Hey y'all,
Tasha here (obviously) with an update. Well, it's not really much of an update more like a 'Hi, guys.' but what the hell?
Basically, I would once again like to thank you so much for reading, for voting, for following, for adding this story to your reading list and most of all for commenting. Honestly, it means a lot to me and inspires me to keep this story going. So if you like this story, I'd sure appreciate your support in any of those ways.
And to those who need or want help with their stories, feel free to ask or inbox me like some of you have done already. I'm honestly happy to help, I'm not saying I'm some sort of Wattpad Master of anything, not at all, just saying I'm here if you need me. ;)
Also, if you're like me and have NO ONE to fangirl over The Walking Dead with, please inbox me. Together, we can fangirl insanely.
Thanks for your time.
Lots of love and apreciation, Tasha xox
_____
Chapter Twenty Seven
Day Three
▬ First Person- Daryl’s P.O.V ▬
The vibration of the Harley Davidson surged through my brain as I zoomed down the long, thin, winding dirt road, the dirt flying up and hitting the fence wires. Sure, I knew that the Harley was loud as hell and would no doubt be a huge attraction to walkers….but it was good on gas and I didn’t give a fuck. These idiots may not be capable of taking down a few geeks but I sure as hell was able to.
This place looked quiet, not that I could actually tell with the engine of the Harley blaring away. An odd fog was floating around in the fields in the distance and around an old barn which looked very much out of place with nothing within a fifty mile radius of it. Sure, I was no barn or farm expert but I was pretty sure that the barn was oddly placed. Why would you have a barn so far away from the grazing fields and the house?
In no time at all, I pulled up on the driveway of the Greene farm and jumped off of the Harley just in time to see the others pulling up behind me. By the looks of it, we had just interrupted a ceremony of some sort. A memorial perhaps? That was my guess.
Boulders had been carefully piled in the centre as a mixture of both unknown and known people were scattered around them, all with dropped heads. Carl? No, it couldn’t be. The ones I knew were not shedding tears or upset, they were watching on respectfully. Rick had his arm slung around Lori’s shoulder as Shane glanced at them, looking like an idiot in ridiculously oversized dungarees and with a cleanly shaven head. A few yards to his right were Thea, T-Dog and Glenn.
But where was Electra?
There were six others, their faces unclear to me….for they were the ones who were hanging their heads. One old man with blank expression on his face and a younger man with brown hair who seemed to mask the same expression along with a younger woman whose face was masked by her short dark brown waves. I could recognise horse girl, who was beside two teens. The blonde teenager was crying in the arms of another teenage boy. And in the centre of it all, a blonde woman was trying to hide tears as she knelt in front of the boulders.
“Electra!”
Stacie’s call of glee caused all of their heads to snap up simultaneously, allowing me a clear glance at their faces. My eyes finally landed on Electra’s face, realising that she was the woman with the short wavy hair. I don’t think I had ever seen her eyes light up so quickly as she began to sprint towards Stacie and lifted her up in her arms, probably crushing the poor kid.
“How is he?” Dale questioned, concern flickering in his eyes as we were joined by the remainder of our group, plus the new faces who looked inquisitive.
“He’ll pull through.” Lori said with a smile, confidence oozing from her voice. Stacie buried her head into Electra’s shoulder and clinged to her like a koala bear. “Thanks to Hershel and his people and-” Lori gestured to the old man who I assumed was Hershel.
“And Shane.” Rick interrupted her as Electra set Stacie down on the floor. All eyes landed on Shane who slowly met Lori’s. “We’d have lost Carl if not for him.” Rick explained causing his eyes to flicker back down to his hands which were dirtied.
“How’d it happen?”
“Hunting accident,” Rick informed us, shaking his head at the stupidity of it. “That’s all….Just a stupid accident.” He nearly laughed.
“Well, I’m glad he’s okay.”
“Hello sweetheart.” Electra’s voice caught my attention. Turning my head just in time, I saw her crouch down so that she was at the same height as Stacie. “How are you doing? They all been treatin’ you right at chateau de R.V?” she questioned her with a cocked head.
“I like what you’ve done with your hair.” Stacie says, it seemed as if all of Electra’s words had completely gone over her head and that she was mesmerised by her face. “You look really really really really pretty.” Stacie complimented her as she ran her fingers through her hair.
“Thank you Stacie.” Electra said flustered as a faint blush rose to her cheeks. “Needed a change.” She stated as she slowly got up to her feet and turned to the unknown people. “This is the rest of our group.” She explained. “Stacie, Carol, Andrea, Dale and Daryl.” She gestured to every single one of us before turning back to us. “This is Hershel, his daughter’s Maggie and Beth, his son Jared, Beth’s boyfriend Jimmy and Patricia.” She gestured to all of the nameless people. “And this is their farm….obviously.”
▬ First Person- Electra’s P.O.V ▬
“We told our people to set up camp back there near the barn.” I explained as myself along with Thea and Shane approached Rick, Hershel and Daryl who were situated around one of the SUV’s. We had all changed into better fitting (in Shane’s case) and more practical clothing. A baseball cap sat on Shane’s shaven head as I shook my hair out of from in front of my face. The looks on Hershel’s face said it all. “To give y’all your privacy…unless you’d rather we set up camp elsewhere then…”
“No, of course not.” Hershel said with a shake of his head causing me to cock my head at him and place a hand on my hip, urging him to speak his inner thoughts that he was hiding. “I just think you’d all be better off setting up closer to the farm.” He stated causing mine and Thea’s faces to drop instantly as we exchanged look before turning our heads to see that the others had already begun to set up.
“Dammit.” Thea cursed as he shaded her eyes from the sun, both of us turned back to the rest of our company. “I’ll go back and tell them to move forwards a bit. I’ll probably just help them too, seeing as they have to move all that stuff.” Thea said as she began to break out into a jog. “Thank you!” she called gratefully to herself with a smile before breaking out into a full out run.
