Carolina in my mind
Chapter 23
Hershel cleared his throat. Loudly. Carolina set down the heavy box she carried in from the truck, pushing it across the table as she tried to pretend she didn't hear the man. He moved closer to her, clearing his throat even more dramatically. When she reluctantly made eye contact with him, Hershel immediately gestured to the cringe worthy scene that was playing out near the holding cells.
Merle had Milton secured to a chair, stalking around the man like a tiger. He already punched the man a few times, but hadn't really done any real damage. Not yet anyway. Carolina wasn't even sure what Merle wanted, other than to intimidate and degrade the weaker man simply because he didn't like him. Milton spilled everything he knew about the governor's plans, which really wasn't much, before Merle even finished taping his wrists to the arms of the chair. All he was doing now was crying and begging and pissing his pants.
"I'm his girlfriend, not his keeper," Carolina offered, hoping that might end the awkward stand off Hershel seemed determined to have with her. The sound of a hard thump was followed by a high pitched gurgling scream. Carolina cringed at the sound, feeling even worse when she realized Carl was standing nearby watching what Merle was doing like it was the best entertainment he had all month. Hershel raised his brow, giving her another one of his signature looks of disapproval.
"Merle!," Carolina said. When he didn't respond to the sound of his name, Carolina cupped her hands around her mouth and hollered louder. "MERLE!" Merle straightened his back, grunting in response and giving her a questioning look. "Quit playing around and help us bring this shit in from the truck," she suggested.
Carolina pushed a few of the boxes closer together, making room for more and pretending she wasn't all that invested in whether or not Merle was going to listen to her. He cursed into Milton's face a few more times. But then he pulled his knife out and cut the man loose from the chair. Carolina breathed a small sigh of relief.
"It's about to get co-educational in here," Merle announced with a laugh. He opened Andrea's cell and shoved the battered man inside. Carolina tried unsuccessfully to hide her laugh at Andrea's loud objections.
"You can't put him in here with me! Merle! What the hell do you think you're doing? He's covered in piss!"
Carolina assumed that Hershel was at least partially satisfied with how she handled the situation. Because he patted her on the back as he headed towards Rick. The man was wheeling in a large stack of boxes on a hand trolley, pulling it up the step with one hand as he kept his other hand on the top box to keep them from toppling off.
"Any sign of Maggie and Glenn?," Hershel asked.
Rick shook his head. Everyone else was back from the raid. Everyone except Hershel's elder daughter and her boyfriend. They were the only people still missing. Carolina was slightly worried, given that they'd been kidnapped on the show. But Merle was the one that took them. And he was here at the prison, driving everyone crazy by screwing with Milton. He wasn't out kidnapping Maggie and Glenn. They might not even be kidnapped at all. It was possible they simply made another stop on the way back. Or they might have had to hide and wait out a herd. Either way, with the little daylight left there wasn't much anyone could do for them tonight. If Glenn and Maggie weren't back by morning, a search party was going out after them.
Carolina pulled a bottle of water from a large case that someone left on one of the metal tables outside. She twisted off the cap, tilting her head back as she swallowed nearly half the bottle down in a few hard chugs. The sun sinking lower in the sky was doing nothing to alleviate the muggy Georgia heat. Her hair was sticking to the back of her neck and sweat was pooling up between her breasts, wetting her bra and making the underwire of her bra run uncomfortably against her ribs. She finished off the second half of her water as quickly as the first. And she pulled a second bottle from the plastic case, preparing to chug that one down just as fast.
"Save some for the fishes," Tyreese teased, pulling a bottle from the case for himself and offering her a friendly smile.
"Thanks for the help last night," Carolina said, smiling back. "If you and Sasha didn't show up when you did, my goose would've been cooked." Tyreese chuckled softly.
"Anytime," he promised, extending his hand across the table to her. Carolina cracked her hand into his before she grasped it, giving it a vigorous shake that made him laugh harder. As they smiled at each other, the wind picked up. The smell of food cooking blew in from the more secluded section of the courtyard where Carol was preparing dinner over an open flame.
"Either that smells really good or I'm really hungry," Tyreese announced.
