During the same day...
"I'm goin' for supplies. There's a supermarket a few miles away, and I have to check a few of the traps I set. In that order." Daryl informed Michonne in the prison's yard, answering at the same time her questioningly look.
"Alright, do you have room for one more?"
"I'm taking the car so yeah, plenty of it. We leave in ten. I'll meet you at the gate."
Michonne nodded in agreement and quickly went inside to take her sword. She never went outside the prison without it. Actually, that cold metal piece had became like her best friend: always there to protect her.
The summer was almost over and she could see how much they evolved since the Governor last attacked them. They had crops and animals…. not many but it was a start. Give it another few years and they would be less dependend on the world outside the prison…well at least concerning food. They were already starting a society inside. They were organized, had rules, had a hierarchy and a council and acted on strategy and plans whenever they had to face challenging situations or more routine types like… going for supplies. She and Daryl were the the ones to adventure outside the fences regularly: Daryl to hunt and Michonne to scavenge for other vital stuff like clothes and medicine…and occasional comic books for Carl. She was getting quite fond of the little one…. she saw in him some sort of grown version of her own son…..she imagined that this is how her own son would have behaved if he had been still alive… Michonne shook those grim thoughts outside her mind: there was no point in regretting the unchangeable past.
Daryl was already waiting for her in the car so she hurried up and entered in the right-front seat. He signaled Carl and he opened the gates, careful not to let any walkers inside. Daryl pushed the acceleration and drove off.
"Here." Daryl said handing Michonne a map and continued." Here is the prison, with the X on it. We take the first right on that turn and go straigh' east for 10 miles or so. There' s also a gas station nearby…we are running low on gas and we have to refill."
"What if there is no gas left at the station? Do we have enough to make it back?" she said concerned after analyzing the map.
"I think so, and even if there isn't, we can refill at the gas station. We need medicines and food and stuff and besides, last time I checked everything seemed in pretty great condition…considering."
After about 20 minutes they were parking their dirty car in an abandoned parking lot of a seemingly ghostly store. As soon as they exited the car Michonne drew her sword out and Daryl readied his crossbow.
"Pretty great condition…right." The woman said mocking her friend.
"I meant the gas station."
"Sure you did."
They walked cautiously towards the glass doors and positioned themselves in a strategic posture then tested the area by knocking slightly. There was no reaction, not from walkers nor humans. Daryl made a few gestures with his right hand signaling her to burst inside at his countdown: 3 2 1….
With a sudden, swift and silent move they entered the building. It was dark and cold and devasted. Shelves were broken, and all sorts of products were left all over the place with a thick layer dust on them. Michonne and Daryl split up to cover more ground. With her sword ready she carefully took a few steps further. She saw left on the floor a few cans of food. She bend sown and picked them up' putting them in her backpack that she had been carrying since she left. She finally got to the comic book shell and she flipped a few magazines choosing a 2009 edition of Spider-man for Carl.
As she moved on she suddenly heard their car's engine starting to purr. Without a second thought she ran outside with Daryl shortly following her but they were too late as some guys just stole it. Obviously, they tried to chase it but they weren't even by far fast enough to catch up and reclaim it back. This presented itself as a rather difficult situation.
They went back to the parking lot searching for another car to use but all of them, however few, had their engines already broken or the tyres flat. Because they couldn't have waited for some medical rescue party they said they started walking back to the prison . That was simply embarrassing thought Michonne. She wandered what were they going to tell Rick when they would eventually get back…that they lost their focus assuming that there was no danger outside the store… or at least not a human danger anyway.
Daryl was angry, mostly at himself because he always thought that it was his fault….sometimes she wondered what was he thinking about... He didn't speak to much but she was pretty silent as well so she couldn't be mad at him for that. They were that kind of people who were keeping their problems and thoughts for themselves. She has been lonely for so long before she found Rick's group that she almost forgot how to speak her mind towards other living humans. Her entourage used to be two walkers without arms or reason. Surrounded by the dead and acting, most of the time, as one, made her almost forgot how to be alive. All that she did was to survive. That was her primary goal. After Rick, the new target was to find a safe place to be. Now that they were all settled down it all seemed almost dreamy. Sometimes she wondered if it wouldn't be even better, know that they had a well protected base, to search for a new goal: try and save others and not just themselves. It was one of those moments that she realized that they weren't as strong as she wanted them to be and that any mission towards finding a cure and saving the world sounded at least childish considering their situation. They were no big damn heroes, no scientists, no warriors. Only people, coping with what pretty much looked like the End of the World. To save themselves and the few Woodbury residents was the best they could do for now .
