Good lord my friends, it's been forever, but at last we are back! Feel free to chase after me with torches and pitchforks for being such a bad author and taking so long to get this update to you. I do confess I was having issues with this story. I was conflicted about several key points of it and I was almost ready to shelve it as a lost cause, but I gritted my teeth and pushed through, because I owe it to you guys who have been so freaking amazing to me. So here we are, ready to go again. I will do my ultimate best to be more timely about updates. I can't promise anything due to how busy I am, but I will try. Also, to the anonymous person who left nasty insults as 'reviews' on every one of my chapters...that's just pathetic. You didn't even have anything negative to say about the story itself, just about me. You don't even know me you waste of space with ego issues. Grow a pair and sign your name on that shit with a real account or I'll just keep deleting your trash. Alright, rant over. Enjoy the update guys, it's a bit of a longer one to try and make up for how long it took!
ObjectiveObserverFromAfar: Loved this chapter! Ah! I'm so glad they escaped. I'm hoping Milton gains a little more of a spine at some point, I truly believe he has more of a conscious than he lets anyone see but I will wait to see what you do with him. As for the girls, since they have never really seen a city before will you explore some of their emotions and feelings of being in a place like Atlanta? Sure, it's been 17-years and I'm sure the place is decayed...but it would be interesting to see what they think about it. Just curious... Gah, I wish I could write like you. Your writing just has a lovely fluidity to it and your ideas are so original. If you ever decide to give a writing workshop let me know. :) Brava to you!
Milton will find his spine eventually, let's just hope he does before it's too late like in the show ;) Of course I'll explore the sharp contrast and emotionality that being in a place like Atlanta will bring out in the girls. I'm from a very small, very rural town, and when I moved into the metropolitan area I live now…it definitely was a shock and took getting used to, so I'm looking forward to bringing some of that into Luna and Judith as they adjust to the city. I thank you most kindly for your praise. If I were to ever be so honored as to lead a writing workshop or something similar, I would surely let you know =) I hope one day I inspire others to write, regardless of their level of skill, as other authors have inspired me.
FanFicGirl10:Yay The Sweet Escape! I hope someone saves them soon, maybe Merle or Michonne or Tyreese *wink wink* Cliffhanger, Update Soon!
Hehe, you will just have to wait and see my friend!
rosemarycr: LOOK. I became sickly obsessed with Wildflower. I'm reading it for the third time now, and it's still the best fucking fanfic I've ever read. Hell, it's one of the best stories I've ever read. NOW, how do you DARE to make me obsessed with this too? Are you trying to ruin my life? At least with Wildflower I kind of knew what to expect (well not really), but now I feel blind. Honestly, you should adapt this to a book, or write one with characters based on your OC's because you, my friend are awesome. I can't wait to the next chapter!
Wow. That's just craziness to me. A third time on Wildflower, really? It's like…almost 500 pgs. That kind of dedication blows me clean out of the water. I'm speechless and so grateful. And to have you say you are obsessed with Wolfsong too just makes me spin into a dimension of Cloud 9 like no other. The trepidation with which I approached this story was unlike any I've ever felt, but responses like this make it so worth it =) Thank you so much for writing in!
RedneckBunny: WHAT THE FU-WHA-BUT- WHY WOULD YOU END THERE YOU EVIL PERSON? That was intense! Amazing! Glad you're back and I'm looking forward to your next chapter! How many chapters are you thinking of making this one?
Why would I end there? Because I am evil! Mwuahahaha! As to how many chapters Wolfsong will be…I'm foreseeing it to be shorter than Wildflower, but how much shorter, I have no idea. It's still up in the air where this story will go. I have a tentative outline, but there is a lot of room for change as well, so we'll just have to see…
Emberka-2012: So much tension is felt, especially by the end of chapter. To be honest to them was better to run away - chances with walkers they have more than with people. It was not in their nature not to use the escape attempt. And they know how to deal with zombies. Therefore, despite the heavy end, I believe in their salvation. Luna is so funny frightened Milton. Good thing she did not believe him. Luna is so similar at the same time to Fox and Daryl, it's just amazing.
Well they may or may not have a better shot of survival against the Walkers. Atlanta is completely overrun, the CDC offers a measure of protection that I have yet to fully explain (but will do so later) whereas they are fair game to be eaten in the city. However of course they don't want to remain captured, and they were willing to take the risk of Walkers rather than being imprisoned again. Lol, I did throw that bit of comic relief in there of Luna trying to scare Milton for laughs, I'm glad it worked =) Luna is very similar to her parents, she's almost a combo of them together, which is an interesting and unique challenge to write.
Brittney: *Lets out the breath I was holding* That was SO close! The girls put up a he'll of a fight and were badass :) Update soon! I'm gonna be dying for the next chapter...you're incredible!
Well thank you for thinking so! I really wanted an 'old school' style of episode that was fraught with more external rather than internal conflict and danger.
CenaGrace: Fantastic cliffhanger! As always. Can't wait for chapter 7!
I do my best! I'm not naturally inclined to write cliff-hangers so I have to cognitively be aware of a tense place to just stop. I like to resolve things in chapters before moving on, so I have to remind myself overspill of tension is good sometimes.
