You had an epiphany—a revelation, and a great one if you might add. You realized how terrible you were in close combat, you weren’t helpless but you weren’t exactly doing anyone any favors either. Your extreme consciousness of being in close proximity with the walkers was one of the downsides of why you were so bad at killing them with a knife. It’s trivial to others—yes, but it was not to you. Just because it was the end of the world doesn’t mean you have to be completely disgusting. No offence to Daryl—not everybody smells comforting and cozy for not showering a whole week.
So you quickly realized, maybe you should start training on sharpshooting. Guns were completely out of question—too noisy, bullets are hard to scavenge as well. So you settled for the best option—Daryl’s crossbow.
“Can you teach me how to use the crossbow? Maybe we can find another one in one of our runs in the future and I’ll know how to use it like you. I like it because it’s silent.” Daryl stared at you blankly, unmoving.
“It’s mine” He stated, “I’m not giving it to ya—and it’s hard to find one lying around” Suddenly growing possessive of his beloved crossbow, slowly bringing it to his back as if to hide it from you.
“Rick said so~” You sing-songed as you swayed side to side—knowing the commands of the leader was something he could not resist. “He wants me to be able to defend myself, so let’s try the crossbow!”
“You’re weird” He grunted, “Now leave me alone, woman” He leaned back on the grass, as usual—a cigarette in between his lips.
“I’m not leaving until you teach me how to shoot at least one arrow” You declared, standing your ground and letting him know you’re not going anywhere. It felt like a solid 10 minutes as you just stood there, waiting for him.
Daryl huffed, it seems like it is one of the only sounds he makes in response. “Fine, then you leave me alone” He lied, he never wants you to leave him alone—he hoped you didn’t
“Deal!” You jumped excitedly and Daryl looked at you and scoffed, shaking his head. How can someone act like this when there’s a walker a couple feet away from you? You were in your own world, where everything was still so bright and colorful. He wonders what it looked like from your point of view because his always looked dull and hopeless, but when he sees you—everything seems to be in color.
Daryl snapped out of his thoughts as he handed you his crossbow and loaded it with an arrow, “Now, shoot”
“Properly, Daryl. You’re tricking me into shooting it so you can shoo me away. I don’t even know how to hold it properly” Daryl grunted, moving behind you. At first he was looking around as if he didn’t know what to do. “Is it like this?” You were holding it so wrongly that it struck his nerve. He went up and closed the gap behind you, he had his arms around you as he fixed your posture. Your breath hitched because his face was right next to yours. You can feel the heat of his body behind you as you flushed. You looked at him to the right, as you realized exactly how close you were. Your face was inches away from his cheek. One move and you might accidentally kiss him.
“Focus on the tree, try to hit it” He grumbled lowly, you diverted your gaze away as you tried to focus and slow down your pounding heart. You can feel Daryl, turned and looked at you, feeling his breath on the nape of your neck. It was a quick moment, he didn’t linger.
You shot, and you managed to hit the tree that was metres away. Your eyes widened as you gasped, “I did it!”
Unknowingly, you dropped the crossbow and jumped to hug him.
Daryl’s brain short-circuited. He just stood there, frozen and didn’t know what to do. In the moment he could smell your scent, it was soft and sweet and he didn’t even know how because he is pretty sure you haven’t showered as long as him—and you would never admit it— but you smelt nice. You felt like everything he wasn’t. His hand instinctively moved up to your waist, as he felt like embracing you.
He stopped himself before he could.
“I wish we could find one. I don’t think it’s possible, who even uses them anymore, right?” You frowned, your lips slightly pouted as he looked at you and hummed. You didn’t say anything else after that—you just patted him in the back as you ran back inside.
Daryl felt like he was possessed, he was never too willing to do anything unimportant to anyone. Maybe it was life and death—yes. Was it really necessary to immediately tell Rick that he was going out on a run to look for food? No—there were enough to last them a few more months. Was it also necessary to lie to him because the truth was that he wanted to find you a crossbow? Also no.
Daryl would split the ocean in half if you asked him to—but he doesn’t know that himself, yet.
“Can I come?” Daryl jumped slightly as you peered over his shoulders. He was starting his bike for the run and you appeared out of nowhere when you were just inside seconds ago. “Haven’t been out in a while, I kinda miss it”
“Ya, can’t—It’s too late, bouta’ be dark soon and it’s gonna be dangerous” There it is, the look on your face—like you were a puppy and he just stepped on your tail. “Stop makin’ that stupid face”
“Please, Daryl… It won’t matter if it’s dangerous” Daryl glared at you, as you tugged on his arm, “I have you to protect me, don’t I?”
It’s like you always knew what to say to him. The words to make him fold and give in. He struggled internally at first as he motioned you to hope on his back. You squealed in excitement as you got on and hugged his waist. Daryl did not anticipate this moment—he did not think this through. So he blanked.
“Are we going or not?”
“Yeah—no. Sorry”
If he had his helmet, he would have given it to you.
That was another item that he needed to find for you.
.
“Where are we going and why is it so far?” You whined, your feet dragging into the ground sluggishly as you tried to catch up with Daryl who had to stop every few seconds to make sure you were still behind him. Both of you were in the deserted part of the area, the sky was dim as the sun was about to set in a few hours.
“Ya wanted to come—so quit complaining and stay close to me” Daryl grumbled as he motioned for you to pick up your pace. You groaned loudly, as you straightened yourself up. A few minutes in your walk, he had brought you to a range.
An archery range.
“Now, I don’t know if they got crossbows here—but I think they got bow and arrows, ya can take your pick” He tried bashing the store room’s door in, as you cautiously looked around for walkers—only to find none. The place was too deserted, people would have abandoned this place a long time ago.
“I thought we were getting food?” You whispered confusingly as you peered over him. Daryl glanced at you but said nothing, he was focused on getting the door open. “Won’t Rick be mad?”
“Ya wanted a bow—I’m gettin’ ya one” He struggled one last time before the last kick finally blew the door open. He held his crossbow up in case there were any walkers inside the room, but the room is clear, “Pick something that’s easy to hold—and take all the arrows”
“They don’t have a pink one” You pouted, looking at all the colors—most of them were wood tones, and black—some of them were green and god you hated green. Daryl picked up a medium sized wooden bow as he handed it to you.
“You can paint on it later on—I’ll find the colors for you” Daryl muttered absentmindedly, now he didn’t even realize that he is blatantly agreeing to whatever you say. You smiled at the thought as you took it and hung it on your shoulder. “We can’t leave yet, it’s dark out—need to wait til’ sunrise and then we can go back”
“You’re saying that we sleep here?!” You exclaimed pointing at the busted door. “What if walkers got in?”
“There’s no walkers around here we should be safe” Daryl looked out the door and the surroundings as he headed back in, “I’ll keep watch, you can rest up”
“If there’s no walkers, you can sleep as well—I’m a light sleeper, I’ll wake up if I hear anything” You suggested, you didn’t want Daryl to stay up the whole night—he had to drive his bike tomorrow for goodness sake. Even though you were pretty sure he had done it a million times, you still didn’t want Daryl to be tired
“Just shut up and go to sleep” Daryl commanded as you glared at him. You petulantly tugged yourself on the floor, it was uncomfortable because there were no coverings to place under you, while Daryl situated himself in the doorframe—looking out to the range as the night fell.
You swore you couldn’t fall asleep but the next thing you knew, it was all blank. Daryl peered behind his shoulder to see you were sleeping soundly, his eyes lingered at how peaceful you look—pretty—he thought to himself. He sat there hugging his crossed knee as he took out the arrows to sharpen the tip to pass time.
Suddenly, he heard chattering noises coming from you.
You were positioned like a ball, curved up as you hugged yourself. You shiver every now and then as the temperature in the air starts to drop. Daryl did not notice the change in the air, it did not affect him that much but it was clearly affecting you. He did not know what to do, he was wearing a sleeveless shirt—how can he possibly provide any coverings for you? He stood up as he tried to search for anything useful in the room to keep you warm but there was nothing. He can’t leave the store room with you sleeping, in fear that anything might happen. If he started a fire it would burn the whole place down.
“Hey, ya cold?” Daryl called out softly as he tapped on your shoulder. Your eyes fluttered open as you looked at him, teeth still chattering. You weren’t exactly in your sound mind so you pulled his hand towards you, forcing him to sit down. You cuddled up underneath his arms, placing your head against his chest, you hummed in satisfaction as you felt his warmth radiating from his body. Daryl’s heart thumped loudly in his chest, freezing seems to be something he does regularly when he is around you. Daryl looked down at you as you continued sleeping, his hand instinctively brushed your hair as he wrapped his other hand around you. Daryl didn’t know how but he fell asleep right after—he had never drifted away that fast before.
As if the universe was on his side, there was no danger coming around at night. Both of you were tangled in each other's embrace unknowingly, confiding in each other warmth and comfort.
When you woke up the next day, Daryl’s face was merely inches from yours—soundly sleeping. His arms were wrapped tight around you as if he was afraid of letting you go. You took in his features, admiring how beautiful he can be despite looking rough all the time. Suddenly, his eyes fluttered open as he squinted due to the sunlight. He set his gaze on yours but you didn’t look away, you kept staring at him as he did with you. You didn’t know what took over you but you closed your eyes as you leaned in.
