Full Time Job

10.

Daryl

I clicked on the rear window defroster in the pickup truck I was driving because my windows were starting to cloud up from the cold winter air. It had been exactly two months since we were forced to leave Hershel’s farm. We’ve been on the road, scavenging and surviving since.
I glanced in my rearview mirror and saw two sets of headlights trailing behind us and saw Gianna shift in her sleep from the corner of my eye. Her and Vinny were wrapped tightly in my sleeping bag, both in a deep sleep next to me. The soft glow from the tiny lights on the dashboard had illuminated her face, and she looked adorably peaceful. That made me a happy man.

Everything about her… her voice, her warm brown eyes, her mannerisms, her sweet smell… everything… drew me in like a moth to a porch light. I couldn’t escape her. I tried not to let on how much she really meant to me; but, she was a smart girl. She knew how I felt about her. I hadn’t felt for anyone in my entire life in the same way that I did for her. What were the chances that someone like me, Daryl Dixon, would stumble upon a girl like Gianna, and she would feel for me too…especially after the dead took over and everything turned to shit?

I had to be thankful at the fact that neither of us, or Vinny, had gotten seriously hurt or killed in the past few months. Maybe this is how things are supposed to be. When we had first left the farm, I still wasn’t confident that I would be able to protect all three of us through the winter, but Gia healed fast from the arrow accident. I couldn’t handle having to watch her cry out in pain and not be able to do anything for her again, so let’s just say I was highly motivated to keep her alive. The arrow accident changed our relationship. I think that’s when I realized that I had to be with her, always. I wanted so badly for her to be mine, but we never really discussed the subject because we barely had time alone. The time we did have alone, we definitely did not spend talking. The memory of her soft lips on mine made my own lips tingle.

We hadn’t stayed in any one place for more than a day or two, mostly because we hadn’t come across anything safe enough to consider holding down as our base camp. The fact that we didn’t have a home and were always in danger made us seem less civilized…more feral. We seemed to have digressed emotionally. Gia had killed her first walker a few days ago... we were jammed up with a group of about ten geeks, and one had stumbled too close to her and Vinny. She shot it directly between the eyes, and that was that. She didn’t cry, but I could see in her eyes that she felt sick about it. She had such a gentle soul, and it used to annoy the hell out of me because I took at as a weakness. Now, I embrace it… I never had anyone care for me like she does and it took time for me to see it.

“Hey, where are we?” I heard Gianna ask quietly, and she yawned sleepily.

“Almost there, ‘bout another half hour,” I answered, turning down another gravel road. We had been driving for most of the day to my granddad’s duck blind and cabin in the backwoods of the northern Georgian border. My granddad used to take Merle and me there every fall to hunt duck. After spending night after night in too many different sketchy places, I suggested to Rick that we stay there for the remainder of the winter. At least he had a wood burning stove and he might have some guns and ammo stashed up there… and there was plenty of game in the forest. I hadn’t been there since my granddad passed away more than five years ago… the building was left to my grandma and she never sold the property.

“Are you tired? Want me to drive?” she asked me sweetly.

“No... I’m fine. We’ll be there soon…” I answered and she scooted across the truck seat, closer to me. I wrapped my right arm around her petite body and pulled her closer to me. Vinny was still sleeping on her lap, facing her and resting his head on her shoulder. I felt her lay her head gently onto my shoulder, and her nose was cold on my skin. Her soft lips planted a delicate kiss on my neck. I kissed the top of her head and we rode the rest of the drive to my granddad’s quietly, close to each other. I pulled up to the familiar gate that fenced off the property and watched in the rear view mirror as Rick and Glenn pulled in behind me. I opened my truck door and stepped down onto the gravel road.

“Stay here,” I instructed and shut my truck door behind me. I waved towards Rick, who was parked right behind me as I pulled Dale’s bolt cutters from the tool box in the bed of my truck. The rusty chain had broken easily in half and I swung the gate to the property wide open. I climbed back into the truck and all three of our vehicles crept onto my granddad’s property. I made sure to secure the gate closed before driving up to the old cabin.
Once we all had parked next to the small building, I pulled a sleeping Vinny from Gia’s lap and held him close to me as she jumped down from the truck. I took her hand in mine and our group approached the door to the cabin.

“There’s a key under that third brick,” I quietly told Gia, while pointing to the loose brick on the patio floor. She retrieved the key and placed it in my hand and I unlocked the door, Vinny sleeping on my shoulder. We all trooped inside and it was really dark. I clicked on my flashlight and walked into the kitchen, our group followed close behind me. I handed Vinny to Gia and found some candles in the old pantry and lit them. A soft glow lit up the small kitchen and the tired looking group that I had grown close to. They all looked exhausted.

