A/N Thanks to all my new followers and those who've put this as a favourite story. I will try and download the last 8 chapters today.
Chapter 41
She unlocked the door and pushed it open, peering inside to make sure it was walker free. Once they were all inside Rick closed the door and turned the key.
"Nothing can creep in behind us now" He stated. The bars was typical of many small town saloons. There was a long bar down one side and several tables scattered around. One end of the room was taken up by a low stage with two poles in prominent positions.
"Real classy place you worked in" Michonne commented. Eleanor just laughed at her.
"Pay was real good, made it worthwhile" She look around at the grubby place.
"It aint changed a bit" She went to the bar and sat on it, swinging her legs over, landing on the other side. Ducking underneath for a second she popped back up with a shotgun and a box of shells.
"Kitchen's through there" she pointed to a swing door in the corner "You two go look in there, Michonne and me'll finish checking in here" she told Rick and Daryl. As they left the room she called out "Think the chef had a gun, kept it in the sugar jar."
The two men searched the kitchen, finding a gun buried in the sugar container, too sticky to be any good. As Rick took the bullets from it they heard laughter from the bar.
"The hell they doin' in there?" Daryl grumbled "Think they found the booze?"
Rick pushed open the swing door and peered out. He stepped back quickly, a wide grin on his face.
"You gotta see this" He whispered to Daryl, as he quietly opened the door again. Both men peeped out.
Michonne and Eleanor were up on the stage. They were both leaning on a pole, with their arms above their heads, gripping on with both hands.
"No, you gotta keep hold with both hands, then kinda wiggle and slide down real slow, then come back up again" Eleanor appeared to be explaining the finer points of pole dancing to Michonne, whilst demonstrating efficiently. Michonne was trying to copy her moves but only succeeding in laughing out loud.
"Don't laugh, you gotta keep it suggestive" Eleanor told her off.
Michonne gave up and straightened up, moving away from the pole. She winked at Eleanor, who smiled in return. They both knew the men would hear them laughing and come to investigate. They knew they were watching and trying not to be seen and had decided to give them a show.
"What else did you do?" Michonne asked innocently. Rick and Daryl exchanged shocked looks, it looked like Eleanor used to work as a pole dancer. Daryl didn't know whether to be impressed his woman was an exotic dancer or jealous she had danced in front of other men. He tried to step in front of Rick, to stop him seeing anything else but the sheriff dodged past him and kept looking.
Eleanor looked thoughtful as she considered Michonne's question.
"Well" she said, a wicked glint in her eye "first you had to get their attention" She jumped back onto the bar and put her hands on her hips.
"You would start to sway and then wiggle your hips like this" she demonstrated a few suggestive moves, "Then maybe a bit of this" she lifted her arms, running her hands through her hair, raising it and letting it fall down her back. "Of course there'd be sleazy music"
Michonne looked at the edge of the stage and faked a surprised look, as she picked up a boom box.
"Maybe there's something on this battery operated CD player" she dead panned, pressing the play button. "Why look, the batteries still work" she commented as Personal Jesus by Marilyn Manson started playing. She knew they would as she had just taken them from her flashlight and put them into the machine.
"That's exactly right" Eleanor laughed "Then you would start the routine, a bit like this" She swayed a bit more then ran down the length of the bar before leaping off the end towards the stage. Before her feet touched the ground she caught the nearest pole, hooking one leg round it and holding on with one hand as she swung herself around. She unhooked her leg and span round using just her hands until her feet reached the floor.
"Then you would pad it with a bit of wiggling and sliding, before doing something like this" She wrapped both legs around the pole and with her hands pulled herself higher up, before leaning over backwards, gripping with her legs, her hands reaching to the floor as she back flipped away from the pole.
"It's much better when you're wearing itty bitty shorts and 5 inch heels" she explained.
"Like the shorts you usually wear?" Michonne asked sweetly.
"Hell no" Eleanor exclaimed "Those are what your Mama would wear to church compared to what you wear to do this"
Michonne opened her mouth to reply, but ended up laughing "I'm sorry" she gasped between laughs "I can't do this anymore"
Eleanor started to laugh "Nor can I" she giggled. The women turned to the kitchen door, looking at the speechless men, still peering out at them.
"Time to make an exit" Eleanor linked arms with Michonne and the women wiggled their way to the door.
"Work it Girl" Eleanor told Michonne, as they both walked with an exaggerated sway to their hips. They unlocked the door and disappeared outside.
Rick and Daryl finally left the kitchen, not sure what to say to each other. Eventually Rick faced his friend "You are one lucky son of a bitch" was all he could manage. Daryl just gave him a self-satisfied smirk as they headed out.
They were almost to the door when they heard Michonne give a shout of alarm.
"Ellie, look out!" she screamed, then they heard "Damn it, No!"
Daryl ran for the door, heart pounding as he ripped it open. He froze when he saw Eleanor on the ground, a walker pinning her down, blood on its mouth. He could see the blood on the shoulder of her jacket as she lay motionless in front of him. Michonne used her katana to put the walker down, panic on her face as she pulled its body from her friend.
Daryl couldn't move, he saw her laying there, saw the blood and it felt like his world had ended. He saw Rick looking at him, pain in his eyes. Finally he forced himself to move towards her. Michonne was already on her knees by the unconscious woman's side. Daryl stood next to her, looking down at Eleanor, his breathing harsh.
"She bit?" he managed as Michonne reached for her jacket. She pushed it to one side, expecting to see torn skin. There was nothing, she was unmarked.
The three of them exhaled with relief as Eleanor began to stir. She rolled over and squinted up at them.
"What happened?" she asked, worried by the looks on concern in front of her "Have I bin bit?" she panicked, trying to see herself.
Daryl held a hand out to her, "You're okay" he said "just a bit of a close call with one of those sumbitches" She took his hand and he pulled her to her feet.
"It came out from behind the car" Michonne explained "Didn't see it until it was on her and knocked her down. She hit her head and I saw it bite into her shoulder." She pushed her fingers through her hair "Damn, I thought you were a gonna" She gave Eleanor an awkward one handed hug. Rick smiled at her
"Glad you're okay" he told her "I think it's time we headed for home"
"I'm just glad I was wearing my leather jacket, I guess it was thick enough to stop the bite getting through. Pissed off about all the blood and gunk on it now." Eleanor complained as they headed for the car. "Walker must've eaten recently, had a mouth full of muck"
Daryl was quiet as they got into the vehicle. Eleanor glanced at him, puzzled.
"You okay?" She asked. He turned to her, eyes angry.
"You was too busy messin' around to take care. Could've got yerself killed!" he yelled, unable to keep quiet anymore. "Should've been lookin, not jokin' and dancin' about like some hooker" He regretted that as soon as he said it, but it was too late. He saw the expression on her face change.
"I never danced in public until today" she told him coldly "I used to work that bar as manager. It was my Uncles place and he let me work there, evenings and weekends. The dancin' was a great way to exercise, used to do it when the place was closed. Some of the girls who did work there showed me some moves for a laugh." She glared at him before turning to look out of the window "We were jokin' around today, knew you two was peeking, you tellin' me it's wrong to try and have a good time occasionally?" She didn't turn to look at him and he didn't know what to say so he didn't reply.
Rick and Michonne exchanged glances. It was going to be a long trip home.