Mushaboom • Daryl Dixon

12

Rachel

My eyes were glued to the car with the white cross up ahead. I could feel the adrenaline fading, yet, the tension between us in the car remained the same. Daryl hadn't said a word since he started driving after them. And the farther we drove, the more uncomfortable the situation felt.

The car was small. I could practically feel his body beat and tension radiating off of him. His head was racing, and that alone kept me on edge. Daryl's energy was always pretty intense, and it didn't help how anxious I was already feeling from chasing these unknowns.

I had plenty of questions, but I wasn't daring to ask him anything. Suddenly, the situation in its entirety sunk in.

We just left. No warning, no telling anyone where we were. Nothing.

We had no idea where we were going, who these people were, if this Beth was still alive..

We had no clue what we were getting ourselves into, and I blindly acted out and went along with this whole irrational chase. Daryl wasn't the type to think or plan when he was emotional, and this just proved it still to be true. He'd act first, then question later. And that kind of thing got people killed nowadays..

A dull ache dropped in my stomach as I continued to think about how stupid this was, and how my family and how his people would be worried. Us taking off- this was bigger than ourselves. And that alone scared me more than anything.

The car merged onto the freeway and I glanced over at Daryl. He slightly turned the wheel and we were merging. He had no intention of stopping now. It was so dark out, and eerie. It just didn't feel right, but a part of me knew that if you were to be stuck with anyone like this, you'd want to be with someone like Daryl.

Daryl always was a survivor, and just seeing how these people looked to him and respected him- that part of him hadn't changed either.

I watched up ahead as we merged in to the wide open road, and took in a deep breath.

"Who's Beth?" I asked carefully.

It took him a few seconds before he said anything. He rasped, "Maggie's sister."

I frowned. The thought of being separated from Milo or Ricky was unimaginable. I didn't get how they weren't spending all their time looking for her. Especially since Glenn was able to find Maggie against any odds. But maybe they just got lucky. The possibility of these people having Beth was small, so I asked bluntly, "How do you know they have her?"

Daryl shifted the grip on the steering wheel, and tapped his thumb lightly a couple of times, "After we all got separated, it was jus' me and her.. We were out there for a while. We got cornered, she got out in front of me. And I don't know. She was just gone.. I came out, and a car's just pulling' out with a white cross on the window."

"Like that one." I noted.

"Yep.. Had nothin' to go off of till now." He paused for a moment, "They're gonna wonder where we went." He glanced over to me, and his eyes flashed with guilt. He quickly brought his attention back to the road.

I only nodded and tried to relax in the seat. I brought my knee up and set my gun on the dash.

"Tanks runnin' low." He added.

I huffed, out of nerves as I continued to watch the car. It would be best if we got this over with. We could get information out of the driver if it meant getting her and getting back to our people.. "We could rush 'em?"