I apologize for my lack of real knowledge about trucks. I am familiar with I-77 and that area, but I don't know if trucks sitting that long would even start. My trucks are going to start though because it is time to get back to the mountain. Thank you for hanging with this story. I would appreciate a review.

Truck Stop Boogie

Daryl woke up the day after Tyreese was killed to see Michonne sitting by his side waiting for him to wake up. "I need you to help me with something," she muttered. Daryl pulled himself up and said, "Just tell me what you need me to help you with". Those words soon came back to haunt Daryl. Michonne wanted to cut off all her hair and she had lots of hair. Ellen had a pair of scissors and he and Michonne went to the administrative building where the light was better and together he and Michonne cut her hair. Daryl figured that it was some sort of grief ritual, but he was soon ankle deep in Michonne's hair and she just kept on telling him to cut more. In the end Michonne had less hair than Carol, but she seemed satisfied with the result. Daryl thought she looked more vulnerable without her hair but still pretty. He swept up the hair while Michonne tried to straighten up some uneven areas. "You should have got those girls to help you," he said.

"I didn't want strangers pulling on my hair," she said simply. "It looks pretty good, maybe you should hang out your scissors, and you could be a hairdresser that is also a hunter. Double threat."

"I don't think so; you haven't seen the back of your head yet," Daryl said and picked up the scissors to do take just a little more off the back.

Daryl and Michonne went back to the others; the girls cooed over the haircut and it really didn't look bad just different. He kind of got it; Michonne was making some sort of statement with the hair shearing. She had lost something important to her and she was going to be different because of that. She wanted to show that she was different.

Michonne and Daryl ate breakfast together; he had promised Tyreese that he would take care of her. Michonne was a super warrior but she still needed him. Carol would tell him that he was a caretaker and that is what caretakers do. He put Carol out of his mind; Michonne needed him right now. They had a job to do and moping around wasn't going to get it done.

Daryl started, "We need to get the trucks today. How many do we need?"

Jamela answered, "We need two semis. We should gather extra parts while we are here."

Daryl nodded and went on, "We need to get those women who were captured back to their homes."

One of the women said, "We got captured at our compound, most of the men were away scavenging. Our home is about two hours away."

Daryl knew that their supplies had been stolen as well. He and the others had already agreed not to take any what another group would need to stay alive this winter. "We will send you back today. Who wants to volunteer?"

He wasn't surprised that Terry, Jason, and Andy volunteered to go. Patrick and Rick nodded at him. "Okay, Patrick will drive the Humvee and Rick will drive the box truck. The women can ride in the Humvee or with Rick. Get enough fuel and get them home this morning. The rest of us are going to go find some trucks and fuel. Be careful out there."

They were gone in twenty minutes and Daryl felt the weight of leadership; he had to make decisions that put others at risk. He talked with the girls about where trucks could be found. They had already looted the local truck stops for supplies. There was one just off the exit before the state line and they decided to go there. The girls warned that there were always dead roaming around there; Daryl noticed that the girls all looked think but had slight bellies; he figured that the condoms had ran out a few months ago. He smiled; it looked like every woman on earth had gotten pregnant about the same time.

Daryl picked Sam and Michonne to go with him and try to find some trucks. They would move them closer. Jamela and Allen would stay here and keep an eye out for trouble. Sam drove the Humvee toward the truck stop. It was close to the interstate and exit road was completely blocked by an accident. A semi and a box truck had collided and stopped all traffic. Daryl was glad to see that the road was clear coming from the town.

Sam stopped the Humvee to check things out. The lot was full, he figured that people had pulled off here when the interstate clogged up until the accident and then they probably abandoned the vehicles and walked over. Not much here in the way of supplies because they would have been looted first. Sam drove cautiously toward the lot and turned and parked the Humvee as close to the exit as possible. Daryl was wishing that they had brought Allen; there were walkers headed their way already. He nodded to Michonne and they got out at the same time. Sam headed toward a semi and they followed behind him.

The next few minutes were a jumble of walkers and fighting. Sam found a long dead driver in the truck with a bullet in his head and a pistol on the floor. The driver had opted out of this world but he did leave the keys to his truck. The battery was long dead but Sam had a charged one with him. Sam saw that there were too many walkers and not enough fighters. He jumped out of the truck and they all ran for the Humvee. They drove off slowly so that the walkers would follow them for a mile or so. Sam stopped and they picked off the walkers one by one as they moved toward them. They went back to the stop and Daryl used a portable cd player to attract walkers away from the truck Sam was working on. Michonne guarded Sam and Daryl took the walkers on a slow trip out of the lot. Sam worked as fast as he could and finally he got the engine to catch. Michonne jumped in and they drove the truck toward Daryl.

Soon, Sam was backing the truck close to the storage buildings. Sam opened the door to the cargo area and saw the truck had high end laptop computers inside. There was other computer hardware inside and they cleared all that out, but Daryl insisted that the laptops stay. He knew squat about computers but he knew that they were used in schools to teach kids. Babies turn into kids and kids to adults. This next generation would need all the help that they could get.

The girls knew where the forklift was and there started moved equipment into the truck. By the time they had it loaded the other Humvee was back. They ate lunch and went back to the truck stop for another truck. It was easier with more people and they found an empty truck and drove it back. They loaded that in the afternoon.

They went back to the truck stop after that and found a full size suv. One of the Humvees was making a rattling noise and Sam said that they needed to change it out. They scavenged for fuel but there wasn't much there. There was enough diesel fuel at the warehouse to get them close to home but they would have to find more along the way.

That night they posted watch on the trucks. Jamela had filled the trucks to the brim and they were ready to go. They were going to leave the place locked up in the hope that they could come back and get the rest. They were ready to go home.