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fakesmilesallaround · 1 year ago

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𝐟𝐢𝐯𝐞

ANDREA KNELT OVER HER SISTER, cupping her cheek, blood pooled around her body. Tears trickled down her cheeks and nose, dripping onto Amy.

"Andrea." Willow squatted down beside her, looking at Amy. "I'm so sorry."

Andrea's eyes didn't halter.

"She's gone." Willow said in barely a whisper. "You got to let us take her. I promise we'll be as gentle as we can."

Andrea blinked, but still didn't move or speak. Willow stood up with a soft hand on Andrea's back before walking back to the camp, looking for Dale. Maybe he can talk to her.

Daryl grunted, swinging a pickaxe over his head and plunging it into the head of one of the many walkers that occupied the camp grounds before T-Dog and Glenn helped drag it to a fire.

"She still won't move." Willow crept up beside Dale who had been watching. "She won't even talk to us. She's been there all night." She sat down on a tree stump beside the old man, adjusting Sienna against her body.

"We can't leave Amy like that. We need to deal with it." Shane spoke up, sitting on the other side of Dale.

"I'll tell her how it is." Rick looked at his feet before moving over to Andrea's side.

"Maybe Dale should talk to her?" Willow glanced up at Dale and Rick, squinting against the sun, but they didn't consider her opinion.

"Andrea." Rick began to crouch down beside her, but stumbled back a bit as Andrea cocked her pistol and aimed it at his face.

"I know how the safety works."

"All right." Rick nodded, slowly backing away. "Okay. I'm sorry."

She kept her gun pointed at him until he was at a better distance from her, Lori squirming on her log, eyeing Andrea and Rick.

"Y'all can't be serious."

The group turned their heads at Daryl walking up from the tents. "Let that girl hamstring us? The dead girl's a time bomb." He flung his arm in Amy's direction.

"What do you suggest?" Rick asked, head tilted, rubbing the stubble on his chin.

Daryl stepped up to Rick. "Take the shot. Clean, in the brain from here. Hell, I can hit a turkey between the eyes from this distance."

"No." Willow's voice was harsh. "For God's sakes, let her be."

Daryl's eyes burned into her before he scoffed and walked away, holding the pickaxe over one shoulder. "Wake up Jimbo, we got some work to do."

Willow watched as Daryl and Morales started dragging a body towards the fire, but noticed it was one of their own people and not the dead.

"What are you doing, that's one of our people?" Glenn rushed over from the fire to Daryl.

"What's the difference, they all are infected." Daryl continued to drag the limp body.

"Our people go in that row over there." Glenn pointed at the line of bodies that laid against the grass. "We don't burn them!" He cried out, Willow shooting up from the tree stump. "We bury them. Understand?"

She walked over, placing a hand on Glenn's arm. "Come on." She gently pulled at him to remove him from the two men who finally started dragging the body of the man to the other line.

"You reap what you sow!" Daryl called out to their backs, Willow turning around, flipping him off.

Willow walked beside Glenn as they were going to sit down, hoping to comfort him from the losses, but they both overheard Jacqui.

"Are you bleeding?" She spoke up to Jim.

Glenn and Willow looked at the man, a blood stain in the center of his abdomen.

"I just got some on me from the bodies." He sighed, bending over to start dragging a body.

"That blood's fresh, Jim." Willow spoke out, walking over to him now. "Were you bit?"

"No." Jim responded harshly.

Willow narrowed her eyes. She'd be damned to have someone as reckless as him walking around with a bite, endangering her daughter. "Then show me." She was only inches away from him now as he grabbed her wrist, whispering to her.

"Don't tell them, please."

But Jacqui overheard.

"A walker got him. A walker bit Jim!" She stood up frantically, yelling out to the group.

Jim began to stumble backwards as the group surrounded him. "I'm okay. I'm okay."

"Show it to us." Daryl beckoned. "Now!"

Jim took one more step backwards before picking up a shovel, spinning around, nearly hitting Willow and her daughter.

"Grab him!" Daryl yelled out to the closest people.

T-Dog and Willow moved forward swiftly, both of them taking one of his arms into their grasps. Daryl stomped forward, jerking up the man's shirt. Just as they thought, a deep imprint of teeth was set on his abdomen, fresh blood pooling at the impalement and trickling down his stomach.

Rick directed T-Dog and Willow to sit him down at the back of the RV as the group gathered to speak about what to do with him. Daryl being the first to answer.

"I say we put a pickaxe in his head. And the dead girl's to be done with it."

"Is that what you'd want if it were you?" Shane side eyed Daryl, leaning against a stump.

"Yeah, and I'd thank you while you did it."

The group went quiet before Willow spoke out.

"I hate to say it, and I never thought I would, but maybe Daryl's right." She earned a look of disappointment from Rick.

"Jim's not a monster or some rabid dog."

"I'm not suggesting that-" Rick cut her off.

"He's a sick, sick man. We start down that road, where do we draw the line?"

Daryl stepped up beside Willow. "The line's pretty clear. Zero tolerance for walkers, or them to be."

"I'm not having my daughter live around two people who are about to start walking again." Willow shook her head.

"What if we can get him help?" Rick glanced around at everyone. "I heard the CDC was working on a cure."

Willow scoffed. "I heard that too. Heard a lot of things before the world went to hell."

"What if the CDC is still up and running?"

"Come on Rick. That's a stretch right there." She rocked Sienna in her arms, holding her a bit tighter than usual.

"Why? If there's any government left, any structure at all, they'd protect the CDC at all costs wouldn't they? I think it's out best shot- shelter, protection."

Willow looked down towards a small branch that rested at her feet, not feeling like arguing with the man again. Shane decided to do that for her.

"Okay, Rick. You want those things, alright? I do too, okay? Now if they exist, they're at the army base. Fort Benning."

Lori shook her head. "That's 100 miles in the opposite direction."

"That's right, but it's away from the hot zone. Now listen to me. If that place is operational, it'll be heavily armed. We'd be safe there." Shane's eyes were desperate for people to listen to him and be on board with his Fort Benning plan.

"The military were on the front lines of this thing. They've got overrun. We've all seen that. The CDC is our best choice and Jim's only chance!" Rick pleaded the group.

"You go lookin' for aspirin, do what you need to do. Someone needs to have some balls and take care of this damn problem!" Daryl yelled, rushing towards Jim with his pickaxe in the air, Rick swiftly unholstering his gun and pointing it at his head.

"Rick!" Willow bellowed, standing next to him.

"We don't kill the living." His eyes were heavy, staring down the barrel at the back of Daryl's head.

Lowering his pickaxe, Daryl turned around with a twisted face. "That's funny, comin' from a man who just put a gun to my head."

"We may disagree on some things. Not on this. Put it down." Shane stood in front of Daryl, hands in his pockets just itching for him to make a move. Daryl did as he was told, jamming one end of the pickaxe into the dirt before pushing past Rick. Willow's eyes stayed on Rick as he helped Jim up, taking him to a better spot where people like Daryl wouldn't bother him.

Willow shifted her feet, heading back to her tent as she knew Sienna would be getting hungry in a bit, but stopped at a single gunshot. Looking back, she saw Andrea sobbing, holding Amy's head close with the gun in her hand.

At early sunrise, the group loaded up their belongings in every vehicle they had, readying for departure for the CDC. Morales and his family decided to head in their own direction to Birmingham to find their people, leaving us a couple people and a gun short.

Willow walked around the vehicles, looking for a good one to ride along in. Jim had occupied the RV with Jacqui, and she didn't want to risk being in there with Sienna. Jim was a ticking time bomb just waiting to go off.

"You're ridin' with me."

Willow turned, looking at Daryl who had his head out a crappy pickup truck's window. She looked around, desperate to find someone else to ride with, but most of the vehicles were full of people or bags.

She sighed in defeat. "You going to crash and kill us?" She trekked over to the truck.

Daryl rolled his eyes. "Just get in." He cranked up the truck, a slight sputtering coming from the hood until it started to rev.

They followed the RV for about 2 hours before coming to a stop along a highway.

"Stay here." Daryl glanced over at her from the driver seat, hopping out and holding his crossbow. She peeked out her window, looking ahead at some of the cars that were in front of them, seeing Jacqui exiting the RV in a rush, ushering Rick to come inside. The others stood around the outside of the RV, heads low, Lori hugging Carl and Carol holding Sophia's hand. It wasn't long until she saw Rick and Shane, helping Jim out of the RV and against a tree.

