All Hope Is Gone

The wind swept through Anastasia's hair with a whoosh as she buried her face into the back of Daryl's neck while they led the other's through the streets on his motorbike. There was still a bite in the air but that was coming to a draw and soon the weather would be heating up again. But while it was still cold out, her arms tightened around his waist and her eyes closed letting her body drift with his as they rode.

The thought of what Rick had divulged to the little group after barely escaping the farm alive gnawed away at her nerves. Everyone was already infected and it didn't matter how you died, you were still going to come back as one of those stinking walkers! It made her skin crawl and hair stand on end. Horrifying. The losses they had no time to mourn for stacked on top of every negative emotion magnified and in that moment Anastasia felt like a frightened child putting on a brave face.

"Ya day dreamin' back there darlin'?" Daryl had shut off the bike and waited for Anastasia to let go of him, but she didn't. Glancing over his shoulder he noticed her eyes shut and head against his neck.

Looking up to meet his blue eyes gently she shook her head and moved from the bike, a hand trailing down his back as she did so. It had become apparent to them both that since the incident at the farm and everything that had befallen that they needed one another. Daryl had no one and neither did Anastasia. The group just wasn't enough.

Rick silently walked past them and Daryl followed suit, Anastasia bringing up the rear with machete in hand. Lori the closest to her with big baby belly in tow Rick had ushered her to a safer position. Things between them were seeming rocky at best. After Rick killing Shane...well it wasn't a wonder why.

The ambience around them was eerily quite and still. The house before them was just as and with equal silence they all moved in. Rick, Daryl and Carl dispatching the few undead that met them at the door and scanned the house for any more. Pointing at the rest Rick gestured towards what was once the lounge room as Carl searched for food.

The women sat exhausted and starving. Anastasia looked around at them, Carl coming back in with tins of dog food for a meal. The whole scene sicked her. Things were getting worse and she knew they weren't going to last like this much longer. What was going to happen when the baby came? What were they going to do? The thought stabbed at her as the answer popped into her head...things were going to end up how they did with Dana. Her fingers jumped to the silver locket and quickly she averted her eyes to the floor to stop the hot tears that prickled her eyes from cascading down her cheeks.
Daryl came to sit across from her with a small owl he must have caught and killed upstairs and began to pluck it's wings from still warm flesh and Carl began to open the cans of dog food. Pushing up from the ground Anastasia leant against the wall and passed up the offer of food. Still her fingers clutched at the locket. They wouldn't be able to raise a baby here. No way to feed or clothe it. No medical care. No where for Lori to have the baby. Another string in her heart plucked to breaking point, this baby was never going to see the light of day.
Watching emotions work over her face, Daryl momentarily stopped plucking at the owl and pursed his lips. What was going through her head? And right on que the snarls of walkers broke their momentary drone of existence.
Just like the order they filed in with they filed out with only this time more undead blood was shed. Anastasia chunked her blade through two skulls before hoping back on Daryl's bike with her arms firmly wrapped around his waist.

* * *

"We can't keep going like this, Lori needs a place to settle." Hershel was staring that debate again with Rick.

They'd stopped on an empty road far away from the walkers at the house and needed to find a new route to take. Rick would argue back that he knew and was trying his best. It was a conversation that seemed like it was stuck on repeat.

"Cold?" Daryl came up behind Anastasia, not placing a hand on her but standing so close she could feel his arm pressed against her. Both of them unsure of the right way to approach on another they had silently agreed on a half way.

"I'm ok, you?" She replied, back turned against Rick and Hershel and looking back down the road they had come so far on.

Daryl only grunted in response. 'What was runnin' through yer head back there? Saw you workin' somethin' over in that brain of yers."

She glanced over to Lori still sitting in the truck Rick had driven in with Carl. "Just thinking is all."

Daryl looked towards her line of view. "'Bout the baby?"

Slowly her head nodded. "I...I am scared it won't get to be born. Just become another life, another child taken away from their mother." The last words choked in her throat.

