Chapter 9

Last night was another one of those moments that was a blur, we ran all over Alexandria looking for the man Daryl and Rick brought back last night. We ended up finding him in Rick's house. Next thing I know we're having a conversation with him about other communities like ours. The conversation went on until it was decided a group of us would go with Jesus, that's his name, to his community, the Hilltop. So Rick, Michonne, Maggie, Glenn, Abraham, and Daryl were going, I didn't argue, I wasn't sure if I was ready to broaden my horizons just yet.

There was something unsettling about Jesus, he kept looking at me, it was just for a split second but he was definitely looking at me. I forgot to mention, when we ran into Rick's house with our guns drawn, Rick and Michonne stumbled out of his bedroom half dressed. Yes it was awkward. Right now Rick and the others were loading up the RV getting ready to go, Daryl pulling me to the side, out of sight of everyone else.

"Sorry I keep leavin' ya, you gonna be okay on your own?" He stiffed his hands into his pockets.

"I think I made some friends." I smirked at him crossing my arms, proud of the new found social skills I had. Not talking all night and most of the day, really helped my voice, it sounded way better.

"Good, and I also heard you're goin' on your first run tomorrow with Abraham." I nodded bashfully. "I'll be back to see you off alright?" I nodded again lightly blushing.

"I'll wait up for you." I said quietly, looking at him, feeling my face getting hot.

"No you don't-"

"But I will." I smiled at him, seeing a small smile creep at the corners of his mouth. Almost instinctively we hugged each other at the same time, I pressed against his chest, taking in a discreet whiff of his scent from his vest. "See you soon." I whispered.

"Yeah." He pulled away. "See you soon." Daryl gave me a nod and went back to our friends joining them in the RV.

I watched them leave nostalgia ever present as I saw the gates close, then Sasha approached me.

"You and Abraham tomorrow?" Sasha nudged me with her elbow.

"Yeah." I smiled.

"So I've never seen your aim, how 'bout we go see what you got?" She smiled at me. Sasha took me to the armory for ammo, and a couple different types of guns, I guess to see what I was comfortable with and what I was best with. We approached the gates, immediately I became nervous, I hadn't been outside the gates since arriving here.

Eugene let us out, the two of us walking into the woods until we found a clearing in the trees. I chopped up some logs, Sasha helped, we set them up as targets, and proceeded to set up about ten yards away. We started with a rifle, something I had never used before, I had a difficult time with the scope, and barely nicked the targets. We went through a couple other types of rifles, automatics, semi-automatic, manuals, then we got to handguns. The hand guns were definitely my favorite, and way easier to control and hit targets spot on with. Every shot making Sasha smile happily, after how awful I did to begin with.

"Better get going, dead comin' in." Sasha packed up the guns and ammo, and the two of us headed back for home.

"I was nervous about coming back out here." I admitted to her.

"Why's that?" Sasha glanced at me.

"I don't know, I felt like once I left those walls my luck would run out." I sighed.

"Been there before, I was afraid being behind those walls too long would make me weak." Sasha adjusted the gun bag on her shoulder. "You don't have to worry about that now, we're going on regular supply runs." Sasha smirked.

"I'm excited." I smiled at her hopeful, looking at the ground as we walked.

"Should be, it keeps ya on your toes." She smiled. "Everything should go smoothly, all we gotta worry about is walkers." She smiled, anxiety built in my chest, just walkers?

As we approached home the gates opened for us, Eugene closing them behind us, I smiled as I saw him.

"Hey, do I getta hear chapter two later?" I bit my lip nervously waiting for his response.

"Certainly." He nodded at me. I smiled and headed back to the armory with Sasha to help return guns.

So, what about me?" She asked, almost a little offended that I hadn't asked for her story.

"Well tell me about yourself then." I nudged her arm.

"Nah, too long a story, you don't wanna hear it." She shook her head looking at the ground as she laughed, I rolled my eyes.

"Well just give me something." I shrugged. We were soon outside of the armory.

"Well, uh, there was this guy, Bob, that died before we got here, but that man's smile could brighten up a dark room, he just spoke and it made a cloudy sky sunny. I loved him, and now Abraham... likes me, I just don't know how I feel yet." She furrowed her brows thinking about the matter.

"Abraham?" I pondered sarcastically, Sasha nudged me playfully.

"You know what I mean." She retorted.

"Well I mean I see the way you two look at each other it's undeniable." I smiled, thinking about the first morning I saw Abraham in the kitchen eating with Sasha.

"Thanks." She smiled back at me.

We returned the guns to the armory, then I heard the sound of the gate opening and the RV pulling in.

"They're back already?" I looked at Sasha, and the two of us headed over, Aaron right behind us.

The RV came to a stop and Rick leaned out. "Get Olivia, she should get inventory on what we got, we'll meet her at the pantry." Rick ordered. I nodded and took off toward Olivia's, she had Judith.

"Hazel, hey." Olivia adjusted Judith on her hip, as she saw me approach.