Jerrie Higarashi: Not the cliffhanger I expected! Though Luna sure does know how to think on her feet when she needs to! That's a great thing! Ugh, Milton is such a bitch... How annoying...I loved how Luna kept scaring him, clicking her teeth together and staring at him, similar to a walker herself... She's so amazing - just like Judith. I really hope they're fine... for some reason, I keep thinking it's the gang who just saved them! I can't wait until you update dear!
True she does, a skill her family taught her in order to help her survive. Milton is a bit of a bitch and is easily frightened, which Luna takes great pleasure in exploiting because he's royally pissed her off. You'll be surprised at what I have in store for the two of them, at least I hope so!
Daryl's blood had been hammering in his veins ever since they'd left the small mountain town behind, angling their convoy of vehicles towards Colorado and a God forsaken mountain that he'd hoped he would never see again.
But for as bad as the flash backs and sickening feelings must have been for him, he could only imagine Fox's trepidation and disgust at having to return to the base. They traveled the entire day, only stopping when absolutely necessary, but progress was slow due to the terrible condition of the roads. Pavement and asphalt was being slowly but surely overtaken by nature, grass and trees and earth coming back to claim what had always been theirs, and the uneven nature of the roads, not to mention the debris, made making decent time almost impossible. Twenty years of unmaintained concrete had done a bender on the highways, and the interstate was a no go, every exit they came to was so blocked by stalled vehicles that they couldn't get on. The bike could have made it easily enough, and the thought was gnawing at him worriedly as they finally stopped after sundown, all of them desperately needing to eat and catch a few hours of sleep.
They pulled off a stretch of empty highway where there was nothing on either side of the concrete but open fields. In the distance, maybe six or seven miles, was signs of inhabitation, buildings dotting the area, but they were far enough away from any potential hordes that they were safe enough to build a fire and stretch their limbs. They finished a very meager dinner when Daryl met Rick's eyes across the flames, the rest of their family encircling the smaller flickers of light.
"At this rate we won't reach the base for at least another day. Maybe more." Daryl spoke softly. "Rick…" He stared into the twin eyes of blue green and he tried to gauge if his friend understood.
"What?" It wasn't Rick, but Maggie who asked the question. And it wasn't Daryl who answered, but Fox. He had yet to even voice the thoughts in his head to anybody and yet she knew. She had always known his little internal conflicts, and the reason for his silences. It was almost as if having ridden behind him the whole day she'd been able to feel his frustration through his skin.
"If Daryl and I take the bike, we can be at the base before dawn, we can slip through the debris on the interstate and from there it's a straight shot."
Daryl didn't need to look at her to know her eyes were burning like emerald stones thrown into a bed of coals. He didn't need to see the way the firelight danced along the raised ridges of her white washed scars across the left side of her face. He didn't need to shift his eyes to see the way her mouth tightened, the tendons on her hands rising as her fingers curled to fists in her lap. He didn't have to be sitting next to her to feel the heady thrum of discontent and restlessness, the barely restrained simmer of rage threatening to boil over into an inferno. Even after all night and all day on the road her anger and her possessiveness to reclaim both Luna and Judith had not dissipated in the slightest, not even from physical exertion. It was infectious and frightening, not that he really needed anymore fuel to his runaway wildfire of anger and fear from having Luna and Judith snatched away from him. But he at least was able to keep a lid on it, keep it from leaching through his every movement, every look, every syllable. Fox didn't have that much of a filter. She never had. And now, so blinded by her need to get Luna and Judith back, she was willing to even leave behind the rest of their family in the dust. He had no doubt that if he consented to go with her, she wouldn't have even asked Rick's permission, she would have just taken the bike and left. But Daryl knew Rick was far more likely to see a better way…if there was one.
"No." Rick's answer was as Daryl suspected it would be, and in a way he was glad. If Rick had been amendable to it, he would not have regretted leaving the group behind for a while to rescue Luna and Judith and rejoining them when they caught up, but he was also glad that regardless of what would happen, they would weather the storm as they had always done. Together.
Fox however was not so easily satiated, and Daryl had known she wouldn't be. It was why he had not voiced the idea to her in the first place, not wanting to give her the idea if she hadn't already thought of it on her own. Now that she had, now that she had voiced it, it would consume her. "Every second we wait is a second lost!" Fox snarled. She yanked one of her small daggers out from her belt and jammed it into the soft earth by her hip in frustration, making Benjamin startle as she came a hair's breath from stabbing him in the leg.
"We can't split up, not now! If something happens to any of us, we can't afford not knowing!" Rick argued back. "I understand, Fox, I know exactly how this feels…"
Fox let out a yowl and flung her knife in Rick's direction. It sailed clean over his head harmlessly but Fox launched herself at Rick just as they both jumped to their feet. Everyone else scattered briefly before closing again around the fire but Fox had already leapt over the flames and pitched herself at Rick.
"No you don't!" she screamed. She snagged Rick's shirt with both hands and shook him violently, shaking him so hard that he nearly stumbled to the ground with the force. Daryl rushed in and grabbed her shoulders, trying to haul her off but she shook him away and snagged Rick by the hair and yanked his head back, exposing his throat to her teeth, almost as if she intended to rip it out. "You don't know what it felt like when they beat me so hard I nearly died! When they hung me by my wrists from the ceiling with metal handcuffs! When they shredded my face!"
