Lost on the Road to the Quarry

Chapter 2: Lost on the Road to the Quarry

(Previously...)

Because the girls' mother didn't deserve the loss of the little girl and had to harden her heart to life around her. Maybe because I wanted a starting point, maybe meet me a few cast members. Well... I don't know, but I'll tell you this, if I see either of them in my travels, I will be saving that girl and mother from the pain of loss. I do know that there are still medical supplies in that hospital, but no one ever went back to get them.

Another thing, if I ever see that stupid sheriff, what's his name, I'm gonna f**ken shoot the fucker for killing all those people under the guise of helping his wife, the cheating b**ch, and that officer, what's his f**k, she was f**king. Well, let's get on the road and see what I can find, maybe stop by the hospital the idiot is in and end him before he wakes up, if he's even there...

2 days later on the road to Atlanta, I see from a distance a huge trail of cars moving to the city of Atlanta, and as many that are moving forward there were the same amount that were parked on the side of the road as I made my way by foot to my destination. Seeing headlights of old and new cars as they drove by, showing nothing but the taillights as they moved passed me while I moved on.

Convoy POV...

In a small old grey truck, Ed Peltier was keeping a fair distance between the car in front of him, the speed was not fast, but it kept its' pace constant though, and Carol Peltier, his wife wanted to urge him to hurry up to get to safety, for both her and her daughter, Sophia. She was worried that Ed, in all his mistrusted Ness would fall behind on purpose. 

If she'd been the one driving, she'd have been hugging the bumper of front vehicle that the officer Shane Walsh and Lori Grimes were in, not wanting to risk losing them in all the madness of this traffic that was heading to Atlanta. But she couldn't say her discontent with her husband, due to him having a violet side to him and he would lash out on her uncaringly. 

No, criticizing Ed's driving was a sure way to get backhanded across the face, and a beating that she willingly not deserves. She was free of bruises as of right now, and she wanted to stay that way. She didn't want to answer any questions, or get any strange looks from the others, if they ever found out the way she and her daughter are treated. 

She seemed like they were going to be living in pretty close quarters for a while, and Carol wanted to keep her private business away from the limelight and away from the others view as much as she could. Private, yeah that's it, but knowing how Ed is, it wouldn't last long. Suddenly, from the back seat came a small sniffle, a quivering, almost silent scared little voice, "Mama, I'm scared."

Carol quickly moved and reached back to console the poor girl, putting her hand on the little girl's leg. "It's all right, baby. Don't be scared, mama's here." she said as she comforted her daughter, putting a certain soothing tone into her voice that made Sophia feel better. Carol had learned over the years that Sophia responded more to her soft tone than the words she spoke. 

And to her surprise, that brought out the confidence of her daughter instead of the scared little girl her husband tends to have them both in at times. "Shut up, that whining, Sophia. You and your mother are always the same, whining here whining there, just shup up and let me concentrate on driving. Do you hear me?" Ed growled at his daughter through the rearview mirror. 

As he leaned over the steering wheel as he peered up ahead to get a better visual from the cloud of dust that the front car was picking up. The tires of the car that Shane was driving was kicking up so much dust that it was making it hard to see the road. Suddenly, a lone figure, that was walking on the side of the road lurched out of the dark. 

That made Ed jerked the wheel to the side and the corner of the front bumper where Carol was sitting clipped the figure as they swerved around him or it. Then there was a soft voice that called out from behind Carol again, "Mama, was it … was it one of them, mama?" Sophia asked her worried mother. "Yes, baby. I think it was, but it's ok we're leaving it behind us." 

She wished she make sure it was a walker but sugarcoating it more would make Sophia more scared than she needed it to be. Sophia was so young, so vulnerable, so terribly fearful of... 'them', since their first encounter back in their hometown. But there wasn't enough sugar in the world to hide what was happening since they had meet... 'them'. 

And Sophia would have to learn to face the facts, toughen up, she needed to whether the storm, even if she was ready to or not. "Didn't I tell you to shut up, girl! Don't make me pull over and get you straight!!" Ed said more sharply scaring his daughter and wife for the tone he was putting out. Sophia being scared of the man, she curled up into a ball as Carol squeezed Sophia's leg, reassuring her that everything will be alright. 

She patted it twice with care, then pulled her hand back and sat correctly on her seat to get Ed's attention away from her daughter. 30 minutes later into the drive, the convoy of vehicles started to slow down, after what seemed like forever. Shane's brake lights flashed as it was coming to a stop, he pulled off to the side of the road, to their guess, to get some rest from all the driving. 

Ed, not wanting to stop with the officer near his family, drove past him and pulling over as well after a few vehicles further ahead, getting their own solace. Even back then during other get togethers such as Church picnics, barbecues, school functions, or even the end of the world, the Pelletier's were always off by themselves. 

