Chapter 2

The group took their time getting to the prison. None of them willing to admit they were a little scared of what they'd find there. There were just too many variables: It could have been razed to the ground, or filled with former-inmate Walkers. Or worse yet, filled with live inmates.

"Carol I want you to do me a favor, stay outside the fence, keep yourself, and 'Phia hidden until we get an idea of what's what in there. Will ya do that for me?" Daryl asked, his tone suggesting it wasn't really a request. He'd come to realise in the time he'd spent around Carol that he felt something pretty deep for her. He couldn't say if it was love, he didn't think he'd ever really know what that was. But he wanted an opportunity to figure it out. And something in his gut was telling him that if she went into that prison, on recon, he'd never have a chance. She must have seen something in his eyes, because she was quick to agree.

"Yeah, but then I want you to do me a favor." She waited for his nod before riffling around in her shoulder bag. "I grabbed these out of the Wal-Mart truck, and put batteries in them," she handed him a small walkie-talkie and showed him it's twin in her hand. "I want you to keep this on you, and keep me in the loop. I want to know what's happening in there, and for you to know if something happens out here."

Daryl agreed with this idea, whole heartedly. He wondered, briefly when the mousey woman he'd never really known at the quarry had grown into the strong, capable woman in front of him. "I don't know what the range is on these things, so when we head into the prison I want you two to head for the woods. Stay close to the edge, and if the walkies don't reach that far I'll come get you at the most 12 hours after we go in. That work for you?"

"Yeah that works for me. Just be safe in there. Come back to us." Carol ordered. Daryl felt an overwhelming urge to kiss her then, just to reassure her that he would. He telegraphed his intention wanting to give her an opportunity to tell him to go to hell if he was reading the situation wrong. He'd been right though; Carol was moving toward him at the same time. The kiss was quick and a little awkward, what with Sophia sitting on Carol's other side, against the door. But it was a promise made by each participant, and that was all that mattered.

Six hours later Daryl was checking in over the walkie letting Carol and Sophia know that the 'yard' was safe. The group would camp out there overnight then make their way inside the next day. That night there was a celebratory mood around the small fires they'd started. Beth sang a couple of church hymns, and a few old country songs. Daryl had decided that he, Carol, and Sophia would be sharing a tent. He'd come to the conclusion that he wanted to keep them both as close to him as possible. But he wasn't ready to tell the world. He'd taken first watch on top of an overturned bus, and when Carol came to bring him dinner he expressed his 'tent sharing' idea to her. He shrugged off her attempt at flirting, but he watched her walk back to the rest of the group. He didn't want to take his eyes off of her.

Once they made it into the prison, and realised their worst fears were unfounded they quickly moved in and made the place their own. Daryl, Rick and Glenn made a run back to the Wal-Mart truck for the bedding, and other odds and ends that they'd agreed as a group to leave behind. But now that they had a safe base they decided to retrieve them. By the time they got back the group that remained at the prison had figured out a way to remove the top bunks in the cells, making them feel more like rooms, found the infirmary (for which Hershel and Carol, who was learning a lot from him, were imminently happy), and done some general tidying up. Daryl wasn't quite sure how to react to Sophia's declarations of his 'awesomeness' for finding bedding specifically for her. It wasn't anything super special, and Daryl wasn't even sure when he'd learned, let alone retained, that the girl's favorite color was orange.

"Get some sleep 'Phia. If your mom says it's ok I'll take ya out hunting with me tomorrow, but if you're not well rested you're not going." He laughed as he watched her skip two cells down to what she'd picked as her room. They'd taken the prison issued sheets and blankets off the beds and done their best to jury-rig them into an extra layer of privacy, so Daryl watched until he saw the light on the girls camp-lantern dim and extinguish completely, then he made his way to the cell he was sharing with Carol. She'd kept the bunks intact and Daryl wondered if all her flirting on the bus the other day was nothing more than a game to her. He wasn't ready to ask yet though, so he started a different conversation. "Hey, would it be okay if I take 'Phia out hunting with me tomorrow? She's a good kid; quiet when she needs to be. I think it'd be good for her to learn. We won't go far, and we won't stay out overnight." He knew he was starting to sound ridiculous so he shut up and let her think for a minute. Daryl was starting to get nervous when she didn't say anything for a long while. He was afraid he'd overstepped the bounds of whatever they were becoming. He was about to rescind the offer when Carol spoke.

"You'll watch her every second. And at the first sign of Walkers you'll hightail it back here. I almost lost her once. That's not going to happen again." Carol's voice was no-nonsense. Daryl knew that if anything should happen to the girl on his watch he shouldn't bother coming back. So he would just not let anything happen.

"Ain't gonna let anything happen to her. I'm hoping we'll be able to get a deer. With the generators still working here we'll actually be able to freeze the meat, have it for longer than a couple days. But Sophia will be my first priority." Daryl assured, keeping his eyes on Carol's a little longer than he was actually comfortable with, but if it would convince her that's all that mattered.

"Then yes, I would appreciate Sophia learning something that will make her more useful to the group. I just hate that she has to grow up so fast. You know. She's only 12, well no. That's not right. Her birthday is at the end of September. So I guess she's 13 now. Not that it matters in this world. Anyway; yes you can take her hunting." Carol finished saying. Then she shook her head and quickly made her way out of the cell.

