Sonora narrowed her eyes at the line of vehicles in her path, wondering if it was just a random block or if someone had seen them coming and planned this. She didn't think about it too much longer as she grabbed the mike and reported her findings, waiting for her dad or Rick to come back and tell her what to do.
That was when several men stepped out from behind a car to the right and spread out, standing in her way. Sonora snarled as she immediately began slowing and down shifting, the limited amount of distance between she and the line of people in front of her made stopping very difficult as she didn't want to injure anyone in the trailer. Rick's voice over the CB screamed at her, questioning why she was slowing down.
She snapped her teeth together, her concentration on the people in front of her, "tell our insane leader that I don't feel like cleaning body parts out of the wheels and brakes, never mind the engine. Besides they don't have any weapons," she told Conner, who immediately picked up the mike and translated her words to Rick, who was still pissed.
Conner tried to calm the leader of the group but Sonora snarked loud enough for Rick to hear, "be pissed damn it! I ain't cleaning the mess up if I hit them!" The CB was quiet for a moment as Sonora was finally able to stop, she popped the brakes and grabbed the double barrel by her seat before unbuckling herself and jumping out, stalking towards the group. She absently noted that a couple of women and a slew of children were now with them, but beyond that her vision was tunneled.
She cocked her gun, laying it across her shoulders and glaring at the man in front, stopping and taking a deep breath before exploding at them. "Do you have any idea how hard it is to stop this muther fucker!?" she screeched, pointing to the truck behind her with her free hand, "I have half a mind to blow your stupid fucking heads off for that ridiculous stunt! What the HELL were you thinking?!" she took a step forward and felt a small sense of satisfaction when the man took a small step back. Around her the others of the group were pulling up in their vehicles, Daryl already beside her with his crossbow at the ready.
At that moment Rick arrived and placed a hand on Sonora's none-gun-baring shoulder, pushing her to the side slightly as he took stock of the situation. He was very wary of the people standing across from them, but seeing as they had women and children he thought that they might be safe, he was still wary however.
Sonora watched, her lips curled into a snarl, as Rick talked with the man who had quailed before her anger.
"We saw your caravan and decided to try and stop you before you moved past us, our vehicles are out of fuel, and we're almost out of food, we just want a chance." The man was telling Rick, his eyes shifting from the leader of Sonora's group to Sonora herself.
She released the hammers on her gun and placed the barrels on the ground, her stance seeming relaxed, but in reality she was ready to fight in an instant. "So you decided to attempt suicide by standing in front of a truck going eighty miles an hour?" she asked, sneering at him and then settling again when Rick turned to glare at her.
The man shrugged, "it was the only thing we could think of that would work, we didn't want to be shot down on accident," he stated, his statement going towards Sonora, but his attention on Rick. "We didn't know what else to do."
Rick nodded, looking at the ground, Daryl leaned towards him and whispered something in his ear, Sonora sighed as she watched the original members of their group, Glenn and Maggie, Herschel and Beth, and Carl and Carol, back them, all of them more or less defensive as they all stared at the slightly large group who had stopped them. Sonora turned her attention back to Rick, seeing that he was deciding on whether or not to give the strangers a place to stay in their ranks.
Merle chose that moment to pull up on his motorcycle; he and Daryl were taking turns riding it, and shut it off. He put the kickstand down and slowly got off it, heading towards the front of the group and then stopping, staring at the people in front of them.
"Willie, long time no see, what brings you way out here?" he asked, sidling up to Sonora and laying his right arm on her shoulder, leaning against her. She frowned; slitting her eyes and glaring at him slightly for presuming her to be his prop, but did nothing to get him off. She could handle her weird uncle, very, very weird, but if he started making lewd comments about her, Conner, and Josh again then she would kick him to the ground.
The man at the head of the other group smiled, or so Sonora thought, she couldn't really tell with his beard being in the way. "Merle, good to see you're still alive and well… sort of," Willie glanced at the apparatus on Merle's arm before turning back to a suddenly tense Rick.
"Don't worry, we're old friends, but we're not as… eccentric as Merle is," he stated, lifting his hands up slightly.
Rick sighed, turning his head back to his group, and then looked at the new people again, "give us a moment," he stated, watching as Willie nodded before turning around fully and leaning in to talk to the others. "I don't really know if we should allow them to join with us, they have a lot of mouths to feed… Carol, what are the food stores like?" he asked, turning his attention to the short haired woman standing by Glenn.
She looked at the children in the other group and then back at Rick, "we're able to feed them, but I don't know about where we would put them. Sonora has a lot of people in that trailer already, if the horses were gone then maybe, but we don't have the room to fit them all in our cars." She frowned sadly, thinking about Sophia and watching the children of the other group.
