The Sharpest Lives

Ace trekked next to Daryl with her knife ready in her hand as they pushed silently through the forest. Their heads rotated, always looking at the side the other wasn't. Their feet barely made noise on the bunches of leaves under them. It was like they became one as they tracked.

It took Ace a second to catch up with Daryl after he stormed off. But she didn't say a word as she kept on after him, just gave him the space he needed to cool down. She didn't really know what to think of it all, besides that she couldn't tell him anything, but yet her mind was working a mile a minute. Eventually, Daryl did let himself relax and then slowed his fast pace to pair up with Ace again.

Now they moved on like nothing had happened, because their really was no reason to drag on about it, even if they were still thinking about it. Neither Ace or Daryl were about that and it was too hypocritical for them to judge the other. They were too similar, with Sophia on their minds and everything. Even their footsteps matched up perfectly. And their postures were built the same.

And apparently so were their sense of hearing because both of them immediately snapped their heads to look at the other when twigs snapping could be heard in the distance. They had a silent conversation as they looked at each other. Sophia or walkers...

Daryl was pleased that he didn't have to signal Ace to be quiet, like he would have to any other member of the group, and knew that she knew what to do. I guess that's one thing he can't complain about... One foot at a time, they snuck over to across where they heard the sound come from. They didn't want to be directly in front of it and spook it, but they had to be close and ready.

They shared another quick look as the crunching of leaves got closer. Ace prayed that it would be Sophia staggering along and she knew Daryl probably was too. It wasn't like he was hoping for the dead...

But as they looked away from each other, they were both greeted with the sight of torn, rotten flesh staggering past them.

Ace's heart dropped, but was only pushed back up with disgust. She hated the dead. It should have been Sophia.

It was only one walker, so Daryl quickly lifted up his crossbow and took it down. Ace squeezed her eyes to rid the sight of the body falling before following Daryl to it. He yanked his arrow out of it's forehead, blood oozing out of the hole soon after.

Ace didn't look at it, just up to Daryl as he wiped his arrow off on his pants. He met Ace's eyes before they both started to look around for any other signs of danger. It seemed clear.

"Guess this sum'bitch was walkin' alone," Daryl mumbled, reloading his crossbow.

Ace nodded, still scanning around them. It was almost as if he spoke a millisecond too soon because right after, there was another crack of a twig coming from behind them. They turned to look, only to be greeted by an army of dead corpses.

God...

With wide eyes, Daryl and Ace looked at each other. They didn't have a silent plan that was transmitted through their eyes this time, only oh shit. This was a nightmare, one Ace didn't know if she could handle.

"We gotta go," Daryl huffed, picking up his crossbow.

"We can't run," Ace stopped him, her voice solid. She knew how to assess a situation, how to plan and be strong before hand. It was just all that death... She couldn't kill.

"We gotta'," Daryl pressed, holding his crossbow up as the walkers got closer. They hadn't noticed them yet, but it was only a matter of seconds...

Ace shook her head. "We'll just lead 'em back to the others, put them all in danger."

Daryl looked to her, feeling a new form of respect. He agreed, just was shocked she was even worried about the others. He was also kind of shocked that she even talked..

"Alright then," he huffed just as the dead started to growl as they noticed them. "We take 'em."

Ace turned to the group of dead, her hands struggling to hold onto her knife they were so clammy. She hated killing them.. she couldn't... but she had to.

She couldn't freak out. She couldn't. This wasn't just her life, it was Daryl's too. And even if it was... She has to live.

This is what she was trained to do. To fight.

So fight she would. She had to learn to kill these things anyway, so why not now? What a perfect time to learn.

"Ready?" Daryl turned his head to ask her, not showing any sign of weakness like her. He was nervous, sure, and was unsure what to expect, but he would kill whatever he had to.

Ace sucked in a breath, putting her thoughts to the back of her head. It was her and the dead now. "Ready."

With a nod, they both put them self into the dead, fighting for their life.

Daryl shot off his crossbow, staying and shooting while Ace ran up at the closest walker, shoving her knife into it's skull and ripping it out. She watched as it crumpled to the ground, her mind running haywire. Shut it down, she thought to herself. Fight.

She turned at the sense of a walker to her left and send her knife flying backwards, pushing it in the side of it's skull. Blood splattered all over her, sticking to her neck, but she tried not to think about it as she pulled the knife back out. She had more to kill.

Another one was coming up to her and she repeated what she did again as Daryl stayed back to fire off as many arrows as he could, grunting loudly each time he had to reload his crossbow. Sweat started to grow at his hairline and he only took a second to wipe it away before taking down another walker. He glanced at Ace as he reloaded his last arrow.

She was going, silently huffing with each strong effort she took to kill more of the dead. Her muscles ached and her breathing was starting to become labored, but she pushed through. She kept going. Her skin was sticky with blood and brains, even some of her own sweat, but she didn't think about it.

Soon the walkers started to surround her, getting closer, and she resorted to more tactical skills.

