July 28, 2010
~*~MD~"~
They were so close to home now that Merle couldn't quite dismiss the anxiety of stopping here for the night on the northern outskirts of Canton. But he knew everyone was exhausted from the level of alertness needed to navigate, especially the slow and careful crawl through Canton. Routing around would have taken just as long, and with this being the nearest decent sized town, it needed to be assessed.
It wasn't a pretty picture. The evidence seen elsewhere that at some point the military had given up on defending the public is here too, although one of the two military camps appeared overrun instead of turning on the populace. It was probably why the second had as many uninfected bodies as infected.
So, they stop for the evening about five, in the industrial park near the electrical supply distributor he used for his company. After the college campus at Kennesaw, no one wants to know just yet if school campuses here were hit similarly. The industrial complex was isolated and didn't have any businesses that would attract looters.
It didn't mean they aren't clearing the buildings next to the electrical warehouse. Merle is only half-surprised when Glenn is assigned to his team to clear the little church in one end of the strip of warehouses. The young man forgave him his stupidity under the influence, probably too easily, but he isn't arguing. He suspects the pretty farm girl is part of Glenn's enthusiasm for Merle's team. Karen making up the fourth works for him, because he's learned to sense potential for ruthlessness, and the former school teacher has it in spades.
The alert nature Glenn developed on solo runs into Atlanta serves them well. "There's someone here," he whispers, backing up from where he took point on the hallway of offices while Merle eyes the classroom hallway opposite.
"Someone?" Maggie asks. "Not a walker?"
"Well, it's possible a geek managed to bump into a door and shut it, but I'm about ninety percent sure I saw the knob turning to try to keep it from clicking shut. Haven't seen a geek turn door knobs yet, thank God."
"Which of you two ladies is the best shot?" Merle asks.
"Maggie is."
"Alright. Maggie, you slip just inside that open office door and cover me. Glenn, you and Karen stay just out here in the sanctuary and be ready to go for help. Radio it in quietly," he orders, knowing the throat radio range probably won't reach the camp.
He eases his bulk down the hall, old military and hunter habits serving him well. Glancing back, he sees Maggie's calm stance and takes a spot near the door that would keep him more on the other office side than the one he's approaching.
"We aren't here to hurt anyone, just clearing out the dead if there are any," he calls out. "We can help, if you need it." After a moment, he repeats it in Spanish. Area had its share of Hispanic agricultural laborers before.
"Man I saw was wearing military fatigues," the voice is female, young, and terrified. It makes Merle's heart ache, and Maggie looks similar.
"I don't like that you're afraid of the military, but our group's mostly civilian. We've just found that the uniform material is harder for bites and scratches to get through.". There's no reply, so Merle figures what the hell. Girl in this area is likely a local, and he's put four kids through the school system. "My name's Merle Dixon. We're just passing through on our way home. My kids went to school down here."
Just when the continued silence begins to worry him, he hears a muffled sob. "What're your kids' names? The two who play the same sport. The senior and freshman."
Dammit, she is young. "Honey and Jazz. They both play lacrosse in the spring."
The door opens so quickly that Merle barely identifies the teenager before she's clinging to him, sobbing in earnest now. He hugs her tightly, scanning the room behind her and seeing nothing but a mostly empty food pantry with the girl's rucksack and a makeshift weapon on the floor.
The others approach as he tries to sooth the girl. "This is Jenny. She's one of Honey's lacrosse teammates."
The reminder that Merle isn't alone makes Jenny quieten down, although she doesn't let him go. He smooths her hair with one hand, noticing it shows a decided lack of regular care and is inexpertly cut short from the long tresses he remembers.
"Are you all alone?" he asks at last, not sure he wants the answer.
"It's just me and Mom. We tried to go to Atlanta, like we were supposed to. But we got stuck in traffic and Tyler got worried and turned back. He got bit about a month ago."
"How about we get you back to our group and we can go find your mama?" he suggests.
"You'll take us with you?" The wavering uncertainty in her voice makes him wince.
"Of course we will. There's plenty of room at our place."
She nods against his chest before moving away to retrieve the rucksack. "Churches have food banks. Safer and easier for me than everywhere else," she explains, looking haunted. She grabs a metal wrapped bat too, but follows Merle easily as they exit the building. He doesn't comment when he feels her fingers tangle into his belt.
Their incoming return is noticed by the watch. He didn't radio it in, not once he identified the girl. Another team can finish clearing the church, which is likely free of walkers if the girl regularly ventured inside.
