Italics = Speaking in German
The group was silent on their trek back to the RV, their eyes on the backs of the two newcomers that walked alongside Dale. Carol, Andrea, and Glenn were keeping their distance. Daryl picked up the rear, crossbow still loaded and ready. The group slowed down further once back out on the road, seeing the packs tossed next to the RV and the casualness that the man and woman moved about, looking up and down the road. T-Dog was hanging out the door of the RV, drowsy from the infection and medicine.
"What are you people trying to do? Get that herd to come back?" he accusingly asked them. It took him quite an amount of energy just to string the words together.
"What's wrong with him?" Andrea asked Dale, looking steadily at Alana and Wilhelm. "And who are you two? Where did they come from?" she directed to Dale again. Wilhelm stepped forward.
"Your friend is sick. That cut on his arm, it's infected. My sister cleaned it out, gave him antibiotics." Wilhelm looked down his nose as he spoke to her.
"And food," T-Dog added, swaying slightly. Alana stepped forward, checking his forehead. The fever wasn't as bad as it had originally been. She had given him a large amount of antibiotics, likely just them taking a stronger affect. She turned round to Wilhelm.
"Help him back in, he needs to lay down. I'll get some wet towels."
Wilhelm stepped around Andrea and eased T-Dog back into the RV. Alana placed her crossbow on the ground and went through the packs. She heard a small gasp of joy, from Glenn, when they all spotted the pack full of nothing but food. She ignored the whispers that started. When she stood up, with a couple small towels in hand, Daryl had come forward, standing at the front of the group, Dale just a couple feet ahead. Alana walked past him on her way to the water truck. Once they thought she was out of earshot the whispers started again.
"Who are they?" Glenn asked.
"Wilhelm and Alana. From, well, Germany. Said they were backpacking when everything happened."
"How did they get here? On the road?" asked Andrea, hands on her hips as she watched Alana walking back to them.
"We came through this graveyard," Wilhelm answered, his frame filling the RV's doorway. Andrea jumped, tensing up at being caught unawares.
"How long is the road blocked for?" Glenn asked. Of everyone now gathered, he appeared to be the least tense. Alana noted his lack of apprehension quickly and knew her brother would have noticed as well.
Wilhelm shook his head. "Not short enough to be worth driving through. We left our car behind, started walking. Forcing a path through would have taken too much time and energy."
"They saw the same herd of walkers like us," Dale added.
At this Carol looked up. She had been standing there, next to Andrea, arms wrapped round herself, looking pointlessly at the ground. "Did you see a little girl? Did you see my little girl?"
Alana came up beside her, brow furrowed slightly. "No little girls." She looked at Dale then back to Carol. "Her name is Sophia?" Carol nodded with a sad smile. Alana did her best to smile back. "We didn't see Sophia."
"That's good though," Wilhelm interrupted. "Means she's still out there." When no one corrected him he knew that meant what whatever that lone shot was for earlier, it wasn't for Sophia.
Carol nodded again. She wiped at her eyes, blotching them with the neck of her shirt. "You're from Germany?" she asked, trying to put the thought out of her head that Sophia was still out there alone. "What were you doing over here? Backpacking?"
Alana nodded, moving to hand the wet towels to Wilhelm before turning back to Carol. "We were in the army there. I had just finished my term. Was going to go back in, but Wilhelm talked me into coming here with him. Travel around." She kept eye contact with the older woman, a slight bile forming in her stomach at playing this charade. Of caring. Alana knew she did care when it came down to the basis of things, but that she also couldn't let that care betray her.
As Carol continued to ask questions Alana could see Glenn staring longingly at the packs from her peripheral. A few quick glances over and she'd swear he was ready to begin drooling at any moment. Though she had closed them all he still knew which one held the treasured food supply. He had seen a bag of Cheetos.
"Are you hungry?" she asked him, which startled him more than a deer hearing a twig snap. He started stammering, shaking his hands in front of him. Alana grabbed the pack, dragging it forward. She opened the flap and held it open to the people before her. Glenn sheepishly pulled the Cheetos out, mumbling a "thanks" before stepping back. Carol took a candy bar, Andrea took nothing. Daryl looked suspiciously in the pack, like he was waiting for something to jump out at him. He raised a brow.
