Hey guys,
This one is completely new. This never appeared in the first version of the story at all. It's entirely from Carol's point of view. Future Carol, that is. I just thought it would be a nice tie in for her making her own trip back to the past. But she won't get to meet up with Daryl just yet.
Carol lifted herself from the floor, her limbs protesting as she did. She had cried herself silly for what felt like hours. She could feel the tears drying on her cheeks and she sighed. All she seemed to do these days was cry. She swiped at her face with her hands before starting towards the bathroom, intent on washing her face properly. She paused in her trek though. Movement outside the window had caught her attention. She moved closer and looked outside. She frowned.
Daryl was walking down the street. Not exactly anything odd about that. What was strange was the fact that he was walking his bike along with him. Daryl only moved his bike when he was heading outside the community. It wouldn't be the first time he had gone out in the middle of the night but he was heading in the opposite direction of the gates.
Carol warred with herself as she watched him. The hurt she had experienced in the aftermath of his blatant lying, still stung. Even the sight of him from so far away had flared up that hurt inside of her. Still, even though she felt miserable, her concern for him won out. She slipped from the house, making sure to keep quiet to avoid waking Michonne and the kids.
As she stepped out into the night, she saw no sign of Daryl. Carol suspected she knew where he had gone though. Following her hunch, she hurried along the empty streets, encountering no one on her way. Everyone was tucked away in their homes, either sleeping or occupying themselves in some other way.
Sure enough, as she rounded the corner onto Eugene's street, she watched Daryl slip inside the man's house. She could see no sign of his bike and she vaguely wondered what he'd done with it. She pushed the question aside for now. She waited a little while before moving over to the house. She hesitated before entering cautiously.
Like the last time Carol had snuck in, the lower floor of the home was empty. That would mean Daryl and Eugene were in the attic. She frowned as she remembered her difficulty hearing any of their conversation last time.
With this in mind, she headed to the kitchen. She grabbed a glass from the dish drainer, hardly believing what she was stooping to doing. She hurried up the steps quietly and approached the wooden door. Feeling a little foolish once more, she settled the glass against the surface of the door.
She remembers doing this as a child. Trying to listen to the heated discussions her parents would have in their bedroom. She remembers regretting her choice to eavesdrop when the discussions turned out to be about her. The words hadn't been kind either.
Carol hadn't been a bad child but even minor things set off her parents. Her father was always the worst. He'd even hit her a few times in anger. The irony hadn't been lost on Carol when years later, she ended up marrying a man just like him.
She hesitated before bringing her ear to the bottom of the glass. She didn't hear anything at first. Just silence. Soon though, she heard Eugene's voice.
"You're in luck, my friend. Looks like, as long as you're in contact with the bike, it should go along with you."
Carol's brow furrowed as she pressed her ear closer.
"Good, it's downstairs. Parked it out back in case I could bring it," she hears Daryl reply.
"Always prepared. Well, you know what to do. The rest'll be up to you to decide," Eugene said.
This conversation wasn't making any sense to her. Daryl's bike was somehow involved but she couldn't work out the context.
"There's just one little problem…"
She heard the nervousness in Eugene's voice as he spoke. She waited.
"What problem?" Daryl asked.
"Well, it's about the return co-ordinates. I was able to enter them in but there's a glitch in the system. It's like it's rejecting those co-ordinates."
Coordinates? Glitches? What the hell were they talking about? Carol's confusion only seemed to grow as she listened.
"What does that mean?"
Good question, Carol thought to herself as Daryl spoke.
"Simply put, I don't know if you'll be able to come back," Eugene replied.
Come back? Come back from where?
"Not turnin' back now," Daryl said after a little while.
Carol's eyes widened as she heard the footsteps. She moved away from the door and hurried downstairs, dumping the glass on an end table. She heard the door upstairs open and the footsteps coming down the steps. She moved to the front door and slipped out quickly. She let out a heavy breath as it closed behind her.
She didn't linger in front of the house. Instead, she went around back. Daryl had said he'd left his bike out there. If she could hide herself, maybe she could gleam some more information when he finally came around back to get it. She took a breath to calm herself before opening the back gate.
She was shocked when she realised Daryl was already there. He must have come out the back door instead of the front as she'd thought he would do. He was seated on his bike and there was a look of deep contemplation on his face.
