DISCLAIMER: I don't own The Walking Dead.
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This is the second to last chapter, tomorrow im posting the last chapter and I want to thank everyone who reads, reviews, favors, and follows, thank you guys so much it means so much and I had so much fun writing this story and I hope you have enjoyed reading it (^-^)
CHAPTER TWENTY-SIX
"That's it Lori just a little more... just a little more...that's it, that's it, I see the head. Ok deep breath... now push..." Hershel said and after a few seconds Lori breaths in real deep and then sighs in relief.
"It's a girl, Lori! It's a girl!" Carol shouts as she helps Hershel with the screaming baby. Lori cries tears of joy as she leans her head back against Rick's shoulder, trying to catch her breath.
"Here you go Lori." Carol says as she hands the whimpering baby over to Lori's awaiting arms. Lori could not look away from her baby girl, she looks so much like Carl did when he was born.
"I love you Lori." Rick whispers in her ear and her breath catches in her throat and she leans against him just a little harder and she closes her eyes, she hasn't been this happy in a very, very long time.
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Eva paces back and forth slowly along the cars that are along the fence line, rocking Warren who is sleeping soundly in her arms, as everyone but Hershel and Carol are in the bus with Lori, Carl and Rick. She watches as Glenn, Daryl and the prisoners move all the bodies into the field to the already huge walker pile.
"How much longer do you think?" Kailee asks aloud from her seat on the ground on a laid out blanket that is in the shade. "Can't be long now, her contractions are closer together." Eva tells her as she passes by her, Sophia and Hayden who are coloring pictures for the new baby.
A half hour passes by when the unmistakable sound of a baby crying reaches everyones ears. Sometime after that Carol leans out the door and yells that it's a baby girl and that Lori is doing just fine.
They all shout and celebrate with joy, all of them needing it after the day they just had, this day could have ended so differently, so much worse.
After getting all the kids fed and then into bed, she and Maggie grab two trays piled high with food, while Charlie carries a bag with water bottles and he opens the doors for them and they walk outside towards the bus.
"The food and water should hold you guys over for the night and Rick, Daryl wanted to ask if we should burn the walkers now seeing as how the wind is blowing away from here." Eva asks as she and Maggie sit the trays of food down on the table for Lori, Rick, Carl and Hershel who all will be staying on the bus until Lori can move around.
"Yeah better do it now, don't want to do it tomorrow the smoke might draw to much attention." He says quietly as he rocks the new addition to the Grimes family.
"Alright, try and get some sleep." Maggie tells him while she lightly touches the baby's tiny hand. "We will make a run in a day or two for formula and other baby things." Eva tells him and he nods and after telling everyone goodnight she and Maggie leave the bus and they both make their way down to the field where Daryl, Glenn, Oscar and Axel are loading the pile of walkers with wood and lighter fluid.
"Rick says to do it now." Maggie says and she and Eva help pile in the wood while Oscar and Daryl dig a small but wide trench around the bodies so the fire won't catch the grass on fire and spread, but just in case they have two fire extinguishers sitting by their feet.
"Ok that's it, let's get this done." Daryl tells them after he and Oscar are done with the trenches. So he and Glenn grab a torch from Eva and she lights the lighter fluid soaked rags and they go around the huge pile of walkers, catching where ever they can on fire.
They all stand further back from the huge fire pit and watch as the walkers' burn. After a while they start to take turns to walk the fence line killing walkers with a rebar pole or crowbar, they don't need them piling up.
"So I was thinking, that after everything with the baby settles, when we make the run for the supplies for the crops, I think we should start gathering bricks and cement." Eva tells Daryl as they do their round of killing the walkers at the fence.
"Bricks and cement? What for?" Daryl asks as he stabs a walker that she is surprised is able to even walk. "These chain link fences won't last long, they will give way if enough walkers push against it, you and I both know that. So why not build a thick, high brick wall that will last." She says and Daryl stops, which makes her stops as well.
"I like that, tell Rick tomorrow when we go over the plans for the run, for the baby stuff." He tells her before leaning down and kissing her lightly.
Their small blissful moment is ruined though when a walker bangs into the fence beside them. Daryl growls and shoves the crowbar through the walkers head before turning back around and kissing Eva once more. This makes her laugh in between their kisses, which in turn makes him smile.