Daryl didn’t resist, he couldn’t—not when it was something that he had longed for a long time. Your lips were soft against his rough ones, like a pillow and it was nice and plump. Your breath hitched as you started to slowly glide your lips with his. Daryl let out a soft hum, the kiss was tender and it was everything he wasn’t but he loved every second of it. His hand found the back of your neck, pulling you in closer as yours found his cheek—softly caressing the skin. It felt like the world had stopped and became silent, suddenly everything just made sense—just you and him.
When you pulled away, Daryl had leaned in—wanting more but you let out a soft giggle as you pressed kiss on his forehead. There was a silence after, it wasn’t awkward—it was comfortable. Daryl was looking at you like you were his world, you had a sweet smile on your face—no words were exchanged but both of you knew what it meant.
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Notes: part 5, I’m sorry about the wait but I cannot wait to start writing season 2!! It’s my favorite one.
Warnings: implied SA, violence, gore, mentions of drug use and firearms, age gap relationships, sex. cursing and child abuse (flashbacks)
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Word count: 7k
Eventual Daryl Dixon x reader
Everyone surged forward at once, shoes scrambling over the threshold, and we bolted straight into the light before it could close on us again.
My shoes squeaked hard against the polished floor as I skidded to a halt.
A man stood a few feet ahead of us, lab coat hanging loose off his shoulders, a shotgun raised and leveled straight at Rick’s chest.
Rick’s hands shot up slow, palms out. The rest of us froze behind him, nobody daring to breathe too loud.
“Anybody infected?” the doctor called out, steady, despite the gun still trained on us.
Rick shook his head, lowering his hands slightly. “One of our men was. He didn’t make it.”
The doctor’s eyes moved over the group, slow, careful, cataloguing every face one by one. When they landed on me, they lingered a beat too long, before he finally dropped the shotgun toward the floor.
“What do you want?” he asked.
Rick let out a long breath, exhausted and desperate. “A chance.”
….
Jenner led us to the elevator.
Stainless steel walls reflected tired faces back at us under bright white lights. It’s a miracle all this technology was still working. The elevator hummed faintly, a sound I hadn’t realized I’d missed until now.
“The elevator’s slower than I’d like,” he said, watching the numbers climb. “Backup systems don’t appreciate this many passengers.”
Carol stood in the corner with one hand pressed over her mouth, her skin gone pale beneath the fluorescent lights.
“Are you claustrophobic?” Dr. Jenner asked carol. He rested a shoulder against the wall near the control panel, comfortable as could be.
“A little,” she replied, sheepishly.
He shrugged. “Try not to think about it.”
Carol pulled Sophia closer, an insulted look spreading on her face.
“I’m sorry. You’re the first people I’ve spoken to face to face in a long time.” He glanced toward the doors before adding, almost as an afterthought, “I’ve forgotten my manners.”
The elevator doors opened just in time to save him from any backtalk.
He explained as we walked that staying meant agreeing to blood tests, no exceptions, and nobody argued.
None of us had the strength left to.
He brought us into a break room lined with vending machines and long tables, an ordinary space that felt almost obscene after everything outside.
One by one, we rolled up our sleeves and let him work, needle after needle, vial after vial.
By the time he got to me, I had my sleeve rolled up and watched the needle slide in without flinching, that little pinch and pull as the vial filled dark red, and I held steady even when Jenner glanced up like he expected me to look away.
I didn’t.
Something in me needed to watch it happen, needed to see the proof that I was still just blood and nothing more, not yet anyway.
“There you go,” he said, taping a cotton ball down over the crook of my arm. “Hold pressure a minute.”
I pressed my fingers against it and slid off the table to make room for Andrea to take my place, rolling her sleeve up with a tired motion.
“What’s the point?” she asked, watching him snap on a fresh pair of gloves. “If we were infected, we’d all be running a fever.”
“I’ve already broken every rule in the book letting you in here,” Jenner said, not looking up from the syringe. “Let me at least be thorough.”
The needle clicked into place, and Andrea barely reacted, staring off at some point on the far wall while the vial filled. “All done,” Jenner said, withdrawing it, taping her arm the same way he had mine.
“Ooh,” Andrea murmured as she pushed off the table to stand, her knees buckled, color draining fast from her face. Jacqui caught her before she hit the floor, arms wrapping tight around her.
“Are you okay?” Jacqui asked, worry evident in her voice.
“Mmm,” Andrea managed, blinking slow, disoriented.
“She hasn’t eaten much in days.” Jacqui glanced up at Jenner. “None of us really have.”
Jenner’s mouth pressed into a thin line and he peeled his gloves off with a sigh that seemed to come from somewhere deeper than just tonight.
“Follow me,” he said, already moving.
He sped over to a small lunchroom gesturing to the table. Jenner set a massive pot of water on the stove before disappearing into a back pantry, emerging with boxes of pasta that made more than one person’s eyes go wide.
We settled into mismatched chairs allowing pointless conversation to start up in fits.
Glenn asked Dale if RVs always smelled like earwax.
Carl asked Lori if he could have two helpings, and she told him they’d see.
When the pasta was close to done, I got up and wandered over to where Jenner stood at the stove, stirring slowly.
“Need a hand?” I asked.
He glanced at me, eyes tracking down and back up once, he gestured toward a stack of bowls. “Grab those.”
I started pulling bowls down, stacking them along the counter within his reach. “How long you been down here alone?” I asked, keeping my tone easy, casual.
He was quiet a second too long before answering. “Long enough.”
I waited for more. It didn’t come.
“How about you?” he asked after a moment, not quite looking at me. “How long you been alone?”
“My whole life,” I said, and I meant it more ways than he probably realized.
He nodded, and I nodded back, neither of us said anything else about it.
We started ladling pasta into bowls side by side, passing them down the table into waiting hands, I scooped a little extra in for Carl and for a few minutes the room filled with something almost like normal.
The bottle of wine made its way around the table, dark red and already half gone by the time it reached me. I wrinkled my nose in disgust.
Before I could even pass it along, Jenner was already setting a different bottle down at my elbow, pale gold and sweating cold with condensation.
“Moscato,” he said, like it was obvious. “Figured you for a sweeter palate.”
I glanced up at him, surprised. “Thank you,” I said, pouring myself a generous glass while he moved on down the table with the red.
The room was like camp all over again, quickly settling after a few glasses, forks clinking against bowls, wine glasses clunking down on the table. Glenn was already refilling Dale’s glass without being asked.
Carl had pasta sauce smeared near his mouth and Lori just laughed and wiped it away instead of scolding him.
“You know,” Dale said, swirling his glass, “in Italy, children have a little bit of wine with dinner. And in France.”
“Well,” Lori said, arching a brow at him, “when Carl is in Italy or France, he can have some then.”
“What’s it gonna hurt?” Rick said, grinning wide in a way I hadn’t seen on him in far too long. “Come on. Come on.”
Dale laughed, already reaching for a clean glass, pouring a splash no deeper than half an inch.
“What?” Carl asked, eyes darting around the table as everyone watched him with poorly hidden grins.
Dale slid the glass across to him with a flourish. “There you are, young lad.”
The table went quiet with anticipation, everyone leaning in just slightly as Carl took a cautious sip.
“Eww,” he said, face scrunching up, and the whole table erupted into laughter, loud and unguarded.
“That’s my boy.” Lori laughed, reaching over and pouring the rest of his wine straight into her own glass. “That’s my boy. Good boy.”
“Yuck.” Carl was still grimacing. “That tastes nasty.”
“Well, just stick to soda pop there, bud,” Shane said, grinning around his own glass.
Daryl pointed his fork across the table at Glenn, something mischievous flickering in his eyes. “Not you, Glenn.”
Glenn looked up mid bite, startled. “What?”
“Keep drinking, little man,” Daryl said, smirking. “I wanna see how red your face can get.”
The men broke into laughter, deep and rolling, and Glenn groaned but reached for his glass anyway, resigned to whatever was coming.
I laughed too, feeling the warmth of the wine loosen my chest that had been wound up since Fort Valley, since Atlanta, since Amy.
I don’t remember the last time I had wine this good.
A couple seats over, Shane’s easy grin had gone loose and slippery, and I watched his eyes drift lazy around the circle before landing hard on Jenner, something calculating sliding in underneath all that warmth.
“So when are you gonna tell us what the hell happened here, Doc?” he asked, tilting his glass toward him. “All the other doctors that were supposed to be figuring out what happened. Where are they?”
The table’s laughter dried up fast, a hush settling in where the warmth had been just seconds before.
“We’re celebrating, Shane.” Rick’s voice came with a warning under the words. “Don’t need to do this now.”
“Whoa, wait a second.”
Shane set his glass down harder than he needed to.
“This is why we’re here, right? This was your move, supposed to find all the answers.” He laughed, short and humorless. “Instead we, we found him. Found one man. Why?”
Jenner didn’t flinch, just turned his own glass slow between his fingers, watching the wine catch the light. “When things got bad, a lot of people just left. Went off to be with their families. And when things got worse, when the military cordon got overrun, the rest bolted.”
“Every last one?” Shane pressed.
