Wiltshire Estates
It was snowing, lightly. It had started earlier that day and hadn't stopped. A thin sheet of white covered the roads and trees.
Rick took his hands off of the car, leaning back and taking in a huff of air.
"I think . . . I think that's enough." He panted, "we should be able to squeeze through now."
Tyreese followed his actions, stepping away from the car they were pushing out of the road. He stretched out his back and groaned.
"Thank God," T-Dog said, stepping around the car. He had been pushing from the side of the vehicle.
"Man, I'm glad we ran into you when we did, even with using the RV to do most of the pushing I don't think we would have cleared that wreck off the road without your help," Rick said to Tyreese.
"I'm just trying to pull my own weight, Rick. I'm just glad you're letting us tag along."
"I know pushing cars out of the way was a lot harder before you came along." T-Dog agreed.
"I'm no stranger to heavy lifting. Again, I'm just happy to know we're not the only ones left."
"Your sister doesn't always seem to feel the same way," T-Dog joked.
"She can be a little . . . cautious, I want to say. Not that it isn't justified, it took me a while to be sure about this myself. it's been a long time since we've been around people, and so many. No offense to you, but you could've been traveling cannibals for all we knew. You can never be too careful."
"I understand what you're saying. This stuff changes people. My best friend . . ." Rick hesitated, unsure of how much he wanted to share. But he trusted Tyreese, the two men were becoming close. "We lost him a few months ago, he changed. He flipped out, he would tell me how I ruined everything. Me and him went out together, just us. He tried to kill me. I'd never seen anyone act like that, let alone him. I was so shaken by the change in him I almost didn't even realize the danger I was in. We beat each other up a bit, then got sidetracked with Walkers, and went back to the others like nothing happened."
"That's nuts. What happened to him?"
Rick's eyes automatically flickered to the RV, thinking of Toby. After a moment, he only shook his head, not prepared to say much else.
Tyreese only nodded, he understood why Rick wasn't ready to share. There was plenty Tyreese wasn't comfortable talking about either. Tyreese and Sasha had heard in passing the people the group lost. One of them seemed to have a lasting impact on the young girl. Tyreese and Sasha would wonder who it was the group mentioned that seemed to send the girl into a mute state, but they never asked.
The three men glanced at the road again, they had to push three cars aside enough for the RV to slip through.
"T, it's your turn to drive. See if Guillermo wants to navigate, I'm going to talk with Carl a bit. Then take a nap." Rick said.
"Sounds good."
Just about everyone was outside of the RV, stretching their leg. Rick said nothing to them, letting them have more time to stretch before they took off. After all, T-Dog was driving, it was up to him when they would leave.
Rick didn't see the kids, so he went inside the RV to find them at the table, where they usually were.
It'd been somewhere between two to three weeks since Sasha taught them how to play their game. Since then they'd been playing non-stop. Sasha kept offering to teach them a new game, but they refused, they were fine with Go Fish for the time being. Sasha wasn't however, she grew tired of the childish game and rarely played. T-Dog played a few times, so did Lori.
"You kids still playing that?" It was the first time Rick attempted to speak to Toby, though it was a bit indirect.
"Yeah," Carl I said. "It's getting a little boring though."
The children shared a glance and Toby nodded, not bothering to look up at Rick.
"Well, that was bound to happen, this is all you two have been doing for weeks now."
"It's not all we've been doing. We read some comic books, and we're working on ours."
Rick raised an eyebrow, "working on yours?"
"Yeah, we started making our own comic book."
It was the first Rick was hearing of it, "what's it about?"
"It's about a boy and his dog that fight monsters."
"Dog, huh?"
"Yeah, it's the only thing she'll draw. I draw everything else. She's really good at dogs, but she won't let me name it."
"Why not?"
Carl shrugged, "she says no to everything I pick. Well, she doesn't say it, but you know."
Rick nodded. "Maybe it's time you taught me how to play."
"Okay!" Carl smiled cheerfully, scooching over to Rick could slide in beside him. As soon as Rick was in the booth, Toby slammed her cards on the table and hopped out. Hurrying to the back of the RV where the bed was, closing the curtain behind her.
