A/N: Thank you for the follows and the favorites and for continuing to read.
Disclaimer: I do not own the Walking Dead
Chapter Twenty-three
The rain had stopped early in the morning but a cloud still hung over Marianne and Daryl and a storm over her and Rick. Breakfast was quick and when the trio stepped outside they found the sun peeking out from between white clouds. There was a chill in the air that made Marianne and Rick zip up their jackets while Daryl appeared unaffected in only long sleeves and his vest to keep him warm.
Marianne sat in the driver's seat, Daryl in the front passenger seat, and Rick in the back. Marianne started to drive to the neighborhood's entrance gate. After raised voices between Marianne and Rick on whether turning on the heat would use up gas, as a compromise, the heat was turned on the low setting, which was where Marianne was going to put it anyways.
"I'll get it," Daryl said, leaving the car to open the gate already looking annoyed at Rick and Marianne. She drove out of the neighborhood and Daryl shut the gate behind them before getting back into the car.
"We'll go to the pharmacy first. Take a left up here," Rick said.
"Nah, goin' right is faster," Daryl said.
Marianne turned right, feeling a certain joy at going against Rick's order. For the rest of the short drive, made shorter by Marianne's speeding, it was quiet except for the occasional direction from Daryl. There was one quick stop to kill a lone walker.
"Just in case," Rick had said when he left the car to dispatch the rotting man.
They arrived at the pharmacy located at the end of a short two lane street which also had a diner and a thrift store. She was disappointed at how much smaller it was than what she had pictured. Would it have killed this town to get a big chain store?
She stopped the car in front of the pharmacy and put it into park. They sat in silence as they looked out the windows. "It looks clear," Rick said.
"Should we check the nearby streets and make sure they're clear too?" Marianne asked. It was her usual routine when entering towns and it made her uneasy to break it.
"I think we'll be fine," Rick said. "We've already made a sweep through the area and went through some stores and houses but it was getting dark by the time we reached this street so we headed back."
Daryl must have seen the skepticism on her face. "We should be good," he said.
Marianne nodded but this assurance didn't make her feel any better. "Okay then."
The men were getting out of the car when she remembered something."Hey," she said as they were about to close the car doors. "Don't go out of your way but if you see a deck of cards, take it. They're for Carl."
Rick gave her a strange look before closing his door. She watched the two men walk to the front of the store and knock on the glass door. When nothing came they went to open it but it was locked. She saw them exchange a few words before Rick started hitting the glass with the butt of his rifle. The thump of the rifle hitting the door prompted her to look around to make sure no walkers appeared.
She glanced back at the men when she heard glass breaking. She saw Rick putting his arm into the store to reach the lock. After a few seconds Rick straightened and pulled on the door. This time it opened. Rick and Daryl entered the pharmacy and Marianne settled in for what would hopefully be an uneventful trip. She debated on whether or not to leave the car running and decided not to but left the keys in the ignition.
She vigilantly surveyed both ends of the street. Although, it was hard to see behind her because she couldn't exactly turn her body and had to rely on the mirrors. After about five minutes Marianne knew there was no way she was staying in the car, no matter what Rick or anyone else would say.
She retrieved her bow from the back seat and stood next to the car with the door open so she could quickly slip in if she needed to. It was easier to keep a lookout outside of the car.
Marianne thought about Daryl. To the rest of the group things between brother and sister had gone back to normal but right underneath the surface there was a strain between them. They knew each other so well that a slight change of tone or the shift of a shoulder could speak volumes so it was hard to hide from each other. Hard but not impossible.
She heard barking and looked down the street to her right. A dog rounded the corner, looking like it was running as fast as it could. Not long after, a second dog followed seemingly chasing after the first. This was the one that was barking. It was loud and deep and echoed in the empty street.
The noise was asking for trouble and she wished it would shut up. Her heart sped up minutely and, automatically, she readied her bow. Both dogs ignored her as they ran past and disappeared around another corner.
Marianne kept an arrow ready and alternated between looking at either end of the street. She was looking at the end of the street where the two dogs had come from, with less than half a minute having passed, when she heard the faint scraping of shoes on asphalt. Marianne had just enough time to get back into the car, quietly shut the door, and duck before the first one appeared on the street.
There was no way to alert Daryl and Rick of the walkers without drawing attention to herself. She could only hope that they looked out the window to see for themselves and stayed silent.
As if one of them had deliberately went against her advice, a gunshot pierced through the quiet moaning of the walkers passing by the car.
"Shit."
Daryl's arms were pinned under a metal shelving unit. Boxes were scattered around him, one of them had hit his face. He could feel blood running down the side of his cheek and into his ear. The large walker that had tipped the shelves over onto Daryl in its eagerness for its first meal was getting ready to bite his shoulder. He tried to pull his arms free but he wouldn't make it in time.
