The Vacation
NC17/M
Summary: Daryl and Carol find themselves trapped in a cabin in the woods while a herd of walkers passes through. So why is Carol so damned happy about it? Rated M for Caryl lovin'.
Disclaimer: I don't own The Walking Dead.
It'd been about three days that Daryl and Carol had been holed up in a small cabin a few miles into the Georgia woods. Outside a herd of walkers clamoured for their flesh, every so often punching out one of the boards the previous tenant had nailed to the windows, only to have Daryl quickly re-secure the weak point.
Playing house, is what Carol had taken to calling it by day two. Daryl hadn't been in the mood for jokes at the time, frustrated, cabin fever beginning to overtake the threat of imminent death outside. The pair had been out hunting when the herd descended from the west. Daryl had made a snide comment that that's what happens when you take a woman out hunting – some urban myth about bad luck. Carol had promptly spotted the cabin and raised her eyebrow, as if challenging him to say another word.
Whoever the previous tenant had been, he had been two things for certain: a survivalist, judging based on the amount of canned food and bottled water located in the cellar, and dead. Very, very dead, if the rotten corpse with a gunshot wound to the head was any indication. The scene had been almost too much for even Daryl, between the stench of human rot and what had been leftover when the dead man vacated his bowels. It had taken both he and Carol a good hour and a half to scrub the place clean after throwing the body unceremoniously out the back door and bolting it shut with them inside.
The first night had been tense. Neither lit a fire in the wood stove for fear of attracting more unwanted attention, nor were they keen on making a getaway due to the sheer numbers they'd be facing. Given the readily available supplies, it seemed prudent to just settle in and wait out the herd. They had to move on eventually. They always did.
So they waited. Daryl hadn't slept during the first night, keeping watch as Carol tossed and turned on an old cot with a hole in the mattress. He'd more than once been convinced the walkers were going to get in, as nails creaked against half-rotten wood in a vain attempt to hold their position. A thousand little soldiers, fighting bravely against the onslaught. Most did alright, though he'd had to repair more than few holes on that first night.
The next morning he ate a can of corn, and slipped into the still-warm bed as soon as Carol was up and at 'em.
Few words were exchanged between the pair, much to Daryl's relief. It was bad enough being trapped inside a wooden box that would most likely become their tomb. It was better if they could reach that point without any awkward moments, he figured. Though if he had to be trapped, part of him was glad he was with someone he could stand for more than five minutes.
Daryl didn't sleep long on that first morning, just long enough to get a reboot on his drained resources. He'd never needed much sleep before the world had gone to shit. Nowadays, he was thankful for years of insomnia and nightmares. Sleep was the only thing more dangerous than being awake in this world.
He awoke to the aroma of something he hadn't smelled in months – not since Herschel's farm, in fact. The smell wafting through the cabin pulled him from his slumber insistently, instantly setting his taste buds alight and forcing his eyes to open. When he blinked the sleep out of his eyes, he peered over at the slim woman just as she poured two mugs full of the rich, dark liquid, still steaming from being boiled over a fire he didn't remember being lit.
"Morning sunshine," she said with a smile that was punctuated by a board being slammed out by a walker. Daryl was on his feet with his knife, a hammer and nails before the cold dead arms could do any more damage. A dead walker and firmly nailed board later, and he finally found his way over to the hearth where Carol had seated herself. There wasn't much space, just about enough for the two of them. Daryl couldn't be bothered to care about the proximity though, not when she handed him his first cup of coffee in nearly a year. He breathed in the scent and immediately began to salivate. He took a tentative sip, follow by a long gulp, luxuriating in the taste.
"Almost worth being cooped up in here," Carol noted, sipping her own brew. Daryl scoffed lightly at that, and took another sip before responding.
"Wouldn't go that far," he grumbled lightly, sleep still thick in his voice. Carol grinned lightly and went back to sipping her coffee. The pair shared an easy silence as they finished their liquid breakfasts– well, as silent as it could be with walkers trying to break down the door.
After a while, Carol spoke once more.
"How much longer do you think they'll keep at it?" she questioned. Daryl shrugged and grabbed his crossbow, heading for the one area where a gap in the planks of wood provided him a view out into the world.
"Till somethin' more interestin' comes along, I spose." He peered a little closer into the gap just in time for a walker to fly at the space, colliding with the still-intact window. "Could be a while." Carol frowned.
"The group's going to worry. They'll be out looking for us." Daryl shook his head and backed away from the window, heading back to sit on the floor at Carol's feet.
"Nah, Rick knows better," Daryl suggested. "'sides, none of 'em can track worth shit. Wouldn't find us if they tried."
"Listen to you, brimming with confidence," Carol teased lightly. She nudged him with her foot and smiled, prompting him to look up at her confusedly.
"You're in a damn good mood for bein' them walkers' next meal," he said gruffly. Carol snorted a small laugh.
"I know. I don't know why that is. I guess I'm just... not afraid," she eventually decided. Daryl eyed her curiously for a moment.
"You gone 'n picked a hell of a time to get brave, woman," he shot back. She giggled lightly at that, causing a bemused grin to find its way to Daryl's lips. She eventually settled into a smile that seemed almost serene to Daryl. She placed a light hand on his shoulder and leaned in a little closer as if to tell him a secret. He watched her with rapt interest as she opened her mouth slightly, then closed it, then laughed to herself once again.
