Daryl
Legacy Name: Daryl

This is the end, my only friend, the end .It hurts to set you free, but you'll never follow me. The end of laughter and soft lies. The end of nights we tried to die.

Notes

-Possible jobs: detective, mechanics, undercover cop
-Only child
-Mother died when he was 18. She loved him, even tho she had modest means (worked in a dinner in a small town). Was left on his own to face the world.
-Age when the outbreak happens: 35

Story

“Hey, could you stop at that small convenience store a mile or so away? I want an Arizona iced tea.“

The sun was starting to set. They had left their camping spot late in the afternoon, wanting to make the most out of their yearly trip. Daryl didn't mind driving all night long, and he would never say no to a few more hours spent fishing with his best friend before going back to the busy city life.

“I can't believe how hipster you got since you moved to LA, Aarick. Like come on man. Arizona iced tea? Really?“ Daryl's tone was playful. He rarely saw his friend since Aarick moved to LA three years prior, and he never missed a chance to tease him about it. He was glad they never stopped doing those trips every year. He couldn't be happier that for those two weeks it could be just the two of them and the wilderness.

“It tastes good okay? And you need a coffee if you're going to drive all night. Plus, it's the only store til we reach X“ While Aarick used a teasing voice, Daryl cound't help but notice he was going into his defence attorney mode. He did admit that his friend had a point. Old Jack's Convenient Store was the only stop for the next two hours or so. If they needed anything, they had to stop there, unless they wanted to make a detour in the mountain to go to one of the many small town on the way.

“It's just sugar. Bad for you man. Don't come crying to me when you're 40 and already have liver problems.“ Daryl gave his friend a playful nudge, and pulled over to the pit stop's small parking lot.

The lights inside the store were closed, and a few of the windows had been blocked with scrap pieces of wood. An old pickup truck seemed abandonned next to the barricaded building. One of its door was open, and traces of dried blood could be seen on the ground in front of it.

Daryl stopped his own truck and the sound of his voice mixed with the sound of tires stopping on the dirty ground “What the hell happened here for Christ's sake?“ He was about to open his door, go investigate that truck, go try to make sense of this surreal scene. This was too weird, too strange to be nothing. But Aarick stopped him in his course, putting a hand on his shoulder and grasping the leather of his vest.

“Wait. Something is wrong. Look at that truck over there“ He pointed at the old pickup “There's dried blood on the ground. Whatever happened didn't happen today. It must have been days, and nobody came to investigate? No police? No one from town? It's the high season. There's a campground about 20 miles north. Someone should have seen this Daryl. Something's off.“

Daryl trusted the other man with his life. And he was right. Something was off.

“Gotta point councellor.“ He started back the truck engine before adding '“And I don't wanna have anything to do with whatever happened here. We'll report it to the local sherift or something when we hit town. If whoever did this is still arround I don't fancy meeting them.“

Aarick shruged ''Right. Let's get going before it gets dark. I promised Ellsey I'll be home tomorrow night, and I still have a while to drive after we get to my sister's place in Denver. I gotta admit reporting a possible murder wasn't really on my plan“

-

Daryl knew something was off when they didn't meet any other cars on their way to X. It was a quiet country road, used mostly to get to far off places deep within the mountains, but they should have seen at least one other car.

“I don't have any cell signal“ Aarick broke the tense silence that had settled between the two men since they saw the grime truck scene two hours ago.

Daryl turned his attention from the empty road to look at him. Aarick was addicted to the device, checking his emails every few minutes when they went out for lunch during the year. Daryl hated it, hated that his best friend couldn't even leave his work behind for a few hours. He got it though, got why it was so important. It was the way the world worked now, the way the world kept turning.

This was why he was so grateful for those few weeks a year: it could be just the two of them, no cell phones, or emails, or any other kind of modern worry to come and break the moment. They went back to basic, to a primal way of life based on the weather and what nature decided to offer to them.

It wasn't that he didn't enjoy or wasn't grateful for what the modern way of life had to offer. He was glad he could use computers and cell phones to keep in touch with those he cared about wherever and whenever he wanted. It's just that sometimes, he needed to go back to that primal way of life, if only for a few weeks.

Seeing that Daryl wasn't going to answer, the older man continued “We're not even 20 miles away from X. I should have gotten signal back at least half an hour ago. We aren't that far into the mountains anymore.“

Daryl didn't give too much thought to his friend's concern, mostly worried about the lack of other people and of any light as they were approaching a town. After all, signal was patchy at best in this area, and he knew he was going to lose Aarick to a storm of emails whenever his phone signal came back.

“I know what you're thinking,“ Aarick concerned voice woke him from his thoughts “but I do really need to call home. I'm not planning on checking my emails Daryl I swear. I still have another two days of vacations left and I fully plan on staying away from work for those two last days.“ He raised his head from the small device “And I do really want to enjoy those last few hours of road we have together as much as possible before we split for God knows how many months.“

Daryl kept his eyes on the road, smilling at Aarick's last comment. “Try my phone maybe?“ he mumbled, while pointing at the device sitting between them.

The screen lit up the other man's two weeks old beard as he turned the phone on. Silence returned between the two as he tried to get the device to work, lifting it over his head in a vain attempt to capture some form of signal.

“Nothing either.“

They were now 10 miles away from X. Daryl must admit it was weird neither of their phones had any signal. ''We'll hit town in 10 minutes. Maybe there's a shortage or something. You can always use a pay phone when we get there?''

''Yeah I suppose.''

Credits

II.Temp profile by noemi edited by past
III.Quote by The Doors
IV.Story borrows concepts from The Last of Us, The Walking Dead, Fallout and The Zombie Survival Guide
VI.This character is inspired by Daryl Dixon from The Walking Dead and Joel from The Last of Us