"Probably both," Carolina said. "I don't know about you, but I'm about to stuff my face!" Carolina took another sip of water as the volume of Tyreese's laughter increased. She didn't think anything of the friendly banter they were having. But they must have been laughing loudly enough to attract Daryl's attention.
Carolina watched as he approached the table, the scowl on his face bringing their combined laughter to a halt. Daryl snatched a water from the case, holding it in his hand without opening it.
"I think yer sister's lookin' for ya," he said, narrowing his eyes at Tyreese. The larger man hesitated for a moment. But he must have decided that he wasn't interested in having a confrontation with Daryl over what seemed to be nothing. He gave Carolina one last lingering smile before he headed back towards the prison door.
"Thirsty?," Carolina asked, eyeing the unopened bottle of water in his hand with mild amusement. It was obvious Daryl hadn't come to the table for a drink. He shrugged, twisting the cap off the water before he tilted the bottle up. She swallowed hard, trying not to notice the thin sheen of sweat covering the defined muscles of his arms. His throat bobbed as he gulped the water down. But a small drip of water escaped from the corner of his mouth and dribbled down over the line of his jaw.
"What's that noise?," he asked.
"Huh?," Carolina asked. It took her a moment to gather her thoughts and realize that she was beeping. Or at least something on her was. She patted her hips, grabbing the radio she took off the man Michonne cut down outside the storage shed and then promptly forgot about. Carolina unclipped the device from the waistline of her pants, looking down at it in surprise. Before Daryl could stop her, she held down the push to talk button.
"Hello?"
Daryl cursed, snatching the radio from her hands before she could say anything else. The radio stopped beeping. And instead of the incessant noise, there was now deep timbre laughter coming through the small speaker. Daryl waited until it stopped and the radio went silent before he spoke.
"Who the hell is this?"
Oh I think you know who this is…
"It's the governor!," Carolina shrieked, ignoring the look Daryl was giving her. The one that said no fucking shit I know damn well its the governor. She was preparing to roll her eyes at him when the case of water that was on the table suddenly exploded. Daryl moved so fast all she felt was the yank on her arm and before she was on the ground with him on top of her. He grabbed the leg of the table and yanked hard, flipping in onto its side so they were hidden behind it. Rolling off her, he pulled her against his chest and covered her head with his arms.
The sound of one gunshot was enough to send everyone else scurrying inside for cover and their weapons. Once enough of them reemerged and pointed their guns towards the treeline, Daryl pressed the talk button on the radio again.
"Ya made yer point," Daryl huffed. "What the hell you want?"
You've got something that belongs to me…
"Something?," Carolina repeated. "More like everything. We robbed him fucking blind."
Daryl shushed her up, tilting his head back and watching as Merle slow rolled one of the trucks in their direction.
"Well ya ain't gettin' it back," Daryl announced. He clipped the radio onto his belt. Pulling at her arm, he warned her to stay low. The truck was pulled up as close as Merle could get it to the overturned table. And Carolina half scrambled half crawled across the space until she could pull the back door of the truck cab open.
"Keep yer head down," Merle ordered.
"No shit," she huffed, launching herself awkwardly into the backseat.
Carolina flattened herself against the seat and moved as far as she could into the cab as Daryl climbed in behind her. Merle didn't wait for them to shut the door before he gassed the truck, driving it backwards towards the door that led into the prison. He cut the engine. And Carolina was quickly pulled from the truck and rushed into the prison and behind the thick cement walls. Daryl tossed the radio to Rick as Merle locked up both sets of doors.
"The way I see it," Rick said, speaking into the radio. "We've got high walls and plenty of food and supplies. So you can sit out there as long as you want. We'll see who starves first."
Is that how it is? You're not interested in negotiating?
"No," Rick responded. "We're not."
Are you sure?
Carolina felt the hair on her arms stand up despite the warmth of the stale air inside the prison. Whatever the governor was about to tell Rick, he was enjoying it way too much. It had to be something horrible. And she had a fairly good idea of what it was. Please don't say it, she thought. Please.
I've got a Glenn and a Maggie here. I think that's something you might like to talk about.
** Thanks so much to everyone that left a review. My story views are still going wonky and showing 0 readers for the least four chapters at least so I really appreciate knowing for sure that its just a glitch.**
