Daryl was surprised when he found himself waking up to the sun coming through the windows. He didn't mean to go to sleep, but the stress of the day before had finally won out. He could hear the other moving about and talking quietly. He heard his name being mentioned and knew it was Kristen talking, but couldn't make out her words. Deciding he didn't care he rose to his feet and stretched, his back popping loudly. The sound of the door opening brought them all to attention. Daryl thought briefly that were stupid for not barricading it. Everyone relaxed with audible sighs when they say it was Carol.
This time Maggie didn't give her time to object and grabbed her in a hug. Carol seem surprised but, but briefly placed her hand on Maggie's back before pulling away. Stepping away from Maggie Carol spoke to the group, "I needed some time alone. There's a ladder to the roof I was up there." Carol could see the group didn't particularly believe her, but didn't care. "It's a good thing I was up there. There is a group of people heading this way. I counted fifteen. Their armed, but have children. I don't know if they are a threat." Everyone reached for their weapons, but Carol's next words stopped them. "They aren't our biggest problem. I can see a lot of smoke above the woods behind us. I can't see the flames, but the fire has to be huge. There's a slight drizzle working in our favor."
"When did we step into a B movie?" Glenn asked drolly, easing some of the tension the new brought.
Everyone chuckled with the exception of Carol who stay stone faced. Daryl found himself annoyed. "What you can't even smile now?" Daryl asked. Everyone quieted waiting in the tension filled air. Daryl actually flinched at the look he received from Carol. Ignoring his statement completely she got back to the point. "I'm going to go check the fire, you all can stay here and handle the people."
She was cut off by a dismissive snort from Kristen. "You seriously think we believe your coming back?" she asked incredulously.
Glancing in her direction briefly Carol, turned her body effectively dismissing Kristen. Kristen stepped forward, but was stopped by restraining hands. Carol could hear the 3 women arguing quietly amongst themselves.
"I'll check it out, maybe we can us the fire to our advantage. I'll be back as soon as I can," she finished finally. Turning to leave she was stopped by a hand on her arm. "Will you be back?" Daryl asked softly. Pulling her arm from his grasp she met his gaze, "Yes," was all she said before turning and moving toward the door. She almost made it before she was stopped again by Maggie saying her name. Turning she saw her approaching holding a couple of food bars and a canteen. Maggie hugged her quickly and whispered a quick, "Come back." Carol gave her a nod and then she was gone.
Daryl was getting tired of watching Carol walk away. Even if she did keep eventually coming back. Bringing himself back to the present he noticed the others looking at him expectantly. He used the time it took to pick up his crossbow to clear his mind of everything but the task at hand. He started talking, "We have the upper hand. We know they're coming. We're out numbered though. It sounds like a family group so hopefully they won't be hostile. Everyone check your weapons. We will let them show their hand first."
They were already in position, spread out where no one would get behind them. The door rattled and then opened. Daryl almost laughed when a man poked his head in the door and then quickly pulled it back out. There was a moment of heated whispering before Daryl saw two hands raised palms out in the doorway. "We're just looking for shelter," a shaky voice said before the head reappeared in the door again.
"Are ya'll armed?" Daryl asked even though he knew the answer.
"Yes," the man answered honestly, moving into the doorway completely, hands still raised. Daryl could see a gun at his waist.
"How many of you are out there?" Daryl continued questioning.
"Fifteen, four men, four women, seven kids. We had a camp but it was overrun a week ago. We've been moving ever since. There's a whole group of shufflers only a few miles behind us," the man explained.
Daryl eyed the man, not really getting any feeling of a threat from him. "Ya'll come in but keep your weapons put up."
The man nodded and leaned out the door giving his group the instructions to put their weapons away. Then the group started to enter one by one. They were all wet and dirty and exhausted. Daryl watched them closely trying to get sense any threats. All he saw was another group just trying to survive.
Carol was moving slower than she wanted but lack of food and sleep was taking its toll. The nap and food bars from Maggie had given her a slight energy boost, but that had been used up quickly. She was lost in her own thoughts when she heard a rustling noise and what sounded like something whining. Looking around she didn't immediately see anything. Then out of the corner of her eye she saw movement. She realized quickly it was a little dog. Its fur was matted and black with filth. She could see its pink tongue and white teeth as it panted happily at her. It ran to her and put his front paws on her leg. She could see an angry red mark on its back that looked to be a burn.
