Carol was always up bright and early, there not being a lack of chores to do at the prison. She was used to early mornings long before the dead started rising though. Ed had insisted that she make his lunch fresh every day before he went to work, and she had to get Sophia up and ready for school for most of the year. There were times when the early morning hours were the only real time she had to relax by herself, and stretch out the time for those small tasks so she could work at her own pace. Even so, now that there were real chores to do, like getting everyone up and fed for the day, she didn't balk at doing her share, and probably the share of several others as well.
Her early morning chores were the reason she was up and helping make breakfast before Daryl found her. He crossed his arms, leaning against one of the support posts for their small meal area, and watched her as she gave instructions to the two morning cooks. Her movements were graceful and efficient, showing that she had an awareness of the space around herself. It was something that Daryl had always appreciated when they had been out on the road together; a skill that was gained by experience and instinct and one that could make all the difference when confronted by walkers.
She looked over at him a few times, but since he didn't seem to be in a hurry she finished her task before approaching him. "Are you going to eat something before we go out?"
"Yeah, just wanted to grab it and go though. You ready?" Daryl continued leaning back, squinting down at her as she seemed to be trying to decide what to say.
Carol hesitated long enough, that Michonne joined them, her sword already slung over her shoulder. "Do we still have some of those granola bars? I want to grab a couple for the road."
"Yeah, I think we have several boxes still, as long as no one raided the supplies last night." Carol shrugged and Michonne walked over to the cooking area, leaning over to talk to one of the young cooks. They disappeared behind the counter for a moment, coming up with an opened box of the requested item and emptied it out into Michonne's hands. She returned to Carol and Daryl grinning as though she had just won a prize, and gave them each a couple of the wrapped bars.
"I think we're ready. Aren't we?" Daryl looked at Carol and she shrugged again, touching the knife on her belt briefly. "Good, Michonne, you wanna drive?"
"Of course I do. I don't want to end up in a ditch when you spot a deer that you'd like to shoot." She glanced at Carol and smirked, "Did he tell you how the car ended up with the dent in the front bumper?"
Carol shook her head, smiling, "No, but I'm sure it would be an interesting story for the run." She glanced at Daryl and laughed when she saw that he was scowling. "Don't pout, Pookie, I can tell you both the story of how I took off my review mirror the first week I had my driver's license."
Michonne stopped at the driver's side door and looked over the roof of the car at Daryl. He had gone to the back door on the passenger side, letting Carol take shotgun position. "Do we need to get anything else before we hit the road?"
Daryl shook his head, "Nope."
Carol shrugged, "We've got weapons and food, water and a map, what more do we need?"
She was right, and the trip was a well-planned one even though it felt last minute to Carol. Even if she had just been asked to join them the night before she knew that Daryl and Michonne had planned the short trip for more than a week and had a lot of experience going on runs together, mostly to search for clues about where the Governor may have headed.
This trip wasn't about that though, and they headed straight for a small town that was almost two hours away from the prison, by car. It was such a small town that it didn't appear on the map, and the town sign declared that it was unincorporated. It still had a gas station, a café, and a small strip mall with a variety of retail chain stores. It was a pit-stop between bigger towns, the kind of place that travelers would stop for a drink and to get gas if they were weary from driving.
"I can't imagine wanting to live in such a small place. I wonder where the residents went when everything started getting bad. You'd think that places like this might have been a bit safer if they had hunkered down and waited for the initial panic to die down." Michonne shrugged, turning in a small circle as soon as she had stepped out of the car. There wasn't anything in sight, but she wanted to be sure before they picked a store to start exploring.
"Probably went to the city; the refuge centers that were supposed to protect people." Carol frowned, "Ed was taking us to one when we got caught in a traffic snarl, and then they started dropping napalm on Atlanta so we never got any further. Those were supposed to be the safe zones where we'd be saved. I bet all of those people died."
Daryl gave her an odd look before shaking his head and pointing at one of the retail stores. "Why don't the two of you check out the clothing place while I try to get more gas for the car?" He moved to the trunk to get the extra gas can out.
Michonne and Carol looked at each other for a moment before shrugging and agreeing. It was a smaller boutique, but the window display had a few cute outfits on the mannequins, and it seemed mostly undisturbed. "I guess no one had a shopping spree here yet." Michonne rapped on the glass door and they both stepped back to see if anything would come to the entrance.
When nothing appeared after a few minutes Carol tried the door, and found it unlocked, "I guess that means we're welcome?" The store was dark, but the glass front allowed some natural light inside, and it smelled dusty from being abandoned for so long. There were racks filled with clothing, mostly women's and children's, but they ignored those until they had done a complete circuit of the store to look for hidden dangers. A back door was secured by Michonne, but they left the front door open for Daryl to rejoin them.
After the store felt more secure they dug into the rack of clothing, looking for things that could be worn in the hot summer and the colder on-coming winter. They had pulled most of the jeans and skirts when Daryl came into the store, passing them with a grunt and heading toward the small men's wear area in the back, next to a wall covered in shoes and boots.
Michonne held up a bright blue scoop-neck blouse, looking at it critically before holding it against herself and looking in the mirror. "What do you think?"
"Good color on you, but that size is probably too large." Carol glanced back at the rack she was flipping through, hesitating on a green V-neck with ¾ length sleeves. It was simple, but pretty. "We should grab a few things for the others too. Maggie could use some new clothes, and I'm sure the community supply is getting low with so many people taking things from the pile."
"You should take that one. I think Daryl would like to see you in that color." Michonne grinned, ignoring the look that crossed Carol's face at the comment, "Of course he might like it better if he could take it off of you."
Carol glanced toward the back of the store, where Daryl had gone to look for boots. They may have checked the entire store and secured the doors before splitting up, so she didn't have to worry about him getting cornered by walkers, but she did have to worry about him overhearing comments like that. "I doubt he has any interest in what colors I wear, or don't wear."
Michonne snorted, "You can keep telling yourself that, but I know better."
"Don't tell me that you've been listening to those silly gossips. They don't know anything about what's between Daryl and me, so don't believe them." Carol tucked the shirt into her pack though, telling herself that it was just because she liked the color herself.
"Oh, Carol, I don't listen to anything those stupid women say. I've just seen the way he looks at you when you aren't paying attention." She grinned and looked back at the shirt she was holding, cutting off her next remark as Daryl came back.
"Find anything good?" He didn't seem to have noticed what they had been talking about, or he didn't care.
"Lots of good things, pretty colors." Michonne held up the shirt she was still holding before shoving it in her own bag.
"Do we have time to be picky right now? We should just grab all we can carry and sort it out later." He frowned, watching as Carol's hand caressed the silk of a blouse on the rack she was searching. "We still have other stores to go through if there's room in the car."