Chapter Twenty-Two
Disclaimer: Yeah, more of the same …don't own anything. Just borrowing a little dialogue (but not much). This is for entertainment purposes only. No copyright infringement intended yada yada yada.
Carol watched wordlessly as Shane and Daryl attacked the blast door with axes. What good they thought they were doing, she had no idea. Sophia sat now with Lori and Carl as Dale and Rick tried to reason with Jenner to open the door without success. They were almost out of time. How many instances in the past, during her marriage to Ed, had she prayed for death, for a release from her eternal torment at his hands? She'd prayed so many times, yet the abuse had continued. How often had she been brought to the brink, broken and bleeding, only to be saved and have to endure more and more until she thought she'd surely lose the last shred of her sanity? And now at the end of the world, she found herself praying again, but for an entirely different reason. This time … she wanted to live.
Dale and Andrea - even Glenn - had all tried talking sense to the man, trying to convince him to open the doors with little success. He was determined to let the world burn and take them with him. Shane had even threatened to shoot him, to no avail. The computer terminals hadn't fared well at all. Not even Rick had been able to stop him from firing a blast of lead into the terminals. Her ears were still ringing. She wondered if maybe she could get through to Jenner. Now was her chance, what with Daryl hacking away futilely at the doors.
Carol knew she wasn't good at this sort of thing. She'd spent too many years trying her absolute best to make herself invisible. Daryl was really the first person to see her. He'd initiated that first step in their friendship in a bid to help her, and it was the first time she'd stopped trying so hard to hide from the world and everything in it.
She clasped her hands together to still their trembling and sat down in the chair next to the beleaguered scientist. She couldn't even muster up a faint smile for the man, but she had to try.
Jenner cut her off before she was able to begin. "I'm not going to change my mind."
Carol shrugged. What else could she do? She wasn't going to take a leaf from Daryl's book and beat him senseless. All she had were her words. "I was just wondering if perhaps we could talk?"
Jenner nodded, though he maintained his stubborn demeanor. "I suppose."
"Daryl …" She turned to look at where he swung the axe at the door, the metal blade rebounding back at him again and again. "He's not my husband. I met him only about six weeks ago when we were running from the madness."
Jenner looked surprised. "You two seem so close, like you share a bond only years of marriage can bring."
Carol found her smile, unable to help herself as she thought of all they'd shared in the short time they'd known one another. "He saved me," she confided. "In so many ways he saved me. My husband, Ed, was a cruel man. I couldn't risk losing my daughter by leaving. In the end, Daryl left me with a choice … I could stay with Ed, or I could go with him. I chose Daryl. He beat at my walls until I accepted his help, and he took me and Sophia in. He gave us shelter, and made a place for us, made us part of his family. He taught me there was still good in the world, in humanity. He's doing his level best to teach us how to defend ourselves, to survive."
Jenner's eyes narrowed shrewdly. "You're in love with him."
Carol looked taken aback by his frank statement. "He's my best friend. Of course, I love him."
He shook his head. "No, it's more than that. You're lucky - unbelievably so - to have found one another in the chaos gripping the world." He sat back and let a sad smile touch his lips. "And you haven't told him. My wife … those were the last words I said to her. I should have told her more often, showed her how much she meant to me."
Carol felt a creeping chill slither up her spine. "You said last night you stayed because you promised you'd keep working to find a cure. You made that promise to her, didn't you?"
Jenner looked down at his feet, unable to stop the single tear which spilled from the corner of his eye. "It was her dying wish. How could I not? I would have done anything she asked."
He glanced up at the now dark screen where he'd shown them all the video feed of the test subject. Carol gasped, covering her mouth with her hand. "Oh, god! Your wife … she was test subject nineteen?" It was a guess, but she'd bet anything she was right.
Jenner nodded. "Yes. There was only a handful of us left. She was brilliant; always had been. She should have survived. She wouldn't have failed," he hissed bitterly. "It was my fault. I thought it had been properly restrained …" A sob tore free from his throat, and Carol laid a gentle hand on his arm, silently urging him to unburden his soul. "I'd stepped out for only a moment, and in the time I was gone, it broke free and had her … Oh, god, it had its teeth sunk deep into her shoulder. I was too late. I failed her."