"What are you doing?" she blurted, making his head turn to her.
She had meant to announce her presence more tactfully but it was just so strange. Why was he sitting on his bike in Eugene's garden? It was as if he was readying to go somewhere but he wouldn't start up his bike and ride it inside the community. He also wouldn't just casually sit on his bike, least of all in Eugene's garden. Daryl was watching her
now, eyes wide with shock.
"I..." he started but his words trailed off into silence.
She waited, allowing him a chance to gather himself. The memory of his lies flashed before her once more. She hoped he'd let her in this time around. She didn't know what he was hiding but whatever it was, he could trust her with it.
Daryl seemed to war with himself for a while as if trying to find the right words. Finally, he opened his mouth to speak but whatever he was going to say never escaped his lips. His eyes widened as if something had shocked him.
"Carol—"he said, her name sounding panicked on his lips.
His tone of voice jolted her stomach. He seemed so afraid all of a sudden. She was about to move forward to comfort him somehow but she stopped short.
Because Daryl had just vanished in a flash of light.
Her eyes widened.
"Daryl!" she cried out hysterically.
But Daryl was nowhere to be found. Even his bike was gone. The space where he had occupied only moments ago, showed no signs that he'd ever been there. She hurried over to the spot but it was just an empty patch of grass.
Carol's mind warred against what she'd just seen. Daryl couldn't have just disappeared like that. It just wasn't possible. She had to be losing it.
"What's going on out here?" she heard as the back door opened. She turned her head to look.
Eugene stood there with a stricken expression.
Carol watched him and narrowed her eyes. He knew. Eugene knew something about what happened. The conversation she'd heard through the door had something to do with this. It had to.
"What happened to Daryl?" she growled, not even trying to skirt the issue.
Eugene gulped and his eyes darted nervously.
"Well, you see—"he started but she could already hear the word vomit he was about to project on her.
"Don't bullshit me, Eugene!" Carol cut him off, moving into his space.
Eugene flinched back a little. Finally, he sighed.
"You should probably come upstairs," he told her in a defeated tone. He turned and walked back inside. He held the door open for her silently.
Carol eyed him warily but moved past him into the house.
Carol stared at Eugene from her place in an old armchair. Her mind was struggling to process what Eugene had just told her moments ago.
"A time machine?" she repeated with disbelief clear in her voice.
Eugene sighed from his place at a workbench.
"Yes. A time machine," he said before shaking his head. "Holy moly, this is like déjà vu," he muttered under his breath.
Carol found it hard to accept. Time travel was something that belonged in movies or romantic novels. It had no place in real life. She had even been a closet sci-fi fan before the
world ended. Back To The Future had been her favourite when she was younger.
"How can that be possible?" she asked him.
Eugene shrugged a little.
"How can it be possible that the dead are up and walking around, eating people? Not the best analogy I suppose, but sometimes things that don't seem possible, suddenly are."
Carol considered that. It was true that the walkers were like something out of a horror film. When it had first started, it had been shocking to her. Now, she was so used to them that the strangeness had worn off. If she thought about it, Eugene's words made sense. Would time travel be something she would grow used to if she spent so long around it?
"Do you have any proof?" she asked, bringing herself out of her confusing thoughts.
"Well, not as such," he said but he was looking at her strangely.
"What?" she prompted, knowing there was something he was neglecting saying.
Eugene shifted in his seat. He looked down at his hands momentarily.
"Maybe it's best if I didn't—"
Carol stood up and moved over to him. She stood tall over his seated frame. His head lifted to look up at her and she was pleased to see him quake a little from her proximity.
"You'll tell me or else, Eugene," she threatened darkly. "Don't worry about what the 'Or else' is. Trust me, you don't want to know."
Eugene gulped.
"Okay. Okay. Calm down," he said, bringing his hands up as if to shield himself. He looked her up and down. "You know, you're one scary lady sometimes."
Carol was starting to lose her patience. She pinched the bridge of her nose.
"Eugene…"
"Alright," he said, giving her another fearful look."Look, something happened. To you, I mean."
"What happened?" she asked as she crossed her arms.
He bit his lip before speaking.
"You died."
Carol blanched.
What?
If she had expected him to say anything, it wouldn't have been that.
"I died?" she repeated slowly, struggling to accept the words. "How?"
Eugene shifted uncomfortably.
