From the Shadows

Teagan rolled over after a surprisingly satisfactory sleep. Daryl's arms were still around her, keeping her warm and keeping her safe. She inhaled lightly, and smiled at the soft expression on Daryl's face. She placed her hand on his face and rubbed the stubbly beard on his cheek and chin gently. Daryl sleep-groaned at the sensation and buried his face into her hand. He breathed in deeply and moved his body closer to hers, squeezing her tighter. She continued to rub his beard, and slowly introduced light scratches. Teagan soaked in the moment thoroughly; his warmth, his tender breathing, his rough hands holding her close, the peacefulness of the moments, and especially how calm and comfortable he looked so close and vulnerable to her. She moved her caressing fingertips from her chin down over his neck, when he stretched slightly and gently wrapped his hand in her hair. She moved down to his shoulders and upper back and started to hum. She drew circles over his skin, and played with his overgrown, greasy hair intermittently. She closed her eyes and kept humming.

Daryl woke up at some point to the feel of Teagan touching the nape of his neck and the sound of her voice lightly penetrating the air. He only shifted slightly, and pretended to still be asleep. He knew if he woke up, their day would officially start, along with all their inescapable responsibilities. I never want this to stop. Daryl breathed in the soothing song that Teagan effortlessly hummed. He hadn't heard it before. In all his life, he had never felt safer and more comfortable than he did in that very moment; with arms and legs intertwined, and her warmth keeping the darkness away. He wanted to forget the prison, forget the walkers, forget everything but what was happening right then. She ran fingers through his hair and she gently kissed him on the forehead. She pulled away and rested her forehead against his. She stopped tracing his skin with her fingers, and instead wrapped her arm around him tightly. She breathed in heavily to push back persistent tears. Any moment could be our last. Why can't this one last forever? She had stopped humming, and began to feel different fingertips tracing her own skin. Daryl was moving from her shoulders to her neck and running his fingers through her hair like she had done to him. He didn't dare hum or sing. Teagan opened her eyes and saw Daryl with his closed. She smiled to herself and started playing with his hair again.

“So, finally decided to wake up?” She chuckled lightly.

Daryl opened his eyes and a half-smile crept to one of the corners of his mouth. “How'd you know?”

“A magician never reveals their secrets.” The joke left Daryl unimpressed. Teagan rolled her eyes and sighed “Your breathing changed.”

“Shoulda known.” Daryl shook his head and clumsily rolled out of bed. “Ready?” He grunted.

Teagan reached the edge of the bed more gracefully than Daryl. She started putting her boots on. “Got something to do first.”

Daryl furrowed his eyebrows at her. “Like what?”

“Don't worry about it. I'll be quick, promise.”

Daryl shrugged. “A'right. Meet ya by the gate.” He groaned as he stood up. He grabbed his crossbow and went downstairs.

Teagan was close behind him, but went a different way at the bottom of the stairs. She quietly tip-toed past some of the rooms to see who was asleep. It was still a bit early, and she didn't want to wake anyone. She came upon an awake Hershel sitting in his room. “Need something?” Hershel's raspy voice quietly called out to Teagan.

She shook her head. “Not really. I'm feeling fine. Have you seen Maggie?”

“She went to the restroom. She should be back any moment. Grab some breakfast while you wait.”

Teagan went into the dining area, and Carol served her a small bowl of food. “Hey Carol, did Daryl eat?”

Carol shook her head. “Don't think so. Are you guys going out today?”

“Yeah. Need anything?”

A worried look spread over Carol's face. “A lot, actually. We barely had enough food to go around before the newcomers. We're going to need to start bringing in a lot more food. At least until Hershel's farm starts growing.”

“No worries. We'll bring as much back as we can; keep everyone fed.”

Carol nodded. “Eat up. And bring some for Daryl, too. Our runners need to eat before us sedentary folk.”

Teagan laughed. “With all you do around here, you are far from sedentary.”

Carol smiled. “Just bring back something. Anything.”