“Weird girl that one.” Shane breathed as he leaned ever so slightly on the SUV. Rolling my eyes I turned to him, placing my other hand on my hips as well. “I never said that was a bad thing.” Shane said, raising his hands up in surrender causing me to shake my head gently.
“How long’s this girl been lost?” Hershel quizzed us all, getting us all back onto the topic of the search for Sophia. How long had it been since the highway accident? I questioned myself mentally. It had seemed like forever. Time seemed to stretch in this post-apocalyptic world. I couldn’t make a decision as to whether that was a bad or a good thing. I guess it was both.
“This will be day three.” Rick replied to the question with certainty. Thank God someone had kept insight to time. My guess had been around a week….A part of me was glad that it was shorter than that. Sophia had been on her own for less time and had more of a chance of being found by us.
“County survey map.” Maggie called out as she emerged from the house with the map in her arms. Within seconds, she was with us surrounding the SUV as she carefully spread the map out on the hood of the truck. “Show’s terrain and elevations in the land.” She explained to us all, backing away ever so slightly so that we could all have a quick look at the map.
“This is perfect.” Shane mused, moving in front of the map and observing it closely along with Rick and myself. He had completely spoken my mind. It was perfect. This is what we needed, a map was much better than letting us all out on a wild goose chase.
“We can finally get this thing organised once and for all.” Rick said positively, looking briefly from the map up to my eyes then back down to the map again. Once again, my mind had been spoken. I guess Shane, Rick and I were more alike than we thought. “We’ll grid the whole area.” He ordered. “Start searching in teams.” He proposed causing everyone to nod as he reached our eyes once more.
“Not you.” Hershel denied almost instantly causing every positioned around the truck to squint at him out of misperception. “Not today.” He shook his head, staring at Rick now. “You gave three units of blood.” He reminded him, but this was new information to us. “You wouldn’t be hiking five minutes in this heat before passing out. Plus if by any chance an emergency happens, we may still need your blood.”
“I can give my blood too.” I spoke up causing Hershel’s eyes to land on me as well as Rick’s, probably because I didn’t know what blood type he or Carl were. “To anyone who needs it,” I explained. “O’s my blood type, universal donor. Just letting you know, in case there’s ever a need for giving blood….I doubt most people know their blood types.” I stated awkwardly.
“That’s a very kind offer, Electra.” Hershel nodded at me gratefully. “And you,” Hershel’s gaze shifted to Shane beside me. “Not you either, not with that ankle.” Shane opened his mouth as if he were to object. “Push it now, you’ll be up a month. No good to anybody.” Hershel’s information silenced Shane immediately.
So, just me then.
“Guess it’s just me.” Daryl concluded causing me to raise my eyes to see Daryl observing the map, not able to observe the look of shock that was most definitely written all over my face. Staring at him, I tried to figure out whether I had misheard but I could tell by the silence, I hadn’t. “Unless of course you wanna tag along, Mismatch.” Daryl glanced up at me, but I couldn’t stop staring.
“Erm….” I tried to start my answer but found myself unable to, I was still a little startled by his words….He had completely challenged my expectations of him. And now, he was staring at me as if I were a mad woman. “Yeah, sure, of course.” I nodded vigorously in a response.
“Thought so.” Daryl murmured loud enough for us all to hear as he turned in order to get a better look at the map, I still couldn’t tear my eyes away from him. Why would he….? Just why would he bother? “We should head back to the creek.” Daryl proposed, pointing to the map but I didn’t move my gaze. “Make our way back from there, yeah?” Daryl’s eyes shot up once more.
“Yeah, sounds good to me.” I tore my glance away from Daryl and darted my eyes into the distance before catching Shane giving me a side long look. Inhaling deeply, I returned it briefly before exhaling once more and glancing over the county survey map.
“I could still be useful.” Shane spoke up, taking his glance off of me and to Hershel. “Drive up to the interstate.” He suggested, causing me to nod at him. “See if Sophia wandered back.” Shane said, Rick joined in with a nod and Hershel’s look gave him the go ahead.
“Alright. Tomorrow then, we’ll start doing this right.”
“That means we can’t have our people out there with just knives.” Shane pointed out to Rick. “They need the gun training we promised them.” He voiced.
“I’d prefer you not carrying guns on my property.” Hershel spoke up from his spot around the car causing everyone’s glances to land on him in surprise. How could he expect us to give up our guns? How dare he do so? We couldn’t give up our guns, we just couldn’t. “We’ve managed so far without turning this into an armed camp.” He declared.
“All due respect,” Shane spoke up, obviously his thought line obviously going in the same direction as mine. It was clear that these people had never dealt with the hardship of walkers on their land. “You get a crowd of those things wandering in here…” Shane trailed off shaking his head. Then we’d be all be goners with no guns.
“We’re guests here.” Rick reminded Shane and I, giving us both side long looks as if to put us in our places. “This is your property, we will respect that.” Rick stated, as if it were a definite order as he placed his gun down on the hood of the truck, looking at Shane and I expectantly. I made it clear that I disagreed with him, shaking my head at him but still reluctantly placed my gun down on the bonnet of the car whilst Shane did the same. “First things first: finish setting up camp and find Sophia.”
“I hate to be the one who asks but somebody’s got to,” Shane started causing me to fidget with my fingers. “What happens if we find Sophia and she’s bit?” he questioned Rick causing me to bite my lip at the thought. “I think we should all be clear on how we handle that.” Rick stared at him.
“You do what has to be done.”
All I could do was hope that it did not come to that. But Daryl’s words still echoed around my mind.It's a waste of time, all this hopin' and prayin'. We're gonna find that little girl; she's gonna be just fine. Forget hope, I was going to make sure that it wouldn’t come to that.
