The storage units were disgusting. Even by his standard. Unfortunately, what had intended to be a quick scavenge for anything for new camping gear, maybe some winter clothes, had ended with the whole lot of them barricading themselves in a corridor with eight storage units.
They were herding, they'd figured that much out. The Walkers were grouping together and wandering in the same direction, although they hadn't figured out why exactly.
The door was barricaded and then they unleashed the crowd of Geeks in one of the lockers and took care of them too. But the stench of death was inescapable. Not a window or a vent in sight to take a breath of fresh air.
Most of the units were piled high with junk. Crap that Daryl couldn't believe people would pay to keep.
There was just one more to give the all clear and he smashed the hinges of the door to pieces and pulled it open, stepping aside for T-Dog to go in with the flashlight, bat raised.
"What the hell is this?" The other man muttered.
Daryl pulled his own light out and stopped behind T-Dog's shoulder.
"That." He cleared his throat. "That is about quarter of a mil of coke."
To his credit, T-Dog did not ask how he knew such facts, instead just wondered out loud, who dared store drugs in a storage container?
Whoever they were, Daryl was grateful. Because not only was there drugs, there was plenty of other things, things that were of far more value now. Guns. Lots of guns.
Money, well they could burn that. Not in the storage lockers, not with no decent ventilation, but it was dry, safely tucked into gym bags and would be easy to burn up.
The jewelry had no use, trinkets and baubles that to his eye were tacky and served no purpose but he didn't do more than roll his eyes as Beth cooed and ahhed over them, finally snapping a sparkly, jangling bracelet around her wrist.
He watched Carol from the corner of his eye as strings of pearls slid through her fingers, smiling softly as they clattered against each other. Her other hand rested on the pendant around her neck, the small cross zipping back and forth across the chain.
She didn't touch it so much anymore. Didn't ever say much about God or Jesus. He'd never been on for that religion stuff, never saw nothing good in putting your faith in something that you couldn't see, but it made him sad.
She'd lost something that had brought her comfort. He didn't like that. There was nothing else to hold onto in this world and it had never interfered with their survival.
"We'll have to stay in here tonight. It's the best one." Rick told them with a resigned sigh, dragging aside an empty box.
"It stinks." Beth wrinkled her nose and Carl's face was similar, despite his attempts at mirroring his father's stoic expression.
"Yeah." Glenn sighed and helped Rick pull aside the empty and useless boxes and bags.
He took charge of tugging the fallen Walkers as far away from them as possible. Stacking them in another unit to try and alleviate the stench.
It was freezing. No surprise in what basically a steel box. But they were not prepared for the cold snap. Didn't have nearly enough.
When he turned back to the group, they sat hunched in a circle, splitting open the few bottles of water that somebody, thankfully, had remembered to bring. Their food was sitting up in the cars and he knew they were all thinking the same thing - that no member of the living would roll up and snatch up their hard earned supplies while they sat locked in a giant tin can.
He shook her his head when Carol passed him her half-drunk bottle and instead slid down the wall of the storage locker a couple of feet away from her, dropping his crossbow between them.
"Daryl." She hissed his name lowly and suddenly the bottle landed in his lap forcefully. He twisted his head to give her a filthy look. Her breath was visible as she breathed and he suddenly got chills of his own. She didn't even flinch and he quickly realised that there was something not quite right about her. Something that didn't fit.
He shook the thought away, tipping his head back and closing his eyes as Rick rattled on about giving it four hours and then trying to make a break.
He couldn't have been asleep long, no more than a half hour, but the place had quietened down, just the faint moan of Walkers outside and the odd soft snore of one of the others.
Daryl leant forward, cracked his limbs softly. There was one torch left on, up near Rick and Carl and it cast the barest of glows over towards where he sat. He heard a shuffle on his right and remembered Carol was sitting closest to him.
She shivered and he realised she wasn't asleep.
"A'right?" He murmured, moving the crossbow aside.
"Mmhm." Carol wrapped her arms around herself once she's sat up properly. "Just cold, is all." One palm rubbed up for bicep, over her shoulder and collarbone. As her finger tips brushed her clavicle, he realised what was up, her necklace was gone.
"Where'd it go?" He nodded at her neck.
She looked at him quizzically for a second and then her fingers flexed against her skin as she realised what he meant.
"Oh. I - I don't need it anymore."
Well. What was he was supposed to say to that? Why the fuck did he even ask?
But it seemed even though he didn't ask for an explanation, Carol was giving it to him. She scooted over a little, so he could feel her body heat, not that there was all that much of it.
"I decided...I mean, I've been thinking on it a good while now...and I decided to put my faith in what has been tried and tested for a good long while now and hasn't failed me yet."
He raised one eyebrow at that, tilted his head to get a good look at her. Wondered what the hell she was going on about.
She shivered a little more.
"I decided to put my faith in you."
They both stilled. Daryl's heart swelled with - well, he wasn't altogether sure. Pride? Maybe. But it sunk too. She was setting herself up for a world of disappointment if she was betting all her chips on him.
"Sorry." She took a deep breath. "That came out wrong. I mean to say. I am putting my faith in people. In us. Me. You. The group. The people who have kept me going so far."
That sounded a little better. Even made him crack a smile.
Carol nudged his shoulder. "Didn't mean to freak you out." She whispered, crossing her arms back over her front.
"Ya didn't." He cleared his throat. "'Sides, used to you an' your crazy talk." He kept his voice light, but he knew she wouldn't take offence. They'd gotten comfortable with each other over the winter. Knew what each other's limits were. "Now get some rack."
She shuddered once more, knocking his shoulder and he let out a little sigh. "C'mere." He tugged her legs into his lap and wrapped an arm around her shoulders, pushing her into the heat of his own body. Thank fuck the light was low. He'd give her an hour, then she'd have to make do. He couldn't be doing with all the gossipy crap that seemed to takeover the group when they were bored.
She buried her face into the front of his vest and sighed with contentment. As she relaxed into him, he wondered if maybe if what she had said to him had come out right after all.