"So, that's it, huh?" Rick braced himself as Hershel turned into the parking lot of the store. He could see quite a few cars scattered around, in that parking lot and in some of the surrounding ones as well. "I wonder how many of them run."
"Glenn could check 'em out." Hershel pulled the bus up to the front of store and waited for Daryl to pull up on his bike.
"We find one or two good, solid ones that run, we can run them back to the cabin." Rick looked behind him at the group gathered on the bus. People sat peering out of the small windows, eager to get inside and to the food and supplies that awaited them. "Nothin's been touched?" he asked Beth who cradled a sleeping Judith.
"Nothin' at all." she shook her head. "Other than what we brought back earlier."
"There's Daryl." Hershel nodded to the far drive way.
"We'll go in and make sure it's still secure." Rick motioned to Glenn.
"One of you will have to squeeze in through that opening." Beth informed them. "Not sure if any of you are small enough."
"That's the only way in?" Glenn asked.
"We locked back up as best we could before we left." she got to her feet and handed the slumbering baby over to Carol. "I can go with you, it wasn't too hard for me to get in."
"Okay." Rick nodded. "Grab your weapons, just to be safe."
Daryl stood outside of the bus, scanning the area, alert to any noises, his crossbow at the ready as always. He looked back when he heard the bus door open and nodded to Rick, Glenn and Beth. "Sending the bean pole in again, huh?"
"I know I can fit." she shrugged as she held her own crossbow in front of her.
"Okay then." Rick led the way around the back.
"We get the fire doors open again, Hershel can just pull the bus around back here, try to block the alley way here." Glenn inspected the area. "Try to move those dumpsters down there to block that way, it would keep walkers away at least."
"Go ahead." Daryl nodded to Beth when they'd made sure the area was clear again.
"Just to warn you, it stinks in there." Beth said as she got down, preparing to wiggle through the tight opening again.
"Meat and produce." Daryl shrugged in response to the questioning looks.
"I'm sure we can find some place to dump that." Rick scanned the back of the building and noticed a few ladders leading up to the roof. A good lookout location, he thought.
"That smell isn't something I can used to." Beth said as she opened the fire doors again, taking in a deep breath of air.
"You're too soft." Daryl teased as they entered.
"There are some offices back here." Beth said, as she looked around again. "I figured one of them would be a good room for me and Judith. This way, her cryin' won't bother the others as much."
"Good idea." Rick nodded. He still felt a bit numb. He was less than 48 hours removed from having lost his son, and now he and his group were having to secure a whole new location. Sometimes he felt he needed to stop and take a breath, but other times, it was good to be distracted, to not have to think about all he'd lost.
They spent half an hour searching the location a second time, all of them deciding it was definitely better safe than sorry. Finally, he motioned for Hershel to bring the bus around to the back so everyone could get out, stretch their legs, see the place that would be their home for a while.
"Stretch a bit, and then we've all gotta pitch in and get rid of the meat and produce." he told the assembled group. "When that's done, we can figure out a watch schedule for the night, and then where we'll all sleep."
Some of the Woodbury residents just wanted a chance to rest after the events of the last couple of days, but they soon found that rest would only come later, after everyone had pulled their weight.
"Oh, this is just wrong." Maggie groaned as she hefted a few large, discolored and oozing roasts from the meat case, a cluster of dead maggots falling to the floor as she tossed the slimy mass into one of the large garbage cans that had been brought over from the garden center.
"You can kill a walker without thinkin' twice about it, but a bit of bad meat makes you turn green?" Hershel laughed at his daughter as he swept up the dried up maggots as they fell to the floor.
"That's kill or be killed." Maggie pointed out as she laughed at Beth's reaction to removing packages of rotten chicken. "This is just disgusting."
Rick and Daryl were trying to figure out how to handle the now useless meat cases. They couldn't leave them in the store, the blood, drippings and the odd gel all the stuff seemed to have left would continue to make the entire place wreak.
"We could use them to block areas around the store." Daryl suggested.
"I wish we could get them up on the roof." Rick said as he eyed the large machines.
"Set them up around the edge..gives something to hide behind and maybe slow down some bullets." Daryl nodded. "Maybe we can find some winches in the hardware department, we might be able to get 'em up."
"You go ahead and get on that." Rick said, patting him on the shoulder as he left.
