.:Raelyn | Age 27 *Present*:.
The sound of the door creakin' to a slam shut behind us seemed to seal our fate as Glenn, Rick, and I slowly made our way out into the open alley way, relyin' on these nasty, bloody clothes to protect us from bein' eaten alive.
My heart was hammerin' in my ribcage as I hobbled along with Rick and Glenn, all of us doin' our best to mimic the way the corpses walked, and moanin' quietly just like they did. Up ahead, just before the end of the alley, I could see four geeks lingerin' together, lookin' lost and dazed, just waitin' for their next meal to catch their attention... And hopefully it wouldn't be us.
I clenched my teeth together as we grew closer and closer, glancin' over at the two guys and readin' the anxiousness on their faces, too. We were right next to 'em now, close enough to touch, and it was the terrifyin' moment of truth. The four freaks seemed to spare us brief glances, but didn't make any sudden movements toward us. They just grunted and walked on by, draggin' their broken ankles and continuin' their search for food. Little did they know, It had just been right in front of their foggy, clouded over eyes, but we amazingly managed to fool 'em.
The three of us exchanged looks of disbelief before stallin' at the alley entrance, starin' out into the streets. I gulped, scannin' my eyes all around, takin' in the sheer mass of the dead roamin' around out in broad daylight. Sure, we'd fooled four walkers, but could we really make it past what easily could have been hundreds, or even thousands?
Only one way to find out, I guess...
Rick led the way, noddin' for Glenn and I to follow behind him. We slowly made our way out into the open, movin' in the direction of the construction site. As the geeks continued to just brush past us, even bumping our shoulders without so much as a second glance, I started to believe that this plan might actually work. Still, we each made sure our weapons were easily accessible, just in case... Rick clutched the ax from the storage room close to his chest, ready to swing if he had to, and Glenn and I kept our hands safely pressed on the handguns stuck in the waistbands of our jeans.
When I glanced up, I could see Morales peerin' down at us through his binoculars from the rooftop of the department store, the rest of the group lined up along the roof's edge, watchin' us with expressions of fear, and honestly, lookin' like they might throw up or somethin'. They should have considered themselves lucky they were up there away from all this madness, but at the same time they must have been feelin' some sorta panic up there, too... If we died down here, they were stranded, unless they could all figure somethin' else out.
I really hoped that didn't, happen though...
"It's gonna work..." Glenn's voice piped up through almost closed lips, "It's gonna work. I can't believe it."
Rick suddenly spoke back, his voice sounding much more urgent and firm, but just as quiet. "Don't. Draw. Attention."
We continued hobblin' in silence for what seemed like miles, the geeks barely noticin' us, only brushin' by and thinkin' we were one of them... Until suddenly, a horrible sound came from overhead... Thunder. A deep, rollin' burst of it. I glanced upward, my heart droppin' to my knees. The sky was screened in thick, billowy clouds, all dark, threatenin' shades of gray and black... Rain was in our near future, and I hoped that it would all just blow over, but I knew in the back of my mind that it wouldn't... Thunder was too loud, clouds were too thick and dark, and I could already smell the moisture in the air, even over the intense, nausiatin' stench of rotten flesh from all around us.
But, Rick, Glenn and I kept on pushin' forward. What other choice did we have? If we went back and gave up on our plan, we'd die for sure. Those geeks smashin' at the department store doors had probably just about busted their way through, so our only option was to keep pressin' toward the construction site, just three blocks away. It looked so close, yet so far away, and that box truck was our only way outta the city... I prayed it had gas in it, if we could manage to get to it in one piece.
My heart jumped as I felt the first drop of rain hit my nose, startin' a chain reaction, and soon water was pourin' down on top of us from the sky. This was not good... I could see bloody puddles formin' around our feet as we kept walkin', and I could have sworn I saw a geek to my left starin' right at me, like I looked good to eat... A soft growl escaped it's lips, but it still didn't attack. We really needed to move, fast. If we stayed out in the rain much longer, we were toast.
