To Keep You Close to Me

We drove for awhile before the RV stopped again. I guess we needed a plan as to where we were going and what our next move was. Daryl drove the truck up to the RV, pulling up close to the window. Rick said something about the nursing home they went to earlier. Daryl nodded his head and drove in front of the RV, leading the way.

“The people that kidnapped you? That’s where we’re going?” I asked.

“We know they’re good people now,” he answered. I sighed and leaned back into my seat. The drive was short until we made it to a big brick building. Daryl parked the truck, followed by the other cars.

“It looks abandoned,” I said as I got out of the truck. The other group members climbed out of their vehicles and crowded together.

“It’s like they’re barely hanging on,” Andrea pointed out. “What makes you think they’ll bring in strangers?”

“With all the guns we gave ‘em, they’ll probably throw us a party,” Daryl said, leading the group. I followed closely behind him, gripping onto my gun. “Good call, for once,” Daryl said bitterly. We walked into a large courtyard like space. There wasn’t anyone around. This place seemed strange.

“Where are the lookouts?” Glenn asked, looking around. Daryl raised his crossbow and searched the area while I stayed with the group. We turned around a corner and found walkers eating from dead bodies.

“Ah som’bitch!” Shane whispered angrily. The walkers noticed our presence and stood up.

“To hell with the noise!” Rick said as he began shooting. The other men joined in and shot down the walkers. Once the courtyard was clear, Rick led us into the building. We went into the section where they kept the elderly, but it was a shocking sight. Limp bodies laid in the doorways and blood splattered the walls.

“Are we stayin’ or goin’?” Lori asked.

“We don’t have the fuel,” Rick stated.

“Me and Daryl are gonna sweep the floors, make sure we’re alone,” Shane said. Rick ordered some of the others to barricade the doors behind us. I went with the others while Rick, Shane and Daryl searched the building. We started lining the beds against the doorways. We heard groaning on the other side of the door, so we all ducked down and held our breaths. Once it was clear, we ran away, going to a big auditorium like room.

“We’ll be alright,” Rick said, as he explained how they cleared the rooms.

“Do you mean it this time, or are you lying like all the times before?” Carol cried, bitterly.

“That’s unfair and no help at all,” Lori defended.

“The hell happened?” Glenn questioned.

“What do you think? They got over run,” Andrea stated.

“Pfft,” Daryl huffed.

“Something to say?” Andrea questioned him.

“Yeah. How ‘bout observant?” Daryl spat.

“Observant, big word from a guy like you. Three whole syllables,” Andrea said.

“What the hell’s that supposed to mean?” I yelled, defending my boyfriend.

“Calm down!” Rick yelled.

“Walkers didn’t do this,” Daryl said. “Geeks didn’t show up ‘til all this went down. Somebody attacked this place, killed all these people, took whatever they wanted. They’re all shot in the head, execution style. Y’all worried about walkers? I’d be much more worried about the people who came and did all this. Get a dictionary, look it up. Observant.”

Andrea put her head down in shame. I glared at her and followed behind Daryl as he walked off.

“Fucking bitch. She deserved that, always runnin’ her mouth,” I spat as we found an empty room. “I hate how she thinks she’s better than you.”

“Don’t let her get to you,” he told me. “She ain’t worth all the worryin’. I know how to handle myself.”

The rest of the group filed into the room after us. Rick announced that he was going to look around for some food. Daryl hopped up and went with Rick and Shane. I sat down beside Glenn, but I stayed quiet. No one was really talking anyway.

The three men came back shortly with only a few items.

“Ransacked the kitchen, all we found is one can,” Shane said, tossing the can to Daryl for him to open.

“Hit the dispensary too, tore the door off its hinges. They took everything but this,” Rick said, tossing a small box to Lori.

“Came back for cough drops and garbanzo beans,” Daryl said, opening the can.

“Is there any water?” Sophia asked.

“Just the one bottle I brought,” Shane said, pulling a bottle out of his bag. He twisted off the cap and handed it to the little girl. Once Daryl opened the can, he handed it to me to split up the beans. I lined paper plates on the floor in front of me and counted the beans on everyone’s plate. For a quick second, I thought about cheating Andrea, but I didn’t. I gave everyone the same amount of beans to be fair.

Shane then pulled out a bottle of some kind of alcohol.

“Is that to share?” Daryl asked as he scarfed down his beans.

“Seeing as how I owe you my life, guess I uh, I’ma go ahead and be nice to you from now on,” Shane said, handing the bottle over to Daryl.

“I do think I earned the first swallow,” Daryl said as he twisted off the cap.

“Let’s not go crazy,” I cautioned.

“Yes ma’am,” he said before taking a swig. Dale took a plate of beans and carried it over to Andrea, who sat in a corner, sulking. I could head her complaining about the smell and how shitty her life was. She was acting like she was the only one affected by this. We’re all praying that we wouldn’t be eaten tonight. We were in a vulnerable situation.

“We’ll try to get some sleep tonight, in the morning, we’ll head out and find another place to stay. There won’t be enough food for us to stay here any longer, and those walls might not hold out much longer,” Rick announced.

“How ‘bout Fort Benning?” Shane suggested. Rick nodded.

“I shoulda listened to you Shane,” Rick confessed. The men stepped out for a few minutes to talk about our next move. When they came back in, Daryl walked over to me.

“C’mon, gonna find a place to sleep.” He reached out a hand to help pull me to my feet. We walked to another empty room and he started to gather anything soft he could get his hands on to make our bed.

“Guess we’re gonna leave the truck behind and take the bike,” he told me.

“You sure you wanna leave that truck? We can carry so much in there,” I said.

“I can’t leave the bike, it’s Merle’s,” he said, sounding offended.

“Okay.”

“Besides, it’s better one gas.”