Nothin' or Somethin'
Chapter 12-Getting Closer
Day One
"Hey Nai?" Carl questions coming over to me, where I was a distance away from the cars checking our surroundings when we stopped for the day. Most of the others got out to stretch their legs when Rick, Daryl, and I were doing this. I hum and give him a questioning look, so he says "I, uh, wanted to say sorry." "Sorry?" I repeat in a questioning tone causing the boy to quickly nod his head. "What ya gotta tell me sorry for?" I ask him fully turning my attention to him causing him to look at the ground saying, "Because I snuck off to find my dad you got separated from Merle. Beth told me he was the only person she'd seen you be so comfortable around." "It ain't no one's fault but the deadheads and the dead." I tell him before looking towards Beth, where she was watching the interaction with Maggie, muttering "She said that to ya huh."
"It's not her fault. I'm the one that asked her about you and him." Carl quickly says, a little bit in a panic, causing me to sigh and plop my hand on his head and tell him "I'm not mad. Calm down." "Really?" He whispers so I look down at him with a smile repeating "Really."
Day Two
"You know I've been wondering something." Carl says suddenly in the middle of him and Beth playing with their snack, some scrabble cheese-its we got from the station, causing me to turn my attention to them while Beth questions "About what?" "Well…" Carl starts before trailing off to look at me a second before back at Beth continuing "How come neither of you look like Nai?" "Oh, well…" She says trailing off to look at me in question, so I voice a simple "I'm adopted." "Oh! Just like how you adopt a pet into your family! Oh! And like how you adopted Merle, Glenn, and I into your family!" He exclaims causing me sigh out "I guess so." Sliding my gaze to the culprits of the information leak, a somewhat guilty looking Maggie and Beth, before back at him and state "Probably best if ya didn't word it like that around the other Dixon. Might piss 'em off." "Yeah, comparing his brother to a pet wouldn't be good." He states grimacing before Glenn pipes up with a "Though he is like a feral dog that got tamed by Nai."
This of course causes the boy to laugh especially after I reach over and smack the back of Glenn's head with a "What are you then?" "I'm a kitten." He states in a matter-of-fact tone causing the other two girls to giggle before they all are laughing when I say, "No wonder Merle didn't like ya."
Day Three
"What do you think happened?" Beth questions as we come up on a small group of abandoned cars. "Ran out of gas?" Carl offers as Rick's car in front of us came to a stop bringing us to a stop with Daryl pulling up next to them. Guess we were looting them of anything useful since I doubt we'd actually look for whoever they belonged to. Though this could definitely be a trap set up by whomever. Rick and Daryl converse for a minute before Daryl nods. T-Dog then gets out of the car while Daryl turns and comes to a stop next to us.
Glenn rolls down the window and Daryl says, "Rick wants only T and Nai to check it out. If it's a trap, he wants you to quickly leave and get the kids to safety." I make a sound of approval smirking that Rick actually deduced the possibility of a trap while Glenn responds "Huh? Uh, okay." and Maggie simply sighs instead of arguing.
I get out as T-Dog got to our car, so I motion for Carol to replace me to which she gives me a worried smile but nods and does so. "You'll check out the cars while I keep watch close by and Daryl long distance." T-Dog says then in a hushed tone, a displeased look on his face, to which I turn my head to Daryl, who'd done the same, before he nods, getting it. I turn back to T-Dog and give him a nod while Daryl releases a grunt before moving back to the back. I glance back at Daryl to see that he now had his crossbow relatively ready, just in case, before I move to the cars, T-Dog following close behind.
The cars looked recently abandoned and in a relative hurry and that sent some warning bells off in the back of my mind. There was loose clothes, things, and food containers spewed about them like some stuff was gathered in a hurry. There wasn't any indication of a fight with the dead either. Or even the living for that matter. Maybe they just ran out of gas? No, opening the tanks didn't release fumes from any of the cars. What made me really concerned was finding an apple, with a single bite out of it, on the front floor of the last one. I stop to investigate the apple more to try and estimate a better time frame for the owner's abandonment. It looked like it still hadn't started to wrinkle so I'd been no more than a day or two. Where the hell'd they go and why so quick? I didn't like this. "I'm 'a talk to Rick." I tell him already leaving him and jogging up to Rick's car.
