The Walking Dead

Chapter 13

"Ow." I muttered, pressing my finger onto the cut I had gotten earlier. 

I analyzed it slowly. "It's gonna need stitches."  I realized, sighing. Walking into the RV, I searched for the red first-aid box I had watched Carol walk out with when she patched me up. My weight sagged against the rough tree bark as I opened the box and pulled out a needle and thread.

Taking a deep breath, I stuck the needle in my arm, hissing under my breath in pain. I plunged on, ignoring the pain as I stitched my arm. Under, over, under, over. 

I bent my head and bit the thread, cutting the needle from the thread. I knotted the thin, brown thread, and shoved my sleeve down my arm, adjusting my coat and standing up, abandoning the first aid kit. 

"What?" I asked, looking up at Daryl. 

"You... you just stuck a needle in your arm without so much as a flinch." He said.

"So?" I shrugged.

"So? So? Faith, you stuck a needle into your arm. That had to hurt. Even if it only hurt a little."

 My eyes widened slightly. "Daryl, calm down will you? I've had to do that with way worse cuts before." 

Daryl stayed silent.

"You've had to do that to your self once, right? So, why freak out about it when I do it?"

"I- It's different... watching somebody do that to themselves. It's like they're causing them self pain on purpose." He murmured, quietly.

"Would you rather me bleed to death?" I asked, cocking an eyebrow.

"Well, of course not. But let me do it next time, okay?" He asked.

My mouth dropped fractionally as I stared at him in shock, "Are you... concerned for my well being Daryl Dixion?"

"What? No! Maybe..." He muttered.

I stared at him, disbelievingly. 

"Fine! Yes! I'm 'concerned for your well being'" He mocked.

I grinned cheekily, "Awe! That's adorable, Dixion." I ruffled his hair as I passed by.

"You guys wanna go on a run?" Rick shouted at us.

"Sure, why not?' I called back.  "Who's coming with?" 

"You two, me, T-Dog, Andrea, and Glenn." Rick answered. 

I nodded as we walked back to the waiting party. "Ready?" Glenn asked, fixing his cap.

My lips twitched into a smile at his nerdy action. "Yeah." Rick answered.

"Okay, so we'll drive most of the way down and stop a mile out of town and walk the rest of the way. Then, we find a half-decent store that doesn't look like people raided everything from it and go in, grab anything you can. I'm sure we can use it. We get in and get out. I don't want us to be held up by walkers." Glenn told us the plan. 

We nodded in response and jumped into the cars, Daryl on his motorcycle. "Wanna ride?" he shouted over the roar of his engine. I scanned his bike appreciatively. 

"Yeah!" I called.

 Daryl drove up and I hopped onto his motorcycle, winding my arms around his waist, before we sped off after Rick. Wind dragged it's cool fingers through my hair as we tore down the gravel road, Daryl maneuvering around the car and adding even more speed.

An excited grin stretched across my lips as I let out an exited whoop. Too fast, Daryl was slowing his bike down and pulling over. The loud roar of the motor  quickly diminished into a soft purr, then finally going silent just as Rick and the others pulled up. 

I jumped off the bike, an excited smile still on my lips. "That was amazing." I said, turning to Daryl.

It's been so long since I'd last rode a motorcycle, and I can honestly say that I missed it. I missed the thrill of the wind in my hair, screaming in my ears.

"Glad it was fun for you." Daryl chuckled at my expression. 

I scowled and punched him in the arm. "Hey, I haven't been on a motorcycle in forever. I missed it." 

"Alright, alright." Rick interrupted us. "We need to get to town, come on." 

We start to fall into a line, Rick leading us. A foreboding feeling settled in the pit of my stomach, and I frowned, shaking the feeling off. Shots fired in the distance, causing my heart to freeze, then rapidly start up again. The bad feeling in my gut intensified.

"Guys... something doesn't feel right about this." I said as we snuck around a lone walker.

They ignored me and kept walking. Grunting in frustration, I stomped lightly behind them as we walking into a random store that didn't look too run-down. 

"Alright." Rick started, "We go in, we get out. No stops to fool around." He gave Daryl and I, a pointed look.

"Hey!" I said, offended. "We won't... never mind." I muttered, seeing Rick raise an eyebrow.

"That's what I thought." He said, satisfied.

I scowled at the ground as Daryl and Rick snorted. 

"Yeah, yeah." I grumbled. "Let's just go inside and get our supplies."

"Aw, don't be embarrassed sweetheart, everybody gets a little crush here and there." Daryl drawled, slinging an arm over my shoulder. I scowled at it but didn't remove it from my shoulders.

"Alright. Find water and some form of food if you can. We'll need whatever we can find. If we can't find food, we'll just have Faith and Daryl go out and hunt." Rick said. "I'll go in with Glenn, Daryl and Faith will team up, and T-Dog and Andrea. Remember, It's a quick in- out thing."

We marched silently into the store and quickly separated into our groups. Ten minuets later, Daryl and I had found a half-empty box of Ritz. We all met up with our items and set it in a pile. 

"That's a measly pile..." I muttered.

"Yeah, well it's all we've got." Rick retorted, a little rudely.

My eyes widened slightly as my hand automatically went to one of my weapons. Rick's eyes flicked down to my hand and back to my eyes. "Sorry, didn't mean to offend you." I muttered.

Rick ignored my apology and turned back around, facing the rest of the group, "There has to be more than this." Rick said, his tone bordering desperation. "We just haven't found it yet."

Rick started walking slowly between each isle, looking for anymore food he could find. The rest of the group shared a look. "You guys wait outside, I'll talk to him. Take the food though." I said quietly. They nodded, silently filing out of the building with the food. 

"Rick?" I asked softly.

"What?" He snapped.

"There's no more food here. We all looked for everything; that's all we found." I said gently.

"No! There has to be more! I have to feed my family! I'm their protector, I'm supposed to provide for them!" He exploded.

So that's what it's about.

"If your worried about your son and wife not getting enough food, when we ge back I could go hunting and find some game to bring back, and I can give Carl most of my food, or you can split it between your family." I offered.

"I can't... I can't do that to you. You need food too."  He whispered, defeated.

"I'll be fine." I excused his worries. "Come on Rick. Let's get back to your family." 

He nodded dumbly, and as we started walking to the doors, they exploded as Andrea, Glenn, and T-Dog rushed inside, out of breath.

"What happened?" I asked, the bad feeling in my gut returned, hitting me like a ton of bricks as I realized that Daryl was missing from the group. I physically showed signs of distress, that's how strong the feeling was.

Silence answered my question.

"What happened?" I repeated, putting more force on my voice.

"It's Daryl. He's been kidnapped by another group." Andrea answered, as soon as the words were out however, everyone backed away from me.