Fool's Gold

Tyreese walked out of the house with his sister and Rick. Across the street, Lori and the kids were leaving their assigned house. The two groups walked toward each other, meeting in the middle of the street.

"So far so good," Tyreese commented.

"And they've got such big yards." Lori was smiling, a hand on her swollen belly.

"This place looks pretty deserted," Sasha said.

"This house is empty," Carl said, motioning to the house they'd just left, Toby trailing behind him. "I can't believe how big these places are!"

After checking in with Carl, Rick noticed T-Dog and Daryl were on their way over.

"What about you guys, all clear?" Rick asked them.

"As far as we can tell. I don't see anything near this area." T-Dog answered.

"Good," Rick looked relieved. "I don't know about you guys, but I really don't want to spend another night packed in that RV. What do you guys say to grabbing all our blankets and crashing in one of these houses tonight?"

Tyreese pointed to a house next to the one they'd just searched, "The windows on the second floor of this one seemed to be fine, we should be pretty warm up there."

"Perfect. Tomorrow we can start clearing out houses and giving people their own living space."

"Sounds like a plan to me," T-Dog was smiling, he was excited to get out of the RV.

"All right then," Rick started. "Tyreese and I are going to check out this house. Everyone stay here or get your stuff from the RV until we get back."

Tyreese and Rick walked toward the house together. They walked in silence, not looking at each other, but they were both thinking the same thing. If the group stayed, Tyreese and Sasha would surely still continue their journey to Carnesville. But they would wait to discuss it. They'd both gotten close since meeting each other, becoming fast friends and enjoying the others company.

"I'll look around upstairs," Tyreese volunteered when they walked in, he held his hammer at the ready, while Rick held his hatchet.

"Yell if you see anything."

"Depending on what I see. . . I might not have much of a choice."

Rick scouted the ground floor, not looking through cupboards, only the rooms and closets to make sure it was safe. He slowly opened a door to find a dark staircase going down. He could barely see past the first few steps.

"Looks like there's a basement, these houses are bigger than they look!" Rick called out. And just as he did, he heard very rush thumping, and before he knew it, two Walkers had emerged from the darkness.

"Oh, shit!" Rick tried to shut the door on them but it was too late, one stood in the doorway blocking it. Rick fell as he stumbled backward, "Tyreese!"

Before Rick could get up or try to roll away, one had thrown themselves on top of him. The weight of the Walker kept him from being able to swing his axe freely. All he could do was push the side of the metal into the Walkers teeth, trying to keep it back. The second Walker landed on top of both of them, adding to the weight.

"Tyreese! A little help here!" Rick struggled to get out. Rick could just barely hear Tyreese's thumbing over the snarling of the Walkers.

Suddenly, a large force knocked both corpses off of Rick. Rick sat up, spinning around to see what was happening. He saw Tyreese on the floor, next to the Walkers. They all started getting up simultaneously. Rick pushed himself up, backing up just as Tyreese did the same.

"I got your back, man! Let's paste these suckers!" Tyreese exclaimed, holding his hammer up.

"Happy too!" him and Rick charged at the corpses. Rick pinned his to the wall before swinging his hatchet into its skull.

Tyreese shoved the Walker away with his free hand, then swung the blunt side of his hammer into the side of the Walkers head. The action caused it to stumble back a little. Tyreese turned the hammer in his hand, lifting it up over his head before bringing the two-pronged end down into the Walkers skull.

"We good?"

As soon as Rick killed his Walker, he rushed to the basement door and shut it. "For now. We have to clear out that basement. Do you have a flashlight?"

"Yep. lets go, I want to get it done while my adrenaline is up."

"Listen up, we'll probably hear something before we see it. Rest looks all clear. Upstairs look okay?"

"Yeah, I was doing a final pass when I heard you scream. Looks like everything but the basement."

Moments later, both men were in the basement, Tyreese was shining his light around. His light stopped on a Walker, "there's one over there."

The Walker looked up, beginning to stir with the light shining. "On it."

Several minutes later, Tyreese and Rick had dragged two Walker corpses out of the basement and onto the main floor. They just had to drag all four bodies outside.

"That was one hell of a save in there by the stairs. Your tackle is no joke."