Jenny is gripping his belt hard enough to twist it as they enter the circle of vehicles. He can damn near smell the anxiety wafting off the girl.
"Carol!"
His call alerts the grey-haired woman, who looks up from where she's repacking the food bags for the vehicles with Sophia's help. She spots the girl and trots over.
He keeps his touch gentle as he untangles Jenny's fingers. "This is Carol. She's family, and you're gonna stay with her while I take some people to get your mama. She's at your house, right?"
"Yeah. Tyler got it all blocked off real well before..." Her voice wavers and Carol is quick to reach out. Just as she did with Merle, Jenny responds to the care of an adult with a hug. He eases the rucksack off her and passes it to Sophia, along with the bat.
"Ladies, this is Jenny. She went to school with Jazz and Honey. I'm going to take my team out to her house in the Subaru."
"Wait! Are Honey and Jazz okay?" Jenny calls out as he starts toward Patricia, who is running general comms for the group today.
"Yeah. They're just both out on a clearing team. Should be back before I am."
She gives him a watery smile and lets Carol lead her away.
Glenn is patient enough to wait until they're in the Subaru, headed away from camp. "Why would she be out alone?" he asks.
Merle sighs, wondering if this is another thing that might have gone better if he'd stayed in his right mind. "Amanda's in a wheelchair. Got hit by a drunk driver three years ago. Her ole man bailed right after, so it was just her and the two kids. She's got a modified van, but she couldn't always get to away games. The other girls' parents all took turns giving Jenny rides til she got her license last spring since her brother was at college."
"How far away?" Karen asks. She's intent on the clear road around them. Any bad events in Canton at least didn't happen around here.
"Subdivision the other side of the freeway. About three miles."
"Tyler the brother?"
"Yeah. Think he was twenty. Fell in the gap between two of the girls enough I don't know much about him. Jenny's enough younger that she wasn't part of Honey's little gaggle of athletes."
"I'm just glad she was out for supplies today. We'd have missed her otherwise." Glenn shudders and Merle doesn't blame him. They've got plans to clear Canton of supplies, but not on the door-to-door level.
Maybe guardian angels still existed.
~*~CP~*~
All the teams were back in camp, reporting no dead in any of the buildings. With the exception of maybe the church, Carol supposes none of them really had a reason for employees to be there when things started shutting down, and according to what she's been able to get out of their little refugee, the church has always been empty.
She got the girl showered in one of the RVs, figuring they're close enough to their destination to spare water for a kid who hasn't seen reliable running water in months and didn't have a lake nearby either. Now Jenny's tucked in a protective nest of teenagers and children, too alert for sleep until her mother is confirmed rescued. Patricia passed word that all is well on that front, so she wanders out and climbs up on the RV where Jacqui's taken over watch on the RV with the radio from Patricia.
"No sign of them yet?" she asks, sitting cross-legged next to Jacqui's chair with a glance to the radio setup on the other side.
"Nah. But I figure we've got five or ten, based on what time it took between here and there the first time. Supposed to have a maroon modified Chevy mini-van coming."
"That kid's been through hell and back. I can't even imagine being where I had to send Sophia out on her own."
"No kidding. How's she doing?"
"In a bit of shock, I think. Feeling better after getting cleaned up and Lori trimming up her hair. I don't think she thought anyone was left alive. She says her brother tried to get the last of the military to evacuate them when they finally abandoned Canton, but they weren't willing to take on a girl and a disabled woman."
"I can't imagine. Can you picture if our Marines got ahold of those men?"
"Wouldn't be pretty. But maybe it's easier, since they have a goal in mind."
Jacqui huffs and shifts in her seat. "From what I heard from Tyreese, they've had about six end goals in mind."
"Yeah, I've seen some of the notebooks here and there, before we left the quarry."
Movement on the road to the east catches their eye. Jacqui checks with the binoculars, and then signals down into the camp that all's clear. Carol watches the vehicles approach before telling Jacqui goodbye to go see if any help is needed.
The Subaru backs into the usual spot near the caravan while the Chevy mini-van pulls alongside the opening. Carol's a little surprised that Merle's in the passenger seat and the unknown woman driving, but she waits since Merle's hopping out and opening the sliding door. She watches as Merle enters the van to lift the driver into his arms, leaving the wheelchair behind the steering wheel. It occurs to her then that the wheelchair battery is probably dead, but they had to load it to easily drive the van. She doesn't envy Merle and Glenn loading it up.
