Chapter 22
We hadn't been following very long when Rick spoke up.
"Hey, earlier, were you watching us?" The priest shook his head.
"I keep to myself. Nowadays, people are just as dangerous as the dead, don't you think?"
"No," Daryl answered, "People are worse."
"Well I wasn't watching you," he answered the initial question, "I haven't been beyond the stream near my church more than a few times since this all started. That was the furthest I've gone before today." He was silent for a moment and I saw a mischievous look on his face, "Or maybe I'm lying. Maybe I'm lying about everything and there's no church ahead at all. Maybe I'm leading you into a trap so I can steal all your squirrels." I snorted, the others tensed up.
"It's a joke." I told them, already confident at this point, that he was indeed leading us to a church.
"Members of my flock often said that my sense of humor leaves much to be desired." The priest continued.
"Yeah, it does." Daryl said holding the string of squirrels a little tighter. The Priest turned and ran into some small branches as he tried to escape the tension. I just rolled my church came into view soon after. It was painted all white, the paint yellowed and peeling with age. A quaint little thing in the middle of the forest.
Garbiel walked right up to the door ready to let us in.
"Hold up," Rick stopped him, "Can we take a look around first? We just want to hold onto our squirrels." I shook my head. Rick's sense of humor wasn't any better than the Father's. The Priest handed over the keys regardless, letting Rick take his look.
Rick went in first, the rest of us close behind. It didn't take long to check the small structure. Rick whistled the all clear and we joined him in the main aisle.
Rick returned the keys to Gabriel.
"I spent months here without stepping out the front door. If you found someone inside, well... it would have been surprising." Gabriel said to him.
"Thanks for this." Carl said to the priest.
"We found a short bus out back." Abraham reported to Rick, "It don't run, but I bet we could fix that in less than a day or two. Father here says he doesn't want it. Looks like we found ourselves from transport. You understand what's at stake here right?"
"Yes, I do." Rick said not looking up from his baby daughter, who was in Carl's arms.
"Now that we can take a breath-" Michonne started.
"We take a breath, we slow down, shit inevitably goes down." Abraham interrupted.
"We need supplies no matter what we do next." She argued.
"That's right. Water, food, ammunition." Rick backed her up.
"Short bus ain't goin' nowhere." Daryl told him, "Bring you back some baked beans." We went into the church to get settled. Daryl found a spot off the side of the pews and patted the ground next to him.
"Take a load off." I slid down the wall next to him, resting my head on his shoulder. My chest still ached a bit but I was starting to feel better. I was less all over achy now that most of my bruised body was healed. I rifled through my bag taking an inventory of what I had left. All the MRE's were long gone, I had given my last one to Carl on the road. My tobacco products and other smokables were still well hidden in the false packet in my bag. I pulled out my mom's pipe and just looked at it for a while. I missed her terribly, and though it hurt to know she was gone, at least I knew. I hoped wherever Joel was he wasn't hurt, that he was fed and sheltered. Was the least those pricks could do after they killed his wife. Rick, Judith on his hip walked over to the father.
"How'd you survive here for so long?" Rick asked our host, "Where did your supplies come from?"
"Luck." he replied, "Our annual canned food fell apart right after we finished it. It was just me. The food lasted a long time and then I started scavenging. I've cleaned out every place nearby. Except for one."
"What kept you from it?" Rick inquired, his interest peaked.
"It's overrun"
"How many?"
"A dozen or so. Maybe more." Rick looked around at the others.
"We can handle a dozen." With a couple good fighters and a good strategy, a dozen was cake. Hell I took out that many once with T-Dog. I put the pipe back, thinking of the dream I had of them all.
"Bob and I will go with you." Sasha offered, "Tyreese should stay here, help keep Judith safe."
"That'll be okay?" Rick asked the giant man.
"Sure." he said with a smile. Ain't gotta ask him twice to babysit. He loved that little girl just as much as the rest of us, "you ever need me to watch her, need anything for her, I'm right here." he told Rick.
"I'm grateful for it." Rick strode over to Ty, "And everything else." Even though their relationship had a rocky go back at the prison, they had put that behind him. Like how Ty put Carol's transgressions behind him. It didn't do well to dwell.