After they pulled over, Carol was already thinking of their next actions, as she turned her face away from Ed as the corner of her mouth smirked slightly that showed a little of her dark humor. Behind them, the whole caravan started coming to a halt as many vehicles began to stop near them, but most people parked in a neat line behind the officer Shane's car.

As Ed got off, he says, "Stay here, and don't make trouble. Hear me...!!" Ed snapped at the two of them from the door. Seeing that the others were getting out of their cars, Ed wanted to make sure that his wife and daughter stayed segregated from the group. After warning the two, he slowly made him way to the rest of the convoy to join them, standing with the others by the officer Shane's car's headlights.

After her father left them alone, Sophia clutched her stuffed toy doll tightly into her chest. "Mama, will everything be alright? Are we safe here, mama?"

Sophia asked worryingly to her mother. "Of course, baby. Everything will be ok, don't worry so much." Carol turned to her daughter, then she watched from a far as the others came together. 

Shane, Lori, an older man who had climbed out of an old RV, and a man from a station wagon came together, trying to figure their next destination. Because of right now, they knew that Atlanta may not be the safest at the moment with all these vehicles crowding the road. While they talked, many others started forming a circle as they came together. 

From the body language and the arguing loud voices coming from the group, Shane held his hand up as to get their attention. After a few minutes the people around him started to quiet down, waiting for him to talk. He was a man who desperately wanted to be in charge, Carol thought as she saw the actions of the man from a far. 

Shaking her head as she saw his actions depicted the same as her husband when he demanded her full attention. Fortunately for the officer, he also seemed to be the best prepared for this on-going nightmare they were living in. So, the others that followed him were happy to let him lead them when Shane told them that he knew where a safe place was, and it had a water course as well. 

When Carol heard that, it sounded too good to be true to her, Officer Shane said it had stone walls surrounding the place, it had water, fish, wildlife and trees. Almost to wholesome, if you forgot that almost everyone you ever knew were shambling around mindless, rotting away and trying to eat you, it will mean the death of us, if were even a little complacent. 

If you could go back in time and block out the smell, banish the memories of seeing your friends attack you or being attacked, as well as fighting the dead away from your child any way you could, not knowing what you were doing, just mindlessly lashing out with strength you didn't know you had— then it would be okay for that place, but she knew it was unsafe even under the care of said officer.

Carol soon refocused herself too her surrounding as two rumbling sounds of motorcycles disrupted her increasing hysteria. And for once, she was grateful for it, for better or worse, she had to hold herself together for her daughter Sophia. She couldn't afford to let this madness get to her or overcome her, she had to survive for herself and her daughter.

As she refocused, she heard voices from the driver's side window. "Hey, Daryl, let's see what this'ng's got in it," said a voice as it approached the side of Ed's window. When suddenly the back door to where Sophia was sitting started to open, and it scared her. Then she looked back and a bright beam of light from a flashlight shone into the back window. 

When another voice said, "There's a little girl in here, Merle. And there seems to be a woman in the front as well." Carol cursed herself for not locking the doors earlier as Ed left, now here she is, and their truck is being raided. "Shit man, what do we do know?" Said the first voice from the opened door as he called out to the other in the back.

The flashlight moved from the back to Carol's window, shining it in and getting Carol's attention. A hand motioned for her to roll down the window, and she cracked it just a little to talk to the person outside, but not too much, just in case he tried anything she had room to protect herself. She couldn't see the person holding the flashlight, as she tried to think of what she would do if he tried to open the door. 

She gripped her inner courage grabbing onto the door handle inward tightly, just in case. Maybe she'd be strong enough to hold it closed until Ed would come back or someone else would notice. When the voice called to her, "Are you okay, mame?" "We're fine, just surprised us is all. My husband Ed's back there with one in charge of this convoy and the others." 

Carol tells the man to maybe scare them and leave them alone. "Back there? If you don't min' me askn', why'd he parks so far away?" The man beside her window asked in a calm voice. She had no answer or reply to that, so Carol just shrugged her shoulders. Then flashlight moved away, and the two men left her car behind, moving toward the crowd to join the little group in the headlights.

Then there was a scared voice from behind her seat, "were they going to hurt us, mama?" Sophia spoke softly as Carol saw tears in her eyes. "No, I don't think so, baby. It looked like they thought this car was empty and they just wanted the stuff in it." Carol wasn't sure she blamed them, not in this new world, she imagined they might all have to get used to taking what they needed when there was anything to take. 

But maybe not, maybe the quarry would be a safe place for us, they could hide there until… maybe, someone will come to straighten this mess all out, and put down the dead, then we could all go home to live our normal lives again. To calm her daughter further she said, "we'll be all right, baby, we'll find a safe place so you could play, and maybe make some friends while we're there." She said to reassure Sophia.

