Chapter 11
Disclaimer: I DO NOT own any of these songs, mkay?
Daryl put the petal down on the car, it had been five days that he'd been away and he was anxious to get back. The trip was only forty miles but thanks to the state the world was in now, it had been a long and arduous one.
Before they had found their way to Alexandria, they had cased out large mall, hoping to stay there, but it turned out to be too overrun by walkers and there was no way to clear it. He knew it had been risky, but what he wanted was special, and that mall was the only place around for miles that had it.
His foot pushed further down on the accelerator as the excitement of seeing Charlotte's expression; the daylight was slowly relinquishing its control to night, soon he would have to find somewhere to stop. Just one more … one more dark and lonely night, then he would be back in her arms again; he couldn't wait.
"Hey, we're on, you ready?" Spencer said, snapping Charlotte out of her thoughts.
"Huh? Oh … yeah, let's do it." She said as she walked out onto the stage.
Charlotte blushed as she walked out to cheers and claps from what looked like the entire town, she knew it wasn't much, but it made her feel like a rock star, and it was just the lift her spirits needed.
"I'll follow your lead." Spencer said as he nodded to her.
Charlotte cleared her throat. "I'm sure ya'll know all of these, so here we go." she said as she began the unmistakable riffs of 'Smoke on the water'.
"It's just like being at a concert, isn't it?" Jessie shouted over the music as she came to stand next to Rick.
"Oh, yeah, if this shit ever manages to right itself, she might have a promising second career." Rick replied.
On went the concert for about an hour, until Charlotte announced an intermission, and put in a CD.
"Pirate, that was killer!" Michonne said as Charlotte joined her, Maggie and Glenn with a plate of food.
"Thanks, it feels good to sing and play again, it's one of the few times I can just … lose myself in the music and forget the shithole we live in for a little while." Charlotte said as a sad, faraway look crossed her scarred face.
"Look … either I am staying with you, or you are staying over with me, but you ain't staying another night alone in that house, it ain't doing you any good." Michonne scolded her.
Charlotte gave her samurai friend an annoyed look, but she knew there was no use in arguing.
"Fine … I'll be over when it's all done here." She said begrudgingly.
"Don't worry, it'll be fun! We'll have hot chocolate, and paint each other's nails." She said humorously as she threw her arm around Charlotte's shoulders, Charlotte laughed in spite of herself as the crowd started to clap in rhythm.
"Well, I guess that's my cue that my hour is up, see ya back at home." She said as she headed back toward the stage.
"Oh, lord, I'm exhausted!" Charlotte said as she walked into Michonne's house and collapsed onto the couch.
"Hot chocolate?" Michonne quipped
"If you don't mind, I could go for something a tad stronger." Charlotte replied.
"Got your medicine right here, girl." She said as she sat a bottle of Jim Beam town on the coffee table with two glasses.
"You didn't think I'd let you drink alone, did you?" Michonne said with a smile as she filled the two glasses and handed one to her.
"Here's to the men in our lives, and to forgetting the crazy shit they do." She said as they toasted glasses.
"Daryl! Welcome back!" The man on gate duty said cheerfully as he waved him through shortly after dawn the next morning. Daryl waved haphazardly at him as he drove through and didn't stop until be reached their house.
Gavin met him at the door, his long brush-like tail sweeping back and forth as he whined with excitement and licked him all over.
"Hey, there, buddy. Where's your momma?" He asked, as if on cue, the front door opened slowly and Charlotte stumbled in wearing a pair of dark glasses, her skin was pale and pasty. He didn't even have to ask what she had been doing, he just knew.
"You're drunk!" He accused as she eased onto the couch.
"Correction, I'm hung over." Charlotte said as she eased herself into a lying position. "Don't get your undies knotted over it, I stayed over at Michonne's last night." She said as she put her hand to her forehead.
"Shit, girl, you look like hell, how much did ya'll drink?!" Daryl said as he sat beside her.
"The whole damn bottle between the two of us." She said with a groan as her skull pounded.
"C'mon, might as well get your ass to bed, you ain't goin' to be any use to anyone today, anyhow." He said as he scooped her up and carried her to the bedroom. He gently laid her on the bed and covered her with a blanket, and she was out as soon as her head hit the pillow … which meant what he had rushed home so early in the morning for would have to wait.
'SHIT!' he cursed to himself.
Charlotte slept all that day and into the next morning, she awoke to see the sun lazily filtering through the windows, bathing their bedroom in a soft light.
"Bout time you got your ass up." Daryl said as she walked into the kitchen, rubbing her eye like a lazy teenager.
"Remind me to never drink again, okay?" she said as she headed to the shower, peeling off her clothes as she went.
"We need to talk." He said as she came out, dressed for the day and feeling almost human again.
"You're right, we do, because first you've been a secretive asshole all week, then you take off and don't tell anyone … not even me where you are going, or why." She said, her gaze not leaving his.
"I had a reason." He replied as he dug into the side pocket of his cargo pants.
