Chapter 6: May You Find a Light
Carol sighed and settled into the blankets that night. He was sitting up near the window and checking outside occasionally to make sure the surrounding area was clear. It wasn't unusual to go months without seeing someone on the road, but when you were sitting ducks in one place you tended to run into more people, more problems.
"I think it's fine, you can come to bed."
He shook his head. "Got this weird feeling. Think I'll keep watch awhile ." he insisted. "You should sleep."
"First you feed me fuller than I can ever remember, then you surprise me with the new coat-"
"Yours was threadbare. Barely keep a nat warm." he groused while blushing.
"Now you're forcing me to bed?" she raised her brows at him with a smile.
"I got plans for us tomorrow. Don't want you to be too tired." He assured her.
"Right." she countered.
"I's thinkin' of takin' ya with me to the other house. It's a little nicer, more blankets, clothes-"
"Are you trying to spoil me?"
"Nah, just thinking about finding something a little more secure. Something less visible from the main road." He explained.
"We've been okay here so far."
"I know." he looked down and shifted in his chair. He glanced out the crack in the blanket and looked back at Carol.
She sighed and slipped down on the makeshift bed. "You've been with me two and a half days."
"I tracked you all the way here." he admitted.
"I haven't seen a living soul for miles. I've checked in almost every direction." She flopped her arms out of the blanket it indignation and sat up again.
"Don't mean someone aint out there."
Closing her eyes in frustration she sighed deeply again and stood from the pile of blankets. She was bundled in her jeans and a sweatshirt he'd given her earlier. She pulled on her boots and joined him by the window in a matching chair. He rolled his eyes as she grabbed a blanket and pulled it over her legs. She grabbed her rifle and slid it comfortably across her lap, ready to use it at a moment's notice. "Then it's settled, I'll watch with you."
"Just sleep."
"I don't want to sleep. If you can't sleep, I can't sleep."
"It ain't that I don't wanna sleep. I just got this worry feeling."
"Then I'll have that worry feeling with you." she chimed in and smiled at him sweetly.
"I just think the other house is in a better location."
"I liked that this one is blocked from the west." she explained.
"Yeah, but it leaves you blind on one side. And in the summer, you'd have walkers crawlin' up that hill." Hearing his own words he blushed and looked out the window again.
"We staying that long?" she teased.
"If ya like the other house. It's got a fence round the main part of the property. Be good for an alarm system should be easy enough to rig up. Plus they's got a shelter belt. Line a trees all the way round so they's shield the house from the wind, stays a little warmer." He rattled off his list of reasons until he heard the sound of their temporary alarm system. When he peeked outside he could see a single walker tumbling over the line he'd set up and making its way across the driveway back into the trees. They would let it pass.
She pulled her feet up into the overstuffed chair and wrapped the blanket around her shoulders and body. She set the rifle in the corner of the chair and leaned her head back. Soon she was dozing off and before she could fight back he was picking her up out of the chair and situating her in the blankets on the floor. Not long after she felt him slide under the blankets next to her, his quiet snores assuring her he was falling asleep too.