#like 'oh i thought you were definitely gonna be a boy cuz when beth was pregnant with summer? WOOF'

[my-thoughts-and-junk]

Thinking about. Old wives tales.

[stonecoldjerseyfox]

Jersey on my mind (part 1)

Daryl rams his fist in the roof of the car as hard as he possibly can and swears loudly at his own stupidity; he doesn't even try to tailor the words as he utters a whole bunch of profanity, without its equal. Fucking hell! Of course it was a trap! And here they are, locked inside a car, like a baffled fox stuck in a fox scissors. The difference is that he and Aaron are stuck inside a crappy car with a dead engine, surrounded by walkers. How many are they? Too many. Right now, he’d preferred the fox scissors. With pulsating, burning knuckles he looks at his male companion.

”What?”

The man in the passenger seat observes him calmly. Daryl hesitates at first, but on the other hand; they are sitting in a car that can be devoured, to say the least, by hordes of walkers any second. It would just require that one of those rotten morons manages to smash a window.

”I came out here too, ya know, not feel all close up back there.” Daryl scoffs. ”Even now, this still feels more like me than back in them houses. That's pretty messed up, huh?”

Aaron meets his gaze, nods slightly, with a faint smile. Is it pity?

”You were trying.”

Maybe all in vain, Daryl thinks. He’s been accustomed to surviving day by day; all of his life has been about surviving, often day by day, to the point where this new reality feels completely unnatural to him. Being out in the woods, hunt for food, sleep underneath the stars, wash off wherever he could find water. Nowadays, since the group settled in Alexandria, he feels like a caged, wild animal; shackled, restricted, totally superfluous. To admit that this new way of life doesn’t bring him any calm, any satisfaction, is shameful. But to come clean with it; if this is the end, it doesn’t matter, right?

”Listen-” Aaron says, while a walker presses its face towards the window, smears its saliva, mixed with blood, all over it. ”I saw you with your group out there. You led them to safety.”

Daryl grunts. Yep, he did. But that wasn't enough. Nothing is enough. He couldn't save Beth and it still haunts him in his dreams. No one, not even Maggie, blamed him for it, but it didn’t help him sleep any better at night. He thought the discovery of Alexandria would heal his wounds to some extent, make him feel that he was repaying some kind of debt to the group, a favor of some sort; In vain off course.

A dead bastard grins badly at him through the window. They can’t sit here. They have to get out. Aaron seems to think the same. Daryl takes a cigarette from his pocket, puts it between his lips and starts looking for something to light it with.

”I’ll go.” he says. ”I’ll lead them out. You make a break for the fence.”

Aaron immediately starts to oppose the plan. Crap, they don’t really have time to argue.  

”Just let me finish my smoke first.”

Daryl is about to take a throat flare when he’s interrupted. Somewhere on the outside, gunfire breaks out. Daryl drops the cigarette into his crotch out of pure surprise. He swears out loudly as the cigarette burns a small hole in his pants, while the walkers, whose attention has been directed towards the men inside the car, like kids in a candy store, shifts attention towards the sound. Aaron twists and turns in the passenger seats, tries to get a glimpse of what’s going on outside, but the walkers are in the way.

”What’s that?”

”I dunno.”

Whatever it may be, it can't be good. No one from their group knows they are here. Outside the car, walkers are mowed to the ground like dominoes. This is their chance.

”Come on.”

Daryl grabs the crossbow. With the cigarette in the corner of his mouth and with one last glance at Aaron, they swing the doors open and throw themselves out of the car. Without dropping the cigarette, Daryl swings the crossbow through the air and hits one of the walking corpses right in the kisser. Its jaw bone flies through the air and drops to the ground. At the same time Daryl sees two figures in the corner of his eyes he doesn’t recognize. A male, armed with what looks like the shaft of a broomstick, which he swings through the air like some goddamn- he’s torn from the staff and the man, as the second figure dives into his field of view. A woman, wearing a hat, armed with an automatic rifle that she aims at a walker right behind him; she shoots and the bullet hits straight in the head.

”Let’s go.” the unknown male waves at them to follow his lead.