After retrieving the crowbar from the walker, they make their way back to the others, killing four walkers on their way back to the others who are watching over the walker bon fire that is still blazing.
They each take turns, taking naps on a blanket Charlie brought out to them when he brought them some water. They do this all night taking turns napping, watching the fire, checking on the others or killing the walkers at the fence.
Eva yawns once more as she walks away from the burned out, charred walker pile and up the dirt road hill towards the bus where they are going to have meeting about the run and a few other things.
She stands in between Daryl and Glenn as they tell Rick their plans of where they are going that day. Glenn and Maggie will be going to a small out of the way grocery store and some other shops that they found on a detailed map in a phone book that they found in the prison. While she and Daryl will be going to two different day care centers that helped with babies.
"We should get going it looks like a storms brewing." Daryl says as he looks out over the trees to see dark clouds slowly rolling towards them. "We should pack a bag of some supplies just in case we get stuck out in this." Eva says to Maggie and Glenn and they both nod before walking off to pack a bag and say their goodbyes to everyone.
"Rick, when we get back I want to go over some ideas to make this all safer ok." Eva says and Rick gives her a smile before telling her that he had a few ideas as well. She smiles at him before walking away to pack up some stuff for their trip and to say bye to the kids and the others.
After packing two bags for herself and Daryl and grabbing two empty duffle bags, Eva makes her way to the common area where the others and the kids are gathered for breakfast. She sets the bags down before kneeling next to Hayden who is playing with some action figures. She kisses his head and tells him she loves him and he says it back not even taking his eyes away from his toys.
She smiles before hugging Sophia and standing up and walking over to Mel who is holding Warren. She hugs them before making her way around the room saying her goodbyes to everyone before grabbing the bags and making her way to her truck where Daryl is talking with Glenn.
After packing the bags away in the back seat and saying bye to Rick they all climb in their cars and Daryl takes off after Glenn who is taking Hershel's red truck. They take the same road for a while before coming to a fork in the road, Glenn and Maggie wave to them from their windows and they do the same before turning down a different road.
They drive in silence, with only Eva giving directions every now and then. When they get to the first daycare, Eva cringes in her seat when Daryl pulls up front.
The front door is wide open and the large front window is splattered in blood. "I can do this alone." Daryl says seeing the window after he shuts of the truck. "No, it's alright, it can't be any worse than that the house a few weeks ago." She said with flashes of that living nightmare of a room.
She pats his hand before giving him a smile before grabbing the empty duffle bag from the back seat before opening the door and hopping out of the truck.
They make their way through the whole daycare checking each room, Eva and Daryl both trying to ignore the blood splattered toys and walls.
After they are done sweeping the area they start going room to room, going through closets and cupboards and small bag packs gathering anything they might ever need.
They pack up the full duffle bag and a full box that they found in one of the closets and lock them away in the bed of the truck under the bed cover and then they make their way to the second daycare. As they drive to the next daycare, the rain starts pouring down.
Eva throws her hood up before grabbing the other empty duffle bag before opening the door and jumping out onto the graveled parking lot. She shuts the door and she and Daryl jog over to the awning by the front door to get away from the pouring rain.
She pulls out her gun and Daryl readies his crossbow and he counts down from three before opening the door and they file into the darkened daycare.
Eva busies herself by packing away the unopened cans of baby formula in the bag, trying to ignore Daryl as he covers up the small children with blankets.
After zipping up the now full bag, Daryl picks it up and they make their way back out to the truck. After starting the truck, Daryl takes a hold of her hand and she squeezes his hand back before laying her head back trying to forget all the decayed faces of those children.
"Hey, I think we should find a place to hold up for the night." Eva said after feeling the truck slides a bit after Daryl turns a corner. "Yeah, I think so too." He replies to her and they start looking for a house to hold up in somewhere.
"I think this will be a good place." He said after pulling up to a blue, one story house. Eva grabs one of the bags she packed of supplies and they run to the house to get out of the rain.
They sweep the house and after scavenging what little they could they make their way to the back room whose window faces their truck just in case they need a quick escape.
They sit on the bed and eat some of the food she packed in silence. After eating they both lay down on the very comfortable bed and Eva falls right to sleep while Daryl stays awake on watch.
Eva jumps awake when thunder shakes the house and she quickly looks around the room in a panic. She sighs in relief when she sees Daryl standing by the window from the soft glow from the lantern.
