AN: A little update here with a bit of a time jump. Sort of a filler chapter working a little with character development. We're moving forward, though. Maybe I'll get another little something out for you tomorrow.

I hope you enjoy the chapter, even though it's filler/development and not super exciting. Let me know what you think!

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They were staying in an old construction building or office of some type and Carol had negotiated an extra night's stay just so they could wash the dirty clothes that were beginning to make them all smell like rancid Walkers, so she'd employed Alice and Lori's help to wash the clothes while Beth entertained Carl, Maggie and Glenn disappeared off somewhere under the pretense of looking for supplies, and the others discussed strategy and what was to come.

There was working water in the dirty old building and it was good enough for washing clothes, though drinking it might have been a poor decision on anyone's part. Carol scrubbed the clothes out in the sink while Lori hung them up on wires they'd rigged for drying and Alice traipsed back and forth finding more and more of the dirty things that people had stuck here and there in their bags.

"So when do you think we're actually going to find a place to stop?" Lori asked Carol.

Carol knew that Lori was getting anxious and she couldn't say she blamed her entirely. She was easily seven months pregnant if she was a day and the life they were living certainly wasn't an easy one for that.

Since their fight against the herd that had been trailing them from the farm, life had been a little easier. They moved daily but didn't feel the need to make the time between dawn and dusk count for so much. They stopped earlier more often than not and thanks to a raid they'd made on a couple of guns and ammo stores and one armory they had enough ammunition that Rick and Daryl had been doing target practice with Carol and Alice especially.

Lori got herself excused from target practice, not wanting to risk any problems with kickback from the gun or added stress and strain, Maggie and Beth joined them from time to time but for the most part Maggie was good with a gun and Beth seemed uninterested in learning, and sometimes Lori let Carl join them.

Carol and Alice, though, both took full advantage of the gun training. Carol was beginning to think of herself as a pretty good shot, and though Alice wasn't Annie Oakley by any means, she now joked that at least she had a better chance at hitting a Walker with a bullet than she had by simply killing it by chunking the gun at its head.

Along the way they'd found a few places where they'd stayed for up to two nights, like the current construction building they were housed in, but they hadn't found anything that seemed like it could be permanent. They'd looked at places, mostly from a distance so as to not put effort into cleaning out a place that they would later just up and leave, but nothing seemed secure enough to really consider hunkering down there.

"I'm sure we'll find something soon. They're looking…we all are…we'll know it when we find it," Carol said. "Just try not to worry about it."

Lori scoffed as she took more of the dripping clothes that Carol had wrung out and put on the worktable near her to wait for drying.

"That's easier said than done," Lori said. "If it weren't for the baby I'd say let's keep going, but that's not really the way I feel about it right now."

"I get that," Carol said. "But we're looking and we'll find something as soon as we can."

Alice came through the door and dropped some clothes on the floor on top of the pile that was already there.

"That looks like the last of it," Alice said. "If anyone else has anything that's dirty it's stuck up their ass and I'm not doing cavity searches."

Carol looked at the pile.

"I think that's fine," she said. "At least we'll have some clean things and for a few days we won't smell terrible."

"So what's up? I'm reporting for duty," Alice said.

Carol wiped at her forehead with her wrist.

"Do you think you could run out and find us a place to stay?" Carol asked.

Alice looked at her a moment like she'd sprouted another head and then Carol smiled to clue her in that she was joking. Alice smiled back and shook her head.

"Sorry…I'd whip us up something but the batteries are dead in the magic wand," Alice said. "This place is charming for the night, though…don't you think?"

"We need something for longer than a night," Lori said. "How many months can it really take to find somewhere to stay? We've been running forever and I can't believe that there's just nothing."

Alice leaned a moment against the wall, peering around Carol at Lori. Carol knew the two women didn't get along well. They hadn't actually fought with one another, but the tension was high and Carol wasn't entirely sure why. She knew that Alice had offered to be Lori's doctor and that Lori had graciously declined, preferring Hershel to make sure everything was going along as planned with the pregnancy. Other than that one incident she wasn't aware of anything specific, but the two rarely engaged in conversation.