"Rick's back with a haul, wanted us to go through it." I explained simply.

"Oh, uh, okay, I'll just let-"

"Olivia, I'll take Judith." Carol rushed in from behind me taking Judith from Olivia.

"Oh okay." She smiled, then the two of us went over to the pantry where the RV was parked.

"What'd we have?" Olivia sighed looking at the RV.

"Maybe a months worth?" Rick said placing his hands on his belt.

"I need everyone together at the church, we have business to talk about." Rick eyed all of us then walked away.

During the meeting we were told about a group called the Saviors, that was scaring everyone into submission. They forced the communities to give more than half of their food and supplies. Our place in all of this was to go after this group, kill them, find their leader, and kill him too. To execute our plan we took heads from walkers to make a fake Gregory head, Gregory was the leader of the Hilltop. A long story, the Savior's took some of the Hilltop people sending the others back with a message, 'kill Gregory, and they set the captives free', blah, blah, blah. So carrying on, the member from the Hilltop that we had with us, can't remember his name, would take the decoy head to the Saviors, they'd hand over the captive, then we would step in, and silently kill them all.

Sounds simple enough, but we ran into a snag, in the process of killing them in their sleep, someone woke up, and a gun fight rang out. The gun fight went on for what seemed like forever, until finally it went silent. We hit a second snag, during all of this I was standing on the outside gate of the Saviors outpost listening to Maggie and Carol argue back forth, so I snuck away climbing up into a tree getting a better vantage point. I could barely hear Maggie and Carol arguing from this point, until I heard a single gunshot echo through the trees, and a scream. I looked down seeing a man laying on the ground holding his bleeding arm, Carol holding her gun pointed at him. I watched as Maggie struggled to get to her gun, but three other people quickly pointed guns at both women. Shit. I could deal with this, I looked over at the compound, the sun barely rising into the sky, I watched as our group inside the fence dealt with a man on a bike.

"Put the gun down asshole." A woman below me growled into a walkie talkie, I watched my group look around confused. Oh so she wanted to play games, not on my watch.

I watched their movements for a while, the man was wounded, two women, one older and bigger, the other dark haired looked tough. The group of misfits held onto Maggie and Carol, who were bound now. Another woman with red hair held the walkie, she seemed unshaken. Oh yeah I could deal with these people they didn't even know I was here. I pulled out my pistol with a silencer on it, quietly cocking it back as the woman spoke. I aimed down at the women holding my friends, four quick shots it'd be over. One, two, three, four! I jumped down out of the tree, pulling out my hatchet, finishing off the red head, and the tough girl.

"Hazel." Carol and Maggie looked at me completely in shock.

"What?" I growled. I cut them free, picking up the walkie talkie. "Rick it's Hazel, I took care of them, Carol and Maggie are safe." I spoke into the walkie.

"Good, meet us at the back gate." Rick ordered.

"Hazel you just killed those people like it was nothing." Carol said to me, concern in her voice.

"They were going to hurt you two I couldn't let them get away with that." I growled defensively at her, and continued walking to the back of the compound where our group waited for us. We said our goodbyes to Tara and Heath, who were going out further to scavenge, Carol still had a weird blank face, Maggie and Glenn were reunited, and Rick gave me a relieved hug.

"You okay?" Rick looked at me.

"I'm fine." I said forcing a smirk on my face.

"Good, Good, let's get back home." Rick patted my shoulder, and led us back to the vehicles.

Daryl approached me, pushing a motorcycle along with him.

"Nice bike." I observed.

"Yeah, some prick stole it from me the day I found you." Daryl explained. "Son of a bitch didn't know how to take care of it." Daryl had a running list in his mind of the problems he would have to fix on his bike.

"Wait that's yours?" I asked.

"Yeah built it when I first got to Alexandria." Daryl said simply.

"Shit." I said impressed. Daryl loaded his bike into the blazer we had brought. Before I could climb into a vehicle Daryl stopped me.

"You okay?" Daryl spoke quietly.

"Yeah." My voice cracked, causing my confidence to falter. Daryl grabbed my arm, looking me in the eye. I felt my lip quiver, then tears filled my eyes, and I couldn't stop the wave of emotions that crashed over me, causing me to crumble. Daryl wrapped his arms around me, shushing me quietly as I sobbed into his chest, I don't know what it was about Daryl that made me open up, but I know I'd never be able to keep anything from him, even if I had to." Thirteen." I said.

"What?" Daryl pulled back to look at me.

"That makes thirteen people I've killed." I squeaked, stupid voice.

"Hey, don't dwell on it, it'll eat you up. This is the world we live in, we just have to accept it and move on." Daryl explained. "Let's get you home." Daryl said with care, as we climbed into to our vehicle that was crammed full.

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I know this chapter is a little rushed, but that's just because there other parts I want to move on to already, but either way I hope this is still a good chapter, and I hope you liked it! And again thanks for reading!