Sorry for the delay! The kids began school this past week and life is just beginning to settle down after that change. The chapter is a little longer than usual, and I think you'll all like the last bit. ;) I need to post the disclaimer once more as I am trying to stay as cannon as possible (although Lori, in my story has already had Judith.) I own nothing concerning TWD comic or show - I am however trying to follow along with the trailer, rumors and articles I read to piece this together. Please enjoy and hit the magic button when you're done! Thank you for checking it out ~ Kat
Her tire iron was hooked through the chain link fence and she gripped the width of it tight, knuckles white, ready to jump in if they needed her. Lori, held the crowbar and stood by her side with Judith wrapped in the sling watching the strange and violent battle go down inside the second section that they were working to clear.
Rick, Daryl, Glenn, Maggie and T-Dog formed a circle and held tight, fighting off each walker that came at them as if they were a rabid dog about to bite. Carol counted at least nine down so far, but many more to go before it was all said and done.
They used all they had, knives and a few large swords they'd picked up on a scavenging trip earlier in the fall. Daryl had his bow and his knife, T-Dog a fire poker to jab with and Glenn had a metal pipe. Maggie and Rick used the swords. Daryl and T-Dog worked side by side as if no tension between them existed, and for that she was thankful.
Earlier that morning, T-Dog came running toward the woods, knife drawn when he heard Daryl yelling, thinking they were facing more walkers – but when he found just the two of them walking out, his look of shock and alarm turned to disgruntlement in a hurry. Carol knew exactly what it was gonna look like – that she was making herself a victim of Daryl's anger.
"You okay?" He asked looking back and forth between the two of them.
She could feel the wind comin' off Daryl as he let go of her arm and wheeled in a circle next to her. He'd just found proof that his brother had been near their camp spying on them. He wasn't gonna handle this well. So instead of making excuses for him or worse yet, letting Daryl come up with something, she took huge strides to meet up with T-Dog, linked her arm through his and told him gently, "I'm fine. Come on. "Let's let him hunt." Then she turned to give Daryl one of her stern looks. "Stay close." She mouthed.
He grumbled something pissy and stalked away but she could see him from the corner of her eye, staying near the clearing, poking around.
"Carol, it's not my place," T-Dog started when they got out of earshot, "but back at camp in Atlanta – with all you had to deal with before, are you sure this" he extended his free hand to point at Daryl, who in return had his sights on them. "is something you want to get yourself into?"
She knew she didn't have to explain herself to him but she wasn't about to have him or anyone else for that matter thinkin' Daryl was a monster or she a fool. "That man," she put her hand over his finger and moved his arm down to his side. "is nothin' like my husband. What you heard was him blowin' off steam. I was just his – sounding board so to speak. I've got it handled." She said trailing off at the end of the sentence as she watched Daryl working his way around the trees, scanning the ground for more evidence. With T-Dog she found was transparent no matter how tough she tried to sound.
When he gave her that look of his – the one he used for disgust, impatience, anxiousness – he used it for doubt this time – she held up a hand to stall his thoughts. "Okay, maybe not, but I'm tryin' to handle it." She followed that comment with a slight smirk and tried to put some distance between he and Daryl.
T-Dog huffed, his head moving back and forth slowly. "I just wanted to make sure you were alright, with the walkers that were out there last night."
"Ah, you heard about that? By the time I made it out, they had the five of them down. In fact, you wanna help me move them? We can drag them to the edge of the woods." She squeezed his arm, noticing how he kept a steady eye on the path Daryl was taking. She wasn't sure yet how Daryl would need her help but if keepin' the others out of his way when he needed space to investigate, she'd do that, so long as he didn't wander too far.
Later, after breakfast when they went into the tent to gather up their things for the excursion, Daryl helped straighten the blankets and pillows. "He thought I was - "
"Who T-Dog?" Carol whispered, hoping he'd follow her lead and keep his voice down.
"He don't actually think I was - "
"It doesn't matter what he thinks, now will you keep your voice down? I set him straight and got him out of your hair. What else can I do to help?"
He rocked back on his heels, draping his arms around his knees in the awkward crouch position he was in and looked as if he were thinkin' on it for a minute. "We'll all be workin' on that second section today. It's gonna take all my energy keepin' myself and everyone in there safe. You'll be in that first gated area we cleared. Just keep an eye out."
"What will I be lookin' for?" She asked quietly.
"Anyone alive snoopin' around."
Carol knelt down in front of him and reached out to run her finger down a strand of hair that fell over his ear. It was second nature for him to pull back whenever she brought her hand near him, but this time he didn't and it surprised her. She remembered well what his brother looked like; a bit like Daryl, with lighter, curly hair, taller, meaner. It was hard to imagine with as big a mouth as he had at the camp outside of Atlanta that he had the skill to sneak around them, only just now discovered.
