From the Shadows

Teagan woke up in a cold sweat, and instinctively checked her face for damage. I can't keep doing this. She didn't hear Daryl's question.

“Hey, didja hear me? What's the matter with you?” His face was contorted with concern. This was the second time he'd seen her have a nightmare. This time, she kept covering her face and whimpering. He hated seeing her act like that; her whimpers stung like hearing an abused puppy cry for help. What the hell happened?

Teagan shook her head to collect herself. “Yeah, fine. I'm surprised I even slept.”

“Didn't seem ta sleep good.”

“Huh? Slept fine.”

“Nuthin. We should get goin' soon, sun's up.”

“I'll see who else is awake.”

Within twenty minutes, everyone was awake. Most bags were never unpacked, so no time was wasted on getting things together. People piled into vehicles and they traveled away from south-east. They had no particular destination of west or north, but they'd be trapped by the coast in they headed towards Florida. Whenever they saw an abandoned car on the road, someone would stop and siphon gas and collect anything useful from inside the car. Their goal was to find at least some place with a roof to hole up each night. Size wasn't an issue, for it was only temporary. Whenever they stopped by a town, the usual group of runners would go in and inspect. Most towns were ghosts with barely anything. Every once in awhile, they'd hit a jackpot and make second trips. They needed everything they could get, even junk food, because shit food was better than no food. Morale started to drop as quickly as their weight sloughed off their malnourished bodies. Nobody was content with house-hopping, and nobody felt safe. People fell into their tasks according to their available skills very quickly. Lori, Beth and Carol were the chefs, and essentially travel housewives. Andrea pitched in with that work only when directly requested of her. Andrea much preferred being a watchdog, but only in the daytime. At night, she'd hide away from her previously fought-for position. Teagan and Glenn were the usual town runners, often accompanied by Rick, T-Dog and Maggie. Teagan was also a hunter along with Daryl. Not many times did a third person accompany them. Rick held leadership with the help of Hershel, who was the major medical man of the group, was forced to ration the medical supplies rescued by Teagan. Teagan would help Hershel when requested, but most of the time people stayed fairly uninjured. The kids would play amongst themselves and keep within eye and earshot of the group. All things considered, they were fairly lucky to have everyone still alive, but patience ran thin in search of a permanent residence.

Days dragged on into weeks, and no hope seemed to be left in the world. Walkers grew in numbers, and food and other resources became scarce. It seemed every last bit of happiness in the group fell like sweat from their brow. This particular day was hotter than usual, for the weather was cooling down. If they didn't find a place before winter, they'd never survive. Teagan and Daryl were out hunting again. It became an everyday task. There seemed to be less and less game running about, which meant less food. The group was already on meager rations and couldn't afford to eat any less. They headed into a forested area and trudged along, one foot in front of the other. Daryl had just shot a squirrel; first kill of the day.

“Poor fella. Prolly as hungry as we are.”

“There has to be more food out here. If this keeps up, we'll have to consider cat food.” Teagan was joking, but the possibility wasn't completely absurd.

They both wiped their foreheads and took a breather, and they heard shuffling in the distance. Both Daryl and Teagan were exhausted and starving, and their usual alert ears failed them, allowing a small yet impressive group of walkers to sneak up on them.

“Daryl, look out!” She shot the closest walker closing in on Daryl. There were too many for their fatigued bodies to handle. The small horde poured between Daryl and Teagan, separating them. They both were stabbing walker skulls left and right.

Teagan kept backing up and slipped. “Shit!” A walker fell on top of her and nearly got her throat, but she wiggled her arm out and pierced it through the eye. She shoved the corpse off of her, scrambled a few feet, stood up and ran in the opposite direction, making noise to draw some away from Daryl.

Daryl saw her stumble, with a walker right on top of her. He panicked and tried to kill his own group of walkers as fast as he could to help her. The next thing he saw was her sprinting away from him.

“Teagan!” She ran and didn't look back. He noticed her yelling and some of the walkers surrounding him turned around and followed her.

