"It's dead."
Daryl twisted in the truck's driver's seat, resting his legs in the open door frame. This pickup had been the third car they found that needed some fixing up or parts they just didn't have. They were still short on tools, managing to find a small set of screwdrivers in someone's kitchen cupboards.
Rick placed his hands on his belt and sighed, "We'll find another."
"Saw that gas station up ahead," T-Dog said. "There'd only be a gas station if there was a town or something nearby. Could be something there."
"This would have been ideal," Glenn reminded him. "Daryl would be able to put the bike on the back of this. We don't have anything to secure it with our cars now."
"If I gotta leave the bike behind, I will," Daryl said. "But damn."
"What do we do if we can't find another car?" Beth asked. "It's gonna start snowin' soon, right?"
"I could sit in the boot, I guess," Ace suggested.
Rick squeezed her shoulder. "You may have to do that."
Even though it was Ace's idea, she didn't want to spend all of Winter and then some scrunched in the boot of a car. The thought gave her a minor burst of anxiety. There would be no seatbelts or safety precautions if someone crashed, an action that was far more likely when travelling around in the snow. She didn't expect anyone to crash, but it was still possible.
"Try starting it again?" Ace suggested.
Daryl shrugged and listened to Ace as the engine chugged, trying to come back to life. Ace listened to the sound for a second, but Daryl stopped his attempt when the car didn't turn over.
"It sounds like the spark plugs are broken."
"It don' matter, kid," Daryl stopped her. "We don' got any spares."
"I'm just saying, it's an easy fix. A lot easier than some of the other cars we've seen so far," Ace reminded them, crossing her arms. "Maybe we could go into the next town, find some more tools and spare parts and come back here to fix the truck."
"We don't know where we're gonna be tonight," Maggie said.
"I don't see anyone else giving ideas," Ace muttered to herself, crossing her arms.
Rick was quiet for a second, contemplating Ace's idea. "It's not like we have anywhere else to be. If we can find the parts and come back, we will," he said. "This car is too good to leave behind, and there's no possibility that we're going to find another one like this any time soon."
Ace glanced up, glad that someone had taken her suggestion, knowing that the people who listened to her were few and far between. She hadn't meant to snap at Maggie, either, but the one thing she knew was cars, and this was the best one they had found since she mentioned needing a new vehicle.
"We'll take a look at that gas station before it gets too late," Rick continued. "See what else is around and hopefully find somewhere to hunker down for the night."
No one decided to argue with him, and all walked back to the vehicles to drive down to the petrol station.
When they got there, they decided not to take everyone. Rick, Glenn, T-Dog and Daryl were going to be the only ones to go until Ace offered to join them, saying that she was too bored to sit in the car again. They just decided to let her, knowing that her joining would probably just mean she was less involved with clearing the building and probably just joining them for a walk.
There wasn't very much inside, a few packets of crisps or chips as the others tried indoctrinating into Ace's vocabulary, with very little success. They were in there for less than five minutes before they decided it was a bust and they should go.
Ace noticed a picture taped to the window near the front door as they walked outside and looked to see what it said.
"Wait," she stopped the others.
Rick turned around, glancing at what she wanted. "What is it?"
"Look," Ace pointed at the picture, and the others stood at her side to read it.
Congratulations to my brother for opening his own garage! Underneath was a picture of two men standing outside a building that looked like an auto repair shop. Written at the very bottom of the page was an address.
"Huh," T-Dog muttered. "Auto service and repair."
"Is that close?" Ace asked.
Daryl leaned closer to the image before turning and glancing around the nearby area. "I'd say 'bout a mile away."
"How can you tell?" Glenn frowned.
Daryl raised his hand, pointing along the road downhill into town. "See that sign?"
"Yeah," Glenn nodded.
"It's in the picture."
"Oh."
"That's good," Rick said. "I'm sure a garage would have everything you need to fix that truck, right?"
"Maybe," Ace said. "I didn't really get a good look at it, but if it's just the spark plugs, then there should be some in the garage."
