AN: Here we go, another little chapter here.
I hope you enjoy! Let me know what you think!
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Carol couldn't help but grow frustrated as she followed Daryl back toward the store where he'd, and she couldn't make herself see it as anything different, abducted her the day before.
She felt like they were moving slower than she wanted to…slower than they had to…and more than once she rushed ahead of him just to realize that she wasn't entirely sure where she was and she had to wait for him to help guide her.
He was quiet, and Carol wondered to herself if he was silent because he was sour that she hadn't responded to his declaration of love the way that he'd wanted her to…but it was a lot for her to take in and her mind wasn't able to fully focus on anything that was happening beyond her concern to return to the house.
Because she loved Daryl…and she'd loved him a long time…but she'd also resigned herself to living without his love and, as of late, to living without him.
But she felt like she'd come too far and given too much of her emotions to keeping Judith safe to know that Tyreese and Judith were out there alone, without her, and that having the little girl on his own might be too much for Tyreese to handle. It had all been too much to trade what they'd built together, between them, because she'd been abducted by a group of ruffians that Daryl had fallen in with and had, in some ways, allowed to turn him into someone that she barely recognized.
Or maybe it was her that had changed so dramatically that she no longer recognized him…but either way…her main concern was the return.
For now, Daryl would simply have to be secondary.
"Are we almost there?" Carol asked. "Daryl…where's the store?"
"It's just up here…we almost there," Daryl grumbled back at her.
She still had to get back from the store to the house and they weren't even back at the place yet. She had more or less forced Daryl into skipping breakfast and they'd left just as the sun was barely beginning to light up the sky so that he could get her back and hopefully leave her the time that she needed.
The other filthy and leering creatures of Daryl's group…the ones she barely wanted to attribute the name "men" to, had agreed to let him take her back alone…making lewd comments about what was likely to happen as a parting gift when he got her back to where she wanted to go…and as far as she could tell, they weren't following them.
When the place around her became familiar, they stepped back into town and she fought the urge to take off running then.
"I've got to go…" she said.
Daryl nodded his head.
"Are you coming with me?" Carol asked.
Daryl gnawed at his lip and shook his head.
And for a moment, Carol felt her heart catch. She'd thought that he was coming with her…that they were going to have time…at least as much time as anyone was offered these days…to get to know one another again. But now he was saying that he wasn't coming.
He would "claim" her…keep her overnight...say that he'd loved her all the times that he'd made her feel so inadequate…and then he wasn't going with her.
Carol sucked in a breath and nodded her head.
"OK…if you don't want to go…" she said, not knowing exactly how to say goodbye to him when she'd barely said hello again.
Daryl shook his head.
"I'm comin', but I ain't comin' with you," Daryl said. "Won't be long they gon' be lookin' for me…an' if I go with you…they gon' find me but they gon' find you too."
Daryl shook his head.
"I ain't gon' let that happen," he said. "So you tell me 'bout where it is…'bout what I'm lookin' for…an' you go on alone. I'ma mess up the trail as best I can an' head in…long way around…so they can't follow me."
Carol felt her chest loosen a little. He wasn't staying with them…he was simply going to take a different route…a safer route for all of them.
"Go through the woods," Carol said, trying to figure out how to tell him to get to the house when she really only knew its location by the memory that her feet had of the way to get there. "Just as you get through the woods…you cross…a field…and a road…and then there's another little wooded area. It backs up to the house."
Daryl chuckled.
"Any damn idea what the road is called?" He asked.
Carol shook her head.
"No…I don't know…we only found the town by wandering around," Carol admitted.
Neither she nor Tyreese were trackers by any standards. Everything they'd stumbled upon since they started travelling was just something that they happened to find as they wandered about. There wasn't really any method to their approach…and it had caused them to trip back over their own steps more than once and realize that their déjà vu was really only coming from the fact that they had been somewhere before.
Daryl nodded his head.
"Alright," he said. "I'll find it…"
Carol made a face.
"Are you sure?" She asked. "We could go together…try to throw it off…"
Daryl shook his head.
