Chapter 36
T-Dog, Andrea, Jimmy, the RV, the farm, their supplies and meds... their home... that's what they all lost that night. Happiness and relief over meeting each other on the highway had been great, albeit short-lived. Although it had only been one walker on the highway, it had still reminded them that the threat was very real and very big. It could literally hit them any minute of any day. Therefore they had quickly gotten back in the cars and headed east. Daryl had been reluctant to let Bay get off his bike and into a car with her family, but the poor woman was freezing half to death in her not very warm sleep outfit, and being on a bike would be worse than being in a car. There she was surrounded by Maggie and Beth, sharing at least some body heat and the warmth of the car. He was worried, though. He'd felt her body shake against his back, had felt her ice-cold hands when he had reached down to where they had clutched his vest, had heard her teeth chatter when they had finally stopped. He hoped she would be alright and not die from hypothermia while they were on the road. They had nothing. Nothing but the clothes on their backs, which in Bay's case, was next to nothing. Panties, Pajama pants, t-shirt, leather jacket and boots. No socks, no bra. Her nipples were so hard from the cold that they were hurting quite a bit. She crossed her arms, trying to put more warmth in that area to get the pain to stop, but it barely worked.
Soon they had to stop again. The car Rick was using was out of gas. He also needed some fresh air to gather his thoughts. They were now without pain-medication and antibiotics, and Carl had a freshly amputated arm. The poor guy was crying and whimpering in pain, while Lori held him in the back seat. It mirrored the way Maggie was holding Bay in the car in front of them.
"What's up? You out?" Daryl asked when Rick approached him.
"Yeah, running on fumes." Rick sighed. He stemmed his hands against his hips and hung his head. He was so tired of all of this. Every time they seemed to catch a break, it all went to hell all over again.
"What now?" Daryl asked, even though he had an inkling of what the answer was going to be.
"Gotta make camp here for the night. Make a fuel run in the morning." Rick replied exactly what Daryl had thought he would.
"You think that's smart? It's freezing, we don't have any other clothes. We have to find shelter somewhere." Hershel, who'd gotten out of his own car to join the men, asked their leader.
"I agree with him." Dale, who had also joined them, was on Hershel's side. "You're wife needs to be inside somewhere. She's still at that critical stage where it can all go wrong."
"We'll build a fire, but that's all we can do. We're stranded for now." Rick said, trying not to sound too annoyed.
"Rick, you need to get your boy to safety. We need to get him medicine, we need to get Bayanne warmed up, she's near turning blue." Hershel said in his calm but imploring manner.
Rick rubbed his hands through his tired face and sighed deeply while he pinched the bridge of his nose. "I know. I know all that Hershel, but there is nothing we can do right now. Tomorrow we'll look for fuel and shelter. It's out there, I know it, but we need to be smart about this. Let's get that fire started."
"I'll gather some fire wood." Daryl volunteered immediately while Rick nodded his approval.
"Thanks. Stay close. We need to stay together."
"Ya need to come sit by the fire. The car ain't warm enough over night." Daryl tried to coax a freezing Bay out of the backseat of the Hyundai.
"I just wanna sleep." Bay was barely able to keep her eyes open. The cold was doing a number on her. "I think my nipples are dying off." she murmured miserably, and if the situation would have been any different, Daryl surely would have released a little male chuckle.
However, he stepped closer and gently pried her arms away from her chest, before he slipped his hands under her jacket and her loose-fitting t-shirt. Daryl covered her breasts with his hands, making Bay shiver and making goosebumps break out on her skin.
"How do you still have warm hands?" Bay moaned quietly, relishing his warm touch.
"Ain't warm, just a lot less cold than you are." Daryl muttered while he felt her icy, hard nubs poke his palms. It definitely felt like they would hurt. He squeezed her breasts gently, trying to massage some warmth into her skin, and also, enjoying having her close for a moment after last night's disaster.
"Kiss me."
"Nah. Can't get distracted." Daryl declined, and only then did Bay notice that he wasn't fully focused on her, but that his eyes kept darting around in the dark. "Come on, let's get you to the fire. Forgot I had that old horse blanket in my saddle bag... It's waitin' for ya by the fire."
"You should give that to Carl."
"He's good. Rick gave him his jacket, and he's got on warmer clothing than you do. Now come on." he pulled his hands out from underneath her t-shirt and grabbed her by the arms to help her out of the car. He guided her over to the fire, making her sit as close as possible without getting burnt, and wrapped the blanket around her body. "Sit down." He sat down first and pulled her between his legs, cradling her in his strong embrace. "You can sleep now."
