By the way, thank you again mysterious 'Guest' for your awesome review and I promise you that almost everything you put in your review, I plan on doing already. If I knew who you were, then I'd give you a shout-out, but since I don't, then I suppose 'Guest' will just have to do. Thank you too Zaii, for your awesome reviews as well :)
Favorite Line(s):
Merle would have sneered and called him weak upon seeing the way he was following after an Indian squaw and their brat like he was. His father would have called him weak as well and then smashed a beer or liquor bottle over his head as if pounding the point home. His mother . . . his mother would have done nothing, let's just put it like that.
Somewhere along the road from Atlanta to Fort Benning (Daryl forgot exactly where) he had to get rid of his truck. And granted, Shane had to also let go of his Jeep too but you couldn't tellDaryl that Shane was as tore up about leaving behind his Jeep as Daryl was about losing his truck (even though it was, after all, a Jeep). He had that truck since before he could remember – it was the first thing he had bought for him – something that him and Merle hadn't had to pool their money in together and buy – that and his crossbow. And now all he had left was Merle's bike – something that technically wasn't even his.
In the beginning, when he had first lowered it down from the bed of his dead truck, he had almost wanted to laugh at the irony and he could see from Tessa's face that she had too. Here he was, riding a black Harley Davidson with Neo-Nazi symbols on it and with an American Indian woman sitting behind him on it. The irony was practically priceless.
However, he didn't know if going to Fort Benning was necessarily the right thing to do – if leading the caravan of now only three vehicles to a place that they had no idea contained what, on just a black Harley Davidson with Tessa clinging to him on the back, was a good thing. And truthfully, he had no idea how the bike had not managed to catch the attention of a horde of walkers by that point anyway!
But, alas, it was not his place to judge any of Rick's decisions (some that were loads better than any that jackass Shane had and some that he wanted to kill him for having the balls to make) and while he normally would have said 'fuck you' to any plan he at first didn't like, he had still allowed himself and his family to get drug into the CDC where they had been almost killed if they hadn't escaped by the skin of their teeth! Now why in the Hell did he allow that to happen? For God's sake, Merle would have handed him his ass on a silver platter for his stupidity if he knew!
And yet, there it was . . . the one reason he stayed with the group because, after all, there was safety in numbers: his family, Tessa and Ethan. And while he had no doubt in his mind that between him and Ethan they would be perfectly able to look out for themselves, something still made him pause. Despite the sometimes clear chasm that was in the group, there was still a sense of comradely and family that he didn't think Tessa and Ethan should go without – even in the walker apocalypse.
Merle would have sneered and called his weak upon seeing the way he was following after an Indian squaw and their brat like he was. His father would have called him weak as well and then smashed a beer or liquor bottle over his head as if pounding the point home. His mother . . . his mother would have done nothing, let's just put it at that.
And yet . . . his uncle Jess and his aunt Rebecca, who had both always been a vocal advocate for him and Tessa, would have told him to keep on keeping on because what were you without family – even your kid and his mother? He found himself seeking more and more solace in surely what his uncle Jess would have said, than anything his brother or his father or mother would ever have said.
"Daryl, wait a minute . . ."
Daryl paused at Tessa's tired sounding voice (she had obviously been drowsing against his back until then) and turned to glance back. The Winnebago had stopped before a cluster of dead cars and Dale was leaning out the window with his eyebrows furrowed in concentration as he searched the road ahead to see if they could find a path. Daryl sighed and turned the bike around, where he headed back towards the Winnebago.
"Can you find a path for us?" Dale asked him and Daryl nodded, gesturing with his head back the way he had come from.
"Yeah, come on – follow me." He told him before he rode around the Winnebago in order to turn the bike around. Carefully and slowly, Daryl and Tessa led the way, weaving in-between cars and trucks inch by careful inch, Dale's eyes peeled to make sure he could see any spaces that Daryl had misjudged.
And then, much to their horrible luck, a hissing and white steam suddenly started issuing forth from the Winnebago, causing Dale to come to an immediate stop. "Daryl, they've stopped – they're having issues with the radiator again." She told him and Daryl glanced back before bringing Merle's bike to a slow stop, cutting off the engine seconds later. He allowed her to get off first before he did and they made their way to the Winnebago, where everyone was out and about and crowded around it.
