It's been eight months since the fall of the farm. During those eight months of little food, no safety, moving from house to house. It's been very hard once winter hit us, moving from house to house, barely standing there for more than a week at a time or else.
But during the eight months me and Daryl have gotten so much closer and we were almost never separated from each other. We took care of each other. We may be polar opposites of each other, we are the perfect balance. I also noticed that Daryl has changed on the road, he started to care for the group. But most of all, both Rick and Daryl had grown closer as brothers and he became Rick's right hand man. We all became a family and will do whatever it takes to protect each other.
We found an abandoned house and we started to scout it out. I was walking right behind Daryl with Rick, Glenn, Maggie, T-Dog and Carl. We made sure that everyone else stayed back to keep them safe. Once the house was clear, I looked over at Rick and nodded my head to him and he went over to the front door and whistled for the others to come over.
First was Carol and Beth, who was carrying the bags, next was Lori, who was pregnant and was so close to popping. She could have the baby any day. And lastly Hershel himself made it inside the house and closed the door.
As everyone got settled down on the floor or broken furniture, we tried to rest up and get a few bites of food in. I plopped down on a couch as Daryl was down on the arm of the couch,plucking feathers from an owl he had just shot. I leaned my head against his leg as Glenn came over to me with sugar packets in his hand.
" Thank you, Glenn. But I'm good." I said to Glenn as he offered them to me.
" Are you sure? You need your strength up." Glenn asked as he passed some to Maggie.
" Really Glenn. I'm good." I said as I opened my water bottle and took a drink of it and then closed it as I leaned my head back down on Daryl's leg and I closed my eyes to rest my body a little bit, till I jumped slightly to something hitting a wall and I opened my eyes to see Rick in the middle of the room pissed off. I heard T-Dog whistle and that was our sign that it was time to go. We all gathered our things and exited the house as quietly as we could.
I hopped onto Daryl's motorcycle as I settled my crossbow onto my back and I wrapped my arms tightly around his waist as he started his engine and took the lead with everyone following right behind us down the road, " Daryl, I'm exhausted. What if we don't find a place." I whispered as I leaned my head against the middle of his back.
" We'll find a place. As long as you're with me, nothing will harm you. I promise." Daryl said to me.
" I love you so much Daryl." I said with a smile on my face.
" I love you too." Daryl replied as he moved his hand from the handlebars to touch one of my hands. He rubbed his thumb up and down my hand before he moved it back to the handlebar as we continued to move.
After driving down the road for a little while, Rick honked his horn which made us all stop. I climbed off the bike with Darly right behind me and we both walked over to Glenn's car, where T-Dog placed a map on top of the hood of the car as they began to search for somewhere else to go, " We've got nowhere else to go." T-Dog said as he looked at the map. I was watching Beth and Carl patrol as I leaned against Daryl with Rick on the other side of me.
" When this herd meets up with this one, we'll be cut off. We'd never make it south." Maggie said as she pointed at the two big spots on the map.
" How many walkers did you say there were? 150?" Daryl asked Glenn as he took my hand and his thumb started to rub it.
" That was last week. It could be twice that by now." Glenn said.
" Well, this river could have delayed them. If we move fast, we might have a shot tear right through there." Hershel suggested as he pointed down at the map.
" Yeah, but if this herd joins with that one, they could spill out towards this direction" T-Dog said as he looked over at Hershel.
" So, we're stuck then." I said as I tightened my grip on Daryl's hand.
" Only thing we can do is double back 27 and swing towards Greenville." Rick said as he sighed.
" Yeah, but we picked through that already. It's like we spent the winter going in circles." T-Dog muttered.
" It's because we were guys." I said.
" Look, I know, I know. At Newnan we'll push west since we haven't been through there yet. We can't keep going from house to house, we need to find a place to hole up for a few weeks." Rick said as he looked at everyone.
" Dad, it's hard as it is to stay in one place for more than two days. We need a miracle, a place for Lori to have the baby. She's not going to be able to move much longer." I said to Rick.
" Well, what do you think we should do then Sam?" Rick asked me in frustration.
Nothing came to mind when he put me on the spot, so I kept my mouth shut till Hershel asked, " Do you see any way around that?"
No one responded for the longest time and left to go wash up a little bit in the river. Daryl grabbed his crossbow along with mine as he turned to Rick after he handed me my crossbow, " Hey, while the others wash their panties, let's go hunt. The owl didn't exactly hit the spot." Daryl said as he pointed at the others at the river.
