The Darkest Storm

The next morning, it’s different.

They are all woken up to only be reminded of yet another devastating loss of one of their own. It is as if they are expecting everything to be back to normal, that what has happened to Dale is only a bad dream that would soon be over. They all hope to see a glimpse of his smiling face again, standing guard on top of his beloved RV that he and his wife used to share and tell stories together. But it is different; the group has changed once again.

Dawn has barely broke and Darcy is up. She stands with her arms crossed and her neck bundled in a red thick scarf, letting the morning dew cover her black lace boots. Her long auburn hair is pulled back into a ponytail and she lets her bangs fall over her forehead and slightly into her face. Her nose is a blush pink, and her cheekbones are the same tint. The cold doesn’t bother her all that much; she lives for those bitter fall days that would quickly turn into winter. After all, it was just around the corner.

It’s obvious to anyone who soon starts to wake that she hasn’t slept very well, no one actually had. Darcy thinks Andrea has the worst of it, the compassion and feelings Dale had for her, like a grandfather would for a granddaughter. The slight snuffles and forced back whimpers in the RV made Darcy ignore her body’s cries for sleep and instead leaves the once comforting place that seemed to house fewer and fewer people.

She wonders if Daryl’s okay. He is still separated from the group.

The arrogance of that man is unfathomable. Even after the surprise attack so close to camp, he still went off on his own to his corner near the woods. The thought of him alone pushes Darcy to uncross her arms and walk over to the exact spot at that moment, but the sight of him already heading her way simply makes her walk to meet up with him.

Daryl saunters over with his mouth hung slightly open and his eyes squinting with the rising sun over the horizon. He has one hand holding the strap of his most valued weapon that hangs over his shoulder, leaning slightly to one side. The tangled mess of his hair told Darcy he hasn’t slept much either.

“You’re up early.” She tells him.

“Same as you.” He stops in front of her.

Darcy shrugs and puts her hands on her hips. “Couldn’t sleep.”

She slowly takes a few steps past him and looks towards his small camp. His eyes stay on her as she turns back around and moves her sharp focus of attention onto him. “You moving back anytime soon?”

Daryl takes a step or two towards her as she continues. He blinks blankly at her as she scuffs her boots along the grass awkwardly. “I just don’t think it’s smart, you being out by yourself after what happened.”

Daryl pauses, “You gettin’ tired ‘o sleepin’ on the RV floor?”

Darcy lets out a small laugh, “My cot is crying out to me.”

Daryl nods, “I’ll move back tonight.”

Her face falls instantly in relief. She steps forward and holds out a steady hand to take hold of his forearm, “Thank you.”

Daryl coughs awkwardly at her small gesture, a blush rises to his cheeks. “Yeah, well. Don’ thank me yet. If you ain’t quit snoring I’m ‘a kick your sorry ass right back out.”

Darcy pulls back with her mouth open wide that covers a smile, “I do not snore!”

He repositions his crossbow with a smirk, “Like a damn cow.”

Darcy playfully pushes his shoulder. She walks past him only by a few steps when light footsteps approach them hesitantly, Glenn being the owner. He gives a quick unsure smile towards Daryl and the two take notice that he holds Dale’s rifle in his hands. The object has the power to quickly dampen the joking mood.

“Hey, um…” Glenn searches for his words. “I think – I think Dale would of wanted you to have this.” He focuses to Darcy and hands her the heavy gun. He gives another quick closed-mouth smile as she takes it.

Daryl shifts his weight between his feet as he gives Glenn a slight nod. Before Glenn walks away, Daryl turns back to Darcy and notices the corner of her mouth subtly curved into a smirk as she remembers why Dale would have wanted her to have his prized possession. It wasn’t much, but it is a memory nonetheless.

Darcy sat awkwardly just on the inside of the stable, chin resting on her hand and sitting with her knees bent up to her chest. The bit of shade the roof managed to give calmed her nerves as she waited for the others to return from yet another search for Sophia.