“No.” Something tightened around Jenner’s eyes. “Many couldn’t face walking out the door. They opted out.” He paused, and the silence that followed felt heavier than anything said so far. “There was a rash of suicides. That was a bad time.”
I felt the warmth drain right out of my chest, I caught Glenn’s hand go still around his fork across the table.
“You didn’t leave,” Andrea said quietly, watching Jenner close. “Why?”
“I just kept working,” he said, simple, like it explained everything and nothing at once. “Hoping to do some good.”
Glenn leaned toward Shane, shaking his head, some of the tension breaking loose in his voice. “Dude, you are such a buzzkill, man.”
A few nervous laughs rippled around the table at that, but they were thin now, brittle, everyone’s eyes flicking between Shane and Jenner like they were waiting to see which one cracked first.
I took a slow sip of my wine, the sweetness gone sour on my tongue.
….
We cleared the table in a shuffle, plates stacking up in the sink, forks clattering soft against ceramic. I gathered up a few empty bowls and carried them over, running water hot enough to fog the air a little as I started scrubbing at the dried sauce.
“I’ll get those later.” Jenner appeared at my elbow, gently nudging me off with a small, tired smile. “But thank you.”
I dried my hands on my jeans and stepped back, letting him shut off the tap while the rest funneled out into the hallway together, bodies squeezing against each other in the narrow space.
Someone’s elbow caught my ribs.
“Most of the facility is powered down, including housing,” Jenner said, leading us along, “so you’ll have to make do here. The couches are comfortable, but there are cots in storage if you’d like. There’s a rec room down the hall the kids might enjoy. Just don’t plug in the video games, okay? Or anything that draws power. Same goes for showers. If you shower, go easy on the hot water.”
“Hot water?” Glenn repeated, like the words didn’t quite compute.
“That’s what the man said,” T-Dog said, grinning, and the two of them laughed like they’d been handed something too good to be real.
….
I peeled off from the group and found a room toward the end of the hall and dropped my bag onto the couch with a heavy thud.
The haze sat warm and thick behind my eyes, the hallway tilting just slightly if I turned my head too fast. I dug through my bag, past tampons and crumpled papers and a folded photograph I didn’t let myself look at right now, until my fingers closed around a bar of honey soap tucked in the bottom, one of the last things I’d managed to scavenge weeks ago.
Through the doorway I caught sight of Andrea and Dale slipping into a room further down, towels draped over their shoulders.
She looks relieved.
I grabbed my own towel and stumbled for the showers, my shoulder catching the doorframe on the way through, and the second I stepped under the spray, hot water hit my skin like something out of a dream.
My face already felt so flushed from the wine and the heat of the water on top of it made my head swim worse, the whole room started tilting around me.
I looked down and watched the water pooling at my feet run brown, then pink, then red, days of dirt and blood rinsed off me and disappearing down the drain.
I tipped my head back and let the stream soak through my hair, submerging myself under it fully, eyes closed, water roaring soft in my ears and drowning out everything else for just a minute.
Amy.
I didn’t even get to say goodbye.
I let it pass through me instead of fighting it. Now is too soon to think about stuff I can’t change.
Nikki.
My sister’s name came next. I pressed my palm flat against the tile to steady myself. Two sisters, just gone. Never coming back. I held my head between my hands.
Daryl.
That one lingered longer than the rest, warm in a different way entirely, and I let out a small huff of breath.
He was so different from anyone I’d ever met before. Amy and I had talks about Shane all the time. Men like him went after nurses and left you before you could even blink.
Daryl didn’t seem like the type at all. He was different.
No. Not right now.
I reached for the knob and twisted the water off.
….
I pulled on a baggy shirt and some sweats after my shower, fingers still pruned from the water. Cool droplets dripped down the back of my neck as I made my way down the hall toward the rec room.
I found my way to the small library nook tucked off to the side, shelves lined with books that looked barely touched, their spines still stiff. Lori and Carl were already there, pulling a couple paperbacks down together, murmuring quiet about which ones looked good.
“We’re gonna go say a prayer before bed.” Lori glanced my way with a small, tired smile. “Been a while since we had a quiet place to do it right.”
“Night, you two,” I said, and Carl gave me a small wave before they headed off down the hall, books tucked against his chest like something precious.
Shane lingered near the doorway a moment longer, watching them go. He cleared his throat and pushed off the frame. “Gonna turn in too,” he muttered, swishing a dark bottle of liquor in one hand.
He disappeared down the opposite hall before anyone could say much back. I watched him go figuring I must’ve missed something from dinner. I ran my fingers along the spines, wine glass balanced in my other hand, not really looking for anything in particular, just needing my hands busy while my mind settled.
“Find anything good?” Jenner’s voice came from behind me, and I glanced back to find him leaning in the doorway, own glass of red still in hand, tie long since discarded, top button of his shirt undone.
“Haven’t decided yet.” I pulled a paperback halfway out, read the spine, slid it back in. “Nothing that survived the end of the world feels like light reading.”
He huffed and stepped further into the room, gaze drifting slow over the shelves. “Most of these were mine,” he said. “Or the people who used to work here. Left in a hurry. Books were the last thing on anyone’s mind.”
“Guess that’s fair.” I took a slow sip of my wine, watching him over the rim of the glass. “You read much? Down here, I mean. Alone.”
“Less than I’d like to admit.”
I nodded slow, not pushing further, and turned back to the shelf.
“I should check on the others,” Jenner said after a while, setting his empty glass down on a side table. “Get some rest if you can.”
“Thanks for tonight,” I said.
He gave a small nod and slipped out, his footsteps fading soft down the hall until the room went quiet around me.
I kept scanning the shelf until they caught on something wedged sideways between two hardbacks, a slim book with a worn fabric cover. I pulled it free and flipped it open, and a few loose papers slid loose from where they’d been folded inside, drifting down onto the carpet.
It was a diary. A woman’s handwriting curled across the first few pages, soft and looping, though most of what followed had been torn out, jagged strips still clinging to the binding where whole entries used to sit.
I crouched down and gathered up the fallen papers, unfolding one enough to see it wasn’t part of the diary at all.
I closed it gently and tucked it into the waistband of my sweats, deciding that it was coming with me.
….
The smell of eggs and coffee pulled me down the hall before I was even fully awake.
“Hello.” Rick shuffled in behind me, looking rough around the edges, hair every direction, eyes squinted against the fluorescent lights.
“Morning,” Dale said, far too chipper for the room’s collective mood.
“Are you hung over?” Carl asked, peering up at his dad with open curiosity. “Mom said you’d be.”
“Mom is right,” Rick admitted, dropping into a chair like it cost him something.
“Mom has that annoying habit,” Lori said, sliding a mug of coffee toward him without being asked.
“Eggs.” T-Dog set a heaping plate in the middle of the table. “Powdered, but I do ’em good.”
Glenn groaned from where he was slumped over his own plate, forehead nearly touching the table, and I had to bite back a grin at the sight of him.
“I bet you can’t tell,” T-Dog said, clearly enjoying himself, dishing eggs onto Glenn’s plate anyway despite the protest.
Dale laughed, watching Glenn’s misery with open delight, and Jacqui rubbed slow circles on Glenn’s shoulders, murmuring something sympathetic that didn’t stop T-Dog’s teasing one bit.
“Protein helps the hangover,” T-Dog said, setting the spoon down with a satisfied clink.
Glenn just moaned in response, burying his face further into his arms.
“Don’t ever, ever, ever let me drink again,” Glenn muttered into his arms.
“Hey.” Shane shuffled in, looking about as rough as Rick.
“Hey,” Rick said. “Feel as bad as I do?”
Shane made a beeline for the coffee pot, pouring himself a cup with the careful precision. “Worse,” he muttered.
I was the only one at the table who didn’t look like death warmed over, and I knew it showed in the easy way I was eating, humming under my breath.
I nudged Glenn’s shoulder gently and he groaned in warning without even lifting his head.
“Lightweight,” I teased, grinning down at him.
“I heard that,” he mumbled.
“You were meant to.”
Jacqui swatted lightly at my arm, though there was a smile tugging at her mouth too.
“Morning.”
Jenner stepped into the kitchen doorway, looking a little more put together than most of us had managed today.
“Hey, Doc.” Shane lifted his coffee mug in a lazy half salute.
Murmured greetings rippled around the table, mouths still full of eggs, and Jenner nodded at all of it with the air of a man who was still adjusting to having company.
“I don’t mean to slam you with questions first thing,” Dale said, setting his fork down.
“But you will anyway,” Jenner finished for him, a faint, knowing smile tugging at his mouth.
“We didn’t come here for the eggs,” Andrea said, and though her tone stayed light, there was real weight underneath it. “You said you were studying this. I want to know what you’ve learned.”
“I learned plenty,” he said, rubbing a hand across the stubble on his jaw. “None of it helped.”
Dale shifted his hat between his hands. “Can you show us?”
Jenner set his cup down and gestured for us to follow, leading the whole group out of the kitchen and down the hall into a large open room.
I trailed near the back, curiosity prickling under my skin despite the ache still lingering in my shoulder from days of hauling gear.
The hum of ventilation followed us from room to room, mixing with the steady buzz of fluorescent lights overhead. Every laboratory we passed looked like someone had stood up in the middle of the workday and never come back.
