Disclaimer: I don't own The Walking Dead or the song Don't Walk Away.
Chapter 10
Beth POV
We stopped and ate lunch under the sign saying Jasper 5 MI. We only stopped for maybe half an hour. It only took us about two and a half hours to get from the sign to the main street in Jasper, by then, though it was the beginning stages of the sun going down. We decided to split into two groups, one to scavenge anything we can use and the other to find a place big enough for us to stay for the night. Daryl and I went with the group to find a place to stay the night. We took a left off the main street and headed two blocks over, figuring that would be a safe ways away from the main part of town and where scavengers generally go. We checked three houses; Daryl tapped on a window or the door, drawing the attention of any walkers inside. The first house had four walkers in it, and we decided to leave them be. We tapped at the next house, and after a few moments nothing appeared. Daryl motioned for me to stay back, and motioned the guys with us to be ready to go in. He twisted the doorknob, and the door swung open. He tilted his head, indicating that the guys should go in. He whispered to me, "Wait till I tell ya 's safe,"
I nodded, gripping my knife in my hand.
After a few moments he stuck his head back out. "'S safe,"
I went in, immediately covering my nose. The smell of rotten food and worse was impairing. I whispered to Daryl, "We can't stay here. 'S awful."
He nodded in agreement, "Gonna check, just in case ain't nothin' better. Getting' real dark out there,"
I wandered into the kitchen while they cleared the rest of the house, hoping for more water or anything useful, since we were already there. I found a couple bottles of Powerade, and a box of old graham crackers. I quickly put the bottles of PowerAde into my pack to take with us. I left the graham crackers where they were. They were probably beyond edible. I went back to the front room, and waited for them to come back. I kept my eye on the street in front of the house, not wanting any herds to take us by surprise.
A lone walker came ambling up the street. I gave it a few minutes to get closer to the house. When it was a few steps from the porch I went outside and dashed down to it. I dodged away from its reaching arms. I kicked its knee, making it stumble. As it stumbled I quickly shoved my knife into the soft spot on its skull. The walker collapsed at my feet. I leaned over it and wiped my knife on its shirt. I turned and headed back to the porch, and spotted Daryl watching me. I grinned at him, and his lips twitched in response. All the training he had given me before was paying off, in the long run.
"Next house?" I asked, climbing the steps to stand in front of Daryl.
"Uh huh."
We made our way to the next house. We tapped on the window and door, and once again there weren't any sounds or movements. Daryl shielded his face, and peaked into the window. I waited patiently, knife ready, a few steps behind them. This house is smaller than the other ones on the block, looked cute and older too. It's a dirty white, with a dark baby blue trim around the doors and windows. It's a cheerful looking place. I can imagine a small family of four or five living here. Daryl opened the door and we went through the same routine as the last house. Thankfully this place didn't smell awful.
The front door opened into a living room, with a fireplace. To the left, behind the front door is a door leading to a bedroom, with a loft bed. To the right is an office room, looks like a nerds heaven, mixed with a mini jungle. Bookshelves lined the lower portions of the room, with posters of Marvel and DC posters, action figures still in the packages. Spiderman paraphernalia was the majority of the room. The other end of the living room leads to another bedroom with a walk in closet. Straight across from the front door are a closet and a small bathroom. Than on the right, past the office is the doorway to the kitchen, with which leads to a breakfast nook and a laundry room/pantry. Next to the entry walk way to the kitchen is a mudroom and a back door. Daryl and I wandered over to the back door, ready to go clear the back yard. We peered out the window of the back door, scouting the back yard. The back porch left us standing on a cement patio, which led to a carport on one side of the house, and down a few steps to a basement door. There weren't any walkers hanging around the back yard that we could see.
"Think that door is unlocked?" I asked Daryl, nodding my head at the door.
"We'll find out, if not I can get it open," He answered, smugly. I've seen him hot wire cars and pick locks with ease more than once.
The basement door had a small rope as a handle to shut it from the outside and a swinging cat door. There were seven steps from the patio to a small landing, and perpendicular to them were three more steps down. I stayed on the small landing, under a wood and plastic awning, while Daryl moved closer to the door. If walkers overran us it'll be hard to outmaneuver them, so Daryl stood on the small ledge next to the door. He pushed the door open and tapped on the doorframe. From my vantage point I could see wooden bookshelves lining the 'wall' of the basement. The wall was really just a couple of blankets hung up, hiding the rest of the room. Nothing came ambling out of the room. Daryl deftly jumped down to the ground and went into the room. I followed behind him. It looked like a teenage girls room. Two TVs were set up on a desk and nightstand, hooked to a computer tower and Xbox, and a nice stereo system. One corner portion of the wall had band posters and concert tickets, and below it was a full sized bed. Another wall had paper covering it, but I couldn't see it clearly from where I was standing, just inside the door.
Daryl moved quietly and cautiously towards the gap between the wall and blankets, pulling out a flashlight as he did so from his pocket. He had one hand on his crossbow aiming, and the other with the flashlight. He took a step into the area behind the blankets and I lost sight of him. I had a moment of panic at not being able to see him. It only took him a second to pop back out. "Nothin' back there but junk. Must'a been storage,"
We went back upstairs to the rest of our group. "Someone should stay here and the rest of us should go get everybody else." The black haired guy, Luke, I think, said.
"I can stay," I offered, getting a glare from Daryl. "Daryl, I'll be fine. I have my knife and a gun." I pointed out.
"If yer staying, I ain't goin' anywhere," He huffed, and his stance dared me to argue.
I glared at him for a moment and gave in. No use arguing with him, he's as stubborn as a mule. Luke and Jayne looked between us for a moment, and both of them shook their heads after a moment.
"We'll be back in a few, with every one else," Luke said, heading out the door with Jayne trailing behind him.
"C'mon," Daryl motioned for me to follow him outside, "Le's put up tha alarms,"
We went outside and started stringing wire up around the outside of the house, with cans attached. If anything walks into it it'll cause a bunch of noise. The walkers are to stupid to go under or around the cans, so it'll give us a heads up that we have walkers coming our way. It makes being on watch a little bit less nerve wracking. It didn't take us long to set up our alarm system. We've done it so many times now that it's like second nature. We had one walker come towards us, but Daryl shot it with his crossbow before it got anywhere near us. I looked around before going to the fallen walker and retrieving his arrow for him. I wiped the bits of brain off the arrow and onto the walkers pants.
I tensed as I heard an out of place sound. I looked around, thinking I misheard it. There it is again. The sound of a baby wailing. I looked at Daryl, panic in my eyes, wondering if he heard it too. From the look on his face, I could tell he had.