Hope Is a Waking Dream

Chapter 17

Daryl drove the bike through the woods at breakneck speed for a good forty minutes before stopping. Melissa had almost fallen off half a dozen times during the ride and had been holding her breath the entire time, her mind racing with questions. Who were the men in that house? Why were they transporting walkers? Where were they taking them? Where were the others? Were they safe? She was shaken from her thoughts by Daryl who was snapping his fingers and clapping his hands in her face. “Come on woman. Stay focused. We gotta figure out where we are and where we’re going.”
“What the FUCK was that back there? A fucking traveling side show of walkers? Who the fuck keeps walkers as pets?” Daryl put his hands on her shoulders and rubbed them briskly.
“We gotta stay calm and quiet. Don’t know if there are any walkers out here. I don’t know what the fuck that was either darlin’. Never saw anything like that before in my life.” He looked around in the dark, only a waxing quarter moon for light. “We gotta find someplace to camp tonight. The bikes almost empty, we’ll have to hoof it for a while till I can get some gas for it, but we can hide it, in brush cover. You’ve slept in a tree before haven’t ya?”
“Yes, but I’m too tired to climb a damn tree right now. Can’t I just fall on the ground and pass out?” He snickered at her comment, which made her crack a tried smile. He walked to his pack and took out two flashlights and handed one to her. “You help find enough wood for a small fire and I’ll let you do whatever you want. You can sleep, I’ll keep watch.”
“Not a problem, sir, but you have to promise me that you’ll get some sleep too,” she said, before she yawned.
“I promise. Now get to gathering. I’ll set up a place for ya to lay.” In ten minutes she had enough small limbs and branches to make a decent fire and Daryl had made her a bed with the poncho he had found a few weeks back. “It’s itchy as hell, but it’ll protect ya from the little nasties that crawl around.”
“I’m not afraid of the little ones, it’s the big ones that scare me,” she said and lay on the poncho pulling one side around her body. Before he sat by the fire, Daryl went to the bike and took out a few of the unfinished bolts he had stashed in the saddlebag. Thankfully, the only noise was the crickets and owls and the occasional pop of the campfire. “Do you think they got out Daryl? Do you think they’re alive and safe?”
“Don’t know if they got out or not, but I’m sure they’re safe wherever they are.”
“What makes you so sure?” she asked.
He didn’t say anything for a minute. He thought about the farm, the night the herd came through. He thought about losing Dale and Andrea, he also thought about what they still had, who they still had. “One night, when we was on Hershel’s farm, a big herd came through. Had to have been a few hundred of them. Bastards took down his whole barn. Anyway, everybody stood fast, we were gonna defend it. Hershel wasn’t gonna let them run him off his land, but in the end, we ran, always do. Everybody scattered, we was all separated from each other, and nobody knew where anybody else was. All of us who were able to make it out, met back on the highway where we’d broke down, same place we lost Sophia.” He had a forlorn, lost look in his eyes when he said her name and bit of melancholy on his lips. “Little by little, everybody showed up, well everybody that made it out alive anyway. Rick and Carl made it out with Herschel, Maggie and Glenn were together, I had Carol on the bike and Lori and Beth were with T-Dog. We lost him a couple weeks ago, right before we found the cabin.”
“So you think we’re gonna find ‘em, or they’ll find us? Is there somewhere you know they’d go?”
“Not around here. Don’t know the area well enough. If they got out, they’re wondering around, just like us. Get some sleep. I’ll make sure nothing happens to ya. I’ll keep ya safe.”
“I know ya will, but remember you promised me you’d get some sleep too. Wake me up in a few hours and I’ll take over.”
“I know what I done. Just close your eyes. I’ll wake ya in a bit.”
Three hours later, he moved the poncho aside and crawled into the makeshift sleeping bag with her. He curled his arm around her and buried his face in her hair. His movements stirred her from sleep and she stretched her body in his arms. “Is it my turn?” she said sleepily.
“Yeah, but can we just lay here for a couple minutes?”
“Well, okay, but you’re falling asleep and I could definitely go back to sleep. If I don’t get up that just means an all you can eat buffet for whatever comes around.”
