Just Gone

41: Anticipation

Rick and Daryl's boots crunched in the snow, stepping out of their shelter and peering around. The snow had stopped, for the time being.

Rick was nervous, through the snow had finally stopped after pounding down from the sky for a whole week. It'd been the worst winter in Georgia any of them had seen for years.

After leaving Wiltshire estates, the weather bounded on them quick, going from rain, freezing rain, to snowstorms. The RV wasn't in the right shape to drive through most of the storms, so they would have to stop and find a place to rest or were forced to wait it out in the RV.

With the weather holding them back, scavenging had been next to impossible. It was the same with hunting. In result, they had no choice but to eat what they had. After weeks of the weather spoiling their place, close to a month after the events of Wiltshire estates, they were running dangerously low on food.

The snow on the ground was only about half a foot. But it was still very cold.

"Think you could hunt in this weather?"

Daryl nodded, "gonna try. Never wan'ta touch a can again s'long as I live."

They both continued to look around, trying to figure out their next move. The RV was parked on the road.

"We'll take the RV, try to get further out, we passed a wooded area a few miles before stopping here." Rick said.

"I remember. The way the weather was we couldn't stop. Lucky we found here." Daryl glanced behind him at the small general store they'd been staying for five days. The place had been cleaned out of food. All that was left were some candy bars, gum, and cigarette packs.

"Don't like how those clouds are lookin'," Daryl commented on the dark sky.

"Can't be picky," Rick said. "This is the clearest it's been for a long time."

Daryl agreed. Together they went back inside to gather the others, filling them in on the plan.

"We're back tracking?" Sasha questioned their idea.

"Only a few miles," Rick assured. "We don't know what's ahead of us and it could make for a good hunting area. It's clear outside-"

"-Exactly, this is the weather at it's best, we should just be pushing forward."

Tyreese placed a hand on his sister's shoulder, "Rick is right. We need to trust him on this. We're part of the reason the food is low. We should do everything we can to help replenish it."

Rick shook his head, "no, everyone has to eat, this isn't on anyone."

"I know, Rick. You're right. But you helped us off the road, accepted us and shared what you had. We can repay you by finding our food and finding food for everyone else."

Rick smiled at his friend, "whatever you say."

Sasha rolled her eyes at Tyreese, "whatever you say." She didn't argue anymore.

As the group started piling out, Daryl noticed something. He put his hand in front of Carl to stop him before he went out. "Where's-"

"-Behind the counter."

Daryl scrunched his eyebrows, "ya tell-"

Carl nodded his head, he did tell her they were leaving, "she ignored me."

Daryl let him go and walked to the back where the counter was. He stopped when he saw her. Behind the counter were other shelves, where cigarettes and other things were kept. But most of the shelves were bare. Daryl had taken and packed up all the cigarettes he found, along with anything else mildly useful. She was wearing this grey puffy coat, it was old and dirty, it has some holes with stuffing coming out in a few places. The coat was oversized and made a lot of noise as she walked, but it kept her warm.