Just when he thought it was too late a bullet went through the side of its head, splattering blood on his face. The dead walker slumped on top of him. Daryl turned his head and saw Rick across the room lowering his rifle.
Rick ran to Daryl. "Are you hurt? Can you move?" He asked as he rolled the dead walker away.
"I'm good," Daryl said while managing to finally free one of his arms.
It took both of them to lift the shelves off of Daryl so he could get out from under them.
"Marianne's gonna wonder what the gunshot was for. I don't think she's stayin' in the car." Daryl said.
They walked out of the back room and into the main part of the store. Daryl was surprised to see Marianne wasn't already there but then he saw the walkers at the door and understood why. He pulled Rick out of sight but by the growing intensity of the growling Daryl guessed that the walkers had already seen them.
Daryl hoped that Marianne was okay and that she had stayed in the car. The question of whether or not she had stayed in the car was answered by honking. He peered at the door and saw walkers starting to leave.
"She's drawin' them away," Daryl said.
Rick looked at the door too. Only half appeared to follow her, leaving one half too many for Daryl's liking.
They watched the glass crack and give in.
Marianne started the car and began to drive. She honked the horn a few times and walkers began peeling off of the group banging on the pharmacy door and windows but she could tell right away that not all of the walkers had followed her and she cursed, honking the horn a few more times.
When she turned left she stopped the car and waited for the walkers to catch up so they wouldn't lose her. Her mind flashed back to the highway when she had led a group of them away from the farm. Life seemed so much simpler back then.
The walkers appeared and she continued on her way. She was unfamiliar with the layout of the town and could only rely on educated guesses on where each turn would take her. She drove slow enough to try to prevent any of the walkers from breaking off of the group but she had stopped honking her horn, not wanting to draw out anymore that might be hiding who knows where.
Satisfied that they were far enough away from the pharmacy and going in a direction away from the neighborhood they were staying at, Marianne sped up and left the walkers behind.
It took longer to circle back than she thought it would. For a moment she was afraid that she was lost but then she recognized one of the streets and knew exactly where to go.
She turned onto the pharmacy's street and immediately noticed that it was empty. This didn't make her feel any better because she knew this meant that all of the walkers that had stayed behind were now inside the pharmacy with Daryl and Rick.
Marianne parked just out of sight of the windows so if any walkers happened to look out they wouldn't see the car. She grabbed her bow before getting out. She had twelve arrows, six in the quiver attached to her bow and six more stashed in the back of the car. She needed to make them count.
Marianne grabbed the rest of the arrows, which were in their own quiver that she slung across her back, and nocked an arrow before walking to the pharmacy door. The walkers were concentrated in the rear of the pharmacy with their backs to her. Standing there, it looked like there were more walkers than what she had estimated when she saw them from inside the car.
She took a deep breath and not wanting to get caught on the jagged glass of the door, she opened it instead to step inside. Daryl and Rick weren't in sight and the walkers weren't stooped on the floor stuffing themselves so she could only assume that they were safe for now.
She released her arrow and the first walker went down. Seven more followed before their comrades noticed what was happening. The ones closest to her began turning around and were now focused on reaching her.
Marianne gave up shooting any more arrows and made a run for the pharmacy counter. She jumped over it. It was a paltry barrier between her and the walkers but at least it was something.
She set her bow down, grabbed her knife, and stabbed the first walker that was trying to get over the counter. It slid off the counter and onto the floor.
The other walkers ignored it and kept coming. A grey-haired man in a suit and tie was next and then a young woman with part of her face eaten off. They were relentless but so was she.
"Marianne!"
She almost paused at the sound of her name but stabbed another walker instead. While she was pushing it away she quickly looked behind the walkers. Daryl and Rick were there, picking off the ones at the edge of the crowd.
"I'm okay," she called back.
Marianne grabbed the ponytail of a particularly ambitious walker and plunged her blood soaked knife into its head. She had trouble pulling it back out and by the time she did another walker had grabbed her right arm.
It pulled hard and jerked her forward making her abdomen dig into the counter. She let the pain fuel her and she pulled her arm away but by the time she did this another walker grabbed her left wrist. The grip was weak and she easily shook the walker's hand off of her.
Marianne backed away from the counter, needing a second to catch her breath. The walker that had grabbed her arm nose dived off the counter onto the floor in front of her, the first one that had managed to make it over. It took three stomps to its head to kill it.