“And her mother?” Maggie’s question snapped me out of my own thoughts. I could read the judging and horrified looks on her and her father’s faces. “What do you tell her?” she demanded. Clearly, she had not had any experiences with walkers. Neither of them had. They didn’t know what it was like.
“The truth.” I said bluntly, adjusting the strap of my back pack.
“I’ll go around and gather and secure all the weapons.” Shane stated, as he took the backpack from me and slung it on his left shoulder. “Make sure no one’s carrying one.”
“I’ve handed in my gun and I do fully respect your wishes, but I can’t say I will submit my bow in and I can’t imagine why you would want me to submit my bow.” I told them all causing a shocked expression to come on to their faces. “Daryl and I…we hunt, that’s what we do.” I explained. “I can’t speak for Daryl but I can speak for myself, I will be more than happy to not use my bow on or around your property. I am just asking you to respect my wishes to carry it when I am not on your property.”
My words had seemed to shock everyone surrounding the SUV, but I stood by them. I had said them calmly and in a respectful manner and had a point. Sure, hunting wasn’t all I would end up using my bow for but it was a necessary precaution and I hope the Greene’s could see and respect that.
“I also would like to request one rifle for lookout.” Shane voiced, backing me up on the whole situation. For that, I was grateful. “Dale has experience.” He assured Hershel but the old man did not look convinced in the slightest. I hope that we weren’t fighting a losing battle.
“Our people would feel safer,” Rick backed Shane up, also backing me up along with him. “Less inclined to carry a gun around.” Hershel opened his mouth to speak.
“Oh, come on, dad.” I turned my head to see Jared emerging from within the Greene household and approaching us all. “Electra does have a point with the bow and crossbow, their people can’t go starving. It’s no different that when Otis would go out with his shotgun.” Jared said causally and I could see Hershel, Maggie and Shane stiffen up at the mention of Otis’ name as he stood in between his sister and his father. “And I feel like Shane also has a point, it sounds like a pretty reasonable and necessary request.” He reasoned with his father causing Hershel to slowly nod after considering it for a few seconds.
“Thank you.” I thanked, not sure as to who I was actually thanking. “For everything.” I said before turning away and walking for a bit before being called.
“Electra.”
I didn’t feel the need to pivot myself around; I just drew to a stop and was passed straight by by Daryl who just gave me a short nod. Waiting, I sighed and folded my arm around my chest, resisting the urge to look at my left wrist to see the ‘time’.
“Hi.” Jared breathed placing a hand on my shoulder before he appeared beside me. Damn, he was a fast runner. Faster than I had expected. “I…was…just…gonna-” he started, attempting to structure a sentence but he was too breathless to manage it.
“Don’t die.” I told him as he turned away from me, covered his mouth and coughed into his hand. A right chesty cough by the sounds of it. Someone hadn’t had a good work out in a while…. “I have absolutely no time to call an ambulance; I’m far too busy.” I joked picking at my chipped nails, lazily.
“There are no ambulances anymore.” Jared pointed out the flaw in my logic.
“Then you sure are in trouble.” I teased him with a smirk on my face, crossing my arms around my chest as I began to start walking again. “What is it that you wanted, Jared?” I questioned him, slowing down my pace whilst he caught his breath and walked along side.
“I just wanted to offer my help.” Jared stated causing me to glance at him out of the corner of my eye. “To find the little girl who went missing, Sophia, is it?” he quizzed me causing me to nod ever so slightly. “Yeah, that’s right- Sophia. I want to help if possible.” He assured me.
“We’re fine.” Daryl assured him as he came back into our sight line. “We’re fine by ourselves.” He stated, placing his quiver over his shoulder. “Thanks for the offer though.” Daryl nodded at Jared seeming unusually pleasant for himself though his words were not. I wonder what he had gotten into him?
“Oh.” Jared said, his eyes darting in between Daryl and myself. “I see,” he stated, causing me to sigh seeing what he was thinking. “No problem.” He shook his head, taking his hand off of my shoulder and holding them up in surrender. “I’ll see you two later,” he began walking back towards the farm. “Bye.” He said quickly before jogging off out of hearing distance. Sighing, I turned and stared at Daryl.
“What?” Daryl questioned me, but I didn’t open my mouth just shook my head. “I don’t trust the guy.” He commented, crossing his arms across my chest. “Can’t hold that against me.” he shrugged, doing the impression of a sulky two year old justice.
“I’m not holding it against you, Daryl.”
“Then?”
“It’s just….” I didn’t stop staring at him. “You sort of surprised me, I mean…” I trailed off, licking my lips. “I don’t understand you, not one bit Daryl and I’m not sure I want to.” I stated before I back peddled immediately, but my words didn’t seem to affect him in the slightest. “That came out wrong.” I stated. “What I meant to say is, you’re off the hook now.” I corrected myself. “Sophia.” I said in explanation. “You don’t have to do this, Daryl. You don’t owe us anything, yet you are doing something which surprises me.”
“My other plans fell through.” Daryl remarked charging straight past me in the direction of the woodland. “Are you coming or not?” he questioned without a turn of his head as he continued onwards. “We don’t have all day, woman.” He reminded me.
“I’m a woman, you don’t have to remind me Daryl, neither do you have to address me as one.” I rolled my eyes as I followed in his direction. “I do have a name.” I pointed out, but he seemed to be ignoring me. “Not that you care.” I muttered under my breath as he started to speed up a little. “Hey! Wait up!” I called as I jogged to catch up with him, now walking alongside him. “What were your other plans, anyway?” I quizzed, despite the fact I could come up with a vague idea.
“Do you really have to ask?” Daryl retorted with a scoff. “Separate from the group. Merle too, of course….but we all know how that turned out.” He revealed, giving me a side long glance causing me to rake a hand through my hair, feeling incredibly guilty. “So here I am.” He stated. “Stuck with you bunch of idiots.” He elaborated, focusing his attention forwards as we entered the woods. “What?” he demanded causing me to squint at him. What did he mean ‘what’? “No whiny ‘We’re not idiots Daryl.’?” He attempted a very poor impersonation of me. I was pretty damn sure I did not have an annoying high voice nor did look like a penguin when I talked.