The woman loops her arms around Merle's neck as he turns to face Carol. "My daughter?" she asks.
Carol can't blame her for that being her first concern. She points toward the huddled group of kids, who are moving aside to free Jenny up. The girl meets them before Merle's more than a few feet away from the van. They hug as best they can, before the woman shoos the girl away gently back to the other kids. "This feels more like a dream than reality," she says, looking around.
"It'll get even better. How would you like a shower?" Carol asks.
"I'd say you're crazy, except I just smelled soap and shampoo on Jenny instead of baby wipes."
Laughing, Carol motions Merle toward the RV where she and Lilly already set up one of the shower chairs Felipe remembered to stuff in the Vatos supply truck. Merle deposits her gently on the tiny RV toilet, backing off to leave Carol to assist her.
"I don't want to be rude, but how much help do you need or want?" she asks softly. "Oh, and I'm Carol."
"Amanda." She looks at the shower stall with undisguised envy. "Honestly, tiny as this bathroom is, I could probably manage it all myself, but I don't want to tempt fate or that stool tipping." She motions to herself. "It's an incomplete lower thoracic injury. I can use braces or a walker for short distances, but it takes a lot out of me and I've got the balance of a toddler."
Carol ends up letting Amanda guide her through what she needs for the bath, which mainly seems to be the shift from the toilet seat to the stool, where she strips off her clothing fairly easily. Carol wishes she had Amanda's confidence in being nude in front of someone else, but she supposes a paraplegic doesn't have a lot of choice in that matter. There's a knock on the door to the RV.
"That'll be my medical supplies," Amanda says. "The girl, Maggie, I think it was, said she'd bring over everything that was in the bathroom."
It's not actually Maggie at the door, but Lilly, which relieves Carol a little to have the nurse on hand. She introduces the women as Lilly sits the box down on the little toilet. "I'll let you get your shower, then help you with the rest of things. You've got a MACE and a Mitrofanoff?"
Amanda takes the bottle of body wash and cloth before pulling the curtain, answering as she gets the shower turned on. "Both, yeah. Once we realized we weren't going to get anywhere, and no one was going to arrest my son for looting, he cleared out all the medical supply places he could get to. Got enough catheters to last me three lifetimes. Merle said he'd take a group back later to get the surplus."
At Carol's puzzled look, Lilly explains. "Spinal cord injuries usually mean difficulties with voluntary bowel and bladder control. Amanda's had two procedures done so that she can take care of both herself via stomas on the abdomen."
"One of the best things about living so close to Atlanta. Lots of great resources for paraplegics," Amanda adds. "And that my asshole ex-husband was willing to shell out alimony to be allowed to run far away. Geez, you ladies, this is damn near heaven. We weren't exactly lacking for water at the house, but we didn't want to rely on it to actually shower or full on bathe. No telling when the water tower was gonna run out with no electricity for the pumps to refill it."
Carol giggles a little. "Part of the group was staying at a quarry, so I got used to bathing outdoors the past few months. With so many people, we'll probably still be limited at first at the Dixon property though."
"How many people are we talking? I saw a lot of vehicles, but I honestly was so damned relieved to see Merle's scruffy face at my door that I didn't ask a lot of questions." The water cuts off, and Amanda pulls the curtain back to reach for the towel that Carol hands her. She begins to vigorously dry her short, dark hair.
"About eighty, plus close to twenty already there."
"Holy crap, seriously?"
"Yeah. We helped evacuate a nursing home that got abandoned by everyone except for two staff and a few relatives."
"I guess two more and one of us gimped up won't be as much of a burden as I worried about then. I mean, I've known Merle for two years now, since Jenny started high school, but this is small community level stuff."
Carol wants to ask more, to get information from a non-family member's point of view, but it seems a little overbearing to interrogate a woman sitting naked on a shower stool. Amanda's passing the towel back, and Carol steps forward to offer herself as a brace for the move to the toilet.
"I'll take care of the rest, although I'd appreciate it if one of you ladies would stay nearby to fetch me a strapping fellow once I've finished up and gotten dressed."
Lilly offers to stay, so Carol heads back outside. Merle's waiting and leaning against the RV, although he's got a manual wheelchair by the door now. "Didn't figure she'd want to hole up on the bus with the elderly just yet, and we won't be able to charge her better chair til we get to my place. She said her son got this one when he raided the medical warehouse."