We started to walk in the woods while Rick was looking for any type of meal. I held my crossbow close to me as I followed right behind Daryl as he searched for tracks as Rick took the lead, " I hope we find a place soon. For Lori's sake." I said.
" I know and we are running out of time." Rick said as he looked over at me.
" Well, that's a damn shame." Daryl said as I noticed that he stopped and I walked back over to him to see what he was looking at and my mouth just dropped.
" It's perfect." Rick said as he came over to our side and had a smile on his face. It made me smile as well as I looked down the hill and I grabbed onto Daryl's hand and gave him a small little squeeze. This place was indeed perfect, a new start, a new life. Right in front of us was a prison.
As we all gathered at the large prison fences, Rick was cutting through it with a pair of bolt cutters. Me and Daryl stayed in the back of the group to make sure that no walkers would get close to us, " Let's go!" Rick yelled as he held the small piece of the fence opened for us to go through.
One by one, we made our way through the fence. Once I got through both Glenn and Daryl tied the fence back together, so walkers couldn't come through. I looked around to see another fence but it was blocked and it had a lot of walkers in that part of the yard. Rick took the lead down the walkway as we followed him. I tried my best to ignore the walkers that came over to us and pressed themselves against the fence as they tried to grab us. We took a sharp turn as we pushed ourselves as we got to the gates, " What's the plan, Dad?" I asked him as I was taking a deep breath to calm my heart down.
" If we can shut that gate. We can prevent more from filling the yard and we can pick off the rest of these walkers here. We'll take the field by tonight." Rick said as he pointed into the yard in front of us, where there was a large gate that was open, which led to the courtyard that was filled with walkers.
" So how do we shut the gate?" Hershel asked as we scoped out the yard.
" I'll do it. I'm the fastest. You guys can cover me." Glenn volunteered.
" No, it's a suicide run." Maggie protested as she looked at him shaking her head no at him.
" Glenn, she's right. I'll do it. Now I want Glenn, Maggie, Beth, Carol and T-Dog to draw the walkers attention and pop'em through the fence. Carl, I want you and Hershel to take this tower. Daryl, I want you and Sam to go back to the other tower. I'll run for the gate." Rick said to everyone, who nodded their heads and went to their spots, except for me and Daryl who was waiting for me.
" Dad, please be careful." I said as I hugged him and he hugged me back. Then I let go of him and followed Daryl to our spot.
We climbed the steps and up onto a platform that looked over the yard as I pulled out my pistol, " You ready to go?" Daryl asked me as he was by my side.
" As ready as I'll ever be." I said as I cocked my gun. We all waited as Lori opened the gate, allowing Rick to slip through as the others begane to kill the walkers that came to the fence as they made noise. That was when Rick started to move towards the gate, I watched him closely and I also noticed that some of the walkers left the fence and made their way towards Rick. I started to shoot them one-by-one. I continued to fire my gun along with everyone else as Rick made it to the gate and closed it. I stopped shooting my gun along with everyone else as well as we waited for Rick. Not long after Rick walked onto the other side of the platform with his rifle in hand.
" Alright, light'em up!" Daryl shouted, as he began to lay out heavy fire. Everyone followed Daryl's lead and we took out every single walker in the yard. Once the last walker landed on the ground, we stopped shooting our guns and I went down stairs along with everybody behind me.
Once we regroup we walk through the gates into the big yard with a big smile on my face as I feel Daryl's arms wrapped around my waist, " Good shootin'." Daryl said with a small smile on his face.
I turned around in his arms to give him a little peck on his lips, " Your not bad yourself. I can't believe this is all ours now. It's huge." I said as I took a deep breath and looked around. Not long after, Rick started giving orders to everyone. Daryl and a few others went to gather up the vehicles while me and T-Dog moved the bodies towards a corner of the field where we'd burn them the next day. We worked until nightfall and I only moved back towards the group when I saw the fire which told me that it was time to eat.
It didn't take long for me to sit down and Carol handed me a plate of food. I know there wasn't much but I was better than nothing and I took one bite and that was when it hit me that I wasn't really that hungry, so I tried to hand my plate over to Lori, " Here, you need this more than me." I said to her as she turned to look towards me.
Lori shook her head to me, " Sam, you've already given me enough of your meals. You need to eat as well." Lori said as she pushed the plate back to me.
I didn't argue with her and was about to take another bit of the food but then stopped when I looked over at Daryl. My eyes fell on his figure which was on a prison bus, walking back and forth, ' He must be on watch. I'm going to see if he's hungry.' I thought as I stood up with a plate in hand and made my way over to him.
