Game Day

The morning of the Highland Games dawned cool and clear and Jesse and Daryl were up early to get their weapons ready for the contests. Daryl was cleaning and polishing this crossbow and bolts for the archery contests. Jesse was polishing his sword and knife for his contests. Daryl had made coffee and they were eating some homemade granola bars that Carol had made to take today. They were so intent on comparing the shine of their weapons that they didn't notice Carol was watching them from the kitchen. They were acting like two high school boys getting ready for the big game. Carol remembered Daryl telling her that he had never been on a team in high school. Jesse had probably played on every team in high school but he was as hyper as Daryl.

"That's it, no more coffee for you two", she said and she put the coffee back for Michonne who was going to need it to put with these two. Michonne came down and shook her head at Daryl and Jesse, "Rookies" she muttered. Michonne drank some coffee and looked at Jesse. She had found that she liked to spend some idle time just looking at Jesse. Today he was wearing a blue long sleeved tshirt and black cargo pants with black boots. He was clean shaven and closely shorn and looked like the warrior he was except for the silly grin on his face when he looked at her. Michonne was wearing the blue tshirt and black cargo pants of the team. For once she was going to be a team player if it killed her. And it might.

Daryl had Carol to trim his hair the night before and she had taken advantage of the opportunity to cut his hair much shorter and out of his eyes. He was dressed in the blue tshirt and black cargo pants of his team. She had seen Daryl wade through a herd of walkers with less nervousness than he was showing this morning.

The girls and Carl came downstairs and Carol fixed them breakfast. Soon everybody was dressed and ready to go. Carol was not going to march down with the others because that would make the day too long for Judith. She was going to ride down with Jo later.

The Clan McAllister assembled on the road outside the homestead, Jonathan and Ashton were playing the bagpipes and a couple of high school kids were playing the drums. Patrick was in in front of the clan as War Chief behind him all those that swore allegiance to the clan were gathered with their weapons. Carol stood at the gate holding Judith and watched them until they were out of sight. She could hear the bagpipes playing for far longer than that.

…

Patrick marched them down the hill toward the high school. Daryl could hear the bagpipes from every direction as the clan moved toward the game field. Each clan had an area on the football bleachers to assemble. The games were played on the field in front of the crowd. The children's contests were held first. Lizzie won the girls 100 yard dash. Carl came in second in the archery contest. The points were tallied on a large scoreboard and Clan McAllister was holding even with Clan McCollough. There were other clans not too far behind that they couldn't catch up in the adult round.

There was a long break between the morning and the afternoon contests so that everyone could eat lunch. Daryl noticed that there was so drinking but for the most part everyone was having a good time. He thought that he might find Brian McKenzie to do a little business with him and he left Lizzie and Mika with Michonne. Daryl thought about the conversation that he had with Carol last night. She had told him that the girls could still visit with Jesse's horses when he moved them. Jesse and Michonne seemed in no hurry to move and no one wanted them to go. Carol said that most girls love horses but they would be fine without having one of their own. There was something in her voice that said she didn't believe it and Daryl asked her, "Did you have a horse when you were a little girl?" He was rewarded by Carol's happy smile, "My grandparents gave me a horse for my ninth birthday; her name was Shannon".

"So you can ride a horse?". Daryl realized that Carol wanted to give the girls a horse because she had loved horses when she was a girl.

"I haven't ridden a horse since I was ten; I would probably fall off and land on my sword". Carol laughed.

Daryl didn't think he liked horses; they would eat them out of house and home. He liked motorcycles. Motorcycles didn't have teeth and hooves and he knew how to ride motorcycles and he had no clue how to ride a horse.

Daryl put all that out of his mind; he wanted to see what Brian McKenzie wanted for his horses. The horses were over on the old baseball field. He walked on over.

