Zero Tolerance

Daryl left me to rest in the abandoned school building while he ventured out in search of a ride for us. Under any other circumstances I'd have insisted I do it, or I'd at least go along, but the throbbing from the wound on my thigh made me relent. I'd done enough for this guy and his dumbass brother today.

He'd been gone for what felt like hours and I'd begun to question if he'd blown me off, or if something had gone wrong and he was unable to make it back. I wagered on the first option. I'd only known the man for a day, but it was overtly clear he could handle himself.

I was in the process of limping down the abandoned school hallway, accepting that the redneck Adonis had opted to leave me behind and on my way to attempt my own escape of the city, when he returned. Confusion was apparent on his face as he spotted me, even in the dim light of my torch.

"Thought you might need your ass saving." I lied, not wanting to admit that I thought he'd ditched me.

"Was fine." He countered, almost reaching a hand out to help me walk but once again hesitating and retracting his arm before it met my shoulder. "Got waylaid by a bunch of 'em. Ya good to walk? Car's outside."

"Yup." I answered. My leg hurt like hell, but I was determined to walk on my own. I hobbled down the many staircases of the school before arriving at the main doors. Daryl held one open for me as I followed him toward the waiting brown and white 80's Chevrolet. It may just be the ugliest car I'd ever seen. As I climbed in, I smiled despite my aching wound - he looked ridiculous in the driver's seat.

We made the journey back mainly in silence, only broken once by me asking him, "You think he'll be there?" to which he simply shrugged.

I could tell Daryl didn't want to leave Atlanta. I'm pretty confident he'd have continued searching the city for Merle until he'd turned over each and every building left standing, if I hadn't been injured. He obviously felt some sort of responsibility for me after I'd been hurt on the hunt for his brother.

~

Day was breaking as we finally pulled up to the quarry that housed Daryl's camp, chugging in on the fumes of the last remaining gas held by the Chevrolet's tank.

I was surprised to see so many people out of their tents already. The sun wasn't even full in the sky yet. There had to be a reason everyone was up... Something must've gone down here. I swallowed in anticipation, sincerely hoping that thing hadn't been Merle.

I looked over to Daryl, who looked as uneasy as I felt.

We climbed out of our adjacent car doors, eyeing the visible members of the group and making our way toward them.

"Anything?" T-Dog shouted over, the guilt over Merle not returning with us visible in his expression.

"Nah." Daryl growled, not looking directly at him. He was pissed and I didn't blame him. Not only had these people left his brother chained to a rooftop, they'd then bailed on his rescue mission. Nevertheless, I understood why they left. I knew myself that the danger of spending more time in the city than they already had greatly outweighed the chances of finding Merle alive.

I slowly took in the chaos of the camp. A smoking pile of dead walkers stood at our right, empty but freshly-dug graves to our left.

"What happened?" I asked Rick, much to the dismay of Sleeves, who obviously thought he should be the one proclaiming the events of the evening.

"Walkers." He sighed. There was tension in his voice, hinting that there may have been more to the story than he was revealing. I got the vibe him and Sleeves had fallen out; the curly-haired man radiating annoyance from afar.

"Amy." Dale told Daryl as he joined Rick. "Ed too." I didn't know who Dale was talking about, but I knew that they were dead...

"We're planning on moving." Rick addressed Daryl. "Once we've buried them. It isn't safe here anymore."

Daryl twisted his lips, about to speak, but chose instead to give Rick a sharp glare before stalking off, disappearing behind the smattering of tents now being dismantled by the other group members.

It was almost like I knew exactly what he was thinking. These people had left his brother twice already. Now they wanted him to leave the only place Merle would know where to find him.

"What happened?" Rick asked, eyes landing on my injured leg.

I was about to answer him when shouting erupted from across the camp.

"A walker got him!" screeched a curly-haired African American woman I'd hadn't seen before. "Jim's bit!"

Behind her stood a tall, bearded man in a baseball cap. He looked terrified, a dark patch of blood betraying his beige t-shirt.

"I'm fine!" Jim, protested. Looking desperately to other members of the group as if they'd be able to back up his claims.

Daryl reappeared out of nowhere, pickaxe in hand, and his face furious. "Show it to us!" he roared at the now retreating man as he marched toward him.

Jim grabbed a shovel from the ground and raised it toward Daryl, who swiped it out of the way with ease, aggressively hoisting up Jim's shirt to reveal a deep bite on his abdomen.

Shocked cries sounded from a few of the surrounding women as Daryl lifted his pickaxe. He readied to swing at Jim, and I could tell that the anger he'd swallowed down when we returned to his community was now spilling over. He looked absolutely menacing.

Within seconds, both Rick and Sleeves had their guns aimed at Daryl in unison.

