Pretending to be Dead

The midnight air was something that both Addie and Daryl seemed to enjoy. Daryl was trying not to get sick over flying, and the crisp feeling was what kept Addie awake while she flew at night. Addie didn’t want to admit that she didn’t know exactly where she was going. The only had a name, something that wasn’t much to go on. Daryl fell asleep once the trip had become long, both of them were tired, but Addie felt better worrying by herself.

She wondered if Daryl had been anywhere other than Georgia all his life. He seemed like he was the type to stick around the place he knew best. He was a hunter, he liked fighting on his own territory, she wondered how he’d handle some place knew.

Addie picked a small empty field to land in. Someplace she could stop and evaluate their direction. She realized that dawn had crept up on them, and hopefully the morning light would keep a few walkers from checking out the noise from the chopper. Daryl woke up when she touched down, the jolt practically shaking him awake. He was confused when they seemed to have landed in the middle of nowhere. But at least it was smart, he could tell that Addie was smart – he would’ve made the same decision.
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Daryl had pulled several files from an old army vehicle months ago. Addie had read them several times, trying to find ties to her grandfather, her or this familiar name. But all she ever saw were a bunch of numbers, nothing to go on.

She was trying not to feel hopeless.

There was a two-person emergency kit equipped with all military issued choppers. Inside you could find freeze-dried food, heat blankets, flares, medi-kits, a compass, and a map.

Addie opened the map carefully, she was happy to realize that it was military issued; so several bases and centers were marked. She could at least track the caravan numbers that they had obtained these papers from. Retracing someone else steps wasn’t easy, but it was all they had to go on. She watched as Daryl hopped out of the chopper, not saying a word. She heard him vomit due to the flying he obviously wasn’t used to. She shut her eyes, hearing him in pain didn’t make her happy. She grabbed a bottle of water and leapt out to meet him. He had his had pressed against the still slowly spinning propeller, his face was lacking in color. She placed her hand on his back, trying to comfort him. It seemed the last twelve hours were a lot to take in.

“I suppose I can try to keep her steady, if that’s what’s making you sick.”

“That… that would be nice.” Daryl said. “I ain’t never flown before.”

“It’s exhilarating, isn’t it?”

“For you maybe.” Daryl said spitting what was left in his mouth to the ground. She handed him the bottle of water. He could see the red skin from when she slid across the floor, trying to beat the walkers to the damn fuel tanks.

“How could you do something so stupid?”

“Daryl…” she started.

“No don’t pull out your doe eyes and think I’ll look past it. Too many times I’ve almost watched you die. You can’t take chances like that, you may not turn, but they can still eat the fucking flesh from your bones.”

Addie rubbed her arms, trying to comfort her own self. She knew Daryl cared about her, this was when he really showed it.

“I’m sorry Daryl. Sometimes – I don’t think clearly. It’s not fair for me to do that to you.”

“Damn straight.” He said. He walked passed her and leapt back into the chopper, she heard him rustle through things before he pulled out their tent they had taken from the group. It was only made for one person, and it pitched itself once you unraveled it. “You should sleep. We ain’t got too much time to stop.”

Addie nodded before grabbing her jacket and one of the thermal blankets. She climbed inside the tent that was slowly being warmed by the sun coming up outside.

“Perimeter check, be back in ten.” Daryl called out to her.

Daryl walked away from the chopper, the clearing was large, but most surrounding states still had the Georgia forest adjacent to them. He had kept his eyes shut most of the way here, he wasn’t afraid of the heights, but for some reason being so high, combined with the movements of the helicopter, made him sick to his stomach.

He had to walk it off.

For most of his walk he could tell that the place was pretty abandoned. Seemed like just the place were someone would go nuts listening to their own head. Daryl often thought of his now deceased brother. He wondered what sort of stupid comments he’d make about Daryl getting sick, or ’lettin’ a woman drive.’

Daryl tried to focus mostly on the task at hand. It had been his idea to set out looking for someone to help them. Addie would’ve been completely content in staying with the rest of the group. After all she adored watching after Lori’s little girl. That was something that had pained him at first, seeing Addie with a baby they had once thought that they might have a child to care for – something Daryl was surprised about, but something neither of them never got to see through.

He wondered how hurt she was by it.

She obviously always kept a smile on her face, but Daryl was the only one to see when they’d lay down together she’d had a sort of look in her eyes that just read… sadness.

Daryl could see several roads off in the distance; none of them lead here however. And he hardly found any animal activity except for a few prairie dogs. But even they didn’t have much meat. He headed back with his crossbow lazily slung over his shoulder, not afraid of any threat.

He walked over to the tent and peaked inside before decided to wedge himself beside her. She was still awake, she would never have fallen asleep before he had returned.

“You sleep. I’ll stay up.”

Addie looked at him, she wanted to be sorry for being the only one who got to sleep, but she knew her eyes were crucial to flying that thing, and she needed her rest, and a clear head.

“I really am sorry Daryl.” She said as she set her head in the crevice of his shoulder.

“Just… don’t leave me behind. Don’t do anything to get yerself killed alrigh?”

“Oui. Daryl.” She said to him. She was mostly laying atop him in the small tent, he positioned the foil blanket over her, as it had shifted when she had. And soon Daryl could tell she was asleep, and all he could do was listen for any signs of company.
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Daryl had dozed off.

He sat up, and practically bolted out of the tent. The noise was so loud; he had no idea how he’d slept through it. Addie was wide-awake too, following closely behind him. The sun read that it was late afternoon, their chopper was standing still – it was the army vehicles making plenty of noise. Neither of them could quite make out what was being said over the broken megaphone. But there were three off-road vehicles heading straight for them, each decorated with a set of American flags.

Their heavily armored vehicles were no match for any of their weapons, all they could do was stand, and wait for the soldiers to reach them. All they could do was hope they weren’t enemies. Addie tightly gripped Daryl’s hand; she suddenly regretted landing here and not looking at the military map more. But now it was too late, there was no time for an escape; they vehicles were only a hundred yards away before they stopped.