The next morning Daryl woke early and was readying his bow and arrows. He had checked and Carol was already up and about for the day, probably starting breakfast. So Daryl moved down the walkway to Sophia's room (he refused to call them cells), and knocked on the bars. "Hey 'Phia; you just about ready? I want to get an early start. Hopefully we can get a deer, and maybe a turkey. But we gotta have breakfast first. Get a move on." He said and started walking toward the stairs. Before he'd gotten more than two rooms away Sophia was out of her room and walking next to him. Daryl was glad she was easy to rouse. He remembered some of Merle's girls sleeping until afternoon and he hated having to tiptoe around. Daryl ate his breakfast quickly and told Sophia he'd be waiting outside for her. When she finally came out they headed for the gate.

"Mom told me to tell you to hold onto as much fat from whatever you catch today. She also told me to get a lot of pine needles, and to ask you to help me find any other edible plants to bring back." Sophia said as they left the prison and headed for the tree line.

"Ok, she probably wants to start trying to make our own soap. Smart thinking. Once we get into the trees I need you to stay close and keep quiet." Daryl explained that even a little noise could be heard by the animals, so if they wanted to catch anything today they needed to be silent and blend in with the forest. They hadn't been out there for more than 10 minutes, Daryl had just caught the tracks of what he thought was a pretty sizable buck, when they both heard the moan-and-shuffle of Walkers. "'Phia I want you to get up in that tree as high as you can. I'll whistle for ya to come down when it's safe. Go now. I won't let anything happen." Daryl said just as the first of the Walkers came into view. There were probably 10 or 15 of them and Daryl did his best to keep ahead of them. He knew if Sophia was watching and saw him even stumble it would scare her. He moved a fair distance away to keep them from catching the girl's scent. It was 20 minutes before he got back to her. Sophia scrambled down the tree as quickly and safely as she could but she was scared and crying and ended up pretty much falling the last 10 feet or so. Daryl moved to catch her and stiffened up when she wrapped her arms around his neck and cried into his shoulder. Daryl was just about to suggest they head back to the prison when Sophia calmed and disentangled herself from him.

"Oh my God! I was so scared. Are we gonna keep hunting, or do we have to go home now?" Sophia asked wiping the tears from her face.

Daryl could tell this girl had moxy, and she'd be ok. "We'll keep going, I didn't have to use a gun so we shouldn't have alerted any others to the fact that we're here. But if we run across another group like that we're going back." He knew that the way they'd been planning on going, the way the Walkers had come from, wouldn't have any viable game so he shifted their direction. He quickly found another set of deer tracks and showed them to Sophia.

"This one's smaller than the other one." She said and Daryl had to wonder if she'd ever been hunting before

"How can you tell?" He was honestly curious.

"The ground is the same here as it was in the other spot but the deer's footprints aren't as deep. That means it's lighter, and probably smaller." She smiled proudly up at him and laughed at his confused face. "My mom's brother used to hunt. He would tell me little stuff like that whenever we used to visit him and my grandparents. Before things got really bad with my dad."

"Well I'm glad to see you'll be of some use out here. Come on the prints are pretty fresh, we should be able to catch up with him if we're quick." Daryl said moving silently through the woods once again. A short time later Daryl could hear water moving. So there was a small river, or creek around here. That was probably where the deer was headed. They got the deer; and Daryl decided not to press their luck looking for anything else. He explained field dressing to the girl and watched her face scrunch up, just like Carol's when something unpleasant was going to happen. "I won't make ya do it this time. But eventually you'll have to, it's gotta be done as soon as possible after the kill." Daryl took pity on the girl. "Did your mom send any big containers in that bag of yours?"

"Yeah, she didn't tell me what it was for though. I though maybe to hold more plants?" Sophia questioned.

"It can be but for now I need you to take it down to the stream and fill it full with water. I might need you to do that a few times." Daryl explained.

There's a bit of a celebration when they get back to the prison with the deer. Daryl makes sure to heap as much praise on Sophia as the others give him. Life at the prison begins to take on some semblance of normalcy, they have a routine and it's stuck to pretty rigorously. Daryl and Sophia go hunting every couple days. A month in Sophia manages to make her first kill. It's a pretty sizable wild turkey. They decide to make a Thanksgiving dinner with it. Daryl goes on scavenge runs, what feels like every other day. But he always makes time to let Carol and Sophia know when he's leaving, and they are the first people he seeks out when he gets back. And nine times out of 10 he's got something special for one or both of them. He was afraid 'Phia was going to have a heart attack when he brought back a teen magazine with some ridiculously overpaid pretty-boy on the front cover.

"You have just become her favorite person in the entire world." Carol informed him after Sophia ran off to look through the magazine.

"What, why? I didn't do nothing." Daryl declared. He wasn't used to being anyone's favorite anything.

"Just go with it. It's a good thing." Carol says then proceeds to stand on tiptoe and press a soft kiss to Daryl's cheek. She doesn't give him a chance to respond, just scurries off saying something about getting lunch. Daryl's not really sure how he would have responded if he'd been given the opportunity.

Rick and Glenn who'd been shifting supplies around had walked into the common room just in time to witness the gentle moment between the couple. They walked past Daryl smirking, like they had some big secret. 'So what' Daryl thought to himself; 'let 'em think they know something.' With a satisfied nod Daryl made his way to the kitchen to see if he could snag a couple cookies that he knew Carol had baked. Daryl was careful not to be too optimistic; he knew he'd jinx it if he got to comfortable. But as he made his way out of the kitchen, with a cookie stuffed in his mouth and a smarting hand (from where Carol had whapped him with a wooden spoon), he took just a second to smile. He'd found a family, and he'd do anything to protect them.