Hey! As always, thanks for commenting. Means a lot and really is a big motivator. Shout outs to bspooky3, jeanf, martale, Jasmin Jade xx and itsi3. Thanks for the 3
itsi3 - I agree. I left it in present tense for part 2 because I just couldn't re-write the chapter... again. But next chapter, definatly going back to past tense.
Chapter 23 - The longest Day: Part 2 - Carol
The sun is up by the time we make it back to the meeting point on the highway. Rick, Carl and Hershel are already there. The big goofy smile on Hershel's face when he realizes they aren't alone, that others made it, is something to see.
On our way here, Daryl and I ran into Maggie and Glenn's car, then T-Dog, Lori and Beth's truck, so we arrive in a caravan.
I dismount the chopper, touching Daryl's shoulder as I do so. He meets my eyes and acknowledges my silent thanks for the rescue. Rick strides up to Daryl slapping him five and giving his hand a firm shake.
While families run to each other hugging and smiling Daryl dismounts and comes to stand next to me.
"Where'd you find everyone?" Rick asks, looking to Daryl.
"This guy's taillights were zig-zagging all over the road, figured he had to be Asian drivin' like that."
I roll my eyes but Glenn laughs, perhaps as genuinely relieved as Hershel to see he and Maggie aren't alone, perhaps knowing there was no malice in Daryl's words. "Good one," he says, smiling.
"Where's the rest of us," asks Daryl all business like. He's noted as well as I that Sophie isn't here.
"We're the only one's who made it so far," answers Rick.
"Shane?" asks Lori.
I look at Daryl and see him only shake his head, we could deal with that pile of shit after I find my sister.
"Andrea?" asks Glenn.
"She saved Sophie and me and then the three of us made a run for it. We weren't gonna make it but then Amelia and Daniel came riding up behind us on horseback. Andrea had a concussion so I put her behind Amelia and Sophie behind Daniel and told them to meet me here," I say in a rush, trying to contain my panic. Daryl and I turn to look at each other at the same time. I really only felt I had to explain myself to him. "I continued on foot since there would have been too much weight with three people on one horse. They never would have been able to outrun the geeks. Daryl picked me up a little while later."
"Patricia?" asks Hershel.
Beth shakes her head from under her father's arm. "They got her too. Took her right from me," she says gasping back tears. "I was holding on to her daddy but she just..."
Beth burrows into her father as the tears came. "What about you?" she asks her sister. "Did you see Jimmy?"
"He was in the RV," says Rick. "It got overrun."
"That just leaves my sister, Andrea, Amelia and Daniel," I say, a lump in my throat.
"I'm going back," says Daryl, stalking towards his bike.
"No," says Rick.
"We can't just leave 'em," says Daryl, shocked.
"We don't even know where they are," says Lori.
"And, there's no way to find them," says Rick with finality.
"So we're not even gonna look for them?" asks Glenn.
"We gotta keep moving," says Rick. "There have been geeks crawling all over here."
As if to prove the point, a geek lumbers into view some distance behind Glenn.
"I say head east," says T-Dog.
"Stay off the main roads, right?" I ask, fighting tears.
"The bigger the road, the more geeks, the more assholes like this one?" I ask, lifting my crossbow and hitting the fucker in the eye. "I don't give a good god damn how many geeks there are, I'm not leaving my sister. I'm not leaving Andrea, Amelia or Daniel neither. All three of'um's saved my life, some more'n once. I wouldn't even be here to wait if wasn't for them. I told them to meet us here. They know the way and they are counting on us to be here. You can all go if you want, but I'm stayin' right here."
"Carol you were injured, exhausted and on foot when they left you, they might have decided it was pointless and moved on," says Lori.
"Or they could have been overtaken by the herd," says T-Dog. "Four people on two horses..."
"Or they could have lost their way," says Rick. "It was dark, they were panicked and heading into the woods. I doubt a one of 'em had a map."
"Yeah, I doubt a one of them had a map, but it's light now and I know Andrea at least knows how to read a map. Any gas station they find would have one. And yeah, they were four people on two horses but they were plenty faster than the herd but certainly slowed down, which just means it would take them longer to get here then say... a car, which is how we all got here... and only just now mind."