"They left in a hurry and not too long ago at that. But why is the question. They still got some gas and there ain't no sign of a fight with deadheads or the living for that matter. It's yer call if ya want to try and scout around. But we need to quickly take what we can and get out of here regardless." I tell Rick as soon as I got there earning a "Go with Daryl to see if you can find anything around. Need to see if we can identify the danger before continuing blind. We'll scavenge the cars here but keep the kids in a car with Hershel, Lori, and Carol. If the trouble finds us, they'll leave, and I'll send a shot off to signal you two. We'll use the gas station as a rendezvous point if needed. But only for a day." From him. I nod in response while stepping back allowing Rick to get out.
I turn to go to Daryl but pause when Rick puts a hand on my shoulder. I look at him and he looks back at the car before saying "Hershel, tell the group the plan and I'll send Daryl over when I'm done talking with her." "Alright." Hershel responds then before he and Lori get out of the car and start heading to the others. Thus, Rick turns back to me with a nod before he leads me a little away from our caravan and the cars as he whispers, "It's your call if you find whatever it is."
"Ya sure?" I question earning another nod and a "You've never done me wrong. Even when you didn't know me. Kept Merle from killing me and Glenn that day you two found us. You even went after my son when that herd arrived. I knew when I saw you zero in on him that he was who you were after. Even now your stating facts about the situations, sharing your knowledge, and leaving the decision to me unless it endangers the group like back at the station. What I'm saying is I trust you. I trust that if I ever make a decision that endangers the group, you'll ignore it and make the right call."
"I'm no leader Officer Friendly. I don't want that job." I scoff causing the hand on my shoulder to tighten a little as he says "I know. But I also know you'll do whatever you have to, to keep the people you care about safe." "Yer puttin' a lot of faith that I won't convince my family to leave after this admit of weakness." I say smacking his hand away which causes him to give me a smile saying, "You're probably using us as much as I'm using you." "I should 'a just let Merle kill ya." I scoff narrowing my eyes at him only earning a small laugh and a "Maybe. Why not just let him when we see him again then." I sigh and relax my face muttering "I might." "I don't expect less." He says and then turns and jogs off to join the group.
I release a sigh watching as Daryl gives Rick a nod when he passes him before he jogs over to me. I'm stuck with him again, though he was needed this time to see if there were any tracks to find. "Ya lead Dixon. I ain't no hunter." I tell him immediately earing no response other than a raised eyebrow. "What?" I hiss at him which earns a smirk and a "Ain't no Dixon then." "No shit." I snap annoyed which earns a small chuckled "Yeah? Come on then." As he turns and starts walking towards the woods. I sigh and quickly follow him pulling my knife out. I'm gonna have to have Merle teach me how to track when we get back together again. How annoying.
Once in the woods he pauses saying "There's sets of tracks here." "Going further in?" I question scanning the woods which earns an agreeing grunt before he continues, and I simply follow close behind. We go a few more feet when he stops, bends, and picks up something from the ground inspecting it so I scan the woods again, stopping when I spot something off about a tree. I walk over to it to find a bullet lodged in it at about the height a person's head would be. "Dixon." I hiss at him and his head instantly snaps toward me, so I motion to the tree. He focuses on it a minute, his jaw clenching, as he then holds up what he picked up to show me, a bullet casing. There'd definitely been someone with a gun here, and not a hunter at that. Well, I mean one after animals that is. They were shooting at deadheads or our fellow living.
Though unlike with Merle this situation was a little better as we both already had guns to bring to the gun fight. And well, they could be long gone from the immediate area as well if it'd been days instead of day. There was also no sign of them actually hitting their target so they're probably a poor shot, unlike me and more than likely Daryl. Though I've never seen him use a gun, only his crossbow, but he had enough aim to shoot squirrels with it so that was a good indicator that he was.
