Twenty-Two
Two solid hours at the travel stop had been enough time for everyone to get cleaned up and fed. They packed as many supplies as they could gather into the backs of some of the vehicles. There was a lot of candy and junk food that would do nothing but rot their teeth and ache their bellies, but Sophia and Carl were both allowed one package of candy apiece, because it felt cruel to deprive them of it when it was there for the taking.
They'd managed to pull enough fuel from the pumps to fill each vehicle, Daryl's motorcycle and four one-gallon gas cans to use as spares. Glenn had managed to unlock one of the pumps using the monitors by the front registers, and when he realized everybody was staring at him, he shrugged and explained that before he delivered pizzas, he worked at a gas station.
Before leaving, Sophia had asked if she could ride with Carl for a while, and while Carol was nervous about Sophia being away from her, she knew Carl and Sophia were the best of friends, and so long as it was ok with Rick and Lori, she wasn't going to keep her from seeing her friend on a long, boring drive.
The quiet time alone with Daryl was nice. They didn't talk much. They just listened to the sound of the tires on the roadway and held hands. Every once in a while, Carol would look at him, and he'd lean over a press a kiss to her lips, getting a smile in return before he'd turn his attention back to driving.
They'd decided to try heading south of Atlanta, and while the roads were mostly passable, the drive was long. After the third hour, Carol had grown weary, and Daryl kept shifting in his seat in a way that told her he was worn out from driving. She's promised to take over driving the next time they all stopped. In the meantime, Carol had decided it was the perfect opportunity to get to know Daryl a little better.
"Look at that house," Carol murmured, pointing to a big, fancy house up on a hill. Daryl narrowed his eyes and grunted.
"Too much house for me," he muttered. "Wouldn't wanna clean it."
"Me neither. When I was a little girl, I always dreamed I'd have a house like that someday. It's funny the things you think about when you're a kid. You always think you're going to have lots of money and kids and cars and a big house." Carol glanced at him. "What did you want to be when you grew up?" Daryl chewed on his lip for a moment and shrugged.
"Didn't think much about it."
"Oh, come on. There must've been something." She eyed him, and a little grin perked up on her lips. "I wanted to be a ballerina. And a librarian. A pediatrician. And a fireman."
"Fireman?" Daryl asked with a little chuckle.
"Yeah, but only because Tommy Reynolds wanted to be a fireman. I was six, and I told him that, because I wanted him to like me."
"Did it work?"
"No," she laughed. "Not until eighth grade when he asked me to my first dance. He was my first kiss, you know?" She smiled at the memory. "I was convinced we'd be together forever. He broke up with me at the end of the school year, because he was going on a cruise with his parents, and he wanted to be single in case he met someone better."
"Fucker," Daryl snorted. Carol laughed.
"Well, he ended up moving away, and I never saw him again. By junior year, I met Ed, and the rest his history."
"Bet you were pretty."
"I was all curly, brown hair and freckles," she grinned. "I was pretty, but not the way the popular girls were. I was never one of them, but Ed liked me." She slumped down in her seat a little. "I didn't have a lot of friends. I think that's why Ed starting coming around. He knew he'd have my attention. The friends I did have, he managed to run off one way or another until it was just us."
"M'sorry."
"I wish I knew then what I know now. But if I hadn't met Ed, I never would have had Sophia. She's the best thing to come from all of it. I wish I could change what happened, but I won't ever regret having her, because she kept me going." Daryl reached over and squeezed Carol's hand. They drove on in silence for a few moments, and then Daryl let out a little chuckle.
"A rock star."
"What?" Carol asked with a sleepy smile, rubbing her thumb over the back of his hand.
"It's what I wanted to be when I grew up," he pointed out. "'Course, my daddy wouldn't pay for no guitar lessons, and a cat with a boot stompin' on its tail sang better'n me, but I figured I'd learn a thing or two, get the hell out of the house and make all kinds of money and never look back."
"Daryl Dixon, rock star," she giggled. "With the big hair and the torn jeans."