"And we can grab some more tools as well," T-Dog said.
"So it's settled," Rick said. "We'll head to the garage in town."
Ace again joined the group as they checked out the garage, leaving the others in the car until the repair shop was cleared. She was tired of sitting in the car and would rather clear out the building than do nothing in the car, as scared of walkers as she was.
They walked up to the front, which had a locked door. Rick tried peering through the windows into what he assumed to be a reception area, but the blinds were closed, and he couldn't see anything. When they tried the door, it was locked, so they decided to head around to the shutters on the side to try and get them open instead.
T-Dog's eyes moved to the bottom of the garage door, where he saw a small padlock holding it to a small metal loop in the ground. "Padlocked," he announced.
Glenn turned to Rick. "What do we do? Shoot it?"
"It'd make too much noise," Daryl answered.
Ace glanced around, zoning them out. She couldn't just stand there and listen to them argue about the best way to get a padlock off a door. Quite frankly, she pretended she had better things to do.
Her eyes landed on a small red toolbox on the ground next to a dismantled car out front, and she smiled. She looked back at the padlock, estimating a size, before walking to the toolbox. Ace dug through the heavy metal tools before pulling out two wrenches almost the same size.
"I got it!" She called out.
Everyone turned to look at her as she walked back over, holding the two wrenches. They were unsure what to say and watched her as she approached the door with the tools in her hands.
"Those are wrenches, Ace," T-Dog told her.
Ace stopped, looking at him for a moment, "I am aware of that, Theodore."
She continued, kneeling in front of the padlock under the watchful gaze of everyone in the group. Ace just ignored them, looking down at the tools in her hands. She placed each wrench next to the padlock before sliding a prong of each into the shackle.
When she was ready, she held the handles of the wrenches in each hand and squeezed them together as hard as she could. They slipped out once or twice, so she readjusted them and tried again. Ace pushed the handles together, using all of her strength. Finally, the shackle snapped, and the padlock broke away.
Ace dropped the wrenches and pulled the broken pieces of padlock away from the door. Then, she jumped up and spun around to face them, holding her arms in the air, "Ta-dah!"
A silence followed, and they all stared at her.
"Wow," Ace muttered. "Tough crowd."
Rick took a step forward. "I don't like that you know how to do that."
"So I get locked out of a few places," Ace said. "What do you want me to do, officer? Fix it?"
"No, no. You're good."
"Thank you," she smiled.
"Phew, think you just got out of a hefty fine," T-Dog commented.
"Or jail," Ace said.
Daryl rolled his eyes, moving past her to lift the garage door. "Come help me, Macgyver."
"I know you're trying to insult me," Ace said. "But I would love to be Macgyver."
She kneeled at the door beside him, sliding her fingers underneath to gain leverage. When Daryl started to lift it, she helped him, pushing herself up from the squatting position until she was standing. They gave one last heave upwards and waited for a second to see if the door would come crashing back down, but it didn't.
When the door had finished rattling, and the group could see inside the work floor of the garage, they waited to see if there were any walkers in the first room. It seemed empty, so Rick led the charge inside.
"There's an office back here!" Glenn called back, as he walked to the room at the back of the large workfloor.
Almost as soon as they were inside, Ace saw some tools that made her lose interest in clearing the building, and she walked over to the small metal table on wheels.
"You must feel right at home here," T-Dog smirked as he passed.
Ace raised an eyebrow, staring at him. "Yes, because I lived in a garage before the apocalypse."
"Ga-ridge," T-Doh repeated slowly, copying the accent.
"Much better than gar-rage."
"Let's just focus on clearing this place for now," Rick reminded her. "We'll loot after."
Ace gave a shrug, but listened to him.
She wandered around the room until she came across the door that connected the working ground to the reception area. It had been locked from the outside, so she grabbed the handle and tried twisting it to get inside and take a look, but again, the door wouldn't open.
Ace looked over her shoulder, a frown on her face. "Reception is locked in here, too."
