Surviving. (Book Two.)

Chapter Twenty Seven.

*Sarah's POV*

The next morning, Daryl was gone when I woke up. Zeus too and I groaned, falling back onto the soft pillows when I remembered that today was my first day on the teaching job. 

I could have done with Daryl being here. Maybe some soothing words from him would calm me slightly but let's be honest, he'd tell me to suck it up and get on with it. 

In the kitchen, I had a glass of water in my hand when someone knocked on the front door and answering it, I found it was Deanna. 

"Good morning," she smiled, "I know you don't start until later this afternoon but I thought that maybe you'd like me to show you where the school is. I realised that I forgot to mention the location to you." 

"Sure," I nodded, stepping out onto the porch, "Let's go." 

The two of us walked down the quiet streets, conversing between ourselves as we did so. 

She told me that it was her husband who was the one who had the idea to build the wall. How he was the one who was pretty much keeping the place running behind the scenes. 

"If we didn't have him, I don't know where we'd be," she admitted, "And my boys. They go out and find the supplies we need to keep going. Did you and Daryl have any kids?" 

Caught off guard by her question, I stumbled over my feet but manged to find my feet before I fell, "Um n-no," I stuttered, "We didn't." 

"Oh, did he not want any? Did you not?" 

No. Please don't ask anymore questions. I suck at lying. 

I shook my head, "No. We never really discussed it." 

She nodded, a smile on her face as we came to an open garage, "Here we are."

Inside, there were eight tables scattered around the room, two chairs to each one and there was an older man standing at the front, writing out a simple math problem. 

"You have a blackboard?" I asked, "Where did you find that?" 

"Aiden went out on a supply run with a group and he said they came across an abandoned school and they thought that we could use it." 

"Smart," I mumbled as the guy who was teaching gave a wave to Deanna. 

"That's Trevor. He's been teaching the lower class since we started doing this. Sometimes he'd do the older class too but he doesn't need to now since you're here." she said, smiling as Trevor approached. 

"Who's this?" he asked, looking me up and down as if he was judging me. 

"This is Sarah," she said quietly, "She's going to be teaching the older class." 

"It's nice to meet you," I smiled, holding out my hand, which he took. 

"You too," he nodded, "If you'd excuse me, I'd better get back." 

We left him too it and as we started walking back down the streets, the older woman turned to me with a smile, "We're throwing a party later on tonight for the whole community, sort of a welcome party for you all. We'd love for you and Daryl to come." 

"Oh," I mumbled, "Great, I mean, I'll definitely talk to Daryl and see if he's up for it and if not, I'll definitely stop by for a while." 

After that, she said goodbye and I started heading back to the house to see if Daryl was back. Instead, I met him when he and Zeus came through the gates, followed by Rick and Carol so I stopped and waited for him to catch up. 

"Hey," he mumbled, his arm coming to rest on my shoulders, "Wha' ye' been up to?" 

"Deanna took me to the building where I'll be working this afternoon." 

He nodded and turned to the others, "I'll see you guys later." 

"What were you doing?" I asked curiously. 

He shrugged, "Rick 'nd Carol wanted to talk to me 'nd then we did some target practice. Don't wanna get rusty while we're in 'ere." 

"Oh, fun. Deanna says that we could go over to her house tonight." I informed him, "It's like a welcome to the community party. You wanna go?" 

"'m not sure," he mumbled, "I heard Rick 'nd Carol talking 'bout it but I don't really think it's my scene." 

"Oh come on," I whined, wrapping my arm around his, "Please? We could just stay a little bit. Say hi and then we'll come back here." 

"Maybe."

I shrugged. That was good enough for me.

*************

*Daryl's POV*

When Sarah was getting ready to go to work, I got ready to head out past the walls. Even though I was just out this morning, I felt the need to go again and this time actually hunt for something.

"I migh' not be here when ye' get back." I told her, placing my bag on the counter in the kitchen, "'m goin' out again." 

"Yourself?" she frowned, coming to stand beside me. 

"Mhm," I hummed, "Gonna try and catch somethin' to eat. Maybe put this kitchen to good use, huh?" 

Smiling, she wrapped her arms around me, "That sounds amazing. Be careful though, yeah? I need you to come back to me." 

I waved her off, "Yeah, yeah. I'll be fine. I'll walk ye' to yer work first though." 

"Okay," she whispered, pecking me on the cheek before grabbing her small bag, "Let's go." 

I followed her out of the house, the door slamming shut behind us and as we started walking, she took my hand.

"'bout tonigh," I began and she looked up at me, "I've been thinkin' 'bout it 'nd yeah, we should go. It'll be a good thing to get to know the folks here."

She smiled and gave me another kiss on the cheek, "You're right. It will be good for us."

It didn't take us long to reach the garage and I could see that there were a couple of kids already loitering about inside, sitting on the tables and talking and Sarah, let out a quiet breath. 

"Hey," I whispered, making her look at me, "Yer gonna do great." 

"You think?" she asked, fingers fiddling with the strap on her bag. 

"I know."

She then gave me a smile and puckered her lips, raising her eyebrows expectantly and I huffed before leaning down to give her a kiss, "I'll see you later." 

With that, she took another deep breath before walking into the garage while I turned to head towards the gate.