"I'll draw you a map." Father Gabriel said, starting to walk towards his office.
"You wont need to." Rick stopped him, "You're coming with us."
"I'm not gonna be of any help. You saw me. I'm no good around those things." He had a point, so it seems like our leader had an alternative motive to bring him along.
"You're coming with us." Rick finalized. I bet it was because he didn't trust the whole, "The word of God is the only weapon I need" card. Carol came over to where Daryl and I were sitting.
"I'm going down to the creek to get water, scavenge a bit on the way back. You two game?" Daryl nodded.
"Good." She offered me her hand which I took, Daryl getting up as well. I grabbed my packet of cigarettes from my bag, only a few left and my last book of matches, shoving them in my back pocket. I threw my trench coat on and shouldered my bow. We grabbed a few empty water jugs on our way out.
"Man how long has it been since the three of us went on a scavenging trip?" I reminisced as we walked to the creek. Carol chuckled. I opened the pack and automatically handed one to Daryl. He took it gladly lighting it with a Zippo. He tossed it to me so I could light my own. I'd rather save my matches for my pipe anyway.
"Probably that first winter. Once we were at the prison, Michonne took my place." Carol recounted. I rolled my eyes a little too hard at that.
"Pfft," Daryl made a dismissive sound, "She didn't take yer place. Ya had other things to do at the prison."
"Nobody can replace ya Carol. Yer a one of a kind pain in my butt." I cracked a toothy grin and my friend laughed.
"Right back at you McLaughlin." We didn't speak again till the trip back, the three of us walking abreast in the middle of the road, Carol between us.
"Hey, I get it. You don't want to talk about it." It was Daryl that broke the silence, "You okay?" Carol looked at him.
"Gotta be."
"We get to start over." he continued, "All of us, with each other. You saved us all by yourself."
"We got lucky. We should all be dead"
"Yeah lucky that yer a grade A badass." I told her. She chuckled then nodded to the car just up ahead.
"I'll check it." She said, starting towards the car.
"Alright."
The engine wouldn't turn over, so she exited and came around to check the trunk.
"Hey. We ain't dead." Daryl told her, "And whatever happened, happened. Let's start over."
"I want to." she replied. There was a car battery charger there, with a bit of charge left.
"Well you can." She just looked at us, then closed the trunk.
"We should leave this here as back up, in case things go south at the church."
"You want me to carry one of those-" Daryl said motioning to her water jugs, dropping his in the process. He looked at his feet for a second, then covered his eyes with his hand. Carol and I looked at each other, a soft chuckle rumbling in my chest.
"Mmm no." She said. He picked his jug up, shaking his head.
"Come on butter fingers." I poked him.
"Stooop."
The run to the food bank had been a success and we had a small feast that night. It was nice to see my family together again, plus a few new faces, enjoying a meal together. I laid on my stomach between Carol and Daryl, Daryl using my butt to hold his plate.
"Wow Daryl, that is the most attractive table I've ever seen!" Carol joked, "you have to tell me where you found it."
"Oh I had it imported from India." I pushed his leg, chuckling at the terrible joke.
"I'd like to propose a toast." Abraham's deep voice echoed. Everyone quieted down and those who stood, sat down, "I look around this room and I see survivors. Each and every one of you has earned that title. To the survivors!" He lifted his glass of communion wine. We did as well, echoing his cheers. We drank but Abraham wasn't finished, "Is that all you want to be? Wake up in the morning, fight the undead pricks, forage for food, go to sleep at night with two eyes open, rinse and repeat? Cause you can do that. I mean, you got the strength. You got the skill. The thing is, for you people for what you can do, that's just surrender." He was right, we were a powerful force. Hell, one of us completely decimated a compound, "Now we get Eugene to Washington and he will make the dead die and the living will have this world again. And that is not a bad takeaway for a little road trip." He paused looking around at us. I still was not convinced about this cure, though.
"Eugene, what's in DC?"
"Infrastructure constructed to withstand pandemics even of this fubar magnitude. That means food, fuel, refuge. Restart." Hmm, that was the truth, at least he believed it to be the truth.