The loud neighing of Nelly made Darcy snap out of her thoughts and stretch her arm while she shifted her seating, still on-edge from being forced to sit out once again. The stitches started to mend her wound, and she could be as good as new in a manner of days. Something she couldn’t wait for any longer to happen.

Out of the corner of her eye, she watched as Dale kept watch and turned around slowly to take in his surroundings. Darcy saw as his sight lingered on the stable for a moment before he called out to Glenn and climbed down off the RV.

Darcy sighed heavily and stood up as he approached, “I was thinking…” He began, getting closer to where she stood. “It might come in handy for you to learn how to use the guns around here. You’ve got a good shot with that bow, but I’m worried if there will come a time where something happens to it.”

He raised his eyebrows and nodded when he talked, a trait of Dale’s. “Or if you get hurt like this again and can’t use it.” He motioned towards her arm.

“I have my pistols.” Darcy shrugged, crossing her arms in a non-defiant way. “Well, had them anyway.” She shot a quick glance towards Hershel in the field.

Dale nodded but shook his hands at her, “But still, it’s always good to know how to use others. I can teach you to use this if you’d like?” He lifted the strap of his rifle a bit off his shoulder and smiled. “What do you say?”

“Ya know how to shoot that?” Daryl asks, his gruff words break Darcy from her trance.

She nods and smiles up at him briefly, “Dale taught me well.”

Daryl watches her hold it, it fits her hands nicely like a missing puzzle piece. “Suits ya.” She throws it over her shoulder to join her bow as he blinks and remembers what he was coming to talk to her about. “Me, Shane, T, and Andrea are going out ‘n checkin’ the fences. Make sure there ain’t any holes or weak links.”

Darcy gives him an unsure look and begins to slowly walk away. “Okay.”

Daryl hasn’t really ever kept Darcy up to date on what his plans were. Daryl was always a free spirit, answering to no one and doing his own thing. The only time he had was just before he got shot and they mended the tension between them at the time.

“Thought ya might want to come along.” Daryl shrugs as he walks beside her and stays with her slow pondering pace.

“It seems like you’ve got enough people already.” Darcy nods to the group that starts to form around the fire pit. “I might be needed here for now.”

Daryl nods in understanding, but he moves to stand in front of her tall. “Keep an eye out on that lil’ shit head then.” He motions towards the shed where Randall is yet again tied up. “Don’ want nobody near him ‘till Rick knows what to do.”

Darcy kicks a small anthill. She understands his concern but her mind wanders elsewhere, “I think it was real good what you did for him. Taking care of - what needed to be done last night.”

“Ain’t no reason he should be doin’ all the heavy liftin’.” He shakes his head and shrugs. “I’d tell him the same.”

“Well, I’m sure he appreciates it.” She nods, “Respects you more for it.”

Daryl shakes his head, “Nah. Nothin’s changed.” He begins to walk away towards the huddled camp.

“Everything’s changed.” She insists.

Daryl chooses to give her a quick look before he ignores her comment entirely. They walk over together, side by side until they have approached the remainder of the group, which now included the Greene family.

Since that day Shane opened the barn, Hershel had changed his ways and thoughts entirely. He was still a man of faith, but he felt differently about the situation that seemed to reap over the world. Hershel has now put his whole trust in Rick, respecting his authority and answering to him when necessary. He stands now facing him, his voice full of reason and sternness.

“Gonna be tight, fourteen people in one house.” Rick’s voice reaches their ears. His short statement is still sweet to hear after months of sleep out in the open.

Hershel waves his hand, “Don’t worry about that. With the swamp hardening, the creek drying up…”

“With fifty head of cattle on the property, we might as well be ringin’ the damn dinner bell.” Maggie interjects, sarcasm in her voice but true nonetheless.

Hershel nods, “She’s right. We should’ve moved you in awhile ago.”

Rick stops protesting when he sees the faces of the group waiting with anxiousness to be in a warm enclosed area. Safety. “All right, let’s move the vehicles near each of the doors facing out toward the road. We’ll build a lookout in the windmill, another in the barn loft. That should give us sightlines of both sides of the property.”