The pounding on the door ceased, and she could feel Daryl's gaze upon her. Everyone's gaze was upon her as the scientist told his story. She kept her voice low and even, a familiar feeling of discomfort settling over her. "Is that when she volunteered to be a test subject? So, you could save others where you couldn't save her?"
The doctor nodded. "I can't do it without her. I don't want to. I just want the pain to go away."
"Pain makes us stronger. We have to fight for anything worth having. Do you really think she'd want you to give up? What would she say if she knew you were waiting to die and determined to take us with you?"
He glared at her angrily. "You know nothing about her!"
Carol shot to her feet. "I know more than you think. From what you've told me, she valued life. I want a chance to watch my daughter grow up. I want a chance to see if what I feel for Daryl is more than friendship. I need to try! If she were here with you now, wouldn't you want the same? To spend every second with her? To fight with her at your side to survive and somehow find answers?"
His expression was pained. "I'd give anything to have her back."
Carol waved a hand in the direction of the group who were still arguing quietly or weeping. "Then don't tarnish her sacrifice by condemning us all. Please?"
"There's no hope for you out there. You've seen it!" he argued.
Rick ran a hand over his face, his eyes pleading as he approached the pair. "There's always hope. Give us a chance to find it."
"Please," Carol said again, gripping his hand in both of hers.
Jenner squeezed her hand and moved over to the console, swiping his security badge and entering the necessary commands to open the door. "I can't open the doors topside; they're locked down."
The door lowered with a whoosh, and everyone sprang into motion. "Carol! Move your ass, woman!" Daryl yelled, slinging his pack and crossbow onto his back. Sophia shot across the ramp to his side, but Jenner still held tightly to Carol's hand.
The scientist pulled her closer, and she had to fight back a rush of fear that he'd try to keep her there to die with him. But she was wrong. "We're all infected," he whispered urgently. "Whether we're bitten or die of something as mundane as a heart attack … we all turn."
"Woman!"
She felt as if she couldn't breathe. Why would he tell her that!? And one better … how was she going to tell the others? She was frozen in place, paralyzed with an all new fear.
"Mama!" Sophia called, her voice joining with the chaos of everyone trampling up the ramp.
"Merciful fuck! Woman, don't make me come get you!"
Finally, Carol turned, shouldering her pack, and hurried to Daryl's side. He gave her a steely look as they ran for the elevators. "Wait! Where are Jacqui and Andrea?"
"And Dale!?" Lori added, wide eyed and fearful.
"They're staying," Shane said glumly.
"What!?"
Daryl dragged her back as she moved to step back out into the corridor. "Oh, hell no! You ain't goin' back for 'em. It's their choice, Carol."
"But -" She stopped protesting as he pressed his brow to hers and pushed her back into the wall. She didn't even feel the quick ascent to the surface.
"Breathe," he commanded, his warm breath fanning over her lips, his scent enveloping her. Butterflies took wing in her belly and chased away her fear, leaving no room for anything but him. "Deep breath. C'mon an' breathe for me. When we get out, I want your gun in hand. Y' take Soph an' y' run t' th' truck. Y' shoot anythin' that gets in your way. Y' hear me?"
Carol nodded, her brow bumping into his as the elevator doors opened, and natural light flooded the compartment. She was calmer, though she could still taste the acrid twang of fear at the back of her tongue. Daryl would keep her safe, keep Sophia safe. They were only moments away from freedom, and it couldn't come fast enough for her.
Daryl hurried off to help the others try to break the glass enclosing the lobby with a warning for her to stay put. He wouldn't put it past her to try to pull some noble stunt to save her friends who'd chosen to stay behind. He couldn't allow her to do it. He wasn't ready to lose her yet. He attacked the glass with a vengeance, cursing loudly when the axe rebounded back at him, much like it had done against the doors below. What T-Dog thought he would be able to do with a chair, he didn't know. He knew they were well and truly fucked when even Shane's shotgun proved useless.
