CHAPTER THIRTY-SIX

"Hey, can you tie off that end?" Andie asks when Daryl walks out of the house, and he looks at the string that she's trying to maneuver with all of the random objects that'll clank and let them know if any walkers come too close.

"Why didn't you tell anyone what you were doing?" He questions, moving to do as she asked. "I would'a come out here and helped you sooner."

"Everyone else was eating."

"We ain't supposed to go off on our own."

"Do I have to ask for a chaperone to go to pee now too?" She questions. "Or do you only chaperone stupid teenage drunks?" The brunette steps over the string and starts for the front door.

"Hey." He quickly steps in front of her, blocking her path. "I'm sorry about yesterday, all the shit I said and did when I was drunk. I turn into a real dick when I drink."

"I noticed." She's looking up at him, but her expression never softens like he wants it to. It's like she's refusing to look at him like she usually does.

"That comment about you and Theo — that came out wrong. I wasn't callin' you anything." He tells her. "I happen to think pretty highly of you, despite how yesterday made things seem."

"Don't worry about it." She tries to go around him, but he grabs her hand.

"You gonna keep giving me the cold shoulder?"

"What do you want me to do, Daryl?" She shakes her head as she steps away from him, pulling her hand from his. "I already made a fool out of myself. And I really don't have the tolerance to do anything to make it worse with your brother around — I can't listen to his bullshit about daddy issues and cradle robbing. And I don't want to get into the stuff I told you yesterday about my family. I'm just trying to keep everybody alive, and not at each other's throats."

"You ever gonna let me pull my foot outta my mouth?"

"We're good, alright?" Andie tells him. "Let's just forget the last few days even happened. We found your brother, and Theo, and I can do my best to make good on Carter's dying wish...and that's honestly more than I really thought was gonna happen. And now we have a child to keep alive in a world that keeps trying to kill us. So maybe we don't focus on trivial drama?"

He pauses a second before nodding, figuring that's the best he's gonna get right now. It's not like he's fixed his issue with not knowing how to tell her how he feels anyway, so he'll have to take what he can get for the time being.

"Okay."

"Okay." She motions toward the front door, and they head back inside.

The pair walk into the room that the others are in, and Andie walks up behind Beth as she plays the piano. She's reading the sheet music set up there, singing the lyrics on the page.

"You two sneak out for a quicky?" Merle smirks as he looks between Andie and Daryl.

"Man, shut the hell up." His brother says as the brunette flips him off.

"What's that?" Luna asks, and Merle starts laughing before Andie slaps the side of his head with the back of her hand.

"Hey!"

"Nothing, Luna." Zoe shakes her head as Theo pinches the bridge of his nose. "Don't listen to anything Merle says."

"This place is nailed up tight." Andie tells the others. "The only way in is through the front door."

"Hey." Daryl gets their attention, but he's looking at Andie as he stands near the coffin at the front of the viewing room they're in. "It ain't no five-star hotel, but this is the comfiest bed I've had in years."

She shakes her head. "It's all yours. I know too many people who'd love to see me in a coffin, and I'm not giving them the satisfaction." She says, and Theo laughs as he sinks into the cushioned bench. "Keep playing." She tells Beth as Daryl hops up into the coffin and lays down.

"Where are we sleeping tonight?" Luna asks as she looks up at Andie.

"Uh..." She sighs. "Why was I voted leader again?"

"Papa said you're good people."

"Your papa had a screw loose."

"What?"

"Huh?"

"Why don't we turn some of these chairs around, huh?" Theo stands up and spins some of the chairs before pushing them together so the cushions touch. "Just be careful while you're laying down."

"What if we vote Theo leader?" Andie asks, and he looks at her.

"You're not that desperate yet." He says as he starts to walk past her.

"I'm no Scott."

"No one is." He whispers, and she takes a deep breath. "They called him a rarity for a reason."

—

Theo walks into the kitchen with Beth cradled in his arms, and Zoe ducks her head so that she won't get kicked. The blonde is giggling as he moves to set her in the chair that Daryl stood up from for her.

"Should we start throwing some rice?" Andie muses, and Zoe chuckles when Theo picks up a jar of applesauce and chucks it at her. She catches it with ease and sets it back on the table. "No wastefulness, jackass. We're living in desperate times."

They hear the cans that Andie and Daryl set up yesterday, and the two are out of the kitchen in an instant. He tells the others to stay as he raises his crossbow, then he follows the younger girl as she peeking outside through the slats in the boarded up windows.

She opens the door as he walks up behind her, looking over her shoulder when he can tell that she's not worried about a threat. "It's just a damn dog." He says as he glances back, knowing his brother isn't too far away.

"He's missing an eye." Andie kneels down as she reaches out toward the white dog that's covered in mud. "Hey, puppy... Oh, no." She looks up with her lower lip sticking out after the dog runs off.

"Maybe he'll come back around. Come on." He motions toward the kitchen, and she sighs before standing up straight and shutting the door.

The group spends the rest of the day in the building, trying to keep themselves entertained in one way or another, and Merle's the only one to comment when Theo and Beth disappear together. Andie shakes her head, trying to keep Luna distracted so she won't ask what he's talking about again.

"I wish we had cards." The brunette mutters, and Theo smirks.

"Nothing to win off people now."

"I'm bored, you ass." She looks at him. "It's not always about scamming some poor schmuck."

