Carolina in my mind

Chapter 32

Carolina read off the address of the next assisted living facility in the phone book as Carol ran her thumb down the index, trying to find its location in the booklet of maps she was flipping through. Once she found it, Daryl and Michonne located it on the giant map they'd taken from the Governor's office and marked the spot with a red push pin. The process was tedious at best. And Carolina found herself longing for google in a way that she never thought possible. Is this how people lived before modern technology, she wondered. What a pain in the ass.

They repeated the process twice more before all the nursing homes and assisted living facilities in the greater king county area were marked on the map. Carolina slapped the phone book shut, letting out a sigh of relief. The map marking process made her head hurt, compounding with the frustration she was already feeling. She'd racked her brain for anything that might give them some landmark or clue as to where the governor went. But all she could remember from his episode was that he found Lily and Tara inside an apartment building that was near a nursing home. She felt like she'd know the place if she saw it. There was a big food truck parked outside the brick apartment building. And if they got there in time, they'd find the two women still held up in their apartment with Lily's daughter and ailing father. Then Carolina would know for sure that they were in the right place.

"That's a lot of locations to scout," Carol observed. "You're sure we'll find the governor at one of them?" Carolina nodded. She knew they were all skeptical. But Carol seemed to be the only one willing to state her hesitations out loud.

"Merle told me they had a fall back location outside Woodbury. It was in an apartment building near a nursing home," Carolina said, trying to sound as confident in her sort of lie as she could. The information wasn't a lie. But how she came into her knowledge of it certainly was. The dream story she told Merle was closer to the truth. But she wasn't sure if these people would be as quick as he was to believe her.

"Ya got any idea which one it might be?," Daryl asked, chewing at the side of his thumb as he stared at the map. Carolina gave him an apologetic shake of her head.

"He didn't say. I guess he figured if we had to make a run for it…" Carolina's statement trailed off into silence. She was grateful when Carol spoke up to finish her thoughts for her.

"He didn't tell you where because he assumed you'd be with him if you had to leave town?," Carol confirmed. Carolina nodded, her eyes flicking up to gauge the expression on Daryl's face. He obviously knew that she was involved with his brother before he died. But she wasn't sure how he felt about it. Or if the mention of it or of the man himself would make him feel some kind of way. Thankfully, he seemed to still be more focused on the map than he was on her love life.

"Ya know if it might be north or south of town?," he asked.

"No," Carolina admitted. "Sorry."

"You don't need to be sorry," Michonne quickly interjected. "It's not your fault you don't know where the place is." Daryl nodded his agreement to this, backing up slightly so that he was leaning against the bunk next to her as he focused on the large map that was hanging on the wall of Michonne's cell. They all sat quietly, thinking over what might be the best way to scout all the locations they'd marked on the map.

After his clothes got soaked in the pool, Daryl took it upon himself to snatch his brother's spare clothes from her cell. And he was currently wearing Merle's cargo pants and stained white tank, his feet still bare and smudged with dirt from the floor inside the prison. Carolina was still wearing her bathing suit. But she pulled on a soft pair of cotton shorts over it, along with the top half of a prison jumpsuit. Carolina was glad for the baggy shirt. Because the way the stained white tank was stretching across Daryl's chest was making her nipples stand at full attention.

Michonne was wearing the bottom half, the elastic waist doubled over several times to keep the baggy orange pants from falling down off her hips. On top she was still just wearing her bandeau style swim top. And she was squeezing the moisture out of her hair with a soft towel as she stared at the map. Carol was the only one of them that wasn't involved in the earlier soaking, leaving her feeling slightly overdressed.

"It's just gonna take a lot of gas ta scout all the spots we marked," Daryl said. "Or at least a lotta time, if we take the horses." Carolina nodded. She wanted to get the governor. But driving through walker infested roads on a wild goose chase didn't sound all that appealing to her either. And there was a possibility that the governor wasn't at any of the places they marked. He might have walked much further. Lily and Tara's apartment could be a few counties over. And even if they found the right spot, there was no guarantee that he would ever show up there. In this reality, he might end up somewhere completely different. Maybe he's dead, she thought hopefully.

Tyreese cleared his throat in the hallway outside Michonne's cell. He'd been hovering there for a while, pacing back and forth as he pretended to be retrieving things from his own room so that he would have an excuse to walk past them again.

"What if we scouted a few spots we could raid for supplies that are close to the places you marked. That way we haven't wasted the time and gas if you don't find anything," Tyreese suggested, glancing nervously into the cell to see what sort of reception he was going to get from the small group that was gathered inside. His smile broadened when he saw most of them nodding their heads.

