Chapter 12
Notes: Sorry for the long, long delay in updating. I really did not intend for it to be this long between updates, but I got busy IRL. Henceforth, I can't promise when I will have any subsequent chapters up, all I can promise is that I will TRY to have them up in a timely manner. Thank you to all who followed, faved, and reviewed this story, and those of you who have been with me from the beginning THANK YOU! 3
"Shit!" Carl cursed as his shot went wide; missing the line of cans he had set up on a dilapidated fence a ways outside the walls of Alexandria. Seeing how easy Charlotte had seemed to overcome losing her dominant eye lulled him into believing the illusion that he too, would have no issues.
Oh … how wrong he'd been.
He had been out here since first light, drenched in sweat, the dense humidity of the region's temperate climate pressed in on him as though it were an entity.
"Hey!" Carl whirled around at the sound of another human voice, his handgun drawn only to come face to face with Charlotte.
"Well, it's nice to see your injury hasn't affected your ability to draw." She said with a wry smile.
"How did you find me?" He asked, slightly annoyed as he slid his sidearm back into its holster but didn't clip it in.
"I had last watch last night, remember? I saw you sneak out over the wall this morning. Without telling anyone, you know that's against the rules." She said, her tone chastising as she crossed her arms in front of her.
"I didn't want anyone knowing what I was coming out here to do." He said, refusing to meet her intense one-eyed gaze.
Charlotte's expression softened, he was ashamed, and he felt inadequate, and she knew the feeling all too well.
"Tell ya what, I'll help you, and what we do out here stays between us … BUT … you HAVE to tell me when you're coming out here. You just can't go gallivanting off into the woods by yourself without anyone knowing where you've gone off too. Deal?" She said.
Carl grinned. "Deal." he said as they shook on it.
"The fuck you been?! I've been waitin' here a damn hour!" Daryl grumbled at Charlotte as she trotted up to him.
"Sorry … had something I had to take care of … I'll tell you about it later." She said in a hushed voice, her eye darting to Rick as he jogged up to them, Daryl gave her a heated look but ceased his line of questioning.
"Everyone ready?" He asked.
"Ready whenever you are, law man." Charlotte replied.
"Well … let's quit standin' around here, talkin' and get this show on the road!" Daryl said as he pushed passed both of them and headed toward the car. Rick looked at Charlotte, as if he expected her to have insight into the reason for Daryl's sour mood this morning; but Charlotte just flashed him a crooked grin and rolled her eye. Rick chuckled as they turned and followed Daryl to their vehicle, Charlotte really was the perfect person for Daryl; she just … got him in ways no one else could, not even his closest friends.
"HEY! Ya'll comin, or what?!" Daryl barked at them. Rick and Charlotte hid their grins as they trotted to catch up.
"So, where are we going?" Charlotte asked as Rick folded his long, lean frame into the driver's seat of the small sedan.
"There's a place about fifteen miles from here, Aaron said he came across it when he was out scouting a while back, he said it used to be a military outpost, but it's overrun so no one's been able to get close to it." He said as Daryl plopped down hard into the passenger seat, Charlotte climbed into the back and took the opportunity to stretch out, resting her hands behind her head and propping her feet against the back door window.
"Cool, wake me up when we get there." She said with a casual air to her voice as she pulled her wide brimmed hat down over her eye and laid her rifle down next to her on the floorboards of the car.
Rick glanced at Daryl and he swore he saw the ghost of a grin twitch at the corners of his mouth and he felt the veil of sourness that had been emanating from him lift ever so slightly. That tough little woman really was the best thing that had ever happened to him.
Charlotte exhaled a sigh as she listened to the rumbling of the car's tires on the decaying road, the gentle vibration slowly lulled her to sleep as it always had when she took road trips and wasn't the driver. In fact, being an insomniac, some of her most restful sleep sessions were had in the backs of cars on long trips, ever since she was a kid. Thinking about her old life before all this sent a sharp bolt of nostalgic pain through her soul as she allowed her mind to drift back to family vacations to the coast, and the one summer they hiked the Appalachian Trail together.
Daryl laid back against his seat and stole a glance at Charlotte's sleeping form and his heart melted, he couldn't help it; she looked so cute, he would give anything just to be able to crawl back there with her and cocoon her body with his.
The real reason for his surliness was that they had hardly even seen one another in the last few weeks, both of them had been so busy. On top of his hunting duties, Deanna had Daryl going out on scouting runs with Aaron and Spencer, he couldn't really blame her for wanting him to go along, neither man knew jack shit about surviving in this world.