Rick sighed heavily through his nose, he wasn't surprised, but still disappointed.
"She doesn't like you anymore," Carl stated.
Rick wondered if Toby ever liked him to begin with, thinking back to when he first met her, after leaving Merle behind in Atlanta.
"Is it because of Shane?"
Rick didn't know what to say, he didn't answer.
Carl knew what Rick had done, Rick and Lori sat him down a few days after it happened and explained the situation, partly. They wouldn't give him every detail. Carl was mad for a while, he yelled at his father, he cried, but then he seemed to understand, to a certain point. Even he knew that Shane was acting different, and seeing what he'd done to Randall scared him.
"It's complicated, son."
"I know. But . . . I miss him."
"I know you do."
"I'm still mad about it."
Rick nodded, "I am too. I didn't want things to turn out the way they did."
Carl hesitated, "you could tell her that?"
"It's not that easy."
"But-"
"-Carl, we're not talking about this." Rick changed the subject. "We could still play?"
"Okay," Carl said, less cheerfully than before.
Rick assumed Carl would be teaching him how to play the way they were before, silently. But after the cards were shuffled Carl went first, asking if his father had any fives out loud. Rick didn't press it, of course, he understood the gist of how to play the silent version, but he thought Carl would've liked to show him.
After one game, Carl said he wanted to read and took a few comics with him to the back where Toby was hiding.
Rick watched the curtain for a few moments, just as the group started piling into the RV. He waited to see if Toby would come out to get away from Carl, or if she would chase Carl off. Neither happened.
"They're in the back," He told Lori when she came up to him. He got up from his seat without another word to her, he barely even looked at her. Then he laid himself out on the couch and closed his eyes.
The stillness of the RV woke Rick. He sat up just as T-Dog called his name from the front. Rick stood and walked to the driver's seat. When he got there he could see through the windshield the sun was low, but not yet set.
"Why did you let me sleep so long?"
"You need rest," Guillermo commented from the passenger seat, he was holding the map in his lap.
"Why are we stopping?" Rick asked.
"Look," T-Dog pointed.
Rick followed T-Dog's hand through the window. Not too far from where they were parked was what looked like a metal archway that read 'WILTSHIRE ESTATES'. Under the archway, there was a tall metal-barred gate. Through the archway led a road with a row of large houses on each side, all the houses were identical.
"It looks . . ." Rick trailed off.
"Untouched," T-Dog finished. "Lot's of cars in those driveways can siphon more gas. I know we have plenty but never know when we could use more."
"We have a few hours of daylight left," Rick said. "We should get everyone on scavenging. How far are we from Atlanta?"
Guillermo pointed to where they were on the map. T-Dog leaned over to take a look, "we're at least twenty miles from the city, we should be relatively safe here."
"Relatively," Guillermo repeated as if the word left an awful taste in his mouth. "I'd feel safe if we were farther."
Neither men responded. T-Dog pulled the RV closer to the archway and soon everyone was getting out. Everyone left the RV, walking together to enter the small community.
After opening the gate and passing under the archway, they all stopped and looked around.
"This place is perfect, we could start a new life here," Lori suggested.
"It does look promising." Rick agreed with her for the first time in months. "Okay, let's all have a look around. But don't spread out too far apart. Let's just check out the first few houses for today. We don't know just how abandoned this place really is and it's going to be dark soon, so stay sharp."
"I can help too, right, dad?" Carl asked.
"Of course, you've been doing well on your own. You and your mom can go with Guillermo."
"I wish to stay out," Guillermo said. "I will watch out here."
"Alright, if that's what you want." Rick took a look around, wondering who else to send with Carl and Lori. Then he saw Toby step up beside Carl, she was holding her gun out.
"Are you coming too?" Carl asked her.
Toby nodded.
The others exchanged looks.
"That's three guns between you, do you think you can go on your own?" Rick asked Lori, he was worried, but they both had been doing well the past few months.
