As inclined as he was to simply take the animal and leave, Daryl felt some slight moral obligation that he could make money elsewhere. Save her the trouble of snagging the animal like he intended to and besides, he weren’t no thief. Hadn’t pegged the animal as being claimed until she was damned near indignant about it. There had been clear desperation in her tone and the offerance of other means of payment meant that this animal was worth more than gold.

Raising a curious brow, he leaned forward a bit in the saddle, arms folding slightly at the horn. “Ma’am, why on earth’re ya so hellbent on keepin’ this animal? Hmm? You tell me that an’ I’ll justify givin’ ‘er back ta ya.” He murmured wondering if she was going to take his bait or not. He only knew of a few reasons why people were keen on keeping their horse in the face of possible death or otherwise. It meant that they were on the run from either the law or some other bastard chasing them, or they had something they intended on doing.

"I've got a man after me that's going to be pretty mad That's his horse, and to start with, she wouldn't ever let the bastard get a leg over her." He was too busy using his fists and leather straps to control her. Pretty much the same way in which Ed had used his fists and strap on her. She shuddered.

"He's my husband, you see. I ain't going back to him. I ain't. This here horse is the only way I got to get the hell out of here. See, he did this." She pulled own the collar of her shirt, showing the hand prints that were around her neck where he'd tried once again to strangle her. "Probably can't see much in the dark, but I got bruises..." And scars. Too many to count.

She added her stuff to his bag. It hadn't' been much. "I get it though. I'd damn near kill for a pack of Dentyne. Didn't see any back there, did ya? Reminds me. We have to have toothbrushes. Toothpaste if we're lucky." She pointed to the next aisle. "I believe that stuff won't be as pilfered as food and other such necessities. Do you?"

He caught her faint words and they made him that much more determined that she wasn’t gonna be a burden. That she was gonna learn to take care of herself.

"Yeah. I'll get right on that." She stepped around him, crouching low to check that everything that was turned over or on the floor was indeed damaged goods. They'd need whatever they could carry and then some. Sure enough there was a few tins of meat that had been overlooked. She picked them up quickly, holding them tightly in one hand.

"Probably most followed whatever groups picked this place apart," he said as his eyes adjusted to the lack of light towards the back of what they could see. He lifted his weapon up, holding his crossbow at the ready. "You wanna do the honors?" he nodded towards the door of the store. Even with a clear entry in through the window he didn’t want to chance not having a second exit point. "Give it a tap, make sure theres none of them bastards milling around in the back, noise ought-ta draw them out. Go in after."

She breathed out as enough time passed. "Deserted." She reached for the handle and tugged it open. Her hand shook again. "We're going to have to get me a hatchet or an axe or something. Anything so I don't have to use the gun." Her hand reached out, placing it on bicep and giving it a squeeze. 

When he woke again, she was helping him from the truck. He felt her hand make contact with his face and shook himself awake. “Yeah, yeah, sure, i’m with you. I can do this. How far is it?” He could see house that had the vet sign in front. It was a small little local business. He just hoped they’d have the supplies he’d need. If they didn’t she might as well leave him here, he wouldn’t make it much further.

Chances of it being unlocked were slim to none, but she tried the knob anyway. Her lips quivered again as the knob barely trembled to show that she wasn't getting in that easily. It was locked. She closed her eyes before turning around quickly and back down the steps to the truck. There had to be something she could use to pry open the door.

She rummaged around the bed of the truck before her fingers locked on a crowbar. "Thank God," she breathed. Her feet took the four steps two at a time, and she was back on the porch. "Shane Walsh, you keep talking. Hear me?"

“Ya don’ gotta thank me, Carol. M’jus’ doin’ what needs done. Yer gon’ be alrigh’…an’ Sophia too.” His words lost all their certainty as soon as Carol hugged him. He thought a woman with her background, her abuse history, wouldn’t want to be too close to a man but he supposed he’d shown himself a worthy man. He was a man she could trust. “Aw, Carol…” He wrapped his arms around her and held her, knowing she needed it. After all this time, not being touched in a kind and gentle way, Shane knew Carol needed to be held, to be vulnerable and not have it exploited.