"Fox enough!" Daryl growled. He came over again to pull her off of Rick and this time with Maggie's help he was able to get Rick out of her grip. The former sheriff staggered back and shook himself like a dog after a bath, settling back into his skin as Daryl and Maggie cautiously let go of Fox.
"We're not going to let that happen to Luna or Judith," Rick panted, still clearly shaken by Fox's unbridled outburst. "I swear it."
"Words mean nothing! I'm sure you said you wouldn't let anything happen to me when Phillip and his men threw me into the back of an SUV and drove off with me in a blizzard!" Fox's chest heaved for air as her fingers tightened into fists again.
"She's right," Glenn grated between clenched teeth. "The time we waste here is time they could be hurting the girls."
"But this isn't how we solve it," Maggie urged, staring at Glenn with concern and worry. "Splitting up only makes us weaker."
"And what if they're torturing the girls the same as they did to Fox? We don't know why they took them. For all we know they took them because they're…" he stopped himself short and stared at the ground, shuffling his feet briefly.
"They're what?" Daryl growled, stalking closer towards Glenn. Did he know something that they didn't? He'd been in Atlanta when the outbreak had occurred; maybe there was some small, seemingly insignificant detail that he knew about that they didn't. It wouldn't have been impossible.
"We're all assuming that the people that took Luna and Judith are the same ones that took Fox, deranged scientists and military psychos. And sure, that hostage guy said so, but that doesn't mean they're going to exactly treat them as honored guests. Look at what they did to Fox. Look at how they took them…they left Carl behind. Sure he's older than them, but why did they leave him and snatch two teenage girls?" His face grew sick and even in the molted light from the disrupted fire he looked revolted. The mental wheels spun in Daryl's head and his stomach roiled.
"I'm just saying its possible. It happens all the time, even in the world that was. And the longer we wait, the longer they're exposed to something like that."
"Glenn…" Maggie whispered, concern and fear sliding over her features.
"We stay as we are," Rick insisted. He settled back into his skin firmly and stepped forward. "We're all worried. We all know what these men are capable of. But separating poses too much of a risk. Even if Daryl and Fox made it to the base before us on the bike, they'd need all of us to get inside. You remember what it was like before, it'd be a suicide mission for the two of you to go there alone now. Plus, if something happens to you or us on the road while we're apart, we might never know what happened. Would you want that?"
Fox shuddered, trying to settle back down but Daryl could clearly see she was still rattled. Without a word she walked away into the darkness to find the knife that she'd thrown and Daryl made to follow her. As he passed Glenn he paused and met the man's eyes.
"Don't ever encourage her like that again. I'll be lucky if I can keep her from stealing one of the vehicles in the middle of the night," he warned.
"She's right and you know it," Glenn growled. There was a time when Glenn would have never spoken against Daryl, too intimidated by the man's lethal accuracy with a crossbow and legendary short temper, but they had been saving each other's lives for so long that sense of wariness had long since died.
"She might be right but I'm not about to encourage her to risk losing more than what we already have!" Daryl snapped. He could feel the anger in him almost boiling over, almost enough to make him want to strike Glenn in the jaw. Only a masterful sense of restraint and barely tied on logic stopped him. "Us, together, the group, is all we have, Glenn. You don't understand what having Luna did to her. Almost twenty years of being safe and being a mother made her forget how important this half-assed backward of a family is to her. Don't encourage her to throw that away in blind panic." Daryl stalked away into the darkness and a shuddering sense of unease settled over the group.
Glenn retreated beyond the fire back to the car he and Maggie shared. He kicked the tire angrily, the resulting pain in his foot helping him to think a little clearer, or at least helped to distract him from the blinding need to fucking do something. He knew he needed rest, he'd almost been swerving drunk over the road the last few miles, but he couldn't help but feel like every second they spent here was seconds ticking away from Judith and Luna's lives.
"Hey."
He recognized Maggie's step even before he heard her voice. The light tread of wanting mixed with hesitation. A tangled up ball of yarn's worth of feelings twisted over him as he looked at her and he found himself without words.
Maggie came to stand next to him and together they turned and faced the open field, sliding towards the ground until they were sitting next to each other staring up at the vast emptiness of the sky above them.
"I didn't mean to encourage her to do something dangerous," Glenn started quietly. "But I think she's right."
Maggie tilted her head, her short-cropped hair brushing over her cheeks and jaw as she glanced at him out of the corner of her eye. "I know," she murmured gently. She interlocked her fingers with Glenn's and squeezed. "But I do think we need to stick together. We can't risk getting split up now."
Glenn sighed heavily and shifted so he was closer to her, his hip brushing hers. "I just thought…what if it was you? What if they had taken you? And I…" he trailed off, struggling for the words, not even wanting to think about the possibility of anything happening to Maggie. He squeezed her hand tight and brought it to his lips, kissing the back of her hand and smelling her skin, that distinctive blend of cotton, sun-warmed earth, and sweet cream. It was a long time before he looked up. "I don't know how long I'd be able to deal with obstacles in the road that slowed everyone else if I had it in my power to go faster."
