Till Kingdom Come
Pendant
Two days passed before Noelle woke up from her deep slumber. Although she felt well rested and the swelling on her ankle was almost entirely gone, she felt regret for sleeping so long, knowing she was intruding and not even helping around at least. Holding herself up on her elbows, she looked around and noticed that the door of her cell was already unlocked and wide open, an unopened bottle of water lying on the floor next to her cot. Immediately she realized just how parched her mouth was and desperately reached for the bottle, quenching her thirst. A small bundle of clothes and boots were laid out for her, and although the shoes were a tad too tight, she felt grateful for whoever had left them there for her.
Finally stepping out of her cell, she could see the small rays of sun entering through the high window in the cell block, and looked around to see several people walking about, attempting to get stuff done. A woman with short hair and a plate of food approached her, a gentle smile playing on her lips.
“We saved you some food” the woman offered sweetly. “…it’s not much, but it’s useful. I’m Carol.”
Taking the small plate of food, Noelle returned a smile before picking at the food. It had been so long since Noelle had a decent meal that anything would hit the spot at this point. Looking around once more, she began to take in her surroundings. She assumed most people were out on the courtyard but she could see a young boy with a Sheriff‘s hat, a young blonde girl, and to her surprise, Daryl.
She approached the corner in which Daryl was standing and could see that he was holding an infant, gently rocking her as he held a small bottle up to her mouth.
“She’s beautiful.” Noelle said, catching him off guard. “How old?”
“Couple of months maybe. Eats like a horse.”
Noelle leaned in to get a better look and could see her little eyes, sparkling with innocence. With what the world had become, she had never expected to see a baby again, let alone was so precious and healthy. It was beautiful, heartwarming…liberating.
“Whose her momma?” Noelle asked, but regretted it immediately when Daryl just shook his head
“I’m sorry.” Noelle said regretfully. “It’s a good thing she’s got you though, you make a good father.”
“I aint her daddy!” Daryl said suddenly startling the baby. “We just take care of our own around here.”
Noelle understood. She was glad to see that amidst everything that was going on with the world, this baby would still have some sort of family to look after her. She then began to think about her own family…her sister.
“I was thinking” Noelle spoke up. “…my ankle is much better now so maybe ya’ll can give me a weapon and let me out. Got things to do.”
“Like look for your sister?” Daryl interrupted. “You aint even close to healing yet and wanna go back out already? You just lookin’ to get eaten. Aint no way you going back out there. Tryna look for someone that could possibly be dead already anyways.” he spat out.
But Daryl new exactly how she felt. Having lost his brother and yet being able to find him again was something he was grateful for, even though his brother Merle had passed soon after. But the fact that Merle died to protect someone was better than not knowing, and Daryl accepted that. If Noelle was anything like that, he knew shed fight for her chance to find her sister.
“Say what you want, but whether I have to go out there with my bear hands to look for her, I’m going.” Noelle spoke sternly as she stood her ground and maintained her composure.
“Well then, when are we leaving?”
------
At first Rick wasn’t comfortable with just Daryl and Noelle leaving the safety of the prison, knowing that walkers weren’t the only danger that roamed the streets. But eventually he caved in, knowing if he could trust anyone to make it back, it would be Daryl. And the fact that they were short on baby food and formula was extremely convincing.
Pulling up to a small town on the back of Daryl’s motorcycle, Noelle couldn’t help but feel selfish; selfish because she wished she could have been alone. The fact that someone would willingly put their lives at risk for her and her sister, two strangers in their eyes, was difficult to believe. She felt she should feel grateful and relieved, but instead she felt nothing but remorse. Nonetheless, they were both there, and while Daryl scavenged for baby formula and supplies, she planned on veering off and looking for her sister. But the second she jumped off the motorcycle, Daryl spoke up.
“Woah, slow down their sunshine. Stay close.” Daryl lead the way, holding his crossbow out in front of him ready to shoot if anything went wrong. He didn’t want to risk giving Noelle back her gun so she walked around carefully with a tight grasp on the large knife that Daryl had let her borrow. Opening the door to an abandoned pharmacy, a small bell on the door jingled as they both carefully stepped in. Making sure the coast was clear, Daryl looked around before motioning for Noelle to move on forward.
As Daryl began grabbing supplies left and right, amongst them some cans of formula that were thankfully lying around, Noelle walked around the shop, looking for any signs of her missing sister. But moments later, both Noelle and Daryl ducked down suddenly as the bell on the door sounded again, three walkers stumbling in and joining them.
