Chapter 40
Winter was now over and the trees were starting to bud again. Wildlife was waking up and there was more game around. Daryl and Eleanor, both fully recovered, started to hunt together again. A couple of the men they had freed were also able to hunt so there was plenty of meat to go around and the pressure was off the two of them as the only hunters.
One day in early spring Rick suggested that he and Michonne went on a run with Eleanor and Daryl. They had been pouring over various maps and decided to go to a town several miles away. They avoided the direction Eleanor and Daryl had gone before as they didn't want to risk running into the group of men who claimed it was their territory. The four of them piled into a car, the trailer attached, hoping to find some basic supplies. They were low on staples like pasta and rice and toiletries as well as medical supplies and batteries.
They were all in a good mood as they drove along, the sun was out and they were free from Terminus. They'd all been stuck there for weeks and it felt good to be outside. Eleanor had bought her mp3 player and they were arguing good naturedly about what to listen to.
"It's my player, I should choose" Eleanor argued, Rick declared that as driver it should be his say and Michonne stated that in her opinion it should be the passenger who got to decide. Daryl just told them if they didn't hurry up and choose something he'd throw it out the window. After a couple of hours driving they arrived at the town.
"Where shall we try first?" Rick asked the others.
"Turn left here and keep goin' straight, there's a grocery store just along the road" Eleanor spoke quietly
Michonne gave her a quizzical look.
"How'd you know that?" She asked.
"Cos this is my hometown" Eleanor explained. "My Daddies auto shop is right along there and I used to live on the other side of that church over there" She pointed to a steeple in the distance.
"Why didn't you say anything?" Rick demanded "It can't be easy coming back here"
She shrugged "It don't matter, it's just buildings and we need the supplies"
They pulled up in front of a small grocery store. There were several walkers in the street. The sound of the car attracted them and they began shambling their way towards the vehicle.
"Me 'n Dary'l take care of them, you get in the store, make sure it's clear" Eleanor jumped out of the car, machete in one hand knife in the other. Daryl followed, aiming his crossbow and taking out the strongest looking walkers. The two of them approached the rest, knives in hand.
Michonne and Rick ran to the store and forced open the door, banging on the doorframe to draw out any walkers inside. While they waited Michonne turned to check on the other two.
"Just look at that" she commented to Rick. He turned to see what she was looking at.
Eleanor and Daryl were standing back to back fighting the walkers with ease. They seemed to know exactly where the other one was at any time. As Rick watched he saw Daryl duck slightly so Eleanor could stab a walker behind him and at the same time she leant sideways so he could get one next to her.
"I feel like we shouldn't be watching this" Michonne commented as they saw them stand face to face and stab walkers over the others shoulder, all the time making eye contact. As a walker tried to get to Eleanor Daryl caught hold of her arm and pulled her around, her back ending up against his chest, his arm across her waist as he plunged his knife into the creature's skull.
"How in the hell're they making that look sexy?" Michonne asked, shaking her head "It's like some weird kind of foreplay" She turned back to the store "Think we'd better leave them to it"
Laughing at her comments, Rick followed her into the store. Once inside they found there was a lot of stuff left. They managed to find most of the items they were looking for plus several other useful things. They loaded up a couple of trollies and wheeled them outside. There was no sign of Daryl or Eleanor.
"You don't think they've sneaked off to …." Michonne started to say.
"I wouldn't of thought so." Rick was unsure. They looked at each other
"They wouldn't, would they?" He asked a smile on his face.
"After what we just saw, I'm not so sure" Michonne laughed. They looked across the road and saw the two of them coming out of a diner on the other side of the road. They were both carrying bags of supplies.
"Hey, found some flour and powdered eggs" Eleanor announced, a happy look on her face. She stopped when she saw the expressions on Rick and Michonne's faces.
"What?" she frowned "What's so funny?"
"Both gone crazy" Daryl muttered as he put the bags he was carrying into the trailer.
The four of them headed into a small pharmacy and found some of the supplies Bob had requested. They cleared out all the other toiletry items and household sundries they could find. Once they had loaded up the trailer Eleanor suggested they went to her old apartment.
"I had a gun there" She told them "When all this started I couldn't get back so I had to leave it. It might be still be there, there's ammo as well" Once they were in the car she directed them to her old home. It was in an old building divided into six apartments. Hers was on the top floor.
"Used to love this place" She told them "I could get out on the roof, just lie back and look at the stars" They climbed the stairs cautiously, only having to kill two walkers. Her apartment looked untouched. They broke the door open and went in. Daryl looked around; curious to see how she'd lived before everything changed. The apartment was small but neat. There wasn't much furniture but what was there was basic but comfortable. He couldn't see a TV but there was a decent quality Hi Fi and a lot of CDs as well as several shelves of books. He followed her as she headed for the bedroom. She opened a closet door and pulled a box from the top shelf, tipping the contents onto the bed. There was a handgun and several boxes of bullets, as well as two sets of keys. She put the weapons in her bag, then scooped up the keys.
"There was a fuel tank at the auto shop, might be able to syphon some fuel from it. We might be able to take some of the spare parts as well, for repairs to our cars." She grabbed some clothes and took a last look round the room, stopping to snatch up a framed photograph from the bedside table.
"Me and my folks" she said sadly, showing it to Daryl. He gave her hand a comforting squeeze as he looked at it. He saw younger Eleanor, looking much the same as now, just with shorter hair and a slightly fuller figure. She was standing next to a young man and an older couple. The woman was like an older version of Eleanor, a beaming smile on her face as she gazed at the older man. He was a handsome man with greying hair and green eyes. His hand was resting on Eleanor's shoulder and his other arm was round the woman's waist. It was the perfect loving family photograph; it was everything Daryl had never had. He felt bad that Eleanor had known it and now it was lost to her.
She quickly wiped a hand across her eyes, turning away from him as she put the picture into her bag. Without saying anything else they left the room. Rick and Michonne had collected up anything else they thought might be useful, including the first aid kit she's told them was in a kitchen cupboard, and they left the apartment. Eleanor didn't look back. They piled into the car and she directed them back to her father's auto shop. Once there she handed the keys to Rick.
"I can't go in there" She told him quietly "It's where I had to finish my Daddy to stop him turning. He's probably still in there. I can't face seeing that" He nodded and took the keys from her. As he unlocked the door she called up to them.
"There's a safe behind a picture in the office, he kept a spare gun in there, you might as well take it" She told them the combination then settled back in the car to wait. After a while they returned carrying several fuel cans, which they stashed in the trailer. They made several trips backwards and forwards bringing out batteries, fuel lines, spark plugs and any other spare part that could be useful. Finally they were finished. Eleanor glanced at Daryl.
"Was he still in there?" she asked sadly. He nodded "Yeah, in the chair in the office" he reached out and gave her a quick hug, still awkward at showing affection in front of others. She knew he found it hard and appreciated the small gesture even more.
She pointed across the road to a rundown looking bar.
"Used to work there" she told them, "There was a shotgun under the bar and the place had a kitchen. Probably worth a look" She held up the other set of keys. "Least we don't have to break the door down"