"What are you talking about?" Daryl asks, and his brother starts laughing.

"You used to hustle people for money?" Merle asks, looking at the brunette. "God, you are so entertaining...and way too good for my brother."

"Not even close." Andie mutters, shaking her head.

"What about hand games?" Zoe asks.

"I'm too old for Patty Cake."

"We can play hot hands."

"Oh! Me and Andie." Theo jumps up, and she takes a deep breath before standing up and walking over to him.

"One of us is gonna end up with a broken finger." She says, and he smiles.

"That's half the fun."

"What are you doing?" Luna asks as she walks over to where Beth's sitting at the table.

"I'm gonna leave a thank-you note." The blonde tells her.

"Why?" Merle questions.

"For when they come back. If they come back." She says. "Even if they're not coming back, I still wanna say thanks."

"It's called being a good person, Merle." Andie says, and Theo groans as he pulls his hands back.

"That hurt." He wheezes, and she chuckles as she holds her hands out in front of her again, palms together.

"Maybe you don't have to leave that." Daryl says, and the younger girls look at him. "Maybe we stick around here for a while. They come back, we'll just make it work. I mean, they may be nuts, but maybe it'll be alright."

"Ah, fucker." Andie hisses, and Theo smirks.

"So, you do think there are still good people around?" Beth asks with a smile.

"I think hanging out with you freaks has made my little brother go soft." Merle says.

"He's just a better man than you are." Andie says before punching Theo's shoulder.

"Hey! That's not how this works."

"You cheated!"

"How the hell do you cheat at this?" Theo questions, and Luna laughs as she looks at them.

"So, what changed your mind?" Beth asks, still talking to Daryl, but he's not looking at her anymore. She follows his gaze, and sees Andie grinning as she sikes Theo out twice before hitting his hands hard with her own. "Oh." She smirks as Theo groans, jaw tight.

"Soft." Merle grumbles, and then they hear the cans clinking before the dog starts barking again.

"I'm gonna give that mutt one more chance." Daryl grabs the peanut butter before walking over to the door.

"Come on." Andie smirks as Theo narrows his eyes at her, the two have their hands out in front of them still.

"Bitch." He curls his fingers, and she chuckles. "It's broken. You broke my knuckle."

Daryl opens the front door, and he's immediately met with the snarls of the dead trying to get inside. He tries to slam the door, but they're blocking it, and Andie rushes over to help him hold it shut.

"Merle, get Luna!" Andie orders as Daryl calls for Theo.

"You got it?" Daryl asks after he has his crossbow in hand.

"Yeah." She says, and he moves away from the door. "Theo pry open a window! Get our stuff and get out!"

"We're not gonna leave you!" Beth calls as Zoe rushes to collect some of their things.

"Andie, we gotta move." Daryl says, and she takes a deep breath before running from the door.

He shoots an arrow into the first walker through the door, then he grabs her and pushes her ahead of him as they start running through the halls. The walkers are close on their heels.

"Get out! Go up the road, we'll meet up there!" Daryl yells. "Get them! Go!"

He pushes her ahead again before turning off in a different direction. Some of the walkers follow after him, and she slams into Theo when she rounds a corner. He grabs Andie, stabbing a walker in the head before it can get ahold of her.

"This way. They got out." Theo says as he leads the way. "Come on!"

"We can't leave him!"

"He'll get out." He forces her ahead of him, pushing her toward the window that Merle got the girls out through. "Get out! I'm right behind you!"

Andie gets through the window and she hears Merle struggling somewhere in the distance. She runs, seeing him fighting off walkers that are advancing on them as Luna clings to Zoe. Beth tries to help, but she can't move very well on her injured ankle.

Their newly appointed leader has her hatchet in hand as she kicks the walker that's trying to bite at Merle, and she swings the blade on two others. They're near the road, and a silver car drives up as Merle and Andie are fighting off the dead. Luna's screams gain their attention, and Merle moves for the girls when he sees two men dressed as cops grabbing the three of them.

Zoe pushes Luna at Merle, and he scoops her up as Andie kills the last walker in the road. She runs over as Beth's stuffed into the trunk of the car, and Zoe's yelling at Merle to get Luna away from the car.

"Get her out of here! Go!"

"Merle, run!" Andie yells as she pushes him back, and he takes off into the woods, back the way they came the day before.

Theo's running over to the girls as Andie's trying to get the men away from her friends. Beth's now unconscious in the car, but Zoe's still putting up a fight. There's a gunshot, and Andie gasps as she stumbles back a step.

"Andie!" Zoe screams, and Theo catches her when she trips on one of the walkers that she already killed.

"There are more coming!" One of the men yells as he shoves Zoe into the trunk and slams it shut. "We gotta go! Get in the car!"

"No!" Andie tries to go after them, and Theo turns on the walkers coming after them. "No!"

"Andie!" Luna calls out from the woods. "Theo! Andie!"

"There are too many." Theo says, seeing the herd headed toward them.

"Daryl." She looks back the way they came.

"We gotta lead them away." He tells her, knowing that Daryl wasn't right behind him. "We gotta move, Andie. We can't stay here."

"We have to go after the car!" Andie argues. "Daryl!"

"Andie, let's go!" Theo grabs her free hand — the one not clutching the bullet wound in her side — and he pulls her toward the woods.