“Goddamn dumb bitch!” He finished off killing the walkers surrounding him, but Teagan was already out of sight. He looked at the carnage at his feet and grew furious, kicking a fallen walker in the head until its skull was in pieces. He was panting, and grabbed his greasy hair with one hand. He spit at the walker whose head was smashed.

During the past few weeks, Daryl and Teagan got closer. Collectively, the group was desperate, and as always, Teagan and Daryl were left out. They weren't offended, it was just how people congregated. However, they slowly formed their own two-man group to make it through. They still didn't know a lot about each other, but that was faulted on both of them. Neither asked questions about the other or shared stories about themselves. Daryl saw her have another nightmare, too. That time, she woke up with her gun aimed at the empty space in front of her. Safety off. He swore she was crying. He had gotten more protective of her, and more worried for her safety. She was intelligent and strong, but she always went on every run and hunting trip, essentially endangering herself. Similarly, Teagan was the same. She never thought about leaving the group anymore, but she focused more attention than she would admit to keeping Daryl safe. He was the one person she thought could actually survive this world, and she wanted to give him every possible chance to conquer it. She would make riskier choices than she would normally, something Daryl quickly caught on to. Teagan running off was no exception to this new standard.

Daryl ran in the direction Teagan did, and saw a group of walkers surrounding the base of a tree. A few were already dead with arrows, one with a knife. He swore to himself and from a distance, killed the remaining walkers. He stomped towards the tree after his last arrow flew.

“Get yer stupid ass down here. The hell ya thinkin runnin of like tha?”

“I'm just fine, not even a scratch. Come up here, hurry!”

“No damnit, you get yer ass down here. Got me worryin my ass of.” The last part was mumbled, and he didn't intend to say it out loud. Teagan heard him anyway.

“Daryl, just come here.”

“Do I look like a damn tree-climbin monkey?”

“Nope, just a regular monkey.” She chuckled loudly, and Daryl climbed up the tree anyway. The tree was large and wide, clearly very old but still strong. The branches were windy and thick; every little adventurer's dream.

Daryl was almost at the top when he said, “Now, what in the hell is so damn important you had me climbin a damn tree for?”

Teagan pointed ahead of her on the horizon with a huge smile on her dirt-covered face. “That.”

Daryl focused his eyes, and they grew wide. “Is that wha I think it is?”

“Hell yeah. Home sweet home.”

They marveled at the distant place for awhile before Daryl started to climb down.

“Where are you going?” Teagan was so entranced, she almost forgot what reality they were in.

“Back to tha group, a course. Gotta tell 'em, don't we? We could make it there in a day. Easy.”

Teagan climbed down after him. At the bottom, Daryl jumped from the lowest branch to the ground to avoid stepping on corpses. He stood exactly where he landed, turned around and held his arms out.

“I'll catch ya.” He was still uncomfortable with these type of comments and gestures, but he was getting better. They came to him more naturally now.

“I don't trust you. You'll drop me on my ass!” Teagan laughed.

Daryl simply shook his head at her, arm's still out. Teagan sighed playfully and jumped from the branch. She landed right in front of him, but slipped, and he caught her.

“Told ya I wasn't gonna drop ya.” His voice had childish pride in it.

They walked back in the direction they came, and veered around the small chaos from earlier. They were quiet for awhile, saving their energy for the trek, until Daryl spoke.

“Why the hell did ya run off earlier?” His words were angry, but his voice was soft.

“Panicked, I guess.” She shrugged her shoulders. She didn't have a good answer for him.

“Never seen ya do that before.”

Teagan laughed. “Don't kid yourself, I do it all the time. Just usually better at hiding it.” Silence fell again, and for the first time, it felt a bit uneasy.

“I thought a walker got ya.” Daryl's voice was quiet. He bit his lip and avoided looking at her.

“When?” Teagan looked directly at his face. Her eyebrows furrowed with concern. Was he worried about me?

“When ya fell and it landed on top of ya. 'Fore ya ran off.”

“Don't worry. I got it before it got me.”

“Good.” They exchanged slight smiles, and trudged the rest of their journey in silence.