"Were you able to get enough of her supplies for now?"
"Should be about a month's worth, and we'll need plenty for our mini nursing home eventually anyway. Patricia's already reorganizing a couple of her supply requests."
"She's very pretty," Carol observes. "And more confident than I'd be, in her place."
"Nah, don't sell yourself short, Mouse. She's had years to come to terms with how her life is now. I'm fairly sure you'd be the same way, with your little gal to look after."
Maybe. Carol likes to think she could be that strong, and it's likely Ed would have fled just as Amanda's ex-husband did. But there's that nickname again.
"Merle?"
"Yeah?" He turns and looks at her, gaze going serious as he realizes she's upset. "What's wrong?"
"Why do you call me Mouse? It's not very flattering."
He's quiet for a minute, and she thinks maybe he's offended, until he sighs. "Daryl could probably tell you some pretty story, one of those Native legends he likes so much. But I'm more practical. Mice are survivors, Carol. They hide and gather and raise up little mice. You gotta work for one to trust you. It's not meant to be an insult, but I can stop if it bothers you."
She thinks about what he said, the positive spin on the nickname and slowly shakes her head. "It's okay. I just don't want to be fearful and meek anymore."
"S'alright. That life's all gone for you. Maybe the world's gone batshit, but as long as we're around, you and Miss Phia are safe. That's a promise."
Carol's pretty certain that's the first promise from a man she can rely on in a very long time.
~*~SW~*~
"All good on the home front?" Shane asks as Scout edges into what is becoming her usual spot leaning against his legs.
"All quiet. Lenore took a group down to the RV place today and brought four more back. We're still brainstorming about a permanent solution for the nursing home residents. Right now, the best space is off property in the nursing home in town, but the fence there was only designed to keep residents from wandering off, not walkers coming in. They've checked and everyone was evacuated, but it's a small facility, only about twenty beds and none private."
"It's a good short-term solution though. How long would it take to get a building up on the property?" Dale asks. The groups have merged now, although smaller groups splintered off after supper to enjoy a little down time before sleeping.
"Need three days at least for a foundation to cure enough to start putting framing up. Had a contract to put up a steel building when it got delayed for everyone getting sick. Building's big enough we could modify it for residential and house everyone in singles for safety's sake." Merle rubs at his chin, frowning as he thinks it through. "Could get the building up in five days with my old crew. Seven to ten with training new help. Interior won't be as complicated as true residential before... another week at least though."
"Faster if we make off with the portable classrooms from the elementary school," Honey suggests. "And isn't the daycare in town a portable? We could go with a cinder block foundation that way, and you already leveled out that space by Glynnis' cottage to build for Cricket."
"Portables would have plumbing already, but let's go find Henry and see what he thinks." The two wander off as if they weren't part of a larger conversation, leaving behind incredulous looks and a few grins from those more familiar with them.
"They get like that when there's a project to plan," Scout explains. "He spent years trying to convince her to go to college for engineering or architecture, but she's stuck to her guns on the construction management."
"Not enough involvement in the actual building process in those fields," Shane suggests. Scout nods.
"Do you think they'd welcome input from an architectural student? I just finished my first post-grad year." Amy looks pretty hopeful for someone who used to avoid Merle.
"I think you'd be more than welcome," Scout replies, but she stiffens as Andrea makes a sound of objection. Amy takes advantage of the stare down between the two older women to escape to the small cluster of people around one of the ever-present notebooks. Morales and one of the women Shane is less familiar with have joined them.
Dale reaches out and grips Andrea's shoulder gently. "You've got to let her make her own choices. And it sounds like she's got an expertise we sorely need."
Shane makes his soothing gesture less overt, simply pressing Scout's shoulders with his knees. She responds by stroking the back of his knee with her thumb, going with the idea to let Dale handle it.
"It's hard to see her as an adult. I missed so much."
Scout actually makes a soft sound of agreement, drawing Andrea's attention back to her. The Marine shrugs. "Jazz was in kindergarten when I enlisted. Most of watching him grow up, I did over pictures in emails until Skype came along. Honey was older, but not enough to really count."
"That was the military though. I just kept working for one more promotion."
"About half of my time away was voluntary, for about the same reasons. All we can do now is be get to know the more grown-up versions."