“(A) I do not speak like that.” I pointed out, ticking it off on my fingers. “(B) Why would I try to change your mind?” I questioned. “It’s pretty set in stone that we’re all idiots, so I’d just be an idiot to try to change your mind.” I said with venom dripping from my tone.
“You wouldn’t try to change my mind because someone has said pretty much the same thing to you before…..” Daryl stated causing me to meet his eye almost instantly. “Haven’t they?” he cocked his head at me with a dangerous look glimmering in his eyes.
He was right. He was so right. So much so that it actually scared me. Was I that easy to read? I’d always thought that I was pretty good at hiding things...hell I was really good at hiding things. Why did he have to be so damn observant?
“Observant.” Daryl drawled, gesturing to himself by pointing a finger to his temple. Much like he had done when he had shown Andrea up back at the Atlanta Nursing Home. He was looking at me expectantly, clearly wanting me to spill he information.
“Can I trust you, Daryl?” I questioned. To some it would have been a light-hearted and random question but to me, it was different. I had stopped walking all of a sudden, when he realised he turned around to face me and glanced at me curiously.
“That’s the thing with trust…..” Daryl glanced at me, taking my whole self in for once. “You can’t be told whether you can trust someone of not, you have to find out for yourself.” He said wisely, still stationary and staring at me, probably wondering how I was going to react.
Sighing, I simply strode onwards, catching up with his and causing him to walk alongside me….in silence. Daryl had a point, somehow he always managed to have a point. Now, back to the question I was so desperately seeking an answer for: to trust or not to trust? That was the real question and the one only I could manage to provide myself with an answer for.
“Shane.” I blurted out all of a sudden, my hand slapping over my mouth as consequence. I had no intention of informing Daryl, but obviously my mouth had a mind of its own. I coughed deeply, fully aware that Daryl’s eyes were burning holes in the side of my face. Awkwardly, I dropped my hand down back to my side where it belonged. Unintentionally, it went to rest on my gun….but my gun was elsewhere.
“Shane, huh?”
“Yeah.” I admitted breathily, there was definitely no way I could take anything back and I’m pretty sure Daryl would refuse to let this go. “He, urm….” I trailed off, glancing at him briefly. Yeah, he was not going to let this go. “On the way to the CDC, he suggested that we should do the same as Morales, Eliza, Luis and Miranda did and split off from the group. Just him, Stacie and myself.” I confessed. I placed my trust in Daryl, fully. I just hope that I had made the right decision in doing so.
“Why didn’t you?”
“What?” My head must have whipped around so I could face him almost instantly. “How could you even ask that, Daryl?” I quizzed him in disbelief. “You say these people are idiots. Hey, maybe they are maybe they aren’t. But I would readily die for any of them.” I explained. “And if that makes me an idiot too? Then so be it. I will proudly be just another idiot.” I stated.
Before Daryl could open his mouth, a twig snapped behind up causing us to swirl around almost instantaneously and aim our weapons in the sounds direction. Without a second thought, I released the tension on my bow and allowed my arrow to saw through the air piercing a squirrel through the stomach and pinning it to a tree trunk. Exhaling, I went to retrieve the squirrel and through it back to Daryl who put it away.
“Now enough about me, enough about you, enough about Shane, enough about the group, enough about everything.” I said calmly, causing Daryl to arch a dark eyebrow at me. “Just enough, alright?” I proposed causing him to shrug. “Now..... let’s get back to our priority.” I told him seriously.
“Couldn’t agree more.”
“SSSSSSOOOOOOOOOOOOPPPPPPPPPPPPPPHHHHHHHHHHIIIIIIIIIIIIIAAAAAA?!” I called out at the top of my lungs causing Daryl to glare at me. Just when I opened my mouth to shout once more, he started.
“Shut your trap.” He snapped at me causing me to now be the one glaring at him. “If you aint careful, you’re draw hundreds of walkers. Didn’t think I needed to remind you that we had a heard of walkers come through here not only three days ago.” He snarled at me.
“No need to be rude about it, dickhead.”
►►►
“SSSSSSOOOOOOOOOOOOPPPPPPPPPPPPPPHHHHHHHHHHIIIIIIIIIIIIIAAAAAA?!” Daryl yelled out into the empty forest causing me to role my eyes. ‘Oh, so it’s okay when Daryl does it but when I do it? Oh no. How dare you make a noise Electra.’ I thought bitterly to myself before I spotted something in the distance.
“Daryl.”
I pointed at the small house that was hidden in the forest. Immediately, Daryl prepared his cross bow and loaded it with an arrow, probably rightly so. That house could be walker-ridden for all we knew, or maybe it could have Sophia in there. She’s a smart girl, I’m sure if she had come across this house she would have used it for shelter. With a short nod exchanged between us both, we advanced on the house.
It was secluded, very secluded. The kind of house that you would be scared to come within five yards of as a child playing knock-down ginger. And to be honest, I couldn’t blame them one bit. It was oddly and deviously illuminating in the dim light. With, peeling white paint, ivy creeping up the walls and unkempt undergrowth which made it seem as if the house had grown up from the very earth itself.
Despite this, I couldn’t help but admire the beautiful inscription that had been delicately been carved into wood on the front door, stating the name of the home owner and address- Mr & Mrs Laswell. Secretly, I wondered whether Mr & Mrs Laswell were still the inhabitants or whether they had abandoned their house along with all hope. Unintentionally, my hand made its way towards the door knocker but I was abruptly pulled back by the nook of my elbow.
Before I could turn my head to look at Daryl, he had kicked the double doors open and we were put into action. Once more, I raised my weapon and slowly treaded through the hallway. The dark and worn floorboards creaked rhythmically causing me to wonder whether they would give way underneath mine and Daryl’s weight. As if it were a procedure, Daryl and I took different paths. He would clear the down stairs of the house and I would take the upstairs.