Jenner stopped in front of a workstation surrounded by several monitors. He rested one hand on the console without waking it.
“This is where we reviewed neurological recordings.” He rested a hand against the console but didn’t turn it on right away. “I’ve watched this more times than I can count.”
“This is where we reviewed neurological recordings,” he said quietly. “I’ve watched these files more times than I can count. Every time I sat down, I convinced myself I’d notice something I’d missed before.”
His thumb hovered over a key.
“I never did.”
The monitors flickered to life.
A human brain slowly rotated across the largest screen, strands of blue and gold light weaving through it like tiny bolts of lightning beneath glass.
Carl stepped closer, tilting his head.
“It looks… pretty.”
Jenner followed his gaze to the screen. “It is.”
The lights continued dancing through the image, branching in every direction before disappearing and beginning again.
“That’s a healthy brain,” Jenner said. “Every one of those flashes is activity. Every memory you’ve ever made, every voice you’ve ever heard, every face you’ve ever loved. Every fear, every dream. It’s all happening in there, all at once.”
I found myself staring at the screen, watching the lights race through the image in impossible patterns. For a moment it was almost beautiful enough to forget why we were standing there.
Jenner reached for the keyboard again.
“Now watch.”
The recording changed.
At first nothing looked different. The same bright currents surged through the brain, tracing familiar paths.
Then one section dimmed.
Another followed.
The flashes slowed, stumbling where they’d once flowed effortlessly.
A bright ribbon near the center flickered once.
Then disappeared.
Jenner kept his eyes fixed on the monitor.
“We watched this happen over and over,” he said quietly. “Every patient. Every recording. It always ended the same way.”
Andrea’s voice barely rose above a whisper.
“Can you stop it?”
Jenner answered before she’d even finished asking.
“We couldn’t.”
Rick stepped forward, his eyes still locked on the dying lights.
“But you tried.”
A tired laugh escaped Jenner.
“You have no idea.” He rested both hands against the edge of the console. “Every morning I’d walk in convinced I’d missed something obvious. Some tiny detail buried in thousands of hours of data. I’d spend the entire day chasing it…” He shook his head. “Every night I’d leave carrying the same questions I walked in with.”
Dale broke the uncomfortable silence.
“So nobody figured it out?”
Jenner took a slow breath.
“Everybody was trying. We shared research, argued over theories, compared anything we could get our hands on. Every country that still had scientists was looking for the same answer.”
He looked through the glass into the empty laboratory beyond.
“The French thought they were close once.”
For just a heartbeat, hope stirred around the room.
Jenner noticed.
“They stopped answering.”
….
A few minutes had passed and they were anything but silent.
The monitor continued its slow rotation behind us, the dying lights frozen beneath the glass while the quiet hum of machinery filled the room.
“So that’s it?” Morales looked between Jenner and Rick. “We drove all this way for nothing?”
Rick brushed him off, more defeated than angry. “Nobody knew what we’d find.”
“But you thought there’d be something,” Shane cut in, folding his arms across his chest. “A cure. A vaccine. Hell, some kind of plan.”
“I hoped there would be.”
“Hoped.” Shane gave a short, bitter laugh. “That’s what got us here.”
Lori stepped beside Rick before he could answer.
“And where else were we supposed to go?” she snapped. “Fort Benning? We didn’t even know if it was still standing.”
Morales shook his head.
“I’m not saying we should’ve gone somewhere else. I’m saying we kept telling our kids we were coming here because these people would know what to do.”
His daughter reached for his hand, and he squeezed it without looking away from Rick.
“They don’t.”
“No,” Jenner answered before Rick could. “We didn’t.”
Daryl pushed himself off the wall with an irritated grunt.
“Well,” he muttered, rubbing a hand over his face, “I need another damn drink.”
A few tired chuckles escaped the group, but they disappeared almost as quickly as they’d come.
“Dr. Jenner,” Dale approached carefully from behind everyone. “I know this has been taxing for you, and I hate to ask one more question, but.”
He pointed toward the red numbers glowing on the wall. “That clock. It’s counting down. What happens at zero?”
“The basement generators,” Jenner said, voice gone hollow. “They run out of fuel.”
“And then?” Rick asked.
Jenner didn’t answer.
“VI,” Rick said, turning toward the console. “What happens when the power runs out?”
“When the power runs out,” the voice answered, “facility wide decontamination will occur.”
“What’s that mean?”
The men bolted toward the hallway. Rick, Shane, Glenn, all of them peeling off toward the stairwell in a scramble of boots on concrete.
Carol wrapped both arms around herself. “But we’re safe here… aren’t we? If they find the fuel.”
Every eye drifted toward Jenner.
He just turned and walked out of the room, leaving all of us standing there in the wake of his silence.
….
The others drifted back to their rooms in twos and threes, nobody saying much of anything. What was there to say with everything we just learned.
There is nothing and no one out there.
I dropped onto the edge of the couch and started folding yesterday’s clothes into uneven squares, more to keep my hands busy than because I cared how they looked.
This room was stuffier than i remembered.
At first I couldn’t figure out why.
Then I realized it was warmer, only a little but enough that a bead of sweat slid down the back of my neck.
I looked toward the ceiling vent.
The steady rush of cool air I’d barely noticed since we’d arrived had disappeared.
The hallway beyond my door looked dimmer. One by one, they blinked out down the corridor.
A door slammed open somewhere nearby.
I stepped into the hall just as Jenner hurried past, no coffee in his hand this time, no slow measured walk. He moved with purpose, disappearing toward the main atrium without so much as looking at any of us.
Doors opened all around me.
Lori and Carl.
Sophia and Carol.
Andrea and Dale.
People spilled into the hallway throwing questions at Jenner.
I turned back into the room and started throwing everything into my duffel. Shirts. Books. My knife. It didn’t matter where anything landed.
What little survival instincts I had told me to grab food and water. The clock was already ticking and we didn’t have time to waste. I went through the rooms throwing stuff back into bags their respective bags.
If it couldn’t keep us alive, it wasn’t worth carrying.
Dale and Andrea’s room was next.
I slung Andrea’s over one shoulder and reached for Dale’s without thinking. His old pocket watch rested on the arm of the couch where he’d left it the night before. I hesitated just long enough to snatch it up and shove it into the side pocket of Andrea’s bag
I hurried into the kitchen, both bags bouncing against my hips. The pantry shelves blurred together as my hands swept across them. Cans clattered into my arms without a second glance. Beans. Soup. Fruit. It didn’t matter.
Move. Move. Move.
Something shattered somewhere outside the room.
I froze.
Then another crash, louder this time, followed by boots pounding against concrete.
Every hair on my arms stood up.
I bolted into the hallway just as the others were sprinting up the ramp toward me. Rick was yelling something at me but I couldn’t make out the words.
The security door between us groaned to life.
“No…”
The heavy door between us began to slide shut, metal groaning.
“Wait!”
I ran.
The bags slammed against my sides, cans banging together so hard they bruised my legs. My lungs burned before I’d made it halfway.
“Wait!” I screamed, my voice cracking. “Wait! Wait!”
I skidded across the polished floor, nearly losing my footing before crashing into the sealed door. Everything spilled from my arms. Cans rolled in every direction, bottles burst from torn bags, crackers scattered across the floor.
I didn’t care.
Both fists slammed into the cold metal.
“Open the door!”
The impact shot pain up my arms.
“Open it! OPEN IT!”
I pressed my ear to the door, straining, and I could hear faint shouting on the other side, but I couldn’t make out words, couldn’t do anything but stand in front of the door uselessly hammering my fists raw against metal that isn’t going to move.
I turned to the door again when I finally saw the panel beside it, little glowing buttons that meant nothing to me but I mashed them anyway, palm slamming flat against every single one.
“Come on,” I growled, kicking the door hard enough to jolt pain up through my shin. “Come on, come on, open, open!”
My knees gave out before I decided to let them, and I sank down hard against the door, bags heavy and useless in my lap.
This is it. This is really it.
I’m going to die on this side of the door while everyone I care about burns on the other.
A heavy clang echoed through the hallway.
The locking bolts groaned.
The steel doors shuddered before slowly sliding apart.
Rick was through the opening before they’d finished moving.
“Let’s go!”
I didn’t waste time asking questions. I snatched the bags off the floor and shoved Glenn’s into his chest hard enough to make him stumble before tossing Shane his own.
We ran toward the entrance in a ragged mass, T Dog breaking away first, grabbing a chair and hurling it at the reinforced window with everything he’s got.
“Daryl, look out!” he yelled, swinging hard.
The chair bounced off uselessly, barely leaving a mark.
“Dog, get down! Get down!” Shane shouted, already racking his shotgun.
Shane fired, the blast deafening in the enclosed space, but the glass only spiderwebbed faintly, holding firm against everything we’ve had.
“Jesus,” Shane breathed, staring at it like it might change its mind if he glares hard enough.
“The glass won’t break?” Sophia asked, pressed hard against Carol’s side.
Carol’s dug into her bag, rummaging fast. “Rick, I have something that might help.”
“Carol, I don’t think a nail file’s gonna do it,” Shane snapped, already turning back toward the window.
But Carol pulled out something else entirely, small and dark and heavy looking, and held it toward Rick with steady hands.