Maggie leaned over and gently pressed a chaste kiss on his lips. Glenn had never been the best with words, and neither was she to be honest. They had always had a level of understanding and communication that went beneath construed sounds of language from their mouths. She gently leaned her forehead against his and curled tighter into him, grateful to have a man who would go so far for her. She had always known this about him, but it was something that still made her feel close to him. Conversely it also sometimes felt chastising- she was not a helpless child, she could take care of herself. But she was not so foolish as to think that she could face the world on her own. She'd been proven wrong on that so many times it was a wonder she was still standing. It was, thanks in no small part, to the man beside her now.
"We'll get them back," Maggie assured him, speaking softly.
"I just want to get them back without scars this time," he whispered. He lifted his arm and towed Maggie into his side and held her against him, unwilling to let go. He had come a long way from the trembling kid dodging Walkers and shakily holding a shotgun in both hands. He couldn't even begin to imagine what it would be like to lose the most important thing in the world to him, or to have her scarred and traumatized, as he was sure Fox had been while held captive. She had never spoken of or described her abuse, the evidence of it was literally written across her face. He didn't want to imagine or even entertain the consequences of what might happen if something even remotely similar happened to Luna or Judith.
In the darkness Daryl slowly approached Fox as she hunted in the moonlight for the knife she had thrown. He kept his distance until she found it and when she crouched to the earth to retrieve it, he waited until she was on her feet before he made his presence known. Just as he suspected, there was no apology or humility in Fox's face. She had far too much pride to admit, even with body language, that she had overreacted. It was something he had done his best to cull from Luna while she was growing up, and he'd been met with limited success.
"You know I'm right," she whispered as her fingers curled around the handle of her blade.
"No, I don't know that." Daryl's voice was raspy, half strangled by far too much emotion that even after all this time he hated to let show so easily.
"Yes you do," Fox growled. "You know if we had any sense we would just take the bike and go and get them back ourselves and regroup later! The longer we wait, the worse it is!"
His patience was wearing thin. He didn't want to listen to her like this, because her need to take action right this second appealed to the enraged and possessive parent in him that had his offspring stolen from him. His knuckles cracked as his hands curled into fists and then unclenched. "Splitting up is dangerous and might prove to gain nothing for it. When we came to get you, we came with all of us, and thank God we did, because I'd of died down there if I'd of gone on my own after you."
"And I almost died as it was," Fox countered. "Me and Luna both."
Daryl stared at her; almost unbelieving she could be so cruel. It was as if she had struck him with brass knuckles right in the face. After everything had happened and she had told him of her pregnancy, and how she'd found out while being held captive, it had taken a long time for it to sink in that not only had he almost lost Fox, but Luna too. It was a miracle Luna had survived Fox's brutal beatings as it was, and he had always wondered if perhaps that traumatic experience so early on in the pregnancy had something to do with the violent illness that had claimed Luna's hearing, and very nearly her life.
"I came for you. I came as fast as I could!" Daryl insisted.
"I know you did!" Fox responded urgently. She realized she'd hit him below the belt and now sorrow did sweep across her face. She tried to approach but he withdrew from her advance and so she stayed where she was and met his eyes. "All I'm saying is we have a chance to maybe prevent something similar from happening to Luna and Judith."
Daryl tried to loosen his limbs but he was met with only a small degree of success. "I'm well aware of our options," he said stiffly. He turned to leave but felt Fox following him and turned back. "Just don't. Not now," he growled.
He turned and walked away and Fox sheathed her knife in her belt and stood still, watching him go towards the bike. She knew he wouldn't leave and now she was kicking herself for hitting him where it really hurt. She hadn't meant to hurt him like that but she should have known better. She hadn't decided on how best to proceed when Rick came up to her shoulder.
"I know better than to expect an apology from you," Rick murmured.
"Yeah, you do know better," Fox answered back, but she didn't look at him, keeping her gaze fixed on Daryl's back.
"But that was uncalled for, what you did to him," Rick added. He might have added it was also uncalled for the way she had grabbed him, but he didn't. He wasn't willing to antagonize her anymore than she had already been ever since they'd found out Luna and Judith had been taken.
"What do you want me to say? He's too damn angry and stubborn to listen to me right now," Fox huffed, digging the tip of her booted foot against the ground.
"Go over there and say you're sorry, for once in your life," Rick grated between clenched teeth. She turned to face him and was met with reproach. She swallowed the words of challenge in her throat and met head-on with his next retort.
"I don't know what it is about you that you can't seem to have a remorseful bone in your body. I've known you for almost twenty years, Fox, and never once have I heard you apologize for something you've done. Tell me, have you ever regretted anything?" His voice was hard, harder than she hard heard from him in years.
"Yes." She gritted the words through clenched teeth. "You have no idea the things I've regretted in my life."
"Then why is it so hard for you to show it? We've all said things we didn't mean, done things we wish we wouldn't have. That was cruel what you did," he reiterated.
"You think I don't know that?" Fox snapped coldly. "If you think you can make me burst into tears you're wrong. I won't regret what I want, but I didn't mean to hurt Daryl like that. You of all people I'm amazed aren't gung-ho right beside me," she added with a cagey look in her eye.