She counted the rest of the walkers. There were only six, two left for each of them. Marianne swiftly killed the first but when she turned to the second she paused. It used to be a woman, with short black hair and a dusting of freckles across its face. She backed away from the walker that looked so much like Julia. She felt her breakfast trying to come back up.
Daryl came up behind the walker and stabbed his knife into its head. Marianne flinched and Daryl stared at her, his brow furrowed.
The three of them looked at each other and the carnage around them.
Marianne knew that some of the blood on Daryl's face was his own. "You're hurt. What the hell happened?" She asked not only because she really wanted to know, but also because she wanted to distract him from what had just happened.
"Are you okay?" Daryl asked.
"Don't make this about me." She put her hands on her hips. "I asked you a question."
"Just some bruises," Daryl said. After he told her what happened she looked at him skeptically, not quite believing that he was fine.
"We should finish up here," Rick said. He looked exhausted. A sheen of sweat covered his paling skin.
"You look like shit," Marianne said. She guessed all of them didn't look too good covered in blood, but Rick looked like he could keel over any second.
Rick ignored her comment and turned to Daryl. "Do you still have the list?"
Daryl nodded and pulled a crumpled piece of paper out of one of his pockets.
"What did you two manage to get before all hell broke loose?"
Daryl dug into a back pocket and pulled out a deck of cards. Marianne let out a tired laugh. "Here, give me the list. I'll start back here."
Daryl had to step onto the dead walkers to get close enough to Marianne to give her the piece of paper where Hershel had written a list of medications. She looked it over, appreciating that it was in alphabetical order.
When Daryl and Rick were walking away to loot the rest of the store she looked back up at them. "Don't forget the tampons."
"Wouldn't dream of it," Daryl said.
They worked in silence. The large pile of dead walkers seemed to hang heavy over them all. Marianne didn't bother to count them because she didn't want to know how close they had come to being overwhelmed.
When she finished she had three plastic bags worth of pill bottles which she set on the counter along with her bow so she could hop over it.
"So much for not making sure the area was clear," she said as she walked on top of bodies.
"We couldn't have known this would happen," Rick said.
"Uh, yes we could've. You know, if we had taken ten minutes to look around."
"We're not doin' this now," Rick said.
"Then when?"
"Marianne." It was the only thing Daryl had to say to get her to back off. Instead of berating Rick, she started collecting her arrows and pulled them out of heads with more force than was necessary.
While the men went to put their full duffle bags and the medicine in the car Marianne picked up a hand basket and went through the store herself, occasionally grabbing things off of the shelves.
"You ready?" Daryl asked through the broken door.
"Yeah, I'm comin'." Marianne took the basket with her and put it in the trunk.
"What'd you get?" Daryl asked.
"Socks."
"Are you serious?"
Marianne smiled. "Very serious. Now come on, get in the car. I'm sick of this place."
They unanimously agreed they weren't making any other stops and Daryl decided to drive back. Marianne was in the front passenger seat and Rick was lying down on the back seat, giving up any pretense that he was feeling fine.
Marianne unzipped her jacket and lifted her shirt. She was relieved to see that she hadn't bled through her bandages. Hershel hadn't changed them yet so he could take a look to see if any damage was done. She hoped there wouldn't be or she would never hear the end of it and they'd never let her out again until she was healed.
"How's it look?" Daryl asked.
"So far, so good." Marianne lowered her shirt and zipped up her jacket. "No worse for wear."
"We'll see about that."
The ride back to the house felt longer than the ride to the pharmacy. When they finally arrived at the neighborhood, Marianne took care of the gate and they were soon backing up into the house's driveway.
"I think he's asleep," Marianne said.
"Wake him up."
"Rick." Nothing. "Rick, wake up." Still nothing. "Rick!" He sat up so fast it looked like it disoriented him, much to Marianne's amusement. "We're back."
Rick nodded and rubbed his face. There were still specks of blood on it.
"We all look a mess," Marianne said. "How're we goin' about tellin' them what happened?"
"Let me handle that," Rick said.
"Sure thing, officer." Marianne got out of the car, followed by Daryl and Rick.
She glanced at the house. Glenn was on watch looking a little miserable and Hershel came out to greet them.
"No trouble here?" Rick asked.
"None at all," Hershel said. "But it looks like you three ran into some."
"Nothing we couldn't handle," Rick said.
Hershel looked at Marianne and she shrugged. "I'm fine."
Daryl and Marianne each grabbed a duffle bag. Hershel grabbed the medicine and the basket, leaving Rick without anything to carry other than his rifle.
Carol and Beth were now on the front porch. They both looked concerned but Marianne brushed past them without saying anything.
When they entered the house Lori, who was sitting on one on the couches, took one look at them and frowned.
"What happened?" Maggie asked.