"However this plays out," Abraham continued, "however long it takes for the reset button to kick in, you can be safe there. Safer than you've been since this whole thing started. Come with us. Save the world for that little one. Save it for yourselves. Save it for the people out there...who got nothing left to do except survive." Rick chuckled softly, looking down at Judith who cooed.
"What was that?" he asked the baby, I chuckled, "I think she knows what I'm about to say. She's in. If she's in, I'm in. We're in." People cheered and clapped for Rick's adorable decisioning making skills. Cure or no cure, the idea that there could be a better infrastructure in the capital made sense to me. Daryl touched my shoulder, motioning me to look. Carol was slipping out the front door. As people were going back to their meals, we got up gathering our weapons, starting after her.
"Where is she goin'?" I said in a hushed voice as we trailed her through the woods.
"Seems like she's goin' for that car." He answered. She was indeed going for the car that we had found earlier. She was running off somewhere. We watched her take out a walker then we made our presence known. She turned, her eyes surprised.
"What're ya doin'?" Daryl asked. She shook her head.
"I don't know."
"Come on." He said, jerking his head in the direction of the church, but the sound of an approaching vehicle had us scurrying to hide behind the car. As soon as he could see it, Daryl raced up to the perpendicular road. He stared after it for a moment, before racing back to us. He picked up his crossbow, knocking the lights out.
"Whoa, whoa, whoa. What are you doing?! What are you doing?!" Carol's voice rose several octaves.
"They got Beth!" he grunted starting on the other light, "Come on, come on get in." Daryl got in the driver's seat, Carol shotgun and I slid into the back. He took off after them, tires squealing as he took off.
No one spoke for about an hour as we drove. I leaned forward in the middle leaning my arms on the front seats. I was helping keep an eye out given that we had no lights.
"Rick's going to wonder where we went." Daryl finally said. "Tank's runnin' low.".
"We can end this quick. Just run him off the road." Carol said. I just looked at her, shaking my head.
"Nah, we're good for a bit." He responded.
"If they are holding her somewhere, we can get it out of the driver." Well she was right about that, but who's to say they would tell the truth.
"Yeah, but if he don't talk, we're back to square one." he pointed out, "Right now we got the advantage. We'll see who they are. If they're a group, see what they can do. And then we'll do what we gotta do to get her back." He still hadn't told me about his time with Beth after the prison, but by the look on his face, I'd say they became very close. I tried to ignore the slight pang of jealousy in my chest. She was at least ten years younger than him, or more. She probably just kept him alive after thinking I had died. I probably owed her a great deal.
"They're heading north, I-85." Atlanta. It didn't take long till we could see the dark shape of the city's corpse rise up before us.
"Mmm home, sweet home." I groaned.
The car we were tailing stopped in the middle of the street once we hit the city. We pulled to a stop, the brakes squeaking. I winced, hoping that they hadn't heard that.
"What the hell is he waiting for?" Daryl questioned. The car in front of us threw into park. A man in a uniform of some kind got out of the passenger seat.
"There's two of 'em. Is that Cop?" Daryl asked, confused. Carol grabbed her gun. We looked at her.
"They could have seen us." The cop walked down the street perpendicular to where they parked. We waited, watching to see when he would come back. A walker slammed against the passenger side of the car making us all jump. The cop returned, pulling debris around in the road. He was brushing off his hands when he noticed the walker at our vehicle. He just watched it for several tense moments. Then after deciding it wasn't a threat, got back in the car, not even questioning why there was a car in the road where there wasn't one before. They started down the road the cop just cleared, Daryl turning the key to restart the car. The engine struggled but it wouldn't turn over.
"Aw, shit! Tank's tapped." Daryl cursed letting go of the key, "They'd have taken the bypass and they didn't. They must be holed up in the city somewhere." Walkers were starting to close in on us, "We gotta move, find someplace to hole up till sunlight."
"I know a place just a couple of blocks from here. We can make it." Carol told us.
"Led the way." I said getting ready to make a run for it. Carol rolled down her window so she could take out the walker right outside her door.
We followed her through the streets to the place she was referring to. Daryl was trying to break open the door as quietly as he could. Carol and I stood guard while he worked but there were several walkers heading our way. Daryl finally got the door open and we rushed inside.
