66. burned away

QUINN

     THE WALK TOWARDS THE BUS ON THE BRIDGE put her on edge. Without her weapons Quinn felt naked and exposed. All she had was a small knife and she wouldn't get very far with it if a herd showed up. But for now, they were good. There were two or three lonely walkers far behind them, nothing they couldn't handle. Other than that, the bridge was deserted.

As they got closer to the bus Quinn found herself having to push aside her thoughts and stay focused. Now that she knew the secret that had Carol feel so torn inside, she couldn't help but feel worried for the woman. Her guilt over her actions had made her think that somehow she didn't deserve to be in their group anymore. Which was ridiculous. They had all done things to survive.

The night she and Daryl found Rick was still burned in her mind. She could remember everything like it happened only seconds ago. The man on top of her, the stone cold desire to kill him, the words she said to him and how her voice had sounded almost playful...

A shiver crawled down her spine and she closed her eyes for a second, taking a deep breath before opening them again. She focused her gaze on Daryl's back, watching the angel wings on his vest and slowly she felt herself calm down.

Carol wasn't the only monster in their group. But it was the world that had made her so and Quinn didn't blame her in any way. She just hoped the woman could forgive herself.

Daryl was the first one to reach the bus and he carefully opened the doors. The front wheels of the vehicle were hanging over the edge of the bridge. It looked like even the smallest movement could send it flying over, which was probably why her heart rate refused to go down.

'All righ', let's get this done,' Daryl said, moving towards the bus.

'It's not stable,' Quinn stopped him, 'I'm lighter.'

He looked at her for a second then turned and climbed into the bus anyway, making a small sigh leave her lips. He sat on the edge to test the stability and when it seemed to hold he crawled further inside.

Carol carefully followed, moving all the way to the front. The bus swayed a little but remained steady.

Quinn watched as they went through papers and was about to ask if they found anything when the snarls of walkers reached her ears, accompanied by the ever lingering smell of death and rotten flesh. She turned to see a group of at least twelve corpses stumbling down the bridge towards them and more were following close behind.

'Guys you might want to hurry,' she said, tightening her grip on her small knife.

'Yeah, I see 'em,' Daryl replied, starting to climb back towards the exit but stopped upon spotting a stretcher. He turned it, searching for a logo. 'GMH, what's that? A hospital?' He questioned over loud snarls of the approaching walkers.

'I don't know,' Quinn replied, unable to hide her nerves.

'Grady Memorial, maybe,' Carol offered.

'Grady and white crosses, it might be where they're holin' up!' Daryl said, letting go of the stretchrr and climbing towards the doors.

Time was up, the walkers had surrounded them. She held out her knife in front of her and planted her feet steady on the ground but she already knew there was no fighting them, there were simply too many. Next to her she could hear Carol's gunshots, but she only had three bullets left. Daryl was dropping walkers left and right but even with him they wouldn't be able to make it.

'Guys!' Quinn yelled as she stabbed a walker through the eye and used the body as a shield to keep another way. 'We're not going to make it!'

'Inside!' Daryl shouted, pointing towards the doors of the bus.

Dread spread through her veins by the very thought of getting in that things but she swallowed the feeling, pushed the dead walker she'd been holding to the ground and sprinted towards the doors. She let Carol pull her inside and watched as Daryl climbed in, closing the doors behind him.

The entire bus was shaking from the walkers pounding on the doors and the noise was hurting her ears. The bus wouldn't hold for long.

'Anything we can use?' Carol asked, frantically looking around.

'Nothin' but what we got,' Daryl replied. He looked around, his gaze landing on the two seats in the front. He pushed himself up and walked over to the driver's seat.

Her eyes widened when she realised what his plan was. But the truth was, it was the only option they had.

'Buckle up,' he told them.

Carol climbed into the second seat and for a moment Quinn doubted but was pulled out of those thoughts when Daryl reached out, grabbed her arm and pulled her towards him, sitting her down on his lap. Her entire body froze and goosebumps tickled her skin. What made it even worse, she knew Daryl would notice both those things.

Then she realised his body was just as tense, as if he only realised what'd done after he'd done it. As if pulling her towards him had been an instinct that he couldn't control.

All those thoughts left her mind when the bus shook once again, more and more walkers were gathering behind them. It was now or never.

Carol was breathing heavily and reached out to take Daryl's hand. Quinn noticed him squeeze it as he said: 'You hold on.'

'Damn, damn, damn,' Quinn mumbled over and over again as she shivered in her seat, cold sweat on her forehead. Fear was spreading through her body like poison making her feel sick.