I crossed the yard towards the bus. Once I got to the bus, I was trying to figure out how I was going to get up there with Daryl. So I placed the plate on the edge and pushed the plate to the top and that was when I noticed that Darly turned his head to me to see that I was trying to climb up on the bus but with no luck, " What're you doin', Sam?" Daryl asked me as he walked over to me and looked at me with a smirk on his face.
" I noticed that you haven't even eaten yet and if I hadn't brought you something, you wouldn't have eaten." I said as I tried to pull myself up there again, but failed again.
Daryl squatted down and placed his crossbow down and held out his hand out to me and I grabbed his hand tightly and he pulled me up there with him. I grabbed the plate and handed it to Daryl, " Have you eaten anything?" Daryl asked me as he took a bit of the food.
" Yeah, but before I did I tried to give some food to Lori, but she wouldn't take it. She's not only feeding herself." I said as I shook my head.
Daryl looked over at me till he looked over at the group as he took another bite of food," Well, little Shane has quite the appetite." Daryl said as I elbowed him in the side.
" Stop that, that's Dad's baby. After everything he's been through, something needs to go right for him. This could be the break that we needed for weeks. No walkers, no nothing." I said as I turned my head to look at Rick as he walked alongside the fence.
Daryl nodded his head as he took one last bit of food and then placed the plate down next to him and he pulled me close to his chest as he wrapped his arms around me, resting his head on my shoulder. Then I felt his lips linger from my collarbone, all the way to my jawline, before stopping at my lips. I relaxed in his arms as he moved his hand up and down my arm, leaving me to have goosebumps all over my arm, " C'mon, we need to head to the others." Daryl said as he stood up and then slid down the side of the bus with his plate in hand.
I waited for Daryl as he turned around to me and offered his hand to me to help me down. I took his hand and he helped me down off the bus, I held his hand on the way back to the group. As we both sat down, Daryl pulled me close to his chest again as Rick came over to us and sat down next to Carl and Lori, " We better all turn in for the night. We have a big day tomorrow?" Rick said as he looked at the others.
" What do you mean?" Glenn asked as he got closer over to Maggie.
" Look, I know we're all exhausted. This was a great win. But we've got to push just a little bit more, most of the walkers are dressed as guards and prisoners which means this place must have fallen pretty early. It could mean the supplies may be intacted. They'd have an infirmary, a commissary, an-" Rick said but was stopped.
" An armory?" Daryl asked as he cut Rick off in mid sentence.
" That's why we have to go in there, hand to hand." Rick said as he pulled out his knife and I nodded my head as I agreed with him.
Later the next day in the late afternoon, we gathered around the fence as we prepared to go inside the courtyard to clear it out. Me, Rick, Daryl, Glenn, T-Dog and Maggie were going inside while the others waited outside. As growls from the dead filled my ears, someone tapped my shoulder and I jumped a little bit as I looked over my shoulder to see Daryl right next to me, " You stay close to me, hear me?" Daryl asked me as I nodded my head as I knew it was out of good intentions. Then Hershel opened the gates for us and once we through them he closed the gate behind us. As we moved together, I killed a few walkers that came close to me and every once in a while I would feel Daryl constantly run his fingertips along my arm to make sure that I was still near him as he went back to fighting, " Everyone stay tight!" Glenn instructed everyone.
" Don't break rank!" Rick screamed as I saw T-Dog breaks from us to grab something on the side.
" We need this!" T-Dog shouted as he took down another walker with the riot shield and made his way back to the circle. We were nearly three-quarter through the courtyard and we got around the corner. I noticed how Rick's body went stiff for a second and I wondered what he saw.
" Shit, we need to get that fence closed," Rick said as I saw another dozen walkers that were walking through another opened fence. Then several walkers wearing riot gear came towards us and Daryl moved his crossbow over towards one of them and fired his arrow and all it did was bounce off the walker's helmet, and it got closer to us. Then both Rick and Daryl looked at each other and they both nodded their heads and took off running towards the opened fence while the rest of us dealt with the riot gear walkers.
I heard something behind me and I turned to see one right behind me and I shoved it hard away from me but it came back at me. I was ready for it and I knew there was another way to kill it from the brain. I grabbed it from its shoulder to keep it away from me but it was a little hard since the walker was a little taller and bigger than me. With all my strength, I shoved my knife under its shin and it went limp and blood splattered all over my hands and my face and I shoved the body to the ground.
