"Jesus, what is going on with us?" Carol sighed, clutching tightly to Daryl's hand. "Have we all gone completely insane?" She leaned a little in his direction, just needing to feel that tiny nbit more support. They were quietly talking, watching the shitstorm happening in front of them. It was hard to make out what any one person was saying because everyone seemed to be talking at once.
Finally Abraham yelled loud enough to calm the group down but immediately started telling Eugene how fucking stupid his plan was while everyone listened. Eugene interrupted. "I need to do this. It's a way I can contribute. Make up for the things I've done. If it works and I live, great. If it doesn't, at least you'll know."
"Come on," Abraham sighed. "We're over that shit now. You're a member of the team... A member of this family. You're not risking your life."
Several others expressed agreement with Abe's words. "There's something you don't know... Something I did. Once you hear, you might be quite willing to let the walkers bite me," Eugene had a look of extreme guilt.
"Eugene, don't..." Tara stood with deep concern and fear etched on her face.
"What the fuck?" Daryl whispered. Carol shrugged. She had no idea what was going on.
Eugene closed his eyes and started to rapidly blurt out his admission, as if talking faster was somehow helping him get everything out. "I crushed up glass and put it in the gas tank of the bus when we left the church. It was just supposed to keep us from getting far. Didn't mean for the rest to happen. The crash... I'm sorry." When he finished his eyes flew open and he waited for the explosion.
Carol's eyes widened as Tara put herself between Abe and Eugene in a protective stance. And it all started again. Abe, Glenn, Maggie and Rosita were yelling at Eugene and apparently Tara as well. "You knew?" she heard Maggie hiss at the other young brunette. Rick, Michonne, Tyreese and the others looked about as confused as Carol felt herself. But they got into the mix as peacekeepers before long.
"You got any idea what the fuck they're going on about now?" Daryl asked, leaning to talk into her ear over the yelling.
"No clue," Carol shook her head. "Come on," she said, tugging at his hand as she got up. She couldn't take another second of the insanity.
"Where are we goin'?" Daryl asked, getting to his feet.
"Remember that run you promised to take me on? We're going. Now." Carol started towards the door but saw Daryl hesitate. "Come on. We'll probably be back before they even finish yelling." She saw Daryl looking over at the group and wondered what he was doing. Carol watched as Daryl caught Rick's eye, motioned towards Carol and then the door. Rick nodded and finally Daryl started to move.
"Didn't think it was fair to just take off without letting anyone know," Daryl explained, giving her a cautious look, clearly worried he might have pissed her off.
"It's fine, you're right," Carol sighed. She knew in her heart it was wrong to just take off and she was okay with the way Daryl handled it. If he'd taken the time to clear it with Rick that would have pissed her off, for sure.
Daryl started towards one of their vehicles. "No, let's just walk," Carol said, stopping him. "Pharmacy's not that far. From what I heard it's barely been touched other than what we've taken." He nodded and strapped his crossbow back on that he'd removed to get in the car.
The store was about 4 blocks away. Not huge city blocks like Atlanta, just small-town ones. Carol figured they would easily be there in less than 10 minutes. What she didn't plan for was all the walker distractions. They seemed to be out in full force, but luckily they weren't herding at first, just wandering around alone or in tiny groups.
Or course, as they got closer and started to get noticed more and more started coming. "Guess my idea of a leisurely stroll wasn't a great plan, huh?" Carol grunted as she took down a female walker, and yanked her knife free.
"Yeah, probably not," Daryl replied firing off a shot. He retrieved the bolt from the fallen body and looked behind them. "They're building up. Ready to make a run for it?"
Less than a block, surely she could make it that far. Carol nodded and they both took off. Her legs felt sluggish but she was able to keep up for a little while. She could see the entrance to the pharmacy, they were close, but with each step the blackness behind her eyes was growing. Carol was dizzy. Just a few more steps, she encouraged herself. But... It... Was... Just... Too... Much. Carol heard herself call out Daryl's name as her knees buckled and she dropped to the ground. She felt a bit of pain and then nothing. Blackness.
"Carol, Carol... Wake up..." She could hear a voice calling her but it seemed so far away. Everything was foggy but she remembered dreaming about something, a loud rushing sound, a train maybe? An airplane? It was loud. "Carol? Carol?" She opened her eyes and tried to focus. "Oh thank fucking Christ," said the voice.
