Savannah was sitting on the hood of her dingy green Explorer, feet propped up on the bumper, her elbows on her knees. It was hotter than sin, and her stained white t-shirt clung uncomfortably to her damp skin. She'd lived in the deep south for most of her life, but she knew she'd never get used to the damn humidity. With a huff, she irritably brushed her hair away from where it had stuck to her face. Her pa had always called her a 'delicate Southern flower' whenever she'd gripe about the heat, but there wasn't a damn thing delicate about her now. Her hair was a rat's nest, her shirt stained with sweat and gore, her jeans so torn up that they bordered on indecent, and her skin covered in a layer of grime that would've sent her grandma into a conniption. Southern flower her ass; there wasn't a single thing ladylike about her now. Not that there was before.
"Glenn! You comin' or what? We're burnin' daylight!" Savannah shouted across camp. Glenn poked his head out of his tent with a flush, flashing an apologetic smile.
"I'm coming, I'm coming! Just a minute." Savannah hopped off the hood and cocked her hip. The kid was taking for fucking ever, and she had better things to do than go on a supply run. It'd been decided in the three weeks since she and Sadie had joined the group that she and Glenn would be the ones to go on these runs. It wasn't a decision that sat very well with her, but it was part of their agreement. She would help bring in things they needed and they would protect her and her kid sister. It was a tenuous truce at best, but better than nothing. Slouching against the front of the Explorer, Savannah turned to watch Sadie. After the initial shock of their introduction to the group, she'd endeared herself to most everyone pretty quickly, much more so than her older sister. Where Sadie was doted upon by the women, Savannah remained on the fringes. She knew that Sadie craved normalcy, but she wasn't so sure that getting comfortable with this group was for the best, but for now, she'd let the kid be just that- a kid.
At the moment, Sadie was sitting in a faded red lawn chair, gutting a squirrel Daryl had brought back less than an hour ago. When Savannah had woken up after the first day, she'd found the two gutting his most recent catch, albeit Sadie doing so unwillingly. Since then, she'd almost gotten used to the task, doing it without too much complaint. Savannah smiled. The girl was still such a little princess when it came to dealing with gore and grime. Whenever it came to dirty jobs, she'd always deferred to Savannah, but in this case, Daryl wasn't hearing any of it. He claimed that she had to pull her own weight, and Savannah was glad for it. The girl needed something to do to keep her outta trouble, and the look of accomplishment she had when she was done was a sight for sore eyes these days.
"Ya goin' intuh town?" Daryl circled around the side of the Explorer before leaning against the hood next to her. Like everyone else, he was sweaty and covered in dirt. His shirt was stained with blood from lord knows where and patches of hair clung to his sweaty forehead.
Savannah nodded. "Got a coupla things we need, but Glenn is takin' his sweet time. I have half a mind tuh leave 'im." In her three weeks with the group, she'd noticed that her drawl got considerably more pronounced when she spoke with Daryl. It was something about his backwoods accent that brought out her own, and she couldn't say that she minded. At least she sounded as rough as she looked now.
Daryl glanced at her sideways. She'd fleshed out a bit since they'd joined the group. He figured that she'd been givin' all her food to the kid before, but he'd made sure that they'd both had enough to get by. Not like he was gonna go through all that shit to get 'em here just to have 'em starve. She was still jumpy as fuck and refused to explain about those scars a' hers, but she'd gotten used to their group. Still didn't like tuh talk tuh the bunch of 'em, but neither did he. He watched her twirl her baseball bat between her palms nervously. She didn't like goin' on runs and leavin' the kid behind, but they'd come to an understandin', the two of 'em. He'd watch the kid and she'd bring him what he needed, Rick's approval or no. A coupla days back, she'd come across a huntin' shop and brought back some new arrows. An' before that, she'd given him a burlap sack to take huntin'. Even if she couldn't hunt, she was damn useful.
"Just make sure that Chinaman watches yer back good, Vannuh," he grumbled around the thumb nail he was chewing on. Her mouth twitched into a half smirk.