"How are we gonna clean 'em out?" Beth asked, trying her hardest not to show that the smell and the look of the liquifying meat was getting to her.
"There's a stream out back." he replied as he watched others. The sooner they got this done, the sooner he could focus on finding Carl's killers. He needed to get this done as soon as they could.
"You okay?" Beth asked, stepping a little closer.
"Yeah." he nodded and smiled. "We've just got so much to do, that's all."
Beth knew that he meant more than just getting their new home cleaned up. He was acting normal, all business, but she could almost see the wheels turning in his mind. This was just something he had to get out of the way before he could set out and find who had taken his only son from him. "Just don't overdo it, okay?" she said before turning her attention back to the gooey meat case.
Beth flung the lunch bag over her shoulder before heading up the ladder. As soon as they had finished clearing the coolers and fruit stands, Rick was heading up to the roof to take the first watch. They had gotten some stuff out of the camping section and had warmed cans of soup and had brewed some fresh coffee and tea, but Rick had not waited for any of it.
Beth realized that the store was not going to be as ideal as the prison was, at least where privacy was concerned. It was a large open space and already some were complaining about the fact that she had claimed one of the rear offices for Judith and herself. They had rearranged some of the shelving units to try to create cubicles of sorts, but people still complained. She soon realized that no matter what anyone did, they would always have a few who would never be happy.
"Hey." she said as she climbed over the top of the ladder. "I brought you some soup and coffee." she said, handing him the bag.
"Thanks." he took the bag and opened it up. The containers for both were warm and he went straight for the coffee. "You eaten already?" he asked as he took a seat in the lawn chair he'd brought up with him.
"Yeah." she looked around as he began to dig in. "It's so quiet."
"We should enjoy it while we can." he replied through a mouthful of soup. He hadn't realized how hungry he was until he started eating.
"Beats the beans we were starting to have all the time back at the prison, huh?" she laughed a bit while she watched him devour the food. She pulled over the extra chair, the one they'd brought up because they figured they'd have two people on watch now and then, and took a seat.
"Yeah, it does." he finished the soup and set to draining the last bits of coffee from the thermos. "We've gotta be careful with this stuff though."
"Michonne mentioned having someone bunk in each of the food areas, and in the store room, just to be safe." she informed him. "Do you want an air mattress set up in one of those areas?" she asked, looking him over, seeing if she could detect any cracks.
"I'll bunk in the store room." he nodded. "Tyreese will be comin' up soon to take over here, we can do it then." he noticed her watching him and stared back. "I'm okay. I'm not goin' anywhere."
"I'm sorry." she looked down at the ground, feeling guilty for watching him the way she had been. "I just worry..."
"It's what you do." he moved over to her and knelt on the ground in front of her chair. "I need to stick around, mentally, physically, to find out who did this to Carl...who did this to you, all of you." he lifted her chin. "I'm not goin' anywhere."
"Okay." she smiled, happy to hear him say the words, and knowing she'd be happier still if he could actually keep his word. It wasn't as though he'd intended to lose touch with reality the first time around.
"You have no idea how glad I am that nothin' happened to you and Judith." he said as he held her hands. "If I'd lost all of you, I don't think I could keep it together."
"But you didn't." she cupped his face in her hands. "We'll find whoever did this, together."
"Yeah." he nodded. "Together." he smiled and leaned in, kissing her. He'd wanted to do it when he saw that she was safe at the cabin, but then he'd heard the news about Carl and he had to be alone. When she'd returned with Daryl with news about the store, he'd wanted to hold her, let her know how glad he was that she was safe, but they hadn't been able to steal a moment for him to do that. Now that he was alone with her on the roof, he just wanted to hold her and let her know, that even in the wake of what had happened, even though he was heartbroken over the loss of Carl, he would be forever grateful that she and Judith were still safe, still with him.
"I'd better get back down there." Beth said,finally breaking the kiss. "Like you said, Tyreese will be up here soon."
"Go pick a spot for me." he caught his breath. "I'll be down soon."
Beth smiled and got to her feet, grabbing the lunch bag and containers before heading down the ladder. She felt as if she had to keep checking on him, afraid that he would be gone any second. As long as she saw her Rick, the man she met back on the farm so many months ago, she knew they would all be safe. She just feared she would see the man he became after Lori's death.