We were in some kind of lobby, the room lined with marble pillars.
"You used to work here or somethin'?" Daryl asked as we entered an office of some sort.
"Somethin'." She answered. I helped her push a desk in front of one of the doors. She led us through another. We went down some more hallways and then through a final door.
"What is this place?" Daryl asked.
"It's temporary housing." She set the keys Daryl snagged off a dead woman when we entered, on the desk. There was a book on there, "Treating Survivors of Childhood Abuse". Daryl stared at the book for a long while. Carol had crossed to the bunk beds against the wall of the small room.
"You came here?"
"We didn't stay." she answered. We set our stuff down. I slid my jacket off and set it over the back of the chair.
"I'll take the top bunk." Carol announced, "That one is more your style." The bottom bunk had a pink blanket. Daryl chuckled.
"That's his favorite color, didn' you know." I joked. She snorted.
"You should sleep. I'll take first watch." She said walking over to the window.
"This is locked up pretty tight." Daryl assured her.
"I know."
"Then we're good then." he argued.
"I'll keep first watch. I don't mind." Daryl looked like he was going to argue but I shook my head.
"Suit yourself." Daryl put down his jacket. He sat down heavily on the bottom bunk and I joined him pulling off my boots. He had that look on his face that he was going to push the issue. I sighed waiting for him to speak but she did first.
"You said we get to start over."
"Yeah." he said in response.
"Did you?" He glanced at me for a second then back at her.
"I'm tryin'." Carol looked back out of the window and I could see her face reflected back, a faraway expression on it. I laid back behind Daryl, peering around his side at her.
"Why don't you say what's really on yer mind?" Carol rubbed her hands together.
"I don't think we get to save people anymore." Daryl thought for a moment. What did one say to that? Luckily Daryl was on it.
"Then why are you here?"
"I'm tryin'." She repeated his own words back to him. Daryl rubbed his face trying to hide his emotions. Carol sat down next to him and laid back her head on my legs.
"When we were out by the car...what if we didn't show up?" He asked.
"Still don't know." he laid back his head on my stomach. I ran my fingers through his hair. I turned my head, sensing something. Then there was a bang. They both sat up. Everyone was up, weapons in hand, in the hallway in moments.
Daryl led the way, and I brought up the rear, Carol between us. The banging was coming from further ahead. We turned the corner and saw her through the frosted glass of another unit. Then a smaller walker pressed against the glass at her side. Carol sighed and she started to walk over.
"You don't have to." Daryl said. She continued towards the door and he reached across her, "you don't." she turned and brushed past me. Daryl and I looked at each other. I turned to follow after her, and I could hear Daryl behind me.
Carol was on her bunk when we returned. I kicked my boots back off and laid down patting the mattress softly. Daryl sighed, setting down his bow and climbing in next to me pulling me into him.
"Will you tell me sometime? What happened after the prison?" He nodded.
"Go to sleep." he kissed my forehead and shut his eyes. I let out a huff but I did as he instructed.
I woke the next morning to Daryl sneaking out of the room, no doubt to take care of the walkers before Carol woke. I got up pulling on my boots and followed after.
He was pulling the bodies into the hall when I arrived.
"Hey." I said. He jumped slightly.
"Damn, I still gotta find that bell." I snorted, and picked up the woman, "I got it."
"I know. Im helping." he just shook his head and picked up the little girl. We brought them to the roof and set them alight. They had been burning for a couple minutes when the door opened, Carol emerged.
"Thank you." She said to him when she came up to us. Daryl nodded. Heading back after the work was completed, we gathered our things preparing for the next leg of the journey.
"That car was headed downtown. I say we get up in one of the tall ones, get ourselves a view, see what we see." Daryl suggested.
"Probably the best plan. The less time we have to spend on the street the better." I added.
"We can stay close to the buildings and keep quiet, but sooner or later, we're gonna be drawing 'em." Carol said.
"It's 'cause you just smell so sweet. Everyone wants a taste of ya." I winked at Carol, then pretended to chew on her shoulder. She snorted pushing my face back.
