The Walking Deth - Part II
Only Way Onward - Chapter IX
AN: I have to apologise, the next two chapters are rather dull. Not much action and no sex. Half of the first chapter is about doing laundry... But consider it the calm before the storm, because the last two chapters are intense!
Song is 'Don't just stand by my grave and weep' written by Mary Elizabeth Frye.
Left Behind
After Daryl had left to get the cars ready for the run, I went to collect Judith off Michonne so she could join him. She wasn't in her own room, but I could hear Judith's babbles down the corridor so I followed them back to Rick's room.
When I first walked in I felt like I had entered into some kind of romance movie. Rick and Michonne were both lying on the tiny cot bed together, shoulder to shoulder with both their knees bent into the air and touching. Michonne's body was turned ever so slightly into Ricks, and I noticed Rick's small toe brushing gently against Michonne's bare feet. They looked just like college sweethearts lying in their dorm room, except that Rick had Judith sitting on his belly, leaning back against his legs. The both of them were talking to her and smiling and laughing. They looked irresistibly sweet together. A perfect little family.
They saw me lurking in the doorway with a goofy smile on my face and Michonne quickly rolled out of bed and stood to attention like I had caught them doing something wrong.
"I was just playing with Judith." She spluttered out.
"I'll leave you to it." I said with a quirk of my eyebrow.
I walked back down the hallway with that same goofy grin on my face. It seemed love was in the air. Our family was together, we were safe, and Daryl and the others were soon to go and bring back plenty of supplies. It seemed like today just couldn't get any better.
When I had managed to wipe the smirk of my face, I went back downstairs to get some breakfast in the mess hall. A couple of women were gossiping to each other by the door to the kitchen, when they saw me walk in, they smiled to each other and put their heads down. They were talking about me no doubt, and I could guess what they were saying. I blushed thinking about all the cussing and praises to God that were coming out of my mouth last night, and then decided I would eat my breakfast outside in the sunshine were less people could watch me, and speculate about what happened in my bedroom.
While Daryl was out, and Rick had Judith, I decided I would sort out the sheets I had made a mess of this morning. I went into the room and I ripped them off the mattress and bundled them up with some of my own clothes and Daryl's long sleeve shirt that he had left behind. I decided I would wash both sets of sheets and pillowcases since I was doing a load anyway.
When I stripped the cot bed, it seemed like something was missing. I checked under the pillow, and then back under the mattress and then under the bed. That stupid note I had written before with all the love hearts on it had disappeared. I didn't remember moving it from under my pillow, so maybe it had tumbled out when I was shifting around in bed. I spent a few minutes looking around the room for it. It was embarrassing enough for Daryl to see it. But if anyone else found it, they would definitely think I was too immature for Daryl. When I searched everywhere it could possibly be I figured Daryl must have already disposed of it, not wanting to be embarrassed by it either.
After I had wrapped everything up in the cleaner sheet, and left it by the laundry table, I went out to the well pump to fill the wash tub with water. The water from the well had been incredibly icy that morning. I had to boil up some of the water in the kitchen and add it to the wash tub so that my hands didn't freeze, and also so the soap suds could actually work into the material.
Nobody seemed to pay much attention to me when I carried the laundry down to the wash station. I had the feeling maybe they were deliberately trying to avoid eye contact with me after what they may have heard last night. I blushed at the thought of it. Daryl's hard muscular body pressed against mine, panting and sweating, and doing everything in its power to make me happy. The sex last night had been absolutely amazing. Daryl had surprised me, and I think himself, with the way he performed. I wondered if it would be too much to ask for four times next time we had the opportunity.
The mousy-brown haired Jane had been at the laundry station scrubbing some of her own clothes when I got back there. She managed a weak smile for me and then went back to her task, scrubbing at her much newer and cuter clothing than mine.
I had washed Daryl's shirt first and immediately regretted it when I saw the state it left the water in. It was brown when I put it into the water and came out a mustard colour when I had finished scrubbing it. That man really loved his own filth. I was glad he had bothered to wash up before coming to bed last night, even though I found dirty Daryl a little sexy. Just a little.
When I had finished scrubbing everything, I went to hang it out in the sunshine, hoping it would all be dry by tonight. Jane followed me over with her own basket of washing and started hanging it out beside mine.