"I found some keys in the office," Glenn said. "Might open it."
"Let me see?" Ace held out her hand, and Glenn dropped the keys in her hands.
She walked over to the door again, searching through the keys until she found one that was the same colour as the lock. It fit, but the door got stuck, making her put her knife in her pocket as she pushed against the door with her shoulder, twisting the handle.
As the door swung in, Ace stumbled into the room before she was slammed against the wall at her side. There were hands in her hair, making her shove her hands out and push the body away from her before it could get any closer. Through the strands of hair in her face, she could see the culprit. A walker, one that looked the same as one of the brothers in the image back at the petrol station.
She managed to keep her hands on his shoulders to push the upper half of it's body away and keep the face away from her. The hands were still pulling at her hair, hard, but the walker was more focused on trying to bite her than her hair.
"Ace!" Glenn called.
"I can't get a shot!" Rick yelled.
"I got it!" T-Dog called.
The walker jerked to the side, and it released her hair due to the impact. T-Dog ran past her, following where its body landed to take out the walker. Glenn grabbed her arms, pulling her out of the room as T-Dog continued to swing down on the walker with his bat.
"Move, T!" Daryl ran into the room after him, knife in hand.
Ace saw T-Dog step behind the desk out of the way as Daryl rushed at the walker, kneeling down quickly and slamming the knife down into its skull. The sound of snarling stopped almost immediately. The smell was the worst of it, and by how bad it was, Ace could tell the walker had been there for a while.
She could feel Glenn moving her out of her face, checking where the walker's hands were for scratches. "You're okay," he breathed finally.
"Debatable," Ace panted.
Rick placed a hand on her shoulder, his way of acknowledging her as he walked past, following Daryl and T-Dog into the reception area. He took a quick peek around the room, and then back into the workspace of the garage.
"I think that's the only one," Rick said.
"Should I go grab the others?" T-Dog asked, awkwardly glancing back at Ace.
"Yeah," Rick nodded.
T-Dog walked past Ace to the garage door they used to get inside. Daryl exited the reception, nodding to Rick as he passed him.
"Place seems pretty secure," Daryl noted. "Walker must've been there for a while."
"That's what I was thinking," Rick said with a nod.
Ace had finally stopped panting, and her arms were now crossed over her chest. She glanced back over her shoulder when she heard the quiet chatter from the incoming group of people behind them. They stood just at the door, looking at Rick and waiting for him to say something.
"Okay, everyone," Rick announced, turning to the others. "We're here for tools and parts. Gonna grab as much as we can, let Ace and Daryl sort through what we should take."
"Should take as much as we can carry," Daryl said.
"What happened to traveling light?" Ace raised a brow at him.
"Let's just see what's here," Rick said.
The group walked around, looking through different areas of the garage for tools or parts that they assumed were important. No one really knew what they were looking for apart from Ace and Daryl.
Ace was standing over the toolbox she found before, looking at the wrenches and other tools that she had seen before being attacked by the walker. It was close to a workbench where Carl had been pulling things down off of the smaller shelves he was able to reach.
"Woah, cool!" Carl picked up a spinning saw.
Ace grabbed it from him, placing it down on the table. "You shouldn't be playing with that; you can hurt yourself."
Carl huffed but listened to her anyway and walked away from the tool bench, leaning against the wall nearby. Ace sorted some tools on the table, putting them neatly in order by size.
"Get many injuries as a mechanic, Ace?" T-Dog asked.
"A few, but I'm considered to be somewhat accident prone," she signed quotation marks in the air as she spoke, "so a lot of it was expected of me. I cut my hands a lot; that's why they feel like sandpaper."
T-Dog just nodded. "Not too bad. I was expecting some extreme story where you got carted to the hospital."
Ace frowned, thinking back, before turning to look at him. "There was that time a saw blade snapped and cut my arm," she said. "There's a scar there and everything."
"That would have been a better story to start with."