"I don't like this." He grumbles standing so I return to him saying "I agree. But we don't have any definitive evidence what it was they were shooting at. We still need to see if we can for at least a little longer." He simply nods agreeing with me but didn't look happy about it as he turns away from me and continues following the trail. Releasing a sigh, I quickly follow him, a little closer than before just in case. Would I regret using him as a human shield? Probably not. Though I don't wanna have to explain to Merle if he died when I was with him. So…Maybe a little.
As we go I start hearing the distinct sound of deadheads. Now if it was single stragglers or a horde was another matter. Soon we start passing more trees with scars from bullets and some signs of dried blood, but no bodies yet. As such, deadheads or living were still a question that is until we start coming up on crumpled bodies of clearly deadheads. They had clear holes in their heads from bullets or had their head clearly caved in so no need to investigate them closely, yet. Thus, we keep going until an arm shot out of a bush and grabbed Daryl's leg. I quickly stomp on it, breaking its hold on him, as Daryl silences the deadhead that just poked its head out growling. I quickly retrieve his bolt and hand it back to him with a nod. He returns the gesture as he quickly reloads before we scan the trees, inches apart. When nothing appears, I nudge him then motion to the deadhead still under my foot when he looks at me.
His jaw clenches but he nods and goes back to watching the trees. Rolling my eyes, I step back a little off the deadhead before putting my knife away, bending down, grabbing the arm, and pull it fully out of the bush. Sure, as shit, it had a duffle bag slung on it. I think we found one of our car owners, but were they the culprits of the shots? And why'd they die if they were? Crouching down I give it a once over. It had a nice bite to the neck, one on the arm, and a nearly devoured to the bone leg.
"Guess that was the tastiest part of 'em." I mutter with a short quiet laugh which actually earns a short and quiet huff of a laugh from Daryl. I glance back at him with a 'Really?' look which causes him to roll his eyes at me and go back to scanning our surroundings. Shaking my head, I return my attention to the dead deadhead before leaning over and moving the bag a little. It had a decent weight to it, so it probably contained more than clothes inside, and useful things at that if they took them with them when trying to run from probably a horde. But we could investigate it closely when we get back to the group.
"Pain in the ass if I gotta run." I mutter to myself as I take the bag from the deadhead but I immediately get it ripped from my hands with a scoff from Daryl. I give him a 'Was that necessary?' look as I stand back up which only earns him looking away with another scoff as he slings it over his shoulder. I roll my eyes scoffing "Think it won't be a pain for ya?" which earns an annoyed huffed "Less than ya." "Concerned for me now are we Younger Dixon?" I question, sarcasm lacing every word, which causes him to look back at me stating "Have ta be.", annoyance in his words and on his face.
"Have ta be." I repeat in a scoff before stating "Bullshit. Ya just don't wanna have ta explain to Merle why I'm dead when I was with ya." This causes him to give an angry growl and glare to which I scoff back "Actin' like ya ain't the same." "This ain't the time to talk 'bout this." He mutters then while looking away so I question "And when would mister Dixon?" I receive another angry growl before an angry "Ya really wanna do this now? Fine." Then he releases a sigh and turning to face me with that same face he gave me that day saying "Yer right. I don't wanna have ta explain to Merle why yer dead when I was with ya. The bastard told me to look out for ya."
"He tell ya this before goin' to save Carol for yer ass?" I question putting all my weight on one leg and crossing my arms over my chest which turns his face angry as he scoffs "Didn't ask 'em to." "He cares about ya. Ya didn't have ta. Can't say the same for ya though, can I?" I respond which causes him to step forward and rage at me "He talks a big game, but he was never there for me! But for ya he practically tears my head off if I say a bad thing 'bout ya! He treats ya, just some random bitch, better than his own blood!" "This again?!" I exclaim straightening up to stand my ground as I continue "I told yer ass I didn't know why the hell we got along as well as we do but yer so hung up on him and ya bein' blood when in my experience blood ties don't mean shit."
