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Never Too Late

Chapter 38

“They’re in there. Ain’t sure how many, definitely saw two. Damn near lunch, lazy fucks.” Daryl announced when they were back with the others. “Two in front, two in back, one standing guard?”

“Good of plan as any, I reckon.” Rick remarked as he checked his revolver out of habit. “Let’s get this over with.”

Breaking off in to pairs once the neared the cabin, they eased up to the house as quiet as thieves and took their positions; Daryl and Scout in the rear, Rick and Michonne at the front and Sasha standing guard off to the side. Each set waited the predetermined three count and entered the house at the same time, Rick and Daryl both kicking in the dilapidated doors. Once inside, there was a flurry of commotion and confusion as the men were rousted from their slumber.

Three men were in the living room and stood no chance with the surprise attack. A heavy set man with a thick red beard and a stained white t-shirt that was no match for his protruding belly jumped off the couch closest to the door, but lost his head to Michonne’s katana before he could even draw the pistol on his hip. Another man, this one short and stocky with a ruddy complexion and bristly patch of kinky blonde hair on his head, lunged at Rick and was rewarded with a gaping hole instead of the top of his head.

Daryl left the last man that had resorted to falling on his knees and begging for mercy to be dealt with by Rick and headed down the narrow hallway towards the bedroom he looked in to earlier. Preparing to kick the door in, he was momentarily thrown off guard when it was yanked open and a lumbering man with a disheveled head of hair and unkempt goatee barreled through the doorway with thundering roar. Daryl stumbled slightly but regained his composure soon enough to fire a bolt through the man’s chest. The shot, however, didn’t slow the man down despite its perfect placement and Daryl fell backwards on to the dirty floor when the beast of a man tackled him. Thankfully, the crossbow ended up between them and therefor the end of the bolt protruding from the man’s chest barely pressed against Daryl.

Scout turned the corner just in time to see Daryl fall to the ground and started to lean over to help get the man off of him, but as she was about to do someone came out of the bathroom near the top of Daryl’s head. Tall and leanly built, the stare that Scout was met with reminded her of a shark; flat and dead inside. She pulled back her bowstring a split second before the weapon in his hands registered in her head. With an axe reared up to his shoulder, he started towards her and then noticed Daryl on the ground. With a growl of anger, he raised the axe higher with Daryl in his sights, but stumbled backwards as an arrow pierced the center point of his neck. Blood poured down his neck as he lurched backwards in to the bathroom and fell to the floor near the toilet.

Daryl managed to shove his now dead captor off of him enough that he could slide out from beneath the man’s impressive girth as Scout stepped around him in to the bathroom, following the other man to make sure he was dead. He quickly pulled the bolt from the dead man in the hallway and jammed it once into the guy’s head before turning back to check on Scout. He watched as she walked in to the room, turned her head towards the bathtub and raised a hand to her mouth in shock and let her bow clatter to the ground. She stood there for a moment, long enough for him to get to his feet and move forward in to the room with her. As he came up behind her she pulled her knife from her sheath and turned back to the man who was amazingly still alive; his hand clutching at the arrow, while the other searched for a weapon as Scout closed in on him. When he spotted what she had been looking at in the tub, his stomach roiled with disgust as he pulled the tattered shower curtain to close off the view from inside.

Standing over the man, Scout’s body shook with hatred and revulsion for what he and his friends had done to that poor little girl. Hunting knife in hand, she leaned down so that she was close enough to smell his fear; the stench of his unwashed body and coppery blood washed over her. Without saying a word, Scout buried the knife in to his gut up to the hilt and tugged it down sharply; he cried out in pain once as his bowels spilled out on to the cracked linoleum.

Daryl heard Rick and Michonne behind him and heard them say that the house was clear after finding the last one in the loft, but didn’t bother to respond to them. Stepping forward, he reached out to Scout, grabbed her lightly around the bicep and pulled her away from the bloody mess that was leaking on to the floor. Before leaving the bathroom, he pulled out his own knife and stabbed it in to the man’s head so he wouldn’t turn. “Come on, it’s over.”

