Apologizing in advance if this is full of typos. My head hurts and I don't want to go over it. Plus I'm lazy today. I didn't want to make you all wait though so I'm gonna throw it out there and hope for the best. Thanks for reading! =)
Chapter Eight
Merle had driven all damn morning and it got to the point where he was sure that he wasn't going to get to the cabin at all. He hadn't even been sure if he was going to get out of Georgia. Almost every roundabout way he tried, he ran into a road block. And at every road block he would find those things, stumbling around and sniffing the air like they couldn't wait to find a nice morsel of flesh to chew on. He had to siphon gas once and that meant he had no choice but to use some of the precious ammo and kill the things. He saw a few groups of living people on these back roads but he didn't have the urge to stop and bond with them over their shared survival and he sure as hell wasn't going to offer them help.
Now, just a few hours after sunrise, he was just about there. In an hour or so, as long as he didn't hit anymore obstacles, he would be at the cabin. And even if he did run into any obstacles, he would have no choice but to deal with them because this was the only road that would lead him all the way up to where the cabin was. There was no other way to get there.
He rounded a bend and then had to slam on the breaks before ramming into a school bus. The back emergency exit was open. He was relieved at first but after he got out of the jeep and climbed into the back, his relief turned to dread. There was blood in the isle, blood on some of the seats. When he went to the front he saw the blood smeared all over the door.
He felt weak in the knees and had to drop down into one of the seats. His body was quaking. They had made it this far... but they hadn't made it. He hadn't gotten to them in time. If Daryl didn't make it then his whole family was gone. Eradicated.
He hadn't been the greatest father in the world. He'd made plenty of mistakes but he loved his daughter. The pain was crushing and for a few moments he was sure that he was dying; almost even welcomed it. He was sure that he was being eaten from the inside out. He stood up, swiping his face angrily, glancing around the bus like he'd find her there. But there wasn't a trace of her anywhere.
Not a trace...
Surely if those things had gotten inside, there would be something left. Piper wasn't alone. She was with Damon and another kid. It wasn't like those monsters would have eaten everything. There weren't any sign of scraps of cloth, a shoe, hair. Nothing. And the blood. There wasn't enough blood in the bus for there to have been a massacre here.
He hurried down the steps and came around to the back, his eyes scanning the ground. Hope flamed inside of him, chasing away that crushing grief and sharpening his senses. He saw the trail then, heading into the trees. There were a lot of tracks. The kids must have gotten off the bus and headed into the woods. It looked like they were being chased but out there at least they would have a chance. They would have a chance and he could track them. He could track them easily.
He went back to the Jeep and retrieved the bag with the guns and ammo and then hit the trail. There was still some blood on the ground but it was tacky feeling. It wasn't fresh. But that was okay. There was hope. They were out there and he was going to find them.
~H~
Carol stayed with him as he looked at the bodies that littered the road. There were several and they all looked like they had been dead for a while. So far, all of them had bullet holes through the head.
"I don't think these were just random people," he said, kneeling down next to the last one. There were ten total. "I think these guys were the same as the ones we've been seein'."
"But somebody shot them?" She asked, wrapping her arms around herself and looking away from the body.
"Yep. Head shots. Just like the guy from Benning told us."
She frowned. "Military?"
He shook his head. "Nah. But somebody else that knew that this was the way to kill these things." He stepped away and glanced around. "We might as well search these cars while we're here. Might find somethin' useful."
"I'll take the ones on that side," she said, stepping away from him. She was surprised when he grabbed her arm and turned her so she was facing him. He shoved the rifle into her hands.
She sighed. "Daryl, I already-" she closed her mouth when he stepped directly behind her and reached around, forcing her to bring the gun up. He was pressed firmly against her back and for a second she completely forgot what was going on. All that would register was that he was very close, so close that if she stayed still, she could feel his heart pounding against her back.
Once he had the gun positioned he dropped his hands to her hips. "Just look straight down the sites, then squeeze." His voice was so close to her ear, his hands heavy on her hips, his body pressed against hers, his breath blowing against her neck. She chastised herself for the instant reaction that her body had to his proximity. Guilt washed over her and she swallowed thickly. Her daughter was out there somewhere and she was thinking about things like that?
