I was going to wait and post this tomorrow but vickih offered me cookies so I thought I'd go ahead and post now since the chapter just needed a few things to make it postable. I just made that word up. I'm glad most of you were okay with how Carol is handling things. I know that she was rougher than she normally would have been with Sophia but the truth is, if Sophia hadn't been so eager to get to her mother that day maybe she wouldn't have slipped out from under that car and gotten herself bitten. Those are the kind of thoughts that Carol's lived with for a year. Wondering what she could have done differently to have avoided her daughter's death. So in this story she stops with the coddling and starts with the tough love. Because now she has a chance to stop everything bad. There are more familiar faces on the way and we are closer to what you are all waiting for. I'm really excited for you to read that part. Thank you all for reading and I really appreciate all of your feedback! Much love to you all!

New Boots and a Gun

Chapter Seven

Carol sat in the relative silence for a few minutes before she got out of her car to head into Sophia's school. Her car had been totaled in the accident but the insurance covered it and now she was the proud owner of a slightly used SUV.

She had a meeting with her attorney earlier that afternoon and she was still dumbstruck. She still couldn't believe what he had told her. She had money. She had a lot of money. It had been a utility company truck that had hit her and the driver had been under the influence of prescription drugs that he had no prescription for. There was no way the case could be disputed. Everything had moved quickly.

She had been struggling to feed Sophia all week since Ed had left. It wasn't too hard to provide for the girl though. She had put in job applications at a lot of different places and she was hoping one would call her soon. She didn't think she had to worry about all of that anymore though. Not after that meeting earlier.

She looked at herself in the rearview mirror and couldn't help but smile a little. She was wearing makeup. Ed had never let her wear it before and it made her feel like a real rebel to be defying him. Of course, forcing him out of their house after she hit him like she had had made her feel good also. But this was kind of like the icing on the cake.

She got out of the car and was heading towards the doors when she heard footsteps behind her. She had been picking Sophia up from school since Ed had left since she could never be sure that he wouldn't come after Sophia to get back at her. She spun around quickly.

Lori Grimes.

Carol took a few steps back and her hand went to her mouth. The last time she had seen Lori she had been grotesquely swollen. She had been in the last few weeks of her pregnancy. The pregnancy that had killed her. It seemed like she hadn't seen her in ages. She tried hard to blink back the tears, it worked for the most part, but she still stood there misty eyed in front of a woman who most likely had no idea who she was.

Lori stopped, a frown coming down between her eyes. She stared at Carol for a few long seconds and then shook her head. "I'm so sorry but for a second there I could have sworn that I knew you from somewhere." Lori smiled and offered Carol her hand just to break the awkwardness of the moment. "I'm Lori. Lori Grimes."

Carol took in a steadying breath and smiled herself as she shook Lori's hand. "I'm Carol. Carol Peletier. I felt the same way. Like I knew you from somewhere."

"Peletier?" Realization shone in Lori's eyes. "You're Sophia's mama. Her and my son are good friends. My husband was the first on the scene when you had that horrible accident."

"Carl. Is that your son?" Carol asked, already knowing the answer.

Lori nodded. "Yes, that's him. Sophia must talk about him as much as he talks about her." The smile that lit up Lori's face almost had Carol's breath catching.

Sophia had never mentioned Carl before but she couldn't tell Lori that. "All the time," Carol lied smoothly as she smiled back.

The two of them walked towards the doors leading into the school. "I was going to take Carl out for ice cream. Would you and Sophia like to come along. Carl would love to be able to hang out with someone other than his mom. He's getting to be that age where I'm not the coolest person to be around all the time," Lori laughed.

Carol saw an opportunity then. She knew it wasn't right to feed that strange thing that had happened to her in her coma but she couldn't pass up the opportunity. Those people in that world were here now. She saw an opportunity to have them back in a strange way. "I'd love that," She said with a watery smile.

Unsurprising to Carol she saw Sophia and Carl walking together. When Sophia saw her she grinned. Carol could hardly take her eyes off of Carl. He too looked exactly like he had looked when they had all met on the road before the quarry. There was not a hint of the haunted boy she had left at the prison that night. The night he had told her to tell Sophia hi for him.

"Carl, this is my mom." Sophia said happily when they finally approached her and Lori.

Carl frowned up at her as she watched him. He studied her for a long moment. "Nice to meet you," he smiled uncertainly.

Carol shook her head forcing that smile to stay on her lips. She was proud of herself for being able to hold her emotions in check. How many more of them were out there? Rick and Shane for sure. What about Andrea? Amy? Dale? God, she could have all of them if she could just find them.

She couldn't help but think about Daryl's words. He had told her not to forget. He told her that she needed to remember. And then he said something else. Something that was right there at the edge of her consciousness but she couldn't quite grasp it.

