Chapter 2~The Storm

Clip-clop, clip-clop, clip-clop. Two horses trotted along, puling behind them a large cart with two other horses led by ropes at the back. On the bench sat a lone figure, leaned back under the blazing sun, sat up and reigned the docile beasts to a stop. Looking around for a place to hole up, she adjusted her cap. 200 miles and nearly 10 months of constantly being on the move, both human and horse were weary. Looking around for somewhere to hole up for the night, she noticed the dark clouds gathering to the east, the direction she had been travling away from. There was no way they would be ok if they didn't find somewhere to weather the storm. A rustling pulled her gaze from the horizon. A boy, no more than eighteen popped his head out of from under a shade blanket.

"Where are we?" he scratched his head, hair wild from sleep.

The woman unfolded a map from beside her, "Somewhere to the west of Atlanta, I think." Nodding her head towards the clouds, she said, "I don't know if we'll be able to outrun that." Then she went back to studying the laminated roads. "If this is anything to go by, there should be a really big building not much farther down the road," she leaned back to show him what she was talking about. "See?"

The boy gave her a sceptical glance, "That's a prison..."

"And?" she shrugged.

"Prisons mean criminals. Do you really want to take the chance of running into somebody like that?"

"If it's like anywhere else," scoffing she continued, "there won't be anyone there. And if there are, they're dead. Come on," she hopped down. "Help me switch the horses. Then we'll put up the cover just in case we do get caught by the storm."

"Just in case," he muttered. They were just finishing tying off the raised cover (think pioneer covered wagon), when a huge group of dead started seeping from the woods. "Shit. Sis!"

She turned and copied the curse. Pointing to the horses that now stood untied behind the cart, she yelled. "You're gonna have to ride, or they may bolt. We can't lose them. Go, now!" Hopping up, she scrambled for the reigns, which had fallen to the ground. Just as the moans grew louder at the prospect of fresh meat, she managed to grab them and whipped the horses forward with a loud, "Hiya!" The boy rode bareback on the pinto while keeping hold of the bay's lead rope. It didn't take long before they managed to leave the horde of dead behind them with the many twists and turns that was the Georgia backwoods. But, the dead did not have to follow the road, meaning that they could go through the trees, which would mean they could catch up quicker. So, they kept up their pace. At least, as long as the horses could keep it up. They stopped for a moment, taking a breath and a chance to look at the map. "The prison should be around here somewhere..." she poured over the image.

"Um, Sis?"

"What?" she didn't even look up.

"If you would get your nose out of the map for a sec, you would have noticed that." She looked at him, then followed his finger to the sign that told them to turn down the next exit to get to building they were looking for.

"Oh...yeah, that would certainly help." She folded up map up and shot the boy a glare for snorting at her. "Let's go," she spurred the animals to a slow walk, following the road. It wasn't too long after that, that the rain started pouring down in sheets. After about an hour of that, the prison finally came into view. And they were surprised at what they saw. There was smoke coming from a fire pit under what looked like a congregational eating area. And people running back and forth to get to or from the warmth of the fire. The two could smell meat on the air, both of them salivating at the thought of fresh food. Further on, she noticed an area covered in crops. Fresh meat and vegetables? This place is heaven. "What do you think? Should we risk it?"

"Hold up, there!" a gruff voice came from the woods to their right. Both pulled their sidearms on the stranger stepping from the brush. He was covered in a poncho and held aloft a crossbow.

"We don't mean any harm."

"That's rich, considering you're pointing your weapons at me." He eyed both of them.

"Can't be too careful in this day and age, right, darlin'."

"I ain't your darlin'." He jerked his bow, "Put 'em down."

She put her hands and gun, palms out, in surrender. "Alright. Don't shoot. Here," she turned her gun around and handed it to him by the barrel. "Alex, hand me your gun," she held her hand out behind her.

"What?! No!"

"Alex!" she said sharply. "Give me your gun." She still wasn't looking at him, opting to keep an eye on the rugged man in front of her. She heard him sigh, and the slightly warmed metal was pressed into her hand. "Here. Take them." The man took three muddy steps forward and yanked them away, stuffing both in his belt. "Alright, you have our guns. Can we go in now? It's kinda cold, and the leather tends to rub wrong when it's wet." He looked confussed. "The horses. The leather on the harnesses, it rubs their hides raw when it gets wet."

"I got some questions for you. Each of you answer seperatly."

"Ok, we can do that. Right, bud?" the boy nodded without saying a word.

"Alright. How many walkers you killed?"

"Walkers?" she said quizically. "Is that what you call the dead?" The man didn't say anything, just stared at them. "Ok, up, well...I don't really know. A hundred, a thousand? I lost count." She shrugged.

He looked at Alex. "Same answer?"

"Yup. Nearly a year, dude. You forget somewhere along the line."

"Right...How many people you killed?" The two looked at each other, sadly. "Well, I ain't got all day. And neither do you if you want those horses to live."

This time, Alex answered first. "None."

"Why?"

"I couldn't." He looked at the ground, as if ashamed. The mystery man nodded, then looked at the sister.

"Three."

"Why?"

She puffed out her chest, "Because I had to. They were family, and I couldn't let them suffer the fate of becoming one of those things. And because, I couldn't let him do it." She nodded towards her brother.

"Alright..." he stared at them for a moment, then dropped his crossbow. "Name's Daryl. Dixon." He said the last part as sort of an afterthought.

"I'm Jessika. This is my brother, Alex."

"What, no last names?"

She rolled her eyes. "Maiden name, Smith."

"Married?"

Jessika was quiet for a moment. "No point in keeping a name I never had a chance to get used to. Now, can we go in or not?"