"Stop, you'll give me Daryl cooties."
"Pfft, I don't have cooties." Carol and I looked at each other then headed out of the building. Daryl grabbed a pad of paper on the way out.
We hurried through the streets, Daryl leading the charge. He looked around the corner up at a highrise.
"Alright," He turned back to us, "We can get up there. There's a bridge." He took off his shoulder bag pulling out the notebook he snagged earlier. He flipped open his Zippo, lighting the paper and then he threw it out into the street. Walkers started to shamble towards the little fire. He led up around the corner and into the parking garage connected to the highrise in question, shooting a walker as it came at us down the ramp.
The first bridge was not far. The glass on the door had been boarded up, litter all over the hall. When we reached the bridge, Daryl stopped. There were walkers, stuck in their sleeping bags on the floor. This had been a small camp and looked like someone had come through and killed them all. There were also several tents just beyond the undead human burritos. Carol and Daryl went forward, dispatching the first few walkers, Daryl checking one for anything useful. There was snarling from inside one of the tents, walkers pressing against the side.
"Some days, I don't know what the hell to think." Daryl said standing.
"About what?" I questioned.
"Any of it."
Carol led the way through and the tent fell over right as Daryl and I were passing. He stopped short, then kept moving forward when the walkers didn't break out of the tent. The door at the other end was chained shut but there was room to maneuver through. I sucked a breath in.
"Just gotta channel the skinny." I said. Carol rolled her eyes.
"Girl you are already a tooth pick. A very buff toothpick." Carol threw her backpack through, then her gun, then she squeezed through. I followed after, Daryl bringing up the rear.
"Good thing we skipped breakfast." He said, the only one struggling to get through.
"Mmm it's all those muscles." I smacked my lips.
"Pfft." The door slammed close after him.
The building we were in was some hoity toity office building. We went into one of the offices. Daryl looked around at everything.
"I haven't been in a place this nice since we found the Peacemaker." Daryl picked up a photo looking at the man who once occupied the office. He set it back down. Carol had gone to the window, staring out at the napalm scorched buildings.
"How did we get here?" She asked. By car duh. I knew that's not what she meant. How did we get this ass backwards.
"Mm-mm. We just did." Daryl answered.
"Neither of you still haven't asked what happened. After I met up with Tyreese, the girls." Carol started.
"Yeah I know what happened." Daryl answered, "They ain't here."
"It was worse than that." she continued.
"The reason I said we get to start over...is 'cause we gotta. The way it was…" He didn't finish but the point was made.
"Yeah."
Daryl furrowed his brow and then put his hand to the window, pressing his face to it.
"You see something?" Carol asked. I got behind him, trying to look at what he was.
"I don't know, hand me that rifle." She handed it over, letting me step up next to him so I could look out with my special eyeballs. He lifted the scope to his eyes looking in the direction. I could see it, a white van precariously perched on the edge of a bridge, with white crosses on the back windows. He pulled back and handed the rifle to Carol.
"Right there." he pointed.
"That van?" I asked, he grunted.
"It's been there a while." Carol said after spying the vehicle, "Definitely one of 'em."
"It's definitely some kind of lead." He said. Carol lowered the rifle.
"We should fill up." She said, crossing to the water cooler.
"Alright." He stopped to look at the piece of art on the wall. An abstract piece in reds and tans, just mostly a large arc on one side of the canvas.
"What?" Carol said when she saw him looking at the painting.
"I bet this cost some rich prick a lot of money." Carol handed him the water skin, "Looks like a dog sat in paint and wiped its ass all over the place." I chuckled.
"Really? I kind of like it." Carol admitted. Daryl snorted.
"Stop."
"I'm serious. You don't know me."
"Yeah you keep tellin' yourself that."
"Looks a little like a Clifford Still piece, so yeah, he probably paid a loooot of money for it." I told them as we left the office.
"I keep forgetting you were in Art School." Carol said.
"Best three years of my life." I said, a little sad at the admission.
We reached the other door and Carol went through first, Daryl following behind her,
"Daryl don't!" Carol started, Daryl already partway through the door. Then there was the unmistakable sound of a rifle cocking.
