I Follow You, Deep Sea, Baby

Daryl decided to clean this particular corridor alone. It was an underground part of the prison, one they would never need to use. He saw a walker disappearing in it two days ago, when they were cleaning the corridor above it. He was too tired to pursue him then, they all were, so he simply locked the door.
Now that things settled, he had quite some time to spare. There was not much to do for him. Guarding and occasional supply runs, and even those, having found a well-stacked storage room within the prison, were not a priority anymore, rather, according to Rick, an unnecessary risk.
He was not used spending his time without having to worry every second. A relaxed atmosphere made him feel unrelaxed and out of place. In fact, he felt more relaxed in the face of an imminent danger. There was also the issue of constantly being in the company of the others. He could listen to people’s chatter only for so long. He never did the normal life before. Not that he wasn’t happy for them, that they were all safe, it was not about that at all. He’d give his life to keep them safe. But now that they are, he needed time on his own. He needed to be alone and dark corridors like this one were a perfect excuse. He didn’t want to just disappear and look ungrateful or worse, be then questioned by the all the women if he felt okay. Yeah, that would certainly be the worst, having to talk about how he feels. So he told them he’ll do a round on the corridors again to make sure there weren’t any walkers left. It raised fewer questions and sounded better than saying he wanted to be alone.
And down here, he did feel alone. Just like before. In times, when Merle wasn’t around. This loneliness was what made him, it shaped his core. And he needed to go back to it every now or then.
With a small flashlight just above his bow, he walked slowly, scanning the place. The cells he passed were empty and small. Too small. Must have been isolation cells. Merle was once put in one of them. When he was released, he told him he'd rather set himself on fire than go back there again. Coming from such a tough son of a bitch like his brother, that said something about the place.
The air was dump and stale and it was much colder than upstairs. The sunlight never reached down here, that was clear. He wondered if even walkers could survive for long in such conditions. They sure can, he quickly countered his doubts. Thoughts like that can lead you to drop your guard. And he never let his guard down. Never.
As if some higher power heard his musing, a walker stumbled from an open cell on his left. He was particularly creepy, his decaying skin so white, it glowed when he flashed the light upon him. He wanted to keep him at distance, to take his time before he’d shoot an arrow through his skull, but when he grabbed at the creature’s arm, the skin felt like it was covered with jelly and was too slippery to hold him away. He grimaced in disgust, let go of the walker and shot.
When he pulled out the arrow it felt like taking a spoon from a jar of honey. Honey, he chuckled, something he hadn't tasted in a while. He stamped on the walker’s head and crushed it.
He paused for a while, listening. There was nothing, no sound at all. Was that the only walker in here? He almost felt sorry, if that was the case. But, hey, there was still quite some corridor left ahead and perhaps, he’ll get lucky.
He continued and the cold, which initially bothered him, became quite pleasant . Further down the corridor the doors on almost all of the cells were closed. They were heavy, iron doors, and even if unlocked, a walker closed inside those cells, wouldn’t be able to open them. He’d check randomly a cell on the left, a cell on the right, skipping some in-between. He started to question his initial intent to go all the way to the end. The corridor was much longer than he expected. He decided to continue a bit further and then return, whether he hit the end of it or not.
The darkness seemed to grow thicker, spurring his imagination. If a walker took him down now, nobody would ever know. They’d search for him sure; Rick would, Carol….but it would never occur to them to look down here. He smiled at the image of himself roaming down the corridor and back, repeating the same walk over and over again. Nope, it was never happening. He thought about it more than a few times, devised in his mind several ways to end himself before he’d turn.
Did he just hear something? He paused and held his breath. No sound at all, but an unsettling feeling about the cell to his right remained. He puffed the air out. The place started to play tricks on his mind. It’s gonna be the last cell he’d check, before he heads back. He lifted the latch and pushed the door open.
His gut feeling proved right once again. The moment he opened the door, he heard some commotion and there, deep inside the cell, he saw a shadow growing. He flashed his light into it.
The fuck is that?? Something lurked there – a walker, a human? The more the beam of his flashlight scrutinized the figure the clearer picture he got. It was a woman, he could see that much from the tight t-shirt. She was leaning with one hand on a wooden stick and covering her face with the other. He wasn’t sure, whether she was dead or alive, but there was need for a rushed decision. There was enough distance between them, and even if she stood much closer, he could still kill her easily.
“You alive?” His finger on the trigger was ready to press.
“I am.”
Her voice was soft, like he’d expect from a woman, but what was unusual was the calmness of it. A calmness he was not used to hear, especially in encounters like this one. “Put your hands up!”
At his words she abruptly dropped the hand she held in front of her face.
Her move was sudden and exactly the opposite of what he told her to do. Under the usual circumstances such doing would very likely result in her death. But this time, and not that this never happened to him, but it did happen very, very rarely, he experienced one of those temporary lapses of concentration, during which his opponent was granted an important moment of advantage.