“There are three bedrooms, a living room, and my grandpa used to have a den with a pull-out sofa bed in the basement,” I said, looking around at everyone. “Rick, Lori and Carl can take a bedroom… Hershel and Beth can take another, Gia, Vinny and me will take the third. Carol and T-Dogg can sleep on the sofas in the living room, and Glenn and Maggie can have the pull out downstairs,” I recommended and everyone nodded, satisfied.

“Rick, I think we can fit all three of the vehicles in the shed, it’s about a hundred yards away, but it locks…” I suggested, and Rick nodded.

“Let’s unload what we need and lock up. Do we have any wood for the stove?” Rick asked, and I shrugged. “My granddad used to have a woodpile behind the house…” I mused, and T-Dogg offered to check and start a fire if any wood was left behind the cabin. Tomorrow, when we had daylight, we would have to start chopping up some firewood to feed the stove and warm the cabin.

“Daryl, where can I lay Vinny down?” Gianna asked me quietly after I had shown everyone where their rooms would be. I led her to the master bedroom, bringing a lit candle from the kitchen with us. The room looked exactly as I remembered. I set the candle down on the night stand and approached the double bed as Gia threw my sleeping bag towards me. I spread it out on top of the dusty old blanket that was already on the mattress, and she gently laid Vinny on top of it and covered him with the other side of the sleeping bag. She kissed his cheek, stood up and walked in front of me and smiled. I wrapped an arm around her and pulled her into a hug.

“Thank you,” she said, her voice muffled into my shoulder as she hugged me.

“Fer what?” I asked, and she rested her head against my chest.

“For taking care of me and Vinny.” She said; her voice was sweet on my ears. Rick had walked through the doorway, and I reluctantly released Gia and faced him.

“You ready to move the cars?” he asked. I nodded and followed him out of the bedroom. Gia sat down on the bed next to Vinny, and watched us walk out the door, a nervous look had crossed her face. She always gave me that look before I left to do anything that could be considered dangerous, but… she considered everything dangerous. I chuckled to myself and walked out into the cold night with Rick and Glenn. After bringing all of our supplies into the cabin, we moved the cars to my granddad’s old shed. We each stepped out of the vehicles and into the old, dark building, shining our flashlights around frantically, expecting walkers. I sighed in surprise after we had searched the room and found nothing.

“I guess his fence has held up pretty well,” Rick stated, and we walked quietly out of the shed and I locked the door behind us.

We walked in a line for the one hundred or so yards back to the cabin. The winter wind whipped around us and I pulled my leather jacket closed tightly around me. We walked silently together, shining our flashlights in every direction, but still, no walkers. I felt a little hope rise from within me… perhaps this is exactly what we needed to survive the winter… and I provided it…for everyone. I wouldn’t believe I’d be where I was now three months ago…with Merle.

We walked up to the back door of the house, happy to see a large pile of wood that was under a tarp, leaning on the wooden siding just as I had remembered. I tapped a rusty generator and turned towards Rick. “Wonder if it’ll work…” I thought out loud, and opened the gas cap and peered inside. It was bone dry.

“We’ll take a look tomorrow,” Rick answered, and we walked inside the cabin. It was already considerably warmer, thanks to the fire that T-Dogg had built in the stove. T-Dogg was leaning against the back door frame and nodded to us as we walked in. Carol, Lori, Gia, Maggie, Beth, Hershel and Carl were all sitting on the furniture in the living room, talking casually. The mood was light… happy even. The room was lit from candles on the small coffee table between the two sofas. My granddad’s antique duck decoys and other hunting equipment was scattered around the room, and the only happy memories of my childhood that I had had flooded back to me. I finally felt at ease, which hadn’t been a familiar feeling since we lived on Hershel’s farm.

Gia was sitting on an old stool next to the sofa, and I walked up behind her and wrapped my arms around her and kissed her lightly behind her ear. Her skin was warm and she always smelled so good. She leaned her head back, resting it against me as Rick addressed the group.

“I think tomorrow we make the cabin more secure. Daryl’s grandfather had a generator.” Rick started.

“There are bathrooms here too, and a sink with plumbing in the kitchen. I’ll bet that all runs on a pump from the well I saw outside. The generator not only would give us lighting and electric in the outlets, but I’d bet we could get the plumbing to work too. I saw a small old fashioned hot water heater in that utility closet.” Hershel said, and the women all looked around at each other excitedly.

“What I wouldn’t do for a hot shower…” Lori mused, sitting on the sofa, her feet elevated on the coffee table. She cradled her baby bump and smiled towards Rick.

“And a real kitchen to cook in,” Carol added, smiling towards Daryl. “Daryl, you saved us. Why couldn’t we have come here a month ago?” The group all chuckled.

“She’s right. Thank you, Daryl… This is better than we ever could have imagined.” Glenn said, wrapping an arm around Maggie, who was smiling at me. I stood awkwardly, holding on to Gianna, when everyone was nodding and looking at me. I wasn’t used to this kind of attention and I stood up straight and just nodded. I didn’t need this kind of praise. We had sat up and talked as a group for a little while longer, and people started to head off to bed in groups. Gianna and I said goodnight to T-Dogg and Carol, who were sleeping on the sofas in the living room we were in, and walked down the hall to our room.

