Chapter 3

Ignorance

Sorry it's taken so long to get this up! Thanks for all the Fav's and Follows! Don't forget to drop a line in the reviews for me so I know what you guys are thinking, I know where I want this story to go its just driving it in that direction so stick with me. I'm trying to name the chapters after songs to give a picture of Chapters, this one had a helping from "Ignorance" by Paramore.

The sun rose quickly bringing with it the heat of morning, each of the guests awoke at different times but every one of them looked well rested and a little more at peace than yesterday. Elliot had fixed breakfast for them all, hot porridge. Maggie had devoured her bowl already and was back again for more thanking Elliot before she and Carol began on clean up duties.

Elliot watched how the group interacted, she had been by herself so long it seemed she had forgotten basic human interaction, seeing it around her made her realise how much she missed it. It warmed her to see even with the world gone to shit people still had compassion for one another, even strangers thrown together in the midst of hell.

"What'd you think Elliot?" Glenn's chirpy little voice brought her back to the hustle and bustle of the days trip to the next town over to get some formula for Judith and such.

"It was only a small town, so shouldn't be too many walkers hiding up in there but there's a few properties like mine out here. Tucked outta the way, ya know. I don't know who or what's in those, so if we can get past them unscathed I'd say we gotta shot,"

Rick nodded going over what Elliot had told them in his head, " I hate to ask you to do this Elliot but you're the only one who knows the area. Would you go into town if we gave you cover?"

"I don't see why I can't, not like I gotta whole lot going on right now," She laughed a little earning her a smile from Maggie, she was being to warm to that girl.

"Okay, so Glenn you'll go into town with Maggie and Elliot to get some supplies. It'd be best if you took the truck,"

"if we go we take my car," Elliot interrupted, " It doesn't use too much gas and I'll be driving, like you said Rick I know the area best. Where to avoid and little short cuts,"

Rick could see her reasoning, "Okay, that seems reasonable."

"I'm going too," Daryl entered the room his bow slung over his shoulder.

The group looked round, Rick was ready to argue but Daryl interjected, " Last time Glenn and Maggie went solo we met a guy called the Governor in case ya'll forgot,"

"We got jumped Daryl," Elliot was gonna ask more but Maggie shook her head slowly at her.

"And I'm gonna be there this time to make sure it don't happen again Glenn," Daryl snatched up a peach from the bowl placed on the table.

So, with it decided the four of them began to pack up the car taking a few supplies of food and water incase the worst happened, few words were spoken as the group said goodbye. Elliot had gone ahead to the car, she felt out-of-place and awkward. Throwing her bag into the back seat she shut the door to find little Carl Grimes stood in the doorway.

"Hey Champ, what's up?"

Carl twitched his nose as he reached into his pocket and pulled out a knife, Elliot was horrified at first but this was a kid who had been running trying to survive for the last winter. Carl probably had more practice with it than her.

"Take this, your gun will attract walkers and other people. Just make sure you get them in the head." as Elliot knelt to take the knife Carl threw his arms round her in a hug. Elliot was touched by his kindness. The others entered the garage, Daryl ruffled Carl's hair before sending back to his dad.

"What the hell! Lets take this!" Glenn ran his hand along the BMW.

Elliot shook her head as she laughed at Glenn, "You wanna drive that Glenn?" she tossed the young guy the keys from inside the cabinet.

"You think it's wise taking two cars, using twice as much fuel?" Daryl stalked round to Elliot's side of her Nissan so he was out of earshot from the others.

Elliot considered his point, half of her agreed but the bigger half of her thought to hell with it, it was the end of the world if the kid wanted to drive a fancy car then let him. Could be dead tomorrow.

"Yeah, gives me a cover. Besides, we don't gotta worry about fuel just yet," She nodded towards the few canisters under the work top.

Shaking his head Daryl pushed him self from the car and walked round to the passenger seat slamming the car door behind him.

Rick smiled at Elliot nodding his head as a reminder to the conversation about giving Daryl time in the kitchen, she just had to ride it out, she climbed into the car before pulling away in front of Glenn and Maggie.

The car was deadly silent for most of the journey. Elliot kept stealing glances at Daryl, his jaw was still clenched as he stared out his window avoiding Elliot's eyes , she could see him dragging breath into his lungs probably in trying to quell his anger. She sighed as turned attention to the open road, putting her foot down Elliot checked her rear view mirror to see the BMW close behind her.

