CHAPTER THIRTY-ONE

Daryl stops as he looks at the building in front of them, and Andie shakes her head. She knows he's gonna make a comment as they stand on the putting greens.

"Don't even. Shut—"

"You dragged me two days through the woods—"

"—up. I don't wanna hear..."

"—to a Goddamn golf club."

"Fuck you." Andie glances at the group of walkers half a field away from them before heading in the direction of the Country Club. "Stay here, then. Make friends." She motions to the corpses that are now walking toward them.

The pair make it to the doors and the thought that there might be people squatting here crosses both of their minds. Walking up the steps, they're both mindful of any potential threats. The front doors are locked, and Andie looks back to see Daryl going through the pockets of a corpse.

"Fucken storm." The brunette mutters as thunder claps overhead. "Let's try for a side entrance. I don't wanna be out here when the rain starts up again."

"Whatever you say, princess." He grumbles, and she shoves on his back as he walks off the last step. He glances back, but doesn't say anything else.

It's entirely quiet inside, so Andie being extra cautious is just for show. She's thought about telling him the truth a few times, letting him know what she is. Truth is, she's too afraid. If he doesn't accept her, doesn't want to be around her, that'd leave them both alone. She doesn't want to leave him unprotected, and she can't bear the thought of him ending up completely on his own in this world.

"Oh, man..." Andie looks down as Daryl walks up beside her inside the room they managed to get into. There are walkers hanging from the rafters by their necks.

"This ain't even the first time I've seen it." He tells her.

"Okay, I'm done in here." She walks away from him, heading through a set of double doors, and he follows not long after.

The pair ends up in the kitchen, and Andie's walking around with her knife in hand as she searches for any possible supplies. Daryl found a flashlight in the first room, so he's using that as he looks. The younger girl's knelt by a dead walker when he comes up behind her.

"This one can't have been killed more than a day ago. And the wine on the floor next to it is still wet." She turns her head toward him. "You believe me yet?"

"Anybody could have killed that bastard."

The brunette grinds her teeth as she lets her head hang for a moment. She can't exactly tell him that she knows it was Theo and Beth because she recognizes their scents. But she can live with his cynicism while she continues the search on her own, she can live with it until she finds them, and then she can do the whole I told you so. At least she knows she's on the right track.

Andie stands up and walks to the end of the hall, finding a room with a bunch of dead people on the floor in the center of the enclosed area. Welcome To The Dogtrot is written on the wall in what looks like blood. She grits her teeth and turns around, pushing past Daryl to get away from the sight and the smell.

"Are you alright?" Daryl asks when he walks back into the kitchen and sees her leaning against a counter, pinching the bridge of her nose.

"Oh, yeah, just friggin' peachy." She mutters. "I love seeing the pileup of a mass suicide."

"You know I ain't tryin' to be a dick." He says, and she sighs as she looks up at him.

"I'm sorry. I just... Seeing a bunch of dead walkers is one thing. They...were human." She says, and he nods. "I'm not trying to be a bitch. I just... I wasn't prepared to walk into that."

"I don't think you can be even if you knew what was in there."

"Think we can call a truce on all the bickering and arguing?" She asks as she stands up straight, walking a few steps toward him. "It's not exactly ideal holding a grudge on the only person you have left in the world... Plus, it's more fun to annoy you when you think it's amusing and not actually annoying." She holds her hand out toward him, a small smile playing at her lips, and he smirks as he reaches out and shakes her hand.

"Let's finish making sure this place is secure. We might be rained in awhile." He says, and she nods.

Up the stairs on one side of the club, down a spiral staircase on the other, across a few halls, through different rooms, over more dead walkers...

Andie turns to see Daryl shoving more rich people stuff into his bag and pockets. She shakes her head and keeps looking around, finding clothes hanging.

"Do we like this?" The brunette gets his attention, and he turns to see what she's holding. He shrugs, making a noise like I don't know. "Does it look like something I'd wear?"

