Chapter 5 The Heart of A Redneck

Chapter 5

I do not own Twilight or The Walking Dead.

Daryl nodded towards the others giving them the clear. They headed towards the back of the clothing store they were in, while doing their best to stay away from the windows. It wasn’t just about the walkers now, but they knew those men were still out here somewhere looking for them. As they were making their way to the back, Maggie gently took Bella by the arm. She led her off to a corner of the store.

“My sister… Did you see her?”

Bella drew back a hesitant breath.

“Does your sister by chance have blonde hair?”

Maggie nodded in response. Bella cringed on the inside.

“Short and petite?”

She nodded once again.

“You saw her?!”

“I’m sorry… it was too late…”

Maggie staggered back and covered her mouth.

“No… please, you must be mistaken.”
“You said room three?”
“Yes, but… maybe…”

Bella shook her head “there’s no mistaken…I’m sorry…” she said once again.

Maggie took off and Glenn chased after her. Bella closed her eyes and leaned against the wall with one hand.

“Everything alright?”

“No… no it isn’t.”

Daryl put a hand along her shoulder.

“I couldn’t bring myself to tell her.”
“Tell her what?”

She dropped her hand and pivoted around. Bella took notice of how Glenn restraining Maggie, doing his best to keep her from leaving.

“That girl was raped so violently; she was killed in the process. By the time I got there she was a fucking walker and still cuffed to the bed.” Bella pinched the bridge of her nose.

“And this just adds to my theory…”
“What’s that?”

“It’s going to sound crazy. But this shit’s been going on for two years and surely I’m not the only one to have taken notice…”
“What’s that?” he questioned with a nod.

“Daryl… I think we’re all carriers…”

He narrowed his eyes and reared back looking to be in thought.

“I think we’re all fucked. It’s not whether you get bit by a walker or not. If you die none of it matters! We all have it!”

“You’re sayin’ we all have this fucking disease?”
“That’s exactly what I’m saying. I pointed this out to my father back when we were in Phoenix. He thought I was on to something but we hadn’t any real proof. But now with that Beth girl… I don’t think she was bitten. In fact I’d bet everything I had on me right now that she was turned after those assholes killed her. I had no choice… The least I could do, was take her out of her misery.”

“Damn… I think you’re onto somethin’.” He thought back to when he was on his own and it was all beginning to make sense now. Why hadn’t he realized this himself? Two fucking years?

Bella nodded and quickly wiped the tears off her face.

“So what’d you tell her?”
“That I was too late… I couldn’t bear to say anything more on the matter.”

He nodded in understanding and grabbed ahold of her.

“You did what you could…” he said as he hugged her.

“I got to go back there…”

Daryl dropped his hold and looked to her as if she’d lost her mind.

“What?!”

“I need to help those other women.”

“Now hold the fuck up. You barely got out of there alive. And now you’re tellin’ me you wanna go back?”
“Daryl, please…”
He gritted his teeth and shook his head.

“Nah girl, you ain’t going back there. What is this with you? You got some kind of death wish?”

“Those women…”
“I don’t give a fuck!” He hissed harshly causing her jaw to drop.
“That’s right. I’m the asshole, right? Then so be it! If that’s what keeps you alive you can hate me all you want!”

“So you’re telling me you don’t care of those women are raped and killed.”

“Better them than you….”

She went to push past him only to have him back her up against the wall.

“What’s with you and that runnin’ shit?”

He took a step back taking notice of the painful expression on her face, but knew it wasn’t his doing. Daryl twirled her about and lifted her shirt.

“Jesus…” he murmured as he took in the massive welt on her back from hitting the wall.

“I’m fine…” she said with a blush and lowered her shirt back down.

“No you’re not… You need to rest. We all do.”

He sighed and glimpsed back over his shoulder. Glenn had Maggie in his arms as she was sobbing uncontrollably. Daryl drew back a breath on this and cranked his head back around.

“Look little bunny, I’ll be honest. I don’t know what the fuck I’m doing…”

Bella regarded him in wonder as he paced the area a bit. He ran his fingers through his hair and propped his crossbow up against the wall.

“I’ve been on my own for some time. That’s the way I prefer it. But you came along and messed everything up!”

She raised her brows on this.