Darcy leans her front up against the blue pickup truck and rests her arms on the bed, awaiting her own orders as Rick turned to T-Dog. “T-Dog, you take the perimeter around the house. Keep track of everyone coming and going.”

“What about standing guard?” T-Dog asks.

“I need you and Daryl on double duty.” Rick looks to Daryl who is now standing beside Darcy.

Hershel walks by carrying crates from camp, “I’ll stock the basement with food and water, enough that we can all survive there a few days if need be.”

“What about patrols?” Andrea asks.

“Let’s get this area locked down first, I still need you to go out and check the fences. After that Shane’ll assign sifts while me and Daryl take Randall offsite and cut him loose.” Rick states.

Darcy looks to Daryl and bumps his arm as she turns to walk away. “I’m packing your shit up then while you’re out.”

“Don’ touch my bike.” He calls out to her. She’s already walked away a few feet and in response she lazily waves her hand at him giving him the ‘okay.’

The day was sunny and clear. The white fog had lifted and the weather turned colder and less humid. Fall was most definitely in the air that day; hopefully the group would encounter a mild winter.

Darcy hears light rapid footsteps trying to catch up with her and she turns around to Carl holding tightly onto his hat. “Can I help?” He pleads.

Darcy looks up back to the group. Lori has her hand up covering the sun from hitting her eyes and gives her a nod that it was okay with her. Darcy returns the nod. “Sure.”

The two reach Daryl’s small camp in a few minutes. Darcy packs up the blankets and sleeping bag that belong to Daryl first and starts breaking down the tent. She looks over her shoulder at Carl admiring Daryl’s bike.

She smiles, “I thought you were supposed to help me.”

“Hey, Darcy?” Carl speaks up. Darcy stops what she’s doing. She knows that tone of Carl’s since he’s approached her with it often. He wants her to keep a secret.

Darcy sighs heavily. “Yeah?”

“If, um – if I tell you something, will you promise not to tell my parents?”

Darcy finishes packing the tent and walks over to join him by Daryl’s bike, wiping her hands on her jeans as she does. “With how many secrets I’ve kept from them one more might not be so bad.” She joked.

“It’s just...I don’t know who else to go to.” He sighed. “And you’re…kinda like my big sister. At least, I think you are.”

The wind tosses the ends of Darcy’s wavy hair gently as she stares with her eyes slightly squinting at Carl in thought. She breathes in heavily and nods for him to go on. “What is it Carl?”

Carl suddenly looks behind him as if he expects his parents to instantaneously are standing there watching. The sound of a gun rattling quietly reaches Darcy’s ears as she watches him pull one out from his belt.

“I took it from Daryl’s motorcycle.” He hands it to her and she takes it with the same slightly glared eyes as before; her thinking face that quite often matched Daryl’s. “If he found out I took it, he’d kill me.”

Darcy breaths a laugh, “I don’t think-“ She looks at Carl’s serious face, “Probably.” She agrees. “Why do you have it?”

Carl starts sliding his feet on the soft ground, “It’s my fault – Dale. It’s my fault that he died.”

Darcy looks at him with more confusion, “A walker killed him, Carl.”

“I saw that walker. I was gonna shoot it.” He adverts her gaze again. “It was stuck in the mud. I was – I was throwing rocks at it and stuff. But I was gonna do it - shoot it right in the head. But it – it got free, came after me and…I ran away. If I had killed it, Dale would still be here…”

Darcy sighs and kneels down. She takes Carl by the shoulders to make him face her. “Carl, listen very carefully to what I’m about to say; this was not your fault.”

“But I –“

“But nothing. The only thing that could have stopped that from happening was Dale. He went out by himself in the field and wasn’t paying attention. It was an accident, and only an accident.” Carl nods.

Carl nods again and sniffs back the forming tears. “I’ll give the gun back to Daryl. Why don’t you go on inside and see if your mom needs help? I’ve got things here.” She tells him.