Lori seemed to hesitate, glancing at Toby before nodding. "We'll be fine."
"Daryl and I will go together," T-Dog said.
"That leaves me with Tyreese and Sasha," Rick said. Each group got assigned one house each.
"Can you believe the size of this place?" T-Dog looked around the living room in awe.
"Just a house," Daryl grumbled.
"More like a hotel. This could be great, we have a gate at the end of the road. Everyone could get their own house, their own space."
"Maybe."
"Then we can go back to the farm, convince Hershel and his family to come."
"Why? He hates us." Daryl said, leaving the room to check out the kitchen.
T-Dog followed him, "everyone's safer together. I miss Glenn. We need him back, it's been so dull without him. He was the best at scavenging."
Daryl said nothing, repeatedly opening drawers and digging through them. T-Dog knelt down to the floor to search through the bottom cupboards.
"Plus," T-Dog continued. "If he agreed to let Glenn and Toby stay with him, he can't hate us that much."
Daryl's hands froze inside the drawer, staring blankly into it. He hesitated, thinking over what he just heard. Finally, sure he wasn't hearing things, he turned around, "what?"
"What?" T-Dog echoed his back to Daryl, unaware of the reaction he'd gotten as he looked through a cupboard filled with Tupperware and pans.
"What're ya talkin' 'bout?"
"What do you mean?" T-Dog moved some of the pans aside noisily. "About Hershel not hating us?"
"No. 'bout Glenn and Toby," Daryl continued staring at T-Dog's unsuspecting back.
"I just mean, that if he let any of us stay behind with them, he can't really hate us. Or them staying behind would be out of the question."
"I get that, what the hell does Toby have ta do with it?"
"Well, he was letting them stay, you know that." T-Dog was getting confused with the questioning, he closed the cupboard and turned his head around to find Daryl staring at him. His expression seemed suspicious. "Wait, you didn't know that?"
"I know Glenn stayed behind for that girl."
T-Dog stood up slowly, hating the position he just put himself in. He was sure Daryl knew about it, how could he be told but not Daryl?
"Well, I guess Maggie was supposed to ask Toby if she wanted to stay with them."
Daryl's eyebrows furrowed, he looked angry and confused.
"No one told you?"
"I didn't even know Glenn was stayin' 'til we were leavin'!"
"Well, I don't know who else knew about Toby. I talked to Glenn a few days before we left, he told me he was still thinking about it, he didn't decide to stay yet. And he told me Maggie was going to ask Toby."
Daryl tore his eyes away from T-Dog.
"Maggie asked her ta stay," Daryl said slowly as if confirming,
"As far as I know," T-Dog turned away, opening one of the higher cupboards.
"She didn't, she left with us."
"Guess she didn't want to."
Daryl made a sound of frustration as he ran a hand through his hair. He avoided T-Dog's eyes, he felt angry, annoyed, and confused. Daryl mumbled that he was going to check upstairs.
"I'll check the yard," T-Dog responded.
Daryl left his companion to go to the second the floor. He walked through the hall, checking the rooms for Walkers.
Daryl kept thinking what T-Dog told him, trying to make sense of it. Why didn't Maggie mention it to him? Sure, they didn't talk, they weren't friends, but she had approached him about Toby before. Was there some underlying reason? Did she not want him to know? Had she done this to deliberately go behind his back to keep Toby there?
And even more important, why the hell did he care? So what if Maggie wanted her to stay, then he wouldn't have to babysit anymore.
"At least someone fuckin' wants her," he mumbled out. He stopped moving when he said, feeling guilty immediately. He pushed the guilt away, once again telling himself he was done with the kid, she wasn't his problem, he didn't care if she was around or not.
But again . . . why was she still around? Why didn't she stay? Daryl slammed a door shut after glancing in it. "I don't get it."
"What don't you get?"
Daryl jumped and spun around, holding his crossbow up. He sighed and rolled his eyes at T-Dog. He was so immersed in his own thought he hadn't heard him come up the stairs.
"Hey, watch it. Jeez, man. Yards empty. Nothing up here?"
Daryl shook his head.
