Chapter 16
The next morning Carol made sure she was up with the sun. A batch of flapjacks were already baked and she'd packed a sack lunch for both Eugene and Stephanie by the time they rose their weary heads. They were packed out of the apartment with full bellies and polite smiles as Daryl silently judged her from the breakfast table.
The wide fake smile was still on her face when she returned to him, wiping her hands on the frilly yellow apron she was currently wearing.
"You're somethin' else" Daryl informed her, he sounded almost impressed and her fake smile was replaced with a real one.
"Thank you" she curtseyed playfully before whipping off the apron and folding it over the back of a chair. She had a newfound optimism feeling sure that today would be fruitful. It felt good to actually be doing something rather than sitting around waiting for someone else to decide their fate. "Shall we?"
She offered Daryl her hand like they were about to dance a waltz to get to Eugene's room. He batted it away in disgust and she laughed a melodic laugh that made him smile. She liked it when he smiled. Together they crept back into Eugene's bedroom. The sheets were pulled taught and tucked to within an inch of their lives again. Everything remained exactly the same except what they were looking for. The blueprints were nowhere to be seen.
Carol frantically began opening drawers and cupboards, she threw off the bedding and hunted under the bed.
Nothing.
No trace they had ever even existed.
She sat there, exhausted, on the floor. The exertion of her destruction made her body ache and reminded her why she was so determined to leave this place. Daryl reached down to help her up and ordered her to go and lie down while he fixed the room. She obeyed him, for once. Traipsing unhappily into their room and throwing herself on the bed. Instead of meeting the musty throw over a soft mattress she was assaulted by some hard, unforgiving plastic.
"Daryl!"
He came running, hearing the haste in her voice but no doubt assuming she was hurt in some way. Quite the contrary, she held the plastic tubes of the blueprints. Eugene had left them on their bed with a gift label simply reading her name.
"Knew that bastard would know we were in his room" Daryl said, looking around the room suspiciously "Prob'ly got cameras in here too"
Carol didn't share his suspicions but neither did she care. Maybe it would encourage her in fact, could be she had a bit of exhibitionist in her. She carefully spread the blueprints out across the bed. Some were of no use, layouts of the town hall building or the school. Some were street layouts or future plans. Carol eventually sorted through what was useful and what was not. She and Daryl crouched by the side of the bed pouring over plans for the outer wall, looking for a weak spot or a gap.
Not a thing.
Carol sat back onto the floor with a defeated sigh. Daryl looked back at her and she met his eye. He had been trying to prepare her for this disappointment and she had ignored him. She opened her mouth a bit to voice an apology to him, but he had already turned back to scanning more papers. One thing about Daryl was, he hated to see her disappointed and even if he thought it was a bad idea chances were, he'd investigate it as much as possible for her. He had faith in her even when it wasn't entirely justified.
Her heart swelled with love for him just then as he sorted through plans despite thinking it was a waste of time. She kneeled up beside him again, draping one arm over his shoulder and pressing a kiss against his cheek.
"What about this one?" He suggested.
It was the blueprint for the building they were currently imprisoned in.
"How many floors did you see when we arrived?" Carol asked him but she knew the answer. They'd arrived under cover of darkness and only Eugene's light had been glowing. Neither of them had any idea. From staring mindlessly out of the window she would estimate they were on the third floor and these plans certainly suggested there was a basement floor.
"Could be one of them tunnels" Daryl suggested.
Carol nodded. It was the best lead they had.
"Wanna check it out?" She smiled; she was brimming with excitement. Already heaving on her boots and twisting her hair up.
Daryl sighed and sat on the edge of the bed, folding up the blueprint into a small rectangle and stowing it in his vest pocket. She knew that even if he didn't want to check it out, he'd be following her anyway but there was something in his eyes that told her he was suddenly hopeful too.
"We're just checking it out, right?" He questioned her. "You're in no shape to be traipsing miles in the sewer"
"Speak for yourself!" She protested, but she knew he was right. Another day or two of eating actual food and getting actual sleep and she would be fighting fit and able to withstand any horrors that might be hiding under this city.
"I promise" She whispered, taking his hand in hers palm up and lacing her fingers through his. He stroked his thumb softly across hers and a wave of nostalgia washed over her. She was incredibly thankful for his presence. Right now, and always.
She appreciated how lucky she was to still have him by her side. They had lost a great deal of people they cared about over time and she had almost lost him due to simply pushing him away through fear. Sometimes she forgot to simply cherish his presence. For a moment she leaned her head on his shoulder and enjoyed listening to his breathing and the ticking of the clock.
It was past noon when they crept out of Eugene's apartment and down the dimly lit staircase as far as it went. This was not the basement floor but rather the ground floor where the most traffic could be expected. Daryl pressed her up against the wall under a staircase, pressing a finger to his lips to tell her to be quiet as a young man and woman stomped up the steps totally oblivious to their presence.