Darcy then stands up and pats Carl’s shoulder. He walks away from her, still genuinely upset as she looks to the farm and sees that the group that checked the fences is now back, including Shane. Darcy heads toward him.

“Shane?” She calls. He’s by his car loading up pieces of wood to build the lookout in the windmill.

“What’s up Darc?” Shane doesn’t look up to greet her.

“I’ve got a problem.” She looks over her shoulder to make sure everyone else was out of earshot.

“You ain’t the only one.” Shane scoffs. Darcy rolls her eyes.

“It’s about Carl.” The name grabs his attention. Shane tosses the wood in his hands into the car and turns to face her.

“What about ‘im?”

Darcy walks closer toward him, pulling out the gun. “He gave me this. He took it from Daryl’s bike and went out in the woods yesterday – saw a walker. He tried to shoot it but he got scared and ran back to the farm. The walker that killed Dale –“

“Same one?” He sighs, watching Darcy nod and cross her arms. “Why are you telling me and not Rick?”

Darcy sighed heavily and sat next to him in the truck of the SUV. “Honestly?” Shane nods. “With the relationship you two used to have, it wouldn’t be right coming from me. This might help fix it.” She shrugs.

Shane nods and they both look out towards the camp. His eyes focus on Lori and Carl both. Darcy sighs again and stands up to lave him to his thoughts, hoping he’ll go to Rick and fix their own relationship while mending Carl’s broken heart. “I’m gonna go pack up.”

The sudden sight of Daryl on top of the shed hammering away at fitting wooden boards over the window caught Darcy’s eye. She went over to him, wanting to ask about the fences and if any walkers were nearby.

“Hey.” She called out to him.

Daryl twisted the knife around in his hand and nodded to her, picking up a nail and hammering that in as well. “Ya wanna be next on watch for this kid?”

Darcy scoffed and crossed her arms. “About as much as I want a nail-file through my brain.” She arched an eyebrow and he grinned.

Darcy turned around and saw T-Dog by the blue pickup truck. He and Rick were beginning to get ready to drive Randall out of the farm’s reach. Just before she turned around, Daryl’s footsteps jumped in front of her from off the shed’s roof.

“It’s that time.” He mumbled, wiping his hands on his handkerchief and sticking it back into his pocket.

As they began to walk over towards T-Dog, Darcy asked him. “You know where you’re going?”

Daryl nodded and picked the empty milk crate off the ground and placed it in the truck, “Hour out, hour back, tops. Shouldn’ be too bad. We’ll lose the light but,” he shrugged. “Ain’t no big deal. If anythin’ should help us out more where the kid’s concerned.”

“Be careful?” Darcy looked to Daryl, her amber eyes glowing. She had rested her left elbow against the truck and leaned into it, peering her eyes at the man next to her.

Daryl stopped putting the extra water intended for Randall in the milk crate and nodded, “Yes ma’am.” His tone was serious, and held no sarcasm. The gruffness and lowness of his voice glowed his country accent and Darcy sighed quietly to reassure herself.

“Only got so many arrows.” T-Dog came out of the house suddenly, handing a small familiar pistol to Daryl.

Daryl took it, “That Dale’s gun?”

T-Dog hesitated and Darcy gave him a sympathetic smile, “Yeah.”

“Wish I knew where the hell mine is.” Daryl called out.

Darcy crossed her arms and put a hand to her mouth to cover her smirk. After all, she knew full well where it had gone. She wanted to tell him what had happened, what Carl had done, but letting her dear friend know that Carl had basically ransacked through his things because he felt like it was a much needed adventure might not have been the best idea. Besides, the final outcome of Carl’s clumsy decisions lead to something much bigger than simply taking a gun.

Daryl disliked Carl’s behavioral patterns enough as it was. Constantly following the two, more so Darcy than anyone, had begun to get on his nerves. After all, Carl was the reason why Rick hadn’t followed through with killing Randall in the first place.