Rick let out a tense breath. "I want to. But the logistics are improbable. The bike only holds two, and besides, like I said, splitting the group is too dangerous. We can't risk it. Judith means the world to me, she always has. But I have Carl and the rest of the group to think about as well. You and Daryl are two of the strongest fighters if we run into trouble, that is something I cannot discount. Plus Daryl is still the best hunter of the group, there's no guarantee we'll be able to pilfer food if our supply runs out. There's more reasons why it would be basically suicide to have you guys go tearing off on your own, not the least of which is the madhouse you'll encounter when you get to the base."
"Guess I'm just selfish," Fox growled low in her throat. It was not an accusation; it was a statement of fact. She was selfish. She'd always been selfish of what she claimed as hers. She claimed very little in her life, but what she did she held onto with all the ferocity of an F5 tornado, and Luna was on the top of that list. Luna was her flesh and blood, the last blood relative she had left. Nurturing her and raising her as she had only increased her natural protectiveness ten fold.
"You're a mother," Rick said softly, losing most of the anger in his voice. "I think it's an animal instinct to place the welfare of your offspring above everything else. Even Lori, who was not the most courageous or tenacious of sorts, could be dangerous if she thought Carl was threatened." He met her gaze steadily and it was gentler this time.
"I didn't mean to cut that deep," Fox said softly. "I just wanted him to feel the same urgency."
"I know that," Rick said heavily. "But you took it too far. There are not many things that bother Daryl, but shoving something like that under his nose is one of them."
They both paused and assessed each other. They had come a very long way from when they'd first met. When they had first met Fox would have never dared allowed anyone to tell her how she should handle a relationship of any sorts. And even now, she was reluctant to be lectured to by anybody. But she shared a bond with Rick that afforded her the patience to listen to him. For all of the mistakes he had made, Rick had wisdom and a depth of humanity that was more precious than all the diamonds in the earth, and she had spilt blood to protect that humanity. That shared moment passed between them and the tension ebbed like the tide easing back out to sea.
"We move out at dawn." They needed no parting words. Their understanding ran deeper than that.
She cautiously approached the space of earth next to the motorcycle where Daryl was stretched out. Summertime afforded them warmth without much by the way of shelter but when he heard her coming he sat up.
"Don't get up," she said quietly. She dropped down next to him, resting on top of her sleeping bag as he was on his own. She paused, trying to find the right words to say, not wanting to draw this out any more than was necessary. He had fixed her with that knowing look, almost as if he knew what she wanted to say, and was demanding it from her, because she had been in the wrong, and they both knew it.
"I'm sorry for what I said." She looked up into his eyes, not sure of what she might see. She had been with him for almost twenty years, but when it came to apologies she still had very little experience. Only one other time could she recall sharply where she had said she was sorry, and that was after she had physically struck him across the face.
"Guess asking for forgiveness is too much of a stretch," he muttered.
Her skin crawled uncomfortably. "Are you going to hold me hostage to a mistake?"
"It wasn't a mistake," he said shrewdly. "You meant it to hurt. I know you better than that, Dahlia. You tried to rile me up like poking at a rattlesnake. Right?" He fixed her with a steely look and she shifted but then lifted her chin and met his eyes.
"Yes." It was the truth. She had meant to rile him, hoping to spurn him into the action she desired. She had miscalculated on how much her words would hurt.
A muscle in his jaw twitched before he relaxed. "But I understand," he said quietly. "I know how you feel. I want to be on the road right now to get them back. But Rick is right. We have to be careful or we might lose everything."
She sank lower onto her side and he did the same and she cautiously crept up towards him like a chastised dog coming to lie at its master's foot. Years ago her pride would not have allowed her to do so, but now with so much uncertainty, fear, and regret, as well as years spent with him, she put her pride aside. Daryl welcomed her to lie against him and when his arm came down over her side to pull her close, the last of the tension ebbed away.
"I'm sorry for hurting you," she whispered. "I know you'd do anything for me. And Luna."
He hummed softly in the back of his throat against her neck. "If I couldn't handle your unfiltered mouth we would not be where we are," he said. His tone was gentle, but there was the smallest hint of a warning there. Not that she needed it. She would keep herself in-check as much as she could now. She wasn't afraid he'd leave her or that she would be ousted from the group if she caused a ruckus, the time for that kind of uncertainty had long since passed. But they needed to be unified for what lay ahead, and she wouldn't let petty words get in the way from being as strong as possible when it came time to rescue Luna and Judith.
Hearts beat fast as raindrops spattering the ground as they approached the mouth of the mountain. They'd heard no activity of any kind on the way there, something that had unnerved Daryl greatly, and Rick too, but they'd come to far to be pushed back now. They slung through the trees, the mountains terrain rough under their tired legs but they were far too keyed up on adrenaline to even notice it. Each of them were armed to the teeth, everybody with at least a gun and a knife, and in most of their cases more than one of each. Daryl had his crossbow hitched around his back, at the moment his thirty eight in his hand and his buck knife not far out of reach.
