Chapter 6:

"No, no! That's not even the best part!" I laughed at Ally, knowing exactly where this story was going. It was one night at a bar during a drag show, one of many we had participated in together. The rest of the group sat intently listening to her around the fire, eating a nice stew our lit professor had cooked up. "So THEN the guy walks up to me, drag and all, and says 'Hey baby, there's enough room in this dress for two, if you know what I'm saying.' Oh my god… it was terrible, his make up was basically dripping from his face…"

Though the world was ending, our rag tag crew of people still loved sitting around the fire for dinner. It was the one scrap of normalcy we still had amidst sleeping in tents with shotguns loaded under our pillows.

"Oh god! He was trying to hard!" Ally laughed, which seemed to always make the entire camp erupt.

"So would you say that men who try get laughed at often?" Our resident nerd, Andrew, spoke up. I mean he didn't wear argyle or glasses, but he was in line to be the valedictorian of our class. Not entirely socially awkward, just… slight.

"Mmmm." Ally squinched her faced, thinking.

"Wow Ally, I think this is the most thinking I've seen you do since ever." I teased, nudging her side.

"Oh shut up!" Our laughs were interrupted by screams coming from the back woods, where our tents were set up

"Help me!" The screams turned into gurgles of death, and the sounds of moaning got closer and louder. I scrambled up, grabbing my bow, which I never let stray from my side. The sight I turned around to was grim.

Line after line of walkers emerged from the trees, shuffled and groaning absently towards their next meal.

"Oh fuck, Ally, get back." I grabbed her wrist and tugged, but she was too slow, as I looked up to my friend, a walker grabbed her from behind, sinking his teeth into her neck. Her eyes opened in shocked and I released her, tears stinging my eyes. "No!" I sobbed, tripping over one of the folding chairs.

I gathered myself quickly and Ally screamed, holding her hands out to me. By now the walker was dragging her to the ground and another approached, jumping at the situation. I stood and watched, helplessly, as the majority of camp was mutilated around me. The people I had grown quite fond of, learned to rely on, trying to crawl away or already dead on the ground.

"Beau!" I felt a hand grab my wrist and looked up at Andrew. "This way hurry!" he pulled me along and we ran blindly through the trees, branches scrapping at any exposed skin. We were making great distance, the screams barely cutting through the trees, until he fell, dragging me with him.

A loud snap could be heard, and I waited for the pain, but the scream didn't come from my mouth, it was Andrew.

"Fuck!" he reached for his leg, which had broken, both sides of the break puncturing the skin. I knew he was done, but I stood up and grabbed his arm anyways, trying to pull him over my shoulder. He cried out in pain. "Put me down, put me down, put me down." I brought my hands to my hairline and ran them through my now disheveled locks.

"I can set it, I just need a branch." I tore at my shirt, pulling off pieces of fabric to tie the branches to his leg.

"No!" His tone of voice startled me and I stopped. "No, Beau. Its too dark, you can't see anything." He sighed and laughed, a laugh of desperation. "I'm done, please leave me here and you run." I shook my head defiantly. I couldn't leave him by himself, by myself. He nodded at me. "Yes." I didn't move so he pushed me. "Get the fuck up and go! GO!"

I did as I was told and began running through the darkness. The shot of a sidearm pierced the otherwise silent woods, and I stopped in my tracks. Turning around I looked back through the trees.

"Andrew?" there was no answer, only silence, and fear took me over. "Andrew? ANDREW?"

I sat by silently, taking a quick break from the gathering of bodies. For some reason the campers were separating them, walkers from their fellow campmates, which I couldn't decided if that was sick or not. Burn the ones you don't know?

I realized the damage didn't end with the death of all the walkers, sure they were out of danger, but Andrea was at breaking point. She had pointed her gun at anyone stupid enough to approach her about Amy, and every second she sat there with her sister, the more she shut down completely, becoming, in a way, a zombie herself. The entire camp was fighting, Daryl being the center of almost every spat. The last one causing him to walk off towards the woods. I went to follow him when Jacqui yelled.

"A walker bit Jim!" whipping around I saw her backing away from him and the walker they were dragging.

"I'm fine," he reassured quietly, seemingly out of breath.

"Oh god…" I whispered. Daryl came from behind me, brushing past me fiercely.

"Show it to us." He demanded, his eyes intensely staring down Jim. Daryl twirled the pickaxe in his hand, poised for anything. Good thing, because Jim turned around picking up a shovel, ready to strike.

"Show us right now!" Shane demanded. Jim was distracted and T Dogg dropped the walker he was dragging, grabbing Jim by his arms, causing him to drop his weapon.

"I'm okay, I'm okay!" he chanted over and over again. Daryl rushed over to him and lifted his shirt. Sure enough there was an ever so clear bite mark on his side, so deep I could practically count the walkers teeth. Daryl dropped his shirt in disgust and back up towards me, putting his arm out instinctually front of me, shielding me. Jim kept chanting his "I'm okay" mantra, making my stomach turn at the sight of the helpless man standing on trial in front of us.

"Oh god…" I felt sick.

...

The men had sat Jim aside from the group and we all reconvened a few feet away.

"I say we put a pick axe in his head, an' the dead girls an' be done with it." Daryl spoke low and nonchalant, his tone void of any sympathy. It panged my heart.

"Is that what you'd want?" Everything with Shane was a challenge, this statement being no exception.

"Yeah, an' I'd thank ya while you did it." I had to admit Daryl's brain was now safety only, and I couldn't help but agree. Jim could go whenever and we didn't have time to wait around. I looked up at him, trying to catch his icy blue eyes, showing that I agreed with him.