“Ready?” Rick called out from behind the three. Darcy turned with her arms still crossed and nodded to him to which he returned. She passed him to climb the steps of the house but not before Daryl watched her carefully.

Daryl breathed and watched. The sight of her simply holding in a smirk from what he wasn’t exactly sure was so beautiful and captivating he almost fainted. He watched her as she climbed the steps of the house and sits herself down on the top one. Daryl was thankful the Randall problem was being handled. Darcy and the rest of camp would be safe again, at least, for the time being.

“I’ll go get the package.” T-Dog told them.

Daryl sat holding his crossbow and tapping his knee with this forefinger repeatedly. He wanted to harden his skin and eyes to be numb again, numb to these feelings that seemed to keep coming back whenever she was around. He shook his head and brought his palm up to his forehead, smacking himself with it a few times. Daryl has his code, but he may not be able to hold to it much longer.
-

Rick pushed the cold lock, and the door swung open. The small space was empty, except for a blood stained mat at the corner of the darkness. Nothing. He closed the door, shrieking and scratching the way the frame tilted and grinded against the rusted hinges. The kid wanted to be let out. Now, he was free to go anywhere, bring back his thirty men and possibly attack. There was nothing he could do except go after him.

Daryl stomped around gazing through the tree line, slamming the door open that was presumably locked and secure from the outside. “Anythin’?” He called out to Darcy who was up in the rafters of the shed.

She shakes her head, not finding a trace of Randall ever being up there to get out. “Nothing.” She called back, turning around and climbing down the ladder. Daryl helped her jump down the last few rails by grabbing her hand. “Not a speck of blood or even sign he was ever up there.”

“How can you tell?” Lori asked as Daryl pushes past her.

“The vents that he would use to get outside aren’t busted – no rustle in the hay bed...” She walked over to the cuffs still locked together. “This much blood on these cuffs would have left something behind.”

“How long has he been gone?” Hershel asked.

“It’s hard to say.” Rick pulls his hand through his hair. “The cuffs are still hooked he must’ve slipped ‘em.”

“Is that even possible?” Carol asks, shocked.

“It is if you’ve got nothing to lose.” Andrea interjected, climbing out of the shed.

“The door was secured from the outside.” Hershel fumbled with the lock.

“We been out all day, no one saw ‘im leave?” Daryl grunted. Darcy pulled her bow over her shoulder and held it firmly in one hand. He looked to her, knowing what she was thinking when she stood on her toes looking over the woods. “Best comb the woods ‘n find him.”

“Wait.” Darcy aimed her bow at a rustle on the far edge a couple hundred feet away from them.

“RICK!” It was Shane, battered and bloodied from the gash in his nose marching towards the group with hatred in his eyes. “RICK!”

“What happened?” Darcy yelled toward him, slightly lowering her weapon.

“He’s armed!” He yelled. “He’s got my gun!”

“Are you okay?” Carl’s voice was panic-stricken.

“I’m fine. Lil’ bastard just snuck up on me. Clocked me in the face!”

Rick sprung into action, “Alright, Hershel, T-Dog, Darcy, get everybody back in the house. Glenn, Daryl, come with us.”

Daryl loaded an arrow without hesitation, but Darcy grabbed his forearm. “I’m coming with you, something’s not right about this and you know it.”

He shakes his head and begins to walk away. “Gonna find this son ‘a bitch. Keep everybody safe.” He nods, disappearing into the woods with Glenn, Shane, and Rick before she has a chance to say anything else.

T-Dog tugs on her shoulder, “C’mon Darcy. We gotta go!”

Darcy can’t tear her eyes away from where they vanished, “No I’m – I’m gonna stay here and wait for them –“

“Darcy, it ain’t safe! It’s getting dark and – and if Randall comes back with -“

“T-Dog please, I have to wait for them.” Darcy pleads with her friend. “Go on inside, I can handle myself, promise.”

The man sighs and begins to back away, “I’m gonna check up on you in a little while.”