"NFL training, no joke. Wasn't as great as everyone made it seem." They both chuckled. Rick held on to the feet of a Walker, as Tyreese held the shoulders of it, walking backwards to the front door.

"Still that's pretty impressive. Sure beats 'small town cop'"

"I don't know . . . I never got to carry a gun." Tyreese checked behind him, making sure he wasn't about to run into anything.

"Well, I never really used mine. Not before the dead stopped dying anyway."

"Really? I had you pegged as the hero cop, the way you've been handling yourself since I've met you."

"Lord, no. I was a regular Barney Fife."

Tyreese let out a laugh at the reference. "Well, you've certainly stepped up to the challenge. We should probably burn these bodies tomorrow if you're staying."

"Yeah," Rick said, a solemn mood befalling them both. Remembering again that they may be separated soon.

As soon as they made it outside with the body, Lori rushed over. "What happened, is everything, okay?"

"Yeah, we're fine." Rick answered, not looking at her. Tyreese and him dropped the body.

"Nothing happened," Tyreese assured, not wanting to worry the woman. "We just had to take a few out. Once the bodies are outside everyone can go in."

The men turned their back on Lori and the corpse, beginning to walk back into the house. The sun was setting, it would be dark soon.

"Almost wish we could've left them downstairs, don't want to worry anyone." Rick said. "But then no one would've been able to sleep if they knew they were down there. Dead or not."

"And by no one you mean you?"

"Exactly." Rick smiled, and they shared another laugh.

Once the bodies were out, they gathered the others and entered the house. Everyone immediately began searching the rooms and cupboards.

"We burning those bodies tomorrow?" T-Dog asked Rick as they entered the kitchen.

"We'll probably find more when we search the houses tomorrow so we'll burn them when we've got a good pile. We're almost used to the smell now-which makes me sick-so we can wait a day to save matches."

T-Dog nodded, and quickly began looking through the cupboards.

"Holy shit! This place is loaded with canned goods!"

Lori came into the kitchen quick. "Do they have canned pears?"

"Canned pears, apples, pineapples, peaches, cherries. With a stock like this, you'd think they knew what was coming."

"That's good to hear." Rick said. "When I saw the broken window next door I was worried. But the looting must have happened early on when people were stealing TVs and computers. Everyone must have fled to Atlanta by the time people realize canned goods were more valuable. Lucky for us."

"Pass me the pears," Lori eagerly walked over. "The only things I've been craving for weeks is pears."

T-Dog laughed, "I know, you ask about them any time we find anything. Is that the pregnancy?"

Lori shrugged, "must be. With Carl it was cheese and peanut butter."

"Wait . . ." T-Dog grimaced. "You mean separate, right? Not together, you didn't eat cheese and peanut butter together."

"I was pregnant, what do you think?"

Toby followed Carl into the house, she was wearing Merle's large leather jacket and carried her back back on her back.

"Let's look around upstairs," Carl suggested, glancing at Toby for a reaction. She didn't give him one, only following him up the stairs. The two looked around for a few minutes, Toby picked one room and started looking around, while Carl walked the halls and stuck his head into every room quickly.

"There's four bedrooms!" Carl ran into the room Toby was in and informed her. He started counted on his fingers, "so that's-"

"-Three each," she said under her breath.

Carl's fingers froze, eyeing her. "What?" He looked back at his hands, after a moment he realised what she was talking about. He counted everyone again. "Three of us each room."

He looked back at her, surprised.

She returned his stare, "don't look at me like that. I know how ta count."

"Sorry, I just . . ." Carl struggled with words. "Do you want to share a room with me and mom?"

Toby only shrugged.

"Awesome!" Carl was excited. They were in a real house and not rushing to leave the next day, they could actually have a home. The two searched the bedroom together, they found some clothes, but not much else. Carl stopped at a bookshelf looking through it. He recognized a title and pulled it off the shelf, he smiled and rushed over to Toby, who was on the other side of the room searching a dresser.

"Look! I read this book in school. I really liked it. Everyone in my class had to read it. Did your class do it?" Carl shut his mouth quickly, but it had already been said. Toby glanced at the cover of the book before going back into the dresser drawer. "It's called Tuck Everlasting. We could read it together, do you want to?"

She shrugged again.

