Marching With the Dead (Daryl Dixon FanFiction)

•Chapter 14•

•Chapter 14•

•Daryl's POV•

Once again, I sat across from Grace with a small fire between us. She stared at the ground with her legs pulled up to her chest. Nothing was said from either of us which made the situation even more awkward.

I don't know what life will be like alone with Grace. I'm just hoping it'll be somewhat like Merle's because I don't think I'll adjust to anything else. Maybe we'll meet another group and just go our separate ways. Maybe one of us might die in the next second leaving the other one to fend for themselves.

"So," I let out with a heavy breath trying to get out of my thoughts. Grace glanced up at me and then back at the damp ground. "So, this is what it's going to be like the rest of our pathetic lives," she snarled kicking the dirt with the tip of her boot.

"Stop. There's more than just the woods out there, you know," I said hoping she would get out of her depressing state. She clenched her jaw as she stared up at me,"I'm going scope around. See if I can catch a meal."

She grabbed her bag just in case something might happen and marched into the tree line. I let out a heavy sigh while passing my hand over my face. It was going to be one long life with her.

---

I wasn't paying attention when I heard rustling. I thought nothing of it believing it was Grace coming back from her round. I unsheathed my knife just in case it was a walker and stared at it.

"Well, well. Looks like we have a loner here, fellas," I heard a deep voice taunt. It couldn't of been Merle since it wasn't chuckling as much as he would've. My eyes shot up to see a man with a scruffy, gray beard and a wrinkly face. He was sort of plump and wore dirty clothing.

I immediately jumped up and rose my knife. "Woah, now. We ain't here to mean you harm, but I sure do like that crossbow of yer's," he smirked pointing to the ground next to me. I glanced down to where he pointed and saw my weapon not even loaded.

"You seem like a good asset to us. Why don't ya come and join us?" The man smirked and held out his hands like he wanted me to give him a hug. Us? What is this us? There's only one man.

That's when I saw bodies accumulating behind him. There was about five men acting as his back up. I knew I couldn't win the battle so I lowered my knife and stood before them. The man gave me a small smile,"The name's Joe."

I rose my eyebrows slightly at him and took a step back. "Daryl," I somewhat whispered. "Well, Daryl, mind joining us?" Joe said waving his hands to the side of him. In my surprise, I nodded my head.

"You can get your stuff together and let's head out," he sighed waiting for me to do what was asked of me. I started to collect our bags of food and ammo. "That's all Daryl's so no putting a claim on it," I saw Joe turn to the others. "Claim?" I asked putting the last bag on my shoulder.

"Yeah, it's a rule we have. Instead of sharing and fighting over somethin', we just say claim to whatever we want. It's easy and there's no point in slitting each other's throat at night. You just have to be quick," Joe explained. It already seemed like he was the leader of the posse.

I nodded my head and followed their steps into the tree line opposite of the one Grace went in. I just hope she doesn't do anything stupid to reconnect with me.

•Grace's POV•

That bastard. He just left me here with nothing but my bag and my weapons. He took everything else.

I saw the whole scene. Those guys came and asked him if he wanted to join their group and he had no hesitation to answer. Once I find him, I'll kill him.

I followed their footsteps trying to be as careful as I could. I kept out my knife just in case they decided to take notice of me. Once I got close enough, I could hear their voices. I saw a man turn to Daryl and ask him a few questions. Daryl only gave him short answers and stayed quiet until he was asked to speak.

"Now, Daryl, if you try to walk out on us, we'll come and find ya. Taking advantage of us is not a very nice thing to do," an older man smirked. Daryl nodded his head in response. Great. Now he can never leave to find me.

"Hey, Joe, you think we can stay there?" another voice asked. The man who told Daryl the threat looked beyond the trees to see a gray, metal building,"Seems stable enough for now."

I let out a silent sigh of relief somewhat letting my guard down. The group in front of me stepped closer to the building preparing their weapons for attack. I raised my knife higher with the blade pinched between my fingers.

"There's none of 'em around. Ya'll get in there," the leader commanded. I let them enter the garage before I decided to make my descend to slit Daryl's throat. I double checked that they were all in before making my way over to the door. There were concrete steps leading up to it and a small slab before meeting up with the entrance. I carefully trudged up the stairs in a quiet matter trying not to draw attention to myself.

I let out a labored breath afraid of what was behind the door. There was no sound from the other side so I tried to picture how I was going to accomplish the task in mind. I put the knife back in its holster before taking out my glock. I checked the clip and found six rounds in it. That should be enough to get the job done.

I rested my hand on the cold, curved handle and closed my eyes tightly. I took in a deep breath preparing myself for the worst. I was about to push down the handle when a hand clasped over my mouth making me thrash. "Shhh. Shhh, doll. I got ya," the familiar voice cooed. I know I've only heard it once. I looked up to see a thin faced man smirking down at me. He wore a black beard and wavy, long hair.

"Get the fuck off me!" I tried to shout, but his hand only made it sound like gibberish. "Hush now. I'm gonna take good care of ya," he chuckled before pushing the door open. He shoved me inside with his hand still over my mouth.

"Look what I got, boys!" he taunted at the men in front of us. I saw Daryl with a shock written on his face. "Claimed!" he shouted pointing at me. My eyes widened at his quick actions. "Nah uh, bud. I already took her," the man who held me smirked.

"Bullshit. I didn't hear any claim come from your mouth," I said pushing his hand from my mouth. "Now, Len, you know the rules," the leader, Joe, said. The man holding me gave me a death glare and released me from his grasp. I walked closer to Daryl and stood by his side.

"I got that car over there. Just stay in it for now," Daryl whispered to me pointing to a navy SUV. I nodded my head slightly and walked closer to the one mentioned. I popped open the back door and climbed in. The third row seat was pushed down so it gave me area to sleep. I really didn't feel like sleeping on a thin backseat so the trunk seemed more reasonable.

I didn't want to be peeked on by those perverted men so I used some of my t-shirts to cover the windows that were able to look into the trunk. Once I was done making myself feel at home, I rested my head against the backseat and stared at the trunk door waiting for Daryl to come and tell me everything was alright.

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Wanted to remind y'all that I have two other Daryl fanfictions up if you wanna read them. 'How To Save a Life' is completed and I'm working on 'Scars'. So, you can read those while you're waiting for this one.