Living Like You're Dead

"We had to leave." Andrea stated.

"They were right behind us!" Rick said. "They should be here by now." Rick was referring to the fact that the sky now showed a moon, instead of a sun. It had been an hour since Rick and Andrea had returned.

Addie was worried sick - Daryl was missing. They had been ambushed and left almost all the supplies behind, even some people. She hoped to god Daryl wasn't one of them.
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Everyone was silent. They only spoke to comfort the little girl, they found out her name was Abha Cho. She lived there with her mother... until the unfortunate happened. Abha had eaten her cookie, and eventually she fell asleep on Andrea's lap. Addie sat in a leather armchair by the window closest to the front door.

Then she saw lights.

Through the trees there were lights. Addie stepped out onto the fron porch - sure enough she could hear an engine, and she thought she heard another one of those branches snap... but of course a car was big enough to do that.

When it finally came into view she saw that it was the other vehicle. She couldn't see who was driving, but when it stopped in front of the house, Shane exited the drivers side, and Daryl exited the passenger side.

Addie's feet were already running. She ran straight to Daryl and jumped in his arms, his skin was hot, his face was sweaty and he seemed angry. But he held her tight to him for a second before setting her down in front of him.

She immediately began checking his arms, any part of him she could see to make sure he wasn't injured. Rick and Andrea stood behind them,

"Were's Glenn, and T?" Rick asked.

"They were upstairs. Ain't exactly enough time to jump in the car before them Walkers jumped on us." Daryl said.

"Daryl it all happened so fast."

"Well they're still alive, and they will be till morning. So best get some sleep cause we're goin' back for that stupid chinaman and the dog."

"Thats good news." Rick said.

"How did you - "

"I wedged the door shut." he said. Daryl was being cold. He obviously held them responsible for the sloppy getaway.

"What the fuck was goin' down?" Shane asked,

"A little girl pulled a crowbar out of a door to help save her mother. Then all those walkers walked out, they fed on her mother, gave her a chance to escape - but some followed." Andrea said.

"Well I wanna be back as soon as it's light out." Daryl said.

"Do they even know we're comin' back for them?" Andrea asked.

"I saw them through the windows upstairs... I yelled. But I don't know for sure." Daryl said.

"Daryl's has a good plan - we leave at dawn, wait on the outskirts of town till it's light out, then we creep in, kill anythin' in our way and get 'em out." Shane was agreeing with Daryl. Apparently that car ride put some tremendous weight on their relationship, maybe it was all good.

Addie nodded in agreement to the plan, she knew that T and Glenn had to be saved. But she fought back tears when she realized that meant Daryl had to leave again.

"Looks like you have maybe seven hours of down time then." Rick said looking at the moon,

"Rest, eat, and reload." Daryl said.
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Addie was still holding back tears when she finally lay down. Daryl was wide awake in bed, still angry. She wanted to talk to him - to know he was okay, but the stern look on his face said he'd kill anything that tried to get inside right now.

"I was worried." was all she said.

"Well that's pretty fuckin' nice."

"You didn't come home, I though the worst!"

"Well the worst did happen, we left two men back there, like dogs, just like my brother!"

"I know, I mean - "

"No that's just it you don't know." he said. "You never knew anything, you just waltzed in here with your stupid accent and swept us off your feet because you had some map." he said. His tone was very hurtful to Addie.

"I woulda been better off if it were just Merle and me. We shoulda never joined up with these fuckin' bastards."

Then the tears fell.

"I found my grandfather with a hole in his chest, his organs were around his body, rather than inside it. I found my friends and family either with bullet holes in their heads or bites in their neck. Oh and the blood. There was so much blood covering everything I owned, thats why I left with three shirts. My dog is dead, and the only thing I had left was Alex and a chance at freedom. And at the last second even those two things were taken from me." Addie pointed to her chest while her arm was shaking.

She took a deep breath.

"I could say the exact same thing. Maybe I would've been better off with Alex. But Daryl Dixon, here is the fucking truth: If I was with Alex I would have been food. If I hadn't run, I wouldn't have found you, and If I hadn't pleaded you to come here, we'd be in tents on the side of the road, starving!" She turned to leave. But instead she thought of her last remark, she leaned in closely to meet his eyes "And one last thing. If I hadn't done all those things then I wouldn't be here, in this moment to tell you I love you." then she slapped him hard across his face, and left the room.