“Fine,” he huffed and removed his arm. She turned herself to face him.
“Thank you for keeping watch and letting me sleep. Now it’s my turn to watch for you and keep you safe.” She twisted her body to stand up, but was quickly brought back down by Daryl’s hand which he had attached to her face. He brought her close and whispered, “My protector,” and kissed her slow and sweet. Eventually she left him lying in the poncho like a burrito and went to sit by the fire. She stayed alert and kept her eyes and ears open for any movement or sound. There was only one disturbance during her watch, a lone walker who she heard before she saw. Once she determined the direction it was coming from, she stood and waited for it to make its grand entrance. She hadn’t seen one this decayed before and was shocked for a moment, but quickly and efficiently disposed of the walker. The rest of the night was spent watching Daryl sleep. He looked so beautiful and young, the age and worry lines gone from his face. His lips were parted slightly and she watched his chest rise and fall as he breathed. She was falling in love with him and that scared the shit out of her.
As the sky grew lighter and the sun began to peek over the horizon, she moved from her spot beneath the tree and sat in front of the Daryl burrito. She knew he would want her to wake him so they could get an early start on whatever they were doing today. She reached over slowly and traced his cheekbone with her fingertips. He moaned contently and shifted slightly, taking her wrist firmly in his hand. He pulled her down to lay on him and gave her a slow, lazy kiss. “Good morning sweetheart,” he said sleepily and opened his eyes.
“Good morning to you too,” she replied and smiled shyly. “I’m sorry to wake you up, but I thought you’d want to get an early start on whatever we’re doing today.” She leaned back as he sat up.
“I think we should kill some breakfast first. We each got some cans in our bag, but we’ll need some meat too. We can start looking for the others after, if ya want.”
“Okay, are we gonna leave the bike here?
“Yeah, for now. I hid it pretty good. Hopefully the only things roaming ‘round here are walkers and they ain’t got no use for it. I know where it is. We’ll look for some gas while we’re out today.” He stood up and took a water bottle out of his pack. He handed it to Melissa after taking a big swig and grabbed the crossbow and his knife and walked further into the woods.
“Hold up! I’ll go with ya!” she yelled as she saw him walk away. “We can get more with both of us out there.” He stopped and walked back to her setting the crossbow on the ground.
“No, you’re gonna stay here. It won’t take long, won’t need to get that much.”
“You don’t want me to go?”
“It’s not that. I just wanna take a few minutes, get my head on straight. I gotta put a plan together if we’re gonna look for everybody. I just need to think about it for a while. I don’t want ya to think that I don’t want ya with me. It’s just that I’ve tracked people before, and the last time didn’t end too well.” He paused for a moment. “I just don’t want to fuck this up. I’m gonna find ‘em, we’re gonna find ‘em. Why don’t ya make a fire while I’m gone, so it’ll be ready to go when I get back. The less time it takes for that the more time we can spend searching.’
“Okay, I can make a fire. You hunt and gather, bring back food. I’ll pack all out stuff while I’m at it. Just be careful.”
“I always am. Don’t set the woods on fire before I get back,” he said tentatively testing the waters of her mood. She walked away from him and held up her middle finger, “Get outta here asshole.” She turned around and smiled at him as she said it. While he was gone, she gathered fresh sticks and branches to make the fire, rolled up the poncho and re-organized the packs. All she could do now was worry about the others, and wonder where all the walkers had gone to. She started thinking about Daryl. She sat by the fire for an hour until he got back, making her own plans.
Daryl was sitting on a tree stump thinking about what had happened back at the development. He had three squirrels hooked to his belt, enough for breakfast and a small lunch, so he took a break to think. He couldn’t figure out why the walkers were in that truck. The men in that house had captured them, but why? What did anyone need a truck full of walkers for? He thought about his search for Sophia, trying to figure out what he had done wrong. He had done everything he had been taught to do, everything that made sense. He finally decided that they should work their way back to that neighborhood. It might not be the best way to conduct the search, but maybe they would find them there, or meet up with them on the way. Then he thought of Melissa. He was glad he had her with him, glad she had stayed close as he asked. He didn’t think he would have been able to open his eyes this morning if she hadn’t been there. He never imagined he would want to be so close to a woman in his life, but just knowing she was here with him gave him the strength and confidence to look for the others. If it had been just him, alone, he wouldn’t consider it. He would have wondered around aimlessly. He always thought he would have been better by himself, but he was wrong. Now that he had Melissa in his life, he never wanted to be alone again. He was falling in love with her, and it wasn’t as scary as he thought it would be.
