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Breaking Free

Chapter 22

So very sorry for posting the wrong chapter yesterday. All I can say is that I haven't been sleeping well lately. LOL It's my birthday, so please for forgive my stupidity. Hope you guys enjoy the real update for this week.




Can we live without death?
Can we love without hate?
Can we want without need?

Motionless In White“Creatures”


Stomping down the middle of the street, Mia didn't bother to turn around to see if Daryl was following behind her. She could feel him back there, but couldn't hear him. The man moved like he was a damned ninja. In all her life, Mia had never been around anyone who could move as silently and with such purpose, until Daryl. She didn't know what he had been in his previous life that taught him to be so stealthily, but she was quite envious of the skill. It had to be a hell of a bonus in a world where the slightest sound could mean sudden death.

Of course, hordes of walking dead were rare nowadays, with most of the roaming corpses rotting away to literally nothing more than skeletons. Officially dead, where they should have been when their hearts had stopped beating, but a cruel world had condemned them to reanimated life for years after their death. No, the dead were the least of your worries these days. The living were the ones you had to deal with now. The cruel, heartless bastards who had been kept semi in control when law and order were still in place were now free to wreak as much havoc as they possibly could now.

Mia had heard nightmares about what some sick psychopaths were doing to the people who still clung to their morals or the weak. How some men were selling women for pleasure or keeping them in their basements for their own sick gratification. Men who kept whole compounds under their control with violence, stealing from others and taking their food and weapons, forcing others to dole out violence to keep others in control and even murdering the loved ones of groups who refused to submit. It was sickening what the world had succumbed to after the outbreak, truly and utterly sickening.

All in all, the life that Mia had landed in wasn't the worst outcome. They were relatively safe, had at least enough crops to keep them alive, drinking water and a bed to sleep in at night. Sure, Gage's control was tightening to a level that Mia wasn't on board with, but he still wasn't anywhere near as bad as some of the other men she had heard horror stories about from the few members of their group that went out scavenging. She didn't approve of the sex parties, but so far, the women that participated were at least there of their own volition. But, Mia had witnessed firsthand that there were men in Gage's club that had appetites that preferred younger flesh than what was provided as entertainment. Mia was worried about what was going to happen to the teenage girls they had rescued over the years, the ones who were currently assigned to menial tasks around the compound. What was going to happen to them when the men decided they were no longer happy with what was offered for their pleasure? How was she going to save them all by herself, now that Micah was too sick to help?

Lost in morose thought, Mia stumbled over her own damn feet, always the clumsy one, and tripped. Gravel bit into the palms of her hands as she caught herself from face-planting in the middle of the street, but she managed to keep from making a complete fool of herself. Embarrassment flooded her cheeks with heat when Daryl's roughly calloused hands circled her bicep and helped her off the ground. She hated looking weak, but doing so in front of this particular man was bothering her a bit more than she expected.

He steadied her, gazing at her intently with glacier blue eyes that were anything but cool as they studied her face and took in the reddened cheeks that were stained with tears. Mia's stomached fluttered nervously under the weight of his stare, an uncomfortable feeling that she was beyond unprepared for.

“You good?” Daryl asked, half a second before he slipped his hands from her arm and took her hands in his, studying the palms of them briefly before brushing off the gravel pebbles with an unexpected amount of care.

“I'm fine,” Mia whispered, choking back the sudden lump in her throat. Slipping her hands from his, she had a flash of regret when she no longer felt the heat of his skin against hers, and took a shaky step back from Daryl. “I'm good,” she added, more for her benefit than his.

Her hands shook, her breath was ragged, the flutter in her stomach had grown exponentially, and her knees weakened from one single act of kindness? One slight, gentle touch of a man's hands? What in the hell was going on with her? Nothing that was going on at that moment in her life, her body, her mind, was expected and it confused her. No, actually, what Mia was feeling at that moment was something she hadn't felt in years and frightened the hell out of her.

