Please read and review. I appreciate all the alerts and favorites. As usual, I don't own any of The Walking Dead characters, just the OC's...you know the rest.

Chapter 11

The group moved towards the double-door of the small, one-story building that served as the terminal. There were a couple small commuter planes on the tarmac, door open, their stairways down. One walker wandered around between the planes, dressed in a set of mechanic's coveralls covered with blood and gore. His neck had been bitten in two places and you could easily see tendon and muscle through chunks of dangling rotten flesh. Aliya shuddered, turning her head away briefly. She wasn't particularly afraid of single walkers, they were easily dispatched, but it was the rotting flesh and gaping wounds that made her uneasy. She'd never been good with dead bodies, big or small, and ones that rose and tried to eat her were especially not her favorite kind.

The doors to the terminal were closed, with a large iron pipe running through the handles, a crude method of barring the door to keep someone, or something, inside. None of the floor-to-ceiling windows were broken out, oddly enough, and Merle and Aliya and the others could see inside clearly. About twenty or so walkers ambled around, shuffling back and forth until they saw the group advancing towards the building. The walkers became agitated and began to gather at the windows, pressing against them, pounding, pushing.

Rick and Shane decided to try to get them to come out slowly, one or two at time, so that the others could take care of them "in a controlled manner" as Rick put it. Cop through and through, Aliya smirked. They lined up behind the vehicles they'd pulled up close to the building, with T-Dog watching for walkers from the rear. Shane put a couple rounds from his Mossberg into one of the glass doors and the walkers came spilling out. The door acted as a cattle chute of sorts. The couldn't all get out through the broken glass at the same time, but it was wide enough of a space to let one or two come through. When they got a few yards out, the group took turns taking care of them with the firearms. The fell in lumps and heaps onto the concrete walkway into the building, hazards for the group no more.

When no more walkers were visible through the terminal windows, the group advanced and Shane removed the pipe and opened the doors. The terminal was littered with debris, gore, suitcases and backpacks, clothing and computer bags. It was as if the people had vanished, leaving their belongings behind, only the brown-black pools of now-solid dried blood and the streaks and smears on the walls and floors were a reminder of the manner of death they faced.

The smell was horrific, walkers trapped in a building for weeks and months, no ventilation, wandering around, bumping into each other and just...rotting. T-Dog and Stuart began to knock out windows to allow the fresh air in. The stench was still god-awful, but at least it was a little better. More than once, Aliya had to bend over and put her head between her knees near an open window to keep from vomiting. She wasn't the only one struggling to maintain control, either.

There were more bags and cases in the terminal than they could manage to go through efficiently. Rick spotted a luggage cart outside by one of the hangars. It was not a large cart, but it would, with some creativity, fit the trailer hitch on the back of the pick-up. It was agreed that they'd pull it to the building and toss the bags into the cart and search through them in the safety of their own home. Everyone hurried to toss in every bag and suitcase and laptop they could find. There were cases of bottled water and vending machine snacks in a store-room, along with come cleaning supplies, so those were put on the cart and in the now-full truck, as well.

Aliya approached Shane and Rick, who were huddled deciding if they'd had enough or they wanted to continue to search the hangars or come back later and try to bring back some of the heavier equipment.

"Guys." she said, trying to find a break in the conversation. "What about those two planes out there?"

Rick looked up and out to the runway. "Hmm...well. I guess we got so caught up in cleaning out in here that we forgot about them."

"Suppose we ought to check them out." Shane said definitively. He looked at Aliya. "You up for it?"

"Sure. Let's go." Shane and Aliya headed out the door, with Rick calling to the others to let them know what was going on. Aliya shot a quick glance at Merle, who had two large suitcases under each arm. She was sure she saw the corner of his lip curl a bit when he realized she was going outside. She pointed to him and he grinned. It wasn't the "I know, I'll behave" grin that Aliya was hoping for and somewhere in the back of her head, the little voice told her it wasn't walkers in the planes that were going to give her trouble now.

XXXXX

Merle walked down the small corridor, watching out for the prying eyes of Rick and the others. He was heading to the bathrooms and some privacy. He pushed open the door cautiously and looked around. It opened inward, so he was wary of anything that may be still inside, his baseball bat at the ready. He couldn't risk using the handgun he'd found, no, that was his and his alone, nobody was going to find that out until it was damn well time.

