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Chapter 10 - Carol
The next morning we returned to the car where they left us supplies and the "note."
Sophia stood on the car scouting into the distance over the grave yard of sedans, SUVs and Minivans.
Daryl leaned against a nearby car, chewing on his thumb nail and watching me pace.
I went over what he had said last night for the thousandth time, hundred-thousandth. When I consider that there's no reason our chances of survival would be better sticking with the group rather than taking to the road with just Daryl, I had to ask myself: Do I really trust this man enough to go off alone with him? Trust his with our lives? Trust him with Sophia?
Trust wasn't something I did. I trusted no one, never have. Sophia trusts me to protect her and I love her, but I've never had to trust Sophia, rely on her.
I stopped mid pace and looked at Sophie scouting for the others like a pirate in a crow's nest, then back at Daryl.
Walking over to him I plopped into a leaning position next to him.
He had saved Sophia and my life twice and my own life a third time. Not once had he asked for anything in return, even when he taught me skills that were invaluable in this world or shared the fruits of his hunts with us.
"Did you mean it?" I asked quietly, so Sophie couldn't hear.
He looked at me startled.
"Did you mean it when you said we could take off, the three of us?"
He held my gaze and nodded once.
I smiled tightly, my leg shaking so hard my whole body shook. I stamped my foot down to make it stop.
"Alright let's just do it, let's just go."
He gave me soft smile, in anyone else I would have mistaken it for a twitch, but I was learning to read the subtle changes in expression on his ever grim features.
He gave a swift nod and pushed off the car, then froze, staring passed Sophia.
"What? What is it?"
"Too late," he said softly, giving me a side long glance and sad smile before wincing it off his face.
That's when I heard it, a car, it must be the others.
"Maybe they haven't seen us yet," I whispered more a prayer then a hope.
Just then Sophia started jumping on the car waving her arms.
"Well if they hadn't before..." Daryl left me to finish the thought.
"Well for about two seconds there, it was a really nice dream," I said looking at him.
He furrowed his brow and pursed his lips before giving me a tight nod.
The car was speeding toward us and I could see Shane and Andrea in the front seat.
Turning to face him I looked up into his eyes, trying to convey all the earnestness of what I was trying to communicate.
"Please believe me, there is nothing Sophie and I value more highly then your friendship. We're friends right?"
He looked at me for a long moment, like he was only just then deciding and gave me a slight nod.
I smiled at him, a big smile, it was nice to know for sure. I'd never really had a friend. It felt good.
"Listen, I think it would be best- for now- if we kept our friendship a secret- we could be like secret alleys."
Daryl cocked his eyebrow at me, giving me a long look, before turning his attention to the car as it pulled to a stop just feet from us.
Andrea burst from the car almost before it came to a stop.
"Oh, my god, your all actually alive."
She pulled Sophia off the roof of the car she was standing sentinel on and engulfed her in a bear hug.
Lowering the girl to the ground she strode up to me and did the same to me.
It took all my strength not to flinch. I couldn't force myself to hug her back, even though I was genuinely touched that she care so much, so I just stood very still until it was over.
She pulled away and smiled at me, squeezing my shoulders.
Touching Daryl's arm ever so briefly she gave him a big smile too.
"Daryl, you did it, you actually found them," she said.
Just then Dale stepped out of the car, with the look of a man seeing a ghost, or a miracle.
"I sure am glad to see you three," he said, "I won't lie when Rick came back without you I thought the worst."
"So what happened?" asked Andrea, looking from me to Daryl. "How did you find them?"
Daryl snorted and leaned against the car.
"I don't know what y'all talkin' 'bout. Y'all said Rick was handling it so I figured it was a good time to go hunt, seeing as how we couldn't leave 'til we found these two dumb bitches."
I flinched at his words, I knew what he was doing and it was just what I asked, but it still hurt to hear my one friend in the world talk about Sophie and I like that.
"Bagged myself a good sized doe, still a decent amount left," he said switching his gaze from Andrea to Dale. "I came back yesterday a little before dusk to see ya'all had up and left."
He gave me a side long glance, "I only ran into these two this morning when I came back to the car."
Andrea looked at me then and it was my turn to talk.
I ignored how Sophie was staring at Daryl and I. She was only paying attention so she didn't mess it up if anyone asked her about it later. She was used to this game.
Lying was a means of survival for me. Lying spared me some pain, lying kept Sophia safe. I'd been lying straight faced, to my father so long my heart no longer raced and my hand no longer shook. I didn't even blush anymore.
Lying to others so nothing got back to my father wasn't all that new either, but I wasn't used to having someone else in on the lie with me. Sophie always knew of course, but she'd learned to let me do all the talking.
I'm not sure how I feel about this...
"Yeah we must have made camp on opposite sides of the highway," I said. "I ran into Sophie on her way back to the highway. Rick had found her and led off the two geeks casing her."
I didn't have to fake the shudder that ran down my body, and I didn't try to suppress it, hoping it would lend validity to my story.
"On our way back we came across four more geeks. There were two many of them to take on all at once so I killed the closest and we made a run for it. We managed to lose one just by because it was so slow. The other two I got rid of one by one, running 'til we were out of sight, hiding, and then ambushing them from behind."
Andrea's gasps and Dale's understanding nods gave me confidence that they were buying it.
"By the time I had killed the last geek we were too far to make it back before dark. By chance we found an abandoned house to shelter us for the night and then made our way back in the morning."
"To find us gone," whispered Andrea, clearly distressed.
"No," I shook my head, "to find your note that you were coming back for us."
I gave her a tight smile, trying to reassure her that it was o.k.
"Which you did," added Daryl in a dower tone. "You leavin' have anything to do with that gun shot I heard."
"We heard it too," I added.
Andrea paled.
"Yes," said Dale, nodding. "When you lot never came back Rick organized a group to search for you, everyone really except, myself, T-Dog, and your father."
I looked at him.
"I needed to stay behind to fix the RV, and T-Dog, was in no condition to be up and about," he added, hastily.
"Dumb ass cut his arm open on a car door when he saw the herd coming at him," Daryl added, vouching for T-Dog in his own special way.
I just looked at him, slack jaw. "How is he still alive?" I gasped.
"Daryl saved his life," said Dale excitedly.
I looked at Daryl. He gave me a side long glance and shook his head dismissively.
Giving him the break from unwanted attention I asked about the pink elephant in the room. "And my father?"
"Ah, yes," said Dale stalling, perhaps hesitant to divulge the failings of a father to his daughters. He was a good man to try, but this was a drop in the bucket. If only neglect and apathy were the worst of his sins. Ed not protecting us was a relaxing change of pace from him being the one we needed protection from.
"He felt someone should stay behind and protect Dale and T-Dog," said Andrea hastily.
"Are we gonna get to explaining that gunshot anytime today?" asked Daryl, moving the conversation along I think more as a kindness to me then out of actual impatience.
"As I said," continued Dale, "almost the whole group was out looking for you. At mid day when the search came up cold, Rick sent everyone back to the highway but kept on going with Shane and Carl."
Here Dale, paused.
"Carl was shot," blurted out Andrea.
I gasped and pulled Sophie close to me.
"He's alive," assured Dale. "But he's in bad shape."
"What the hell happened?" asked Daryl, unable to mask the disbelief in his voice.
"We'll explain everything," said Dale, looking around nervously, "but let's finish this conversation on the way back to the others."
"Agreed," I said, realizing we shouldn't have lingered on the highway a second longer then we had to.
"I'm just gonna get ma venison," said Daryl, stocking off to the woods, "Be right back."