"Cool," Carl smiled.

Not too long after, Carl and Toby heard themselves being called back downstairs. When they returned to the first floor, they found the others gathered in the kitchen.

"Okay," Rick started. "It's getting late and I'm itching to start searching this place tomorrow. I say we hit the sack, it'll be safer if we all slept upstairs. As light as we sleep now, we'll hear something coming up the steps and I'm sure it would also slow them down a great deal. Thing is we got four bedrooms and a bathroom upstairs. I know we're looking to have some space ourselves but for tonight at least it looks like we're still bunking up some. Any volunteers?"

Hours after sorting out who would sleep where, dark had fallen and most of the group was asleep. Rick was sitting on the couch in the living room, next to Daryl.

"When're they takin' off?" Daryl asked Rick, referring to Tyreese and Sasha.

"I'm not sure. I hope they'll stay another day or two, we could use the spare hands to make sure this area is safe. And that way they can pack some supplies we find."

"Carnesville's still a long ways away."

"I know. As much as I'd like to stop them from going, I can't. I'll talk to them tomorrow, maybe I can convince them to stay. Or even come back."

Convince them to stay, Rick's words seemed to echo in Daryl's ears, and all over again he was thinking about his conversation with T-Dog.

"When did ya find out Glenn was stayin'?"

Rick raised an eyebrow at his companion, "at the farm? The minute we left. Why?"

"Why'd he wait so long?"

Rick held a water bottle in his hands, fiddling with it while he thought of an answer. "I think . . . maybe he was expecting, or hoping we wouldn't end up having to leave. Or have us stay longer. You know Glenn, I think as much as he wanted to be with Maggie, he still wanted to leave with us."

Daryl didn't say anything to that. After thinking about it, Daryl held his hand out at the water bottle with a questioning expression. Rick handed it over and Daryl twisted the cap off.

"Toby liked her. Maggie." Daryl said after taking a few gulps. He wiped his chin with his wrist, ridding of some stray water drops.

"I noticed."

"You did?" Daryl asked. He always wondered how the rest of the group saw the girl, what they noticed, what they didn't.

"It was hard not too. I don't think she's a fan of women." Rick chuckled a little bit.

"What makes you think that?" Daryl raised an eyebrow at him.

"From what I've seen, and what I've heard about before I showed up. She never did anything with Lori or Carol. Lori told me once how she washed her hair at camp, she talked a bit. Thought maybe she made some kind of breakthrough with her. Toby never let her do it again. Guess it didn't go as great as she thought."

Daryl scoffed, "Nothin's what you think with that girl."

"She also told Lori to fuck off."

The corners of Daryl's mouth twitched, "I missed that, not surprised though. She told Shane to fuck off, back when she hated his guts."

Daryl hated that he mentioned Shane, he seemed to just blurt it out. He watched Rick's reaction.

Rick looked down, taking the water bottle back, "you'll have to tell the whole story now."

Daryl recalled that day, surprised Rick wanted to hear about it. "Merle was teachin' her how ta skin a rabbit. Nobody liked that she followed him around, didn't trust us, which I get. Drove Shane nuts, I think that's why Merle let her stick 'round. Just to piss him off."

Rick nodded, listening.

"Anyway, Merle was helpin' her skin that rabbit, she made a mess, blood all up on her arms. Shane came to check up on her, freaked out, didn't like what Merle had her doin'. He tried to get her away, Merle told him to back off. I think he just really wanted a reason to punch the guy, he loved pickin' fights with him. Then she just said 'fuck off'. The look on his face was priceless."

Daryl let himself smile slightly, he always thought that had been funny. But he'd been so annoyed at Merle at the time, he didn't show it. He hated that Merle was causing drama with Shane just because of some kid. "Shane didn't really say anything to that, I don't think, I can't remember. Merle threatened him, saying something along the lines of us not huntin' for the group if he didn't leave us alone."

"And he did?"

"Yup," Daryl said. "Didn't stop warnin' her off us, but he didn't try anythin' like that again. Think that's the first time she stood up to him."

Rick was silent, Daryl watched him pick on the label on his water bottle.

"I wonder if it went that way . . ."

"Huh? What way?"

"I wonder if that's how it went, when he took her."

