A/N Thank you so much! Daryl is making another trip down the mountain...
The Warrior
It's just before first light and Daryl's ready to go, he's determined to get down this mountain and find what they're going to need to survive the upcoming winter, heat sources. That's it. Then he's coming home.
He'll get whatever else they might need on his next trip, and on his last trip before winter he'll come for the harvest. At least, that's how he hopes it all works out.
He holds his wife and tells her again, "Please lady, don't worry. Nuthin's gonna happen ta me. I'ma either get them inserts, or I'll settle on woodstoves, then I'm comin' home. If it goes like I hope it will, I'll be back tomorrow night. If I ain't, don't go thinkin' the worst. It just means I had ta take care of unexpected business."
His hand slides to her tummy and his palm lightly caresses the ever-growing baby bump, "You just take care a you and this little person here til I get back, then I'll be takin' care of ya both full time."
Jack knows something's up as he let's out a pitiful whine, and Daryl roughs his neck and back, "Now Jack, ya know you gotta take care of Beth and Jamie for me. I'll be back soon and we'll go…" oops, he stops right there, he can't even say the word out loud in front of Jack. The dog gets too damn excited and he's ready to go. Instead Daryl smiles at his wife and spells it, "H-u-n-t-i-n-g."
She smiles back, "I think you both need that particular outing, and not just to fill the cellar for winter. You two deserve to have some fun."
He's smiling when he tells her, "Nah, we don't have no fun at all out there. For me n Jack it's all business."
He walks over to the still sleeping child, leans in and kisses Jamie's hair, "Daddy be home soon. Love ya boy."
It's on his way down the mountain that he decides where he'll make his first stop. Dale's. He knows right where they kept their yellow pages phone book, the damn thing is two inches thick and covers the whole county. If he can look up where there's a store that sells fireplace stuff then that will get him headed in the right direction, and save him some time.
Driving a big dually pickup with an empty bed can be a rough and bouncy ride on a paved road, going down this jagged old mountain it's jarring. The truck is bouncing and bobbing and he has to go even slower than usual. If poor little Jamie or Jack were with him they'd be throwing up non stop. Daryl just deals with it, it's not like there's a choice. The only comforting thought he has is, at least on his way back up he'll be hauling heavy woodstoves or inserts. That'll make things a lot smoother."
It's when he's within a couple of miles of hitting paved road that he sees a small group of walkers. Five or six. They're not in his way so he could ignore them and continue on, but what if they decide they want to start walking up the mountain? You never know with these dead assholes and Daryl's not taking chances.
He hops from the truck, grabs the crossbow and quiver from the back seat, loads the bow and leans over the hood of the truck. He sights in the first one and let's the bolt fly, then another, then another, and then shit, something's behind him. Fuck.
He quickly turns, oh shit, it's not a walker, this guy's alive, he's got a big knife in his hand and the damn thing is aimed right at Daryl's heart. Daryl pushes the assailant off and pulls his own knife from the sheath on his thigh, and as they fight and toss each other around, Daryl manages to plunge the blade of his knife into the attacker's leg, nicking his femoral artery.
The guy screams and falls to the ground. There's blood everywhere and Daryl knows the asshole is bleeding out, he won't last another five minutes. He gets to his feet, picks the bow up off the ground, loads a bolt and points it at attacker, and the guy weakly begs, "Help me, please, help me. All I wanted was your truck."
"Yeah? What's your name smart guy?"
"Alex. I'm Alex."
Daryl responds, "Ya shoulda just asked me for a ride Alex," and the bolt flies, hitting the attacker in the forehead.
Fuck these fuckin' guys.
He starts to drag Alex's body over to the others, thinking he'll burn the whole pile of them. Then he thinks again. That's liable to draw the kind of attention to the mountain Daryl doesn't want. Better to just let them all rot where they are.
Once he's back in the pickup Daryl's feeling agitated. Those assholes got in the way of him making good time. He takes a deep breath and tries to shake it off before hitting the gas and heading over to Dale's old place.
