In The Shadows
Chapter 7
Sleep With A Stranger
Beth
Daryl was finally allowing me to go on another run with him today. I cannot wait to get outside this prison for a little while, he said that he and Michonne had passed a few stores that looked pretty much untouched when they were looking for The Governor and he's been wanting to check them out. See if there's anything we can get from them. There wasn't anything we particularly needed but if there was something useful for us in them stores then we wanted to get our hands on them before someone else does. That sounds mean I know but it's a dog eat dog world right now… quite literally… I would rather Judith, my daddy and Maggie have supplies then someone else. Call my selfish and mean if you want but my family come first. I'm not really sure what was supposed to be in these stores but I'll get what I can take. Hopefully we'll find some ammunition or some knives maybe… we might even find a couple more clothes for the kids to keep them warm. They haven't been doing to well with the weather lately.
The plan was for Daryl and I to take one of the cars instead of his bike, I don't know why we were taking the car instead but I wasn't going to argue it. It's a little too cold for the bike right now. At least in the car we can have the heating on and it's harder for the walkers to get us if it breaks down. That was one of my biggest fears on the bike, if we break down in the middle of a heard of walkers they can just grab us and eat us, there is nothing stopping them. Whereas in the car we got that protecting us and we can run over the walkers with it… it's kind of like another weapon as well as an escape route. Daryl said he had double checked the gas and we had more then enough for the trip but he said there was some spare in a canister in the trunk if it came to it. He does think of everything.
Another exciting thing about taking the car is that we can put some CDs on in the car and listen to some music, I can't remember the last time I listened to music that I wasn't singing. I miss music. It was one of my favourite things before the turn, I could plug in my iPod and listen to it for hours and hours. Maggie used to call me crazy for listening to the same songs over and over again but I couldn't help it. All the songs I listened to spoke to me in different ways. There was one call Sleep With A Stranger by Nikki Lane, a country singer. I used to love that song because I wish I was that ballsy and I wish I could be a bit of a bad girl, Maggie was pretty much the person she was singing about in the song. I always wanted to be like Maggie when I was a kid. She was so care free and always had so much fun and had tons of stories to tell. My life was pretty boring compared to hers.
I know she was older then me and was in college whilst I was in high school but when she was 16 she was a wild child. She was sneaking out to meet boys and my daddy once caught her in the barn drinking with some of her friends. She was in so much trouble when he caught her, I thought he was going to have a heart attack with the amount of shouting and hollering going on in the house. Maggie said things she didn't mean and so did daddy but then I started crying on the stairs and they apologised to each other and told me that everything was fine. I know Maggie had done it more then once but I daren't tell daddy in case he threw her out of the house.
One time I remember reading her diary whilst she was out shopping with her friends and she had written all about her crush, Casey Andrews, he was the school's hottie and he had gone on a few dates with Maggie. She was about to go off to college and wanted to make their last night magical so they slept with each other and gave one another their virginity. She had gone really into detail about everything that happened, it put me off boys for a little while but then I met Jimmy. I always thought Jimmy would be my Casey Andrews but he didn't live long enough for that. We had tried to sneak away a couple times but it was after the turn and my daddy was watching us like hawks. He knew what we were up to.
The whole thing seems a million years ago now. If I could go back in time I don't think I would change anything, I'm sad Jimmy's gone but I'm glad I still have my virginity. I'm saving that for the person I fall in love with. I wasn't in love with Jimmy it was just infatuation. I know the difference now.
I didn't want to be late so I went outside and saw Daryl loading up some weapons into the car. We greeted each other and I put all of my things in the back seat before getting into the passenger seat, Daryl was in the drivers seat not even a minute later. I had told my daddy and Maggie I would be gone before they got up because Daryl and I have a long way to drive so I said my goodbyes to them last night, they also gave me the 'stay safe' talk like a child and told me to listen to Daryl every time he tells me to do something and finally they made me promise I would come home unhurt this time. I told them I would try.
"How far we driving?" I asked him as we started driving away from the prison.
"A couple hours at least" He answered.
"Did you and Michonne see what was in these stores?" I questioned.
"Not really. The windows were pretty dusty but it's worth checkin' out" He told me.
"If it's gonna be such a long drive, can we put a CD on?" I asked.
"Yeah, stacks are in the glove box" He said.
I didn't look at the names of the discs, I just took out the first one and put in the player before pressing play. A familiar beat started coming through the speakers, I looked over at Daryl with a large smile but he seemed confused "I love this song" I stated and started singing along with the words.
