AN: Here we go, another little chapter to keep us moving along.
I hope you enjoy! Let me know what you think!
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Michonne was sitting at the table with Carol and Lisette when Maggie came in, fixed herself a glass of the fresh water, and sat down to watch them as they worked over legal pads, scratching out lists and plans to make sure that everything that needed to be done was taking place and that everything was at least somewhat organized. They didn't want for things to sneak up on them and find out that they had forgotten important aspects of their preparations.
Maggie turned one of the legal pads that was currently abandoned toward her and looked at it.
"Packing lists?" She asked.
"Yep," Carol hummed.
"How much are we taking? Have we decided?" Maggie asked.
"Besides the supplies?" Michonne asked, glancing at Maggie. The woman nodded. "One bag per person, one additional bag per child…but at least one of the parents needs to be able to carry their bag plus the child's bag…or both parents in the case of our two children families…"
"That's not much…" Maggie said. She laughed lightly to herself. "Then again…when I really think about it…I'm not sure I have enough that I really need to keep to even fill one bag…"
"Everyone's leaving room for rations," Lisette offered. "Every person carries enough food for one meal…but we'll hand out the actual rations closer to time."
"What else are we looking for? I saw Rachel with blankets…" Maggie added.
"We're getting together any blankets that aren't being used for winter," Carol said. "That's one of the most important things…and Beau wants them as soon as possible so he can use them to pack around the food…"
"Pack around the food?" Maggie asked.
Carol nodded.
"It's padding…and it lets us pack up the food early without having to worry about it really getting…getting…" Carol stopped talking.
"Affected," Michonne said, realizing Carol wasn't sure what she wanted to say. "He figures the blankets can work as insulation. With the wagons under cover, it won't be any more affected than it would be in storage and we know it'll make it on the wagons."
"We're working out rations now," Lisette offered.
"Rations?" Maggie asked.
"We figure," Lisette offered, not leaving the floor open to anyone else at the moment, "that we can put one third of what's in storage from last year and two thirds of what we're bringing in now onto the wagons. The rest should hold us through winter with anything extra we bring in if we ration it correctly…"
"And it should also leave enough leftover that at the last minute we have rations to dole out for everyone's personal bags," Michonne offered.
Michonne knew they were going at all of the preparations almost militantly, but the reality of it was that when they moved on, having everything organized and prepared and knowing how much they had could be a matter of life and death. It could, in essence, change everything about the journey that they were taking. So they were all taking preparations as seriously as possible.
"What if we run out of food?" Maggie asked. "I mean…if we pack all of this up and then we run out here?"
"Well…we can always get more out of the wagons, but I don't think it's going to be necessary," Carol said, shaking her head at the legal pad that she'd been scratching a to do list on of all the things that kept popping up as the three women mused on what still needed to be done. And the list was longer than Michonne was really comfortable with. They'd planned on almost taking the winter as down time…but now it looked like that wouldn't be the case.
Michonne shook her head in response to what Carol had said.
"I don't think it's going to be necessary," Michonne said. "We're being realistic about rations…and we're cutting most people down a little, but that's to get ready to go longer stretches with less food."
"It's conditioning," Lisette threw in, pushing the pair of reading glasses she'd found up her nose because, for as entertaining as they were, they were a little too large for her face.
"We figure Sadie and I get extra rations," Michonne said. "Because we're trying to keep milk production up for when and where it's needed…the kids get extra rations…Carol gets extra rations…and Muh gets extra rations because she's not planning on going with us and if she's right about her death day we decided it just doesn't look right to starve out the three hundred year old woman…"
Maggie laughed, lowering her forehead down to her arm on the table.
"You three have spent way too much time on this…" she teased before she sat up.
"What are we doing with the animals?" She asked.
"Livestock…livestock…" Lisette mused, shuffling her papers. "I've got the livestock…"
When she came up with the piece of paper, she cleared her throat.
"A good bit of our food is coming from the rabbits because they're out of control anyway…but Beau is building a hutch to go in one of the wagons to pick the best of the best to go with us. Of course…all the mules and horses go…they're going to be pulling the wagons…the cow and calf go as long as they can…we're going to try to take the best four pigs…and the two goats," Lisette recited.
"No chickens?" Maggie asked.
Michonne shook her head.
"Too much effort," she said. "So they'll be eaten before we go, like everything else…or cooked up for rations."
"Big Piggy?" Maggie asked.
Carol snorted.
"That old hog is on his last leg as it is," Carol said. "If he lives through the winter we'll take him just because he's the pig that will never die."
Michonne laughed too. The pig had to be really old, so all they all figured, but every time he seemed to get down for the count and they started expecting to find him expired, they kept coming in to find him the next day walking around and flicking his tail as though he had no idea why they were all peeking into his little penned up area…none of them wanting to be the one to tell the kids that Big Piggy had seen the last of his days.
Maggie sucked in a breath.
"Blankets, food, livestock…" she counted on her fingers. "Are we taking anything else?"
"Water," Carol said.
"Ty said he saw a camping store on their last run. In a couple of days they're going looking for big canteens…each wagon will hopefully have two," Michonne said. "We'll still have to refill every chance we get, but hopefully it'll be enough to get us from place to place."
"The route we're planning," Lisette threw in, "it's following water most of the way according to the maps…"
"And weapons," Carol added. "Knives…even kitchen knives…fire irons…we're taking everything we can get. That way if something you're fighting with gets stuck you don't have to worry about losing it. There's more where that came from and we don't want anyone putting themselves at risk because they think they're about to be unarmed."
She got up from the table just after she finished speaking and Maggie looked at her.
"I'll be back," she said.
