They needed things. Plain and simple.
The large store that loomed in front of them had those things and then some. Daryl knew it made sense but he couldn't shake the feeling that this was a bad idea.
Buffy and Faith seemed to think that clearing a Home Depot wouldn't be nearly as difficult as it sounded, and at first he believed them. The promise of lumber for better fencing, additional solar panels, water filtration for the well, tankless water heaters and other things that only used to be possible before the turn was enough to make the entire group surge forward with the plan as if it were fool proof.
Then they'd arrived and all his reservations came back full force. It was entirely overrun with walkers. There was no way they'd be clearing this mess without ending up on the dinner menu.
They were littered across the parking lot, stumbling around the enclosed garden area and he was certain just as many roamed the aisles of the building. Yeah, they needed shit, but they also needed to be alive to use it.
He glanced around himself at the others who'd been assigned this mission. Glenn, Rosita, seven of the women from the farm and Faith. It seemed like a significant number when they left.
Now it paled in comparison to the hordes that waited ahead.
"There's too many, won't make it ten feet in."
Faith snorted next to him. "Oh ye of little faith. See what I did there?"
He ignored her pun and watched her direct the others on the most logical route to clear the area. Couldn't believe they were still going ahead with it, but he had to hand it to her, she seemed to know what the hell she was talking about as she mapped out the strategy.
He was to hang back and put a bolt through anything that snuck up on them. Faith and four of the others would take the lead, Glenn and Rosita in the middle and the remaining people at the back.
"Stay together if you can, try not to split up." She leveled a stare at the women from her own group and continued. "Keep it to head shots and decapitations, people. I start seeing anything that's not reasonable and we're gonna have a problem."
He had no idea what that even meant but there wasn't time to question her before they were dispersing. Leaving him a few steps behind while they surged forward.
If he had any doubts about their potential success what he was watching now washed them away faster than one of his arrows through a walker skull.
They moved across the lot like a swarm of loctus. The walkers barely had time to notice they were being hunted until it was too late, and that's exactly what this was. A hunt. Glenn and Rosita held their own admirably but the others were fixated on the task at hand like lions after a herd of very slow gazelle and he'd be damned if he didn't spot a full out smile on Faith's face as she slashed through two walkers at once. A few strays got a little close for comfort a time or two and he'd dispatched them quickly, but half his quiver was still full by the time the lot was clear. Couldn't have taken more than fifteen minutes tops.
"Who the fuck are these people." He muttered to himself before jogging up to the others at the front of the building.
Clearing the inside had been just as easy despite there being a walker at every turn and he was suddenly brimming with questions that he had no idea how to voice.
Daryl remembered when they took the prison. How they'd stayed in formation and somehow managed to survive, but it was never in question how dangerous the challenge was and it had remained a challenge until the last walker was down.
This on the other hand, started out a challenge and quickly morphed into something else. Had to be a logical explanation, he thought. Maybe they had just adjusted exceptionally well to this life. Maybe they'd been in the military. Maybe they were all insane and suicidal.
Something was off. He just couldn't put his finger on what.
Less than half an hour from when they started Daryl was pushing a rolling cart to the lumber area with Faith and a few others hot on his heels. They would start there, with the most needed items and work their way through the rest of the store after they'd loaded up as much wood as they could haul.
"Looks like there's a party on aisle twelve. Wanna grab a few things for you and the Mrs, Dixon?"
He glanced up at the signs that listed what each lane carried and just shook his head in frustration at Faith. It was going to be one of those days. She could never just mind her damn business and leave him be. Her voice floated over to him again as if to confirm that thought.
"Chains and rope too hardcore? You more of a feathers and candlelight sort of guy? I can respect that."
She was loading lumber into the cart next to him and he lost his internal battle to ignore her entirely. "Stop."
If he thought that would back her off he was wrong because she only snickered. "I'm just trying to do my civic duty as your friend and help you get laid, ok. It's my job and I take it seriously."
He paused just slightly in his actions at her statement. She thought they were friends.
Rick was a friend. Glenn too. Probably everyone from his group if he was being technical. Carol was absolutely a friend even if that seemed far too light a word to describe her.
Talking about anything other than plans and strategies and how to fucking survive hadn't been on the agenda for him in a long time though. Was this how friends behaved when they didn't have a hundred kills shared between them? If he had to compare Faith to anyone, personality wise at least, his brother was a more fitting option. Teasing him about banging Carol while she was tied up with chains from the Home Depot was right up Merle's alley. He snorted at the mental image of his brother on this run with them, going toe to toe with Faith in all the outrageous things they would say to him.
"Why we talking 'bout this?"
She shrugged. "What else are we gonna talk about? You and the housewife are the closest thing to another episode of reality tv I'll ever see again."
"My life isn't a reality show."
"Did you even talk to her yet? It's been a week. You've been extra dark and broody lately and while some women, not naming names…Buffy….find that endearing I'm not one of them."
He didn't respond and she let out a dramatic sigh. "I'm gonna tie you both together with something from this store until you either fight it out or fuck it out. Don't test me, Dixon."
"Can't just talk to her. She's going through some shit. Don't need me pressing her about it."
Faith hefted the last board onto the cart and grabbed three more for good measure to carry over her shoulder as they left for the truck. "We're all going through some shit. It's sort of par for the course. Who the fuck else is gonna press her about it?"
"Ain't that simple."
"Ain't that complicated either. Go back there and show her you give a shit. Either by straight up saying so, or just grab her and throw her up against a wall and…"
She made a grunting noise to punctuate the last sentence and he stared open mouthed at her.
"There's somethin' wrong with you."
"I've been telling her that for years." Came a disembodied voice from inside the store.
She raised an eyebrow at him. "Unless the field where you grow your fucks is now barren. In which case don't do anything."
He looked away. She had him there. "The field ain't barren. Can we just get our shit and go? Don't you need one of them tankless water things you've been going on about?"
Her face lit up at his comment, like she had entirely forgotten about the object of her desire until then. "Oh my god, I do need that! They better have a bunch of those because I'm not above fighting all of you for one."
She was heading into the store, intent on finding the plumbing aisle before she turned and started backing away from him, her expression innocent. "Unless…you and Carol could use one? I hear it's great for shower sex. Unlimited hot water right at your fingertips. Just sayin' "
He scowled. "Jesus Christ."
It had barely taken a few hours to loot the store and bring back everything they needed. Home improvement items seemed to be the last thing on everyone's list at the end of the world because it had all been there, just waiting to be plucked off the shelves and driven back.
Daryl slid out of the truck and headed for the medical area. Had no idea what he was gonna say to Carol when he got there, but Faith was right. He had to stop avoiding the situation. Stop letting her avoid him.
He rounded the corner and pushed open the door and starred in slack-jawed shock at the sight of one of the girls dripping blood from her shoulder and onto the floor. The unmistakable outline of a walker bite glaring back at him.
Carol was patching up the wound, a tired and wary expression on her face when she saw him. The girl looked more irritated than anything and his confusion level sky rocketed.
Buffy crossed her arms and fixed him with a hard look. It made him want to back all the way up and out the door and he barely caught himself before doing just that.
"We need to talk."