"I don't know too much about what happened. You and the group got trapped in a cave with Alpha's horde. You ended up trying to cause a distraction for the others and didn't make it out."
Carol absorbed that with difficulty. Still, even as wild as it seemed, she could definitely imagine herself doing such a thing. She wouldn't hesitate to sacrifice herself so that the
people she cared about had a chance to live.
"We all mourned you but it hit Daryl the hardest," Eugene continued. "Hardly anyone ever saw him and when you did, you kinda wished you didn't."
"What do you mean?" Carol asked, feeling her worry for Daryl skyrocket.
"He just looked… Blank," Eugene said with a crease in his brow. "Like everything about who he was, was just gone. I've seen a lot over the years but I've never seen someone look that broken."
Carol's heart panged at the thought of Daryl like that. It wasn't hard for her to imagine it. After Grady he had sunk into a deep depression that sounded similar to what Eugene described. She remembered how helpless she'd felt in the face out of it. Honestly, it was part of why she'd ended up leaving. She couldn't stand to see him like that anymore.
"It occurred to me when I was working on my time machine that maybe I could help. So, I went to him and told him about it," Eugene said. "Of course, he didn't believe me at first but once I convinced him, he jumped at the chance to go back and save you. And he did."
"He saved me," Carol repeated in a whisper. Her eyes stung with barely held back tears.
She realised now that she had been wrong. She had not lost him at all. He still cared about her just as much as he always had. If he didn't, there's no way he would have cared so much that she died. If he'd been done with her, he wouldn't have gone back to save her, that was for sure.
"Yes, he did," Eugene confirmed with a small smile.
Soon a thought occurred to her and she frowned.
"But if he changed that, why did he need to go back again?"
It only just struck her how strange that was. Daryl had gone back and saved her from her fate, so why had he disappeared before her in the garden? What did he plan to go back and change this time?
"To be honest, I didn't ask," Eugene replied matter-of-factly. "Man seemed focussed on getting this done. I assume he wants to try to save all the people we lost."
"Why do you think that?" she asked, questioning his reasoning.
"Well, he's going back to the start of all this mess," Eugene said.
Carol frowned again.
The start?
Her eyes widened.
"You mean the start, start?" she asked in disbelief. The start of this new world. The start of all the horrors they faced.
Eugene nodded.
"Indeed," he said. "He told me about a quarry you were camped out at. That's where he wanted to go."
Carol swallowed at the thought of the quarry. That had been so long ago that she'd almost forgotten it. She'd been a completely different person back then. Weak, mouse-like,
walking on eggshells around her husband and trying to keep her daughter out of his path. She swallowed at the thought of Sophia and quickly pushed the image of her face away.
"He can get back, right?" she asked as the thought occurred to her. Clearly, he could if he had returned from saving her but she needed to know for sure.
Eugene gave her an odd look.
"Normally, yes."
Carol felt her stomach knot itself at the vague answer.
"Go on," she told him, wariness in her voice.
He sighed, bringing a hand to his forehead.
"Unfortunately, I had some trouble with the return coordinates."
Carol didn't need much explanation for what that meant. No return coordinates meant no return.
"You mean he's stuck there!" the words escaped her shrill and loud in the small space.
Eugene winced and leaned his body away from hers.
"Potentially," he admitted.
Carol's mind raged against the idea of Daryl being gone. That just wasn't right. He couldn't leave her. Not now. He was all she had left.
"Send me back too," she ordered, not even giving the thought much time to settle in her mind.
"Look—" Eugene started.
Carol grabbed his shoulder in her hand and dragged him from his seat. It clattered to the floor. She backed him into the wall and pushed him up against it. Her hand itched for the knife on her hip but she left it there for now. Eugene watched her with wide eyes. She could practically feel the fear emanating from him.
"Send. Me. Back," she repeated with venom lacing her words. She didn't even care that she was being unreasonable right now. She couldn't care about that. Not when she felt like
her world was turning on its axis.
"Okay," Eugene conceded finally, still looking terrified. "Just… You gotta give me a bit of time. I've got a second prototype but it hasn't been tested yet."
Carol eyed him before backing off. She let go of him and watched as his frame relaxed.
"Get that thing ready and send me back. You've got until tomorrow," Carol told him, keeping her voice hard.