Brian McKenzie saw Darrel coming across the field. He thought this man that Carol was with was a scrawny fellow, and how he landed Carol McAllister he would never know. Brian had watched a silver haired beauty walking through Market Day with Ashton and had recognized her immediately when she laughed. He had had a serious crush on Carol when she was ten and he was eleven. And here she was after all this time. Brian had been delighted that she was at Market Day without a husband. He noticed that the girls liked the horses but he had been more interested in Carol than selling horses. Later, he found out that Carol and this guy were going to get married. Brian had lost both his daughters and his wife on that day and he had thought that he would never marry again.

Daryl knew that the big man must be Brian McKenzie and he was impressed that Carol had tackled him even at eleven. Daryl held his hand out and said, "I am Daryl Dixon and my girls liked a couple of your horses". Brian took his hand and shook it quite properly. Brian was not the kind of guy that tried to prove his strength by crushing the other guy's hand. "They are over here" and he showed Daryl the chestnut and palomino mares. "They've been bred already but this will be their first foals". Daryl admitted, "I don't know much about horses but Jesse is going to look them over for me. The question is what do you want for them?"

Brian said, "Money is not worth anything right now, but I hear that you make runs to get things. I have a son who is going to get married and set up his own house. I have a list of things that I want you to get in exchange for the horses". He handed Daryl the list. Daryl looked it over. It would take a couple of runs to gather all this stuff but he thought that he could do it.

Daryl asked, "It will take me a couple of runs but I will try to get it as soon as I can. Now how did you know that I would be here today?" Daryl folded the list and put it in his pocket.

Brian laughed, "Maybe I have a bit of the sight. Or maybe I saw the way Carol looked at those girls with the horses. Either way sooner or later you'd be coming to see me. It is always good to be prepared. You want to make your girls happy don't you?"

Daryl had the sneaking suspicion that Brian meant Carol when he said your girls but he chose discretion as the better part of valor and agreed with the big ox, "Yeah, I do". They shook hands again like big boys and Daryl went back to Clan McAllister.

Llllllllllllllllllllllllllll

Carol had spent the morning getting things ready for the party tonight at Ashton's house. The group was going to march back up the hill and stop there for some food and drink. She had donated one of bottles from grandma's stash in the basement. Judith had taken a good long nap and she was getting ready to take her over to Jo so that they could go to the Games. Carol decided to leave the food and drink in the house because carrying Judith and a diaper bag was enough. She locked the house and the gate up and she and Judith took the walk to Ashton and Jo's house. The road seemed too quiet. The older folks that weren't interested in the games were manning all the roads because this would be a bad time for something to happen. She knew that Kevin and Connie Connelly were watching the road from just below Ashton's house but she was getting a creepy vide. She walked faster and was soon at Jo's house. Jo had the jeep ready to go and soon she was waving at Kevin and Connie who were working in their garden.

Carol carried Judith and Jo carried a basket of food and drink to the McAllister section of the bleachers. She handed Judith to Carl as she sat down beside him. He gave her a running commentary of the afternoon events. Daryl was competing in the cross bow and long bow contest. Jesse would be competing in mixed and single swords and the dirk throwing contest. Michonne was competing with mixed and single swords.

Carol adjusted the hat that she had put on Judith to keep her from getting sunburned, The day was fairly cool but the sun was bright. Lizzie, Mika, and Carl sat with her and cheered on the team. Daryl had lost in the long bow contest but had won the cross bow contest handily. He came back up and sat down beside of Carol to enjoy the rest of the day. He laughed and said that he was going to practice harder next year. Josh came in second to Shawn McCullough.

Jesse and Michonne had quickly dispatched their competition in both sword contests. Carol enjoyed watching the two of them fight together and separately. There were both so strong and moved with such fluid grace that no one could compete with them.

The dirk throwing contest came down to Jesse and John McCullough. The contest was simple. A simple wooden circle was the target. Each man threw his dirk at the circle. The dirk had to hit within the circle and stay in the wood. The distance was increased after each round. The crowd was silent as each man lined himself up with his target and let fly with his dagger and then there would be a round of applause as the dirk settled into the target. Finally, John McCullough's dirk hit within the circle and but fell down to the ground. The crowd made no noise as Jesse threw his dirk straight as an arrow and sunk it into the wood with a resounding thunk. The crowd cheered as Jesse shook hands with John and made his way back to the bleachers. He was finished for the day. He sat down beside of Michonne.