"It was stupid," he snorted. "For about a year or two, I swore up and down that was what I was gonna be. Then I hit puberty, my voice changed, and it really went to shit. Then I decided I best set my sights a bit lower. Figured I'd end up a garbage man or one of them guys that holds the signs while the road crew's out there workin'."
"All honorable careers," Carol pointed out. "Not everybody would be willing to do those jobs. Besides, those road crew guys do ok. They just have to watch out for asshole drivers. When we first got married, Ed worked the road crew. He worked long hours, and I barely saw him. Those were the best years of our marriage."
"Yeah, Merle," Daryl snorted. "He sure did get me into a lot of shit I didn't have no business bein' around."
"I didn't know Merle well, but he sure stuck out. You were the quiet one until he was gone. It's like you walked in his shadow."
"Yeah, it's just been me and him for a long time. The shit we went through when we was kids is enough to fuck anybody up. Merle tried keepin' a lot of it from me. He was older, so he was out of the house first. He got into drugs. Sellin' and usin'. And when I took a notion to run off, I'd sleep on his couch, wake up with all these women comin' and goin' from his room. Christ, he shoulda just put in a revolving door." He ran his hand over his face and shook his head. The weariness was setting in. "You know, they talk to when you're a kid about peer pressure and shit. They talk about folks just offering drugs like it's nothing. I never touched the shit. I saw what it did to Merle. But one night, one of his tweaked-out buddies wakes me up, grabs me by the shirt and pulls me off the couch. He just fuckin' slams me into a wall and beats the shit out of me. He accused me of messing with his stash. Split my lip. Broke my nose. I didn't touch the stuff, but he was whacked out of his mind, fuckin' paranoid as shit. Folks I grew up around accounted for every pill, every ounce, every gram. They so much as think you touched their shit, they'd put a gun to your head."
"I'm sorry, Daryl. I'm so sorry you dealt with that. I know your father was…"
"A sadistic piece of shit that deserved every bad thing that ever happened to him? Yeah, that's the damn truth." He let out a heavy breath. "Merle weren't much better. Hell, neither was I."
"I don't believe that," Carol said quietly. "I think you saw all the bad things you grew up with, and you avoided making the same mistakes. Sounds like Merle wasn't so lucky." Daryl shook his head.
"Nah. He wasn't. And I tried helpin' him, but he'd just push me away, laugh and call me a pussy. Wherever he is, if he made it outta Atlanta, he's gotta be hurtin' for a fix." He let out a dry laugh. "Guess one good thing that came outta this bullshit is now Merle's gonna be forced to clean up his act, eventually. Ain't like there's many tweakers cookin' anymore."
"The end of the world got me out of my abusive marriage," Carol pointed out.
"That's another," Daryl said with a nod.
"You know what the best thing is about the end of the world?" Carol asked with a little smile, squeezing his hand. He turned his face toward her for a moment.
"What's that?"
"It led us both to that quarry. It brought us together."
"That's gotta be the best damn thing to come outta this mess. That's definitely number one." Carol let out a little laugh, and she leaned back in her seat to look out the window.
"Oh yeah," she agreed. "That's definitely number one."
…
"No more trains at three in the morning rattling the damn windows and all the knick-knacks on the shelves," Daryl pointed out.
"Oh, that's a good one. No more trains stopped on the tracks holding up traffic for a half hour."
"No more sirens. Police or ambulance. Couldn't hardly take the sound of it," Daryl confessed. "Either somebody was dyin', or somebody fucked up bad enough the cops were comin'. Either way, it always reminded me of when my folks died and all the times the cops came to haul Merle off to jail."
"No more rude, entitled people at the grocery store. Do you know how many times I just wanted to yell 'the coupon's expired, lady. Get over it!'" Daryl laughed at that one. "I hated grocery shopping, but I did it anyway just to get out of the house and away from Ed."
"No more assholes cutting you off on the freeway," Daryl pointed out.
This new game, finding the good things about the end of the world, had made for an enlightening and sometimes hilarious hour and a half, and when the caravan began to slow again, Daryl reached for his walkie.
"What's goin' on up there?" he asked.
"Might have found a place to stay for the night."
"What'd you see?" Static crackled on the walkie for a moment before Rick's voice came through again.
