are in Cora's room, Rick, Lori and Carl are takin' my parent's room, so that leaves Greyson's room for… well, I guess you or Carol." I stopped and looked at my feet before continuing. "If you'd like though… y'know, I've got a queen sized bed…."
His eyes casted down to his feet; he shuffled them nervously before he spoke. "I dunno…."
"It's okay." I shrugged, but really my heart dropped. "If you don't wanna…"
"Nah," He said quickly, shaking his head. "I didn't say that. I jus' dunno how your brother's would.."
He was cut off by Taylor's bedroom door opening up, him and Glenn coming out into the hall.
"Whoa…" He said, stopping suddenly. "Tension in the air. What's up?"
"Nothing," I shot quickly.
He narrowed his eyes, darting them back and forth between us. "You asked him to stay in your room, didn't ya?"
"Oh, for fuck's sake," I mumbled, pinching the bridge of my nose. "Could this get any worse?"
That's the moment that I learned you never say 'could this get any worse'. Julian's door opened up and he came out into the hallway, stopping much like Taylor had, with a curious expression on his face.
"What's up guys?" He asked, looking around.
"River asked Daryl to stay in her room with her." Taylor said bluntly.
"Did I say I did?!" I snapped.
"I'm sorry, Riv. But it's written all over your face." Glenn said, shrugging.
"You were my friend first, Rhee." I said. "Remember that."
"So, what's the problem then?" Julian asked. He looked over at Daryl. "Did you say no?"
"I jus' said I didn't know how…" He cleared his throat. "How y'all would take somethin' like that."
Julian scrunched his eyebrows together as he took in Daryl words. Finally, he laughed. "You think we'd care if ya slept in the room with her? Well, I appreciate the consideration. Much more than I could say for any of her exs, but don't worry, we're okay with it."
He walked up to Daryl and clapped a hand on his shoulder. "But you hurt my sister and I'll kill you."
Taylor chuckled as Julian walked down the stairs. He made his way over to Daryl, followed by Glenn, and stopped.
"What he said, man." Taylor said, motioning towards Julian's retreating form. "But honestly, you hurt her; I'd be more scared of her than us. But if she doesn't get to ya first, then worry about us. Same goes for the Korean, here." He jerked his thumb back indicating towards Glenn. Glenn's eyes widened; it was a well known fact that Daryl made him extremely nervous.
They slipped past Daryl and down the stairs. Once I heard them hit the landing below, I shook my head.
"I'm so sorry. Ignore them." I sighed.
"Nah," He said, walking over to me. "They love ya. Jus' lookin' out for ya is all."
He placed a hand on the doorframe I was leaned against.
I smirked up at him. "Well, in that case, come on in."
