Michonne woke slowly, realizing that what she had thought was a dream was actually her reality filtering into her subconscious mind. Daryl was kissing at her neck, nuzzling the spot just under hear with his nose at intervals, his hands rubbing over her arm, breasts, and belly in a repetitive circular motion. She snickered as she came more into consciousness and realized that it wasn't a dream at all.
"What are you doing?" She asked, realizing that her own voice sounded hoarse and groggy from sleep. She couldn't stop the smile that was spreading over her face.
"Just wakin' ya up like I thought ya might want me too," Daryl said. "Gotta head out soon and then ya gonna be here all alone."
"Are you really going to try to catch a bull, Daryl?" Michonne asked. She pulled herself into a sitting position slowly and rearranged her pillows so that she could lean against them and sit back against the headboard. Daryl didn't change his position and he rested on his elbow just below her, glancing up at her. He smiled.
"Yeah, I reckon I is, 'Chonne," he said.
"What do you know about catching bulls, Daryl?" Michonne asked. She knew that the night before Daryl had made some sort of plan with Tyreese and Glenn on how they were going to get control of this bull who apparently wanted to remain ownerless, but as far as she could tell, not one of them had a clue what they were doing.
"Not a whole lot," Daryl said, "but I know that if we got us a cow and we got us a bull then we likely ta get the cow ta throw us somethin' when they're ready to roost up together."
"I don't think cows roost," Michonne said. Honestly she'd never studied the reproductive practices of cattle, though she was confident that Maggie and Beth might have a little insight to throw their way. Maggie had already been consulted by the three men on the best way to actually get the bull in the first place. Michonne felt confident that they would have taken her with them, but they didn't want to risk anything happening. Her range of movement in her right arm still wasn't what it should be, but it was healing. No one wanted to do anything that might jeopardize that, especially when they may need her in top condition later.
"I don't reckon they do neither, 'Chonne, but ya can call it what'cha want. We want 'em ta get frisky and I don't care what they want ta label it ass, they can call themselves friends for all I care," Daryl said. He sat up in the bed then, rubbing at his eyes. Michonne didn't know what time it was, but she could physically sense that it was earlier than they usually got out of bed.
"And what happens when we outgrow this place?" Michonne asked, wrinkling her brow a little. "We're going to have cattle and everything else around here. Our farm is growing, but the community isn't."
"I been thinkin' 'bout that," Daryl said. "I reckon we either gotta look for a bigger place or we gon' have ta work on addin' on here. If we gotta move on then we could steal some farm trucks, ya know? Load up the animals in some kinda big horse trailer an' get as far as we can like that. We'll butcher an' smoke whatever we can 'fore we go an' just keep the best pairs for breedin' when we get settled again."
"Like Noah's ark?" Michonne asked. Daryl shrugged.
"You got better ideas, 'Chonne? Besides, ain't nothin' we gotta figure out this mornin'. Rick and Sadie gon' work all day with some of the others gettin' us a place built to pen in that bull, but it ain't gonna be too fancy. Soon as he covers that cow we gonna eat him anyway, so he ain't gonna be no honored guest here," Daryl said.
"No, Daryl, I don't have any better ideas," Michonne said. Daryl stretched and yawned, trying to convince himself it was time to get up. "Come on," she said after a moment, "let's go on down and get you some breakfast. There's no telling when your cowpoke friends are going to be ready to head out on your adventure."
Daryl moved forward on his hands and knees and kissed her neck, nuzzling her ear again slightly and moaning.
"I thought ya might wanna fool around a little 'fore we left," he said.
Michonne sighed.
"How about a rain check?" She asked. Daryl sat back on his feet and made the same face at her he made every time she turned him down. She smiled. "I'm just not in the mood right now," she explained. "How about you go and get that bull and we'll see about it when you get home? I've never been to bed with a real live cowboy, might be exciting."
Daryl smiled at her and shook his head, rolling his eyes a little. Still, he looked satisfied with the offer and she knew she was more likely to be in the mood once she'd been up for most of the day. It always suited her better to wait until later, not being quite the same caliber of morning person that Daryl could be at times. He wasn't much for heavy conversation in the mornings, but he was definitely one who believed that morning loving made for good days.