"Whatever the case," says Daryl, "don't matter."
I look at him stricken. If Daryl tells me hope was lost I won't be able to take it.
"I'm staying too," he says.
I smile, squeezing his shoulder in thanks.
I look back to Rick and saw defeat in his eye. He can't leave Daryl behind if there's another way, he's too valuable.
"I'm not leaving either, not without Sophia," says Carl, walking to stand between Daryl and I, crossing his arms. I give the kid a smile. He's a sweet kid at heart.
"It's not like we don't know if they made it off the farm," says Glenn. "Carol saw them at least make it to the tree line and they knew to come here. I say we wait as long as we can."
"And if another herd comes?" asks Lori.
"Who's to say whatever path we take won't bring us straight to a herd," says Maggie. "We were way off the beaten path at the farm, there's no logic to the way these creatures move."
I look at Maggie and Glenn, feeling kinship with them for the first time. They're willing to risk their lives on the hope that Sophie, Andrea, Amelia and Daniel are alive and gonna make it here. They don't have to stay, they could leave in their own car with their own family.
"Thank you," I say into the silence that follows Maggie's statement, which to my surprise seems to add finality to the decision.
Rick nods his head, in agreement or acceptance I don't know.
"We stay together," says Rick looking his wife square in the eye. "I know it looks bad, laid up on the open highway and we've all been through hell and worse, but at least we found each other. I wasn't sure - I really wasn't - but we did, we're together. We keep it that way."
We wait.
When the sun has sunk low in the sky and there is still no sign of my sister or the others, Daryl builds us a low burning fire in the place were the three of us spent the night before Andrea and Dale found us.
Daryl sits silently beside me. Hershel hugs his youngest daughter to him. Maggie not far way, is holding Glenn's hand and leaning into him. Rick has his arm around Lori who is cradling Carl. T-Dog stands guard.
Daryl is eyeing me, his knee shaking like a leaf in the wind. He is about to do something... stupid.
"We found Randall," says Daryl, looking at Rick. "He turned but he wasn't bit."
"How's that possible?" asks Beth, also looking to Rick.
"What the hell happened?" asks Lori.
"Shane killed Randall?" asks Rick, his eyes on Daryl. He doesn't really seem to be asking. "Just like he always wanted to."
"And then the herd got him?" asks Lori.
I looked to Daryl to see how he would answer, but he was looking back to me, as if to ask permission.
"No, I got him," he says.
"What?!" gasps Lori, scrambling to her feet.
"He had Carol, was gonna kill her," says Daryl, eyes on Rick alone. "All in some ploy to unseat you as leader so he could reclaim the crown."
"He wanted you dead too," I say, "in the end."
Rick turns his eyes to me.
"I was the first move in a much larger game. Collateral damage," I spit.
"I'm so, so sorry," says Rick. He's physically shaking with how much he means it.
"They killed him," says Lori, a little hysterical. "Your best friend, the man who kept your family alive while you - when you couldn't. Shane! They killed Shane and you're apologizing, to them?!"
Lori tears out of the little camp like a twister. Rick sighs deeply and rises to follow her after whispering something in Carl's ear.
"Don't worry son," says Hershel kindly, reaching over to pat Carl on the head. "Pregnancy has a way of making the most reasonable of us a little... well..."
Hershel seems to be struggling how to explain to a 12 year old boy the reason his mommy is being raging psycho is that she is so jacked up on hormones that she just can't control herself.
The old man looks around to each of us, looking for help and not finding it he finishes with, "Unreasonable?"
I look down to hide my smile at hearing the usually so eloquent man be so inarticulate.
I think Maggie is the first one to snort and then WE can't help ourselves. We all burst out laughing.
"What?" asks Carl. "I don't get it. Wha'd I miss?"
His questions only fuel our laughter. I don't even know if we are laughing at Hershel truth be told. The day had been too much. We will never be able to absorb or process all that happened in the course of this one day. In the face of that, you can either break down and laugh or cry. For my part, I was glad to be with those that took to laugher.
