Rick only stopped driving the RV once as he led the convoy. Shane's Jeep, which had been at the back of the line of cars, had run out of fuel as they were close to the inner workings of the city, making the man have to abandon the vehicle with his belongings in hand, lugging them down to the RV. And had it not been for Daryl keeping an agile watch, the former cop would have been walker food. The group had found it humour as the redneck had gone off, honking and shouting from his pickup truck. Shane had launched into the RV, slamming hard into the hard floor as Rick hit the gas, speeding out of there as more walkers swarmed.
As they got closer to their destination, Glenn was thrilled that they were heading to the Atlanta Nursing Home, a place where they had friends that they had made, despite the initial rocking start to the relationship, which had Dale doubting it was a safe place to go, but it's not like that had any other options in front of them, and daylight was slowly running out. The only factor was that once they arrived at the Nursing Home, which was located in the inner parts of the city, the group would have to make another mad dash to safety.
"I still don't know about this," Dale sighed, rubbing at his balding head. "They took you hostage." He looked to Glenn, who was still sitting beside him in the small booth. Glenn struggled to come up with a response or a good answer, only that they had parted on good terms, thanks to Rick. But Dale simply sighed and shook his head.
Cassidy had been looking outside the window during the group's conversation, unsure what input she could provide that would be helpful. Cassidy knew she was out of her element, having spent the beginning of the outbreak underground in Zone Five of the CDC, meaning she had no knowledge of survivors' struggles on the surface. While she had encountered the walking corpses of her infected colleagues on Zones Three and Four, she and Edwin had been able to lock those levels down and act like nothing ever happened, but Rick's group didn't have that option.
"Look," Rick spoke up. "We'll be there shortly." He was clenching the steering wheel tightly, nerves on edge as he felt like he was taking a gamble. The former cop had given over weapons to Guillermo and his group, but that didn't incline his own people to refuge within the nursing home.
The convoy had parked around the back of the nursing home on a dirt road by an old ruined factory that led to the back entrance of the facility. Glenn left the RV first, Rick and Dale followed, each man with a weapon in hand as they inspected their surroundings for walkers as the women followed them out. Cassidy quickly unzipped her duffel bag, pulling out the pistol her father had gotten her when she'd graduated from Georgia State University with her Bachelor of Science in Biology. She checked the magazine and that the safety was on before sliding it into the back of her jeans, slipping the hem of her t-shirt over top to hide it.
"But they're barely hanging on," Andrea was saying as Cassidy stepped out, shutting the door to the RV behind her. "What makes you think they'll take in strangers?"
"With those guns we gave them, they might throw us a party. Good call," Daryl drawled, moving ahead of the women to catch up to Rick. "For once." He moved ahead of Rick, his crossbow aimed ahead of him. They made use of the ruined factory, jumping through the open holes of the brick walls where glass windows used to be embedded. The old factory courtyard was quiet as they slowly walked further in.
"Where are the lookouts?" Glenn whispered back to Rick, making each male raise their weapons as if something didn't feel right. Copying the men, Cassidy reached behind her, grasping her pistol grip, her eyes darting around. Rounding the corner to the back entrance, the group paused, taking in the sight of several undead hunching over the bodies of those that belonged to Guillermo's group. Despite the lack of noise they made, the walkers still noticed them, the infected rising at the sight of fresh meat to fill their insatiable palates.
"To hell with the noise." Rick seethed, aiming his weapon and beginning to fire, the rest of the men following suit with their own guns. At this time, they didn't care about the risk of using loud weapons and the walkers it would attract, only wanting to remove the obstacle from their path. Cassidy moved in front of the woman as they crouched down, her hand still on the grip of her pistol as she watched the men take out the walkers, an action that didn't go unnoticed by Lori as she held her son close. As the last of the walkers fell, Rick turned to the group, ordering them all to follow him inside in hopes of leaving before more undead showed up.