The entrance to the base was just up ahead through the trees and even this close Daryl was perturbed to hear nothing. Everyone else was on edge too, especially Fox, who had a death grip on her kukri blade as they slunk forward, able to see the fence through the trees now.
"Something's wrong!" Benjamin hissed. He had a nine millimeter strapped to his hip which after years of practice he'd finally managed to become something other than a horrible shot with. Still Daryl wouldn't put it past him to accidently shoot a finger off if he wasn't anything less than a hundred percent focused.
"Where is everyone?" Glenn agreed. His shotgun was on his back and at the moment his right hand was occupied with a handgun, as was Maggie's. She also had a double barrel across her back, and Daryl knew from sheer experience that she could wreck havoc with it if she put her mind to do so.
"Maybe they know we're here," Carl supplied. His voice was gritty with barely suppressed anger. "Maybe they're trying to lure us in. Could be a trap."
Fox trained her eyes to the various towers and other positions of height from behind the fence that might offer a vantage point. She wasn't sure if they were capable of any kind of electronic surveillance, but she didn't detect any of the sort from her position. She was about to say something when Daryl twitched next to her.
"There! Through the trees, towards the loading bay," he hissed, nudging Rick who looked in the direction he'd indicated, maybe fifty yards away. He saw a rustle of movement through one of the shrubs that was growing along the edge of the fence, the slightest twitch of the metal.
"How many you think?" Rick asked through clenched teeth as his fingertips stroked the trigger on his python. This was one of many times having Luna's eyesight would have been incredibly useful.
"I think it's only one," Maggie murmured. She had the best view of the slightly trembling bushes. They all held their breath and watched, attention torn between the secluded area by the loading bay and keeping a watch for movement anywhere else. The breeze began to blow strongly, a slight bite to its temperature. At first nothing happened and Daryl began to think he'd imagined the movement but then they heard the softest of growls.
"Move," Rick urged. He took the lead, Daryl right at his flank, Fox covering him. Maggie, Glenn, and Benjamin covered Rick's other side as they swept up towards the now definite motion. They loped forward quickly, the sound of the growling getting louder and louder until there was no mistaking it for Walker snarls. Except they sounded somewhat distorted and they quickly found out why.
They came crashing through the thick shrubbery that had hidden their quarry from sight and found a pair of Walkers, almost identical looking, but like no Walkers Daryl had ever seen before. Both had their lower jaws torn off, mangled meat hanging off the remaining bones in their faces. They had no teeth that Daryl could see, or arms for that matter, and around their necks were metal collars hooked to a chain that was tied around one of the trees.
"What the hell?" Glenn asked softly when a frightened shriek sliced the air in two.
Everyone whirled and saw a hooded figure manhandling Benjamin, a lengthy and deadly looking blade held right at his throat.
"Who are you?" came the voice beneath the hood.
"Let him go!" Rick demanded, cocking the hammer back on his gun.
"Nobody ever comes up here unless you're one of them!" the figure growled back. "Who are you?"
"Release him!" Rick demanded again and with a flick of his eyes at Daryl, the hunter raised his gun, right along side with Maggie and Glenn. Fox did not draw her firearm but she did remove both her kukri knives from her belt and twirl them easily in her hands. The hooded figure eyed the blades and then snapped its gaze back towards Rick. The figure slowly lowered the sword and Benjamin hurriedly skittered towards the group before spinning around and drawing his own gun.
"Drop your weapon," Rick ordered, every inch of his old cop voice back in between his teeth.
"Whatever you came here for is gone," the figure said and Daryl detected the trace of some hidden knowledge that made his blood pump faster in his veins. The figure brandished the sword which made the entire group flinch and raise their guns higher but instead the figure raised it back and sheathed it in a case strapped across their back and as the arm came back down it gripped the edge of the hood and pulled it down.
They were faced with a black woman, roughly the same age as them, shoulder length dread locked hair held back by a thick headband, wearing simple civilian clothes and appearing to have no other weapons on her person save for her sword. She was built lean and strong and Daryl knew that if she had survived the outbreak this long, she likely had skill with the weapon and that they should be cautious.
"What do you mean gone?" Rick asked. His tone was still threatening and he had not lowered his gun, but it was less so.
"The men who worked in this base left a day and a half ago. Everyone, all the trucks, helicopters, everything." The woman's eyes darkened. "Judging by the looks of you you're not apart of them, so who are you and what do you want with them?"
"We could say the same about you," Fox growled, spinning her knives again. She tilted her head towards the Walkers who were straining against their chain, trying to get to all of them, struggling to gnash their non-existent jaws. Daryl had no doubt that if they broke loose of their bindings even without jaws they would probably still be able to tear off and manage to get down a few mouthfuls of meat.
"I've lived in the area for a while and kept tabs on them. Thought that if society was ever going to show back up again, it might start with them." She didn't move, and began to eye them all with greater suspicion, and something akin to aggravation.
"And has it?" Glenn asked.
"None so far," she responded coolly. "You can lower your weapons. I have no interest in hurting you."
Rick's eyes grew angered. "I think we'll be the ones to make that judgment call. What's your name, how long have you lived here, do you know what happened, why they left?"
