Enemy Territory

Carol and Christie rechecked Daryl's run bag to make sure he had enough medical supplies. They insisted that they bring two gallons of water for each man on the trip. They kept adding food and Christie slipped in a first aid book. It was just getting light outside when the five men took off. Merle, Daryl, and Caleb in one truck. Rick, and Glenn in the other.

Christie had turned to Carol as the trucks pulled, "Did you tell him yet?" Carol shook her head. Christie had confirmed yesterday what she had suspected; Carol was pregnant. Carol had meant to tell Daryl yesterday but too much was going on. Daryl needed to concentrate on this mission. She would tell him when he came back, but she had wanted to wait to see if she miscarried.

Carol was happy about the pregnancy; she wanted this baby and she knew that Daryl and their extended family would welcome another child. They loved Lizzie, Mika, and Colter and they would love this one too.

Carol invited Christie to stay for breakfast. Andrea had made scrambled eggs, fried apples, and biscuits and they even had made a pot of coffee which enticed Michonne downstairs. The four of them sat at the big dining room table and discussed their plans for the day. Michonne was missing Jesse who had been a guest speaker at an agricultural conference in Lincoln's capital city. He was due back this evening.

"Merle was insistent that we stay away from Tiskewah today. The clinic is closed until Monday. He didn't want anyone to know that anyone is missing from the farm." Christie looked around at the other women and they all nodded. They rarely left the farm to do anything but go to work.

"We need to be on watch today. We can just be outside doing chores but I think it is important that we keep an eye out for anything that looks off." Michonne didn't want to alarm anyone, but she had stayed alive by listening to her instincts and hers were telling her that trouble might be coming.

"I'm going to tell the girls that they can't go anywhere on the farm unless I am with them. We'll do the chores together and I am going to remind them to wear their weapons. They usually stay close to me anyway. One of us needs to stay close to the house at all times." Carol hated to scare the girls; they had been through so much in their lives already, but she wanted them safe.

Andrea sighed, "Who is going to tell Carl that he can't go where he is used to going?" Rick had talked to Carl last night about his trip and about his feelings for Andrea. No one really knew how he would handle that.

Christie looked around at the other women. She knew that they were tough fighters, but Michonne was pregnant and the other two were caring for infants. "One of you should stay in the house to watch the babies and to keep to watch this side of the farm. Michonne, it should be you."

Michonne looked mutinous, "Why me?" Michonne's baby bump was getting bigger all the time but she still could swing her katana with deadly force.

Christie spoke calmly, "Because you are the one most capable of defending this house and protecting the babies. Your katana can kill quickly and quietly. You and Carl should stay here and keep watch. You can talk that boy into anything and you know it."

Michonne muttered, "Yes, Miss Christie." Michonne was pissed at being sidelined but Christie was right. "I can do watch tonight though".

Christie said, "We will all be on watch tonight. We should be prepared that they won't be back today. I think tomorrow at the earliest. It isn't a long distance but its enemy territory. They will get back as soon as they can

Carol went to check on Colter and found him awake smiling at his homemade mobile. Daryl had found a toy farm set in the basement one day. Daryl had taken the toy cows, chickens, pigs, ducks, horses, tractors, trucks, plows, and a big red barn and created a mobile for Colter's crib. Brightly painted farm animals and machines revolved around the red barn and Colter loved it. Carol thought that the mobile was an expression of how content Daryl was to be a farmer. He wanted his boy to share in that life. Carol gave the mobile a little push and Colter kicked his feet and gurgled with delight. He grinned at her when the mobile stopped and she picked him up.

Carol went on down the hall to wake the girls up and talk about their day. Both girls promised to stay close to the house and with her all the time. They were used to wearing weapons. Michonne worked with almost everyone on the farm with using swords, knives, and machetes. Daryl taught archery and both girls had long bows. Rick did firearms training.

Breakfast was a more solemn meal than usual. Carl was quiet. Michonne had taken him aside and asked him to help her with protecting the babies. He had protested but finally agreed because he loved Judith and hanging out with Michonne. He wasn't quite meeting Andrea's eyes but he didn't seem angry.

Carol and Andrea worked in the greenhouses and the high tunnels. Jesse had built both so that the farm would have fresh vegetables throughout the fall and into winter. Lizzie and Mika helped weed and water the tender plants.

There were animals to tend to and that had to be done no matter who was gone. Carol was glad that there was plenty of hard physical work to do. It helped occupy her time and to take her mind off of worrying about Daryl and the other men.

