Day 284
Fresh air smacked my face and ruffled my loose hair. Now my curls floated around my face, with my arms wrapped around Daryl. I was glad that winter was over, now the hunter was back to his usual attire of sleeveless shirt and vest. Occasionally he still wore his ugly poncho, especially during the night, but now it was easier to feel strained muscles of his toned stomach. Of course, I couldn't really enjoy it as much as I wanted. I played mindlessly with one of his buttons while we lead our group towards the next destination.
We started to slow down, and Daryl grabbed my hand, making me realize what I was doing. I leaned in, so he could hear me.
"Sorry, didn't mean to."
He squeezed my hand and let go. "That one looks good," He pointed out to the house at the end of the street. It was the only one without broken windows.
Three walkers were lingering in front of us, and I straightened up, holding to Daryl's shoulder for support, pulling out my machete. When he got closer to the nearest geek, I swang my arm and slashed through its head.
Daryl stopped the bike, and I jumped off, jogging at the next walker and grabbing my machete tightly in both hands. Now I cut through the air and its brain, kicking the last one in a chest. It fall to the ground, but before I could bring down my blade, I heard a familiar clicking sound, and a second later, a bolt with green fletchings was sticking out of the walker's head.
"Hey! He was mine!" I moaned in Daryl's direction, pulling the bolt out and wiping it in geek's clothes. I walked back, glaring at the hunter. He was smirking at me, cocking his eyebrow.
"I'm sorry, princess. Thought ya need help."
"Oh, I need help, but not with killing," I told him sweetly when I was inches away from him, handing him the bolt. In the past two days, I tried to test him, to see how much shit I could say before he would cut me off. His brows furrowed, and it was my time to smile smugly at him.
"Pff, stop."
"Your loss, Big Boy," I replied, licking my lips.
"Can you stop flirting, Elena? We need to get out of the street." Rick said dryly, making Daryl blush. I rolled my eyes and walked over to the doors of our next potential house.
"Yes, dad."
I held up my machete, waiting for Rick to kick the door open. He burst through them, shooting one of the two walkers that were in the hall. He still preferred to use a gun in close quarters rather than a knife, so I officially gave him my Smith&Wesson with a silencer. The sheriff moved on to the left, letting T-Dog get the other walker. The Black man stabbed it with his poker, following Rick. Daryl went in next, going to the right and Carl went after his father. I jogged after the hunter, swiping through a small sitting room.
I let a low, short whistle and pointed to the closed door to the left. Daryl nodded at me, so I walked over, moving the blade to my left hand. With knees bent, I reached for the handle, and when I was about to push it open, someone pulled, making me yelp a little. I rose the machete up, but quickly realized it was Rick, pointing my own gun at my face.
I heard Dixon snicker behind me, and the sheriff himself lifted corners of his lips. I just scowled, muttering curses under my breath, pushing back, past Daryl toward the stairs. Before I could start climbing, he grabbed my shoulder and walked around me, going in first. I showed him a finger and heard T next to me, giggling quietly.
Fucking overprotective hillbilly.
Ever since that day in the store, he was always sure to go first. Like really, I couldn't open the door, without 'asking' for his fucking permission. There were only two rooms upstairs, both of them opened, messy. T-Dog walked into the one, while I followed Daryl to the one further down the corridor. He pushed the door, hinges making annoying squicky noise.
There were no walkers in there, but on a chair, sat a brown and white owl. It looked miserable, skinny with matted feathers. Daryl walked into the room, silently, to not spook the bird, and shot it right between the eyes.
I guess we have some sort of dinner. Sighing, I turned around and walked down the stair. Rick whistled, and moments later, the rest of the group came in with our small possessions. Only necessary bags with food and sleeping bags. Not that we had anything in the first one. Just some old granola bars and one pack of chips. The duffel with guns was hidden in Hyundai's trank alongside with my backpack. We didn't really change clothes often. Not anymore, no point really, there was no water to wash or clean our stuff. Did we stink? Probably, but after so much time, we just can't smell it anymore.
I took off my flannel and layed it on my lap, collecting the feathers that Daryl was plunging out of the dead bird. He sat on the chair while I kneeled down by his feet, catching feathers as they flew to the ground.
