The Ride

Daryl

The look that Marco gave him when he walked away with Sarah in tow stayed in Daryl's mind. It was supposed to be a somewhat threatening look that read: Stay away. Or else.

Daryl didn't find it threatening; rather, somewhat amusing. "Yeah, well fuck you too," he said under his breath to the other man when they were just out of earshot.

Daryl's original group gathered for a breakfast of pop-tarts that were scavenged from the grocery store by Glenn, Maggie, and Scott the day before. He hated the taste of sugar in the morning, and would have much preferred squirrel or any other type of meat, but Daryl supposed that the glucose-packed rectangle would have to do.

Rick began talking. Everyone else in the group was still clearly shaken by the fact that he had killed Shane and declared himself official leader. They all stopped what they were doing and stared at him, excluding Daryl. He wasn't afraid to disobey the "rules", especially now that he had someone else to put his faith in. "Scott was telling me a bit about where they're headed last night. It turns out that Sarah's a neurologist…and they're on their way back to the medical labs she studied in during graduate school. They plan to drive to Savannah and then take Scott's boat up to Massachusetts. She has ideas on how to fix this mess and I don't want everyone to get their hopes up too high, but right now her research is our best bet."

Everyone looked around to each other, excited to hear the news. Chatter filled the air and Daryl sat down on the gravel road and waited for the decision to be made.

Carol was the first to address Rick. "Well, what's the plan?"

"I was hoping to talk it over with everyone," he replied.

T-dog spoke next. "That's not what you said two nights ago."

"That was my next order of business," Rick said, wiping a few beads of sweat from his face. "I wanted to apologize to everyone for what I said, and what I've done. I take responsibility for what happened with Shane- I was just trying to defend myself and my family. Look at what he did at Hershel's farm, he was out of control."

"Yes, he was. Dale tried to warn us," Glenn said. Maggie leaned her head on his shoulder and Hershel shifted uncomfortably. He was obviously still getting used to the idea of the two teens sleeping in the same room.

The rest of the group gave their different signals of agreement on the subject of Shane. "Thank you," Rick said. "Now, what do you all want to do? Should we follow Sarah and Scott or try to establish some version of a home somewhere?"

"Even if we set up somewhere, we have no idea how long it's going to stay safe," Maggie said. "I don't think we can take another attack like two nights ago."

"She's right," T-dog said. "I think the best bet is to go with the others." Hershel and Beth nodded in agreement also.

"Well how can we know for sure that she even has ideas? They're a small group; they could just be using us as protection and turn on us if it comes to that," Lori said.

Carol spoke next. "I'm with Lori, I don't know if we can trust these people."

"She mentioned something about writing them down when I talked to her. And they already went out of their way to bring us here," Rick said.

"Could be just to win us over and make us feel like we owe them something," T-dog reasoned.

"Daryl, you've been unusually quiet. What do you think about all this?" Rick turned to him.

Daryl squinted though the sunlight, rather pissed off that they didn't trust what Sarah was telling them. "If you doubt her, ask to see her notes. I've already told them I'm going with them, whether ya'll decide to or not." The rest of the group looked shocked for some reason. "What the hell are your problems? Here's people that took time to help us and they could help us even more. With everyone here lookin' for the silver lining all the goddamn time, I can't believe ya'll didn't sign up the first chance ya got."

"We'll ask to see the notes, just to be sure," Rick said. "But I think we're all in agreement that it's the best route to go if everything checks out." The others nodded, while Carol made eye contact with Daryl. She gave him a look, bordering on disappointment about the fact that he was so close to leaving them behind. He decided it didn't bother him much. For the first time in his life, he really had something to work for.

An hour or so later, Sarah showed them a rough sketch of the brain with arrows and large words that Daryl didn't know the meanings of. After that, there were pages and pages of writing in a small, delicate font. The document was unlike anything that Daryl had ever seen; he was convinced that she was a genius.

"You can read my whole theory if you want," she shrugged. "I was pretty thorough, my professors from when I was in med school would have been proud."

Rick scratched his head, unable to comprehend her brilliant work. "I think we'll take your word for it," he said.

She smiled. "I haven't explained it to anyone yet. There are many complex chemicals and organic compounds involved…Scott, Rosalyn, and Marco lack the patience for an explanation, so don't feel bad."

Daryl thought that if he could ever get her alone again, like last night, he would ask her to read every word of her theory to him in her northern accent.

"Well, looks like we're all coming with you then," Rick said.

Scott shook his hand. "Then welcome. It's a little less than five hours drive to Savannah from here if I remember correctly. We could probably make it before sunset."

Carol spoke up. "Dublin is about two hours from here…We could cut the trip in half and stay at my cousins' old house. I'd like to stop and see if any of them are still around. If it's overrun we'd always just move on."

Scott replied, "I don't see any problem with that."

"But…" Marco started. He was silenced by Sarah when she gave him a dirty look.
"It's settled then. We'll drive to Dublin tonight and make it to Savannah tomorrow!" Rick said.