“And medicine, too. If you come across anything.” Hershel entered the dining room and added his two cents.

Teagan nodded. Food and supplies were already running scarce. She was worried about keeping up with a bigger population; more mouths and more injuries.

“We might have to be out overnight.” Teagan contorted her face and Hershel and Carol looked back at her concerned.

“Is that even safe?”

“We should be able to handle it. We have to go out so far for supplies nowadays, may not be able to get enough and make it back before dark. Best to save gas and make the biggest trips possible.”

“Please be safe out there. We want you both coming back in one piece.”

“Don't worry. We'll come back in two.” Carol furrowed her eyebrows. “Daryl in one piece, me in another piece... two whole pieces...”

Carol rolled her eyes playfully and continued to set up for breakfast. “Fine. Come back alive.”

“Will do.”

Teagan saw Maggie from down the hallway and stood up. She scarfed down the small amount of food in her bowl and walked over to Maggie.

“Hey Maggie. Can I ask a favor of you?”

“Yeah, sure. What'd you need?”

“So, I kind of heard you were good at giving haircuts? I'm in desperate need of one.”

Maggie laughed. “I'll do my best. Didn't go to school for it or anything.”

“Anything will be better than what I'd end up doing to it.”

“How do you want it cut?”

“Do you remember how short it was when I first went to your dad's farm?”

Maggie contorted her face trying to remember. “Hmm, sort of.”

“I'd like that but even shorter. Nothing for a walker to grab.”

“I think I can do that. Want it done now?”

“Please. Going on a run today, and I might go crazy if I have to deal with this mop much longer. I already combed it out. Still dirty, though.”

“Dirt don't make a difference. I'll be right back.” Maggie left and came back with some scissors. “Mind sittin' here?” She pointed the a stool and Teagan nodded. Teagan sat in front of Maggie and closed her eyes. Maggie chuckled lightly. “Feelin' alright?”

“Yeah. I like haircuts. Even if it's a disaster, it's still different. Something new.”

Maggie took several minutes to cut Teagan's hair. She'd cut some, ruffle the hair, cut off some more bits that were too long, and repeated the process until the length seemed right. “Hold on just a sec'.” Maggie put the scissors down and ran into the medic's room and grabbed a broken mirror. She handed the mirror to Teagan. “Want to murder me?”

Teagan laughed. “No, looks great. Definitely a lot better. Thanks!”

“Wash it when you get back. I want to see that new mop clean.”

“Deal.” Teagan turned to leave. She ran a dirty hand through her even dirtier hair and felt relief fall around her. She saw Daryl from a distance, and he looked impatient. She decided to run towards him to keep him from waiting any longer.

“What took you so damn l- holy hell.” He squinted his eyes and furrowed his brows. “The hell you get in a fight with?”

Teagan rolled her eyes. “It's called a hair cut. Ever heard of one?”

Daryl spit on the ground. “Look just like ya did 'fore. Little shorter.”

“As long as there is less to grab and get knotted up, it's fine with me. Let's get going.” Teagan got in the passenger seat and let Daryl drive. He seemed to prefer driving. He could keep to himself with the excuse of focusing on the road without being awkward when no conversation happened.

“Any idea where we're going?” Teagan squinted as the sun reflected off the hood of the car.

“Farther out this time. Ain't much left around here.” Teagan sighed heavily and bit her tongue. She knew they'd struggle finding food, let alone all the other requests from the group. “What?” Teagan had forgotten she wasn't alone for a moment and shook her head. “Don't play that shit. Somethin's wrong.”

“Not wrong, per se... just...”

“Just what?”

“We have a lot more mouths to feed. We had a hard enough time finding food before.”

“We'll figure it out. Always do.” Daryl looked over to Teagan and saw that her grimace hadn't fallen. “So those weren't the magic words then. What else ya want to spit at me?”

Teagan hesitated. “Hershel asked if we could find more medicine. We're nearly out.”

“Again? No. Not this time.”