"Hey glad you're awake, I need to take a piss, I'll be right back." He said before leaving the room. Eva huffs as she sits up finding it hard to climb out of the comfortable bed and warm sheets.
Eva stretches as she walks around the room looking over the teenagers' baseball trophies that line his dresser. She asks Daryl if they should get going when she hears him walking back in the room.
She turns when he doesn't answer and sees two decayed walkers stumbling into the room and she screams for Daryl while grabbing one of trophies and swings at the first walker before kicking the second one to the ground.
She pulls out her gun and goes to shoot one of walkers on the ground when three more walkers start piling into the room. She shoots one of them and goes to shoot the other but her gun clicks, she is out of bullets.
"DARYL!"
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Daryl walks down the hall way and shuts the bathroom door behind him and he sets his flash light on the counter before unzipping his pants and doing his business. After he is done he looks at himself in the slightly dirty mirror and he rolls he head around trying to get his muscles to relax.
"DARYL!"
He hears Eva scream out and he hurries and opens the bathroom door just for a walker to pop up in front of him. He jumps back and he tries to slam the door shut and he pushes back at the walkers who are trying to get in at him.
He hears a gunshot ring out before hearing Eva scream for him again. He grabs his knife and starts stabbing the walkers through the crack in the door, he needs to get to her.
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She slams the gun against the walker closest to her before looking around the room and she sees the closet and she hits another one of them before climbing into the closet.
While ignoring the walkers that are banging the closet doors, she climbs up on all the kids' stuff and she starts banging the butt of her gun making holes in the ceiling.
After making a decent sized hole she climbs up into the crawl space of the house and she quickly crawls to where she hears Daryl yelling. She starts ripping the installation up off the floor and then starts banging the now useless gun, breaking apart the plaster.
She puts her head down in the hole to see Daryl pushing against the now closed door staring up at her with wide eyes. She makes a bigger hole for him and he quickly climbs up on the counter and she helps pulls him up into the crawl space with her.
They both lay there panting, holding each other close. Eva starts crying realizing just how close they both came to dying. "I love you." She whispers and he looks down at her for a moment before slamming his lips to hers, taking her breath away.
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Daryl just holds her close as he listens to her soft breathing, but even then it doesn't seem to be close enough. He thought he had lost her, eaten alive by walkers but no, she comes banging into the room from the attic. He can't help but for some tears to fall while trying to comfort her as she sleeps and he lays there wide awake listening to the rain, thunder and the walkers that are roaming the house.
A few hours later after the rain stops they both climb down into the bathroom as quietly as they can. They take out their knifes and Daryl slowly opens the door and he leads Eva out into the hall and the walk back to back slowly and quietly down the hall to the bedroom where their bag and his crossbow are.
They get to the room and he sees only one walker and he quickly jogs up to it and slams his knife down into his head before helping him down to the floor. Eva quietly closes and locks the door before turning and grabbing their bag off of the desk and meeting Daryl by the now opened window.
He climbs out first to make sure that the path to the truck is clear before turning and helping her climb out. They quickly run and jump into the truck, Daryl taking no time to start her up and taking off. He looks in the rearview mirror and sees maybe a dozen walkers following after them.
Daryl pulls over maybe a mile away from the prison and he leans over and captures ahold of Eva's lips giving her a light kiss before sitting back and driving off to the prison.
He pulls the truck up behind the red truck and they both climb out and they meet up in the small group that gathered to greet them.
"So how was the trip?" Rick asks them as he takes one of the full bags from the bed of the truck. "Oh, uneventful like always." Eva said while messing with a piece of Hayden's hair. Rick knowing that something happened decides to wait until later to ask for details.
"So do you want to go over those new plans for this place now?" Rick asks wanting to change the mood and Eva gives him a big smile before telling him to let her go grab her notebook before making her way to the cellblock.
"So what happened?" Rick asks Daryl and he sighs while watching Eva walk away. "Same thing that always happens. We are back and alive that's all that matters." He said and Rick nods and pats his shoulder before walking off to talk with Glenn and Maggie about something.
Daryl can't help but smile when he sees Eva walking back out into the courtyard with a huge smile on her face as she talks with Hayden about how he was a big boy during the storm last night. Daryl can't be any happier than in that moment then watching all the smiling face of the people he now calls his family.