Alone Together

Silence. Utter silence. Nothing happened and no one moved as they started at each other, each one trying to figure out what to do next. Seconds ticked away, the afternoon sun drawing shadows between them.

Daryl watched her carefully. Combat boots, army pants and backpack. His eyes went for the dog next to the woman, frozen like a statue, before returning to her. The unwavering look on her face told him she wasn’t afraid.

“What do you want?” His voice matched his stance, strong and determined.

Val gave him a quick once-over. The only weapon in his possession was the knife now on his right hand, and he probably didn’t have any ammo or food, so she didn’t really want anything from him.

"You're Daryl, right?" She decided to guess, ignoring his question. The surprised look on his face told her she was right. "And I guess those weren't Sasha and Abraham."

“How the hell do you know our names?” She could hear the hint of annoyance on his voice. Her lips curved slightly.

“I had a little run in with Rick and the group you were with while trying to lead that huge herd away.” She noticed him relax a fraction and took the chance to get a few steps closer. “One thing led to another and I ended up getting to Alexandria with Rick.”

“What happened back there? What was that horn?” He asked and the knife on his hand was no longer pointing towards her.

Val decided to tell him what she knew about the attack to Alexandria and their current situation with the rest of the herd that hadn’t followed the three of them. "They're pretty much waiting on you." Her hand had casually landed on her gun and she could see the change of Daryl’s body language immediately.

"It's not loaded," she sighed, taking the gun from the holster. She threw it at him, making it land next to his feet. "Come on, check it." Val insisted. "But I want it back afterwards."

He checked it and threw it back at Val, who caught it with her free hand.

“So, any idea where they are?” She asked him, referring to Sasha and Abraham, while placing the gun on its holster.

“We got attacked in a nearby town, that’s probably where they still are.”

Val smiled after he had turned his back to her and started walking. A town was everything she had wanted to find.

As Daryl walked in front of her she thought about what had happened previously with the other two survivors. Val had recognized the woman’s voice as being the one who had spoken to the men with the truck and it was obvious that Daryl had been with them, so why had they double-crossed him?

“Sorry about your crossbow.” She broke the silence. He didn’t say a word. “Who where those people?”

“Stupid people.” He grunted.

“Then why were you helping them?” There was a hint of scoff in her voice.

Daryl didn’t know why she was so interested in it, but after a few seconds something in his mind clicked.

“You were the one who shot at the others.” There was no surprise in his voice or any other emotion at all.

Val shrugged. “Seems like I shouldn’t have wasted my last bullets on helping stupid people, but everybody makes mistakes.”

“So that’s why you’re here?” They were now walking side by side.

“What?”

“Did Rick ask you to come look for us?”

Val looked at the ground her boots stepped on. “No.”

To her surprise, Daryl didn’t ask any more questions. She wondered if he doubted her, if she was in his place she knew she would, and that made her feel like she needed to tell him the real reason why she was there.

Val broke the silence with a deep sigh. “I didn’t intend to stay in Alexandria, that’s why I’m here. But now I'm out of ammo and the only weapon I have left is this machete. Our food won't last beyond tomorrow for me and Max, and this" she swung the machete in the air pointing at the burnt forest "this doesn't look like the ideal place to hunt. But you know how to get to town, which means I can find supplies in there. In exchange I'll help you find your friends."

Daryl stopped. Val knew he was about to speak, but instead his eyes moved to something beyond her and his expression hardened. “Walkers.”

She followed his gaze and saw two dead bodies shuffling towards them. They were still quite far and constantly stumbling from the burnt branches scattered throughout the forest, which made them even slower. Val considered the possibility of just ignoring them and walking away, but before she could express her idea to Daryl, another corpse appeared. And then another one. And then two more. Max started to growl and suddenly they were surrounded by over a dozen of them.

Daryl looked around. They were coming from all sides. “We gotta run.” He stabbed the closest to him on the head.

“Max, round them up.” Val swung her machete and decapitated the dead woman that lunged at her.

Max started to run, emitting short barks that caught the attention of the dead. Soon they started to gather, trying to catch the dog that ran around them. Like if they were cattle, Max ran around them in circles, never allowing the dead to catch him but always keeping them distracted from Val and Daryl.

Val stabbed two corpses in a row and Daryl quickly followed. Without a word shared between them, the dead were slew with precision. Seconds later, a pile of bodies had formed between them and Max, with the dog panting and wagging his tail like he had been just playing a game.

“Good boy.” Val smiled, patting the dog enthusiastically. She turned to Daryl. “Let’s go.”

Daryl was surprised, that he had to admit. He had never seen a dog managing walkers like that and even Val had seemed unfazed by their presence, like if she had been used to deal with them all her life. It almost seemed like they had been trained to do that and Daryl wondered if they used to be in the military. Her clothes suggested that, but they could not be really hers.

As an industrial building came into their view, Val felt relief. They were getting closer to the town and soon she would have buildings to scavenge and a place to spend the night. Right in front of the building, that seemed to be a fuel company, a pickup truck was parked on the other side of the road. The driver was still inside the truck.

Val approached the man and with the tip of her machete poked his head a few times. When he didn’t move she opened the driver’s door. “This one’s really dead,” she informed Daryl and proceeded to drag the body out of the truck.

Val smiled as she saw that the keys were still in the ignition. The afternoon was getting hotter by the minute and she was happy with finding something that would save her time and from getting even sweatier than she already was.

She dumped her backpack on the truck’s bed and signaled Max to jump to it. When Daryl turned the engine on, Val took the passenger seat and they drove off.

They didn’t take long to reach the outskirts of the small town. Daryl hadn’t spoken a word since he had started driving, but Val didn’t mind. It was another reason why she liked being alone, the silence was always better than having other people asking her questions or questioning her actions.

Val scouted the seemingly empty street, trying to find anything that suggested the presence of other people. If Sasha and Abraham were still there, they wouldn’t be in plain sight.

The pickup truck stopped and Val shot Daryl an inquisitive look. And got out of the vehicle and so did she.

“There.” He pointed to a white door, a name written on it with large letters. Dixon.

Before she could ask anything the same white door opened and two people, a man and a woman, came out of the building. Val knew immediately who they were and part of her felt relieved. Even though she didn’t know them part of her had been worried about what could have happened to them.

Sasha punched Daryl’s arm playfully. “I told you he was gonna find us.” She smiled at Abraham. Her smiling face turned to Val and she watched Sasha’s smile slowly disappear. “Hello there.”

“Hi.” Val turned on her heels and walked to the truck.

“And you are?” She heard Abraham’s voice. Val dragged her backpack out of the truck and put it on her shoulders, fixing the shoulders straps before speaking.

“I’m gonna go.” She turned to see Max already sniffing around.

“It’s not a good idea to be out here alone.” She heard Sasha speak after taking a few steps away from them.

“I’m not alone, I’ve got Max.” Val turned to smile at her. “And being alone is good. You should try it someday.”

Sasha couldn’t help but be surprised at her answer. She couldn’t imagine herself being alone in that new ugly world and there was someone who actually wanted to be.

“Are you sure?” Sasha insisted.

Val nodded and walked away from them. She opened the door of one of the cars parked in the middle of the street, quickly searching for anything of use. She could hear them loading their things into the truck and getting inside of it, but before Val could enjoy the blissfulness of being alone again, a loud screech of tires coming from the road ahead of her was heard. Her heart raced faster, as two SUVs came into view. Before her feet could start to move, gunfire echoed between the buildings. Come on, not again.