"It's washing off, isn't it...?!" Glenn's panicked whisper came from next to me as if he were reading my mind. To his left, a group of geeks began sniffing the air, growlin' in his direction, "Oh, God, it is! It's washing off!"
"No, it's not." Rick tried his best to stay calm and reassure the flustered Asian, but as the walker's all around us began to snarl and rile up, he quickly added in, "Well... Maybe."
Suddenly, I heard a horrible screech comin' from my right. I whipped around just in time to see a pair of open jaws rushin' my way, belongin' to a short, stalky female walker. Before I could do anything about it, I was screamin' in fear, and Rick had slung his ax with both hands, violently crushin' the skull of the thing that was tryin' to make me it's dinner... And it wasn't the only one.
"RUN!" Rick screamed at the top of his lungs, rippin' the ax from the dead body's skull.
That was it. The fuckin' rain had blown our cover, and now it was a mad dash toward the construction site. Blood was flyin' as each of us bludgeoned the walkers, Rick with his ax and Glenn and I with the butts of our pistols, carvin' our way through the ones that were rushin' us from the front and sprintin' away from the herd behind us.
It felt like everything was happenin' at hyper speed, and before I knew it we had made it to the abandoned construction zone. Rick didn't even bother to slow down as he chucked his ax over the tall fence, and we each leapt up and grabbed hold of the chain links. I'd climbed at least a hundred fences in my lifetime, but never as fast as I did in that moment.
When our feet hit the ground on the temporarily walker free side, Glenn, Rick, and I urgently stripped the bloody coats and khakis, revealin' our equally grungy street clothes underneath. The geeks kept comin' from the other side of the fence, though, screamin' and snarlin', tramplin' over one another to climb to the top of the fence. Glenn raced off behind us, and Rick pulled out his revolver, aimin' and firin' at the bloodthirsty corpses near the top of the fence. He was an amazin' shot, but I guess that came from bein' a cop.
I glanced behind me to see Glenn smashin' the padlock on a rusty green box anchored to the side of the office building. In the meantime, I ripped my pistol from my waistband, still loaded with the three bullets Morales had given me down in the boiler room. I fired them all off, one by one, landin' a head shot with each. Rick turned and briefly nodded in approval at me, his eyes wide in an impressed way.
"RICK!" Glenn's voice came from behind us in a scream, and I watched as the used-to-be police officer reached up and snatched a set of keys out of midair, then looked to me.
"C'mon!" He urged me, and we dashed off toward the box truck sittin' farthest away from the fence.
Luckily, the doors were already unlocked, allowin' us to hop inside quick and lock ourselves in the three-seater cab. Just as Rick shoved the key into the ignition and turned it to start the roarin' engine, a pair of hands slammed up against the passenger side window. The slappin' sound against the glass was almost defeanin', and scared the shit outta me.
"GO, GO, GO!" Glenn frantically urged Rick from the passenger seat as I screamed in the middle of them, watchin' all the walkers bust down the fence in front of us.
With a determined look on his face, Rick yanked the transmition into reverse, violently rippin' the wheel around and peelin' out, turnin' to face the opposite side of the construction site. We all knocked around together inside the cab as he slammed his foot on the gas, leavin' the mob of geeks in the truck's dust, and bustin' back out into the city through the rear gate. We were now headin' in the opposite direction of the department store, and I'm sure to our group up on the roof, it looked like we were leavin' them behind... But judgin' by the look on Rick's face, he had another plan brewin'.
"Holy fuckin' shit!" I cried out breathlessly, "Those things are all over that place! I can't believe we made it out alive... Holy shit!"
"Well, we ain't out alive yet..." Rick grumbled from the driver's seat, but I chose to ignore that comment. After all that bullshit, we had to make it out alive... I had to make it to Daryl... "We need to draw them away. You know those doors at the front of the store? That area? That's what I need clear."
Glenn and I stayed silent, starin' at Rick with wide eyes and hopin' he had more to say, which he did.