They start running through the mass, towards the open gate in the fence, surrounding the area. Daryl shuts the gate in front of the remaining walkers just as they reaches it. Daryl and Aaron turns towards the newcomers. The situation has changed in the matter of seconds. From being crammed inside the car, surrounded by walkers and in the belief that their last moment had come, they have been freed by two complete strangers. The deserted street is littered with walkers. The four of them looks at each other, while the remaining dead sons of bitches tries their best to squeeze themselves trough the small squares of wired net.

”That was…” Aaron looks at them with his hands raised in front of him; some kind of peaceful gesture. ”That was… wow. Thanks. I’m Aaron. This is Daryl.”

Without the slightest facial reaction, the woman lifts the rifle at them; over the barrel Daryl meets her steady, yet jaded, gaze underneath the brim. Come on…

”No, no, no.” Aaron waves his hands even more frantically in front of himself and Daryl.

”What the f-”

”Mila-” the man’s dark eyes widen at her bold action.

”Safety precaution, Morgan.” the woman replies, in a thick accent no one of them definitely haven’t heard before. ”You got to save them. Now we’re even.”

”I said no harm-”

”Yeah, ’cuz that went well yesterday?” she scoffs.

Daryl’s tired. Tired of being surprised, tired of being overshadowed and damn tired of having weapons aimed at him; he raises his crossbow at her. That might make her boggle. It doesn’t.

”I wouldn’t do that if I were you.” she says. Without breaking their eye contact she nods the barrel towards the ground, for him to put down his crossbow.

”Ain’t that smart pointing guns at people, lady.”

”Ain’t smart getting trapped either.”

Don’t fucking test my patience, Daryl thinks, focuses on breathing trough his nose; it’s not the right time to fire up, though his temper works against him on that part. He sighs and reluctantly lowers the crossbow. Behind the rifle he’s met with a smirk, whereupon she lowers the rifle.

”Great.” Aaron lets out a deep sigh. ”Thanks, again. Erhm, why-” he turns and looks at the bloodthirsty cluster behind the fence.

Daryl looks at the male with the staff. Why didn’t he kill them? She was the only one who actually did.

”Because all life is precious, Daryl.”

At those words the woman rolls her eyes.

”Wha-”

”Don’t ask.” the young woman interrupts Aaron. ”We have to move. Whoever set the trap will return.”

Daryl looks at the unlucky couple. He’s in his late forties, tall and dressed in cargos; she can't be a day older than thirty, maybe even younger. Short, athletic similar to a long-distance runner; tenacious, lean muscles. Except for the hat, she’s dressed in jeans, denim shirt, a quilted rust colored jacket and a pair of boots. What catches his eye is how worn and pale she looks. The shadows under her eyes tattles that she hasn’t slept for a long time, may need to eat, or even have a cold. At that moment she puts her fingers in the corners of her mouths and whistles loudly. The sharp sound bounces over the desolated road, against the buildings. As on command the back door of an abandoned pickup opens further afield. At first he’s sure it’s an ambush. The next second, and he can hardly believe his eyes, a boy, no more than three or four years old, with long, blonde hair, climbs out of the back seat and runs towards them. He carries a walkman and a pair of headphones in his small hands. A small backpack bounces on his back as he scurries up to them, where he clings to the women's jeans, seemingly calm, curious even with the two newcomers. The extra weight the boy puts on her, while clinging to her right leg, seems to make her sway on the spot.

”He’s yours?”

What a stupid question; the only difference is the blonde hair, unlike hers. Otherwise, he’s a copy of his mother.  

”He is.”

She looks at the boy, then back at Daryl. The gaze is steady, alert; like a she-wolf watching its cub. The boy tugs at his mother’s jacket. She looks at him and shakes her head lightly, making the long hair sway.  

”Schh. I can’t carry you.” she whispers towards him and turns her head towards them. ”As I said, we better get out of here.” she repeats and squeezes the boy’s small hand, while giving Morgan a glance. ”It's dusk soon.”

”Oh, but we have good news!” Aaron exclaims; the former politician returns to his role, in the hunt for voters and supporters. Or in this case, survivors to join them. ”We have a community not far from here. Walls, electricity, it’s really safe. If you’d like to come with us…”

They expect them to look overwhelmed. Maybe surprised even. Instead, Morgan shakes his head and politely abrupts Aaron.

”No, thank you. We’re on our way somewhere.” Morgan nods towards Mila and the boy, whose big blue eyes are pasted on Daryl and the crossbow in his hand.

