The ride to King's county was a quiet one. I didn't mind it though. We all knew what we had coming up and we needed to stay focused. With the silence going on, I couldn't help but picture how I'd kill the son of a bitch. Decapitation would be too easy. He deserved to die nice and slow. As I thought about it some more, I felt that going over with Michonne and Andrea was the best way to go. We could get in and get out without anyone noticing. But then I started to think wha his minions would do? What would they say? Would total chaos ensue because their leader mysteriously wound up dead? The innocent people would be caught in the middle of it all and more than likely, it wouldn't end well for them. There was then a slight tap on my hand that brought me back but also made me jump.
"What?" I turned around to see Daryl next to me.
"You here?" he asked.
"Of course I am. Where else would I be?" I asked.
"You spaced out didn't ya?" he asked.
"No," I said.
He just crossed his arms and looked at me. I rolled my eyes then looked out the window.
"How much further, Rick?" I asked.
"About 45 more minutes," he said.
I rested my head back and kept looking outside.
"Kari?" Carl suddenly asked.
I picked up my head and looked in front of me.
"Yeah?" I said.
"What...that word that you said back in the prison...raped? What does that mean?" he asked turning to look at me.
I looked over at Rick.
"I, uh...I'm sorry you heard that, Carl...but I...I um," I started.
There was no easy way for me to answer that. Carl was too young to know what that word meant. I was stupid and angry. I shouldn't have said it so loud.
"She got hurt, man. That's all you gotta know. The Governor hurt her. That's why she wants him dead," Daryl said.
I looked over at him.
"Oh. I'm sorry he hurt you. I hope you do get the chance to get back at him," he said.
He then turned back around and looked out in front of him. I hadn't taken my eyes off of Daryl.
"What?" he asked turning to look at me.
"Nothing...nothing," I said.
I crossed my arms and looked back out the window again. I couldn't help but feel grateful toward him. It was easy for him to see that talking about that would be hard for me and he went and let Carl know what he needed to know without getting too much into detail. I shook my head and kept looking outside. It was stupid of me to be thinking this way. Daryl would never see me as more than a friend. I wasn't even sure we were friends. Either way, there was never gonna be anything more between us and I needed to accept that and move on. There was more important things that I needed to focus on.
The time came and went for us. Before I knew it, we were in King's County and getting out of the car. We took out our backpacks and went to the front of the car.
"This was where you were sheriff?" I asked Rick.
We had parked in the parking lot of a police station.
"Yeah. I'm pretty sure that the weapons we stored in here haven't been touched," he said.
"Well let's go and find that out," Daryl said.
We made our way to the front door, keeping an eye out for anything or anyone that may pop out of nowhere. Rick got to the door first and held his pistol up.
"On three," he whispered.
We all nodded in agreement. He counted silently and on three, we were in the building. Holding our weapons up, we looked around to make sure the coast was clear. Once it was, we lowered them.
"No one's been here for a long time," Daryl said.
"Kind of sad when you think about it," I said.
"Come on. The weapons locker is this way," Rick said.
We all followed him down a corridor to our left. He opened the door to the weapons locker and let us all in. Looking at the place, it was easy for us to see that the place had been raided. Rick went over to pick up a box of ammo. No ammo was in it and out of frustration, he threw it on the ground.
"Dammit," he said.
"Could there possibly be a place where we can get ammo? A store maybe?" I asked.
"I didn't want to go into town. We don't know what it's like and I didn't want to put any of you at risk," he said.
"Risks are something that we have to take now more than ever," I said.
Rick sighed.
"We got each other's back, man," Daryl said.
He nodded.
"Alright. Let's go. Carl you stay right behind me at all times, got it?" he turned to tell Carl.
"Got it," Carl said.
We left the station and went toward the car.
"Shouldn't we park it a little closer to town? If we do find some supplies, it will be a whole lot easier to carry them only a few feet," I said.
"Yeah. Okay. Everyone back in the car," Rick said.
Once we were all settled, Rick turned the ignition and we headed deeper into town. We didn't get far before we reached a barricade that blocked anyone from going in. Rick stopped and turned off the car. We all got out to see what it was that we were dealing with. At a closer look, it was easy to see that this was a manmade barricade. Spikes made out of wood and tied together with barbed wire spread all throughout the main street. To my left were two or three walkers stuck in place.
"It's a trap for the walkers," I said.
"An intricate one too," Rick said.
"Whoever did this must have been paranoid as hell," Daryl said.
"I don't blame them," I said.
I tried to see a way that we could get in. There had to be an opened area that was accessible to us. To the right I noticed a small space in between the spikes.
"Hey, guys, this way," I said.
I made my way over but the second I took a step toward it, there was a shot that was fired at my feet. Daryl got to me and quickly moved me behind him. Rick, Carl and I then lifted our guns while Daryl lifted his crossbow.
"Drop what you have and get the hell out of here! Everything you have, drop it and go! You have 10 seconds," a man that was on a rooftop and wearing a mask shouted.
"Kari, you take Carl and run for the car," Rick said.
"Rick, we need that rifle he has," I said.
"Yeah. Dad, we're not going anywhere," Carl added.
"I can get up there," Daryl said.
The man had been counting down from ten while we were having this whole conversation.
"Kari. Carl, go!" Rick shouted.
He then turned his pistol to the man and covered us. Daryl went in the opposite direction while Carl and I ducked and headed toward the sidewalk. I turned to make sure Carl was close to me.
"Stay low," I said.
He nodded. After a few minutes the gunfire stopped. Carl and I were up against a building. I peeked over the corner and quickly took cover because the gunfire had begun again.
"He's on the ground," I said.
"I'll cover you," he said.
Before I could stop him he went around the corner and fired one shot.
"Carl," I said.
I turned the corner and saw the man that was shooting at us, down. Carl had shot him. Rick and Daryl came and joined us.
"You okay?" Rick asked Carl.
"Yeah," he said.
"I didn't want you to have to do that," Rick said.
"But I had to," Carl retorted.
Rick then kneeled down and touched the man's chest.
"He's wearing body armor," Rick said.
He ripped his shirt open to reveal the armor that he was sporting. The bullet fired at him had ended up on the side of it. Rick then lifted the armor and we all saw the redness on the side of his torso the bullet had caused.
"He's alive," Rick said.
"Do we care?" Daryl asked.
Rick then went and took the man's mask off and he sat back.
"Yeah. We do. I know him," he said.
We all looked at each other. This trip had taken a full 360º real quick.