"Radio your friends, Glenn." He instructed, motionin' to the CB unit that Glenn was now pullin' from his waistband, "Tell 'em to get down there, and be ready."
"And we lead the geeks away how?" Glenn asked desperately, "I-I missed that part..."
Rick's reply was short and simple, just one word.
"Noise."
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.:Raelyn | Age 11:.
Shouts could be heard all around the baseball diamond in the back of the park, where a game was goin' on between two rivalin' groups of boys in the neighborhood down the street. They weren't real teams with fans or uniforms or nothin', but they liked to get all big headed and talk shit back and forth for weeks, and finally challenge each other to a game to settle who was better... Which usually ended in a tie, almost every time.
Still, it was always a big deal when the two groups of boys did play each other in a game of park baseball, and word of it usually spread fast all through town... It was a tiny little place, after all. Only kids cared to go watch, though. Adults were too busy, and really, we all liked it better that way... No one around to tell us what to do, except some of the older kids who tried to act like they were in charge of everything. I always just told 'em to piss off whenever they tried to bully me out of my front row seat, which usually worked and they left me alone.
Today, though, Daryl and I sat in the very back, perched on top of the wooden fence that boarded the edge of the park. He was muchin' on a bag of BBQ flavored pork rinds, shakin' the bag a little before offerin' me some. I had always hated pork rinds, until I started hangin' with Daryl... Now I was kinda obsessed.
The smokey-sweet flavor of the BBQ seasonin' coated my mouth as I crunched on a handful of the crispy, salty snack, and I threw my hands up in the air as a mock-cheer along with the loud crowd, watchin' a baseball sail all the way outfield. Homerun!
I never rooted for a particular team of boys, 'cause hell, I didn't really know none of 'em, and they were pretty much about the same as far as how good they played... I just liked when there was some good action.
"Who's winnin'?" Daryl asked me curiously as he finished chewin' his last bite of pork rinds.
I shrugged my skinny shoulders, feelin' my blonde ponytail flicker around in the breeze, "I dunno, I never really keep score."
"So what's the point of watchin', then?" My best friend asked me with one of his eyebrows raised up.
"Just to watch, I guess." I replied, "Sometimes they get mad at each other and get in fights, and that's pretty cool."
Daryl let out a laugh as he popped a few more BBQ pork rinds in his mouth, offerin' me the bag again. I happily accepted his offer and grabbed another handful. "You sure are a violent little girl."
"Took ya four years to figure that out?" I asked with a grin as I squinted in the sunlight and crunched on the pork rinds, makin' Daryl laugh again before we took to watchin' the rest of the game.
I swung my legs that were danglin' over the fence, stealin' a glance over at Daryl as he lunged forward to yell out how horrible one of the boy's swings had been. I giggled at his swampy southern twang that sounded just like mine. Daryl was 15 now, so there was just the slightest hint of some scruff on his chin and upper lip. I kept tellin' him to shave it, but he insisted it made him look "more like a man". Whatever, boys were weird.
Sometimes, I still couldn't believe he willingly hung out with me, an 11 year old girl, almost every single day. Most 15 year old boys were into older girls, and not just tryin' to be friends, neither. Or they were hangin' out with their buddies, goin' muddin' in their trucks or ridin' their ATV's through the backwoods of our town... But not Daryl.
He seemed like he couldn't care less about doin' any of that stuff, at least not with other guys his age. He was sorta a loner, like me... Never really got along with the other kids, who always seemed to give him a hard time.
But that was okay with me. Daryl was my best friend, and I really hoped no one would come along and steal him away from me, makin' him realize I was just a little kid and he was too cool for me...
I tried not to think about that much, though. I liked to think it would never happen.
After about an hour or so, the game ended in a tie, just like I predicted. While the teams argued in the middle of the field over the score and if it was really a tie or not, the rest of the crowd started thinnin' out, all the kids goin' home or somewhere else to hang out.