"I hate to say this, and I never thought I would, but maybe Daryl's right." Dale said, covering an insult with praise. Daryl and I shared a snort, both thinking the same thing, causing us to make eye contact yet again. Officer Rick shook his head in disagreement, like I knew he would.

"He's not a monster, he is sick. He is a sick MAN." He looked up at the rest of the group, making sure to make eye contact with every one of us before continuing. "And if we start down this road, where will the line be drawn?"

Daryl took a step back, shaking his head and biting his lip.

"The line is pretty clear, Zero tolerance for walkers, or the debate."

"What if we could get him help?" Rick pleaded, irritating Daryl even more. "The CDC was working on a cure"

"Heard that too, heard a lot of things before the world went to hell." Shane spoke. Daryl looked bemused and sniffed the air. "And that is a stretch right there."

"Why? If there's any military left, they'd protect the CDC at all cost. Its our best bet." Rick continued. "Shelter protection, rescue." Daryl rolled his eyes.

"I know you want those things, I do too. Now if they exist, they're at the army base, Fort Benning." Shane was attempting to take control of the situation. I noticed that Jim wasn't being discussed anymore at all.

"That's a hundred miles in the opposite direction." Lori spoke, arguing with the man.

"I know that, but it's away form the hot zone. They'd be heavily armed, we'd be safe there."

"They got over run we've all seen that!" Rick said. All of this arguing was giving me a headache and I massaged my temples. I looked up at Daryl and I knew his patience was gone as he played with his pickaxe.

"You go lookin' for aspirin, do what you need to do." Daryl raised his pickaxe and began stalking over to Jim and who sat helplessly on the ground. "I'm gonna grow some balls an' take care of this damn problem!"

"Daryl, wait!" I yelled, following him over, putting a hand on his arm, hoping to stop him.

Rick didn't hesitate, he drew his side arm and held it to Daryl's head, causing him to stop what he was doing. I gasped and put my hands to my mouth, silently pleading for Daryl to put the axe down. He looked over at me, the hardness in his face disappearing.

"We don't kill the living." Rick spoke slowly. Daryl lowered his weapon slowly and Shane stepped between him and Jim.

"That's funny comin' from a man who just put a gun to my head."

"We may disagree on some things, but not on this. You put it down." Shane's tone was demeaning, and he spoke to Daryl like he was a child. "Go on now." Daryl dropped his axe with a huff and Shane picked it up, walking away with it. Daryl stalked off, not caring about the looks he got. I glared at Rick, slapping his handgun to the ground.

"I respect you're authority, I respect your stance, but the least you could do, is give Daryl the same common courtesy instead of shutting him down because you don't like what he has to say." I glanced down at Jim and then back at Officer Rick "You didn't hear him out about his brother, you just expected him to deal with it, or the dead campers, and now this." I left it at that as I turned around to follow after Daryl.

...

I found Daryl down by the quarry, pacing back and forth angrily. As I walked down the gravel path, rocks crunching under my weight, he stopped and glared in my direction. Once he saw it was me, he turned to face the quarry. I didn't say anything to him as I approached, and he didn't say anything to me.

We remained silent for a few long minutes, and I found myself kicking little pebbles into the water.

"These people say they're admirable and loyal, look out for each other, got each others backs." He laughed cynically. "Didn't mind leavin' Merle on a roof, and I know for damn sure had Jim been me or my brother, there wouldn't have been no conversation." He looked over at me and I looked back at him, not speaking, just giving him time to vent his frustrations. After a few seconds he spoke again, this time more calm. "So you gonna tell me which one of those admirable people gave you that shiner?" It wasn't what I'd expected him to say next and he didn't look over at me as he asked. "Or do you think I'm stupid too?"

I took a breath and opened my mouth to speak, only to shut it again. I wasn't sure of the reaction I'd get if I told him, but judging from his interest in my eye, I knew he'd probably be pissed.

"You'll get mad." I spoke matter of factly. Daryl turned to look at me and scoffed.

"You're damn right I'll be mad. I'll be seein' red. Can't leave these people alone for damn day without some pig beatin' on a woman?" He looked out at the water again. I turned to him and grabbed his hand. Daryl stood rigid.

"I got involved in a fight that was none of my business." He snorted and pulled his hand away.

"So you think I'm stupid too, huh? To hell with all of ya's." He began to walk away from me and deep down a part of me was hurt that he would leave like that.

"You wanna know what happened?" I hollered after him, realizing I wanted him to know, and I was dying for him to be angry over me. He stopped but didn't turn around. "Ask Shane." I began to walk back up to the top of the quarry, not pleased with how our conversation went; obviously I had expected it to take a different direction.

"So, so you're tellin' me," Daryl called after me and I turned around. He began walking towards me, stopping right in front of me. "You're tellin' me Shane did that to you?" His brows were furrowed and he took my silence as a yes. He grabbed my face and turned my cheek towards him, taking another look. "I will kill that bastard." His eyes darted quickly between my bruise and making eye contact with me.

"No." I was confused. Daryl didn't know me and I didn't know him, yet the fact that he was so furious about my eye made butterflies in my chest. How he stood in front of me, shielding me from Jim, the way he saved me last night. These feelings hit me all at once, and I realized I had a school-girl crush on this redneck hick.

"He can disrespect me all he wants," His face was beat red "But I ain't gonna let him put his hands on you." His eyes widened and he removed his hand from my chin, taking a step away from me. Without another word he turned and stalked off, leaving me standing there, my cheeks hot and a faint hint of butterflies in my stomach.