Twenty-Four
After a surprise pancake breakfast that T-Dog whipped up from instant pancake mix in the cafeteria, the group split into smaller groups to start scavenging and taking out walkers a building at a time, a floor at a time.
Shane, Andrea, Hershel split into one group. Rick, Maggie, Glenn and T-Dog split into another. Lori was feeling sick and offered to sit the mission out to keep Sophia company in checking out the already cleared out first floor for supplies since they had daylight to guide them. Sophia had wanted to go, but Carol insisted she stay behind. While most of the reasoning had been because Sophia wasn't trained with a weapon, it was also because the girl's leg still wasn't wholly healed, and the nerve damage was still slowing her down, making her easy prey for a missed walker in a dark doorway.
While Carl had a little more weapons experience than Sophia, Rick asked the boy to sit the scavenge out as well to help his mother and Sophia. While he'd complained at first, there was no arguing with Rick, and Carol could see the relief in Lori's face that he'd put his foot down with the boy.
Carol and Daryl decided to venture off on their own, because while Daryl usually felt he worked better alone, he felt better knowing that Carol was close. He knew she was still learning how to deal with walkers, but he felt better knowing she was learning under his watchful eye. While he knew no one in the group would purposefully let anything happen to Carol, he didn't feel comfortable letting anybody teach her but himself. Losing her was not an option.
So, after everybody was in a relatively good mood after a tasty breakfast courtesy of T-Dog, Shane's group headed up to explore the other floors of the building. Rick's group decided to explore the school while Carol and Daryl decided to take on building 2.
The first floor was relatively untouched. The rooms were tidy but dusty, and the kitchen was stocked with enough canned food to get them through the worst of the winter months. There was also a supply closet filled to the brim with everything from first aid kits to feminine hygiene products. The rooms were all habitable, and the doors were all secure, and while there was no obvious signs of walkers on the above floor, Daryl told Carol to be ready for anything.
"What do you think?" Carol asked, as she and Daryl ventured into the stairwell after clearing the first floor.
"'Bout what?" he asked, shining his flashlight around the back of the first flight of stairs to make sure nothing was there to catch them by surprise. Dusky light filtered in from narrow windows that resembled something a prisoner might look through out of his jail cell. The windows hadn't been cleaned in some time, and a thick film of dust and grime made light hard to come by in the narrow stairwell.
"About this place. Walls. Buildings. There's plenty of room to spread out, to take in more people."
"More people?" Daryl asked, as if the concept of what the world would be now that it was over had never occurred to him.
"Yeah. If we're going to re-build society, we need more people." They took the steps side-by-side. Carol clutched a knife in her hand and kept her other hand close to her belt in case she needed to grab her gun quickly.
"Who says that's what we're doing?" Daryl asked, glancing at her as they reached the first landing. Carol paused and eyed him.
"Then what? We just travel around Georgia until we die of a walker bite, or starvation or old age? What's the point to all that?"
"We're still breathin'."
"Yeah. We're still breathing. We're still up and walking, but the dead are, too, in their own way. Not breathing, of course." She fell quiet for a moment, and they scaled the steps to the exit onto the next floor. "There has not be something more. Some way to get back something of what we used to have. A way to sleep soundly and go to bed with a full belly. Hope for the future. For Sophia's future. The last thing I want is for her to be all alone in the world." Daryl nodded then, chewing on his words before he said them.
"Bet a big, fancy school like this has a football field out back. A greenhouse too, maybe. Be perfect for growin' food. Hershel could help with that, bein' a farmer and all. Who knows, maybe some farms 'round here still have livestock roaming the pastures. If the dead ain't got to them yet, that is."
"We could use the school for lots of things. The gym could be used for weapons practice. Not shooting, of course. We'd do that someplace else so we wouldn't attract so many walkers. We could set up big barrels or drums to collect rain water for boiling."
"That what you were thinkin' about, tossin' and turnin' last night? That why you got up and went back down the hall?"
"That, and it's really hard to sleep in a twin-size bunk bed with a man putting off body heat like a furnace." Daryl snorted at that.
"You're gonna thank me for that when it gets real cold this winter. Just like I'm gonna thank you for the ear plugs you found down on the first floor this mornin'."
"What?" Carol scoffed. "Are you implying that I snore?" Daryl smirked and tapped the butt of his crossbow against the narrow glass window on the door. "I do not snore."
"You snored one night at the farm," he pointed out. "We fell asleep in my tent, and ya snored real loud."
"Okay, what? That was…that was, what, once? I had an allergy thing going on. I mean, hello, we were screwing around in a field. It was a farm with hay and animals and weeds and…I don't snore." Daryl's grin widened the longer Carol talked, and she scrunched up her nose and swatted him on the behind.
"Bet I can take them bunkbeds apart, figure out how to make one big bed out of it. If we stay, you can move in with me. I'll keep ya warm in the winter, and so long as I got earplugs, I won't hear ya snore so much."
"I don't snore," Carol huffed, getting a laugh out of Daryl. "But if that's your way of asking me to move in with you, I accept." Daryl blushed and banged the butt of his crossbow against the door again. "Besides, everybody knows we're together. We shouldn't have to sneak around anymore. As fun as that can be, I'd rather just everybody know that we're…you know." Her cheeks flushed red. Daryl found it endearing that she could fuck him like it was their last night on earth and whisper some of the dirtiest things in his ear, but when they were actually talking about it, she'd blush. Of course, he was no better, and he knew it, too.
"We're…adults," Daryl finished for her.
"Exactly," she grinned. Daryl peered through the window briefly, seeing no sign of walkers roaming the halls. He took a moment to pull Carol close and brush his lips against hers. She moaned softly when he backed her up against the wall and ran his hand down her waist and her hip. He peppered warm, wet kisses along her jaw and down her neck, and he wrapped his hand around the back of her knee, pulling her leg around his waist. She gasped softly when he pressed into her, and she nipped at his ear. "You're playing with fire…"
"Don't mind to get burnt," he teased, reaching for his belt buckle.
"I'll kiss it and make it better," she huffed out, blushing at her own words and how silly they sounded coming out of her mouth. Daryl snorted out a laugh, kissing her hungrily again. Carol giggled, and she tugged his lower lip between her teeth and wrapped her arms around him. But before Daryl could move to loosen his belt, a raspy growl and a loud bang on the door ruined the moment.
"Fuck," Daryl bit out, pulling back and straightening out his shirt that Carol had managed to bunch up past his belly button. "We best get this done."
"Yeah, we're pretty shitty scavengers today," Carol admitted. "Maybe we should split up before we end up burning the building down or something." Daryl smirked, and Carol bit her bottom lip before leaning in to press one more kiss to his lips. "Can I take this one?" She grabbed her knife again, holding it at the ready. Daryl eyed her nervously for a moment and glanced over at the walker gnashing at the glass pane, breaking two teeth off in the process.
"You sure you're ready?"
"I have to be. Learn by doing, right?" Daryl nodded. Carol took a shaking breath and cleared her throat. She stood up straight and nodded, while Daryl grabbed hold of the door handle. "Alright. Let's go."
Author's Note: Thanks so much for the feedback! Hope you enjoyed this chapter. Let me know what you think!