"Daryl!" Sophia cried, unzipping the outside flap of her pack and rummaging inside. "Think this'll work?"
Rick's eyes grew wide as he joined them. "Where the hell did you get those?" he asked, staring down at the half dozen or so silver orbs in her bag.
She shrugged. "Marty had them hidden in the back room. She said these were special order. When she explained how they worked, I figured they might come in handy. If we got outnumbered, we could use them as a distraction to get away." The girl wasn't at all pleased with the two men glaring at her as if she'd lost her mind. "Will it break the glass, so we can get out?"
Daryl shook his head. "Least now I know why y' been guardin' that pack like it held th' lottery jackpot or somethin'." He took the grenade and pulled the pin with his teeth. "Always wanted t' do this … FIRE IN TH' HOLE!
Rick grabbed Lori and Carl as Shane and T dove out of the way. As soon as the grenade left his hand, Daryl was shoving Sophia and Carol to the floor and covering them with his body. The blast was deafening, the heat singeing the ends of his hair, but he knew it was nothing compared to what was coming if they couldn't get a safe distance away from the building before the H.I.T.s detonated.
His head swam, and he couldn't imagine Carol was faring any better. She looked dazed when he hauled himself off of her and checked quickly for injuries. Finding none, he gave both her and Sophia a push towards the gaping hole in what was once a very nice bank of windows. Rick wrapped one hand around the girl's waist and gave her a boost up and out. Daryl gave the former cop his best death glare as he reached out to help Carol.
If she hadn't been so terrified, she probably would have grinned over his little display of protectiveness. She wouldn't call it jealousy … not when there wasn't any cause for it. She didn't hesitate. As soon as her feet hit the cobbled pavement, she drew her pistol and followed Sophia as she began to run. She could hear Daryl's heavier footsteps behind her, and his deep voice pitched higher as he urged her on. Lori and Carl were already climbing through the open door of the Winnebago. Shane took down a walker as T-Dog ran past him to the Cherokee.
Sophia had barely pulled the door open before her mother was pushing her into the truck and onto the floor. Carol didn't have a choice. Daryl tossed the axe and his crossbow into the back along with their packs and dove across the seat, landing heavily atop Carol. She groaned as he squashed her sore ribs.
He raised up slightly and pushed Sophia back down as she tried to rise. "Keep your head down!" He peeked over the steering wheel while one arm slipped around Carol's shoulders. She closed her eyes, her hands fisted in his shirt as she buried her face against his chest. "Carol … Dale an' Andrea … They made it! They changed their minds."
"Jacqui?"
His jaw tightened as he shook his head. He didn't have time to say anything else. Daryl could see the flames licking at the air inside the building from which they'd just fled. The earth rumbled, shaking the vehicles parked a safe distance away. He buried his face between the seat and Carol's shoulder, his arm covering both of their heads.
Her scream was muffled against him as the CDC ignited, the blast sending shockwaves over a full city block. Sophia whimpered, tears rolling over her pale cheeks as Daryl asked if she were ok.
Daryl cradled Carol's face between his large palms and breathed a sigh of relief. "Y' ok?"
"Yeah …" she said. Her gun was still gripped tightly in her right hand - which was trapped against her stomach - and Daryl was crushing her bruised ribs. She was shaken and feeling the loss of her friend, but she was fine. They'd come away from yet another catastrophic event unscathed, the majority of their group intact. The two most important people in her life were safe and at her side. What more could she ask for?
Sophia climbed up onto the seat to sit between her mother and Daryl. "What are we going to do now?"
"It's going to be dark in a couple of hours, Daryl. We're pretty much in the same peril we were in yesterday when we arrived here," Carol said, watching through the windshield as Rick exited the RV looking shaken and clueless.
"Well I sure as fuck ain't dependin' on him," Daryl growled, pointing a finger at their leader, "to get us where we need t' go."
Carol looked over at the fuel gauge. "Do we have enough to get us someplace safe?"
"Yeah. They can follow or go t' hell for all I care, but we ain't stayin' here."