“Oh, I messed everything up? Is that so Locksley?”
“Yeah, you did. You god damn pain in the ass!”

Her face flushed over as he had her blood was boiling now.

“Tell me how you really feel!”
“I’m tryin’… if you’d only shut up and listen!”

“God you are such a…” he reached over and covered her mouth.

“Shhhhh…”

She rolled her eyes and folded her arms about her chest.

“I never met a woman like you. I don’t know if you’re just plain ignorant or have fucking balls of steel. To be honest you scare the shit out me – more than the fucking walkers, that’s for sure…” his tone grew incredibly soft and he dropped his hand. He sighed not believing what he was about to say. But there was something about her. He couldn’t bear the thought of having this girl hate him. And he could see it in her eyes. She was about ready to drop his sorry ass.

“I’ll help you get them women out of there. Get the place shutdown, but we do this as a team. No more of that solo bullshit you keep tryin’ to pull. It pisses me off.”

“Everything pisses you off.” she murmured, whilst trying not to smirk.

He raised his brows on this.

“Hell woman, you especially…” he taunted in return.
Before she could argue this he was kissing her.

“We head out in the morning…” he announced afterword.
“Daryl…” Bella went to argue.

“We’re no good to those women if we go in there right now. We need to rest. Find somethin’ to eat and drink… And come up with some sort of plan. If we go in there guns a blazin’ we’re all as good as dead, those women included.

“He’s right…” Glenn added.

“As much as I want to go in there right now and teach those bastards a lesson; it would be nothing more than suicide mission. They’d be expecting us now…”

Glenn brushed Maggie’s hair back as she was curled up in his lap. The woman had cried herself to sleep. Bella leaned against the wall and shut her eyes for a moment. They flew open however when she heard…”By the way… I ain’t no one’s ‘fuck buddy’…”

All she saw was a set of wings as he walked away.

---

Bella and Glenn jumped awake as they heard what sounded like Daryl throwing a fit. He was cursing and beating on something as he was off in another room. Bella came to her feet and Glenn carefully laid Maggie down and rose as well. Bella followed the sound the back of the store and into the stock room of the store. They walked around a few shelves and boxes.

“Are you trying to call out every walker within the area?” Bella scoffed.

It wasn’t until he turned around they realized what he was doing. Their jaws dropped.

“Is that?” Bella’s entire face lit up and Daryl smiled.

“Yeah, you two just gonna stand there or wanna get your ass over here and help?” He pointed to a vending machine that was on the ground.

There was glass, chips, candy, cookies, peanuts, gum, and crackers all along the floor. They rushed over and helped Daryl with the soda machine. The three of them knocked it over and rolled it onto its back.

“How on earth are these still here?”

“Guess no one thought to look back here when scavengin’, makin’ this our lucky night.” Daryl supposed as he lifted the top seeing as how it’d had busted open.

Bella laughed as Daryl and Glenn got sprayed in the face first thing.

“Yeah, yeah, laugh it up, sweet thang…” He said but grabbed one of the busted sodas and aimed it right at her.

“Daryl!” she reprimanded as it got all over her shirt.

“Not so funny now, is it?”

She backed away shielding herself with her hands. He chuckled and tossed the can across the room. Maggie entered the room and was rubbing her eyes tiredly.

“What’s going on?”

Glenn tossed Maggie a candy bar. Maggie looked to the candy bar and tossed it back over. Glenn sighed as she exited the room. He grabbed a few things and decided to take them to her in hopes of convincing her to eat.

“Hey…” Bella tossed over a couple bottles of water that was in one of the machines.

“Thanks.”

She nodded in response.

“Was she…” Daryl hinted as to whether Maggie was raped or not.

“No, I don’t believe so.”

Bella glanced towards the room Glenn and Maggie were currently in.
“In fact I think we got there just in time to prevent it…”

Daryl nodded and kicked back against one of the boxes in the room. He opened a bag of chips and a soda. Bella sat beside him and opened a thing of peanut butter crackers.

“Stale as shit, huh?” he mentioned as she bit into one.

She nodded with a hint of a smile. The moment she leaned back her eyes were starting to bat something fierce. Sure enough, Daryl looked over seeing as how she had that cracker still in hand but she was sawing logs. He removed the cracker from her hold and put it back in the package. Daryl wrapped his arm around her and kissed the top of her head.