"Where did you want to stay?" Alice asked. "Was it the Four Seasons or the Beverly Wilshire that got your attention? No damn where we've seen has been safe enough to hold up for a fucking week, and that's if we were lucky."

"What about this place?" Lori asked. "It's fenced in…it's big enough."

Alice shrugged, but Lori wasn't looking at her.

"Sure, it's plenty big," Alice said. "If you don't mind sleeping on top of each other for however long you plan to stay here. And it's fenced in, you're right. Those chain link fences out there are fucking awesome. A kindergarten kid with a temper tantrum could knock them down, but I'm sure I'd they'd hold against a good hundred of those damn zombie things…no sweat."

"Running constantly from one place to the next, worrying about finding gas and food every day, practically living in our cars," Lori said. "You're right. It's a much better option."

"At least we're alive," Alice said. "There have been a lot of people who can't say the same damn thing…and running from place to place in a car beats the hell out of running on foot."

Alice turned quickly toward Carol then, a look of annoyance on her face.

"I'm going to start up some dinner," she said. "Holler if you need something."

Carol nodded at Alice and the woman trotted out of the room and toward the fenced in area outside where they'd built the fire the night before to cook. Carol didn't mind if she cooked, at least that gave her a break from doing some of the chores around there.

Lori growled a little, obviously annoyed.

"I don't know why you even put up with her," Lori said.

"She doesn't bother me," Carol said.

The truth was that as they continued travelling Carol had come to be quite fond of Alice's company. She preferred it, in all actuality, to Lori's. Life wasn't perfect, but Alice didn't seem to dwell on that too much. She had her beliefs about it all, and Carol knew that Alice painted herself as a pessimist, but in reality she was one of the most optimistic of the group…or either she was just very much a go with the flow kind of individual.

Of course a lot of that probably had to do with her time before they'd found her. Carol didn't know all the details, but more or less she knew that the group that Alice had been with hadn't really known anything about surviving. They'd lives as the truest forms of scavengers they could possibly live as and they'd done all their travelling and running on foot, only stopping and sleeping when they could find a place they trusted enough to keep them safe for a few hours.

She supposed it might have been a pretty stark difference from their own journey in the past months.

"Really, Carol? She's a total bitch," Lori said. "She's always got some smart ass remark for everything. I'm not trying to be difficult, but I don't exactly relish the idea of giving birth on the side of the road worrying about the fact that any noise I make could bring a herd of Walkers down on top of us to tear us all to pieces."

"I understand," Carol said. "I know you're anxious, but really there's nothing that any of us can say except we'll find something…and we will…maybe even tomorrow. I know you're terrified, but we're going to find something."

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You'd know that Walkers, if you spent any time observing them at all, were pack animals…or something akin to it. They travelled alone a good deal, but they seemed to prefer to be bunched together. At any rate, if one was alone and another encountered it, they seemed drawn to one another, quickly pulling together.

Daryl thought that maybe the truth was that people were the same way. They were certainly travelling in a pack now. Maybe the same damn thing happened when you were a Walker. Maybe it was one of the only damn instincts that remained intact. You'd be fine flying solo for a while, but it always seemed that you ended up stuck up under someone at some point.

Of course, the herding nature of Walkers was more troublesome to them than the herding nature of people. Their pack of people kept them all from getting their asses chewed on…while the packs of Walkers were the would be chewers.

The place they were at was fine for the night. The chain link fences could keep back a small handful of Walkers at one time…more if they were spread out…but if they drew together the fences wouldn't hold off over a dozen.

So the only way to keep the fuckers from coming into the area and plowing the fencing system down for a little snack was to keep someone circling the whole night, stabbing any of the nasty assholes that dared to peer over the fence and see what they had going on in there.

