Chapter Eleven
Carol pushed the cold beans around her plate with the end of a plastic knife. She was sick of beans. She was also sick of waiting for the group to return from their search for food.
Across the table, Hershel stretched and let out a yawn. "Hope they find a mattress warehouse along the road, those bunk beds aren't doing my back any good".
Carol smiled, "Now wouldn't that be great. Maybe they can stumble across a chocolate factory too."
"Or a brewery" a middle aged man in a dark red t shirt said, taking a seat next to Carol. "Andrew", he said, holding out a strong hand.
"Carol. Nice to meet you" Carol said, taking his hand and shaking it. "Sorry I haven't had a chance to come speak to everyone from Woodbury yet".
Andrew smiled, the wrinkles around his eyes crinkling. "Don't worry about it" he replied, "I hate to be a pain but if you're not going to eat those.." he gestured down the the beans on Carol's plate.
"Oh, sure" Carol said, pushing the plate towards him. "I've had one too many cans of beans recently".
Andrew picked up a fork and shovelled some beans in to his mouth. He had a kind face, soft featured with bright green eyes and the shadow of a silver beard on his jawline. "I'm just so hungry" he said, swallowing the last of his mouthful. "We were used to eating pretty normally over at Woodbury you know. Some generator thing that Milton guy worked on meant we could have hot food". He took another fork full of beans.
"Ahhhh, hot food", Carol sighed. "The last hot meal we had was at yours, wasn't it Hershel?"
Hershel nodded, "Yup, what I wouldn't give for a nice steak right now".
"The Governor didn't let us go hungry, guess I can't fault him there."
Hershel leant forward and looked Andrew in the eyes. "That man was insane. While you were all eating burgers and having a singalong, he was inches away from raping my daughter. Nearly beat Glenn to death. You'll get used to the beans."
Andrew cleared his throat. "Sorry. I didn't realise that happened."
"He also killed your own men, and drove a van full of walkers in to the prison yard." Came Carl's voice from the corner.
"Carl, stop it" Carol said, she knew how angry he could get. "Andrew didn't realise."
Carl stood up and flashed Andrew a filthy look, "I'm going outside."
Hershel heaved himself up, leaning heavily on his crutches. "Think I might go for a nap. Wake me if the others come back."
As Hershel hobbled off to his cell, Carol turned to Andrew and smiled sympathetically. "Try not to worry about them too much. Hershel lost a lot since this whole thing began, and Carl.." she paused, trying to summon the words to describe the boy. "Carl is just messed up. Not his fault, when all this started, Rick was in a coma in hospital. They thought he was dead for sure. His Mom and him joined up with us and Rick somehow found us."
"Wow" Andrew exhaled. "Poor kid."
Carol nodded, "Yeah you could say that."
"And you?" Andrew asked, meeting her eyes. "Any family? Husband?"
The question kicked Carol in the gut. "Uhm. I had a husband and a daughter. They uh.." tears stung her eyes at the thought of Sophia.
"Oh. I'm sorry." Andrew placed a hand on top of Carol's. "I didn't realise, you don't have to tell me."
Carol wiped the tears from her eyes with the back of her other hand, it felt nice to have someone touch her and she didn't want Andrew to move. "It's fine. My husband was an asshole anyway." she sniffed, trying to cheer up.
Andrew laughed. "If it's any consolation, my wife was a bitch too."
Carol laughed and wiped her eyes again. "Is she..?" she asked.
Andrew nodded slowly. "Yup. Our next door neighbour ate her while she was jogging to the store. I'd be lying if I said I wasn't relieved."
Carol giggled, noticing that Andrew still hadn't moved his hand. She felt a pang of guilt shoot through her at the thought of Daryl, anything could have happened to him and here she was, laughing and joking around about dead spouses.