Carol let Sophia ride with Lori and Carl while she followed. She scanned the sidewalks for anyone else that may look familiar to her but she didn't see anyone. Not anyone she recognized. She pulled in beside Lori and met them at Lori's car.

They stayed in the booth long after their ice cream was gone as she urged Lori to talk. Lori seemed to be so happy. Happier than she had ever seen her at the quarry. Other than when Rick had made it to them, but even that happiness had been tainted with betrayal. This woman was much different from the one she had grown to know and love.

She rambled on about her husband, causing Carol to force tears back. She remembered how desperately Rick had clung to her when he found out she was leaving the prison. Her brother. A stranger that she fiercely loved. Why did things have to be so confusing?

"Would you like to come over for dinner tomorrow night?" Lori asked when they were finally getting ready to leave. "Rick is taking the night off and his best friend will be there. I think you might like him." She winked.

"Shane?" Carol asked without thinking.

Lori blinked. "Yes, Shane Walsh. Do you know him?"

Carol realized her mistake. "I think you mentioned him."

Carol had mixed feelings when it came to Shane. He had been kind to her from the very beginning. He had tried to protect her from Ed at the quarry. He had tried to comfort her on the farm after Sophia had stumbled out of the barn. He had done horrible things. Rotten selfish things. But he had always seemed to go out of his way to treat her well. Shane was a victim of circumstance. He was in love with Lori, probably had been long before the quarry, and that was what happened to Shane Walsh. She had never really blamed Lori for what had happened. Lori was just as much a victim as Shane had been.

"Carol?" Lori asked, jerking her out of her reverie.

"I'd love too." She said quickly, not even giving herself time to think about it.

"Mom, can Sophia sleep over?" Carl asked as he looked up from where him and Sophia had been sitting with there heads together. "She can have my room and I'll take the sofa." His face was so hopeful.

Lori looked over at her. "I don't know what your rules are for boy/girl sleepovers. But I'll keep an eye on them, if you would like a night to yourself. We'd love having her."

Carol glanced at Sophia, hope clear on the girl's face. She instantly got nervous at the thought of her little girl not being home all night. But then again Sophia shouldn't have to suffer for her own insecurities. She wasn't worried at all about the two trying anything sneaky. They had spent almost all of their time together at the quarry.

"I don't see a problem with it. As long as you're sure Rick won't mind," Carol said, her voice not letting any of her nervousness show.

Lori and both children beamed. This was okay. Sophia would be with Rick and she would be safe. No walkers. No Governor. Nothing crazy going on. Besides, with Ed still out on the prowl Sophia was probably a lot safer with the Grimes family than she was in her own home at the moment.

"I'm so glad to have run into you today," Lori said right before she climbed into her car with the kids.

"Me too. You have no idea. I'll pack Sophia an overnight bag and drop it off in a few hours," Carol called before she got into her own car.

She waited for Lori to pull out and wave as her and kids took off down the street. That whole encounter had been very emotional and Carol needed a few moments to just feel it all for a second. First Glenn and now Lori and Carl? This had to mean something. Lori and Rick were married. Shane was Rick's best friend. She was sure if she had had a chance to talk to Glenn she would already know all about him. Everything that happened to her while she was in a coma was surely a horrible nightmare that her subconscious had created. But the people were real. Their histories and personalities were real. She already knew them. But she knew she had never met them before. Why now?

She put the car in reverse and was about to back out into the street when she had to slam on the breaks. Someone hurried from around the side of the building and was now walking right behind her car.

She could have ran the guy over! She needed to focus. She needed to go home and really think about the things that were going on. She didn't speed but she did get home as fast as she could. This wasn't a coincidence. This was something else. She felt a ball of dread settle in her chest.

When she pulled up into her driveway she cursed out loud. Ed was sitting on the porch. He looked up when he heard the car door slam. She stormed towards him, eyes flashing daggers at the man that she loathed to the core.

"What the hell are you doing here?"

He didn't look angry at her tone. "We need to talk," he said in a level voice.

She crossed her arms over her chest and glared. "We've talked enough. I don't have anything left to say to you, Ed. You made your bed, lay in it."

"I came here to tell you that I'm sorry. I plan on changing, but you have to give me a chance."

She wanted to snarl at him. She wanted to put her boot in his face. Well, until she realized she wasn't wearing boots today. "I don't need to hear that you're sorry Ed. There shouldn't be so much for you to be sorry for. You beat the hell out of me. You tormented my daughter. You made me miserable. But you were right."

He looked down. "Right about what?" he asked in a pathetic voice.

"Every single time you called me a stupid whore. A stupid bitch. It was true. You were right because it would take one raging idiot of a person to put up with everything you dished out. But I'm not a stupid whore anymore. I'm not a stupid bitch anymore. You make me sick and you need to stay away from me. I'm not gonna listen to anything you have to say."