Eyes wide, Mia tried her best to regain her composure and, instead of giving in to the insanely unexpected feelings coursing through her body, dug deep down inside and found the only feeling she was truly comfortable with in regards to Daryl Dixon-anger.
Anger was something she could deal with. Anger was like a second skin, something she could slip into and feel at ease.

Taking a deep breath to steady herself, Mia blinked a few times in Daryl's direction, taking his curious and slightly worried expression, before wrapping her rage around her and saying, “I didn't need your help. In fact, I don't need you at all. Stay away from me.”

Turning on her heel, Mia continued on towards the house that she visited every morning and left Daryl standing in the middle of the street. This time when he followed after her, Mia heard him, because the curse words spewing from his mouth weren't done so quietly as he stomped down the road behind her.

“Sorry, sweetheart, but you're stuck with me,” Daryl reminded her with a less than pleasant snarl to his words. His voice was closer than she expected and Mia cut a glance over her shoulder to find that he was right on her heels, having closed the gap between them quickly.

“Just because you're my guard dog doesn't mean you have to be up my ass,” Mia pointed out, blushing profusely at the thought of him being up her anything, really. Dear God, what was going on with her this morning, she wondered? Thankfully, the heat of the day was high enough to explain away the redness in her cheeks, but there was nothing in the world that could logically explain the damp heat between her legs at the mere thought of Daryl, the grungy, aggravating thorn in her side, taking her roughly from behind.

There was really only one explanation for her current behavior. She was going insane. Yup, she was obviously taking the fast lane straight to the sanitarium. Straight jacket and lithium city, here she comes!

“Trust me, I don't give two shits about being anywhere near your ass,” Daryl replied sarcastically as he strode along beside her, matching her long, purposeful strides without trouble. “Don't mean I'm gonna let you out of my sight though. Done heard you can be a slippery shit when it comes to sneaking out.”

Oh, she was slippery alright, Mia thought to herself with utter disgust. She was pretty sure she needed a cold shower to control her obviously insane hormones, plus a thorough mental scrubbing to remove the perverted thoughts her imagination was suddenly conjuring up. Ugh. She had never been more disgusted with herself than she was at that current moment.

The remainder of the short walk to her destination was spent in brooding silence, until they approached the brick walkway to the house she visited every morning. The flowerbeds that lined the dirty gray walkway bloomed brightly, pink and purple pansies, making the overgrown yard more cheerful than it was. Brushing past Daryl, Mia stomped towards the house and, upon reaching the front door, turned back to him and said, “You can stay out here.”

“Yeah, so you can slip out through the back? Don't think so.” Daryl snorted and headed up the walkway towards her.

“The back door is boarded up, the only access if the front door,” Mia informed him, not budging from her insistence that he stay outside, but one glance into his eyes showed her that he wasn't backing down. Sighing, she explained her reasoning for not wanting him inside. “Look, there's nothing in here but a bunch of girls, okay? They don't want some old guy creeping around when they're getting ready and stuff. Just stay in the foyer, deal?”

The infuriating man offered only a nod, which Mia accepted, although what she really wanted was for him to stay outside. Or, better yet, for him to disappear altogether. Just poof! Gone! That was she wouldn't have to deal with him playing Gage's watch dog, as well as whatever nonsensical thing her hormones were doing that morning.

But, since that wish was obviously never going to come true, she headed inside the house where the girls she hoped to save lived. There were eight of them now, ranging from seventeen to eleven, each of them rescued from certain death, all different types, but death nonetheless. The oldest, Keisha, had been found outside of Birmingham, living in a tent in what used to be a popular hiking and camping location. Alone and severely underfed, one of the members of their group had suffered a knife wound from her before they had managed to get her to accept their help. Their youngest, Fiona, had come to them recently, after being bought from a group of traders for a pitiful amount of whiskey. Sadly, little Fiona wasn't the only one that had been purchased in such a manner. Mia prayed she could keep them from falling back into that horrible life again.