Trying to be as quiet as possible proved to be pretty impossible with the creaky floorboards as I climbed up the steep set of stairs leading to the first floor. Fully prepared for the worst, I took in the sight of the three doors. Deciding that one was the bathroom, I took that first.
Nothing.
I felt it necessary to kick open the door to the bedroom on the right which appeared to be completely normal in the hysteria. Well, mostly normal despite the fact that several papers were scattered around everywhere. Uneasily, I stepped forwards into the room to get a better look around. I was pretty sure it had been abandoned. Spotting a small map, I picked it up and placed it in my pocket; The more maps the better. Then, I saw an open diary that had been placed on the desk.
I couldn’t help but find myself slowly treading over to the desk, deciding whether or not to read it or not. Wasn’t it intruding someone’s privacy? But then again, it had been left there unattended. Oh who cares? It’s the post-apocalyptic world. I’m damn sure that everyone had other matters on their hands rather than privacy. Without a further thought, I picked up the diary and scanned across the messy handwriting.
Dear Diary,
Day 65.
I think this is going to be my last issue to you my faithful friend. Excuse the handwriting, but the fever has hit and it’s not good diary. Nothing’s good at all. Kayla’s gone, dead. It was just a simple trip to the grocery store, just an in and out operation. Nothing big. Nothing bad. No different than usual. We needed something to keep us strong, just a few vitamins. That’s all we wanted.
When we came out of the store Kayla said to go ahead, that she’s be just back and I believed her, so I carried on and headed to the car. A walker just sprung up from nowhere and bit me in the wrist. I called out for Kayla, but I turned around and it was too late. She was on the ground. Walkers got to her. I panicked.
I wanted to go back for her but she screamed out for me to leave her, so I did. She’s gone, reduced to nothing and soon I will be one of the things that killed her. I can’t be one of the things that killed her. I just can’t be.
Billy.
Oh good God. Desperately, I turned the page to see that there was another one. This one was the last one in the diary from what I could tell.
Dear Diary,
Day 65- part 2.
I can’t go on.
I have never been a poetic guy but…
Got bit.
Fever hit.
World gone to shit.
Might as well quit.
Goodbye my old friend, Billy.
I shut the diary and dropped it back on the desk. Curiosity had gotten the better of me, I shouldn’t have let it. Sighing, I felt myself on the brink of tears. Coughing, I blinked back the tears and exited the room, kicking down the door of the final room on this floor.
A nursery.
Quickly, my eyes darted around to see whether Sophia had been here. When I decided that she hadn’t, I slammed the door shut and turned around so that I was leaning against the weak wooden door. Desperately, I inhaled and exhaled with rhythm to try and stop myself from crying. The thought that Kayla was pregnant pained me.
“Mismatch?!” Daryl called me from down the stairs, his tone untraceable but I found myself unable to speak as I struggled to calm my breathing. “Mismatch?” he poked his head from around the corner so that he could see me. “Anythin’ up there?” he questioned.
“No.” I shook my head vigorously. “No, no sign of her up here.” I shouted down to him. “None whatsoever, nope, no sir.” I denied.
“Then why are you still up there?” Daryl questioned me but before I could answer he spoke once more. I pushed my weight off of the doorway and proceeded to climb down the stairs, passing straight by Daryl before bursting out of the house as if it were haunted. “Hey!” Daryl called after me but I just continued forward until I drew to a stop seeing that it was no use. “What’s gotten into you, Mismatch?”
“Nothin’.”
“Don’t look like nothin’.”
“I ur, I read a diary entry that was left in the master bedroom. It’s owner was talking about how his wife died and how he got bit. Last words were: Got bit, fev-” I began to explain but I was interrupted.
“Got bit. Fever hit. World gone to shit. Might as well quit.” Daryl chanted along with me, causing me to turn around and glance at him out of confusion. “Must be the guy in the forest.” He mused quietly causing me to arch an eyebrow at me. “Andrea and I went out to look for Sophia last night. Came across a guy who was hanging from a tree like a big piñata, he opted out.” He informed me, I could feel sick gathering in my throat.
“Yeah, I got the impression that he committed suicide.” I remarked causing Daryl to arch an eyebrow at me as if to ask why I was acting like this. “I felt bad, then I burst open the door to the other bedroom which turned out to be a nursery…...”
I trailed off unable to say much more, not that there was much more to be said. Licking my lips uncomfortably, my eyes fell to the ground which had become very interesting to me all of a sudden. I was awaiting for Daryl to address me as an idiot and move on, but he didn’t. He did one of the most surprising things yet and placed a hand on my shoulder. Slowly, I brought my eyes up to meet his own briefly before he lifted his hand off of my shoulder.
“SSSSSSOOOOOOOOOOOOPPPPPPPPPPPPPPHHHHHHHHHHIIIIIIIIIIIIIAAAAAA?!” Daryl began to yell before moving away from me ever so slightly. “SSSSSSOOOOOOOOOOOOPPPPPPPPPPPPPPHHHHHHHHHHIIIIIIIIIIIIIAAAAAA?!” he barked once more, still not gaining a response.
“God-dammit Daryl, hush your mouth.” I said with my arms crossed causing Daryl to look back at me. “If you’re not careful, you’ll draw hundreds of walkers here. Must I remind you that we recently had a heard of walkers-” I began to imitate him with an eye roll.
“Oh shut up woman.” Daryl drawled causing me to stifle a laugh but beam back at him innocently. Ignoring my laugh, he walked by me as if he had seen a ghost. Slowly turning around, I saw him crouching down in front of a bush that had two white flowers blooming on it. “It’s a Cherokee rose.” He explained, obviously catching me staring at the bush and him in wonder.
“A what?”
