The Friend Zone

Walkers. Damn it.

Daryl's POV

We've been to at least ten houses so far. My feet hurt and I'm hungry. I really don't understand why she is making a big deal out of this. It's just a shower. There is no point.

"Can we go back now?"

"No. Not until we find a swims-"
She stops as she looks a head of us. I look in the same direction wondering what has caught her eye and as I turn, I hear growling.

I see about twenty walkers in front of us about thirty feet away. "Get down!" I say quietly as I sink to the floor and pull her down with me. "Damn it!" I hiss. Well this is just great.

"There is no way past them. We are gonna have to distract them and then kill them individually." She tells me. I nod and get my crossbow from over my shoulder and place an arrow in it.

"There are some empty bottles over there. If we throw them then you can shoot as many walkers as you can then we can kill the rest." I crawl over to the empty bottles and pick up as much as I can. I bring them back to Carol and then go back to get some for me. I look around for a tree near the walkers and spot one.

I nod to the tree and motion for Carol to throw at it. I find another tree for me and get ready to aim. "On three. One. Two. Three." We throw the bottles at the trees and I hit but she doesn't. Picking up two more we throw again. This time we both hit the trees. The walkers walk over to the trees and I ready my crossbow.

I kill about eight walkers with my crossbow. I set it down and we both get out our knives.

Why do we have to do this? Why can't we just go back? We throw two more bottles and sneak up on the closest walkers and dagger them. Same with the rest.

I walk over to get my arrows back. I'm angry because of this. "Damn it, Carol! Why do you have to continue? Why couldn't we just go back and not worry about it? Why are you so stubborn?"

"Because I don't want to be there. We have had enough grief in our group to last forever. I just wanted to get away. Let the people mourn. I didn't want to be alone."

I sigh as I get my last arrow out of the son of a bitches head and walk over to her.

We stare at each other for a while till she finally breaks the silence.

"Would you rather of played cards?"

I laugh and shake my head. "Hell no." I roll my eyes at her.

"Good. Then let's go and find that swimming suit."

"Fine." I groan and walk with her to the next house.

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After going through the last house on the block we have found no swimsuit and hundreds of clothes and food. We kept the food for later and we decide to go to the nearest clothing store. It's about 2 miles from here without a car.

"Guess we are walking." She shrugs at me and starts walking. I groan and follow her.

"Why are you so happy after what happened last week?" I ask. I'm going crazy with curiosity.
"I don't know. I just feel good. We've lost so many people and slaughtered more. I thought for once we could just enjoy the day instead of dwelling over it." She shrugs.

"Nicely chosen words. So are you still gonna where those sweaters?" I tease remembering about all the sweaters she has been wearing.

"No, probably not. No need to anymore." She says with a wry smile. "You know I used to though? Wear all those sweaters I mean."

"Yes I remember. That was when this had all started. Now your bad ass." I give her a little shove.

We are about half way there and decide to eat something. We share a can of tomato soup and drink some water. After we finish, we start walking again.

"What made you want to use it?"

I look at her confused. "What?"

"Your crossbow. What made you want to start using it." She asks me.

I think for a minute then shrug. "Merele. He always said that a real man had a signature weapon. I chose the crossbow because I thought it would be easy to learn. I was wrong." I smirk. "Merele said that I wasn't allowed to change weapons since that would be a cowards way out and that I needed to shut the hell up and stop being a pussy."

"Oh. Well it seems to suit you very well." She gives me a kind smile and I return one. "There it is."

"There is what?" I look around for what she is talking about. She grabs my face making me look at her.

"There is that smile." She gives me a grin and I roll my eyes and laugh.

"Don't get used to it." I say.

"Don't need to." And just as my smile starts to fade. She grabs a camera out of her bag and snaps a picture of me. "There. Now I can keep it forever." She takes out the picture and stuffs it in her bag. She gives me a wry smile then tickles me and I laugh so hard I think I might cry. This is crazy. I've never laughed like this even when I was tickled. She snaps a picture of me then stops. She takes the picture out of the camera and stuffs it in her bag.

"Not. Cool." I say between breathes. But I can't help myself. I give her a shove and smile down at her.

She lets me catch my breath then grabs my shoulder and before I now it snaps a picture of us. She takes it out of the camera and looks at it. "Not bad. But you need to smile more." Stuffing it in her bag, she lifts the camera towards our direction again. "Smile." I roll my eyes and give a small smile. She snaps the picture and then looks at it. "This will do." She says as she starts to walk again.

"Where did you get that camera?" I ask as I catch up with her.

"Found it in one of the empty houses. Thought it could be useful. When we get back I want to take a picture of all of us to keep."

"Why?" I ask.
"Because we are losing people every day. And even though it is the apocalypse, we still need to make memories." She says. Looking at the camera.

"That makes sense." I say after thinking about it.
"Really?" She says obviously shocked.
"Yeah. Why is that so surprising?"
"Well because-because your you. You don't care about this kind of stuff. Or you don't show it at least."
"I'm more thoughtful then you think." I'm getting agitated.
"I know, I know. Don't get bratty with me." She rolls her eyes.

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We reach the clothing store and there is a sign over it that says Joel's Swimsuits And More.

I laugh at the name. "Very original." I say as we walk up to it. It's actually pretty big. About a quarter of the Prison which is still a lot.

"Finally. We're here." Carol looks at me for a second then opens the doors.

When we walk in, there are about a hundred walkers inside.

Damn it.