Scout let him pull her out of the room and take her to the kitchen to get cleaned up. Blood covered her hands and she let Daryl pour water from a jug on the table over them and wipe them off with his shirt and knew they would never be fully clean of that man’s blood, just like they were still dirty from what she did to the Steverson brothers.

In the bathroom, Rick curiously stepped in to the room to see what had caused Scout to disembowel the man that was now dead on the floor; his insides now on the outside. Pulling back the curtain, he visibly flinched and held out a hand for Michonne to stay where she was. “You don’t need to see this.” He managed to choke out as he quickly pulled the shower curtain closed again and turned away from the tub. Eyes closed, he breathed deeply and tried to erase the image of that young girl bloody and beaten, naked and covered in what looked like bite marks, and partially submerged in a tub of her own blood; her lifeless eyes staring up at him, no longer pleading for help.

Daryl was holding Scout in the tiny galley style kitchen when he heard a noise from beside the back door, a shuffling of feet and the thud of something falling off a shelf. Looking over, he noticed a narrow door by the exit that he had missed when they had entered the house since it was partially covered by the open back door. He released his hold on Scout and grabbed his crossbow from the counter before crossing the room in two long strides and pushed the back door closed. Reaching out with his left hand, the crossbow held high with his right hand, Daryl turned the rusty knob and opened the door to find the rotting corpse of Lance staring back at him. He only had a second to register who was inside the closet when the walker lunged forward at him with its hands raised high. Daryl pulled the trigger and released a bolt that landed directly in Lance’s forehead. He leaned over Lance’s fallen corpse and pulled the bolt out, wiping it on his pants leg before reloading it in to his crossbow.

“Less satisfying than I thought it’d be.” He said grimly as he looked down at Lance. Turning back to Scout, he held out his hand to her. Daryl waited until she grabbed her crossbow and slid her hand in his and then pulled her towards the backdoor.

“Everything go ok?” Sasha asked as she ran around from the side of the house, the rifle in her arms cumbersome due to its size and weight.

“Define ok.” Scout asked with a half-smile, glad it was over. Turning to Daryl, she sighed and said, “I want to bury her, but that’s not possible is it?”

“No, sorry, she’s too far gone.” Rick pointed out as he joined them. “The minute we pick her up she’ll fall apart. Best we just leave her where she is.”

“You’re right.” Scout sighed and glanced back at the house with sadness in her eyes. There had been a tiny shred of optimism that they would find Megan’s sister alive and be able to reunite the girls, but that light of hope had been snuffed out. “Let’s go home then.”

By the time they dragged themselves up the stairs on to the back porch and started taking off their muddy and bloody boots, the magenta and deep purple skies were giving way to the dark of night. Scout had just tossed her boots on to the ground when the back door opened and Megan darted out and ran in to her arms.

“You’re back!” The little girl exclaimed as she buried her face in Scout’s shirt. “I didn’t know if you’d come home.”

“I told you I’d be back, didn’t I? We had to go take care of those men that hurt you so they couldn’t do it again.” Scout held on to her tightly and regretted that she was going to have to confirm Megan’s suspicions regarding her sister. She waited until the others went inside before pulling Megan away and motioning for her to sit down on the bench. “Sweetie, I’m sorry that I have to tell you this, but Mindy didn’t make it. She died.”

“I knew they hurt her bad. But she’s with our mommy and daddy now, and not being hurt.” Megan’s eyes watered and her chin trembled, but she tried her best to be a big girl like her sister. “You really took care of the mean men? They won’t come after me now?”

“They won’t ever hurt you again. I promise.” Scout wrapped her arms around Megan and held her tight against her chest. “I won’t let anyone hurt you ever again.”