From where she was hiding, Noelle couldn’t see Daryl but she only hoped he’d be ok. From behind the register she was hidden, she could see the walkers making their way towards her and it was then that she begin to hope she would be ok instead. Pulling out the knife quietly, she saw Daryl shoot his arrow straight through the head of one walker, grabbing the attention of a the second one, as the last walker made it’s way towards her. Hearing another arrow flying across the room, she came out from behind the register and pierced Daryl’s knife through the walkers eye socket.
“I guess this means we better keep moving.” Daryl said as he looked around. But once he looked up at Noelle, he saw her pointing outside and averted his eyes towards the shops glass door. Walkers had easily surrounded that part of town in mere seconds, leaving them trapped. But Noelle didn’t miss a beat, and quickly found an escape route.
“There.” she pointed towards a clearing. “We’ll run out, face these walkers hand to hand and make our way to your bike. Just gotta be quick.”
Daryl simply nodded before they both made their way to the door and prepared to run out. Slowly counting to three with his fingers, Daryl pushed open the doors and they ran.
Both of them using knives, they stabbed any walked that got near, getting closer to the motorcycle every second. But just when they were about to get on, Noelle stopped dead in her tracks.
“What the hell are you doing?1 C’mon!” Daryl yelled at her. Noelle snapped out of it and quickly bent down, reaching for something as a walker closed the space between them and reached for her. Grabbing at her arm. She tried to fight him off, but didn’t want to lose the small item she held in her hand.
Daryl quickly doubled back, shot and arrow through the walkers eye and dragged Noelle back to the bike, keeping a firm grasp on her hand. They made it to the bike and Daryl sped off, leaving a trail of walkers trying to keep up.
“Stupid bitch.” Daryl muttered to himself.
-----
Finally back at the prison, Noelle sat on her cot fiddling with something bright in her hands, holding it up and examining it carefully in what little light she could find. Eventually looking up, she noticed Daryl leaning against the wall of her cell.
“Mind me asking what was so damn important that you almost got us killed?!” he asked furiously.
“This.” she replied calmly, holding up a thin silver necklace with a small bird pendant on it.
“A cheap peace a jewelry?! Must be outta your damn mind.”
“Its not cheap.” she spat out. “It’s my sisters. I have one just like it.”
“An’ how do you know it aint yours. Probably just dropped it….”
“No.” she interrupted. “It’s hers…cause I’m still wearing mine.” She replied, tugging on the same little pendant that hung loosely around her neck.
Finally stepping out of her cell, she could see the small rays of sun entering through the high window in the cell block, and looked around to see several people walking about, attempting to get stuff done. A woman with short hair and a plate of food approached her, a gentle smile playing on her lips.
“We saved you some food” the woman offered sweetly. “…it’s not much, but it’s useful. I’m Carol.”
Taking the small plate of food, Noelle returned a smile before picking at the food. It had been so long since Noelle had a decent meal that anything would hit the spot at this point. Looking around once more, she began to take in her surroundings. She assumed most people were out on the courtyard but she could see a young boy with a Sheriff‘s hat, a young blonde girl, and to her surprise, Daryl.
She approached the corner in which Daryl was standing and could see that he was holding an infant, gently rocking her as he held a small bottle up to her mouth.
“She’s beautiful.” Noelle said, catching him off guard. “How old?”
“Couple of months maybe. Eats like a horse.”
Noelle leaned in to get a better look and could see her little eyes, sparkling with innocence. With what the world had become, she had never expected to see a baby again, let alone was so precious and healthy. It was beautiful, heartwarming…liberating.
“Whose her momma?” Noelle asked, but regretted it immediately when Daryl just shook his head
“I’m sorry.” Noelle said regretfully. “It’s a good thing she’s got you though, you make a good father.”
“I aint her daddy!” Daryl said suddenly startling the baby. “We just take care of our own around here.”
Noelle understood. She was glad to see that amidst everything that was going on with the world, this baby would still have some sort of family to look after her. She then began to think about her own family…her sister.
“I was thinking” Noelle spoke up. “…my ankle is much better now so maybe ya’ll can give me a weapon and let me out. Got things to do.”
“Like look for your sister?” Daryl interrupted. “You aint even close to healing yet and wanna go back out already? You just lookin’ to get eaten. Aint no way you going back out there. Tryna look for someone that could possibly be dead already anyways.” he spat out.