"Maybe . . ." she was quiet for a moment, thinking about his statement. After a moment, she just shrugged. "Anyway, one of the people who worked there was using the spinning saw to cut through some metal, and the saw snapped as it was spinning and shot out and sliced the back of my arm."
Ace pulled her coat off one shoulder, twisting to face away from T-Dog and showing the back of her right arm. A white line across the back of her arm almost looped around to the front.
"See?" She asked, looking over her shoulder.
"Woah," Carl said. "Cool."
T-Dog, however, frowned. "Jesus, kid."
Ace pulled her coat back up and over her shoulder, turning around to face them. "And I was bleeding everywhere, and I had to go to the hospital that time and get stitches and everything."
"Don' those things usually have guards?" Daryl asked from where he was, leaning against a tall toolbox.
"Not always," Ace said. "I guess it should have, but the guy didn't put it on. Everything was guarded after that, though."
"I can imagine someone almost dying would light a fire under some asses," T-Dog said with a nod.
"Yeah," Ace agreed.
She kneeled down and continued looking at some of the drawers under the workbench, leaving T-Dog and Carl to look for random tools. All she really found were screwdriver and wrench kits, some random bits and pieces, but nothing that could really be used on the pickup.
"Mac," Daryl called, getting her attention.
Ace rolled her eyes, but glanced over anyway. "Yeah?"
"Here," he threw something her way, and Ace spun around quickly to catch it before it hit the ground. In her hand was a spark plug, what they needed for the truck back on the road they came from.
"Oh, cool," she smiled.
"More where that came from," he told her. "Grabbin' some other small parts jus' in case."
"Does that mean we can take that truck," Beth appeared at Ace's side, before looking back at Rick who was looking through a toolbox nearby.
"I think so, if we can get it fixed."
"Are we going back up there today?" Hershel asked next.
"No, not today," Rick shook his head. "It's getting late, and this place is secure enough to stay here for the night. Reception is locked and no walkers are gonna open the garage door, if we stay quiet we should be good. When we're done looking around we'll set up in the back office."
"I'll get some stuff from the car for the night," Glenn announced.
Rick glanced back at the reception, only to see the walker body that had attacked Ace earlier. "Daryl, help me with that?"
Like Rick said, when they were finished searching they set up for the night in the back office. With a lack of windows to the outside and with winter approaching, it got dark a lot quicker than normal.
Rick had taken a position at the front of the room, offering to stay on watch for the first few hours. He held a rifle in his hands, looking through the glass in the door. He expected some of the others to get some sleep while he looked out for walkers, but instead, they had decided to play darts as a way of passing the time.
Ace decided to opt out of the game and finally just get a chance to sit down and relax for the first time in days. Moving around and being on the road wasn't good for her, she soon realised, and just needed some time whenever they stopped to remind herself that this was their life now.
She found a car magazine on the desk in the office and sat down in one of the empty corners of the room, which just barely managed to fit everyone inside after they removed all the furniture. Ace glanced up occasionally to watch the game, but continued reading quietly between breaks. They had barely played one round before people got stuck.
"Uhh, nineteen, seventeen and twenty-five," T-Dog muttered, rubbing the back of his neck. "What is that?"
"Sixty-one," Ace answered quicker than anyone could open their mouths, not looking up from a car magazine she had found in one of the drawers.
"Okay, and what is that taken away from the number I already have?"
Ace sighed, looking up for a mere second, before saying, "Two hundred and thirty-seven," and looked back down at the magazine.
"Thanks, kid," T-Dog moved to write the number down under his name on the chalkboard.
Ace skimmed the page, guessing the others would eventually want her help. She only managed to read for another minute before she was interrupted again.
"Ace," Glenn called, making the room chuckle as she glanced up.
"You have seventy-seven, which brings your number down to one hundred and ninety-four," Ace looked down again, reading quietly while Glenn marked down what Ace had just told him.
"Why don't you take the numbers for their game?" Carol suggested with a smile. "They're just going to keep asking."
