Chapter 8: I'll Do My Worst

It had been a total of four days since Riley and Jacob's confrontation. Both she and Carl had been waiting warily for some sort of retaliation to come but it hadn't yet, which surprised her a little. He seemed like a man of action but yet he wasn't doing anything to try and get back at them like he swore he would. She had seen him speaking with Linsday a few times after the incident. Maybe she was holding him back. After they had gone at it, it drew attention and Jacob explained himself to the leader. She didn't seem convinced by his story at all and had told him to back off, which only infuriated him more. Since then, he had kept his distance but she often caught him glaring at her from across the camp.

During this whole standoff, Carl had definitely gotten a bit closer to her, which honestly surprised herself. She figured that maybe she let him in a little more because he was the only one she could trust. It was funny how one day she could be so distrusting of a stranger and the next day that stranger was the only person she had trusted. Obviously, they had known each other for quite some time now, over a week or two to be exact, but it still applied because of how hard it was to trust people these days.

Originally, she didn't want to get close to him and she kept telling herself that she wasn't getting close to him and she was only trusting him because she had to. There wasn't much of a choice she had. She could not trust anyone and go off on her own, but there was a stronger chance of survival if she had someone to have her back and Carl happened to be that person. Plus she promised him that she would help him find his dad.

Currently, the two of them were eating lunch. Riley was sitting up on one of the logs by the fire pit with her plate and Carl had taken to sitting on the ground next to her feet, his shoulder leaning lightly against her legs. Both were silent as they ate and no one else was around to talk to them. The only noise consisted of the light chatter of others across the camp or the birds calling softly to one another. It was actually a pretty nice day out and there were no sounds of eaters in the vicinity.

Once she was finished with her food, she set the plate down on the log next to her and looked over at Carl. "When do you think they're going to have another run?"

"Don't know," he said with a mouthful of food, swallowing before continuing, "it's been a little while so they have to have one soon, right? And I'm sure Lindsay will let us go..."

She nodded slowly, brushing a stray strand of hair from her cheek. "We'll go no matter what. The more we look around, the more likely it is to find your dad."

He pulled his knees to his chest and looked up at her. "Thanks, Riley. For helping me look for him."

Biting her lip, she shrugged casually and looked away, feeling his gaze burning into her head. "It's fine."

An awkward silence settled between them before he broke it once more. "Hey, Jason's loading up his gun!"

Her gaze snapped over to the other side of camp where the weapons were usually kept. Carl was right. Jason was loading up his gun and grabbing some other supplies. That had to be a run, right? She jumped to her feet, and he followed soon after. They made it across the clearing pretty quickly and Jason looked over at them with a raised eyebrow.

"Suppose you two want to come along? I'll have to ask Jacob, but get some ammo while I ask," Jason informed.

Wait, Jacob?

"Wait, is Lindsay coming?" Riley asked, confused.

"No. She's got something else to deal with so she asked for volunteers on the run and Jacob volunteered to go," he said, strapping his gun to his hip. "Just wait here, I'll be back."

She looked over at Carl as Jason left and frowned. "We're going to have to be careful."

He nodded and drew in a breath, bending down to the box to get some ammo for their guns. "Riley, if you don't want to go on this run..."

"No. We can't let it show that we're wary of him. Besides, we need to look for your dad."

"But if you're uncomfortable-"

"It's fine," she assured stiffly, glancing up as the truck came rolling over with Jacob in the driver's seat.

He watched her with narrowed eyes before getting out of the truck, moving over to the two of them.

"Heard you wanted to come along," he muttered.

"Yeah, that's right," she confirmed, crossing her arms over her chest. Would they even get to go? He'd probably get all smug and tell them he wouldn't be taking them.

"Fine. You can come along."

Cue the shock.

Her eyes widened slightly and she looked over to Carl, slightly confused.

"You two can sit in the truck bed with Jason. Henry and Samantha have already called the front seats."

And then he turned away, trudging back to the truck to meet Samantha and Henry which she hadn't previously noticed. Wait the three of them were going to be sitting up front? Didn't that seem a little...strange?

Slowly, she made her way to the back of the truck, climbing up inside and sitting down. Carl sat across from her and she narrowed her eyes.

"Don't you think it's a little strange that he's letting us come along? And that the and the two people in on his 'plan' to get back at us are sitting alone in the front seat with no one else to hear what they're talking about?" Carl asked quietly.

She traced her finger along the handle of her gun and looked down at her lap. "It's weird. We'll just have to be careful."

They couldn't talk any more about it because Jason climbed up into the truck with them and plopped down near the back.