She stepped out of the truck, approaching the rest of them who watched as Jim panted with parted lips, looking up through the leaves of the tree he sat under.

"I told you to stay in the truck." Daryl shot over at Willow.

"It's fine." She shot back.

She walked over to a crying Jacqui, embracing her in a side hug as they both watched Rick and Shane adjust Jim comfortably. Jacqui removed herself from Willows arms, leaning down to Jim beneath the tree. "Just close your eyes, sweetie. Don't fight." She cupped the man's cheek, giving him a soft kiss on it before backing away and wiping her own cheek, returning to Willows arms.

"Jim," Rick knelt beside him, holding a revolver out. "do you want this?"

"No." Jim said quickly. "You'll need it. I'm okay."

Rick patted his shoulder before standing up again, letting Dale be by the man's side now.

"Thanks for uh," Dale removed his hat, twisting it in his hands. "Thanks for fighting for us."

Jim nodded weakly, taking in a sharp breath, sweating beading at his forehead. Glenn, not too far ahead of Willow, sniffled, his head hanging. She reached out and gave his hand a small squeeze, as if to tell him everything is okay, and he returned the gesture, squeezing her hand back.

Willow looked to Jacqui, holding Sienna out for her to hold. She walked over to Jim's side and knelt down.

"I'm sorry for the shovel." He said through his rough, dry lips.

She shook her head. "Don't apologize. You were scared."

He gave her a weak smile.

"Don't be afraid anymore." She rubbed her thumb along the back of his hand gently. "You've got a family to get to."

Though she didn't know the man well, it broke her heart to see another one of their people slipping through the cracks. A tear dripped down her cheek, catching in the crease of the small smile she had left to offer him.

She caught up to the rest of the group who dragged their feet back to their vehicles, Jacqui handing Sienna back to Willow before she went back to the spot in the RV that she sat in to tend Jim. As they drove away, they all looked out to Jim who sat patiently under the tree, staring up at the rays of sun that parted through the branches.

Word count: 2,034

#daryl dixon #daryl dixon fanfiction #daryl dixon x oc #fanfic #norman reedus #the walking dead #twd fanfiction #wattpad

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fakesmilesallaround · 1 year ago

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𝐟𝐨𝐮𝐫

"SO YOU AND DARYL?" Lori watched Rick heading towards camp, getting ready to go back to the city for the lost Dixon. "That's your plan?"

Willow and Glenn stood beside each other, Rick shooting Glenn a look. "Oh, come on." Glenn sighed.

"You know the way, you've been there before. In and out, no problem. You said so yourself."

Glenn took off his hat, rubbing his head anxiously.

"I'll come." Willow spoke up. "I've been in Atlanta for a little bit now. I may not be as familiar with it as Glenn, but I can help." Not only that, but it was another chance for her to possibly find her brother.

Rick looked over to her, a glimpse of doubt in his eye for a second, but he nodded.

Daryl grunted off to the side, wiping his arrows with a red cloth. "My day just gets better and better, don't it?" Willow glared at him.

"That's just great, now you're gonna risk three of our people, huh?" Shane said with a disgusted look on his face, glimpsing towards Willow and Rick. "You're putting every single one of us at risk, just know that Rick. You saw that walker." Shane pointed out into the woods. "It was here. It was in camp. They're moving out of the cities, we need every able body we got."

"Seems to me what you really need her is more guns." Rick responded, tilting his head.

"Right." Glenn stepped up. "The guns."

"What guns?" Willow questioned.

"Six shotguns, two high-powered rifles, over a dozen handguns. I cleaned out the cage back at the police station before I left." Rick answered, turning his words back to Shane. "I dropped the bag in Atlanta when I got swarmed. It's just sitting there on the street waiting to be picked up. 700 rounds, assorted."

Shane finally eased up at the thought of having more guns to protect camp.

"Got any bolt cutters?" Rick asked Dale and Jim who sat against the open front of the RV. Rick was able to bargain the bolt cutters with a gun for Dale and the radiator hose from the truck once they got back. Sudden honking from the truck made everyone jump, Willow looking back to see Daryl kicking the horn of it.

"Come on, let's go!"

Willow let Sienna fall into the care of Carol until she got back from the trip, kissing her little head lightly before heading to the truck. She felt like she could puke, leaving her daughter behind, but it would happen eventually.

Glenn sat behind the wheel and Rick in the passenger, leaving Daryl and Willow in the back of the truck. They sat awkwardly, Daryl muttering curses under his breath as they made their way toward the city.

"You take that thing everywhere?" Willow asked daryl, nodding her head toward the crossbow by his side.

He didn't answer, just a subtle nod as he picked at the skin around his fingers.

"I have an older brother too." She spoke softly, trying to loosen the tension between everyone. "His name's Ashton, but my father and I called him Ash." She smiled at the memories that popped into her head. "I found him a little bit ago, but got separated again back in Atlanta."

"And?" Daryl scoffed, obviously bored and not wanting to hear any of it.

"I'm still holding onto hope for him." She scooted her knees into her chest. "You should for your brother too."

He glared at her. "Ain't got no hope for nothin'."

They left the truck on some abandoned railroad tracks a few blocks out from the building Merle was left at, walking the rest of the way, but taking notice of where they had left the truck so they can return.

Willow pointed to an overpass ahead. "There. We can cut through the fence. Much faster that way." They followed her word, Glenn using the bolt cutters to cut through the fence.

"Merle or the guns first?" Rick asked the group.

"Merle! We ain't even havin' this conversation." Daryl muttered at the man.

"Merle's closest." Glenn jogged ahead. "The guns would mean doubling back. Merle first."

Soon enough, they were walking through the broken glass doors that once closed off the small retail store, the glass crunching beneath their boots. To their surprise, only a few walkers were left wandering around it. Rick held up a hand to them as he heard the shuffling of their feet. Willow held her knife out, but Daryl took lead.

"Damn, you are one ugly skank." His arrow whiffled through the air quickly, the walker dropping to the ground.

Another one had snuck up behind Daryl, clawing at his sleeveless shirt from behind. Willow being the closest, jabbed her knife into the top of the walkers head, the skull crunching beneath the blade. She ripped it back out, Daryl turning to her. She kicked herself for expecting a thank you.

"This way." Glenn announced, heading towards the back of the store and up the stairs. The group ran up the stairs, Glenn cutting the padlock and chains, Daryl kicking the door open yelling for his brother.

The four of them ran to the spot they knew Rick had cuffed Merle, but the only sign left of him was his hand which laid on the ground next to a hack saw and beneath a dangling hand cuff. Willow's stomach dropped as Daryl yelled.

"No!" His voice wavered as he paced around. "No!"

The group followed a trail of blood, leading to another door on the roof.

"Merle! You in here?" Daryl called out, Willow cringing at the echo his voice made.

"Quiet down!" Rick sneered at him.

The trail continued down the stairs and into a room cluttered with stray papers and desks along with a few walkers that were taken down.

"Had enough in him to take out these two sumbitches." Daryl pointed to the two decayed bodies. "One handed."

Willow trekked around the room, picking up a wrench that laid next to the head of one of the dead, remembering that Dale complained earlier to Rick about his missing tools.

"Toughest asshole I ever met, my brother. Feed him a hammer, he'd crap out nails."

"Any many can pass out from blood loss, no matter how tough he is." Rick continued on, following the trail.

They entered another room in which Daryl called out for his brother again.

"We're not alone here, remember?" Rick hissed in Daryl's ear.

"Screw that. He could be bleeding out, you said so yourself."

They heard a sizzling that came from deeper into the room, and as they continued, it revealed a kitchen, and the sizzling came from a stove burner that had been left on with a bloody belt draped across it.

"Must've used it as a tourniquet." Willow said, shutting off the stove.

Rick picked up a flat metal tool that sat beside the stove.

"What's that burnt stuff?" Glenn asked in disgust.

"Skin." Rick examined it. "He cauterized the stump."

"Told you he's tough. Nobody can kill Merle but Merle."

"Guys." Willow stood by the window now, the glass shattered around it.

The three men trailed over.

"He left the building?" Glenn examined the window sill that had drops of blood on it. "Why the hell would he do that?"