*.*.*
Carol had stood guard, covering Daryl as he'd divided their extra fuel between the vehicles. That had been over an hour ago, and now as they neared their destination, she began to recognize familiar landmarks from her trip there before. He was still in a pissy mood, she noted as she watched him silently brood from the driver's seat. Rick and Shane had argued over where they'd wanted to go next, Fort Benning being at the top of that list. Daryl had simply worked on refueling and ignored them before climbing back into the truck and moving to the front of the caravan, leaving them to follow or go their own way.
He was sick of the squabbling and the two officer's bid for leadership over the group. Their supplies were depleted, and aside from the small amount of jerky and a few can goods stored in the bed of the truck, they were in dire straits. She was more than a little relieved when Marty's shop came into view.
"Do you think she'll take us in for the night?" Carol asked quietly, her voice low so as not to disturb Sophia's sleeping form where she rested against Carol's shoulder.
"She owes me," was all he said. The families had history, some good to go along with the bad. In many ways, Daryl thought of Martine as a sister … when she wasn't getting Merle in all sorts of trouble anyway. She wouldn't turn him away.
He pulled the truck around to the back of the building and waved for the others following him to do the same. If there were other people in the area, he didn't want company. And that was for any reason. Carol roused Sophia and studied the tree line at the edge of the gravel lot. "Do you think she's even here? It looks deserted."
"Why do I feel like we just ventured into the middle of a bad Scooby-Doo episode?" Sophia sighed, leaning forward to look through the windshield.
Daryl snickered. "It ain't that bad, Soph. At least we ain't got some idiot running around in a ghost mask."
"Glenn would probably do it if you asked nicely."
Daryl glanced over at Carol, surprised at such a catty remark coming from her. "I can't believe you just said that."
She grimaced. "I know that was mean. I'm sorry."
"Naw, you're right. That boy'll do anythin'. Like he's lookin' for acceptance or somethin'." Takes one to know one, he thought as he opened the door and got out. "Y'all stay put while I have a look around. Th' jeep's gone, so I doubt Marty's here t' let us in."
Rick got out of the Cherokee with T-Dog, and Shane climbed down out of the RV followed closely by Glenn. "Alright, Daryl …" Rick said, hands on his hips in one of his favorite cop stances. "What is this place?"
Shane caressed the shotgun in his hands, but for once didn't argue when his former partner took the lead. Daryl didn't care one way or the other. "This place belongs to a friend," he explained. "We'll be safe here until we can decide what we want to do next." When Rick didn't look convinced he added, "D'you really think I woulda brought my girls here if I wasn't sure?"
Daryl didn't wait for the others, his angry stride taking him to the front of the store to see if it had been left open. He was already growing tired of Rick and Shane questioning his every move. They hadn't done such a great job so far. It was time to stop arguing and do some better planning if they were going to get anywhere. The things I put up with for that woman, he thought with a shake of his head. He might not like it, but he'd do it if it made her happy and didn't threaten her safety or Sophia's.
He found the front locked up tight and from what he could see of the windows, they were still boarded from the inside. "The roof it is," he mumbled more to himself than the men trailing behind him. His piercing blue gaze narrowed in on Rick. "Y' up for a climb? We gotta go in up top."
T gave him a dubious look. "Last I checked, you weren't Spider-Man, Dixon."
Daryl rolled his eyes and went to the side of the building closest to where they'd parked. He yanked on a rope concealed by a drain pipe, and the ladder came tumbling down, nearly hitting Shane in the head.
"I'll take Rick through th' hatch an' we'll open the front door. Get everyone t' grab their stuff an' be ready t' come inside," he said. His gaze shifted to Shane. "Tell Carol t' keep her gun out, but don't fire unless she absolutely has t'. Don't want th' sound t' carry an' draw any walkers this way."
He shot up the rope ladder, Rick hurrying behind him. The former deputy was panting from the exertion as he swung his leg over the ledge and pulled himself over. Apparently, his long hospital stay had done him no favors. "What is this place?" he asked again. "Who puts a hidden entrance on a roof?"
