GIVEN TO FLY [Daryl Dixon]

VIII.

CHAPTER EIGHT
[ the highway ]

He tenses every time she wraps her arms around his waist. They'd had to ditch the truck a ways back, and when they did Misty had offered to ride in the RV. Daryl told her not to bother, that the RV was too full, and she could still ride with him.

He'd ditched the truck, and climbed onto his motorcycle. She'd hesitated, having never ridden one before, but he'd grunted, "s'okay. Jus' get on."

She had, and had awkwardly placed her hands on his hips. That was never gonna be enough to keep her from flying off, so he'd grabbed her hands and wrapped her arms around his waist. He tensed when he did it for her the first time, and every time she did it after.

Now, after a while, he still tenses, but they are comfortable enough that she can rest her head on his back when she is tired, which was exactly what she does while they all drive down the highway.

After being so apprehensive about riding on Daryl's motorcycle at first, she never thought she'd become so comfortable. But she is. Whether it's him or whether she is just getting used to it, she doesn't know. What she does know is that if they ever find another one, she'll be on it in a second.

They drive at the front of the convoy, and soon get to a part of the highway completely congested with cars, too many for the RV to get through. Daryl drives through, trying to find a way through for the RV, then circle back to tell Dale.

"See a way through?" Dale asks.

Daryl just nods his head to the side to tell him to follow, while Misty says, "yeah, I think we can try to squeeze through."

Just as they start driving away, Misty hears the RV wheeze and sputter to a stop. Daryl stops then too, and she hears Dale curse as he and the others file out of the RV, "I said it. Didn't I say it? A thousand times. Dead in the water."

"Problem, Dale?" Shane asks.

"Oh, just a small matter of being stuck in the middle of nowhere, with no hope of-" Dale pauses, looking out at the sea of cars, and realizing. "Okay, that was dumb."

"Can't find a radiator hose here. . ." Shane trails off.

"There's a whole bunch of stuff we could find," Daryl says, and she nods in agreement.

"Can siphon more fuel from these cars for a start," T-Dog adds.

"Maybe some water," Carol says.

"Food," Glenn says.

"This is a graveyard," Lori interjects, making everyone still. "I don't know how I feel about this."

"Has to be done," Misty tells her, shrugging.