The Walking Deth - Part II
Only Way Onward - Chapter VI
Heat
AN: This chapter is NOT a dig at Carol or Caryl shippers. This is all part of a larger story which will probably make Carol fans run screaming, but I'm hoping the rest of you will find it interesting. I love Carol by the way.
*warning* Contains sexually explicit material (Which will probably make you laugh)
I was fucking cold. And numb. And feeling like a useless asshole, being dragged by a girl half my size through the woods in my heavy, sodden clothing.
My thoughts were all on getting hypothermic and dying. After all the danger I had been in over the last few years -heck over my entire life!- Daryl Dixon was going to be taken down by the mother fucking cold.
Beth had been struggling under the weight of me for at least an hour, probably longer. She was panting and puffing and sweating despite the cold. She had stumbled and dropped me in to the dirt half a dozen times and then struggled to pull me back on to her shoulders, while ignoring my unintelligible grunting of "Just leave me the fuck here."
It was Rick and Abraham who spotted me first, being dragged across the tracks with my lifeless, numb feet trailing through the rocks. Rick had thrown Judith Beth's way and then took me over his shoulder with Abraham on the other side, and rushed me in to the mess hall with the furnace.
Rick ordered everyone out of the mess hall for the day, and sent Beth away telling her I needed privacy. Beth had given me a concerned look and then obediently taken Judith away. Rick dropped me onto the couch and with the help of Abraham, began ripping of my clothing, cussing, and hissing and growling about cutting it all off. They had managed to get me butt naked without the use of scissors, much to my relief, and now I was lying on the couch in front of the furnace, wrapped in layers of blankets and trembling uncontrollably.
The closest thing we had to a doctor at Terminus was Bob, and he was called on in to examine me. He came in with his arm all bandaged up from where he had been shot when we took Terminus. He had brought along a medical kit from the Terminus infirmary, which was pretty well stocked. He put some plasters on my minor cuts, and examined some of the bruises and then took my temperature and my pulse, and monitored my breathing for a few seconds.
"You're still shivering, so that's a good sign." He commented, once he had finished prodding and probing me.
"I'm f..f..fucking c…c…cold." I chattered.
"You'll live. We just got to keep you warm." He insisted. "Lucky you're so fit, or it could have been a lot worse"
"I d..d..don't feel fit." I chattered. "I f..f..feel like sh…shit."
"If you didn't smoke, your recovery would be even quicker." He added with a chuckle.
"I…h…haven't in w…w…weeks." I replied. Why did he have to remind me of that? As if I wasn't in enough pain as it was.
"That's good, you should be back to normal in no time then." He patted me gently on the shoulder and then walked off out of the room, meeting Beth at the door with Judith in her arms.
Beth asked the doc how I was doing and if I was allowed visitors. Bob gave her a rundown basically telling her I was being a big sap and told her she could only stay for a short while, because the big baby needed his sleep.
She knelt beside me with Judith on her lap and put her burning hands to my trembling shoulders, and tried to hold them still.
"I'm so sorry Daryl, I should have helped you with that Stag." She said with a frown creasing her pretty brow.
"N...n...no. W...we would have b…b…both been screwed." I let out a big sigh, exhausted from the effort of speaking.
She put her head to my chest and gave me a squeeze.
"Look at you all wrapped up and helpless like a little baby." She lifted her head and looked at me with eyes full of mocking.
"I ain't h…h…helpless." I lied.
"Yes you are." She said squeezing my cheeks and speaking to me through pursed lips like I was Judith. "You're like lil ass kicker." She chuckled, nodding her head down to Judith who was pawing at my layers of blankets.
"I'll k…k…kick your ass." I chattered.
"K…k…kick my ass will you?" She teased.
"S…stop." I pleaded playfully.
"On baby, I could stay here and play with you all day, but I got another baby to take care of." She pulled the blankets under my chin, as if she was tucking in a child. "Rick's busy sorting out the other survivors, and organising food. You know leader stuff. I said I would take Judith for the day. I'll be back later to check up on you." She gave me a quick kiss on the forehead and then stood up. "Make sure you get some rest, sweety."
If Beth was happy to tease me, I must not be as close to death as I originally thought.
I did fall asleep sometime after that. All the trembling and shaking and teeth chattering had been exhausting. It was the clinking of steel against china that woke me up. It was dark out, I must have slept through lunch and dinner. My stomach started growling at the sight of Carol who was kneeling beside me with a bowl in her hands.