"What's wrong?" Tessa asked, eyebrows furrowing in confusion, and Dale shrugged, his eyes slightly weary as he glanced at the two new people who had so recently joined them. Now that she was walking, Tessa was awake now, although she hardly classified drowsing on the back of a moving bike 'soothing' enough to go to sleep.
"Tube's given out again. I can fix it but I'll need some time – Hell, one these cars or trucks might even have a new one that I can replace it with." He answered, and Daryl nodded as he jerked a thumb back towards the bike.
"While ya do tha', I'll take ma crossbow and scout out ahead on foot – make sure tha road we were followin' has a happy endin'," He nodded towards Ethan who had just recently stepped out of the Winnebago on Rick's heels. "Ya wanna come with?" He asked and Ethan nodded in slight excitement that he managed to curb off just in time as to not appear too excited, before he ducked back inside the Winnebago to grab his bow. Tessa turned a slightly apprehensive gaze onto Daryl and he shot her a soothing one in turn as he pressed a gentle kiss to her cheek. "Ya don' have to worry none, Tess – we'll back before ya even be begin to miss us!" He promised her and she nodded but crossed her arms self-consciously in front of her chest as Ethan reappeared from the Winnebago and moved to join them. He gave his mom a comforting smile, one that she replied with a kiss of her own on his forehead before him and Daryl turned and moved ahead. She watched them go with a soft, slightly wary eye that some there – not all, but the scant people she was close to – couldn't help but notice.
Even though Ethan was the same age as Carl and Sophia, he was taller than either of them – positively gangly for his age. He was almost as tall as her but she knew he was going to be right around Daryl's height when he reached his upper teens, if not as well-built too, knowing Daryl and his penchant to put a 110% into anything and everything he did. Sometimes, thanks to these characteristics, Tessa sometimes forgot that her son was thirteen and thought of him in terms of more as an adult, which she knew many parents would frown upon. But what do you do when your kid's childhood ends at the onset of the walker apocalypse and to treat them like a child could be the one thing that finally does them in? Sure, she would feel safer if he was still slightly innocent and impish like Carl and Sophia were, but honestly, with a father like Daryl Dixon, she wouldn't have it any other way.
If any of the children in their group would survive long enough to see the end of this whole shitheap that had become the world, she knew with absolute (and some would even go so far as to probably say 'blind') certainty, that it would be her child.
"Hey Tessa, we're gonna go look through some of the cars to try and find anything useful, you wanna come?"
It was Lori and Carol who had spoken and after heaving a sigh, she smiled and nodded as she turned around to face them. "Yeah, I suppose I will. It'll help keep my mind off of things, anyhow, I suppose." She told them in what she hoped was a cheery voice as she moved to join them. They smiled comfortingly at her and Tessa returned it as they moved to the first cluster of cars. She found that she got along much better with Lori than she did Carol, most probably because, in some sick, twisted way, she thought that Lori knew what she was going through. The same way Rick had so shockingly come back in their lives was almost the same as the way Tessa and Ethan had come into Daryl's. At first there was adjustments – there would always be hardships, and she figured that Lori at least knew some semblance of where she was coming from – Rick certainly did. She supposed Carol did too, but part of Tessa's distancing process away from Carol, partially stemmed from the idea that the older woman had an ever-so-slight crush on Daryl. Tessa didn't suppose it was anything major and she knew that Daryl would never consider hurting her in such a way, but still . . .
And while Tessa was cordial to Carol whenever any interaction between them was necessary, as far as a friendship existing between them like there was starting to exist between her and Lori . . . Tessa doubted it would ever happen.
"Look at this, guys! This guy must have ransacked the local med aisle of Wal-Mart before he left! Ibuprofen, Advil, various meds for allergy relief – every type of first aid supply you could think of – its all here!" Lori shook her head in abject disbelief. "I mean, yeah, it doesn't have any of the harder stuff like major painkillers and antibiotics, but it's something, right?" Tessa nodded as she dumped a bag out onto a nearby truck tailgate and started shifting through it. Stuffed animals, various clothing, and odds and ends . . . like the rest of the cars here it seemed people were more interested in grabbing photo albums instead of survivalist gear. The cache Lori found came few and far between.
"Uh . . . Carol . . .?"