"Guess we aren't part of the exclusive club," he joked, leaning over and slapping the side of the truck to signal that they were ready. The truck started up and they were soon out of camp and on the way to whatever town they were headed to for supplies. They didn't even ask where they were going, they just noticed that Jason was getting ready for a run and jumped at the chance to come along.

The ride was a bit longer than the last, but she figured that since the camp was in the middle of the woods that it was going to take longer to get to any sort of town. The gas station had been a lucky break but most other places had to be a ways away since they were so far from civilization. They only passed a few stray eaters on the way, but otherwise it was pretty clear. What was even more surprising was the town that they stopped at.

Complete silence blanketed the place. No birds claimed the sky. No squirrels scuttered about. The town was also rather large by the looks of it and she could even see a school a little ways toward the end of the road. It was eerie and the grin that kept flickering on and off Jacob's face made her feel even more unsettled. All she needed was a look from Carl to know that he was feeling the same way as she was.

"We should split off in groups of three," Jacob started, loading a few shells into his shotgun. "Jason, you can stick with Riley and Carl. I'll go with Samantha and Henry. Once you've got a building searched, meet back here and we'll keep doin' that till it gets late. Let's move."

Riley wasn't sure how she felt about the three of them keeping themselves isolated. But she didn't know whether she would rather stay close to keep an eye on them while risking the possibility of something happening or keeping a distance so they couldn't try anything. Neither option seemed like a good one so it was probably just best to go with the hand that they were dealt.

"I think we can start at that convenience store over there." Jason pointed to a small, run-down little building. "And then we can move up to the bigger buildings."

"Let's go, then," Carl said, pulling out his gun to be ready.

She followed suit, keeping a quick, quiet pace as they headed over to check the place out. Looking through the window, it was hard to tell exactly what was inside since grime coated the glass. They'd have to go in slowly.

Jason opened the door slowly, a light clanging from the bell hanging at the top echoing throughout the room. He paused, looking around and waiting in case any walkers had heard the noise but nothing came out from the shadows. He looked back at the two of them, motioning for them to follow.

They entered cautiously, and she kept her gun raised as the door shut softly behind her. The whole place seemed to be pretty clean and tidy, which was a bit strange, but most of the shelves were empty. Someone had definitely cleaned this place out.

She relaxed slightly as she walked down the small aisles, Carl trailing behind her and Jason up ahead. Something caught her eye and she ducked down, pulling out a small bottle that had been poking out from underneath one of the shelves. It was a sealed bottle of ibuprofen. Definitely a good find.

"Got something," she announced, holding up the bottle for Jason to see. He turned, taking the bottle from her and looking it over.

"Nice find, kid. That'll definitely come in handy."

Riley nodded a bit and turned her attention back to the shelves. As they progressed toward the back of the store, the overwhelming smell of rotting flesh crawled up her nose. She grimaced, poking her head around the corner to see a dead eater lying on the ground. Though there was one thing different about this body. It was cut cleanly in half, from the head all the way down. Her heart skipped a beat and she looked over at Carl, ignoring Jason making comments about how nasty the walkers were. There was only one thing she had seen able to do something like this. A sword. And how many people carried around a sword?

"Do you think it's them?" he asked hopefully, quiet enough that Jason wouldn't hear as he poked around the shelves.

"I don't see who else it could be. How many people do you know that use a sword?"

Relief etched itself on his face and she drew in a deep breath as he spoke again, "they have to be somewhere close. Maybe we can try to slip away and look around ourselves."

She nodded in agreement. "Good idea. Don't know how we'll be able to but we can try."

"This place looks pretty stripped clean. We should head back out, meet back up with the others and see what they've got," Jason interrupted.

"Okay," she and Carl said in unison, which led to a strange look from the man.

She just gave him a shrug and pushed past the both of them, heading back toward the door and slipping outside. The air was a lot cleaner and she didn't realize how musty it was in there until now.

Scanning the road, she didn't see any signs of the others until Henry practically bolted out of the ice cream place across the street. Had to be eaters. He was pretty afraid of them she'd noted from their first meeting. Jacob was next, pulling a body out of the building and depositing it on the ground. Samantha followed suit and she caught the woman's eye, who then tapped Jacob on the shoulder and pointed over to them.

The two groups met in the middle of the road and Jason pushed the ibuprofen bottle into Jacob's hands. Riley looked over at Carl and discreetly motioned with her head to the other side of the road, indicating that now would probably be the best time to try and slip away. As they continued to talk, she took a step back and so did Carl. They were able to get a few feet away and turn around when Jacob noticed them.

"Hey! What're you two doing?"

She bit her lip, turning slightly to face him as he came stomping over. For once, she was lost for words and she ground her teeth together as she tried to come up with a lie.