"Why wouldn't he? He's out there all alone as far as he knows, doing what he's gotta do. Survivin'." Daryl began to climb out the window, only to be tugged back in by Willow and Rick.

"He can't get far with that injury, Daryl." Willow sighed. "We can check a few blocks around here." She glanced over at Rick to see if he'd agree, and he did.

"Only if we keep a level head." He added.

"We need to get those guns first." She saw a few walkers shuffling down the street outside. "God knows how many walkers we'll be facing out there."

"No way." Willow shook her head, Rick agreeing. "You're not going out there alone."

Glenn peered up from the drawing of the streets he made with an expo marker on the tile. "If I'm alone, I can move fast."

The group still wasn't convinced.

"Look," He directed them back to the drawing. "Daryl and I will hit up this alley, the one we found Willow in."

Daryl glanced over at Willow who stood above them, arms crossed watching Glenn explain things.

"While Daryl waits here in the alley, I run up the street, grab the bag." He finishes.

"You got us elsewhere?" Rick asked.

Returning to his drawing, Glenn placed an eraser between two lines. "You and Willow will be in this alley here."

"Two blocks away?" Willow asked, confused.

"I may not be able to come back the same way. Walkers might cut me off. If that happens, I won't go back to Daryl. I'll go forward instead, all the way to that alley where you guys are. Whichever direction I go, I got you in both places to cover me. Afterwards, we'll all meet back here."

Looking back at Glenn, Daryl asked. "Hey, kid. What'd you do before all this?"

"Delivered pizzas. Why?"

They all looked at each other, nodding, as it made sense.

Rick and Willow cleared the alley while they waited for Glenn. Only a few stray walkers stumbled around, easily taken out by Willow's knife.

"So, you were a sheriff?" Willow asked Rick as she wiped the blood off her knife.

"Yeah." He nodded, eyeing around the corner of the alley. "You?"

"Wasn't much before this. Just living day by day." She leaned against the opposite wall of the alley across from Rick. "You're a good leader."

He glanced at her in confusion.

"You may not see it, but I know the others do. I can tell already you're gonna be the glue of this group." She smiled, but she could tell he didn't seem to fully appreciate what she was saying. "I know I'd be happy to have you lead the way. Lord knows my daughter needs it."

"When I woke up in that hospital," he began, "alone and confused. I immediately went home looking for them, Lori and Carl. I thought for sure they were gone. Don't know if I had considered them dead or if they had just left, but when I saw them in that camp." He shook his head. "That was it. I knew I needed to be there with them. Keep them safe."

"You can and you will." She said. "If they got you, they will be just fine."

"I'm selfish." He grunted out. "The moment I had them again, I knew I wouldn't give a damn about anything else. That's no leader."

"Well you're here now, aren't you?" She questioned him. "Looking for a Dixon out of all people." She laughed lightly. "That doesn't sound selfish to me."

They looked at each other, and she could tell she was getting through to him, but their conversation was cut short. Glenn came barreling into the alley with the bag in his hand, yelling.

"We've gotta move!"

Without hesitation, Rick and Willow did exactly that, groans and moans getting louder behind them. She regretted looking back for a split second to see nearly hundreds of walkers chasing them.

The alleys they ran down were slim and cluttered with debris and junk. It was a surprise to them all that none of them had tripped. They stood outside of the building they agreed to meet up at, but Daryl was yet to come.

"We've gotta go, now!" Rick sneered, just barely audible over the walkers that weren't too far behind them.

"Daryl isn't here yet, we've gotta wait." Willow spun around, looking in every direction for him.

"Willow, come on." Glenn tugged at her arm but she stayed put.

"We already left one Dixon brother out here, we aren't leaving another."

Rick and Glenn shared looks with each other, conveying they both knew this was damn near suicide, but they stood with her.

"We've got the guns now, we can handle this until Daryl gets here." She said, grabbing at the sheriff bag Glenn held. They rummaged through it, grabbing a hold of whatever they could find first.

Willow held tightly to a pistol, checking the magazine to see that it was already full, the men doing the same.

"Head count, Glenn?" She looked over at him, noticing his slightly anxious face.

"Maybe 80 to 100? I'm not sure."

"Gotta be less now, I know we lost a good bit of them taking all those turns back there." She reassured him.

The first walker came around a corner of one of the alleys they just left. Glenn aimed his rifle at it, but Willow pushed it down.

"Not yet." She walked up to the walker, kicking it backwards onto the ground before plunging her knife into its head and removing it. "Lets hold off on firing until absolutely necessary. We don't need to alert more of them right now."

A few more walkers had trailed towards them from different directions, Glenn and Rick taking on a few while Willow did the same.

"There's more coming, Willow." Glenn called over his shoulder. "We really need to think about-"

"About what?" Daryl grunted, jogging out of the alley, firing an arrow at the walker Glenn was struggling with.

A slight smile played at Willow's lips.

"Alright, let's go." Rick tossed the bag over his shoulder, leading the way back to the truck.

It didn't take long for them to reach the tracks they left the truck at, but there was no truck where they had left it.

"Where the hell's our van?" Daryl swung his crossbow over his shoulder, ducking through the fence they cut earlier.

"We left it right there, who would take it?" Glenn started to panic.

Willow looked at Rick, knowing they both thought the same thing.

"Merle."

The sky was dark and their feet ached from the long hike back up the mountain to camp. The moon barely lit the road enough to keep them from stumbling and telling where exactly to go.

But the gunshots that went off told them exactly how close they were.

Rick and Willow took off into a sprint as did the rest of them shortly after, kicking up rocks and dirt beneath their feet.

As they got closer and closer, screams and more gunshots were heard louder. Willow's legs burned from how fast she had been running, swearing to god if anything had happened to Sienna.

Willow was the first to break through the trees, immediately cocking her pistol and shooting multiple walkers in the head, their bodies cluttering around the camp ground. Rick, Glenn and Daryl finally showed, firing off rounds from their shotguns. With every walker that dropped, more seemed to come.

"Baby! Carl!" Rick stepped over all of the bodies, running towards his family. Daryl smashed the head in of the final walker with the butt of his shotgun.

Willow's eyes darted around frantically looking for Carol.

"Where's my daughter?" She yelled, rushing throughout the camp looking for her. "Carol!"

"This way!" Jacqui yelled out to Willow, swinging the RV door open for her.

She ran inside, pushing through the others that gathered in as well, finding Carol and Sophia.

"Sienna? Where is she?" Her eyes welded with tears.

Carol stepped aside, revealing Sienna bundled up, laying on the small couch in the back of the RV.

"Oh my god." Willow sobbed, picking her daughter up and holding her close. Sienna's little bug eyes looked up at her and also started crying. She held her tight.

"Thank god. Thank god." She whimpered, tears streaming down her face.

Carol stroked Willow's back before returning to her own daughter, crying about her deceased husband and Sophia's father.

Willow sank into the dirty couch, rocking back and forth with Sienna in her arms, trying to calm the both of them down.

At this moment, she didn't care about anything or anyone else.

Maybe she was the selfish one.

Word count: 2,575

#daryl dixon #fanfic #norman reedus #the walking dead #wattpad #twd fanfiction #daryl dixon x oc #daryl dixon fanfiction

16 notes · View notes

fakesmilesallaround · 1 year ago

Text

𝐭𝐡��𝐞𝐞

SHORTLY AFTER GLENN pulled up to a small campsite, Rick and the others inside the truck did too. Willow glanced out the front window, peering through the driver and passenger seat, seeing a decent amount of different people obviously from different backgrounds. Sienna laid in Willow's arms, still asleep. She was thankful that even with the bumps and shakes of the truck as they climbed the mountain, Sienna stayed asleep for the whole of it.

"Come meet everybody." Morales said happily, patting Rick's chest and peeking back at Willow. He hopped out of the truck, T-dog opening the rear end of it and hopping out too along with Andrea and Jacqui.

Willow looked down at her baby girl before glancing back up, her stomach twisting and turning. She still isn't used to being around others again and is still hesitant about inserting herself and Sienna into a group. But she pushed those feelings aside, grabbed her bag and slung it onto one shoulder, carrying Sienna in the other hand, and hopped out of the truck, approaching the others.

Andrea immediately started crying as she ran to another blonde girl, yelling out. "Amy!" The two embraced as they reunited, bringing a small smile to Willow's face, thought a pang of jealously hit her too. She'd do anything to reunite with her brother like that.

