Chapter 15: Lost and Found
The next morning Daryl is awakened by light specks of rain falling through the trees in the dense woods. He gets up; walks over to the road to get a better view of the inner state skyline. He's gotten used to the gloomy everyday overcast but this time he can see in the distance a serious weather disturbance. As a result he runs back to the small camp where he and Michonne spent the night. "Michonne… Chonne, wake up we gotta go, there's one hell of a rain storm coming and we need to make to the rest stop so we'll have some shelter." He tells her while packing up camp.
As Michonne wakes up she feels the fat rain drops falling on face and shoulders from in between the trees and she sees how the blowing wind disturbs the dead leaves and twigs on the ground. In the distance she looks deeper in to the woods and she sees a couple of walkers trying to walk against the blowing wind from the impending storm.
They finally pile all the camping equipment in to the back of the pickup truck with the deer remains then; they urgently cover the flatbed with tarp and tie it down. Daryl looks at the empty inner state road behind them, in the distance he sees lightening coming from the dark clouds as they start to run into each other over the woods and the inner state skyline.
"Come on we gotta move now if we wanna out run this storm." Daryl says opening the driver side door.
Michonne opens the passenger side but before she gets in she can also see the coming storm and lighten as well. She was used to the overcast skies and the rain that has been hovering over the cul de sac for weeks now. But this storm felt different, she knew this was the day that she was either going to find what she has been looking for or confirm that it was lost good."I hope there are no twisters in that thing", she yells over the growing howling winds. He starts the engine as she climbs in the truck.
Daryl zooms along I-85 with little ease from the weighty storms winds while Michonne watches the storm clouds gaining on them in her side view mirror. They pass by towering trees bending from the gusty storm winds, leaves and small dead branches fly along either side of I-85. He continues to keep a close eye on the inevitable storm through the review mirror, he stops watching the road and mirror to glance at Michonne then looks out at the road, "So," he pauses, "Whatcha' looking for out here?" he asks.
She continues to look out of her window in silence mainly because she really couldn't give him an answer so she says, "I lost something last month. I can't go back to the group until I find it."
Daryl waits in silence for a few minutes, "What if you don't find 'it' anytime soon." he asks glancing at her and watching road up ahead.
She looks at Daryl then back swirling leaves and dead tree debris in the her side mirror, "I'll just have to keep looking until I do." She answers him solemnly.
The sound of tiny bits of hail start to hit the hood of the truck and light drizzle begins to speckle the front and side windows when they see a sign, "Narrow Bridge Ahead". Just as Daryl begins driving across the narrow bridge the dark clouds are right on them removing all daylight from the sky and the inner state altogether, the storm they so desperately tried to out run was here and showed no signs of yielding.
As the commencement of the storm begins sheets of rain pour upon the truck, Daryl turns on the headlights and initiates more speed as he tries to get across the narrow bridge as fast as possible. Michonne sit ups in the seat and tries to look out the front window through the rapidly moving window wipers when he suddenly slows down then stops abruptly causing the truck to slide a little.
Both of them stare through the pouring rain as the headlights illuminates the bridge some yards ahead; they see the leg shadows of a small herd now alerted to their presence on the little bridge. The end of the bridge couldn't be any more than 30 yards away; any other time this size herd wouldn't worry Daryl while with Michonne but, he's concerned that she may not be ready for this type combat just yet.
"I'm backing up, we will find another way to get to the rest stop" he says getting ready to shift the truck in reverse.
Michonne sees the small herd of walkers as they take notice of them in the truck; she already knows that going backwards on the narrow bridge would be a big mistake. More importantly, she knew this was where she needed to look in order to find what she lost.
Realizing what is about to take place she does a small laugh and rips one of her sleeve off and ties her dreadlocks up on her head ensuring that "no-thing" grabs her hair like it did the day before.
The moment Daryl touches the stick shift to put the truck in reverse she grabs his hand and shakes her head and says, "No," she closes her eyes for two seconds and takes a deep breath, "What I am looking for is at the end of this bridge."
Daryl watches through the headlights as the legs of the walkers get closer and closer to the truck. He turns to Michonne then shrugs his shoulders with a smile, "Fuck it, this is as good a day as any to die."
Michonne jumps out the truck and unsheathes her trusted friend and begins to cut down walkers in the thunder and pouring rain. She either decapitates them or cuts them in half by their torsos. As her and Daryl decimate the walkers on the narrow bridge; Michonne feels the adrenaline rushing through her body and the familiar weight and movement of her katana in her hands, the memory of her sword skills come pouring back. She feels no reservation like she did when Daryl saved her the day before; there was no more flight in her only fight.
After they slaughter the troublesome walkers in the pouring rain they start to move their bodies out the way so the truck can get through. Daryl begins to walk over to the truck and just as he opens the door he sees Michonne standing on the bridge with her head tilt back, letting the rain wash away all the blood, guts, fear and doubt from her body.
