The Girl Next Door • Carl Grimes

Chapter 60: The Perfect Storm

Grace

After our initial enjoyment of the rain, our feelings turned to worry when the rain didn't stop. It began pouring harder and harder, and it was getting cold. We started running through the woods for cover. I was running next to Carl and we were slipping around on the mud and laughing a little.

Our running turned into full blown sprinting when we heard one of our group members shout out that there was a barn. I grabbed Carl's hand as we rushed toward the old looking building and we swung open the doors. We were met with the lingering smell of horse manure, but it beats having to stand out in the rain.

We were all huddled up in the hay when we heard a faint growl. Carol got up to check it out, she opened a little door in the barn and there was a walker lying on the floor. It was an older woman, she had a gun in there with her. I guess she couldn't do it. Not everyone has the strength. Maybe in her case she had too much hope. Hope is a hard thing to hold onto, but it's also a dangerous thing.

Carol bent down and stabbed the walker in the head, and I stood up and walked into the area that the walker had hidden herself in. I picked up the gun and inspected it, slinging it over my shoulder and pocketing my handgun. I found half used box of ammo and I tossed it over to Carl, knowing that he would give it to his father. I walked back a little further and there were some hay barrels stacked alongside the wall.

I grabbed the hay barrels one by one and started tossing them out towards the group. Who knows, maybe we could use them for something. We could sit or sleep on them at least. In the very back, behind the last hay barrel there was a small stockade of good hidden away.

"You sneaky bitch." I muttered, looking over at the walker who couldn't even mercy herself, let alone let food be seen for the people who had it in them to stay in this world.

There were two cans of tomato soup, a pack of crackers, and a can of fruit. I swooped them all up alongside a magazine that was sitting in the stash. I set them all down gently in the middle of the room.

"Dinner is served. Kudos to the dead one in there." I motioned my head toward the walker.

I sat down as Daryl cracked into the cans with his knife. I pulled a spoon out of my pocket that I had randomly kept in case we found food again. I handed the spoon to Daryl and he dropped it into the can he had opened.

"Only a few spoonfuls per person til we get the other can opened." Daryl grunted as he passed the can first to Maggie. While I was waiting for the soup to get to me, I opened up the package of crackers and counted them all out. There was enough that everyone could have two and a half. I gave everyone two crackers each then began to split the remaining ones in half. I handed those out too, and when I returned to my spot on the floor it was my turn to eat from the soup with the communal spoon.

It kinda grossed me out knowing that everyone's mouths have been on this spoon and all of their saliva was now in the soup, but we just ate dogs earlier. I was trying not to think about it. I finished three spoonfuls, knowing that was the limit and I ate one cracker to get rid of the taste. I hated tomato soup, but food was food.

Once the first can was gone, Daryl popped open the next and we repeated the cycle. Eat, pass it, repeat. We threw the empty cans to the other side of the barn and then Daryl opened up the fruit can. It was assorted fruits like chopped pineapple, peaches, and whatever else. The can wasn't as big so everyone was allowed two spoonfuls each. Once the fruit made its way to me, I ate my two spoons quickly. This tasted a lot better than everything else before.

Most of our bodies were still wet from the rain storm, even though we were inside the humidity wasn't allowing us to dry off. My skin and hair felt damp, but in a cold way because the rain and air was cold right now. The storm continued on. We could hear rain pattering aggressively on the roof and the wind was blowing the chained door open and close. It was noisy.