TWDTWDTWD

Daryl rode with Caleb and Merle. He had taken a seat on the truck's second row and he watched the two of them as always a little fascinated by how much Caleb looked like Merle. He had Merle's strong physique and tough looking face but the expression of Caleb's blue eyes was all Christie. He had her Virginia accent and his language was very much like his mother and Jesse. Caleb had hurt his hand one day and Daryl heard him curse like Merle when the occasion called for it. Daryl wondered if Merle looked at Caleb and saw those traces of Christie that were there or did he only see reflections of himself? Hell, sometimes when Colter grinned he thought that he looked like Carol. He saw Carol in Mika's sweet efficiency and he saw himself in Lizzie's cautious affection.

Merle turned to Daryl, "We're going to cut through the back roads the whole way. It will be longer but I don't want to go through any checkpoints coming or going. Daryl could see a few farms as they drove but generally the land was going back to brush and woodland. There was always hills and curves to block a long look at the road. Caleb was driving slowly and carefully. Rick and Glen were staying close enough to be of help if anything happened.

They traveled slowly but surely west toward the Ohio River and the land here was more long flat bottom land and the abandoned farms were bigger than any in Tiskewah. The farmer in Daryl envied that much flat land but he hadn't seen anything but a few walkers enjoying the scenery. They were getting closer to an intersection but Daryl began to get the spidery feeling that they needed to stop and do some scouting. "Caleb, pull over and let's have a powwow." Merle shot him a look but said nothing until both trucks were stopped.

Rick and Merle bent over the map and talked about the route they needed for the last thirty miles. Daryl brushed past them, "Gonna take a look around at that intersection." Caleb got back in the truck and drove it into the brush out of sight. Glenn did the same and they waited there with the vehicles.

Daryl stayed in the woods and kept his route parallel to the road. It took him almost thirty minutes to get close to the intersection. He heard the rowdy men long before he found them. The intersection was an ambush. There was curve on the road that blocked the view of the intersection until vehicles were already passed the first line of ambushers. It was a well laid trap, and the ambushers were well armed and looked as if they could handle themselves in a firefight.

Daryl had seen enough to know that they needed another path to the road that led them to their target. He took a longer route back to the others. He had been gone almost two hours when he burst through the trees close to the trucks. Daryl stopped there and got some of the water that Carol had insisted they bring. It was a warm day and he had been pushing through brush and woods for two hours.

The men gathered in the brush to talk to Daryl. "There is ambush at the intersection. They have a camp nearby and looks like they have been there a day or two. We can't get through there. If we can get through this brush there is a farm road that runs away from the intersection but opens up to farm land that we can take toward the road. It drops back toward the road about two miles from the intersection." It went unsaid that they would come out on the road and the ambushers would be between them and their route home. The die would be cast if they went that way.

Daryl rummaged through his pack for some food. Carol had packed some of the deer jerky that they had made when he killed a big buck last month. He let the others talk over his news and he sat down to drink some more water and chew on the jerky. Daryl heard the sound of a vehicle coming toward them on the route they had just taken. He didn't hesitate as he ran toward the road. It might be one of the ambushers but might be someone just traveling through.

Merle sighed, "Better go help Darlinda. He is always gonna be the good guy. You all stay here."

The two Dixon brothers hustled in the direction of the approaching car. There was a man and a woman in the front. The car had been traveling slowly and it stopped short of them. Daryl dropped his weapons and walked toward them. He stayed well away from them but shouted, "Ambush at the intersection ahead on the road. Better turn around".

The man backed the car up and turned around. Daryl saw two little heads in the back seat and was glad that he had risked himself. He turned and walked back to Merle. Daryl noticed that the sun was showing that there would be all that there were only a few hours left until dark. They needed to get to the farm and find a safe place to stay tonight.

The group agreed to try to get through to the road. They didn't know enough about the roads in this area well enough to get creative on their route. Daryl drove through the brush and found the farm road. Glenn drove the second truck and followed Daryl. The road turned into pasture and meadow and Daryl was glad that they hadn't had rain for a week. Eventually the pasture ran back to a farm road that opened up at a highway. They could see the Ohio River lying on the other side of the highway and they made tracks toward the farm. They drove on the highway for about ten miles and then saw the road that took them away from the river and toward the farm. It was another five miles of paved road, then a graveled road for three miles to the turnoff to the farm. They stopped there, hid the trucks and walked up the dirt road toward the farm. There were weeds growing in the roadway as if nothing had disturbed them for a year, but they went in silence.

Daryl could hear squirrels squawking in the trees and figured that the game must be plentiful here. The meadows hadn't been cut in years and they were starting to get brush in them. He noticed that the pasture gates were all tied open. The man had let all his animals loose. Gave them a chance to get away from whatever was coming. He had seen that all over Lincoln. Pigpens open, chicken houses emptied out but locked back up so that the chickens wouldn't go back in to roost, and cows and horses let go. He understood that now. You knew it was all over and you went out and let go of the animals who had been your responsibility. You owed them that.

