"Hey, Beth. Maggie." Carl greeted the Greene ladies as he entered the kitchen. "Ya'll seen Daryl?"
"He went out to check the fence for weak spots again." Beth answered. "You just missed him." Carl watched as she and Maggie gathered things up and moved them around, generally tidying up and cleaning things.
"What are you doing?" He asked needlessly, mostly just to block out the silence. It'd been about three weeks since the day he'd lost his mother and gained a sister, things were still pretty emotionally raw for the entire group. His dad seemed to be finally putting the broken pieces of his shattered soul together, slowly and carefully, but anything was an improvement to how he'd first handled it all.
"Just cleaning things up a bit. The prisoners were no housekeepers, that's for sure." Beth gave him a pretty smile.
"That's an understatement." Maggie added, going to throw some things into a big black trash bag.
"Wait!" Carl stopped her mid-toss, a mischievous glint entering his eyes. "Don't throw that out. I've got a better idea."
Awhile later saw Carl, Beth, Maggie and Glen, who'd joined in on the caper, rushing down from Daryl's perch, all stifled grins and hushed giggles. Hershel and Rick saw their four youngest members running about, seemingly up to something. They exchanged glances and went about the business of tending to the baby, Rick finally holding her for the first time.
"I can't believe we did that. He's going to be so pissed." Beth said a little nervously, but she still laughed at the thought of it. She and Carl were now sitting on opposite ends of her bed, Maggie and Glenn sitting on the floor and all four pretending to be playing poker.
Carl giggled, "It's going to be so funny! He won't be pissed. Well, maybe at first he will be."
"How long do you think before he gets back?" Maggie grinned excitedly. It'd been a long time since something fun had happened, and she was anxious to see how Daryl reacted.
"I don't know. I could go get him. Make something up for why he needs to come inside." Glenn offered.
"No, he'll be suspicious. I'm just excited." Her eyes twinkled merrily.
They didn't have to wait long, soon they heard the outer door creak open. They shushed each other then hurriedly put on the blankly oppressed faces they customarily wore these days as Daryl walked past headed for the perch.
"What the fuck is this shit! This… this is shit!" Daryl's voice could be heard throughout the cell block. His tone was angry laced with shock and disgust. "I can't believe you people! Why the hell would you do this?" Footsteps came pounding down the stairs.
Like a bloodhound he instinctively knew it was them. He was at the doorway of Beth's cell in an instant, scrutinizing each of them in turn on high alert for any signs of telltale guilt. "Alright, which one of you was it?"
Beth regarded him with an all too innocent gaze, "What's the matter, Daryl?"
"What's the matter? Don't you 'what's the matter' me! I think you know!" He swept his eyes across the members gathered before him once more, "I think you're all in it. Just tell me, how depraved are you people? I mean, I've done some fucked up shit in my time, but this? Don't ya'll have no respect?"
All four just stared at him as though he'd lost his mind, before Maggie spoke, "Really, Daryl, what are you talking about?"
He glared at them silently for a long moment looking absolutely livid. "You wanna play it this way, fine! Come up here with me and take a look. All four of you!"
The five made their way towards the staircase, Hershel and Rick emerging from Carl's cell. Daryl would have been pleased to see Rick holding Little Ass-Kicker if he wasn't so infuriated.
"What's going on?" Rick asked the fuming man as he passed by. "What do you think they did?" Rick knew it was them, having seen them scampering away from the scene; but it was so rare to see joy on anyone's face these days, he figured it was just a harmless prank, no need to interfere. Now he wasn't so sure.
"Come see for yourself." Daryl huffed.
They all headed up the stairs, Glenn helping Hershel navigate them on his crutches. When they neared the top, Rick could see the faces of the culprits losing their composure, smiles creeping onto their faces, lips twitching with suppressed giggles. Once he made it up and saw what all the fuss was over he couldn't help it, he started laughing himself.
Daryl turned on him, "You think this is funny?" He was not amused.
Rick couldn't answer, just kept laughing, joined by the others except Hershel, who looked horrified.
"What is wrong with you people?" Daryl yelled in an outrage.
There were little turds scattered about all over the place. On the floor, on Daryl's bag, the mattress he'd dragged out from one of the cells, even on the railings.
"Daryl," Rick tried to explain through his laughter, but just started guffawing anew.
Daryl turned on the quartet he knew to be responsible, balling his right fist, before he could do or say anything Glenn choked down his laughter. "It's… it's cardboard!"
"What?" Daryl looked bewildered, caught totally off guard.
"It's cardboard." Glenn repeated.
"The girls found a bunch of empty cardboard tubes from paper towel rolls. You tear it in strips and get it wet, then you just kind of clump it up and mold it." Carl supplied, "Me and a friend did this to his parent's room once."
Daryl seemed deflated a moment, the emotions on his face running the gamut from shocked to proud, and nearly everything in between. It was quite the thing seeing such a variety of emotions play across the normally stoic man's face.
He looked about at the mess again, not near as repulsive as he'd first thought, then turned back to Carl, "You saying you punk'd me, kid?"
Carl just grinned at him.
Daryl smiled in spite of himself, oddly happy he'd been their chosen target, "Well, ya'll got me good then didn't ya?"
Rick was sure he knew what was coming next, and excused himself saying the baby needed a bottle, Hershel followed along at Rick's nod. Daryl waited until they'd reached the bottom of the stairs, never breaking his gaze from Carl's. He reached surreptitiously over to the railing, grabbing one of the soggy mounds, before launching it at Carl with a laugh, spurring on a 'turd' flinging war that lasted well in to the night.