"Hey." She called to me glancing over. She was the first person other than Michonne to speak to me all morning.
"Hey, Jane." I replied cheerfully.
She watched me for a few moments while I pegged my clothes up and then edged her way over to me.
"Sooo." She sang enquiringly
"Sooo?" I echoed.
"Umm." She mumbled with a roll of her eyes, before shifting closer to me. "I came to bed late last night and I heard somethin'."
My face flushed with heat as I realised what she was telling me.
"Oh God, did you hear us?" I asked pushing my hot throbbing face into the cool damp fabric of the sheet.
"Yeah." She grinned at my embarrassment. "You were havin' sex right?"
I was a little taken back by her abruptness, but I figured this was kind of what girls our age talked about. Boys and stuff.
"What were you doin' comin' in that late?" I asked trying to play her little game of what naughty thing did you do last night.
Jane looked away from me and blushed a little herself. "I was with Jason." She whispered.
"What were you doin?" I enquired with a smirk.
"Nothin' like what you were doin'."
I raised my eyebrows and nodded my head like I didn't believe her, but I did. She seemed like the demure type.
"Do you think Jason is cute?" She asked ducking her head around her pink tee.
"Yeah, he's real cute." I said, thinking about the blue eyed blonde haired boy. He was definitely attractive, but he was sweet and soft and fine boned. Not really the kind of guy I was interested in.
"But much younger than who you would go for right?" Jane continued.
"I guess." I said with a shrug. Even though every guy I had ever crushed on had been close to my own age, except for Daryl.
"Daryl is really cute too." She said with an eyebrow raise.
I smiled to myself. "Don't I know it."
"I mean he has the most gorgeous blue eyes, and he's so rough and intense, and his shoulders are so broad and strong and his biceps oh my god..." Jane started rambling whimsically, like a…well like a teenage girl.
"Jane, that's my man you're talking about." I interrupted with a grin on my face.
"Yeah sorry." She said with a casual shrug and we both giggled together like we were back in school.
"Do you have to have sex with a boy…you know, to make him like you?" Jane asked in a more serious tone.
"No you most certainly do not." I replied quickly. "Why? Did Jason try to do something you didn't like?"
Jane shook her head gently. "No, he's real sweet, but I don't want him to do anything. I don't think I want to have sex...for a while anyway."
"Well it's your body Jane, so you can choose to do with it what you like, and don't let anyone pressure you in to doing something you don't." I advised her in the most mature sounding tone I could manage, while hoping that a girl like Jane could have a choice in a world like this.
"But he will still like me if I don't, right?"
"He's a fool if he doesn't."
We shared a smile as I pegged up my last piece of washing and then collected the washing basket ready to take it back to the laundry area.
"It sounds like it hurts anyway." Jane mumbled to me as I walked past.
I stopped in my tracks and spoke to her over my shoulder "Oh no Jane, it didn't hurt." I said with a wink.
Her eyebrows raised and her jaw dropped while she studied my face. Then her lips turned into a smile and we both giggled together.
I swung the basket on to my hip and then started walking off with a wide grin still pasted on my face.
"You shouldn't bring him in 'ere. He's been bit." I heard an angry voice say from between two of the red brick buildings.
I stepped to the side so I could see who was talking. I saw Abraham and Dean storming down the path glaring angrily at their feet and behind them I saw Daryl being dragged under Tyreese's hulking frame. He was sweating and panting, and covered in blood.
The basket slipped from my fingers as my blood ran cold and every part of my body went numb.
As I raced towards them I saw that it was actually Daryl who was supporting Tyreese, with Glenn on the other side of him. Tyreese's shoulder was covered by what looked like a tattered shirt, and it was soaked red in blood. I felt a wave of relief wash over me as I realised Daryl was okay, and a wave of guilt when I realised Tyreese was not.
"We weren't gonna leave 'im out there to die alone." Daryl snarled angrily at Dean. "We look after our own."
"Well don't come crying to me when he turns and tears shreds off everyone here." Dean sniped back, before storming off.
"You best keep him away from the others. Take him to the infirmary or somethin'." Abraham suggested. "I got to go see Rosita, she'll be worried about me when she hears." Abraham nodded towards Tyreese in way of sympathy and then took off.
