“Alright everyone,” Rick said in a loud voice to get everyone’s attention, “after scoutin’ out the town these last few days, we’ve found out which places we can search a bit better.” Everyone was gathered around the pool bright and early, the sun was out, but there was a slight chill on the breeze. Nora shifted her weight from foot to foot, rubbing her arms with her hands trying to keep warm. She didn’t like the cold very much and was now regretting not grabbing her sweatshirt from the room. Daryl stood next to her, he threw her a sideway glance, “told ya ta bring your sweatshirt, didn’t I?” he teased in a hushed voice. Nora just glared back at him and elbowed him in his ribs, he winced a little and Nora smirked.
“There are some clothing stores we can search,” Rick continued, “we can get ourselves some new things to wear.” Andrea and Maggie grinned at each other and started whispering. “Even though we haven’t had any real threats, we still don’t want you to wander around alone, alright?” Shane chimed in and everyone nodded their heads in understanding. Daryl muttered something under his breath that sounded like a curse word. “Well then, if no one has anything else to add then I guess we can head out,” Rick clapped his hands together and headed toward the iron gate.
“So, you going to be my protector?” Nora asked Daryl after everyone left through the gate ahead of them. He turned and wrapped an arm around her waist, pulling her close, “ya know I’d do anythin’ for ya,” he bent his head and pressed his lips to her forehead. “Yes, I know,” she replied, closing her eyes when he kissed her, “I was only teasing you.” “Come on, let’s go,” he took a hold of her hand and led her out to the parking lot. The others were all scattered about, looking through the windows of the stores.
“Let’s go in that one,” Nora pointed with their hands toward a small craft shop. Daryl looked where she pointed and made a face, “that one? What tha hell are we gonna need in there?” She pulled him to the shop, “never know if you don’t check,” she replied with a wink. The small store was tiny with only one storefront window. Daryl pressed his face against the window and groaned, “this is gonna be a waste ya know?” Nora huffed, “you’re such a baby.” She went and tugged on the door and she scrunched up her face when she found that it was locked. Daryl walked up and kicked it open, “who’s the baby now?” he called over his shoulder as he stepped through the door. “Well, I could have done that,” Nora said to herself.
As soon as she entered the store, Nora’s nose was filled with the smell of something rotten and her stomach turned. “I don’ like this,” Daryl stated when she walked up behind him. “You don’t think there are walkers in here, do you?” she asked in a hushed whisper. “I don’ know, but please be careful in here,” Daryl gave her a stern look and Nora nodded her head. They made their way to the back of the shop, Nora stayed close behind him, her eyes darted around the shop. There was a scuffling sound that came from the back and they both jumped a little, Nora’s hand instinctively went up to grab Daryl’s elbow. He nudged her and she peeked around his shoulder, looking to the back of the store. Near the back entrance, stood a lone walker, an elderly female, was facing the corner of the shop, she hadn’t noticed them yet.
Daryl snuck up behind the walker and she turned quickly to advance on him. Nora stepped back, bumping into one of the displays, causing it to fall forward and knock her to the floor. She cried out as she landed on her chest and stomach, the shelving landing on her back, knocking all the breath from her lungs. She huffed hard, trying to get her lungs to expand and she rolled over onto her back, wrapping her arms around her middle. From somewhere near the back door, she could hear Daryl as he fought with the walker, Nora’s eyes were wide with fear.
Finally her breath came back and she inhaled deeply and pushed herself up. A hand grabbed her arm and she fell back, smacking her head on the hard floor. While Nora was trying to catch her breath, she hadn’t noticed another walker that was crawling on the floor toward her. It was only half of a body, it snarled at her, clawing at her arm, “Daryl!” she screamed out, “Daryl, help!” Nora’s heart pounded as she tried desperately to pull her arm from the walker. Daryl was still somewhere in the back, nowhere to be found. The walker was strong and pulled Nora to it, it’s teeth snapped, getting closer. She turned around and kicked at it, hitting it right in the face, it let out a gross, wet coughing sound and released her arm. Nora kicked it again but this time it grabbed her leg and sank its rotten teeth into her bare calf. She howled in pain and finally Daryl showed up, kicking it in the head and then stomped on its face. The walker’s throat gave a gurgle and then went limp.
“Took you long enough,” Nora joked as Daryl dropped to his knees beside her. “Oh shit,” he breathed as he looked over her, “this is not good Nora.” He was right, her arm was bleeding from the numerous scratches the walker had left and her leg was gushing blood from the bite. The pain that radiated up Nora’s leg was too much for her to take and tears welled in her eyes. “Hang on, ok?” Daryl carefully picked her up and headed for the door. The others were all gathered out front of one of the stores across the street.