Daryl snorted. "Man, what y' don't know about people like me an' my brother could fill a book. Our friend Martine an' her family are survivalists. We'll be safe here for a few days, and we can stock up on supplies while we lay low."
Rick stared down into the darkened hole once Daryl had opened the hatch. "They won't mind coming back to find us all here?" he asked, shining the beam of a flashlight down so the redneck could see where he was going.
"She ain't gonna mind," Daryl growled. Again with the questions, but at least these last few were plausible concerns. Rick didn't just have his wife and son to worry about, but the entire group. He was happy he only had Carol and Sophia to be concerned about. They were more than enough, and he was glad the role of leader had never been offered to him.
When he reached the bottom of the wrought iron ladder, he pulled the crossbow from his back and settled it comfortably on his arm. He dug his own flashlight from his pocket and shined it over the showroom. The place was deserted. Not even a mouse was scampering about. "All clear," he called out to Rick. "Let's see about gettin' those doors open."
He was right to think Marty had gone out from the roof hatch. Two large two by fours were nailed securely over the double doors. A quick sweep found a crowbar not too far away on a shelf, and he and Rick were able to pry them loose intact to be used again once everyone was inside.
Andrea was first through the door, her lip curled into a grimace. She'd been wearing that look a lot since she'd lost her sister. Poor Carl. He looked as though Lori were trying to strangle him. She was really going to have to ease off the boy one day soon. Dale, T-Dog and Glenn just looked happy to be inside.
Shane came in behind Sophia and Carol and sneered openly. "What, you expect us to be safe in a store? If any walkers catch our scent, they gonna make quick work of the windows. I don't care how well they're boarded up."
Daryl gnashed his teeth and bowed up like a scalded cat. "Y' ain't gotta stay, asshole." He glanced down at the hand Carol planted in the center of his chest, his body tensing as he met her gaze. He forced himself to relax. "Rick, I'll take first watch with Sophia once me an' Carol figure out sleeping arrangements for everybody."
"That's an excellent idea," she agreed. "Then we can see what Marty has in the freezer I can fix for dinner. I'm sure everyone is famished by now."
"I'll help you, Carol," Glenn offered.
"Thank you."
Daryl proceeded everyone to the stairs which led to the bunker and flipped the main power to the generator system Martine's family had installed. Digger had used three different contractors to install the solar panels on the roof and wire the bunker to the breaker box before plugging into the 'guardian'. Daryl and Merle had even done some of the work in their spare time. The only separate generator which remained switched on was the one powering the freezers.
Carol wanted to go straight to the storeroom, but Daryl kept her with him, not wanting her to venture off just yet. "Where y' think we should put everyone?" he asked, deferring to her judgment. He'd be the first one to admit he was no good at such things.
"What do we have available in the way of beds?" she asked, adjusting the pack on her shoulder.
He chewed for a minute on his thumb. "Marty's room has a queen size bed. There's two sets of bunk beds in both Digger and Randy's rooms, a king size in the old man's room and then there's the couches and recliners in the den."
Carol's eyes widened. She definitely hadn't had a good look around last time she'd been there if she'd overlooked so much. "That's great. More than enough room for all of us." She mulled it over for a moment. "How about we take the big bed in her father's room … that way Sophia can sleep with us?"
Daryl shrugged. "S'okay with me." He didn't care as long as wherever they bedded down, Carol would be curled up next to him. "We can give Rick an' Lori Marty's room then. The rest can divvy up the bunk beds."
Carol gave him a reassuring smile and relieved him of his pack to put it away in their room. "You sure you want Sophia on watch with you?"
He sighed wearily. "Yeah, she needs t' learn. And she's about th' only person besides y' I can stand right now."
She reached out and rested a comforting hand on his arm. "Don't be like that. I know it's hard, but we all have to do our best to get along."
"Tell that t' th' Bobsy twins in there," he muttered under his breath. "Soph! Where y' at, girl?"
Carol peered around him. "I think Carl went into the den … maybe she's with him?"
Sophia appeared, running out of Marty's room where Lori had just entered. Her little face was flushed with excitement. "Daryl! Daryl, I found something! You gotta see this!"