Chapter 10

The truck rolled and bumped down the highway, and Carol gazed out the window as they drove toward home. Sophia had found some of Daryl's CDs in the glove box and popped one in. It wasn't exactly Carol's style, but it was something to listen to besides the wind whistling through the cracked windows and the tires thumping over pot holes.

Nobody spoke, but everybody kept an eye on the rearview and side mirrors, as if almost expecting the herd of walkers to be right behind them. It didn't make sense, of course, but it was simply natural to keep an eye on what was behind them, given that they'd left that field with a whole herd of walkers pouring out of the trees like wild animals.

By the time they reached the cabin, Sophia was trying to keep her eyes open. When they headed up to the house, Carol made her way over to the well and sighed, leaning against it.

"What's wrong?" Daryl asked as he unlocked the door.

"The water's low. And we're almost out of bottled."

"Want me to make a run?"

"It's not just that," Carol murmured. "We're running low on a lot of things. I don't want you going alone, not with those herds out there."

"So we'll go."

"Sophia's tired, Daryl."

"She ain't goin'," he said flatly.

"Why not?" Sophia asked. "I can shoot."

"Too dangerous, Soph," Daryl murmured. "Neither one of ya need to be gettin' out in that, but I know your mama can take care of herself. I don't wanna have to worry 'bout both of ya out there."

"I'm not letting you go by yourself. You're very good, Daryl, but they can sneak up when you don't expect them," Carol pointed out. "Sophia will be safe here. We know that. The house is secure, and she knows to stay inside."

"Standing right here, Mom," Sophia muttered. Carol turned to her.

"Are you ok with staying here?"

"I'm not a baby," Sophia said with a shrug. "I'd rather go with you and Daryl."

"Too dangerous. Can't be tryin' to get supplies and worryin' about you."

"I could stay in the truck," Sophia offered.

"No," Carol spoke up, "we need the room, and Daryl's right. No need to put you in danger for no reason. We'll be just an hour away, and we'll be quick. You'll be ok?"

"Yes," Sophia said with a defeated sigh.

"We're not punishing you," Carol pointed out. "We just don't want you to get hurt."

"Suppose you guys get hurt. Then I'm stuck here by myself?" Sophia considered. Carol and Daryl shared a look, before Dary's shoulders fell.

"We can wait. We can go tomorrow. Hit a town we haven't been to yet. Maybe there'll be fewer walkers," Daryl suggested.

"No," Sophia said with a little grin. "I was just teasing. You're right. You guys should go. I'll stay here and watch the house."

"You won't go outside?"

"I won't go outside. I won't make noise. I won't use much light. I'll read by flashlight and have dinner on the table when you come home," Sophia promised. "Pick up more spaghetti o's!" Daryl made a face, and Carol stifled a little laugh. "What? They're good?"

"We'll get yer spaghetti o's," Daryl promised, getting a hug from Sophia before she hurried into the house and off to grab her favorite book. Daryl shook his head, and Carol caught the exasperated look on his face.

"What?" she asked, a small smile creeping up on her face.

"Girls. Ain't never understood 'em when I was her age, and I still don't." Carol snorted at that, and she leaned in to press her lips against his.

"Well, you men aren't the easiest to figure out, either." When his hand ghosted over her lower back, pulling her closer, she giggled against his lips. "Well, sometimes you are."

"Stop," he muttered before capturing her lips with his own again.

Carol spent a good fifteen minutes checking and double checking the locks on the doors and making sure that the windows that were boarded up were all secure. She made certain to pull the curtains over the smaller windows that weren't boarded, and she had Daryl make sure the pistol was loaded and where Sophia could easily access it if the need arose.

"Now remember, don't touch that gun unless you need it. You hear anything prowling around outside, you don't go to the door, even if you think it's us."

"What if it's a person?" Sophia asked quietly, drumming her fingers on the kitchen table. "I mean, shouldn't we help them?" Carol glanced at Daryl, searching for the right thing to say. She had always tried to teach Sophia to help those in need, but the world was a much different place now. Who knew what motives people might have. Right now, basic instinct was to survive, and this small family had managed to do that quite safely, but others out there might not have been so lucky.

"If it's a person, just stay quiet, turn the lamps down, and if anybody tries to come in, you hide, ok?"

"Okay," Sophia said with a nod.

"Are you sure you're ok with this?"

