[ Author's Note: It took me months to work up the courage to post my story (chapters 1-4) and then I was too chicken to read your comments... Stuff & things took over my life, and now I finally feel creative again. I read your comments and I am so excited that you liked it! Here's a few more chapters... I have ideas for more, but I don't know when I'll get them typed up. Again, thank you to everyone who read the beginning, I definitely appreciate it. ]
CHAPTER 5: The Mill
After leaving the bar, they drove north for three days, bypassing any major cities and sticking to the smaller paved roads. Everyone was hungry and grouchy, since they were barely able to find any food or beverages in the cars and convenience stores they searched. Each night they slept in their vehicles, Carol in the back seat of the Grimes's SUV and Daryl sitting up with T-Dog in the pickup. In the worry of running and scavenging, no one (not even Maggie) mentioned what had happened in the bar.
Late in the afternoon on the sixth day out from the farm they passed a quaint sign: "Millsville, population 23" and Rick stopped the convoy in front of an old brick building. There may have been a small town here long ago, but now it was just a dozen houses and this stolid brick edifice along the riverside.
As they all got out of their vehicles, Daryl nodded to Rick in approval and said "Good thinking!"
Carl looked at his father questioningly. Rick explained: "Look here son, we've got a strong brick building, and most of its windows were bricked over long ago. It'll be easy to defend if any Walkers find us. And it's a mill, on a river, so we'll have fresh water. This might be a place we can stay a while."
Carl nodded his understanding, and Lori hugged her son to her side, giving a small smile to Rick. Hershel stayed outside with the women while the men went inside to check for Walkers. The building was not locked, but the door was closed, and to their delight there was no one, living or dead, inside. So they all dragged in the supplies they would need for a couple meals, and what meager bedding they had, and set about making a place to rest and refresh.
Hershel found the lid of a metal trash can and some fallen bricks behind the building and brought them inside, building a rudimentary fire pit near a high broken window. He then showed Carl how to break up branches and create a teepee style fire. They had saved several empty beer cans and bottles from the bar, and Hershel set about the task of boiling river water to make it safe for drinking.
While T-Dog stood watch, all the women went to the river bank and washed up a bit. Daryl and Rick debated the possibility of getting onto the mill's roof for taking watch, but since they didn't have any ladders or ropes, it really wasn't feasible. Everyone tried to stay quiet, just in case there were walkers in the houses nearby.
When darkness fell, Daryl and Glenn took the first watch, patrolling around the mill and their vehicles, which had all been parked near the door, facing outwards in case they needed to leave in a hurry. When their watch was over, Glenn curled up with Maggie and Daryl looked around til he saw Carol curled up in a moonbeam. A small smile came to his face, unbidden, along with the thought "purty" quickly followed by "what the hell?" and a shake of his head. He turned away and decided to sleep by the door with his hand on his knife, just in case.
In the morning, Rick described a strategy for searching the nearby houses, and they all set to work. There were a few Walkers to be killed here and there, but overall it was a quiet little town in the middle of nowhere, which was wonderful, except for one thing: when they had used up all the supplies they found in the houses, there was no place nearby to get anything else… so after 4 days there, they had to move on. In all those cool autumn days, Daryl and Carol never discussed what had happened at the bar, and Carol shrugged it off, assuming that he didn't even remember. By the time they left Millsville, everyone was feeling a bit better, with clean clothes and cold baths all around, and they were getting used to having their stomachs growl constantly.