---

Bella woke the next morning finding herself lying in Daryl’s lap. His arm was draped around her waist. Bella rolled over seeing as how he was already awake. He gave a simple nod. Bella sat up and yawned as she looked to the mess before her.

“Looks like a couple of stoners went nuts…” Daryl teased, causing her to laugh.

“Something like that…”

She came to her feet and divided everything up between the four of them. The young woman found a couple of backpacks for Glenn and Maggie in the store. From the looks of things it used to be a teen clothing store for women. Maggie and Bella rummaged through what was left and found a couple of outfits that fit them. But most of everything else had been picked through. Daryl had a good laugh as Bella was wearing a shirt that had the word FUCK only without the U. Underneath that it said all I need is U.

“That’s a little too fitting and a very tempting invitation.”

“Yeah well, my father would throw a fit…” she murmured as if in thought.

She placed a blue and fuchsia overshirt on. Daryl made his way over and loaded her with whatever weapons he could. By the time he was done she had two knives, two guns, and he even placed a set of brace knuckles on her.
“What are these for?”

She looked to see it was some sort of design as well. The knuckles part was shaped like handcuffs and the other part was a set small decorative guns.

“That’s kind of cool actually…”

Daryl smiled.

“Thought you’d dig… Them can do some serious damage if you pack enough of a punch. Keep ’em. Don’t fit me anyhow.”

“And what about Maggie and Glenn?”
He sighed.

“What? You think I’m gonna make your little buddies go unarmed?”

She shrugged.

“Never know…So the world goes into apocalyptic mode and Locksley becomes a drug and arms dealer?”

“More like a collector… and it’s because of that reason I’m still standin’ here. That, and well…”
“Well…?”

“I’m a bad ass…” he whispered as if it were a secret.

Bella covered her mouth as she burst into laughter. He arched a brow on this.

“And very humble as well.”

He nodded in agreement.

“Well yeah…” he mocked in return but with a wink.

---

“That’s strange…” Bella whispered as they regarded the brothel from a distance.

Daryl nodded.

“Where are the guards?”

“And the vehicles?” Glenn added.

Maggie shook her head looking ill.

“Stay put…” Daryl said as he stepped out of the area they were hiding in and inched his way over so he could get a better look.

He took his time and scoped out the entire perimeter of the area from a safe distance. Still he saw no one. He drew back a breath and reared back in wonder. Daryl caught the attention of the others and waved them over.

“Nothing… They gotta be inside….” He whispered with a shrug.

“So what’s the plan?”

Daryl half laughed and nodded towards the old nursing home.

“Well there’s no one keeping guard. So I say we go right on through the front doors.”
The three of them looked to him as if he’d lost his mind.

“You want us to walk right through the front doors?” Glenn questioned in bewilderment.

Daryl nodded.

“But you said…” the redneck put a finger to Bella’s lips knowing damn well what she was going to say.

“That was last night… There are four of us now and we’re loaded and ready to go. Element of surprise… we go in there like it’s a stick up. Stay together… Shoot first. Ask questions later…”

They followed Daryl to the front door. Just as he was about to enter the building, Bella tapped him on the shoulder.

“What did you mean…?“

He narrowed his eyes in misperception.

“You know last night… That whole ‘fuck buddy’ remark…”

Daryl hoisted his crossbow up over his shoulders and smirked. Just as he and Glenn busted on through the doors… “I love you, girl…” he said as if to say ‘duh’.

Bella’s face flushed over and she looked upon him in utter amazement. She found it hard to focus as they scouted the area. But she forced those feelings back for the moment. Now wasn’t the time to be getting swept away and acting like a complete girl.

“Clear…” Daryl was first to call out as he kicked open one of the room doors.

“Clear…” Glenn stated as well.

“Clear…” Bella said as she stepped out of another.

They didn’t understand it. No one was here… Bella recoiled as she saw the doorway Maggie was currently standing in. She grew mad with herself for not preventing that horrific scene.

“…dammit…” Glenn and Daryl heard Bella mutter under her breath.

She rushed over and took Maggie by the hand. She quickly shut the door, but not before Glenn caught wind of what was inside as well. He recoiled and staggered back against the wall.