Glenn threw a granola bar in my direction, and I caught it quickly. I opened it and snapped it in half, passing one piece to Daryl, who bent down and put it straight into his mouth, not stopping assaulting the owl. I chewed on my half when Carl came back from the kitchen.
He kneeled down next to Beth, two cans in his hands. I sat straighter, excited that finally, after two days without something else than stale chips or protein bars, we will eat. Until the boy reached into the bag to get a can opener. He held up the metal tin, and even from that distance, I could see that it was dogs food.
I wish to say that I was surprised or disgusted. But I was just sad. Because it wouldn't be the first time in the last two weeks when we would be eating food for animals. It was sad 'cause Carl looked excited and proud of his finding.
I swallowed harshly, leaning my head on Daryl's leg, feathers flying around me, I bet I had some stuck in the hair. Rick noticed what his son was doing and walked over, picking up the can from the floor. Sheriff's face was tense, and he threw the tin into the wall, making it splash all over the floor.
At that sound, Daryl lifted his head and looked over at Rick, and then me, checking if everything is alright. I nodded and mouthed 'dog's' at him, knowing he would understand.
No one spoke, not anymore. The majority of the group didn't really want to anger our leader, and he thought it was better to stay quiet inside, to not attract more geeks. But he kept getting more and more paranoid. We wouldn't stop anywhere for longer than a day, sometimes moving a few times, even before we went to sleep. So we all were exhausted and on edge.
"Psst," T-Dog got our attention motioning at the window. Incoming. I scooped all the feathers I could and tied the shirt tightly once, and then attached it to my belt. Daryl moved to the back door, and we all followed, circling the house around to get to our vehicles. Daryl passed me his crossbow, and I quickly attached it behind me, then jumped right behind him, holding onto his middle.
After about ten miles, we stopped in the middle of some side road, when Rick honked his horn. It was the standard procedure by now, checking the map after a fiasco like that, see where else we could go, marking where the walkers came from.
Glenn spread the map on the hood of his car while Carl went to the front, looking out for walkers, Beth doing this same at the back.
"We got no place left to go," T-Dog stated, not even looking at the paper. But he was right.
"When this herd meets up with us, we'll be cut off." At the top of the map, Maggie pointed at the red spot, west of where we are now. "We'll never make it south."
"What ya say? It's about a hundred fifty head?" Daryl asked, looking in my direction, making me shake my head.
"More."
"And that was last week," Glenn added. "Could be twice that by now.
"This river could've delayed them. If we move fast, we might have a shot to tear right through there." Hershel started showing on the map what he meant.
"Yeah, but if this group joins with that one, they could spill out this way," T-Dog spoke in a grim voice, always the pessimist, recently.
"So we're blocked," Maggie announced and I looked closer at the map, searching for possible openings.
"The only thing to do is double back 27 and swing toward Greenville," Rick said, confidently, but I shook my head.
"We've been there."
"It's like we spent the winter going in circles," T added, and I could agree more. Even now, we were no more than fifteen miles from Greene's farm, maybe that's the option. To go and check on it, if we're lucky, no one looted it after we abandoned it.
"Yeah, I know," Rick said sternly, nodding his head. I shot T a warning glance, meaning to not poke a beast. "At Newnan, we'll push west. Haven't been through there yet. We can't keep going house to house. Need to find someplace to hold up for a few weeks."
"All right. Is it cool if we get to the creek before we head out? Won't take long. We gotta fill up on water."
"Knock yourself out."
I strode over to Daryl, tilting my head at him. "Hunting, Big Boy?"
"Yeah, let's take Rick."
"Right, he could do with relaxing a bit." At my comment, Dixon snorted quietly and walked over to catch the sheriff's attention.
"Hey, while the others wash their panties, let's go hunt." I chuckled at Daryl's invitation, and even something like a small smile crossed Rick's features. "That owl didn't exactly hit the spot."
"We didn't eat it yet," I reminded him, taking my bow and notching the arrow loosely. Dixon rolled his eyes and put a hand on my back, urging me forward.
I led our party of three through the woods for about five minutes when I spotted the rail tracks, they looked old, unused in years. I noticed a sudden movement on my right and spun on my heel, raising the bow and pulling the string. The arrow flew through the air, hitting perky squirrel in the neck.