“A Cherokee rose.” Daryl repeated as if I hadn’t heard him but I had. I was just surprised by the fact that Daryl was a flower person. I never really pinned down Daryl as an anything person to be honest. “It’s a….a…..” he trailed off, sounding like he was slightly embarrassed. Wow, well that was new. “It’s a sign of hope.” He stated, picking one off of the bush and stuffing it so that it wasn’t crushed.
“Let’s get a move on, huh?”
►►►
“I think I found you a vase, Daryl!” I called out to him causing him to stop screaming out for Sophia and turn to look in my direction. “For your flower.” I stated, glancing up at him whilst straightening up and holding an abandoned beer bottle out to him.
“Whatever.” Daryl breathed, chewing on a piece of straw as he took the bottle from me and placed the flower into it. “Want one?” he questioned me, offering me a blade of straw. Oh, what the hell? I carefully took it from in between his fingers and placed it in my mouth.
“Christ.” I exclaimed shaking my head a little bit. “We’re such hicks.” I commented causing Daryl to glare at me ever so slightly. “Next thing we know we’ll be riding on horses bareback and hating on Yankees.” I stated, allowing my strong southern accent to come through my usual weak southern/English accent mess. “I mean, we’re already pretty stereotypical rednecks already, we hunt squirrel for Christ’s sake.” I pointed out.
“Mismatch.” Daryl hollered, dragging me out of my mindless rambling. “I think we should call it a day,” he suggested, obviously questioning my sanity once again. To be honest, he seemed to do that a lot. Couldn’t think why, I was perfectly sane.
“Yeah,” I agreed breathlessly. “You’re probably right, we can give this another go tomorrow.” I stated with a sigh. Sophia would have to spend another night in the forest alone…Poor Carol. “Now, let us return to our mother-brother and cousin-sister.”
►►►
“Electra! Daryl!”
Despite the fact that the yell of delight should have been enough warning for what lay ahead, I nearly had a mini-heart attack when an unknown force slammed straight into myself and Daryl. Short arms fastened rightly around our legs making it practically impossible for us to move an inch forwards without falling down and crushing her.
“Hey Stacie,” I greeted her with a small but rash smile as I patted her fluffy hair back down into its place in her dark chocolate pin straight mane. “Nearly gave me a heart attack Stacie, goodness me.” I told her, keeping my language clean. “How are you?” I quizzed her. “Camp all set up?” I enquired as I slowly removed her arm from around my legs, escaping from her iron grip.
“Hi Electra! Hey Daryl!” Stacie exclaimed, beaming up at us both as Daryl awkwardly removed her arm from around his own leg, he had flinched back even more than I had. “I’m sorry, I didn’t mean to scare you but I couldn’t wait to see you.” She admitted, biting her lip looking and sounding even more like a little angel than ever. “I’m fine and I set up our tent all by myself.” She stated, drawing the word all out a lot.
“Oh wow, really?” I exclaimed, cocking my head to the side as I smiled brightly back down at her. “That’s really awesome Stacie,” I complimented her. “Well done, Stace.” I held up my hand for a high five which she gladly retaliated with.
“Well…..” Stacie trailed of, sticking her hands into the pockets of her hot pink shorts. “Dale did help me a little bit….” She admitted. “That Jared guy too……” she said, looking up in reminiscence or as she was attempting to remember a name. “And Jimmy.” She smiled once more.
“They seem nice enough to you?” Daryl questioned, slinging his cross bow back over his shoulder causing me to look at him in confusion. “Good, bad, ugly?” he elaborated with a raised eyebrow. Oh wow, he was interrogating an eight year old girl.
“They seem nice.” Stacie nodded enthusiastically, holding her hands behind her back as she bounced up and down in her spot. “Beth helped me make some clothes for Rory…” she explained, fishing Rory from behind her back and making It visible to me. He was now clad in a suit and a violet bow tie.
“Mr Rory looks very dapper.” I commented, playing with his bow tie. “Come up with a surname for his yet or is he just Rory?” I enquired.
“Just Rory.” Stacie told me sternly. “No Sophia?” she questioned, looking behind us expectantly but I think she already knew the answer to this question.
“Not today kiddo.” Daryl told her causing her to frown a little. “Didn’t come across any geeks though….” He informed her, wanting her to focus on the bright side causing Stacie to cock her head at him. “Means that she’s safe enough.” He assured her.
“Will you find her tomorrow?”
“We’ll find her tomorrow, kiddo.” Daryl reassured her, unintentionally assuring me as well along with her. “Tomorrow.” He ruffled her hair as he decided to start walking, resulting in Stacie and I doing so too. “I’ll tell Carol.” He mumbled under his breath to me, causing me to raise an eyebrow at him. Ignoring it, he headed towards the R.V where there was no doubt Carol would be.
“Electra?” Stacie questioned. It was then that I had realised that I had drawn to a stop. “Electra?” she questioned once more as I stared after Daryl. “Aren’t you going to come back to the house with me?” she interrogated me but my eyes stayed on Daryl.
“No, you just head back to the farm. I’ll be there in no time I promise.”
‘So, Daryl had taken it upon himself to announce the bad news of not having found Sophia to Carol had he?’ I thought to myself as I made my way towards the RV. I wasn’t sure whether he felt guilty himself or whether he had just decided that he should do it rather than me, protecting me from seeing whatever reaction Carol would give. Would it be tears or would it be anger like she unleashed on Rick on the day Sophia went missing? I wasn’t sorry that I wasn’t the one who was telling her. I felt bad enough already, I didn’t want to witness the look on Carol’s face on top of everything.
So many people were dead, the highway was proof of that. Let alone children. That was what crushed me the most. I wasn’t completely numb to the adult deaths but children dying? That was the thing I couldn’t handle. So many people were dying, it wasn’t a wonder that people were opting out; it was rough.