Cassidy glanced at the women and children behind her. "Move." She spoke, waiting for them to race ahead of her as she took up the rear, finally pulling her gun free and raising it, taking up a position of defence at the rear. Making their way into the main hub of the factory floor, through darkened hallways and up a flight of stairs, they came to the back entrance of the nursing home. The doors were wide open. Rick, Daryl and Shane went in first, weapons raised and ready for danger as the women and children followed in after, freezing in the hallway. Dale, Glenn and T-Dog wander in next, with Cassidy coming in last and closing the door silently. Down the long hallway, the limps of bodies poking out of doorways. As they continued to move slowly in, Sophia, who'd been in her mother's arms, caught sight of two bodies lying on the floor in one room and began to cry hysterically as her mother tried to calm her.
"Put a sock in it!" Daryl hissed, facing the young girl as she continued to make noise that put the entire group at risk.
Looking at the man in shock, Carol hissed back. "You leave her alone."
"Shut her up, or I will." Daryl threatened back, his attention fully on the mother and daughter as Sophia was still crying.
"Back the hell off. I mean it." Lori cursed, pointing accusingly at the redneck. Daryl looked at the woman, his gaze briefly traversing over the group behind him as he lowered his crossbow, noticing how he'd ruffled a few feathers with his outburst. "Are we staying or going?" Lori asked her husband, holding her son close to her.
Rick sighed, but he swallowed back the lump in his throat as he turned to Lori. "We don't have the fuel." It was a hard truth to swallow, knowing that they had nowhere else to go or the gasoline to get them there.
"We hunker down for the night. You, me and Daryl do a sweep, better to make sure we're alone." Shane spoke, looking up and down the hall as he formulated a plan in his head. Carol continued to try and shush her daughter, taking her away from the doorway that peered in on the two corpses. Cassidy moved ahead, peeking into the room. Her green eyes landed on the bodies of two elders, one male and the other female, and took note of the gunshot wounds to the head.
"The rest of you, barricade those doors." Rick gestured to Glenn, Dale and T-Dog. The three men assured the women and children aside while they began to barricade any entrance they could find to secure the building better, while Rick, Shane and Daryl went ahead to inspect the rest of the floor. As for Cassidy, she decided to do what she did best: logical thinking. The scientist went room from room, inspecting each body she found, investigating the corpses for the level of decomposition and identifying the cause of death. Knowing a corpse meant knowing what the disease is. That is what her former Master's Professor taught her.
She didn't turn around when she heard the three hurried sets of footprints running back down the hall towards the entrance and up the stairs to the second floor. As Cassidy stepped outside of the rooms she was in, she spotted the rest of the group using a medical bed and mattress to block off the door. Unblinkingly, she watched as they all ducked down as a lone walker came to the door, hiding from its sight as it soon moved away. The brunette made her way to the end of the hall, where she found herself in a sort of assembly room with a stage at the far back. As she inspected the dead, the group who was responsible for barricading doors moving into the room, she only found more of the same. Gunshot wounds sustained to the temple and forehead, dead for over twenty-four by the signs of self-digestion blisters forming on the external skin and insect activity.
Standing up, Cassidy turned to the group, her green eyes landing on Sophia as she sobbed quietly in her mother's arms, the child still clearly upset from the sight of the dead bodies scattered around them. The group jumped at the sound of hurried feet, still on guard, as Rick, Shane and Daryl re-entered the hall. As Shane and Rick moved into the centre of the room, Daryl moved around the back, inspecting the bodies lying around and nudging a few with his foot.
Rick paced the room, thinking. "Upstairs is our best bet. We've cleared a few rooms, but we can barricade those if we have to." He explained to the group, looking around at everyone. "We'll be all right."
"You mean it this time, or you lying to us like all the times before." Carol bit out, a slight scoff in her tone of voice. She was sitting on a chair, her daughter in her lap, as she continued to comfort the girl.
"That's not fair and no help at all." Lori glared, lecturing her friend. In truth, her husband was doing everything he could to see to the group's survival, but with the way the world was now, nothing was guaranteed.
After a moment of awkward silence created by the two mothers, it was Glenn who broke it with a mutter. "What the hell happened…?" he was in shock, unsure of how something like the massacre that was before him could be real.
"What do you think?" Andrea asked rhetorically, her arms crossed over her chest. "They got overrun." Cassidy had gone to retort with her findings, but Daryl beat her to it, the redneck scoffing loudly at the blonde, earning Andrea's ire. "Something to say?" She glared at Daryl, daring him to speak.
