"Does Daryl have any idea where he's going?" Lori asked.
"He said he did." Rick made another turn to follow the pick-up driven by T-Dog. Andrea was in the cab with him and Glenn had been relegated to the bed. T-Dog's pick-up was following Darlene's motorcycle, which was following Daryl's.
"I feel like he's leading us on a wild goose chase," Lori grumbled. "How many turns have we made?"
"He's probably avoiding areas that are likely to have a lot of walkers," Rick said, a little testily. "So we don't have a repeat of what happened this afternoon."
"Or maybe he's lost and doesn't want to admit it," Lori suggested. "Like a typical man."
"I admit when I'm lost," Rick insisted.
"Mr. Dixon always knows what he's doing!" Sophia said defensively. "If he doesn't know he just doesn't do it."
Lori turned to look at Rick, and their bickering faces faded into smiles. They both chuckled. "I think someone has a crush," Lori said.
"Ewwwwww!" Carl whined. He got up on his knees on the bench seat and turned to face Sophia. "He's much too old for you, you know. You should crush on someone your own age."
"I do not have a crush on Mr. Dixon!" Sophia insisted. "If anyone has a crush on Mr. Dixon, its Mama."
Carol flushed red. "Sophia!" she scolded.
[*]
There were a lot of turns, some backtracking and reorienting to get past unnavigable areas, and a stop for a dinner of protein bars, canned pears, and Sunny Delight.
"Thought ya couldn't stand fake orange juice," Daryl said to Lori.
"Beggars can't be choosers," she replied.
After chowing down and taking turns relieving themselves, they headed off again. The sun was setting as they reached the bottom of the mountain and Daryl pulled over to the side of the road. They all got out of their vehicles to confer.
"Cabins are few miles up," Daryl said. "Be dark soon. Shouldn't try to clear 'em in the dark, but ought to 'fore we settle."
"So you think we should camp here and head up at sunrise?" Rick asked.
Daryl nodded.
Lori crossed her arms nervously over herself. "But is it safe down here?"
"Ain't seen a lot of walkers," Daryl said. "We'll leave the vehicles just inside the woods, hike in a bit."
On their backs, they carried their packs and a few sleeping bags and blankets they'd gathered from the abandoned cars as they made their way through the foliage. Daryl paused periodically to scoop up an empty, discarded can.
"What are you doing with those?" Lori asked.
"Gonna string 'em up. For an alarm."
Daryl, with the help of Glenn and T-Dog, used about eight trees to rope off a section of the forest floor, and they all dropped their bedding in the center of it.
Andrea began gathering sticks for a fire but Daryl said, "Don't bother. Got flashlights. Ain't cold tonight. Already ate. Fire might draw the walkers."
"Fine." She dropped the remaining sticks in a pile. "I was just trying to help, you know." She looked down at the pile of bedding. "We only have four sleeping bags and three blankets. And there's nine of us."
"Darlene and I can share a bag," T-Dog said. When she raised an eyebrow, he bowed slightly and said, "I mean if that's okay with you. I wouldn't want to assume."
Darlene shot him an affectionate smirk. "'Spose I can tolerate you for a night."
"Sophia and I will share a sleeping bag," Carol offered.
"If we can have the big blanket, we can unzip a bag." Lori glanced from Rick to Carl. "And then all three of us can lay on top of that one."
Andrea looked at Glenn. "Just so there's no misunderstanding here, this is not an invitation to anything. But we can unzip a sleeping bag to lie on and share that blanket." She motioned to a dark green roll.
Glenn grinned sheepishly.
"What about Mr. Dixon?" Sophia asked. "He won't get a sleeping bag."
"Be fine," he said. "Just roll up in that last blanket."
Sophia giggled. "Like a burrito?"
Carol was surprised to see Daryl smile. It wasn't an obvious smile. Only the top of one side of one lip twitched up, but his eyes shined a little in the glow of his flashlight. "Yeah, 'cept I don't taste good."
They arranged their bedding in a circle, feet out toward the woods, heads in toward each other, weapons at their sides. Daryl flung out his blanket between Carol and Sophia's sleeping bag and Rick, Lori, and Carl's bedding, but he didn't lie on it. He picked up his crossbow, wandered off a few feet toward a tree, and sat with his back to it.
"I'll take the second watch," Rick told him. "Wake me up in a few hours."
Daryl nodded.
[*]
Carol had found the best arrangement was to lie sideways at the very edge of the sleeping bag, facing Daryl's blanket. Sophia had to lie on her back, and she took up most of the bag. Feeling safe with Daryl on watch, Carol gradually drifted off to sleep.
A few hours later, a noise caused her eyes to shoot open, but she found it was only Daryl settling on top of his blanket. Rick got up to take his place on watch. Daryl grabbed one end of the blanket, pulled it around himself, and rolled toward her. He stared straight into her open eyes, with a look of surprise in his own, as if he hadn't expected to find her awake.