“It’s a Cherokee Rose.” I could hear Daryl’s voice vibrating around the R.V loud and clear. That was nice of him, he had brought it for Carol. Another thing Daryl had surprised me about. Curiosity took the better of me…..it wasn’t eavesdropping if it was really loud….was it?
“The story is that when American soldiers were moving Indians off their land on the Trail of Tears, the Cherokee mothers were grieving and crying so much 'cause they were losing their little ones along the way from exposure and disease and starvation. A lot of them just disappeared.” Daryl explained to Carol causing a strike of pain and grief to enter my heart. ‘Oh Christ.’ I resisted the urge to say the words. ‘What kind of story is this?’ I thought to myself. ‘Oh Christ. Bad move, Daryl.’
“So the elders, they said a prayer; asked for a sign to uplift the mothers' spirits, give them strength and hope. The next day this rose started to grow where the mothers' tears fell. I'm not fool enough to think there's any flowers blooming for my brother. But I believe this one bloomed for your little girl.”
Oh wow.
Daryl. Fucking. Dixon.
With a slight shake of my head, I trekked forwards in the direction of the house where I could see Beth, Jared, Jimmy and Hershel sitting out on the porch. Stacie called me eagerly from within the house but shifted my gaze to her and shook my head, making it known to her that I’d be a minute or two. Sighing, she nodded and disappeared from sight. This was when I turned to them all who seemed to be studying me.
“Erm……” I trailed off awkwardly, seeing Hershel’s eyes drift towards my bow and quiver of arrows. “Hi.” I greeted awkwardly, ignoring his gaze. “I didn’t really get a chance to introduce myself to y’all in all the mess of things.” I pointed out. “I’m Electra Walsh, nice to meet y’all.” I held my hand out to them, feeling awkward since we already knew each other’s names. Much to my relief, everyone took my hand and introduced themselves.
“Nice girl you got there.” Beth commented with a small smile that lit up her whole face. She was young and pretty, probably had all the boys after her. Absentmindedly, I nodded and smiled ever so slightly looking where Stacie had stood. I suppose I had just gotten used to people calling her my girl and in some ways she pretty much was, after all I had been caring for her since all this shit started.
“She has your dimples.” Hershel commented causing me to bite my lip in attempt not to laugh. Sure, Stacie did have dimples. She didn’t have my dimples though. Deciding to tell them, I opened my mouth to explain. “She has your husband’s eyes though-” He explained.
Husband?
“Woah, woah, woah!”
“Sorry.” Hershel apologized, waving his hand in dismissal. “I’m not quite up with the times,” he admitted causing me to arch an eyebrow at him whilst I folded my arms across my chest and cocked my head up to the time. “She has your boyfriends eyes….” He ‘corrected’ myself.
“I-” I started, almost laughing as I uncrossed my arms and began to use hand gestures. “I-” I shamefully hid my face out of embarrassment using one of my hands for a moment to hide my laughter. “I’m single.” I informed them, with a casual nod.
“Oh. She has her birth father’s eyes.”
“Urgh, urm…..” I trailed off taking a deep breath. “Stacie’s not my girl, she’s not anyone’s girl.” I stated causing Beth to cock an eyebrow at me. “Well, she obviously is someone’s girl but not any of my groups.” I made clear. “T-Dog and Glenn found her on the same day they found me and Thea….pretty early on in the outbreak.” I explained causing Hershel to nod slowly.
“Sorry,” Hershel apologized causing me to smile at him. “But she really does look like you and…..” he began to search for a name.
“Daryl.” Jared provided him with. Wait, what? Hershel gestured to Jared confirming that Jared had provided him with the right name. They….he…they…..They thought Daryl and I were….they thought…..they thought that Daryl and I were husband and wife? Oh God.
“I didn’t really notice before to be honest.” I told them truthfully as I raked my fingers through my short hair with an expression that I knew was awkward and embarrassed. It was true. Sure, people had said that Stacie looked a little like me but Daryl? Her eyes were like Daryl’s? How did I not notice?
“So, you didn’t find the girl?” Jimmy questioned, clearly aware that he was treading on thin ice and not wanting to cross the line. “Sophia?” he questioned me, his southern drawl coming through strongly. Sighing, I shook my head whilst biting down on my lip. “I’m sure y’all will find her soon.”
“On the bright side,” Hershel started, getting comfortable in his wooden chair. “The boy, Carl, has been conscious.” He informed me causing my heart to swell of with joy. ‘Oh, thank God.’ I thought to myself, fully aware that I was grinning ear to ear. “You can go up and see him if you want.” He offered.
“That would be…..” I said softly, before exhaling out of relief. “That would be amazing.” I breathed causing Hershel to gesture inside of the house. “Thank you all….so much…..I really can’t thank you enough. You’re really our saviours.” I smiled at them, ignoring Hershel’s blank face before turning and treading up the stair s and bursting into the room where Carl was being kept.
From what I could see, Carl was the only one awake or seemed to be awake. Rick and Lori on the other hand were unconscious, both sitting on chairs on Carl’s bedside. Lori’s head was buried into her husband’s shoulder and his arm was slung around her shoulder. No amount of words could describe how I felt about that man….none whatsoever. Lori was one lucky bitch, she didn’t deserve him. I wasn’t too sure whether it was the fact that Lori was Rick’s wife that made me hate her or the fact that she really was a bitch.
Probably the latter.
Maybe a mix of both.
“Electra!” Carl shouted out, jerking forwards at the sight of me causing Rick and Lori to stir in their sleep.
Before I knew it, Carl had spotted me and had jerked forwards at the sight of me. Hearing him wince in pain, a small frown settled on my lips as Rick and Lori stirred a little in their sleep. Slowly approaching him, (weary of myself awakening the sleeping couple) I placed a finger on my lips.
“Hey buddy,” I greeted him with a big smile as I crouched down on the opposite side of the bed to Lori and Rick. “We should probably keep the noise to the minimum, don’t want us waking up your mom and dad, yeah?” I suggested causing Carl to nod his head gently. “How are you doin’, soldier?” I quizzed him. “You took one hell of a tumble.” I commented, focusing on the bandage that covered his gunshot wound.