He'd never been more confused in his life – and he'd seen Inception.
As the day grew on and the sun began to set along the west side of the old cabin, Daryl found himself becoming more and more frustrated. If it wasn't enough that they were being hunted by a herd of at least fifty walkers, he was trapped in this place with some weird alternate version of Carol. This version smiled to herself, hummed as she cooked, and seemed entirely unfazed by the almost endless clawing and thumping at their rickety old box. Whatever she had smoked while he was asleep, he didn't know if he wanted her to share or keep it the hell away from him. Last thing he needed in a life or death circumstance was to be so damn... content. It unnerved him.
That night Carol slept peacefully with a smile on her face as Daryl alternated between watching her in befuddlement and keeping an eye on the doors and windows. The herd seemed to have thinned a little over the course of the day, which Daryl was more than a little thankful for. He figured if they could lose another half of the walkers by morning, they might stand a chance of fighting their way out of the cabin and back to the prison.
Daryl settled himself on the floor next to the bed, leaning against the wall with his crossbow in his lap and listening to Carol's steady breaths. He couldn't account for her mood, or the way it bothered him so much. He should be happy that she was okay with their circumstance. It was certainly better than being trapped with someone who was panicked. Panic made people do idiotic things, like try to make a run for it through a crowd full of walkers. He'd seen it happen before, and it never ended well.
But something was just so strange about Carol. She barely seemed like herself. Sure, she wasn't usually a downer, but she'd always maintained a sort of reserved calm about her, and rarely seemed to evoke emotions stronger than mild amusement. Maybe he'd gotten too used to the widow and childless mother, forgetting that somewhere inside Carol, perhaps buried deep down behind the battered woman, was a happiness and sense of self worth that not even a thousand beatings could kill.
He almost laughed out loud at that thought. He knew, probably better than anyone, that a thousand beatings could kill just about any kind of hope or happiness. No, he decided, it probably wasn't that at all.
Maybe she was just cracking up. Maybe he wasn't the only one getting cabin fever.
A loud bang on the door stole his attention, and he turned back to the more pressing matter at hand.
It was three hours later, barely dawn when Carol stirred behind him. Daryl peeked over the edge of the mattress and saw her blinking awake with that same oddly contented smile still gracing her features.
"Mornin' sunshine," he threw her words back at her. She smiled and buried her face into the blankets a little, eyeing him over the sheets.
"Morning," she greeted. Daryl and Carol watched each other for a long moment, blue eyes on blue, just sitting in the pocket of relative peace and quiet.
"Y'alright?" he questioned, almost without thinking. He hadn't planned on addressing her behaviour, but he could barely think of anything else. Having her weigh so heavily on his mind wasn't necessarily a new thing for Daryl, but he was usually able to worry about her from a distance. Being trapped here like this with her made it all sorts of impossible to keep his thoughts to himself.
She nodded and pushed herself up onto her elbow, resting her head in her hand as she peered down at him.
"I'm good," she said calmly. Daryl's brow furrowed.
"Why?" She took a long breath and let out slowly as she considered the question. Finally, after a moment, she met his gaze once more.
"It's like a vacation," she eventually decided. Daryl eyed her like she might be losing her mind, and she laughed lightly. "It is! Get out of that prison, get some fresh air... what's not to like?"
"Sure," Daryl humoured her. "Fresh air, good food, hungry walkers... what's not to like?" She laughed at his joke and shook her head.
"The walkers will leave soon enough," she said confidently. "Besides, you get to go out all the time. I'm always stuck back at the prison looking after other people's kids and making meals to feed the whole of Woodbury," she said, a small frown gracing her features. Daryl nodded a little. He hadn't thought about what life was like for Carol at the prison – what tasks she was most often stuck with. He decided then that he preferred her odd contentment to the shadow of disappointment he'd gotten used to.
"You should stop," he suggested. Her brow furrowed.
"Stop what?"
"Stop tendin' to the kids. Stop cookin' the food," he clarified. "You can fight, hunt." She chuckled dryly at that.
"You think it's that easy, huh?" she questioned. He shrugged.
"Why not?" She sighed and shook her head.
"No, I do that and it all gets shoved on Beth. She's just a kid. She doesn't deserve that." Daryl scoffed.
"Rick could watch his own kids," he said gruffly. Carol laughed lightly at that.
"What a novel idea!" she exclaimed, making Daryl grin lightly. "Honestly though, it isn't so bad. I just needed a break, I guess."
"Well you got one. Luxury hotel 'n everythin'," he said, gesturing to the small space around them. Carol laughed heartily at the joke.
"Feels like it!" she exclaimed, before setting a slightly mischievous gaze on him. "Not only that, I get to be here with the only member of the group I don't get eventually get sick of." Daryl laughed a little louder at that than he intended, only to be reminded of their circumstance by a loud bang on one of the windows. He sobered a little, but eyed her amusedly.
"You just ain't had time to get sick 'a me yet," he joked. She giggled a little and pushed herself up into a seated position and swung her legs over the edge of the bed.
"Don't hold your breath."
One more chapter to go. Hope you're liking it. Let me know!