Consequently, because of what had happened with Negan and his saviors, Rick had Charlotte, Maggie, and Michonne pulling night watch duty because they were three of the most responsible members of the group, and from the look on Glenn's face every time it was time for Maggie's shifts, he didn't like it any more than Daryl did.
Charlotte squirmed awake from her restless slumber, she lifted her hat off her eye to find Daryl pinning her with that intense stare of his. Charlotte glanced at Rick, but his gaze was fixed on the road ahead, and his mind seemed far away, therefore he was oblivious to their silent communication.
She could see the desire swimming, darkening his normally bright blue eyes, she smiled coyly at him and slowly crossed one leg over the other, his nostrils flared and his eyes darkened even further as he watched her every move.
"We're here." Rick said, interrupting their silent flirting session.
Suddenly, all minds were on the task at hand as they slowly stepped out of the car, careful not to slam their doors.
"Place's locked up tight, looks like it has been since the beginning, judging by the rust on this lock and chain." Charlotte said as she leaned close and inspected it. "A few good blows with a rock outta do it, but it's your call, law man." She said as she picked up a large rock and waited for what he wanted to do next.
"We don't have any other choice, go ahead and break it." Rick said with a steely look in his eyes.
Charlotte has been right, it took just two blows with the rock and the lock practically crumbled off the chain, Rick and Daryl both cringed as the sound echoed into the quiet forest surrounding the former military outpost.
"Come on, before anything … or any one shows up." Rick said, sliding behind the wheel of the car as Charlotte pushed open one of the gates just wide enough for the car to squeeze through, cringing again at the horrible groaning sound they made, almost like they, themselves were zombies of a forgotten world.
"Son of a bitch!" Daryl cursed as walkers started to break the tree line surrounding the base, growling hungrily as they caught sight of them. Charlotte hurriedly wrapped the decaying chain around the gate and ran for the car, hoping it would hold, and the walkers would settle down once they got out of sight.
They pulled around back, the place looked deserted, no humans, no walkers, nothing; but as they knew all too well, that didn't mean it was deserted. They crept up to the first set of doors they found and tried to peer inside, but it was too dark to see.
"Hey! Assholes, fresh meat, come 'n get it!" Charlotte said in a sadistically sweet tone as she pounded the door with the butt of her machete, then they waited to hear the telltale sounds of bodies impacting the door, but there were none. They tried the door and it was locked, but it was so rusted that it gave way just under the pressure of being turned.
They slowly opened it and waited for their eyes to adjust to the darkness of the building, even though outside it was a bright and sunny early summer day, with no windows, the building was as dark as a tomb.
"This place is too big to search as a group, we're going to have to split up, I'll go this way, you two go the other way, if you get in a bind, holler!" Rick called to their retreating forms.
Daryl and Charlotte prowled the dark, musty hallway, trying every door and finding it locked. These locks were protected from the worst of West Virginia's elements, and still held strong. They kept trying doors until came to one marked 'armory'.
"Can ya see anything?" Daryl growled as he watched their backs. Charlotte wiped the film of dust off the small square window and strained to peer inside. From what she could see, the armory was still fairly well stocked. Then, she jumped back, her machete reflexively raised as the impact of walker bodies hit the door.
"Shit!" She cursed as she kicked the door in frustration.
"That's why ain't seen any walkers, they're all locked in these rooms." Daryl said as he nodded to the other doors.
"Well, we're gonna have to get in there somehow, there's enough weapons and ammo in there to supply a small army … just what we need." Charlotte said.
"Fuck that, it'd be suicide!" Daryl protested.
"Not if we do it right." She said as she jabbed her thumb upwards.
"We need to get into that air conditioning system, it has to lead into that room, once we know the way, one of us will drop back down here and open the door, once all … or most of them are out, we'll close the door on em', take care of any stragglers, and then go out the way we got in, if need be." Charlotte explained.
Daryl's arms suddenly shot out like angry snakes and pulled her against him.
"You're smarts are one helluva turn on, ya know that?" he growled into her ear as he plundered her neck.
"I thought you didn't like smart women?" She quipped with a raised eyebrow as he drew back to look into her eye.
"I lied." He growled as he kissed her.
"Daryl, no! we can't, not here! Are you crazy?!" She said as his hands found the buttons of her jeans and began undoing them.
"Then when?! Cause I ain't seen hide nor hair of you in three weeks and it don't look like it's gonna change!"
