He was late, and she knew that she shouldn't worry so much but it was hard not to anyway. Carol looked down at her watch for the fifth time in as many minutes and sighed. Daryl was probably the most dependable person to do a run with and he was always cautious about the people he came out with, so it was unusual for him not to be there yet. She stepped back from the doorway again and looked around the general store to see if she had missed anything useful.
There were a few racks of clothing that she had only given a cursory glance, so she gave them a second chance now. She flipped through the shirts, all in bright colors that had faded a little from the dim light coming through the front windows. They were simple, and in a style that she would have worn many times in her life, but they held no appeal for her now.
"Looking for something new to wear?" Daryl's voice came from behind her suddenly and Carol jumped, dropping the shirt and hanger in her hands. The sound as the plastic hit the floor seemed loud in the small space. She hadn't even heard him come into the building. That wasn't a good thing to miss.
"No, just looking while I waited." She spun slowly to face him. "Something go wrong? You're late." She smiled and quirked an eyebrow at him and he snorted softly.
"Nothing wrong, just found a lot of peanut butter." He elbowed his backpack, which looked as though it were bulging with jars. "Ready to head back?"
"Sure, just waiting for you to return." She shook her head at his rolled eyes, "I'm not nagging, I swear, it's just what happened." She lifted her own bag and shouldered it, "I found two solar lanterns and some water filters."
"Good stuff." He opened the door for her and followed her through. "I'm surprised that more of this stuff isn't gone already. We won't have luck like this for much longer."
Carol nodded, heading for the passenger side of the car. "True, but we'll get by somehow. We have so far." She paused before opening the car door and looked at him over the roof, "As long as we all have each other."