“Daryl, we're desperate. We've been running on fumes for months. We have more people, and we need more medicine.”

“No.”

“Antivirals, pain and fever reducers like Acetaminophen, antibiotics-”

“I said no, damnit!” Daryl's voice was angry, and he stopped his sentence in an abrupt huff.

Teagan sighed, rolled her eyes and crossed her arms. After a few minutes of quiet, she started talking again. She kept her voice as calm as she could so as to not incite more anger from Daryl. “Look, we need medical supplies. If we don't need them right now, we'll need them soon enough.”

“We ain't got time. You said so yerself, more mouths ta feed.”

“And more wounds to treat. We need to get them while we can. We can't wait until were sick. We can't wait until it's too late.”

“We won't need it if we're starved ta damn death.” Same argument as last time.

“Our situation hasn't changed. We're still in a war. Every day of our lives we are at risk. We can't stop the world when someone is bleeding out because we didn't prioritize stitches and gauze. We can't tell sick people to stop dying because we decided not to get them medicine ahead of time. We can't take these risks.”

“What? Running into an infested hospital like last time is a risk worth taking?”

“Yes! It always will be. I refuse to watch people die when I could have done something to prevent it.” Silence spread throughout the car. Teagan was fuming. She was tired of having the same arguments over and over again. She closed her eyes and crossed her arms. “You won't be the one standing over the next dying person. Just remember that. I'll have to be the one to tell them I could have, but didn't.”

Daryl didn't answer. He kept his eyes on the road, observing the unfamiliar territory around him. They had driven farther than they ever had before. Teagan watched small towns pass by. She kept an eye out for hospitals and pharmacies that might be close enough to the highway to see. Need to find where my next run is going to be. They pulled next to a town that seemed fairly intact. Daryl turned the car off and put the keys in his pocket. “Gotta be food 'round here somewhere.” He grabbed several empty backpacks from the back of the car and stepped onto the ground. Teagan also grabbed some bags and bottles of water. “Let's go.” Daryl's voice was gruff and quiet.

They both stood in front of the car, with empty bags hanging over their shoulders, staring off at the desolate town. “Figure we could grab as much as we could. Camp out if we have ta. Hopefully head out and hunt tomorrow.”

“Sounds like a plan. We might consider bringing more people with us next time. More hands to feed more mouths.”

Daryl scoffed. “They'll just get in my way.”

“They can scrounge while we hunt. Save a day.” Daryl grunted and they walked towards the town.

The town was previously scavenged. Many buildings had broken windows, and a lot of bodies rotted on the ground, unmoving. They carefully stepped around bodies and killed any walker in their path. They came across a grocery store with the glass storefront shattered all over the ground. Inside, they found a surprising amount of food. They filled their bags with cans of soup, vegetables, fruit, and tuna. They grabbed the last of the pasta, and even found a medium-sized bag of partially-opened rice. Once their bags were full, they lugged their items back to the car and emptied the contents into the trunk. With their newly-emptied bags, they went back in for more supplies. On their second trip, Daryl focused on food and Teagan focused on other things. She grabbed soap, toothpaste, more toothbrushes, and any other personal items she could find. She even grabbed some nail clippers and a pair of tweezers. Both of them grabbed as much water as they could.

Teagan looked desperately around the store for a pharmacy. “Ain't gonna find one.” Teagan looked over to Daryl who was struggling to zip one of his bags closed. “Already looked. Probably somewhere else. Next time we're out, we'll head there.” While they were both tired of arguing about getting medicinal supplies, Daryl still wanted to passively assert his decision to postpone getting the supplies. Teagan rolled her eyes and grabbed a bunch of seeds from the small gardening department.

Their drive took longer than they thought, and their two-time scavenging sent them into early evening. “Best find a place to settle. Let's head back to the car.” Teagan followed Daryl's word. They dumped as many bags as they could fit in the trunk and put the rest in the backseat. They got in the car and slowly started to drive into the town.