I let my wobbly legs carry me over to Daryl, Glenn and Tyreese, not sure what I should do or say to him. Darryl gave me a concerned frown as he walked past me and headed to the brick building next door to the living quarters.
They took him upstairs to the infirmary and lay him back on one of the three beds. Glenn shook Tyreese's hand firmly and held his gaze for a few moments. Before taking a few steps back from him.
"I got to go get Sasha." He said quietly before walking out the door, glancing at Tyreese once more before disappearing.
I dragged one of the cot beds closer to Tyreese and sat down on it and held Tyreese's hand. Daryl lingered by the doorway with his fingers tracing over his sheathed knife. I hoped he wouldn't have to use it while I was there.
"How you feelin'?" I asked, taking in his sweaty and grey looking appearance.
"Feverish." He replied wiping the sweat from his brow. "But not too bad."
"How long do you think he's got?" I asked turning my head towards Daryl.
Daryl shrugged his shoulders. "Hard to say, was bit twice, so might be quicker than usual. Who knows?"
"Is there anythin' I can do for you?" I asked squeezing Tyreese's hot clammy hand firmly.
"Yeah, if you wouldn't mind, you could sing me a song." He asked in an unusually cheerful voice.
"Sure, what do you want me to sing?"
"Do you know 'Dock of the Bay' by Ottis Redding?"
It sounded familiar, but I wasn't too sure I knew it.
"Why don't you sing a bit, and I'll see if it rings a bell." I suggested.
Tyreese grinned widely and then started shifting his shoulders to a beat I couldn't hear, while he rested against the pillow.
Sittin' in the morning sun
I'll be sittin' when the evening comes
Watching the ships roll in
Then I watch them roll away again, yeah
I picked up on the words and the rhythm and joined in with him, and shared his smile.
I'm sittin' on the dock of the bay
Watchin' the tide roll away
I'm just sittin' on the dock of the bay
Wastin' time
I left my home in Georgia
Headed for the Frisco Bay
'Cause I've had nothing to live for
And look like nothing's gonna come my way
I frowned to myself while I sang the two last lines and wondered if that was how Tyreese felt, and if that was why he chose this song. Tyreese kept smiling and singing cheerfully with a big grin on his face, clicking his fingers and rubbing his shoulders into the pillow. I stopped singing and tried to force a smile on my face, but I think it just came out as grimace.
So, I'm just gon' sit on the dock of the bay
Watchin' the tide roll away
I'm sittin' on the dock of the bay
Wastin' time
He stopped singing and smiled at me warmly. "I love that song." He told me looking up to the skylight with joy in his eyes.
"Sasha is gonna miss you." I said sadly, thinking it was right to remind him that he did have something to live for, but also wrong as he wouldn't live either way.
"I know she will, but she has Bob to keep her company now, I can't be babying her forever." He chuckled lightly to himself. "I really can't."
"Do you miss Karen?" I asked, thinking maybe reminding him of the people he would join would be better than reminded him of the people he was leaving behind.
"Every day." He said with a nod of his head.
His eyes looked past my shoulder to Daryl who was leaning against the doorway with his arms crossed over his body and looking morose.
"I know it was Carol who killed Karen." He said softly.
I glanced back and forth between Daryl and Tyreese astonished. That was the first I had heard of it.
"And she killed Lizzie too." Tyreese added. Daryl had been nodding his head up and down slowly but stopped and glared at Tyreese when he spoke of Lizzie.
"She was never bit, was she?"
Tyreese shook his head.
"Nope. Lizzie wasn't right. She thought that when we die, we would come back as walkers and live forever, and that would be a good thing. She killed little Mika, to give her eternal life, and she would have killed Judith too. She would have been dangerous."
Daryl shifted uncomfortably on the door, and studied his feet. I just stared at them both with my mouth wide open absorbing the tale Tyreese was telling.
"Carol does the tough jobs." Daryl grunted.
Tyreese nodded. "She does. And she'll do anything to protect the ones she loves. Anything. I don't know if that's the best character trait for someone to have who isn't stable in the mind." Tyreese said tapping himself on his temple.
Daryl pulled his lower lip under his teeth and chewed on the side of it thoughtfully.
"I'll take care of her." He said with a nod of his head.
It was at that time that Sasha came bursting through the door almost knocking Daryl over and leapt straight in to the small bed and straight into Tyreese's open arms. Bob entered slowly behind her with his face set in stone and his neck muscles bulging in tension.
