Day 79

She could smell it before they got close enough to see it. The salt from the water was in the air. Beth closed her eyes and thought about her mother. There was nothing her mother loved more than going to the beach. The real beach, not the lakeshore. At least once a year, Beth's mother made her father take a week off work and from the farm and take them on vacation to the ocean.

Beth wanted to get the first look at the water. She wished she had taken Neegan up on his offer to let her ride on his bike with him today. But Beth knew Crystal really wanted to ride with him, so she had said she was tired and wanted to lay down in the van. As far as Beth was concerned, Crystal had earned the bike ride for the rides she had been giving the man every night since he started sleeping in the van with them. After a while, Beth couldn't take listening to the shit every night and had started sleeping in one of the other vans with Tara, Mike and Daryl. At least if Tara and Mike wanted to fuck, they went up in the front seat and got it over with quick.

Beth hopped out of the van, clinging to the side of it and moving down the flatbed. She reached for the next van, only letting go of the side of hers when she had a good grip on the other one. Then she crab walked sideways past that one, earning a few odd glances from the men inside it.

"Better be careful there honey," one man called out. He looked like he was thinking about getting up and maybe helping her or trying to make her go back to the girl's van, so Beth moved quickly by. They passed by a low hanging tree branch and Beth felt the leaves whip by her face, just the very tips touching her. She kept moving, gripping the back of the semi cab and edging out onto the little rail on the side of it. Then she grabbed the bar on top of the open window and swung herself inside. She landed hard on Harlan's lap and he let out a little shriek.

"Where the hell did you come from?," he asked her. He moved over to make room for her in the seat next to him.

"The van," Beth said.

"Girl," John hollered at her from the driver's seat, "have you gone crazy?" Beth laughed.

"I want to see the ocean," she told him, "it has to be close, I can smell it." John smiled at her. He had been thinking the same thing.

"At the top of this hill," he said, "should be able to get a look." Beth leaned forward as the incline of the road increased. When they hit the top of the hill she saw that he was right. There was the ocean, blue and sparkling and spread out all the way to the horizon. She saw one of the bikes was falling back. Neegan yelled up to John.

"Keep going on to the beach, we got something to check out and we will meet you there." John gave him the thumb up. Beth saw the group of motorcycles along with the small pickup truck they had with them now take off down a street to the left. She always got a little nervous when the group separated, but they always found each other. Once they found a spot to set up camp, they would light a little signal fire so the rest of the group could find them.

Daryl followed Carson's lead. They had seen signs for a grocery store that they planned to check out. If that was a bust they were going to be in trouble. The food was gone. They had been handing out half portions for a week. And no one had eaten at all the day before. If they didn't find food soon, the group was going to splinter. And Neegan didn't want that.

The store was easy to spot. There was a small herd of roamers outside the front window, trying to push in through the glass. That also meant more problems. It meant there were people inside. Daryl parked his bike and got off, taking his gun out of the side pockets and sticking it into his belt. He loaded his crossbow and held it up.

"You and Carson take Mike and sneak around back," Neegan said, "I got the front door."

"What can I do?," Crystal asked.

"Go sit in the fucking truck," Tara told her. That little bitch was getting on her last nerve. Since Crystal had been sucking Neegan's dick off for him every night, her head had been getting bigger. She was not beyond thinking that she could boss people around at camp and get away with it. When it looked like Crystal was not going to listen to her, Neegan smacked her lightly across the face. It wasn't hard enough to leave a mark, but it was hard enough to shut her up.

"Get in the goddamn truck," he swore at the girl. Stupid little girl, he thought, thats the last time she is ever riding with me. Tara rolled her eyes and shook her head. She was going to deal with that little whore later. Right now it was time for business.

When Daryl was sure they were ready, he took off for the back of the store with the other guys. Mike pulled out a crowbar and popped the backdoor of the store open. Two frightened girls were looking at them from behind some boxes. One had a gun pointed at them. Her hands were shaking.

"Put it down," Carson told the girl, "we are just looking for food." He put his hands up, walking towards the girls, drawing their attention. Daryl and Mike slid around behind the stack of boxes. Daryl could not help but notice that all the boxes were full. Full of food. Enough food to keep the whole group fed for a month at least. There was a lot of garbage out back in the alley behind them. Before they had even come in, Daryl guessed whoever was holed up in this place had been here a while.

"Put the gun down before someone gets hurt," Daryl told the girl. Mike moved closer, letting her feel the tip of his gun against her temple. Daryl leaned in and put his hand on the gun, taking it from her. The other girl had backed up, she was holding a little knife out in front of her. Her eyes were wide with fear. Daryl patted at the other girls legs, making sure she didn't have anything else on her. Her whole body was shaking. The way she was acting, he had seen it before. After Beth was attacked.

"Told ya," Daryl said to her, "we just want food. Ain't gonna hurt ya." She looked at him like she wanted to believe him but she wasn't sure.

"Hand over the knife," Carson told the other girl. He moved a little closer. She swiped at him with it. "I don't want to have to hurt you." The girl swiped at him again. Her knife didn't even look very sharp and she was holding it all wrong. But Daryl had to give her points for being brave enough to try and fight.