“We gotta keep going…” Bella said doing her best to encourage Maggie.

Maggie shook her head fighting it. Bella sighed and placed an arm around her as they continued about the building. They scanned every room and nothing… The men, women, everyone was gone! Bella motioned towards the area of the cafeteria. The only area they hadn’t checked. Daryl took the hint and they headed that way. Bella gritted her teeth as it too was empty. She tossed a chair across the room.

“They took the women and bailed! FUUUUCK!” she shouted as she flipped one of the tables over.

Daryl reared back as heard her mumbling under her breath.

“I should’ve killed that god damn son of a bitch myself…”

She exited the room and made her way to the old nurses’ station. She started rummaging through whatever they left behind. She ripped one of the old phones from the wall and tossed it aside.

Bella swiped everything off the table in frustration. It wasn’t just about the women now… No it felt personal. His name burned through her mind. The more she pictured that bastard, those poor women, Maggie, and her unfortunate sister… the madder she grew.

Bella turned towards the linen closet. She pivoted around and opened the closet door.

“So we meet again Roy…”

“SHIT!” Daryl hollered as he walked in – seeing as how Bella was taking the brass knuckles he’d given her to the walker’s face over and over and over and over.

He darted over and grabbed ahold of her jerking her back. He reared back with disgust the walker was walking around with over half his face missing. The redneck took his knife and put an end to it.

“You’re right, these do some damage…” she alleged and was heading on out the door.

“Is she alright?” Glenn asked but turned to see Maggie pouring out the contents of a gas can she’d found around the area.

“What are you doing?!” Glenn questioned in alarm.

“What does it look like?!” Maggie replied severely.

“Hell, they’ve both lost their ever lovin’ minds.”

“Wouldn’t you?” Glenn fired back bitterly.

Daryl rolled his eyes and headed on out the door. Bella was at the shed as she’d managed to break in, but it too was empty. Whatever weapons they had in here were long gone. She leaned against the wall in defeat. She shut her eyes doing her best to gather her wits.
“We were too late…” Daryl heard her murmur as he entered the shed.

“Chances are they left directly after we did…” he did his best to assure.

She opened her eyes on this. “So the world goes to shit and this is their answer?”

He nodded. “Unfortunately… From what little I’ve seen. It’s things like this that reveal our truest colors. It’s every man for himself, sweet thang.”

“I never realized how much I hated people…” she commented in return.
He smiled. “Me and you both, little bunny. Why do you think I spent all that time on my own? At least I know if I get fucked over… I did it to myself.”

“My dad and I had a couple of run-ins like that. As to why we went out our way to avoid human contact. We avoided humans like the walkers.”
“I hear ya…”

Bella nodded but they were quick to run out of there as they heard an explosion.

“Makes you wish we had some marshmallows…” he witted seeing as how the nursing home turned brothel was now up in flames.

She managed to smile and added, “and graham crackers.”
“Hershey bars…” he returned with a nod.

“Hot dogs…”

“And ice cold beer…”

He chuckled and wrapped his arm around her shoulder.

“Let’s go before your new friends invite every walker within the area.”

“They’re your friends too, you know…”

“Hmmm… We’ll just see about that.”

---

“You need to eat and drink something…”

“I’m fine.” Maggie insisted as Glenn kept persisting.

“Come on Mag’s… At least drink some water…”

She gritted her teeth and knocked it out of his hand as he was handing it over. Glenn sighed and bent down to pick it up as she kept walking. Daryl and Bella said nothing on the manner. They’d been traveling on foot for the past four hours now. The truck ran out of gas a couple hours into the drive and they hadn’t any choice but to leave it behind. Bella pointed to a billboard off to the distance letting them know they were close to Albuquerque now.

“Still got a ways to go…” Daryl thought out loud.

Bella nodded and wiped the sweat from her brow. She looked to the sun as it was beating down on them.

“If we can survive mother nature…” She stated looking to the desert along the sides of the road.

“Where are we heading anyhow?” Glenn questioned.

“We…” Daryl felt the need to correct.

“Are headin’ to Phoenix… Don’t know where you’re headed.”

Bella cut him a ‘look’.

“What?!” he questioned with a challenging nod.

Bella rolled her eyes swearing the man got off to arguing. She took her backpack off and retrieved a bottle of water.