"Papi!" A small boy and girl ran up to Morales. He immediately picked them both up into his arms as another woman came over to him as well, embracing him tightly and kissing him.

Willow's eyes grazed over her surroundings and the people within it, taking notice of a woman crouching down in front of a little boy who had tears trailing down his cheeks. Glenn trailed over to Willow, nudging her slightly. "I know it's not much, but it's home." He smiled weakly at her. She appreciated his kindness. Though she didn't have anyone to return to like they did, she was happy to see that others found that solace.

"How'd y'all get out of there?" A man said from across the camp. He held a shotgun close to him.

"New guy- he got us out. Brought back this gal too." Morales said, pointing towards Willow. Everyone greeted her with warm smiles except for the man who asked Morales the question. His eyebrow raised in suspicion before he spoke again.

"New guy?"

"Hey, helicopter boy!" Morales shouted back towards the truck. "Come say hello."

The truck door opened as Rick climbed out, hesitant to come forward and meet everyone.

"The guy's a cop, like you Shane." Morales said to the man before trailing away with his wife and kids.

Shane stood tall waiting for Rick to come forward, but his face fell flat. Willow glanced at the both of them, trying to understand what had happened, but she heard Rick mutter under his breath.

"Oh my god."

Rick started to trail forwards past the group, his feet gradually speeding up as the little boy who had cried ran towards him screaming. "Dad!" The woman followed behind the boy immediately. The boy crashed into Rick's arms, the two of them fumbling to the ground in an embrace, tears spilling from both of their eyes.

"Wow." Willow whispered, tears pricking at her own eyes.

"Small world, huh?" Glenn smiled, heading off to talk to an old man in a fishing hat.

The rest of them stood around, admiring the reunification of the family. A smile tugged at Shane's lips, finally, taking in the sight before him.

"Amy, this is Willow."

Willow's head turned to her left, Andrea holding out her arm towards her.

"It's nice to meet you." Amy smiled sparingly, looking at the baby in her arms. "Who's this?"

"Sienna." Willow grinned, pulling back some of the cloth that shielded Sienna's face. Amy clicked her tongue with an adoring face.

"Why don't you introduce yourself to everyone, get to know them?" Andrea asked, still having an arm around Amy. "It'll be getting dark here soon, we'll start a fire and get things rolling."

The fire was warm and had a homey feeling to the heat it emitted.

The group sat around it, hugging those close to them, sharing little whispers and laughs.

"What was it like?" Dale asked from across the fire. "Waking up, not even knowing what the world has come to?"

Rick let out a sigh. "I felt- disoriented. I guess that comes closest. Fear, confusion, all those things. But disoriented comes closest."

"Words can be meager things." Dale responded. "Sometimes they fall short."

The group nodded in agreement.

"What about you, Willow?" Dale turned his attention to the girl cradling her baby. "What's your story?"

"My story?" She questioned, not quite sure how to begin or how much she should share. "I lived out in Augusta my whole life, I guess up until now. Came to Atlanta to find my brother. I found him, but we got separated a few days into finding each other." She cleared her throat, trying to not think about it too much.

"And her?" Dale looked at Sienna.

"Had this little devil about a year ago. She's a trooper." She smiled down at her daughter who was now wide awake staring back at her. Her smile faded quick as she saw Dale raise an eyebrow, about to open his mouth. She knew what his next question was going to be. "Her father isn't around now. Didn't make it that far into this new world." It made little to no difference for her or Sienna. Sienna's father would never have been good with them. Even in the world before this.

A loud crackle and bang was heard behind the group at a separate fire. A burly man tossed a large log into it before sitting back down next to a woman and a little girl.

"Hey, Ed. Wanna rethink that log, man?" Shane called over.

The burly man responded. "It's cold, man."

"The cold don't change the rules, does it? Keep our fires low, just embers so we can't be seen from a distance."

The man grunted. "I said it's cold. You should mind your own business for once."

Shane grew tired of the mouth on that man and stood up, ripping the log out of the fire and throwing it aside before sitting back down, muttering. "I appreciate your cooperation." The sarcasm dripped from his tongue.

"Have you given any thought to Daryl Dixon?" Dale asked, nobody in specific. "He won't be happy to hear that his brother was left behind."

Willow adjusted herself on the log she sat on, uncomfortable at the thought of another Dixon walking around. If Daryl was anything like Merle, she might just consider bolting out of here as soon as possible.

"I'll tell him." T-dog answered. "I dropped the key. It's on me."

"I cuffed him. That makes it mine." Rick said in return.

"Guys, it's not a competition. I don't mean to bring race into this, but it might sound better coming from a white guy." Glenn side eyed Rick who nodded in agreement.

"We could lie." Amy said, between her sister's arms.

"Or we could tell the truth." Willow added in, picking at her nails beneath Sienna. "Merle was out of control. Something had to be done or he'd have gotten us all killed. Surely Daryl would understand that."

"That's what we tell Daryl? I don't see a rational discussion to be had from that, do you?" Dale asked the group, but mostly Willow.

She shrugged in return. "I don't know the man, but I guess if he's anything like his brother, maybe you're right."

"Daryl Dixon is the spitting image of Merle Dixon." Glenn scoffed.

"Word to the wise- we're gonna have our hands full when he comes back from his hunt." Dale stood up, brushing off his pants as he grabbed for a canteen of water.

"He hunts?" Willow asked, earning a nod back from the whole group.

"Why?" Lori asked, looking over at Willow from Rick's shoulder.

"My dad used to take me hunting when I was younger." She glanced over at Shane. She felt like he's been making the calls for this group for a while now. "I could hunt if it would help out. It's the least I could do. You guys saved my ass back there."

Shane stared at her for a couple seconds, trying to study her. She didn't look like the type to hunt. "I think that would be unwise considering that lil girl you have there." He pointed at Sienna.

"I've made it this long on my own. Didn't always eat canned beans and fruit. Had to hunt eventually." She looked back at the burning embers of the fire, hoping they would take it into consideration.

"I locked the door to the roof." T-Dog broke the awkward silence. "Put a chain and padlock on that thing."

"What are you saying?" Andrea asked.

"Dixon's alive."

Glenn and Dale had showed Willow to a spare tent they had set up amongst others. It wasn't much, but it was better than anything she has had in weeks.

"If you need anything, I'm in the tent over." Glenn smiled at her before exiting, zipping the tent closed behind him.

Two sleeping bags were on the floor with a couple of extra pillows. She set down her backpack and pulled out a small diaper, changing Sienna quickly in hopes to not wake her. She had managed to fall asleep towards the end of the fire.

She swaddled Sienna in the fabric she had been carried in and laid next to Willow on top of the extra sleeping bag, a pillow underneath her. Exhaustion pulled at Willow's under eyes, and eventually she fell asleep.

Out of habit, her hand remained on the Bowie knife that stuck to her side.

Willow woke up to birds chirping throughout the leafy woods that surrounded the camp and she couldn't help but smile at the sound. In a world that had gone deafly quiet, it was comforting to hear the birds sing.

She stretched out her legs after throwing on some new clothes; a thin black tank top and some old jeans. Her clothes from the other day were missing and were replaced with new ones, nicely folded and fresh.

Cradling Sienna, she walked up a short hill to the base of the camp.

"Morning." A sweet voice rang next to Willow, the woman she knew to be Carol.

"Good morning."

"They're still a little damp." Carol felt the clothes that hung on the ironing board. "The sun'll have them dried in no time." She smiled kindly.

Willow shifted slightly. "You washed my clothes?"

"Well, best we could." She began taking a hot metal iron to some other clothes on the board. "Scrubbing on a washboard ain't half as good as my old Maytag back home."

"That's very kind, thank you Carol." Willow smiled back at the woman.

She began to walk off but Carol called out to her. "Willow?"

Willow turned back around.

"I've got a little girl of my own, Sophia." She glanced over at the little girl who sat on the ground playing with Carl. "I know a thing or two when it comes to babies. If you ever need help, I wouldn't mind stepping in."

Willow wasn't sure about many of the people at this camp, but something about Carol warmed her and told her she was one to put some trust in.

"I'll keep that in mind, thank you."

"Look at 'em. Vultures." Glenn huffed with crossed arms, watching the men loot and pull apart the Camaro he drove back from the city. "Yeah, go on. Strip it clean."