"Uh-uh." He turns around and gets back to what he was doing before.

"Too preppy?"

"Uh-huh."

"Yeah..." She sighs, looking at the yellow, collared shirt. "But there's no blood on it."

"Find something at the next place." He tells her, and she hangs the shirt back on the rack.

"You get grumpy about me dragging you places." She walks over to him, now holding the arm of a mannikin. "Why were rich people weird?"

"You think I know the answer?"

"I wouldn't know. You refused to tell Zack—" She clears her throat as she looks down. "You'd think it'd get easier."

"Not really."

"That is...tactless." Andie mutters, flashlight now shining on what she previously thought was a mannikin. There's a dead woman leaned against a cabinet, her shirt's open to reveal her bra, and there's a sign that says rich bitch hanging around her neck. And then she sees the legs. "Oh, dude, what the fuck?" She looks away when she realizes that it's half a body forced onto a pair of paper white mannikin legs.

"What are you doing?" Daryl asks when she tosses the plastic arm she was wandering around with to the side before walking back over to where the shirt she was looking at is hanging.

"Taking her down." The brunette says as she walks back over with a white cardigan, then she tears the sign off of the body.

"It don't matter. She's dead."

"She was human, Daryl. It does matter."

He looks at her a moment before getting up and walking over. "Here." He helps lay the corpse down, then he grabs a blue sheet from nearby and lays it over her.

"I guess this is for you then." She holds the cardigan out toward him, and he takes it before opening it up and throwing it over her head.

The brunette chuckles before pulling it down, and he smirks as she fixes her long hair so that she can see. She's still holding the cardigan as she walks over and nudges him toward the next door, so they continue through the Country Club.

"Ooh, a bar." Andie mutters. "Where preppy people drink nasty shit because it makes them feel fancy."

"You drink?"

"Does anyone?"

"Did you?" He specifies, shaking his head.

"Eh, I guess." She shrugs. "Never really had much appeal to me. Hiding from your problems doesn't make 'em go away."

"There are other reasons to drink."

"Like socially?" She looks at him. "I strike you as social?"

"No."

"Oh! Pool!" The younger of the two rushes over to see if all the balls are there. "Play with me?"

"Why?" He questions, and she turns to him.

"Because I asked nicely. Because you think I'm pretty." She shrugs. "Because what else do you have to do? Or are you just gonna keep wandering around and collecting money, no-longer-expensive jewelry...whatever the hell you're chewing on? Seriously, what is that?"

"Cinnamon stick."

"Huh." She nods. "Nice... Now play." She holds a stick out toward him with a smile.

"You know, you shouldn't make fun of the guy with the jewelry." He says as he walks over to her, his hand in his vest pocket. "Might change my mind about giving this to you." He holds up a round locket, and her eyes widen as she looks at it.

"That's pretty." She reaches for it, but he raises it higher over their heads. "Bullying doesn't look good on you."

"More like teasing, Darlin'." He says, and she smiles as she looks up into his bright blue eyes. He then lowers the necklace so she can take it, and he lets it rest on her palm.

"You didn't get this off a body, did you?" Andie asks as she looks back at him, and he shakes his head.

"No." He says, and she narrows her eyes. "I didn't, I promise. It was in one of the rooms we checked, no bodies in sight."

"No one's ever given me jewelry before."

"You're wearing a necklace."

"It wasn't a gift." She tells him, lifting her hair as she fastens the clasp of the new necklace. "It was just something my mom wanted me to wear."

"It suits you." He says as she looks down at the locket, and she lifts her gaze to his face again.

"Thank you." She smiles up at him, and he nods.

Daryl clears his throat as he looks away from her. "We gonna play that game or what?" He asks, and she turns to get the table set up.

Hours later, long after the sun's gone down, Andie goes outside to sit on the deck out back. Her feet are hanging over the side as she looks up at the moon — they're a couple weeks away from a full moon, but she hasn't had a problem with them in years.