"I know what you want," the girl spit at them, "stay away from me." She was watching Carson, since he was the one that was talking to her. But Mike reached in from the other side and caught her by the wrist, taking the knife out of her hand easily. "Keep your hands off me," she hissed. Then she kicked Mike in the shin and tried to run.

"Sonofabitch," Mike swore. Carson grabbed the girl, holding her by the arm while she struggled to get away. He was afraid she might start screaming and give them away, so he put his hand over her mouth.

"Calm the fuck down," Carson told the girl.

"Please don't hurt her," the other girl said. She had tears rolling down her face now. Daryl opened the door that separated the stock room from the rest of the store. He could see the top of Neegan's head over the aisles, but not much else.

"How many of your people are out there?," Daryl asked the girl.

"T.. t.. ten," she said. Daryl checked the gun he had taken from her. No wonder she hadn't taken a shot at them. The gun was empty. "They out of bullets too?" She nodded. "You're coming with me just in case," Daryl said. Then he seized the girl by the arm and walked out into the store with her in front of him. Carson came behind him, still holding onto the other girl. He let go of her mouth, now he wanted her to start yelling. And she did.

"Daddy!"

Part of the group that was facing off with Neegan started heading their way. They backed up quick when they saw Daryl and Carson had the girls. When they got down the aisles, and came out into the open part of the store, Neegan saw what they were doing. He laughed. Then he punched the man standing closest to him hard across the face, dropping him to the floor instantly.

"There's enough food in that stock room to feed a fuckin' army man," Carson told him. Neegan lifted up his hands and clapped. Then he walked over and grabbed the girl Carson was holding. She shrieked.

"Listen up fuckers," he told the small group of men that had empty guns pointed at him. "You either give me what I want, or I will take it anyway, and take her with me." He pointed to the man he guessed was in charge. "Take your men and get in that cooler over there like I fucking told you the first time." He walked back over to the man that he had punched, dragging the girl with him. He kicked the man hard in the side, flipping him onto his back. "NOW!," he told them. If the fuckers had any bullets, they would have shot him by now. And there were not enough of them to put up any kind of physical fight.

The last of the fight went out of the men and they headed into the warm heat of the cooler. dragging their fallen friend along with them. Neegan sat the girls down in front of the cooler door and told Tara to watch them. Then Mike pulled the truck up out front and they all started loading it up with boxes of food. Canned food, boxed pasta, bags flour and big tubs of shortening, they loaded up as much as they could fit and even strapped milk crates down to the back of the bikes so they could take more. The girls sat quietly against the cooler door, watching.

"When they get done robbing us," one of them asked Tara, "are they going to rape us?" Tara felt sad for them. She guessed they had both been attacked before. But the one that spoke to her still had some spunk left in her.

"No," she told them.

"Why not?," the girl asked. That big man had beat the shit out of Terry. And these people clearly had no problem with stealing. Tara shrugged.

"Raping is against the rules." It was the most simple explanation she could think of. They had a code. Stealing was alright, because the truth was, this food didn't really belong to these people anyway. They just found it first. And violence was allowed because there was no way to live in this world without it. Raping was unnecessary. Tara noticed the taller girl that had been quiet up until now was looking at her with a lot of intenstiy in her eyes.

"It's not against the rules here," she said. The other girl looked at her with her mouth open. She leaned in and whispered to her friend, who raped you? The girl did not answer her. She just looked up at Tara. They locked eyes for a moment, sizing each other up. Then Tara offered the girl her hand. She helped her up onto her feet. The girl brushed her pants off and stood there, unsure of what to do next.

"Tara," Tara said, sticking her leather clad hand out the girl. The girl hesistated and then put her hand in Tara's and shook it.

"Ginny," she said. Tara smiled at her. The girl was a little shorter than her with average looks. She had chipped red polish on her nails and when she smiled back, Tara saw she had a chipped front tooth to go with them.

"Well Ginny," Tara said, "why don't you pick up one of those boxes there and take it out to the truck."

"I can do better than that," the girl offered. She looked towards the cooler, hesistating. Then she added, "We have another truck hid in the next alley over with a full tank of gas."

"You little bitch," the girl sitting against the cooler cursed, "you fucking traitor." She held up her middle finger. Tara got her baton out, flicking it so that it extended all the way out with a snap. She pointed it at the girl on the floor.

"Shut your fucking mouth."

Daryl dragged another full box of cans to the stack by the front door. He had been watching the little exchange between the women. He let go of the box and walked over to them, tapping Ginny softly on the shoulder. She jumped.

"Want to show me where the truck is?," he asked. She looked back and forth between him and Tara. Tara nodded and gestured for her to go with the man. Daryl could see that she was still frightened of him, so he whipped out the empty gun he had taken from the girl earlier. He pulled a bag of extra bullets out of his pocket and loaded it up. Then he snapped it closed and held it out for the girl to take. "They work better when they're loaded," he told her. She was looking at him like he was trying to trick her. Then she snaked her hand over and took the gun, holding it tightly with both hands.

"Just don't shoot me," Daryl warned her.