" Shove your knives under their chins and go up. You'll still get the brain." I told the others and they started to take them out. I looked over towards Daryl and Rick to see that the gate was closed, ' They made it. Thank god.' I thought as my eyes landed on them to see them fighting a few walkers and I ran over to help them. As I got close to them, I took out over three walkers that were trying to sneak up on them.
Daryl then looked over at me, " You good?" Daryl asked me as he looked at my hands and then back at me and I nodded my head to him.
" Yeah, I'm fine. Are you and Rick alright?" I asked him and he nodded his head to me and I looked around to see all the walkers that we killed and bodies were everywhere and I looked over to notice Glenn going back for the others.
" Stop." Rick told Glenn, which made him stop in his tracks and turned to look back at Rick.
" What? It looks secure." Glenn said as he pointed around him.
" Not from the look of that courtyard over there." Daryl said as I turned to see what he was talking about to see another courtyard full of walkers. I was hoping they wouldn't be a problem later in the near future.
" Wait, that's a civilian over there." I said as I noticed a female walker and from her clothes I could tell that she wasn't an inmate or a police officer.
" So the interior could be overrun with walkers from the outside, " T-Dog concluded.
" Well, if there's walls down, what're we gonna do? We can't rebuild this whole place." Glenn said as he looked at the others.
" We can't risk a blind spot. We need to push in." Rick said as he took off towards the building with the men following right behind him along with me right on his tail. When we approached the door, we had our weapons at the ready as Rick slid open the red metal door and we moved in. We followed right behind him into the room and I was last so I closed the door right behind us, and then it was pitch black.
I didn't hear any growls and once my eyes adjusted to the dark, I noticed that we were in a cellblock. We walked around the small room and Rick managed to find some keys for the cell room off a dead corpse.
I stood watch as the others cleared the area and all the cells that had walkers in them. Once it was secure, Glenn went back to get the rest of our group and brought them inside. Both Lori and Carl came to my side as she rubbed her stomach.
" We're safe at last, we're home." I said to Lori and Carl, which made him smile at me as I rubbed his head.
" Is it secure?" Lori asked me as she looked around in amazement.
" This cellblock is." Rick answered her with a faint smile on his face. It made me happy that we were safe, but also that both Rick and Lori were trying to work things out between them ever since what happened at the farm, I could see hope between them.
" What about the rest of the prison?" Hershel asked as he looked over at Rick.
" In the morning. We'll find the cafeteria and infirmary." Rick said to Hershel.
" We sleep in the cells?" Beth asked as she looked at one of the cells where there were blood stains in them.
" I found these on some guards, Daryl has a set too." Rick said as he nodded towards Daryl and Darly nodded to Beth as he held up some keys.
" Yeah and I ain't sleepin' in no cage, me and Sam will take the perch." Daryl said as he walked into a cell and pulled out a mattress and threw it down on the walkaway and plopped down on it.
As everyone spreaded out to choose their cells while I went towards the stairs where I could see Daryl with his hands behind his head while his poncho covered his face. I smiled at him as I walked over to him and plopped down right next to him. I placed my crossbow down on the ground next to me and I leaned on his chest as I moved the poncho from his dark blue eyes and I kissed him on the cheek," Hello." I said to him as I placed my head on his chest.
" Are you good there?" Daryl asked me as he chuckled at me.
" Yes, I am." I said as I got off his chest and then I straddle myself on his waist.
" You're so beautiful, you know that?" Daryl asked me as he moved some strains of hair that were in my face.
" Yeah, right. Like walker blood makes me beautiful." I said as I tried to remove the dry blood off my face and my hands.
" I mean it. You are beautiful," Daryl said as he rolled his eyes, " We should try and get some sleep. We're gonna have a big day tomorrow." Daryl said as he placed his hands on my thighs.
" Yeah, hopefully everything goes okay. These people are our family, like you are as well." I said as I just laid right on top of him.
" You as well." Daryl said as he kissed the top of my head.
" I love you Daryl." I said as I closed my eyes and got comfortable on top of him.
" I love you too." Daryl said as I felt something come right on top of me and I lightly opened one of my eyes to see the poncho on top of me and Daryl and when I felt him wrap his arms around my waist and he held me close to him. I snuggled into his chest and let the darkness take over.
End Of Chapter
I hope you guys are liking this story so far, I know I like making the chapters. Let me guys know what your thoughts on it so far and thank you for your support on this story. Another will be up as soon as possible. See you guys later.