sin and sawdust

6

The rest of the journey had been uneventful once Daryl had gotten the car battery hooked up right. Ty and Bob had both fallen asleep and Eve had spent the majority of it staring out of the window, watching the world whizz past. What used to be a peaceful endeavour on holidays and days out when she was younger was now an awful nightmare. The once scenic backdrop to the drive replaced with blood, death and destruction. Abandoned cars, dead bodies, undead bodies, peoples belongings strewn about the back roads and highways like a fucked up jumble sale.

Eve sighed and turned towards Daryl, his handsome features set stonily as he gripped the steering wheel, his only motive to reach their end destination.

Handsome eh, Eve's subconscious taunted, Someone got a little crush?

Eve ripped her gaze back to the outside, a blush creeping up over her collar bone. She had no idea why she had though that, she wasn't attracted to Daryl, at all.

Liar

Eve groaned inwardly, as well as all the other shit going on in the world, apparently she now had a rogue subconscious to wrestle with. Great.

"Wussup?"

Eve turned back to face Daryl who was side eyeing her with slight concern.

"Nothing," she replied, quickly, "How far out are we?" A change of subject was safest at this point.

"10 minutes, less," he answered, eyes back on the road, "Yer ready?"

Eve nodded, not ready at all. She didn't want to die today and there was a huge chance she might. She silently cursed the group at the prison for asking this of Daryl. If they knew him as she did, they knew full well he wouldn't refuse. Eve bit her lip as she agitated over the details.

"I volunteered," Daryl said, making Eve jump, "An' Ty and Bob, ain't nobody forcin' us to do nuttin' we don' wanna do."

Had she spoken aloud? Or was her concern for him and annoyance at his group so obvious it was hanging in the air?

"I know yer worried," he said quietly, "Quick in an' out. Promise. An' I'll never ask anythin' of you again. Scouts Honour."

Daryl held his fingers up in salute and Eve choked back a laugh,

"You've never been a scout in your life, Dixon,"

"Was too!" he shot back, amused, "Lasted two whole meetin's 'fore Merle got us kicked out for sneakin' in smokes."

Eve giggled and sat back into a comfortable silence, fears only ever so slightly allayed.

"There," Bob leant forward from the back, pointing at a building in the near distance, "That's the one."

Eve jumped again, her frazzled nerves had her on edge, leaping out of skin at shit that usually wouldn't faze her.

"Shit, Bob, announce yourself, please!" she cursed at the man, not unkindly, "You almost got a knife to the eyeball."

"Sorry," he apologised, "Just didn't want us to miss our destination."

Daryl pulled the car quietly to a halt and the group exited the vehicle quickly, swinging large bags into their backs ready to fill with as many medical supplies as they could carry.

"Here's the list," Daryl said, pulling a scrap of paper from his vest pocket, "This is what we need most, anythin' else is a bonus."

Eve scanned the list, memorising as much as she could before handing it to Tyreese for him to do the same.

"So anything ending in -cillin or -cin," Bob stated, tucking the list into his own pocket and following Daryl's lead into the building.

They swept the rooms methodically, which were mostly conspicuously clear of dead ones. Sweeping handfuls of medicines into their bags, Tyreese and Bob split one way looking for respiratory equipment and Eve headed with Daryl to find more antibiotics.