That Valley Girl || Daryl Dixon

[ 027 ] What's Next?

The next morning was an awkward one. There was just a tense energy between everyone, especially between us and Rick. Almost everyone was upset with him, and he didn't talk or try to make much conversation with us when we woke up.

But now, we had to get on the road again. We couldn't just stay in one place, especially here. Rick briefly discussed with some others what the plan would be, like where we would go first-- check for areas that could be a potential spot.

It was around noon that Rick said we had to get a move on. So we complied with his orders. Everyone got up and started moving to the cars.

T-dog and I carpooled with Rick and his family. We crawled into the back of the red truck with Carl sitting in the middle of us. Rick sat in the driver seat, Lori in the passenger.

Our car would be leading the rest, Rick made sure everyone was ready and once he was given the signal that they were, he started driving. None of us spoke. Especially Rick and Lori. I hadn't seen them speak more than a few words to each other since this morning.

Lori pulled a map out of the glove box and looked at it. She spoke to Rick, something about directions or places we should check. Amidst the chaos at the farm, it wasn't like we could pack our suitcases and prepare for life on the road. We had nothing. No food, gas, clothes, nothing.

Lori suggested we should head into town and try to find a grocery store or something. Rick had said that there would be walkers, and it probably wouldn't be the safest idea. But Lori reasoned that we could stay in the rural area. Rick agreed, and Lori gave him the directions to the nearest civilization.

Remembering that most of the locations around Hershel's farm were picked clean, we decided to head a town over.

-

I was falling in and out of sleep the whole car ride. It wasn't until Rick and Lori started talking again that I fully woke up. I looked out the window to see that we were in a neighborhood now. We were still in the countryside, but not like 'farm countryside' as I liked to call it. It reminded me of where my cousins lived.

It was empty, and we were out of there quick, now driving down a long dirt road. It wasn't long until we reached the asphalt roads, that led us into a small town. There was a few walkers here and there, but nothing we couldn't handle. I looked in the rearview mirror to see everyone still following us.

Eventually, we pulled up to a grocery store with a small parking lot. Rick stopped the car and got out. The rest of us followed. I stepped out of the car, closing the door behind me. Everyone else got out of their cars and grouped up.

Glenn walked up to Rick, a few bags in his hands. "Think this place is picked through?"

"Only one way to find out." Rick said, taking the bags. Lori went off with Carl somewhere with Carol. Daryl and Maggie had come over here with the rest of us. T-dog leaned on the hood of the red truck and I still stood by the door.

There was a fair amount of cars in the parking lot, which T-dog took notice of. "Glenn and I can siphon some gas." He suggested, standing up from his relaxed position.

"Alright, don't go too far. You run into trouble, just shout." Rick said. Glenn and T-dog nodded. T-dog then went to the back of the truck, pulling some items out of the back. Him and Glenn then proceeded to leave towards the cars we had parked away from.

"We'll need a group to go into the store." Rick then said. "Daryl, Maggie?" He asked. They both stood up straighter now, ready for the job.

"Yeah, we'll go." Daryl agreed.