He goes around to the back of the house, being careful as he enters. He quickly clears the place before going right to what he was after. Two things surprise him, the first is how much better he feels about being in the house now that he knows Dale's okay. There's no guilt, no sorrow. The other thing that surprises him is there's no sign of anyone having been in the house since he was here last. Huh. It makes him wonder about the rest of the neighborhood because it occurs to him, there were some families living on this street who had kids and stuff. Shit, the people right across from Erma and Dale had a baby that was just learning to walk last time he saw them.
For now Daryl grabs the yellow pages and looks through the book. Yep, there it is, Harold's Pool, Patio and Fireplace Shop in Smithton. That's where Daryl's going next, right after he checks for something else.
One time she mentioned she wish she had one and he's never forgotten that. He knows these things are important to his wife, he knows she wants to teach her children all about it. He has no objection and if it makes her happy, it makes him happy. He walks in the bedroom and there it is right on the nightstand, Erma's bible. Beth's going to be real glad to have it and he's going to be real glad to give it to her.
He's cautious when he leaves, just cracking the back door open far enough to look around and make sure it's clear. He climbs in the truck, glances at the house across the street, says, "Fuck it," and drives around to the back of the neighbor's house.
He's relieved to see they're packed up and gone. He'd been reluctant to walk in because he was afraid he might see a dead baby, and that's the last thing he'd ever want to see. Anyway, the place is clear.
One thing that draws his attention right away is a highchair in the kitchen. He's probably seen plenty of them in the places he's been, but he never really payed any attention to stuff like that. Things are different now though, there are two babies on the mountain and another on the way, and they don't have shit for baby stuff. The thing's in good shape and he's already decided he's taking it. He continues his slow, deliberate walk to the living room where there are a few toys scattered about, then walks down the hall. It's the first door on the right, a baby's room. Yeah, this is what he hoped for. It's full of things his family can use.
There's a crib and one of those table things you lay the baby on when you change it's diaper. There's even a little kid-sized table and chairs. Shit, that's the perfect size for Jamie. The dresser is empty, they took the clothes, except, yeah, it's worth checking for one. Sure enough there's a hamper in the corner and it's full. He's got no problem taking all those dirty clothes home and washing them. He finds a little coat hanging on a hook in the closet, the child had probably outgrown it, and there's a tiny pair of pink tennis shoes and a pair of rain boots. He's taking those too.
He walks in the next bedroom, an older child's room, but not too old. There's a Spiderman bedspread and some Lego things on a desk. He opens the closet, score, there are three pairs of shoes and a hoodie. There's also a pile of dirty clothes and Daryl mutters, "I bet your Mom didn't know about them." He takes it all. He won't mind doing laundry.
One thing both rooms have is kids' books. He plans to take those as well. As soon as Jamie came into their lives they immediately regretted not taking children's books from the library, but at the time they had no idea they'd be needing them someday.
The next room belongs to Mom and Dad and although he doesn't expect to find anything they can use, he checks the closet. He smiles when he sees the women's slippers, shit, they look brand new. There's also a pink terrycloth bathrobe.
Beth's going to like that. He finds some flannel sleep pants for himself and a hoodie he can use. Next he checks the bathroom and shit, Mom must have been a Costco shopper, they have extra stuff. They probably left in a hurry and didn't think to take it, or maybe they just ran out of room. There are four boxes of toothpaste, some moisturizer stuff, a package of Tampons and one of pads, and some shampoo and soap. All right. Daryl's stoked about the haul. The women will be too.
He uses their kitchen trash bags to load everything up and when he's done he puts it all in the back seat of the pickup, including the highchair. The thing folded up almost flat. He disassembles the crib and it's going in the bed of the truck along with the small table and chairs. Before he loads them he lays the Mom and Dad's quilt down in the back. That'll keep the furniture from getting marred or sliding around.
