No Tomorrow

.

"You're alive...thank god."

I stroked the messy hair at the nape of his neck until he stopped crying and my ears picked up the familiar roar of Daryl's motorcycle coming down the road, Jay only held me tighter when the noise got closer until he let me go when the bike came into view and halted with a loud screech.

"I approve...but just don't forget about me ok?"

I didn't have a moment to think before Daryl stomped over and nearly crushed the air from my lungs when he hugged me to him before he kissed every inch of my skin, he smelled of wood smoke and swear but to me it smelled like home sweet home. He i s my home.

"Thank god....I thought you went down before..c'mere for a little bit, will you?"

He pulled me by my left wrist away from everyone until we were well out of their hearing range and I yawned, waving at my mouth with my free hand.

"F-for w-what?"

He whirled around and jammed a hand into one of his pockets before ever so slowly slipping down to the asphalt on one knee.

Wait....wait a damn second...

"Are you for real right now?"

He held my left hand but seemed to ignore what I said as he stroked the back of my hand but I found it hard to breathe, my heart got caught in my throat and the lower half of my body seemed to be frozen in place.

"I sure as hell hope so because I'm about to make a fool of myself otherwise-"

Daryl pressed something hard into my hand but he kept his fingers wrapped around mine so I couldn't see what it was, he kept circling the skin below my wrist with his thumb.

"I know it's a bit weird...I never thought I'd settle down for just one woman before everything went to shit, but I'd like to try it with you if you'll have me. None of us know what's gonna happen anymore and I'd rather not have any regrets just on the off chance I die one day. Belle, will you marry me?"

"....yes."

Daryl smiled and  let me open my hand so I could see the ring there before he took it in his big fingers and put it on my left hand, he stood up and kissed me deeply with a few fingers curling underneath my chin to anchor me steadily in place; I would have been content to stay this way but a throat cleared behind us and broke us apart. It was Rick.

"Come back over here so we can plan where to go to next."

Keeping an arm around my waist, Daryl walked the both of us back over to our group of friends where Carol was nodding off against the silver car's door and Rick had assumed point in the middle of everyone.

"Right, now that we're all here...there's something that I have to tell you all before we hit the road....and the wolves have no knowledge of it."

Lori wrapped her arms around Carl's shoulders and rubbed them but everyone continued to remain quiet until Rick cleared his throat and resumed talking.

"At the CDC...Jenner told me that we were all infected with whatever turned most of the world into the walking dead. They're not..whatever they did to themselves before this all happened made them immune."

I could hear everyone's breathing and Daryl's arm tightened before he looked around the both of us daring anyone to speak up against me but no one did, so he just kissed the top of my head and kept his face there until someone spoke up.

"How? How is something like that possible?"

Rick shrugged.

"I don't know, I really don't. I didn't tell any of you because I wanted to see for myself if it was true, but after Randall was found...I knew that I couldn't keep it to myself anymore. Whatever we have, our brains have to die before we come back. Now, does anyone have any idea where we should go from here?"

"Wait-"

Lori's brown head turned this way and that like she was looking for something and Carl yawned twice at her hip.

"Where's Shane? I don't want to leave without him-"

"Dead, he tried to kill me so I had no other choice."

Lori's face screwed up with pain but Rick acted like nothing had happened so I just turned my face into Daryl's chest to inhale his wood-smoke scent. Jenner never would explain the full extent of his work to us but it still made me feel uneasy to the core.

Are we really immune?

Knowing that he heard me, I willed my question to reach Jay without having to look at him and his answer came back with an air of static.

I'm afraid so, if he told him that we were. Let's just hope that we don't have to test that theory.

*Several Months Later*

"Go, go, go!"

Maggie grabbed an axe that was propped up against a run down shed before she ran to the volvo and it sped off at the lead of the pack, Daryl flashed his eyes at me while he roared by on his bike but once the truck followed I ended up doing the same, howling when Jay's brown form tore around the side of a small house. Summer had set in some weeks ago again so it was normal for the two of us to be wolves more often now, the dead weren't held down by the snow and ice like they'd been during the winter months so we liked to give the group as much protection as possible. Espicially since we haven't found a place to settle down yet since the farm.

Come on, they're leaving!

Yeah, yeah, yeah, I heard you the first time!

He nipped at my side when he caught up with me and together we ran after the vehicles with small noises of content, happy to be able to fully stretch our muscles again.