Chapter twenty-five: The slammer and us.
"A new day is a new hope."
Rick had Carl, Beth and Sophia keeping watch while the rest of us gathered around the bonnet of Glenn and Maggie's car, pouring over a map. T-Dog was pointing at a route we hadn't taken as Daryl pressed up against my back and loomed over.
"We've got no place left to go." T-Dog announced hopelessly, Maggie pointed at one town and then another.
"When this herd meets up with this one, we'll be cut off and we'll never make it south." She added, shaking her head as Rick sighed.
"What do you say, it's about 150 head?" Daryl estimated and I nodded.
"That was last week, could be twice that now." Glenn replied and a collective sigh went around the seven of us as Hershel traced a river.
"This river could have delayed them. If we move fast, we might have a shot to tear right through this."
"Yeah, but if this group joins with that one, they could spill out this way." T-Dog said, pointing out two more groups of Walkers we'd found and run from.
"So we're blocked." Rick planned another route for us to take, one that we'd been down a few weeks ago.
"Only thing to do is double back at 27th and swing towards Greenville." I glanced down at the proposed road and shook my head.
"We picked through that already, it's like we spent the winter going in circles." I muttered and Rick nodded, hands on his hips as we stepped away from the map.
"Yeah, I know. I know. At Newnan we'll push west, we haven't been through the area. We can't keep going house to house." He looked at Lori, sat in the passenger side of their car talking to Carol. "We need to find some place to hold up for a few weeks."
"Alright," T-Dog nodded "is it cool if we get to the creek before we head out? It won't take long. We gotta fill up on water, we can boil it later." He and some of the other made to grab the water canisters from the cars as Rick waved his hand distractedly.
"Knock yourself out." He said before Hershel took him to the side and I went to relieve Sophia, who wanted to go and sit down again in the warmth of the cars. Daryl and Rick went off in search of food as we waited for the others to come back with water and Lori came to keep me company, siting a need to stretch her legs.
"How're you holdin' up?" I asked and she sighed, smiling softly as she rubbed her belly.
"Tired but which of us isn't?" She replied humorously and I nodded, looking around. "What about you?"
"Pretty much the same, tired and bored." She nodded and then looked at the ground.
"Rick hates me…he won't even look at me." I frowned and readjusted my grip on the gun Rick had handed me last night.
"He doesn't hate you Lori I just don't think he knows what to say yet." I replied and she nodded, looking behind us at where Carl and Beth were talking. "It'll be better once we've found somewhere to hole up."
"We had somewhere, we had the storage units two months ago and nothing got better, he just got closer to Andrea." She hissed and I sighed, shaking my head.
"I don't know what to say Lori, it's like I don't have any good advice for myself, let alone anyone else." As I replied, Rick and Daryl reappeared, the former looking a lot happier than before; they waited until everyone was back before explaining their joy.
"Over there, a little further on is a prison, the fences are intact all we'd have to do is clear the field and shut the top gate; it'll be easy." Rick began quickly and almost all of us agreed to take on the plan.
"What about the actual prison? Are we supposed to clear that out too? We have barely any ammo left and it'll be a huge risk." Carol asked and Rick looked around.
"It'll be simple." He repeated, refusing to even answer Carol's query. "We'll do it in the morning, spend the night over there, in those trees. Everybody try and rest, we'll need our strength."
Camping on the side of the road was certainly uncomfortable, but we needed to check our ammo and make sure that everyone knew where they were in group formation; it was warmer that night, so we didn't have so much pressure to build a fire.
"Shouldn't we go and see if there's a town somewhere near? There's no point in settling down somewhere if there isn't anywhere close by to find supplies." I asked and Rick nodded. "No time like the present to go and look, still got the light."
"You take-."
"A group and only stay out for an hour, I know the rules Rick." I interrupted and T-Dog, Andrea and Carol volunteered to join me.
"I'm comin' too." Shaking my head, I passed Maggie my gun.
"You need to stay and help guard the group." I replied, watching as Daryl narrowed his eyes at me.
"I'm comin', T can stay." With a sigh, I glanced over at Rick, who shrugged and refused to get involved.
"I, for one, would feel safer with you stayin'." Lori supplied and I nodded.
"See, folks need you here." Gathering my backpack, me, T-Dog, Andrea and Carol left the clearing and walked down the road a few minutes.
"Why'd you stop him coming with us?" Andrea asked and I felt my face heat up.
"He's protective of you." Carol added and T nodded in agreement.
"Can we leave it alone, please and focus on the task." I snapped and the others fell silent until we reached a small town and broke into pairs, Carol trailing after me as we entered a clothing store.
"You know Daryl likes you. Not in a friendly way I'd reckon, the way he watches you? It's more than friendly concern." Carol said and I tried to ignore her as we searched for supplies over clothing, though we would need that as well. "Talked to him about it the other day, said it was none of my business, but I could tell by the look on his face I'd struck gold."
"See any batteries? We're gonna need 'em for the flashlights." I inquired and Carol sighed and grabbed my arm.
"Stop ignoring it Ellie, you like him too." With a sigh, I nodded. "Why don't you tell him? Take the weight off both of you?"
"Because you know what he's like, if I push too hard he'll pull away just like he did after the farm went down."
"After the farm, that was you pulling away, not him…what if something happens to one of you?" Carol asked and I looked at her with a frown.
"That's the reason. I don't wanna get attached to someone I can lose and I don't want to put Daryl in the position that if I went missin', he feels like he's gotta look for me." I whispered and she nodded before handing me a packet of batteries.
"If you keep being afraid, you'll never be happy."