Ava groaned as her hand slid across her nightstand trying to locate her alarm clock, and let out an exasperated sigh when it somehow managed to elude her. Sitting up, she rubbed her eyes and grabbed the culprit finally ending its torturous song.
She got up and stumbled over to her bedroom window. Reaching above her head, she stretched – enjoying the mild sense of euphoria running through her. Outside the world was covered in different shades of grey, waiting to awake along side the first rays of sunlight.
Ava rubbed the last grains of sleep out of her eyes and quickly got dressed. She grabbed her knife before she left the house, making her way towards the gate. Once outside she broke into a light jog, heading for the forest. She'd always loved running in forests.
She leapt effortlessly through the air, trying to avoid the branches on the ground and revelled in the silence of the woods. Picking up pace she felt herself falling into a steady rhythm, her mind growing blank as all her energy focused on putting one foot in front of the other.
After a while she arrived at a small clearing. She carefully stepped over her roamer detector, a rope strung between the trees with empty cans tied to it. She let her eyes glide across the small clearing. Satisfied that it was roamer free she laid down on the forest floor, shivering slightly at the lingering chill from the night air.
She closed her eyes and drew a deep breath. After a short while the first chirps of a bird song could be heard. She smiled, recognizing it. Soft and long tunes, with the occasional high-pitched chirps. It was a blackbird she'd learned after some research. It should've migrated for the winter, but for some reason it had remained behind. And now it sang its sad and confused song every morning, hoping for a response.
Ava tried to come here every morning to hear her bird sing. As she lay there listening to its song she felt as if it sang for the both of them. Briefly she allowed herself to wallow in her longing for home.
She must have dozed of, for when she opened her eyes to the faint sound of rattling cans she was met with a myriad of gold and green as the sun shone through the branches. She got up and walked over to the dead that lay crawling on the ground, it's leg caught in the rope. She sat down and drove her knife through its skull, silently cursing it for driving her bird away.
Ava started on her way back, running slower this time as she practised her stealth. After some time she heard faint voices to her left. She stopped, confused. There never used to be anyone out there at this hour. Curious she crept closer, careful not to give herself away. Soon she saw the outline of three people. To her surprise she recognized one of them to be Daryl. She squinted her eyes and saw that Rick and a woman whose name she couldn't remember accompanied him.
Crouching, she dared to move a bit closer so that she could make out their conversation.
She watched as the woman withdrew two guns from her bag, offering them to Daryl.
'Look, I've been thinking. Do we really need these? If things go bad yeah, sure we do what we gotta do, but it's like ya said, we don't need these for that.' She heard Daryl say.
'Right now we don't.' the woman answered, her tone almost baffled.
'Ya wanted me to try right?' Daryl continued, 'I'm good.' He didn't take the gun. She watched Rick hesitate for a second before he took one and stuffed down the back of his pants. Neither of them said anything else before they left.
Ava waited until she was sure they wouldn't catch her following them before she got up. Deep in thought she walked the rest of the way home, wondering what she should do with this newfound information.
She hadn't paid much attention to her surroundings before she found herself at Aaron and Eric's front door. She reached to open it out of habit, but suddenly hesitated. She hadn't spoken to them since her outburst the day before. Maybe they where mad at her for embarrassing them she wondered. Bracing herself, she opened the door.
Inside she found Eric propped up on the sofa, his leg resting on a pillow and a book in his hand. He looked up as soon as he heard her enter.
Unsure of what to do, she remained in the middle of the room, fiddling with the hem of her jeans pockets.
'I'm sorry for yesterday.' She said with eyes downcast, biting her lip.
Eric face softened immediately. He beckoned her forward with his hand, motioning for her to come and sit with him.
'Oh honey, it's ok. Come here.' He said. 'I'm sorry too. We shouldn't have sprung it on you like we did.'
Relief flooded through her and she sat down in the chair next to him. 'Maybe not, but that's no excuse for flipping out the way I did.' She said and looked down at her hands.
'I guess I do stupid things when I'm worried too, huh?' Ava continued. She looked up at him, a small smile at the curve of her lip. Eric laughed.
'We all do from time to time, even Aaron.' He reached out, giving her shoulder a small squeeze.
At the sound of Aaron's name Ava looked around her. 'Where is he anyway?'
'Oh, he's not here, he's down at the pantry.' Eric said. As soon as the words left his lips a loud sound of metal hitting the floor could be heard from the garage. Ava raised a brow questioningly at Eric who grimaced.
'That's another we were meaning to tell you. Daryl's going to be around for a few days while he's fixing the motorcycle.' He said.
'Of course, I should've guessed he'd know what to do with it.' Ava said. She got up and walked into the kitchen, thinking.
So Daryl was here. She thought back to the night before, to all the horrible things he must have overheard her saying about him, the sincerity in his eyes when he'd promised her he'd look after Aaron. She owed him the chance to explain himself.
'You want any coffee?' She called back to Eric in the living room.
'No, I'm good, thank you.' He said.
Ava returned with two cups, causing Eric to open his mouth to protest. 'I thought Daryl might want some.' She explained and raised one hand towards the garage door.
Now it was Eric's brows that rose. 'I need to apologize to him as well.' She said and hurriedly made her way to the garage to avoid further questioning.
She knocked softly before she entered. Daryl was sitting on the floor next to the bike frame, brows furrowed as he stared at it.
'Hey, I brought you some coffee.' She said, alerting him of her presence.
Daryl quickly got to his feet and grabbed the cup she offered, mumbling 'thanks' before taking several steps away from her.