"I made you some chicken soup." She said presenting me with the bowl.
I sat up and pulled the blankets up to my chin, trying to keep the warmth in.
"Well I didn't make it, I got it from a can. That David fella had one especially for you." She said with a grin.
"That's cool." I said taking the bowl gratefully and resting it on my knees. I immediately started spooning the soup in my mouth. It tasted pretty great for canned soup. I hadn't spoken with David much since I first met him, but one day I would have to make the effort to talk with him and thank him for saving Beth, and for the soup.
"We're struggling for food, you know." Carol said while watching me scoop the soup into my mouth.
"No-one brought anythin' in today?" I asked referring to the hunting groups that had all left this morning at the same time as me.
"No. Nobody saw anything. Too bad you lost that deer."
I groaned thinking about the wasted meat that would be rotting on a creek bed somewhere.
"Can't believe how dumb I was, losing it like that." I thought out loud.
"Don't you call yourself dumb, mister." She said poking me playfully on the tip of my nose. "You've taken care of the lot of us for some time now, 'bout time we returned the favour."
I was finished with the soup now, and she made to wipe at my lips with the sleeve of her sweater. I flinched away from her touch.
"You took care of me the most, Daryl. Now let me take care of you." She said, pushing the fabric to my lips, and blotting gently. I allowed her to continue, feeling like an incompetent child.
"Was nothin'" I insisted.
"You care about me though, don't you?" She asked, collecting the bowl and then putting it on the nearby end table.
"Yeah 'course I do."
She knelt back beside me. "Good, I need someone to care for me." Her face fell into a frown. "I've been feeling so…empty…since." She gave a choking sound and then looked up to the ceiling and sighed.
"What's up? What happened?" I asked.
She pressed her lips together like she was holding back a sob and gave a shake of her head.
"I killed her, Daryl." She muttered.
"Killed who?"
"I killed Sophia."
I thought about Carol's little girl, and how we had lost her all that time ago. I had fought so hard to find her, and it had crushed me when we discovered she had been turned to a walker and locked away in Hershel's barn. Carol never really spoke about her, and I thought maybe she had got over it all, but I guess it still upset her some, and it seemed she blamed herself.
"Nah, that weren't your fault." I insisted, trying to comfort her.
"It was my fault Daryl. I made her look at the flowers and then I shot her in the back of the head." She let out another choked sigh.
"What're you talkin' 'bout? Sophia was bit by a walker." I reminded her. Was I hearing right? Maybe the cold had done something to my brain.
"No. No she wasn't. I killed her. I killed my little girl." Carol insisted.
Carol threw her head down into my chest and started sobbing. I stroked my hand through her greying hair and shushed into her ear trying to comfort her, the best way I could.
I had no idea what she was talking about, she sounded like she was confused. She must be suffering through some kind of post-traumatic stress. I wasn't used to this kind of stuff, girls crying all over me. I didn't really know how to make her feel better. I kept up with the strokes on her head and along her back and I instinctively pushed my lips into her forehead. That was Beth's fault. She was the one who taught me how to care about people.
Carol turned her head upwards and pushed her lips into mine, and began mouthing at them. I let her linger there for a few seconds trying to figure out what the hell was happening. When my brain had caught up to my body I grabbed her by her shoulders and jerked her back, as far as I could with my weak arms.
"Whoa, hold up a minute there." I said, holding her at a safe distance.
Her face was still wet with tears. She drew her hands up to my face and started running her fingers through the hair on my chin.
"You've always been so good to me, Daryl." She murmured watching my eyes with growing intensity.
"Yeah, and you been good to me, but I don't want nothin'…"
She pushed her fingers to my lips to quieten me.
"I know you don't want nothin' now. You're all screwed up like me." She twirled her fingers close to her ear. "Damaged people like us find it hard to trust, but maybe we could help each other─ get better─ and then maybe after that we could be together."
What she was saying was kind of creepy, and erratic, and not at all like the Carol I knew back at the prison. She had said things to me before, playful things, but I was sure she never meant anything by it.
"Carol, I don't think…" I was going to tell her, I wasn't interested in her, that I didn't want to be with her, that I saw her as a friend and nothing more, but she interrupted me.
"Shhh lets not talk about it now." She said holding up her hands defensively. " You've been through a lot today, and I'm real tired too."
She was real tired? Maybe that's why she was acting all weird. She placed a kiss to my forehead. "I'm going to bed. We can talk more in the morning." She murmured against my skin.