"Yeah. How about observant." He scoffed again, not impressed with the woman.
Andrea's brows rose as she stared the man down. "Observant? Big word from a guy like you. Three whole syllables."
Daryl's jaw tightened, his aggression beginning to bubble. "Walkers didn't do this. Geeks didn't show up until all of this went down. Somebody attacked this place, killed all these people, took whatever they wanted. They're all shot in the head execution-style." He gestured to one of the bodies by his feet, making Rick kneel down to inspect the corpses. "You worried about walkers? I would be much more worried about the people who came and did all this." Taking a step towards Andrea, who was now avoiding looking at him after being schooled by a redneck. "Get a dictionary, look it up, observant." Cassidy let out a short laugh, enjoying watching the redneck give an educated lecture. The sound gained the group's attention as they turned to look at her, it being the first time they heard anything resembling a laugh from the scientist. "You got a comment?" Daryl demanded, expecting some condescending remark from her.
"Yes." She spoke, making Daryl's jaw tense, thinking his assumptions were true. "You were correct on all points." Cassidy smiled at him. Daryl's eyes widened slightly, shocked that she'd agreed with him. "I took my time to investigate the dead," She spoke, turning away from the redneck to face the group. "By the state of decomposition, they have been dead for over twenty-four hours. This means that the group responsible for this would be long gone."
"You know decomp?" Rick asked her from where he was still kneeling by a body. She nodded. With a sigh, Rick stood, looking around the room with his hands on his hips and pursed lips. "Over twenty-four hours? We should be safe then." Cassidy stood watching as the group slowly followed Rick and Shane out, Andrea's head hanging low as she felt obvious shame from Daryl outsmarting her.
"Hey," Daryl spoke, moving closer to Cassidy, a single finger rubbing against his lips as he thought. "Why'd you laugh?"
Cassidy smiled, her gaze trained on Andrea's retreating back. "I found it humorous that Andrea was educated by a man she deemed to have a lower intelligence than her."
Daryl scoffed, a slight chuckle coming out as he smirked. "Guess we rednecks are smarter than people think, huh?" He moved past her, making his way upstairs.
She nodded, following behind him. "Yes."
"How you know about that decomp shit?" He asked as she fell into step beside him, eyeing the woman.
"One of my old professors. He encouraged me to intern at a morgue to better grasp how diseases affect bodies, even after death." She didn't look at him as they moved up the stairs. "I take it you have a level of understanding of decomposition as well? Your crossbow and attentiveness…you're a hunter?" Daryl's eyes widened again, a short 'yeah' mumbling from his lips. "A good skill to have. My father partook in hunting as a hobby. Foxes."
"Foxes? That all he kill?" Daryl scoffed, not impressed.
"Yes. A nuisance on the farm. Foxes posed a threat to his chickens and livelihood." She explained. "Though that wouldn't be a concern now," Cassidy muttered, eyes downcast.
Daryl stopped outside the doorway of the room their group had claimed to take shelter in for the night, eyeing her again. "Did you just make a joke?" Her head turned to him, but her eyes never met his.
"It could be perceived that way," Cassidy stated. Daryl just shook his head, making his way into the room. He found the woman to be ridiculous in everything she did. Blinking, Cassidy trailed in, watching as the group was sitting on the floor, Shane and Rick missing. Daryl stood off to the side, jaw tense as usual. Cassidy felt out of place. She didn't know them well enough, not like how she knew Edwin. Rolling her jaw, she moved to a far corner of the room, placing her gun down on the floor as she sat and tucking her knees under her chin as she folded herself into a ball, trying to create a sense of comfort for herself.
"We ransacked the kitchen." Shane entered the room, followed by Rick, a single sealed can in his hand, which he tossed the Daryl, the redneck catching it with one hand before he put his crossbow aside. "All we found was one can."
"They hit the dispensary too. Tore the door off its hinges." Rick explained, handing his wife a small white package. "Took everything except this."
"So came back for cough drops and…" Daryl held the can up to his face, reading the label. "Garbanzo beans." His eyes looked at Cassidy as the woman isolated herself at the back of the room as the rest of the group remained tight-knit and sitting close together. Her stature reminded him of a scared child. Shaking his head, he fiddled with opening the can, Glenn moving in close to him with a collection of plastic plates he'd found.
