I do not own the Walking Dead. I am not associated with it's creator, writers, actors or franchise. This is just for fun.

Chapter 16

The town was quiet. Carol followed behind Austin and Jason, making sure that no one or walker, would sneak up behind them. Daryl took point and led in the front. Their newbies were placed in between them.

The first thing they did was to head to the hardware store. They needed more nails, cement, a few replacement tools and boards. Some of the areas of the fence surrounding Terminus needed reinforced. Some of the areas of fence seemed to have weakened over time.

Daryl kept having to tell Jason and Austin to be quiet. They were laughing and talking loudly. Carol could tell Daryl was about to snap.

These guys weren't used to working on a team, and Daryl already knew he was going to cut this "training" lesson short. He wasn't willing to risk his and Carol's lives over these two dumb as hell guys. Daryl wondered how they had even survived this long.

Daryl swung around and grabbed Austin by the shirt. "If you don't shut up...I'm just gonna leave your sorry ass here." Daryl told him angrily.

"What man? There's no one here. HELLO? Anyone there?" Jason half-yelled out. Daryl was just about to punch the guy when Carol shouted out..."To the left!"

From the left, came about five walkers from the side of the building. Carol whipped out her knuckle breaker and looked over at Daryl.

Daryl immediately lifted his crossbow, and fired an arrow into the nearest walker's head. The walker hit the ground with a loud thump. He was able to take down another one before the final three got to them.

Justin yelled, "Don't worry I got this, and he went after the bigger walker." His knife was aimed for it's head, but somehow landed on the side of the neck. He began struggling and Carol saw the panic in his eyes. Instinctively, Carol reacted by moving forward towards Austin, then she slammed her knife straight into it's skull.

As Carol turned around, she aimed her knife at the other walker and took it out. Austin looked stunned and scared.

"Pay attention dumbass!" Daryl yelled at him. His body vibrating at the fear that had raced through him at seeing Carol take on two walkers.

"What'd you do that for? I could have taken it out!" Austin asked. Jason looked like he wanted to hide under a rock.

"This isn't a game!" Carol told him frustrated. They were just stupid for not taking walkers seriously. Their naive and childlike view of walkers brought back unwanted memories of Mika and Lizzie.

Carol stomped away, and took a few moments to get herself together. When she came back, Daryl looked into her eyes, and realized where she had gone for a moment. Mika and Lizzie. Sophia.

Grabbing Austin by the shoulder and held him firmly. Daryl looked between him and Jason.

"Now listen to me. We're gonna grab our supplies, and some other shit. Then we're gonna get outta' here. I'm not dying for you two dumb fucks and neither is Carol." Daryl told them.

Daryl looked over at Carol to make sure she was okay. He could tell that she was losing patience with these kids. That alone was a miracle. Carol had the patience of a fuckin' saint. He should know. As far back as the quarry, Carol had taken everything he'd thrown at her, trying to scare her off, and deflected it. She'd refused to give up on him, even when he'd said such horrible things to her after they found Sophia. Daryl would never know what made her fight for him, when he'd given up on himself long before then...

"Let's circle around the back, just in case someone is watching the front." Daryl told them. So, they circled the building. They ran into one or two walkers that seemed to just have been wandering around.

"Everyone stay close." Daryl told them as they arrived at the back of the hardware store. It was still unlocked from the last time they'd come here for supplies.

Daryl slowly opened the door, taking led again, he went through the door. The guys seemed to have taken his threat to heart, because neither one of the spoke. As they turned the corner to enter the front of the store, Daryl saw that the front door window had been smashed in. Mentally, Daryl scolded himself, he should have double checked it as they had gone through the town. He'd been thrown off his game with Austin and Jason being there. Stopping immediately, Daryl looked back and gave hand signals indicating that they needed to be ready for anything.

Carol knew that Daryl had seen something that worried him. She pulled out her gun...just in case her knife wouldn't be enough. Daryl brought up his crossbow, and his shoulders tensed with the anticipation of conflict.

Jason and Austin, both pulled there weapons readying themselves. However, where Daryl and Carol had controlled and calm demeanor in the face of anxiety and fear...Jason and Austin were fidgety and uncertain. It showed in their eyes and choppy movements. Carol looked at them, and thought for a second, that she wished she could take their weapons away. Carol was afraid they'd accidentally hurt themselves or Daryl and her.

Daryl glanced back at Carol, and saw she had already pulled her gun. He exchanged a look with her that told her to be ready for anything. He also saw that the guys weren't acting calm and collected. Daryl couldn't wait for this fucked up "training" run to end. He wasn't ever doing this shit again, and he'd be damned if Carol did either. After all, not every threat was from a walker.

As they traveled further into the store, Daryl felt the hair on the back of his neck raise. His instincts were on high alert. There was a threat here for sure. He could feel it. All Daryl wanted to do was grab Carol and get the fuck outta there. Looking around, he didn't immediately see the threat, but just as he was about to tell them to all turn around and get outta there...he heard a voice come from the end aisle. Watching, Daryl saw a man stroll out from between the aisles.

"Well, what do we got here?" The man said. He was in his early fifties. Big belly, and balding head.

Just then, he heard Carol gasp, as another man came up behind them. While she'd been distracted, another man snuck up and put a gun to her head. A third and final man, stood aiming down from the second floor balcony that oversaw the store.

"Put down your weapons." The man in front of the aisles told them. Daryl hesitated. Putting down the weapons would put them at the mercy of those three men.

"I'd suggest you do it, unless you want the woman's brains splattered all over that wall there." The man who held the gun to Carol's head told them.

Daryl grimaced, and his face tighten. Slowly, he lowered his weapons. He saw the rest of the group do the same.

"Well now. Isn't that better. Now we can all get to know each other a little better. Maybe even become friends." The man in front of Daryl told them. Daryl saw his eyes slide over to Carol, and he didn't miss the way his eyes moved up and down her body. Without realizing it, Daryl's body went into protector mode.

Daryl's blood began to boil. These men weren't the type of men they'd want back at Terminus. These were the type of men they kept out of Terminus, and now they were weaponless against them.

To be continued...