We were woken to the sound of someone rapping on the door. Daryl jumped off the bed still half asleep but alert enough to still be vigilant.
"Wake up love birds," a rough drawl sang from the other side of the door.
Daryl walked towards it and yanked it open to reveal Merle standing with his arm leant against the door frame and a massive grin spread across his face.
"Jesus Merle. You damn near gave me a goddam heart attack,"Daryl growled.
"You'll have bigger problems than that soon little brother. We need to get out of here, shit is getting nasty out there real quick...quicker than we imagined." Merle said, suddenly becoming serious. I imagined Merle was always a man to cut straight to the chase.
I sat up and looked at Daryl who had backed towards the window frowning.
"You serious? So bad we have to leave?"
"Yup, I've just seen the town...it's swarming with walkers. They're moving in herds now. If we're gonna stand a chance we need to move on away from them, closer out into the country or maybe even t'wards Atlanta where there'll be supplies and guns. It's a blood bath out there." He looked at both of us and Daryl stared back at him.
"Fuck," he exclaimed and ran his hands through his hair. "I had to kill five of them in the backyard just last night."
"What about my parent's house?" I asked. I could feel dread rising within me and until now I foolishly hoped that this would all pass, that some kind of authority would come in and eradicate the virus or whatever it was that was creating these creatures. I also believed that my parents would be back soon and everything would go back to normal but it didn't seem that way, it only appeared to be getting worse.
Daryl turned to look at me with sorrowful eyes as if he wanted to reach over and comfort me. I could tell by that expression that he had obviously already considered the worst. I glanced up at Merle with a desperation I could barely conceal.
"Honey they're swarming around that place," Merle answered honestly. "There's no chance you're ever getting back to that house unless you want to die too."
I looked down at the bed and fought back the tears that were raging within me. A lump formed in my throat and I tried my hardest to swallow it down. I knew now that I couldn't get back to the house that I would really be cut off from my parents. They wouldn't be able to know where I was if they ever did get back to town and I would probably not be able to find out if they were alive or dead, I just had to accept both eventualities and ride this out as best as I could. I got up from the bed and reached for my boots before hastily tying my laces. I could feel Daryl's eyes boring into me, watching my every move.
"Come on," I said wiping away a stray tear and standing up to look them both in the eyes. "We need to get going if we want to survive this."
"The little lady's right. I'm going to be down in the front yard getting together some supplies. Make it quick." He said glancing at us both before disappearing down the corridor.
"Are you alright?" Daryl asked cautiously as soon as Merle had left, moving around the bed towards me and cupping my face in his hands. "I know this must be hard for you thinking about where your folks might be. Your Dad was a good man and your Momma a good woman. I sure am sad for them too but right now we have to take care of ourselves and get out of this alive."
I looked up at him and could feel tears stinging my eyes but I nodded resolutely.
"Sure," I replied.
"That's my girl," he smiled and wiped away a tear that had escaped and was rolling down my cheek.
"Thank you." I said, smiling crookedly back at him.
"What for?"
"For taking care of me through all this, for protecting me and keeping me safe...Thank you."
"You're welcome," he replied after a moment of hesitation. His expression suddenly became hard and serious as if an unpleasant thought had just occurred to him. He looked down at me with a look that bordered on mistrust.
"What's wrong?" I asked frowning and held his hand against my face.
"You, uh..." He coughed to clear his throat and looked awkward as he struggled to form the question on his mind. "You didn't sleep with me last night for that reason did you? Like payback? 'Cos I don' need you to do that."
"Oh my god...no!" I replied and looked at him horrified. "Jesus I wish you could feel all of what I'm feeling for you right now Daryl Dixon. I've liked you for a long time before this but always felt like we were in two separate hemispheres. I didn't think you'd come near me ever. I...I don't know how to express this with words. I felt I had to be a certain kind of person around certain kinds of people and I played out this role I felt that belonged to me but it didn't...it never fit right. That night I saw you in the woods just felt like fate, it felt like an opening to shrug off the role I've been playing for years and to be myself for once...to follow my heart. I know that sounds corny as hell but it's the God's honest truth."