The fire was ready when he returned with the squirrels. It took them no time to get them ready and on the fire. Daryl told her his plan as they ate and she agreed that if was a good one. She had her own plan in her head now and would work on it during their journey. When they were finished, Daryl put the leftovers in his bag and made sure the bike was concealed and the fire extinguished, then they took off. They took to hunting along the way, each time one eyed something edible, Daryl would take a shot. Within the first two hours, they each had a string of four squirrels on their belts. He held her hand on and off during their walk and at one point, he even put his arm around her shoulders. They decided to stop for lunch when they found a small creek in the shade of a line of oak trees. Daryl divided the last of their breakfast and Melissa filled the water bottles from the cool running stream.
They sat so close to each other, their arms and legs touched. They didn’t speak to each other, but enjoyed the comfortable silence and the closeness of their bodies. When she was done, Melissa began to lick her fingers clean. Daryl eyed her as she gently sucked the taste of the squirrel from her fingers. He imagined what it would look like if her mouth were around his dick instead. He gently took her hand away from her mouth and brought it to his. He wrapped his lips around each of her slim digits and moved his tongue around the tip slowly. He could taste the squirrel along with her skin. He wanted to taste more of her skin, more of her. He leaned over pulling her onto his lap and kissed her hungrily. With both hands fisting her hair, he pushed his tongue inside her mouth. She moaned as his tongue ravaged hers, she felt him hard against her as she straddled him and involuntarily began rubbing herself on his erection. His mouth left hers and trailed down her neck, where he began to lightly suck at the vulnerable flesh. She continued to moan and move against him and it was driving him insane. He was unbearably hard now and sucked harder on her neck and put his hands on her breasts and squeezed. When he realized that he was about to cum, he freaked out and pushed her off him and onto the ground, then he ran into the woods like a madman.
Melissa landed right on her ass bone and cried out from the shock. She didn’t realize what had happened until she saw angel wings disappear through the trees. Oh God, she thought, what had she done? She scared him off. What a stupid idiot! She wouldn’t be able to face him ever again and they were stuck together until they could find the others. Shit, that was if he even came back. What if he was running all the way back to the campsite? She couldn’t make herself move if she tried, she just sat on the ground where she landed and cried.
Daryl ran as fast as he could through the trees to get as far away from the creek as he could. He couldn’t believe that he was about to cum in his pants like a damn kid, and just from making out too, and the way she moved her hips and the taste of her skin. He fell to his knees on a pile of leaves and practically ripped his pants open. He pumped himself hard and fast the minute his cock hit the open air. It didn’t take long, about five strokes and he erupted all over his hand. He sat there panting, trying to even his breathing. He had never been that aroused in his life, he had never felt that kind of desire before. Before her, his beautiful songbird, who he found by accident, but who he was attracted to from the first moment he laid his eyes on her. There had never been a woman who could do these things to him, and he loved her, beyond a shadow of a doubt. He loved the woman who did this to him.
He got back to the creek about ten minutes later and found her, sitting in the same spot that he had unceremoniously dropped her with her face in her hands, shaking uncontrollably. He ran to her, falling to his knees in front of her. “Melissa, are you okay? What happened? Are you hurt?” She couldn’t lift her face to look at him and she couldn’t speak for crying, so she shook her head. “Tell me what happened. Did I hurt you? I’m so sorry.” He moved to put his arms around her and pull her into his chest, but she flinched when he touched her. “Oh God. Did I go too far? Did I scare you? You just have to tell me baby, tell me to stop and I will. I ain’t never gonna force anything on ya, ya gotta believe me.”