"It'd better be one hell of a good one, Daryl." She quipped as she crossed her arms in front of her.
"Oh, I think it was." He said as he presented a small velvet box to her and opened it to reveal a beautiful one carat diamond set in white gold.
Charlotte was speechless … she looked from the ring to Daryl as tears welled up in her eye.
"Look, in this shithole of a world … I don't know what we'd be called anymore … but I'd like to think ... that …. that could call ourselves married." Daryl said as he slipped the ring on her left ring finger.
Charlotte looked at the ring on her finger in shock for what seemed like an eternity, Daryl remained silent, he merely waited for her to speak.
It seemed like a fortnight before she found her voice.
"Daryl I … I …. I'm so sorry … all this time I thought ... that you were …. Cheating on me! Oh, god! I feel like such a piece of shit right now, I should have known better." Charlotte said as she buried her face in her hands as the tears came.
Daryl blew out a harsh sigh; that was why he did this in the first place, he wanted to give her something that would solidify their relationship in her mind, and in her heart so she would never have to question his devotion to her.
He grabbed her hands and pulled them away from her face, forcing her to look at him.
He had always sucked at this shit …. This business of sharing ... feelings, and talking about them to anyone, let alone someone he was this deeply involved with.
'Well, fuck it.' he thought to himself.
"I know that you've always been thinkin' that I am just with you til' some better piece of ass better comes along or something, I hope this proves that … ain't never gonna happen." He said as he pinned her with his intense, blue eyed stare.
Tears spilled out of Charlotte's eye as she threw her arms around Daryl's neck.
"I'm sorry, Daryl, for doubting your feelings for me, and I promise, I'll never do it again. I love you …. Husband." She hissed seductively into his ear.
A growl rose up from Daryl's throat as he pushed had back away from him and kissed her hard.
"Geez! There you two are, you're like … an hour late!" Glenn scolded Daryl and Charlotte, all the while his face harboring a coy smile as they trotted up to him and Michonne.
Today was the day they had all been dreading, today was the huge supply run they would have to do. The winter months and the injuries they had had really depleted their supplies of drugs, and for that, they were going to have to hit a big city.
"It looks like from this, Arlington is going to be our best bet for everything we need." Glenn said.
"Shit I hate this, I hate going into a big city." Michonne said, Charlotte knew it was living people she feared running into, not the dead. They all knew too well that the rats and roaches always congregated in the cities.
"We don't have any other choice, we've drained all the small towns dry of supplies over the winter." Glenn said.
"Well, we can stand around here bitchin' about it, or we can just go and get it done." Daryl said.
"My sentiments exactly, let's go." Charlotte agreed as they piled into the Tucson.
"Good bunch of people you've got there." Deanna said to Rick as she joined him as he watched their car disappear around the bend.
"They're like family to me." Rick replied, his eyes still on the road.
"I know, I can see that, and I can also see now that you all were right about Pete, I was the one that was wrong; about how we handle people like him, about everything … and I wanted to say that I am sorry. We have been isolated away from the outside world for so long that it just … took us a while to catch up." She said as they turned back toward their houses.
Rick smiled at her as they walked.
"I understand, it took me a while, too." He said.
"It's gettin' dark, we'd better find a place to hold up for the night." Michonne said.
The problem was there wasn't anywhere TO stop, there was nothing but wilderness as far as they could see.
"Son of a bitch!" Daryl said angrily as he thumped the steering wheel.
"Hey! What's that up ahead? A county road! Take it, there's bound to be a house down it somewhere and even better because we'll be off the highway." Charlotte said.
Sure enough, she had been right, about three or four miles down the washboard road riddled with holes and washouts, they came upon an old mountain cabin that looked like it had been abandoned before the world went to shit.
They all got out silently careful not to slam their doors and drew they weapons, Charlotte and Daryl took the lead, up the creaky porch to the door, which they were surprised to find unlocked.
Daryl pounded on the door with the handle of his knife and whistled, and they waited, when nothing moved, or came out, they entered with all the precision of a SWAT team and filed out into the house, clearing it room by room.
"Nothin' what about yal'll?" Daryl asked as Glenn and Michonne came down the stairs.
"One in the bedroom, he probably was the owner." Glenn said.
"Good, let's get this place secure and try to get some sleep. We still have some drivin' to do and tomorrow's my turn at the wheel." Michonne said.
It didn't matter how many times they saw it, the sight of a once bustling, vibrant metropolis reduced to a smoldering, decaying city of the dead never ceased to shock them to some degree.
"It's their world now, we're just livin' in it." Michonne said as they parked the car out of sight, but in a place where they could make a quick getaway of things went to shit (like they always did, eventually).
"Alright, everyone knows their job." Daryl said as they all fanned out into teams of two.
"The map said there should be mall at the center of town, it says there's a Bass Pro, we can restock on guns, and ammo and whatever else isn't taken." Charlotte said as they crept through the city, careful to keep close to the buildings and out of sight.
"How the hell do you know that?" Daryl hissed at her as they waited for a large herd of walkers to amble by.