”Help!” Daryl yelled, his voice cracking as he fought back the tears. Nora wrapped her arms around Daryl’s neck, her fingers gripping his skin. “This is not how I wanted to spend the day,” she whispered jokingly to him. Everyone’s heads whipped around to look in their direction, taking a moment to register what was going on. “Shit, Nora,” he whispered as he hurried across the street to meet the group, “ju-just hang on, ok?” He dropped to his knees in the middle of the road, laying Nora down on the hot pavement. “What happened?” Rick demanded as he dropped down to the ground. “There were walkers in tha store,” Daryl jerked his head back behind him, “the one that got her came out of nowhere.” Rick pulled his T-shirt off and ripped it into strips, tying them around Nora’s leg just below her knee. Everyone gathered around Nora and she could see the fear in written on their faces and she couldn’t help but laugh. “Is she gonna be ok dad?” Carl appeared at Nora’s feet, she felt a twist of sadness in her stomach when she saw his face.
Nora had never been around someone who had been bitten before so she had no idea what was happening to her. “It hurts,” she cried and gripped her knee, “I can’t-I can’t,” she stuttered. “Can’t we do something for her?” Glenn asked, frantically looking into the faces of the others. Daryl pulled her to his chest, pressing his lips into her hair and stroking her back. Rick only shook his head from side to side, doing his best to avoid Nora’s eyes. “Daryl,” Nora looked up into his face, “I don’t want to go,” she whispered. He looked down at her with wide eyes, tears streaked down his face, “what? No, no you’re not going anywhere,” he tried to make his voice upbeat, “I told you I was going to protect you, right?” Nora nodded her head with a bit of difficulty, her muscles were getting stiff and her body was twitching. “This hurts, so much,” Nora confessed as she squeezed her eyes tight, tears trickled down her cheeks. Her fingers twisted into Daryl’s shirt and he gathered her onto his lap. “I’m sorry,” she sniffled, “I’m so sorry you guys,” her voice was staggered and her breath was becoming shallow. “What do ya have to be sorry for,” Daryl asked, laughing. “No one blames you for anything, Sweetheart,” Andrea said gently as she gripped Nora’s hand. “I wasn’t careful, you told me to be careful, but I wasn’t,” Nora have everyone a sad smile.
Nora’s body gave a violent twitch and Daryl hugged her tightly, “don’t..don’t..” was all he could choke out. Everyone looked at each other, their faces wet with tears. “This isn’t so bad anymore,” Nora said, almost happily. Daryl’s eyes went wide as he looked down into her face. “I think I’ll be just fine,” she reached up and touched his face, “we can go for a walk later, in the woods,” she smiled. “She’s delusional,” Rick whispered to no one in particular. Daryl’s eyes darted across her face and he brought his head down to hers, pressing his cheek to hers and noticing how hot her skin was. Nora’s arm dropped into her lap and her body went limp, Daryl froze, “Nora?” he whispered into her ear. He pulled back to look at her face when she didn’t answer, her eyes were open but there was no life behind them. “Nora?” he shook her body as if that would get a response from her, “Nora please?” He stroked her face but he knew she was gone, “you can’t leave, damn it!” he yelled at her.
“Daryl,” Rick finally said, “Daryl we have to move her. She’s gonna-,” Rick started to say. “Just leave me be!” Daryl snapped back at him. He wiped the back of his hand across his eyes and picked Nora’s body up and carried her off. “You can’t just let him go off like that,” Carol whispered to Rick, “if she’s been bitten, she going to turn!” Rick held a hand up to her and gave her a stern look, “he knows what’s going to happen.” Everyone stood and watched as Daryl retreated to the edge of town, Nora’s legs dangled from his arms, swinging with each step he took. “We just..gotta let him go,” was all Rick said.
Daryl walked for what seemed like forever, “see? We’re going for that walk you said you wanted to go on,” he looked down at Nora’s face, his tears falling down on her. He stopped near the edge of the woods, finally dropping down in the soft dirt. He sighed to himself as he carefully fixed Nora’s shirt, then brushed her hair from her face. He sat back on his heels and looked over the body of the woman he loved. “It wasn’t supposed to be like this, you know? We were gonna leave these guys and be on our own, remember?” He ran his hands over his face, not realizing he was smearing Nora’s blood on it. “Damn it! What am I supposed to do now?” he pulled the handgun from his belt. “I loved you Nora and you said you loved me,” he leaned forward, looking into Nora’s lifeless face. “Even though you weren’t careful, I still love you,” he cocked the hammer on the gun and held it to her temple, swallowed the lump in his throat and then squeezed the trigger. The gun shot echoed through the woods, causing birds to fly out of the tree tops and into the bright blue sky.