"I-"

"We just wanted to go sit down," Carl interrupted, "it's pretty hot out. We just needed a break."

Jacob eyed them for a moment. "You've got five minutes."

"We can stay here for a bit, and we'll just catch up to you," she blurted, folding her arms across her chest.

He shook his head immediately. "Not a good idea."

"And why's that? We're perfectly capable of handling ourselves, thank you very much. You're wasting time. We'll be fine."

"Like I said, not a good idea." His voice was more firm and demanding this time, which only sent her more on edge.

"Look, we're not going to go running around and shoot the place up," she said with gritted teeth.

He glared at her, looking like he was starting to lose patience. "You're just a couple of kids. You screw up. You don't know the hardships of survival. And you get people killed."

The breath soared from Riley's lungs. He was still upset, obviously. But before she could even speak, Carl surprised her by speaking exactly what was on her mind.

"We didn't hurt anyone on purpose! You really think we were going to trust a bunch of strangers? We didn't know you weren't going to hurt us!"

And that's when the tension began to rise and the burly man took a dangerous step forward, looking down at the two of them with an intimidating glare. Everyone around them stared in shock at the sudden hostility between the three of them.

"You better watch your mouth, boy," he growled.

Her hand quickly shot out to Carl's wrist and she took a slight step in front of him, puffing herself up and trying to make herself appear a lot larger than she was even though her heart thumped rapidly in her chest and the hairs on the back of her neck stood straight up.

"And you watch who you threaten," she ground out.

Jason quickly jumped in between the three of them, breaking up the little stand-off and trying to calm each of them down. "Ay, no need for this. We're gonna draw all the biters in the area."

Riley took a step back, stumbling into Carl's chest. Jacob turned his gaze away from the two of them an onto the man that stood between them. He shook out his arms and rolled his shoulders.

"Come on. We should start at the school while we're all together," he muttered, turning away and retreating to the others.

She let go of Carl's wrist and drew in a stiff breath, pressing her fingers to her eyes. At this rate, they were never going to find Rick and Michonne. Maybe the best option for them would be to leave in the middle of the night. She'd have to talk to Carl about it when they were alone...

As the others began to walk, she fell in line at the back, her eyes boring into Jacob's back. Henry cast a nervous look at her before falling in line with Samantha. The blonde didn't even look their way and simply followed the others, keeping her shoulders square and head held high. Maybe Carl was right about coming to this run. Maybe it would have been better for them to stay behind today...

After a little trek across the town, they ended up at a medium-sized brick school with the peeling yellow letters spelling out Nicholas Elementary. The lawn was clear, but it seemed like the perfect place for eaters to be crawling inside.

"This looks like a good place to split up, make sure everything's clear on the outside before wandering inside," Samantha suggested.

Jacob nodded. "Alright. Sounds like a good idea. Henry, why don't you and Jason head around back, make sure it's clear?"

Jason seemed a bit wary. "Are you sure that's-"

"We can do that," Henry interrupted, trying to keep the shakiness out of his voice.

There was a moment's hesitation before the two broke off from the rest of them and slowly started to make their way around the side of the building. Curiously, Riley moved forward to look through the windows, but they were all boarded up and covered with blankets and curtains. Definitely seemed a bit sketchy...

"Let's make our way inside. Slowly," Jacob said, heading for the door.

"Shouldn't we wait for the others?" Carl asked, wiping his hands on his pants.

"We won't go far."

That sounded very reassuring. The man motioned for them to move forward and he wrapped his fingers around the door, opening it just a crack. Everything was quiet and he motioned for the three of them to enter. Carl went first, every step he made wary and careful. Riley followed after. And that's when Samantha pushed them.

She tripped forward, flying into Carl. The two of them landed in a pile on the floor as the doors slammed shut behind them. Pushing herself to a stand, she leaped toward the door just as Jacob rammed something in the handles to keep the doors from opening. He gave them a wicked smile and she growled, slamming her body into the door to try and get it open.

"You son of a bitch!" she snarled, banging her fist on the glass as Carl tried to wrench the doors open with his weight.

"You asked me to do my worst," Jacob sneered and gave her a mocking wave before gesturing behind her. "Just watch your back."

Her head flung around and she was greeted by one of the largest groups of walkers she'd ever seen and their hungry eyes were fixed on the two of them.

A/N: I know, it's been forever! So sorry, have had a lack of motivation to write, but I think I'm getting back in the swing of things. So things are looking pretty bad for Carl and Riley right now. They're stuck in a school full of walkers. Just perfect. Thanks so much for all the awesome reviews! Hope you enjoyed and sorry for the slow updates!