Had she wanted, she could go for a weapon, she could attack him. He was aware of all that, and yet for the whole three seconds, he didn’t act. He did nothing, said nothing, just remained in the same pose and stared at her. At her face, that is. At her white, really white skin, the perfectly straight nose, her black, sleek, shiny hair, cut straight at chin length, at her slightly parted lips and at the scar, which extended across her right cheek and looked like a gross mistake on such a polished face. Then there were her eyes… hidden…behind sunglasses!
Seeing she didn’t seize the given opportunity, he made, stupidly, a step forward only to reaffirm, as much to her as to himself, he was in control of the situation. “I said, put your hands up!”
She still didn’t move, only lowered her chin and muttered something.
“What’s that?”
“Could you please remove that fuckin flashlight from my face?”
She spoke with an odd accent. He assessed her again. She had no visible injuries. She was skinny, his age or less, he never was good at determining a person’s age, shorter than him, although a decent height for a woman. She wore a t-shirt and jeans, no weapons on her, at least he didn’t see any from where he was standing. She had a stick, yes, but had she overpowered him with that, then fuck it, he’d deserve it.
Something though was out of place. The way she leaned on that stick with her hand, the way she faced him. He moved slightly to the right. Her head turned towards him, but even though he didn’t see her eyes, the way she followed his movement was unusual. He them moved to the left and once again the same happened.
“Fuck… “ he lowered his bow just a bit and pointed his flashlight directly at her face. “You blind or something?”
She put her hand up again over her glasses, her face grimaced a bit. “Yes, you shithead. Not exactly a bright one, are you?”
He kept his patience. “Why don’t you take your glasses off, mmm?”
“And I suppose my t-shirt is next?”
It was not what she said, it was the way she smirked at him after she said it. In one step he closed the distance and pushed his bow an inch from her forehead.
“Ain’t playin, lady. Take your glasses off.”
He felt her stick against his leg. She must have put it there the moment he came at her. Good timing, but probably just an instinctive movement, he reasoned, otherwise why not rather swing it against him. He felt no threat from her anymore, but remained alert.
She placed her hand on his bow and pushed it down gently together with the flashlight. He let her. He wasn’t clear on why he did that, but he let her. Then she took off her glasses
Although his flashlight was turned downwards, there was enough light to see her face. Her eyes were big and round. Pretty eyes, he’d say, wasn’t it for their color. The color was just too odd; shades of grey, blue and green were in there, but were all faded. Their glow resembled a bit the eyes of a walker, although they weren’t as dead. He leaned closer and stared at her. “You see something?”
She chuckled and nodded, narrowing her eyes at him.
Offended she took him for a fool, he grabbed her by the arm and pinned her against the wall near the door, pressing his left forearm above her chest with considerable force. “Ain’t got time for this. You screw with me like that again, I’ll throw a walker or two in here and leave you to it.”
He still detected no fear in her strange eyes, nor on her face. She didn’t drop her stick either as he shoved her against the wall; he did take notice of that. Under his grip her body felt soft and she gave no resistance. He pressed harder. “The way I see it right now…I’m your only chance of getting out of here in one piece. So I’d be careful with what comes out of your mouth next.”
She adjusted her glasses, setting them firmly on the top of her head. Then she reached towards his face. With the bow in one hand and with the other arm across her chest, he couldn’t stop her. He arched back and for a brief moment she stopped, but then she continued and soon he felt her touch on his face. His heart skipped a beat, but he did not flinch. He never flinched; Merle taught him that with his surprise slaps.
She passed her hand very gently over his cheek, forehead, nose and mouth. He had to admit, it felt good. Despite her hand being cold, her touch felt like the softest piece of cotton. It’s been long since he felt such gentleness on his flesh. When he realized he almost closed his eyes, he removed his forearm and caught her by the wrist.
“How did you get here?”
“Please, let me feel your face.”
“Who locked you in?”
“Look, I didn’t lie to you before, I really am blind, well…sort of. It’s the light…it hurts my eyes. I see nothing if the light is too strong. Please just let me…” She stretched her fingers towards his face.
He hesitated, but at the end, he released her wrist. She leaned closer and he heard her inhale deeply.
“Your smell... no fear….and the strength….huh….oh, and you want to fuck me just now.”
“What the fuck are you talking about?” He should break away, leave her to rot here, kill her perhaps. Her calmness was unnerving; he should not take the risk.
Usually, he thought and did the same, there was no disagreement between his body and mind, but now these thoughts suddenly felt like mere suggestions his body easily dismissed. He did nothing, not even when she put her lips on his. He let his guard down willingly and he didn’t care, for the first time in a long time. His flashlight and the bow dropped from his hand to the floor as he embraced her face and kissed her slowly, gently, savoring the moment with the patience he never knew he possessed. As he finally detached from her lips, he stared at her face and traced his finger down her scar, over the odd eyes. He wanted to stop there, but she pulled him by the belt towards her and as her body pressed against his, he couldn’t hold back anymore. He opened his belt, unbuttoned his pants and started pulling hers down at the same time. She put her arms around his neck and they both fell against the wall.