Daryl remained silent for some time just stroking my face, his piercing eyes boring into me with that look I loved so much. I glanced down at his lips remembering the inflamed passion we had the night before and I longed for him to kiss me. I just hoped he believed me.
"I'm sorry...I shouldn't have thought that about you." He growled softly. "You're not one of them, you're not like Connie, you wouldn't lie to me and I've known you were different for some time...I..."
The sound of Merle firing up one of the motorbikes outside interrupted what he was about to say and he shook his head lightly before carrying on.
"I guess I just can't believe my luck," he growled and moved towards me to bite my bottom lip. I chuckled with amusement and bit his lip back wrapping my arms around his neck before he lifted me up into his arms and I wrapped my legs around him. We kissed passionately like that in the middle of the floor. I ran my fingers through his hair tugging his head back so he looked up at me, our eyes locking before I dipped my tongue gently into his mouth moving it against his, tasting him once again. How I had begun to love the taste of him.
"Woah we need to stop right now," he said gruffly squeezing my butt playfully with both hands. "You're getting me hard again woman. We aint got time."
He dropped me to the ground gently and grinned down at me before swiftly kissing me on the lips.
"Fine," I replied with a disappointed tone, rolling my eyes at him and grinning back.
As he turned and began to walk towards the door I reached out and grabbed his hand, pulling him back towards me.
"Daryl...please don't forget what I said earlier. I'm serious. I don't want you to ever forget that."
"I know baby," he replied and tugged me towards him, using his free hand to push my chin up and kissing me once more on the lips.
"Let's go before Merle loses his shit," He said and led me out of the room.
We picked up my shotgun from the kitchen wall where I had left it the night before and I smiled as I looked at the table and remembered what had happened there. Daryl moved towards the fridge and as he passed the table he laid one hand on it and looked back at where I was stood on the other side of the room and winked at me knowingly. I laughed and recalled every single moment we had spent on that table with pleasure and desire. He grabbed food and drinks from the fridge and loaded it into a canvas backpack he had picked up from a hook by the door before turning back towards me ready to leave.
"What a night that was huh?" I said with a smirk.
Daryl moved towards me and grabbed my butt, looking down at me with his lips pursed in amusement.
"There'll be plenty more nights like that to come baby," he growled suggestively and I felt my stomach flip.
He laughed softly, probably at the goofy looking expression spread across my face before leading the way out through the front door into the front yard.
Merle was sat on his motorbike with the engine roaring loudly. Daryl's bike was propped up next to it.
"Your chariot awaits darlin'!" Merle shouted towards me over the din. "Just filled them both up with gas little bro. We need to get outta here fast; I've just seen a group of walkers coming in this direction in the trees over the road." He said indicating where he meant.
"Where we headed?" Daryl shouted back, moving towards his bike.
"Head towards ol' man Johnson's farm...we'll see what's up when we get there. I think we should head towards Atlanta after that but stop off at the gun store the next town over. Hopefully it aint crawling with walkers...we'll just grab what we can find."
"Can you wear this?" Daryl asked me indicating the backpack and I took it from him and obliged, slotting my shotgun inside it, making sure the safety was on.
He moved towards the house and grabbed a cylindrical bag which looked like it might contain a tent. He slung this on the front of his bike as well as his crossbow before hitching his leg over and sitting himself down. He turned and patted the seat behind him to indicate I should sit down. I had never ridden on the back of a motorcycle before and felt nervous but knew I could trust Daryl to keep me safe. I lifted my leg over and slid forwards to get closer to him before wrapping my arms around his torso.
"Hold on tight baby," he growled turning his head in my direction before bringing the engine to life. I felt the vibration of it run through my thighs and all the way through my legs to my feet. It was thrilling and I suddenly felt excited for the ride and held myself closer against him, feeling that same vibration run through him. Daryl revved the engine a couple of times before the two brothers indicated to each other to go and they took off down the track towards the main road which led to Atlanta. I glanced behind me as the house faded in to the distance and wondered what lay in wait for us further down the road.