Well, tonight'd be a good night to sleep with a stranger
Maybe a cowboy, like a lone ranger
Go out on the town, down to lower Broad
With my tiny little dress and my white boots on
I ain't looking for love, just a little danger
Tonight'd be a good night to sleep with a stranger
I bet Maggie done this a few times in college.
Well I've been a good girl long as I can stand it
Tonight I want a bad boy motorcycle bandit
I wanna ride a steel horse all night long
I got my favorite T-shirt and some cut-offs on
I want a man that's full of anger
Tonight'd be a good night to sleep with a stranger
Anyone else think Nikki Lane is singing about Daryl here? Bad boy motorcycle bandit? A man full of anger? This should be Daryl's theme song, I looked over at him and laughed a little "What?" He questioned.
"This is your theme song" I replied and carried on singing.
And you can call me anything you want to
Just don't call me after tonight
You can tell me just how you're feeling
Long as you're making me feel alright
I could never imagine have sex with a man and then telling him not to call me. Maggie's had one night stands, she's told me about them, I wish I was as adventurous as her sometimes. She's more confident then me but I guess there probably some things she wished she changed about herself… maybe.
"Never had this down as a song you'd listen t'" Daryl commented.
Well, tonight'd be a good night to get a little stoned
So, come on baby, I don't wanna leave alone
We've been drinking all night down at 308
They're gonna throw us out if it gets too late
So let's beat them to the punch, ain't no need to linger
Tonight'd be a good night to sleep with a stranger
I sung that directly at Daryl, just to prove that this was a song I'd listen to. He chuckled lightly at me before turning back to watch the road.
You can call me anything you want to
Just don't call me after tonight
You can tell me just how you're feeling
Long as you're making me feel alright
I wonder if Daryl would make me feel alright? Oh my God! What am I doing? What am I thinking? That would never happen between me and Daryl. I don't even think he looks at me as anything other then Maggie's kid sister.
Tonight'd be a good night to sleep with a stranger
Maybe a cowboy like a lone ranger
Right now it don't matter who
If you play your cards right then it might be you
'cause I ain't looking for love, just a little danger
Tonight'd be a good night
Thank God the song was nearly over. This song is making me think about really bad things to do with Daryl, things he would probably be disgusted at… well probably be disgusted to do with me anyway.
Oh, tonight'd be a good night
To sleep with a stranger
Stranger, stranger
Stranger, stranger
The song faded out and another one started to play. It's not a song I recognize but Daryl must because his fingers are tapping on the steering wheel in rhythm with the song. I could see his lips moving to the words but no noise coming out, he must know this song really well.
I felt someone shaking my shoulder, I opened my eyes and looked around. I was still in the car. Oh gosh I must have fallen asleep whilst we were driving. The passenger door was open and Daryl was standing there looking at me in amusement. Maybe I should have told him that any car journey longer then an hour normally sends me to sleep, it's always been that way.
"Sorry" I said as I got out of the car.
"It's alright" He replied and handed me my weapons which I had put in the back.
He pointed to three stores on the opposite side of the street. The street was quiet, really quiet. No animals, no people and no walkers. Something just didn't sit well with me. I could tell Daryl was a little but uneasy as well because he had his crossbow ready to fire at a seconds notice. I had my knife in my hand and made sure my gun was accessible and we made our way towards the first store.
Daryl knocked on the window and we waited for a couple minutes. We could a couple walkers inside but they wasn't getting any closer to the door. They might be stuck which would mean it will be easy for us to go in there and kill them without getting hurt. Daryl was hesitant for a moment but he made sure I was ready and he opened the door. Two walkers were on the floor, shelves had fallen on them and they were trapped underneath, I went over and brought my knife down into both their heads as Daryl did a sweep of the rest of the store to make sure there were no more threats lurking.
Once we were sure we would be ok for a few minutes we had a look around and we smiled at each other, we had hit the jackpot. There were bottles of unopened water and a lot of food. It must have been a convenient store or something before the turn. There doesn't seem to be much around so it must be a little place only local people knew about. It did surprise me that there was still so much here. Surely some people must have stumbled across it. Maybe they just didn't bother looking in or the sound of the walkers put them off… whatever the reason I'm glad we had found it.
"Let's start loadin' up" Daryl said.
Thank you for reading.
I thought you guys were so good you deserved an early chapter.
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