She gave me a smile and then stood up and walked to the door. I jumped a little when I saw Beth in the doorway, wondering what she had seen.
"Oh hey, Beth. Daryl was just about to get some sleep, weren't you Daryl?" Carol said stopping and turning back to me.
"Uhuh." I uttered, lost for words.
"I won't be long, just wanted to say goodnight." Beth said glancing over to me and smiling.
"Okay, don't tire him out, our boy needs his rest." Instructed Carol, while she smiled back at me and gave a wink, before making her way out of the door and down the corridor.
When Carol was well out of sight, Beth dropped to her knees beside the couch and kissed me on the lips.
"What was that wink all about?" She asked me with a grin, absent of jealousy.
"Man, I don't even know." I replied, rubbing my hands through my hair, and pushing against my head trying to stop it from exploding with all the confused thoughts that were racing around it.
"I always thought maybe she had a little crush on you, and you on her." Beth said, pursing her lips together thoughtfully.
"Nah, I like her, and I care about her a lot, but not like I care about you." I assured her.
"Well that's good then, I don't really want to share you." She said with a cheeky grin.
She slipped her hand under the blanket and began rubbing on my bare chest. I ignored the tingling sensation I felt when her skin brushed against mine and stared up at the plasterboard ceiling lost in thought. Should I tell Beth, what just happened? Would she be pissed at me? I didn't like keeping secrets from her, and it wasn't the best way to start a relationship.
"She kissed me." I finally confessed.
"When, back at the prison?" Beth asked while continuing to wind her fingers through my chest hair.
"Nah, just then. Just before you came in."
Beth's hand stopped moving. "Did you kiss her back?" She asked.
"Hell no! I only got eyes for one girl." I said turning to her and managing a weak smile.
"I don't think she's gonna take it well when we tell her." Beth murmured thoughtfully.
"Maybe not." I said, while reaching under the covers and taking Beth's hand in mine. "But we gotta tell 'em." I pulled her fingers to my mouth and kissed the tips gently.
She smiled back at me, and then pushed her own lips to mine and gave me a long closed mouth kiss, and then rested her head against my chest, looking towards the fire dancing in the furnace.
"Are you completely naked under there?" She asked, lifting up the blankets and peering under the covers. She must have been taking note of my clothes, boots and poncho laying out to dry.
I pulled the blankets back quickly. I was still pretty cold, and my dick was looking less than impressive.
"Yep everythin' was soaked, so it all had to come off." I informed her.
She looked to my vest that was drying on the chair a bit further away from the furnace.
"Will your vest be okay?" She asked.
"Yeah, looks like it. Gotta find some oil to rub it down with once it's dry." I crooked my head a bit to look over at the poncho, still damp and letting off steam as it dried. "Pissed that your smell is washed out of my poncho though." I added.
She looked down on me and gave me a sly grin. "Don't worry we can put it back." She said, as she slipped her hand back under the covers and ran it down my gut and straight on to my cock. I gave a little jump in shock, even though her hand was warm.
"What happened to it?" She asked lifting the blankets again and pulling them over her head so she could inspect it closer.
"Stop it." I snapped, trying to bunch the blankets around it again. She kept her hand firmly wrapped around it anyway, but let me at least cover it back up. "What if your sister comes down here?" I asked her glancing at the open door.
"Everyone's in bed." She assured me, while trying to lift up the blankets again. I pulled them back down again and growled at her.
"Penises are funny." She said while rolling her hand all over my shrivelled cock.
"Gee, thanks. I'm pretty fuckin' cold ya know?"
She giggled. "No, I mean, Abraham, he's taller than you, and chunkier than you, but his penis is a lot smaller than yours."
I smirked to myself. "His ain't small." I said, winking at her.
She giggled again and began stroking her hand up and down the shaft of my cock in firm, long strokes. Pulling and stretching it.
"Yours ain't so small anymore either." She commented, giving my thickening cock a squeeze.
She gently drew her bottom lip in between her teeth and peered at me through lowered lids like she was some sort of porn star. I put my hand down on top of hers trying to stop her movement. She had to be kidding. Was once a day not enough for her? Fuck, if only I could be eighteen again.
"Gimme a break, girl I could've died today." I reminded her.
She took her hand away from me and put both hands to her sweater and began loosening it.
"What're you doin' girl? Ain't you listenin'?