"I picked up a tourist map, you know, since we aren't from around these parts, I'd like to know what ... attractions there are around here." She said humorously as they skirted by when the coast was clear.
Daryl snorted at her since of humor, as they rounded a corner and a large strip center loomed, dark and foreboding in front of them, like a monster waiting to swallow them up.
"Well … let's get this over with." Charlotte said as they crept up to the front doors.
"Shit! They're automatic and they're locked, I'm gonna have to break the glass to get in." Charlotte cursed.
"Maybe not." Daryl replied as he pulled out a crowbar and wedged it between the doors.
"If you do that, we might not be able to get them closed again." She said, just then, they jumped back, their hands flying reflexively to their side arms as the bodies hit the glass from inside the store, their teeth gnashing hungrily at the glass.
"Shit … there's gotta be hundreds of the sumbitches in there!" Charlotte said as she peered through the glass behind the walker's heads. From what she could see, that the store was mostly untouched, probably because everyone else figured risking it with that many walkers wasn't worth it … but they weren't just everyone else.
"C'mon, Charlotte, this place ain't worth our lives. There's too many." Daryl said as he took her by the arm and began to lead her away.
"Daryl … no … I saw that place, it's fully stocked, as in I don't think it's even been touched like … ever! That means it's safe to say that the guns and ammo are still there, too!" She said as she stopped and pulled from his grasp.
"Yeah, that's cuz no one's dumb enough to try it with all those assholes in there!" Daryl shot back, unable to keep his voice from rising.
"Look … it'll be easy as pie, you open the doors and I'll grab one of those bikes over there and lead as many of them away as I can, then I'll double back behind the buildings using the alley and slip inside." Charlotte said as she sprinted over to there the bike display was, luckily for her, most of the bikes were still in usable condition.
She chose a bright pink mountain bike, pink had always been her favorite color.
"Ready?" she asked as she rolled up to him, he gave her a pained expression, but complied all the same, he knew they were getting low on ammo and guns, and with another hostile group in the area, they had no choice. He stuck the crowbar into the door and it sprung with very little effort, its locking mechanism having rusted away long ago, like everything else in this world.
The walkers poured out and headed straight for Charlotte on the bright pink bike, she put a few of them with her desert eagle and soon the whole herd, thousand's strong was after her, her plan was so lead them a few miles down the street, fire a flare into the woods and then double back to the store before they noticed her.
"Whoo hooo! Come on you sumbitches!" she hollered over her shoulder as she went just fast enough to keep out of their reach until they were good and interested, then she began to pick up speed.
She got to the end of the street and turned the corner, by the grace of god, the coast was clear, so she fired her flare into the woods that had begun to take the city back after almost six years of having no one to stop its encroachment. It was as she had always suspected, that man's supposed dominance over nature had been a mere façade.
She doubled back through the alley behind the buildings as fast as her burning legs would pump the bike. Daryl let out the breath he didn't even realize he was holding when he saw her round the corner, seeming to be okay.
"God damn girl, you scared the shit outta me, get your ass in here!" he said as she pushed her into the store and shut the doors behind them.
"Wow look at this place! Here's your list, I got mine." She said as they went their separate ways in the huge store. Charlotte filled her duffel with everything of use that she could reach, MRE's, freeze dried food, clothes, and hygienic supplies as Daryl met her with his bag so heavy with weapons and ammo that he could barely carry it.
"C'mon, we ain't got but a few hours' worth of daylight left, we'd better be gettin' back." Daryl said as he reached for his walkie.
"Go for Glenn." After a moment, Glenn's garbled voice came over the frequency.
"meet us at the car, we gettin' the hell outta here." Daryl said.
"Wow! With any luck, this will last us into next winter!" Charlotte said as Glenn and Michonne heaved their duffels, also filled to bursting with supplies from their lists.
"How you doin' Pirate, you okay to keep goin?" Michonne asked Charlotte as she caught her friend rubbing her eye wearily.
"Yeah, we only got a few mile to go, anyway. I am not tired, just my eye, it has to do the work of two, you know and sometimes it gets tired." She said.
A wave of empathy for her friend washed over Michonne, although she would never say it out loud, because she knew Charlotte didn't like to be taken pity on or patronized.
"Oh … SHIT!" Charlotte cursed as she slammed on the brakes.
"Charlotte … wha … oh … hell …!" Daryl, who had been dozing in the passenger seat they could see the smoke even from a mile away, and the sounds of shouting and gunfire could be heard.
Charlotte slammed her foot down on the accelerator.
"We ain't runnin' not this time, this ain't like before … those people don't know, they need out help." she said.
Ahhhh! Yes! I know I am evil LOL … but I hope to have the subsequent chapters up soon. Also how about the premier Sunday night, eh?! I won't spoil it for anyone who has DVR'd it but has not seen it (WHAT ARE YOU WAITING FOR!), but I will say that in my opinion … I think the "bad ass of the episode" award should go to Daryl ~_^