"Goodnight," she whispered. "Thanks for keeping watch."
"Mhmhm." He closed his eyes and rolled in the other direction.
[*]
Carol awoke near sunrise, not because of the light that had begun to filter through the trees, but because of the rattling cans. Anxiously, she sat up, only to find that Rick had already arisen from his seated position by the tree and readied his rifle, and Daryl was also standing with crossbow in hand.
"What is it?" Sophia asked.
"Shhh!" Carol put a finger against her lips.
By now, T-Dog and Darlene were also standing, Lori and Rick were sitting, and Glenn and Andrea were stirring awake beneath their shared blanket. Andrea had curled up against Glenn's side in the night and rested her head on his chest, and she now shot him an accusing look.
Two walkers strained against the twine. The string stretched toward the campsite as the cans continued to clang. Both walkers wore hiking boots on their feet and red bandannas around their necks. Daryl shot one with his bow, while T-Dog drove a knife into the brain of the other, so that the slaughter was quiet.
Daryl rolled their fallen bodies over and began to dig through their pockets.
"Anything interesting?" Glenn asked.
Daryl pulled out a handful of individual condom packages and tossed them toward the center of the camp. "T-Dog and Rick can fight over those."
Carl crawled forward, knelt, and picked one up. "What is it?" The boy turned the foil packet over in his hand.
Lori flushed and yanked the package from his grip. "Jesus, Daryl. Could you be more discreet?" She slid it in the back pocket of her jeans.
"Kid's twelve!" Daryl exclaimed. "How the hell can he not know by now?"
"What is it?" Carl asked again.
T-Dog collected the other three scattered condoms and slipped them into his pants pocket.
"It's a condom," Rick said hastily. "It's something you use to make sure a woman doesn't get pregnant when you…do things that can make a woman pregnant."
"What things?" Carl asked.
"Sex," said Sophia as she reached for her crutches.
Everyone turned to look at the girl, except Daryl, who was still rummaging through the pockets.
"What's sex?" Carl asked.
"It's when a man sticks his penis in a woman's – "
Carol put her hand over Sophia's mouth. "Let his parents explain that to him, honey." She looked apologetically at Lori. "When she asked about it a couple of years ago, I just gave her a straightforward, biological explanation."
"So I see," Lori said.
Daryl stood from his crouched position and slid a hunting knife out of its sheath. He turned it over and examined the blade. "Couple of posers," he said. "Ain't never even been used." He sheathed it and slid it into his waistband, next to his own knife, which was clipped to the outside of his pants and stained black with blood. "Probably went hiking, got lost in the woods, and died of dehydration."
Carol stood and approached him. "You've already got a good knife. Can I have it?"
He looked at her skeptically, and then he looked down at the knife, and then he looked back up at her.
"You could teach me to use it first, if you want, if you don't think it's safe just giving it to me." She hadn't meant to sound so irritated, but that skeptical look of his hit harder than she wanted to admit.
He took the knife out of his pants and handed it to her handle first. "Seen ya choppin' for cookin'. Think ya can manage to carry a knife without cuttin' off yer own fingers. Just surprised ya wanted it is all."
Carol took it from him and slid it into her pants, to the left of her handgun. "You're going to have to teach me how to kill with it, though."
"Mhmhm."
Daryl busied himself with packing up his gear, and Carol helped Sophia to her feet.
"You haven't told him about sex?" Rick whispered to Lori.
"I thought that was your job," Lori shot back.
[*]
As they hiked back to the vehicles, Daryl fell beside Rick and gestured with his head to indicate he wanted some privacy. Rick got the message and slowed his footsteps until Lori and Carl were ahead of them. "Ya oughtta know," Daryl told him, "that this one family….they's the only people we found up there…but…uh….."
"What? Are they armed?" Rick asked. "Territorial?"
"Only saw one shotgun. Might could be more guns. Probably at least one huntin' rifle. But, uh…that ain't the problem."
"So what is the problem?"
"If'n they see me, they might not be too friendly. 'Cause…uh…well….Merle kind of robbed 'em." Daryl didn't mention that he'd held his crossbow on the trembling wife and girls the whole time Merle was doing his song and dance. "He only took some bourbon and a few cigars. Didn't hurt no one. But when we's leavin', the man busted out onto the porch and opened fire on us."
Rick sighed. "Why didn't you tell me this before I agreed to go to the cabins?"
"That wouldn't of stopped ya, would it? Just one family. It's safe up there. Ain't seen many walkers. Think these are second homes. And this guy, he weren't really dangerous. Think he was just defendin' his wife and kids."
"You and Merle robbed children?" Rick asked.
A line jumped in Daryl's jaw as shame morphed to anger. "Ain't hurt no one! Kids don't need no damn bourbon and cigars!"