”Though we are a bit lost-” Morgan continues, starts to search through the pockets of his jacket. ”If you could tell me where we are.”

From the beige weather jacket he takes a folded map, which he hands over to Daryl. He takes it. It’s well-used, worn and stained. Over the big blue field that is the Atlantic, next to the east coast, someone has written a message in blue ink. His eyes are drawn to a certain part of the message. He looks at Morgan, back at the message. ’Sorry, I was an asshole. Come to Washington. The new world’s gonna need Rick Grimes’. Once again he looks up at Morgan. What does this mean? He knows Rick?  

”Ya’ know Rick? Rick Grimes?”

”Well, yes.” Morgan's eyes wander between him and Aaron. ”Do you?”

”He’s with us.” Daryl returns the map. ”Back at Alexandria.”

Morgan and Mila look at each other. The man seems not to believe his ears, whereupon he declares that he found the map at a church, with Rick's name on it.

”That's where I met Mila, and Juri. We decided to stick together, go to Washington.”

”Well, he aint there.”

That’s when the situation, once again, changes rapidly, in a matter of seconds. The pale woman’s pupils dilates, as if a curtain is drawn in front of her, and she collapses on the ground in front of them.

”Mila!”

Morgan throws himself down next to her, followed by Aaron who takes the boy by the arm and pulls him over. Daryl gets down on one knee next to her; while Morgan pats her on the cheek, calling her name, Daryl places the back of his hand against her forehead, while his eyes searches for the cause of this.

”Mila, Mila!”

”She’s burning up.” Daryl states. ”When did you last eat?”

”A couple of hours ago.” Morgan says, and for the first time since they met him, he looks afraid. ”She didn't eat much though. I don’t understand.”

”What’s wrong with her?” Aaron’s eyes are worried. ”Is she hurt?”

Like on command, Daryl once again searches her with his eyes, from top to bottom. She starts to move, or rather shivers with chills, while grunting, like in pain. She has a fever and is pale like a sheet.

”She’s wounded or something? Sick?”

”I don't think so. Don't know. She hasn't said anything.” Morgan meets his gaze. ”We were assaulted yesterday, the same group that trapped you I believe. But we disarmed them.”

That's when Daryl’s eyes are drawn to the tank top; it looks bulky at the stomach, as if it were too much fabric at that particular spot, and in addition, the entire middle part of the garment is somewhat stained, wet even. Without warning, Daryl lifts the top. What’s underneath causes Aaron to put his hands in front of the boy's eyes; it’s not a pretty sight.

”All life is precious, my ass-” Daryl takes a deep breath and sighs. This ain’t good. ”Son of a bitch.”

Her midsection is wrapped in three layers of gaffer tape with pieces of grey cloths, soaked in blood. The skin is swollen and shifts in a palette of red, purple and blue.

”I had no idea.” Morgan exclaims.

”Well, now ya’ do.” Daryl sputters and takes out his knife. ”Gotta remove this. Hold her.”

While Morgan tries to get a word from Mila, Daryl cuts the tape and carefully lifts the bloody pieces of grey melange fabric, seemingly what once was a t-shirt. It’s worse than he thought. A gash, from what looks like a sharp object, like a machete, runs from navel to rib cage, is stapled with a staples gun and leeks fluid. The fact that the wound is stapled and that Morgan had no idea she was hurt, makes it even more bizarre; did she staple herself?

”Gotta get her to Alexandria.” Daryl says. ”She needs a medic.”

Without waiting for an answer, as if there was time for it, Daryl lifts her off the ground. If he, or they, doesn’t act quickly, she’ll die. And considering the boy- she quips when Daryl adjusts her in his arms, most likely in pain; that she was able to walk around an entire day, and ward off walkers with that wound; impressive, but incredibly foolish. How much blood has she lost by now? What was she thinking? That staples and gaffer tape would do the trick? It’s like a goddamn scrapbooking project. She ain’t no surgeon, that’s for sure. Morgan collects their belongings; backpacks and weapons, Aaron takes the boy, who hasn’t said a word during the entire time, in his arms and they start scudding back toward Alexandria.

