Carol full of surprises

Daryl and a mattress

They had driven for about an hour when Shane honked for them to stop.

"We don't have enough fuel for so many cars. I will abandon mine here, ride with you" Shane said. Then he looked at Daryl. "Your car also consumes a lot with that motorcycle on it".

Daryl thought for a second and nodded.

"Go with Rick for now" he said to Carol.

The men rushed to get whatever fuel was left in their cars and transfer it to the other two. Carol got in the car, next to Carl and Shane went inside Dale's trailer, thinking it was a good opportunity to also clean the pistols. They drove off.

Carol entertained Carl for a while, playing games with him which made the boy forget a little of the situation.

"You're very good around children, Carol" Lori said.

"I prepared for it. Besides after I left my town and settled in another I got a job at an afterschool. That's where I know all this games".

"You would make a good mother, Carol".

"I don't know…but I guess I would try teach my child not to do the same mistakes as I did. Especially if it's a girl" she looked outside the window. Daryl passed their car.

Slowly the view was filing with abandoned cars. Some had corpses in them. They had to stop as Dale's van was left without water.

"Told you it won't go far without water" he said.

"Problem Dale?"

"No just a matter of being stuck in the middle of nowhere with no hope…" he stopped as Daryl searched in one of the cars. "Ok, that was dumb".

"We can find a radiator hose here…" Shane said.

"A whole bunch of stuff we can find" Daryl finished his sentence.

"We can start by getting fuel out of these cars" T-Dog walked a little.

"Maybe water" Carol said.

"This is a graveyard" Lori interrupted them. They all looked at her. "I don't know how I feel about that".

"Come on y'all" T-Dog said and they shattered around.

Carol walked with Lori and Carl, while Daryl and T-Dog were getting fuel out of the cars. Rick remained with Dale to hold guard, Shane searched for a hose and Glenn had been instructed to repair the radiator.

"We'll need clothes, maybe we can even find towels, tents" Carol said as she searched in the trunk of a car.

"Everything was blown up at the CDC, we're lucky we have our guns" Lori agreed.

"These guys have been well prepared" Carol said finding blankets, a tent and a mattress. "They can't be the only ones" she rushed to the other car.

"Lori, Carol under the cars now" Rick appeared from nowhere. They listened instantly. "Carl! Down now!" he whispered to the child that was farther away. Carol covered her mouth imagining what Lori had to go through with Carl under another car than hers. She squeezed the woman's hand, feeling her slightly shiver. Lori had nerves of steel, she managed remaining as quiet as possible, knowing that was the only thing she could do for her son.

Daryl saw the approaching walkers and looked behind. There was no trace of Carol. He tucked and bit his lip, hoping she had hidden well. But as he was sitting still, he watched T-Dog walk wobbly between the cars. He was losing blood, leaving traces after him. A walker caught up with him. Daryl took out his knife, followed the walker and jumped at him, sticking his knife in the walker's nap. He pulled it over the semi unconscious T-Dog and grabbed another corpse hiding under it. He held his breathe while the herd of walkers passed them. Finally he got out and pulled the corpse off T-Dog.

"Ya lost a lot o' blood, man" he grabbed a cloth from the side pushing it on the man's wound. He was about to help T-Dog stand, when he heard the short and not too loud scream of Carl. He raised and turned, seeing the boy get out of the car, with a walker on his trail. Daryl ran behind the car he had been hiding, grabbed his crossbow and shot the walker. He looked around for a while and as he turned at the woods, he saw a walked disappear there. He walked slowly towards Rick, knowing Carol couldn't be far away.

"You ok?" he asked as the women got out from under the car. Lori and Rick ran to their son.

"Yeah…" Carol nodded, she had kept some of her calm. "Everyone else?"

"Get down!" he pulled Carol by her arm. "Rick" he called out as silent as he could.

Five walkers were approaching. They seemed to have smelled or spotted something. Daryl pulled Carol closer, knowing his smell was not something they were interested in. The woman felt the need to cough from Daryl's sublime walkers' perfume, but other than that his body felt warm and good. The walkers passed them, but they headed directly to Rick and his family.