"Got any jerky?" he asked. Alana shoved her hand down into the pack, looking like some absurd bizzarro magician attempting to pull a rabbit from a hat. She pulled her hand back out clutching an unopened bag of jerky.
"There's some deer jerky, but it's probably at the bottom," she told him. He just nodded and stepped away from her. He slung the crossbow over his shoulder and tore the bag open. Alana had taken a moment to stare at the bottom of the pack, silently bemoaning her not-long-enough arms.
That's when Dale piped up, asking, "Where are the others?"
As Alana and Wilhelm suspected, no one answered. Daryl chewed a piece of jerky before speaking, his tone not suggesting he was happy with having to speak up. With Rick and Shane gone, it looked like he was in charge.
"Some girl on a horse came an' took Lori, said Carl had been shot. Took 'er back to some house down the road. Rick an' Shane are there too, 'cording to the cowgirl."
Dale looked over to Wilhelm and Alana. Stepping closer to them he asked, "Would you two mind taking watch?" He shifted his eyes back to the others in his group. Wilhelm nodded. Dale handed his binoculars over to Alana. The group watched as the two climbed up on top the RV. Dale had thought of stepping into the RV, but remembered the window hatch inside. He motioned for the group to follow him away from the RV.
Using his hands as emphasis, Dale asked what exactly happened in the woods. Again, Daryl answered between bites of jerky. Glenn nodded his head from time to time as Daryl recounted the events of the day. The church bells had been on a timer. No sign of Sophia, only some walkers. Rick had decided that the group should head back and wait till tomorrow to search again. Rick, Shane, and Carl had stayed behind to do a checkover before following. That's when they heard the shot, but kept moving on. A bit later a woman came riding up on a horse, saying that Carl had been shot and Lori needed to come with her. The woman had said there was a farm, just a bit back down the road. Carl was being taken there for her father to help him. Name was Greene. There was a mailbox on the side of the road. Rest of the group was supposed to backtrack to there.
"We can't leave. My baby is still out there," Carol objected. Her arms were still crossed, the candy bar grasped in one hand unopened. She had only taken it to be polite. In the back of her mind she thought it would be nice to have, for when Sophia came back.
"I don't want to leave her out there either Carol," Dale began, "but we're separated right now. The group is weak."
No one wanted to come straight out and make the decision to leave and make for the farm. Daryl felt a bit sick to his stomach, knowing he'd be the only one willing to make the call. "We'll stay the night on the road. We can rig a big sign, let her know to stay here an' wait for us to come back for 'er. Leave some supplies for 'er too. We can head to that farm tomorrow."
"Thank you," Carol said quietly.
Everyone agreed to the plan, but Dale added that T-Dog needed to get to the farm that day. Though the medication Alana had given him would work, being cramped up in the RV and in the heat wouldn't be doing him any good.
"Glenn, you should take the wagon, get him to the farm." Glenn argued against the idea, leaving fewer people stuck on the road, already forgetting that Wilhelm and Alana would be there. At that point everyone's minds came back to the brother and sister. Each stole glances up at the RV. Alana sat in the chair, looking out past them. With those sunglasses they couldn't tell if she was staring at them, so they quickly looked away. Wilhelm had his back to them, keeping watch back down the road.
"I take it they're staying here with us then," Andrea said with exasperation.
"Yes," Dale said with force. "They could have kept walking right on past us. Could, could have taken the RV. They're carrying a small army on their backs in those bags. But they didn't. They stopped and helped T-Dog, shared their food with us." When everyone remained silent he continued, "You can think what you want, but I know…I'll sleep better knowing those two are here. Look at us, they're the next best protection we have out here after Daryl."
It was unanimous amongst them all aside from Daryl that Dale was right. Daryl was the best protection the entire group had. A natural survivalist. And now they had just acquired two more. Didn't want to admit it, but they could use all the help they could get. And they could see it being easier to ask Wilhelm or Alana for help rather than Daryl.
The group walked over to the RV. Dale went in with Glenn to help T-Dog out and into the wagon. Neither Wilhelm nor Alana asked what they were doing, just kept their eyes on the road. Afterwards Andrea went into the RV and stayed there along with Carol. Carol had come back out for a moment, to hand a canteen of water up to Alana who gladly accepted it. She tried to smile her biggest smile to her, to get Carol past that meek smile of her own, but it didn't work.