"Is that our car?" Daryl asked, interrupting her chain of thoughts.
Looking up ahead the road he could clearly see their car crashed and almost turned upside down. They started running and were there in no time. Walkers were already feasting over one of the thieves... Or what remained of him while the driver turned, but couldn't move because of the seat belt. Daryl quickly put two arrows into their heads while Michonne pierced her katana through the driver's skull. It was so much blood and the head was already so messed up that she couldn't even see the wound left by her weapon. The only result she saw was the sudden lack of movement.
"Talking 'bout poetic justice." sad Daryl shifting his crossbow on his shoulder and going back to retrieve his bolts, but was different disappointed that they were almost broken... Probably he used them too much... Nothing lasts forever. He made a mental note to just throw away the old and fragile bolts and only newer ones.
Michonne went into the car and retrieved whatever documents and items might have left and packed them into her back. She wondered what might have caused the accident. Weird they're both versions back they simply continued following the road.
It had past almost 2 hours and it was already late into afternoon when they found one of the most curious things yet. On the side of the road large blue box was just... Standing there, seemingly abandoned.
"What the hell is that?" Michonne asked puzzled.
"Don't ask me?"
"According to what is written on it, it's a police box, but this is british and old. I've been in London with my parents once and I saw one of these in a museum. I thought it was a strange wardrobe back then." she said.
"And you still remember that?"
"It was pretty memorable since i was playing hide and seek with a few friends I made there and i think I staid in one of those blue boxes for hours until they finally found me. My parents were so mad and worried... I was grounded for a month."
"At least your folks noticed you were missing!" Daryl said with anger in his eyes but with otherwise an even and detached voice. He moved towards the mysterious box, being more than slightly curious about it.
"Why would anyone carry around something like that?" He continued. "I mean, just look at it, seems brand new... Not even dust settled on it! This thing couldn't have been here for more than a few days." He tried opening the doors, but with no result.
"Whoever this crazy person is, he's either around here or dead." said Michonne seriously. "We better get Rick here and only after deal with this nonsense."
"Agreed!" said Daryl.
The dim sunlight was fading even more and it was getting even harder to find their way through the woods. However, Daryl's instincts and experience, plus knowing where they were headead was really helpful in the current situation. They decided to quickly check the traps before returning to the prison. After the grand failure of the day, bringing back some meat would be sort of a good way to forget their bad luck and to have a sweeter conclusion for the day.
Meanwhile those said instincts warned them about the not so very distant herd of walkers passing by. A sudden and unexpected song filled the air and their minds with distant and almost forgotten memories. Careful as not to attract any walkers, they went towards the source of the noise. Daryl advanced further while she remained slightly behind to watch out for any wandering threats. He stopped and called her.
"Hey, Michonne. We got somethin'."
She was intrigued…and hungry after the long day that had just passed and asked "dinner?"more like a joke, even though she seriously hoping that a deer or rabbit or even squirrel had been caught in one of their traps. So it was quite a disappointment when Daryl said that they were people: she automatically thought that he was talking out walkers because since they started to prepare traps in the woods they would frequently find human corpses instead of their next meal caught by them, but then he continued.
"A pretty girl and a...magician?"
Well that got to be interesting, so she asked in her even tone. No expectations, just dealing with facts and acting accordingly.
"Walkers?"
She was surprised to hear them respond.
I'm terribly sorry it took me so long to update this but in my defense, I've got some really important exams this year so I use most of my tine studying. I will try and update it sooner if you are still interestred in this. In the meantime, I thank you all for your reviews, alerts and favorites: your support made me very happy :D Until the next time ;)