She turned to him, having tried to step around their semi-circle in order to reach the Walkers chained to the tree. "They used to at least try and buy me a drink first," she muttered, mostly to herself. Daryl cocked an eyebrow and Rick took note. Maybe this woman wasn't as mentally stable as they were. They'd seen it before, found survivors on various supply runs that had been alone for too long and had gone mad. If they posed as threats they eliminated them, but they tried to just let them alone if they could, despite an alternative possibly being a mercy killing.
"My name is Michonne," she answered after a long pause, as if she had to really think about it to remember it. "I've lived in the area…a while. I can't remember exactly how long, a few years at least. Just scavenging, roaming from place to place, but when I found there were people here I decided to keep an eye on them and see what they were up to." She took a step too close to them and Fox raised her knives again. Michonne's eyes gleamed in the reflective light from the blades and the smallest kindred spark passed between the two.
"Why didn't you join them?" Benjamin asked, speaking for the first time since she'd let him go. His face had blanched of any color he'd ever had, and his New York accent was thick on his tongue.
Michonne's eyes narrowed sharply as she turned to him. "I saw what happened to the ones they took in. They never come out."
An icy chill settled over Daryl's body but Rick's words cut through the cold swath of fear squeezing his chest.
"You said something about helicopters, other vehicles. How many people are we talking about? Where did they go?"
Michonne shrugged. "Can't say for sure. They look military, but the government's dead and gone. Nothing left of them. So who they are…where they went…I don't know." She looked at them all with tired and yet somehow still amused eyes. "If you came seeking supplies, I wouldn't bother. There aren't any."
"Did you see them leave?" Rick asked. "Did you see two teenage girls with them?" Urgency washed over his words.
Michonne tilted her head again. "I've seen several teenagers taken into the mountain. They never come out. If they were there, they're not now."
"I don't fucking believe it," Daryl growled to Rick while he turned away for a moment. "And even if they are gone, there's got to be some trace of where they would go inside. Records of some kind. If they left and took everything with them, they had a plan. They had to have. With the resources they had last time, they'd have somewhere to fall back to."
Rick nodded at the hunter's logic and turned back to Michonne. "A word of advice, don't take people hostage when you're outnumbered. The next group might shoot you."
Michonne dipped her head. "Duly noted," she said sarcastically.
Rick turned and motioned to the group and they followed him through the trees towards the fence but as they cleared the underbrush they noticed Michonne was actually following them, albeit at a distance but nevertheless too close for comfort.
"This is our business, not yours," Rick growled. "I suggest you take your pets and move on."
Michonne's face hardened angrily. "Just because you have a gun doesn't mean you own the whole world. Why would I kill you? Do I look like someone who wants to be loaded down with a lot of useless supplies? I want to see what's inside, same as you."
"And you think that will make us trust you, you're out of your mind," Daryl growled coldly. "Back the hell up." He brandished his gun and Michonne paused.
Michonne ignored him for the most part and focused her attention on Rick. "You're wasting your time here. They're gone. There's no people left for you to find, what else is down there I don't know. But I know the routes they took to drive out of here."
Fox twitched near Daryl's shoulder. "The roads are all jammed. We had to come creeping up here to avoid breaking our axels."
Michonne nodded in agreement. "There's a way out of this place on the other side of the mountain. I can help you get there, as well as get past the band of people who have settled that valley without being seen. If you were to go that way on your own, they'd rip you to pieces."
"In exchange for what?" Rick growled.
"Letting me into the base with you without six guns in my face." Michonne glared at Daryl and then Fox before turning her eyes on Rick. Rick twitched his head towards Daryl and the two withdrew while the others kept their weapons trained on Michonne.
"What do you think?" the former cop asked.
Daryl paused and weighed the situation. "She's the same age we are, or close to it, she's survived all this time, that makes her just as dangerous as we are. But we're in enemy territory and we are at a disadvantage. She knows the area, and if there are people in the next valley over, and that's our fastest way out of here, having her help us wouldn't be a bad idea. There's seven of us and one of her, I'm pretty sure we can keep her contained if we had to."
Rick mulled it over in his mind before stepping back towards the main group and motioning for Daryl to follow. Michonne kept her eyes trained on him carefully, like a tom-cat sizing up a rival male in an ally.
"Alright, you come with us. But not with those things," he gestured to the Walkers chained to the tree. "They die first."
Michonne's eyes narrowed and her expression morphed somewhere between anger, resentment, and acceptance. She unsheathed her sword in a smooth, well practiced motion and spun gracefully, slicing first one head, and then the other, clean off. When their ruined mouths still twitched she sank the tip of her blade through each of their temples, truly killing them. The bodies dropped at the foot of the tree they were chained to and Michonne used a cloth tucked into her belt to clean her blade before sheathing it. Fox glanced at her and then at Daryl and Daryl saw the spark of slight envy at the woman's weapon and despite the tension, it amused him.
They all slipped like a pack of wolves out of the trees and towards the fence, one by one climbing over, Michonne going last and carefully watched by the others. Once they'd made it over they approached the loading bay and powerful flashbacks rocked through Daryl. The last time he'd been here, he'd had Fox draped over him, so close to death he didn't even really want to acknowledge it. Carl had still been a child, he hadn't yet known he was a father, and the world had only ended a matter of months before. He tried not to let it show on his face as they descended down into the mountain and instead kept his gaze trained between Fox and Michonne, letting his wary instincts keep a watch on the new companion to the group.