"Saw signs for this fancy private boarding school. One that rich folks pay lots of money to ship their kids off to. Schools closed first thing when all this started. Might be something worth looking into. Either way, it's better'n sleepin in a semi-trailer. Worth a shot, right?"
"Yeah," Daryl agreed, glancing at Carol who looked both relieved and exhausted. "Good call. How far?"
"Next sign says…ten miles."
"Ten miles," Daryl agreed. "Let's check it out." He put the walkie back on the dash.
"A school? Daryl, if it's a private school, it's probably one of those gated ones. You know, so the kids don't think about running off? If there's a gate, there's walls. It might be some place to stay for a while. Not just a couple nights."
"Might be," Daryl agreed with a nod. "Guess we'll have to see the place first." Carol sat up a little in her seat, looking around as the sun dipped low in the western sky. She anxiously wrung the hem of her shirt between her fingers, and when Shane put his turn signal on, she took a deep breath.
Before long, they were pulling up outside the gates of a big, old school. Claypool Advancement Academy, where the future is ours! The banner that had torn in one corner and now hung by one rusty hinge was torn and flapped in the wind.
"Looks like a damn prison for kids," he muttered, staring up at the three tall brick buildings behind the gates. Dormitories. A larger building behind the dorms bore the same name as on the banner. Carol felt her stomach sink at the thought of sending her daughter away to school. She couldn't imagine even considering it. She never would have heard of her child being raised by a bunch of teachers and aides.
She and Daryl got out of the car. Andrea and T-Dog came to stand watch, each armed with a hand gun. Carol and Daryl moved toward Rick, Lori and the kids. Rick curled his hands around the steel bars and shook it, sending a grinding, metallic sound through the air. Carol cringed and flinched, and Glenn sighed heavily, rubbing the bandage over his sore arm.
"How do you propose getting in?" Hershel asked, staring at Rick with the utmost confidence despite the concern in his voice.
"A place like this is gonna have a generator. These gates are electric." He nodded to a guard station just inside. "I'm willing to bet the controls are in there. If I can get in and get it going, we might have a chance of getting in tonight."
"How are you getting in?" Lori asked, crossing her arms and staring at her husband. Rick looked up at the tall, brick wall and then at the gate.
"Somebody give me a boost. If I can get over the gate, get my feet on the ground, I can figure out how to get us all in."
"And if there's walkers?" Shane asked.
"If there were walkers wandering around, they'd be here by now," Carol pointed out. She moved up to the gate and banged her hand against the metal bars. "Of course, that doesn't account for what's inside the buildings." Rick considered that for a moment before looking at Shane.
"Good enough for you?"
"Good enough for me," Shane agreed. "You'll need backup." He started to move toward Rick, but Rick nodded to Daryl.
"You any good at climbing?"
"Spent half my childhood climbin' trees and deer blinds. I got your back," Daryl agreed. He glanced at Carol. "Best everybody waits in the cars 'til we come back."
"Daryl's right," Rick agreed. He looked to his son. "Carl, any sign of walkers, you honk that horn, and you get your gun ready, alright? We'll come runnin'." Carl nodded then, his young face filled with the confidence of a man many years his senior.
"Come on, Sophia," Carl urged, taking her hand and leading her back to the car. Carol followed with Lori, climbing into the backseat Shane and Hershel both worked to help Rick and Daryl with that first hoist up the gate. Carol watched with baited breath as Daryl and Rick both started up. She couldn't blink or breathe for what felt like forever, and when they finally straddled the gate and started down the other side, she felt a new wave of anxiety hit her. Who knew what they would find once they got inside and started going through those buildings.
One thing was for sure, Carol knew as she looked around the deserted road around them, was that anything had to be better than spending the night out in the open with only a few inches of glass and steel from their car doors to protect them from the horrors of the new world. Besides, maybe this place was safe. Maybe it could be a place they could stay for a while. Whatever the case was, Carol knew this was their only shot at getting a much-needed good night's sleep tonight.
Author's Note: Thanks so much for reading! Your feedback means so much to me! I really hope you all continue to read and enjoy! Please let me know what you think of this chapter. Feedback is always appreciated.