Chapter 5
That night Daryl was on watch in the tower. He didn't mind doing the night shift as he didn't sleep much and it meant he could avoid people during the day under the pretence of catching up on his sleep. He heard someone coming up the ladder and the trapdoor opened revealing Eleanor. She gave him a cautious smile.
"Can I come in?" she asked quietly.
He shrugged "Can't stop you" he muttered.
She climbed into the room and closed the trapdoor. He went back out onto the walkway. She followed him, holding something in her hand.
"I got coffee" she waved a thermos flask at him "You want some?" He wanted to say no but actually really enjoyed a coffee and it was something they didn't have very often.
"Guess so" he said grudgingly. She opened the flask and poured coffee into two cups she'd also bought with her. The smell drifted across to him. "No milk or sugar, hope that's okay" she handed him one of the steaming cups.
"What'd wanna go and spoil a good coffee with milk and sugar for?" he asked, inhaling the smell, and taking a sip.
"That's good stuff, not the usual shit we have." He exclaimed as he savoured the delicious flavour.
"It's from my personal stash" Eleanor smiled "Few weeks ago found one of those fancy coffee shops, there were 2 packs of the good stuff on the floor under a shelving unit. Keep it for my own personal use. Lucky the jerks that took me took all the bags and supplies from the people they killed and I managed to grab mine. Would have been really pissed if I'd lost that"
"So why I'm getting' some?" He asked.
"I guess you could say it's apology coffee." She looked up at him "Wanna say sorry if I embarrassed you in front of those people earlier. Wouldn't be getting any if I didn't feel so bad about that."
"Coffee's good enough I guess I can forget it" He stared at her for a few seconds before looking away. "How'd you know I liked coffee?"
"I asked Carol. She seems to know about everybody. She's a real carer, looks after everyone" Eleanor smiled "She's a lovely lady."
"Yeah, she is" he agreed, still enjoying his drink. "You got a place to sleep sorted yet?"
She frowned "Yeah, I gotta share with this old woman. She's real nice but snores like you wouldn't believe. Seems she goes to bed about 8 o clock and sleeps straight through till morning, snoring the whole time. I was in there for about an hour and I was thinking about smothering her with my pillow. Might see if I can find a corner somewhere, make my own space."
She was surprised when he laughed
"Yeah, I know what you mean. We took in a load of people a couple a weeks ago. It was all old farts and kids. Can't get a minute's piece now. S'why I like doing the watch at night and going hunting during the day." He thought for a moment "There's some offices we don't use. Show you later, maybe you can fix one up. At least you can shut a proper door."
"Thanks, appreciate it" Eleanor sat on the railing around the walkway and he leant on the wall. They finished their drinks in a comfortable silence, neither feeling the need to talk. After a while she pushed herself up and collected up the empty cups and flask.
"Gonna grab a shower and see if I can get some shut eye" She headed for the trapdoor, before turning back to him "Thanks again for saving my butt today. See you in the morning" As she was about to climb down the ladder he surprised both of them by blurting out
"Going on a run tomorrow, you wanna come?"
She grinned "Hell yeah, wanna prove what I can do. Show you I 'aint useless" with that she disappeared down the ladder, leaving him wondering what the hell he was doing.