"I'll keep an eye out."
And that was just what she was doing, even though Lori and the rest of them had no idea. Up close the prison looked gloomy, daunting and ominous. Once it was cleared, it held the hope of safety for them, but now that she was face to face with the place they'd call home, a sinking feeling struck her. It was then she felt eyes on her. Maybe it was because Daryl had her spooked, but it almost felt like the vibes she was getting were coming from inside the prison walls, not outside the fences.
The kids and Herschel sat in the grassy area near the front gate. Their original thought had been for them to wait back at camp, but at breakfast Daryl had insisted that everyone go and he'd looked for Carol to agree with him. "It'd make sense." She told Rick. "If for some reason we get stranded there, one person – Herschel, namely wouldn't be able to take watch all night alone while the kids slept." In the end they all traveled to the prison, getting an up close and personal view of their soon to be sanctuary.
Daryl acted like she wasn't there and perhaps it was better that way. He had his job to do as did she. It was something she took very seriously too. He'd never asked much of her and this was a possible threat to the entire group. Slowly their sites were aimed more toward making their way in and fighting the dead, and less on protecting themselves from outside threats other than the walkers.
Now that she was sure Merle was lurking around, the very thought of a threat other than the walkers scared her to death. Merle, with one hand – because Rick had handcuffed him to that roof in Atlanta and T-Dog had dropped the key. Carol's heart pounded. Revenge. What else could he want other than his baby brother to stand by his side? But if he'd been skulking around long enough, he'd see where Daryl's loyalties fell. Big question was, would he be clear minded enough to understand or listen to reason once he made his presence known?
The man had introduced himself as the Governor, Philip Blake and he'd welcomed she and Michonne to Woodbury, which if not for the dozens of guards and the way the town was barricaded and walled up from end to end, she never would've known the walkers had taken over the world. Andrea was more than willing to forget. She and Michonne had walked the perimeter earlier that morning. Michonne with her broody, untrusting nature had tried to convince her that there was something wrong with the little town.
"What?" Andrea snapped. "We have food here, plenty of lookouts, the people are nice, grateful that the Governor's stepped up and created peace and order here." As she glanced at her friend, she sensed her enthusiasm wasn't rubbing off.
"I don't trust him." Michonne spat out, her hands on her hips. She was a woman of few words, rarely trusting anyone, and for the first time since the doors of Woodbury had been opened to them, she began to wonder if what they'd found was too good to be true.
Now she stood next to Philip, with Michonne on her other side, knowing the hairs were standing up on her friend's neck. She appeared stiff and uncomfortable whenever he was around and never tried to hide it.
Philip was waiting on the steps of the town hall. The townspeople, a few of his trusted men were scurrying like little drone bees trying to ready a microphone and podium for him to address the refugees. The smell of barbeque filled the air. Several carried neon cups of what looked like lemonade with fresh lemons split and wedged over the side. Some were eating watermelon. All at once, it was like a strange dream – music started, a band down at the end of the mains street. Philip descended the steps, head held high, shoulders back, a man of stature and dignity. Everything about him screamed that he was a born leader.
Andrea held tight to Michonne's arm, smiling at her nervously as the band surrounded by a crowd of people appeared. The successions of townspeople were being led by someone very familiar to them both. In one hand he carried a roasted boar on a pole, his other hand – ended in a stump, with a bayonet strapped around it up to his elbow.
Merle was smiling, and people were joining him in song. Andrea slowly felt her breakfast begin to rise up inside her gut. She took a slow peek at her arm, at the slash he'd put there only a week ago when they'd struggled in the woods. He'd been out scouting for Daryl and she wouldn't tell him where his brother was.
Philip took one last look over his shoulder, looking her directly in the eyes, giving her a confident, reassuring smile. If he knew about their run in with Merle, he hadn't let on. She only prayed he didn't and it was just a fluke that the crazy bastard was here.
"Any more words of sunshine and happiness you wanna shove up my ass?" Michonne murmured.
"I don't understand. People seem to like him, accept him here. I told you what Merle was like before." She mused as she looked the man up and down. He was cleaned up, he'd lost a ton of weight and it'd been replaced by raw muscle that she hadn't noticed up close. He must've lain off the drugs. There was no way he'd be in that good of shape if he hadn't.
"Should'a let me kill him when I had the opportunity."
"And what would that've done to Daryl?" Andrea asked, her voice just above a whisper as the Governor shifted his weight behind the podium.