"Maybe, who knows. They were both bein' weird then."

"I can't get over it," Rick said quietly.

"'Course not, what ya had to do . . . that was fucked."

Rick shook his head, running a hand through his hair. "That's not what I'm talking about. I know he wasn't right in the end. I know he cared about her, he took care of her. Hell, he's the one that found her, of course he'd get attached. He'd tell me how he felt responsible for her, wanted her to feel safe. He even said he's the only one she has, which wasn't true, she had you. Either he didn't see it or he didn't want to."

"Me?" Daryl scoffed, trying to throw the focus off him.

Rick ignored him, everyone knew Daryl cared about Toby. Rick wasn't about to argue with him about it, he could figure it out on his own. "He kidnapped her. That's what I can't get over. I almost don't care he tried to kill me, I do care just . . . he dragged a child away from a group of people trying to thrive together. People protecting each other, we had food, weapons, but somehow he still thought it was safer, out there alone, with him."

"It don't matter now, it's over and done with."

"It does matter!" Rick pushed himself off the couch, the plastic water bottle crinkled his hand. "It's not done with. It's all I think about when I see her. And I know it's all she thinks about when she looks at me."

"You're really still thinkin' 'bout this?" Daryl asked him skeptically. Truth was Daryl thought about it sometimes, not as much as Rick. He wondered how she felt about Shane, whether she really wanted to leave with him. But he'd been so focused on getting her to respond or even eat that it wasn't the center of his thoughts on her. And since talking with T-Dog, he'd been thinking and wondering why she didn't stay with Maggie.

"Daryl, what if she screamed?" Rick said, turning to look down at Daryl. It was the first time he was sharing thoughts on that night, he never talked about it before. "What if she was yelling for us, screaming for help? And we didn't hear her. Is that why she's acting like this? I know she was close to Shane too, I thought she was grieving. But what if she just hates us because we didn't save her?"

"We did," Daryl answered simply. He never thought hard about if she fought back against Shane. He was getting annoyed at the image Rick was putting in his head.

"No, we chased them down, at the very last second because I was stupid. I wasn't thinking straight. I didn't want to believe he took her, and because of that we lost so much time and almost didn't get to them. We chased them down, cornered them, I killed him, made her watch. Then we dragged her away, and she got a fucking concussion."

"Didn't make her watch, just how shit went down. Couldn't help it."

"I just don't get it, after everything we went through just to get to the farm. The school, the CDC, our old camp. After all that, he thought it would be a good idea to grab her and take off."

Rick sighed. He stood, silent for several minutes.

"I'm sorry," Rick finally said. "Didn't mean to unload all that on you. Just worked up I guess. I really want this place to work out, and if it doesn't, then what?"

"Then Carnesville."

"And if that doesn't work?"

Daryl shrugged, "we'll burn that bridge when we get to it."

"Right. That'll work." Rick sighed again, "maybe we'll get lucky searching tomorrow. Would love to find something to drink, even just a beer."

"I need a fuckin' smoke. Been weeks, haven't found any. Ridiculous."

Rick laughed, then he sat down on the couch again. He leaned back, trying to relax.

"She don't hate us."

"Oh yeah, why? She say so?" Rick joked.

"Maggie asked her ta stay."

Rick sat up, his eyebrows furrowed, "what? Are you serious?"

"Yeah."

"So . . . why didn't she? You talked to Maggie?"

Daryl shook his head, "T told me earlier. Had no clue. All of ya wanted to stay there though, was a good deal. If she came with us still then . . . can't be that bad."

"Maybe my theory of her not liking women isn't too far off."

"Maybe she just don't like Maggie s'much we thought."

"Children," Rick shook his head. "Picky bastards."

Daryl let out a laugh then, Rick following suit.

"What made your brother teach her how to skin an animal, anyway?" Rick looked over, displaying a curious expression.

"She asked. Don't know what made him go 'long with it though."

"She just asked?"

"Kid came to us with three dead squirrels she killed, wanted ta know how ta do it. Was fucked."

Rick's mouth fell open, "that's . . . I have no idea what to say. I have no words for that. I think if Carl came to me with dead animals I'd lose my head."

Daryl tilted his head, giving Rick a serious look. "Got a problem with my squirrels, sheriff?"