"Is there any water?" Sophia asked, the young girl cuddling into her mother's side. Shane offered her the only bottle he had on him from his bag, advising her to take small sips and anyone else who needed to drink.
"What else you got in there?" Carl pondered, rejecting the water that was offered to him by his friend. His father, Rick, was pacing around, trying to decide on the group's next plan, as they all needed one and were looking to him to keep them safe. He'd only woken up from a coma a week prior and was stressed out far more than he should have been.
Rifling through his bag, Shane pulled out a bag of chips, hurling them to the young boy, before pulling out more snack foods and tossing them around. "Courtesy of the CDC," He muttered, his dark eyes glancing at Cassidy. While the woman did save all their lives, he was still bitter with her and her psychotic colleague. "Thought I'd be having midnight snacks in my air-conditioned room." His eyes moved to Glenn, watching the young man scoop out twelve servings of the garbanzo beans onto the plates before him. With a sigh, Shane pulled out the last item he had in his bag. A bottle of wine.
"That to share?" Daryl asked with a mouthful of food, staring at the bottle greedily.
Shane's jaw tensed, but he reluctantly handed it over to the man. "Seeing as I owe you my life…so…uhh…I guess I'll go ahead and be nice to you…you know?"
"I do think I earned the first swallow," Daryl placed the bottle on the ground before him, and with the tip of his hunting knife, he began to work the seal. Lori lectured them as she passed plates of the beans out to her, Carol and the kids, reminding the men to go easy as they were in a dangerous location. "Yes, ma'am," Daryl responded, glancing up at her. But it was Glenn who stole his attention. The young Asian man stood up with two plates of food, making his way over to the scientist and sitting beside her, offering her a plate, which the woman hesitantly took. Dale had stood up also, taking a plate to Andrea as he checked on her before heading outside to T-Dog, who was watching in the stairwell outside the door.
"You okay?" Glenn asked Cassidy after she'd taken the plate of food from him and a packet of chips piled on top. He began to awkwardly pick at the beans on his plate as he waited for the woman to speak. "Sorry, all the good stuff is back in the RV." He tried to joke.
"I am well." She answered simply. "And it would be unwise to venture out there now in the dark with the infected that have gathered from the gunfire from earlier." Glenn nodded, agreeing with her. As they ate, they listened to Lori whisper to Rick, wanting to know what they were going to do next, but the man was unsure, looking at his best friend for support. Shane could only shrug, suggesting that they once again try his plan of going for Fort Benning.
"Isn't that like a hundred miles away?" Glenn interrupted, unsure of how they would even get there.
"One hundred and eighteen miles," Cassidy corrected him.
Glenn turned to her, a large smile on his face. "Cas! You maths genius!" She looked at him confusingly, unsure what the man had made that statement so gleefully. "Could you work out a route and fuel need?" Everyone looked from Glenn to her expectantly.
She paused mid-chew, nodding once. "Yes." Glenn shot up, moving to his bag to collect a map before returning to her, laying it open on the ground in front of her as he sat back down. Her eyes traced over the map.
Shane scoffed, looking at the woman. "We'll take the interstate—"
"No." She cut him off. "Avoid all major roads. an educated guess is that everyone else took the interstate, meaning the roads would be backed up with abandoned vehicles." Cassidy explained, not looking up from the map. "Twenty-three, fifty-four, one-thirty-eight, fifty-four into Woolsey, Woolsey onto eighty-five, and finally twenty-seven into Fort Benning. A three-hour drive."
"See! She's smart!" Carl giggled to Sophia, a large smile on his face as he stared at the scientist in fascination. Sophia followed his gaze, looking at the older woman tentatively. Pretty much everyone was staring at the woman, finding her to be an oddball as she went on to explain how much fuel was needed she questioned everyone on the vehicles to work out the mileage a gallon in a quick mathematical calculation.
"Woolsey?" Rick asked, picking up the map and trailing the route she suggested. "Why Woolsey?"
"My family home—"
Shane scoffed again. "We're not taking a detour so you can see if your family is alive."