Scout stayed like that, on the bench with her arms wrapped around Megan, comforting the child as she cried over the loss of her sister. Her head was pressed against the top of Megan's and held her tightly until the sound of the back door opening caught her attention. Looking up, Scout smiled as he stepped out on to the porch and closed the door behind him softly. "Hey."

"Just checking on ya'll." His voice was as gruff sounding as normal, but softer as he tried to not to interrupt their moment too much. "Dinner's about done."

"I think we're ok. Thanks." Scout looked down to find Megan staring up at her with watery eyes. "Why don't you go get washed up for dinner. I'll be right behind you."

"M'kay." Megan wiped her eyes and sniffled a few times before standing up and heading towards the door. She paused for a moment, as though she had forgotten something and couldn't remember what, and then awkwardly wrapped her arms around Daryl's waist; hugging him tightly. "Thank you."

Thrown off guard, it took Daryl a second to return the child's hug. Just as awkward as it had been for Megan to wrap her arms around him, Daryl returned the embrace. Not knowing exactly what to say, he mumbled in return, "Welcome."

Scout stood up as Megan pulled away from Daryl and hurried inside to wash up for dinner. "She handled the news well. Better than I probably would have at that age." She informed Daryl as she walked across the porch and in to his arms.

"Kids ain't dumb. She knew what happened to her sister before you told her." Daryl looked down at Scout and when he saw the expression he asked, "What?"

"Nothing really. Just finally got to save you for once." Scout smiled up at him, trying to make light of a terrible situation. Had she not rounded the corner when she did, Daryl would have ended up chopped meat with that axe headed straight for him.

"Pfft," Daryl scoffed at her words. Lifting his hand, he gently swiped a section of unruly hair away from her face and held her gaze for a moment before saying, "You ain't got a clue, do you?"

"What? That you're a big strong man and you can save yourself? We all know how manly you are, Daryl Dixon." Scout laughed and poked him in the side lightly.

"Nah. It's just that you done saved me a long time ago." Daryl watched as the amused expression drained from her eyes and was replaced with a gaze filled with love and desire. Dipping his head down slightly, Daryl captured her lips with his and kissed her with every bit of feeling he could, but still felt that what he could pour in to his kiss, his embrace, or his touch, would never fully convey how much he cared for her. Pulling back, he stared at her in silence, took in the beauty of her face and her kiss swollen lips and finally uttered the words he had been holding at bay. "I love you, Scout."

Notes

Comments

@waldhoernchen


Yeah, looking back I feel I could have made this story longer, but by the end my mind was already in a hurry to start work on Need You Now. Sometimes I just can't reign in my muse, unlike lately where she's refusing to show up to work at all.

Glad you're liking it!! I just loved writing the two of them. :)

Serenity Serenity
4/6/16

I'm at chapter 20 now and I can't stop. Jeez. But there are just 40 chapters and I don't want it to be over so soon. What a dilemma.

I like Scout, too. They have a lot in common because she has been in dark places too.

"Redemption can be found in oddest places.” << I liked this ending a lot. Perfectly written. :)

waldhoernchen waldhoernchen
4/6/16

@waldhoernchen

This one was my first TWD fanfic, actually any attempt at fanfic outside of my Buffy ones I wrote for years. I really enjoyed writing it and developing Scout, who is still probably one of my favorite original characters to date. Looking forward to hearing your thoughts on it!!

Serenity Serenity
4/5/16

I started with this story as you recommended and you got me after two minutes. I like the dark tone and it's really interesting to see how a single person would deal with being alone for a long time. It looks like she is very similar to Daryl and I like the idea. Especially after Sam and Daryl. The opposite leads to a lot of possibilities and the difference has potential. I'm excited which way it will continue.

waldhoernchen waldhoernchen
4/5/16

@amberryvonnee


Well, I am glad to hear that I was able to keep you entertained! I wish I could read on a road trip, but I have super ridiculous motion sickness that requires heavy medication. Yuck. Hope you enjoy the other stories and thank you so much for the review!

Serenity Serenity
3/27/16