Chapter 3 - Lauren

Daryl had us flying down winding country roads and I was hanging onto him like my life depended upon it. Apparently, I hadn't considered the fact that I had never actually been on a motorcycle before and it was a hell of a lot scarier than it looked. Daryl had always made it look so easy, but I wasn't the pro he was on this thing. I knew we needed to get away from this walker dense area as quickly as possible, but the last few quick maneuvers around these undead beings nearly had me peeing in my pants. I clung so tightly onto Daryl that at one point he yelled back to me "Relax Lauren. You're squeezing me to death." Embarrassed, I loosen my hold on him and the next hour went by without any difficulty. Daryl was a master at getting through the small herds of walkers we encountered and now it was down to a scattered few walking down the road.

Daryl finally pulled the bike over and we both got off. "Short break," he said.

"Sounds good." Before I started to walk towards the woods to find a private spot go to the bathroom he said he needed to talk to me about something. God I was so embarrassed. Apparently I was leaning the wrong way. So how was I supposed to know that? Maybe he should have told me that before we started? However, the squeezing was my fault. First it was out of fear, but I did relax and kept it up just cause I liked it. How could I not?

"Got it," I told him. I turned to walk into the trees so I could pee before we took off.

"Try and keep alert," he growled at me.

I turned to look at Daryl. "Seriously? I'm not new at this Daryl." I snapped. My knife was already in my hand in case I needed it. Did he think I was stupid? Even though I was pissed, it didn't stop me from keeping an eye out for walkers and people. I knew what I was doing. I had survived this long, hadn't I? I wasn't a wuss or a novice in this world. I had killed more walkers than I could count, defended myself and my new family against the madness that even affected the living. It was kill or be killed and I had no problem killing when the need arose. I never imagined I could take the life of another human being, but this wasn't the same world I used to know. Survival at all costs was the only way. However, I never should have over reacted that way.

I made my way back to Daryl. "Safe. And. Sound," I said. "Damn" I thought to myself. That came out more sarcastic than I intended. I played with the straps on my pack not knowing what else to say. He snapped at me, I snapped at him…this was not a good start.

Daryl didn't looked up from the map he was studying, so I just stood there waiting for him to acknowledge me. He didn't. After a minute or two he finally he looks up at me. "What?"

"If this is going to be how it is, you might as well turn this bike around and head back. I'm not gonna make this trip if you are going to have an attitude the whole way. I'll take someone else," I told him fuming. Half the time I didn't even know why I liked him so much, he was either surly towards me or ignored me when he could.

Those blue eyes of his locked onto my furious ones. "You ain't taken anyone anywhere, I'm taking you not the other way 'round. We're not going back, so that ain't an option."

"Do you feel responsible for me? Is that it Daryl? You know I can take care of myself. I don't need a babysitter." Since when did he really give a shit about me?

"Listen" he said his normally gruff voice taking on a softer tone. "I know you can take care of yourself. Wouldn't be here if you couldn't. The last thing I want to do is babysit anyone out here. I just …don't want to lose 'nother person… you." And with that simply statement he climbed back onto the bike and started the engine.

I hesitated for a moment as I tried to take in his words. What did he mean that he didn't want to lose me? Did he mean that as a friend or more than that? Leave it to me to try to analyze his words and read more deeply into it than I should. Who was I kidding? "Get your head back into the game, Lauren," I chided myself. You need to find the cabins first and then deal with your overactive imagination later.

As I climbed on behind Daryl, I notice he was looking at writing on his arm. "What's that?" I asked getting comfortable.

"Our directions," he replied. "I can't exactly hold a map while riding."

"Smart move," I told him. "Let's get this show back on the road."

"You gonna squeeze me to death again?"

"Hey it's the most fun you've had in months," I laughed. I hated the tension between us.

He turned around to face me. "Being hugged by a pretty woman is always good my book, just let me be able to take a breath every now and then, okay?" He then gifted me with one of his rare drop dead smiles and we took off.

I gave him a hard squeeze and felt him chuckle. I relaxed my hold on him as we took off down the road. I was in heaven. He thought I was pretty. Hot damn!

We kept riding for the next few hours. It took longer than we had hoped for, but we needed to stay off the highways as the large herds of walkers tended to congregate there. Now and then Daryl would stop to check the map, add more notes onto his arm and we would be off. There was very little conversation between us. It just wasn't needed. Needless to say I was completely enjoying my time snuggled in behind him.

I was surprised on how easy the trip was going, but I knew I couldn't relax and had to stay vigilante. I was constantly watching the houses, woods and towns that we sped through keeping an eye out for anything or anyone that would cause trouble. Lucky for us, nothing happened. In this day and age that was a sheer miracle.

"Stop here," I told him as I pointed to a narrow dirt road. "The cabins are up there." Daryl brought the bike to a full stop.

"Let's hide the bike and our gear, if people are there I don't want them to know we are coming," he said. I was in complete agreement. Daryl moved the bike into the brush and hid it with some branches and I stored our gear packs close but away from the bike. "You ready?" he asked me.

"I was born ready," I smirked at him. The Glock that I normally kept strapped to my leg was in my hand.

Daryl rolled his eyes at me. "Stay behind me Annie Oakley and stay quiet. We'll use hand signals to talk, okay?"

"You got it boss!" I knew he wasn't thinking I couldn't do this, but just making sure we were on the same page.

We walked over to the dirt drive and he knelt down to study it. While I was not even close to being the tracker he was, it was even obvious to me what he both saw. The road had overgrown weeds growing all throughout it and there was not any sign of tire tracks or footprints of any kind. This road had not been used in a long time. That was a good sign, a really good sign.

"Let's go Annie," he said as he took point as we started down the road. I had his back. We were so close to the security we all needed. This had to work. It just had to. We had run out of all other options.