She left the attic without another word. As she walked through the house, she felt a little guilty for how cruel she'd acted towards Eugene. She'd just been so consumed with terror
at the idea of never seeing Daryl again. She would apologize to him later. All she knew was that she had to go back there too. She had to travel back in time and make sure he was safe. She didn't care if she ended up trapped as well.
She headed back home and readied for bed. It took her a while to fall asleep though. Her mind was still whirling over the idea of time travel and Daryl being gone. She started taking deliberately slow breaths, trying to calm herself and push the issue from her mind. It was a technique she'd used before the world ended. It was useful when she'd needed to sleep after a terrifying encounter with her husband.
Eventually it worked and she dropped off into a restless sleep.
Carol woke the next morning, feeling like she had woken from a fever dream. But even though part of her still refused to accept the reality of time travel, she knew it had been real. Even her messed up mind couldn't conjure something like that.
She dressed in her brown trousers, a blue button up shirt and her black gloves before pulling her denim jacket on over the top. She clipped her belt in place with her knife on her hip and slipped a small dagger into her boot as she usually did. Then, she gathered her bow and arrows and left her room.
She passed the dining room, only pausing to smile and exchange a few pleasantries with Michonne and the kids. They invited her to join them for breakfast but Carol declined. She didn't think she'd be able to eat a thing right now. In fact, the thought of food churned her stomach.
Carol left the house and made her way to Eugene's. She didn't bother knocking at the front door. She just let herself in. She heard noises in the kitchen and followed them.
Eugene was leaning against the counter, chewing on a piece of toast as she walked in. He jumped as soon as he saw her. He immediately put the plate down on the counter and
tried to hide it behind him. He swallowed obviously before clearing his throat.
"Carol!" he said in a slightly high pitched tone. His eyes were wide as he looked at her. "I was working on setting things up. Just took a moment for a quick bite-" he explained frantically.
Carol instantly felt guilty again. She'd clearly rattled the man the night before and he expected her to lash out at him again.
"Eugene calm down," she told him, making her voice soft. She nodded to the plate he was failing to conceal. "Finish your breakfast."
He hesitated before picking up the plate again and grabbing the other piece of toast. He bit into her slowly, eyeing her warily.
"I'm sorry for the way I behaved last night," she continued. She honestly was sorry. She'd lost her head in the wake of her own panic. "I was just so afraid and that got the best of me."
Eugene relaxed a little once she's finished speaking. He looked thoughtful for a moment before he nodded.
"Understandable. Apology accepted."
Carol nodded, giving him a smile to reinforce her words. He returned it after swallowing his bite of food.
"So, any luck?" she asked, wanting to get to the matter at hand.
Eugene hummed as he took another bite.
"I did a quick test last night to make sure the protype is up to the task. Everything seems to be working smoothly," he said through a mouthful of food. He frowned though. "Problem is, even the first model, that I've tested multiple times, seemed to struggle with going back that far."
Carol listened quietly as he explained. The odds definitely sounded as if they were against her. But really, when weren't they?
"But there's a chance it could work, right?" she asked.
Eugene inclined his head as he chewed.
"There's a chance," he agreed. "But it's risky. You do this and I can't guarantee you'll even make it to your destination."
Carol mulled it over. It was big risk to take. If she didn't try, she'd probably never see Daryl again. If she tried and it didn't work, she'd probably never see Daryl again. But there was still that slim chance that it would work. She latched onto that.
"I'm willing to take that risk," she told Eugene after a moment.
He finished his food, wiping his hands on his pants. He regarded her with something like admiration now.
"You're a braver soul than me, Carol," he complimented with a smile. "Alright then. Let's do this thing."
Carol followed him up to the attic and looked around for the first time. The place was definitely worthy of the term 'Man Cave'. It was honestly a huge mess. She could feel the tension in her body in response.
Untidy spaces set off her OCD like crazy and she had to bite down on the desire to start rearranging things. Strangely, though, she never seemed to have a problem with Daryl's mess. He was always covered in at least one layer of dirt but she found it endearing instead of stressful.
Eugene handed her an old backpack, cutting off her musings. She looked at it in her hand before turning her questioning eyes to him.
"You're giving me a bag?"
Eugene frowned as he looked from her, to the bag and back.
"No… This is it. The time machine," he explained slowly. "Didn't you see the one Daryl had?"