“Your first morning at camp,” she continued, ignoring Shane’s comment entirely, “when I washed your uniform, I found this in your pocket.”
Rick’s face went slack with recognition as he took the grenade from her palm, turning it over once like he couldn’t quite believe it.
I watched Rick’s fingers close tight around our one last chance to get out of here alive.
Everyone scattered for cover, I ducked behind an overturned desk with Glenn, my hands shaking as I cover my head.
Rick stayed exposed a second longer than anyone else, fingers working the pin loose. He set the grenade on the window sill and didn’t waste a second more, already turning, already running.
“Oh, sh—” he started, and then he was diving away hard, throwing himself clear.
“Get down!” Daryl echoed, flattening himself against the floor.
The explosion cracked the air apart, a wall of sound and pressure that punched straight through my ears even from behind cover.
Glass shattered in a violent spray, and I flinched hard, arms thrown up over my face as debris rains down around us.
When I finally lift my head, the window nearest the blast has blown wide open, jagged edges framing a hole big enough to climb through, sunlight and fresh air pouring in past the smoke still curling off the sill.
It’s not pretty, but it’s enough. We can finally get out.
Bodies started scrambling upright, grabbing bags, grabbing each other, already pushing toward the opening before the dust even finished settling.
….
We spill out into the lot, walkers already lurching toward the noise from every direction.
Shane and Rick fire in tandem, dropping two that get too close too fast, and Daryl swung his axe, taking a walker’s head clean off with a wet thud.
Rick lead the charge toward the vehicles, panting hard, Carl and Lori right on his heels, Lori’s hand clamped tight around her son’s arm.
I broke off toward my own truck, lungs burnings again and hurl the food bag and my pack into the truck bed without slowing down, scrambling around to the driver’s side and yanking the door open so hard it nearly comes off the hinge.
My hands were shaking so bad I fumbled the key twice before it caught.
I didn’t realize I lost track of everyone in the chaos, faces blurring past in a panicked sprint toward the RV.
Who were we missing.
That’s when I caught sight of Andrea and Dale dropping down out of the shattered window behind us. They don’t run very far.
They duck low instead, pressing themselves flat behind the sandbag barricade just as a deep tremor rolls up through the ground beneath my tires.
I lay on the horn, one long desperate blast. “Wait, wait, wait!” I scream out the window, waving frantic. “Wait, wait, they’re coming!”
The CDC went up behind them in, the shockwave rattling my windows, glass and debris raining down over the barricade while Andrea and Dale huddle low against it, arms thrown over their heads.
For one horrible second I lose sight of them entirely in the smoke and falling ash.
Then they’re moving again, scrambling up from behind the sandbags, sprinting hard across the lot through a haze of drifting soot. A walker lurches into their path and Dale yanks Andrea sideways to dodge it, both of them stumbling but not slowing.
Dale angles toward the RV, one hand still gripping Andrea’s arm, but she wrenches free at the last second and sprints for my truck instead, yanking the passenger door open and throwing herself inside just as I stomp the gas.
“Go, go, go!” she gasped, slamming the door shut behind her, ash still clinging to her hair and shoulders.
I didn’t need telling twice.
Tires squeal against the pavement as I peel out, following the RV’s taillights through the chaos, and in my mirror I watch the CDC building disappear behind a rising column of black smoke, thick and violent against the pale morning sky, swallowing up everything Jenner ever hoped to protect down there in the dark.
Chapter 4 following the Atlanta group cleaning up the mess.
Notes: July has been a mess for me. Fanfiction writer curse is real. I am however realeasing part 4 & 5 together.
Warnings: implied SA, violence, gore, mentions of drug use and firearms, age gap relationships, sex. cursing and child abuse (flashbacks)
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Word count: 5.8k
Italicized - internal thoughts
Eventual Daryl Dixon x reader
My chest heaved as I stumbled backward, my boots catching in the pine needles. For one heartbeat, everything went still.
Then Ed screamed in a desperate cry for help.
The canvas walls of his tent jerked as something slammed into them from the inside. Fabric stretched and snapped back. A walker snarled, followed by the wet sound of teeth finding flesh.
I flinched away. My stomach twisted and lurched so hard I thought I might be sick.
I did this.
My fingers curled into fists, slick with sweat.
Another scream tore through the tent before breaking into choking cries that were swallowed by growls and frantic thrashing. The whole tent shuddered against the struggle.
I couldn’t look away.
Every instinct screamed at me to unzip the flap and pull the walker off him.
It screamed at me to do something but I could see Carol’s bruised face when I closed my eyes. Heard him promising to knock her flat on the ground again. Heard him shouting for her while people were dying all around him.
No.
My pulse pounded so hard it drowned out almost everything else until gunshots cracked through the trees.
Then another followed with voices this time. Rick, Daryl, Glenn, T-dog.
My head snapped toward the sound.
How long have I been standing here?
My gaze flicked back to the tent. The canvas twitched once more before falling eerily still, broken only by the low, contented growls coming from inside.
I couldn’t be here. I turned and ran back into the woods.
Branches clawed at my sleeves as I sprinted. Roots caught under my boots, forcing me to stumble before throwing myself forward again. My lungs burned. I couldn’t tell if I was running toward the others or away from what I’d just done.
I didn’t have a second to argue which one it was since the trees finally began to thin.
Camp came into view, but it didn’t feel real.
Fire climbed higher than it had any right to, flames roaring where a walker had toppled into the pit. Thick smoke rolled across camp, turning everything into shifting shades of orange and black.
Figures darted through it like ghosts, appearing one second and disappearing the next.
Voices drifted toward me.
They all sounded far away, muffled beneath the pounding of blood in my ears. My legs kept moving because they had to.
One boot caught on a root and I pitched forward, hard ground slamming into my palms hard enough to knock the breath from my lungs.
I stayed there, staring at the dirt beneath me.
Pine needles.
Ash.
Tiny flecks of blood that weren’t mine.
Footsteps hurried closer with hands grabbing me beneath the arm.
“Hey…” Glenn said.
His baseball cap was gone. Soot streaked across one side of his face, and there was a tear running through one sleeve of his shirt. His chest rose and fell in quick breaths.
His mouth was moving before the words finally reached me.
“Hey…hey, are you okay?”
I blinked stupidly at him. It took me a second to remember how to answer.
He must have misread the look on my face as fear because before I could say anything, he pulled me into a hug, arms wound tight around my shoulders, his heart still slamming hard enough that I could feel it against my own chest.
I hugged him back, my fingers curling into the back of his shirt. I didn’t correct him. I didn’t know how to explain what was actually written on my face, not yet.
Glenn would never understand.
He was so innocent.
So good.
Across the fire, Lori had both arms wrapped around Carl so tightly he couldn’t have pulled away if he’d wanted to.
She watched Rick leave the R.V.
For half a second she froze before she was moving. She crossed the distance almost at a run and shoved both hands into his chest hard enough to make him take a step back.
“Where the hell were you?”
Her voice cracked sharply.
“Do you have any idea—” She shoved him again. Her eyes were bright with tears she was too angry to let fall. “Do you have any idea what I thought happened to you?”
Carl reached for her. “Mom—”
“You left! Again!”
Rick opened his mouth. “Lori…”
He didn’t defend himself or make excuses. It seemed to everyone going on a dead end rescue almost cost the camp their lives.
Rick stepped forward and caught her wrists before she could shove him again. “I’m here.”
She tried to pull away.
“I’m here,” he repeated, softer this time. “I’m sorry.”
She folded into him, fists clutching the back of his shirt as the sob she’d been holding back finally escaped.
“I’m sorry,” he whispered into her hair. “I’m so sorry.”
Rick’s eyes found Shane standing a few yards away, still breathing hard, blood drying across one sleeve.
“Thank you,” Rick said quietly. “For protectin’ them.”
….
Nobody quite knew what to do with their hands once the adrenaline wore off. So we worked.
Bodies were dragged away from the tents. Weapons were gathered into piles. Blood-soaked blankets disappeared into the fire.
Anything to keep moving.
The hours slipped by unnoticed. Darkness gave way to a pale gray dawn, then slowly to the sharp greens of morning. Smoke drifted low through camp, carrying the sour smell of burned flesh and damp earth.
I grabbed a faded red bandana from the supply pile and tied it over my nose and mouth. It already smelled like sweat and old tobacco from whoever had worn it before me.
The gloves I found were too big. My fingers swam inside them.
Across camp, Andrea still sat beside Amy. She hadn’t moved an inch. One hand rested gently on Amy’s shoulder as though she were waiting for her little sister to wake up.
I stayed far away. Grief like that belonged to family. Instead, I would work.
Daryl was already there driving an axe into the skull of another walker with a dull crack before planting one boot against its shoulder and wrenching the blade free.
I picked up my own from the growing pile, the handle rough beneath my gloves. Without a word, I planted my boot against the next walker and brought the blade down.
The impact jarred my arms all the way to my shoulders.
Beside me, Daryl broke the silence. “Didn’t find Merle.”
I glanced over. His eyes stayed on the body at his feet.
“Had to hightail it back here without him.” He spat into the dirt. “Bastard stole the van. Tried leavin’ us all behind.”
He buried the axe again.