"Besides, the more she's involved in constructing our little village, the less you have to worry about her wanting to contribute out on supply runs," Shane adds, remembering how Andrea definitely hadn't like the idea of Amy joining any Atlanta runs.
"How is that going to work?" Rick asks. He isn't the only curious one.
Hershel ends up answering instead of Scout, which Shane thinks she's probably grateful for. She's admitted to being glad she won't be in charge of the entire settlement once they arrive. He thought it might bother him, to cede the leadership that seemed so important before, but when he thinks of the day-to-day details and how much he hated desk work back at the station, he supposes he agrees with her there.
"We've been logging everyone's existing expertise, even the newcomers," the veterinarian explains. "Anyone who has a skill that's already useful, like T-Dog's CDL or Henry's plumbing and welding experience, will be asked to put that to use right away. Anyone who doesn't have any immediately needed skills will be asked to pick a team and learn. While we can technically house all the able bodied in RVs through the winter if we find enough solar panels to keep heat in them, most aren't really meant for long-term living. So, we'll start with the most vulnerable and build cottages or bunkhouses. It's going to mean a lot of folks needing to learn construction skills. But we also need to gather all the supplies we possibly can, so supply teams will be swinging out on a pre-set pattern to clear out nearby towns."
"Priority supply run is on King County first though, even though it's a trip," Shane adds, gaining a relieved look from Rick. "You haven't been able to get through to your friend, and we know the hospital's mostly accessible."
"Plus, we don't want to leave military supplies just lying around like you described are there," Scout adds. "We should be able to move down there and back within a week, since we aren't having to allow for young and vulnerable."
"After the attack on the Vatos, I have to agree with you there." Rick glances to Lori, who looks resigned rather than angry. "By we, that mean you're going?"
Scout laughs. "Yeah. Jamie's more valuable on the construction team than on a supply run, since he worked construction in the summers while he was in college, before the Marines. Figure we'll take you, me, Shane, and T-Dog, if he's willing. You think there's enough to merit another four-person team? Keeping in mind paired drivers."
Rick thinks it over and then nods. "Things could have changed in a week, but from what I saw, there's been no serious looting or anything of the sort. There's several businesses, including one that sold generators and other farm and marine equipment."
"There a U-Haul place in town?" Scout looks thoughtful when Rick nods. "Good backup plan if the military vehicles aren't viable. It's a bit of a mixed issue. Gathering up military issue vehicles can make us a target, but they're usually diesel, which will stockpile longer. U-Hauls are generally easier to drive, but we've got a limited number of months for gasoline to last, even with additives. It's why we want to push hard for supply stockpiles now, while gas is still useful. Might be able to figure out some larger-scale bio-diesel eventually, but it's not a priority other than needing to make sure we keep vehicles capable of using it around. Dad said the neighbor next door converted and set up a system to fuel his farm equipment, but I doubt he produced enough to rely on for trips out into the state."
"How long will gas last?" Dale asks. "I must admit it isn't something I really thought about. I suppose I just figured things weren't as bad on a wider scale as it seemed or wanted to think that, anyway."
"For gas in vehicles and storage tanks, we're probably looking at six months, so we're a third of the way into that. When we siphon, we always pump it into a glass jar first, to check the color and odor. If it's not cloudy, dark, or smelly, we pump it and dump in additives. It's why you should never pump unknown gas into a container with existing gas. Granted, no one here's really got to worry about paying the repair bill if we run questionable gas, but I'm sure the mechanics would prefer not to be making repairs they don't have to, and no one wants to get stranded. The biggest problem we're going to start running into is that ethanol blended gas really only lasts about three months. So, after that, it'll start drawing in water from the environment. We'll still collect it, but it won't go in anything that goes out on a supply run."
"And diesel?"
"Used to, it'd last for years." Hershel looks grumpy as he relates this. "Nowadays, the new blends in vehicles and fueling stations are as bad as gasoline and need additives to last. We keep an eye out for marine and off-road diesel storage, because that hasn't converted to the new type yet."
"Lots of lakes up here," Shane comments. "Might want to prioritize hitting up their gas storage."
"The logistics of this are a bit mind boggling." Dale looks a little overwhelmed.
"That's why we've been having multiple people on the planning," Hershel says. "So no one person is overwhelmed."
"Makes sense." Rick looks thoughtful and actually smiles sheepishly. "And some of us have skills that probably better serve outside the planning group."
Shane laughs. "You're just remembering how much you hate paperwork, brother, just like I did."