She dropped her arms and stepped away. "Got it," she said, giving him a small smile before she turned to walk away. She didn't look back at him. Instead she started going through the cars. She found a suitcase and opened it up, picking through the clothes inside. Most of them were her size. Jeans and t-shirts and even a couple of dresses. She smiled at that. She felt a little bad. These belonged to someone but she didn't have anything of her own anymore. She took the whole suitcase and put it in the back of his truck.
Once they were finished, between the two of them, they found clothes, basic first aid supplies and she had even found a few books. She expected him to scoff at that but he didn't. Together they were able to move the few cars that were blocking their way and then they were back in the truck, and crossing the state line. Whoever had been there before them had driven straight through the ditch but Daryl didn't want to risk messing the truck up. Without it, they wouldn't get to the cabin.
"So, this cabin of yours, is it big?" She asked, just because she was tired of the silence. It wasn't heavy like it had been yesterday but it was still unnerving to her for some reason.
"It's nothin' fancy, I can tell you that. It's got a loft and a bedroom and a main room. That's about it. My uncle built the bedroom and a bathroom on just a few years ago but it don't have a shower in it. I don't stay in the main cabin usually. I built a trappers shack just around the bend from it."
"So you have your own place up there, huh? Impressive." She smiled.
He snorted. "When you meet my brother you'll understand why. He's a pain in the ass."
"And you aren't?" She asked before she even realized what she was about to say.
He glanced at her and she saw his lips twitch but she hadn't gotten a smile from him since they met. "Nah, I'm the sweet one, if that tells you anything."
She sighed. "This should be interesting."
He shrugged. "You'll be alright. He might give you a hard time once we get the kids and stuff, but that has more to do with me than it will you."
"Do you think we can stay? I'll try to pull my own weight. I'll learn how to use the gun and I'll do whatever you need me to do. I don't want my daughter out there."
He glanced at her and nodded. "I kinda thought that was how it was gonna be anyway. Pain in the ass or not, none of us would put you and your girl out on your asses. That ain't sayin' you won't wanna run off after a while. We ain't the easiest bunch to live with. You and my aunt June are gonna get along fine and she'll keep Merle and Odin in line for the most part."
"Trust me, as long as none of you decide to beat the hell out of either of us, I can handle a lot." She felt heat rush to her face and her eyes widened. It wasn't the words that had her so stunned but the bitterness in her voice that really had her shocked at herself. She wasn't usually an angry person. She didn't know where it was coming from.
She saw him look at her from the corner of her eye but she kept her face trained on the stretch of road in front of them.
"You ain't gotta worry about anything like that. You might find yourself wantin' to knock the hell out of me or my brother, but I'm pretty good at keeping my hands to myself."
She wanted to change the subject. It wasn't like they didn't have enough tension to deal with. She didn't need to add to it. "So, this trappers shack? You built it yourself?"
He nodded. "Yeah. Wasn't too hard. Had the lumber already right there."
"What about heat?" She asked.
"I got a wood stove in the shack and the cabin has a fireplace. They both work."
"Is there electricity up there?" She asked.
"Nope. And even if there was, if Tennessee was hit with this damn... virus as hard as Georgia, and it seems that way so far, I don't see the power being on anywhere."
"What about food?" She asked.
"We hunt."
"Water?"
He glanced at her and she had a feeling that he wished she would just shut up but she couldn't. "There's water all over. It ain't far from a decent sized pond and there's plenty of streams on the mountain. Besides that, there's a well up there and there's runnin' water in the cabin and the shack. Just a hand pump but it's better than nothin'."
"So, we'll have everything we need?"
"Yeah. Other than basic comforts I guess."
"At this point, a roof over our heads and a gun in our hands are basic comforts."
He glanced at her and this time he smiled. A real one. "There you go. You might be alright after all."
She smiled back. "I hope so."
He chewed his nail for a second before he glanced at her again. "Ain't no hope so to it. I think you might just find that you're built from tougher stock than you think."
She stared at him for a long time but that was all he had to say about that. His words had her feeling strange, but not in a bad way. It seemed as though he had faith in her ability to survive. She never would have used the word tough to describe herself before but if he could believe that she was, then she needed to be ready to prove him right.
And she would. She would find her daughter and she would show the world that she wasn't going to crash and burn just because it was now a lot more scary than it was before.