The bathroom was littered with paper and glass from broken mirrors. The foul smell was almost as bad as the inside of the terminal at first. Almost. Merle maneuvered his boot off to retrieve the bag of pills, noting that some of them were crushed already, a fine white powder in the corners. He grabbed three and gulped them down. That'll do for a start, he told himself. He was thinking that it might be likely that whomever had the pills in the Charger might have left more in a bag or suitcase in the terminal or the plane. He was hoping for finding something a little more uplifting, like speed, hopefully found in the bags in the terminal. At least that way he'd have a small chance to get at it if he helped with sorting through the bags. If somebody else found them, he'd lose them it good. What a fuckin' waste, he thought to himself. I need that shit. It has to be there. Something has to be there and it fuckin' has to be...mine. His mind raced, waiting for the numb to arrive.

Merle returned to the terminal and watched out the windows, keeping his distance from the others. He eyed Rick warily, watching his every move as the thin, dark-haired man paced back and forth underneath the small plane. He heard a gun shot and quickly moved to the window for a closer look. In a second he saw Aliya pop her head out the door and give Rick the thumbs-up sign. She stuck her head back in the door and then out again, obviously in the middle of a conversation between Rick and Shane.

In a few minutes, Shane and Aliya hopped down the short stairs and moved to the other plane, stepping up and in cautiously, weapons drawn. There were no gunshots this time. After several minutes, the two descended the steps and walked slowly back into the terminal, chattering to Rick.

Rick called the group together to discuss their plans. There were lots of bags on the plane and these were the items people intended to flee with, so there would likely be medicines, etc. on board. They wanted to be able to toss the bags out and directly onto the luggage cart or into the bed of the truck, requiring them to finish in the terminal and move the cart to under next to the two planes. The men got to work on hooking up the cart to the ball-hitch on the truck while Aliya stood guard. Merle and Glenn and Stuart made one more round in the terminal, checking for anything they missed.

Within half an hour, Merle was feeling no pain. Literally. He felt the entire world downshift and he had to put his hand on one of the blood-stained couches to steady himself. "Aaahhhhh." he said in a quiet moan. "Fuckin' A." he said. It had been a while since he'd felt this way and he found himself smiling for no reason. He felt good. Really good.

Aliya walked in when they were done and wiped both hands together. Merle was standing outside, looking up at the sky. "I think we're finished here." she pronounced, walking up and standing next to him. "We need to get back home, I'm starving."

"Well, let's get ya' home, then, Darlin'." he oozed. Aliya took one look at him. His pupils were huge and glassy. He was grinning as he looked at her.

"Merle. What did you do?" she said, alarmed at what she'd observed.

"I didn't do nuthin', Baby Girl. Can't a man just enjoy tha' day?"

"We been working our asses off, knee-deep in walkers and blood all day. Nothin' enjoyable about the last six hours at all." She grabbed his elbow and pulled him out of earshot from the others. "What did you find, Merle? What did you take?"

"You bes' step off. I didn't find nothin'. Now stop accusin' me a' shit n' lets get tha' fuck outta' here 'for I start gettin' pissed off."

"Merle, I swear. If you're high..."

"I ain't high, so get off it. Let's go." he said, moving in what felt to him like slow motion. He turned towards the others and started to walk away.

XXXXX

Daryl got back right shortly dark. Aliya was in the downstairs shower. She had locked the bathroom door, but he knew how to pop the lock quietly. He slipped in unnoticed, and sat down on the stool. He took off his boots and peeled off his sweaty button-down flannel shirt when Aliya heard him. She wiped some of the steam off the glass door, making sure it was really Daryl, and smiled when she saw him unbuttoning his pants and sliding out of them.

Daryl opened the shower door and moved to her, pressing against her back, his arms slipping around her smooth wet skin. "Mmmmm" she said quietly. "Nice." she said, twisting her head around to kiss him, as the shower sprayed hot water on both their exhausted bodies.

"Rick said ya' did good today." he said, his hands roaming, skimming across skin, kneading flesh, exploring. Aliya could feel him pressing against her hip.

"Could we not talk shop right now?" she said, turning to face him, her long hair dripping heavy with water. She ran her hands across his chest, circling his tattoos, down his biceps, across his stomach to his hips. She pulled him to her as she stepped back against the shower wall. Daryl leaned in and they kissed roughly, his hands moving to cup her round ass, stretching her on her tiptoes. He kneaded the soft flesh between his fingers, his mouth moving to part her lips, tongue moving in slowly, snaking around hers as her hands moved back to his chest.

