Chapter 21

The next four hours were spent frantically packing supplies and necessities into the caravan of vehicles the group had parked outside. Andrea and Amy, Lori and Carl, Carol and Sophia, Dale and Martinez and his family along with Rick and Daryl tried to strip every last item they thought might come in handy and pack it into their vehicles. Lily was left to monitor Merle, Tdog, and Glen as they slowly began to pass out one by one in the room where they'd been drinking. Carol's husband Ed had been warned by both Rick and Daryl to not lay a hand on his wife and child and that they expected him to pull his own weight with the group.

At last Rick and Daryl walked the drunken men outside and strapped them into seats in the RV. Dale and Andrea had volunteered to babysit the men. Rick and Daryl then went through the area they had stayed in one last time to be sure they weren't leaving anything they might need. Rick had found maps in an office that seemed to identify areas that were to be used as safe zones in the event of a catastrophic emergency. Rick and Daryl had snorted at the maps-so far they had seen just how safe Atlanta had been, they weren't counting on finding any other place that would be safe. Best to take the maps and plot a route that would take them to a less populated area in the mountains or hills somewhere north of here.

After ascertaining nothing useful had been left behind, Rick and Daryl stepped out into the parking lot to survey the caravan. Dale, Andrea, Merle, Glen and Tdog were in the RV. Ed, Carol and their girl was in their truck. Martinez and his family were in their vehicle. Amy and Jacqui were riding with Rick, Lori and Carl. They had loaded Merle's bike into Daryl's truck after transferring some of their belongings to Rick's truck. Lily sat in Daryl's truck waiting on him. It was now close to five o'clock and they wanted to be well away from this place when it blew up. Rick and Daryl each had a map with the route drawn out on it-they would head north into the mountains of Tennessee and travel the older roads to avoid the more populated areas. Rick was heading up the caravan, Daryl would be in the rear. Daryl thought briefly about taking Merle's bike and riding ahead, but that would leave Lily driving by herself and he had seen how frayed her nerves were when he'd sent her to sit in the truck. He didn't trust her to drive by herself right now, so he'd drive the truck and guard the rear.

Rick and Daryl had also made sure each vehicle had adequate weapons and ammo in case of separation or ambush by anyone. Rick turned to Daryl and shook his hand. "Be safe brother," Rick mumbled, glad that he had Daryl to help him out with this. Daryl nodded and strode off to his truck, anxious to take off and get away from here. Rick headed to his truck and climbed in, handing Lori the map so she could navigate.

"Where are we headed?" Jacqui asked from the back seat.

Rick half turned to look at her. "Going towards Chattanooga. It's just a couple of hours from here, depending on how the roads are. We figure if we take the old highways and stay off the main roads we might be able to avoid the traffic jams we've seen so far." Jacqui nodded quietly at this and Rick put the truck into gear and they headed off.

Daryl tapped his hands impatiently on the steering wheel as he waited for the cars to head out so he could follow. He absentmindedly patted his shirt for a pack of cigarettes and frowned. Lily glanced at him and flipped open the glove box and retrieved a pack of cigarettes and lighter. "Found these and set them back thinking you might need them," she said as she handed the pack to him.

Daryl nodded and immediately patted a cigarette out and lit it, taking a deep drag of it before slowly exhaling. Lily took the pack and shook out a cigarette and Daryl glanced curiously at her. She stuck the cigarette in her mouth and grabbed the lighter out of his hand and lit the cigarette. Daryl watched in amusement as she inhaled and immediately began sputtering and coughing.

"Don't think smokin' is yer thing there," he said teasingly as he snatched the cigarette out of her hand and held it away from her. Lily glared at him and continued to cough. "Best stick to ropin' and trick ridin' and throwin' knives Annie," he mumbled at her and put the truck into gear to start following the other cars out of the lot.

Lily huffed and crossed her arms over her chest and glared out the window in silence. Daryl glanced at her out of the corner of his eye. He felt like a jerk for how he'd acted last night. He was steadily digging himself a hole where she was concerned. If he kept up like this, she would run off with the first half decent guy they met-if they met anybody else along their route.

Daryl shifted restlessly in his seat and pondered what he could say to get back in her good graces. Everything he thought about saying he discarded as too sappy or too stupid to utter aloud. He fidgeted as he smoked and Lily finally turned to glare at him.

"What? What's wrong now? You wishing I was riding in some other car?" she snapped at him.

Daryl shook his head, wondering how in the world to answer her without sounding like a complete idiot. "No, not at all Lily. Just restless I guess," and he finished one cigarette and started on the other. Daryl sighed softly. He cleared his throat. "Lily, I'm sorry bout last night. I'm not good at that kind of thing," he began.

Lily whirled to look at him. "What do you mean that kind of thing? We were kissing! You can't tell me you haven't ever kissed a girl before," she spat out.

Daryl rolled his eyes and gripped the steering wheel, not happy about having this conversation at all, much less while driving. "Yes dammit, I've kissed chicks before. It's just….I haven't ever been serious or steady with anyone. And I don't want to start up with you and then have you run off with somebody else." He tossed the cigarette out the window and began to tear at the skin of his thumb with his teeth.

Lily's mouth dropped open and she flushed in anger. "That's what you think of me? That I'll screw around with you and then just run off with any random guy that shows up?" her voice was getting louder and she knew when she got really angry sometimes her voice got squeaky and she sounded like Minnie Mouse. It made her even madder when that happened. That and then she would cry which really made her mad.

Daryl cleared his throat and tried to calm himself, but he was getting angry himself now. "No dammit, I don't think that's what you'll do. I'm just trying to be sure that you're sure you want to be with me before we do anything serious."

Lily stared at him in bewilderment. "For pete's sake, we might be the only people left alive in the world. We may not have any future past tomorrow or today! Why worry about all that?" She wiped at her face angrily, furious that now she was crying.

"I ain't gonna talk bout this right now! Just leave it the hell alone!" he yelled in frustration and then punched the dashboard violently. Lily jumped and yelped and then turned to stare angrily out the window.