Wanting to say different but he knew there wasn't a point, what she was saying was true. It was a real possibility no one had stopped to mention and try to plan for. Everyone had been running around with their asses lit on fire all winter without stopping and now this baby was almost on it's way. The back of Daryl's hand found Anastasia's and wit a light rub it was all he could offer her.

Nodding at his response Anastasia turned on her heel. "Gonna help grab some water...maybe you could find something to eat? I reckon people are gonna get cranky hungry soon. Help you skin and cook it?"

"Sure." Patting her hand once more Daryl left his spot by her side, all the while admiring that part of this woman who was able to work past the worst moment of her life even as it came to hit back in the face.

Carol watched as Daryl made his way over to Rick and decided to to take his place by Anastasia. "So...things with you and Daryl..."

In another moment she might have chuckled or forced a smile but only digging her thumbs into the back of her pants her response was, "It's nice to have someone around that kills the pain."

* * *

Standing back they looked up at the mass of cement, walls and razor wire that surrounded the last place they had expected to find. Rick and Daryl had come across the gem and immediately abandoned the search for food in favour of bringing the news back to the others.

"It's a prison." Maggie said.

"It's security." Glenn pitched in.

"But look, it's over run with walkers." Beth finally concluded.

Rick cocked his head to the side. "If we start now we can clear the field at least by nightfall. Give us somewhere safe to rest the night."

It was the best plan offered up all winter and as far as things went it was the best place to go. "Well let's get going." Anastasia already had her machete in hand. "No point in waiting."

It was Rick's job to hand out positions and instructions. The first was the lure as many walkers to the outer chain-link fence while he and a select group started on the inside before moving everyone else in. Anastasia volunteered to stay on the outside in case things became too hairy while Rick, Daryl and T-Dog took care of the inside.
The last words that left her lips were to Daryl. She slid a hand over the side of his face and had told him to be careful, his only response was a nod and to squeeze her hand back. Carol hid a smile at the exchange before taking up sides with Lori and began to bang on the fence and shout out to the walkers.
By her side Maggie and Glen did the same and Anastasia stayed silent as she went from position to position darting the end of her blade into the skulls of the scores of walkers over and over again. Their dark, old blood spurted into the air and they dropped like bags of shit. A warm satisfaction came over her as she took them down one by one without the fear of being bit or worse. They were behind a fence that she could walk up and down with weapon in hand. Every so often she kept an eye out for biters over her shoulder but for the moment none came.

Sooner than they had thought dusk was on their backs and as Rick said they had taken the field. It was a pure pleasure to have so much space to stretch out in after being confined to vehicles all winter. A little fire burned inside the circle they formed in the night ready for a chance to breath. Sitting just away from the group Anastasia was huddled up in a blanket Carol had given out to her and she watched as everyone began to natter and chat.
Chat and small talk was something her body was far too exhausted to do and all her thoughts could focus on was the prospect of a nights sleep. "If it's all the same to ya'll I am gonna kip down for the night." Rising from her spot she gave a tight smile as the send off replies and headed towards Daryl's truck parked not too far from the camp spot.
She slipped into the bed with the blanket and while deciding whether or not to raise the tail of the bed Daryl decide for her and pushed it up.

"Sleep already?"

"Tired as hell." Anastasia nodded, taking note of the weary look on the red necks face. "You should hop in, it's cold away from the fire."

Sleeping by her side wasn't something unfamiliar to Daryl and he wasn't going to decline her offer and climbed over the gate and pulled up next to her. "Yer gettin' way too used ta this."

"And so what if I am?" The last words came out in a yawn as she flipped the blanket over them both and dropped Daryl's arm around her. "You're warm."

"Yea bet so." He grunted. "Don't you go snorin' on me either woman." His body shifted closer to her and relaxed.

"No promises, Dixon." They were the last words Anastasia could remember saying before falling asleep, her head resting over Daryl's chest.

To the man's displeasure, she did start snoring.