Carol had been smelling the fire for several minutes and the area had been filling with smoke. Not too far off she could just make out the orange glow of the flames. Knowing she was getting close to the fire, or more likely the fire was getting closer to her. Making a quick decision she picked up the dog and moved toward the flames. It didn't take long for her to be confronted with the wall of flames. The steady rainfall was keeping the flames from spreading too quickly, but the flames were too big to be put out with a little rain. It wouldn't be too long before the flames reached the warehouse, they would have to move quickly. Holding the dog tightly she took off in a run, her earlier exhaustion exchanged for adrenaline.
She hadn't made if far before she started seeing walkers sporadically shuffling through the woods. Thinking quickly she stuff the dog under her shirt, tucking it in the front of her pants making a pouch, feeling lucky it was a tiny little mutt. Pulling her knife out of its sheath she slowed her steps, trying to not draw attention to herself. She was actually grateful for the walker gunk still left on her from her bout with them yesterday. The scent on her and the smoke in the air seemed to be keeping the walkers from realized she was a meal.
She had made it past at least five walkers before her luck ran out. Just as she was slowly making her way past two walkers the dog decided to let out a loud howl, to show his displeasure of being kept in a shirt. Carol froze as two sets of dead eyes zeroed in on her immediately. Cussing the dog profusely under her breath she took the walkers down quickly and then took off in a run as several others turned in her direction.
It wasn't long until she could see the back of the warehouse. There was at least ten walkers bunched up against the side of the building, somehow knowing there was food inside. Again moving as quietly and quickly as possible she moved around the opposite side of the building. Before moving around the front, she peaked around the corner. Off in the distance she could see a herd much bigger than what she had just dealt with coming toward them. They were out of time.
Moving quickly to the door she pushed through, causing one of the women on the other side to shout out in surprise. Ignoring the woman she went to find the others. After a quick search she found, Daryl, Glenn and Maggie huddled together in a group with two men she didn't recognize.
As she approached she wasn't surprised to see Daryls head pop up. When their eyes met he gave a small smile, ignoring the flutter it caused in her stomach and concentrating on the task at hand she started talking. "We're out of time, we have to move now. We have only minutes before the herd is right on top of us," pausing long enough to pull the dog out of her shirt she continued. "The fire is huge several yards deep and heading this way. The rain is working still working in our favor. I say we use it to our advantage," she paused again when she felt a tug on her shirt. She looked down to see a girl about five years old. She pointed to the dog and used her hands to make gimme motions.
Handing the dog to the little girl she warned, "He has a bad place on his back that hurts if you touch it. Don't hurt him OK?" The little girl gave a somber nod then carried the dog to a group of women and children with a smile on her face.
Getting back on track she continued to relay her plan, "I'm assuming those vehicles are yours," she said talking to Daryl. At Daryl's nod she continued, "We put the kids in the cars take them down the road to safety. The rest of us try to redirect the herd toward the fire."
She was interrupted again by one of the men pointing out, "Fire doesn't kill em'."
"I know. The fire is big enough that they will burnt up enough to immobilize them. We won't get rid of the whole herd but we can make it more manageable for whoever is unlucky enough to encounter it." Carol argued back.
"Or we just have a bunch of flaming shufflers," the guy countered again.
"They'll still be going the opposite direction, we'll be able to get out and go the other way and not have to deal with them." The man started to open his mouth to argue again, but sensing that Carol was about to lose it on the guy Daryl stepped in.
"It's a decent plan and the only one we have. Maggie and Glenn can take the kids and one of your group to a store that's down the road, then come back for the rest of us." He waited for every ones agreement. "OK, go tell your people what's happening. Ya'll go get the cars ready," he told Maggie and Glenn who immediately moved into action.
"No wait," Carol warned. "There's a group of about ten walkers outside." Motioning to Jace Glen nodded toward the door. Suddenly stopping them again Carol grabbed each of their hands giving them a quick squeeze. "I'm really happy to see you again." Maggie gave her a huge smile before following Glenn to the door.
Carol watched as Maggie, Glenn, and Jace along with a man and woman from the other group talked briefly and then moved cautiously out the door.
All at once everyone was rushing around getting the supplies and kids ready to move quickly to the cars. Only a few minutes passed before Glenn opened the door and ushered the ones leaving out the door. Carol smiled when she saw the little girl still clutching the dog in her arms.
After the kids were gone everyone else clustered together to go over the plan. Carol stood off from the group watching Daryl give the rundown of what needed to be done. He was physically the same man as before she left, aside from the shorter hair he was sporting. What was different was a new confidence. He had always had the ability to be a leader but had never really stepped up. Now here he was bringing the two groups together effortlessly, being a true leader.