111111111111111111111111111111111111111111111111
Carol was watching the hustling and bustling about. With the promise of a new arrival to the community that hadn't even been caught yet, it was all hands on deck. The normal things that had to be taken care of still needed to be done. Work on the barn wasn't complete yet and now there were new mouths to feed down there. Carol's job, so far at least, had been to get breakfast out to everyone. Now they were wrapping up their meals and slowly trickling toward whatever task awaited them.
She watched as Sadie and Rick went by with Jimmy and Junior in tow, wheelbarrows overflowing with wood to build a decent pen for their bull friend, a shelter being the last thing they would attempt to provide him with. Others bustled about readying to take on the day to day chores that weren't going to do themselves.
Beau and Libby had been two of the earliest to eat, and she spotted both of them coming toward her now as she stood near headquarters. Beau was leading his mule and Libby was walking along beside him, smiling about something. Carol couldn't help but smile at them. She had a sneaking suspicion that it might not be too much of a stretch to imagine that Beau was beginning to find someone besides Sadie an interesting member of the opposite sex, though she had to admit that he'd picked himself a tough one to tame if that were the case.
Beau brought the mule around, stopping it before the gates. He had already thrown across its shoulders some makeshift saddle bags.
"I didn't realize you were going on the bull hunt," Carol said to Beau.
"I ain't, well not exactly," Beau answered back. "Libby an' me, we aim ta show 'em where he's at an' then we goin' ta see what else we can find. Might can bring somethin' back or at least get an idea of where ta start lookin'."
Carol nodded her head. Beau was one of the members of the community that had a tendency to send himself on outings. Many of the others waited until they were given orders to go outside, but that wasn't the case with Beau. Ironically, no one really worried that much when Beau was outside the gates. Somehow the knowledge that the boy had survived so long on his own, coupled with the fact that he considered his stay in the community something he did purely out of want and not out of necessity for protection or comfort, made it easier to just assume that he'd be fine in whatever endeavor he undertook. In that way, Carol thought, he and Libby were clearly cut from the same cloth. She hadn't insisted on going outside on her own yet, but she had certainly put her time in out there before they'd run into her.
Carol turned and walked back toward headquarters a little. Michonne was walking toward her and a few steps behind were Daryl and Tyreese.
"Beau goin' out with us?" Daryl asked, walking up. Carol turned back to watch the boy scratching at the mules ears. The mule stood calmly in one spot, apparently not interested in moving until given the command. Just from the food that Beau had fed it the night before, and presumably this morning, the animal already looked better than it had the day before.
"He said he and Libby are going to show you where to find the bull and then they're going off to see what else they could find," Carol said. Daryl wrinkled his forehead a moment and then gnawed at his thumbnail, not really responding in any way. Carol didn't think that he would say anything. He wasn't one to dictate much of what the boy did as long as it seemed somewhat thought out and reasonable.
"Did you ever pass through North Carolina, Daryl?" Carol asked. Daryl looked at her, the wrinkle in his forehead deepening.
"Huh?" He asked.
"Did you ever pass through North Carolina?" Carol asked. "Say about twenty three years ago or so?"
"The hell ya talkin' 'bout?" Daryl asked. "I went huntin' there a couple times, I reckon, but I don't when the fuck it was."
Carol giggled at him and turned to Michonne who was smiling.
"Are you suggesting that Daryl might have taken back a deer and left something else behind?" Michonne asked.
"I'm just saying, two peas in a pod," Carol said. She could tell that Daryl caught on then and he made a face at her, but he didn't say anything. Glenn finally walked up, joining the other two men who were waiting.
"Ya ready?" Daryl asked him.
"Let's do this," Glenn said.
Carol and Michonne stayed put while the men went about gathering up the supply bags they'd packed the night before in case they needed to eat while they were out. They had a good deal of rope, as did Beau, but none of them were certain how much was going to be necessary.
"Let's go!" Daryl called to Beau who was standing with Libby beside their new companion. Beau hopped up on the back of the mule in smooth jump and then grabbed Libby by the arm, helping her to mount behind him. "Ya ridin' that damn thing out?" Daryl called.
Beau turned and nodded, but didn't say anything.
"Great," Daryl said, "now we get ta walk the whole way starin' at that thing's ass."
