to her, the world was silent.
she couldn't hear the birds sing, the leave rustling in the breeze, the crashing of a waterfall.
she couldn't hear the pained cries, the moans of the dead, the sound of the knife breaking through skin.
whether she was b...
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HARLEY FELL ASLEEP IN DARYL'S ARMS FOR THE FIRST TIME IN NEARLY A WEEK.
He didn't let her go, not even after all Joe's men were dead.
She stayed curled up in his lap as he sat against the truck, Rick sitting next to them. All of them were trying to comprehend what had happened.
Nora was sat in the truck, in the back seat, with Carl laying his head on her lap. She gently stroked his hair, giving him comfort. She wanted him to sleep, but knew it wasn't going to happen any time soon.
Michonne sat in the passenger seat, her sword ready to attack.
They were all on edge.
Except for Harley.
She was at peace. The men who gave her nightmares, were all dead. She had found Daryl. She had everything she needed.
Michonne glanced at the two men who were sitting outside, "You should go to him." She told the brunette sitting in the back, "He needs you right now."
"I'm right where I need to be." Nora whispered,
"You can go." Carl's voice was rough as he sat up, "I'll be okay."
She brushed his hair away from his eyes, "Are you sure?"
He nodded before wrapping his arms around her, "Just... come back please."
"Of course." She responded, giving him a small smile before sliding out of the car.
Nora went towards the back of the truck and dug through her bag, finding a water bottle and a t-shirt before walking on the other side, where the two men were sitting.
"You got a rag or something?" She asked the hunter, who was still holding onto Harley,
He nodded, gently shifting to reach for his back pocket without waking the redhead. He handed it to her and she gave him a nod in thanks before opening the bottle and pouring some water on it.
"You should save that for drinking." Rick commented, watching her.
"You can't see yourself, but he can." Nora sighed, kneeling in front of him and grabbing his chin, "Trust me, you don't wanna show up at Terminus looking like that. First impressions and everything."
Gently, she began to clean the blood from his face. He watched her, "How's Carl?"
Nora shrugged, "Traumatised... like the rest of us. But they're gone. They can't hurt anyone else anymore. And that's thanks to you, Rick." She brushed his sweat soaked hair back from his forehead, "You saved us."
She held out the grey t-shirt, "Luckily, I packed another shirt."
Rick glanced over at the girl asleep in Daryl's lap as he took the fabric from Nora's hand, "What about her?"
"I'll clean her up in a bit." Daryl muttered, running his hand up and down her calf, "I didn't know what they were."
"How'd you wind up with them?" Rick asked him as Nora moved to sit next to him. She reached for his hand and began cleaning the blood from his skin,
"I was with Beth. We got out together. I was with her for a while." Daryl explained.
"Is she dead?" Nora asked quietly, not sure if she wanted to know the answer,
He hesitated for a moment, glancing over at them, "She's just gone. After that, that's when they found me. I mean, I knew they were bad, but they had a code. It was simple. Stupid, but it was something. It was enough."
"And you were alone." Rick reasoned,
"They said they were looking for some group. Two women and a guy. Last night they said they spotted them. I was hanging back. I was gonna leave. But I stayed. That's when I saw it was you guys. Right when you saw me. I didn't know what they could do." He told them,
In Nora's mind, everything happened the way it was meant to. As messed up as it was to admit, if the events didn't happen the way they did, they never would have found each other.
"It's not on you, Daryl." The hunter avoided looking at them, distracting himself with Harley's hair that fell out of its braid, " Hey." Rick got his attention, "It's not on you. You being back with us here, now, that's everything." Rick stared at him, "You're my brother." Daryl nodded, tears filling his eyes,
If they could find each other, they could find more of their group.
"Hey, what you did last night..." Daryl began, "anybody would have done that."
Rick shook his head, "No, not that."
"Something happened." The hunter mumbled, glancing over at him, "That ain't you."
"Daryl, you saw what I did to Tyreese. It ain't all of it, but that's me.That's why I'm here now. That's why Carl is. I want to keep him safe. That's all that matters." He stated,
Rick cleaned off the rest of the blood and changed his shirt while Daryl helped with Harley. She was still in a lull, not really believing that Daryl was right in front of her.
He pressed a kiss to her forehead, knowing what was going through her mind, "I'm here." He signed,
A whistle sounded through the air and the couple turned to see Nora smirking, "C'mon! We gotta get going."
Harley began walking towards the group when she felt a hand grip hers. She gave Daryl a gentle smile. He wasn't one for PDA, not with others around. But after the events of the prison and last night, you never know when was going to be the last time you see each other.
The six of them made their way back to the train tracks and began following it towards Terminus.
Nora stayed back with Carl, who was lagging behind. His cuts on his cheek had scabbed over, and his eyes weren't as bright as they used to be.
Some people were used to being on the road, going from camp to camp. Carl needed a home, proper structure to his life.
He needed family.
"You okay?" Nora asked the teenager next to her,
He glanced up at her, " Yeah."
Nora nodded, "I'm okay." She stated,
"I know." Carl responded,
She raised her eyebrows, "How?"
"'Cause I'm okay, too." He gave her a smile and she nudged him with her elbow.
Rick and Michonne came to a stop and he used his foot to brush leaves off the Terminus sign that was on the ground.
"We're getting close." Daryl stated as everyone caught up, letting go of Harley's hand to sign for her, "Be there before sundown."
"Now we head through the woods." Rick ordered, "We don't know who they are."
Nora nodded in agreement. They could be another Woodbury, they could be a group trying to lure others in to rob them and possibly murder them.