She pulled it over her head and then tugged at her tee and pulled that off too so she was kneeling beside me in her bra and jeans.
"I know. I just want to keep you warm." She said while standing up and shimmying her jeans down off her legs.
"Why're you takin' your clothes off then?" I said, tearing my eyes away from her panties and looking at her flushed face.
She lifted the blankets and made me shift over so she could slip in beside me. "I saw it on TV once. The best way to keep someone warm is with body warmth and skin to skin contact." She told me.
Yeah I bet. The best way to keep someone warm, and the best way to make their frozen cock get hard again.
"Oh yeah? You saw it on TV huh?" I couldn't stop the grin that was creeping on to my face, or the dirty thoughts that were running through my previously exhausted mind.
"Yeah. Or read it, or somethin'. Sounds like a good idea though, don't you think?"
She was now laying beside me with one hand propped under her head, and the other back on my hardening cock, rubbing her hand over it from palm to fingertip.
I let out a groan in response and then swallowed. "No. It sounds like a fuckin' terrible idea. I'm completely screwed Beth, I can't do nothin'."
I was exhausted, and we were in the middle of the fucking mess hall. With Maggie and all the others just upstairs.
"You don't have to do nothin'." She told me, gripping around me again and pulling firmer. My cock was rock hard now, and I had forgotten all about how cold I was.
"You're gonna be the death of me, girl." I groaned.
"Uh uh, you're gonna be the last man standin'." She murmured into my ear, pushing her tits against my shoulder.
I couldn't talk after that, or think about being out in the open. Her hand was casting spells all over my dick, and her breath in my ear was hypnotising my mind. She was rubbing and tugging, and squeezing and pulling. Her mouth was all over my neck and my ear, and all I could do was focus on not crying out like a little kid wanting to open his Christmas presents.
I was kind of amazed. For someone who didn't have a lot of experience, she certainly knew how to jerk a guy off. My body was numb and dead tired and weak from exhaustion, but my cock was on fire, throbbing against her firm grip.
Her arm was jerking up and down, making the covers dance and she was panting heavily into my ear, making every hair on the back of my neck stand on end. Then she let out a deep sigh blowing hot air all over my neck, and I was completely done for. I felt my cock spasm and then it was shooting out all over the blanket.
"What in the world…" Came a disbelieving cry from behind my head.
Beth and I both jumped in shock and Beth tumbled off the couch to the ground, rolling in the blankets and pulling them down with her. I made a grab for them trying to cover my dick and the mess it was still making, and ended up just exposing my bare ass up at Carol.
"Thought you were goin' to bed." I managed to choke out, while I pulled the blankets off Beth and left her on the floor in her panties and bra. All cold was now gone from my body, and I just felt the heat of extreme embarrassment.
"I was, but then I remembered you're not supposed to leave a person alone if they have hypothermia." She glanced over to Beth who was struggling with her clothes, hopping around frantically, and bright red in the face. "I can see you're not alone, though." Carol added.
"Beth was jus' helpin' me keep warm." I tried to explain. It wasn't a lie, she was helping me keep warm, and she did a darn good job of it too.
Beth now had her jeans on, and her tee. She had her socks and sweater bundled up in her arms, as she made a hasty dash for the door.
"Umm… I have to go to bed. G'night Carol." She nodded to Carol. "G'night …" She started speaking to me and then trailed off, taking in Carol's less than friendly glare, and then ducked out the door.
Carol turned back to me, glaring with her blue eyes wide open and wild. I sat up on the couch and bunched the blankets around myself.
"What the hell was that?" She cried angrily, pointing her finger to the door where Beth had just left.
"Nothin'. She was jus' keepin' me warm like I said." I insisted.
"Do you know how old that girl is?" She growled at me.
Her growling made my defensive instincts kick in. "Eighteen. An adult." I snarled back.
"She's a child, Daryl. A God damned child! And you're a fully grown man." She was pointing an accusing finger at me now.
I didn't know what to do or say, so I just scowled.
"I really thought better of you, Daryl." She said in a disapproving tone before turning and marching back out the door.
I threw my head back on to the sofa and let out a frustrated growl. That was embarrassing as heck. It was a thousand times more embarrassing than all the times Merle had accidently walked in on me and random girls going at it. It also meant the secret was out, and I was going to have to deal with the backlash in the morning. I spent the rest of the night stressing about what everyone was going to say, and thinking about Beth's soft, warm hand all over my dick.
I didn't get much sleep that night.