Standing in the foyer, she gestured towards the living room just off to the left and said, “They've got bedrooms, but half the time they end up all sleeping in here. Sprawled out in sleeping bags like it's a sleep over.” One look into the room showed that while the girls were already awake and getting ready for the day, they had obviously done just that the night before. “I think it makes them feel safer.”

“They don't got family around here?” Daryl asked her curiously, as his eyes roamed over the room, taking in the mess of sleeping bags, toys and clothes tossed around the room. Mia figured he was also studying the surroundings for ways that she could possibly escape through, too.

“No. Most of them came here completely alone.” Mia stayed just inside the living room, not willing to move any further into the house until she was sure Daryl was going to stay where he was. “Three of them came to us together. Two girls and a boy, but that's it.”

“Boy stay here, too?” Daryl asked as he continued to survey the room.

“He did at first, but Gage moved him when he got a little older. Didn't think a thirteen year old boy needed to be staying with a bunch of girls, so Ollie stays with Mae now.” In fact, Mae had been moved, too. The older woman had started off in the house with the girls, but once Keisha got old enough to watch over the younger ones without help, Mae had uprooted and switched houses with Ollie, to keep the young boy from moving in with some of the older men, whom she felt would be a bad influence on him. Which, Mia thought, was probably a damned good move.

Without ever questioning as to the real reason Daryl was so curious about the house, the girls or Ollie, Mia pointed to the corner of one couch that wasn't currently completely covered with junk. “You can sit there. I don't know how long I'll be, but I'll be upstairs, so it's not like I'm going to jump out the window or anything.”

Instead of sitting on the couch comfortably, Daryl perched on the arm rest, no doubt so he could easily sprint after her if she did in fact make a run for it, but Mia didn't bother to persuade him to get comfy. Hell, she had more to worry about than Daryl's comfort at the moment, most pressing being the damned sixteen year old upstairs that was pregnant and refused to tell Mia or Mae who the father was.

There were only two teenage boys at the compound, one was thirteen and the other was seventeen. Mia prayed it was Nick, the nineteen year old who lived with his father across town. Sure, his father, Marcus, was a misogynistic asshole, but Nick seemed well adjusted enough, which Mia accredited to the mother he talked so highly about. But, she had yet to see Nick show any interest in any of the girls. Of course, he could have been playing it cool whenever she was around, but Mia was afraid that wasn't the case.

Unfortunately, Emily's tight lipped stance in regards to naming her baby's father led Mia to believe that the suspect was someone who had more to lose than a teenager accidentally knocking up another teenager. No, Mia was damned near certain that the person responsible for getting the defiant sixteen year old, Emily, pregnant was most likely someone who had free range to roam around the compound without someone watching their every move. Someone who could come and go as he pleased without
raising question. Someone like one of Gage's security team.

Now Mia just had to get a name to put with her suspicion, which was probably going to be easier said than done. With a grim expression on her face and a heavy heart, Mia trudged upstairs to no doubt have another fight that morning.

Notes

Comments

@Serenity
I look forward to it....always was one of my favourite stories on Fan fiction.

Lewis Lewis
6/5/18

@lewis7


Glad to see you under any name! Thanks so much for all the comments! I am hoping that my muse shows back up, so I can write some more. I have had some ideas about writing short, one shot stories with Sam and Daryl from Need You Now. There were several scenes I had sketched out that didn't make it into the actual story, so I would like to write them out and post them if muse cooperates.

Serenity Serenity
4/25/18

Back to signing in as Lewis 7 as mel2a has stopped working!!
Love this story and really going to miss it and your brilliant Daryl story telling.
Will keep an eye out for you for future stories.
Thank you for your stories and writing talent.
xx

lewis7 lewis7
4/22/18

@Arubaredx


I'm glad you enjoyed it! Thank you for commenting and good luck with the move!

Serenity Serenity
4/19/18

In the middle of packing to move so everything is crazy, but managed to finally catch up on your final chapter:) A very joyful ending, and very deserved for them too. Very much enjoyed this journey.

Arubaredx Arubaredx
4/18/18