He sighs, shit, he could check a few more houses up and down the street, but nah, maybe on the way back. For now he's too anxious and not in a mood to press his luck. He's got to go.
00
It's been three very long days and nights since Daryl left. Beth keeps trying to assure herself everything's okay. It probably just means he had to go further than they all thought he would to find what he's after. Yes, that's what it is. It's got to be. After all, how common are fireplace inserts? Maybe he went looking for them in Smithton and didn't find any, so he decided to travel further. He may have even ended up having to remove the one already in use at that house he mentioned. Yes, that's probably what happened.
Beth tries smiling and reminds herself of something she knows so well, her husband is the ultimate survivor. Yes, well, that's fine and all, and she can try her best to be calm and cool about the fact he's not home yet, but the truth is she's starting to feel a lot of anxiety.
What has really caused her to push her internal panic button is, just now, as her and Jamie are working in the field with Merle, the man casually mentions, "Shit, I thought little brother'd be home by now." That's all it takes to get her mind racing with all sorts of worst-case scenarios, and her heart racing with fear-induced adrenaline.
Making everything even harder are poor little Jamie's nonstop questions. It seems like he asks every five minutes, "Where's Daddy? When's Daddy comin' home?" Since she has no idea what the answer to his question is, all she can tell him is that Daddy will be here soon, while doing her best to act like everything is just fine.
She's feeling so overwhelmed and like she could start crying at any second when it happens. It's something she can only call a gift from God. The sky is practically black with them, and then the huge flock of ducks begins to land on the lake and the shore.
Merle's first inclination is to try and scare them off, he doesn't want those damn things bothering the crops. Beth stops him, "Wait Merle, before you run them off, why don't you and Jamie try to catch a few. We could use some for eating and we can always use more laying hens," then she turns it into a challenge, "Of course, you probably won't be able to catch as many as I did, but you could try."
There's nothing Merle Dixon enjoys more than a good challenge, "You bet Sis, me n Jamie are on the job. Just run that by us one more time, how do we get em?"
Beth's all smiles now, "Well, first we should decide where we're going to put them once you catch them. How about the tool shed?"
"That'll work"
She rests a hand on her tummy and says, "I'm sorry I can't get in on the fun, but I don't know if it's safe for the baby for me to be crawling around on my belly, so, here's what you boys are going to have to do. Are you listening carefully Jamie?"
"Yes Mama."
"Okay, good. You have to be the quietest you've ever been in your whole life. Scoot yourself down as close to the ground as you can get, then you creep along very quietly, you know, sneaking up on them like you try to do with the ones in the pen. They're going to be busy eating bugs and stuff, but you still don't want them to notice you."
Merle claps Jamie on the back, "We can do that, can't we boy?"
"Yep. We're gettin' dem ducks."
Beth's all smiles, and also silently praying that Jamie has success, "When you get real close to the flock, get down on your tummy and kind of slither along like a snake to get even closer to them, right in there with them. Get your eye on the one you want. One that's really busy eating and not paying attention to a thing."
"That's when you jump up on your feet and grab it around the neck. Don't squeeze too hard, just hard enough to hang on. Then comes the really tricky part, the duck is going to me moving all over the place trying to get away from you, so you have to hold it close to your chest and tummy so it can't get away. Keep those wings tucked in. Then run it to the shed. Don't worry Jamie, I'm going to help you with all of it." She knows there's no way the little guy has the kind of strength it's going to take to hold that bird down and carry it all the way to the shed, but she's willing to let him think he does.
The child looks completely confused and Beth comes up with an idea, "How about we do this together, you grab them around the neck, then I'll grab them from you, we can both run to the tool shed with them. Does that sound like a good idea?"
"Otay."
Merle grins, "Let's do this boy, c'mon."
Beth holds Jamie's hand as they crouch down and slowly and quietly make their way to the big flock. When they get close Beth sees a hen she thinks he might be able to get, because that girl isn't paying attention to anything except some worms she found in the muddy soil. Beth points to the duck and Jamie smiles and nods.