Tessa looked up at Lori's slightly bemused voice, only to see Carol bashfully put down the red shirt that she had been holding up against her. "Ed, he never . . . he never let me wear such nice things . . ." She explained, a tad awkwardly, and Tessa smiled gently as she moved over to her.
"Well, Carol, it's not like anyone's gonna be using it anytime soon, so I don't think anyone will care if you take it. We're gonna need more clothes soon anyway, and besides . . ." She nodded as she picked up the shirt and held up to Carol, her smile becoming slightly more conspiratorial. "Red is definitely your color!" Blush crept up across the older woman's cheeks again and she glanced at Tessa before glancing down at the red shirt and taking ahold of it. She nodded in thanks, a nod that Tessa readily reciprocated.
"Carl, stay in my line of sight at all times, understand?" Lori's firm voice was directed towards her son and Tessa glanced behind her at the two children as Carol nodded towards Sophia as well.
"You too, Sophia; I don't want to have to worry where you are."
Both children nodded, Sophia hugging her doll to her chest as they wandered off a little ways but still not long enough to not be in sight of their mothers. "It must be hard . . ." Carol spoke, her voice the same small and quiet tone it always was and it took Tessa a moment to realize that she was directing her words to her and not to Lori.
"What do you mean?"
"Well, with Ethan out of your sight, it must be hard . . . you must worry for him terribly!" She elaborated and even Lori shot Tessa an interested look before returning to what she was doing. Tessa let out a light laugh and shrugged her shoulders.
"I admit, it is . . . a little daunting at first, not constantly have your child in your line of sight, but . . ." She shrugged again. "At least Daryl's with him, you know? I feel like I don't have to worry too much when he's with Daryl." Carol and Lori nodded in agreement and it was there that they left that conversation, the three of them falling into a slightly awkward silence. Once before, Jacqui would have been with them, searching through stuff to find valuables but now she wasn't there and they missed her presence greatly.
And it was then that they heard it . . . the low shuffling of feet – the quiet groans that rose in a buzzing crescendo as they grew nearer. Their heads shot up like deer spotting a predator and their blood ran cold when they saw the great mass of a walker herd shambling towards them. "Guys – get under the cars!" They heard Rick hiss to them as he made a quick path towards them and they wasted no time in dropping to their stomachs and inching underneath the closest cars. Carol and Lori found themselves underneath one and Carl underneath another while Tessa and Sophia were underneath cars closer to each other than the others were. Rick was also near to them as well but closer to Carl.
They had to force themselves to be absolutely silent as walker after walker shuffled by them, hands clasped over their mouths and noses to stifle their heavy, almost panicked breathing. Lori had to wrap a hand around Carol's mouth to keep her from crying out in fear and their eyes were pinned on their children underneath their retrospective cars. Tessa found her heart pounding away in her chest as well. Where had Daryl and Ethan been when they spotted the herd? Did they get a head's up enough to prepare themselves?
Deep down inside, Tessa knew that Ethan would be perfectly fine with Daryl and his expert knowledge of everything having to do with the walkers, however, her heart still found itself pounding a frantic tattoo in her chest nonetheless.
"Sophia, stay hidden!" Lori hissed to her and the little girl nodded frantically as she turned and shot a warning look to her son, one that Rick mirrored. Carl nodded and pulled himself into a tight little ball underneath the car as Sophia turned a frightened gaze onto Tessa. She smiled a strained smile in reply. Their cars were closely enmeshed enough to where she could safely reach out her hand to Sophia - a hand that the little girl readily took.
"It'll be okay, sweetie, I promise!" She whispered to her and Sophia replied with a weak but frightened smile as she squeezed Tessa's hand.
And for a while, it looked like it would be fine. The bulk of the walker herd slowly but surely inched by them until only stragglers were left behind. Tessa looked around her and when she no more feet shuffling past them, turned a questioning gaze onto Lori and Carol. Lori shrugged weakly and Tessa didn't notice at first when Sophia inched her way from underneath the car until she started screaming, her hand letting go of Tessa's. Immediately, her eyes shot onto the little girl, only for them to widen in horror as a walker dropped to its stomach and felt around blindly underneath the car for her before giving up and crawling under it after her. She saw Lori's hand clamp over Carol's mouth again to muffle her sobs and screams and for that, Tessa was thankful. They didn't need any more walkers descending onto them like locusts. One was more than enough to deal with.