"Alright, let's head outside and meet the others. We just had to make sure nothing and no one was still around."
Daryl just looked away, not moving.
T-Dog could tell something was bugging him. It was odd for him to be able to sneak up on Daryl, he was always so alert. "What's up? What were you saying when I got up here?"
Daryl shook his head again, he wasn't planning on answering. He was ready to leave the house. But the words just seemed to come out on their own, "I don't know when that kid's gonna snap out of it. The way she sits 'round mopin' all day. Ya think she'd been bitten. She shoulda just stayed then if she hates me so much." Daryl mumbled the last part.
"Wait, now what are you talking about?"
Daryl didn't respond, he just let out a huff of annoyance.
"You know that the whole quiet thing, that's not 'cause of you. It's not personal."
"Ya kiddin' right?"
"No, I'm not. I know she's not really happy with us about . . . you know. I don't think she's doing it on purpose, it's just how she is."
"How would you know how she is?"
"Do you not remember?" T-Dog raised an eyebrow, he was baffled at the way Daryl was acting.
Daryl looked back at him rolling his eyes, "'member what?"
"It's not the first time she's done this. This is how she used to be, all the time. Oh, wait. I get it now," T-Dog realized as if just remembering it all correctly.
"Get what?"
"I guess it was before you and your brother let her hang around you."
"Will ya just tell me what the hell yer talkin' about?"
T-Dog sighed, turning his whole body around to give Daryl his full attention. "I met the group a bit before you did. But when I met everyone, it was Shane, Lori, Carol, her husband, all the kids. Then Dale, Andrea, and her sister. Toby didn't talk then, she never said a damn word. Barely even looked at anyone. It was like she was trying her hardest to be anywhere but there. After I met Shane, he was basically already the boss, everyone respected him and looked to him for whatever they needed. I met him, told him the shit I went through getting out of Atlanta. He returned their stories, introducing me to everyone. He found Toby-"
"-I know this already. He found her on the highway after her dad left her to die."
T-Dog took in a breath, he hated that Daryl said it that way. "I'm sure you know that, did you know that was the only day she spoke?"
Daryl just stared back, thinking it over.
"Shane helped her, she told him what happened and she was looking for her dad. Then didn't talk again, nothing, zip. I figured she was just shy. Or traumatized, but hell, who isn't these days." He stopped, taking in a breath, "then you and your brother showed up, all of a sudden she's following Merle around, sitting with you guys. And then just starts talking, out of nowhere. She even started sitting with us to eat sometimes. None of that happened before you came around."
Daryl only listened, he'd heard about it vaguely before, how quiet she was. But he never connected it to how she was acting now. He just assumed she was deliberately acting that way to get on his nerves.
"I think it's some kind of coping thing." T-Dog rambled on. "I mean, this whole thing is hard for everybody, but the kids . . . They barely got to understand what it means to be a person in the normal world. What are they learning in this one? If being quiet is what makes her feel safe, all the power to her."
"Ya think it makes her feel better?"
"Maybe. It gives her some control over her situation, and isn't that what we all want? A chance to control shit so it doesn't get too bad."
Daryl thought about it, not saying anything back. Together, the two began walking down the stairs.
I'M SORRY. This took so long. I keep getting sick, i even had to take a week off of school which was painful. took me a long time to catch up after that. Good news though, another chapter will be post in the next few days, maybe even tomorrow? Because this chapter ended up being 9,000 words (so far) not even done yet, and me and Rasha007 agreed it was much too long. So the next chapter is at the end, just a few more things.
My class is producing the college volleyball game live, so it will be very busy. Hopefully when it's all over I'll have time to work on the next part and maybe post.
REVIEW! Love hearing what you guys think, and with how things have been, could really use something to look forward to.
Again, I realize the winter is getting long... it's worth it I promise.
Also, I live in Canada. I have no experience with Georgia weather, I've done some research. but either way my depiction of Georgia weather for this story will be off. Just ignore it, no need to correct me. whatever happens, happens.
Thanks for sticking around! Feel free to PM me!