"There's a grocery store in the town or a small mall on the outskirts of the town, I've not been as a the outskirts yet so I dunno what we'd be going into. What do you think?" Elliot began to slow the car as the were approaching the centre of the town, her plan was to ditch the car as close as they could if a quick get away was needed.

Daryl turned to face Elliot, he was still pissed at her for indulging Glenn they had to be careful with their resources protect what they had, " stick with the grocery store , haven't come equipped to take out a mall, "

Great, he was back to monosyllabic communication. Elliot pulled into an area just behind the store.

The four of them formulated a plan that consisted of Glenn, being the fastest, would be the one to the raid the stores with Elliot as she knew the area best whilst Daryl and Maggie would be on the watch for any kind of intruders. They kept a tight formation as they approached the small town shops, it was clear the area had been abandoned for some time since the outbreak as rubble scattered the sidewalks along shards of glass from broken car and shop windows and the occasional body lay motionless and bloody on the floor. Elliot didn't take the bodies in too much afraid she would see a face she may recognise.

Elliot tapped Glenn on the shoulder and motioned to the store on the far left, Daryl being the natural hunter had already began scouting the area for walkers or any other forms of life. He kicked the door open and quickly but efficiently checked the store whilst Glenn and Elliot grabbed what they could. Elliot made sure to fill her bag with baby essentials for Judith. Luckily most of the town had been too old for any of their children to be under the age of 20, so there was plenty to loot. Elliot thought about how quickly the town had fallen since the outbreak, many of the families had left when news broke of what was happening deciding to travel the alleged safe zone, Atlanta. The majority of those who stayed behind after that were the elderly residents who were too frail to leave or just had no desire to run. Elliot sighed as she remembered Duke, every town had their own miserable loner and Duke was theirs, his wife had died just before Joshua was born and they had no children of their own so Duke was alone. Elliot had taken a liking to him, he reminded her of her own father, she would often take Joshua out there when Danny was away with meals she'd cooked for him. She remembered teasing the old man when he asked what he had to do to just be left alone she'd told him, "You love having me and Joshua bother you Duke, that's why you wait out on the porch when you know you Danny's away," She'd seen Duke the day before it happened, he seemed the most content Elliot had ever seen him, when Joshua had began to pack the train set Duke allowed him to play with Duke insisted he take it. This struck Elliot as odd as Duke always scolded Joshua when he would be too heavy handed with his beloved train set. When they went to leave Duke embraced Joshua in such a loving caring way Elliot knew what he was going do. He'd grown tired of being a prisoner in his own home, tired of being alone and tired of seeing people around him die.

When he hugged Elliot it felt alien as he never showed too much affection but it felt fitting, she had said Duke could come back them and she would look after him, that he didn't have to do this. But Duke had convinced her it was his time and he was gonna go on his own damn terms, besides his Betsy had waited long enough for him. Elliot reluctantly let the man go, it was the hardest goodbye.

She had told Joshua that Duke had travelled to Atlanta, he didn't need to understand why people were making the decisions they were making these days, she still wanted to protect his innocence from this hell as long as she could. With every run they made to town she noticed fewer and fewer signs of human life, it seemed more of the town had joined Dukes way of thinking until she saw no living soul at all.

When the bag was full Elliot whistled to Glenn who had grabbed medical supplies and some bags of grains and pastas, they met at the door where Daryl and Maggie were stood watch. Maggie turned her gun on Elliot as she pushed the door open but immediately lowered it with an apologetic smile whilst Daryl laughed. Everybody was on edge all the time these days.

"Glenn and I will get the car back here, place seems dead so you guys can wait it out," Glenn dropped the heavy duffel he was holding on Maggie's instruction.

"We should stick together, the bags aren't so heavy we can't carry them." Elliot didn't want the group to split, after heading to town so many times by herself she found there was a definite sense of power in numbers.

Daryl agreed with Elliot but Maggie and Glenn were insistent and had taken off for the car parked a few streets over, Elliot used her hand to shield her eyes from the hot mid day sun that was beating down on them. Squinting she shook her head as she watched them running, "This is the worst idea ever, we shouldn't be splitting up. We should have driven my car to theirs.," She kicked at the dirt in frustration.

Daryl watched Elliot as she looked out at Maggie and Glenn, she was beyond annoyed that they had had broken formation and he had to agree with her it seemed pointless but he had his suspicions that Glenn and Maggie were desperate for some time apart. Hell they'd been sharing a truck with him for the last few weeks, so he knew they'd had no alone time.