"Sophia – Sophia hold on, honey – I'm coming!" Tessa urged her as - unheeding of her own safety - she started army-crawling her way under the cars towards her. She came to an abrupt stop when she felt something clammy latch onto her ankle and a rank, cold breath hitting her calf. She had just enough time to turn around and let out a strangled scream before a walker lowered his gaping mouth to the sensitive flesh of her leg . . .
"What about through there – that space in-between the Chevy and the Prius?"
"Maybe it would work if we moved tha truck outta tha way and made sure tha car sittin' beside it wouldn' be a problem too. However, judging by how congested tha road is, I'd say tha' would be a long-shot!"
After staying silent for a moment, Ethan found himself nodding in agreement at Daryl's words as they continued slowly on their way, peering inside the various vehicles on the road as they did so. After a moment, Ethan heard his father curse under his breath. "Damn . . . I thought for sure tha' we had a path through here!"
Ethan shrugged as he peered cautiously into a nearby truck where a rotting body sat in the driver's seat. "It might be difficult, but we'll just have to move some cars out of the way. After that's done, we should be -"
"Hush up for a minute!"
Daryl's voice when he interrupted Ethan was immediately on edge, like a dog whose hackles were standing on end after sensing danger, and he found his fingers curling tighter around his crossbow. Ethan fell silent, his body immediately tensing as well. "What is it?" He hissed, and Daryl shook his head, his eyebrows furrowing in slight confusion as he waved for him to stay quiet for a while longer. Then, after a moment, his teeth gritted and he cursed under his breath again.
"Shit – Ethan, get under tha car!"
Ethan hardly had time to prepare himself before he felt the breath being knocked from his lungs as Daryl shoved him none-too-kindly to the asphalt and then push him underneath a nearby truck before rolling under another across from him. Ethan's eyes widened and he had to physically cover his mouth to keep from letting out a startled scream as a veritable slew of walkers lumbered past their position. He saw Daryl frantically shake his head and silently shush him by putting a finger to his lips. Ethan nodded and closed his eyes, desperately holding back the screams that bubbled up in his throat. Where were the others? Where was his mother? Was she okay – was she safe? The horde had come from that direction - there was no way they could have walked past without the others noticing them!
Or the other way around, come to think of it . . .
The walkers must have lumbered past fairly quickly, for not long after Daryl shoved him underneath the car, he felt anxious hands grasping his shirt and pulling him from underneath it. The hands frantically patted him over to make sure he was okay before grasping his shoulders and shaking him gently. "Ethan . . .? Ethan - Lord's sake boy - talk to me!" Ethan's eyes immediately snapped open when he heard Daryl's voice echoing in his ears, his eyes immediately connecting with his father's slightly worried ones seconds later. The look of fear in Ethan's eyes was evident. "Are ya alright?" Daryl asked him, his voice calmer but no less shaky, and Ethan nodded again before swallowing heavily.
"Yeah, I'm okay . . ." He finally spoke and Daryl let out a relieved breath as he pulled his son into his arms, hugging him close for a moment.
"For a moment I thought we were dead . . . tha' ya wouldn' have been able to stay quiet! Ya did well though . . . ya did well . . ." Ethan took a moment to calm himself before hastily pushing himself away from Daryl. He shook his head then, his heart sinking.
"But momma was back there, deddy - what about her? Is she alright? Like I said, the walkers came from the direction of the Winnebago - didn't you see?"
By the look of stark fear that flickered across Daryl's eyes at his words, Ethan could tell the thought had just occurred to him, and he nodded as he grasped him by the back of his shirt and pulled him quickly forward. "Ya right – we gotta go check on tha others – make sure ya momma's alright!"
They made their way back to the Winnebago in what they hoped was record time, rescuing T-Dog from a small group of stray walkers by shoving themselves under dead walker bodies until they had past, along the way. They were just shoving the walkers off of them when they heard the strangled scream – the strangled scream that sounded uncannily like it belonged to Tessa.
And then, before Ethan could even react, he felt Daryl shove his crossbow into his hands before taking off at a sprint towards the source of the scream, yanking his knife free from its scabbard as he did so.