Darcy nods, “Okay, fine.” She loaded her bow, turned back to the woods, and waited.

-

The air was cool and crisp as the night bore down on her. The autumn months brought a sharp chill with them this year and Darcy’s hopes for an easy winter were shattered by this one night. It was silly of her to think mother nature would choose to be easy on them after all of this madness.

Darcy tightened her scarf and headed a few feet into the woods, checking her watch as she went. Eight-thirty. They’d been gone for over an hour.

“Come on…” She muttered quietly. Darcy finally reached the end of her ten-foot limit promised to T-Dog and peered through the trees for a sign, her amber colored eyes searching her surroundings unsuccessfully.

For a moment, she was on the edge of just tracking them herself to make sure everyone was okay. She knelt down for a moment, running her pale fingers across the leaves before giving up after a mere second. She wasn’t skilled enough in tracking to hunt someone down in the night. Darcy stood up again, clutching at herself in a vain attempt to keep warm as her mind raced. This was just pure madness.

Consistently fast-paced rustles were heard suddenly, like feet crunching against the crisp leaves lying dead on the forest floor. Darcy backed herself out and into the open once again, it wasn’t an ideal situation of being lost in the dark with something approaching, not knowing what exactly it was either.

The creak in her bow reached her ears as she pulled back on the nocking point of the string. Her worst fears were embedding themselves into the folds of her mind as she waited for whatever silhouettes now were growing closer and closer towards the farm.

Her breath hitched, seeing two familiar figures and instantly lowered her weapon. “Thank God.”

“Darcy?” Glenn peered into the darkness.

“Where’s Rick and Shane?” She only saw Daryl and him.

“Ya mean they ain’t back yet?” He asked, taking his last step out of the woods and standing in front of her.

She shook her head, “No, not that I’ve seen –“ Darcy suddenly noticed the blood on either men’s clothes. “What the hell is that? Is that blood?” She pointed.

“Randall’s a walker.” Daryl shook his head in disbelief.

“You found him?” She asked, looking to Glenn.

“Oh yeah we found him.” Glenn muttered sarcastically. “Something really weird is going on.”

“What do you mean?” Darcy asked.

“He wasn’t bit.” Daryl lowered his voice, as if he was still unsure of the facts himself. “I checked. No bites, scratches. He got his neck broke.”

Glenn waved slightly in a hurried fashion, “I’m going inside to see if they’re back.”

Daryl grabbed Darcy’s arm and pulled her into the light of the moon that was angled by the house. “Shane was on top of Randall the whole time, they were together.” He told her.

“Shane killed him?” Darcy asked, putting the pieces together.

“Tha’s what I think.” He shuffles his feet. “He’s baitin’ Rick.”

Darcy focuses her eyes on the woods and doesn’t blink. “Well we gotta go after them.”

She turns to hustle past him but he pulls her back. “Ya can’t go by yourself. Give me – give me ten minutes to check things here and I’ll go with ya. Don’t do anything stupid.”

Darcy frowned and glanced behind him again. “Hurry up.”

The next second, just as Daryl lets the door slam behind him, a loud shot seemed to rip throughout the entire night sky. Darcy’s heart begins to beat rapidly, and she focuses her senses and all of her energy on trying to figure out where it came from.

Darcy walked to the other side of the shed in confusion, her ears ringing and pulse heightening at no other sound that followed the shot. It surprised her that no one else had heard it, although albeit it was a slightly muffled shot, but a shot nonetheless.

Time passes slowly, as Darcy stands perfectly still trying to gather any more signs, she hears a low growl from behind her that’s emitted from the forest.

She turns slowly, her eyes locking on the trees that hold only the movement of the leaves blowing in the slight breeze that held in itself a smell of death in the air.

It was instant, everything went silent as a whisper and even the leaves being scattered by the same deadly breeze held no sound. Darcy swallows and loads her bow, although she knows in her heart there are more than she can handle.

One by one, the silhouettes of what they all feared most emerged slowly from the woods that once separated the dead from the living.