Charlotte opened her mouth to reply but couldn't think of anything to say, she knew he was right, they hadn't seen or touched each other in weeks, and the sexual tension between them was so thick that it could be cut with a knife.
She sighed in defeat, she had to face it, the era of only having sex in appropriate (and PRIVATE) places, was dead. And the new reality was that regardless of how much she didn't want either to happen, one of both of them might die tomorrow, and she sure as hell didn't want to die horny.
"Come on." She said as she grabbed him by the hand and pulled him around the corner into a dark, narrow hallway. They didn't need any foreplay, as long as it had been; just touching each other was foreplay enough.
"Now, let's get those guns and shit." She said with a wink as they pulled their pants back on, Daryl followed her with a huge shit eating grin plastered across his face.
"Holy shit! Just how much stuff was in there?" Rick asked as they handed him the duffel bags stuffed almost to bursting with guns, ammo, and grenades.
"A hell of a lot more than we could ever carry in one trip, but this'll be enough for us to defend ourselves with if they ever try and bother us again." Charlotte said.
"Fuck that, let's take one of those!" Daryl said, pointing to the fleet of armored military vehicles that just were sitting idly by, fully loaded.
"Daryl … there's no guarantee they'll even start …" Rick started.
"Well, we'll never know til we try, will we?" Charlotte said as she strode over the nearest hummer with an M 60 machine gun mounted on the top and popped the hood.
It was as if the universe decided to smile down on them, because the battery wasn't the least bit corroded, even after sitting out in the elements for so long.
"It just needs some fuel, we can siphon some from these other trucks." Charlotte said as she grabbed a hose and a gas can.
The other vehicles didn't have as much as they had hoped, but it should be enough for them to at least make it home.
"Charlotte and I'll drive this, you can follow in the car." Daryl said, Rick nodded in agreement as they all headed out.
"Damn!" Michonne said as Rick, Daryl and Charlotte rolled in shortly before dark with the armored hummer loaded with weapons.
"Hell yeah! With this, we're gonna have em' on the RUN!" Abraham said as he clapped Glenn heartily on the back, almost pitching the small Asian man onto his face.
A dark look suddenly crossed Rick's face. "Spread the word, we're going to have a meeting at Deanna's house tonight after dinner." He said and with that he strode off towards his house.
I am glad you all were able to make it." Rick said as he walked in to find everyone crammed into Deanna's sitting room.
There was a reason that Daryl, Charlotte and I made that trip to get more weapons, the Saviors, they know where we are … and they will come again for us. I called this meeting because I want to pitch the idea of a preemptive strike. Now, Daryl, Aaron and Spencer have been out, casing out the Savior's hideout, and Aaron has drawn out a map of the place and how he believes it is set up, based on their comings and goings." Rick said as he called Aaron up.
Aaron shyly approached Rick and handed him a large roll of paper, Rick unfolded it and tacked it up against the wall.
"According to their estimates, there is only one way in and one way out, we'll leave tomorrow night and hit them just before dawn, the guards will be tired, and everyone will be sleeping." Rick said.
"And how can we be sure they will be sleeping?" Rosita asked.
"We're going to send two scouts ahead first to watch the place, that way, if it looks like it won't work, then we leave and they will never know we were there." Rick replied, Rosita seemed satisfied with the answer and sat back against the couch.
"This will be very dangerous, probably one of the most dangerous things we have ever done and no one has to go if they don't want to; now, let me see a show of hands of who's in." Rick said, and pride and admiration swelled through him as almost everyone raised their hand except Denise, who, now being the only doctor, opted to keep out of harm's way.
"Great, those who are going meet back at my house tomorrow after dinner and we'll figure out what everyone's going to be doing." Rick said as he adjourned the meeting.
"Charlotte, I don' want you goin'." Daryl said once they had returned home, knowing that his request would be for naught, but he had to try anyway, just the thought of her on this mission made him sick to his stomach.
"If you're going, I'm going, I am not letting you do this without me … not this one." She said as she said as she rested her hands on her hips in that infuriatingly adorable way she did when her mind was made up.
"Ahhh … Charlotte … what am I gonna do with you? You're gonna be the death of me … ya know that?" He said as he ran his hands through his hair.
"Well, I have a few ideas on what you can do with me." She said suggestively as she drew close to him and snaked her arms around his neck.
A growl rumbled deep in his throat as he swept her right off her feet and carried her to the bedroom.