Dale passed by. "Generators need every drop of fuel they can get."

"I had a car like that." Willow said lowly, Glenn jumping, not knowing she had came up next to him. "Not nearly as modern."

Glenn eyed her, wanting more details.

"1969 Camaro, bright red with some white stripes down both sides. First it was my grandpa's, then my dad's, then it was mine. Best piece of metal I've ever had." She watched the men too. "It was like an heirloom."

"Wouldn't have taken you as a car girl." Glenn chuckled.

"I'm a lot of things people don't expect me to be."

His eye brow raised in curiosity.

"Guess you'll come to figure that out soon enough." She smirked.

A blood curdling scream carried through the air from back in the woods, immediately pulling everyone into action to follow it. Lori screamed from beside Rick, running towards the scream. "Carl?!"

Willow ran through the low branches, nearly tripping over stray tree roots, hanging not too far behind Rick and Shane. She pulled her knife from her side, rushing ahead while Lori enveloped Carl. Shane, Rick, Glenn, and Willow slid to a halt at the sight of a gnarly walker gnawing on a deceased buck. Willow noticed two arrows in the back side of the deer, and as her memory served, none of the group used any archery equipment. Her eyes darted around them, trying to catch a sign of someone else that may be lurking in the woods around them as Shane, Rick and Glenn took care of the walker. Squelching and blood splatters echoed around them as the men continued to beat on the walker, only to their dismay it continued to kick and groan.

Finally, Dale ran up behind them, chopping the walker's head clean off with an axe. "It's the first one we've had up here. They never come this far up the mountain."

"Well, they're running out of food in the city." Willow grunted, taking a look at the decapitated walker.

A twig snapped in the brush of the woods ahead of them, causing each of them to jolt up. Shane raising his shotgun, and the rest of them having their weapons out. The men stood ahead of her, blocking her field of view.

"Oh, Jesus." Shane scoffed, rolling his eyes and lowering his gun.

"Son of a bitch." A thick southern accent came from in front of the men. "That's my deer."

The men backed off, revealing a sturdy man wielding a crossbow.

"That explains the arrows in it." Willow said to herself.

"Look at it, all gnawed on by this filthy, disease-bearin', motherless, poxy bastard!" Between each word, he kicked the headless body of the dead.

"Daryl Dixon I'm assuming?" Willow whispered slyly to Glenn beside her, him nodding in return.

"Calm down son, that's not helping." Dale tried to ease his tension, but Daryl walked up into his face.

"What do you know 'bout it old man? Why don't you take that stupid hat and go back to 'On Golden Pond'." Daryl backed off, returning to the deer, ripping out the arrows stuck in it. "I've been trackin' this deer for miles. Gonna drag it back to camp, cook us up some venison. What do you think? Think we can cut 'round this chewed up part right here?" He used one of the arrows to outline the ruptured neck of the deer.

"I wouldn't risk that." Shane said, resting his shotgun on his shoulders.

"That's a damn shame." Daryl sighed. "I got some squirrel, 'bout a dozen or so."

Willow's attention was torn away from Daryl and to the head of the walker that started to snarl and groan again. "Oh god." She grimaced away.

"Come on people, what the hell." He raised his crossbow and shot the walker's head right in the eye. "It's gotta be the brain. Don't y'all know nothin'?" He retrieved his arrow again, shoving past them all and walked towards camp.

"You're right." She told Glenn. "Spitting image."

"Merle! Get your ugly ass out here!" Daryl called as he approached the RV. "I got us some squirrel."

"Daryl," Shane called after him. "just slow down a bit, I need to talk to you."

Willow trailed behind with a twist in her stomach. She knew this wouldn't end well. Glenn found a hint of amusement in it all.

"Piece of squirrel says that Daryl punches someone." He glanced over at Willow.

She shook her head, finding it hard to joke about it, but gave in. "Deal."

"About what?" Daryl finally stopped, looking back at Shane.

"About Merle. There was a problem in Atlanta." Shane stood in front of the man now, hands on his hips.

Daryl glanced around to those that were on that run to Atlanta, waiting for someone to speak up. "He dead?"

"We're not sure." Shane said with some disappointment in his voice.

"He either is or he ain't!" Daryl pushed forward towards Shane, Rick then inserting himself.

"No easy way to say this, so I'll just say it."

Before he could finish, Daryl cut him off. "Who are you?"

"Rick Grimes."

"Rick Grimes." Daryl mimicked. "You got something you wanna tell me?"

Rick spit it out, straight and simple. "Your brother was a danger to us all. So, I handcuffed him on a roof, hooked him to a piece of metal. He's still there."

In the distance, Willow saw T-Dog approaching the camp with firewood laid out in his arms. He looked worried seeing Daryl back.

"Hold on, lemme process this." Daryl turned, kicking some dirt. "You're saying you handcuffed my brother to a roof and you left him there?!" Daryl screamed in Ricks face.

"Yeah." Rick groaned.

Daryl took another step closer before throwing the string of squirrels at Rick. Rick had ducked just in time to miss them, but Daryl came full force towards him, only to be knocked to the ground from Shane charging at him.

Willow whispered to Glenn. "No punches yet." She smirked before returning to Shane and Daryl rolling on the ground.

Daryl fought and got Shane off of him as he pulled out a knife, swiping it in Rick's direction, but Rick and Shane weren't having it. The two men grabbed Daryl by his arms, slamming him back into the RV.

"You best let me go!" Daryl shouted through gritted teeth.

"Nah, I think it's better if I don't." Shane said, struggling to control the man.

"Choke hold's illegal!"

Shane chuckled for a second. "You can file a complaint."

Rick crouched down to level with Daryl. "I'd like to have a calm discussion of this topic, you think we can manage that?" Daryl still fought, not responding.

"Do you think we can manage that?" Rick said again with more irritation bubbling inside him.

Daryl finally gave up, Shane releasing him from a choke hold.

"What I did was not on a whim." Rick said, still crouched down in front of the man. "Your brother does not work and play well with others."

Willow trailed forward a bit, standing next to Carol now. She felt bad for the man who was so upset about the group leaving his brother behind. She knew that if it were her brother, she'd be pissed too.

"I had the key." T-Dog finally said, laying down the wood. "But I dropped it."

"You couldn't pick it up?" Daryl shot his eyes at T-Dog.

"Well, I dropped it down a drain." T-Dog replied, a hint of embarrassment in his voice.

Daryl grunted, getting up from the ground, throwing a handful of dirt down at T-Dog's feet. "If it's supposed to make me feel better, it don't." A quick sob escaped his mouth before he rubbed his eyes, throwing his hand out to the group. "To hell with all of y'all! Just tell me where he is, so I can go get him."

"He'll show you." Lori spoke, standing at the entrance to the RV. "Isn't that right?"

Rick lowered his head at the tone of Lori's voice, full of disappointment. She had just gotten him back after he was presumably dead, and now he's running back out there.

"I'm going back." He finally said, Lori storming into the RV following his words.

Daryl spit on the ground before trailing off back to the tents.

"I'm gonna go talk to him." Willow said to Carol.

"I don't know, maybe it would be best to give him some space." Carol said. She knew him better than Willow did, and maybe she was right, but T-Dog had left out an important detail that may just give Daryl some hope.

"Would you mind holding Sienna for me?" She asked Carol shyly, but Carol was more than happy to.

Following his trail, she stood behind Daryl who had already thrown his crossbow down into his tent.

"Daryl?" She said softly. "My name's-"

"I don't care what your name is, woman." He kicked his sleeping bag and pillow to the side.

"Okay." She said quietly. "Well, you should know that T-Dog locked up the roof before he left. There's no way those walker could've gotten to him."

Daryl turned around quickly, his eyebrows furrowed. "You were there with 'em?"

She nodded slowly.

"And you didn't try to get him outta there?" His voice boomed but she didn't waver.

"The walkers were already swarming the place and had already broken in." She crossed her arms. "I did what I had to do to keep myself and my daughter alive, and so did everyone else."

He scoffed, turning back into his tent. "Yeah, forgot that them people don't give a shit 'bout anyone else."

She sighed with defeat as she realized there was no getting through to him. "That padlock won't budge. Point is, your brother's alive."

He scoffed before zipping up his tent and Willow retreated back to the camp, leaving him to sulk.