"Get up!" A male voice said.
"Hands up, both of you." I caught a glimpse of the boy on the other side of the door, Carol's rifle in his hand. Daryl looked back at me for a brief second, his eyes telling me to stay right where I was.
"Lay down your crossbow." I heard the boy say through the door.
"You got some sack on you." Daryl growled.
"Look, nobody has to get hurt. I just need weapons, that's it!" His statement came out in a bit of a rush, obviously nervous, "What happened to the other woman who was with you?"
"Was just us two." Daryl ground out.
"Please lay down your crossbow." He repeated. I heard it hit the ground. "Back up." There was a brief silence as the aggressor picked up their weapons, "Sorry about this. You look tough though, so you should be okay." I heard a knife ripping fabric and the sound of walkers snarling. I grabbed an arrow, knocking it ready to push through and take out this punk. I heard two gunshots and I kicked open the door, shattering the chain.
"Little shit took our weapons!" Daryl yelled, taking off after him. I charged after. He was gone though.
We'd crossed to another part of the building, now trying to find an alternate route to the van.
"Three bullets. We are in the middle of the city and he was stealing our weapons." Carol scolded. "Did you think I was gonna kill him?" Apparently, one of the shots I heard was at the kid but Daryl had hit her gun down, "I was aiming for his leg. Could that have killed him? Maybe, I don't know. But he was stealing our weapons." She was not pleased that he hadn't let her stop him.
"He's just a damn kid." Daryl argued, leading us over to a door with an exit sign above it. Hopefully it was a stairwell. This level of the building was unfinished, the walls still white and the metal support beams exposed in places. Wires hung from the ceiling.
"Without weapons we could die." Carol continued.
"Luckily I have plenty to spare." I told them, not that I had very many bullets either. Carol just rolled her eyes, turning back to Daryl, her arms across her chest.
"Beth could die." Daryl ignored her and continued to try and break down the door.
"We'll find more weapons." Daryl assured her.
"I don't want either of you to die. I don't want Beth to die. I don't want anybody at the church to die, but I can't stand around and watch it happen either. I can't. That's why I left." Once it started it all just started to flow out of her, "I just had to be somewhere else." Daryl turned around to look at her.
"Well, you ain't somewhere else; yer right here. Tryin'." He pointed to the ground at her feet, clearly starting to lose his patience.
"You aren't the same, neither am I. I don't know if I believe in God anymore or heaven, but if I'm going to hell, I'm making damn sure I'm holding it off as long as I can." She was trying to adjust her bag, and it slipped open, it's contents dumping on the floor. The book from the temp housing was there. Daryl picked it up, a multitude of emotions in his eyes, and he handed it back. He finally pulled the door open. I pinched the bridge of my nose as the two of them disappeared into the stairwell. Finally, I huffed, following after them, at a loss at how to help either of them in this situation.
I followed them in silence, watching the rear, my bow ready. We had reached the bridge and almost to the van. Daryl reached up and opened the back of the van.
"Alright let's get this done."
"It's not stable, one of us would be lighter." Carol told him. He just huffed at her and hopped up into the van.
"Stubborn… go on." I told her, "I'll hold on back here." I braced the edge of the van, keeping an eye on the walkers,"You better hurry it up in there." I called back to them.
"There's more coming." Carol said, "We're gonna have to fight through."
"Yeah, I see 'em." They both got up heading towards the exit.
"We have to go." Carol said when Daryl stopped. He flipped over a gurney.
"GMH, what's that? A hospital?"
"I don't know. Grady Memorial, maybe?" I gasped the name ringing all the bells in my head.
"I know it! Joel...that's the hospital he used to work for." The walkers were right on top of us.
"Grady, the white crosses- it might be where they're holing up." I was already taking out some of the dead, Carol discharging her weapon. Daryl using his knife.
"Daryl! There are too many!" I shouted, "Get in the van!" He herded Carol in jumping in himself. I got in behind him shutting the door.
"Anything we can use?" Carol cried, looking around desperately.
"Nothing but what we got." Daryl looked at me, then down below. Holy shit...
"We have to try." I told him, I gulped taking a deep breath.
"Alright buckle up." He told Carol as they moved into the front seats.