Maggie and Rachel were busy manning the gates at the moment, so they pushed them open and cleared the way of the few that would try to enter and grab at everyone waiting to pass through. Daryl stood back, Tyreese and Glenn matching him, and waited to see what would happen with Beau and Libby. He wondered if the mule would balk at the Walkers, but to his surprise it didn't. Beau nudged it forward with a gentle tapping of its sides and the animal started forward, hesitating for a moment, and then stepping between the Walkers as though they were there. Beau leaned a little and stabbed a Walker as they walked past.
"What d'ya know?" Daryl asked, starting after them.
11111111111111111111111111111111111111111111111111
When they finally got to the place where the bull could be found, it was lazily wandering around a large pen eating grass. From a distance it didn't look like it offered any threat at all, or even that it might consider putting up a fight. Daryl thought it almost looked like you could walk up to it and slip the rope over its head without even breaking a sweat.
"He don't look like much," Daryl said to Beau. Both the boy and Libby had dismounted from Blue, leaving the mule wandering around and munching grass. It's motivation to travel without a passenger was so low that there seemed to be no reason at all to tie him, and apparently due to his exposure to them, Walkers didn't seem to spook the animal one bit.
"He looks like he ain't much," Beau said, "but ya just get close ta him an' you'll be whistlin' a different tune, I reckon. Ya ain't gon' get him no way but by ropin' him an' holdin' on 'til he decides he ain't pissed no more that ya done got a loop 'round his neck."
"We had him yesterday," Libby said. "Hooked him clean by tha horns, but he balked that off quick as look at'cha. Soon as he realizes he's done been had, he goes crazy on ya an' ya better hold on."
"We weren't aimin' to ride him back," Daryl said.
"Ya still gotta hold on ta 'im 'til he calms down," Libby responded. That ain't no small thing there."
Daryl nodded.
"Fine, I can tie a knot, but I'm not much good at ropin'. Still, I reckon between the three of us we'll get him. Y'all can go get on about whatever ya got ta do," Daryl responded. He watched as Beau went and collected up the reigns to Blue's makeshift bridle and the two got reseated. Then Beau waved at him and clicked at the mule, starting off in the opposite direction from which they'd come.
"Y'all ready for this?" Daryl asked, turning back to look at Tyreese and Glenn. Both had ropes in hand and had unloaded their packs on the ground, and both were looking at him like they'd slowly been convincing themselves that this idea was completely insane.
"I have never in my life thrown a lasso," Glenn said. "I just think you should know that going into this."
"Fair enough," Daryl said.
"And when I said construction was my deal," Tyreese said, "what I meant was construction and carpentry. I'm not sure if you got cowboy out of that because they all start with 'c', but I can tell you that it isn't the case."
Daryl nodded at him as well. He didn't know what he was doing any more than the other two men, but he knew they had to give it the best effort that they could. He went to work, while they watched the bull continue in his lazy grazing, preparing knots for the lassos. When he was satisfied with the knots he gave each of them a rope and took one for himself. When he was younger he'd played around with throwing loops, and once or twice he'd hooked his foot or a tree branch when he meant to, but he had a feeling that this was about to be greatly different, especially once their four legged friend was aware of their presence. His biggest hope was that they didn't have any Walker friends show up while they were doing this to add an even greater level of difficulty to the task at hand.
The three of them, after agreeing briefly on a perhaps ill thought out plan, decided to approach the animal from three different directions. Each would take their best shot at roping the bull. For lack of any other knowledge on how to go about this, they would simply repeat the plan until someone successfully got the loop over the bull's head and pulled it tight. At least the animal was penned, meaning that the run that it could take them on was limited at best.
"Just remember," Daryl said, "ya can drop the rope as soon as ya pull it tight. Once he calms down we can always go and get the end of it."
After about the fourth or fifth try with no luck whatsoever at getting a loop over the bull's head, Daryl was beginning to grow frustrated and starting to realize that the biggest flaw in this plan was that none of them were very good at this. The one who had come the closest to roping the animal was Glenn. For a moment it had looked as though his loop was going to find its mark, but at the last minute it just didn't quite make it.