Word count: 3,488

#daryl dixon #fanfic #norman reedus #the walking dead #wattpad #twd fanfiction #daryl dixon x oc #daryl dixon fanfiction

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fakesmilesallaround · 1 year ago

Text

𝐭𝐰𝐨

WILLOW SAT ON A PIPE ON THE ROOFTOP, cradling her baby. She took the cloth that she had used to secure the baby and covered her up along with the left side of her chest. As a first time mom, she still isn't quite comfortable breastfeeding in front of others, but it was about time her little one needed it.

Rick and the others stood, eyeing the streets and the large number of the dead that walked upon them.

"It's up to us to find a way out." Rick said, looking back at everyone.

Merle grunted. "Good luck with that. These streets ain't safe in this part of town from what I hear. Ain't that right, sugar tits?" He grinned disgustingly at Willow. She scoffed and ignored his crude comment. "Hey, honey bunch, what say you get me out of these cuffs, we go off somewhere and bump some uglies? We gonna die anyway."

She glanced over at him, pathetically on the ground and still cuffed to the metal bar. "I'd rather."

Glenn, who sat further down the pipe, let a subtle smirk play at his lips.

"What about under the streets, the sewers?" Rick asked Morales who's eyes lit up.

"Hey Glenn, check the alley. See any manhole covers?"

Glenn ran over to the back side of the building and quickly checked before returning. "No, must be all out on the street where the geeks are."

"Maybe not." Everyone's attention turned towards Jacqui. "Old building like this built in to '20s, big structures often had drainage tunnels into the sewers in case of flooding. Down in the subbasements."

"How do you know that?" Willow asked, Glenn nodding in agreement.

"It's my job-" Jacqui shook her head. "Was. I worked in the city zoning office."

"Let's go check it out then." Rick stated, heading towards the stairs, everyone following behind shortly after.

"Don't forget to come back for me darlin'." Merle winked at Willow as she covered up and wrapped her baby again.

"Wouldn't be at the top of my priority list." She scoffed, heading down the stairs.

The room they entered was dim and dusty and smelled of horrid mold. On the right side of the room, a massive hole with a ladder caught everyone's attention. The drainage tunnel that Jacqui was talking about.

"This is it? You sure?" Morales asked, shining his flashlight down into the tunnel.

"I really scoped this place out. This is the only thing in the building that goes down." Glenn responded, swallowing hard. "But I've never gone down it. Who'd want to, right?"

As he said that, everyone looked at him, as if they were all saying the same thing. From the look on his face, he received the message loud and clear.

"Oh. Great." His eyes fluttered back to the dark tunnel.

Willow felt bad for the group sending him down. "We'll be right behind you." She approached Glenn's side.

"No, you won't. Not you." His voice sounded frustrated. "You're carrying a baby around, and the last thing we need is a baby without a mother."

Willow eyed him for a minute but nodded.

"Look, until now I always came here by myself, in and out, grab a few things no problem." The group listened intently. "The first time I bring a group, everything goes to hell. No offense. If you want me to go down the gnarly hole, fine. But only if we do it my way."

Rick nodded.

"It's tight down there. If I run into something and have to get out quick, I don't want you all jammed up behind me getting me killed. I'll take one person."

Right as Rick was about to say something, Glenn beat him to it. "Not you either. You've got Merle's gun and I've seen you shoot. I'd feel better if you were out in that store watching those doors covering our ass. Andrea, you have the only other gun so you should go with him." He pointed to the blonde before pointing to Morales. "You be my wingman. Jacqui and Willow stays here. If something happens, yell down to us, get us back up here in a hurry." Glenn took a deep breath after rambling.

"Okay. Everybody knows their jobs." Rick patted Glenn on the back before he placed his flashlight in his mouth, descending the ladder with Morales. After the two of them had began walking the tunnel, Andrea and Rick retreated to the store, leaving Jacqui and Willow in the old room.

"What's her name?" Jacqui asked, eyeing Willow and her baby tenderly.

"Sienna." Willow responded, rocking her baby back and forth.

"May I?" Jacqui approached them, holding her arms out. Willow took a small step back, eyeing the woman. She still didn't know if she could trust them all yet. Being in a group wasn't exactly Willow's plan or intent, and it takes her a while to warm up to people, but that was then. The world has gone to shit, and running into any living being was a rarity now. She figured now more than ever she'd have to learn to trust others.

Willow nodded, gently placing Sienna into Jacqui's arms, the woman's face immediately lighting up like a Christmas tree.

"Hi sweetie." She said gently to the baby she cradled. "She's got your eyes." Jacqui said, smiling up at Willow.

She did have her eyes. Warm, doe-like hazel eyes. She thanked God that she did. They made looking at that baby that much easier.

"Do you have any of your own?" Willow asked, trying to ease her way into getting to know these people.

The woman shook her head. "Wasn't able to have children."

Willow's face fell. "Oh, I'm sorry."

Jacqui shook it off. "Don't be. Never knew if motherhood would be right for me, anyways." She looked back down at Sienna who was now grabbing her index finger in her little hands and let out a small laugh. "Though this little one makes me think otherwise."

The grunts of the two that ventured to the drainage tunnel pulled them out of conversation as they climbed out of the hole. Before any questions could be asked, glass shattering could be heard from the room over, causing the four of them to run and follow it.

Upon entering the store, Rick and Andrea stood in front of the doors. The first set had been broken, the dead walking through and beginning their assault on the last set. Jacqui quickly handed Sienna back to Willow as they all stood in fear.

"What did you find down there?" Rick asked, pistol at the ready.

"Not a way out." Morales replied, out of breath.

"We need to find a way." Andrea said in desperation.

The pounding and growling grew louder as more of the dead began to pile at the doors.

The group made their way back to the rooftop to check the streets in hopes they had cleared, but the head count was just as high as before.

Rick looked through binoculars before passing them down to the others. "That construction site, those trucks- they always keep keys on hand.

"You'll never make it past the walkers." Morales responded immediately, eyeing the hundreds below them.

Rick took a step back, looking at Glenn. "You got me out of that tank."

"Yeah, but they were feeding. They were distracted." Glenn pulled away from the ledge.

"Can we distract them again?" Rick asked.

A voice from behind them chimed in. "Right. Listen to him, he's onto something'. A diversion, like on "Hogan's Heroes"

"God, give it a rest." Jacqui said towards Merle.

"Maybe we can send him down there as our distraction." Willow said in annoyance, pointing at Merle, earning a glare from him.

"They're drawn by sound, right?"

"Right, like dogs." Glenn answered Rick. "They hear a sound, they come."

"What else?" Rick pushed. Willow didn't know much about Rick, but it seemed that he was still acclimating to the new world.

"Aside from they hear you, they see you, they smell you, and if they catch you, they eat you."

"They can tell us by smell?" Rick asked, stirring up an idea in his head.

"Can't you? They smell dead, we don't." Willow glanced over the edge of the roof again. "It's pretty distinct."

With no more conversation, Rick let out a sigh.

"If bad ideas were an Olympic event, this would take the gold." Glenn muttered, grabbing some rubber gloves.

"Just take some time to think this through." Morales pressed on towards Rick.

"How much time? They already got through one set of doors." Rick responded, still gathering gloves and jackets for everyone.

"He's right. Those glass doors won't hold forever." Willow said, eyeing the group.

Morales, Glenn and Rick went out the door and collected one of the dead walkers they had killed earlier to let them inside, dragging it into the room. The group stood around the body, the putrid smell burning their noses. Rick knelt down, patting the dead man's pockets, pulling out an old wallet that sat in them.

"Wayne Dunlap." He said, pulling out the man's ID. "Georgia license."

Willow felt a pang in her stomach. She, too, isn't acclimated to this new world. Seeing the once alive now dead but walking around the streets, she can't help but imagine who they were before the world went to shit. With each walker she killed, she still felt a slight sense of guilt, but she knew that in order to keep her and her daughter alive, eventually she would have to push that guilt to the side.

Rick grabbed the fire axe that was once encased in glass and raised it behind him, crashing it down into the man's abdomen. The group flinched back in disgust and horror as thick dark blood sprayed the room. He kept swinging more and more until the man's insides were easily accessible. Using their gloved hands, they gathered the mush that was left of the insides and began to spread it heavily on Glenn and Rick's jackets. Willow and Andrea stepped away for a second to gather themselves as the air in the room became tainted and foul.