"Yeah right. Ya'd give yer live for yer sisters." He scoffs and immediately I feel something snap in me and I rage at him "I'm not their blood ya shit for brains! God! My blood left my ass to fend for myself on the streets of Atlanta when I was ten!" He steps back, like I slapped him, shocked, even his crossbow falls out of his hand and hangs forgotten at his side, but I continue to rage "My poor ass managed to run into Hershel after six years of being alone! He offered me a place to stay until I was old enough to earn my own way honestly! Being a Greene was a god damned formality! It took years before they were my family! Hell, it was at least a year before I even got remotely close to Maggie and Beth! And poor Shawn was even longer, and he couldn't hurt a fly! But Merle?! That one-handed redneck I found barely conscious behind a dumpster?! That fucker I left to fend for himself the next morning?!"
He opens his mouth to talk but I cut him off before he can start by continuing to rage at him "I'm not done! That fucker only needed a few days! And that's being generous! Maybe it was coincidence he found me getting attacked by those guys! Maybe he truly followed me! Maybe he only wanted to repay the favor for not lettin' him be deadhead chow and cleanin' and wrappin' his charred to fuck stump after bein' left for dead! I don't fuckin' know why and I told ya to ask him! All I fuckin' know is that it turned out that if it wasn't for him, I'd be dead or worse and if it wasn't for me, he'd be dead!"
"That's enough!" Daryl snaps then, back to being angry, but still I keep going "Hell, I was more comfortable around 'em than anyone! I could trust him!" "Enough!" Daryl practically screams but the words just kept flowing out of my mouth "My life ain't ever been the candy canes and rainbows ya think it was!" "Mine wasn't either!" Daryl rages at me then getting back in my face causing an involuntary laugh to escape my throat before a smirk graces my face as I tell him "Oh cry me a river Dixon. Let me guess, Daddy Dixon was a no good drunk piece of shit that beat ya. Mama Dixon either died or skipped out. And Big Brother Dixon was a junkie. Oh woe is Daryl! Give me a break. Let's be real. We'll just use each other until it's no longer beneficial. I release ya from yer fuckin' obligation. I don't fuckin' need it. I just need a fuckin' body and ya and the rest of those fucks fit the bill. So, stop pretending we could be anythin' more like ya did back at that gas station."
He's quiet for a moment then, absolute fury on his face while both hands tighten into white knuckled fists. I was pushing my luck again right now, but I wouldn't back down. Hell, I couldn't back down. I didn't back down to Merle then and I sure as hell won't back down to Daryl right now. This time was a serious argument instead of our petty arguments before and I just did serious damage. The tension right now was so thick I'm sure that even the deadheads that were sure to be drawn to our yelling are thinking twice about making us a meal right now.
"Pretending? That's what it was to ya?" He growls low from the back of his throat after probably a good three-minute stare down instantly earning a scoffed "Wasn't it?" "I don't know why I did that! But it sure as hell wasn't pretending!" He snaps back causing me to raise an eyebrow at him and question "Ya really expect me to believe ya acted like we were friends on impulse?" "Maybe we just work out like that too." He snaps back followed by a reluctant "It's easier to believe than why my brother followed ya in the first place. And turns out that shits true."
"Now it sounds like ya know why the fuck he followed me in the first place. Enlighten me." I say annoyed which elicits a heavy sigh from him before he reluctantly says, "He said ya were her." "Yeah, I'm gonna need a little more than that Daryl." I tell him, still in an annoyed tone, which earns another heavy sigh before he explains, "The kid that stole his shit and ended up savin' him from some serious jail time from the cops that were waitin' to bust 'em down the street. The kid that a dealer told 'em hadn't been seen for a bit when he went lookin' for ya ta thank ya a few days later. So he thought ya died or some shit. Didn't try and have me do any of the shit again after." "No shit?" I question and get an annoyed huff which causes me to bust out laughing "Yer tellin' me Merle was one of the sorry shits that got their stash pickpocketed by me? That that he came to thank me? And it was after I moved my shit after that guy tried to convince me to stop pickpocketing people and just go to the no good police about my sack of shit parents? How the hell'd he figure that one out?"
"When ya were takin' him back ta yer place and by followin' ya that day." He responds before looking away from me and adding "Said only someone who'd know the back alleys would take the routes ya did." "And ya didn't believe it. Ain't no way some random ass farm bitch with a happy family was that person right." I state more than ask causing him to nod before he quickly grabs, raises, and fires his crossbow at something in the direction we had been heading.