"They are dead." Cassidy retorted, still not looking at him. "But I know the codes for my family and my neighbour's gun safes."
"Guns?" Glenn asked, wanting her to clarify, which she did. Woolsey was a small farming town, meaning everyone had a stockpile of weapons ready to defend their lands. She further explained that one of her neighbours had a shed full of fuel for his farming machinery. "Fuel!" Glenn turned to Rick. "We got to go there."
"Guns and fuel." Rick nodded, looking at the scientist. "Woolsey it is."
Cassidy finally glanced up at Rick, observing the map in his hands as he folded it up and handed it back to Glenn. "How much fuel do we currently have? Woolsey is thirty miles from here."
Rick looked around the room, taking in everyone's solemn faces. He wasn't sure, but he knew that they would be lucky to get to Woolsey. "Maybe just enough. If we abandon a few cars, take the fuel from them…" He mumbled to himself, running a hand through his short hair. "Might be time for us to get to sleep. We all have a big day ahead of us tomorrow." Rick sighed, tussling his son's hair as he moved out into the hallway, Shane and Daryl following after him. Shane quickly gestured for Glenn to join them, the young Asian muttering a quick goodbye to Cassidy as he went out after them. She eyed the door as Daryl closed it, their eyes meeting briefly before she looked away quickly.
"Typical men…" Andrea commented drily, glaring at the door. "Think us all too fragile and weak for them to include us in their discussion." Cassidy looked at her, and Andrea smirked scornfully at her. "You know they're discussing us, right? They need to protect us because we can't protect ourselves in their eyes."
"Enough!" Lori bit, glaring at the blonde, wanting her to silence her bickering and complaining. "They just want us safe." Andrea matched her glare. Before the outbreak, Andrea Harrison was a Civil Rights Lawyer from Florida, she was used to outsmarting misogynist men in courtrooms. While Cassidy did agree with Andrea's sentiment that just because they were biological women, it didn't make them incapable of defending themselves, she did know from working in a male-dominated industry that men couldn't help but assume it, as it's how society had raised them to think.
Closing her eyes, Cassidy rested her head against the wall behind her and pulled her legs in tighter under her chin, her empty plastic beside her on the ground by her gun, yet the chip packet remained untouched. After the long events of today, the poor woman just wanted to sleep. She listened to the shuffles around her as the women and children tried to get comfortable to sleep, as much as possible, on the cold laminated flooring. When she heard the faint creak of the door opening, she opened her eyes, watching as all the men returned, minus T-Dog, and her brows creased when she spotted Daryl taking long swigs from the wine bottle in his hands before passing it to Shane. Shaking her head at the men's antics, she closed her eyes again, blocking out everything around her as she willed herself to sleep.
When Cassidy awoke, she was still in the same cramped position she'd fallen asleep in the night prior. She took a look around the room, spotting Rick cuddled up close with his wife and son. Carol with her daughter. Andrea was still distancing herself from the group on the far wall by the door while the men were spaced out around the room. Only Glenn missing. She looked towards the closed door. Moving to stand quietly, she picked up her gun and tucked it into the back waistband of her jeans before moving towards the door with the unopened chip packet in hand. Glenn turned to face her when he heard the door open, shooting her a smile and a wave as she shut it behind before joining him at the top of the stairs where he was sitting. Not saying a word to him and simply looking ahead, Cassidy opened the chip packet, angling the bag towards him. Smiling, Glenn took a chip, more than happy to accept the woman's friendly offering. They sat in silence as they ate, waiting for the rest of the group to wake up, when they heard the door open abruptly behind them as if the wooded door was being body slammed. As the two of them turned, they saw Daryl breathing heavily as he stared them down. With a sneer, the redneck kicked the door shut and moved to another room, slamming the door shut behind him.
"Daryl can be intense…" Glenn stated slowly, his wide eyes locked onto the door the man had gone through. Casually blinking, Cassidy turned to look back down the stairwell as she ate another chip. Glenn observed her. "It doesn't bother you?" He asked, reaching for another chip himself.
Cassidy paused, her eyes downcast as she thought. "What doesn't?"
