traded my life [TWD]

『83』

The first thing Daryl said as we got packed up for the run was 'You ready to kick some ass, Doll'. I quickly booted him out of the driver's seat and took over the wheel.

"Can you go any faster?" Bob sarcastically asks, clutching the door handle. "Think speeding at triple digits might be too slow."

"Let the girl drive," Tyreese defends. "She knows what she's doing."

"Feel like we're in the middle of a bad joke," Michonne admits.

"How's that?" Daryl asks, looking back at her.

"We got the one Asian driving and the three blacks in the back of the car," she says.

I scoff and Daryl chuckles a bit. Tyreese was still too upset to joke or anything and Bob still looked like he was keeping his skin on his body from my speeding.

"You sure this is safe?" Bob asks.

"She was an EMT driver," Daryl informs. "She can drive with both hands tied behind her back, blindfolded, holding a conversation, while people fight in the backseat. She's fine."

"Bout like the time I had two drunk white girls in the back. One of 'em impaled her leg when they were trying to sneak into a public pool," I recall. "Just me and my old partner. She was crazy."

"That makes me feel a little better," Bob decides, though he doesn't let go of the handle.

"Put some music on. Get Bob to zen out," I urge.

Daryl pokes at the radio to make sure it works. Then, he reaches for the CDs Zach left behind. 

"Was that a voice?" Bob asks.

"Shh," Daryl says, holding a finger to his mouth.

Daryl sits up straighter, toying with the radio dial.

Though I was curious, I tune it out. I couldn't else focus when speeding the way I was. I couldn't risk losing the car or hitting a walker. 

"Shit!" I curse, slamming on the breaks.

The other four in the car jostle. I spin the wheels, drifting to the side.

"Oh, shit," Daryl huffs, looking out the window.

It was the biggest herd I'd seen since the farm. I couldn't see past their heads- far, far down the road and blocking us for yards.

"What do we do?" Bob asks, leaning up to see the view, or lack thereof.

I look around the road. The woods were dense. But.. maybe..

"Shit," I curse again, panic filling my veins. "Hold on!"

"What?" Michonne asks.

"Hold on!" Daryl shouts, somehow translating easily. 

I reverse the car just before walkers can bang against the doors.

"Sunroof," I tell Daryl.

"The noise," Bob argues.

"Fuck the noise!" I snap.

Daryl takes the gun off his side and opens the sunroof.

"Hold it steady!" Daryl says, standing in his seat to poke his upper body out the sunroof.

"I got you," I promise.

Gunshots fire off from above as Daryl clears walkers that get too close to the car.

"On the right- you see that gap?" he shouts.

I peer past his legs, catching the slight gap in trees.

"Got it," I confirm.

Daryl pops off some more shots and I rotate the wheel madly, swerving the car off the road and toward the tree lines.

"Down!" I shout, grabbing Daryl's pant leg and tugging him down from the sunroof.

He falls in his seat just before a branch slaps him in the face.

I pat his chest as he gasps. "You good?"

"I'm good," he assures. "Are you?"

The grassy hills and small, weak trees I run over were obstacles as I navigate the car through the woods.

"I fucking hate Dodge vehicles off-road," I complain.

--

Once we arrived to the college, it was close to nighttime. But, we hurry through the place in search of what we need. Bob and Michonne went one way. Tyreese was on guard. Daryl and I went another.

"We're lucky to have you," Daryl says as I comb through the meds. "You're good at things the rest of us ain't."

"That's everyone. we all pick up where the others lack," I brush it off.

"You're good with cars and meds," he points out. "That's a pretty damn big deal."

I continue looking through the meds, honestly tossing more than what we needed in the bag.

"Too bad Merle missed this," Daryl comments. "He'd have a hay-day with all the highs he could get."

I scoff a little, but don't let it go. That was the first time he'd mentioned Merle since Merle's death.

"Only high he'd get from these is motion sick," I inform. "There's no pain meds. Weak shit."

"Well, damn."

I glance over at him, shining my flashlight to him for a moment. "You good?"

He nods, tossing some other supplies in his bag. "Went years without him. Got him back. Went months without him. Lost him again.. Just kinda feels like he'll come back sooner or later. Like he always did."

I don't give sympathetic words. I knew Daryl. Those words would only make him shut down.

"What about you?" he asks.

"What about me?" I question.

"You still waiting? Waiting for Shane to come back?"

I shrug and return to the medications. "I'm used to men walking out of my life."

I smile a bit and turn my back to him.

"Except you, I guess," I recall.

"What?"

"You left. But, you came back," I remind him of when he left with Merle. "Even if Merle was kicking and screaming the whole way."

"I've been left enough to know what it's like.. Guess I wanted to break my old man's cycle."

"Me, too," I confess.

Daryl walks through, tenderly patting my shoulder for a moment, before we keep gathering supplies.

𝒶𝓊𝓉𝒽𝑜𝓇 𝓇𝒶𝓂𝒷𝓁𝑒𝓈--

hyejin is just a little baddie and daryl is her passenger princess