When she finally stops to look at the pile of walkers on either side of the bridge she chiburi's her sword and puts it away. Daryl smiles to himself knowing that she found what she lost last month when she was attacked but, it also made him at ease knowing that he was there to help her find it.
Daryl and Michonne ride in silence as they exit the narrow bridge in the heavy rain. After 10 miles they see the sign for the rest stop, "Suwanee Rest Stop 12 miles" right underneath it says, "Suwanee Trucker Central Lost and Found."
As they ride past the sign for the rest stop the heavy rains slowly turn to moderate as the storm moves further up the road and some of the darkness in the sky is lifted, "Should we check out that lost and found once we get?" Daryl asks.
Michonne watches as they pass by the saturated woods on the side of I-85, "No," she looks over at Daryl and with content in her tone says, "It was never lost, I just forgot where I put it."
Daryl nods in agreement and they both go back to watching the road in comfortable silence.
Daryl and Michonne finally arrive at the rest stop; it's situated in the middle of the inner state so that you're able to enter and exit from the north or the south. They decide to enter from south which appears to lead to the rear of an abandon motel that was once useful to truckers when they needed to get some sleep after being on the road for hours.
They see a couple of large rigs without the tractor trailers attached. Now that there is some daylight available Daryl turns off the headlights. He slowly creeps along the driveway trying not to disturb anyone or any-things. He decides to park the truck in the middle of the back driveway instead of the parking lot in case they need to make a quick get away; in any case if there are too many walkers coming at them he knows they can still out run them when it comes to getting back in to the truck to drive off.
"Should we go check the joint out, see if there's anything good here while we wait?" He asks, Michonne.
"Yea, why not it's better than sitting around doing nothing." She answers back. So they get out the truck and pull out a couple of bags from the flatbed.
After Tero got the hint about asking Rick about his business he decided to tell him about the issues with the fortifications in the cul de sac. For the past 25 years the state was supposed to come and install a drainage system so rain water wouldn't continue to wash away the concrete and soil beneath the block but it never happened. "It's possible to create a rudimentary drainage system so the rain water wouldn't sit at the bottom of the block." Tero tells Rick as they ride along the inner state to the rest stop.
Rick half listens to what Tero is saying about the drainage system but he isn't really paying any attention to the solution to the constant slipping of the fortifications of the. All Rick is concerned about at this moment is where Michonne went and why would she leave without telling him.
In Rick's mind; he refused to take responsibility for her leaving because every time he went to see how she was doing she refused to let him in or she just would answer the door at all. Whenever he thought about her refusal to let him in he would get angry. However the minute he would get angry he would suddenly remember that she was gone.
These endless thoughts seem to plague him; giving him great anxiety.
"…so do you think your people would be willing to help? Rick? Are you even listening?" Tero asks.
"Huh?" Rick says while snapping out of his overwhelming thoughts about Michonne. He fakes it, "Oh I'm sorry. I'm checking out that storm, we seem to be heading toward" he says while pointing at the front window.
"Yea I see it too. The stop isn't too much further we should make to the stop before it gets to us." Tero reassures him.
Once they reach the rest stop they pull in to the parking lot of a rundown diner that's attached to the trucker motel. A few yards across from the motel were a couple of abandoned strip clubs and taverns. Right next to that was a large gas station with a sign flapping in the wind that says, "No Gas".
Before they get out the SUV they grab their guns from the back seat. Once they're out, Tero goes around to the back; opens the hatch door and hands Rick a machete while he takes a blade tipped baton. As the two men begin to clear they walk over to the window of the diner to see if there are any walkers roaming around inside.
Tero looks at Rick signaling him to get ready because he gonna tap on the window. Rick nods his head yes. When no walkers come to the window Rick says, "We can do a sweep later, let's check out that gas station."
When they get to the gas station they see that entrance door is broken and the shelves are pretty much empty. Tero goes over to the pumps to see if anything comes out. "Nothing." He says.
"What a second?" Tero goes back inside the gas station store and looks for the emergency shut off valve. He sees that the valve has been turn off. He looks over at Rick, "Oh man, the valve has been shut off all this time. Maybe the Gods will take pity and allow some gas to come out by turning it back on."
Rick smiles at Tero, "Well they haven't been taking too much pity on us so far. Maybe they aren't looking right now."
Tero turn the valve to the on position and they hear a loud clunk. Rick walks over to one of the pumps, squeezes the nozzle and a small trickle of gas starts to come out and then it stops. Suddenly gas shoots out the nozzle causing Rick to drop it from the sudden pressure.
He laughs out loud, "Maybe they have taken pity on us."