"Ladies and gentleman," The Governor's voice boomed through the microphone. "I want to thank you all for helping build this place we can call home. Today we celebrate how far we've come and remember those loved ones we've lost. We raise a glass to us!"
They watched from the sidelines as the crowd went wild. Bottles of champagne were being passed around. "We're gonna have ourselves a good ol' fashioned pig pickin'." And with that Philip clapped and got the crowd going again.
When the band commenced playing, Philip made his way back up the steps to where Andrea and Michonne stood. "Why don't you ladies go down and get something to eat?"
It was then that Merle Dixon looked up from where he was singing with a few of the guys who had held them in the dispensary only a few days ago and met Andrea's stare. The smile on his lips faded briefly, but then slowly spread again, this time showing gleaming white teeth and all.
"I'm still not feeling up to it but we'll get something to drink, maybe." She told him quickly pulling Michonne down the steps with her. Merle had begun walking in their direction and she took the first opportunity to avoid him that she could find.
Merle watched as the Gov stared after the blond and her nigga friend – probably the one who knocked ya upside the head asshole. He thought, rubbing at the goose egg disguised by his curls.
"Merle." Asked the Gov, "Where where ya? I met your boys at the crash scene and they said you'd taken off again."
Merle knew he had to keep his cool, so he tried not to fidget. "Told ya, I do better on my own. Scouted up ahead to that prison ya wanted us to check out."
The Gov's eyes brightened considerably. "What'd you find solider? Still ours for the taking?"
He stuffed his left hand in his cargos, furrowed his brow and gave him a firm nod. "Crawlin' with geeks, just as it's been. Nothin's changed." And then he waited. If he gave the man any reason to think he didn't want him near the place the Gov would be there in a heartbeat.
Their fearless leader shuffled his feet and stared Merle down. "I keep hearing talk of an outside group getting ready to lay claim on it."
Merle kept his cool. "I did a thorough sweep of the area around the prison. It's only the dead sir."
The Gov visibly relaxed and clapped Merle on the shoulder. "Good. We have a few things to tend to before we go down that road. First I'll introduce you to our two newest members of Woodbury."
He turned and led Merle down the steps to where Andrea and her friend stood near some of the other women who smiled as they approached. His heart drummed loudly against his clean, black tank, wondering how this was all gonna go down and if the dumb bitch had already told the Gov about the group's plans to take the prison.
They were all exhausted by the time they made it back to camp that night, but they'd racked up the body count to over a hundred and got a start at clearing the last section. It wouldn't' be more than a few days and they'd be inside.
There were groans and grunts of protest as they walked up the hill to the pond. Daryl wanted to hang back and see what Carol's thoughts were on the place now that she'd finally seen it and if she'd caught sight of anything out of place.
He'd led the way through the brush to get there earlier and stopped once when he found one of Merle's footprints in the dust. It had only been one, but he'd been right as rain when he'd felt someone on him and Rick the other day. Merle'd followed them there. Funny thing was, he didn't think he was around now.
First chance he had was at the pond. Everyone jumped in with their clothes on. They were grimy, sweaty, bloody and wreaked of death, but he had to know before he took his turn. Carol could be just as perceptive as he was sometimes.
She glanced down as he caught her elbow. "Ya did good today." He told her, his voice low. She'd taken on a walker on the way back, clubbed it with the tire iron she'd brought along. It'd come outta nowhere, its noise slight due to an injury to its jaw. Still, he felt bad that he hadn't picked up on it being close. A few of the others noticed they hadn't gotten in, so he motioned them on. "Go on. We'll keep watch."
Carol looked at them and then back to him. "Let's move down the ridge a ways. We can still see everything."
"What'd ya find?" She asked when they got far enough from the pond.
"Footprint. He followed Rick and me to the prison. How 'bout you? Anything?"
Carol scrunched up her face, the way she always did when she was thinkin'. "I didn't see anything Daryl. I don't think - " She stopped as if she were unsure.
"Go on. Gimme your gut instinct." He pushed.
She shook her head, uncrossed her arms. "He's your brother, you've been the one – I don't know I don't think he followed us today."
Anytime he'd turned around as they trekked through the brush, she'd been keepin' a sharp eye out. "Same feelin' I got." Daryl told her. "Always go with your first thought." He said pointing to his head.
"If I were to do that, then I'd say that we were being watched from inside the prison."
Now that came outta nowhere. "What?" He asked, leaning into her space and she backed off, but only a little.
"I honestly felt like there were people watchin' from the windows."
He made a 'pfft' sound, pacing a little. "There's no way. No way anyone coulda gotten in. We combed the area for the best way in and the way we're goin at it is it."