"Daryl…being…Daryl…" Glenn spoke awkwardly. He was staring at her, curious if it actually affected her at all. When she shrugged, Glenn's brow rose slightly. "Well, I'm impressed. He scares the shit out of me."
"He's respectable." She said, making Glenn's brow rise even more as he stared at her with wide eyes.
"We talking about the same Daryl here?" He stuttered. Glenn watched as she shook the packet of chips as she looked into the bag before picking out a large chip and munching on it. "Daryl Dixon? Crossbow-wielding redneck with an aggressive streak?" When she stated 'yes' again like the answer was obvious, Glenn blinked a few times, unsure how to process what she said. His brown orbs moved to the door Daryl had vanished behind, wondering if the two had had a more pleasant interaction than he had with Daryl in the past. "Okay…" Glenn mumbled, looking away from the door and back down the stairwell.
A few minutes later, the door Daryl had opened again, then time more quietly. As Glenn inspected that man, Daryl fiddling with his belt as he'd made use of the facilities in the other room, Glenn noticed that there was still a scowl on the older male's face. As Daryl turned his head to inspect the pair on the staircase, Glenn turned away fast, his fingers itching to grab the shotgun he had pressed up against the wall next time, imagining that it could give him some form of comfort under Daryl's stare. Glenn swallowed hard when he realised that Daryl had left the hallway, that the imposing man was lingering somewhere behind him, no doubt still watching. He glanced at Cassidy out of the corner of his eye, the woman content with eating her chips like nothing was wrong. Fortunately for Glenn, it wasn't long until both Rick and Shane appeared, the two men allowing the young Asian man to feel a sense of calm.
Rick and Shane had roused the rest of the group, advising everyone to get ready to leave, as the moment they removed barricades the doors, it would be a mad dash to their vehicles, avoiding any walkers that got in their way, and if they couldn't be avoided, a stealth kill. The group couldn't risk finding themselves outnumbered with no way out of the city. Once they got to the outskirts and they were safe, it was agreed that T-Dog and Daryl would abandon their cars as they were the least fuel efficient, and the gas would be siphoned to go towards the RV and Carol's car. Daryl had refused to abandon his brother's 1976 Triumph Chopper, arguing that it would be good on the mileage. Shane had tried to start a disagreement with the man over it, but Rick shut it down.
It was then that Glenn had whispered to Cassidy about Daryl's brother, Merle, that Rick had chained him to a roof here in Atlanta, but the large idiot had cut off his hand to escape. Something Daryl held against Rick, and Rick felt guilt for it. Cassidy understood that feeling. For her, she'd do anything for her own brothers. Heck, she had in the past. Her parents didn't know that her eldest brother, Austin, was living as a stay-at-home husband raising his son while his wife worked, and Beau, her older brother by two years, was gay and only out to his siblings, afraid of how his parents would react. Cassidy kept all her brother's secrets safe, and they hers. It's what family did. Protect no another, even after the end. She also knew the anguish that the redneck must be feeling, that his brother was out there, not sure if he was alive or a walking corpse.
Cassidy had made use of the facilities before she was ready to leave, taking the time to observe herself in the mirror of the small bathroom adorning one of the rooms on the second floor. She looked like hell. Like she'd barely slept in weeks and was malnourished. She could only make an educated assumption that it was due to having been living underground for two months with no natural light. It could do a lot of damage to anyone physically, emotionally, and mentally. She pondered if it played an effect on Edwin's choices in the end, that if maybe he hadn't been trapped underground for so long, those dark thoughts might have never entered his mind. With a shake of her head, she finally leaned off the sink and pulled herself away from the mirror, heading back out to the stairwell and descending back to the first floor, ready to begin the leg of her journey to Woolsey. She wasn't sure what she'd find at her family farm. The property had previously belonged to her Grandpa Ellis, who passed away before Austin was even born, which he passed to his only son and Cassidy's father, Wyatt.
Wyatt Chester Frost was always a simple man who gave simple one-word answers, was not fond of small talk, but took pride in working hard. When Cassidy's mother, Mary-Anne, had been against her daughter going off to university, believing it was a woman's place to marry and bear children, it had been Wyatt who put his foot down, wanting his daughter to achieve more in life than being a wife and mother. He would smile behind that thick moustache of his and mutter, 'I'm an old man, and my times are old' when he thought about his children adapting to the modern world that had outgrown people like himself and his wife. People who thought and acted with sexist and racist thoughts and used religion to force their agenda.
