Twenty

In the time the group had spent at Hershel's farm, weather and other factors had made some of the roads impossible to travel on. Fallen trees, wrecked vehicles, roads torn up from some sort of altercation involving a semi-truck and an army tank. Finding a decent road without a lot of obstacles took hours.

Daryl was running low on fuel for the motorcycle, so he, Shane and Rick had hoisted it up into the back of one of the trucks. As loud and impractical as a motorcycle might seem, it was good for getting out of a tight spot with a moment's notice, and it was also good for weaving between cars on cluttered highways.

By nightfall, it was growing cold, and a storm was coming in. The group found an old semi to hunker down in for the night. With most of their possessions and supplies lost at the farm, they had to make due with whatever they could scavenge from surrounding cars. They'd found a few blankets and battery powered lanterns that gave off enough light for them to see each other.

Hershel and Shane had decided to sleep in the cab to keep watch, but for now, they were hunkered down with the rest of the group, passing out what could be shared for supper. Everyone had spread out through the trailer sharing a meager meal of stale crackers and potato chips.

"Mom?" Sophia asked quietly. Carol glanced at her daughter. "Carl says Patricia wasn't bit. How'd she turn?" Carol looked to Daryl for a moment and then to Rick. Rick looked down for a moment, and he curled his arm around Lori.

"I didn't want to believe it at first," Rick began. "What Jenner told me at the CDC right before he…" He cleared his throat. "I told myself it was just the ramblings of a mad man. But he was right."

"What are you talkin' about?" Daryl asked, peering across the trailer at Rick.

"He said they're all infected. Jenner. Doesn't matter how we die, whether we're bit or we die in our sleep. We're gonna turn." Carol stiffened next to Daryl, and she peered across the way at the leader of the group.

"When were you going to tell us?" she asked.

"I wasn't sure if it was true," he explained, holding up a hand.

"You didn't think to tell us when my daughter was shot? You didn't thing it might be the right time to bring it up?" Rick nodded then and he cleared his throat.

"I thought about it. But she started getting better, and I didn't think it was the time."

"There's never a right time to tell someone something like that, but it's pretty damn important, Rick," Carol spoke up. "Any one of us could catch pneumonia, die in our sleep and then…" She felt Sophia's hand squeeze hers.

"Carol," Lori murmured, "it's late and we're all tired. We should get some rest before we talk about this."

"We all could have died today," Daryl spoke up. He nodded to Carol. "She's right. We shoulda known about this."

"Look, I ain't saying Rick was right to keep it from us, but we're all still here. We're still alive," Shane pointed out. "Can't say I've always agreed with Rick's course of action on things, but he had his reasons for keepin' it to himself. Now we know, and we can go forward understandin' just a little more about how this shit works." He looked to Rick who nodded to him. "Every last one of us survived tonight, and that means we're gonna have to work hard to make sure everybody knows how to take care of themselves. That means giving the kids proper shooting lessons. That means teaching everybody to track and hunt and kill. This is the real world now, and if we're gonna live in it, we have to learn how to survive it." Shane looked to Lori and then to Rick and finally to Daryl and Carol. "It's done. We keep moving."

"Shane's right," Andrea spoke up. "I don't like being kept in the dark, either. I know I can't speak for everyone, but I know I've looked to Rick since he got us out of Atlanta and back to the quarry. We've all looked to Rick. If it wasn't for him, I'd be wandering around Atlanta. I'd be one of those things." She glanced at Rick. "You have to be up front with us. We got ourselves off of that farm. We're here, because this is all we know. Don't keep something like this to yourself again. We have the right to know." Rick nodded, and he looked to Carol and then to Lori.

"I don't want to be the guy that calls the shots. I don't want to be the guy that gives orders," Rick said quietly. "We make decisions as a group. We vote. It's the only way this works."

"Until it doesn't," Shane snorted. "We really gonna stand around and waste time takin' a vote when we got geeks at our back door?" Rick glared at him. "Look, I'm with you, man, but if somebody doesn't take the lead here, we're all gonna be dead come Spring. Somebody's gotta keep the peace around here."

"You want the job?" Rick asked.

"Hell no," Shane snorted. "Didn't much like it back at the quarry. Don't want that pressure again. You handled it. You came in, and everybody looked to you without a second thought. Somebody's gotta keep this group together, keep us moving."

"You saying it's every man for himself or one man for everybody?" T-Dog asked.

"Think about it, T," Shane said with a little nod. "Groups are fine, but every group needs a leader. It's been that way since the dawn of time, man."

"Why don't we just get some sleep?" Maggie suggested. "Half of us are dead on our feet. The kids can barely keep their eyes open. Let's sleep. Tomorrow, we'll talk about it."

"I second that," Andrea agreed. "We'll all feel better in the morning. Let's sleep on it and let the rest wait until tomorrow."

"Best thing I've heard all day," Lori agreed. A few tired agreements rose up from the crowd, and Carol looked to Daryl again. He looked back at her, and she found his hand between them on the cold steel of the semi-trailer floor.

"You ok?" he whispered as everyone started getting comfortable for the night. Shane and Hershel let themselves out and shut the doors securely to keep their people safe.

"Yeah," Carol murmured. "Just tired."

"Me too."

"Thank you," she said quietly. "This is the second time you saved my daughter. I don't know how to…"

"It's what we do," he insisted. Carol smiled then, and she squeezed his hand.

"Mom?" Carol turned her head and looked at Sophia who was sitting next to her. Sophia looked at her and then at Daryl.

"What is it, Sophia?" Sophia pursed her lips to hide a smile and just shook her head.

"Nothing." She giggled softly and turned down the lantern beside her. Carol leaned over and hugged her girl before the light went out completely.

"I'm so glad you're safe," Carol whispered, squeezing her tight. Sophia turned her head and whispered to her mother in the darkness.

"I really like Daryl." A smile threatened to brighten the darkness in the trailer as it spread over Carol's face.

"Me too," she whispered back. Sophia yawned and moved to lay back against the makeshift bed, and Carol felt Daryl's hand, warm and calloused, squeeze hers. She scooted closer to him, and he drew his arm around her shoulder.

"She ok?" he asked, as Carol leaned her head on his shoulder.

"Yeah, she's great," Carol murmured. She turned her face toward him in the dark and pressed a kiss to his cheek. He turned into her touch and met her lips with his own. She sighed softly against his tender kiss, and he ran his hand slowly up and down her arm.

"Best get some sleep," he murmured when he finally pulled away. Carol leaned in to press one more quick kiss to his lips, and then she lay back beside him and stared up into the darkness, curling her fingers with his between them. He rubbed his thumb along her knuckles, and she closed her eyes, saying a silent prayer that tomorrow would bring more hope than this cold semi-trailer could offer.

Still, she thought, she could handle anything so long as she had her daughter and Daryl. The two most precious things in the world to her were sleeping safely just inches away. That was all she could ask for, and that was enough reassurance to finally lull her to sleep.

Author's Note: Thank you so much for reading! Please let me know your thoughts on the chapter! Feedback is very much appreciated and encouraged!