“MAG’S!” Glenn shouted.

Daryl and Bella looked over seeing as how Maggie had passed out. Bella rushed over as Glenn was trying to get her to come to. He propped her head up and Bella emptied some of the water onto Maggie’s forehead. She then opened her mouth and carefully poured some into her mouth. Maggie’s eyes flew open as she choked back a little. Bella and Glenn hurriedly rolled her over.

“We need to get her off the asphalt it’s burning her face!” Bella affirmed in alarm.

Glenn swiftly scooped Maggie up and they both grimaced as the hot asphalt left blisters along her arm and face. Bella shook her head and looked around.

“We have to get her out of the sun.”

“And how do you suppose we do that?” Daryl questioned as he waved his hands about.

Bella sighed and looked off to the distance.

“We’re not quite in Albuquerque. See that foliage off to the distance?”

They nodded and she sort of smiled.

“I’ve been on this road many times. The Rio Grande isn’t far. If we can get her there or at least close there’s plenty of shade. But with those blisters… It’d be best if we kept going.”
“And just how long do you think that would take?” Daryl quizzed with a twinge of impatience to his voice.

“Not quite sure on foot… Maybe an hour two at the most…?” She said as used the rest of her water to tend to Maggie’s blisters.

“You still have some of that antibiotic cream?”
Daryl nodded and dug into his bag. Once he found it he tossed it over. Glenn positioned Maggie about as Bella wiped the cream on the blisters. Maggie winced in pain.

“Sorry…” Bella whispered.

“You should listen to him… He’s right…You need to eat and drink something. That’s why you fainted.”

Maggie nodded but tears were forming in her eyes.

“So before we take another step you’re going to do that…”

Bella took a bag of peanuts out from her bag. Figuring something sweet and with protein would be for the best. Glenn lowered Maggie back down and braced her against him as she ate a few peanuts and drank a bottle of water.

“The whole bag…” Bella made clear as Maggie went to hand it back.

“Gonna be a lot more than two hours!” Daryl bitched.

Bella flipped him off.

“What here?” he smarted.

“He wishes…” Bella whispered and winked upon Maggie.

“That’s for sure…” he murmured as he lit up one of his smokes.

“Damn woman, can’t even tell me she loves me back…” He bitterly complained.

Bella leaned over to Maggie as she walked away, “Tell Locksley I love him for me, I guess.” She giggled and stepped away.

“Wait… what?” Daryl asked as he reared back. “What do you mean… you guess?!”

Daryl was rushing towards Bella and she kept walking. Glenn swallowed back as Maggie actually managed to laugh. He kissed the top of her head as they followed Bella and Daryl.

---

“Two hours… More like three…”

Daryl complained once they finally made it to the Rio Grande. Glenn was leading Maggie to the water so he could tend to her blisters.
“How would you know? You got a watch on you or something we don’t know about?”

“I just know… No way was that two hours. God damn sun’s almost down now.”
“Well it’s a good thing we made it before dark, isn’t it? Now you wanna keep it down so we can have a safe place to camp?”

“We need to hunt and gather some water. Can’t very well do that in the dark.”
“Then we wait until morning…”

“It’ll be too hot by then. Ain’t no animals gonna come out in this fuckin’ heat. If there are any…”
“You done?”
“Done what?”
“Acting like a menstruating chick?”

“What in the hell are you talkin’ ’bout?!”

“I don’t believe I stuttered.”

“Girl, you must be askin’for ass whoopin’.”

Glenn and Maggie raised their brows on this but didn’t dare utter a word.

“Maybe…” she taunted.

“Well fuck, if that’s what you want; we can find an area away from these two…”

“That’s what this is, isn’t it?”

“What?”

“You’re all moody because you think your chances of getting laid now are slim.” She whispered harshly – yet with a playful manner and kept walking towards the water.

He rushed over and grabbed her flipping her over his shoulder.

“Nothing ‘slim’ about it…” He scoffed as he popped her on the butt. He then pointed to Glenn and Maggie.