"Not safe enough," he said. He raised an eyebrow at her and then looked behind him quickly like he was making sure that he wasn't already being followed, before he turned back to her. "I found ya before…I'll find ya again. Just stay put…they'll move out the area in a couple days time…'til then, even if ya don't see me…stay put."
Carol nodded.
"As long as we can," she said. "If there's trouble…we have to move."
He nodded and Carol felt the sweeping sense of urgency to go rush over her again.
"I really need to go…" she said.
She was somewhat surprised…still unused to an affectionate Daryl…when he reached out and caught her slightly roughly by the back of the head and crushed his lips to hers. She struggled at first, overwhelmed a little by the way that Daryl seemed to like to kiss…or seemed to think he was supposed to kiss, but then she did her best to return to the affection.
When she finally pulled away from him, she sucked in a breath, took him in as quickly as she could with her eyes, not sure if she'd really ever see him again, and then she bid him farewell…offering him a soft spoken declaration of her love and hearing his almost growled back to her as she turned her body and darted in the direction that she knew the house to be in…determined to outrun time if she could and hoping that nothing more than one or two Walkers stumbled into her path to slow her down at all.
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Carol's lungs felt like they might collapse before she reached the house, once it was in view just beyond the end of the second patch of trees and her heart was pounding so hard in her chest that she hardly noticed it anymore.
Her legs were killing her, but she kept her speed as best she could to keep the worry from finding a place inside of her just yet.
She'd left Daryl behind…probably coming, but she had no idea when he'd come or if he'd ever actually find the place. And she had yet to reach the house to find out if Tyreese had gone or if he'd stayed. And she realized, when she thought about it, even though she was trying not to think about it, that she may have sealed her fate as being alone if Tyreese and Judith were gone and Daryl never found the place…or decided not to come.
But as she let her feet, numb almost, pound the ground around the side of the house, coming up toward the front of it near where the other road…the one they travelled sometimes in search of other places to get supplies…ran up to the driveway that led to the fence, Carol saw Tyreese out in the yard, working in the garden that they'd started and she heard Judith squeal…letting out the familiar call that she had for Carol that sounded like a mispronounced crow's call.
"Call! Call!" Judith squealed.
And Carol thought she might just give up and collapse right there, never making it the last few feet to the gate.
But she didn't have to make too much further before she was met by Tyreese who lifted her up in a swift motion, right off of her tired legs.
Carol sunk into him at first, not objecting at all the treatment of being carried like a child or a rag doll while her lungs struggled to get air and reminded her that she wasn't in the perfect physical shape for multiple mile dashes.
"Are you OK?" Tyreese asked, carrying her with as little complaint as he might have used to carry Judith, over to the gate and stepping inside with her.
"You can put me down," she got out and a moment later her feet found the ground just inside the gate and Tyreese, panting a little maybe from the exertion or maybe from her appearance, locked the gate back. Before Carol could speak again, though he'd wrapped an arm around her, supporting her, and started guiding her toward the house.
"Jude…Jude…let's go inside…get some water for Carol…you come inside now," Tyreese said.
Carol glanced at the little girl, but it didn't appear that she needed to even be told what they were doing because she was already toddling at the best run that she had toward the steps.
"Slow down…" Carol coughed out at the girl. "Don't fall!"
And Judith slowed her movement just a little, looking back at them instead of looking where she was going…almost guaranteeing that if she wasn't going to fall before, she probably would now.
But they reached her before she reached the steps and Tyreese picked her up quickly, making her laugh at the upward swing, and landed her against his other hip.
"You're OK? You're not bit…not scratched…hurt?" Tyreese asked, helping Carol up the porch steps and into the house.
And she got inside and collapsed on the couch before she was even able to speak fully, accepting Judith who was dying to get to her, while Tyreese went and brought her water.
"Not hurt," Carol said. "I ran the whole way…I was…I thought you'd leave…"
Tyreese sat beside her while she drank the water.
He shook his head at her.
"I wasn't leaving until I knew I had to," Tyreese said. "I just…didn't feel like I had to leave. I felt like you were coming back."
Carol chuckled a little, thankful that she was beginning to breath normally once more and that she could feel her heart slowing down some…even if with the sitting she felt the throbbing in her legs worse than before.
"You have a lot of faith," Carol teased.
