roots | daryl dixon

11 | what lies ahead

Daryl told her as they drove, that Jacqui had stayed at the CDC when Lou asked him to fill in the spots she couldn't remember. Lou cried, and fell asleep somewhere amongst her sobs, eventually finding herself comfortable with her head resting on Daryl's leg as he drove. 

Eventually, the group stopped to gather themselves and to look for fuel. T-Dog and Daryl siphoned gas from abandoned vehicles and a gas station. They filled up the groups' vehicles, with Daryl choosing to take his brother's bike and leave the truck behind. Lou put her tent into the trunk of the car Rick drove.

She holstered the gun she carried, keeping it in a holster she'd taken from a dead one. She chose to remain with Daryl, not wanting to be cramped inside a vehicle with so many people. He started up the bike, shifting forward a bit so she could swing her leg over and sit on the backseat. Lou wrapped her arms around his middle and held tight as he pulled away.

She relished in the feeling of her hair whipping around wildly, although noted she should braid it back to avoid knots. She smiled and released one arm, leaning back as she took in the view. She trusted Daryl.

He ruined the fun by calling back to her, "hey, both arms! I don't wanna be scraping you off the road!" 

Lou rolled her eyes, slinging her arm around him again. "Killjoy!" She yelled back, though she tightened her grip as he sped up.

They came upon a traffic snarl, cars piled up everywhere. Daryl leads the group through so far, but the RV rolled to a stop as the front began smoking. Lou jumped off the motorcycle the very second Daryl stopped it. "Radiator hose, dad?" She asked her father as he popped the hood.

"I said it. Didn't I say it? A thousand times," he said, "dead in the water."

Shane spoke up, "problem, Dale?"

"Just a small matter of being stuck in the middle of nowhere with no hope of--" her father promptly shut up upon glancing around to all the abandoned cars. "Okay, that was dumb."

"If you can't find a radiator hose here. . ." Shane trailed off, his message clear.

"There's a whole bunch of stuff we can find." Said Daryl, already rummaging through an open trunk.

T-Dog piped up, "I can siphon more fuel from these cars for a start." 

"Maybe some water," Andrea suggested.

"Or food," Glenn added.

"This is a graveyard," Lori voiced, "I don't know how I feel about this."

Lou replied softly, "Lori, we're not exactly in a place to be picky now. I think we should grab whatever we can find from here, it might be a while before we come across anything again."

The group looked around at each other, and Shane instructed them all to look for anything useful. Lou walked ahead, taking out her butterfly knife. She played around with the knife as she walked, stabbing any walker she saw, even if it looked dead. She gathered a few cans of food, then moved onto another car, where she saw a suitcase wide open. 

She started ruffling through it, grabbing a pair of jeans to inspect the size. She shoved them into her bag upon seeing they were her size. Glenn appeared out of nowhere, telling her to get under the car. She slid under the car, squeezing in tight against Glenn. She held his hand and closed her eyes, mouthing a prayer that the walkers wouldn't notice anyone in her group. 

She waited a few moments after the feet stopped shuffling past her, then released the vice-like grip she'd been holding on Glenn's hand, and got out from under the car. Lou heard a scream and caught sight of Sophia running into the woods, two walkers chasing after her. She jumped to run after the girl, but Glenn pulled her back, shaking his head, "Rick got it." 

She nodded, seeing he was right, Rick had already run after Sophia. She knew he would take care of it. 

"Lou!" 

Whipping around in her spot, she saw Daryl dragging T-Dog to the RV, T-Dog clutching his forearm as it oozed blood. She winced before jumping into action, running in the RV to grab the first aid kit. She grabbed a clean towel and got to T-Dog just as Daryl was helping him sit just outside the RV. "Shit," she muttered, pushing the towel to his arm with pressure. 

She ignored his cries, gesturing to her bag on the ground, "Daryl, in that bag, there's a bottle of painkillers I took from the CDC, get those out and give him two. There's a water bottle in the RV, on the table." 

He listened to her instructions, going into the RV. Lou ordered Glenn forward, instructing him on what to do. Daryl returned, promptly feeding the pills to T-Dog. She smiled grimly as she ripped some medical tape, nodding to Glenn to take the towel away. She was happy to see the blood wasn't gushing anymore, just a small amount creating a river along his arm. She applied an ointment, hoping it would lower the risk of infection, then put on the bandage. 

"What did he cut it on?" Lou asked Daryl, looking worried as T-Dog appeared ready to pass out. 

"Part of a car." He murmured.

"Fuck. He'll probably get an infection, I doubt that car was very clean." She stressed, running a hand across her forehead, unknowingly smearing blood all over.

She furrowed her eyebrows as she saw Daryl extend his arm, a somewhat clean rag in his hand. "Yer covered in blood." He clarified, prompting Lou to take the rag. 

She nodded her thanks as Rick came up over the hill. She wiped away at the blood on her forehead with help from Glenn and then scrubbed at her hands. Sophia was missing now. Rick had told her to make a run for it back towards the group, but she hadn't gotten back yet, so he took Daryl, Glenn and Shane with him to go searching for her.

Lou tried to block out the emotions, the worry that she felt for the lost little girl. She kept herself busy, helping the remainder of the group looting and moving the abandoned cars into the ditch to make way for the RV. She wandered away from the group, on the other side of the highway to look for things that could be useful. 

She came across a set of throwing knives, and despite not knowing how to throw them, she decided to stuff them down into her bag. They could prove useful, even if they weren't thrown. She moved onto the next car, finding nothing but a corpse with the seatbelt still latched. She sighed, watching as it reached two bony hands towards her. She made quick work of it. 

A few minutes later, she returned to the group, having found some clothes that might fit Carl in a suitcase. She pulled the suitcase along, hopping over the divider and sliding down the small ditch. She used one of the cars as leverage to climb up the other side and located Carl's mother.

"I know you're not a fan of us scavenging from these cars, but I noticed some of Carl's clothes are getting short on him, and I found this bag untouched in a trunk. It's up to you if you want the clothes in here," she said, handing the suitcase over to the mother. 

Lori hesitated, but realized Lou was right and Carl was going through a growth spurt, "thanks."

Lou nodded and went to the RV to check on T-Dog.

Just as she bent down to place the back of her hand against his forehead, she heard Daryl and Rick return. She could hear Carol crying and complaining that her daughter couldn't survive alone throughout the night, and a dark thought crossed Lou's mind before she could stop. She pushed it out of her mind and focused on T-Dog's wound, unfortunately seeing pus when she changed the bandage.

That night, as Lou settled in the backseat of one of the cars she'd looted, she found herself thinking about how the poor girl must be doing out in the woods, all alone. She knew Carol sheltered her daughter immensely, so the girl had no survival skills, and while Lou hoped and prayed Sophia would be fine, she was thinking realistically as well. She knew the girl didn't have a chance of living, but as she slowly fell asleep, she played with the little golden cross she'd scavenged earlier, muttering a prayer for the girl.