"Yuh just wanna see what I bring yuh this time, Derle. Dun lie." She shoved herself off the bumper and hollered at Glenn again. "Yuh keep me waitin' anymore an' I'm gonna up and leave yer ass here, Glenn!" She hoisted her baseball bat onto her shoulder and cocked her hip out as Glenn bolted from his tent, red faced and panting. Savannah raised her eyebrow, knowing full well that Maggie was in that tent, and prolly just as flustered.
"Yuh can get back to whatever yuh were doin' in there when we get back, lover boy, but I dun appreciate havin' to wait," grumbled Savannah as she turned back to the Explorer, a blushing Glenn in tow. Daryl had since moved to the hood of his truck, a couple yards behind where Sadie was sitting, still working on those damned squirrels. If Savannah was lucky, they'd be eating something tonight that didn't smack of dueling banjos and daisy dukes.
She hopped into the driver's side of the Explorer, and without waiting for Glenn to get situated, she revved the thing to life and with a nod to Daryl and Sadie, backed out of camp and onto the desolate highway.
The highway was one of those two lane deals with tall loblolly pines on either side, swaying with the wind, their tall trunks like spires above the underbrush. The Explorer sped down the desolate roadway, dodging the occasional abandoned car, the windows rolled down despite Glenn's discomfort. He saw it as an unnecessary risk, but Savannah was as stubborn as a mule, so the windows remained down. They had already scoped out the place for the raid- it was a mom and pop corner store on the edge of a small town. The town was small enough that there shouldn't be too many walkers, not that that had stopped them before. They'd had a couple close calls, but they'd never really discussed how close they had actually been. That was part of why Savannah always brought things for Daryl; she knew that one day, it'd be too close of a call and he'd be saddled with Sadie, so she might as well butter him up before that day rolled around. She knew that Glenn wasn't too keen on her pilfering things that weren't on the list that Rick gave them, but he wasn't about to confront her about it and she didn't want to hear it. The first time she had done it, he'd spoken up, but a sharp look and even sharper words had stopped him from doing it again. It wasn't as if she didn't like the guy. He was nice and all, but nice only got you so far.
They pulled into the cracked parking lot to the side of the corner store. The cinderblock building was a nondescript grey with a faded wooden sign.
"Jack and Son's General, huh? Not exactly the Piggly Wiggly, but it'll have tuh do." Savannah sauntered up to the front while Glenn took the back, only to find no back door. One way in and one way out. He didn't like that one bit. Savannah tested the front door, hoping that no one had set the alarm, if this run down little store had one. The door swung open with a frighteningly loud creak and the pair froze, listening. There were no sounds from inside or out, save for their labored breathing. Her jaw set into a hard line, Savannah nodded to the right and slipped inside, Glenn soon after. They swept the store, their backs to the walls, and their eyes constantly roving until they were sure there weren't any nasty surprises. Taking a deep breath, Savannah stood from her cautious crouch and began to load up her backpack with canned goods while Glenn ransacked the medicine aisle. Rick had told them to get only a handful of things, including pain medicine, band-aids, batteries, and any food they could carry. Filling up her backpack, Savannah pulled another bag out and kept filling it with canned veggies and Chef Boyardee. Never did she think that she'd be glad to eat her old college student standbys, but they sure as hell were a welcome sight. Glenn had since moved on to the battery wall while she slipped over to the front counter, and reaching behind, grabbed a couple handfuls of Marlboros. Sadie always got so upset when she caught her smoking, so it had become a little habit of hers during her late night watch shifts, or behind Daryl's truck, where the cost of his silence was a pack or two. The first time he'd caught her smoking, she'd looked like a kid caught with her hand in the cookie jar, and the first thing outta her mouth was, "dun you dare tell Sadie." She smirked. You'd think she was the kid, sneakin' around like that.
A low cough brought her butt back over the counter. Glenn was waiting, giving her a disapproving look before she chucked a small box at him. He glanced down at it before turning beet red. She'd thrown condoms at him.
