Beyond Terminus (Book Two)

Chapter 17: Mutual Understanding

"Ow." Carol winces as she sits down.

I make sure the stretcher won't roll away and turn to her.

"Here," I say, holding out a water bottle.

"I'm fine," she insists.

"Prove it."

She sighs and takes the bottle, taking a gulp.

"How bad is it?" I ask.

She pulls her cardigan back a bit, revealing scratched skin.

"I've had worse," she says nonchalantly.

"Damn, that was stupid," I say, grabbing some bandages from Hope's bag.

"We made good time down." She smiles, trying to lighten the mood.

I sigh, and she gets up, helping me wrap the gashes on my girl's legs. I have to cut away the pant legs of Hope's jeans, so now it just looks like she's wearing cut off shorts. They're cute, if I do say so myself. She's got great legs for them. The colour in her face has returned, and she'll probably be awake in only a little bit...if we're lucky.

"Can I ask you one thing? About all...this?" Carol asks after a moment.

"Shoot."

"What happened to us?"

"There was never an us. It was always her," I reply, my voice soft as I pin the bandage and start on the other.

"I cared for you. You never gave us a chance."

I sigh and run a hand through my hair. "Carol, listen. I do care for you. You're...uh...damn, this is weird for me. Sorry."

She smiles weakly. "It's fine."

"You're like...the mother figure I never really had. My momma died when I was little, and well, the way you cared about Sophia..." I swallow, hoping she isn't offended. "You also get the whole...family troubles thin' I went through, and I appreciate our understandin'."

"You really think that?" she asks, her voice soft.

I nod slowly. "Hope...she's that girl that changed my life, and I'll always love her. She's my wife. But that doesn't mean I don't...care about you. You, and everyone else...you're my family."

She breaks into a grin and hugs me tightly, and I hug her back.

"She's going to be fine, you hear?" she asks, finishing the leg wrapping.

"We're all family. She wouldn't have given you that seat if she didn't think that," I say.

She smiles again, looking out towards the main part of the city.

"There's only three blocks between us and Grady," she comments.

"We need to find a place nearby, scope it out, see what we can see. Hopefully, she'll be awake by then," I reply, running my hand over Hope's hair.

"You really think we're gonna find out what we need to know just by watching?"

"It's where we start. Come on."

We start pushing the stretcher again, on our way.

We get to another building after only a little while, and we ditch the stretcher. I carry Hope, and I thank our lucky stars that we don't run into too many walkers.

Carol grabs a machete and kills a walker lying in one of the halls, and I set Hope down on a cushioned bench, pressing a kiss to her forehead.

Hope's POV

I wake up slowly, immediately feeling my head pounding and my legs burning.

"Daryl?" I ask. "Carol?"

They're at my side in an instant, and I sit up slowly. Immediately, Daryl is hugging me and kissing my face all over, and I laugh weakly.

"Holy hell. Let's never do that again," he whispers, holding me so close it's like we're moulding together.

"Never," I agree.

"What happened back there?" Carol asks.

"When the car hit, the back flew open and I went with it. I blacked out when I hit the ground..." I wince and hold my head. My stomach lurches, and I grab the nearest garbage can to me and toss up everything in my stomach, which is next to nothing. "Ugh...sorry."

"Head trauma. It's normal," she says, smiling warmly. "Thank you for doing that, Hope."

"That's what we do for each other, as a family."

She grins and hugs me, and I raise an eyebrow at Daryl as I hug her back. He laughs.

"Are we close to Grady?" I ask.

"Yeah, over there." Carol points out the window, where sure enough, there's a beat up hospital.

"We should get going," I say, trying to stand up.

My legs collapse beneath me, and both of my companions steady me. I roll my eyes and blow a wisp of hair out of my vision.

"Ok, we'll wait until my legs want to work," I grumble, and they both laugh again.