I need you -Daryl Dixon-

22- Ricktatorship

The uncertainty scared me the most. We had fooled ourselves thinking that the farm was a safe haven. Nowhere in this world was safe. We were only pushing from one location to the next hoping to stay alive just another day. All I knew was that I had Daryl back and the only thing that would make me let him go again would be death.

The sun was starting to set as we sped down the long broken ribbon of highway in front of us. We didn't know where we were headed, only that we were going East.

The wind had a piercing chill rolling through it. I moved my icy fingertips under the front of Daryl's shirt to try to steal some of his warmth. His body was like a heater and his smooth skin instantly warmed me. My hair being tossed by the wind relaxed my brain enough that I almost dozed off before I heard a horn.

The line of cars stopped behind us and everyone started to pile out. I swung my leg over the side of the motercycle crumbling right to the ground. My legs felt like jello.

"Shit. Ya okay?" Daryl asked pulling me to my feet.

"Tired." I shrugged.

He pulled me against his chest placing a soft kiss on the top of my head.

"We'll rest here." He tried to assure looking down at me.

"Yeah." I replied glibly.

The cool breeze caused the embers to roll off the poor excuse for a fire in a way that reminded me of a slow dance. I stared at the flames as they swayed gently. My eyes were burning but not from the smoke. I was exhausted beyond belief. My body was achy and tired from running, fighting and no sleep. My mind was a jumbled mess after thinking Daryl was dead only to have him back where I needed him the most. I was grateful but still felt lost.

"Here, ya can clean yourself up a bit." A husky voice broke me out of my daze.

I looked up to see Daryl holding an almost full water bottle and a bandana.

I shook my head looking away. "I'm fine. We'll need it to drink."

"We'll find more. There's gotta be water nearby these damn mosquitos are eatin' me alive." He reasoned.

I looked down at myself and the horror played all over again. I looked like Hell Boy. I was covered in thick carnage from head to toe. Not only that, the blood of the dead covering me had mixed with dirt and sweat and clung to me like a sticky paste.

He knelt down beside me pouring some of the water on the rag and began cleaning my arms. I knew it wasn't going to help much. There wasn't enough water in the whole state of Georgia to purge the blood on me. I had no clothes to change into but it seemed to make him feel better.

Once my pale skin finally made its appearance again I did actually feel a little better. Lighter. My clothes were beyond the mend but that was another problem for another day.

"Alright!" Rick cleared his throat. "We're gonna set up a perimeter. In the morning, we'll find gas and some supplies. We'll keep pushing on."

"Glenn and I could go scavenge some gas now" Maggie volunteered.

"No." Rick shook his head. "We stay together. God forbid something happen and we get stranded without a car."

"Rick were stranded now." Glenn tried to reason.

"I know it looks bad, we've all been through hell and worse, but at least we found each other. I wasn't sure... I really wasn't... but we did. We're together. We keep it that way. We'll find shelter somewhere. There's gotta be a place." Rick said putting his hands on his hips resting his hand on his gun.