I take over watch long before my turn. I will never be able to sleep. Not with my sister out there and me not knowing what's become of her.
At some point I feel a shadow move to sit beside me. He doesn't say nothin,' but I know it's Daryl.
The man is a conundrum. He won't stand for me being alone but won't impose on my solitude neither.
It has been the longest of days. I am tired. I am scared for Sophia. My walls are down...
"I lied to you," I say.
I honestly don't even realize I'm saying it aloud until he looks at me, his eyes questioning.
"Well, not lied per say. Omitted," I say, shrugging.
He turns away to squint into the distance. I find I can breath a little easier when he isn't so entirely focused on me.
"I told you I didn't fight back to protect my sister, and that's true."
I grimace and chew my lip, questioning why I'm reopening this wound. I've finally decided to live, to fight, even when I was alone in that field with no hope of making it. I just want to expel this last bit of the girl that I was. Then she will be gone. I can leave her behind on the side of this highway. In a world were there is no guarantee of tomorrow and the dead out number the living, you can't live your life remembering the departed. She would be gone, never to be thought of again. I will walk away this new person, forged in this new world.
"My mother was very beautiful and wild," I say, I smiling a little at how like a myth that sounds. A story told and retold by a narrator who only ever heard it second hand.
"She had plans, big plans, but the night of her high school graduation, she went to a party, got drunk and woke up pregnant.
"That bound her to Ed for the rest of her life.
"Instead of a college education, she got a marriage.
"I was the worst mistake my mother ever made.
"I ruined her life. I did. If it wasn't for me, Ed would've just be some asshole guy she knew in high school.
"She ended up in the nut house. Died there. Suicide.
"The truth is, I didn't fight it because deep down I believed, really believed, I deserved it."
He is silent for a long time. I hang my head glaring at the ground.
I think I might have crossed the last line. That he's disgusted and done with me.
Finally he looks at me and asks, "Who told you that story?"
"What?" I ask.
"Did your mom tell you that story?"
"No," I say, shaking my head. "My pops had her committed by the time I was 11 or 12."
"Your grandparents then?"
"No, I never met them."
"Aunts and Uncles?"
"No," I say. "There was no one else. My father said my mother's people hated me for ruining her life and he didn't have any kin of his own. It was always just pops, Sophie, and me."
Daryl nodded.
"Did you ever hear this story before your mother was committed?" he asks.
I didn't understand why he was asking all these questions.
"No, never."
Daryl looks away, uncomfortable. He stabs the ground with a bolt, digging a hole to nowhere.
"And, ah, before he had her committed, had he ever..."
Daryl grimaces and looks up, unable to say it aloud.
"You mean when did he start in on me?" I ask. "Not till after she was gone..."
I trail off staring at him.
He grimaces looking guilty.
"It was a story," I whisper. "HE had my mother committed. HE did. Not the state or her family. She didn't check herself in. HE had her committed. He told me a story about how it was my fault and he kept me isolated from anyone who would protect me or contradict the story."
I was overwhelmed. My heart was pounding in my ears.
"Son of a bitch," I whisper, but it feels like a scream. I feel tears brim my eyes and I try to rein them in but my control is gone. My hand shakes. I am shaking. I gasp in air like I'm drownin'.
Then I feel a body slide up next to me. I feel an arm drape over my shoulder, pulling me close, holding me together. I feel a head lean against the side of my own.
"I bet your mom was a real clever lady," says Daryl. "I bet she was a good woman too. I know she loved you or else why would your dad need to get rid of her?"
My gasps turn into pants which melt into labored breaths.
"I think that she was in a real bad situation and as smart and good as she was, I don't think she was as strong as you. You are one of the strongest, bravest people I've ever met. You're a survivor, but we cant compare everyone to your example. There aren't many could hold a candle to you."
Despite myself I snort.
"Who's tellin' stories now?" I ask.
He pets my hair.
"Maybe," he says, "but whose version makes more sense to you?"
My eyes well up again.
God I was such a fool. The biggest fool in the world.
"Sleep now," he whispers into my hair. "I'll take last watch."