"What about Gwen?" Carol asked, her fear rising making my nose twitch. She looked back at me, but I just shook my head.
"Don't worry about me." I turned to kiss Daryl quickly, then dug my claws into the back of the seats. He braced his arms against the dash. Carol put her hand over his. Daryl was scared too, his fear making my nose twitch the worst.
"You hold on." Daryl said to us. The van finally tipped and I felt weightless as we fell through the air. The van landed on its wheels but I was thrown out the front windshield to the ground, rolling away from them.
My body screamed in pain, still trying to recover from the fight at the prison. Trying to sit up made my head pound and the burning in my eye told me I was bleeding. Hit my head on something. Walkers started to fall off the bridge and onto the roof of the van. I looked back seeing my companions climbing out of the van.
"Gwen!" Daryl yelled. I put up my hand as I pulled myself up.
"I'm okay...mostly." I shakely got to my feet and walked back over to them. My bow was snapped in half. I huffed in defeat.
"Shit…" I discarded it on the ground. Now I was going to have to make a new one. Carol was limping, and I wasn't much better, but Daryl and I managed to hold her up between us.
"Let's never go on that ride again." I told them. Carol weazed.
"Yeah zero out of ten."
We found a sheltered place to rest. Carol's arm was pretty messed up as well. Daryl handed her the water.
"Here."
"I'm fine." She said through gritted teeth.
"Prove it." he returned. She grabbed it with her left hand raising her right to meet it, but it fell as she winced, "How bad is it?" Daryl questioned.
"I've had worse." She pulled her shirt aside so we could see the ripped flesh. I let out a sharp breath through my nose.
"Damn, that was stupid." Daryl said.
"Yes but effective." I agreed.
"We made good time down." I pointed to her, my eyebrows raised at Daryl.
"See? Plan worked just fine" My face wrinkled up, "Not that I'm overly thrilled that you're hurt or that I went through a windshield." I added, hoping that I wasn't going to have to do something that gutsy for a while. My wounds were healing especially slow after the prison fight, not like we had a moment to rest since either. The brief reprieve we had at the church before coming here felt like it was years ago right now.
"There's only three blocks between us and Grady." Carol said.
"We can't, not with how bad yer hurt Carol." I told her.
"We need to find a place nearby, scope it out, see what we can see." Daryl took a swig from the water then he handed it to me.
"You really think we're gonna find out what we need to know just by watching?" Carol wasn't convinced, but Daryl shrugged.
"It's where we start. Come on." We grabbed our stuff and continued on.
We found another empty highrise, ducking inside. We were only about four blocks from the hospital now.
"You sure yer okay?" Daryl asked as we walked through the halls, referring to my slight limp.
"Yeah I'm pretty sure. I think my ankle is just sprained." We made it up a few floors and looked out the window.
"There they are." Carol said, the monster of a hospital looming up just a hop skip and a jump away from us. Not that i was going to be doing any of those right now on this ankle. Miracle that I was still standing. I leaned against the wall, getting the weight off of it.
"Alright." Daryl said, plastic bag in hand, full of food he found on the ground, "Let's see what we see." he handed Carol a bag of chips, taking one for himself and one for me. He handed it over to me.
The only sound was the crunch of the crisps as we watched the hospital. Seeing it again…
My name is Joel McLaughlin. I'm going to be taking you in Gwen.
Why?
Because you're special, darlin'. You're incredibly strong and gentle. You deserve a life better than what you got.
Ya ain't gonna beat me? That's why I left, fuckers used ta beat me…
No honey, no one is ever going to hurt you again. Unfortunately he wasn't able to keep that promise. Not that he could have foreseen any of this.
"You said I ain't like how I was?" Daryl asked, his voice soft.
"Yeah."
"How was I?" He turned his head slightly so that he could still see the hospital out of his peripherals but hold her gaze.
"It was like you were a kid." Got that right… I swear the first month I knew him I wanted to knock his skull more than a few times, "Now you're a man. I know a lot of it was because of this." She smacked my ass for effect. I glared, before rolling my eyes. My ass had nothing to do with Daryl becoming a man. Well… possibly a tiny bit.