Daryl didn't much trust the others on night watch. He wouldn't have let Carol be out there alone in the first damn place. Too many of them got bunched together before you made a round and you'd be the first to go. He'd rather be out there than think of her meeting that fate. He didn't really like the idea of the other chick, Alice, getting gnawed to pieces either. She was an asshole of the first degree when she wanted to be, but Daryl didn't really mind her company too much when it came down to it. Lori and Beth wouldn't even be able to handle clearing the fences quickly enough since there'd been more than a handful out tonight. Glenn and Maggie would be too busy fucking in some dark corner somewhere to even tell everyone they were about to be torn to pieces. Rick was too fucked up over Lori and his worry about the whole damn thing to focus on a task like this for too long, and Daryl thought Hershel was simply better off sleeping through the night. T-Dog might have been OK to run the fences all night, but Daryl would rather be out there himself. He trusted himself more than anyone else.

"Hey!" Daryl turned when he heard the voice of Alice cut through the silence around him.

"Fuck ya want, s'posed ta be sleepin'. We leave with the sun in the mornin'," Daryl said.

"I know that," Alice said. "So why don't you take your stupid ass to bed? I've got this shit."

As if to demonstrate her point, Alice leaned over the fence and stabbed a Walker that was nearby and showing some interest in them.

"I ain't leavin' ya ass out here," Daryl said. "Ya'd probably get mauled in half a damn hour. Go the fuck back inside with everyone else."

Alice chuckled.

"Yeah…" she said. "I've done a jam up job so far getting my ass mauled. Go inside, Daryl. I'm serious. T isn't going to give two fucks if I sleep all damn day in the truck tomorrow. He'll probably even be glad that you save him from the entire works of the Beatles that I promised I'd sing him on the ride. You've got to drive, though, and you don't want to fall asleep and kill yourself and Carol."

"I'll be just fuckin' fine," Daryl said. "Ain't the first damn time I been awake through the night."

Daryl continued on and thought the brunette would turn around and go inside, but she stayed right behind him, following along, reaching out to stab at whatever Walkers they saw just in the moment that he moved in for them.

"Why the fuck ya botherin' me?" Daryl asked finally. "I told ya that I'm fine an' I ain't leavin' ya ass so it don't make sense for both a' us ta be awake."

"Is this some of your sexist macho shit?" Alice asked. "You're women can't do anything bullshit?"

Daryl turned a little and looked at her over his shoulder as he continued his pacing around the perimeter. He didn't mind Alice. She did whatever the hell anyone asked her to do and she rarely complained about anything with any sincerity. She just sort of tagged along with the group. He didn't know much about her, though. He knew the basics of her story and she was all about fucking girl power and some shit like that and she stayed glued to Carol damn near any time they were cooking or doing laundry or whatever the hell else.

"What the fuck ya got against men anyway?" Daryl asked.

"Not one damn thing," Alice said. "I happen to like men. I don't care much for people…male or female…though that doubt that women can do any damn thing that men can do. Call it a character flaw if you will."

Daryl snickered.

"Whatever…this ain't 'bout'cha fuckin' anatomy…OK? I wouldn't want no damn body else out here, dick or not, 'cept me. These fences ain't gon' hold for shit if a lotta these fuckers come chargin' through," Daryl said.

"I know," Alice said. "That's why the hell I'm out here and it's why the hell I'm not going to take my happy ass back inside. If you won't go in, fine, but I'll stay."

"Suit ya fuckin' self then," Daryl said.

"You know that Lori actually wanted to talk about why we weren't going to stay here?" Alice asked.

Daryl scoffed again. He wasn't surprised by that shit in the least.

"We might stay here," he said, "but we wouldn't fuckin' live for a week 'fore these fuckers come in an' eat us all in our damn sleep."

"I know that too," Alice said.

She was quiet a few minutes before she spoke again.

"If you could pick the perfect place and it just appeared around here, where the hell would you choose for us to stay?" Alice asked.

Daryl had thought about it a hundred times over. He wasn't very creative with this shit, but the best damn place he could come up with was a military base.

"Fuckin' base," he said. He yawned in spite of himself. "Damn thing's 'bout as safe as it's gonna fuckin' get."

Alice grunted.

"Good choice, actually," Alice said. "Don't think I could come up with a better place. It'd be better if whatever we can find has some kind of medical facility. I could set up there…handle whatever the hell we need. Right now the most that has to be done is delivering the baby, though, and that shouldn't be such a big damn deal."