The lead changed hands at every contest. The McAllister and the McCullough Clans were still in the lead but neither clan could finish the other off. They were tied with one more event to go.

The next contest was the tug of war. Carol thought the Highland Games rewarded those who had the skills to survive in this world by being a warrior. You had to be physically strong as well. The tug of war had four people to a team and the team that pulled the other team across the line won.

There were only three teams competing in this event. The McKenzie, McAllister, and the McCullough Clans were the only ones left. The McKenzie team didn't have enough points to win the Games but they could spoil it for the other two. It was decided that each team would compete against the other two.

The McKenzie team consisted of Brian and his three sons who were all as big as their father. The McCullough team was big but not as big as the McKenzie Clan.

The McAllister Team consisted of Patrick, Tyreese, Joshua, and Jonathan.

The McKenzie team defeated both the McCullough and McAllister Teams but still didn't have the points to win. That left the winner to be decided between the McAllister and McCullough Clans. Carol was embarrassed by how much she wanted her Clan to win. The teams lined up for the final contest and you could tell by the way they dug their feet in that neither team wanted to be defeated. Carol looked at Daryl and she could tell that he was totally absorbed in the battle.

The two teams both tried to get the advantage by pulling with everything they had from the start. One team would pull their other a bit and the momentum would seem to shift a bit the other way. Finally, the advantage settled with the McAllisters as they seemed to meld together as one large mass of power all concentrated in pulling. The McColloughs were dragged across the line and the contest was over. The McAllisters cheered and Carol told Daryl that she was taking the girls and Judith and riding back up with Jo. He nodded and told her that he would see her on the mountain.

There was going to be a bagpipe contest next and Carol thought that might be way too much for Judith. The girls protested but not too much and they followed Carol and Jo out to the jeep. They were soon on the mountain. Carol had Jo to drive her out to get the food and drinks for the party. They came back and stopped at the gate and Carol had hopped out with Judith to open the gate. She shifted Judith to her left side so that she could unlock the gate with her right hand. Jo had not pulled up close to the gate and so Carol had some distance to cross. The hay on the field across the road had not been cut this year and Carol was well away from the jeep when she saw two walkers cross the road and head toward the jeep. She turned back and took the sword that she had at her side and headed toward the walkers. She caught the first one with a stab through his eye and a quick pull out. The second walker seemed to regard her a second and then a puff of wind brought the distant sound of the bagpipes and the walker turned its head in that direction. Carol used the sword to separate its head from its body and followed it up with another stab through the eye.

She walked over to the gate and opened it and when Jo got the jeep in, they both made sure that the gate was locked. Jo took Judith and Carol realized that she had been carrying her all that time. They went into the house and Jo gave her a drink of something stronger than sweet tea and they sat down a few minutes. Jo put Judith in a play pen that she had for the occasional visit. Carol got up and went back outside to see in any other walkers had shown up. The girls went with her and they waited and listened to the sound of bagpipes go from almost not being able to hear to very loud. The girls leaned on Carol as they waited and she put her arms around them. They had been sitting in the back of the jeep when those walkers came across the road; she wasn't losing anyone else because she couldn't fight for them.

Daryl and Jesse dragged the walkers over into the field. They would burn the bodies later. It was a great party on McAllister Mountain that night. The Clan had won the honors, but the best story of all and one sure to be repeated in every clan gathering from now on was how Carol McAllister had killed two walkers while carrying a baby.

Carol and Daryl sought a quiet spot to sit and talk. Carol reassured him that she was fine and that all the training that she had been doing with Michonne had paid off. She intended to work even harder from now on. Daryl said that he had talked to Brian and that he had given him a list. They looked at it together and Daryl knew that together they would finish their scavenger list. The party ended before dark and they walked home as a family. Michonne and Jesse went to check on the horses. Carol put Judith to bed and the other children went upstairs. The adults sat on the porch and drank some of Grandma's whiskey and Carol thought, "Today was a good day."