They loaded up the gear within the hour. Daryl helped Lori carry things to a car; since she got pregnant, everyone in the group was getting used to babying her.

He caught Sarah in the corner of his eye with Rosalyn, adding their gatherings from the pharmacy to her basket of medical supplies. He stood by his motorcycle and slung his crossbow around his shoulder.

Sarah walked up to him a few minutes later. "I've always liked motorcycles. My parents never let me get on one while I was a teenager of course," she laughed. "I guess after that I just never got around to learning how to drive one."

"Well, if you decide want a lesson I'm sure I can fit you into my busy schedule somewhere."

She smiled. "I might take you up on that."

"You could ride on the back to Dublin if you wanted," he suggested.

"Could I?" The look that spread across her small features could be described as nothing less than exuberant. "I'll ask Marco! We were supposed to take the same car, but I'm sure he won't mind driving a couple hours on his own."

'This can't end well,' Daryl thought as she went back to Marco to ask.

Sarah came back a few minutes later, looking no less exuberant. "He didn't mind?" Daryl asked, somewhat suspicious.

"He doesn't like driving long distances, but I told him to get over it," she said.

Rick called out, "Everyone ready?" We're heading out!"

Daryl climbed on the bike and offered Sarah a hand to help her on; though his stomach was in knots in anticipation, he remained a cool exterior. He turned the motorcycle on and revved the engine a few times for impressive measure. He wanted Marco to hear from the Honda with the windows rolled down.

"I must admit, I'm a bit nervous about this whole thing."

"What are ya'll complaining about now? You have the easy job, just hold on."

She pulled her hair back into a ponytail before the line of cars began moving, and then wrapped her arms around his waist very tightly.

"Jesus, you know I have to breathe right? What are ya trying to do, cut off my circulation?"

She laughed and loosened her grip. "Sorry!"

Daryl drove pretty slowly at first, not straying his spot in the line. He felt her arms begin to relax more and could tell she was getting used to it. The roar of the bike was all they could hear and the wind blew through their hair in a hopelessly-romantic-movie sort of way. She leaned in so her head was on his shoulder and he felt her good-sized breasts press against his back, in the same manner that her slim thighs pressed against his legs. His impure thoughts from the night before came rushing back and his imagination took over.
He picked up speed and started passing the other cars until they were going over 70. She was yelling "Slow down!" in his ear.

"Okay, okay," he complied, bringing the bike down to 60. Daryl rather wished Merle was there to see such an attractive woman on his prized possession, her blonde hair streaming behind them in one smooth streak.

They reached Dublin and Daryl fell back into the line again so he would know where to go. The exit ramp led them to a main road with a few zombies in sight, but they didn't bother to stop and eliminate the threat. Carol had said that her cousins' farm was in the middle of nowhere.

The group pulled onto a dirt driveway. A small house was at the end, painted robin's egg blue. There was a barn in the background and he could see the small parcel of acreage that Carol had described. No zombies around, from what Daryl could see.

A few people came out of the house with guns when they heard the cars (and motorcycle) pull into the drive. They must have been Carol's relatives, because she jumped out of the first car and ran across the yard to meet them.

Daryl parked the bike and helped Sarah get off first before he followed. "Well, how was it? Everything you dreamed of and more?"

"It was absolutely amazing," she grinned. "Thank you so much!"

"Don't mention it…" sometimes he didn't know how to react to her sweetness. He wasn't used to people who were just plain nice; it made him constantly suspicious that she was just acting fake.

Meanwhile, the happy reunion of Carol and her cousins had taken place. They asked where Ed and Sophia were, and she sadly told them of their plights. Her family was happy to offer the group a place to stay for the night and informed them that they hadn't seen many walkers yet.

Of course, there wasn't enough room in the house. Carol, Hershel, and Beth would sleep inside, but the rest of the group went to work setting up their tents. For one reason or another, Daryl ended up putting his tent close to the place where Sarah worked to set hers up.

The short woman seemed to struggle with the tent. He figured that her life in New York City didn't offer her much camping experience. "Want some help?" Daryl asked.

"I've got it bro, don't worry about it," Marco said, coming out of nowhere.

'Bro? Are you fucking serious?' Daryl shook his head and went to the fire that Glenn built and was sitting alone by.

"So, Sarah decided to ride your bike, huh?" the Korean kid said.

"Yeah."

"Saw her go in your room last night," he lifted his eyebrows suggestively. "You do seem a little less moody than usual."

"Nothing happened…" Daryl said, giving him a look that meant "drop it".

He didn't. "Bummer," Glenn said. "Well hey, if you ever need some protection, let me know."

Daryl stood and walked away without another word.

First of all, I was excited to see that this story has reached over 1000 hits, woohoo! Let's make it 2000 ;) Haha anyways, if you want to know when to expect updates, my plan is to release a new chapter every day Monday-Friday and then I'm going to use Saturday and Sunday as brainstorming and working ahead. Hope you all are enjoying the story! Pleaseee keep reviewing, it keeps me going haha.