"You really think so. Promise, mama?" Sophia asks her mother getting a big smile off of her mother. "I promise, my angle." Carol replied as she trailers her hand through Sophia's hair, soothing the girl from her earlier scare. That was when Carol noticed that her husband Ed was walking back toward them and he did not look happy, more like he looked pissed off. 

As he was getting back into their truck, he was making grunting sounds as his weight settled in the driver's seat. "Ed, what happened? You look mad." Carol asked and after a few seconds passed, it became totally clear that he wasn't going to volunteer anything that was said during the group meeting that Ed went too. 

Not wanting to press the issue further, she just sat there waiting for an answer from her husband. It was better to let his anger lessen away from her and her daughter than letting it fester and then it would be worse on them both if he directed it on them. Out of nowhere Ed decided to speak but not in a very helping tone to her. "

"We're gonna have ta' sleep in the cars best we can for tonight and start setting up a base camp at first light. That was what that... leader of ours said." Ed wasn't happy about it; pretty sure he was told what to do for him and his family and didn't like what was said about it. But he was still going along with it because he has no other choice. 

Which meant to Carol, that officer Shane had been very persuasive, and maybe his plan must have been the best of the others or hey didn't have a plan themselves, and they should be all right. At least she looked forward to a small community again and maybe finding a few friends for her and Sophia while there at it. 

It was exhausting, a full-time job in hiding Ed's … mood swings from the others, but it was equally exhausting, that she and Sophia were lying on the edge of sleep. Being unaware of every move he made all night is worse, and keeping herself between him and Sophia was too important to her. She had to make sure that she never took her hand off the little girl for her daughter safety. 

Since Sophia was born, she has never been able to relax her vigilance for a second, when Ed was in one of his moods and tried to hurt her daughter, but now she has to be double vigilant due to the undead that walked again. I she has to choose what was more dangerous between Ed and the shambling figures Ed would still take the cake. 

And since this all happened, Carol hadn't slept more than an hour in what felt like a week. After Ed spoke that they would stay in their car's, she released the lever that would let the car seat lean back and touched Sophia's leg softly and tried to get some rest before she passed out. She turned to her daughter and spoke softly to her, "try to get some sleep, baby. Tomorrow will be a great day, ok?"

When she turned to look at Ed, he was already snoring. 'He was totally faking it,' she thought. Maybe to make her stop her from asking more questions, or maybe, so he wouldn't have to take on any of the tasks like settling down Sophia. She was always nervous around him and now looked downright terrified as he they slept so close. 

Carol didn't mind him when they were alone, she was used to it, but he was always unpredictable when Sophia was in the same room or to near her father. She could feel always her daughter was nervous when she was in the same room as Ed. So, to help Sophia sleep, Carol began to sing, very softly, soon after and felt Sophia shifting in the back seat, curling around her doll.

'We have survived another day." She whispered to herself as she closed her eyes. As her consciousness faded into darkness, she thoughts lingered, 'Another day closer to normal, maybe. Anything was possible, maybe.' Soon, Morphius took her as two voices were barely heard from nearby. "Look at them, idiots. I cann't believe ther' sleep'n in the open like that." 

--Dixon brothers POV--

A day later, the whole group had followed officer Shane to a nearby Quarry and made camp there, as the group of refuges were setting up their camp areas, Daryl gestured to the camp that was around them. "They actin' like they're on some campin' trip. Lettin' those kids run around like it was the same as before them walkers came along, it's not safe. Don't they know nothin'?" 

He was spilling his grievance to his brother as they just stood there looking at the fools as they camped along the road. Merle was grinning with a wide smile on his face. "Better for us, little brother. The safer they feel, the easier we've got it. Let them do what they want, we'll just pretend to be friendly fer' awhile, and then we get the best of what they got on'm and we'd be off on our happy way." 

Daryl shook his head at his brothers' antics but didn't bother arguing with him either. It never paid to argue with Merle, never ended well for either of them. But his brother's plan had a pretty damn big flaw, far as he could tell, and that was where the hell was this place they'd be off to, and was it safe for them? Now that the whole world was overrun with these dead walking people. 

There was no point in taking the stuff of another living, if there was a lot of people who were dead to take from instead. The way they were taking it easy around here, they'd be dead soon and their stuff would be theirs anyways. We've been with this groups long enough to know that they'll running off to find another group of scared refugees who didn't know the first thing about how to survive, if it got bad with this group. 

If it was left up to Daryl, he and Merle would be at their daddy's old tumble-down booze shack, fencing it off and setting traps. The two of them could live pretty good on trappin', huntin', and fishin', 'til somebody from the government fixed all this mess. No more talking to Merle, though, him and his ideas are going to get them killed. 