When the bus moved forwards she gasped, closed her eyes and felt how they were pushed of the bridge. For a second they were weightless, the bus tipped over its own end and a startled yelp left her lips. Daryl reached out, wrapped his arm around her and pulled her towards his chest. She curled up like a child, eyes still closed as her body was thrown around in the chair. Her elbow came against the steering wheel, sending a flash of pain through her arm.

Then they crashed against the ground, hard.

Her bones rattled, the entire world seemed to shake on its foundations, the glass broke with a loud crack and then everything turned silent.

For a second she remained in her curled up position against Daryl his chest, counting the many aches of her body. Her elbow was hurting most but other than that she appeared to be fine, probably many new bruises but nothing serious.

'We're okay,' Carol breathed, 'we're okay.'

Slowly she opened her eyes and tried to relax her muscles. Taking a deep breath she felt the realisation of what they'd just done settle in and she almost laughed, had the shock of it all not been holding her in a tight grip still.

Suddenly something crashed against the window and she crawled back in her seat, her back against Daryl's chest. His body was still tense, though she couldn't tell if that was because of her or because of the walker that had just fallen down the bridge, on the front window of the bus where its head had bursted open like an egg.

Another crash came from outside and she shivered. The walkers were throwing themselves off the bridge in the hopes of reaching their dinner. The sounds were horrible and the blood dripping down the windows didn't make it any better.

She closed her eyes until it was over, then took a shaky breath and carefully stood up. She refused to look at Daryl as she stumbled outside, holding her elbow because with every step she took, pain waved through her arm like fire.

Disgust filled her stomach upon looking around and seeing the smashed bodies of the walkers on the ground. Fear, adrenaline and disgust reached a boiling point and she squatted down to throw out her last meal. There was barely anything in her stomach and so it was mostly bile that burned in her throat. Her eyes teared up as she wrapped her arms around her waist, she was shaking all over.

'You good?' Daryl questioned from behind her.

She nodded slowly, pushing herself back on her feet as she spit out the remaining bile in her mouth, hoping that would get rid of the taste. Sadly, it didn't.

Her gaze went to Daryl, who was still studying her with that intense look in his blue eyes. It felt like he was trying to look into her very soul. It made her shiver and she looked away from him, watching Carol stumble out of the bus with difficulty. She was more hurt than any one of them. Daryl moved forwards and supported her as they walked away from the scene, back into the city.

They found shelter in an alley and sat down to drink some water. There wasn't much left and the food was all gone too. Soon they'd have to get back to the others to get more supplies. But they had to know Beth was alive first. Quinn refused to go back empty handed.

'Here,' Daryl said, offering some water to Carol.

The woman didn't even look at it. 'I'm fine.'

'Prove it,' he replied, still holding up the bottle.

Carol seemed close to rolling her eyes but reached out and took it anyway, taking one tiny sip. The bruises were already starting to form on her shoulder and so she could barely move her arm, something that did not go unnoticed by both Daryl and Quinn.

'How bad is it?' Quinn asked, frowning.

'I've had worse,' Carol waved her concerns away.

Daryl shook his head, leaning forwards to look at the bruises, then sighed. 'Damn, that was stupid.'

'We made good time down,' Carol said, smiling slightly, though it looked more like a painful grimace. 'There's only three blocks between us and Grady,' she added when neither of them reacted to her attempt of trying to brighten the mood.

'We find a place nearby, scope it out, see what we can see,' Daryl offered.

Quinn sighed impatiently, turning to look at him. 'Are we really gonna be able to get all the information we need, just by watching?'

'It's where we start,' he nodded, then stood up from the ground and gathered his stuff. 'Come on.' He walked up the door of the building on the other side of the alley and entered the building.

Carol followed slowly, taking each step carefully to make sure her shoulder wouldn't hurt too much.

With a tired sigh leaving her lips Quinn pushed herself on her feet and followed them inside. She entered just in time to see Daryl pick a machete off the ground and split a walker its skull in two with the blade.

'It's them,' Carol broke the silence. She was standing by the window, looking out at the hospital.

With a few large steps, Quinn stood next to her, letting her eyes wander over the building before her. She could feel Daryl coming to stand beside her and for some strange reason it took all her willpower to ignore his presence and keep her gaze focused on what was happening outside.

Grady Memorial was a huge building and so she immediately crossed the idea of sneaking inside off her mental list. They'd never find Beth in a building like that, plus they had no way of knowing which parts were secured and which were filled with walkers.

The entire building formed a risk and she felt all her courage fade by looking at it.