"Still got the knife?" he whispered to Carol. "You trust me?"

She nodded without blinking.

"I need ya to make some noise, not too much, just to attract these five, so I can attack from behind. Think ya can pull that off?"

"Let's go" she stood up, prepared for it. That was Lori and Carl in there she wasn't going to let anything happen to them.

Daryl snuck up from the right, Carol approached them a little.

"Hey" she called out and they turned to her. Two started walking faster towards her, three of them were slower. Carol saw Daryl appear and deal with the first then with the second. Rick came out of the car using his riffle to hit the third walker down. Daryl rushed towards Carol, who had started walking slowly behind. He got the first and as he looked up she saw Carol run towards the second. She jumped over it, putting it down and pressing her knife in its head. She swallowed hard and her hands started shivering as she realized how cold blooded she had acted. She looked up at Daryl who had arched his right eyebrow.

"Ya ain't half bad" he said pulling her up.

"Just very foolish" she said looking down at the corpse.

Rick approached.

"Twice in a day…you helped me" he whispered staring at Daryl.

The hunter suddenly recalled T-Dog.

"T-Dog's hurt. Nasty wound on his arm" he said and the two walked back. But T-Dog was gone.

"Shit" Daryl said looking around. His eyes fell on a small trail of blood, only a few drops. "The forest. He fled that way and I saw a walker go that way. He ain't right in the head no more, he lost too much blood.

"We need to go after him" Rick said. Shane also approached with Glenn. "Listen…just…keep busy ok? Until we get T-Dog".

"We can do that, just go" Shane said.

Carol was trying hard to keep busy. She feared T-Dog's life and she feared Daryl and Rick out there. She managed finding more tents, some inflated mattresses, rope, candles, some kitchen knives and she wasn't stopping.

"Wow" Shane said as he looked at everything they had gathered. "We could start a new life" he joked.

"It's getting dark" Andrea said. She saw Rick return with Daryl.

"Nothing?" she asked.

"He hid, he ran, I don't know…I would say he' alive somewhere. Gonna keep searching in the morning" Daryl said.

"Yes, I also still need time to fix the radiator" Dale said.

"We should sleep in the cars tonight and hold watch" Rick said.

"I'll do that, I am not very sleepy" Carol said. She still had adrenaline rushing through her veins and she hadn't gotten the chance to think about her killing the walker like that. "You should rest" she looked at Daryl and Rick "be fit for tomorrow".

"We'll keep watch together once the night settles in" Dale said.

Rick handed her his riffle while Daryl stared at her. He smirked and walked to his bike.

"There you go" Dale handed her a can of peas to Carol as he climbed on his RV. He sat next to her. "You've been eager to take this watch".

"Yes, a little bit of time to clear my head" she said eating the peas one by one.

"Because of Ed? And Jim…and Jackie?"

"No…Jim and Jackie made their call, although I regret it and miss them. Very much. But we need to keep thinking of the now…the past is just holding us back" she said recalling Daryl's words. "Just that it surprises me how…I guess how I changed".

"It's survival instinct. You mean that walker? Saw how you put him down".

"In the past I couldn't kill a cockroach. Ed was always calling me weak for not being able to kill the hens for soup, which we were raising in our backyard. He kept saying I was nothing without him…and now I literally jump on a walker and stick my knife in its eye like I have been doing this since…forever?" she stared into the darkness.

"Maybe it was all along in you, the strength, and it developed later. Maybe it helps when you have people you care around you".

Carol smiled as Dale was certainly right.

"I can't even imagine what I had become if I would remained stuck in my old life".

"Well, you didn't" he smiled at her. "You're a good woman, Carol. You never feared jumping on that walker if it helped your friends".

"We need to find T-Dog. We can't…lose any more people, Dale".

He nodded.

As the sun was rising the next morning, they got all prepared. Rick and Shane handed things that could be used as weapons.

"You sure you want to come?" Rick asked Carol. "Maybe it's better you stay here with Dale and get some rest".