Bay didn't need to be told twice. She didn't even hear Carol, Maggie, T-Dog and Glenn arguing with Rick over their next steps. She closed her eyes and was immediately out like a light. Daryl stayed up all night, keeping watch and also checking her pulse ever so often in order to make sure that her body wasn't giving out. Across from him, Lori did the same with Carl. She was praying to God that he wouldn't get an infection now. The pain he was going through right now was bad enough. They needed to find shelter, food and water, fuel and warmer clothing... and fast.
The next morning they came up with the plan to siphon a little bit of fuel out of the other two cars they were using. They put it in Rick's car and took off towards the nearest town. The day was spent scavenging for supplies. There were a lot of walkers in that town, but they hadn't been able to go any further. They had had to risk their lives in order to be able to get out of town again by nighttime. They didn't find much, but at least Bay had warm clothing again at night, they had full tanks and some full gas cans in case they ran out again before they reached the next opportunity to get new gas. They had been able to get blankets and some sleeping bags out of a couple of houses they had raided, as well as some canned food. It wasn't much, but it was enough to keep them going for the time being.
They spent another night by the side of the road, but this time Bay made Daryl take a break and sleep. She wasn't able to sleep anyway. As luck would have it, having icy cold feet for over 24 hours had gotten her a bladder infection. Her bladder was cramping, she felt like she had to pee nonstop and when she did, she had tears in her eyes because it hurt and stung and burned. The worst thing was that she had to drink and pee a lot in order to help flush out the infection faster, since they still had no meds. She wanted to kill Daryl every single time he made her take a sip of water, but of course she knew that he was helping her, so she just suffered silently.
"Can she die from this?" Daryl had asked Hershel earlier while Bay had gone to relieve herself.
The old man had taken a deep breath, which Daryl hadn't liked at all. "Usually it is not a big deal. We gotta keep her warm and keep her drinking as much as possible. Wouldn't hurt if we'd find her cranberries or cranberry juice. It should be fine within a couple of days..."
"But?"
"But sometimes these things can spread to the kidneys if left untreated. It can end up in a kidney infection, which is more serious... I don't think it's gonna happen, but if she starts vomiting and developing a fever, we might have ourselves a problem." Hershel had told the archer, who'd started nibbling on his lower lip with a vengeance while taking in the news.
"We gotta find somewhere to hole up." Daryl had muttered, but as much as he kept wracking his brain, there was no real solution at the moment. They could just make their way from town to town until they would find a relatively safe shelter, and that's exactly what they did day in and day out.
Days turned into weeks and weeks turned into months. The only good thing about it was, that winter turned into spring and they no longer had to worry about freezing to death. That was pretty much the only good thing, though. They weren't able to catch a break. If they found shelter, it was often just for a couple of hours or overnight, or a day or two tops, before the threat of the walkers closed in again. Finding something to eat seemed to get rarer and rarer, and they were all starving. If it wouldn't have been for Daryl catching all kinds of animals, they would have been seriously screwed by now. Everybody was getting thinner and thinner, while their hair grew and grew. Dale and Hershel both looked a bit like Einstein with a full beard now. Carl, who had managed to heal up pretty good and without infection, sometimes referred to Hershel as Santa Clause. Unfortunately their own personal Santa Clause didn't have a full bag full of presents or food.
Carl was adjusting to having only one hand. It was still rough on him, he was still angry a lot and the relationship with his parents was strained at best (just like the relationship between Rick and Lori), but he was resilient and didn't give up. He kept practicing and worked on improving his aim and motor skills with his left arm. He was managing it quite well so far.
Lori was about 4 or 5 months pregnant by now. That's what they were estimating. By spending every day on the run, it had become very hard to keep track of time. She kept to herself most of the time. She barely ever talked anymore, and when she did, it was to Carol and Sophia and Carl, whenever he would let her. Nobody knew what had happened between her and Rick, but they had drifted apart and barely even looked at each other anymore.
Rick was driven. The only thing on his mind was to find shelter. Permanent shelter. A safe place for Lori to have the baby. Something where they would be able to stay for the rest of their lives without having to watch their backs all the time. He wasn't giving up hope, even though they kept literally driving in circles. They had to change direction constantly, because they kept getting cut off by herds, which seemed to be growing larger and larger with every day. Sometimes he thought that they were the only living people left in all of Georgia.