Rick huffed out a laugh. "You know what I mean, before all this. Before we were glad for anything that isn't canned. It's still odd when I really think about it, eating a squirrel."

"Don't get that. When I first started bringin' game to camp, shoulda seen all the dirty looks I got. After a few weeks they were all hopin' I'd bring 'nough for 'em. Guess it's not the norm for you people, huntin' whatevers edible s'how I grew up."

"So I guess you weren't that surprised when Toby did that."

"Christ, you kiddin'? Eyes near popped outta my head. No one talked ta us less they had ta. Then this kid walks over askin' how ta cut up a squirrel? Can't remember if I even said anythin'."

"What would you even say to that? That would really freak me out, again, before all this. Don't they say mass murderers start out with small animals?" Rick was still smiling, he wasn't taking the thought seriously.

"I guess, it's different though. That's killin' and torturin' for no reason. Dead world or no, there's a reason for it. You kill to eat, psychos just kill cause they can. No reason for it. No torturin' either, it's quick when huntin'."

"Huh," Rick let out thoughtfully, that hadn't occurred to him. Then he laughed, "except for that deer, that wasn't so quick. Remember, in Atlanta? Didn't you spend days tracking that thing for a Walker to get it?"

Daryl was confused for a moment, then remembered the day he first met Rick. The deer he'd been tracking, he'd shot it a few times, but it kept getting away.

"That was different," Daryl looked at Rick seriously, "that thing was a fuckin' asshole."

They both laughed.

The two men turned their heads as they heard someone descending down the stairs. Lori reached the last steps, her arms were crossed over her swollen belly. She wasn't very big yet, but she was getting there quick.

"The kids are out. Carl passed out right away, poor thing, he never really could sleep in the RV." Lori made her way around the couch, slowly settling into an armchair across from them. "Toby took longer. She's sleeping on the floor."

"On the floor?" Daryl repeated.

"The room had two of those single beds. She wouldn't go on the other. I kept telling her, but she wouldn't look at me. I found her a spare blanket in the closet, she took it but still laid on the floor. At least she's sleeping though."

"Not for long," Daryl commented.

"Tonight could be better," Rick assured. "We're sheltered, in a safe place. Maybe she'll get a good night's rest."

Daryl grunted, lifting his feet onto the coffee table. The group had finally witnessed, and heard Toby's night terrors. Daryl rarely set up their tent, so both of them were usually sleeping in the RV or close to the others somewhere else. This made it hard for Daryl to quiet her down before other noticed, she slept separately from him more often since leaving the farm. That made it harder to prepare and help her. Though, the way he used to help hadn't had much effect on her then it did before.

She'd jump up, screaming bloody murder until someone woke her up, then, out of fear and embarrassment, she didn't let herself go back to sleep. The first time they ever witnessed her night terrors was back at the nursing home. Shane had been there to try and help her, Lori had coddled her too much for comfort. But since then, they never had a chance to see how serious her problem was.

"It's nice to be out of the RV." Rick said, "it was warmer with all of us crammed in there but I don't think there was a comfortable place to sleep in the whole damn thing. And the noise . . . jeez, there was always someone rolling over, coughing, or just waking up from a nightmare. Toby's not the only one."

"And the smell, don't forget the smell," Lori commented.

"That thing did get pretty ripe near the end." Rick laughed, it was the first time he'd laughed with his wife in months.

The three sat in silence for a while, enjoying the silence. They all turned to look out the large window in the living room. It was still snowing lightly, but the wind blew it around so much it gave the impression it was coming down harder than it was.

"I can't believe it's snowing. I knew it would come but . . . It feels like forever since Atlanta."

"No matter how much shit we go through, we can always depend on the shitty weather." Rick shook his head. Watching the snow was peaceful, in a way, but he couldn't help a bad feeling creeping into his gut.

The weather was just another thing that would have power over them.

The weather could break them.

They just had to hope for the best.

Thank you to Rasha007 for all her help! I had some trouble with Rick and Daryl's conversation, which was so fun to write! I loved getting Rick opinion out there. Rasha007 pointed out some areas there I went wrong and helped me fix it up.

I had a lot of trouble naming the chapter haha. Hope you enjoyed it.

Review and let me know what you think!