“Don’t follow. Not into that kinky swingers bullshit…”

Bella laughed as Daryl laid her down on the ground. They were in an area surrounded by trees and tall grass. He tossed his crossbow and other weapons to the side. As he unfastened his pants, Bella set hers aside as well and was removing her jeans along with her lacy black boy-cut panties. Daryl looked around the area once more just for extra precaution. Last thing he wanted was a fucking walker creeping up on them in the middle of fucking. As to why he kept his weapons within close proximity. Talk about a mood killer… Once he was certain the coast was clear, he kissed her and eagerly rubbed against that inviting little slit of hers.

“This what you want, sweet thang?” he teased as he entered the tip of his dick and stopped.

She nodded with that hint of coyness – something he found incredibly sexy. At this, he began thrusting with everything he had. Bella reached over and took off his vest and unbuttoned his shirt taking it off as well. Her hands ran along his chest as he caught her watching the show below. He slowed it down just a bit giving her the full visual of his thick cock at work.

“…fuck…” he muttered breathlessly.

He could feel her pussy tighten.

“That make you wet, sweet thang?”

His name fled from her lips and he went back to his hard thrusting. Her legs wrapped around him and she clawed at his back. Daryl whispered into her ear once again… “call to me again, little bunny…” He couldn’t help it, just hearing his name fleeing from those sweet lips of hers – drove him mad. Her back arched of the ground as she called to him once again. He let out a finishing growl as he spilled his seed.

“How’d you get these?” Bella questioned as Daryl was laying his side and his back was to her.

“You…” He smarted as to the claw marks.

She softly laughed and ran her fingers along the scars on his back.

“The scars…”

He shrugged and lit up a smoke before answering.

“Remember how I said I hated my old man?”

She nodded.

“Well there you go…” he murmured as he rolled onto his back.

“Sorry…”
“What for?”
“For what he did…”

He pulled a certain face on this.

“Hell, don’t apologize for that son of bitch.”
“And what about your brother? What happened to him?”
“Not sure… don’t really give a fuck either.”

“What happened there?”

He finished his cigarette before answering.

“Became too much like the old man… Got to the point where I couldn’t stand to be around him. Everything he did reminded me of that bastard. And I swore at times he took pleasure in being a dick. It’s like I said back in that shed… It’s times like these we see everyone for who they really are.”
Bella nodded and laid her head on his chest as she curled up beside him. He kissed the top of her head and ran his fingers through her long strands of hair.

“Last name?”

He chuckled.

“Why you worried ’bout my last name? We done fucked… hell three times… at that.”

She laughed and punched him in the chest.

“Dixon.”

She nodded.

“Swan.”

“Bella Swan, huh?”
“Daryl Dixon, huh?” She fired back with a grin and felt his chest moving with laughter.

“And what about you? Got any siblings?”
“Only child.”
“That explains it…”

“Explains what?”
“You’re spoiled as hell…” he taunted.

“I am not…”

“The hell you aren’t. That stubbornness comes from being an only child. Used to gettin’ whatever you want.”

“Oh, really? And what’s your excuse?”
He shrugged and looked to the stars.

“Maybe I got tired of all the fucking hand me downs and goin’ without.”
“So you think I was some rich suburban girl that had it all? Is that it?”

“We gonna fight again?”

“I don’t know, are we? It’s pretty clear what you think of me. So far you’ve established that I could never make it on my own. I’m spoiled. A pain in the ass… Let’s just add bitch to the list and make it an even number…”

“Well I wasn’t going to say it…” he smarted.

She rolled off him and went to gather her clothes. Daryl sighed and reached over pulling her back towards him. She tried squirming out of his hold and he trolled on over pinning her down. He caught her off guard as he kissed her and gently put his forehead to hers.

“I’ve met my share of ‘bitches’ and you ain’t one of them. If you was really spoiled you wouldn’t have made it past the first three months of this shit. When it comes to survival…? My only concern is how quick you are to react to somethin’. You don’t think… You just act. And I’m sorry to say, sweet thang, but that’ll be the death of you if you don’t watch it. That’s the only weakness I see when it comes to you and this shit we face. Everything else you seem to be golden at. You’re a little ass kicker and that’s what it takes. But you gotta think. You let your emotions get the best of ya. And that right there is a big no-no, if you wish to survive. And about being a pain in the ass… you are…”

He blocked her attempt to knee him in the crotch. He smiled and shook his head.

“But so am I… and that’s what it takes, girl.”

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