Carol sat by the lake washing her husband's dirty laundry.
The morning had broken early, sending searing waves of heat into their camp. The heat and humidity together had driven many of them to the lake where Shayne had been giving Carl and Sophia swimming lessons. She loved to watch her young daughter splashing happily in the water wearing just one of her thin summer dresses.
Of course Ed hadn't been around because if he had been, he'd have dragged her out of there by one of her skinny arms and started yelling at her. Carol knew if she intervened, one of his fists would come flying and split her cheek. Her face had been rinsed with blood how many times she couldn't remember…after a while they all ran together like rain droplets joining up together to form a stream.
But Ed had been drinking the whisky again and had probably passed out under a tree somewhere. Maybe she'd go and check to make sure he hadn't died of heatstroke after she finished her work here.
Then again maybe she'd wait a while as she saw Daryl talking to Andrea over by where she and her sister Amy usually fished when they weren't out on Dale's boat. Dale was over there talking to them and helping them tie lures on their lines having left his ancient camper for a change.
"Hey where's Shayne?"
Carol looked up to see Lori walking towards her. The woman annoyed the hell out of her. She didn't know what two alpha men like Rick and Shayne saw in her. She was pretty enough though she had her scraggly days like they all did since warm showers and bubbly baths were luxuries of a past world that was more dead than those who now ruled it.
She shrugged, picking up one of her husband's sweat stained tee-shirts to soak in the water.
"He's right over there with the others."
Lori looked on over there and sighed.
"I can't believe him…showing off like that in front of my son."
Carol's lips set in a firm line.
"He's teaching your son a survival skill," she said, "What if the only thing standing between him and being killed by those walkers is being able to swim away from them?"
Lori appeared to think about that. Good that meant she had a brain, Carol thought.
"Well…that's something Rick should teach him then."
Carol reached for the leaves they used to lather up like soap.
"He's not here to do that is he? He's just got here and he's going back to Atlanta to get the guns he left there."
Lori put one hand on a hip.
"So we can blast those walkers away if they get too close."
"Yes but your son needs a man to guide him and Shayne has taken him in as his own."
Lori shook her head.
"No…he lied to me and told me my husband was dead."
Carol was starting to lose patience. It made her grip her husband's shirt more tightly careful not to rip it.
"How do you know he lied to you," she said, "It could have been a mistake…things were so crazy…the world was in total chaos…"
Lori frowned.
"That's no excuse…he did it just to get me in the sack."
Carol cocked an eyebrow up.
"He didn't have to work all that hard…"
Lori's mouth dropped open.
"What…"
Carol nodded, as she rubbed the fabric of her husband's shirt to lather up the soap to frothy bubbles.
"Yes…it's true that I saw the two of you rolling in the grass," she said, "You weren't thinking of your husband then were you?"
"I…I…he lied and told me he had been dead…what was I supposed to do? Be celibate for the rest of my life? He took advantage of me."
Carol sighed.
"Lori…you need to take responsibility for your choices…and if that means fooling around while you wear another man's ring…then some will go down that path but at least owe up to it."
Lori looked even more perturbed.
"No…never…I'm with Rick now and as soon as this is all over, we're going to renew our wedding vows."
That was news to Carol because though she knew Rick shacked up with his wife in the same tent, his own eyes had been wandering. Towards Amy…the sweet young girl who wore her blond hair down to her waist and had earnest blue eyes. When Lori hadn't been looking at her husband, he'd been looking at Andrea's sister.
But then Carol had been looking at Daryl even though she'd been wed to Ed. The same guy who in between bossing her or slapping her around had kept his lazy ass planted to the ground drinking up a storm.
That's why no one ever assigned him to walk the perimeter as sentry to keep an eye out for walkers approaching in their midst. Rumor was that the food had grown so scarce in the bigger cities that they were now departing in mass and wandering the countryside for fresh meat. She dreamed of their ravished faces, missing limbs and stumbling gaits as she slept in her tent at night next to Ed who just snored away and provided no comfort. She'd wake up in fear that a group of walkers would surround her bed before ripping her limbs apart to gnaw on them like drumsticks.
What kept her from totally losing it was imagining that instead of her husband, it was Daryl who would hold her tightly at night, spooning next to her. If any walkers dared approach, he'd wake up and take them all out in a row with his crossbow. She knew he'd keep her safe.
But so much more than distance separated them.
Daryl had approached the women after planning with Rick and Glenn about their strategy for going into Atlanta and retrieving the guns. He'd have been pissed off enough to kill them for leaving his brother behind in Atlanta chained like an animal left to die. He still thought about killing them after they found his brother…that he and Merle would gang up on the others and just pick them off. But as much as he wanted to kill them, he knew that doing so would put the walkers at an even greater advantage.
Andrea looked up at him.
"Daryl…how long are you all going to be gone?"
He shrugged.
"Maybe a few days…maybe longer…I'm not coming back without him."
She just nodded, accepting his answer. He didn't know much about Andrea, didn't care to know much about any of them but he knew that she and her sister had spent much of their lives apart until just before the apocalypse. Now they were making up for lost time and spending their time together while helping find food for the group. Andrea was sexy as all get out but a bit too fiery tempered for a guy like him to enjoy beyond a brief fling and Amy…too young. He'd seen Rick giving her the eye when no one else had been doing and thought the sheriff needed to be taken out to the shed and taught a lesson. Amy looked like she hadn't been around much and Rick had his own mess to sort out. A cheater of a wife who hooked up with the camp's most volatile member and when Rick came back in the picture…Daryl had just wanted to steer clear.
But Carol, now there was a woman….he watched her now washing clothing by the lake and never one to complain about it…not like Andrea who had been circling Ed as if she were going to take him out. Carol on the other hand looked like she respected a man's authority.
He liked watching her and had spent an hour doing so while cleaning his crossbow in preparation for the next meet up with the walkers. He knew that each day their presence grew closer and the danger grew for all of them.
"Hey Daryl go fetch me a water."
He just stared at Andrea who winked at him. Amy just gave him a sweet smile and a little wave. He wondered if she had any idea about Rick's lustful thoughts.
"Go fetch it yourself. I'm not one of those men who dress up and are bossed around."
She made a face at him as she left her sister.
"Men…," she muttered as she departed.
That left him and Amy…and the woman sitting a distance away washing clothing. Jacqui just shook her head at the both of them.
"Look at you…it's the end of the world and you're complaining…"
Amy sighed.
"Just because we won't let you read our palms."
Daryl remembered something about Amy freaking out after Jacqui had calmly told her she didn't have a long life line. Andrea had brought her back some brandy to calm her down and told her it meant nothing. She'd live forever and as happily as anyone could in this nightmare world.
But right now a frown marred her pretty face.
"I don't think the men should go."
"Hey we'll throw then a party when they come back," Jacqui said, "We'll go catch some fish, bake some cake and just have a grand old time."
Amy didn't look so certain but Andrea patted her on the shoulder.
"You and I will go out and catch the fish like Daddy taught us."
Amy finally nodded and as Daryl stood and watched, the two women walked away. He looked over in the distance and saw the mechanic, Jim his name was, pick up a shovel and start digging.