Carol groaned. Her head was pounding. "You know," she got out. "You really need to stop taking the Lord's name in vain... He might have it out for you."
"Ha," Daryl chuckled. His face relaxed but Carol could still see the remnants of fear in his eyes. "You're the one who passed out and almost got eaten. Had to carry you the rest of the way."
"See, my point exactly," she joked, attempting to sit up. She was never one to dwell on her own issues when someone she cared about was upset. Carol hated seeing him worry so she always did her best to lighten the mood. Even after cracking a smile Daryl still looked concerned. "Stop, I'm fine now," Carol assured him. She may have been lying a bit. She felt dizzy again, just sitting up and her cheek hurt. She went to touch it.
"Don't," Daryl grabbed her hand. "You did quite the epic face plant. We gotta clean that up."
"Well, it seems we've come to the right place," Carol replied dryly. She looked around. The pharmacy looked barely touched. What a strange town, she thought. So many places like this that hadn't been looted at all. Likely why there's so many walkers, she realized. No one left to do the looting. Daryl had carried her to the back of the large store, far away from the front entrance. From where she was sitting she couldn't even see where they'd come in, but she assumed Daryl had locked them safely inside.
Daryl gathered some first aid supplies from a few aisles over and returned. "You, uh, you want me to try? Or do you want..."
There had to be a mirror around somewhere, and Carol knew she could have herself patched up in no time. But... It could be kinda fun to watch him play doctor with her face. "No, go ahead," she said sweetly. "Get a big wad of gauze or paper towel and pour some peroxide on the scrape first. It'll pull the dirt out."
Daryl fumbled around with the supplies and eventually ended up with a clump of paper towels and a bottle of peroxide. He took the cap off, looked at the bottle, looked at her face, then back at the bottle. Carol smile and took the bottle, picked up the cap and filled it with peroxide, then handed it to him. She grabbed his hand with the wadded up paper towel and held it to her cheek below the scrape. Carol tilted her face so the peroxide would run to the paper towels and waited for him to pour.
"It hurt?" He asked as the liquid touched her face and was likely bubbling.
"Tiny sting in the deep scratches but nothing major," Carol shrugged. "Keep doing it until the bubbling slows. Dab it really lightly after each cap," she instructed him.
Daryl repeated the process a few more times. "Okay, I think it's good now. You want me to cover it with gauze or something?"
Carol shook her head. "Maybe a dab of that antibiotic ointment but that's all. Best to let the air get to it, let it scab over." Daryl stared at her for a moment. "What?"
"You can't seem to catch a break," he muttered.
"Been a rough week," Carol smiled. "Ouch." Her freshly cleaned out scrapes stung when her face wrinkled.
"I'll give you a full month," Daryl replied. He was right. From the banishment to losing the girls to the van falling off the bridge, getting hit by a car, losing Beth, getting bit, almost losing Daryl... It had been one hell of an emotional and physical ride. And here she was again, passing out and scraping up her face, almost getting attacked by walkers...
"It's gonna get better," Carol replied. "It's gotta."
"Yeah, well you ain't giving anymore of your blood anytime soon," Daryl grumbled protectively. They both knew the reason she passed out was because she was weak from two transfusions so close together, especially after all the other physical things her body had been through.
"The second transfusion was non-negotiable," Carol said, giving him a look. "Come on, let's check this place out. I'm a bit hungry, any chance there's something edible around here?"
Daryl helped her to her feet and the blackness started to swirl. "Hey, maybe you should just sit there a while longer," he suggested, holding her against him in this new protective way she was really going to have to get used to. It wasn't that she didn't appreciate the sentiment. Daryl had always been protective of her. But it was beyond that, almost possessive.
Carol took a deep breath and waited for the dizziness to subside. "Nope, I'm okay," she said. "Promise. I'm sure some food will help." A bag of stale pretzels and a granola bar later she really was feeling better. They even found a six pack of expensive imported water to drink. It was very odd the vast collection of things you could find in a pharmacy. She decided to wander a bit more and headed down the aisle towards the front. "Oh God," she whispered when she saw the entrance. "Daryl, c'mere, look," she called out. There were walkers completely swarming the entrance.
"Fuck," he muttered, looking down the aisle. "Was hopin' they'd take off after a few minutes."