Carol blinked and reassessed the backpack. Her eyes locked onto the metal panels and Russian symbols that covered it. She had honestly missed them on first glance.
"It was dark and I was too shocked to notice a detail like that, I think," she admitted as she continued to eye the thing.
Eugene nodded in understanding.
"Right, well, this is it. I know it doesn't look like much, but it works, I promise."
Carol inclined her head. When in Rome, she thought to herself as she settled the straps over her shoulders. The weight of an empty bag always made her feel odd whenever she was out on a run. It was always a relief to find something to load into it.
"Okay, the coordinates are already programmed in. I entered the return ones too as best I could but I don't know if it took," Eugene explained. "You just need to press that button when you're ready."
Carol looked to the keypad on the strap. Her eyes zeroed in on the small orange button he pointed out. Her thumb came up to hover over it. As sure as she was about this, she was honestly a little afraid.
"Good luck," Eugene told her with a kind expression. "I truly hope you get what you want from this trip."
Carol gave him a tiny smile in return. He was a far cry from the snivelling, lying man he'd been when they'd first met. Acting on impulse, she leaned forward a pressed a kiss to his cheek before pulling back. His cheeks warmed and he made a small 'Ooh' sound.
"Thank you," she said, feeling grateful for his efforts to help her.
Eugene nodded, still blushing a little.
"Of course."
Carol hesitated another moment before pressing the button. She squeezed her eyes shut, afraid of what was going to happen.
At first, she wondered if it hadn't worked at all. For a long time she felt no change whatsoever. When she was about to open her eyes to check if she was still in Eugene's attic, she felt a lurch in her stomach.
Carol slowly opened her eyes and was met with total darkness. She almost thought she hadn't opened her eyes at all, having to blink a few times to be sure. But her eyes were open. The dark was external. All around it seemed.
Immediately, her mind started panicking, thinking something had gone wrong. She felt around with her hands, trying to find the keypad. She would have no way of knowing which buttons she would press but anything was better than this total blindness. She located the cool metal and felt the raised surface of the keys.
Before she could press any of them, she started to see something through the dark. Carol squinted and tried to see what it was. It was as if her vision was fading in slowly. Like the reverse of when a film fades to black at the end. She blinked her eyes, trying to hurry the process.
Colours started to make sense to her soon. Lots of green and brown. The shapes faded in slower but eventually, she realised she was in the woods. She blew out a breath she hadn't realised she'd been holding. Maybe this thing had worked after all.
As soon as her eyes cleared fully, she started walking through the trees. It was pretty generic in terms of woods. No real sign of anything significant to give her an exact location. She did make out some tracks. Animals. Walkers. Unimportant. But then she spotted human tracks. A man, going by the size.
Carol's heart leapt. She knew she had no reason to think it could be Daryl but she couldn't help the eagerness in which she followed those tracks. She could be heading right into the path of trouble for all she knew. With that in mind, she removed her bow from her back and knocked an arrow. Couldn't hurt to be prepared just in case.
She walked through the area quietly, keeping her bow ready. She paused as she passed a mound on the forest floor. She'd assumed it was a fallen tree that had been covered by moss and leaves on first glance. But as she had moved to pass it, she'd seen a flash of something shiny. Metallic.
After a quick look around for any threats, she approached it. She got on her knees and pushed aside the debris. She gasped. Daryl's bike. Her heart pounded as she realised that he was here. The time machine had brought her to the right place after all.
Carol soon spotted a backpack similar to hers lying beside the bike. The decision to hide them was smart, she thought. If they were indeed back at the quarry, it would definitely be a good idea to keep them out of the group's hands.
She removed her own pack and tossed it to lie on top of Daryl's. She grabbed the leaves and branches and arranged them to cover the bags and the bike. She kept piling more leaves on until she was satisfied. Daryl hadn't exactly been the most thorough in his attempt to hide them and it was important this stuff stayed hidden.
Carol got to her feet once more and went back to following the tracks. It wasn't easy to track Daryl. He knew how to keep his steps light and not disturb the ground. Still, she could pick out the tiny tell tale signs to let her know she was going in the right direction. As she went to take another step, she heard a noise from behind her. Her fingers tightened on her weapon, raising it up to eye level as she spun in place.