"Can't say I'd rather face the dead than report deadlines, but it definitely ranks pretty far up there on issues I like to avoid."
That invokes laughter from the rest of the group, and Shane notes how his people from the quarry are less tense around the Dixon group now. The separation is starting to blur as the two groups blend together and learn to rely on each other.
~*~CP~*~
Arriving in Conns Creek the next morning didn't take long. The freeway is almost completely clear between Canton and the small town's exit, although the southbound side has its share of abandoned vehicles like all routes leading to Atlanta. She wonders if they kept going further north, if they'd see similar patterns around Chattanooga. She helps with the temporary setup of the nursing home, working with the medical staff to offload everyone and enough supplies, while Scout and Jamie take teams to bring abandoned vehicles to reinforce the building's fence.
"You look tired, Mama," Sophia says, passing her a bottle of Gatorade. "Cricket said to make sure everyone that was offloading stuff drank at least a bottle. It's hot already."
Carol can agree there. She's sticky with sweat in places she's gotten used to after months of living outdoors, but it doesn't mean it's comfortable. "Are you excited to almost be there?" she asks her daughter.
Sophia grins. "Yeah. I always wanted to live on a farm, and even though they say theirs really wasn't a farm, not like Hershel's, they still have animals and all. Did you know that Jazz was raising sheep for his 4-H project this year?"
"I did hear something about that." It had actually been that Merle's property ended up with a herd of sheep because each kid chose sheep as their focus at least one year of their 4-H years, and eventually one sheep turned into two and so forth. Merle found them to be tidy little lawnmowers.
"Alright, everyone, listen up." Scout has climbed onto the top of one of the RVs to get everyone's attention. "We've done all we can and the longer we're here, the more likely we attract attention they don't need. Sasha, Allen, and Sam are going to stay to help out since they've still got wounded. So, we're going to get underway, since the faster we get home, the sooner we can get those portables set up on property and get these folks behind good walls."
The words act as a catalyst for everyone to load back up. Carol knows she can't wait for the safety of walls around her and eventually, once priority goes to those in more need, maybe an actual bed to call her own. She can't imagine how it feels for those who've been on the move for months in full knowledge of the dangers they're travelling among. The quarry group at least pretended the world wasn't dead around them. And for the Dixons, it was home, with people they knew and cared for waiting on them.
Falling into her place in the caravan is becoming easy habit, although this time she's got Jazz along for the ride with Sophia. The boy's slowly easing away from his need to stay near Shane, although Merle warned Carol he could have flashbacks or panic attacks unexpectedly when Jazz asked to ride with them.
They're headed about thirteen miles out of town, and thanks to the group already on the property, they know it's clear at least. Carol half listens to the chatter as Jazz tells Sophia about the area, although he looks more sad than excited as he watches out his window. She figures it is bittersweet for the teenager. They may be home, but this is no longer the safe world he grew up in, and so many of the people that populated the places he remembers are gone. The road they're travelling on is officially a state highway, but it shows the same careworn tar and gravel that most county roads use, just with better shoulders.
She's watching the odometer closely, even though she knows it'll be hard to miss the line of vehicles in front of her start turning off, so she's ready when the slowdown begins.
"We'll turn off onto three different county roads before we get to ours. Two paved and one gravel," Jazz explains. "Ours is gravel and a private road. Dad and Mister Eldridge just kept it graded himself and added new gravel as needed."
"Just the two properties on that road then?" Carol asks.
"Yeah. We have the sixty-three acres against the river bend. Mister Eldridge has the forty acres we'll drive through to get to ours. The road kinda goes through the middle of his property, twenty acres on either side."
They've reached the first turn Jazz mentioned already, and Carol notices that unlike the first road, which seemed like a narrow version of the state highway, the paving here is a little more elderly and patched. She figures all these roads means it's harder to find the property by accident at least. The houses on the first road and here are spaced out, country lots with sprawling yards that Carol figures are a couple of acres instead of the tidy postage stamp size lots like where she and Sophia lived with Ed. Everything's deserted, yards overgrown as only a Georgia summer can do to runaway grass. It's sad in a way that the deserted houses in the towns they passed through wasn't.
By the third turn, they're two miles off the highway. There are no visible houses on this road, which is such narrow gravel stretch that Carol thinks it'd be a pinch to try to get two of the larger vehicles side by side without someone hitting a ditch. The only evidence that anyone lived on it at all is the occasional mailbox near a driveway that disappears into the tree line.
