Chapter 14

They didn't know where they were going. It was just a silent promise to one another that they'd keep driving until they both felt like stopping. It wasn't time yet. Maybe it never would be. Maybe they'd spend the rest of whatever time they had left driving around the country, looking for a place to settle down, only to be chased off by walkers or people who'd been too far broken to be put back together. So far, they'd encountered not a single living soul. Just walkers. Animals. The occasional mutilated corpse strewn along the highway. It was all there was, and the farther they traveled, the fresher the air became, the more Carol seemed to brighten, the more Daryl felt telling her things he was too terrified to admit out loud.

Carol perked up in the cab as she spotted a sign just ahead.

"Look," she said with a point. "South Carolina."

"You thinkin' about stopping?"

"No," she said with a shrug. "It's just been a long time since I've been out of Georgia. Feels like a lifetime." She peered out the window. "I've never even been to the ocean. Not even the Georgia coast." Daryl glanced at her briefly but looked back at the road.

"We gotta think about where we're stoppin' tonight."

"Can I make a request?"

"Alright," Daryl said with a light-hearted chuckle.

"I've always dreamed of sleeping in one of those big, beautiful houses like they have in Charleston. I know we won't be anywhere near Charleston, but if we find a house like those along the way, we should stop."

"I'll do my best," Daryl said with a nod. Carol smiled and sighed, bringing her hand across the seat to lay over his. This was new for both of them, but it was nice to have someone, to have some kind of connection in a world where these kinds of connections barely even existed anymore. It was like they had a piece of the old with them, right there in the cab of that little pickup.

He gently brushed his thumb over her knuckles before curling his fingers around hers. He'd never been a hand holding kind of guy. Never been the kind of guy who could fall into a relationship with a woman in pieces. Slowly. His heart was there. His body was there. But he was practicing the art of patience. The last thing he wanted to do was rush her, despite the fact that it had been her to kiss him first, her to push past the boundaries of their tentative friendship, a friendship built on survival and need.

"You take it this morning? Your vitamin?" Daryl asked, giving Carol's hand a squeeze.

"I did," she responded, a smile quirking at the corner of her mouth. She placed her hand on her belly, just over where the swell had started. She was thin, maybe too thin for a woman who was about to start into her second trimester, but she seemed healthy, and so far, everything with the pregnancy seemed to be going according to plan.

"You think it's a boy or a girl?" he wondered.

"I don't know," she said with a little shrug. "I guess I haven't thought that far yet. I'm still trying to wrap my head around the fact that it's happening." She shook her head. "If I'd had my way to begin with, it wouldn't be." She frowned deeply and looked down at her stomach. "I just…I can't believe I let Ed push me to the point that I'd be willing to have an abortion. I can't believe that it was my only option before. With Ed." She shook her head. "If I'd known the kind of life I'd have when I married him, I'd have bypassed him and moved far away from Georgia." She gently strummed her fingers against the seat. "I want this baby, Daryl. I'm terrified, but I want this baby, because even though it's Ed's, it means that something good came out of the last decade of my life. Something good happened to me. It wasn't all bad." She felt Daryl give her hand a squeeze.

"Just 'cause Ed helped you make it don't mean that baby'll turn out anything like him."

"God, that's the most terrifying thing about this whole thing. You just don't know. I mean, I'm sure Ed's mother never thought, 'gee, I wonder if my baby will be an abusive, alcoholic bastard when he grows up?' No mother wants to think those things." She shook her head. "I don't know." She gently stroked her stomach, leaning her head back against the headrest. "I have no idea how I'm going to do this."

"You ain't alone," he said quietly. She gave him a small smile.

"I can't ask you to take on that responsibility."

"You ain't askin'. I'm tellin'. You ain't doin' this alone. The world we live in now? That baby's gonna need all the protection it can get."

"I don't get it," she murmured softly, a little smile crossing her face.

"What?"

"You. I mean, you just surprise me, is all."

"Why's that?"

"I don't know. You just didn't strike me as the kind of guy who'd take in a pregnant woman and just take on the responsibility of helping her with it."

"Didn't?"

"Well," she shrugged, "first impressions aren't always accurate. I mean, when I met you, you were just…you were like a guardian angel, but I never thought…I was terrified that you wouldn't want me around when you knew. A baby's going to be loud. It's going to draw walkers."

"We'll figure it out," he said with a shrug. "We got plenty of time, right?"

"I guess," she said slowly. "I don't know how to do this, Daryl. I don't. This baby's going to be hunted. All it's ever going to know is how to hide, how to run, how to kill. It's the last thing I'd want for a child."

"Maybe that ain't what it'll know."

"What do you mean?" she asked quietly, her gaze drifting from his face to the open road ahead of them.

"Maybe we'll find a place. Somewhere safe. Maybe we can build a perimeter."

"Walls?"

"Maybe there's still some place out there. Maybe there are people out there…"

"Yeah," Carol conceded, "but even if they are, are they the kind of people we're going to want to meet?" The weight of her words fell between them. Their first experience with people after the turn had been less than positive. Rapists and murderers. The whole world couldn't be filled with only the bad ones, but they certainly wouldn't be welcoming strangers with open arms.

Carol yawned and blinked a few times, trying to dampen the exhaustion.

"Why don't ya take a nap? You didn't sleep very good last night." Carol couldn't help but manage a small smile at the idea that he knew if she'd slept well or not. He paid attention. He was concerned.

"You sure?"

"Baby needs the rest," he said with a shrug. Carol laid her head back against the head rest, and she stared at him for a few minutes, biting back the smile that was begging to spread over her face. Finally, she closed her eyes and let herself relax in the comfort of knowing Daryl had things under control.

Daryl cut off the engine and gently shook Carol's shoulder.

"Hey." She moaned softly in her sleep before stretching, her face scrunching up as she slowly woke. It was dark, and Carol couldn't see much of anything aside from Daryl's face, illuminated by the overhead light.

"Where are she?" she asked with a yawn.

"We're stoppin' for the night. C'mon." Carol nodded, and the two of them got out of the truck, pulling their packs out of the truck bed. The air was fresh and cool, and for a moment, Carol could almost picture things back before the turn, when the air was sweet and not filled with the stench of death.

A soft roar in the air caught Carol's attention, and she started walking out in front of the truck.

"Hey," Daryl called. "C'mon. We don't know what's out there. We'll take a look in the mornin' when it's safe."

"Is that the ocean?" Carol asked, peering into the darkness. She could barely make out the white caps of the waves lapping against the shore line.

"I never seen it before, either," he said with a shrug, getting an awed smile out of Carol. "C'mon. Let's go inside."

Carol's heart swelled as they walked up the path to the house, a house just like the one she'd described to Daryl. Somehow, all at once, he'd struck off two items from the list of things she'd always wanted to see: the ocean and a big, beautiful South Carolina home like she'd only ever seen in the movies. It was breathtaking and she felt the tears prickle at her lashes as they headed up, flashlights flooding the porch for safety as they walked. For the first time, she felt at peace, hopeful. He'd given her something tonight, and even though everything was awful and the world was a mess, she still had this faint glimmer of hope that everything was going to be ok.