"No, I can't help Dale fixing the radiator, I have no clue how it works".

"Ok" Rick nodded. "Let's hope for the best".

It was rather hard to believe he was still alive with that wound on his arm. Still, none said a word about it. They walked for a while until they heard the sound of a church bell. None believed it, yet all heard it. They ran towards the sound finding a small church, next to a graveyard. They gathered in front of the doors and opened them in silence. Three walkers were sitting inside and they turned as they heard the doors. Rick, Daryl and Shane entered and finished them. And as they did the bells sang again. Daryl was the first to run outside and stopped looking up at a speaker. Glenn turned it off.

"Timer, it rings at a fixed hour" Daryl said. "Let's take five, we all need a break".

Carol entered back to church and sat right in front and looked up. Carl and Rick also entered and there was a moment of silence and praying for them.

Daryl was outside looking at the sun, counting the hours. It was about to get dark soon and they still hadn't found T-Dog. This made no sense, he couldn't get far with that wound on his arm. As Carol and Lori came out of the church Rick and Shane approached.

"You all go back, following the creek line. Daryl you're in charge. Me and Rick we're hanging around searching this area for another hour" Shane said.

"Ya splittin' us up? Ya sure?" Daryl asked.

"Yeah, will catch up to you".

"I want to stay to" Carl said. "I can help".

The two men smiled, not really agreeing.

"Just be careful, ok?" Lori kissed the top of his head.

They all left with Rick, Shane and Carl remaining at the church. They walked a different path and suddenly stumbled upon a tent.

"You think he is inside?" Glenn whispered to Daryl as they approached.

"Could be a lot o' things inside" he whispered back. He pointed his crossbow towards the tent. "T-Dog?"

They heard a strange noise coming from the tent.

"T-Dog 's that ya?" Daryl asked again.

The zipper of the tent started opening slowly and a very pale and full of sweat T-Dog appeared. A general sigh was heard.

"The fuck man, how d' you survive!" Daryl helped him out.

"I don't feel that well…" he whispered.

There was gauze around his wound and it had stopped bleeding. Daryl and Glenn helped the man and they rushed as fast as they could.

As they walked, at some point Andrea was left a little behind. She felt tired and fed up with everything and didn't notice the walker approaching her. He took her by surprise and she started screaming, the other rushing to find her. Andrea fell and as the walker was ready to attack her, a woman on a horse appeared. She hit the walker with a baseball bat.

"Lori? Lori Grimes?" the woman asked.

"I'm Lori".

"You need to come with me, your son was shot".

Lori felt her blood freeze, but jumped on the horse instantly.

"Wow, wow, we don't know this girl. Ya can't get on that horse!"

"Rick sent me!" the girl said and explained where they were and how to get there. Then she rid of with Lori into the woods.

"You found him in a tent?" Dale asked confused after they had returned and managed getting T-Bone's wound clean. He was now resting on the bed of the trailer.

"Yeah, in the woods" Daryl said. "How's he?"

"He needs antibiotics and we didn't find any in these cars".

"Well, why don't ya so?" Daryl asked. "I got Merle's best stuff" he took a bag from his motorcycle and searched in it. "Meth, extasy, we don't need that, painkillers, oh an' this" he gave two bottle to Dale, who looked intrigued at him.

Carol passed Dale as he was entering. She came out of the RV and looked in to the woods. She was concerned and Daryl noticed it.

"How's the wound?" Daryl asked approaching her.

"We cleaned it, he needs antibiotic, I fear".

"Gave some to Dale".

"Daryl, shouldn't we…head to that farm?"

"Ya worried for Carl and Lori?"

She nodded.

"She…I haven't had a friend in years. Maybe in high school. And I kept away from people, but that all changed".

"If T-Dog's fine now we can gather everything here and head up to that farm. But I'm telling ya: I don't trust a girl appearing out of nowhere on a horse".

Carol smiled amused as he looked at her.

"Better" he said.

"What's better?" she looked at him.

"I'm better when ya smile. Hey Dale" he called out, his eyes still on Carol. Dale appeared. "Is T-Dog able to travel a little?"