Carol turned back and looked quizzically in their direction. Daryl started walking slower, so the others would fall further ahead, and she'd be less likely to hear. Carol sure as hell wouldn't think he was "every bit as good as Rick" if she knew he'd had a crossbow pointed at a couple of girls younger than Sophia.
Rick shook his head.
"Look, sorry we did it." Daryl didn't try to say it was just Merle this time. "Didn't know no one was alive in there. Busted in, and in a second, had my crossbow on 'em and he had a shotgun on us. It just happened."
"Could have made peace," Rick said.
"The way we look? Doubt that. They assumed we was there to rape and pillage from the second we busted in. If I'd of lowered my bow, he'd have blown my head off. And I don't blame him neither. I'd of done the same, if I saw me and I had girls to protect."
"You could have backed out without taking anything."
Daryl clenched and unclenched his fist. "Yeah, could of. Didn't." He scratched his cheek. "So, anyhow, I might should stay back when y'all check that cabin. And if they's still there, you make peace with 'em. Tell 'em I's a'right."
"Well, thanks for the heads up. Finally." Rick strode angrily ahead to rejoin Lori and Carl.
[*]
The quaint cabins were spread out over miles of dirt road. The group would drive, park near one, clear it of walkers, and then pack up any useful supplies they found before driving on, inching their way up the mountain a little at a time.
They'd agreed they would clear all of the cabins to the top of the mountain before claiming any for themselves. Darlene, T-Dog, Rick, and Daryl did the clearing, while Glenn and Andrea stood guard at the vehicles with Carol, Lori, and the kids.
The current cabin had nothing to offer. The kitchen cabinets were bare except for dusty dishes and glasses. Rick shut the door to the empty pantry. "Nothing worth taking here."
He and Daryl wandered back to the living room, where Darlene started opening the drawers of the end tables. She pulled out and held up a Ranger Rick magazine. "'Member when Billy Ray used to get these?" she asked Daryl. "He'd collect 'em, and when Merle found out, he made fun of 'em so bad, that Billy Ray piled 'em all up in the back of Merle's pick-up and set 'em on fire in there."
"I 'member Merle kickin' his ass for doin' something' to his pick-up," Daryl said. He'd been nine and a half at the time, his cousin Billy Ray was almost eleven, and Merle had just gotten back from juvie. "Didn't know that was how it started."
"I miss Billy." She shoved the Ranger Rick back in the drawer. "He was one of the few good ones in that hell hole."
"Yeah? Why wouldn't ya get together with him when he asked then?"
"'Cause Brandie had an awful crush on him."
"Another woman ain't never stopped ya 'fore," Daryl said.
"Yeah, but she was my best girlfriend. And they was cute together, when I finally got them together."
"Matchmaker, matchmaker," T-Dog sang and then planted a little kiss on Darlene's cheek.
[*]
Carol leaned against the passenger's door of Rick's pick-up and watched the clearing crew exit the cabin, no bloodier than the last time. There must not have been any walkers in there.
"Hope they found some candy," Sophia said through the open rear window of the truck. Because of her leg, she wasn't bothering to get out at every stop. Carl, who was sitting in the driver's seat and pretending to drive, complete with sound effects, said, "If so, we split it 50/50. Fair and square."
Glenn took a hopeful step toward the nearing group, only to be greeted with a shrug by Rick. "Nothing worth taking."
Daryl walked over to Carol. "C'mon. Gonna teach ya how to clear a place while they go on up to the next one."
Lori, who was leaned against the pick-up beside Carol, smirked. "Sounds romantic," she whispered.
Carol knew Lori was joking, but she felt a small thrill of pride to think Daryl wanted to tech her. He wouldn't bother if he thought she was incapable of learning the skill. "I asked Daryl to start teaching me," Carol explained. "At the last cabin. Someday I may have to clear a room or something. And I hate just standing out here, feeling useless."
"We aren't being useless," Lori insisted. "We both helped pack up at the last cabin."
In addition to a shotgun, two rifles, and nine boxes of ammunition, they'd found several cases of bottled water, five 12-packs of Coke, a bottle of whiskey, two bottles of rum, three bottles of vodka, and six cases of beer. It looked like the former inhabitants of the cabin - three young men whose decaying bodies were dressed in Georgia State sweatshirts - had been on a mostly liquid diet. The only other contents of the kitchen were five moldy, wet, and soggy pizzas in the freezer, two jars of dill pickles in the fridge, and eight cans of Chef Boy R Dee in the pantry. Carol had put the ravioli and pickles in an empty cardboard box and carried them out to the pick-up. She hardly considered that a worthy contribution to the group.
"Ya want me to show ya how or not?" Daryl asked.
"I do." Carol glanced back in the pick-up at Sophia. "You go on with the others, sweetheart," she told her daughter. "We'll catch up."