He nodded and motioned for them to follow him. About half way down the drive, people started yelling, and running towards the gate, hurrying to open it for them. A few of them ran along the fences, distracting the 'walkers' away from the opening gate and its tasty living people. Once through, it slammed shut behind them. Immidiately, they were set upon by a large group of people. Jessika, watched Daryl converse with another man in low tones, occationally glancing her way. A few people had guns on them, telling them to get on the ground. The siblings complied, though, rather reluctantly. Jessika turned when she heard the cart creaking. Someone was climbing inside.

"Hey, hey! Get out of there!" She ran around the back to protect her items. She was stopped by a gun to the face. The man Daryl had been talking to was facing away from her, his pistol pointing at her. "Listen to me, there's no one in there. Nothing dangerous to anyone."

"Then why were you trying to keep me out of it?" He turned to her. His bright blue eyes seemed to be staring right into her soul, assessing everything she had ever done, every thought. "If you don't intend to harm any of my people, then what reason do you have to hide anything from us, considering that you asked us for shelter?"

"It's not...I'm not...hiding anything. I just don't really like people poking around in my private valuables."

"Valuables? Hmm..." Suddenly, he was grabbing random things and throwing them out of the cart, into the mud.

"NO! No, please, stop!" She tried to grab things before they hit the ground, her brother quickly hurrying to help. The man hauled a partucularly heavy crate, getting ready to heave it over the side. AT least, before something hit him in the back of the head. He stopped what he was doing, turning to see her with a second rock cocked and ready to hurtle it at him. "You put that down, right now." She pulled her arm back even further, threatening to let loose. Beside her, Alex was slowly gathering the fallen items. He stared straight into her eyes as he lowered the crate, showing her his hands. "Thank you. I'm sorry, for hitting you with a rock. But, you are being completely unreasonable. We gave you no reason not to trust us. Your man, Daryl, has our guns. We gave them to him before we came down here."

"Obviously not all of them."

"What?" Daryl marched towards them, pointing his bow at them.

"Calm down, Daryl. I'm sure the young lady had a perfectly good reason to hide a few of her weapons from sight." He bent down, pulling a rifle from underneath the seat. "But, seeing as you didn't pull it the second I got up in this...wagon, I assume you don't intend us any harm." He hopped down, splashing everyone with mud, not that they cared. "I'm Rick Grimes. It's nice to meet you..."

"Jessika Smith. This is Alex, my younger brother." She held out her hand, which he took. "Again, sorry about the...y'know," she motioned at his head.

"Don't worry about it. What's in the crate, if you don't mind my asking? Sumbitch was heavy."

She chuckled. "Books."

"Ah," he nodded. "Knowledge is power."

"Yep. Plus the ones we don't like make good kindling." Everyone in the group started laughing, glad that the tension was finally eased. "If you don't mind, do you have somewhere for us to put the horses. They're exhasted, and deserve a really good rub down."

"Sure, sure. No problem. Daryl, why don't you show them where the stables are. When you're done, you can join us for lunch."

"Cool. Uh, is it ok if Alex goes with y'all. I know he's starving."

"Damn right, I'm starving! Look at me, I'm skin and bones."

Jessika rolled her eyes at her brother, "You are not."

"Carl," Rick motioned forward a kid, younger than Alex, "Go get our guests a couple plates of food. Beth, you see about open cells. Tyrese, you and Carol accompany them to the vehicle area and unpack the cart. Just follow Daryl up here when y'all are done. We'll get you situated." Rick shook her hand again.

"Thank you." He waved her off, then everyone went about their business. She got up in the driving seat, and the woman named Carol climbed up next to her. "Hi."

"Hi, I'm Carol. I guess you can say I'm kinda like the dorm mom to everyone."

"Cool beans. Shall we go?"

"Yeah, just through that gate." Jessika followed her directions while Tyrese and Daryl led the untethered horses to the stable before meeting up with them. When the men came back from stabling the horses, the found the new woman expertly backing the cart up into an open space under the loading dock, following Carol's directions.

"Just a little farthur," Carol waved her hands in a backward motion, directing the woman to park. "Little more, ok, that's good. All done."

Jessika jumped down, "Alright. Um...Do you just take everything in?"

"We will for now," Tyrese explained. "After we've sorted everything, we'll figure out what will go back in the wagon, what'll stay with you and your brother, and what will be put in general storage."

"Ok...sounds like a good plan." She ducked next to the left horse, a dapple grey named Señor Senior Sr., named after the Kim Possible character. But they just called him Senior. After releasing him, he shook his body, obviously glad to finally be out of the harness. She patted his neck, before moving onto the dun with zebra stripes on her legs called Besa. After both were free, she went to grab both lead ropes, only to have on of her hands pushed off of Senior's rope. She watched as Daryl just walked off with her horse. Shrugging, she followed him. Once in the stables, both horses were relieved of their halters and given a nice long rub down with dry towels. Both were given a trough full of oats and hay, and buckets of water. "I think this is the best treatment these two have had in a while."

"How long y'all been out there?"

"Since the start. At first, it was my grandparents, husband and brothers. We've lost a lot." She fell quiet for a moment, her hand decending to her belly, her other still brushing Senior. After a while, she smiled at him, "But, we found y'all. So, I guess its a blessing in a shit storm."

"Yeah, I s'pose it is. How long's it been just the two of you?"

She stopped, then looked up at the ceiling, as if calculating. "Um...since before winter, October maybe."

"Long time. Y'all seem like ya did alright."

"We survived. There's a difference between that and living." She shrugged.

"Well, you're here now. C'mon, it's lunch time."