LVII

I'M BACKKKK—/<3/—

"It's like a damn romance novel." Daryl grimaced as Beth skipped away from the boy she was seeing. They were busy packing the cars for their run and Dary and Rory rounded the corner to find the two of them giggling and talking.

"Be quiet, they're young." Rory clicked her tongue, smiling as she shoved a first aid kit into the trunk of the car. Daryl turned to glare at her playfully and slammed the trunk closed once they were done, moving towards his bike to get going.

"I'd like to come. I want to start pulling my weight around here," Bob said as he appeared in front of Sasha, stopping her as she was about to get into the driver's seat of the first car.

"It's only been a week since Daryl brought you in, Bob," Sasha replied with a sigh.

"That's a week's worth of meals, a roof over my head. Let me earn my keep."

"I just wanna make sure you know how to work as a team. Things go sideways out there if you only think about yourself." Sasha moved around the door, standing face-to-face with Bob.

"You know he was a medic in the army." Glenn pointed out. Bob nodded, grateful for Glenn's intervention.

Sasha thought for a moment. "Okay." she agreed.

"You comin' with me or are you goin' in the car with them?" Daryl asked as Rory packed away the last of her things.

"I'll go with you." Rory jogged over to join him on his bike as the others all got into their respective cars. Daryl nodded and climbed on first, holding a hand out to help her on after.

--/<3/--

"Okay, I think I got it." Zach grinned.

"Got what?" Michonne questioned as she joined Daryl and Zach by the window of the store Daryl had scouted for the run. Rory stopped beside her, also curious.

"I've been trying to guess what Daryl did before the turn," Zach said, taking a seat by Daryl on the window ledge.

"He's been trying to guess for like six weeks." Daryl sighed as if he was annoyed but the slight smile that danced across his slips told Rory all she needed to know.

"Yeah, I'm pacing myself." Zach chuckled. "One shot a day."

"Alright, shoot."

"well with the way you at the prison, you're on the council, you're able to track, you help people but you're still kind of...surly. Big swing here, I think you were a homicide cop."

Rory and Michonne burst into laughter, muffling their cackles and snorts with a hand over their mouths.

"What's so funny?" Dary interrogated, one eyebrow cocked.

"Nothing, it makes perfect sense," Michonne answered sarcastically.

Daryl rolled his eyes. "Actually, the man's right. I was undercover."

"Really?" Zach questioned dumbly.

"I don't like to talk about it 'cause it was a lotta heavy shit, y'know?" Daryl had to look away when he made eye contact with Rory, who was trying her best not to laugh.

"Dude, c'mon, really?" Zach asked once more. Daryl gave him a look. "Okay, I'll just keep guessing then."

"Yeah, you do that." Daryl snickered.

Zach jumped when the walkers inside the building slammed up against the glass behind him and he followed Daryl when he stood up to get started.

"We're gonna do this, Detective?" Michonne joked.

"Let's do it."

"Alright, let's go in. Stay in formation for the sweep," Sasha commanded. "After that, you all know what you're supposed to look for."

The group readied their weapons and ran inside, preparing to take down the walkers that had gathered near the front of the store when Daryl had banged on the window. It was an easy enough task, only around a dozen of the dead inside the store and after that, they had free reign to gather whatever supplies they needed in the relatively untouched store.

Rory walked around with Daryl, grabbing non-perishable food from the shelves and dropping it into the cart Daryl was pushing. "This is so normal," she said.

"What d'ya mean?" Daryl turned to her, pointing to the canned fruit she'd missed on her other side.

"It feels like we're grocery shopping," Rory said shyly.

"Like a couple?" Daryl scrunched his nose up.

"Don't make that face," Rory slapped his bicep lightly. "We are a couple," she mumbled, keeping her voice low just in case anyone overheard her.

"We ain't the grocery store type of couple though," Dary pointed out.

"We could've been for a split second but you had to—" Rory was cut off by a yell and the deafening crash of a shelf coming down a few aisles over. She and Daryl looked at each other, bewildered and rushed towards the noise, bringing the cart with them.

"You alright?" Daryl asked, shining his torch under the fallen shelf. "You cut or something?"

"No, but my foot's stuck," Bob called from underneath.

"Alright. He's just caught. Come on, help me out." Daryl tucked his torch away and slung his crossbow over his back before gripping the shelf. Tyreese, Rory and Zach gathered around to help lift it so Bob could pull himself free but the universe had other plans.

"What's going on over there?" Glenn called.

"Everything's fine! We're over in wine and beer!" Zach yelled.

But then the ceiling collapsed inwards. At first, it was just one walker. It ended up getting caught and hung helplessly by its entrails from the ceiling but the noise attracted more and the roof gave way again and again as more walkers fell into the store.

Everyone jumped back, keeping their eyes on the ceiling and pulling out their guns, shooting down the walkers that swarmed them.

"Hey!" Bob yelled from where he was still trapped, desperation lacing his voice as he spotted a walker clawing its way towards him, its rancid skin and milky white eyes a bit too close for his liking. "Hey!" He repeated louder.

Rory swore as she narrowly avoided being crushed to death. She shot down the two walkers that fell before her and turned when she heard something behind her. She lowered her gun when she was it was Michonne and grabbed her arm, weaving through the rubble and asbestos filled aisles to get to the door. The two of them slashed and shot down anything in their path to safety.

They stopped in their tracks when they heard Zach yell out. The type of yell that could only mean one thing. They gave each other a look and ran back in, following the screams.

"Rory! Rory!" Daryl bellowed as he ran through the store, looking around frantically to try and make her out in the darkness.

"She's over here!" Glenn called as he almost collided head on with the two girls. Rory grabbed Glenn's arm and yanked him forward as the ceiling cracked above him. The three of them took off sprinting towards Daryl, meeting him near the front with Tyreese and Bob.

"Let's go!" Daryl yelled, ushering everyone out of the store ahead of him as the ceiling fully collapsed.

"Fucking asbestos," Rory grumbled.

—/<3/—

i made my TWD ocs in the sims to inspire me to get back into writing this book and it worked so i wanted to show you guys but apparently wattpad has changed the rules on image uploading and now i can't 😭😭