She didn't say anything else, instead she just walked over to the frame. Daryl watched her intently as she inspected it. She was wearing that kind of fancy tight running gear from head to toe he noted as he let his eyes trail the curves of her body.
'So, do you think you can fix it?' she said, looking back at him.
Daryl jumped, quickly diverting his eyes. He grabbed the first thing he saw on the workbench beside him and inspected it closely. Realizing he'd just grabbed a roll of duct tape he quickly put it aside again and cleared his throat.
'Yeah, shouldn't take too long either.'
'Please, don't say that.' She laughed. 'Could you at least pretend that it'll be a little bit difficult? Aaron and I have scratched our heads for months over this thing.'
The corner of Daryl's lips twitched upwards. 'Do ya ride?' he asked, curios about her obvious fascination with it.
'Oh no. My dad did though. He had an old Suzuki from the early eighties. It was beautiful. I practically grew up on that bike.' She trailed her hand along the gas tank of the bike, her face blissful as she replayed old memories.
'Sadly he had to sell it before I got the chance to learn.' She continued and offered him an almost apologetic smile.
Unsure of how to respond Daryl merely nodded. Ava walked over to other end of the room, her back towards him.
'I saw you earlier today. Out in the woods.' She said softly, not looking at him. Daryl stilled.
'You could easily take this place, if you wanted. People here, they don't know how much the world has changed out there. And I don't think they want to know.' She turned towards him, but kept staring down into her coffee cup.
'I think you should give us a chance though.' She said, finally looking at him.
Daryl stared back at her as if he hoped to draw her thoughts out of her by sheer will. He bit his thumb.
'Whatever we do, it's gonna be Ricks call.' He said after a while.
'But he listens to you.' She said and walked towards him, causing Daryl to avert his eyes.
'Yes, people here might be weak, but they are good people.' Ava stopped in front of him, craning her neck in order to face him. 'We are good people.' She corrected herself.
She touched his arm, forcing him to acknowledge her. 'Make him see that. We can learn if we're given the chance.' She said determined.
'Are ya gonna tell Deanna?' He asked. Ava's brows furrowed in thought.
'No. I wont tell anybody.' She answered after a few seconds.
'Why?' He demanded.
A small smile played at her lips. 'I already made the mistake of doubting you once. Just – don't make me regret this.'
Daryl looked down into her hazel eyes trying to determine whether she was telling the truth when he heard someone cough behind them. The two turned to find a middle-aged woman standing in the garage opening.
Suddenly aware of their close proximity they quickly stepped away from each other.
'I'm sorry, I didn't know you had company Ava. You weren't at your house and when I saw Aaron and Erics garage were open I just assumed…' The lady started.
'Not to worry, Barbara. What can I do for you?' Ava said with a forced smile.
'I was just hoping that we could talk about Mason's recent assignment? I fear his progress isn't where it should be.' Barbara said quickly, her eyes shifting nervously to Daryl.
Ava let out an almost undetectable sigh. 'Of course, just give me a second and I'll be right with you.' She said. Barbara nodded hurriedly and left almost before Ava had finished talking, her social discomfort apparent on her face.
When alone again Ava threw her hands up as she started walking after her. 'There are walking corpses right on the other side of that wall and her biggest concern is her son's progress in algebra.' She said and gave Daryl a sheepish grin before she left.
Daryl remained unmoving several minutes after she was gone, trying to figure out what the hell he should make of her.
The sun had almost set when Ava walked up to her house later that day. Between her conversation with Barbara and teaching the kids she had found little time to process the day's events. She slumped down in a chair as soon as she reached the porch, relishing in the fact that she was finally alone. Her bliss was short lived, however as she heard footsteps approaching.
She opened her eyes and squinted against the low sun. Down in the street in front of her house she saw Rick facing her. She gave him a small wave and he nodded in acknowledgment heading her way.
Seeing the look in his eyes made Ava realize – he knew. Daryl must have told him.
She rose and gave Rick a curt nod as he walked up the steps to her porch.
'Ava was it?' he asked.
Ava merely nodded again. There was something about his eyes that unnerved her greatly. He stepped closer towards her.
'Listen, I don't know what it is you think you saw today -'
'We both know exactly what I saw today.' Ava cut him off.
They stared at each other for a couple of seconds and Ava felt her heart hammering against her chest.
'Daryl told me you had survived out there for a while. Therefore I hope that you can understand why we felt the need to be…' he paused, 'protected.'
Looking out across the street he sighed. 'I don't want to put you in a difficult position but I need to know that you're not going to tell anybody about what you saw today. There's no need for you to be afraid of us, we don't want to hurt you'
Rick turned back towards her and took another step closer. She could almost feel his breath on her face. 'But we are not leaving this place.' He spoke in a hushed, but strong voice.
Ava felt her glare waver but clenched her fists and made herself keep his stare.
'I've already told Daryl that I won't tell anybody. Seeing that the flow of information moves quickly between you I'm surprised that you didn't know that already.' She said through gritted teeth. 'Now if you'll excuse me, I'm suddenly feeling a bit chilly.'
Ava turned to leave, not offering him any goodbyes before entering her house and closing the door.
She let out a shaky breath as she leaned back against the door, listening to Ricks fading footsteps. Doubt crept over her. A million thoughts seemed to run through her head simultaneously, all culminating into one big question; what would happen to Aaron, Eric and her if they took Alexandria?
She looked over to her bookshelf, a plan forming in her head. She was going to need a map and a car.