I got up and went to Daryl pulling him out the door so we could leave them alone. As we left Daryl pointed to the knife at Bob's hip.
"You'll use that when the time comes." Daryl told him.
"I will." Bob replied with a nod of his head then he turned and shut the door after us.
We started walking out past the conference room and the armoury and towards the staircase. Before we could make it there, I grabbed Daryl by his arm and pushed him up against the wall and kissed him forcefully on the lips. Then I wrapped my arms around him and pushed my head into his chest.
"I thought you had been bitten." I mumbled trying to hold back a sob.
He wrapped his arms around my shoulders and kissed me on my forehead.
"I ain't gonna let that happen. I've got too much to live for." He murmured with his lips brushing gently against me
Everyone was in a miserable mood that night. I didn't even bother with dinner. I went up to my room and wrote for a bit and then changed in to some track pants and tried to get some sleep. My sheets were still damp by nightfall so I slept straight on the bare mattress. I tossed and turned for a while trying to get to sleep, I kept thinking of Tyreese lying in that cot bed, and the horrid thing Sasha was going to have to do.
Daryl came to bed after midnight with icy cold skin and hair smelling of tobacco. When he had undressed and crawled in under the covers behind me I asked him about Carol.
"Did you talk to her?"
"I went to her room, but she didn't want to talk. She was real upset 'bout Tyreese. They got close while they were out together. I'll talk to her tomorrow when he's…gone."
"Are you okay?" I whispered squeezing his hand.
"I will be." He murmured, tightening his grip around my middle.
We didn't say another word to each other, he just held me all night.
When I woke up I was alone on the mattress. I got up and left the room not bothering to change out of my sweatpants. I made a quick visit to the bathroom and then went looking for Daryl. I found him just outside the gates with Rick and Bob. They were standing by a mountain of dirt and I knew they had got up early to dig a grave for Tyreese.
I came up behind Daryl and wrapped my arms around him.
"Is he gone?" I asked.
"Yeah." Daryl mumbled. "David's puttin' together a few words to say, everyone's gonna meet here after breakfast."
I gave Daryl a squeeze of comfort, and then left him there while I went to find Judith and get some comfort of my own.
All of the survivors at Terminus came to say goodbye to Tyreese, except for Dean and Noel who were on watch, and Carol who wouldn't even answer the door. Even Mix lay by the side of the grave with his head tucked between his front paws like he was in mourning.
We all stood by as David came into the circle of living bodies, surrounding Tyreese's still body in the shallow grave, wrapped in a blood stained white sheet. David was carrying several planks of wood in his arms. He forced one of the planks into the ground and I realised it was a makeshift cross, nailed together crudely and with 'Tyreese' scrawled over it in black marker pen. He stepped to the side and pushed another cross into the ground. That one had 'Hershel' scrawled over it.
I felt Maggies hand brush mine and I took it in my hand and squeezed it. I reached my other hand towards Daryl's that was folded in his arms across his chest and pulled it down beside him interlocking his fingers with my own. I smiled up at him, but Daryl kept staring ahead at the crosses.
"Friends and Family, we gather here today to say goodbye to a man who holds a special place in our hearts, Tyreese. As we stand here we do not merely say goodbye to the beloved brother and friend, that he was, but also to the many that we have lost along the way. Brothers, sisters, Sons, Daughters, mothers and fathers. Some of them we did not get the chance to say goodbye to previously. We take this time now to keep them in your thoughts and in our hearts, as we send our words to heaven and tell them that one day, when the time is right, we will see you again."
I could feel a tear slip from my eye and I went to pull my hand up to wipe it away, but Daryl reached over and wiped it away for me with his dirt covered, calloused thumb.
When David had finished with his Eulogy, Sasha started telling us a stories of when her and Tyreese were young. I seemed she would always get him in trouble for the things that she had done. She told us about the first time Tyreese broke his arm. She had been stuck up a tree and too scared of falling to get back down, Tyreese climbed up after her and a branch snapped and he fell down. She had got down all by herself after that. She told us a few other stories of the shenanigans they got up to from when they were kids right up until the thanksgiving before the turn. She was smiling while telling her stories but tears were still running down her face.
