The Fear (The Walking Dead / Daryl Dixon)

Chapter 22 - Place To Place

Time became more and more irrelevant as we went. I had a rough idea... maybe 6 or 7 months, but I couldn't be sure. I think my dad was keeping track, but I found myself unable to care. It didn't matter anymore.

We kept on the move only ever really staying in one place for a night or two. We'd been lucky at some points and managed to stay in some places for a week or so, but sooner or later we had to clear out. We were playing it safe and it was working. We hadn't lost anyone since the farm.

Lori was now heavily pregnant though, so we knew we had to find a place before she went into a labour. Somewhere the baby could be safely delivered and we could look after it properly for a while until it could at least hold up its head on its own.

It was only a little while back that Rick and Lori had informed us all that Carl was born through a caesarean which meant this one more than likely would need to be as well. It wasn't ideal and I personally thought they were completely mad. It would greatly increase the risk of loosing Lori if we couldn't get our hands on the right materials and that seemed like a very big risk that Rick was willing to take.

We pulled up the cars out the front of an old house that looked well and truly abandoned... much like every house we had come across in the last half-year. Each of us got our weapons and went for the front door. Rick took the lead, kicking the already half broken door off it's hinges and shooting the first walker he saw. T-Dog was second with a metal rod followed by Daryl with his crossbow, me with my machete and then Carl with his handgun. We had created makeshift gun silencers over the months and Carl's was the tip of an aluminium bat.

We split up, Carl with Rick, me with Daryl and T-Dog on standby in case any of us needed help. We went from room to room silently, checking to make sure it was clear and then cleaning out any food we could find, which was basically nothing. We stumbled across another walker in the living room and I quickly put it down as Daryl stood back, keeping the crossbow aimed as backup.

We next wet upstairs, this time with T-Dog. Daryl took the lead, none of us saying a word. My dad and Beth had remained waiting in the car with Lori while Maggie, Glenn and Carol did a perimeter sweep around the house.

T-Dog went into one of the bedrooms while I took another and Daryl went to the study. I determined almost instantly that there was nothing that we needed and left, passing Daryl as he came out of his room holding a dead owl that he must have found and shot.

I tapped his arm as a sort of 'good job' acknowledgement as I kept walking and took the lead heading back down. By the time we got down the other had joined Rick and Carl in the living room.

We began to sit down in a circle, enjoying the roof over our heads, no matter how long it would last. Daryl sat plucking away at his owl while I sat down next to him with Glenn and Maggie on my other side. My stomach cramped in an almost unbearable hunger.

Still no words were said, everyone feeling the same way and drawn of energy until T-Dog, who had placed himself on lookout by the window, spoke.

"Time to go." He nodded through the glass to where a small herd of about fifteen head was heading towards the house.

Rick went to help Lori up while Daryl was the first one to jump to his feet, holding out a hand for me to take. After I went to Beth's side, staying at her back as we all ran to the cars. We had hoped to stay where we were for the night, but with how little we had eaten we didn't want to waste any more energy then was needed... so we moved on.

Carl, Lori, Rick and T-Dog all piled into the Cherokee while my dad, Maggie, Glenn and Beth got into the Hyundai. Carol, Daryl and I all jumped into Betty with Daryl's bike strapped down in the back. He often used it for runs or if he just wanted to have some time to himself while we were on the move, but the preferred option was to keep it on the back of the truck. It conserved fuel for when we really needed, plus the bike wasn't exactly quiet.

Daryl continued to pluck away at the bird, throwing the feathers out the window as we drove while we sat in silence, listening to a 'Mumford & Sons' album. Thankfully I had dozens of CDs in the truck otherwise these silent trips would have been maddening. It wasn't that we didn't get along, in fact these days I spent most of my time with Daryl and Carol, it was just that moving from place to place with little food was so exhausting that no one had the energy to say a word.

Nothing more had happened between Daryl and I. We hadn't spoken about it, which was perfectly okay with the both of us and even if it were to happen again we hadn't had the chance. Other than Beth and Maggie the only other person who I knew for certain knew was Carol and that was only because she guessed. Other people may have, like Glenn, but we didn't exactly care and it was never brought up.

The group came to a stop on a quiet road, everyone getting out of their cars. Rick placed Carl and Beth on watch before he came to the gathering group to look over our map and discuss our next move while Lori remained in the car. Carol went over to her to check on things.

"We got no place left to go." T-Dog informed.

"When this herd meets up with this one, we'll be cut off." Maggie spoke, pointing out where we had marked certain herds that we'd come across. "We'll never make it south."

"What would you say? That was about 150 head?" Daryl asked Glenn.

"That was last week. It could be twice that by now." Glenn replied.

"This river could have delayed them." My dad stated, pointing to the landmark on the map. "If we move fast, we might have a shot to tear right through there."

"Yeah, but if this group joins with that one, they could spill out this way." T-Dog added, gesturing to an opening.

"Only thing to do is double back at 27 and swing towards Greenville." Rick spoke up.

"Yeah, we picked through that already. It's like we spent the winter going in circles." T-Dog said.

"Least we know it's safe." I shrugged. "We could go west from there." I offered, turning to Rick who nodded.

"At Newnan we'll push west. Haven't been through there yet. We can't keep going house to house. Need to find someplace to hole up for a few weeks." Rick explained.

"All right." Dad nodded in agreement

"Is it cool if we get to the creek before we head out? Won't take long. We got to fill up on water. We can boil it later." T-Dog asked Rick who nodded.

The group began to clear out, going about there business. T-dog, Glenn and Maggie got ready to head to the creek while everyone else did their own thing. I remained with my dad and Rick, knowing what it was that was about to be discussed. Dad and I had already spoken about it earlier and we were just waiting for a moment to speak with our leader.

"She can't take much more of this moving about." Dad nodded over to where Lori sat.

"What else can we do? Let her give birth on the run?"

"Do you see a way around that?" Dad asked Rick. The conversation was certainly shorter than I was hoping for, but given the circumstances I decided to leave it at that.

"Hey, while the others wash their panties, let's go hunt." Daryl spoke to Rick as he loaded his crossbow. "That owl didn't exactly hit the spot." Rick nodded and he and Daryl began to make their way before Daryl turned back to me just as I was about to go over to Beth. "You just gonna stand there lookin' pretty? Let's go." He nodded over his shoulder as he kept walking.

I sighed before jogging to catch up.