"What about you?" Daryl steered the conversation to Carol.
"Me and Sophia stayed at that shelter for a day and a half before I went running back to Ed. I went home, I got beat up, life went on, and I just kept praying for something to happen. But I didn't do anything. Not a damn thing. Who I was with him...she got burned away. And I was happy about that. I mean, not happy, but...And at the prison I got to be who I always thought I should be, thought I should've been." Carol paused her brow furrowing, "And then she got burned away. Everything now...just consumes you." I touched her shoulder, giving it a gentle squeeze.
"Well, hey...we ain't ashes." Daryl reassured her. Then a door slammed somewhere in the building. All of our heads turned, before we took off towards the sounds of commotion. We stumbled upon a walker pinned to a pillar, a crossbow bolt in its neck.
"Is that yours?" Carol asked.
"Yeah." He chopped the walker in the face, then took the bolt out of the neck. There was the sound of gunfire and pulling us around the corner. The little shit who took Carol and Daryl's weapons, was struggling with a walker. He threw her at us. It came at Carol and she raised her arm to kill it, yelling in pain. It fell on top of her, Daryl came around finishing it off. He tried to help me pull Carol up.
"GO!" She yelled. I nodded to him.
"I got her." I helped her to her feet and we followed after Daryl. There was a loud bang and a cry of pain. We ran into the room and found the kid pinned beneath a bookcase. The book case was the only thing holding a glass door shut, a walker behind it.
"Plea-please. I had to protect myself." He defended.
"Why you followin' us?!" Daryl bellowed.
"I-I didn't, I swear! I thought you followed me!" He cried.
"Bullshit." Daryl growled.
"He's telling the truth Daryl." I spoke up, but Daryl's face said he wasn't going to be swayed.
"Please, please." He begged.
"Nah, I already helped you once. Ain't happening again. Have fun with hoss over there." Daryl said walking away. Carol looked at me, then she cried out.
"Daryl! Daryl, wait."
"You almost died 'cause of him!" he yelled.
"But I didn't."
"Nah let him be."
"Please I'm sorry! I'm sorry!" The kid cried. The walker finally managed to get free, falling on top of him. I was about to go for it, when a bolt whizzed through the air. Daryl looked at me from the hall.
"Can you?" He asked, I nodded. I bent and lifted the bookcase one handed squishing the walker behind it. Hmmm probably should have used two hands on that one. My back twinged in protest. Carol helped get the boy up, Daryl behind her.
"Thank you! Thank you!" he said getting up and limping towards the window. He was looking towards Grady.
"I gotta go. I gotta go." He was muttering at the window, "They're gonna come. They probably heard the shot. If they find me…"
"Who?" Daryl asked.
"Them, people at the hospital." The boy answered.
"Wait, wait, wait just tell us," he grabbed the kids shoulder, "Is there a blonde girl there? You see a blonde girl?" The boy looked at Daryl in confusion.
"Beth?" he asked, "you know her?" the three of us looked at each other before returning our gaze to the boy. Carol went to stand guard at the window.
"She helped me get out, but she's still there."
"Is there a Joel McLauglin there too?" I asked, the question nagging me since we left the van.
"Dr. McLauglin? Yeah, you know him too?" I nodded.
"That's her old man." Daryl told him..
"They're here." Carol warned. We raced through the building, down stairs. When we hit the ground floor the boy led us across the lobby.
"The building next door has a basement. It's clear. We'll be safe." He fell to the ground, Daryl and I stopping to haul the boy up.
"Go we got him." He told Carol, "Get up." He leaned heavily on me and my ankle protested. Carol ran outside and I looked up just in time to watch her go up and over the hood of a car. Daryl ran after her, the boy trying to hold him back and failing.
"They can help her!" He cried. I got my arms around Daryl, tears falling down my face. The officers were already around her getting her on a gurney.
"Joel's there, he'll take care of her." I urged him, also trying to convince myself not to go out there.
"We can get her back, we can get Beth back." the kid told him. He relaxed in my arms. I buried my face in his back.
"What's it gonna take?" Daryl asked the kid.
"A lot. They got guns, people."
"Yeah so do we."