Liv propped the washtub against her left hip with her good arm and held Kevin by the hand with the other. She found Lori, Carl's mother. "I'm going to help with the laundry. Would you mind keeping an eye on him?"
Lori nodded mutely, her attention elsewhere. Less than assured, Liv followed Carol, Amy, Andrea, Jacqui, and Ed down into the rock quarry, where a beautiful blue lake twinkled in the midmorning light.
The camp she'd stumbled upon, with Daryl's help, was well set-up. Strings of noisy cans guarded the perimeter, and scavenged car seats and sofas surrounded the fire pits, which were built high with rocks so the flames couldn't be seen from far away. Each family had its own tent, for privacy, and strings of drying laundry constantly dotted the camp. The only issue seemed to be food, which occupied Liv's mind as the car rattled down the rocky quarry trail.
They quickly set up an operation on the water's edge; each woman had her own scrub brush and bucket, and they bent industriously to their labor. Across the pond, Shane and Carl were "catching frogs," splashing and laughing loudly.
"Am I the only one starting to question the division of labor around here?" Jacqui asked sarcastically as they carried loads of wet laundry to and from the trunk of Ed's car. Liv chuckled in agreement.
"That's just the way things are," Carol replied with a nervous glance at her husband. "I do miss my good washing machine from home."
"I miss my mixer," Liv volunteered.
"I miss my coffee maker, with that great ol' filter," Jacqui put in.
Amy began reminiscing: "I miss the internet. I miss texting."
"I miss my vibrator," Andrea said in a low voice. Liv snorted, and Jacqui giggled.
Carol glanced at Ed again. "Me too," she said, very softly.
The group exploded into laughter, and Ed came lumbering over to investigate. "What's so funny?" he demanded. "This ain't no goddamn comedy club. Get back to work."
Liv brushed past him to take another load of "clean" laundry back to the car. She could carry reasonably well with one arm, but scrubbing laundry was beyond her at the moment. She couldn't stand not being useful, especially in a new group of people she didn't know.
Seeing that the others were set for a while, she sauntered casually over to Shane. Lori had come to fetch Carl, and he was standing by the lake looking angry about something. "Can I put something to you?" she asked.
"Shoot," Shane said without looking at her.
"A few weeks ago, my group stumbled on a truck full of beans. There's still plenty left in the bunker we were holed up in. Seems to me that it might be worth a group going to get it."
Now he was paying attention to her. "How much food we talking about?"
She shrugged. "I hadn't counted in a while, but we were surrounded by beans. I figure we'll all get real sick of 'em after a while, but I also figure we need food."
"It's worth considering," Shane agreed—but a ruckus had broken out beside the water. Ed had hit Carol, hard; Andrea was flailing ineffectively at him with a wash cloth, Jacqui and Amy were holding Carol away from Ed. All three were screaming at him.
"Trouble," Liv said quietly to Shane, and followed the deputy across the beach. Shane grabbed Ed roughly, threw him down on the ground, and starting beating him ferociously.
"Shane!" Liv barked. "Shane, stop it!" The others were screaming. Gritting her teeth, Liv dove on top of Shane and wrapped an arm around his neck. "Leave off," she shouted in his ear.
The cop staggered back, and Liv released her grip on him. "You lay a hand to her again, or anyone else in this camp," Shane growled into Ed's face, "I will kill you. You hear me, Ed? I'll beat you to death."
"That's enough," Liv said firmly, and pulled Shane away. He shook her off and stormed away, leaving Carol weeping quietly beside her husband.
"Goddammit," Liv swore quietly. She looked to Andrea. "You up for a run later?"
"Run for what?" Andrea asked curiously.
"Beans," Liv replied. "Y'all need food, don't you?"
Fervent nods decided her. "I'll go alone if I have to—"
"You won't have to," Andrea replied firmly.
"We should see if Shane's up for going," Jacqui suggested.
"He won't like leaving the camp unguarded," Amy remarked.
"We'll figure something out," Liv said firmly. "I hate the thought of all that food going to waste when there's a bunch of kids and families right here who need it."
Carol was still prostate over her husband. "What do we do about…?" Liv indicated with a jerk of her head. "I'm sorry, I don't know—"
"Neither do any of us, sweetie," Jacqui replied gently.
"We can't just leave him here, even if he is an asshole," Liv said. "Andrea, will you help me get him in the trunk? Amy, get his car keys."
They sprang to do as she asked. Andrea gallantly bore the bulk of Ed's weight while Liv carried the feet and Carol fluttered helplessly alongside.
"Quite apologizing," Liv told her firmly. "You have nothing to apologize for, you hear me, Carol?"
They had deposited Ed's body in the trunk next to the laundry. Liv wrapped her arms around Carol and pulled the other woman's head tenderly into her uninjured shoulder. "Hush now," she said soothingly. "You have nothing to apologize for. This isn't your fault, none of it. You understand me? Nothing."
"Let's go, Olivia," Andrea said quietly.
They helped Carol into the car before clambering in themselves. Amy carefully put the car in gear and drove slowly up the hill, lips tightly pursed.
"Who taught you to drive stick?" Andrea demanded.
"Dad," Amy said shortly as they pulled into camp. Liv turned to Carol again.
"Carol, you listen to me. Look at me, Carol." She locked gazes and made sure Carol was listening before she spoke again. "You are better than this." She waited for the other woman to nod tearfully. "Remember that. Now: we'll help you drag Ed into your tent, but then we're leaving him alone. We can't be around a man who treats a friend of ours like that." Jacqui rubbed Carol's back consolingly.
They settled Ed none-too-gently in his tent and set to work hanging up the laundry to dry. Carol quietly joined them after only a few minutes, her face grim.
"Lori," Liv called. The other woman handed Kevin over, and Liv kissed her son's hair. "I was telling Shane and some other about how my group had a stash of canned beans in our bunker. Good for a couple of weeks, maybe. I figured y'all could use it, and I was thinking—"
"Shane'll never let you leave camp," Lori interrupted. "Not with Rick, Glenn, and T-Dog gone."
"And Daryl," Liv added quietly.
"And Daryl," Lori repeated. "I'm sorry, I appreciate your thought, but we really can't risk it. Not right now, with half our manpower gone."
"We can take care of the camp without them, can't we?" Liv asked. "We've got Shane, and Dale, and Morales, and Jim—"
"And Carl, and Kevin, and Sofia, and Morales's kids—" Lori retorted.
"Who are going to starve unless we do something!" Liv shouted to make herself heard.
"Everybody calm down," Jacqui said soothingly, putting a hand on Liv's injured shoulder.
"I just don't think we should write it off immediately," Liv said more calmly. "I think we should talk about it, consider it. I understand the risks, believe me. But we weren't that far from here, and there's a lot of food."
"Okay," Lori replied quietly. "I appreciate your…thinking of us."
"You're welcome," Liv replied quietly, turning away with her son in her arms. "How was your day, sweetie?" she murmured.
"Good," he said shyly.
The other women watched her walk away. A concerned frown furrowed Lori's face. "We'll keep an eye on her," Jacqui assured her. "Make sure she doesn't do something stupid."
"I wish we knew more about her," Andrea remarked.
Lori turned away, frowning deeply. "Goddammit, Dixon," she muttered.