"They'll be back," He laughed and just gazed as Elliot spun round shooting a glare his way.

His arrogance bugged Elliot, he reminded her so much of the kind of men she had left in Kentucky, she stood leaning over the post on the front of the shopping cart holding area as he leant against the shop front. "Where'd you live before all this?" Elliot asked, she realised she knew only the names of the people residing in her home and found the silence unbearable anymore.

"Does it matter?" Daryl regarded her and she turned around her brow frowning.

"Guess not but it's a pretty simple question." She huffed, "just taking an interest, " her voice was thick was attitude and it irritated Daryl, she's known him less than 2 days and she was already grinding on his nerves.

Straightening up he squared his shoulders, " I don't see what interest my past is to a jumped up old money broad,"

Elliot's eyes widened. Just who the hell did Daryl Dixon think he was, " Judge people much?," she laughed at just how wrong Daryl was. " Look Dixon, that group back in my house may tolerate your shitty attitude but it's just not gonna fly with me," Elliot's hands came to rest on her hips as she held her stance, she wasn't gonna be made to back down here.

"Shitty attitude? I don't want to discuss social niceties and that's a shitty attitude? The world's gone to shit lady! It don't matter where we're from, or how much money you had in the bank. We're all on level pegging now, kill or get killed. that's all that matters now,"

Why did he keep mentioning money Elliot thought, "I'm not some stupid rich kid that's outta her depth Daryl, I've seen what the worlds got on offer right now and I know the cost of living, you hear me!," She stood toe to toe with the scruffy blonde, " You've obviously got issues with where you came from and that's okay, we all got demons. But if we're gonna get along and play nice then you're gonna have to get over yourself and trust I know what the fuck I'm doing, got it?" her chest was falling heavy she was so mad at him.

Daryl went to react to her defence but they both turned at the sound of the car pulling up to the store front, Daryl brushed past Elliot diffusing the situation he grabbed at the bags that Maggie and Glenn had dropped and threw them into the trunk before taking a passenger seat. Elliot stared after him, just what was it about Daryl Dixon that got her all hot and bothered. Sighing she followed after him and hopped into the opposite passenger door, neither one of them spoke even when they reached Elliot's Nissan it was a silent exchange of looks to separate the supplies, just in case. The car ride home seemed to last forever and Elliot was relieved to see the familiar gates of home.

Before Elliot even had the car in park Daryl had already jumped down from the car and slamming the door he grabbed for two large packs in the trunk before walking round past the drivers door and on into the house.

"Unbelievable," Elliot had muttered as she shut the door of the Nissan leaning back with her head rested on the glass. Savouring the few moments of silence she had before Rick or one of the others descended on her she thought about her heated exchange with Daryl, she really had no idea what his problem with her was especially when from she was standing she had given his group shelter she'd saved his life which had thrown their paths together. It really was difficult to see why he was being so arrogant towards her, Elliot couldn't even think of anything she may have said that could have offended him. He on the other hand had been deliberately malicious in his choice of words back at the store.

"Penny for them?" Elliot straightened up as Rick walked towards the car , he'd obviously been taking advantage of the water supply as he had shaved in the time that the small group had been gone. Elliot noted how different he looked, a lot younger than she thought he was although he still had a five o'clock style shadow she found him rather attractive in this new light.

"Huh?" Elliot pushed her self of the car and walked towards him on the porch

"Your thoughts," Rick laughed, "Never mind. Glenn said you guys had a good run in town. Look, I really appreciate you going into town with them and I can't ever thank you enough for allowing us to stay here," Elliot just smiled at Rick.

"Rick, it's fine. Honestly. I've been on my own some time here. The company, its nice," she strode past him on her way up to the house and didn't notice the way he looked her up and down as she had her back to him.

In the house everyone seemed to be busy with chores and Elliot felt in the way where ever she went , even thought this was her home she realised these people had obviously been together and established their own roles within the group dynamic. She hoped she's find hers soon if they were to remain at the house, she hated feeling so helpless. Helplessness was not something Elliot Brookes coped with well, she needed to feel in control she'd learnt the hard way when you're not in control bad things happen that can't be fixed. Smiling at Beth as she cradled Judith in the oversized rocking chair Elliot signalled that she was going to walk around the perimeter to get some air, Beth nodding laughing as Elliot grabbed a packet of cigarettes from the duffel bag on the floor.