Bay missed Daryl terribly. You would think that they would have nothing but time to spend together, but that was not the case. There was no time to talk while they were driving with her on the back of his bike. When they made camp, Daryl was so concerned with keeping her and the rest of the group safe, that he stayed up and kept watch most of the time. Him and Rick were probably getting the least amount of sleep and food out of all of them. However, it seemed like the thinner he got, the more pronounced his muscles got. Bay sometimes caught herself staring at him, downright salivating. She yearned to be with him, but Daryl wasn't going for it. He didn't want to get caught with his pants down. He wanted to be alert at all times. Also there was no privacy and they didn't have any condoms, so all Bay was able to do was to content herself with looking, a couple of kisses and some light, casual touching. It wasn't easy and she realized that she was getting more jealous of Maggie and Glenn with every passing day. Those two often threw caution to the wind and sneaked off for some alone time and came back all relaxed and all smiles, while Bay could only swallow down her frustrations and put a fake smile on her face. She was disgruntled and in a constant bad mood. She was just so done with the whole situation, much like everybody else, and Daryl being more distant again, only added to that.
Today they had something to talk about though. They were getting close to Dalton. Their hometown. However, before they were able to reach the city limits, they stopped their little caravan in order to discuss the game plan.
"Look familiar?" Daryl couldn't help a small smile when he asked before they joined the others at the Hyundai.
"It does. This is where we did shooting practice." Bay was hit with a pang of melancholy when she looked over to the woodsy area which was also home to the meadow where they had shared their very first kiss. "Can't believe we're here. So close to home and yet we're homeless." She sighed. They were close to both of her former homes. The one in Dalton and the one near Calhoun, where Hershel's farm had been. They truly had been running in circles for these past couple of months.
"What's the plan? Pick through Dalton?" Glenn asked when they were all gathered around the hood of the Hyundai.
"Yeah. We haven't been through this town yet." Rick said. "We gather all the supplies we can, look for a place to hole up for a night or two, then we should head east. Ellijay, Jasper and back to Calhoun."
"We've been through all those already, Rick." Dale told the former sheriff.
"I know. But what can we do? We have nowhere else to go. if we double back to Calhoun now, we get cut off by the herd that's coming this way. We got a head start, but we can't stay in one place too long. Not like this." Rick sighed.
"Alright." Hershel agreed and rolled up the map.
"Daryl, Bay. You two know this town, right?" Rick looked at the two of them.
"Yeah. Why?" Bay asked.
"Make a list of places you know of, which might still have some supplies. The rest of you, fill up on water in the meantime." Rick told them.
"While they do that, let's go hunt. Got nothin' but a damn owl." Daryl told Rick, while he pulled back the string on his crossbow, getting it ready for action.
"15 minutes everyone." Rick said before he took off with Daryl into the woods. Bay went to the back of the car and looked for a pen and the notebook so they could write down some things to check out while they were in town.
Daryl was able to quickly bag two squirrels. He tied them to the string that was slung over his shoulder, while they walked along some old and abandoned train tracks. He trusted Rick to keep an eye out, while he was busy with his squirrels, so he didn't immediately notice when Rick stopped walking.
Daryl stopped when he realized that Rick was no longer next to him. He turned back towards their leader who was staring straight ahead, and looked at what Rick was looking. "Ah,... right. Merle's old home away from home." the hunter snorted when his eyes fell on the old Correctional Facility. "Damn shame..." he muttered when he realized that the fences and gates and sturdy walls would be perfect to live in. It would be as safe as it got these days, but it was crawling with walkers. "Come on." he told Rick, but the man wouldn't budge. In fact, Rick had a little smile on his face for the first time in months. Daryl looked back and forth between Rick and the prison a couple of times. "Nah... ain't no way. That's hundreds of walkers... Come on. Are you serious?"
"Dead serious." Rick nodded and the little smile turned into a full-fledged one.
Daryl looked doubtful for a moment, but he also felt relief. If they would be able to at least clear the field inside the fence, they would have a safe space for a bit. They would be able to pop off some walkers through the fence, contain the crowd a little and maybe slowly work their way inside. He could be looking at their new home right now. It made a tiny smile appear on his own face.
"Alright. Let's do this." he said and walked past Rick, back towards the road. No sense in wasting time. They had to get to work before they lost any more daylight.
Thank you for reading!
Yep, totally a filler chapter. And yep, we're going straight to the prison. Bear with me while I try to get back into this.
Thank you to everyone who is still attached to this story and is sticking with me through all my ups and downs and freak outs, lol.
There will soon be more Bay/Daryl one-on-one time again:)