He still thought 'the fix' was coming soon enough, that stealing people's stuff was worth doing and he wasn't happy with that. So, here they both stayed, 'til Merle got himself a new idea or wanted to light outs here to somewhere else. As he looked over the camp and its people, Daryl wondered if the government could fix this mess. 

All these people, people of all kinds of setting here, the rich, and the dirt-poor, the few rednecks other than them, and everything in between. Like those two blonde girls, Andrea, and Amy, that the old man in the RV picked up, they'd mustta had it good in the real world, he could tell by how well dressed they were. 

He saw Andrea who was digging in and lending a hand to others as if she was Mother Teresa, but she looks like she doesn't really know what she was doing, he could see it. And that tall woman, Lori something, the one with that officer Shane and little kid that's with them. She looked like she was leaning pretty hard on her man, there, and acting like the queen of the camp. 

Seemed like he hadn't been her man for very long, before they got here, she had switched mighty quick to a new guy, Daryl thought to himself as he observed the camp and the people in it. He supposed that was the way things from here on out and he would see this everywhere he went. Not enough of them left to worry about what used to be of the old world. 

Looking down at his hands, he saw his hands stained with dirt and engine oil, he'd figured some things that used to be weren't gonna change. He'd seen the way all the clean people stared at him and Merle from afar. Before all this, they were always given nasty looks when they were around the clean ones, even now, nothin' changed, they would always be the dogshit under everybody else's heels, no matter how much the world fell apart. 

When he was looking around, out of the corner of his eye, he had spotted the truck that the woman and child were in as he and Merle had tried to rob last night. She was setting up her tent, with her little girl glued to her side, the little one was looking around with her with big, scared eyes. And her momma was talking to her, as if trying to cheer her up. 

Daryl had noticed that she never tried to send her girl off to play with the other kids as if did not trust them or maybe something else. No... she kept her close, and then he heard the man she was with speak up from inside their truck. And Daryl wondered, why was he taking it easy out of the sun? Why was he ordering the woman to move the tent? And not doing the work himself instead of her?

It looked like she looked back at the man with an angry look, a very small pause happened as if she wanted to argue back, but then she obediently set about doing as she was told. As Daryl saw this, he also saw the little girl flinch as she was the one that man was yelling at her. The woman moved faster and moved the tent further away from the cluster of the other tents, and Daryl couldn't help but get angry. 

He remembered from yesterday, they moved away from others like they had parked, off by themselves where others would not see them. Sure, he and Merle had set up camp off by themselves, too, but they knew how to handle themselves. Not like this man, he looked so soft and fat as he was, didn't know, and neither did his little woman or his terrified little girl. 

Did he want to get them all killed? While the mother was busy, the little girl strayed off toward their truck where her daddy was. When the woman saw this, she had called her back, she said her name sharp and clear from this Daryl had seen the whole picture. Why the woman was so nervous? Now he knew why she was watching her daughter so much more closely than the others did their kids. 

Even why she wore that long-sleeved sweater, it was almost 95 degrees out here, and she was doing all that work on a very hot day. Daryl's hand closed tight into a fist as he crushed the can of beer his hand held. He and his brother had swiped out of an empty camper on the highway two days back, crumpling it and throwing it on the ground. 

There was nothing he hated worse than a wife-beater, except for a child-beater, and he was going to confront that shit of a man. Even before he spoke out to his brother, Merle already beat him to it and came up to him. He saw that look in Mele's eyes, it was "let's make trouble time" look. "Come on, little brother. Let's go make nice with the locals." 

Merle grinned at him, and he returned it willfully as he followed behind him. "Maybe they'll need some help settin' up their stuff, what do you think little brother? Maybe they'll be too scared to notice if they don't have so much stuff once we're done. Let's liven up the place." He strolled off in the direction of the woman and the little girl they saw last night. 

"Those two look like they could use a man to help 'em, man up little brother and offer them a hand." Making Daryl catch his brother's arm as he made him blush. He could already imagine, only too clearly what would happen if they went up and started talking to the woman in front of her man. Things will not go well for him or us, but it would bring unwanted attention from the others. 

"Not them, I'm sure they have nothin'. But look over there, think they got anythin'? Let's go find out, what do ya say little brother?" As Merle pointed to a Mexican family that was near the small lake. They looked at the pitiful man who was struggling with the tent poles to their tent, while the mother was distracted chasing down her little ones. 

Merle looked from one group to the other and nodded at his next move. "Good call, little brother. Let's do 'er." They left the truck that the woman and child were in, alone. Daryl didn't give it too much thought afterwards and followed his brother. Thinking that the woman too scared to defend herself, too scared for her child that they'd be dead in a few days, poor things.

(To be Continued...)