After Daryl finished everyone was given a couple of minutes to get their weapons together. Carol already had her weapons at the ready. She found herself watching Daryl without really thinking about it. She watched as one of the women, she was sure her name was Kristen, approached him. She put her hand on his arm and was saying something she could make out from her position. She hated the jealousy that bubbled up at the sight of her squeezing Daryl's hand and kissing his cheek. Not wanting Daryl to see her watching him Carol moved to the doors to wait for time to head out.
The plan was to get into three groups, one for the front and one to the side. The third group would look over the groups while they concentrated on the walkers. Soon it was time to head outside. When they were outside the herd was closer than anticipated. Moving quickly they were soon all in place. It didn't take long at all to get the herd to change course. They were shouting and clapping to keep the attention of the walkers.
Carol was in the lookout group standing a short distance away so she had a vantage point of both the other groups. A large amount of time passed with no problems, but then Carol saw three walkers stumbling from the woods unnoticed. Everyone was so focused on the herd they had no idea of the new danger. Moving without hesitation Carol took out the first walker. However when she attempted to remove her knife it was stuck, she panicked only a second before she was able to pull it out. By this time two more walker had wandered out of the woods.
With a quick look around Carol could see she was the only one left to handle the new additions. Making another quick decision she decided she needed to get the new walkers away from their prey. She easily got the walkers to follow her into the woods away from the groups. When she thought she was a good enough distance from the groups, she turned to face off with the walkers. The first one went down easily, but when she turned her attention to the others, they were closer than expected and were able to knock her to the ground. The three remaining walkers falling on her with their teeth snapping. The fall had knocked her knife out of her hand. She pushed against the bodies and kicked and twisted with everything she had. She could feel the decayed flesh dropping on to her face as the teeth gnashed over and over. She was on the verge of panic until she remember the gun at her waist.
Daryl's group had easily gotten the herd to the fire now, he walked beside the herd watching them walk aimlessly into the flames. He almost felt bad for them. Sometimes he would try to imagine who the person had been before simply by the clothes they were wearing.
Realizing he was distracted he gave a quick look around and immediately noticed Carol was missing. Looking around frantically he couldn't find her. He was about to ask where she was when there was a gunshot. The remaining walkers turned in the direction of the sound, but there was enough people to get them interested in going toward the flames again. Daryl looked toward the woods but couldn't place the direction of the gunshot, only seconds later another shot rang out then almost immediately three more. Getting the attention of Jace who had been looking at the direction of the shots Daryl motioned for him to follow.
Running quickly competing with the spreading fire they soon stumbled upon several walkers on the ground. There was three on the ground and under them Daryl could just make out the sleeve of the green shirt that Carol had been wearing. Daryl froze until he saw the sleeve twitch and then he saw the bodies shifted as she moved slowly out from under the dead weight. She was moving slow and the fire was moving fast and she ran out of time as the fire licked against the fabric of her shirt. Her shirt flamed up as she ran toward the two men. They both moved, meeting her and used their hands to knock out the flaming shirt. It was out and they all turned and started running. They didn't stop running until they were standing with the other around the three trucks waiting for them.
Carol was standing with her hands on her knees, breathing heavily. Daryl walked to her and she raised to face him. She had blood on her face and her should was blistering already from the burns. Eyes on her cheek Daryl asked gruffly "Did you get bit?" If he hadn't been terrified of her answer he would have laughed at the annoyed expression she threw his way.
"No, I shot myself. My arm got knocked on the first shot," she explained as she made a futile attempt to knock some of the filth off her clothes. Daryl gave a curt nod and motioned toward the trucks. Everyone was piling into the vehicles. Daryl had no idea where the third truck came from but he was glad that Maggie and Glenn used their time wisely. Daryl moved into the passenger seat of the last truck in line with Kristen in the driver seat. She gave him a smile that he felt himself return, just happy the whole ordeal was over.
From his seat he could see Carol climb slowly into the bed of the truck in front of him. Even though she was he could see she was in a considerable amount of pain she shook off the hands offering help. She moved and gingerly put her back against the cab of the truck. Daryl felt guilt move through him as he relaxed in the soft comfort of his seat. He saw Carol grimace as the truck jerked into motion. Watching Carol he could see the exhaustion pouring off of her. Yesterday she had been dirty and exhausted. Today she just looked finished. Her face was covered in blood, someone had given her a rag to hold against it, but the blood was still falling. When he had looked into her eyes earlier they had been dull. Nothing left of the permanent sparkle they had held before. Looking at her now, he knew the woman she used to be was gone.