"We can't get out," Carol stated the obvious. "Unless there's another entrance somewhere…" They quickly scanned the store for another way out. There was only one other door and it was locked with a chain and thick pad lock. "Is there anything we can cut it with?" Carol asked, knowing the answer. She was feeling trapped and panic was rising.
"Hey, relax," Daryl said, touching her shoulder. "Rick knows we left. If we ain't back in a few hours someone will come." Carol sighed and leaned back against him. "And if they don't come, we spend the night and figure it out in the morning."
"When did you become the voice of reason?" Carol asked, turning to face him.
"Mmm, no idea," Daryl shrugged. "You can have it back any time."
"Nah, looks good on you," Carol smiled. "Shit. Ouch." She winced. "Come on, I need a distraction, let's go find what we came here for." They wandered the aisles until they found the 'family planning' section. "Wow, who knew there were so many to choose from?" she muttered, looking at a wide variety of brands, styles and sizes. "Got a preference?" Carol asked, giving him a little smirk.
"Used to just use those ones outta the machines in the men's bathroom," Daryl grunted. "Or steal some from Merle." Somehow that didn't surprise her. She couldn't imagine Daryl walking into a pharmacy and purchasing a box of condoms.
"Well…" Carol said, grabbing a bunch of boxes off the shelf. "We have thin, ultra thin, extra lube, ribbed, and ohhh, a variety pack of flavours." She held them up. "Take your pick." Daryl reached out and grabbed one and quickly tossed it into the backpack they'd found earlier. Carol was certain she caught just the slightest hint of a blush on his cheeks.
She went to put the others back but Daryl stopped her. He grabbed another and tossed it into the bag. Then another and another until they were all gone. "They got like a huge economy pack or somethin'?" he asked, scanning the shelf. Carol bit her lip to keep from laughing because for one it would hurt and secondly she didn't want to embarrass him. Daryl didn't find what he was looking for so he grabbed another couple boxes and tossed them in. "Should do for a while," he mumbled.
"Yeah like 8 years," she snorted. Carol couldn't resist, but it made him give her an adorable shy smile, so the pain from laughing was well worth it.
After wandering around a while, taking a mental stock of inventory incase they needed to come back for anything, they sat down on the floor. Daryl leaned back against the wall and Carol sat between his legs. He immediately reached for her shoulders and started to rub them. "So, what's your vote gonna be… When we get back," Carol asked, leaning back against his chest, sighing at how amazing his hands felt.
"I ain't voting," Daryl replied. "Thought about voting for Morgan's blood. Keep you outta it all. But I ain't so confident it'll work… I don't want to be part of a choice that ends a man's life." Carol wasn't surprised at all by his decision. Daryl had one of the biggest hearts of anyone she'd ever met. He had enough on his conscience already. Daryl would always blame himself for not finding Sophia. For not saving Hershel. And most recently Beth. None were his fault, but they all weighed on him. "You?" he asked, letting go of her shoulders.
"Though I would run something by you, since we're a team now," Carol said, shifting to face him. She explained her idea to Daryl.
"You sure this is what you want?" he asked gently.
"I think it's best for everyone," Carol nodded.
"Then I'll support ya," Daryl replied with a little nod of the head. The way he was looking at her, his eyes so intense and full of love… It made Carol want him, badly. "What ya say we try one of those ribbed ones," she said, biting her lip and giving her best flirty look.
"Ain't gotta ask me twice," Daryl replied, leaning forward and kissing her lips. Carol shifted again and moved to straddle his lap as she delved her tongue into his warm mouth. Daryl grabbed her ass and pulled her down tightly against his groin area. She let her body melt against his and gave herself completely. She was so incredibly turned on even the fact that the intense kissing was stinging her face something fierce was the furthest thing from her mind.
Suddenly they heard a thump coming from the front. Carol scrambled out of his lap and stood to look. "Fuck," she hissed. "Your BFF has the worst timing."
Daryl stood beside her. "Cock blocked by Officer Friendly," he mumbled sadly.
Carol started to snicker. "Owwwww," she whined. "Don't make me laugh." Daryl quickly kissed her forehead.
"Let's get the fuck outta here," Daryl said. "Can't forget these," he picked up the backpack filled with boxes of condoms. No, they couldn't forget those, Carol thought. She planned on burning one as soon as possible.
