The Ðying Liƒe. »A Walking Dead Fanfic«

16. Supply Run

"Well, were gonna need to go out and see what we can gather for supplies," Rick said to us. Him, Dale and Shane were taking inventory of the few supplies our group had left and it wasn't very much. "OK, alright then," Shane started, "We need to get a group together and head back to the highway." I looked at everyone's faces, they didn't look too happy about having to scavenge the broken down cars on the highway. "First we need to figure out what we can use for protection. We don't know what it's like out there anymore. Come on people! Lets get this goin'," Shane clapped his hands together and everyone went about gathering guns and ammo.

I went to my tent to grab my knife and Daryl walked up to me. "You thinkin' about goin' along?" he asked. "Of course, I need to pull my weight around here," I said. "Besides, who's gonna watch your back?" He shook his head and tried to hide a smile. I leaned in and looked up at him, "You know, its OK to smile. You look pretty nice when you do." He only shook his head again and I couldn't hold back a grin. "You need to stay by my side then," his face got serious. I nodded to him. "OK?" he said ducking his head to catch my gaze. "Yeah. I will." I assured him.

A little while later everyone regrouped around the picnic table that now held our small arsenal of random weapons. There were a couple of shotguns, a riffle, two hand guns, a few hunting knives and Daryl's crossbow. "This isn't very good," Andrea stated. She looked around at everyone, but no one wanted to look back at her. "Come on! Seriously you guys? This isn't enough, you all know that!" She glared at us and then walked away. "How much ammo do we got left?" Rick asked us as he watched her walk away. Glenn and Dale placed two small boxes on the table in front of him. Opening them, he counted them off, "Five shotgun shells, about ten bullets for the riffle, and a handful of bullets between the two hand guns." He wiped the sweat off his forehead with the back of his hand and then sat down at the table.

"Are you sure there isn't anything else we can use?" he asked looking at all of us. Glenn turned, looking around the yard, "we could see if there is anything in that shed over there," he pointed his hat at a tiny wooden shed at the back of the house. "We don't really need guns, just blunt objects, stuff we can swing, you know?" he added. "Good, go see what you can find," Rick told him and off Glenn went off to search the shed. I didn't have a whole lot to contribute at that moment so I chose to stay quite. "We need to look for things we can use. Car parts, maybe some extra ammo, or if we're lucky, some more guns. Look for food, medicine, things like that." He looked at each one of us. "We'll have to siphon some gas if we can, so we need containers to hold it in."

We all turned to look at Glenn as he came back from the shed. With him he had a wooden baseball bat, an ax, hedge trimmers, and a large pick ax. "This is all I found," he said as he tossed each item on the ground. I bit my fingernail, this was nerve wracking. "Well then," Shane stood with his hands on his hips, "who's going with then?" He had asked the million dollar question. Dale, Glenn, Daryl and T-Dog all raised their hands. Then, slowly, I raised mine. "Nuh-uh, Nora! You're staying here!" Rick waved a hand across his body. "Hell no! I'm not going to stay here while you all go out! I've already proven that I can take care of myself." I glowered at him. "You've only been up against one Walker at a time. One," he stared back at me, "do you really want to test your luck out there?" "She'll be by my side the entire time. So don't worry!" Daryl stepped between Rick and me. Rick studied Daryl's face and pursed his lip and then shook his head, "Fine. If you wanna go, then I guess I can't stop you. Just be on alert at all times." "Don't worry," I reassured him.

The guns, ammo and tools were divided among us. Shane and T-Dog took a shotgun, Daryl took the pick ax along with his crossbow. Dale took the riffle and Rick and Glenn took the handguns. I, however, was given my knife and the bat. I looked at my crude forms of self defense, then looked at the guns that the guys were given. I bit my lip. I looked up at Rick and opened my mouth to protest but he was already watching me probably hoping I would end up staying. "Is something wrong? Nora?" he asked, arching a questioning brow. I shut my mouth and shook my head. "Good," he replied with a smirk.

We all went to pile into Carol's Cherokee and just like the last time I left the farm, everyone gave each other hugs and said to be careful,. Then, Glenn and T-Dog climbed into the rear of the jeep and I slid into the middle seat between Dale and Daryl. Rick took the wheel as Shane jumped into the passenger seat. Maggie joined our remaining group and waved to us as we left.

If felt odd riding in a car after being at the farm for so long. I almost felt car sick. I turned my head to look out Daryl's window, "Can you roll down the window, please?" I asked, my voice meek. He looked at me a little concerned, "you gonna be alright?" he asked rolling the window down. I swallowed the knot in my throat and nodded my head. With the warm breeze blowing in my face, I did feel allot better. Daryl slid his arm under mine and rested his hand on my inner thigh. I looked down at it and squeezed my legs together, trapping his hand and rested my head on his shoulder. I caught Dale watching us out of the corner of his eye but I didn't care.