But Daryl new exactly how she felt. Having lost his brother and yet being able to find him again was something he was grateful for, even though his brother Merle had passed soon after. But the fact that Merle died to protect someone was better than not knowing, and Daryl accepted that. If Noelle was anything like that, he knew shed fight for her chance to find her sister.
“Say what you want, but whether I have to go out there with my bear hands to look for her, I’m going.” Noelle spoke sternly as she stood her ground and maintained her composure.
“Well then, when are we leaving?”
------
At first Rick wasn’t comfortable with just Daryl and Noelle leaving the safety of the prison, knowing that walkers weren’t the only danger that roamed the streets. But eventually he caved in, knowing if he could trust anyone to make it back, it would be Daryl. And the fact that they were short on baby food and formula was extremely convincing.
Pulling up to a small town on the back of Daryl’s motorcycle, Noelle couldn’t help but feel selfish; selfish because she wished she could have been alone. The fact that someone would willingly put their lives at risk for her and her sister, two strangers in their eyes, was difficult to believe. She felt she should feel grateful and relieved, but instead she felt nothing but remorse. Nonetheless, they were both there, and while Daryl scavenged for baby formula and supplies, she planned on veering off and looking for her sister. But the second she jumped off the motorcycle, Daryl spoke up.
“Woah, slow down their sunshine. Stay close.” Daryl lead the way, holding his crossbow out in front of him ready to shoot if anything went wrong. He didn’t want to risk giving Noelle back her gun so she walked around carefully with a tight grasp on the large knife that Daryl had let her borrow. Opening the door to an abandoned pharmacy, a small bell on the door jingled as they both carefully stepped in. Making sure the coast was clear, Daryl looked around before motioning for Noelle to move on forward.
As Daryl began grabbing supplies left and right, amongst them some cans of formula that were thankfully lying around, Noelle walked around the shop, looking for any signs of her missing sister. But moments later, both Noelle and Daryl ducked down suddenly as the bell on the door sounded again, three walkers stumbling in and joining them.
From where she was hiding, Noelle couldn’t see Daryl but she only hoped he’d be ok. From behind the register she was hidden, she could see the walkers making their way towards her and it was then that she begin to hope she would be ok instead. Pulling out the knife quietly, she saw Daryl shoot his arrow straight through the head of one walker, grabbing the attention of a the second one, as the last walker made it’s way towards her. Hearing another arrow flying across the room, she came out from behind the register and pierced Daryl’s knife through the walkers eye socket.
“I guess this means we better keep moving.” Daryl said as he looked around. But once he looked up at Noelle, he saw her pointing outside and averted his eyes towards the shops glass door. Walkers had easily surrounded that part of town in mere seconds, leaving them trapped. But Noelle didn’t miss a beat, and quickly found an escape route.
“There.” she pointed towards a clearing. “We’ll run out, face these walkers hand to hand and make our way to your bike. Just gotta be quick.”
Daryl simply nodded before they both made their way to the door and prepared to run out. Slowly counting to three with his fingers, Daryl pushed open the doors and they ran.
Both of them using knives, they stabbed any walked that got near, getting closer to the motorcycle every second. But just when they were about to get on, Noelle stopped dead in her tracks.
“What the hell are you doing?1 C’mon!” Daryl yelled at her. Noelle snapped out of it and quickly bent down, reaching for something as a walker closed the space between them and reached for her. Grabbing at her arm. She tried to fight him off, but didn’t want to lose the small item she held in her hand.
Daryl quickly doubled back, shot and arrow through the walkers eye and dragged Noelle back to the bike, keeping a firm grasp on her hand. They made it to the bike and Daryl sped off, leaving a trail of walkers trying to keep up.
“Stupid bitch.” Daryl muttered to himself.
-----
Finally back at the prison, Noelle sat on her cot fiddling with something bright in her hands, holding it up and examining it carefully in what little light she could find. Eventually looking up, she noticed Daryl leaning against the wall of her cell.
“Mind me asking what was so damn important that you almost got us killed?!” he asked furiously.
“This.” she replied calmly, holding up a thin silver necklace with a small bird pendant on it.
“A cheap peace a jewelry?! Must be outta your damn mind.”
“Its not cheap.” she spat out. “It’s my sisters. I have one just like it.”
“An’ how do you know it aint yours. Probably just dropped it….”
“No.” she interrupted. “It’s hers…cause I’m still wearing mine.” She replied, tugging on the same little pendant that hung loosely around her neck.