When she was finished David looked to me and Maggie and asked if we wanted to say anything about our father.
"Just that I love him." Maggie said with a sob, and Glenn pulled her in to his embrace.
David's eyes turned to me, and I decided I would sing a song for the both of them.
Do not stand at my grave and weep
I am not there I do not sleep
When you waken in the morning's hush
I am the swift uplifting rush
I am a thousand winds that blow
I am the diamond glints on snow
I am the sunlight on ripened grain
I am the gentle autumn rain
Gentle birds in circling flight
I am the soft star that shines at night
Oh do not stand at my grave and cry
I am not there, I did not die...
I am a thousand winds that blow
I am the diamond glints on snow
I am the sunlight on ripened grain
I am the gentle autumn rain
When I was finished. Maggie leant over and kissed me on the cheek, and Daryl smiled at me and squeezed my hand.
"We give these men unto you our lord. Amen" David finished.
"Amen." We all echoed. Even Daryl.
We went back to the mess hall after and had a drink of hot milk. It was the closest thing to coffee we had on offer. Daryl grumbled about needing alcohol, and suggested we get in the car and drive back to the moonshine still, but Rick talked him out of it. I didn't think I wanted to see a drunk and depressed Daryl again either.
As the day wore on we got merry again anyway. Daryl and Glenn tried playing a game of table tennis with a screwed up piece of paper seeing as there were no balls, and we chuckled at them as they dove and lunged all over the place. Glenn clearly won the game, but Daryl declared he was the winner boastfully, while flexing his biceps.
After Daryl, Glenn had a game with Carl, and then Carl had a game with Jane. I couldn't help but notice Carl's goofy grin when he looked at Janes flushed face as she bobbed and lunged and weaved. I hoped he wasn't going to have his heart broken by another taken woman.
The laughing and jesting was interrupted by a frantic David who came racing in. By the look of his face we thought there was a herd of walkers approaching, but what he told us was far worse.
"What is it?" Rick asked him studying his worried face.
David hesitated for a second. "It's Gareth and the others." He finally said.
"What about them?" Rick asked with concern creasing his brow.
"They're gone."
"Whattaya mean they're gone?" Daryl called out angrily from behind me.
"There's no one there, the car is empty." David clarified.
"How do you even know that? What were you doing there?" Rick asked him accusingly.
"It wasn't me." David declared.
"You've been askin' to release 'em." Rick growled while stepping towards David angrily.
"I know I did, but I respect your judgement, I wouldn't release them without your blessing." David looked down to his clasped hands. "but…."
"but what?" Rick spat furiously.
"Well I couldn't stand that they were in there starving, just like before. I couldn't have them eating one another."
"You were feeding them?" Rick half shouted in disbelief. "We barely have enough food for ourselves!"
"I had to." David said flinching away from Rick's angry yells. "It was inhumane what you were doing to them, locking them away like animals and letting them starve, and I used my own supplies anyway."
"They are animals." Daryl piped in snarling over my shoulder.
"They were just trying to survive in a harsh world." David pleaded.
"Yeah and we were gettin' pay back for lockin' us away and tryna eat us." Daryl growled , pointing his finger angrily at David.
David's pleading face changed to a more stern and serious one "And what is the more dire need? Revenge or survival?"
Daryl cussed under his breath and then started pacing the floor angrily, glaring at David like he was going to tear him to shreds. Rick held his hands up in between Daryl and David, as fearful as I was that Daryl was ready to pounce.
"Okay, if you didn't let them out, then who did?" He said scanning around at the group in the hall who were watching the display.
"Well, a few times I went down there, and that lady, Carol. She was talking to them through the door."
"Carol…" I repeated glancing at Daryl.
"She had built up some kind of friendship with that guy you put in there. The African American fellow." David said.
"Anton? So he is still alive." I wailed.
"Last I checked he was. Like I said, I fed them so they wouldn't have to do that again."
"Are you tryna say that Carol, let them all go?" Rick said with his eyebrows almost reaching his hairline.
"Carol ain't like that. She's not stupid." Maggie said shaking her head.
Daryl and I both looked at each other knowing that Carol was nothing like how she used to be.
"I'm gonna go check her room." Daryl blurted out while darting out of the room.
AN: A bit of Richonne thrown in there for you ;) Double update to make up for the dullness.