"Yer gonna need 'em, buddy. Yer not too discreet, yuh know." Savannah winked before disappearing into the liquor aisle, sure that his embarrassment would shut him up for a bit. She'd heard from Carol that Daryl enjoyed his liquor, but what good ol' Southern boy didn't? Knowing she didn't have a lot of time to be choosy, she grabbed a bottle of Jack Daniels and threw it in the bag before jogging out the front door, a still red Glenn not far behind. They didn't have much time to get situated in the Explorer before Glenn nudged Savannah none too gently. Not even half a mile down the road was a herd, the largest that they'd seen, ambling along aimlessly and seemingly unaware of their presence. Savannah rolled up the windows cautiously and hunkered down, pulling a blanket over herself and Glenn. She knew that if they drove off, the herd would see them and follow relentlessly, but if they played their cards right, the herd would pass 'em up completely. Her hand ghosted over the cb sitting in the center console, turning the volume all the way down before saying a damn thing.
"Y'all, a herd's comin'. I repeat, a herd's comin'. Best lay low. 'Bout fifty of 'em. On the highway." Putting the receiver back onto the holder, she froze and waited, ears straining to hear the shuffling of undead feet and their awful groans. Five tense minutes passed before they could hear them. Five minutes of adrenaline fueled anxiety. Their groans were so close that a jolt of panic swept through Savannah. She didn't mind how they looked, didn't like their smell, but dealt with it, but their groaning was intolerable. When she and Sadie were on their own, their moans would keep her up at night, scaring her to the depths of her soul. Often, she'd wake up in the middle of the night, swearing that she had heard a walker moaning to be let in. Because of this, she took as many night shifts as she could, just to be sure that she and Sadie were safe. Many nights, even when she wasn't on watch, she'd sit on top of the RV, or stand on the roof of the Explorer, just because she couldn't sleep. Carol had tried to give her sleeping pills once, but Savannah couldn't stand the thought. If something was gonna attack, she sure as shit wasn't gonna sleep through it.
Next came their shuffling. A couple of the more uncoordinated ones bumped into the Explorer, causing Glenn to gasp quietly. He knew that if one of them suspected that they were in the car, then they were done for. He didn't want to die, damnit! He was just starting to feel normal again, and it'd be just his luck if he died today. Savannah stared at him, willing him to keep quiet and keep his cool. She was not going to die because Casanova over there was scared of a coupla geeks tripping over themselves. If they didn't do anything foolish, they could just sit and wait for 'em to pass.
"Y'all, a herd's comin'. I repeat, a herd's comin'. Best lay low. 'Bout fifty of 'em. On the highway." The radio crackled and Dale glanced at Rick in alarm. The whole camp was quiet, unsure if they'd imagined the woman's voice. Shane and Daryl were the first ones to take action. Shane began shouting orders, sending people scurrying around camp, while Daryl grabbed Sadie by her arm and shoved her into the cab of the pickup before throwing a blanket in on top of her.
"Best hide yourself good, girl," he said gruffly and made to slam the door, but her hand shot out and grabbed hold of his. Her eyes were wide with fear.
"You're not gonna leave me alone, are ya?" her pleading tone gave him only a moment's pause.
"I've gotta make sure all these idiots dun get us killed. I'll be back, kid." Her hand reluctantly let go of his, and he slammed the door. Turning quickly back to the group, he covered up the squirrels he had caught and grabbed his crossbow. He'd be damned if a geek got him today.
About half an hour later, when she was sure that the herd had passed safely, Savannah peeked out from under the blanket and sighed before throwing it in the back. Glenn slowly sat up, breathing a sigh of relief, head flung back against the headrest. The liquor that Savannah had nabbed was making a whole hell of a lot of sense right about now- what he wouldn't give for a drink after this. Savannah wasn't quite as relieved as Glenn, however. She wasn't sure if the camp had managed to escape the herd unscathed, or if they had even heard her transmission for that matter. Turning over the engine, she slowly made her way down the road, the windows rolled up this time. There was only one way to find out.