“I know he ain’t worth much…” His jaw flexed. “…still my brother.”
“I’m sorry,” I said quietly. I didn’t mean it but there was nothing else to offer him.
Daryl gave a grunt and we went back to work.
I dragged the back of my forearm across my face, smearing sweat beneath the bandana before driving the axe down again.
“Hold up.”
Daryl was already digging through a pile of supplies with one hand. He came up with an old rag and tossed it toward me.
I caught it against my chest.
“You got somethin’.”
I frowned.
He motioned vaguely toward his own cheek. “Right there.”
I wiped at it.
“Still there.”
I sighed. “Very helpful, Dixon. Thank you.”
“Little lower.” The corner of his mouth twitched.
I wiped again.
“Got it.”
I looked down at the rag. It came away streaked with dried blood and bits of gray matter. Gross.
“Thanks.”
Daryl shrugged like it wasn’t worth mentioning and lifted his axe again.
“Ain’t yours.”
Movement to the left caught my eye. Morales and T-Dog emerged from the tree line carrying the last body between them, one beneath the shoulders, the other by the ankles.
Ed.
His boots carved two crooked lines through the dirt as they dragged him into camp. My grip tightened around the axe handle.
“They got him?” someone asked.
T-Dog let the body fall with a dull thud. “Last one.” He wiped a forearm across his face before looking around the camp. “Three, maybe four walkers packed into that tent with him.”
Morales shook his head.
“Had to put ’em all down before we could even get to him.”
“Jesus…” Glenn muttered quietly.
A few people looked away, others simply stared.
Carol stepped out from between the tents with Sophia’s hand tucked into hers. Sophia looked toward the body.
Carol caught her shoulder before she could take another step. “Don’t.”
She swallowed hard without taking her eyes off Ed. “Sophia…” Her chin began to tremble. “Go on. Go sit in the RV with Carl.”
Sophia hesitated only a moment before hurrying toward the RV.
Carol waited until she disappeared inside. Then the tears came.
Daryl stepped toward the body, lifting the pickaxe onto one shoulder. “Get back.” He reached for the handle with both hands.
“Wait.”
Carol’s voice stopped him. She walked forward slowly, never taking her eyes off Ed.
“I’ll do it.”
Daryl looked at her. Then at Ed. His grip loosened on the handle.
“…He’s my husband.”
Daryl searched her face like he was making sure she understood exactly what she was asking. Then gave one small nod. He turned the pickaxe around and held the handle out to her.
She accepted it with both hands. She stepped over Ed. Tears slid silently down her cheeks.
She looked down at the man who had spent years making her afraid, making everyone afraid, then drew in one slow breath.
She swung the pickaxe with a sickening crack.
Carol wretched it free and swung again. Then again and again. Each blow landed with the same steady force.
Only when her arms finally refused to lift the pickaxe again did she let it slip from her hands. It landed in beside her with a dull thud.
I am such an asshole.
….
Nobody wanted to be the first one to say it.
We couldn’t stay.
The fresh graves rested on top of the hill, the dirt still dark where it had been turned that morning. Every now and then someone’s eyes wandered toward the tree line before quickly looking away again.
Yesterday this place had felt safe. Now it felt like a trap. The silence stretched until Shane finally broke it.
“Fort Benning.” He paced a tight line through the middle of camp, pointing south like he could see the community beyond the trees. “It’s a military base. Walls, guns, soldiers. That’s where we go.”
“It’s two hundred and fifty miles, Shane,” Rick answered. His voice was tired more than angry. “We don’t even know if it’s still standing.”
“We don’t know it’s not.”
“We don’t know a lot of things.”
Rick scrubbed both hands down his face before turning a slow circle, looking at the camp around him.
“That’s the problem.”
Dale shifted his weight, arms folded across his chest. “Somewhere colder might do us some good. Walkers slow down in the cold. Gives us an edge.”
A few people murmured under their breath.
“Maybe.” I said out loud.
“He’s got a point.”
“Cold?” Shane barked a humorless laugh. “You wanna drive to Canada on half a tank of gas? Maybe stop by Niagara Falls while we’re at it?”
“I’m offering an option,” Dale replied, his own patience starting to fray.
“Yeah, one that’ll get us killed.”
“Enough.”
Rick’s voice silenced both of them.
Andrea hugged her knees closer to her chest.
“I just think…” She stared into the dirt as she spoke. “Somewhere the dead move slower. Somewhere we’re not sweatin’ to death all summer and freezin’ all winter.”
I rubbed my thumb against the frayed edge of the bandana tied around my wrist.
I wasn’t even sure why I was speaking. Maybe because nobody else had another answer.
“What about the CDC?”
“Before everything went dark,” I said, finding my footing as I went, “the emergency broadcasts kept talking about scientists working on a cure.”
“The CDC… that’s what they do.”
Shane didn’t even hesitate.
“The CDC?” He scoffed. “You really think a handful of scientists are sittin’ in Atlanta waitin’ to save the world?”
“Well they were trying.”
“They’ve been off the air for weeks.”
“So has everything else.”
The words left my mouth before I could stop them. “If we’re dismissing the CDC because we haven’t heard from them, then we should be dismissing Fort Benning too.”
A few people exchanged glances.
“She’s got a point,” Dale said quietly.
Shane threw his hands into the air. “Jesus Christ…”
“We gotta decide something,” T-Dog muttered, rubbing a tired hand over his face. “Can’t keep standin’ here arguin’ till dark.”
Rick looked around the circle.
“Fort Benning might still be there.” He looked toward Shane. “The CDC might be empty.”
His eyes drifted toward the fresh graves.
“The truth is I don’t know what’s waiting for us anywhere.” His gaze swept across every face. “But I do know what happens if we stay.”
Shane opened his mouth, ready to fire back, when a soft thud sounded behind them.
Heads snapped around.
Jim had gone down hard in the dirt, sprawled on his side, motionless. Everyone dropped what they were doing and closed in fast, a tight ring forming around Jim’s body sprawled in the dirt.
Jacqui was already on her knees beside him hollering for a damp cloth.
“He’s overheated,” Lori said, kneeling on his other side, checking his pulse at his wrist. “It’s the sun. He’s been out here too long, working himself up again.”
“Jim?” Jacqui patted his cheek gentle, urgent. “Jim, can you hear me?”
I pushed closer through the ring of legs to get a look, that’s when I saw the dark stain blooming through the side of his shirt, spreading low near his ribs.
“Move.”
My voice came out sharper than I meant it, already backing up, pulling at whoever’s arm I could reach. “Everybody move, now.”
“What?” Jacqui looked up, confused, still pressing her hand to his head.
“Blood.” I kept backing away, my heart slamming. “There’s blood. He’s bit!”
That seemed to work.
Bodies began scrambling back all at once. Jim’s eyes fluttered open just as the last of us cleared away. Before he could even lift his head, Daryl was on him, knees pinning him down, knife already flashing up in one hand.
“Whoa, whoa!” Jim’s hands shot up, shielding his face, voice cracking high with panic. “I’m alive! I’m okay!”
“Daryl, wait!” I grabbed his arm with both hands, hauling back with everything I had. “Wait, look at him, he’s talking, he’s fine!”
Daryl froze above him, chest heaving, knife still raised, his eyes darting over Jim’s face like he was searching for the moment it might change.
“Get off him.” Rick shouted.
Daryl held a second longer before he finally pulled back and let Jim go, shoving up to his feet without a word.
Glenn and T-Dog moved in fast, hauling Jim up between them and started walking him toward the RV.
“Gotta get him inside,” T-Dog said, already guiding him up the steps. “Get him some water.”
The second the door shut behind them, the whole camp erupted at once.
“We can’t just let him sit in there!” Daryl rounded on the group, pointing hard toward the RV. “He’s bit! Y’all know what happens next!”
“He’s still alive, Daryl!” Dale stepped forward, his voice shaking with something between anger and heartbreak. “He’s still talking. Still breathing. That has to count for something.”
“It don’t count for nothin’ once he turns!”
“He’s sick,” Rick cut in. “A sick man. We start down that road, where do we draw the line?”
“The line’s pretty clear,” Daryl snapped. “Zero tolerance for walkers. Or them to be.”
“Would you want that?” Rick’s voice rose over both of them, silencing the circle. “If it was you? Somebody putting you down the second you got bit, while you’re still standing here, still yourself?”
Daryl didn’t even blink. “Yeah.” His jaw was tight, eyes hard as stone. “I would. I’d thank ’em for it.”
….
Voices pulled me slowly out of sleep.
At first they were nothing more than muffled shapes behind the truck windows. Then they sharpened into words as morning light poured through the windshield.
I blinked against the sun and pushed myself upright.
The camp was already moving.
Rick hauled the last duffel into the trunk of the yellow sedan before shutting it with a solid thump. Lori settled into the front seat while Carl climbed into the back beside Sophia, the two of them quieter than I’d ever seen them.
I climbed out of the truck, heading toward the green canvas tent I’d spent all yesterday avoiding.
Amy’s things were exactly where she’d left them.
Her sweatshirt still folded into a makeshift pillow. Her hairbrush sat beside an open book. A half-finished bottle of water rested where she’d set it down.
Like she’d be back any minute.