The farmhouse was an old white two story that had a wraparound porch. It was up on a little rise and had a nice view of the farm. They walked past the farmhouse to look for a newer outbuilding. A gentle breeze was causing a few leaves to slide down toward the ground and they followed the driveway past the barn and saw walkers coming at them. A goodly number was headed their way and Daryl knew that they had to keep this quiet. He turned to the others and put his finger to his mouth to warn them to not use their guns. They formed a line in the dusty road and allowed the dead to come toward them. Caleb grabbed his machete and Merle adjusted his bayonet. Rick and Glenn took their knives out and everyone put on their gloves. Daryl put down his crossbow. He might need those bolts later on.

Daryl saw Merle glance at Caleb and give his son a nod. Merle moved almost imperceptibly toward the walkers and Daryl knew that Merle was going to protect Caleb even if it meant risking himself. He remembered Merle speech on that deck about his "boy". Merle was going to take care of his boy today. Glenn was holding down the right wing and Rick the left and the Dixons in the middle. The first wave of walkers went down quickly and they all stepped back and some of the walkers fell over the first wave and began crawling toward them.

Rick and Glenn swooped in and put down the ones that crawled and then stepped back for the second wave. This wave had twice the number of the first and for less than a minute there was nothing but the swift terrible thrusts of steel into dead eyes and skulls and the squashy sound of weapons being pulled from dead flesh. They stepped back again and again to gain advantage and then it was over. Daryl saw dead walkers on the driveway for thirty yards, but no one had been bitten or scratched.

Glenn and Caleb checked every dead body and put an extra stab in as an extra precaution. Daryl, Merle, and Rick skirted the driveway and walked down the road past the barn. There were two steel buildings back here and they waited until Glenn and Caleb were finished to move on. Daryl saw a fairly new looking Tahoe in the barn. The battery would be dead, but they always carried jumper cables. The barn was old but still sturdy.

The first steel building had the lock broken off and they ventured inside. There a tractor and baler inside. There were large cans of fuel stored there. There was also stacks and stacks of fertilizer and Daryl wondered if the man had been trying to build bombs, or was he just a simple farmer?

The next steel building had its lock broken off as well, and it had tractor parts scattered all over its cement floor. Daryl and Rick stayed at the door to keep watch and Caleb and Glenn searched for the entrance to the basement. Merle walked around in the building and looked the place over.

The two young men moved a tractor tire and saw that there was a small hook in the cement. They put a rope through the hook and pulled toward the entrance and the cement moved up and over the other cement. It created a large opening and they could see that there was a basement underneath. Glenn used his flashlight to peer down and he could see large metal boxes in the darkness. He grabbed a pry bar and slid down into the darkness with his flashlight and Caleb followed him down. Merle and Rick moved back to check out their discovery while Daryl kept watch.

Glenn held the flashlight while Caleb pried the boxes open. There were boxes of automatic and semi-automatic rifles. There were also cases of ammo. Merle pointed to a pulley system in the rafters. "He used those cables to put the boxes downstairs and we can use them to bring them back up." Glenn hooked up a box onto a chute that he found downstairs and Caleb and Rick pulled it up.

They went back down the driveway and moved the walkers out of way so that they could drive the truck toward the building. By dark the guns and ammo were loaded them in the trucks but it was too dark to do anything but find a place to sleep tonight. The barn was close by so it was secured it for the night. They locked the barn doors from the inside and settled inside.

Daryl looked the Tahoe in the barn over. It had less than ten thousand miles on it. It was big and comfortable. He had three kids now. He needed a bigger vehicle. Merle came by, "Looking for a new ride? That is a nice one. Let's jump it in the morning and see if it'll run. We could move some stuff around."

There was some hay in the hayloft and they collapsed after eating their sparse meal. Caleb had first watch and Daryl tried to sleep. Daryl had the next watch and he sat in the barn loft and worried about how things were going at home. He had pushed back any thoughts of home all day, but now they were flooding in. He wanted to be home. This place was too damn quiet; he was used to the constant noise of a crowded house. The demanding cries of Judith and Colter, the bickering of Lizzie and Mika, and the clatter of Carol, Michonne, and Andrea as they cooked supper. The deeper tones of Rick and Jesse as they discussed some farming project while Carl asked questions. He missed them all, but most of all he missed Carol. Tomorrow morning at daybreak he was going home. It had taken him a lifetime to find Carol and she was home to him. Tomorrow was going to be another shitty day, but you can get through anything if you know that home is at the end of the road.

AN

Next chapter will let you know what happened at the farm while they were away.

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