It was a thrill. She had to admit it, her adrenaline was pumping through her body and she felt alert and alive. When the couple had safely passed, she and Daryl made their way through the corridor trying random doors until one opened. It smelled bad in there, just a grey concrete room with some wrought iron stairs leading down to what they assumed would be a boiler room.
Daryl led the way brandishing a kitchen knife as his defensive weapon. It was a world away from his signature crossbow. The room was clear of any threats and was in fact a boiler room. It was loud and dark and stretched on for what seemed like the entire length of the building. Eventually they came to another big door with chains and a padlock forbidding entry.
Carol handed Daryl a flashlight and picked up a broken piece of railing, jamming it in between the door and the padlock in an attempt to break it but the railing just bent in shape. Frustrated she tossed it across the room where it hit an old kettle bell. Daryl read her mind and retrieved it, returning the flashlight to her. She was trembling and the beam of light shaking gave her away. Daryl gave her a concerned look, but she swallowed her pain and urged him to continue. He knew there was no point in arguing at this stage, they only had a couple of hours left before Eugene returned.
Daryl smashed into the padlock with the kettlebell. It took 4 tries before it finally gave way and fell to the floor. They both paused in case the noise attracted any attention before pulling the chain free and creaking open the door.
The first thing that struck them was the smell. A heady mixture of death and excrement. It was dark, the flashlight barely made a dent in the darkness inside. A tunnel stretched downwards with stairs and a railing. Rats scurried away as Carol illuminated them with the flashlight.
She stepped onto the first step with a gulp and Daryl followed close behind his little knife poised over her shoulder. He didn't seem bothered about the smell despite it clawing at her throat and burning in her nose. He never reacted to these things; it was a mystery to her how he could always be so calm.
The stairs went on and on and with every step the door seemed to get smaller and smaller and the flashlight made less impact. When they finally reached the bottom, they stepped in some liquid, Carol tried to ignore the fact that it was warm and followed the stream to a large round tunnel that stretched away in both directions. They had certainly found the sewer.
Daryl climbed up to a thin ridge and helped her to follow him.
"Which way?" He asked her.
She didn't know, she had no real clue as to where they even were in the city or how far away, they were from the city walls. There were no markings on the walls, just bricks and liquid for miles and miles.
"You know in a maze they say to keep left…" She suggested.
Daryl nodded and took off to the left with her following on his heels. Carol hesitated just a second, training her flashlight on the tunnel to the right and squinting into the dark nothing. It took them a while before they came to another staircase, this one was marked with yellow paint indicating it was 'Gaslight Avenue'
Carol had to chuckle at the irony.
The door at the top of the stairs was predictably locked tight so they retraced their steps back to the boiler room. It was hot and imposing in the tunnels and Carol was gasping for air by the time they reached the door. Sweat clung to her and her hair was starting to fall out of her bun in big chunks. Daryl replaced the chain and padlock in a way that he hoped would look like it had been untouched.
"We better get back" He muttered, helping her up from her perch on the top step. "You okay?"
She nodded, lying.
She was exhausted and nausea sat heavily in her stomach. Her vision blurred in and out of focus as she attempted to pull air into her lungs and appear calm. Every breath hurt her aching ribs but that was especially true of the big gasping breaths she was trying to take right now.
She followed Daryl up the stairs to the apartment corridor, knowing there were 3 more floors waiting for her at the other side of the door. The stairs seemed to stretch on for miles and she just couldn't shake the dizziness that came over her. She made it around 10 steps before she collapsed in a heap and crumbled to the bottom.
When she woke, she was propped against a wall and Daryl was crouched over her. She tried to sit up but was immediately pushed back again by Daryl.
"I'm sorry" She whimpered, closing her eyes
Daryl handed her a bottle of water and a candy bar. They were ice cold and she narrowed her eyes as him questioning where they came from.
"Vending machine" He grunted, nodding his head to indicate it was upstairs "Eat"
Carol broke the bar in two and handed him half and they sat there at the bottom of the stairs chewing quietly.
"Should'a told me you weren't up to this" Daryl scolded her. He was right, she knew that, but she had been so focused on getting out of this place and back to Alexandria that she'd genuinely forgotten about the limitations of her own body.
"I know" She sipped a long drink of the water and handed it over to him before heaving herself off the floor. "We should get back"
Daryl surveyed her suspiciously but helped her up the stairs to the corridor. There was no one around. The mandatory working hours ensured that most days the buildings were all almost empty. It had to be close to five now though and they had work to do to right the apartment before Eugene came back. If he had wanted them to be open about using the plans, they were sure he would have given them to them in person.
She was worn out when they reached the apartment. They had propped the door open with a book which was luckily still in place. Daryl hurriedly replaced the blueprints in the tubes and placed them back in Eugene's bedroom, putting the rest of the items in their rightful place as he did. When Eugene returned, they were sat on the sofa, freshly showered and attempting to exude innocence.
He eyed them suspiciously, kicking the forgotten book away from the door and locking the many locks behind him.
"I trust you had a productive day?" He questioned.