Daryl grunted in approval and walked over to retrieve the dead animal while I pulled the rope from my backpack. When the hunter approached me, I tied squirrel up and swang it over my shoulder. I took an arrow back from Daryl's hand, notching it again.
All of this took maybe a minute, with us not even communicating out loud. When I turned around to follow the tracks again, I noticed Rick just standing there, watching our movements, his fingers playing with his beard.
"What?" I asked him, and he shrugged his shoulders.
"It's like you have a secret language."
"We've been huntin' for ten months together, bound to happen," Daryl replied and then motioned for me to start moving again.
We walked for another ten minutes, maybe, when we came across the small clearing on the right. At least I thought it to be minor, until I took a few more steps forward, seeing what was in that opened space.
I froze in my spot, observing, counting in my head. The massive building was clearly abandoned, walkers roaming the grounds aimlessly. But fences were high and doubled, a catwalk for prisoners was clear, no geeks in there. There were guard towers in the corners, maybe more, but I couldn't be sure without going in there. Why the fuck we didn't think of that kind of solution before is beyond me.
I felt a presence on both sides, Daryl, on the left, and Rick on the right. The hunter swung his crossbow over the shoulder and stared ahead at the vast building.
"That's a shame," He commented, and I shook my head. No, its a chance. I looked to my right, noticing Rick's expression. He was thinking deeply, his eyes roaming around, and there was something I hadn't seen in months when they landed on mine. Hope.
"Do you think what I'm thinking?" I asked him, a smile slowly spreading on my face. He nodded, returning a gesture.
"We park there." The sheriff pointed at the gates and then moved his hand along the fence in front of us. "We cut through there. As soon as we in, you run for that tower there, set up your sniper.
"Are ya two serious?" Daryl looked at us perplexed. I patted his chest gently and sent him a huge smile.
"Of course, Big Boy. Think about it. We clear it, and we're hidden behind fences and big brick walls. We have watchtowers, and are surrounded by woods, to hunt for game." He just grunted, still unsure how that's going to work.
But I was hopeful, that was it. Lori would go into the labor any day now, we had to risk it. And the fact that it was so full of walkers means that no other people tried it. Maybe they didn't know about that prison, or simply didn't want to risk it. No matter. It's ours now, or rather will be, very soon.
We ran for the fence, Rick first with the boltcutters, quickly working to make an opening while Daryl and I protected the others. We stood behind, watching the tree line for any walkers who could hear us. The rattling of chains told me that people started making their way through, and slowly I moved backward, firing one of the arrows at the geek who stumbled from the forest.
"Hurry. Elena!" Rick called for me, and I spun around, jogging towards him. I ducked in and walked through the hole, the sheriff quickly behind me. Daryl held the fence while Glenn pulled the red wire through the chains, mending it together.
I run forward, through the catwalk, my duffel heavy on my shoulder. I was excited, I didn't have a proper chance to use my Barrett M107 for ages, and my fingers inched to hold it again. I opened the door to the tower, raising my knife just in case there were any geeks in here, but luckily it was completely empty. I climbed the stairs and stood in a small squared room. There was a metal table in the corner, and I quickly pushed it into the middle, facing the courtyard and central part of the prison. I put the duffel on it and unzipped it taking out my sniper rifle and MP5.
The automatic layed on the side while I worked quickly on Barrett, securing the bipod in place, and pulling the back monopod, to ensure steadiness. I screw in the muzzle to the barrel, and finally, after checking that it's full, I loaded the magazine. I looked through the scope and adjusted the zoom on it.
I heard the footsteps on the stairs and looked over the shoulder to see Daryl and Carol. The hunter didn't really look at my set-up, but the woman widened her eyes at it.
"Stand in the corners, don't get in my view, please," I told them. I pushed the weapon to the edge of the table, so I could lean my upper body on it as much as possible.
They walked onto the balcony area, leaving the door open for me. I moved the rifle slowly, looking at the gate where the rest of the group was and noticed Rick running through it, Lori closing it quickly behind him. It's go time. Caressing the smooth cold metal and wrapping my finger around the trigger, I followed the sheriff with my aim and focused on walkers in front of him.