(I’ll be posting part 2 asap)

[greekgeek21]

The Codependency Competition Ch.7

Hey guys! I'm back. And I'm determined to write until this chapter is long and amazing. Also, do you guys want me to start naming the chapters with actual titles instead of chapter #s? If so, just let me know and I'll do it! Even for just one person! You also need to tell me how long you want this story to be. That way I can plan on what to write. Honestly, I could end this story on this chapter, so... Comment, like, and follow!

Happy reading and stay safe,

your author

P.S. I just reread the last chapter, and I totally cringed at that last part. Sorry if you did, too.

ΩΩΩ

When they woke up the next morning, everything went back to normal. Well, as normal as it can get for two teenage demigods. They woke up, they ate breakfast, they walked to school, and they started class. Nobody mentioned last night's episode. Not even Percy's parents, who most definitely heard her screams. They'd learned that it was best to let Percy and Annabeth work things out on their own, in their own way. Anyway, there weren't any mishaps whatsoever, and that was what worried Annabeth. It felt too silent. Like the calm before the storm. And when Annabeth gets a feeling, she's almost always right.

During lunch is when it happened. The ADHD part of her brain was wondering why it was always lunch that had bad things happen during it.

At her table, Annabeth and her friends were just minding their own business, talking about whatever the newest gossip going around the school was, when tragedy struck. Ok, it wasn't a tragedy, but it was definitely shocking. Annabeth's been spending too much time around Percy; her dramatic side was coming out way too often nowadays.

Percy and his friends sat down at their table. Her friends and her all wore similar shocked expressions, unable to form a coherent sentence.

Last time, it was just Percy, and it wasn't as stare-inducing. Now, Percy and all of his close friends, the popular group, were sitting at the "nerd" table.

Of COURSE everyone was shocked.

"Hey, 'Beth," Percy said, taking a bite of his sandwich.

Annabeth was fully prepared to start ranting about how he knows full well to never use nicknames made out of her full name, but then stopped herself. He was just trying to provoke her. Wow, he wants this competition to end more than she thought. Well, the jokes on him cuz' she's not gonna break.

"Hi..." she answered, faking confusion now that she had figured out what was happening.

Her friend was another story, though. They all turned to her with various emotions displayed on their faces; confusion, anger, surprise, even curiosity. The curious one was Addison, of course. The facial expressions varied between personalities.

"Wha-you ju-huh?" Noah stammered, unable to make sense of what was going on around him.

He, like all of Annabeth's friends, had learned about her hatred for nicknames. Well, they thought it was all types of nicknames, but that wasn't completely true. One person was allowed to give her a nickname, and that person just so happened to be sitting across from them.

"What's going on, guys?" Chloe asked, clearly in one the plan to sabotage all of Annabeth's hard work.

Annabeth narrowed her eyes at her before answering, "Not much. Just talking about how apparently THE Percy Jackson was caught making out with someone behind the school. You?"

She smirked to herself as she looked over at Percy with raised eyebrows. Percy just can't learn that he has no chance of winning, can he?

By the look of his face, Percy was trying to come up with some excuse as to why that rumor was going around. It obviously wasn't true, but he was too caught up in his shock to realize that.

Percy's friends looked over at their friend, silently asking what do we do now? This was NOT part of the plan, but Percy should have known to come with a Plan B when trying to outsmart a daughter of Athena. Ok, maybe not outsmart, but outmaneuver (even that is pretty far fetched, though).

It was quite amusing to a certain grey-eyed girl, really.

"What's wrong, Percy? Cat got your tongue?" Noah asked, not choosing the pass up the opportunity to get some pay-back on the cool kids.

"Shut up, Noah," Annabeth snapped on instinct.

She wasn't able to catch herself before the words had left her mouth. Her other friends were staring at her in shock and Noah looked like he was about to say something he would probably regret later. If anyone had bothered to look over, they would've seen the relief on Percy and his friends' faces. That comment was able to snap Percy out of whatever ADHD stupor he was in, and he was now looking at Annabeth with raised eyebrows and a smirk, almost most to ask, what're going to do now?

And that's when Noah's anger-filled floodgates burst open, "Unbelievable! Why are you protecting them? They're jerks and you know it! You know what they did to me!"

Screw it, Annabeth thought.

"You have no right to say that! You don't even know them! Was it even them who did it to you? Huh?" She yelled back as she stood up, attracting the attention of the entire cafeteria.