When they make it to the road Jazz says is officially their road, it's gated, although Maggie's standing near the open gate with the easy posture of a girl long used to farm gates. She waves as they pass, and Carol figures the final vehicle will pick her up after she shuts the gate. This road is as narrow as the other, but in better condition. With Merle working construction, she supposes they were better off than waiting on a county maintenance schedule.
"They've let everything grow up a lot," Jazz comments, looking around. "Normally we keep the trees and bushes and grass back from the road."
"I guess it helps it look deserted," Carol replies. "Although the road might be a giveaway if they keep it fixed up."
"Yeah. We're about to lose the trees for a bit anyway."
He barely finishes speaking when they leave the tree line. Open farmland is visible now, rows of greenery and vegetables in neat rows, broken up by the occasional line of boundary trees. In the distance to the right side of the road, Carol can see a big farmhouse, barn, and various outbuildings. The Eldridge farm, she assumes. Jazz lets out a little sigh of relief. Seeing the neighbor's farm intact probably is reassuring to the boy.
The road returns to being heavily wooded, and there are no more turns, because the gravel road passes through a set of massive stone pillars, with the wrought iron gates thrown open. Carol doesn't recognize either of the people watching them go by, so she figures they must be the locals. Jazz waves to the young man with flaming red hair, who flashes a thumbs up.
"That's Gage. He's Mister Eldridge's grandson, but he lived next door with his aunt and grandfather."
"What happened to his parents?" Sophia asks.
"Dunno about his mom. She lives out of state somewhere now. But his dad died in a car accident when he was like eleven, so he came to live here."
They leave the wooded area to another open area. It isn't cleared completely the way the Eldridge Farm is, with more trees. Jazz points toward a small ranch-style house and cottage that nestle together off a small driveway. "That's Tihu's house. Or was, before he got transferred. And then Glynnis' house next to it."
"And yours?" Sophia asks.
The road turned driveway makes a curve around a tree line that had blocked her view to the left and Carol can't imagine a prettier scenario. The big, sprawling house has the popular log-cabin look that is completely at odds with the sheer size of it. It looks like something out of the fancy real estate magazines at the doctor's office. She can't tell exactly as she pulls to the garage parking pad like Merle instructed when they left town, but she thinks it's either an L or a T shape, with a porch running the length of the house on the garage side. Jazz shifts anxiously at the sight of a woman on the porch, so she shoos him to go greet the elderly lady, giving she and Sophia a chance to adjust.
"This is a really big house, Mama," Sophia says softly, looking up at the two-story structure. "And did you see the barns out past it? So pretty."
Carol shakes her head. The size of the house caught her attention to completely to keep looking beyond it. Before she can begin the old pattern of worrying, she reminds herself that this is a new beginning for almost everyone. A tap on the passenger glass further distracts her, because Honey snags the door open and grins.
"C'mon, Sophia, you need to meet Grandma Glynnis. You too, Carol." Somewhere in the last few days, the "Miz" title the two younger Dixons tend to use with any of the women over thirty dropped off Carol's name and she isn't entirely sure why.
Others are out of their vehicles, parked here and there in a way that seems a bit random to Carol but makes sense to Patricia, so there's some pattern to it. Expressions vary from relief to admiring to disbelief, although the last is mostly from members of her old quarry camp. She lets herself be drawn up onto the porch to meet the white-haired woman who wears coveralls with the grace of a model.
"This is Sophia and Carol. We're keeping them, Ladies, this is Grandma Glynnis."
Glynnis laughs and offers a hand to Carol. "Hannah, I'm pretty sure we're keeping all of them, not just these two ladies."
Honey rolls her eyes. "Not like that. These two are family. We're keeping them."
The woman's brown eyes are assessing as she sweeps them over Carol and Sophia. "I see. Well then, I suppose that'll make sleeping arrangements a bit easier."
Before Carol can ask what that means, Daryl thuds up onto the porch and sweeps the woman into his arms for a hug so enthusiastic that he's got her lifted a foot off the ground. Since she returns it with equal enthusiasm, Carol decides to live in the moment and smile at the joy of two reunited family members. She knows it's bittersweet for both of them, as there's still no word of Abby's arrival.
But for now, the vast majority of the Dixon clan is home... and they've brought everyone to safety with them.
A/N: The next chapter will introduce the first new POV scenes – Glenn, Daryl, and Lori.