Behind her was a man. She didn't recognise him at all. He was tall. Probably about six foot. His hair was long and dark and his face held a sinister edge. The most worrying part was the gun he had pointed in her direction.
Frustration built inside her. She was good with her bow. Diane and Daryl had taught her well. But against a gun, she had no chance.
"Hey, Darlin'," the man said, trying and failing to sound friendly. He grinned, revealing pointed canines.
Carol kept her bow up, not willing to back down yet. She had no idea what this man's intentions were but she could already tell they weren't anything good.
"How about you put that down," he told her. "There ain't no need for this to turn ugly."
Carol narrowed her eyes at him, adjusting her grip on her bow. Her arm stayed tight where it was pulling back the arrow.
"How do I know you won't kill me as soon as I lower this?" she asked.
The man shrugged, his grin not dropping an inch.
"You don't. But I don't wanna kill you, honey. You and me could be real good friends."
Carol snorted, unable to help herself.
"I highly doubt that."
Something twitched in the man's face at her response. His finger tightened on the trigger.
"Listen bitch," he spat, dropping the friendly pretence. "You're gonna do what I say. You play nice and this'll go a whole lot easier for you."
Carol had a sickening feeling of what this man wanted with her now. But the thought of being subjected to this man's lustful appetite didn't disturb her as much as it probably should. Rape wasn't something she was a stranger to after all. She'd dealt with it all through her marriage and had developed coping strategies.
What did disturb her was the thought that, if they were at the quarry, that meant this man could have ended up in the camp. He could have cornered any of the younger, less damaged women and girls of the group and tormented them.
Carol knew that, if she had to, she could endure this and make it through with her sanity intact. The other women would likely not be prepared for that. It would potentially destroy them. She realised too that, if this man killed her right here, there was no stopping him from eventually finding the camp and doing exactly what she feared anyway.
"Darlin'…." he drawled in a warning tone.
Carol reluctantly lowered her bow. She dropped it to the ground along with her quiver of arrows. She raised her hands in front of her.
"Okay! Okay, I'll do what you say. Just please don't hurt me," she said, starting to employ her acting skills. If he thought she was weak, he would let his guard down. She had hindered it a little with her display with the bow but she knew if she kept at it, he'd believe it quick enough.
The man's grinned renewed but he made a tutting noise.
"Uh-uh, Honey, the knife too," he ordered, gesturing the gun to her hip where her knife sat.
Carol sighed but reached down and pulled it free from its sheath. She tossed it to the ground alongside her bow. She showed him her hands again.
"That's all I have, I promise," she told him, making her voice wobble. She felt the comforting sensation of the small dagger in her boot.
The man gave her a once over.
"You won't mind if I check that for myself, would you?" he asked, not waiting for a reply before moving over to her.
He kept the gun on her as his free hand patted over her body. His hand deliberately lingered on her behind and her breasts and she fought the urge to slap him away. When he seemed satisfied that she was unarmed, he grabbed onto her forearm tightly. She made herself let out a little whimper.
"Oh, it's okay, Sugar. I'm gonna be real good to you, you'll see," he cooed in her ear, voice sickeningly sweet.
Bile raised in her throat as her licked her ear. Every part of her wanted to reach for that knife in her boot and embed it in him. Preferably in the crotch area. But she knew she had to bide her time. The gun was still cold against her temple where it pressed.
"You gonna be good for me?" he asked into her ear, making her shiver with disgust.
"I won't be any trouble," she said in a scared voice.
He laughed and his hand released her shoulder to wrap around her waist. He squeezed her back against him and she groaned inwardly as she felt the telltale hardness against her hip.
"Good girl," he said reverently, bucking his hips into her. "Let's go."
He grabbed onto her arm again and shoved her forwards, making her walk. She did so, keeping her eyes ahead. She didn't understand how this had happened. The quarry camp hadn't encountered any men or any people at all really during the time they spent there. So who was this man and why was he so close to camp?
She guessed it was possible that he'd been lurking out here the first time around and they just hadn't known. It was possible that he could have encountered walkers before he ever had a change to attack their camp. She just happened to be unlucky enough to be in the wrong place at the wrong time.
The story of her life really.
Hope you enjoyed this one. Sorry for the sort of cliff hanger. Don't worry. Things will work out, I promise. Next chapter we'll find out what's happening with Daryl in the quarry camp.