"Why don't'cha tell Rick's ass that?" Daryl asked. He suddenly felt like some kind of hen pecking around and gossiping with the woman following behind him. He didn't know why he was doing it, but it seemed like there really wasn't anything better to do and she obviously wasn't going inside and getting out of his hair.

"Would it do any good?" Alice asked. "I don't know the story there, but I know there's a story. I haven't asked Carol anything about it. Rick's jumpy, though…and Lori's bitchy and distant. They're supposed to be married…I know that much…and if they're married they're giving off some pretty clear signals that they don't care too damn much for each other."

"I don't reckon it'd do a damn bit a' good," Daryl said. Honestly he didn't think it would. Rick was beating himself up over all kinds of shit that really wasn't even his fault. He still felt like he owed it to Lori, though, to take care of her ass…and Daryl guessed that if he were in Rick's shoes he might feel the same.

"Are you going to tell me what the fuck happened between them? Or were they on the rocks when you met them?" Alice asked.

Daryl chuckled.

"I ain't no old woman," Daryl said. "Don't want to run around gossipin' with ya ass. Long damn story short she fucked his best friend an' they both went fuckin' nuts over a piece a' damn pussy…that's what the hell happened. Now she's knocked up an' if ya had nuts ya could bet the kid ain't Rick's. Do with that what the fuck ya will."

"Mmm…" Alice said behind him. "Pussy…yep…that's enough to do it. I'm pretty sure it's been driving people crazy for years. Probably some cave paintings or something somewhere depicting how we thought the ice age killed the dinosaurs, but really it was all caused by a fight over pussy."

"Now ya bein' an asshole an' you was the one wanted ta know what fuckin' happened," Daryl said.

Alice laughed.

"Well, to tell the truth I figured it was something like that. And I am being an asshole, but I'm being at least a little honest. I know it's gotten me into some shit before," Alice said. "I can't say I see the appeal with Lori, though."

Daryl laughed then louder than he'd meant to and he knew they'd pay for it in a few minutes with the possible coming of at least a couple of Walkers from the woods nearby.

"What?" Alice asked. "I'm serious…not my type."

"Good damn thing," Daryl said. "Not my type neither an' I'm fuckin' pleased as punch about it. Last fuckin' thing we need is Lori causin' more shit in this group."

"I take it you don't get along?" Alice asked.

Daryl grunted. He didn't want to come right out and say it in no uncertain terms, but he didn't really try to sugarcoat his dislike of Lori either. He'd let her know a time or two that she wasn't his favorite person in the world…and she'd let him know in her own way that she felt the same…but he tried to keep the peace as best he could.

"So what is your type?" Alice asked. "Since Lori obviously isn't…did you have someone before the zombie apocalypse or what?"

"You a damn nosy bitch, ain't'cha?" Daryl asked.

"Mmm…character flaw," Alice said.

"Got a lotta those," Daryl said.

"That I do," Alice said. "I collect them…some people like baseball cards, but I think my collection makes life a lot more entertaining…So? What's your story?"

Daryl growled a little. He didn't really want to talk about this shit, but it appeared she wasn't going to let up.

"Ain't got a fuckin' story for ya. Ain't my thing. I ain't made for that shit," Daryl said.

"For what shit?" Alice asked. "For women? Are you gay?"

For a moment Daryl thought she might be trying to be an asshole, but then it slowly dawned on him that she probably wasn't the kind that considered that to be an insult like his brother did when he used it on him time and time again because he didn't run around fucking women like it was going out of style.

"Not fuckin' gay," Daryl said. "Just don't do relationships."

"I hear that," Alice said. "Dangerous things…you could get cooties."

Daryl snickered and shook his head.

"Bitch," he said.

"You have no idea," Alice responded.

Daryl realized it was going to be a long night. If Alice was going to follow him around until the sun came up then there was no telling just how much she was going to expect him to talk. Still, Daryl supposed it gave him something to do besides dwell on the same thoughts the spent all day thinking on while they rode. Of course, he wasn't going to tell her that.