We walked quietly inside and I closed and locked the door behind me. The room was glowing a soft yellow from my lantern that we had brought in from the truck. Vinny was still sleeping soundly on the bed. I crept into the room and sat on the bed and watched Gia as she was sorting through the luggage, laundry baskets, and milk crates full of all of our things that were stacked against the long wall and on top of the old dresser that furnished the room. While we had been on the run for the last month, we had rebuilt our supplies and clothing stash. We even had luxuries like deodorant, toothbrushes and toothpaste. I had to admit that it did feel nice that we finally had a place to put all of those things.

I looked down at Vinny, who was sleeping on the bed next to me, and I tucked one of his long dark curls behind his ear. We all needed haircuts really badly. My eyes traveled over to Gia, who was bent over, putting clothes into the bottom drawer of the dresser. Her hooded sweatshirt had slightly lifted up and exposed the skin on her lower back above her round, beautiful behind that I loved to stare at or squeeze obnoxiously whenever I had the chance.

She was wearing loose, shapeless sweatpants and her butt still looked good. But when she wore jeans… my thoughts quickly turned dirty. I smiled to myself and whistled at her. She turned to face me and rolled her eyes, and continued to unpack our supplies. She picked up the flashlight and carried the bag of bathroom supplies towards the dark bathroom that connected to the bedroom. I stood up and unbuttoned my shirt and slid it off. The room was warm from the heat coming from the stove on the other side of the wall in our bedroom.
I heard Gia’s high pitched squeal and quickly sprinted towards the bathroom, looking around frantically at what she was freaking out about.

“There’s a big fat spider!” She whined, pointing towards the tiled shower and porcelain tub. The flashlight focused shakily on the tub. I rolled my eyes at her and peered down into the tub. I smashed the bug with the toe of my boot and wiped him up with the dusty toilet paper that was left in the bathroom. I threw his remains into the trashcan next to the toilet.

“Better?” I asked, grinning at her.

“Better.” She answered and I pulled her into a tight hug, chuckling. She peered up at me in the darkness, the softness of her skin that rubbed against mine sent sparks through my nerves. We never really got time completely to ourselves. I kissed her gently and she smiled mid-kiss.

“It feels so weird, ya know, feeling almost completely safe? I mean, you always have that part of your mind that fears the worst all the time, but… I feel…relief. We needed this.” She smiled at me and I lightly ran my fingers over her jawline.

“I told ya, it’s my job… I do the protecting and the hunting, and you raise Vinny…” She closed her sweet brown eyes and gently kissed my palm, before turning and exiting the bathroom. I followed behind her and watched as she pulled some of her pajamas out of the drawer that she placed them in earlier and walked next to the bed. I turned and searched for the bin with the rest of our blankets. I spotted it by the bathroom door and pulled the blankets out.

When I glanced back towards the bed, Gia was facing the wall, wearing nothing but her loose pajama shorts. Her smooth olive skin glowed in the lantern light and my eyes looked up and down her petite, naked back. I began to picture her naked back in other positions and I started to feel a tug in the groin of my jeans, causing me to gulp nervously. She pulled on a tank top and turned to face me and I quickly looked away. She had definitely caught me staring at her body. I couldn’t believe that I felt my cheeks redden in a blush. She giggled and I looked back at her.

“Daryl Dixon, are you blushing?!” She teased and I smiled, shaking my head.

“Hush up, Princess…” I answered and she continued to giggle at me, standing on the other side of the bed. I threw a rolled up sleeping bag playfully at her. It pegged her right on the side of the head. She looked at me, adorably surprised, and I laughed at her.

“I hate you right now,” she muttered, smiled sarcastically and gently lifted Vinny, still sleeping, from the bed. I pulled the dusty blankets off the bed and tossed them in a pile in the corner of the room. The white sheet underneath was still perfectly smooth. I spread out the quilt we had over the bed and tossed the three small, old pillows we had on top. She carefully laid Vinny down in the center of the bed and crawled in next to him. She covered the two of them with the sleeping bag, and spread out the rest of the blanket on the other side of the bed for me.

I slid out of my jeans as she turned the lantern off. I climbed into bed on the other side of Vinny, and laid on my side, supporting my weight on an elbow. The room was completely dark. I felt her reach out and gently touch the side of my face, and her lips softly brushed against mine shortly after.

“You don’t hate me right now,” I teased, mocking her girly voice and she giggled.

“Goodnight, Daryl,” she said and I felt the bed move as she laid comfortably on her side, facing me, but directly behind Vinny, who was breathing heavily as he slept. I laid on my side facing both of them and reached forward and rested my hand on her hip, protectively over Vinny.
She sighed peacefully and we both drifted off into a serene, restful sleep, which neither of us had had in weeks.