"Now that's a good idea," Carolina said, scooting closer to Daryl so Tyreese could squeeze his hulking form onto the bunk between her and Carol. He gave her a friendly smile as he lowered himself down between the two women. Carolina smiled back as she glanced around, assessing the group. It appeared that they'd traded in Merle for Tyreese. The swap was an obvious downgrade in shooting and fighting abilities. But Carolina thought it was an upgrade in team morale. And Tyreese was a big dude. She wouldn't mind having him on her side even if he couldn't shoot straight. Her team was still looking like top shelf selection, in her opinion.

With the governor's map, there was a list of stores that hadn't been cleared yet. Carolina was more than happy to hand the phone book over to Tyreese so he could look up the addresses of each place and determine if any of them were close to the red pinned spots on the map. As he flipped the pages, Carolina reached up and caught Daryl's hand in hers. She didn't think he'd be into actually holding hands in front of everyone, so after a brief squeeze Carolina released her grip on Daryl and placed her hand back on her crossed knees. She smiled when she felt his body shift slightly closer to hers. And then he reached past the bunk support, brushing the knuckles of his hand gently across the round of her cheek.

"Hey. Um… there's food ready downstairs in the common room if y'all are hungry."

Carolina leaned around Daryl to see who was talking to them. She rolled her eyes slightly when she realized it was Rick. And from the way he was staring at the map on Michonne's wall, it was obvious that telling them about dinner was just an excuse to poke in to see what they were doing. Rounding people up for dinner didn't seem like a task Officer Friendly would normally lower himself to do.

"What're y'all up to in here?," Rick asked, clearly trying to keep his tone casual.

"Thanks for letting us know about the food," Carolina chirped, ignoring his question. "We'll be down in a minute." She leaned around Daryl and waved her hand dismissively, all but shooing Rick away. Daryl turned, knocking her shoulder with the back of his hand.

"Quit that," he grumbled. Carolina whacked him back, stifling a giggle. Daryl was certainly willing to go along with the premise of Rick not being trustworthy, in front of his brother. Now that Merle was gone, she wondered if Daryl was going to go right back to being Rick's second hand. Or if there would be a period of adjustment. She knew they were friends, but the friendship always seemed a little unbalanced for her. Like Rick never really saw Daryl as his equal. At least not until much later in their relationship.

"We're plannin' a supply run," Daryl explained. Rick nodded, moving into the doorway of the cell. He didn't actually step inside. But Carolina could tell he wanted to. After a brief moment of quiet, Tyreese called out the address of another big box store, giving Michonne and Carol a moment to locate it on the map before he continued.

"That one is really close to one of the nursing homes we marked," Michonne said, sticking a yellow pin into the spot she'd found before she baked up and gave the rest of them a better view. The two pins were almost touching, which was the closest any of them had been yet.

Rick shuffled his feet and cleared his throat slightly before he spoke. "The red dots are nursing homes?," he asked.

"It's where we think the governor might be hiding out," Carol said. "He had a fall back location that was near a nursing home." She seemed more willing to accept Rick's involvement than Carolina was. But her tone indicated that she still found the way he was interjecting himself into the middle of what they were doing slightly annoying.

"You don't know which one?," Rick asked. WIthout waiting for an answer, he added, "...that sounds like a lot of wasted gas."

"That's why we're pinning the grocery stores and greenhouses," Carolina huffed, unable to keep her trap shut any longer. "So we can check the nursing homes on the way and NOT waste gas." They'd literally already had this discussion. Before Rick showed up.

"And the nursing homes might be a good run spot on their own," Michonne added. "If it's a large facility they might have food storage like they did here at the prison, generators, and probably a lot of medication."

Rick glanced back and forth between Carolina and Michonne before he simply nodded his head, realizing that any further objection from him was about to be met with an argument from the both of them.

"What's the place you just marked?," Rick asked. "We could all sit down after dinner and get a team together…"

Carolina rolled her eyes. They already had a team put together, Rick just wasn't a part of it. And Carolina had a good mind to tell him that. But after a glance in Daryl's direction, she held her tongue. She and Rick had a bad taste for each other. Mostly because of Merle. But Rick wasn't a cannibal or a creep that kept walker heads in fish tanks. He was one of the good guys. There was no reason for her to continue escalating the pointless feud that was going on between them. Especially if it was going to upset Daryl.

Tyreese flipped the page of the phone book back, checking it with the list of stores before he answered Rick's question. Carolina didn't think anything of it until the name of the store sent a shiver up her back.

"That last one was a big box store called The Big Spot."