Ace didn't answer but put her magazine aside and moved across the room to the chalkboard. Carol only said what she was thinking and that they would keep asking her to mark the game. Ace should have pretended that she didn't know the answer.
Hindsight's a bitch.
"If you guys are so bad at maths, why don't you just play Round the Board?" She questioned, pushing herself to sit cross-legged on the table underneath the chalkboard. Ace glanced at the board as Daryl took his turn and turned around to grab the chalk to change his numbers.
"What's that?" Glenn asked.
"You have to hit the numbers, one through twenty, followed by a bullseye," Ace explained. "Winner is the first one to do that."
"Cause, we're playing this," Daryl answered with a slight smirk. "Ya got better things to do, Macgyver?"
"I guess not."
"Who's Macgyver?" Carl asked.
"He's before your time," Ace answered.
"Ace, he's before my time," Maggie argued. "You shouldn't even know who he is."
"It's not my fault your father didn't properly educate you on pop culture."
Hershel let out a quiet chuckle at Ace's statement, to which she waved an arm at him, assuming that his laugh was to agree with what she was saying. She didn't bother bringing Hershel any further into the conversation.
"I don't think it's pop culture," Rick said from the door. "The show came out in the 80's."
"I don't care, the man made bombs out of household materials. Best show ever," Ace said, marking down what Maggie had hit on the dart board.
Everyone went another round of throwing darts in silence, now not needing to ask about the maths for their game. Ace didn't understand why they were even playing; Daryl had been hitting high numbers consistently, and on his last turn a hundred and eighty, the highest score in darts. They all knew he was going to win.
"Is there a plan for tomorrow?" T-Dog asked, taking his turn. "I mean, are we all just gonna sit around and wait for Ace to fix the truck."
"That's if the spark plugs are the only thing wrong with the truck," Daryl reminded him.
"We saw that gun store," Rick said. "And there could be other places we could loot while we wait."
"Are we bringing the truck here first, or is she doing it out there," Lori asked.
"Out there would be easier," Daryl said, and turned to Ace. "Right?"
"If only the spark plugs are broken, yeah."
"Then someone needs to go with her," Maggie said. "To keep watch while she's working."
"The two of us can head up to it on the bike," Daryl said. "Give all of ya some time to clear this place out."
Rick hummed in agreement. "That's a good idea."
"Are the two of you going to be okay on your own?" Glenn asked. "I'm sure we don't all need to be looting."
"We'll be fine," Daryl said. "Can't see there being a lot of walkers 'round, and if there is we just ride back to you guys and get the fuck outta here."
"As good a plan as any," T-Dog said, agreeing with the last part.
"Finish up this game, then we should probably get some rest. We could all we do with the sleep," Rick told them. "I'll keep watch for now."
"Nothing's gotten in for the past few hours," Hershel said from across the room, turning to face Rick. "You should get some sleep too."
"I don't wanna take the risk," Rick shook his head. "Daryl, are you good to take the next watch?"
"When?" Daryl asked, throwing the darts.
"In a few hours, if that's okay?"
"Yeah," he agreed. "Gonna need some shuteye first."
"I'll wake you," Rick said with a nod.
"Lemme jus' beat these guys and I'll get some rest," Daryl said with a smirk.
Rick gave a chuckle and watched as they all threw a few more rounds, before the scores were coming close to the end.
"Daryl has 34 left," Ace announced. "You need to hit a double 17."
"Fuck that," Daryl lined up his shot, before releasing the dart.
It thudded directly into ten, which meant that this score was now twenty-four and that he only needed a double twelve to win. He lined up his second dart, before throwing it again and hitting it straight into the double 12. There was a collective groan from the three as Daryl won the game.
Ace scribbled over the numbers to show that Daryl had won, before dropping the chalk on the table beside her, now happy that she was able to get some rest without doing everyone's maths. She walked back over to where she had been sitting originally and dropped to the ground next to her bag.
"Should find one of these when we settle down somewhere," Daryl grinned.
"So you can kick our asses all over again?" T-Dog asked.
"Obviously."