Rick looked at Sophia who shrugged, "I'm not putting the horses out, so shove that thought up your ass," she grinned manically at his dark glare, "besides that… I can handle the extra people; children don't take up that much room. The adults will have to deal with being in the trailer… I have the room, just not much of it." She shrugged, moving out from Merle's arm as she did so and moving around to Daryl, who glanced down at her, and Conner, who had just climbed out of her cab and now handed her the keys.
She smiled at him, taking the keys, and then brought her attention back to Rick who was turning to face Willie's group now. She grabbed Conner's hand and led him to the front of the group to watch Rick.
Rick looked over each member of the group, his eyes hard, before sighing, "I'll need to ask you all a couple of questions before ya'll join us, but other than that, it's fine." He told them.
Willie nodded, glancing around at his family, and then turning to look back at Rick, "thanks man, bring on the questions."
Rick nodded, gesturing for Daryl to come up beside him before beginning the round of questions.
Sonora turned and pulled Conner to the trailer, looking up at it and seeing half a dozen eyes staring at her through the air holes in the sides of the trailer. "Everything is fine, we might be getting a few new people," she assured the ones watching, noting that most of the eyes disappeared after hearing her explanation for why they stopped. When she and Conner reached the end of the trailer she let go of his hand and grabbed the door locks, swinging them open and then pushing one side of the trailer door open, securing the chain on the bottom to a hook under the floor of the trailer. She came back around and noticed that Conner had opened the other door, but beyond that she just pulled the ramp down and stepped back as the people in the trailer stepped into the light, blinking slightly, and slowly coming down the ramp to check out their surroundings.
"Don't stray too far, children remember to stay with your guardians, adults, don't go anywhere without alerting me," Sonora watched as the ones that were coming out nodded at her and spread out, going over to the abandoned cars scattered around the area.
Conner sighed and slung an arm around her shoulder, watching the familiar strangers go about and gather what they could. He turned to Sonora and saw her watching the trees with a pensive look on her face; he wondered what she was thinking about before bringing the arm that wasn't encircling her shoulders up and touching her chin lightly with his fingers.
Sonora blinked and allowed him to bring her head around and tilt it up, she noted that his eyes had darkened, the brown color resembling pools of chocolate. She smiled a little, watching as he lowered his face to hers and closing his eyes, her own gaze shifting to the side and watching as Merle approached them silently. She winked at her uncle and then, before Conner could bring his lips to hers she twisted her face so she could whisper in his ear. "You sure you want to? Uncle is behind you…"
Conner's reaction was funny, to say the least, he first stiffened, and then, when Merle tapped his shoulder with the knife thing, he practically shrieked like a little girl and dove behind Sonora.
Sonora chuckled, her grin slightly terrifying with how many teeth she was showing, and eyed Merle. "Didn't think you would want to leave the party up front," she stated, leaning on her right leg and placing her hand on her hip.
Merle grinned right back at her, "well I gotta have my fun girlie, and messing with your little boyfriend is quite amusing. He screams like a little girl."
Sonora looked over her shoulder at Conner, who was slightly glaring at Merle, his face pale, "yeah, it is amusing…" she mused, her grin threatening to break her face in half as Conner glared at her in return for her comment.
"Why do I get stuck with the crazy bitch and her equally crazy family? What did I do to deserve this?" Conner mumbled, not loud enough for Merle to hear, but Sonora caught his words easily as he was pressed right up against her.
"I may be crazy but at least I'm a fun crazy," she whispered, turning her attention back to Merle. "What's the verdict on the new guys?" she asked in a louder voice.
Merle shrugged, his eyes taking in the way Conner was still pressed against his niece, "we'll find that out when we get back up there, Officer Friendly wants you back up there."
Sonora nodded and followed Merle as he turned and started heading back to the head of the truck, Conner staying behind to watch the group gather supplies.
Sonora watched as Rick shook Willie's hand and then turn around, obviously looking for her by the way his stance changed and he beckoned her forth. "Sonora, tell them what they need to bring, and then get them situated in the trailer, the rest of us are going to scavenge around." He told her, walking to the original group once his instructions were done.
Sonora sighed, her shoulders slumping as Merle cackled and slapped her back with his good hand before heading off with Rick. She glowered at him and then turned to Willie and his group, eyes roving over them for a second before she lifted her shoulders back up and giving a smile. "Okay, for this merry trip you're about to embark upon you will need these essentials. Covers, it gets quite cold back there, any form of entertainment, books etcetera as you will probably be bored out of your mind, water, food, and your weapons. If it should happen that I am incapacitated there is a lock on the top of the doors that will allow you to open the trailer doors from the inside. I don't think that will happen but I can't be too sure…" Sonora trailed off, looking at the sky. "Food will be shared among everyone, there is no hoarding allowed here, we're in an apocalypse, all for one and one for all and all that jazz."