Aliya moaned into Daryl's mouth softly as he continued to kiss her. She pulled back, trying to breathe between the spray from the shower and Daryl's kisses, and pushed him back a step. She trailed her hands down his sides, his hips, the sides of his thighs as she kneeled down in front of him, taking him in. Now it was Daryl's turn to moan as she slid him slowly in and out, twisting her tongue, letting her hands play along. Daryl leaned forward and put his palms flat on the wall to steady himself as he moved with her. Aliya went slowly, carefully, knowing at what perfect point to stop before she'd gone too far.

Daryl had reached that particular point quickly this evening and when she let him slide one last time from her mouth, ending with a soft kiss on the tip, he pulled her up to her feet quickly. "Jesus, woman." he said breathlessly as he spun her around to face the wall. "Thought 'bout this all damn day." he said, bending his knees slightly and grasping her hips, pulling her back to meet him. Aliya let out a protracted gasp as he entered her slowly, bending forward to turning her head slightly to see him. Daryl's eyes were closed and his lips were pressed together tightly. She'd seen that look on his face before. He was in another world right now.

Daryl wrapped his arms around her waist and let one hand snake up to grasp her breast, pinching and twisting a nipple as he rocked his hips against her ass. He was trying to go slow, take his time, but it was damn near impossible. Daryl hadn't had a lot of girlfriends, hell, he hadn't had a lot of girls period, but he was pretty sure that none of them had made him feel this good, this happy.

Aliya was moaning softly with each thrust of Daryl's hips, rocking hers back to meet him. He reached a hand up and pulled her hair from in front, to behind, letting the water fall down her back and between them. Her hair was damn near to her waist, a dark brown mass of tangled curls that moved with them. He put the side of his cheek against her head and moved it slowly back and forth. "Daamn." he drawled, closing his eyes again. "Aw, daaaamn." he said, feeling the need to increase the tempo.

Daryl's movements sped up and he grasped her harder, holding her almost still as he rocked against her harder. Faster. He could tell from how she felt that she was almost closer now, as well, closing around him with more force, drawing him in deeper. Her breathing became more shallow and her moans louder as Daryl began to move quickly now, small grunts and growls escaping as he bit his lower lip to try to hold back as long as he could.

He let out a breath quickly, expelling the air from his lungs as he exploded, his hand now gripping her shoulders firmly as he pushed her against the shower wall, her elbows bent. One final, driving thrust and Aliya came as well, gasping loudly, trying to take a breath only to have it catch in her lungs. Daryl wrapped his arms around her and pushed her flat into the wall, swaying back and forth slowly as they both tried to regain their senses and steady themselves on their feet. "Jesus, Daryl." the small voice came from within his arms. "What you do to me."

Daryl turned Aliya around and picked her up, her legs wrapping around his waist. They were both fully under the spray of the shower now, water dripping down their noses, rolling down their cheeks, shoulders, hair. He kissed her slowly and turned them away from the spray, making a contended purr sound. Aliya closed her eyes and let herself go, enjoying the feelings surging through her and the hot water pounding down on her for just a minute longer. She was sure of one thing. She'd never felt like this with a guy before and come hell or high water, nothing was going to screw it up.

XXXXX

Daryl ran his hands over the silky underwear and whistled as Aliya batted his hand away and continued to try to dress, pulling the already-fastened bra over her head and adjusting herself into the cups. Twenty pounds lighter and she still couldn't go without, much to her chagrin.

"Stop it. I have to go help with dinner." she said, feigning being annoyed. She was exhausted. If it weren't her turn in the kitchen, she'd let him take those underwear off, have his way with her again, and slip off to a deep sleep without even eating dinner. "You need to go check out Merle. I think he's high." He was acting funny after we cleaned out the terminal. All, loose and relaxed. His eyes looked like he was on something, too. Not speed, he was definitely not hyper."

"Shit." he said, pulling on his pants. "I fuckin' knew it. I knew he'd do this."

"I'm not saying for sure. Don't go accusing him, I already have and he denied it. Just see what you think." she said, slipping on a pair of jeans.

Daryl shook his head. If there was one thing he knew, it was how to tell if his brother was high. Lord knows, he'd had years of practice.