I look over in time to see a deadhead, with a backpack on, crumple to the ground, the bolt in its eye. He quickly reloads as I redraw my knife, both of us scanning the area. But again, it somehow was clear again, though one in the area does release a loud roar. "I'll get it." I whisper harshly at him holding an arm out to stop him from stepping forward to retrieve his bolt. I get my response as a quiet grunt, so I slowly walk toward the downed deadhead, scanning the dense woods in front of us. Was it really just this one that got attracted to us? I crouch to retrieve the bolt and something glints under some leaves behind the tree I was now next to. I grab the bolt before leaning over to brush the leaves away. I end up revealing a pistol that was splattered with dried blood.
I release I hum in question, lean back, and look at the second deadhead. They had something sticking out of their front pocket. I turn back to Daryl and motion to the one on the ground next to him while putting my knife away again. He understands my meaning and nods before starting to carefully come towards me so I turn back to the second deadhead. I hold his bolt up for him as I pull whatever was in my deadheads pocket out, revealing an ammo clip, probably for the bloody gun. I stick it in my own pocket as Daryl grabs his bolt from me so I then lean back over, grab said bloody gun, shift my bag off one shoulder, and quickly zip it in a pocket and shift it back on. We could closely look at it later. I then lean back again and lookover the deadhead again, my eyes now zeroing in on a nice collection of dried blood on an arm. Pulling the sleeve up revealed a nice bite to the wrist and another near the elbow.
"Bites. Where're the ones that bit ya?" I mutter as I then work on retrieving their bag. I just got it off when a rustle in front of me got my attention. Snapping my head up I'm greeted by a real-eaten deadhead crawler, it's milky dead eyes right on my level. I stare at it as they slide from me to behind me, and subsequently Daryl. Its mouth opens to release a growl but before it could start a bolt imbeds itself in one of its eyes silencing it but there was still a growl from in front of us.
I sling the new bag on one of my shoulders as I grab Daryl's bolt. As soon as I had it in my hand two more deadheads fell out of the bushes in front of me. Times up, the cause of the abandonment and bites, a horde, had found us. My jars were working for me, but Daryl was free game. So were the others. Depending on how many there were we might be able to take them down, but they already caused the car owners to abandon their cars and flee. So, this was in no way a small one. Their only option? Flee.
I bolt up earning milky eyes focusing on me, that's it deadheads, I'm right here too. They step forward and I quickly pull my gun and shoot one in the head as the other gets a bolt in its eye. "Daryl, go! I'll hold 'em off." I order but my response is for him to growl and grab my arm that had his bolt and harshly tug it back towards him. "Damn it Dixon! Go!" I order again shooting another that appeared only for him to tug my arm again growling "Not without ya."
"Damn it! Fine!" I exclaim turning towards him instantly causing him to turn and start dragging me with him as he ran. "Yer so fuckin' stupid!" I scream at him causing him to snap "That's my line!" "I have my fuckin' dead jars ya moron! I would've just needed to get out of their sight, and I'd be fine!" I scream at him only for him to snap back "Then what?! Ya find a way back to the gas station on yer own?!" "Yes!" I practically screech as we break the tree line allowing us to take a breath.
"And how did that work out for ya before?" He growls still pulling me with him as he quickly walks towards his lone bike and the abandoned cars, the others did in fact flee after the shots. I couldn't respond to that one and stayed silent causing him to huff only then releasing the hold on me as he gets on and starts his bike. I look back towards the trees and see that the deadheads had managed to follow us, as a few were stumbling out of the tree line, and put my gun away before reluctantly getting on behind him. My yelling at him probably didn't help us on that front.
"Hold on to me" He says then causing me to snap "Why?" just as my free hand grabbed the side. "Or yer gonna fly off! We ain't gonna start at a slow pace this time!" He snaps back like he was scolding a child causing me to huff out a "Fine." as I reluctantly wrap my arms around his waist lightly. As soon as I did that he punched it and I did almost fly off, causing me to reflexively hold onto him tighter. I then felt him rumble with laughter causing me to jab the but of his bolt still in one of my hands, into him. Which only made his rumbling worse. Damn it.