'All righ',' Daryl spoke up, starting to hand out little bags of popcorn he must've found laying around somewhere. 'Let's see what we see.'

Quinn sat down on the windowsill with her back against the wall. Carol did the same on the other end while Daryl stood in the middle. She barely heard his smacking noises while he ate his popcorn. Over time she'd gotten used to his gross eating habits and learned to ignore it. Plus she was too busy thinking of the possibility that Beth was inside that building.

'You said I ain't like how I was before?'

His voice slightly startled her and she turned her eyes to him, studying him with a frown as he looked at Carol, wondering why he was talking about this all of a sudden.

'Yeah,' Carol said softly.

'How was I?' He asked.

Quinn shifted in her seat, her interest suddenly sparked. 'I'd like to know too,' she smirked. She heard some stories of how he used to be and while Merle had given her some ideas, she'd always been curious to know who he'd been before. Sometimes she wished she met all of them sooner, just so she could've known.

Carol took her time to think, choosing each word carefully and when she spoke, she had Quinn hanging on to every word. 'It's like you were a kid.' She shook her head. 'Now you're man.'

For some reason the night in the wooden cabin in the woods flashed through her mind. How Beth got them to play that stupid game and how mad he got when she suggested he could've been in prison once. It was such an innocent question, a dumb game and too much moonshine. Yet it had ignited a flame within him that burned down their quiet evening.

Somehow she imagined it used to be like that. Even the smallest thing would set him off. And while his temper had not by any means lessened, he had certainly learned to control it. Well, more than he used to.

The thought made her almost sad. She would've loved to see him throw some squirrels at Rick. A story Carl always loved to share.

'What about you?' Daryl questioned, pulling her out of her thoughts. He was looking at Carol, probably hoping to get her to open up about what she'd done and why.

Carol stared at her hands, her thoughts seeming to race inside her mind before she managed to speak. 'Me and Sophia stayed at that shelter for a day and a half before I went running back to Ed. I went home, I got beat up. Life went on and I just kept praying for something to happen. But I didn't do anything. Not a damn thing.' She stared out the window, the words seeming to weigh heavy. 'Who I was with him, she got burned away and I was happy about that. I mean, not happy, but...And at the prison, I got to be who I always thought I should be. Thought I should've been. And then she got burned away. Everything now just consumes you.'

The words burned in her heart because they described her journey too. She spend her whole life running away from her problems by creating only more. Then at the prison...she didn't. She finally felt like she was part of something bigger, something she was willing to fight for and never would've run away from. Alas she'd been forced to and not a day went by that she didn't miss the only place that had ever felt like home.

'Hey,' Daryl mumbled, 'we ain't ashes.'

She opened her mouth and was about to speak up when the distant sound of a door closing echoed through the building.

They moved as one, jumping into action immediately. With her small knife in her hand she followed Daryl through the hallways with Carol right behind her. They rounded a corner and found a walker pinned to a wall with an arrow sticking out of its neck.

But not just any arrow.

'That's yours,' Quinn said, looking at Daryl.

'Yeah,' he grunted then raised his machete and killed the walker before retrieving the arrow.

The loud noise of a machine gun being fired came from down the hall and she was running before her brain had time to come up with a plan.

Down the hallway the kid that had robbed them before was struggling with a walker. When he noticed them, he pushed it in their direction. The corpse stumbled against Carol, who couldn't keep it away with her bruised shoulder and fell to the ground. A desperate scream left the woman's lips and Quinn rushed forwards to push her knife into the corpse its skull.

While she helped Carol up she could hear Daryl chase after the kid and she felt almost sorry for the teenager when she thought of the rage the redneck would unleash once he caught up to him.

With Carol's arm around her shoulder Quinn made her way after the two of them and rounded the corner just in time to see Daryl push the kid against a wooden closet, then jumped aside as the closet fell down and buried the kid beneath it. A pained scream came out of the teenager his mouth as he struggled to free himself.

The closet had been covering a door, which was now free. A walker was squeezing its way through the small gap, making the kid struggle even more.

'Please, please,' the kid pleaded as Daryl started gathering their weapons. 'I had to protect myself.'

'Why you following us?!' Daryl shouted in his face while Quinn back her daggers.

With a sigh of relief she put them back around her waist while listening to the excuses the kid was throwing their way.

'Bullshit,' Daryl cut off his pleas.

The snarling of the walker continued and it had almost made its way through the door. Yet Daryl remained completely calm as he bend over the kid and took something off the ground.

Quinn felt like hitting him when she realised it was a package of cigarettes.