She grinned twistedly at the members of the group, scaring the children and frightening the adults… slightly. "If I find out that you have started any fights, hoarded any food, or done anything unacceptable then I will hand the offender over to my uncle to do with you as he pleases. I would give you over to my dad but he's not as fun when he's angry." She chuckled, waving her hands towards the line of vehicles behind Willie and his family, "anyway, when I remember the rest of the rules I'll let you know, for now just grab your essentials and we'll get you settled in the trailer." She stated.
The group glanced around warily, most of them keeping their eyes on Sonora, before heading to their vehicles and gathering their stuff. Sonora watched, giggling slightly, and then stiffened when she felt a hand on her shoulder. She turned, lifting an eyebrow, and saw Josh, who had his eyes fixed on the group hustling around the vehicles, "have you told them that you don't stop for restroom breaks unless alerted? I'm sure the children will be in some distress if you keep going and they don't know how to tell you to stop."
Sonora sighed, shaking her head and then turning back to Willie's group, "Oi, if you don't tell me when you need to use the facilities then I won't know! Other than that, standard question here, does anyone know how to drive a boat or fly a plane?" she asked.
The kids stood gaping at her; the adults stared at her, looking at each other momentarily before staring again. The universal thought going through their minds that maybe it was a bad idea joining this group if they were going to be stuck in the trailer of the crazy chick.
One man stepped forward, an older gentleman, salt and pepper hair slightly long, and lifted his hand. "I can fly a plane, why do you ask?" he asked.
Sonora grinned at him, her eyes flashing menacingly, "because you will be needed soon, very, very soon," she told him, watching as he nodded slowly, stepping back and being embraced by a woman with blonde hair. Sonora watched for a few more moments, deciding that the new people were done when they all just stood there staring at her, and then waved a hand, turning and escaping Josh's hand. She'd forgotten the punk was there actually.
"Come on now, we'll get you guys loaded and then we'll have to be off, if we stand here too long then our scents will be carried to the nearest freaks around here." She stated, hearing grunts and mumbles as the group picked up their belongings and followed after her.
….
Conner furrowed his brow when he looked up from digging through the back of a Honda and noticed that Daryl and Merle were standing, leaning actually, against either side of the trunk. Both were inspecting their weapons, Merle's arm attachment in the older man's case, and seemed nonchalant.
A cold chill went down Conner's spine, his eyes shifting from one brother to the next, before he grabbed the box he had stuffed things into and picked it up, backing away slowly.
Daryl shifted his hard blue gaze from his crossbow to Conner, his face still void of emotion, which made him all the more frightening. "Settle down." He ordered, glancing from Conner to the box, obviously telling the younger man to put the box back down.
Conner did as he was, nonverbally, told while his complexion paled as he wondered what this was about. "Something wrong?" he asked, glancing from one brother to the other, mentally sweating while on the outside he was cool as a cucumber.
"Wanna tell my brother here what you were doing earlier, leprechaun?" Merle asked tauntingly, wiping the blade of his arm knife down, not even glancing at Conner.
Conner thought about what he was doing earlier, what he was doing that Merle noticed anyway. "Shit," he muttered, realization widening his eyes as he caught a glimpse of Sonora and immediately knowing what Merle was talking about.
Daryl fixed his hard gaze back on his crossbow, his face turning stony as he worked it over, "Merle told me kid, so just own up," he ordered, glancing at Conner with a chilling stare briefly. "Just because she and I are recently reunited doesn't mean shit, that's my little girl and I'll be damned if I let some shit head take advantage of her."
Conner gulped nervously, he really, really didn't want to be having this conversation right now. He didn't want to say the wrong thing and end up walker food, "I'm pretty sure she can make her own decisions…" he muttered.
Like that.
Daryl and Merle glanced at each other before standing up and approaching Conner like two wolves would approach a baby deer. The hunger of the proverbial hunt in their eyes as they stalked towards him, Conner never felt so close to death as he was sure he was right now.
Daryl clamped a hand onto his shoulder, clenching his fingers as he got a good grip on the slightly terrified young man's body. "Run that by me again."
"Dad! Uncle! What the ever loving HELL are you two doing to Conner?! Leave him alone!"
Sonora had never been so loved at that moment, Conner was sure.
She swooped into the middle of them and sent her best glare towards her father and uncle before grabbing Conner's hand and tugging him away, Daryl's hand falling off the man's shoulder as she raced away.
"That was fun, I'm pretty sure he was close to shitting himself," Merle commented, gazing at his niece and grinning to himself.
Daryl grunted, turning and picking up the box of things the kid had left behind and then heading towards the caravan, turning back to Merle when it became apparent that his brother wasn't following, "you commin' or what?" he asked, shifting the load and waiting for Merle to join him before heading back again.
….
~May I just say how sorry I am that I have made ya'll wait so long for this update? If you can call it that…
Well, here it is!
Please note that I am a truck driver, I do not always have access to internet connection and sometimes I am too tired or fed up to write. Thank you for reading, have a nice day!