🫀 Lust for life - The walking dead - Part 2
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SUMMARY: A girl is on a solo roadtrip around America when the world as she knows it ends. Daryl Dixon x reader slowburn. TW: swearing Word count: 1.8k A/N: This fic will be very focused on friendship and exploring the world of twd, as well as the romance. I often find strong friendships (like Carol and Daryl) more compelling than romances, so I can't wait to attempt to write some! Might not be an update on Sunday btw but I'll do my best. Hope you enjoy this chapter! Part 1 Lust for life masterlist Masterlist
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Nervous silence settles in the car, interrupted only by the occasional groan from outside the windows. I don’t want to know what’s causing them so I keep my eyes firmly glued on the road ahead.
“You know how to read a map?” I ask Jacqui, my unexpected passenger.
“No.” Comes her sullen response.
“Oh, ok.”
Awkward silence fills the car.
She sighs.
“I wish I learnt now though.”
“Never too late.” I say glancing her way briefly. “Where are you headed, anyway?”
“Anywhere those things aren’t.”
I let out a quick laugh, “Sounds about right.”
I can see the quarry now, and the hill I’m hoping to set up camp on, it looks about as empty as I had hoped. It might be nice to have someone to watch my back though.
“We can stick together if you want, watch each other's backs.” I try to sound confident in my suggestion, but I can’t bring myself to look over and meet her eyes.
There's a long pause. She’s sizing me up, I can tell, considering our chances as a team.
We make it to the top of the hill, shuddering to a stop before she finally nods in agreement.
“I’d like that.” She smiles.
The car door slams behind me as we shuffle out of the car into the sweaty Georgian afternoon. Birds chirp and trees sway. It’s as if the world isn’t ending, until we step out from behind the car. Smoke is carving a scar into the hazy blue sky.
Jacqui gasps, “That’s Atlanta!” and clutches her chest. I place a hand on her shoulder and we stare at the endless plumes of thick grey smoke looming over the horizon. There’s a sick beauty to the way it roles and tumbles over itself, pushing further out to consume more of the blue beside it. But the horror of it is unbearable.
“All those people…” Jacqui shakes her head and mumbles, “Lord have mercy.”
We stand and watch the distant smoke until unease about our position creeps in.
“Jacqui.” I say softly. Her head tilts in my direction but her eyes won’t leave the horizon. Did she have family there? Friends? I suddenly wonder.
“We need to set up before nightfall.”
She nods silently.
“You can use my tent, I’ll just sleep in the back of the car.” I attempt to keep my face neutral but frown at the thought of the cramped space. Jacqui is too distracted to notice. I don’t blame her.
The tent is set up when the sound of rumbling engines makes its way up the same path we trundled up earlier. My head whips around but Jacqui can do nothing except watch the burning horizon.
“Jacqui.” I hiss, poking her in the ribs.
I dive behind the car, hoping she's followed, and hastily open the door to grab my newly acquired gun.
Time to muster up as much assertiveness as I can…
I step out from behind the car door and point the gun at the RV driving towards me.
“Stop right there.” I yell, with as much force as possible.
There are a few cars following behind the RV but I can’t quite see inside them.
The RVs window rolls down, “We mean no harm,” comes a calm voice from a man in a bucket hat.
I kick myself because it sounds more certain than mine, “I mean it, stop!”
“None of us are infected.” The RV starts to roll forward slowly, “We needed to get away from the city.”
My hand shakes and lowers, a resigned nod following, “Same as us then.”
At that moment a man steps outside of one of the cars, his own gun pointing at me. My eyes widen in panic and I snap my hands back up into place.
“Are you infected?” He barks.
“Do I look infected you arsehole, drop the gun!” The tension that was starting to dissipate from the air becomes taught again.
He raises his hands as if in a placating gesture, “The interstate is completely overrun, there’s no way out of Georgia. We’re setting up camp here.” There’s a finality to his voice that rubs me up the wrong way. It’s like he thinks he’s doing me a favour not kicking me out, even though Jacqui and I got here first.
I take a second to look him up and down before I lower my gun, just to make sure he knows I mean business. When I finally speak I slide my eyes over to the man in the RV and address him instead, “I want to check none of you are bit before you stay.”
“Not sure you really have that authority sweetheart.” The man with the gun has one hand on his hip, the other pointing the gun to the floor. His head faces slightly down but he looks at me with a sort of squint, if the words weren’t patronising enough his expression sure is. I scowl.