"Yeah, man" T-Dog appeared. "I'm not dead yet".

Daryl and Carol were still staring at each other.

"Ya heard the man" he said and turned to T-Dog. "How the fuck did ya survive there?"

"I found that tent, man. The guy who owned it put a bullet through his head. It was stinking inside, but I figured out walkers would pass me because of the smell. And he had some disinfectant and gauze so I managed cleaning my wound. But I'm telling you: if you wouldn't have found me there, I would have died from the smell".

Daryl chortled amused.

"Ok, let's pack and had to that farm or whatever that place is".

It was night when they reached the farm.

"Lori?" Carol entered the room where Carl was lying on the bed.

Lori was sitting on a chair staring at her son. Carol took the woman's hands in her and stroked her hair.

"He needs surgery. Shane went out to get what was needed…with Otis. This is Hershel and this is Patricia" Lori said.

"You can set camp outside. We're pretty secured here" Hershel said.

"Thank you" Carol nodded. "Do you need anything I can get you?" she asked Lori.

"No…I'm fine" the woman faked a smile. "But you should…you should set camp outside. Everybody is exhausted".

"We have a man wounded. Can you help him?" Carol asked.

"Patricia, will you?" Hershel asked.

The woman stood up and left with Carol.

Glenn helped Carol, Daryl and Dale set camp. They made a small fireplace and set up a few tents. Andrea held T-Dog's hand while he got stiches.

"I'm not sure I like this place" Daryl said.

"It's the best we can do for now. I am sure it's better than that street" Carol smiled trying to comfort the man.

"I'm gone make a round, just to be sure" he slung the riffle over his shoulder and left. Carol looked after him, but decided to resume his work.

Daryl returned around the time Shane returned. But he was alone; Otis was gone. Carol remained next to Lori's side the whole time of the surgery. She was holding the woman's hand, giving her as much comfort as he could.

Daryl entered his tent and looked surprised around. The mattress was covered with some blankets and even a sheet. Next to it was a small pliable chair with some clothes on it. It looked cozy and he puffed, the corner of his lip smiling.

Carol returned some time later, Daryl was boiling a can of beans.

"How's he?" Daryl asked.

"Stable. He will be fine, he must be".

Daryl nodded. He offered some food to Carol and she sat down.

"You did that to m' tent?"

"Yes, I thought you would feel more relaxed like that".

"And ya? Where ya living?"

"The next tent to you. I found enough to make us at least a little comfortable" she smiled. She looked at the fire as she had to give in: she would have felt better with Daryl in the same tent.

Daryl nodded and stood up. He went to Carol's tent, which was much smaller and looked inside. There was a thin camper mattress inside and a sleeping sack. Nothing like his thick, inflated mattress. He entered taking Carol's things out, moving them to his bigger tent.

"Daryl?" Carol said watching him surprised.

"Ya not staying alone, woman. I don't like that, ok?" he said serious. "And what's with me sleeping on that big mattress? Do I look like some kind of fuckin' princess to ya? I'll take the thin one, you can play the princess".

"You need to rest well, as you are also protecting this camp. I'm just cooking and cleaning, I can rest more often than you" she stood up.

"We'd be starving without ya cooking and running around feeding us like a bunch o' babies. We do as I said, don't wanna hear another word about it".

"Well, you cook the beans well enough too…" she stopped but he approached placing his finger on her lips.

"You check up on Carl and stop saying nonsense" he smirked.

Carol sighted amused and walked towards the house.

Daryl was yet again somewhere playing in the woods when she returned. She opened one of the bags with clothes and took a long shirt out. She change and sat on the mattress, placing the knife next to her head. Her mind felt tired and as she closed her eyes she fell asleep in an instance.

Daryl came back later. He looked at the woman and covered her back with the blanket.

"Ya sticking with me from now on" he whispered.

Note: So I used T-Dog to "get to the farm" as I found using Carl was taking the easy way. From now on it wil be more about Carol and Daryl. Thanks for reading!