We spent half an hour driving and dodging walkers who appeared. There were only a few stragglers here and there but from what Merle described it seemed that we were moving away from the most danger which was back towards town. I wondered if the hospital had something to do with this. Although it was a small town there was a large hospital just down the road from it in the opposite direction which served quite a wide area. It was likely that people had brought the virus there in large numbers not knowing yet what it was and it had spread to everyone rapidly in those confined quarters. We met no one else along the road until a car came swinging out from a side road up ahead and with the speed of the bikes we cruised past it but as we did the driver started to honk the horn continuously and I turned my head to see a blonde headed woman with her head stuck out of the driver's seat window waving wildly at us.
I tapped Daryl on his back to get his attention and he slowed the bike down slightly taking a swift glance behind him to see what was going on. He sped up the bike and flagged Merle down to stop before they both turned around and drove back to the place where the woman had stopped her car. She opened the door and got out slamming it behind her and heading straight towards Daryl.
"Daryl!" She called to him with a relieved looking smile on her face but her expression dropped when she caught sight of me sat behind with my arms around him. I watched her eyes wander over me to assess me for a moment; I could see her mind working to figure out who I was and what I was doing on that bike with Daryl. She looked like she was in her late twenties and although not naturally very pretty she had a lot of makeup on to give herself a certain appeal. I couldn't help but notice her nice looking figure and large breasts and couldn't deny that a lot of men round here probably found her sexy in a rough neck kind of way. I thought I might have recognized her as one of the regular women who hung around the biker bar just out of town where I knew Daryl used to drink. I wondered if she was an old flame of Daryl's and because of her hostile stare towards me I felt a defensive jealousy take hold, causing my stomach to flip unpleasantly. She kept staring at me as if it should have been her sat behind him on that bike and she had just left it for a moment and I had jumped in her place. I didn't like it.
"What you doin' out here Morgan?" Daryl asked. I couldn't see his expression from where I was sat but he sounded irritated.
"Oh honey you know, trying to escape all this carnage, why else? I wanted to know where y'all are going and I hoped I could follow." She replied and every so often glancing over at me with a less than pleased look.
"We've got a plan but I aint sure if you're going to fit in to it," Daryl replied. "You need to get somewhere to lay low." Her face fell after hearing those words; it was clearly not the reply she hoped for.
"Aint you going to the camp that's been set up five miles down the road?" She asked.
"What camp? Where?" Merle chimed in.
"There's a camp five miles from here, Tommy from the bar and a few of his biker friends have set one up. They've got tents and supplies...they called to let me know before they left town," she replied with an accusatory tone but she addressed Daryl instead of Merle.
"Well there'd be no harm in checking that out little brother," Merle said. "Hop on with me baby I'll make sure you get there alright."
Merle patted the seat behind him with a suggestive look on his face. Morgan could barely hide her disgust before looking back over at Daryl with a furious look.
"No thanks," she replied rudely before heading back towards her car.
"Hooooyah girl I aint goin' to bite!" Merle laughed. "As much as I'd like to baby."
Morgan cast a look of rage at both me and Daryl before slamming the door behind her and skidding off in her car and into the distance.
"Who the hell was that?" I asked.
"Daryl's old girl-friend," Merle answered with amusement. "At least...they were fucking at one time aint that right?" Merle addressed his brother, laughing.
"Leave it Merle," Daryl warned him before kicking the bike's engine into life again.
"You're right, let's get to that camp...I didn't mean to upset you darlin'," Merle said to me with a wink. He must have seen the livid expression on my face.
I felt jealousy and panic engulf me as I over thought the interaction between the two of them. How long had it been since they were fucking? What had it meant to her if she behaved that way towards me and more importantly what had it meant to Daryl? I dreaded the thought of being in the same camp as her and hoped that we would just pass through. I felt Daryl's body stiffen slightly before we headed off in the wake of Morgan's car, the dust still unsettled on the road.
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