"Damn, I'm thirsty as hell." Daryl muttered as he hopped down from the fence, his old, grungy tennis-shoes hittin' the grass with a soft 'thud'. "Ya want a soda or somethin'? I got a few bucks."
I hopped down after him, brushin' off the seat of my jeans before I started followin' him towards the park's exit, "Sure, those pork rinds made me pretty thirsty, too."
We kept on walkin' through the crowd, just tryin' to get out so we could hop back on our bikes and ride down to the corner store where the cans of soda were only a dollar. Before we could get there, though, someone yelled out behind us.
"Hey! Dixon!"
Daryl and I turned around, lookin' for whoever had called out his last name in the sea of kids that were still roamin' around, chatterin' about the game.
Leanin' up against a huge oak tree over to our left was a group of three boys around Daryl's age. I recognized them as boys he went to school with.
As soon as Daryl layed eyes on 'em, he scowled, furrowin' his eyebrows up over his crystal blue eyes.
"Whaterya doin' hangin' out with that little rat again?" The biggest one of the bunch, probably the leader of the small group, hollered out with a nasty smirk, "Ain't ya got any balls, or did she take 'em from ya?"
The three boys under the tree cackled in laughter, and Daryl just turned to walk away, grumblin' over his shoulder at me,
"C'mon, Rae, let's get outta here. Just ignore those assholes."
I glanced over my shoulder at the boys under the tree, wantin' to go over there and smack 'em all in the face, but instead I just did as Daryl said and followed along behind him.
But, his plan didn't really work.
"Where ya goin', Dixon?" One of the other boys in the group hollered out as they trailed along behind us, "Goin' off to have yerselves a little tea party?!"
More laughin' came from 'em all, and I could see Daryl grindin' his teeth in frustration. His shoulders were scrunched up to his ears as he tried to block out the cacklin' voices, but it was workin' his last nerve, and I could tell.
Suddenly, one of 'em stepped in front of us, puttin' his hands on Daryl's shoulders and lightly shovin' him back, makin' him bump into me and almost knock me down.
"What the hell, Mitch?!" Daryl growled, lookin' back over his shoulder to make sure I was okay, which I obviously was.
"Aw, sorry, did I hurt yer little girlfriend?" Mitch taunted Daryl from in front of us while his two buddies snickered from behind us, trappin' us in some sorta triangle. "Like I care."
Daryl didn't say nothin' and just tried to walk around the boy known as Mitch, who stepped in front of him and pushed him again.
"Hey!" I hollered out, steppin' forward, "Leave him the hell alone-AH!"
I was sharply cut off by someone shovin' me real hard from behind, way harder than Mitch had pushed Daryl. I stumbled forward and hit the ground, my front slidin' in the grass and stainin' my light yellow t-shirt.
My lungs ached, the wind had been knocked out of me both from bein' shoved so hard, and my impact with the dirt.
"Stay outta the big boy stuff, little rat!" The boy who had shoved me snapped from behind me, but before I could get a good look at him, Daryl was launchin' forward at his face.
"YOU SON OF A BITCH!" My best friend roared, slammin' his fist into that boy's mouth and knockin' him to the ground, "DON'T YOU EVER TOUCH HER!"
Before I knew it, Mitch and his other friend had dog piled Daryl, rippin' him off the boy who had shoved me, and started deliverin' blow after blow to Daryl's stomach.
"Daryl!" I cried out, tryin' to rush in and stop all this, but I just got shoved back every time I went at them.
"Git," Daryl grunted as another fist slammed into his stomach, "Outta here, Raelyn!" He paused again, the breath bein' punched out of his lungs as he struggled to break free, "Go!"
I stared at him with wide, green eyes. Go home? Was he serious?
Go home and just leave him here gettin' his ass beat, three to one? I didn't think so.
The next thing I knew, I was jumpin' on Mitch's back, wrappin' one arm around his neck and makin' a fist with my free hand, knockin' him in the head over and over.
"GET OFF HIM!" I screamed, "YOU STUPID ASSHOLE! GET OFF HIM!"
