No Rest For the Wicked ~ A Walking Dead Fan Fiction

Chapter 16: Ghosts We're Buried On

Chapter Sixteen 

Ghosts We're Buried On 

Frist Person~ Kate 

Without a house to occupy we had to make do with what we had. Six people were crammed in the RV and three in the van but that still left six more of us. There were no volunteers to see in the cars that belonged to the dead around us and nobody seemed inclined to set up an even marginally permanent camp so Elsie, Glenn, Justin and I would all be sharing the largest tent. It was tight but not uncomfortable, there was room for one more but Daryl chose to sleep outside anyway. Some of the other's had gone to bed already but knowing I wouldn't be able to sleep I opened the peanut butter jar and wandered around the sorry camp, stopping by Daryl and the sleeping bag he was sitting on. He had a bottle of red wine that he must have found here in one hand and a cigarette in the other. I leaned against a car and smirked. "What a moderately sized night cap you've got yourself there." 

"Same goes for the nut jug." He returned, eying my bedtime snack. "And mom always said a beer bottle was made for one so why couldn't the same rules apply to wine?"

I arched an eyebrow. "Peanut butter is delicious. And you don't plan on drinking it all, do you? We need to be up early tomorrow, alert- not hung over." I chided him though I could hardly blame him for wanting to get drunk right now, hell I did too. 

"I can handle my liquor, better than you if I recall correctly. And I wrecked the cork getting it out..." He drawled. I flushed, still mortified over my drunken behavior back at the CDC but I just grinned and casually dropped onto his sleeping bag next to him. 

"And if I recall correctly I had a hell of a lot more to drink than you did." I pointed out, taking the cigarette. I offered the peanut butter but he shook his head. I gave a half shrug before taking a long, deep drag. I closed my eyes and let my head fall back as I slowly exhaled. "And I at least get ballsy." 

"Oh yeah?" 

"Yeah." I opened my eyes and let my head roll to the side to face him. "I told you all about my feelings, didn't I?" I picked my head all the way up and took another drag. "You wouldn't talk about your feelings even if you got twice at hammered as I was." I laughed out the smoke at the thought of a drunk Daryl confessing his feelings, it was almost too hard to imagine.  

"You're a girl, you guys talk about feelings and shit all the time." He argued as I traded him the cigarette for the bottle and took a big swig, enjoying his night treats almost more than mine. 

"Not all girls. Like me for instance. You sure as hell don't have to worry about that ever happening again." 

"Thank god." He muttered. 

"Gotta say I agree." I laughed as I got up and took one last swallow before handing the bottle back to him. "Don't finish that. We're gonna need something to celebrate with when we find her." He stared for a minute before nodding. 

"Night, Goldielocks." 

"Night, Daryl." I capped the peanut butter and crept into the tent as quietly as I could but found the other three were still awake in there anyway.  

As I crawled into my sleeping bag positioned between Glenn and Elsie I looked up. The starry sky was clearly visible through the mesh net roof since we lost the rain tarp but that didn't matter since there wasn't a cloud in the sky. 

"What are you still doing up?" I whispered to Elsie, glancing sideways at her. 

"Can't sleep." She mumbled. I could hardly blame her. It was unlikely any of us would be getting much sleep with Sophia still out there. "Will you tell me a story?" Elsie asked, snuggling deeper into her sleeping bag, her giant eyes dually reflecting the crescent moon, which rung her enlarged pupils. I reached over, fondly stroking wispy strands of nearly white hair off the girl's forehead.