"Mom, I'll be ok." Carol sighed softly, her stomach twisting into knots. She was torn between needing her daughter to gain a little independence given the state of things and the inevitable fate that Sophia would eventually be on her own someday, be it a month from now or thirty years down the road. Someday, Carol knew, she'd die and her daughter would have to fend for herself. She just hoped it was more like thirty years than thirty days.

"I know you will, sweetie, but I'm your mother, and it's my job to worry about you." She pulled her daughter into a tight hug. "Come on. Let's go check the locks again." Sophia sighed with exasperation but gave her mother a little grin and a nod.

Their first stop had been a grocery store. They'd backed the truck up close to the doors for easy loading, and it was still light enough that they could keep an eye on their surroundings in case any walkers came around.

They loaded three cases of bottled water into the bed of the truck, and then they'd raided the boxed food aisle. Most of the boxed dinners required meat, but Daryl had tossed them in the truck, insisting they could substitute ground beef with squirrel or opossum or deer.

They piled as much as they could into the truck before heading down to grab a few items of clothe and some winter coats for the upcoming bad weather that seemed to be what Daryl was predicting. As a man who'd spent a great deal of his life outside, he seemed pretty certain that the winter would be unusually cold for a Georgia winter.

Next, they stopped by a drug store, where Carol set to work getting antibiotics and first aid kits and feminine products. Poor Sophia had just begun having her monthlies over the summer, and Carol couldn't help but feel badly for Daryl, who would be dealing with hormones left and right with two women in the house.

Carol marveled at the way she and Daryl could wordlessly move about each store and get what they needed with no hiccups. Just a look and a point would tell her where he was going and she could do the same for him, no words needed. The less noise the better seemed to be the motto on days like this.

Daryl was simply grateful that he had someone to travel with on runs. After they'd found the cabin, he'd tried to leave Carol at home as often as possible, not wanting to put her and Sophia in any kind of danger, but it wasn't long before she was pulling just as much supplies on their runs as he was. She never complained about it. She just did it. She knew what they needed, and she helped him get it, and they worked together better than he'd ever worked with anyone. The more he thought on it, the more he realized he'd never really gotten along with many people in life. He'd had relationships, but none of them had lasted. He'd never been in love. He'd never really had the happy home environment as a kid.

But somehow along the line, he and Carol and Sophia had become a family. And now things were changing between him and Carol, and while he liked those changes, the only relationship he had to base his off of was his parents, and that had been one shit storm nightmare after the other. He was determined he wasn't going to be as big of a fuck up as his old man.

As Carol grabbed some soaps and sanitizers, she caught Daryl eyeing the condoms and trying to pretend he wasn't. She chuckled to herself when she walked outside to load her armful of supplies into the truck bed. When she returned to grab some bottles of alcohol and peroxide, she noticed Daryl had moved on from the condom aisle, and she was pretty certain a couple of boxes were missing, but she wouldn't dare embarrass him, at least not until they got more comfortable with one another. The kissing was amazing, but so far, that was pretty much all it was, and her stomach twisted into knots at the thought of it becoming more, though her racing pulse and the ache between her legs pretty much made it difficult to think about anything logically when it came do Daryl.

"Think that's it," Daryl murmured quietly, coming up behind Carol. She'd made her way to the candy aisle and had picked up some sweets. She turned with a handful of candy bars, and Daryl smirked. "Sweet tooth?"

"Daryl, I've been eating wild animal for a month. You do understand that, right?" She gave him a grin and crinkled her nose. "Don't worry. I'll share." She turned and headed out of the store, and Daryl followed behind, unable to take his eyes off the way her hips moved when she walked. She had a natural, graceful sway that had him dizzy with desire, and he couldn't help but put his hand on her arm and gently spin her around so he could kiss her again.

She giggled against his lips and dropped her armful of candy before snaking her arms around his neck and pulling herself closer to him, sighing as his hands moved over her back and up her ribcage. He pushed her up against the side of the truck, his hands moving boldly up the sides of her breasts, getting a soft gasp out of her, as he accidentally—or maybe not—grazed over her nipple through her clothes. She moaned softly, and he moved his hands back to a safer place, though Carol was already panting against his lips as his hips pressed into hers.

The sound of feet scraping along the asphalt intruded on their moment, and when Daryl pulled back, Carol glanced over his shoulder to see a walker just feet away.

"Daryl!" she hissed out between her teeth. Daryl reached for the shotgun in the back of the truck and quickly took out half of the walker's head. It fell to the ground in a sickening thud, and Carol put her hand over her chest as she struggled to breathe.