The bull was aware of their presence now, though he didn't seem very concerned with it. Each time a length of rope hit him and fell off, he would look briefly in that direction and then continue munch, looking from time to time at one of the men. He seemed less bothered at the moment than if they'd been a swarm of flies.
Twice, to make matters worse, they'd been approached by Walkers, meaning they had to halt their activity with the animal, take time to put the Walkers down, and then return to their activity.
The bull, it seemed, was not bothered by the Walkers any more than Beau's mule had been. Daryl was beginning to suspect it might be something to do with the animals that had survived this long. Either they had survived this long because they weren't bothered by Walkers and had figured out some way to deflect them when they neared them, or they were simply accustomed to their presence, but having survived this long knew that they were somehow protected from them. Daryl couldn't answer the question for himself as to why the Walkers hadn't eaten the animals he found or why the animals weren't spooked by the living dead, but he knew there had to be something to it.
The day was wearing on and the men were beginning to give up hope. Daryl was considering that perhaps it wasn't going to be possible to gain ownership of this bull without someone who possessed at least some skill at the sport of roping. He wondered, even briefly, if Beau would pass by again. At least the boy had declared to have some rudimentary knowledge of the sport.
Finally, though, one loop made it clear over the bull's head. The shock of the moment was enough that Glenn, who happened to be holding the rope that made its mark, didn't think to pull the rope and tighten it immediately. It wasn't until Daryl shouted at him that he thought to yank his arm back to avoid the bull being able to pull out of it with ease.
As soon as Daryl yelled and saw Glenn yank the rope tight, he knew that Glenn had forgotten the first rule that they'd established. He wasn't going to drop the rope. Daryl's yelling startled the otherwise docile bull, and that coupled with the feel of the tightening rope around his neck, sent the bull into hysterics, and it sent Glenn on the ride of his life.
Daryl and Tyreese were pretty unsure about how to proceed. Both of them wanted to help their friend, but mostly all they could do was run along the outer fences and yell at Glenn to drop the rope that he was holding strong to. Daryl was impressed by Glenn's stamina, but he suspected that perhaps fear how now made it impossible for the Korean to let to go of the rope that was dragging him around and around the penned area that the bull was running in.
Eventually, however, the bull did what Libby said it would do and stopped. He'd given in to the fact that he was roped and had given up the fight. Daryl and Tyreese hopped the fences and rushed toward Glenn, who was lying face down in the ground, still holding with one hand to the rope. Daryl was the first to reach him, afraid that he might have been drug to death if that were possible.
Daryl rolled Glenn over and after a moment Glenn opened his eyes.
"Is he alive?" Tyreese asked, catching up to them and leaning over Daryl a little.
"I'm pretty sure he is," Daryl responded. "Glenn, ya alright? Can ya talk?"
"Tell me that he's still wearing the rope," Glenn said softly. He swallowed and stared at Daryl. Daryl smiled and then chuckled.
"Yeah, he's still wearin' it," Daryl said. "Ya got 'im. I reckon you're a cowboy now."
"Yee haw," said Glenn sarcastically, still not moving from his position.
"Is anything broken?" Tyreese asked.
Glenn started to sit up and Daryl helped him.
"I don't think so, but I don't know," Glenn said. He moved his legs and arms. Satisfied that they worked he reached his arm out toward Daryl. Daryl heaved him to his feet. "I think I'm fine…" Glenn said. He turned around and looked at the bull that had taken him on the run. It had returned to grazing, now not caring about the rope it drug around behind it.
"How are we going to get it back?" Tyreese asked.
Daryl scratched his head a moment and considered it. As much as he'd like to believe that the bull was a point now where it would simply follow idly along behind them, much as many of the other animals did, he had a sneaking suspicion that the animal wouldn't be so easy to transport.
"One of us is gonna have to lead him," Daryl said. "I reckon the best bet for the other two is to get on either side of him an' kinda fence him in that way so he ain't got the feelin' that he's got nowhere ta go but in one direction."
"Who does what?" Glenn asked.
"What do you wanta do?" Daryl asked. "You was the one he drug through the field so I guess ya get to have first pick a' the jobs."
"I'm leading," Glenn said. I don't want him whipping around and knocking me down or trampling me."
"Good point," Daryl said. "I reckon that means Ty and me's got the sides."