It surprised him how much he wanted it. He didn’t care her stick tapped awkwardly over his back, each time he thrusted into her. He didn’t care she still had the stick in her hand, while he let go of his bow. He didn’t care for the growling sound outside the cell.
“Don’t worry…”she whispered as the growls grew louder. “We have time…don’t stop…”
Even if she didn’t say that, he’d continue. He felt whatever wrath came down on him right now, it could be postponed.
Exhausted he buried his face against her neck and breathed shallowly, feeling the air from her lips on his neck. His body and hers, that was all there was, everything else, including the growls and scratching on the cell door was an inaudible background in that moment.
From the corner of his eye he caught skinless fingers, reaching through the gap of the heavy iron door. He remembered he never closed them properly. The gap widened and a face with no eyes and a mouth full of teeth pushed through.
Where was already his bow? It didn’t matter, he could always use his knife. He considered it all in a very leisurely manner, as if he had an extremely annoying chore to do. He wanted just one more minute at his disposal. It’s been so long since he felt such a pleasant exhaustion. Things were about to get awkward soon enough and then killing a walker was going to be a good excuse to avoid that after talk. But those skinless fuckheads wouldn’t grant him that minute and he had to protect her.
Wait, what? Did he just say that? He frowned at the thought which creeped so naturally and with such ease into his mind. He needed to kill that walker, sure, but he certainly had no duty towards her.
Hardly a minute passed since the walker decided to squeeze himself through the gap, yet he experienced that short amount of time like an eternity, seconds broken down into milliseconds. Her hands were still wrapped around his neck and he didn’t want her to let go. He leaned with one hand on the wall and buttoned up his pants with the other. It was an impossible position for him to prick the brains of the walker so he detached from her just enough to gain some space, while still allowing her to keep her hands around him. He was aware he was pushing the time limits. The bastard already sacrificed the skin on his neck to stick his ugly face through the gap closer to them and began heavily grinding his teeth.
If all that was happening in a slow motion, what followed next was like a fast forward. He felt a movement of her arms over his back, heard a wooshy sound of a metal, and suddenly saw a shining blade, flashing in front of his eyes, in-between his and her face. It’s point thrusted into the walker’s head. Her eyes were closed as she extracted the blade and sheathed it back into the wooden stick. He arched back, reaching with his right hand for the knife at his belt, when a sharp pain spread in the area of his groin. He scrunched and fell down.
Wriggling on the floor from the pain, he reached towards her while she was dressing up. She jumped away the moment his fingers touched her and at the same time her wooden stick, or whatever the hell that was, connected with his right temple. His head started buzzing and his vision became blurred. It took him all the strength not to faint, and that was pretty much all he managed to do. The pain in his head and balls paralyzed him.
His flashlight was rolling around on the floor somewhere behind him. He could see her tapping her stick at the corner, pulling out a rucksack and stuffing something into it. She threw it over her shoulder and at a precautionary distance walked past him to the exit without stumbling even once. The walker fell down as she opened the door. She half stepped over his mutilated body, when she suddenly paused and turned back to him.
He stared at her, feeling like a helpless shit. This one was on him. He allowed for this to happen. When he saw her moving closer, he was ready. He’ll block her sword with his bare hands. He still had a knife, somewhere. The mind was working, but body did not respond.
To his surprise she only kicked his bow and his flashlight in his direction. “You have about five minutes before a large group of Zeds gets here. “
He chuckled and grimaced from pain at the same time. Did she say zeds? He never heard that one before.
“Go left from this cell, there are no more than two in that direction. I’ll clear it for you.”
She’ll clear it for him. He pursed his lips and pinned his eyes on hers, wondering if she can feel the ferocity of his stare. Those multi shade, faded eyes seemed to gaze right through him.
She opened her mouth to say something else, but changed her mind. She seemed to be contemplating about something, and she took her time. All the while he was lying on the floor with one hand on his crotch. It couldn’t be more awkward.
“Umm, sorry about that,” she finally uttered. She flashed him a stupid smile before she jumped over the walker and left the cell.
His head was light and as the echo of her steps slowly faded away, he almost sank into darkness. He stubbornly shook his head and hit with it a couple of times against the wall. The pain awaken him, besides, he was just too pissed to faint. He pushed himself against the wall and tried to stand up. After the third attempt he succeeded. He stumbled around the cell, kicking at the empty cans and bottles she left behind. With a few deep breaths he steadied himself. His sense of coordination returned and he squat down to pick the bow and the flashlight. He didn’t care about her warning, how the fuck would she know anyway. All he knew was that it could not end like this. Not like this.
When he stepped out of the cell, he heard unsteady steps, the roaming, moaning and roaring coming from his right, from the dark part of the corridor he failed to explore earlier. He sighed, she had a lucky guess. Then something else occurred to him. She told him to go left, she went left, and left is where he came from.
He started to run. The walkers behind him will have to wait. Right now, a much more pressing matter than an approaching horde worried his mind. She will come across Rick and the others, and there is almost no chance that encounter won’t go terribly wrong.