"S'alright," he assured her.

"That one was too close," she murmured. Daryl gave her arm a little squeeze.

"C'mon," he said softly, noting the worried tone in her voice as she looked off toward the mountains. "Let's get home. Soph's probably wondering where we are." She nodded gratefully to him, and they pulled themselves into the truck. They were on the road in moments, an easy silence gradually overtaking them as they headed home to Sophia.

It wasn't long before the surroundings began to look more familiar, and they began the trek up the mountain toward the cabin. Carol felt content for the first time in a while, and she closed her eyes, smiling faintly as the sun bathed her face through the glass of the passenger's window.

Daryl turned the radio on, still unable to let go of that habit he was used to from before. Nothing but static filled the air, and he quickly turned it off. With a sigh, he pulled down the visor, shielding his eyes from the sun as they drove up the winding road.

The closer they got, however, the more unsettled Carol became. Her eyes snapped open, and she sat up straight on the seat, her eyes darting back and forth at the land in front of them.

"You smell that?" she asked. Daryl rolled the window down and smelled the air. The faint hint of smoke hit him, and he glanced at her.

"Some patches of the woods are pretty dry. Maybe…"

"No," she murmured, as the trees thinned out and a column of smoke rose into the sky. "There." She pointed, and her hand began to shake. Daryl stepped on the gas, the tires spraying gravel and dirt behind them as he rushed toward the smoke with a sinking feeling in his gut.

The closer they got to the smoke, they more they realized exactly where that fire was.

"Daryl," she breathed, tears stinging her eyes. He grabbed her hand, not sure if to comfort her or to calm his own nerves, and he squeezed it. He met her gaze for a brief second before he pumped the gas pedal and tore down the dirt road toward the cabin.

What was normally the sight of a sweet little cabin cottage with a porch swing hanging from one rusted chain was now a haze of smoke with licks of flame darting out from between the boards that were hammered over the windows.

"Sophia!" Carol choked out, jumping out of the truck before Daryl had come to a complete stop. She stumbled but stayed on her feet, rushing toward the house.

"Shit," Daryl growled, throwing the truck into park and jumping out to run after her. "Stop! Stay back!" He reached her just as she was clamoring to climb up onto the porch. He encircled her in his arms, pulling her back against his chest. She fought to get away, so he held onto her more firmly, dragging her away from the house, her legs kicking the air as she screamed out.

"Let me go!" she screamed as she wriggled free from him and rushed to the front door, reaching for the handle before Daryl pulled her back again.

"You crazy?!" he yelled, pulling her back. "Stay here. I'll get her." He pulled Carol down so she was sitting on the ground, her head in her hands, sobbing uncontrollably as the smoke made her gag and cough.

He rushed up to the porch, grabbing the red rag from his back pocket. He wrapped it around his hand and tried the door. It was locked, just like they'd left it.

"Stay here!" he ordered. "I'll try the back." Daryl disappeared around the back of the house, and Carol's fingers pierced the soil, grabbing clumps of red earth between her fingers, her breath ragged as her lungs burned in her chest. She choked and coughed and felt a piece of herself die in that moment. She watched the flames reach out, trapped inside the house, trapped and scorching through the wood.

Daryl came running back around, coughing into his hand, his face darkened with soot.

"It's locked," he grunted. "Can't get in the windows." Carol said nothing. Her body was still now as she stared blankly at the house, watching it burn. Her lip trembled as the tears slid silently down her face and onto the ground. Daryl grabbed the shotgun out of the back of the truck and rushed around to one of the smaller windows, busting the glass. She heard him cry out as he cut his arm on a piece of broken glass.

He strained, pulling himself up, and she could see him struggling, and as it suddenly dawned on her that her daughter was dead and that going inside was just going to kill her too, she scrambled to her feet.

"No!" she screamed out. "No! Daryl, stop!" She rushed to the window, but it was too late, and he was already inside. Her heart fell, and she screamed into the blackness as she heard the popping and crackling of flames devouring the old wood in the cabin. "Daryl! Sophia! No!" She banged her fists against the window frame, and still he didn't come.

The black smoke swam out the window and surrounded her, and she stumbled backward, coughing, her eyes burning and her body weakening.

She fell back against the ground, her head spinning as she stared up at the dusky sky watching the smoke fill up the air and disappear into the clouds. As she felt herself losing consciousness, she heard a terrible crash as the cabin's ceiling collapsed, and her last thought as she slipped into complete darkness was prayer that she'd die right along with them.