"If we make it back, be ready." Rick said sternly to the group.

"What about Merle Dixon." T-Dog asked the question no one else wanted to ask. Rick slipped his hand into his pocket, pulling out a small metal key, tossing it to T-Dog.

The rest of the group watched over the edge of the roof, Morales peering through the binoculars in hopes to spot Glenn and Rick. It took a while to spot them in a sea of walkers.

"There!" Morales exclaimed, pointing down to a street across from their building, but their attention was turned towards the sky as dark clouds moved and covered the sun with a loud grumble of thunder following it.

Willow felt a drop of rain splash onto her hand, before another and more. She ripped off her jacket and draped it over Sienna on her chest.

"Oh man." Morales said, as he too felt the rain that was coming.

Everyone glanced over the road, following Glenn and Rick. So far, the dead were still mindlessly walking, but as the rain came down harder and harder, they could see the walkers starting to become entertained by the two of them. Within a blink of an eye, Rick's axe was plunged into the head of a walker that showed too much interest in him, only to fuel the energy and hunger of the others surrounding them. The two took off into a sprint, smashing their weapons into the heads of anything that got in their way. They finally got to a chain linked fence, throwing their weapons over before climbing it, just barely getting over before the walkers were gripping the metal.

Willow let out a breath of relief, but Andrea shot it down fast. "Don't relax yet. The plan isn't over."

Sure enough, as the two climbed into the truck, the fence broke down, hundreds of walkers trampling over it and towards their vehicle.

"They're leaving us." Andrea said in shock.

"What?" Willow grabbed the binoculars from Morales, holding them up to her eyes. The Ferenc truck crashed down another fence, heading down a street beyond their view. She took a step back, handing the binoculars back to Morales. Her mind filled with worry and fear with an 'I told you so.' She felt foolish to put even an ounce of trust into those people.

But she was wrong.

"Those roll-up doors at the front of the store facing the street- meet us there and be ready." Glenn's voice spoke through the device Morales held.

They all stumbled back, desperately grabbing their bags and belongings.

"Come on, let's go, let's go!" Morales yelled, quickening his pace towards the steps.

Willow followed quickly, hearing Merle scream behind her. "Hey, you can't leave me here! I'm not fooling' man!"

The group was halfway down the stairs, everyone but T-Dog.

"T-Dog, come on!" Willow screamed up to him, hoping he could hear. Her feet didn't stop moving, carrying herself down with the rest of them to the doors Glenn had spoken about. More glass cracking and shattering was heard from the store, everyone's hearts beating a thousand beats a minute. Willow stood beside Andrea and Jacqui, bouncing Sienna as she began to cry.

"Come on T." Morales said impatiently.

The group grabbed the chains that would hoist open the door, listening to a car alarm blaring past the building.

"What is that?" Andrea questioned, hands still ready to pull.

Suddenly, more glass shattered, only this time the moans and groans of the walkers could be heard much clearer. Willow turned towards the entrance to the garage, T-Dog flying through it with his bags. "They're here, let's go!" He yelled, as walkers started to slowly pile through the door.

A loud bang was heard on the garage door, signaling the group to start raising it. Willow glanced behind her as everyone started throwing their bags into the truck, hopping in. She held her knife in front of her tightly, raising it and stabbing it into one of the dead's temples, allowing more time for the group to get in.

"Willow, come on!" Andrea yelled back at her.

Willow turned, throwing her things inside the truck as well, jumping in, just barely missing the hands of a walker. Morales quickly untied the ropes that held the truck door up, slamming it closed as Rick began to drive.

Everyone sat on the flat of the truck, gasping and sweating at how quick everything was before turning their attention to T-Dog. He sat against the passenger seat, holding his side, panting. "I dropped the damn key."

They stared at him in silence, not knowing what to say, but Andrea spoke to eliminate the silence.

"Where's Glenn?"

Rick wiped his forehead. "Got him a car to distract the walkers away from the garage. He'll be meeting us there."

"Where exactly is that?" Willow spoke out, untying Sienna's carrier.

"You'll see." Morales spoke before turning ahead to face the road.

Word count: 2,442

#daryl dixon #fanfic #norman reedus #the walking dead #wattpad #twd fanfiction #daryl dixon fanfiction #daryl dixon x oc

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fakesmilesallaround · 1 year ago

Text

𝐨𝐧𝐞

"COME ON, LOVE. WORK WITH ME HERE." The woman supported the little bundle against her chest as she barreled down the four lane street, her other hand clenched tightly around her Bowie knife. The little one continued to cry, alerting any of the risen within multiple blocks. With some already hot on their tracks, the woman continued to push forward, her eyes darting to every building she passes, sizing them up and down in search of a temporary safe haven. Though, with the screams and cries of the baby, she knew she needed to go further than her legs could let her to find somewhere to rest comfortably.

The city of Atlanta has never looked so dead. Rusted and broken down cars spread for miles along every road that twisted and turned through the city. Though the city and life as everyone knew it was dead and doomed, nature was thriving. Various flowers, weeds, and trees grew, cracking and slipping through cracks of cement and asphalt.

The world has gone quiet, almost as if it had stopped turning.

The baby let out another cry as the woman tripped over a stray metal car door.

"Shh, it's alright." she cooed at the baby against her chest.

She slipped into a musty alley between two towering buildings, pulling a chain linked gate closed behind her. Her feet dragged towards a dumpster where she fumbled against the wall as her legs gave out. Sliding down the brick wall behind her, she sat next to the dumpster, pulling back the cloth that shielded a majority of the babies face. To her surprise, the tears were dry against the little ones face, and her eyes were wide, staring largely at the woman.

"Good girl." She smiled down at the baby. "I knew you could do it."

She set her knife down next to where she sat before pulling off her backpack, digging through it to find her canister of water. Though the buildings were tall, the sun still beat down against her skin, blistering slowly. She took a few sips before pouring some into her hand, dousing her face and her neck in it, in hopes to cool down. But not to her avail, the water was just as warm as the Georgia air.

They sat for a while, the woman listening closely to the scuffling of the dead's feet that seemed to be surpassing them. A quiet sigh of relief slipped through her lips, only to be sucked back in at loud gunshots that seemed to only be getting closer, soon followed by loud pattering that was heading towards the gate in which she came from. Out of instinct, she covered the a bit more and quickly fumbled for her knife as the gate flew open. A boy about a few years younger than her held the gate open for another man to follow behind, a bit older than the both of them.

"Come on, back here!" The younger boy yelled at the man.

They swung the gate shut, but at the sight of how many risers were at the gate, it most definitely wouldn't hold.

She quickly got up from her spot, and immediately found both pair of eyes on her. The younger boy halted for just a second in his tracks, his eyes full of worry, before ushering her to come along as well.

"That gate won't hold, follow me, now!" His yells echoed in the alley, and without thinking, her feet started moving at their pace to stay with them.

It was only a matter of seconds before they reached the end of the alley. The man in front of her was wearing a sheriff's uniform and had his gun out in front of him as risers started to pile in at the end of the alley, blocking the only exit.

"Let's go, let's go!" The boy screamed as he began to climb a yellow metal ladder.

The man ushered her to go up after the boy as he continued to shoot a few for of the dead before following up after them. She held her breath as she ascended the ladder as the dead were groaning and screaming beneath her. It felt like a thousand minutes to even get halfway up the ladder. Stepping off onto a metal platform, the three of them stood against the railing, catching their breaths. The woman gently bounced the baby against her chest while patting her back to prevent her from crying again.

"Nice moves there, Clint Eastwood." The young boy said to the man, still panting and looking over the railing. "You the new Sheriff? Come riding in to clean up the town?"

"It wasn't my intention." The man responded.

"Yeah, whatever, yeehaw. You're still a dumbass." The boy adjusted his red hat.

"Rick, thanks." The man stuck out his hand for the boy.

"Glenn, you're welcome." The boy shook it firmly.

Taking a last look at the dead beneath them all, Glenn urged them to keep climbing.

"The bright side: it'll be the fall that kills us." He peered up to the many more rungs that they would have to climb. "I'm a glass-half-full kinda guy."

He started climbing again, followed by the woman and Rick behind her. The climbed fast with desperation to get to the top, but too fast. Her foot slipped and her body jolted, though her hands remained firm on the rung above her.

