Hi all!

This one is kind of short, but I felt like putting up a chapter with a bit of character interaction, rather than just action. Hope you enjoy, but if not you can let me know.

As always, I own nothing to do with The Walking Dead.


Blake and Michonne rummaged through the tools in the garage and basement, looking for tools to increase the security of the house. On the bright side, Blake knew her father had grabbed multiple barrel bolt locks from a hardware store when the strange news broadcasts started; he had been worried about a break-in. The unfortunate part of the situation was that her father had not gotten a chance to install the locks, so Blake had no idea where they were.

"Where could they be?" Blake sat back on her heels, tired of kneeling in front of the tool cupboard at the back of the garage. The basement had proven to be useless on the tool front in general, though there was a hefty amount of canned goods and other mostly non-perishable foods.

"Didn't find them?" Michonne asked form the other side of the garage. She was searching through a box filled with an abundance of random things; pipes, wood, kid's books, if you could name it, it was probably in there. Everything accept locks.

"No, you know they could be-" Blake suddenly smacked her forehead in disbelief, the realisation hitting her like a ton of bricks. "In my dad's backpack which is at the safe zone the government people took us to. Oh good."

"Great." Michonne sighed.

"Yeah I know. I forgot he grabbed them right before the government came to rescue the neighbourhood. He had them in his backpack when they came through."

"Well, all of the locks are intact at the moment, so we do have the option of waiting for a bit until we need to reinforce anything." Michonne reasoned.

"Point taken," Blake got to her feet, "but I'd rather not wait around until something needed to be reinforced. Because then we're pretty well screwed."

"You're right." Michonne decided she should really stop trying to reassure this girl with the logic she would've used to console a child. Blake knew better that to trust the illusion of safety. "But it'll hold for a night."

"Yeah." Blake knew that part was most likely correct. "We should go get supplies tomorrow. There's a strip mall with a hardware store not too far from here. There has to be something useful there."

"Sounds like a plan." Michonne thought. "We'll let Rick know."

"Okay." Blake followed Michonne back into the house, making sure the door was locked as they went back into the living room to check on Carl and Rick. Michonne went to the kitchen first, grabbing some food for dinner, while Blake went straight to the living room and sat on the floor.

"How's he doing?" She asked, seeing Carl's paler than usual face.

"He hasn't woken up since you took the bullet out." Rick hadn't moved in that time; he just sat next to the couch, watching Carl, worrying about him. "It's been almost six hours."

"Give him time." Blake assured, watching the steady rise and fall of Carl's chest. He was breathing easily, which was a good sign. "He needs rest in order to heal. It happened this morning, he needs more than a few hours."

Michonne came into the room then, carrying a can of corn, box of crackers and bottle of water. "Dinner is served." She placed the items on the coffee table that sat between the entrance and the couch, then sat down on the opposite side Rick and Blake were on.

Nobody ate very much considering the events of that day, but they knew skipping meals when food was available would be an absolutely idiotic thing to do.

"So Blake and I were thinking about going on a supply run tomorrow." Michonne said to break the silence.

"That so?" Rick's mind was elsewhere, and his gaze kept wandering over his shoulder. "Where to?"

"There's a strip mall around, about two hours walk." Blake said, her gaze also kept sneaking over her shoulder to her unconscious friend. "Hardware store, clothes, I think there's even a pharmacy, if memory serves."

"Alright." Rick grunted. He wasn't one for conversation at the moment, which Michonne and Blake understood.

"If we head just after dawn we should be back by early afternoon." Michonne was mostly thinking aloud, but also trying to console Rick about their impending absence.

"And when we get back we'll have more food and clean clothes." Blake added.

"Yeah." Rick knew runs were necessary, but he was having trouble being okay with his family leaving without him. Especially since their destination was pretty far away.

The conversation ended after that. Everyone just sat, quietly staring around as the room got darker. Surprisingly, it was Rick who finally broke the silence. "We should all get some rest." He suggested. "I'll take watch, just in case."

"No." Michonne objected. "I'll take first watch. You need to sleep." It was obvious that Rick was about to interject, but Michonne held up a hand. "You can take second, Blake can have third."

Rick looked like he was going to argue, but then a yawn caught him off guard, proving Michonne's point. He sighed, defeated. "Fine. I'll take second."

Blake watched the exchange, her eyelids heavy from the excitement of the day. She definitely wasn't going to argue with getting to sleep first.

"Good." Blake got up and went to the linen cupboard again, this time pulling two quilts down from the top shelf. "Here." She tossed one to Michonne, who caught it and began unfolding it to wrap around herself. Blake carried the other one over to Carl, unfolded it and draped it over him. The nights were cold, despite the fact that they were inside; it was clear that winter would be upon them soon. "Come on." She gestured for Rick to stand. "There are three bedrooms upstairs."


Not much excitement, mostly a filler. Even in writing characters need a rest sometimes. Next chapter will most likely be more exciting.

Please review!