"I guess it was stupid to play darts against an archer," Maggie said, taking a seat down next to her dad. Glenn hummed in agreement, sitting down next to her.
"Okay everyone," Rick chuckled, "get some sleep. Busy day tomorrow."
When everyone was settled in their chosen spots, Rick kneeled down and reached to the centre of the room, turning their lantern down so it was as dim as it could be, and then off, leaving the room to fall into complete darkness.
The hand on her arm was what terrified her the most when she woke up. Ace shot up into a sitting position, panting heavily and jumping backwards to get away from the person at her side.
"Easy," the gruff voice came, calming her down a little. "Jus' me."
Through the dark, she could see Daryl crouched at her side, one knee rested on the ground for balance. It took her a few moments to even realise what had happened. Ace remembered dreaming, knowing that it must have been a nightmare that was making her so scared just then. The pounding in her chest was not enough for it to have just been the start of waking up.
"Crap," she muttered, taking another deep breath, trying to soothe the pounding in her chest. "Did I wake you?"
"Naw," he denied.
She wondered if he was lying. The room was silent, which meant that no one else was awake, and if she was loud enough to wake Daryl up, she was loud enough to wake everyone else. But already her eyes were feeling heavy again, it felt like she'd only slept a few minutes. Paranoia stopped her from closing them, taking a look around the blackened room.
"Just try to get back to sleep," Daryl's voice stopped her for a moment. "Still got a few hours."
Ace tried to look back at him in the dark, but it was hard to read his expression. She gave a nod, and made herself lay back down on the floor as she had been doing before she woke up.
"I'll try."
She looked around in the dark again, uselessly. She didn't see anything dangerous, but she couldn't see much of anything at all. Ace forced her head back to the ground, but her eyes still wouldn't close.
"I hate feeling like this."
"Yeah," Daryl murmured an agreement.
That one word uttered was so heavy, with so much meaning and feeling, Ace hadn't been expecting. It wasn't just an acknowledgement of having heard what she said, but understanding, a tether being pulled between them.
She wondered if that was why she hadn't woken him, if he were awake for the same reason. Ace wondered how many nights like that he had, and wondered how many more nights like it they would all have.
When she took another glance around the room, she realised that Rick was asleep. He was closer to the door, but laying down next to his things on the ground. Ace remembered that he wanted Daryl to be on watch so he could sleep. That had to be why he was awake, she finally realised. The office door had a window, so he didn't have to leave the room, so it didn't make her too worried that he was sitting by her instead of going on watch outside.
Even asleep it always felt like Ace was watching what was around her, waiting for the chaos to ensue. This had her question 'sleeping with one eye open'. She couldn't do that, but after everything she'd become a much lighter sleeper. Always ready to run, fight, panic.
Daryl moved at her side, and she glanced over to see that he was standing up, moving away from her.
"Where are you going?" She whispered hurriedly, unable to hide the panic in her voice no matter how much she tried.
"Nowhere," Daryl's hushed voice came back. He walked back over to her, his bag in his hands. He dumped it on the ground next to her, and sat back down in the same position against the wall.
"Sorry," Ace felt her cheeks turn red, embarrassment filling her chest, mixing with the fear in some horrible blend.
"S'okay," Daryl placed a hand on her shoulder, pushing her so she was laying down again. "I'm here. Get some sleep."
Ace was still unsure, but nodded anyway, and laid her head back on the floor. She turned her body to face Daryl, and closed her eyes.
The next morning, Ace packed tools into her backpack ready to take to the pickup truck. Taking the wrenches she would need to replace the spark plugs, along with a handful of spares.
Rick gave everyone some time to get ready for their own run, and it was not long later they were all leaving the building. Ace followed them outside, looking around for Daryl who she had not seen since she woke up.
Daryl was already outside, leaning against his bike, peering down the street for any signs of danger. He stood up straight when he saw her, pulling his crossbow up and off of his shoulders.
"Ready?" He asked.
Ace nodded, a small smile on her face. "I'm ready."