Tessa couldn't help but scream as the walker latched onto her ankle with a steel-like grip, his rotted mouth gaping and rancid as he fought to get her under his control long enough to sink his teeth into her flesh.
"Sophia!"
"Oh my God – oh sweet God, please no – Tessa!"
While Carol was worried about her daughter, who had crawled out from underneath the car, only to sprint off into the woods with two walkers hot on her heels as well as Rick, Lori had pinned a wide-eyed, frightened gaze onto Tessa across the way from them. She screamed for help as Tessa's teeth gritted in concentration and as she fought to get the walker off of her long enough to scramble away further underneath the cars or even in another, more open direction. However his grip was ruthless and he was stronger than he looked for a decaying body.
"Fuck! Fuck, fuck, fuck!" Tessa hissed as she felt herself being dragged backwards by the walker, her strength leaving her when she realized that every inch she gained trying to get away from him, was useless as he could easily gain that inch back. His hot breath was growing uncomfortably close to her calf and she found herself praying to God for her death to quick and painless as tears filled her eyes. She didn't want Daryl to have to put that bolt or that bullet through her head . . . she didn't want to have to put him through that so soon after getting her back.
"Oh tha fuck ya are, ya steamin' piece of shit!"
She heard a soft 'fwump' and then the grip around her ankle slackened considerably enough for her to finally kick the walker off of her. She was safe – she knew she was safe and her entire body relaxed into limp exhaustion as her chest started heaving for the breath it no longer had to conserve. Her brush with death was just the thing to let the floodgates inside her finally break and as she felt gentle hands pull her out from underneath the car, she allowed the sobs to rip forth from her chest. As Daryl's worried face came into view as he pulled her into a tight, protective embrace, tears streamed from her eyes and carved red streaks into her cheeks.
"Ya okay, Tessa? Did he bite ya at all?" He asked, his voice bordering on almost obsessive worry as he gently broke away from her and checked her over, spending longer on her legs than anywhere else. He felt her hands ball into fists at his shoulders and shake him, trying to get his attention. However, he ignored her as he ran his eyes over curve and dip of her body. Her movements became more frantic and when he was sufficiently happy that he found in no shape or form anything that could suggest a bite or a scratch, relief washed clearly over his face and eyes as he finally turned his attention onto her. Fresher tears were appearing in her eyes, however, and another look of worry appeared on his face. "Tessa, what more could possibly be wrong?"
Tessa shook her head. "Sophia ran off . . . into the woods . . ." She shook her head. "Walker found her underneath the car and she panicked and ran off . . . I tried to get to her and that was when the walker grabbed me . . ." Still fresher tears appeared in her eyes and took the place of the old ones as they proceeded to streak down her cheeks. She shook her head again. "If the walker hadn't grabbed me – if I had been quicker – maybe Sophia wouldn't be alone – maybe I could have helped her!"
Daryl shook his head in disbelief. "Tess, babydoll, there was nothing -!"
He was interrupted by Ethan shouting out a relieved, 'Momma!' before running full tilt towards her. Tears starting to dry up, she readily received him in her arms as they hugged, her eyes closing in relief as Lori and the others jogged up to her. "Is she alright?" Lori asked in clear concern, and Daryl silently nodded as Lori's look of concern was replaced with one of relief. In fact, everyone seemed to adopt a look of relief as they grouped around them. They had already had to leave Jim behind and had lost Jacqui at the CDC's explosion, as well as countless others in the attack at the quarry. They didn't want to have to kill another one of their own. Lucky for them Daryl had come along when he did.
Tessa looked up from her son's embrace and her eyes fell onto Carol standing a few feet behind Lori. Her eyes adopted a pleading look as she gently pushed Ethan away. "Carol, please – I'm so sorry -!"
Carol shaking her head before walking angrily away, interrupted Tessa mid-sentence and she felt Daryl's hand spread gently out on her lower back. She bit down on her bottom lip to keep from crying some more as he pulled her into another loving embrace. "Shush, Tess, there was nothin' ya could have done!" He murmured and Lori nodded in agreement.
"He's right, Tessa! A walker grabbed you – what could you have done?"
"I could have been quicker. I could have been aware of my surroundings. So really, I could have done so much more." She shook her head self-defeatingly as she roughly pushed herself out of Daryl's arms and turned around to march off.