"The kids said so too." She added, as if he'd believe them. They were more likely to make up ghost stories and make pretend the place was haunted than anything, but before he could voice his opinion on that she went on. "It was just a feelin' I had. Came from my gut." She added tilting her head up. "We need to be careful once we're in."
Daryl stepped back and nodded. She was right, there was no sense in lettin' their guard down once they made their way inside. They got quiet for awhile and let the others bathe and dress. As exhausted as they all were, no one cared, though Lori made sure the kids were separated after Carl's comments the other day that Carol had filled him in on.
A slight smile played on the edge of her lips when it was just them left up there with Herschel on watch.
Daryl aimed a thumb at the back of the old man's head. "Why do we always get stuck with him?" He whispered.
Carol pulled off her pants and he tried hard not to glance over, knowing once her shirt came off, that black bra would kill him.
Her quiet giggle floated across the space between them sounding like music. "Maybe it's a sign we need to behave ourselves."
The night air was cool but the water was lukewarm when he dipped his hand in. He decided to chance it, the old man wasn't lookin' and Carol's back was turned, so he stripped the rest of the way down and put one foot in. She glanced over her shoulder at that exact moment – he caught the movement from the corner of his eye. The boy cut shorts she wore matched the bra, delicate with lace trim along the edge, cutting up showing off her ass cheeks. God she'd gotten thin, but hell he couldn't stop staring. And then he realized he was buck naked. "Shit." He muttered, trying to wade in quickly, covering himself.
Carol turned all the way around now, treading slowly through the water, her hand out, face serious, letting him know it was okay. When she took his hand he pulled her to him. "It's alright ya know?" She asked, reaffirming what he already knew.
All he could do was grunt in response. When he looked down she'd brought him out far enough to where they were up to their waists and held a bar of soap and a wash cloth up for him to see. Slowly and gently she worked the soap across soaking wet terry cloth and began scrubbing his chest, his arms, then turned him around and got his back. He knew she'd seen the scars last night but he wasn't any less insecure about them now. Something about her touch, though helped him relax. Finally when she told him she was done, he ducked under the water to rinse. She handed him the soap to wash his hair and then looked into his eyes. It was so dark out he could barely see other than what light Herschel's lantern was giving off.
"You're turn." He said, his voice low.
She almost seemed panicked for a moment but then he reached around back, tucking the soap and wash cloth in his palm for a moment fumbling for the hooks. "What the hell? How do ya get this thing - "
She grinned and bent her head down, unfastening it from the front.
"Never seen one that snapped up like tha - " He mumbled, then gulped as it fell off around her shoulders. He took the right strap in his thumb and forefinger, slipping it the rest of the way off and tossed it up on the bank. She dipped down and floated in the water for a minute, grasping the soap from his hand and scrubbed her hair. When she came back up, her underwear was dangling from her finger.
When she added them with her bra he lost himself for a moment feeling drawn to her unclothed body, pulled to her. He forgot about helpin' her get washed up and lifted her legs to fit around his hips, pushing his solid length up against her sweet spot. She moaned softly in his ear, lazily draping her thin arms around his broad shoulders, her bare chest against his. Only then did he begin to make slow circles with the wash cloth across her back. She toyed with the wisps of his hair near his ears as they floated in deeper, all the while he was lookin' her right in the eyes. "I wan'cha. Ya know that don't you?" He asked quietly, knowing their voices would carry over the water.
She watched him for a good thirty seconds before her brought her lips over his mouth and for a moment he thought he was gonna get his way, Herschel sittin' ten feet from them and all.
When she untangled her legs from around his waist and stood, he didn't know what to think. Nothin' had really happened the night before. He'd gotten all pussyfied and then the walkers had come through, but several times during the day he'd had the chance to think about it and he figured if the walkers hadn't come that it would've happened last night. Now he wasn't so sure. He didn't wanna ask. He was so bad at this, and she sensed his doubt. Climbing out, baring her ass to him, she reached for a towel. He followed slowly, trudging out of the water, keeping a hand over himself causing her to smirk.
"What?" He asked brusquely.
She met him in the grass, handing over a towel for him as she haphazardly threw on a set of clean clothing. "Let's get down to the tent and finish this." She whispered, a determined glow lit up her eyes.
That took him by surprise but he wasn't gonna argue. A pair of cargos, and a wife beater and he was good to go. He didn't even bother with his boots, just bundled everything up and followed her down the hill. Like a love sick pussy. Well fuck it, he thought scannin' the woods shouldering his bow, not sensing any danger. If bein' a love sick pussy included bein' cared for by a woman like Carol he'd gladly hold the title.
"You kids behave now." Herschel called after them.
Carol turned, giving him a wave and a smile then took Daryl's hand. Nothing felt more right than where they were headed.