I hadn’t slept in the tent last night. I hated sleeping in the truck. But sleeping in there without her was not something I could force myself to do.
I knelt and began stuffing my things into a duffel.
Socks. A spare shirt. The little bottle of face wash I’d been stretching for weeks.
One of Dale’s books I’d borrowed and never gotten around to finishing. I tossed the bag outside.
When I looked back, Carol had quietly stepped outside the tent. She knelt beside Amy’s quilt, lifting it carefully into her lap.
Her fingers smoothed each crease before folding it into neat, practiced squares.
“He used to make me flinch y’know. Even when he wasn’t doing anything.”
She kept folding.
“Just hearing his boots outside, I’d already be scared. I got so used to livin’ like that, I forgot what it felt like not to.”
I sat back on my heels. Nothing I could say that would give her back the years he’d taken.
“I don’t know what happens now.”
I followed her gaze toward Sophia climbing into the car with Carl.
“You get to live. Without fear. Find who you really are.” I offered, picking at a loose thread hanging from the quilt.
She frowned, eyes searching mine.
“It takes a while before your body believes you’re safe.”
“…How do you know?”
A hundred memories crowded the back of my mind.
“I just do.”
She nodded slowly.
Footsteps crunched outside the tent.
Carol’s shoulders jumped. Mine did too.
“Uh…”
We both turned.
Glenn stood in the entrance holding an empty box against his hip.
“…Did I interrupt something?”
“No,” I said, wiping quickly beneath one eye. “You’re okay.”
Glenn visibly relaxed. “Oh, good.” He pointed toward the pile. “So… which one of these is coming?”
“The duffel,” I said, pointing. “And that box beside it.”
“Got it.”
He bent, hoisted the duffel over one shoulder, grabbed the box under his other arm and somehow managed to balance both.
“Anything else?”
“We’re good,” Carol said, an honest smile finally breaking through.
“You sure? I can make another trip.”
“We’re sure.”
“Cool.” He nodded enthusiastically. “Cool, cool.”
Then he caught himself.
“…I’m gonna stop saying ‘cool’ now.”
He hurried away before either of us could answer. Carol laughed again.
We could hear Daryl and T-Dog wrestling the motorcycle up a pair of planks into the bed of the red pickup.
The tires squealed against the metal before settling with a heavy thud. Daryl wiped both hands on his jeans and glanced across camp.
His eyes landed on Carol.
Then me. Seeing us smiling. He gave the smallest nod before he turned back to tightening the straps around the bike.
I stood and held out a hand.
“You ready?”
“As ready as I’ll ever be.”
Shane strode through camp clapping the tops of car hoods as he passed.
“Let’s move, people! Daylight’s burnin’!” He circled back toward the middle of camp. “Listen up!”
“Those of you with CBs, we’re on Channel Forty. Anybody’s got a problem, hit your horn once. That stops the whole line.”
A ripple of nods passed through the group. I climbed into my truck.
Before I could shut the door, the other one swung open. Glenn climbed into the passenger seat, buckling himself in.
“Carpool?”
I smiled at him. “Always.”
“Got any cd’s in here?”
“Driver controls the radio,” I said with a smirk.
He scratched the back of his neck. “It was worth a shot.”
The engine rumbled to life. One by one, the vehicles pulled away from the quarry. I waited my turn before easing in behind the line.
….
An hour into the drive, I’d finally given up pretending I could keep my eyes open. Glenn had offered to take the wheel before I’d even asked.
There was no point of arguing.
I leaned my head against the cool window, watching the road blur past in streaks of gray and green. Every few seconds my eyelids drifted shut before I forced them open again.
The steady hum of tires on asphalt was almost enough to lull me back to sleep until a low roar rolled through the convoy.
It grew louder in seconds.
Daryl’s motorcycle shot past us on the left, weaving around a slower car before settling near the front of the line in a streak of chrome and dust.
Without thinking, my eyes followed him until he disappeared ahead.
“Uh-huh.”
I blinked and looked over.
Glenn’s attention never left the road.
“What?”
“Nothin’.” A grin tugged at the corner of his mouth.
I narrowed my eyes at him.
“You were staring.”
“I was not. I was simply watching the motorcycle.”
“Sure you were.”
He let the silence hang for a second before adding, almost thoughtfully, “You’ve got a thing for rednecks, don’t you.”
I let out an incredulous laugh.
“I do not.”
“Motorcycle. Crossbow.” He shrugged one shoulder. “The whole broody woodsman thing.”
“You’re ridiculous.”
I turned back toward the window, hoping he wouldn’t notice the warmth creeping into my face.
Ahead, the trees began to thin. The first buildings rose above them. Concrete and glass climbed into the sky, silent against the morning light.
Atlanta.
From this distance it almost looked untouched.
Like people should’ve been walking the sidewalks. Glenn’s smile faded as he looked toward the skyline.
“You think somebody’s still there?”
I kept my eyes on the city.
“I hope so.”
Brake lights bloomed ahead of us, one after another down the line. The RV drifted toward the shoulder, a thin ribbon of gray smoke trailing behind it.
Glenn eased off the gas.
“That’s not good.”
“No kidding.”
I was already sitting up. My eyes swept the tree line out of habit. Thankfully nothing moved. That didn’t make me feel any better about stopping though.
We rolled onto the shoulder behind the rest of the convoy, gravel popping beneath the tires until Glenn brought us to a stop.
Nobody got out immediately. Everyone looked around, waiting to see if the stop had attracted anything.
Only when Rick climbed out of the RV did the rest of us begin opening our doors. I reached across the seat and pressed my pistol into Glenn’s hand.
“Hang onto this.”
He looked down at it blankly.
“What about you?”
“I’ve got this.”
I pulled Daryl’s hunting knife from beside the seat. The leather sheath had been baking in the sun, warm against my palm as I buckled it around my thigh.
“That’s a knife,” Glenn frowned.
“It is.”
“Against walkers?”
“I don’t plan on shooting myself in the leg.”
“Fair enough,” he relented.
The heat hit like opening an oven, burning rubber, hot metal, a little bit of antifreeze. Sweat gathered instantly along my hairline as I crossed toward the RV.
The Winnebago’s hood stood open. Steam hissing toward the sky in thick white bursts. Dale leaned over the engine compartment, one arm buried somewhere inside.
“I told you we’d never get far on that hose.” He grumbled, straightening up with a tired groan, wiping black grease across an already filthy pair of pants. “I said I needed the one from the cube van.”
“Can you jury-rig it?” Rick asked.
Dale gave a dry laugh.
“That’s all it’s been since Atlanta.” He shook the loose length of patched radiator hose. “It’s more duct tape than rubber at this point. And I’m outta duct tape.” He sighed.
Shane stood in the middle of the highway with binoculars pressed to his eyes.
Daryl, T-Dog, and Andrea spread out without needing to be told, rifles held low as they watched opposite sides of the road.
Shane lowered the binoculars a few inches.
“I got something.”
Everyone looked his way.
“Looks like a gas station.”
He squinted back through the lenses.
“If we’re lucky.”
“Hey, Rick, you wanna hold down the fort?” Shane was already heading for the Jeep. “I’ll drive ahead. See what I can bring back.”
“Yeah, I’ll come too.” T-Dog fell into step beside him. “Back you up.”
“I’m coming.”
The words were out before anyone could tell me otherwise. I jogged to catch up.
Shane looked me over for a second before nodding. “Yeah, alright.” He pointed toward the convoy. “Y’all keep your eyes open.”
We climbed into the Jeep, door and windowless.
It whipped against my face the entire time, stinging my eyes as the highway stretched empty ahead of us.
The gas station came into view a minute later. Shane rolled to a stop beneath a faded canopy, the pumps standing silent beneath years’ worth of dust and bird droppings.
The automatic doors stood frozen halfway open. One pane of glass was spiderwebbed with cracks, a faded poster advertising two-for-one hot dogs peeling away from the window.
Shane led the way inside. T-Dog followed. I brought up the rear.
Glass crunched beneath our boots.
“Let’s grab what we can,” Shane said, already scanning the aisles without slowing. “Gas cans first. Food. Water if there’s any left.”
T-Dog grabbed the empty gas cans without a word, already hauling them toward the counter.
I figured I’d try my luck somewhere else and peeled off toward the back office.
It was barely bigger than a closet.
A tiny desk and a dented filing cabinet. My dream job, cute.
Someone had left a coffee mug beside an open ledger, the coffee long gone, leaving only a dark ring dried into the bottom.
I couldn’t help wondering if they’d meant to come back after lunch.
I reached for the light switch out of habit.
Nothing happened.
My eyes adjusted slowly. A ring of keys hung from a nail beside the desk. I pulled them free and started flipping through them.
Bathroom. Storage. Office.
Pump.
A grin spread across my face.
I hooked the key around one finger and wandered back into the store.
“Look what I found.”
Shane looked over his shoulder and laughed. “Knew there was a reason I brought you.”
I gave the keys a little shake before tossing them to Shane. He caught them one-handed.
While they headed back outside, I wandered farther down the aisles. The shelves had already been picked over.
Who would’ve guessed.
Gold wrappers peeked out from behind a crushed box of crackers near the bottom shelf.
I frowned, reaching behind the box.
“No way,” I said, holding it up with both hands.“Jackpot.”