Sometime after daybreak I felt myself drifting off to seep, but I was woken not long after by firm hands gripped onto my shoulder and shaking me roughly. I jumped, startled from the harshness of the shake and found Carol glaring down on me.
"Get dressed, we got a council meeting." She declared angrily. She swung around and marched towards the door. "Next door to the armoury." She called before dissapearing out the doorway.
The eating area was filled with the survivors who had come from the freight container, who were all staring at me in my blanket covered state. Rick must have forgotten to tell them not to come back in here in the morning.
I held the blanket to me and slid off the couch and edged my way over to the clothes on the floor. I pulled up my jeans under the blanket and did my belt up.
A few people had the decency to look away, but there were a couple of them who kept staring.
"Do ya mind!" I growled at them angrily, and they all turned back to what they were doing.
I pulled on my shirts and my vest. Then I sat back on the couch and pulled on my socks and boots, lastly I slipped on my knife sheath with my Busse still firmly strapped in. I had no idea where my Airborne was, but hopefully I wouldn't need it. The only danger I was likely to face today was Maggie.
I made my way outside and to the building next door to the one I was in and made my way upstairs to the room next door to the armoury. It was a larger office than the ones we were sleeping in, and it had a large conference table in the middle and several chairs surrounding it, where the other council members were now seated.
It wasn't the same people in there who had been on the council at the Prison. Of course there was no more Hershel, so that made a big difference. Now Maggie, Tyreese, Michonne, Bob and Rick took his place. Eugene and Abraham where also in there, but they stood back in the corner as if they weren't part of the group.
"Take a seat." Rick said to me while pulling out the chair nearest to him.
"New council 'ey?" I asked while marching over to the seat, rolling it out and sitting in it with my feet kicked forward.
"Prison family." Rick stated simply. "The people we can trust."
"What about Beth?" I asked, running my eyes over everyone at the table and trying my best to avoid Carols glare.
"Beth's just a child Daryl, she's not responsible enough to make these kinds of decisions." Carol declared, with eyes narrowing towards me. "And she's not responsible enough to be sleeping with someone twice her age."
Everyone looked at Carol like they had no idea what she was talking about, except Maggie who stared into the distance like she was just coming to realise something. I froze still, not knowing what to do or say next, and just hoping the comment would slip through the air unnoticed.
"You're fuckin' my sister?" Maggie said while giving me a wild eyed glare.
Everyone snapped their heads around and stared at me. I hadn't felt this on my own since I lost Merle back in Atlanta. I went back into defensive mode again jumping up and pushing my chair away. It rolled a little and then toppled over on the floor.
"It's none of y'all's business anyway." I growled angrily, feeling real shitty with everyone glaring at me like that.
"You're fuckin' my sister." Maggie repeated half shrieking, while standing and pointing a finger at me, and shooting daggers through her green eyes.
"So what if I am?" I said giving my shoulders an exaggerated shrug. This was not how I wanted it to go down. Damn you Carol.
"Well she would still be in highschool, Daryl." Carol said crossing her arms angrily over her chest.
"Now lets all calm down, it really is none of our business." Rick said while putting his arms up between Maggie, Carol and I. "She's a big girl now, she can make her own choices."
"She's just…she's my… baby sister." Maggie said in a surprisingly soft tone, and falling back to her seat. "I'm meant to protect her."
I looked around to everyone else, wondering if they felt like Beth needed protecting from me too. They all just looked at me like fish caught on land.
"Yeah, well y'all would be dead if it weren't for this baby you're so hell bent on protectin'." I pointed out to them, while pacing the floor angrily, feeling like an outcast.
"She's just a child." Insisted Carol.
I stopped in my tracks, and pointed a finger into the centre of the table.
"You know what? Fuck the council." I growled. "All of us should be 'ere makin' decisions. Imma go get Beth."
I stormed to the door and swung it open, and turned back to Rick before walking out.
"Get Carl up in 'ere too. There are no children in this shit-hole world no more."
AN: So I decided to be a bit more interactive and make use of my Tumblr account (which I really have no idea how to use). Thought I might put up some concept art and missing moments, and any other tid bits you guys ask for. Maybe even some prompt fics if I find the time.
Tumblr is deni269
Twitter is DeniLeeRidder I have no idea how to use that one either...
*Important note* I almost forgot to do my civil duty and advise you all that you shouldn't rub someone who has hypothermia. Skin to skin contact is a good idea though.