The little boy gets down on his tummy and does the army crawl his Uncle Merle showed him just last week. None of the ducks seem to be paying much attention to the little person, until he suddenly jumps up and makes a grab for the ducks' neck, but he misses, falling backward on his butt. Jamie's a little angry now and very determined. He doesn't bother to do any sneaking, he just makes a grab for the one closest to him and lo and behold, he manages to get enough of a hold on it so that Beth can step in to help. She reaches, grabs the bird by it's neck and wraps it in her arms, holding it close to her chest.
"C'mon Jamie," they hurry toward the tool shed with the noisy thing, and up ahead of them is Merle with a duck tucked under each arm. Beth and Jamie are so excited as they put their catch in the shed, then go back for more. Even Merle is in high spirits, "Damn, I never thought ta go duck huntin' with my bare hands. This is fun, ain't it Jamie?"
Jamie's feeling pretty proud and he giggles, "Yeah, fun."
They stop at ten ducks, only one is a drake. The others are for hens for laying and eating. Merle can't help but say, "This Drake guy has got hisself a regular harem."
Beth and Merle have already decided, Uncle Merle will put four of the hens down. Two will be tomorrow night's dinner, and the meat from the other two will be canned. All the others they caught are getting their wings clipped. That's Beth's job. Then, once they've had a couple of days to settle in, they'll be moving into the pen with the other ducks.
As Beth is clipping the last of the wings Merle loudly suggests, "Okay then, Mama's got em clipped and they're safe. C'mon Jamie, c'mon Beth, let's get in the Jeep and go for a little ride." Beth's smiling because she's pretty sure she knows what her brother in law is up to, and it's going to look amazing.
Merle can't help but spin a couple of very tame cookies in the yard, just enough to thrill a three year old boy and it works, Jamie giggles and giggles. Merle winks at Beth, "Yeah, he's a Dixon boy all right." Then he drives close to the flock, says "Watch this Jamie," and lays on the horn.
As if they'd rehearsed it for months the flock all rise in unison and fly off together in a cacophony of quacking and clicking, it's quite the sight to see. Once they disappear Merle says to Jamie, "Let's you n me get ourselves back out ta the field, we still got work. Sis, you get in the house and rest a while. That was a lot for you ta take on in yer condition."
Beth starts to argue, "But I have to get Jamie something to eat. It's lunch time, and then he needs his nap."
Merle scoffs, "If Frankie can manage ta feed two boys six or seven times a day I think I can manage ta feed one boy one time a day, and I got just the spot for him to nap."
She smiles at him, "You're like your brother, you always want the last word."
"Yeah, my brother's wife is a lot like that too," he gives her a one arm hug so she knows it's all in fun, "Hey we had us a good time today, didn't we?"
"Yes, and we even got some good food in the bargain."
Once back in the cabin Beth realizes how much she needs this alone time and she's going to take advantage. The weather's much warmer now and Daryl had the shower all set up for her to use. She makes it quick, just under five minutes for hair and all. That's all the hot water that's available, and it's just enough. She's grateful to be able to wash off the busy morning. She gets dressed in pants that no longer button or zip, and an oversized shirt that hides that fact. Finally she sits to eat a bowl of leftover stew, and once her tummy's full Beth realizes how exhausted she is. It's been a busy day. Maybe she'll just lay down for a minute. She crawls under the big quilt on their bed and not even a minute later, she's out.
She wakes up crying. That's never happened to her before. It must be too many hormones, but darn she's missing her husband. Please Dear God, please bring Daryl home soon.
00
The drive to Smithton is about as uneventful as a person could hope for. He only has to stop two times to get shit out of the road so he can get through, and there's once he has to stop and kill a small group of dead who are in his way.
That's how it is until he's about a mile from Smithton, just hitting the suburbs. Shit, he can see it clearly, the road ahead is impassable. There are a bunch of stalled cars blocking the road, and there are walkers everywhere.