My plan of attack worked... Sorta. Mitch quit punchin' Daryl and backed away from him, wildly reachin' his arms around behind him and tryin' to claw me off his back.
"Get this bitch off me!" He growled to his friends, who instantly dropped Daryl and raced to Mitch's aide. But, before they could get to me, I dropped off Mitch's back, kicked him one good time, then raced to Daryl's side.
His nose was a little bloody and he was outta breath, but for the most part he was okay.
"Damn, Dixon." Mitch piped up, sneerin' over at us, "You need a little girl to come rescue ya from a fight? Psh." His voice suddenly got real quiet, his face dark as he stared Daryl in the eyes, "Y'know, it's a good thing yer mama burned up in that fire, and not yer daddy. Someone's gotta teach ya to be a man one of these days."
He and his two friends started snickerin', but somethin' inside me snapped as those words left his ugly, disgustin' mouth. Somethin' white hot and angry, sendin' me hurrdelin' toward Mitch and his friends.
"Rae!" I heard Daryl yellin' from behind me, but I just couldn't stop.
I tackled Mitch to the ground with all my strength, hearin' the wind leave his lungs in a strangled "oomf". I pinned my knees on either side of him, and within two seconds, I was poundin' my fists into his face.
"YOU STUPID MOTHER FUCKER," I could hear myself through clenched teeth, but it was almost like I was somewhere else, and I couldn't control my words or my body, "YER GONNA BE SORRY YOU SAID THAT, YA PIECE OF SHIT! TAKE IT BACK! FUCKIN' TAKE IT BACK!"
Mitch struggled under me, tryin' to shove me off or get a hit in, his nose bloody and his left eye turnin' black. He did manage to beam me right in my bottom lip, but I didn't even feel any pain. Not even when I tasted the blood leakin' into my mouth. I just kept punchin'.
I could feel the hands of Mitch's two friends grabbin' at me and tryin' to rip me off of their pack leader, but there was so much adrenaline pumpin' through my veins that I just swatted 'em away like they were nothin'. Like pesky flies.
For a second, I could hear them both screamin' at Daryl to control me, to pull me off of Mitch. I didn't really understand why they were sayin' those things until I felt a familiar pair of arms wrap around my waist, easily liftin' me away from the fight, and Daryl's voice in my ear.
"Rae! Stop!" He urged me in his husky voice as I still kept kickin' and swingin', my head still stuck in brawl-mode. "RAELYN!"
Finally, I held still, pantin' in Daryl's arms until he set me down on the ground. I glared daggers over at the three boys a few feet away, focusin' mainly on Mitch, who was still spittin' out blood.
I didn't want him to know he got me good enough in the mouth to make me bleed, so as nasty as it was, I just swallowed the bit of blood that had pooled itself in my mouth.
For a second, no one said anything, until Daryl piped up, his voice soundin' smug, "How's it feel to get yer ass beat by a girl, Mitch?"
The bully didn't say anything, and just glared at Daryl with narrow eyes, wipin' his mouth with his forearm. I could see him glancin' around the park, takin' in all the looks he was gettin' from the kids who still lingered from the baseball game. Some of 'em were just starin', some of 'em were pointin' and laughin', and some of 'em just shook their heads and walked away... And that's what I decided Daryl and I should do in that moment... Just walk away.
"You best watch yer mouth from now on. " I warned the older boy in a growl before turnin' around and followin' Daryl out of the park, past the fence and toward our bikes.
We didn't say anything the whole way there, until Daryl unchained his bike from the bike rack, and turned to me, almost glarin'.
"What?" I asked him, furrowin' my brows and goin' to unchain my own bike.
"Why'd ya go and do that, Rae?" He demanded, pullin' his bike out of the rack and swingin' his leg over it, sittin' down on the seat, "Those guys were way bigger than you."