“It hurts, I’ll tell you that.” Carl informed me causing me to chuckle lightly. Oh, I bet it did. “Have you been shot, Electra?” he enquired with curiousity in his fathers eyes causing me to shake my head softly. “I’m like dad now, we’ve both been shot.” He professed causing me to exhale slightly as I grinned.
“Perhaps you could form a club.” I suggested, my eyes gazing back in the distance before meeting his again. “Though you are nearly a teenage boy, I’m still going to try to convince you that that isn’t something you should be proud of.” I told him. What kind of example would it set if I didn’t?
“Well…I don’t think it was cool that I was shot.” Carl said in his defence. Cocking an eyebrow at him, I gestured for him to continue. “I think it’s cool that I survived it.” He elaborated and finished off, folding his arms across his bare chest making sure not to touch the bandaged area. "I'm a survivor."
“Well then, that’s perfectly fine I suppose.” I reasoned, readjusting my crouching position. “Just don’t tell your mom that.” I winked at him. “I take it you know about Sophia….?” I trailed off causing him to nod sadly. “You shouldn’t worry about her,” I advised him. “Leave it to us, we’ll bring her home.” I assured him with a cocky smirk as I shot up to my feet with a huge shock of pins and needles running up them.
“I know.”
Without words, I leaned down and pecked Carl on the cheek in a form of goodnight before straightening back up once more. With a small smile, I waggled my fingers at him for one last time before I exited the room and carefully closed the door behind me.
“Where do you think you’re going?” Jared questioned me, crossing me as I headed towards the staircase. With a little turn on my head, I drew to a stop. “You and your brother are more than welcome to my bedroom again if you need.” He offered.
“Nah.” I refused his offer with a small shake of my head. “Shane and I will be fine thanks, our groups here now, our camps set up and we do not want to kick you out of your bed for another night.” I told him crossing my arms. “But thank you for the offer, Jared.” I smiled at him.
“Night.”
“Night.”
►►►
“Did I do good?”
Stacie’s eyes were eager and were awaiting for my approval as she questioned me. Currently, we were standing at where herself, Thea, Andrea, Dale and the others had set up. I bit my lip to stop myself from sighing, it was perfectly set up, perhaps even better than it had been before but I still couldn’t ignore the fact that it was noticeably and painfully smaller. The Atlanta camp had been so beautiful location-wise and pretty much the definition of ‘Many hands make light work’ with around forty of us all pulling our weight, but now? Not so much, our numbers were at an all-time low.
“You did good Stacie,” I responded to her question, lightly placing my arms around her shoulder and patting her shoulder blade. “You did good.” I nodded, glancing down at her. “Very good actually, I’m sorry I couldn’t be here to help.” I apologized not only to her, but to everyone who was in hearing distance of me.
“You were out looking for Sophia,” Thea pointed out, unscrewing the cap off of her water bottle. “I think we can let you off the hook.” She winked at me before taking a thoughtful sip of water and securing the cap tightly back on to the water bottle. “Stacie,” she addressed her causing Stacie’s head to snap in her direction. “You got a little….” She gestured to her face. Scrutinising her, I noticed the dark mark on Stacie’s face.
“Urgh, give it here please.” I gestured to relatively clean looking rag that was in Thea’s hand. Swiftly, she reopened her water bottle and poured a little water onto the rag to dampen in before supplying it to me. “Thanks,” I smiled before turning to Stacie.
“You’re welcome.” Thea returned as I bent down and wiped the dirt mark right off of Stacie’s cheek. “Hey Daryl.” Thea called, holding her hand up in a form of wave just as I straightened back up. Catching a glimpse of Daryl as I held out the rag to Thea, I decided not to give to her.
“Oh wow.”
“What?”
“You’re always so dirty,” I commented, pointing out how filthy Daryl really was at this moment in time. Sure, I wasn’t exactly clean myself but I had never let myself get that bad. “Come here.” I commanded, holding the wet towel up to Daryl’s face causing him to flinch.
“Hey, watch it!” Daryl warned, trying to be threatening but his flinch had betrayed him. He had been so startled by my touch I was able to quickly wipe the blood off of his forehead before he objected again. “Hey, I was saving that.” He mumbled, identifying pretty well with a nursery school child.
“God,” I exclaimed. “You’re such a little kid sometimes,” I commented. “You wouldn’t believe you were a bad-ass mother fucker the way you go on sometimes.” I rolled my eyes as I sat back down on the steps to the Greene household, this had somehow become my spot now.
“Bad-ass mother fuckers don’t need women cleaning them up.”
“I’m pretty sure people would pay good money to have me clean them up,” I retorted sarcastically with a roll of my eyes as I attacked his face with the rag again, sadly this was probably true. Dirty old men…….just like Merle. I shuddered. “Little boy.” I added on.
"Guys....language....child here."
“Pfft, I only act like a ‘little boy’ because you treat me like one,” Daryl argued. “You aint my carer Mismatch.” Daryl reminded me.
“Thank God for that.”
“Anyway, I’m only going to get dirty again, one way or another woman.” Daryl smirked at me causing me to squint at him. “What? Just sayin’.” He shrugged causing Thea to roll her eyes as well. “Night kiddies.” Daryl shot at us all before turning to walk away.
“2 years younger than you!” I hollered after him but he didn’t bother to turn around and proceeded to walk away to his tent. “People these days…..” I shook my head whilst placing my hands on my hips as if I were disappointed. “So rude, so very rude.”
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Angel With A Shotgun (Walking Dead Fanfic)
FanfictionEverything's food for something else. Humanity has been on top of the food chain for their entire existence. When a disease unlike any other seen before could potentially wipe out the whole human race, the world's top scientists are all sent too Atl...