"We'll have a meeting a little later, after we get cleaned up," Rick said.
Marianne was all for that. When it had started to rain a few days earlier, the group had found every plastic container in the house and dumped them of their contents to put them outside so they could collect the rain.
With the abundance of water Carol and Beth had been doing laundry. There was even enough for everyone to wash but before Marianne went to take advantage of that she rummaged through the hand basket that Hershel had set on the dining room table.
She found what she was looking for at the bottom, grabbed it, walked back into the living room, and stood in front of Lori.
"I found some ginger cough drops. I don't know if they'll taste good but the ginger'll help with your morning sickness." She handed Lori the bag of cough drops. Lori grabbed the bag, looking taken aback. Marianne left before she could be thanked.
Marianne took a sponge bath using a washcloth and Beth had to help her wash her hair. Even though the water was cold, it felt good.
"I think I need to cut it," Marianne said as Beth rinsed her hair one last time. Droplets of water ran down her neck and onto her back, soaking into her sports bra.
"But it's so nice the way it is."
"A nice pain in the ass," she said as she toweled her hair.
After she was clean, Hershel changed her bandages and reported that he didn't see any damage which she happily told Daryl who was disgruntled because she had made him let Hershel check his bruises.
The group gathered in the living room. Marianne's damp hair was making her shiver so she huddled under a blanket near the fire. Beth sat to her left and Carl to her right, who was practicing shuffling with the new deck of cards.
Rick stood in the middle of them all. He was still pale but looked better than he had earlier.
"Walkers showed up at the pharmacy today. Marianne was able to lead some of them away but we still had to fight them off," Rick said. He left out the part where Daryl almost got bit, the gunshot, and how the two men had been trapped in the back room. "But since there's a group of them still in town, our time here is up. We're leaving tomorrow morning."
"What about Marianne?" Beth asked.
"I'll be fine," Marianne said. "Right Hershel?"
"She's okay to move, but I wouldn't recommend fighting walkers anytime soon. You got lucky today."
"Then it's settled. You all know what to do," Rick said.
Daryl jerked awake, ready to fight but it was just T-Dog who had roused him and by the looks of him it wasn't a walker emergency. He had his index finger over his mouth, signaling Daryl to be quiet. T-Dog motioned for him to follow. He led Daryl to the back of the house and Daryl saw the back door was open.
He was unsurprised by what he saw next. Marianne was standing in the middle of the backyard with her back to the house. The moonlight glinted off of something in her hand.
"I couldn't sleep. I kept waking up and then I felt a draft. Found the back door open and saw her out here. I tried talkin' to her but she didn't move or say anything and her eyes are all glassy. I didn't want to touch her." T-Dog pointed at Marianne's hand. "She's got a knife."
Daryl sighed. He hated seeing her like this; especially knowing whatever was causing it was making her suffer.
"Should we get Rick?" T-Dog asked.
"No, I got this."
Daryl slowly walked towards Marianne and stood in front of her about four feet away.
"Marianne?" For a second it looked like her eyes focused on him.
He stepped closer to her and tried to ease the knife out of her hand but her grip was strong. He'd have to get it away from her somehow without startling her. She could hurt herself or one of them.
"Marianne, I need the knife. Can you let it go?"
"I had to do it," she said in a pained voice.
Her grip loosened and he slipped the knife out of her hand.
"I had to do it."
"I believe you," Daryl said. He motioned for T-Dog to take the knife from him, which T-Dog did. "Let's get ya back to bed."
He put his hand on her shoulder to help steer her back to the house.
She shrugged him off. "I need to find Julia."
"We'll find her later." Daryl wondered who Julia was. He put his hand back on her shoulder but she stepped away from him.
"I have to find her."
"How about I find her for you?" He tried again and this time Marianne didn't remove his hand. Daryl gently led her back into the house, through the hallway, and into the bedroom with T-Dog following behind.
He helped her into bed. When her head rested on the pillow her eyes fluttered shut. Daryl pulled the blankets over her.
"I had to," Marianne whispered.
"I know you did." He brushed some hair off of her face and sighed, wishing that Marianne would tell him what was wrong. She'd be tired when she woke up; she always was when she sleepwalked.
"She did it again." Daryl and T-Dog turned around to see Rick leaning on the doorframe with his arms crossed.
"Yeah," Daryl said, hoping T-Dog wouldn't mention the knife.
"She's done this before?" T-Dog asked.
"We need to talk," Rick said, looking pointedly at Daryl.
A/N: I finished early and decided to post early since I had a huge dry spell and I wanted to try to make up for it. I hope you enjoyed the chapter!
Any thoughts or reactions? I'd love to hear from you.