But Tyreese looked serious. He wasn't over the scare yet…and Carol knew what he'd probably felt the whole time that she was gone, especially when he'd realized she wasn't making it back last night.
"I do," Tyreese said. "In you…I do…what happened? Walkers?"
Carol shook her head and rubbed Judith's back where the little girl was hugging against her, thrilled that she'd come back even if her "right back" might have been prolonged a little more than usual.
"I was at the store and…a group showed up," Carol said. "And Daryl was with them…he claimed me…and then I had to spend the night before he could bring me back to the store this morning…"
Carol thought if she told the story quickly enough it might be easier to take and it might not sound quite like what it was.
But one look at Tyreese's face told her that no matter how fast she'd formed the words, she hadn't managed to erase the story entirely from his hearing. His facial expression, though, told her that he didn't even know where to begin with comprehending the whole thing and she couldn't really blame him. It had been her experience and she still hadn't fully wrapped her mind around it.
"A group?" Tyreese asked. "You were 'claimed'?"
And Carol almost laughed at him because, she supposed, that was as good a place as any to start trying to understand the whole thing.
"This group…they claim everything," Carol said. She'd only gotten a brief introduction herself as to how the group worked…but she could offer at least what she knew. "So they claim…well, women too."
"Daryl…our Daryl?" Tyreese asked.
Carol understood what he was trying to say. The reappearance of anyone they had known before was mind boggling. They were, at least until yesterday, one hundred percent sure that no one else from the prison had survived. Or, at least that's what they told themselves to keep from fretting over the fact that they clearly weren't going to find anyone else.
She nodded.
"Daryl…he's alive…he was with this group," Carol said.
"He made you stay with him?" Tyreese asked.
Carol nodded her head.
"I had to stay the night," she said. "He…claimed me…so that none of the others would do it…because they…"
She broke off and shrugged slightly, but it was enough for him…either he could read her mind as well as she'd suspected he could at times or his mind was already there so he didn't need much to fill in what might have happened.
"But he didn't…" Tyreese offered.
Carol shook her head.
She waited a moment while he seemed to be turning the information over in his head in silence and then she spoke again.
"Tyreese…I told him where we are," Carol said. "He's leaving the group…sneaking off and messing up the trail so they can't follow him. I asked him to come and stay with us."
Tyreese stared at her a moment, his brows furrowed, but then he finally nodded his head.
"If you think it's safe for Jude," he said.
Carol nodded her head quickly.
"Daryl would never hurt Judith," Carol said. "He wouldn't…he just isn't like that…"
She paused and thought about it…thought about everything the night before. And even though it had been several hours, it still all seemed like almost a blur of time that had passed.
"He's changed a lot," Carol said. "But I don't think he's changed like that…he's not like them…he's just a little lost."
And Carol didn't know if lost was the right word or not for what she'd seen on Daryl, but it was the best that she could come up with.
Tyreese chuckled and shook his head.
"What?" Carol asked.
Tyreese shook his head again before speaking.
"He's probably lost…because he doesn't have Rick to tell him what to think anymore…" Tyreese said.
He shook his head again, dismissing the comment.
"I'll make something to eat, are you hungry?" Tyreese asked.
Carol nodded.
"You stay here with Jude…I'll make something to eat," Tyreese repeated.
He got up from the couch.
"When are we supposed to expect Daryl?" He asked. And Carol could tell that he was still trying to figure out what to do with the information that he'd just received.
"I don't know," she admitted. "He's got to confuse his trail…and find us…if he comes."
Tyreese nodded again.
"Then I won't make anything for him until we know when he's coming," Tyreese said. "You stay here…rest…you can tell me the rest of it later."
Carol nodded and watched him go into the kitchen. Judith squirmed and Carol put her down, watching the little girl as she went to her toy box…literally just a box full of some toys they'd gathered together for her…to choose what she might bring to Carol to play with as a coming home present.
Carol wondered if Daryl really would come…and she wondered what, if anything at all, might come from his declaration to her…and she wondered what she should say to Tyreese about it, and if he was going to have any kind of response to the whole situation.
But she assumed, and hoped she was right, that she'd figure out what to say and how to say it…when the time was right.