The brunette scientist had been solemn in her thoughts as she reminisced about her family, unsure if she would find rotting or walking corpses at the farm. She hadn't been aware of Rick speaking to her until he touched her shoulder, making her jolt and slide off the wall she'd been leaning against, causing the woman to almost fall on her arm had it not been for Rick quickly grabbing onto her and hoisting her back up.
"Sorry," He spoke, concern etched onto his features as he helped her stand upright. "I didn't mean to spook you." His hand dropped from her arm as she took a step back, an uncomfortable look on her face. "I was asking how many gun safes we'll be looking at."
Cassidy pursed her lips. "Seven. Besides my family home and my brother's house, there are the Haywood's, Tuckers, Redding's, Potter's, and Dorsey's. The Dorsey's is also where we will acquire the fuel stockpile." She didn't look at him as she spoke. Her gaze focused on the barricaded door as Shane, Daryl and T-Dog began to shift the bed that had been used as a makeshift blockade. The scientist had appreciated being touched by Rick despite the friendly rapport between them. He was still a stranger. Seeming to understand her thoughts, the former cop only nodded, moving away from her to aid the other men with the door.
As soon as everyone had gathered in the hallway, men with their guns at the ready and Daryl with his crossbow raised, the bed was shoved out of the way, and everyone moved, the women and children in the middle while Cassidy stayed at the rear, her gun in hand, Glenn and Dale with her. Their group moved fast while attempting to stay light on their feet so as not to cause noise and attract any infected as they made their way out of the nursing home, down the stairwell and through the abandoned factory into the ruined courtyard. Daryl moved ahead of them, using his crossbow to stealthily take down a few walkers that had gathered after the gunfire the previous evening while everyone jumped and manoeuvred through the open window frames. Glenn had made use of his speed from his days working as a pizza delivery boy to zip to the fallen walkers, collecting the arrows from the skulls for the redneck.
"Come on!" Daryl yelled at the man, stepping back towards the holes in the wall just as Dale and Cassidy made their way through. Swallowing hard, Glenn bolted past Daryl, vaulting through the open window frame as Daryl quickly followed. Most of the group had already made it to their vehicles. Cassidy had been standing outside the doorway to the RV, waiting on Glenn. She gave him a nod as he entered, offering her a quick thanks. "Those are mine!" Daryl yelled, stopping at the RV's doors and ripping the arrows from the Asian man's hands before running to his truck, leaving Glenn speechless.
"Yeah, he's respectable." Glenn mocked Cassidy as she stepped into the RV, shutting the door behind her. "Dude has no chill." The pair shifted as Rick started the RV and pulled off from the curb, beginning the convoy out of the city, making for the twenty-three.
Cassidy blinked at Glenn. "They were his arrows." She stated blankly.
"Cas…he could have thanked me for collecting them for him." Glenn sighed, gesturing for her to follow him into the booth as he sat down.
Her brows creased as she thought, sitting next to the man. "Correct. Appreciation would have been welcome, but I do not believe it is in his vocabulary." Glenn scoffed before chuckling at what she said, finding the woman's own choice of vocabulary to be humorous, as she always seemed to be using 'big' words over simpler speech, even making a joke about how she couldn't talk normally.
"I like the way she talks," Carl spoke up from the other side of the booth where he sat with his mother, who was gently playing with his hair. "Can you teach me some of those big words?"
Cassidy turned to the boy, a wide smile on her face as she nodded. "Yes. Knowledge is a fundamental skill to embrace."
"See," Glenn chuckled, pointing at her. "No one talks like that." She turned back to face him, her eyes focusing on his finger. As her green eyes moved up to his face, Cassidy reached out, grabbing his finger and twisting. "Ow! Ow! Ow!" He chanted before she let go, a smirk on her lips. Lori shook her head, watching the pair while Carl laughed. Cassidy's eyes twinkled as Glenn rubbed at his sore finger, being reminded of her younger brother, Deacon. It caused a warmth she hadn't felt in months.
