The Ðying Liƒe. »A Walking Dead Fanfic«

27. Pit Stop

I felt a little weird after the whole incident. I didn't know what to make of it. Thankful that I was alive but I was also starting to feel like I was sometimes more trouble than I was help to this group. It's a something I thought often and at times I had wondered if it would just be better if I left during the night. Of course all those feelings disappeared as Daryl took a seat across from me. There was a bit of curiosity shining in his eyes and I knew he had questions on his mind. "What?" I asked, mostly because I just wanted to hear his voice.

He shook his head and gentle smile pulled at his lips, "what is it about you that no matter what you're doing trouble always seems to find you?" Honestly, I didn't know how to answer that. Daryl must have misinterpreted the confused expression on my face as smugness.

"No, seriously. If you were left by yourself, in the middle of a pillow factory, some how you'd find a way to get hurt or get in trouble." "Mr. Dixon, I'm offended by that statement," I finally chuckled, again not really knowing how I should have acted. His smile faded and I knew he wanted me to take this seriously.

"I don't know, really. The place looked empty when I walked in," I crossed my arms in front of me on the table. "Hey," I looked him in the eyes, "all things considered, I'm doing pretty well." "Yeah, but one day, your luck is going to run out," he said with a slight frown on his face.

I sat back in the seat and watched as Dale pulled away from the strip mall. I reached for my backpack and started to stuff my clothes into it. Daryl watched as I did this and shook his head. "Now what?" I huffed. "Girls and their fucking clothes," was all he stated. "Hey, I needed some new stuff. Plus, with us heading north, its gonna get colder and this sweat shirt," I pulled out my ratty old hooded sweatshirt and held it up, "isn't going to cut it." "I'm just sayin' its not worth gettin' killed over," he reached out across the table to take my hand, gently kissing the back of it. I couldn't help but smile at his tenderness.

"Ahem," Andrea was standing at the table watching us with her arms crossed. We separated and I looked up at Andrea's face, "hey." "You two and your constant displays of affection," she had a little bit of attitude behind her statement. "Oh don't start Andrea," I tried to reason with her, "its not like I haven't caught you and Shane doing far worse." Her face went pink, "please! You have never!" She sat down across from the table.

Daryl and I were never really overly affectionate in front of the group. They all knew that we cared about each other. Maybe it was just the fact that Daryl had seemed so cold to everyone and I somehow managed to warm him that made people curious about our relationship.

Relationship. Is that what Daryl and I had?

"You should have waited for me Nora," she had her 'Big Sister' pants on now. "Oh come on," I sat back against the seat and crossed my arms in front of me. "You shouldn't have went into the clothing store without me," she said.

"The rest of the group was outside and Lori was sitting right out front. It's not like it was that sketchy of a situation at first glance," I glared at her, "don't start this right now, alright Andrea? I'm fine, OK?" Andrea sat up a little straighter in her seat and looked over my face, "fine, don't come whining to me when you find yourself in trouble again." She got up from the seat and went up front with Dale.

"She doesn't need to worry about me," I said softly. Daryl looked at me, "when people stop worrying about you is when you need to start worrying." He wasn't wrong though.

We must have driven at least a couple hours from the strip mall when Dale pulled the RV into an old Ma and Pop campground. I pressed my face to the window to look out at the rundown campground. "This is a little creepy," I remarked. Daryl moved a little closer behind me to look out as well, "we're gonna have to do a sweep of the woods before we settle down for the night." "The sun has almost set though," I turned to look at him. "It's gotta be done," he said and I just nodded my head in agreement.

The rest of the group came into the RV to join us. "So, this is where we will be staying for the night. I know this place is a little..." Shane struggled to find the word he was looking for. "Creepy?" I offered. "Not the word I was looking for, but yeah, that works. We're only staying here until sun comes up then we move on to the next town to see what we can find. First things first, Glenn and Daryl, you come with Rick and I to do a quick sweep of the surrounding woods," Shane looked at each of the guys. I was too tired to protest not being able to tag along.

The guys all grabbed their guns and flashlights and headed outside. Lori and Carol set about getting dinner ready. Dinner was a hodge podge of what ever food the two women could find. I groaned and rested my chin on my arms. Our first night away from the farm and I was already missing its luxuries. I stared out the window and watched as the guys made their way into the woods.