“No Daryl, ya didn’t hurt me. I’m just sorry that I scared ya. I didn’t mean to make you run away from me. I told ya I didn’t know how to do this, now I messed everything up.” He pulled her hands away from her face.
“Look at me Melissa.” She didn’t, so he put his fingers on her chin and lifted it. “Listen to me. Ya didn’t scare me, if anything, I scared myself. I haven’t done anything like that, ever. I never had anyone make me feel like that. No one has ever made me feel like you make me feel. Hell, you almost made me cum in my pants. That’s why I ran off. That shit’s embarrassing and I didn’t want you to freak out.”
Her eyes blinked rapidly, trying to prevent more tears from falling. “I did that? That was because of me? I’ve never done that before, never thought I could make anyone feel . . . “
“Good. You made me feel good, so fucking good. I want to make you feel that too, when you’re ready.” He looked at her eyes, bashfulness in them now. “We should get going, maybe a couple more hours then head back to camp okay. We’ll head out towards the highway, look for a gas station or some abandoned cars, and see what we can get.” He kissed her forehead, then her lips softly and turned to grab the bags.
They reached the highway in about an hour. Neither one knew where they were. They hadn’t seen a road sign or landmark yet, but there was an abandoned Shell gas station at the end of the street on the corner. There were a few vehicles parked there and it looked as if the place had doubled as a mechanics shop. Daryl was excited, “We should be able to find some gas, maybe some tools or something.” When they reached the station, they saw a few gas cans of various sizes lying around on the ground. “We’ll fill as much as we can, then check inside, see if there’s anything left. Then we can head back.” There were three cars, and all were beaten to a pulp. Two were missing all the doors and tires, while the third was an accordion. Daryl siphoned as much gas as he could, which filled one of the larger containers half way. It would be enough to get them out of the woods and halfway to the development.
Melissa was looking around cautiously while Daryl was collecting the gasoline. She had her knives up and ready as she walked the perimeter. She saw a few walkers in the distance, coming from the opposite direction. They were moving at a slow pace and hadn’t noticed them at all. When she turned the corner of the building to look around the back, she saw something she thought she recognized, but from this distance, she wasn’t sure. She walked around the back to get a better look, but the view was partially blocked by trees. She continued her trek around the building until she came around the other side where Daryl was finishing up with the gas. “I think I may know where we are,” she said quietly.
“Oh really? Where do you think we are?” he asked with a smartass smirk on his face.
“I think this is the town where my parents grew up, but I won’t know for sure until I see what that is,” she said and pointed above the gas station roof. “Can you see what that sign says from here?”
Daryl squinted his eyes into the sun. “Nope. Gonna have to get closer. Sun’s coming from that direction and it looks faded anyway. Wanna go now or wait till after we check this place out? Won’t have time to get much if we wait.”
“I need to go now. If it’s what I think it is, there’s an old caretakers house on the grounds. If it gets too late, we can stay there, maybe find some stuff. If not, we can always come back here in the morning before we head back.” Her eyes were quietly begging him to say yes, and he couldn’t say no to her.
“Alright, we’ll check it out. Should be able to tell what it is before we get there. If it’s not what you think it is, we can turn around and come back.” She smiled at him, relieved that he had agreed. She would have gone alone if she had to, but wanted him there with her.
Sure enough, they hadn’t gone too far when the old, faded and crooked sign became easier to see. Daryl knew she could see it, and that it was the place she thought it was, because her steps suddenly became faster. “Hold up! Don’t run off and leave me. If I run too fast this bow’s gonna bruise me up good.” She stopped in her tracks and waited patiently for him to catch up. When he did, she grabbed his hand excitedly. “There’s some people I’d like you to meet” she said as they passed under the sign that said: Woodlawn Cemetery.
She could have found their spot blindfolded, but had some difficulty navigating the path of overgrown grass. It was up to her knees and they were having to take big, lumbering steps to avoid tripping over the gravestones. She stopped abruptly and fell to her knees, ripping grass from the dirt and throwing it around. When the area was clear, she wiped the remaining dirt and grass away with her hands. “Daryl, I want you to meet my parents,” she said without turning around. He came up behind her and looked over her shoulder. He almost fell flat on his ass when he saw the date of death.