"I don't care." I boldly scoffed as I mounted my own bike and we started pedalin' towards town, "They had ya three to one, Daryl! I wasn't just gonna sit there and watch. Or run away like ya told me to." I rolled my eyes at the last part, before quietly addin' in, "... Plus, that asshole shouldn't have said what he did..."
"Yea, but now ya got a busted lip 'cause of it." Daryl pointed out, and I reached him to poke at my lip... It actually was a little tender, but it didn't matter to me.
"Like I said, I don't care." I repeated myself with a shrug, "Those guys didn't scare me. I betcha they wouldn't have tried to fight ya alone."
"Prob'ly not." Daryl agreed, "Pussies."
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"Okay, I got one. Knock-knock."
"Who's there?"
"Impatient cow."
"Impatient cow-"
"MOO!"
Daryl chuckled and shook his head at my knock-knock joke as he took a swig from his blue can of Pepsi.
"That was pretty lame." He told me as he kicked a rock into the creek.
After grabbin' our sodas from the corner store, Daryl and I had pedaled our bikes back to our favorite hang out spot, next to the big rock that sat at the edge of the creek way back in the woods. It was always just better there, quiet with no stupid jerks like Mitch and his buddies tryin' to start trouble.
"Hey, that was one of my favorites when I was little." I replied with a grin as I finished off my sprite and crumpled the can, layin' it next to the rock so I'd remember to pick it up when we left.
"Still don't make it good." Daryl insisted, smirkin' my way and makin' my stomach feel all bubbly again.
"Whatever then, you come up with a better one."
"Okay. Horse walks into a bar, and the bartender says, 'Hey, what' s with the long face?'"
Daryl looked over to me like I was supposed to laugh, but I just tilted my head to the side and narrowed my green eyes in confusion.
"Huh? I don't get it..." I said, "That wasn't even a knock-knock joke. And why would a horse go into a bar, anyway?"
My best friend rolled his eyes at my questions. "The bar don't have nothin' to do with the joke. It's funny 'cause horses have long faces... Git it now?"
"... No."
"All right, I guess that wasn't the best one..." Daryl admitted in a sigh, "Why don't they play poker in the jungle?"
I thought about it for a moment, but couldn't think of an answer, "I dunno. Why?"
"Too many cheetahs."
This time, I giggled. "Okay, that one was funnier."
Daryl looked accomplished, grinnin' a little as he downed the rest of his Pepsi, crumpled the can, and set it down next to mine.
A few quiet seconds passed before Daryl asked, "How's yer lip?"
"Not too bad." I replied as I absent mindedly lifted my hand up to prod at the swellin', "Still kinda hurts, but I'll live. How's yer nose?"
"Don't hurt no more." Daryl replied, "... Hey, Rae?"
I bent down to pick up a thick stick, standin' back up straight again and tossed it in the water, "Yea?"
"Even though it was real stupid, what you did back at the park... Y'know, fightin' Mitch..." My friend started explainin' softly, "It was actually kinda cool. Not even my own brother ever stands up fer me like that."
I felt my cheeks warm at his words, blinkin' my eyes at him before feelin' a smile tug at my lips. "Thanks, Dare." I said, "It was no problem... I actually don't think I coulda stopped myself from doin' it, even if I wanted to. But it sure felt good to punch that guy in the mouth, I'll tell ya."
Daryl laughed and shook his head, slowly makin' his way over to me and stoppin' a foot or two away.
"Like I said durin' the game earlier, yer a violent little girl..." He grumbled to me, but there was still a hint of a smile on his face as he reached out and ruffled my blonde hair, "But yer my best friend. I hope ya know that."
A smile bigger than I'd ever smiled before threatened to rip my face clean in half as I stared up into Daryl's Georgia blue eyes.
"You're my best friend, too, Daryl."
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To be continued...
AN:: Thank you to everyone who was been reading, voting/commenting (if you're reading on Wattpad) and reviewing (If you're reading on fanfiction)!
I promise, Rae will be reunited with Daryl in present time within the next chapter or two! (:
Chapter Six will be posted soon! Until then, fellow Daryl lovers 3