Taking steady breaths, shutting out the sounds around me, I pulled the trigger without hesitation, at the first geek. I shot again, at the one that was creeping behind Rick, blood splattering on his shirt. I looked further ahead when he was near the gate he needed to shut and aimed at the walker that tried to walk through it. Squeezing the trigger, I could see the male geek fall back, allowing Rick to close the gate in a swift motion.
He had to hide, so I moved the sniper slightly again, making a safe route for the sheriff to the nearest guard tower. I watched him open the door and disappear inside.
I jumped to my feet, grabbed MP5, and walked to the deck, standing between Carol and Daryl.
"He did it," The woman commented as if she doubted him before. I raised the automatic, waiting for Rick to emerge at the top. The few seconds felt like hours, making me hold my breath. He surely wouldn't get surprised by a geek inside, not after what we just went through.
I released my breath, laughing at laud when Rick finally appeared at the top. He really did it. We were one step closer, and excitement flooded my body.
"Light it up," Daryl shouted to the others, making everyone start shooting without the worry of hitting Rick. I joined the others with the butt of the gun pressed firmly to my shoulder and looking down the scope. The sounds of gunfire echoing around us, my MP5 the loudest. In a few minutes, all the geeks in the courtyard layed down on the grass, unmoving.
"We did it!" Carol was excited, hugging me tightly, once we put down the weapons. I hugged her back and then moved around to pack my guns away.
"What's it called?" Daryl asked me when I was unscrewing the pod from the sniper rifle.
"Barrett m107, custom scope," I replied and put it away into the duffel, zipping the bag shut and throwing it over my shoulder. "Shall we?"
We made a small fire, to cook the owl and squirrel, finally some meat. I sat down on top of the tipped vehicle, my legs carelessly swinging over the edge. Daryl was pacing behind me, on a bus, making it rock gently with his every step.
I found some lost, forgotten protein bar in my bag and was chewing on it slowly, thinking over where to go from now on. Taking the courtyard was a huge victory, but ideally, we needed to get inside. It was warmer now, but we couldn't deliver Lori's baby on a fucking grass. It would be good to find a map of the prison; they should be some in the warden offices. See where the armory is located.
If this place fell so early on, the cafeteria should still be fully stocked, and infirmary. Finding a generator room would be another step. Places like that should have a secondary system in case of power cut-offs, so if we're lucky, we could have some kind of electricity. Even if it'd be just enough to power up the showers. Fuck, I didn't even need hot water, just a shower head with steady pressure, to wash away the dirt.
"Ya thinkin' out laud again, El," Daryl spoke, pulling me away from my thoughts. I smiled at him apologetically, but he just smirked.
"Well, I really want a shower. Could be freezing cold, I don't care." I replied, making him shrug. Yeah, I don't think he cared about things like that, whether his clean or dirty, that didn't matter to the hunter.
Suddenly, a head with grey hair popped up, and Carol pushed to plates forward, trying to climb on. Daryl put his crossbow on his back and reached out to help the woman on.
"Hey, you," I said, smiling widely.
"I brought offerings," She joked, standing up and giving one dish to Dixon, the other to me. I accepted it with a soft nod, starting on mixed meat that was in the bowl. "That's not much, but if I don't give you two something, you won't eat at all."
"Yeah, I guess little Shane over there's got quite the appetite," Daryl spoke, picking food with his fingers and throwing it into his mouth. How could he still look attractive while doing something so uncivilized? Oh, yeah, cause he was walking, a modern example of a caveman, and apparently I dig it.
"Don't be mean." Carol scoffed at the hunter, but I could see that the comment made her laugh. I was more interested in his actions than what he was saying. "Rick's gotten us a lot further than I ever thought he would. I'll give him that."
"Hmm."
"Shane could never have done that."
I snorted and swallowed my food, wiping my mouth with a sleeve of my jacket. "Shane would take Carl and Lori when the farm fell and wouldn't even look back for the rest of us."
"We would still have you," She added, looking at me with her gentle eyes, but I shook my head.
"Have you seen me these past months? I'm not looking for trouble, I swear. But it seems like I can't get away." That made her laugh, and Daryl scrunched his face at the remainder of my troubles.
Carol rolled her shoulders back and moved the head to the sides, making Dixon look at her with curiosity.
"What's wrong?"