Michonne already knew it was a bathroom break. They'd been working all morning and it was pretty much like clockwork.
"Take Jude and Hope with you? Paul if you can get him to go?" Michonne asked.
Carol nodded her head and started out the back of the house to collect up the children to go with her on the community potty breaks that were helping out with the "accident" issues with kids a good deal.
Maggie pulled Carol's legal pad over and flipped through the pages covered in Carol's curling handwriting. She sighed and then drank half the glass of water beside her in one long draw.
"So we're really doing this? We're really moving on?" Maggie asked.
It was the most common question heard around the community right now and it was one that Michonne already knew was rhetorical and brought on only by the fact that, as winter was moving closer to them and things were coming together a little more, it was becoming visually obvious that this wasn't just something they talked about maybe doing. This was something they were committed to and it was something that would happen.
Michonne nodded.
"We're really doing this," she responded. "Got any suggestions?"
Maggie glanced back over the list of things yet to be done and shook her head.
"Not really," she said. "It looks like you're thinking of everything…it's going to be a short winter…"
Michonne laughed ironically because she knew exactly what Maggie was saying. It wasn't that winter would be any longer or shorter than it normally was. It would span about the same amount of time as it always had…but it would seem shorter when they all knew that the coming of spring would mean that they were venturing out, for better or worse, in search of what they hoped would be some kind of Promised Land.
"That just means we have to stay busy," Michonne offered. "Stay busy, stay warm…the more prepared we are, the better we're going to feel when spring comes."
Maggie got up, draining the last of the water in her glass, and she put the glass on the counter besides the others that would be washed later.
"That's my cue," she said. "Back to work…anything specific you need from me?"
Michonne nodded her head.
"Muh wants Tyreese or Beau to build her a frame or something…she's making blankets out of all those extra hides we have around…can you round one of them up for her?" Michonne asked.
"I'm on it," Maggie declared, stepping out of the house to get back to what she had been doing before.
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"This one here…he's 'bout undergrowed," Beau declared, tying up the rather puny buck that he and Carl had just taken down. "He'll eat tonight I reckon…"
Carl was a few steps away from him, walking a circle around him to kill of any Walkers that might be coming, smelling the blood from the fresh kill and from the string with three raccoons they'd gotten from their traps.
"Doesn't matter how big he is," Carl declared. "Meat's meat…and it'll go into stew anyway. Probably won't even know if you're eating deer or if you're eating coon…it's all the same at the end of the day…though…all turns to shit."
Beau laughed.
"You got that right," he declared.
Beau straightened up from his position and reached a hand out to Carl, waving him in his direction.
"Hand me two a' them coons," Beau said.
Carl handed over two of the lines he had hanging over him like luggage and Beau draped them around himself before stepping in front of the pole they'd use to distribute the buck's weight between them. Carl stepped over, understanding now without need for speech, that they were ready to take the buck up and head in for the evening. It hadn't been the best hunt they'd ever been on, but it hadn't been the worst either.
Once they had the deer up and were moving, Carl started talking again, the need to guard silence having passed with their abandonment of the hunt.
"Beau…are you and Libby married?" Carl asked.
Beau chuckled behind him.
"Depends…the hell does it mean ta be married no more?" Beau asked.
"Mmmm…you love each other…you're together…you have sex," Carl said, blushing at his last word. "I guess that's all it really means anymore…"
Beau chuckled.
"Then yeah…we married," Beau said. "You think your old man an' Sadie? They married?"
Carl hummed his response, buying time.
"I think so," Carl said. "I don't know…my dad likes her a lot…I like her a lot…he wasn't like that with Rachel. At the end…he wasn't even really like that with my mom…"
"You remember ya Ma good?" Beau asked.
Carl shrugged, rocking the pole a little that linked the two of them together.
"I remember her…but I'm forgetting what she looked like…I've got a picture, but it's pretty scratched up…glass broke in it a long time ago," Carl admitted. "You remember yours?"
"Yeah," Beau said. "I 'member her good…Carol reminds me a lotta my Ma…hell reckon she's the closest thing I got to a picture…"
"If you and Libby are married…are Sam and Jacob your kids? Because they're not Libby's kids either…"
"We all the hell they got," Beau said. "As much ours as they ain't."
"And Emma?" Carl asked.
"Emma's Libby's lil' sister," Beau responded. "Plain as that…ain't her kid…ain't really much of a kid now for them that's willin' ta pay attention…she's growin' the hell up. Could be damn near fourteen by Libby's reckoning…if any of us is even halfway right about how much time we been doing this…"
Carl nodded.
"So if…one day…I mean not like today or anything…but if one day…I was maybe thinking of marrying Emma…would that mean that you'd be like her dad and you'd care? Or you wouldn't care?" Carl ventured.
Beau was silent for a few moments as they walked along crushing leaves and sticks under their feet. Then he broke the silence that had fallen between them with a laugh.
"You sweet on Emma?" Beau asked.
Carl blushed and shook his head.
"I didn't say that…" he said.
Beau laughed.
"I ain't Emma's old man…but it wouldn't be me you'd have to worry about. Libby's mighty protective of Emma…" Beau said. "Still…I reckon when she's older…if you was to be sweet on her…don't suppose Libby'd be too damn mad about it…"
Carl led them on in silence for a few more moments, seeing finally the fences of the community coming into view and recognizing the smell of the fire going that would mean that they were anxious for the meat that would be cooked to go with their own vegetables for dinner.
"Don't say nothing, Beau?" Carl asked. "Don't be an asshole?"
Beau chuckled.
"Reckon you don't rat on us bein' married…I ain't got nothin' ta say 'bout you bein' sweet on Emma," Beau declared.