As they went down several flights of steps, searching random rooms, all of which had been vacated, looking for any information, any sign, or whisper of where the base had evacuated to, Fox stuck close to Daryl, her arm brushing his every soften as they rounded corners, keeping a close watch for anything moving, dead or alive. It didn't seem likely that Walkers would have gotten in, but after all of the places that they had sheltered in on the road, they had learned to be cautious. They kept Michonne in the middle of their little circle, Rick taking point, Fox and Daryl flanking him as they cautiously roamed the empty, stone hallways.
"It's empty. Like I said," Michonne muttered as they finally came back around in circles having searched every floor and found nothing, not even a trace or scrap of paper with any kind of lead. Frustration and anger roared through Rick's veins as he struggled to think clearly.
"What about the cells?" Carl asked quietly. "Weren't they in the basement or something? Wasn't that you were held?" he asked Fox, meeting her gaze briefly. She nodded.
"If they were going to hold Luna and Judith hostage, it would be there," Glenn reasoned.
With trepidation and a not so small hum of anxiety and simmering anger rolling through her, Fox followed her family down the nearest flight of stairs. She didn't remember being hauled out by Daryl and the others who had come to rescue her. The last thing she had really remembered from when she'd been held captive was the bone splitting pain of Phillip's knife as it had sawed over the sensitive skin of her face over and over again, giving her the permanent scars she now wore. After the last cut she had passed out from the pain and the physical stress of her imprisonment. She only remembered vague flashes from there- shouting, the smell of blood and metal, the feel of hard hands holding her and dragging her away. Consciousness hadn't seemed so important then. Nothing had seemed so important then except the numbness that only being so close to death could bring.
Daryl led the way down towards the cells, dark memories washing over him. He tried his best to block out the reminders of his fight with his brother, the echoes of Fox's blood curdling screams as Phillip tortured her while he had been trapped in the next cell over. The sight of her mangled, bloody body hanging from the ceiling. He still remembered the resistance of Phillip's skull as his buck knife sawed it open in vengeance, the softness of his brain between his fingers as he'd yanked it away from the skull cavity and flung it to the floor before crushing it beneath his heel. If anyone had so much as laid a finger on Luna, they would get the same, except this time he would make sure they were still alive first.
They reached the floor of the cells and one by one they searched them, finding all of them unlocked. The search proved fruitless, the darkness impeding their search until they clicked their flashlights on. One by one they cleared the rooms of anything useful until they came to the last door. The electric white beams from their lights cast upon the small cell and at first Daryl was going to call it clear and admit defeat when he saw a flash of color on the back wall. He swept his light close to it again and called for the others. On the back wall close to the floor was a sloppily written message.
We're alive. Atlanta. The CDC. Beneath the words was the shape of a crescent moon and the letter J.
Almost in a trance Daryl approached the wall and let his fingers touch the words. He crouched down to be eye level with the message and pressed his fingertips into the letters. When he pulled his hand back his fingertips were sticky and a deep sniff gave off a salty smell. He licked his fingertips and tasted copper.
"It's written in blood," he murmured as he stepped back and allowed the others to see. Fox dropped down to her knees as well and traced every letter with her fingers. Daryl saw her shivering, her shoulders shaking. Rick too seemed to have a hard time keeping himself contained. His hands were trembling, his fingertips twitching almost uncontrollably. They all pulled away from the wall and pressed close together.
"They're alive," Rick murmured softly. "They're alive."
"Yeah, and they were taken to Atlanta for Christ's sake. You said they had helicopters?" Glenn asked, looking over at Michonne who had remained closer to the door, giving them space and as much privacy as could be afforded in these tight quarters.
"Yes. I'd seen them fly overhead many times. Most recently when everyone else pulled out."
"That means they're in Atlanta by now," Fox reasoned. "Once we're out of the mountains how long do you think it'll take to reach the city?" She directed this at Michonne as well.
The black woman shrugged her shoulders. "There's no way to know how bad the roads might be once we leave the area. Hopefully it's not as bad as it is here but there's no guarantee."
They all turned towards Rick. Daryl could see the man was struggling with the knowledge of what they were going to have to do, but like he always did, he settled into his skin. He took his place at the head of their group and lifted his head up and looked them all in the eye.
"We're going back. We're going to Atlanta and we'll rescue them." It was simple but delivered with so much conviction and every syllable was weighted down with so much history that it hit them all like ten-pound weights on their necks.
No one argued with him. They followed his lead to leave the base and the whole time Daryl's heart was racing beneath his chest. Georgia. Atlanta. The home he had abandoned, fled from to save his life, the place he'd left his brother to die in. The place his brother had returned to after he had forced him to leave without reconciliation. He tried to ignore it, but he had a sneaking suspicion in his gut that before this was over, he'd tangle with Merle again. But within that nervousness there was hope, hope like the rising sun after hours of fighting through hordes of slavering corpses in the darkness. Not that the sun would save him, Walkers were not vampires that would perish in the light, but the visibility somehow soothed his soul, and for now, it was something to be grateful for.