Dale climbed up on the RV and stood near Wilhelm, relaying the decisions the group had made. Daryl had walked off, going through the cars they hadn't reached the day before, gathering things here and there. Each time he turned back to look at the RV, Alana was there, hiding behind those ridiculous sunglasses. Made her look like a fly. And Wilhelm just looked like a big old ape with ridiculous sunglasses. Things even looked like they belonged to a girl. The two made Dale look normal, even with that stupid hat of his.
"What do you do at night?" Wilhelm asked Dale, already knowing the answer, but needing to keep up appearances.
"We take turns. Someone sits up here, looking. After a couple of hours someone else comes up."
"How long are the watches?"
Dale shrugged. "Four hours? Well, it depends, on who's at watch. Usually we just sit up here till we start falling asleep then go down and get someone else to take our place."
"Who usually keeps watch?" Wilhelm quickly added, as precaution, "I only ask to make sure we are not in your way. Alana and I switch every three hours. We can help if you'd like."
Dale smiled. "Well normally the men keep watch." At this Dale looked apologetically at Alana. "I mean no offense, just that none of the women in our group are…"
"Army brats," Wilhelm chimed in with a wide grin. When Alana laughed Dale felt it was safe to laugh as well.
The laughing died out when Andrea exited the RV. She had a small bag with her as she climbed over the railing and headed into the woods. Once out of earshot Dale said, "Restroom." Wilhelm and Alana nodded.
"I don't think she likes us much," Alana said amusingly to Dale.
"There isn't much she does like these days it seems. Listen…it's not my place to ask this of you guys, but your weapons, what exactly do you have?" Wilhelm proceeded to list off what they had, the guns, rifles, silencers, knives, axes…he was sure he had miss some things. He and Alana were always finding random things at the bottom of the bags. He had told Alana once that the bottom of those packs was like Narnia; whenever something went missing in the world he said it went to Narnia.
"Would you like to trade that rifle in for a new one?" Wilhelm asked jokingly.
Dale laughed with a bit of force. "No, no, I'll stick to what I know. I ask because, now I know it's your choice if you want to lend or give any of your weapons out. All I ask is that you don't give anything to Andrea. She's still…she's not right in the head. After Amy died, she changed. I look at her and that look on her face. It's like she's given up. Can't trust that she wouldn't try to…" Dale trailed off, but Wilhelm understood what he was trying to say. "Probably be best if you didn't offer any weapons to any of just yet."
"Maybe she just needs some sort of semblance of safety. Maybe she'll find it at this farm," Wilhelm offered, patting Dale on the back. With Andrea returning from the woods Wilhelm asked Dale if he'd like for him to take a watch that night. He objected, saying it wasn't necessary. Wilhelm pointed out that there were only three men in the group now and Dale agreed. "I can take first watch, if you don't mind."
It was agreed that Wilhelm would take the first watch, then Dale, then Daryl. Dale, though grateful of Alana's offer to take a watch, felt guilty at having her stay awake up on the RV by herself. After a bit of discussion as to how the group carried out their watches, what to do if walkers were spotted, etc., Wilhelm climbed down from the RV, heading for the nearby truck Daryl had slept in the night before. He laid out in the truck-bed, saying he would get some sleep now before his watch. He told Dale it was better to get some rest before nightfall, that when it'd come time for a watch he would be more energized. Dale said he would be sure to remember that advice.
As night began to fall Daryl returned from wandering the road. He had found a backpack and filled it with random bits of food, first aid items, couple pocket knives, and a handful of lighters. There was even a pack of cigarettes, nearly full. That he had shoved in his back pocket. Not a chance in hell was he going to share those with the group.
Dinner was more noodles courtesy of Alana and Wilhelm, the latter who was still napping in the bed of the truck. They split three bags amongst the six of them.
"You and your brother, what did you do back home? You were in the army?" Carol asked, breaking the silence. Wilhelm had woken up and taken his bowl of noodles up to the roof of the RV with him. The rest sat crammed inside. Carol in the back on the small bed, Dale and Andrea at the tiny table, Alana propped up on the small counter, and Daryl in the driver's seat. He was sitting sideways, looking down at his food while he listened.
"Army. I started off in the medical field, but requested to be transferred over. I ended up being put under my brother's command."