She shoved the one in front of her to give her more time to stab the one in her left on top of it's head. She didn't even take in what each one looked like before moving on to the next. She spun around, lifting her leg as she did, to kick the one on her right with as much force as she could. It fell to the ground and she quickly stomped her foot down on it's head, grunting lightly as she did, before swiping the feet out from under the one in front of her that was coming forwards again. This one fell on it's side, as well, giving Ace the opportunity to lean down and send her knife right above it's ear and into it's brain.

All of her movements were quick and thought out, never giving enough time in between each action for walkers to get close enough to her. Daryl was amazed at her hand-to-hand combat, but couldn't let himself get distracted. He was out of arrows.

He chucked his crossbow behind him and ran up to Ace, taking out the two walkers with his knife quickly so he could get to her. They had a small moment of eye contact and soon enough, they were back to back, fighting and tearing apart the rotting flesh in front of them.

Daryl wasn't as graceful and his movements weren't as planned, but he could fight like all hell. He had so much strength to use, sending his knife in and out of heads without a second in between, while kicking ones away with his right foot. He even punched a few in the jaw to give himself more space.

But soon both Ace and Daryl found their strategy and a good pace.

With both of them back to back, They'd take out one at a time in front of them, simple with a knife in the forehead, blocking their arms from coming near. Then they'd step a bit to the side, rotating and doing it again. They had a system and with Ace's speed and Daryl's strength, they couldn't be touched. They became a team and fought until the very last walker was down at their feet.

Panting and huffing like a wild animal, Daryl looked around him, still gripping tightly onto his knife, daring anything to come out at him because he would rip it a new one easily.

Ace's chest was heaving up and down as she held her knife at her side. Her arms were covered in blood from her victims, and each time she turned her head, she felt the splatters of blood itch at her skin. She felt... different... like she never has before..

She also felt a state and new she looked one too, especially when her and Daryl faced the other.

He looked almost as gross as she felt and he thought the same thing. They couldn't stop looking at the other, sort of confused and sort of victorious. They didn't even need to say anything. Daryl was still trying to wrap his head around the power team she was with him and Ace was trying to wrap her head around all the things she just butchered without a thought.

Daryl laughing ripped her from her thoughts. He was still trying to catch his breath, but was chuckling a rough laugh. "Fuckin' hell," he breathed, looking around him.

Ace laughed a little with him as she felt her adrenaline start to slow. It was now that she felt the pain in her back roaring up her spine like fire. It made her laugh get caught in her throat.

Daryl stepped out of the circle of bodies they created and went to start collecting as many arrows as he could find, also making sure that all the dead were really dead. "Nothin' better than startin' out ya morning with some dumb, dead bastard action," he grumbled sarcastically, a bit amused.

Ace went to step out of the ring of bodies as well, just wanting to catch her breath away from all the decay, but as soon as she moved, she started to feel dizzy. She stumbled away from the dead, her feet hitting grass, but her body feeling like it hit a wall. She knew this was because of all her medication. She knew this was because of the side effects. This happened before to her... And she wouldn't be getting this dizzy or this nauseous if it wasn't...

Ace reached out to put her hand on a nearby tree, leaning against it. Her head was spinning and she could see multiple colorful images of everything in front of her glazed over eyes. She was gonna throw up...

She just had to get back first.. Away from Daryl. He would ask questions...

But she couldn't stop her stomach from betraying her and soon she was letting everything out.

Daryl immediately heard and looked up from gathering his arrows, thinking it was just cause she was grossed out. Andrea did the same last night, so he couldn't help but think it was the same.

"Ya alright?" He asked and Ace shook her head yes, despite the fact that she wasn't. She couldn't stop throwing up and even sunk down onto her hands and knees, feeling too weak to hold herself up.

Daryl started walking over to her, coming and crouching down next to her. He wasn't afraid of a little puke, 'specially not after she just teamed up with him to take down that group of walkers. Not everyone in the group would or could have done that..

Ace's stomach was convulsing, but she didn't have anything else to puke up. Daryl noticed how awful she started to look. "Ya sure? Ya seem real pale," he mentioned, noticing the sweat rolling down her forehead and her bloodshot eyes. It was now sinking in that this wasn't normal, something was up...

Daryl thought back to this morning, when he saw her on the car. Then last night, when he caught her limping and she wouldn't tell him what was wrong.

"I'm... I'm... Fine," Ace pushed out. She used every ounce of force she had left to push herself up into a sitting position, her arms wobbling. She felt like her muscles were getting stuck, she needed to move. "Got... Gotta stand," she breathed, struggling to get herself up.

Daryl's eyes were squinted in confusion as he set his crossbow down to grip Ace's elbow and help get her to stand. He didn't know what was going on with her.

When he finally got her up, she looked even worse than before. He let go of her as she stood, but almost immediately wished he didn't because as soon as he did, her eyes were rolling into the back of her head and she passed out.

He let out a curse as he jumped to catch her before she fell completely.