“My tent’s already set up and I don’t want to get eaten by some gnashing thing tonight, so you’re welcome to stay here but I will be checking everyone for bites.” I turn away from them and head back over to Jacqui. The door of a car slams and the RV rolls up next to my rental, followed by various other vehicles.
I collect firewood while they unpack, partly because we need it but mainly to hide from the burning sky and the haunting looks that accompany it. The underbrush of the forest thins out into patchy sun scorched grass as I return to the quiet hum of activity and nervous whispering that settles over our freshly formed camp. The wood in my arms pokes uncomfortably into my skin, but I ignore the sensation in favour of smiling at the people I pass. If they like me, I’m sure they’ll be more understanding of my impromptu ‘medical check-up’.
The sticks clatter together and form a messy pile on the floor, I wipe my forehead and shield my eyes to look up at the RV. The man in the bucket hat sits on top of it with a rifle.
“Keeping watch?” I shout up at him, “For the gnashers?”
He nods his head in confirmation, “Yes, I think you’re right to be careful.” He adds a smile at the end and it makes me feel better.
“Is it alright if I come up and check you for bites? It won’t take long.” My foot is already on the first rung of the ladder as I ask.
It doesn’t take long to confirm that there’s been no gnashing of Dale’s skin and I’m quickly off to find the next person. This whole process is at least a way to introduce myself to everyone at camp, despite it not being the best first impression.
No. It just shows I’m forward thinking and assertive. A bitch. NO, not a bitch. Just. I don’t know man. Just a person trying to survive whatever nightmare I’ve been dragged away from home for. I miss my Mum.
“Hey. My name’s y/n” I say to a woman with long brown hair and amazing boots, “Is it ok if I check you and your son for bites? I’m doing it to everyone to make sure we can all sleep easy tonight.” A weak chuckle escapes me.
She seems uncomfortable at the idea but clearly recognises that to argue would be more of a pain than its worth.
“I’m Lori.” She says, but she doesn’t say anything to me after that, only a, “Go on Carl.” To the boy next to her.
I drop to one knee to greet the guy, “I’m y/n, what’s your name?”
He looks at me like I’m crazy given he knows I just heard it, “Carl.”
“Yeh sorry, polite to ask is all, mind if I check you for bites?”
He gives a quick nod and as soon as I’m done I move around the camp.
There’s a large black dude who insists on being called Tdog, “Kind of a baller name, Tdog.”
“You know it is.”
At least I’ve gotten one guy to like me.
I check a couple of sisters, named Andrea and Amy, but I’ve already forgotten which way around those names go. They’re both understanding and pleasant, but it hurts to see their bond and know my own sister is so far away. I move along as soon as I can without being rude.
Morales’ family, Jim and some other survivors are reluctant to be searched but accept after I explain I’ve done it to everyone and it will let the camp know that we’re safe together.
Everyone's been compliant, maybe reluctantly, but I thought there’d be more fuss. Turns out all the fuss was being bottled up for one guy to let out at once. His name is Ed according to his lovely and sweet wife Carol and their beautiful daughter is Sophia.
“I don’t get why you feel the need to poke your nose into other people’s business.”
“Clearly.” I respond dryly. He doesn’t seem best pleased at my response and it probably wasn’t the wisest one to pick but I can’t muster up a desire to be amicable.
Ed’s leering is interrupted by the guy who pointed a gun at me earlier. I scoff that he thinks I can’t handle this myself. A small part of me is glad I’ve got back up but it’s buried by the part that hates being patronised.
Gun-guy places a hand on Ed's shoulder, “You got to let her check you man.”
Ed grunts and shoves Gun-guys hand off, “I don’t got to do nothing, it’s a free country.”
“Not anymore. Lemme tell you something, those walkers just took that privilege away. So there are going to be some rules around here. Rules that you will follow if you want to stay.”
Those words seem to somehow get through Ed’s thick skull, despite all my excellent arguing beforehand doing nothing. Guess I don’t have a knack for ominous speeches, like Mr. Save-the-day over here. I check Carol and Sophia and leave Ed to the other guy, trusting that his police shirt means his pat down skills are better than mine.
“I’m sorry about him.” Comes a meek voice.
“Don’t worry about it, not like you did anything worth apologising for anyways.” My eyes meet Carols briefly and we trade tired smiles.
I swivel around to face the only guy I’ve yet to learn the name of. “Just you to go.”
“Shane.” He says holding out his hand for me to shake, “I’ll check you and your friend after.”
“You really think I’d go through all this trouble if I was bit.”
“It would put the others' minds at rest.”
I understand now. He wants to bring the power back onto his side, be the big leader guy.
I sigh and take his hand in mine, “y/n.”
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