I didn't think it was possible on this night, but warm in his arms I close my eyes and feel sleep come, knowing that when it did, I would die. The woman who rose in my place the next morning would be someone different. I didn't shed a tear for my own passing.
I'm awakened by an earth quake. Wait no, the earth isn't shaking, I am, or rather I'm being shaken — by an arm. Someone's arm is around me, shaking me.
I open my eyes to see Daryl looking down at me. I must have fallen asleep leaning up against him, my head on his shoulder. I don't have time to consider what a kindness that was considering how uncomfortable he is with physical contact because he touches his ear and then points in the direction of the highway.
I close my eyes again and concentrate on listening. Damn that man is good. It takes me a good half'a minute to pick up on it and I never would have noticed it if I didn't know something was there to listen for.
We rise slowly, silently. He hands me my crossbow and I cock it before we make our way up the hill to the highway.
We peek over the crest of the hill for any geeks before climbing over the guardrail and onto the road itself. He motions with his hand for me to stay low as he takes the lead. We creep closer to the source of the noise, weaving through the graveyard of abandoned cars.
Daryl peeks around the edge of a car and his head shoots back behind cover.
He holds up his index and middle finger.
Two geeks.
He lifts his crossbow up before holding up three fingers and lowering them one by one. When he lowers his lasted finger into a fist we slip out from behind the car, aim and fire.
Two bolts in the eye. Two geeks drop.
We retrieve our bolts and keep moving.
The sound is getting closer. I can start to make out what it is. It sounds like, clicking.
No, more like clopping. Clopping, what clops?
My eyes bulge and I feel Daryl's hand on my arm to stop me from sprinting forward. He, of course, had already put it together and had been watching me for when I did, in case I did something stupid.
He examines me, staring into my eyes. Whatever he finds there must have satisfied him that I won't do anything stupid, so he leads on and I follow, heart pounding so loud in my ears it almost drowns out the clopping.
I catch my reflection in a car window and I have to look away. My hope is laid bare for the world to see. It is blindingly bright, it hurts to see.
I take a deep breath and focus on Daryl, watching his back, watching for his signals.
The sound is so loud now that even if you aren't looking for it, you will notice it. Hell, you can't ignore it if you tried.
Daryl pops his head up to look though a side window. He beckons for me to come look. I rise slowly but, affronted again by the reflection of my hope, I jerk myhead back. Then, I hear a neh-ing cut through the air and my eyes refocus on something in the distance. Two somethings. Two very big somethings.
Dazed I start moving, my feet carrying me forward without thought on my part. Daryl follows me.
I get around the car and have a clear line of sight. Two horses being lead by shuffling figures.
I kept moving forward, unable to take my eyes away.
They might be geeks, moving like that, covered in blood and gore, but geeks would eat the horses not lead them.
They are close enough now that I can make out one very tall black man and one silver haired woman.
Daniel and Amelia?
I stop but Daryl is beside me and he takes my hand. We keep moving.
Now I can make out a mess of curly blonde hair, like a growth, on the back of one horse's neck.
Andrea.
They must have traveled straight for two nights and a day, two leading the horses so the other two can sleep, collapsed on the horses' backs.
Two...
Where is Sophie? I can't see her.
They must have be bone weary, 'cause Amelia and Daniel don't even see us until we are not four feet from them.
Even delirious, as she must have been, Amelia is still a fire cracker.
"Fancy meeting you here," she croaks with a woozy, lopsided smile.
"Where is she?" I gasp. "Where's Sophie?"
Amelia opens her mouth to speak, but is interrupted when a little blonde head bobs out from behind a horse's, which had been concealing it and in a sleepy voice asks, "Sis?"
Oh, I broke then. Sobs rip from my mouth and fat tears cascade down my cheeks and I don't care who sees. I rush forward, hysterical cries and manic laughter issuing out of me. I pull Sophie down from her horse an into my arms. I feel myself sink to the ground as I burry my face in the crook of her shoulder.
She doesn't say a word, just strokes my hair with her little hands.
Maybe sometimes, even if it's just for this one time, hope isn't such a bad thing after all.