Shane felt her grasp on his shirt and his back tighten and he couldn’t help but to look down at her. In that space of time that consisted of nothing but comfort, Carol asked one of those questions that was rhetorical. Was it telling that she was more afraid of Ed than of the dead that were up and walking around…? It was, it was indeed. The undead, the Geeks, the Walkers or whatever else people called them, were usually the things people feared. They were the things that went bump in the night, that ate people alive and in their sleep. He wouldn’t answer her because she spoke volumes with the admission.

Ed would have a fit, and he'd do something stupid and get her or Sophia hurt. Possibly killed. She shuddered as he rocked back on her heels and leaned against the back end of someone else's truck.

Her soft moans were pushing him forward, propelling his actions forward, to do more. He had to show her how deserving she was, how beautiful she was to him. She was so beautiful. He moaned at her words and her begging, his lips closed around one of her nipples, his tongue swirling around the puckered nub of flesh while he drew blood into it in his mouth, flicking it a bit. At her hands tugging against his hair, Daryl stopped sucking on her nipple long enough to reiterate what he’d said. “I want ya ta take yer panties off, Carol…I wanna see ya. I wanna see all of ya…”

His legs were parted by a distance and Carol maneuvered so that her legs straddled one of his, her hot dampening core over his thigh. Her begging wouldn’t stop and he didn’t want it to. He found he needed it more than he thought. “Carol…naw I won’ stop.” He had one hand fisted in her longer hair, the other rubbing her ass, squeezing it, through her panties. Her grinding on him was getting too much for him to take. She was so fucking wet! “Carol…mmmm…” He moaned into her mouth as they kissed and kissed all over again after the one before ended, parting only briefly. “Need ya…ta get out o’ them panties…” His cock was so hard and it ached and throbbed to be inside of her silken channel. Instead of waiting for her to respond to him, he took his hands to the waistband of her panties, even with her hips.

He nodded as they parked in front of the chain link, the engine idling and dying even as Daryl kicked the kick-stand down into place. “M’sure…least that’s what we all been thinkin’. It seems untouched an’ this fence is keepin’ ‘lot out bein’ it hasn’ been knocked over yet. Maybe it kept ‘lot in too…don’ know…” He could tell by her tone and the language she used to talk about it that it wasn’t necessarily Carol’s cup of tea. She was worried about it, the state of affairs, everything.

But she trusted him; she would never not trust him or his judgment which led to her agreeing to this out of deference to the warnings and misgivings she was holding onto.

"There should be a sewing kit somewhere. I’ll need it,"

His feet carried him across the hall to the master bathroom without him even realizing it. He’d been scared more often than not in this world, but this was a new type of terror. He couldn’t lose Carl like this, not after all they’d been through. Whatever God there was must’ve been in a good mood because Rick found a tiny sewing kit in the second-to-last counter drawer; the rest had been picked clean. He ran back and handed it to Carol before returning to Carl’s side. His son looked paler.

"What are you going to do?" Rick heard himself ask, voice small. "You think this’ll work?"

When the woman fell to her knees, slight yelp of pain coming from where she had most likely tripped over herself in the dark, Daryl huffed, clicking his tongue agitatedly behind his teeth. Hoisting himself from out of the saddle, he kept a tight fistful of the reins in case the animal spooked again and tried to take off. He wasn’t sure if he would get lucky again and catch the horse. Crouching low on his haunches, he cocked his head observing the woman noting the sharp flicker of pain that graced her features.

Eying her carefully from where he was hunkered down on his haunches, Daryl kept his space keeping his rein-fisted hand near the revolver at his hip. Man or woman, didn’t matter who got into his way— he wasn’t going out by wayward bullet. “Ma’am… yer an awful long ways from home… that there horse… that’s a mighty fine meal ticket if I e’er did come ‘cross one. What’s in it fer me if I decide ta give back yer horse, hmm? As far as I can tell… yer not at odds ta be barterin’ wit’ me.”

She managed to ignore the pain long enough to turn loose of her leg and push herself up so she was standing now. Her hand reached out to brush against the animal's nose. She nuzzled it into Carol's palm, and it relaxed the pair of them. "Sir, I have to have this horse."

If the people that were sure to be following her had gotten on the right track, she'd be found within days. On foot, she'd be found even quicker. Her eyes flickered up to the moon, willing herself not to cry. She'd do anything to keep the horse in her possession.

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No matter where you go

I will find you In the place with no frontiers No matter where you go I will find you If it takes a thousand years