He stood up, attempting to look intimidating. She met his eyes unflinchingly. "Where is Sophia?" he asked.

"Spending the night with a friend," she snapped. "Not that it's any of your business." She went to open the door but he grabbed her by the wrists, squeezing painfully.

She reached up and clawed his face as she yanked her wrist out of his grip. He shoved her back against the door and then turned and lumbered down the steps, holding his face where her nails had dug into his skin.

She kept her back pressed into the door as she watched him go. She imagined shooting him right in the back of the head. She didn't go back inside until she saw him round the corner, where he must have parked his car. She locked the deadbolt and then checked the windows throughout the house quickly. She took the gun out of her purse and sat it on the coffee table, staring at it angrily.

This was the first gun she had ever even touched. Physically. She had touched plenty in her head. While she slept for all those weeks. So if she had never, not once in her life, touched a gun, how did she know exactly how to take the damn thing apart to clean it? Which is what she had done as soon as she had gotten home with it.

That dread was still there, dense and oppressing. This all had to mean something. Daryl had told her not to forget. She needed to remember exactly what he had said to her.

"They're comin'," she gasped as the words left her lips. She shot up off the couch and rushed to the door, her heart racing and her palms growing sweaty. "He said they were comin' and I needed to remember it," she said to the empty room. She flung the door open and stepped out onto the porch, looking up and down the street. Everything seemed to be normal. But nothing was. Walkers were coming. That nightmare world would be coming to life. She knew it as a certainty. If there was one thing she knew for certain it was that Daryl wouldn't have lied to her. He had warned her. Or her mind had warned her. She didn't understand it but that didn't matter. What mattered was that she didn't ignore this. His warning was a gift. She would trust him like she had always trusted him.

She went back inside, locking the door behind her once more and leaning her back against it as she focused on her breathing. How was she going to warn her group? This wasn't something that they would take seriously. She would be lucky if they didn't try to have her committed, leaving Sophia alone once more with Ed. An angry Ed, who would want to take revenge for the things that she had done.

But how could she not? How could she let history repeat itself, so to speak. She hadn't been dreaming of the apocalypse. It had been a warning. Some sort of trauma induced psychic vision. But she had flourished there. She could protect all of them. She just didn't know how to do it.

The phone rang, causing her to jump, her hand going to her throat. She hurried to answer it.

"Hi, mom," Sophia's happy voice said into her ear, soothing her nerves for a second.

She tried to keep her voice steady. "Hi, honey. You miss me yet?" The smile on her face was genuine.

"I do. But not enough to want to come home. I was going to ask you if you can bring my battleship game with you when you brought my clothes and stuff."

"Sure. I'll see you in a little while." She said quietly.

"Be careful, okay?" Sophia asked, her tone bordering on nervousness herself.

"I will, but is everything okay?" she frowned.

"I'm fine. I just..." Sophia's voice trailed off.

"Sophia, what's wrong?" Carol could feel panic setting in.

"I just feel weird. I don't know how to explain it. You know how you feel right before you have to take a test that you know you haven't studied for? I kind of feel like that but there isn't really any reason for it. I felt like that the day that truck hit you. Before we even knew what was going on."

"Everything is going to be fine. Alright? You don't have to worry about anything. I know the feeling. But there isn't any reason for it. You have fun and I'll be there in a few hours."

"Okay. I love you, mom."

"I love you too."

She hung up the phone and grabbed the gun on the table. Checking and then double checking to make sure it was loaded. Just like Daryl and Rick had taught her to do. She changed into a pair of the jeans she had bought herself earlier. Once she realized how much money she had at her fingertips she had, in typical woman fashion, went shopping for new clothes. Everything she owned belonged to a dead woman. A dead woman that wore what her husband told her to wear. She needed a change.

She pulled a black tank top over her head and then, instead of shoving the gun back in her purse she actually stuffed it into the back of her pants. She instantly felt better with the cold steel pressed against her skin. She grabbed a sleeveless button down shirt that was a few sizes too big and put that on over the tank top. Hopefully it hid the slight bulge where the gun lay. She opened up the shoebox that was lying on her bed and smirked at the small black combat boots nestled in the tissue paper there. She had bought them on impulse. Knowing how important it was to have good strong boots when you might need to bolt from a herd. She had scoffed at herself earlier. Now these boots, strangely enough, represented the Carol now. She kicked off her simple white keds and tossed them in the waste basket.

After lacing up the boots she stood up and looked at herself in the mirror. She steadied herself with a deep breath. This was going to be the start of a whole new Carol. She was going to find the rest of her group. She was going to start preparing for what she knew was coming. And tonight she was going on a mission. She was determined now because she knew, without a shadow of a doubt, that he knew something too. Tonight she was going to find Daryl Dixon. She just had to prepare herself to face the person she had first encountered at the quarry and not the man that she loved. It was going to be a hell of an emotional journey.