There's a brand new looking subdivision on his right and he thinks, there's no way there's just one entrance to a big spread out neighborhood like that. It's got to be accessible from somewhere else too, and hopefully that somewhere is somewhere passed the mess that's up ahead. If not, he'll check a few of these homes, maybe someone was smart enough to install a woodstove or insert.
He's also aware of another option, besides trying to tear that insert out of the custom home he helped to build. Yep, if he doesn't get a woodstove around here today, either at Harold's or from somewhere in this neighborhood, he's heading back to that failed resort near Jack Knife Pass. The one where him and Merle found the drug den and got the woodstoves. Shit, he hates the idea of going back, but maybe the place is really abandoned by now. No dead people and no living addicts.
For now he drives slowly through the streets of the subdivision and mutters, "Bingo," when he sees a couple of houses with swing sets in the yard. Why the fuck not? Shit, he's here, they need the baby and kid stuff, he might as well.
He pulls as far behind the first house as he can, but shit, they've got a lot of fencing. Then he sees why. There's a swimming pool. It's gone green from neglect, and he can see there are bugs swarming around it. He feels a wave of melancholy. Shit, this place was probably someone's dream home. He quickly shuts those feelings down, telling himself to knock that shit off. You can't be thinking about stuff like that and survive.
There's no one around, but he's still cautious as he exits the rig and walks to the side door of the house. A couple of skilled moves with his knife in the doorjamb, and boom, he's in. He spots it right away, another highchair. Well hell, why not. They need three with all the kids they've got. This makes two.
While he's in the kitchen he decides to check the cabinets and smiles, yep, just like they thought all along. No one took raw ingredients. There's a five pound bag of flour and one of sugar, and there's some of that dry coffee creamer. Hell, there's even one of those big red plastic cans of coffee. There's also a large salt and pepper set next to the range, and they're full, and there's a full spice rack. He'll take it all.
It's not much but it's something.
He wanders through the house and comes to what is without doubt a girl's room. Holy cow it's like a pink explosion filled with ballerinas and unicorns. That's okay, in this new world they aren't going to be picky about color. Their kids are never going to know pink was for girls and blue was for boys.
There are a few pairs of shoes, the mom probably kept the ones the kid outgrew for another kid. Daryl plans to take them all. There's a set of book shelves filled with kid books and he's taking all of them, the board games too.
The next room must have belonged to a little boy. Everything is blue and teddy bears, and there's a crib. All right, if he comes across one more of those cribs all the new babies will be set.
There's a dresser filled with crib sized sheets and pads and blankets, and other's filled with just a few clothes. They probably took most and he plans to take all that are left. There are also lots of little booties and baby shoes. They can use it all.
Down the hall in the parent's room he finds more slippers for Beth or Frankie, they can work that out. There are more toiletries left behind in the bathroom too, and some sweats that ought to fit Merle.
As he's loading up he makes up his mind. He's going to hit one more house, that one up there on the end, it's got a swing set and a bunch of other toys in the yard. Once he gets what he can out of there, he's done.
The last house turns out to be a gold mine. It all makes sense, new neighborhood, new families. He gets another highchair, another crib, some shoes, baby clothes and kids clothes. Who could have guessed, there were twin boys living here. What he takes isn't all practical, he also takes the baseballs, the bats and the gloves the boys had. Someone's got to keep baseball alive in the new world, it might as well be the Dixons.
This stop also nets him a few pantry items. Just regular five pound bags of flour and sugar, but that's okay. He also got some coffee and more spices and an oversized box of matches by the fireplace. He's feeling pretty damn good about all of it.
The truck is loaded, but with the cribs dismantled and the highchairs folded, it's by no means full. There's plenty of room left for woodstoves, inserts or whatever else he finds.
He begins the slow search for another outlet onto the main highway that will take him into town, but when he crests a hill he sees down to the highway and it's filled with more stalled vehicles and more dead.