"She was a horrible soldier," Wilhelm shouted down through the window hatch. Dale and Carol laughed.
"He's a liar. I was the best soldier he had." Alana took a mouthful of noodles then held up her hand. "To graduate, from training, we were dropped off in the middle of nowhere…maybe, fifty miles from the nearest town. And we had to find our way back, report to a small post that they had set up there. I was the first one from my group to make it back. I thought I had so much time ahead of the others, instead of reporting to the post, I went straight home, made myself a sandwich. Wilhelm calls the house, someone in town had said they saw me walking down the street, in my camis, looking like shit. So I finish my sandwich, head to the post, and I still had 8 hours before the next person arrived."
"Would have been more if you hadn't gone and made that sandwich!"
"I was hungry!" Alana shot back at Wilhelm. She looked at the others with a blank stare before it hit her. "I was hungry." The group smiled and laughed, except for Daryl.
"What happened to your family?" Andrea had asked later as they were cleaning up.
"They're holed up in their home. Father had gone and gotten our grandmother. It hadn't spread to Germany yet, but he said there were reports of it within Europe." Alana kept her head down as she washed the dishes, her voice void of emotion.
"You think they're still alive?"
Dale looked to Andrea, wanting to scold her for asking such a question in front of Carol. Talking about family wasn't something she needed to hear at that moment. Alana could feel the tension that had come with Andrea's questions.
"We're still alive, why can't they be too?" she retorted. She headed outside before Andrea could say anything else. She said goodnight to Wilhelm as she dragged the four packs into the RV. They stacked them on the table. Dale offered to sleep on top of the RV, so there'd be more space for everyone else.
Carol was given the small bed without word. Andrea laid on the floor in front of her. Alana was given the small hallway while Daryl laid out between the driver and passenger seats.
It wasn't long before they could hear the sniffles coming from Carol. For a while no one said anything, made any movements. Just tried to pretend they didn't hear it. Really the last thing any of them wanted to do was baby her. After a couple of hours, with the sniffling still going, Alana quietly sat up. She looked over at Carol's back, seeing her shoulders heaving slowly.
As she went to lay back down she saw Daryl stand up. He was looking down in one of the cabinets. He pulled out a large flashlight. Andrea was sitting up as well now.
"Gonna go out in the woods, shine the light round, give her something to follow," Daryl said in a low whisper. Carol turned around at this words, her sniffling suddenly stopping. She might have said thank you, but her hand blocked her mouth as she rubbed at her eyes and nose. Daryl only nodded at her before turning around. He grabbed his crossbow from the driver's seat. Now that everyone was awake he didn't bother with slowly opening the RV door.
"Wait," Alana called out, scrambling to her feet and rolling over the packs on table, feeling at them to find the one she wanted. She wasn't surprised when she exited the RV to find that Daryl had indeed not waited. Looking up she saw Wilhelm watching as Daryl walked away. "He's going to look for the girl, shine a light in the woods like an idiot."
Wilhelm began to ask if she had grabbed the night vision goggles, but Alana held a pair up at him, a devilish grin on her face. She slung her rifle over her shoulder and jogged off after Daryl.
"I said 'wait,'" she told him when she caught up with him.
"Nah, you said 'vait.'"
Alana scoffed, "Yes and you seem to have forgotten a few letters in your pronunciations, but I choose to overlook that."
"Why the hell you following me?" he asked as if she was putting an actual physical strain on him.
"Because I don't want anyone or anything following you back here after you get done waving your shiny light around out here. These," she said, holding out the goggles, "would serve your purpose much better."
"I ain't going to look like no bug-eyed fool with those on."
"I never said you could wear them in the first place."
"Daryl!"
"Just fuckin' great," he muttered, turning around to see Andrea rushing towards them. "Now I gotta babysit both of ya'll?" Immediately after saying it he knew he only partly meant it. He reckoned that the little army brat could take care of herself. He hadn't forgotten what had happened that day, how she had snuck up on him. On him. Daryl Dixon. A little girl had snuck on him and there was no way he would have come out of that situation alive if Dale hadn't come rushing in to save the day.
Andrea came up to them, looking at Daryl, waiting for him to keep moving. He looked at both of them, but kept his eyes on Andrea when he said, "You best not slow me down or I'll leave yer ass out there."