"It's actually quiet out here." Daryl says as he walks over and sits down, leaning against the pillar right next to her.

"That's why I came out." She turns her head. "It's warmer than last week too." She says, and he nods.

"Makes it muggy from the rain though."

"Yeah, well, I'll take what I can get."

He looks at the side of her face as she turns her chin upward again, her hair falling over her shoulder as the moonlight illuminates her features. "What's going on in that freaky head of yours?" He asks, and she chuckles as she looks at him.

"You're gonna think I'm weird...or an idiot."

"I doubt it'll be the second one."

"All that talk about Ryan Gosling before got me thinking." She says, and he nods. "I mean, what celebrities do you think have made it this far?"

He chuckles as he looks at her. "Maybe a little weird."

"Admit it, it's kinda interesting to think about."

"So, who do you think?" He asks.

"Well, Vin Diesel, for starters." She says, and he smirks. "The Rock."

"All muscular men then?"

"The action stars." She shrugs.

"Sylvester Stallone?"

"Oh, for sure." Andie nods. "Statham's another one — he looks too mean to die fast in the end of the world. And Angelina Jolie's alive — hands down, no question. Laura Croft was basically her training montage."

"I can get behind that." He nods.

"Who do you think?" She asks, and he shrugs. "Come on. Don't be a fun-sucker."

"Uh... The girl from those alien movies."

"I'm gonna need you to be more specific."

"Uh... There was a Mexican actress...and a husband was there."

"The one where the main girl doesn't remember who she is at the beginning?" She asks, and he nods. "I like that one, that's a good guess."

"And the woman from the Terminator movies."

"I like your guesses and your taste in movies." She says, and he smirks as he looks around, checking to make sure the area still seems clear.

The conversation dies down after that, and a comfortable silence falls over them. Andie leans to the right, her hand brushing his as she tries to adjust her position. The action pulls his attention back to her as she rests her weight on that hand.

"We leaving at first light?" Daryl asks, and she sighs.

"I know you think we shouldn't go looking, but..."

"No, I think we shouldn't risk our lives chasing a ghost." He tells her, and her expression falls as she looks down at the grass.

She knows he has a point, and she can't really even justify continuing the search to herself anymore either. She didn't just come out here because the night was quiet, she was trying to see if she could still track Theo and Beth by scent, but she can't. The storm washed it away again.

"You're wrong, you know?" Daryl says, and she looks at him. "Thinking I don't care about what happened or about our group, that I don't want to find my brother."

"I shouldn't have said that." She shakes her head. "I know you care. I was just being a bitch because I was mad. Not my best trait, not my finest moment. I'm sorry."

"I wanna find Merle. I wanna find Rick. I wanna help you find Theo, and Zoe." He tells her. "Truth is, I just don't think it's worth the risk when we have nothing to go on. Only thing I care about anymore is making sure I don't lose you."

Hearing him say that out loud catches her by surprise, but there's a part of her that thinks she shouldn't be. He may not have given her an answer when she asked if they could go back to the way they used to be, but a lot's happened since then. And things between them have felt more like they used to.

Seconds pass, and neither of them says anything as her eyes stay locked on his. She's always loved the blue of his eyes, found comfort in them whenever she's turned to him for anything in the past, and now something in the way that he's looking at her is drawing her in.

Andie leans toward him, slowly at first, and then she closes the distance between them and presses her lips against his. She rests her hand on the side of his face as she kisses him, but she regrets her decision the moment she realizes that Daryl's not responding to her touch. His body's rigid as she pulls away from him, and she opens her eyes to find that his are wide as he sits unmoving on the patio.

"I'm sorry." She rushes out as she moves away from him. "Oh my God, I-I'm so sorry." She presses her fingers over her lips as she quickly gets to her feet. "I thought... I shouldn't have done... I'm sorry." The brunette turns around, walking back inside and leaving him there, still stunned and frozen in his place.