"We don't kill the living." Rick exclaimed sternly.

"Didn't say that when ya were aimin' a gun at my head!" Daryl spat back at him loudly. Touché. Rick had in fact pointed his weapon at him on the roof and threatened to shoot.

Daryl turned his body to Rick, and I could see fury in his eyes. The guy was an emotional boiling pot about to blow. The loss of his Merle, his anger at being expected to leave his brother behind, and now Jim the walking time bomb swirling together to form what I could picture being a catastrophic event. I'd wager Daryl could take down every one of these people without breaking a sweat. It would be a massacre.

"Line's pretty clear. Zero tolerance for walkers." Daryl snarled. "Or them to be." He moved to bring his pickaxe down on Jim, but Rick must have anticipated his move and quickly pulled the bitten man out of his range.

It seems harsh, but I'm with him on this one. Once someone has been bit, there's nothing to do but wait for them to turn. Killing them now or killing them later - it's no different. They're already dead.

Daryl threw his pickaxe heavily to the ground, sneering something at Rick that I couldn't quite hear and stormed away aggressively.

On the orders of Sleeves, most people began gathering around the empty graves. Two bodies wrapped in sheets we're being carried toward them by Glenn and T-Dog. Dale was cautiously guiding Jim to the RV while I watched Rick make his way over to Daryl.

I assumed it was because Rick wanted to ensure the redneck would actually be leaving with them to find new ground. If he had any sense, he would probably know to stay away from Daryl right now, but the group needed him. He was obviously the strongest here, and from what I'd seen, the only hunter.

It was time for me to go. Twenty-four hours of chaos with these people was quite enough. The drama emanating from the group wasn't my bag, plus, in just two days they'd managed to have a new amputee - who was now missing - two definitely dead and another very soon to be. These people were doomed.

I knew the journey back to the shack I'd been squatting in was going to be interesting. It wasn't too far away - pretty much just the other side of the woods from where this had all started - but I could tell my injury was going to slow me down.

I removed Daryl's belt from my leg, flinching as I did so. The bleeding had stopped, but it still felt incredibly tender. I held the leather in my hands, remembering how hard I'd suddenly found it to breathe when he'd briefly wrapped his hands around my thigh...

I made my way toward Daryl's tent, which he was now dismantling. He'd obviously decided to relocate with the rest of his group. I felt a pang when I saw him. I'd spent a wild day and night with this man, and we'd fought off various unfortunate life-or-death situations together. But now he was moving on to somewhere new with his people, making the likeliness that I'd ever see him again basically zero.

He shifted his eyes in my direction as I approached, quickly darting them back to his task as though he didn't want to speak to me. I placed his belt on top of a wrapped up sleeping bag a couple of metres away from where he crouched.

"Thanks." I said quietly as I did so. He still wasn't looking at me. "So about my half of the medical stuff..."

"What?" he asked, rolling his tent neatly into its bag.

"The bag from the pharmacy." I stated. "I'm going to need some of it for my leg. I found it - you carried it, so half and half. I'll even take the tampons and leave you the condoms as a gesture of goodwill." I teased, "Unless you'd rather have the tampons..."

He looked up at me now. God, he was gorgeous. I was so hypnotized, I'm surprised I even registered he was speaking...

"Ain't comin'?"

"What?" I questioned blankly, still not able to take my eyes off him.

"Ya ain't comin'!?" he repeated, standing up now and letting a raggedy old blanket fall to the floor. His shoulders were tense, and his face scowled.

"Well, I..." was all I got out before he interrupted me.

"Ya stupid or somethin'?" he snapped. "Wanna run back off on ya own injured?"

"I can take care of myself, Daryl." I stated, in what I hoped came across reasonably calm as I tried to ignore the pounding in my chest.

"Mhmh" he snorted. Breaking our gaze.

Now that I no longer felt like those shockingly blue eyes were burning into my soul, I could sense myself getting irritated with his attitude. I'm not the one who left his brother behind, so why was he being shitty with me!? I'm actually the one who stayed to help him even though it was none of my damn business - which he still hadn't thanked me for.

"You're welcome by the way, asshole." I flung at him.

He looked back at me, and it was clear he understood what I was getting at. He dropped his eyes to the ground in understanding.

We stood silently for a moment before he swept up the old blanket from the floor and threw it at me, much like I had to him with the bag at the pharmacy, although I caught it just in time. He gathered up his things and started walking.

"C'mon." he called back to me as he headed toward the awaiting cars. "Ya can ride with Rick."

I guess Athena's found herself a group!

I'm going to skip the time on the road and the deliberation of where they should head and start the next chapter as they arrive at The CDC.

Please vote and comment. It really helps me to keep writing. 🙂