Everyone was watching the fight like a tennis match, waiting to see who would lose. Unbeknownst to them, Annabeth never loses.

"No right?! You've barely even TALKED to him! What gives YOU the right to defend them!" Noah screamed back, standing up too and getting in Annabeth's face.

Wow. How oblivious can someone be? If Annabeth is protecting Percy, doesn't that mean they know each other? All of her other friends seemed to come to that conclusion, but apparently Noah was too mad to realize it. Oh, well. Let him get it out. He's probably been holding this in for awhile by the way things have escalated so quickly.

"He's my boyfriend!" Annabeth finally screamed.

The entire cafeteria went silent. So silent that you could hear a pin drop.

Percy didn't seem to know what to do. He just kinda stood there, flabbergasted, like everyone else.

Annabeth was practically radiating pride. She didn't care that she technically lost, all she cared about was Percy. So what if she was wrong ONE TIME. She loved Percy and that was enough for her. Who needs a silly competition when you can have the best boy in the world?

Since he didn't look like he was going to do it, Annabeth took the initiative and walked over to Percy, pulled him down to her, and kissed him. It took Percy a couple seconds to catch on, but when he did, the kiss was one of the most passionate they had ever shared in front of people. The whole world faded away; it was just the two of them.

Yeah, it was one of those kisses.

They only pulled away when people started clapping and wolf-whistling. But even then, Percy still kept an arm around her shoulders while they looked around. Pink tinted both their cheeks in embarrassment, but Percy still had the biggest smile on his face anyone had ever seen. And it wasn't because he had won, it was because he finally had his girlfriend back. Well, ok, maybe a small part of it was because he had just beat Annabeth Chase.

"Wanna get outta here, Chase?" Percy whispered in her ear.

She nodded slightly, and he led her through the crowd that had formed.

Why had a crowd formed? It wasn't some big event! They had just kissed. In front of the whole school. Very passionately. After Annabeth had just screamed that he was her boyfriend. Oh, crap.

They didn't even bother to finish the rest of the school day. Percy just texted Paul to sign them out and then left.

Back in the cafeteria, hundreds of conversations had started up as soon as the couple had left. Percy's friends seemed to try to act like they didn't know anything, but it wasn't working. At least not for everyone. Addison was very perceptive. As soon as Annabeth had made her announcement, everything had clicked. It was so obvious! She had to talk to Annabeth. So she took off after the retreating lovers, trying to figure out if her friend had ever mentioned where she lived.

"Hey, Addison!" Someone called after her when she was in the hallway.

She turned around to find all of Percy's closest friends standing a couple yards away from her. They all had knowing looks on their faces. She figured they already knew about the relationship.

But why would Annabeth tell them when her best friends didn't know yet? Were they even best friends?

"Looking for where she lives?" Mikes asked, referring to Annabeth.

"Yeah, where is it?" Addison said, wondering how they knew, but decided against asking.

The teens shared a look that Addison wasn't able to decipher, but it looked like they were about to share some big secret that would shock anyone into silence. What could be bigger than her best friend hiding an entire relationship from her?

"Percy's," Mike answered.

"'Percy's' what? What do you mean?" Surely he couldn't be saying what she thinks he's saying.

"Percy and Annabeth live together," Chloe cut in, cleanly answering so there was no room for confusion.

It's that serious?! Oh, well. That doesn't matter. I need them to take me to their house right now, she thought.

"Take me there," Addison ordered, not caring that she was ordering around some of the most influential people in the school.

"Sure," Chloe shrugged and started to exit the school, "We need to talk to them, too."

ΩΩΩ

I know this could've been longer, but I thought that I would try and give you guys as many chapters as possible. This one was still a little longer than the last, though. So that's something.

You guys like bossy Addison? Cuz' I definitely do. I didn't even plan on making her character develop throughout the story, but it just did. I went with the flow, just like Percy would.

Oh, and btw, did you guys notice my little comment on Percy being the perfect boy? Fictional characters have completely ruined my standards for boyfriends.

You guys know I have to thank JJ, or nightskywithrainbows, right? Of course you do! But they still deserve WAY MORE than a shoutout, so go read their stories on Ao3! (Their amazing!)

Anyway, comment, like, and follow! Stay safe and happy reading!

– your author

chapter 8 :)