Daryl turns the truck around and heads back where he came from, and damn if he doesn't have to slam on his brakes to avoid hitting that thing! He jumps out of the pickup and runs to the dog, "Whatcha doin' there guy? Ya almost got flattened." In the meantime the dog is just licking away at Daryl's face.
Daryl picks the dog up in his arms and asks, "Ya belong ta anyone?" But shit, there hasn't been anyone around for a while. The poor guy got left behind. Daryl's thinking all these folks might have left together, like a caravan or something. There aren't even abandoned cars in the streets.
"All right buddy, you're comin' with me and I'm in hurry, so let's go."
Daryl doesn't have to give it much thought to decide Jack Knife Pass makes the most sense. There must be a few stoves still there, and he's taking as many of them as will fit in the bed of the pickup.
Then he thinks again, if he heads out now he won't get there until after dark. He's probably better off staying in one of these houses until daylight. If he has to fight anyone he'd rather fight in the light of day. Him and the dog eat some Jerky and have some water, and he checks, the pup is a female. That's best, Jack will be more accepting. The dog sleeps just fine, but Daryl's not comfortable being here. He misses Beth and Jamie and that makes for a restless night.
He lay with his arm draped across his forehead and thinks about his wife. Her sweet way and her sweet body, a body that's gotten much fuller. He likes the roundness. Beth's been doing real good through this pregnancy too, and he's grateful for that. The toughest part is trying to get her to slow down and rest once in a while.
Daryl and the dog leave just as dawn is breaking and they make pretty good time, only encountering the usual dead, one living person Daryl drives right by who, in turn, flips him off. There are a few more dead that he's able to drive around, so the only thing they have to stop for is to pee. He's not taking chances with a dog he doesn't know, and this one's young. He can tell. Not much more than a pup and with things the way they are, she might not be trained.
Once he's parked his rig at the lodge, Daryl opens each of the pickup windows a couple of inches, telling the dog, "I'm sorry girl, I don't think it's a good idea for ya ta be out wanderin' around this place. I'll try n hurry." It's a good sign when the dog doesn't bark, she just looks at him like he's an asshole, but waits quietly.
Daryl starts with the cabin furthest away on the right. Him and Merle didn't check them all and maybe it's got some good shit. He's careful as he looks around, opens the door and slowly enters. Yep, there's a nice woodstove and the furniture's nice too. The meth heads must not have been willing to walk this far to get high.
He checks the cabinets and finds a mostly gone can of coffee, a container of creamer, one of those small boxes of sugar that's half gone. There's a big box of matches though, you can't have too many of those. He checks the woodstove and it's a nice one, a Lopi.
He opens his tool box and begins the job of dismantling the stove pipe from the chimney. He's deep into his work when a male voice barks, "Hey asshole, you killed my brother."
Even though he's startled Daryl still manages to look cool and unafraid when he asks, "Oh yeah? I've killed a lotta people, who was your brother?"
"Alex, and I watched you do it."
"You watched me do it and ya didn't try'n stop me?" As he's talking Daryl's slowly getting to his feet while moving his hand down his leg, hoping he can get a grip on his knife and throw it at this asshole.
The guy still has his gun leveled at Daryl as he threatens, "First I'm going to shoot you, then I'm going to gut you and roast your body over an open fire. Then I'll take you home to my family for Sunday dinner."
Shit, is this asshole for real? "You're a fuckin' weirdo man," and as the words pass his lips Daryl pulls his knife, just as the stranger cocks his weapon. None of that matters when out of nowhere Daryl sees a flash of steel and watches as the blade of a huge sword whips through the air and the strangers' head flies right off his shoulders.
Daryl's motionless as he stares at the person who wielded the sword. A warrior women with deep chocolate toned skin, beaded dreadlocks and a look that would make most any man step back
00
A/N Michonne! Please leave a comment. The chapter photo is on my tumblr blogs gneebee and bethylmethbrick, please have a look. I'll be back next week with more of The Man on The Mountain, and I hope you'll be here too. In the meantime remember, I love ya large xo gneebee