"It's the rifle. The kickback." She touched her shoulder, trying to ease the pain a little. I knew what she was talking about, I felt it too many times to count. But I was more interested in Daryl.
"Come on." He passed me his plate and motioned for Carol to turn around, facing away from him. He licked his fingers, my eyes lingering on his tongue as it wrapped around the skin. Well, that's an interesting turn of events. Daryl started pressing on the woman's shoulder, trying to get rid of knots in her muscles.
Eight months ago, I would probably feel a ping of jealousy, but now I knew better. Daryl cared for everyone in the group, but Carol became our third musketeer and sort of a mother figure. And I also recognized, by the way she tried to hold the laughter, that she will give him shit for that.
I wasn't wrong. Carol peeked over her shoulder, smirking at Daryl, making him slow down his actions first. Then reluctantly, he pulled away from her, furrowing his brows.
"Better get back," He stated shortly, a small blush creeping on his face. The woman looked at me and winked, making me look between the two amusingly.
"It's pretty romantic." Carol smacked her lips, looking Daryl over. "How 'bout threesome?"
I snorted, holding a hand to my mouth to cover the sounds, making the hunter glance over at me. His eyes were wide open, and he shifted uncomfortably.
"Pff. I'll go down first." He said, bending his knees to jump down. I leaned forward, batting my eyelashes at him.
"A man who knows foreplay. We found a gold mine, Carol."
"Stop," He growled at me. The gray-haired woman's laughs finally broke me, and I chuckled as well, twisting and grabbing the edge of the vehicle, lowering myself down.
Daryl helped Carol, and we made our way to the rest of the group. They were sitting around the fire, the spirits surely lifted-up, comparing to the last few weeks. As we got closer, we could hear Beth's soft voice as she sang.
"Alas, it was to none but me.
And all I've done for want of whit,
To memory now, I can't recall.
So fill to me the parting glass,
Goodnight and joy be with you all."
She had a beautiful voice, soft, easily carrying the melody. It echoed gently through the courtyard, in far, I could see that even Rick started to walk over. Beth looked over at her sister, and when she began to sing again, Maggie joined her, surprising us even more.
"Of all the comrades that e'er I had,
They are sorry for my going away.
And of all the sweethearts that e'er I had,
They would wish me one more day to stay."
Rick came around, taking a plate that Carl saved for him, but he held it up to Lori, not even looking in her direction. That's it. This is my chance to try to fix them. We finally are somewhere safe, hopefully, and I was going to try to help them get over the issues they had as a couple.
"But since it falls unto my lot,
That I should rise and you should not.
I gently rise, and I softly call,
Goodnight and joy be with you all.
Goodnight and joy be with you all."
"Beautiful," Hershel spoke after a moment of silence.
"Better all turn in," Rick said in a gruff voice, nodding towards where Daryl, Carol, and I just came from. "I'll take watch over there. We've got a big day tomorrow."
Some people looked at him like they didn't understand. But I knew what he meant.
"What do you mean?" Glenn asked him, while I sat down a little behind the young couple.
"Look, I know we're all exhausted. This was a great win. But we gotta push, just a little bit more. Most of the walkers are dressed as guards and prisoners. It looks like this place fell pretty early. Could mean the supplies may be intact." He looked over at me, and I nodded.
"There should be cafeteria and infirmary. Commissary, we would be safe behind the gates in one of the cellblocks." I spoke, finishing sheriff's thoughts.
"An armory?" Daryl asked, ah yes, that was something we need. Ammunition.
"That'd be outside the prison itself, but not too far away," Rick told him. "Warden's offices would have info on the location. Weapons, food, medicine, this place could be a gold mine."
"We're dangerously low on ammo." Hershel interrupted, pointing out the issue with the plan. "We'll run out before we make a dent."
"Well, that's why we have to go in there. Hand to hand. After all we've been through, we can handle it, I know it. These assholes don't stand a chance." Rick tried to cheer us up, and then after a final glance at our faces, he stood up to take a watch. Lori quickly followed him, and I sighed, knowing that she probably won't have a lot of luck with her husband.
I grabbed my blanket and adjusted the backpack to use it as a pillow. I layed down, covering myself and waiting for Daryl to get under, next to me.
I fell asleep quicker than usual, with a firm and warm body pressed to my back, feeling safe and hopeful for our future.