'Come on man,' the kid pleaded again and he chuckled nervously. 'Please, please!'

'Nah,' Daryl said, lighting the cigarette up. 'I already helped ya once. It ain't happenin' again.'

A frown appeared on her face while watching him. While she wanted nothing more than to throw her dagger in that kid his face when he took their weapons, now that she had some time to release her anger, she sure as hell wasn't okay with leaving him here to be eaten by that walker.

'Have fun with Hoss over there,' Daryl grunted before turning to walk away.

'Daryl, Daryl, stop!' Carol shouted after him.

'You almost died 'cause of him!' The redneck screamed angrily.

'But I didn't.'

His blue eyes were cold as ice. 'Nah, let him be,' he said before walking away.

Quinn scoffed, shaking her head, not willing to believe this was actually happening.

A thud came from behind them as the walker finally managed to get through the door. The kid screamed in fear, making Quinn turn around quickly, take a dagger from her belt, raise her arm and release the blade. It flew through the flew with an alarming speed before burying itself in the skull of the walker, turning the room completely quiet.

She didn't look at anyone as she stormed forwards and pulled her dagger free, ignoring the blood that rained down on the teenager. He deserved some punishment.

Wordlessly she walked forwards and dragged the walker aside before kneeling down and starting to push the closet back up. Hot pain crawled up her arm so sudden that she screamed, releasing the wood.

Daryl was next to her within seconds, studying her with that intense gaze of his but she refused to look at him. He sighed deeply before kneeling down and freeing the kid from beneath the wooden closet.

Once he was free, he stumbled to the window, looking outside frantically. As if he was being haunted.

'You okay?' Daryl questioned.

It took her a second to realise he was talking to her, not to the kid. She frowned at him, considering for a second to scream at him and take the stupid cigarette out of his mouth but instead she just sighed deeply and gave him a curt nod.

'I gotta go,' she could hear the kid mumble. His eyes still scanning the streets with panic written on his features. 'They're gonna come, I gotta go. They probably heard the shot. If they find me...'

'Who?' Quinn asked him.

'Them. People at the hospital.'

Hope flared up in her stomach so suddenly that it hurt. 'Tell us,' she ordered him, intending for her voice to sound stern but she couldn't completely hide her eagerness. 'Is there a blonde girl there?'

The kid looked at her confused.

'You see a blonde girl?' Daryl spoke roughly, which seemed to do the trick.

'Beth?' He questioned. 'You know her? She helped me get out, but she's still there.'

Quinn looked at Daryl, seeing hope burn in his eyes and she knew for sure it was written all over her face too. Beth was alive, she was right here, alive...

'They're coming,' Carol said, looking out the window.

'We gotta go now,' the kid mumbled in pure panic. 'We gotta go!'

They hurried out of the room and through the hallway but Quinn didn't feel afraid. Hope was burning inside of her like a flame, burning away everything else that she should've been feeling.

'The building next door has a basement,' the teenager said, running ahead of them but something seemed to be wrong. He was limping. 'It's clear. We'll be safe.' He stumbled over his own feet and fell, screaming in pain.

'Go, I got him!' Daryl shouted, kneeling down to help him.

Carol lingered to make sure they were both right behind them while Quinn hurried to the door and out on the street.

She heard the car too late there was nothing she could do, no move she could make. One moment she was standing on the road and the next the car collided with her body, sending her tumbling through the sky.

The world became a blurr of shapes and colors as pain spread like wildfire through every corner of body. It was blinding, drowning her in a blur of agony.

Her body hit the ground and she screamed. Her eyes sought for anything to hold onto through the pain that was coursing through her like a tidal wave. She could see the three of them hiding in the shadows on the building she just left. She could see him struggling in the tight grip of Carol and the teenager. Anger and despair was painted on his face, strangely enough though, it comforted her.

With his eyes burned like a permanent image in her mind she let the darkness take her.

A U T H O R 'S  N O T E

Hi guys,

First of all, I'm so sorry for the lack of updates this week. School has started again and the first week was pretty rough considering my anxiety issues and all...Anyway, I hope to be back on track again. I just need to find a way to work on school as well as my books. I hope I will be able to keep up three updates a week but I can't make any promises.

Second, normally I don't like replacing certain characters with my OC but in this scene I felt it was necessary. Carol doesn't have much connection to Beth, at least not the way Quinn does. And this way they get to see each other again before, well, something happens.

Third, I hope you all enjoyed this chapter. If you did please leave a comment or a vote, it means a lot to me. Thank you all so much for reading, it's so awesome how much love this story has been given!

Much love,

xXx

UYM