"You okay?" Rick asked from below her.

She swallowed hard, not looking down. Heights were never her strong suit. "I'm fine. My foot slipped." She took a deep breath and continued climbing.

At the top, they hopped down to a structure that connected the roofs of two building, making their way to the other. Running along the new roof, Glenn swung open a metal latch with yet another ladder, but thankfully they would be descending it this time around.

"Back at the tank, why'd you stick your neck out for me?" Rick asked as Glenn began to climb down the latch.

"Call it foolish, naive hope that if I'm ever the far up shit creek, somebody might do the same thing for me. Guess I'm an even bigger dumbass than you."

As Glenn slowly disappeared beneath them, Rick held the latch open for the woman to follow.

"Thank you." Her voice cracked at the heaving her lungs have been doing from the running. Rick gave her a subtle nod before following after her, slamming the latch shut behind him.

They made their way through what looked like an office building, the rooms lined with many cubicles, before they were outside again, descending a few flights of stairs.

Glenn whipped a device from his pocket as his feet still pressed forward at a quick pace. "I'm back. I got some guests. Plus four geeks in the alley."

Their legs quickly stopped at the bottom few stairs as four of the dead turned towards them. Their lifeless eyes grew hungry at the sight of the three of them, and their feet began to drag against the concrete towards them. The woman held up her knife, but as she did, a metal door behind the dead swung open, two men running out and taking down the risers.

Glenn began running again towards the doorway. "Let's go!"

Rick and the woman wasted no time following him in.

The second the three get into a room, Rick was slammed backwards into a couple of boxes, a blonde woman raising a gun to his head. "You son of a bitch, we ought to kill you." She said through gritted teeth.

"Just chill out Andrea, back off." One of the men said.

"We're dead because of this stupid asshole."

The man approached her from behind. "Andrea, I said back the hell off."

Andrea stood for a few moments longer, her eyes welding with tears, before finally backing off, lowering her gun.

The woman stood there beside Glenn, both of their faces full of shock. She continued to pat her baby with one hand and hold her knife in the other, not sure if she can't trust any of these strangers just yet. Her baby let out a small noise, alerting Andrea again.

"Great, and you brought a baby too." She let out a tense laugh. "We're dead, all of us."

"I don't understand." Rick said with confusion, and in response, the man to calm Andrea grabbed him by his bicep and started walking with him, the rest of the group following behind.

"Look, we came into the city to scavenge supplies." He roughly let go of Rick, shoving him forward down a dark hallway. "You know what the key to scavenging is? Surviving! You know the key to surviving? Sneaking in and out, tiptoeing. Not shooting up the streets like it's the O.K. Corral."

As they entered what looked like a small retail store, the group faced the glass doors ahead of them. "Every geek for miles around heard you popping off rounds." Another man said.

"You just rang the dinner bell." Andrea said exhaustedly.

Everyone stood in horror as the dead were pounding on the doors, hungry and determined to storm the place to eat. A couple had bricks in their hands, slamming them repeatedly into the glass which began to spiderweb and shatter with each contact. They all began to back up as the cracking of the glass started to echo through the building.

"What the hell were y'all even doing out there anyway?" Andrea spat at the both of them, eyeing the woman first.

"I got split up from my brother a couple days back. Just trying to find him again." The woman said shyly. She felt mildly uncomfortable with sharing much with these people, but she knew the least she could do is answer when spoken to considering they saved her and her little ones lives.

"And you?" Andrea turned to Rick.

He stood firmly with his hands on his hips. "Trying to flag the helicopter."

"Helicopter?" The black man spat out. "Man that's crap, ain't no damn helicopter."

Andrea rolled her eyes.

"Hey, T-Dog, try that C.B. Can you contact the others?"

Ricks eyes darted to the man. "Others? The refugee center?"

A woman beside T-Dog responded, "Yeah, the refugee center. They've got biscuits waiting at the oven for us."

She tensed under the woman's sarcasm. With what little hope she had left in finding her brother, that was the next place she considered heading for, but now she wasn't so sure.

"Got no signal." T-Dog said angrily. "Maybe the roof."

Everyone jumped at a loud gunshot that rang through the building. Confusion grew on the woman's face at the sight of everyone before her not holding a gun. Her body was more tense now knowing there's another person she is about to meet.

Andrea stared up at the ceiling. "Oh no, is that Dixon?"

The group filed down more hallways and ascended more stairs again to get to the roof where they found, the woman assuming to be, Dixon. He stood at the ledge of the rooftop, aiming down a rifle, picking off the risers that walked the streets visibly.

"Morales, calm down." Andrea tried grabbing at the man's shirt, knowing what was about to go down.

"Hey, Dixon, are you crazy?!" Morales darted towards Dixon, who only started laughing at the distraught state the man was in.

"Hey! Y'all ought to be more polite to a man with a gun." A sick smile was on his face as he waved the rifle around.

The woman's stomach turned. She could already tell this man was reckless and dangerous. She holstered her knife and rested her hands gently over the babies ears, knowing the loud echos of the gun shots would disturb her.

"Come on man, you wasting bullets that we don't even got." T-Dog got up in Dixon's face as he stepped down from the ledge.

"I don't take no orders from your kind of people." Dixon spat at him.

T-Dog stepped up more to him, shoving him further and further back. Finally, Dixon had enough shoving and wanted blood. He turned his rifle and nailed T-Dog in the face with the butt of it. Rick quickly pushed past everyone, trying to deescalate the situation, only earning him a punch to the face by Dixon as well.

Rick flew to the ground, anger in his eyes before getting back up again.

Dixon had T-Dog on the ground, kicking him mercilessly before pulling a pistol out and aiming it right between his eyes. T-Dog cowered along with everyone else in the group that watched everything unfold.

"Yeah. Alright," Dixon yelled, spitting on T-Dog and standing back up, holding the pistol out. "We're gonna have ourselves a little powwow, huh? Talk about who's in charge. I vote me. Anybody else?" He looked around at the bystanders who looked back at him in fear. A few of them raised their hands slowly, scared about the dangerous man with the gun.

He smirked. "That means I'm the boss right? Yeah. Anybody else?"

"Yeah." Rick grumbled from behind Dixon. As the man turned around, his own rifle was smacking into his face, his body falling to the rooftop ground. Everyone watched in satisfaction as Rick cuffed Dixon's hand to a metal piped, grabbing him by the front of his jacket to sit him up.

"Who the hell are you man?" Dixon said through gritted teeth.

"Officer friendly. Look here, Merle. Things are different now." Rick picked up the pistol Merle once had and unloaded it. There's only dark meat and white meat now. There's us and the dead. We survive this by pulling together."

Merle's face was full of anger as Rick talked to him like a child. "Screw you man."

Rick chuckled unenthusiastically. "I can see you make a habit of missing the point."

"Yeah?" Merle responded, inching closer into Rick's face. "Well, screw you twice."

Suddenly, the pistol was up to Merle's temple. "Ought to be polite to a man with a gun." Rick said, using his own words against him. "Only common sense."

The woman looked beside her at Glenn who still looked horrified at what's going down. "Is he always like this?"

Glenn nodded. "Believe it or not, this isn't even the worst of it."

The woman approached T-Dog along with Andrea, Glenn, not taking her eyes off of Rick or Merle. Leaning down, still supporting her baby's head, she eyed over his wounds. "You alright?"

T-Dog glanced at her for a second. "Yeah." He sat up and spit out some blood that had been lingering in his mouth. "Not the first time some white trash started some shit."

She stood back up and let Andrea and Glenn take care of him as she continued to watch Rick and Merle. Rick had stepped towards the edge of the roof, tossing something over it as Merle screamed behind him.

"Hey! What are you doing man? That's my stuff!" Merle tugged at the handcuffs. "If I get loose, you better pray, you hear me you pig?!"

"Yeah, your voice carries." Rick said as he stood at the far end of the rooftop.

The woman approached his side, looking over the city with him. "You're not Atlanta P.D. Where are you from?"

"Up the road a ways." He finally turned to her.

"Well, officer friendly from up the road a ways, welcome to the big city." She took another glance out over the city before she turned, heading back to the others, though she stopped at Rick's comment.

"I didn't catch your name."

"That's right, you didn't." She turned back around towards him.

"I'm Willow."

Word count: 2,542

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