Sneaky

Chapter 120

Eve's POV

The kids took off towards the bookstore again at the call of Hershel and Lori, and unfortunately that marked the end of our fun time. It's time to get back to work and get tucked in for the night.

I'm glad I did it though. I'm glad I managed to brighten things up a little bit. I thought I was gonna suffocate under that atmosphere.

I heaved a little, letting my hands slide off Daryl's shoulders as he turned around, and placed one on my side. It might have cost me a little though. Hershel's gonna kill me — if Daryl doesn't get to me first, and judging by the way he's glaring at me right now like a parent who told their kid not to do something, just to watch them do it, my odds aren't great.

I bit my lips, grimacing and waited for the tongue lashing but surprisingly, it never came.

Daryl just stared me down and I'm gonna be honest, it's more effective than I thought. I can't help fidgeting a little and can only take brief glances at his eyes, never mind hold the gaze.

"Are you ever gon' learn?"

I opened my mouth but nothing came out.

A deep sigh, giving away pure exhaustion forcefully parted his lips as he looked down, rubbing his eyes.

I grimaced again, wanting to say sorry but at the same time not; because I'm not sorry for doing it, and I don't want to patronize him with an apology I don't really mean. So I settled for cooperating when he shook his head and put his palm on my back.

"Come on." With a little force between my shoulder blades, Daryl marched me back to the bookstore and we made our way upstairs to the camp that's been all set up already.

I have to admit though, 1) the stairs were horrible, and 2) the heat from his hand actually made my back feel a lot better. And it was much easier to keep my pace on the stairs with the slight pushing.

The room is still light enough from the sun that I can see, but the sun's going down fast now. Like time sped up as soon as we got inside. And that would be why like 6 people are setting up candles around the room.

Most of them are those little tiny ones that people use for baths. The ones that only last like 3 hours max. I don't know where they found those, but I'm gonna assume they found at least 2 bags of them, because they're everywhere.

How are we gonna light these all? And are we gonna light all of them, cause that's not a great idea. We're gonna need light even after tonight.

So unless I missed something — entirely possible — and we're planning to say here for more than a night or two, we shouldn't use even half of these.

Most of the beds look like they're set up on the left side of the room next to the bookshelves, where some of the study tables have been moved out of the way. Most of the gear we managed to collect is being sorted through on the right, where it's all piled next to the wall.

Looks like someone found some plastic bins in one of the stores but not enough to fit everything it seems.

I do spy a canteen though. I wonder where we found that.

Randall is sitting on the windowsill, keeping an eye outside I'm assuming. And Hershel seems to have claimed a chair, facing the stairs.

Daryl pointed to a floor space next to a few candles that have been setup on a bin and grumbled. "Lay down."

That was the most non-negotiable sentence I've ever heard in my life.

So naturally I sat down — as did he, next to me — but he raised one expectant eyebrow and I sighed, actually doing as told and laid down.

"Ey" Daryl got Randall's attention and pointed to a stack of 3 plastic buckets just behind the kid, tucked into the corner. "Grab somethin' outta there."

"Uh yeah, sure."

I turned my head so I can look up/behind me and watch him — upside down — pop open the bin and grab a couple crinkly packages of junk food and toss them to Daryl one at a time. Daryl catching one by one and dropping them in his lap.

"Thanks."

"Yeah, no problem." Randall smiled and I gave him a reassuring wink. Don't worry, kid. You're doin' great. You already fit in more than you think.

Hell if Daryl already thinks you're part of the group — for the most part — then it's only a matter of time before the others do. Maybe they already do. Daryl is the hardest to convince when it comes to certain things, trust being the top of the list but as far as I can tell, he seems to trust the kid as much as he trusts Beth and the younger members.

"Eat this." Daryl tore one of the shiny blue packages open and instead of handing it to me, he tossed it onto my chest, hitting me in the face.

I flinched at the impact and heard a snort as soon as I grabbed it away from my face. I glanced up at Randall who tried to cover his smile with his hand the moment I looked at him but Daryl openly snorted even when I gave him a little bit of a stink eye.

"If you don't want 'em" Daryl reached to take it back just as the divine smell of cream and chocolate hit my nose.

A loud hissing came from my throat as I immediately curled into the tightest ball I can manage without hurting myself.

"Jesus, calm down, cookie monster." Daryl flicked my leg as I stuck my tongue into the package and tried to scrap the mini cookies into my mouth without using my hands. It took a few tries and enduring some of Carl's giggles before I managed it but ohhhh my god. That divine soft crunch, the chocolate explosion soothed only by the thin layer of vanilla creme between the tiny fingernail sized wafers. MMmmmmm. Slightly stale cookies have never tasted so good.

Like a switch had been flicked, a ravenous hunger erupted in my stomach. I became extremely aware of that almost painful clenching right before your stomach growls and sure enough, not half a second later my stomach growled and I just picked up the package, rolled onto my back again and unhinged my jaw, dumping the entire contents into my mouth and my cheeks puffed out as I closed it, nodding as I started to chew.

I heard a chuckle and glanced around but no one's even looking at me. It wasn't Randall, so who— I watched Daryl scoot his back against the wall near my feet and lifted my head a little, narrowing my eyes.

Did he actually just laugh at me?

I swallowed the chocolate mushy mess in my mouth (which is only not gross because I'm the one who just chewed it up) and tossed the crinkly wrapper aside.

"Here, have these ones too."

I looked over and watched T-Dog toss another blue package our way and Daryl caught it before it could hit me in the stomach and held it out.

I sat up a little to grab it and he popped it open before scooting just a little closer, until one of heaven's greatest gifts was in my hand.

My tongue poked the corner of my lips as I laid back down, pouring a good 3rd of it into my mouth.

I shot T a thankful thumbs up with a side of cookie-stuffed closed smile. And he returned it with a dismissive wave.

Everyone else started settling down for the night as the light finally became too dim and candles started being lit. Food being passed around, water bottles and other drinks. It's mostly sugary junk but honestly right now, that might be a good thing. It's not a bad idea for us all to pack on some calories while we can.