The bright yellow box of Twinkies looked almost ridiculous sitting in the middle of the ruined store.
….
We made it back to the caravan, gas cans and supplies loaded up, Shane barely had the truck in park before I noticed Rick had the group pulled aside, his face carved with something heavy.
“It’s what he says he wants,” Rick said.
Carol wrapped her arms around herself. “And he’s lucid?”
“He seems to be.” Rick nodded slow. “I would say yes.”
Shane crossed his arms, shaking his head. “Woah wait, we’re just gonna leave him here? We take off?” His voice cracked with something raw underneath the anger. “Man, I’m not sure I could live with that.”
“It’s not your call,” Lori said, looking between the two of them. “Either one of you.”
I felt my chest tighten. The thought of leaving him under some tree on the side of the road twisting my stomach.
“No,” I said shaking my head.
Every head turned toward me.
“We’re not just leaving him propped against a tree like he’s nothing. He deserves better than that.”
I turned and started walking the tree line until I spotted a house set back off the road, paint peeling, porch sagging on one side but still standing.
I climbed the steps carefully, testing each board, and pushed the front door open. Dust hung in the air but the roof looked solid, the walls intact. It would do.
“Over here,” I called back. “This one’ll work.”
Daryl and Shane got Jim up between them, his arms slung over their shoulders, his feet dragging weak against the dirt. Glenn held the door while they carried him through, easing him down onto an old couch pushed against the far wall, dust rising up around him in a soft cloud.
Jim let his head fall back against the cushion, his eyes half closed, chest rising slow. “Thank you,” he murmured, barely above a whisper.
….
The sky bled out fast once we crossed into the city. By the time we reached the CDC building, daylight had collapsed into a deep gray dusk that washed the color out of everything.
“This doesn’t feel right,” Glenn muttered, easing the truck into park.
It didn’t. We climbed out into a silence so complete it felt heavy. The plaza stretched wide in front of the building.
Bodies lay everywhere. Some slumped against concrete barricades. Some crumpled where they’d fallen in the open.
Others looked like they’d almost made it to the doors before collapsing where they stood.
There were no birds, no traffic, not even wind. This wasn’t what hope was supposed to look like.
I pressed the collar of my shirt over my nose as the smell hit. It crawled down my throat no matter how hard I tried to block it out.
Flies lifted in thick buzzing clouds with every step we took, loud enough to swallow every other sound.
“Stay quiet,” Shane said, his voice barely above a whisper as he swept his rifle across the plaza
“And keep moving.”
We threaded carefully through the bodies, stepping over outstretched hands and torn clothing until we reached the entrance.
A heavy steel shutter covered the doors. Rick stepped forward immediately, grabbing the bottom edge, trying to haul it up with everything he had.
Metal groaned beneath his hands. It didn’t budge.
He reset his grip, planting both boots firmly on the ground and pulled again.
“Come on…”
He threw everything he had into it one more time. The shutter rattled but stayed shut.
“Rick.” Lori’s voice came tight, urgent.
He ignored her, throwing his weight into it one more time. To no avail. Every scrape of metal echoed across the empty city.
T-Dog flinched hard beside me. “There’s no one in here, man! It’s dead!”
Shane shoved past them, slamming both fists against the shutter.
BANG.
The sound cracked across the plaza.
BANG.
I turned toward the tree line. Walkers were drifting over from other buildings. It started with one, the another, followed another.
Daryl whistled, waving an arm toward our new company. He raised his crossbow, “walkers!”
The word snapped everyone into motion.
Carl burst into tears. Sophia wasn’t far behind. Lori dropped to her knees between them, wrapping both children against her chest. One hand cradled the back of Carl’s head, pulling him close enough to muffle the sound of Rick pounding against the door.
Morales rushed forward beside Shane. Together they grabbed the shutter.
Daryl spun toward Rick, panic written across every inch of his face. “You said this place would be safe!”
“I said maybe!”
“We could still make Fort Benning!” Shane shouted over the rising panic. “Turn around now, we still got daylight!”
“On what gas?” Andrea questioned. “We’re running on fumes!”
Glenn looked toward the convoy. The walkers were crossing the barricades now.
“We need to go.”
“No.” Rick stepped back toward the door.
“Rick.” Shane grabbed his arm. “We have to move.”
Rick froze.
Toward the security camera mounted above the entrance. He squinted slightly, “did you see that?”
“What?” Shane’s grip tightened, still hauling him backward. “Man, there’s nothing there, we gotta go!”
“The camera.” Rick dug his heels in, fighting against Shane’s pull. “It moved!”
Lori grabbed his other arm, both of them dragging him back toward the RV, but Rick wrenched free and threw himself against the shutter, pounding both fists into the metal.
Rick tore free from Shane’s grip, throwing himself against the shutter, both fists hammering the metal.
“I know you can hear me! Please! We’ve got children!” His voice tore raw across the plaza, echoing off the dead buildings around us. He slammed his fist against the steel again. “Don’t leave us out here.”
“Rick!” Shane’s arms locked around his chest, hauling backward with everything he had, boots dragging twin trenches through the dirt.
“Please!” Rick’s voice broke entirely, cracking apart at the edges. “You’re killing us!”
Everything in that second felt impossibly loud, the flies, the crying, the walkers groaning closer through the dark, my own pulse slamming hard in my ears, all of it crashing together into one deafening wall of sound.
Then the shutter lurched open, metal grinding and screeching as it rose, and a wall of blinding white light spilled out across the plaza.
I threw my arm up over my eyes, the light burning straight through my eyelids.
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warnings/tags: reader is of legal age, mid twenties to early thirties, heavy age gap, heavy ddlg! tones, daddy kink, co-dependency, smut, dumbification, humiliation, praise kink, unprotected sex, spanking, just overall very kinky hardcore shit
a/n: if you do not enjoy it, or do not like it please care the warnings and scroll away.
older!daryl who was extremely protective and possessive of you. he rarely lets you out of the community but when he does, he makes sure you’re always beside him at all times and never leaving his sights. he knows you can take care of yourself, he’d seen you killed five walkers with a single brick like it was no issue. however, he never wants his pretty doll to get dirty or get hurt. when a guy shows interest with you, he will make sure to scare them away—they don’t dare to go near you ever again.
older!daryl who always acknowledges you, praising you when you do a good job collecting supplies and clearing rooms. “good girl”, “that’s my girl”. you could do the smallest thing and he would shower you with praises, “you’re so good, so good for me”
older!daryl who takes you everywhere, no matter where he is because he knows you would get upset if he leaves. wherever he goes, you follow. that’s the rules. however, if the situation gets too dangerous, he would make sure to find you a safe spot you can stay in and promising you that he will come back. you would cry for him to stay and he would take his time to comfort you. “stay here for me, be a good girl—i’ll come back for you, always”
older!daryl who had to deal with your bratty self when you don’t get what you want, you would be petty, you would sulk at him and even pretend to avoid him when you physically can’t. daryl’s way to resolve the situation was always to bend you over his lap, “make sure ya count for me, bunny—ya need to know how much of a pain in my ass you’ve been today” he would growl as he would take his rough big hands to spank your ass until you were crying and learned your lesson. he loved when you cry, because when you cry—you cunt was crying as well. maybe spanking wasn’t the best punishment method if you enjoyed it—daryl enjoys putting you in your place even more.
older!daryl who was shocked when you called him daddy for the first time. it was when he was fucking you stupid, he was fucking you so hard your whole body moved alongside him. your tongue was out, drool escaping the corner of your mouth, eyes rolled back as you brain went dead. the only thing you could babble stupidly was “daddy… so good, daddy” and that fueled him. “what did you just call me” daryl growled, “say it again” he says, as you kept chanting “daddy” over and over again as he fucked you harder till you see stars. your pussy torn apart and beaten by his large cock.
older!daryl who loves humiliating you when he fucks you. “say it, say you’re my cock slut” he demanded as you obeyed, barely could form any words. he loves using you like you’re and object and you loved it too. if he found a sharpie, he would write nasty things on your body—“cumdump” on your lower tummy, “slut” on your tits, “whore” on your ass. he would fuck you in front of a mirror, forcing you to watch how he defiles your body.
older!daryl who makes sure to take care of you when he is done. suddenly he turns into the softest man, loving you and praising you for being so good for him. he would make sure you were clean, you were hydrated, but the writings stays on your body—a reminder of who you truly are the minute his cock enters your body.
He likes to cuddle, kinda needy when you guys are alone. Burying his face into your neck after a long day on a run is his favorite thing.
Will literally put himself between you and a herd of walkers, just to pull you into a tight hug after and check you over to make sure you didn't get bit.
His hand tightens on your hips or lower back whenever anyone comes close, wanting to keep you grounded.
He likes taking care of you in small ways, handing you the best cuts of meat or the cleanest water as he grunts "eat up".
smut:
Likes holding your wrists above your head. Although secretly loves when you grip his arms or chest real tight.
Praise kink for sure!!! Loves when you tell him how good he feels or how much you need him.
Likes taking his time, savoring every moment he gets with you.
Heavy breathing and filthy whispering right in your ear . he'll drop his voice so low and rasp “ you’re so tight for me , sweetheart “ just to hear you gasp .