Tero smiles, "I'll take whatever hand they can give me." Tero begins to walk out of the gas station store when he sees a carton of generic cigarettes. "I gave them up years ago for my health, I guess it doesn't make a bit of difference now," he says under his breath. So he rummages through the back counter for some matches then grabs the carton of smokes.
The storm clouds are moving in closer to the rest stop so both men walk back over to the motel entrance and sit on the benches underneath the awning of the motel front entrance. The two start to talk about the old world the things they used to complain about back then, paying taxes, the wars over oil, the last football game they saw. Then the two go silent.
As the rain starts to fall Rick stumbles right back in to worrying about Michonne and whether or not she back at the cul de sac or if she is somewhere exposed to the current down pour that they were in.
Rick starts to get angry and anxious again. Tero sees his demeanor change and looks at Rick while taking a puff on his cigarette, "What wrong man, this has been a good day so far. Don't complain the Gods don't like that."Tero says with a small chuckle.
Rick looks over at him then he stands up. Rick was never one to unload his problems on a complete stranger but he considered the fact that he was able to share the memories of his with Sheila so he says with a heavy sigh, "It's Michonne, she left sometime yesterday and I want Daryl to hurry up and come back so we can find her."
"Well, which way did she go…" Tero continues to sit but leans in on his knees, "…do you know?"
Rick in an exasperated voice says, "No, I don't know and every second that we waist here her trail gets cold, damn it!" Tero looks at Rick with one squinted eye then he smiles and shakes his head and says, "Oh…I see."
"See what?" Rick questions annoyed by his presumption.
Tero leans back against the bench; shrugs his shoulders and with closed mouth grin says, "Nothing."
Rick doesn't like the patronizing look that Tero is giving him. He shakes his head at Tero, "It's…complicated."
Tero holds his hands up as if to say it's not his business. Rick rolls his eyes and begins to pace out in the parking lot as the rain starts to settle in.
The storm is releasing volumes of rain down over the entire rest stop. Rick can't keep still, he sits on the bench opposite Tero's then he walks out in to the parking lot hoping to see Daryl coming down the road.
Tero has fallen asleep on the bench as it rains then he wakes up due to the crackle of thunder. When Tero jumps from the sound of thunder he sees Rick standing in the rain looking for Daryl. He shakes his head and laughs to himself. "Rick, what are you doing don't you know that you never find what you want if you keep looking for it?" Rick ignores Tero's comment.
Tero pulls another smoke out of the carton lights it, "I always found civilians use of the word 'complicated' fascinating. In the core complicated held more meaning. Complicated is figuring out how to avoid snipers or move pass enemy lines without being detected. Or how to stop the bleeding of a gunshot wound. But civilians make up complications. Now you say that the woman in the block is simply a nannie nothing more and yet your only concern at this moment is 'Where's Daryl', so the two of you can go out and find Michonne?"
Rick says, "Yea she's a vital member of our group we'll be weakened without her." He yells back. Tero keeps silent for a while seeing that Rick is almost in a state of panic.
The rain begins to slow down to a light drizzle. Rick comes back under the awning and sits down he's soaking wet and flustered to say the least. Tero sees that Rick is attempting to get a grip on his composure so now he feels that maybe Rick will hear what he has to say this time, "Listen, I don't pretend to know your relationship with Michonne, but what I can say is that you just spent most of you time at this rest stop pacing back and forth waiting in the rain for Daryl to get here so the two of you can go and find someone that you have absolutely no idea what direction they went in…the way I see it there is nothing complicated about how you feel about Michonne…I am just saying." Tero laughs.
Rick looks at Tero hard then stands up in a huff, "Look I'm gonna check around back maybe he came in through the other entrance." Rick leaves Tero there in the front of the motel in order to calm down but, Rick is mainly upset because he knows that Tero's right.
Just before Rick reaches the back of the motel he sees Daryl coming around the corner with a bag on his should and his crossbow. "Daryl! Where the hell have you been man?" Rick yells at him. He runs up to him, "I have been waiting on you for hours."
Daryl jerks his head back, "What's wrong?" he asks.
Rick places his hand on his mouth trying to calm his sense of urgency, "Michonne left sometime yesterday, I've been waiting for you to get here so we can go find her."
Daryl looks at Rick feeling a little embarrassed and also a little bit jealous because he can tell that Ricks nose is wide open over Michonne. He shakes his head and looks down at his crossbow, "No, Rick she good. She's alright." Rick looks at Daryl confused.
So Daryl walks him back around the corner. When Rick turns the corner with Daryl he sees Michonne chiburing her sword from two straggling walkers she just killed.
Michonne looks behind her then, while putting her sword away she yells, "A Daryl we should clear the top floor…" she looks up and sees Rick standing next Daryl; breathes a sigh of relief and starts smiling ear to ear.