Daryl and Glenn started toward the animal, waiting as Tyreese opened the gate on one side of the bull's old pen and swung it open. He killed a few Walkers that had obviously been drawn by the commotion, and then he walked over to take his place on the opposite side of the animal from Daryl.
Glen gingerly picked up the rope he'd been holding onto earlier and started to pull gently at it. The bull stood still for a moment but finally took one or two timid steps forward. As Glenn continued to pull the rope, the animal continued forward, though he was making it clear that the pace he was setting was not going to be nearly as quick as the one that he'd employed in the pen. As they led the animal out of the pen, all three men broke off for a moment to shoulder their packs, one at the time, and then returned to formation.
"So far so good, right?" Glenn asked, calling over his shoulder.
"Just watch out for the horns," Daryl said, chuckling a little.
11111111111111111111111111111111111111111111111
The community had opted for a late dinner. Getting the bull back and getting it into the pen that had built for it was more of a task than Daryl or any of his helpers had imagined it would be. The animal was more obedient than it could have been, but he still hadn't been all about saying "Yes sir" to everything they suggested.
Once he was in the pen, though, he seemed disinterested in getting out. He lacked shelter, but that would be remedied as soon as possible. Daryl figured he could be placated momentarily with water and some of the feed that they had already stocked.
At dinner they told the story of how Cowboy Glenn had rustled that bull into submission, and everyone had a laugh. Even Glenn, who was clearly going to be black and blue from his adventure, found it hilarious to recount to the group exactly what he'd thought about while being drug around that pen. Though the ordeal had probably only lasted the better part of two or three minutes, he described it as having been at least an hour long.
Beau and Libby didn't return with anything they felt was worth mentioning. They'd loaded Blue with two bags of feed and a burlap sack of assorted items they'd found in an old barn, most of which would be used for his grooming.
"I did see me an old farm wagon," Beau said. "Hitch is broke on it an' it needs a couple a' panels, but I reckon I can go back for it an' get it fixed up. Then we can use Blue ta haul stuff we loot outta them farm houses an' barns we found. A lot of 'em was a good piece off tha road, but Blue, he ain't had no problem gettin' back there. He's all terrain, if ya know what I mean."
Daryl chuckled at the thought of that mule pulling a wagon around loaded down with whatever Beau and Libby found in some old farm cottages they'd located about six miles outside of town, but he didn't say anything. If they found feed and hay in the barns, it was better than nothing.
"We seen us some people too," Libby said. "They ain't said nothin' ta us, though, so we ain't said nothin' ta them."
Everyone's attention turned at the mention of new people. It was something that was always on the minds of everyone in the community, whether they spoke about it or not.
"How many?" Rick asked.
Libby shrugged.
"Don't know. Didn't count'em," she said.
"They was a group of 'em, I reckon," Beau said. "We only seen maybe five of 'em an' it was at a distance. We didn't get close to 'em on account a' not wantin' ta end up on the wrong end of a gun. They stayed their distance, an' we stayed ours."
"How far away was this, Beau?" Rick asked again, his forehead wrinkled.
"I reckon we spotted 'em 'bout three miles out, give or take. I weren't payin' all that much attention," Beau responded. "I weren't gon' worry 'bout 'em if they didn't try nothin'."
Rick looked at Daryl and Daryl could tell that he was worried about it. That wasn't a fair distance these days for other groups. Daryl still had fresh in his mind the group they'd attacked, the one that had afforded them Seth and the baby that Sadie had laid claim to. Still, there was no way of knowing without further inspection if this group was a peaceful group or not, and there was no way of knowing if they were camped somewhere close by or if they were passing through without making a special trip out to check it out.
"Maybe we oughta go tomorrow and stake 'em out," Daryl said. "See if they livin' 'round here or if they was just driftin'."
Rick nodded.
Daryl glanced around. It was evident most of the people in the room were concerned since many of them wore wrinkled brows, but their silence indicated that many of them were going to leave it up to him to decide what to do about their possible new neighbors. Daryl sighed. Knowing they were in the area bothered him, but the sun was already pretty well set and there wouldn't be any way of finding out more information tonight. The best he could do was organize a small party to go out at first light and see if they could determine what to expect from the people they had just been made aware of, and who were now surely aware of them.