Chapter 2

Beth looked around at the progress she and Carl had made so far, the office definitely looked less cluttered. Carl had helped her move everything except for a book case out to the walk way in front of Daryl cell. The office was so much bigger than she thought; it was almost the size of her parents' bedroom back at the farmhouse, including the small dressing room her momma had. Judith was sleeping in the corner in her car seat, but she was do to wake up any second.

"Carl how about we take a break for lunch? Your sister is due for a changing and bottle again as soon as she wakes up." Beth said softly as she dusted around the windows and the bookcase. "I think Carol's making some kind of casserole today".

"With that cheese sauce mix they found on the last run? The one that just takes water?" Carl asked, somewhat excited and actually looking forward to lunch.

"Actually I think she's making something out of cans of green beans and cream of chicken soup. She was saving that cheese mix to go with the first vegetable you manage to grow." Beth made her way over to Judith who had started to stir and fuss. Beth unbuckled her from her seat and lifted her up. Judith rubbed her face against Beth's shoulder, almost like Carl rubbed his eyes upon waking up, and then started to cry softly. "Let's head on down and get her fed, I'm going to change her up here though." Beth laid her down on the desk in the walk way and quickly changed her, tossing her wet diaper into the hamper and tossing the paper towel she had lined the diaper with in the the files from the office to burn later. The paper towels kept the diapers from staining too badly and Beth was sure they were a clean layer between Judy and whatever scrap material she found for diapers.

"You ready to go now?" Carl asked, "I want to get there before the prisoners. They really need to learn portion control. I go to make sure they save enough for Glenn, Daryl and my Dad."

"I sure Carol has everything under control, Maggie and my Dad are down there too. Otto and Oscar aren't too bad; they seem to be trying real hard to fit in. I'm sure that the boys are going to have a bite to eat on their run too. Don't worry, we have some stew simmering for supper tonight, with those garden vegetables that Glenn found in the yard of that house he found that BBQ at and all those extra gas cans and ammo."

"Only going to have better meals when Daryl manages to shoot pheasants or wild turkeys again. That fried bird you and Maggie whipped up was real good. I miss spaghetti. I hope they get more pasta and sauce."

"I hope they find lots of seeds for the garden, I am getting so sick of canned fruits and veggies. Those wild strawberries were the best things I've eaten since the we lost the farm." Beth replied as she held open the door to the cafeteria with one hand while Carl walked through. "We should go pick some more, they really do make the oatmeal edible." Carl nodded his head and made his way over to where Carol was setting out the plates and silverware. He noticed pitchers of some type of drink, when he looked in he saw purple juice.

"What's this?" he asked excitedly. Al he ever got to drink was plain, boiled water or rainwater.

"Surprise! Daryl found powdered sports drink mix in that sporting good store he hit up looking for arrows, we just have to add water. I though I'd mix some up for a treat. I won't be making it everyday, but it's something to look forward to."

"I hope they find more just add water things to give us more things to look forward to." Maggie said as she brought out some cups, "I know I am looking forward to the day Rick gets that water pump to work properly and we get a little more water pressure in the shower."

Beth started mixing up a bottle, which Maggie took from her to go heat up, Beth shook her wrist so her bracelets clanged to together, Judith stopped crying, moving her eyes towards the noise and trying to figure out how to make the noise happen again. Hershel made his way in from the outside on his crutches, and sat with Beth, "Just in for lunch girls, afterwards Maggie and Carl needs to go out to the gate, Rick, Glenn and Daryl should be back shortly, we don't want them to have to wait outside and draw attention to the gates. How's your new room coming along Bethy?"

" I need to scrub the floor and then start moving Judith and my things on up. Daryl said he'd help with anything too heavy, but I'd like to get most of it moved before he gets back. He's going to be tired from the run; he and Rick need to rest before they go on watch tonight too. I wish we had more people to help out with all the work I'm not able help with." Beth said sadly. "I'm just not strong enough for physical work and pretty useless when it comes to weapons."

"Beth, we all got jobs, don't think you're getting off easy taking care of that baby. You help out everywhere you can. Hopefully soon we will be able to give some more responsibility to a few of the inmates, but until we can trust them we can't give them weapons. We can't ask them to go out on watch unarmed, maybe they can help out with the gardening and body burning though."

Beth took the bottle that Maggie brought over once it was heated and popped it in Judith's mouth, sitting back and smiling while Judith looked up her and contently drank her lunch. "Dad I know that taking care of Judith is all I can do that matters to the group. That is my job, and I am thankful that she's here giving me purpose."

On the run

Daryl stood in the baby section at Target and just stared at all the baby shit before him. He should have brought Carol to help him out. All he had grabbed so far was the receiving blankets, some sleepers and disposable diapers. He looked at the list and back to the shelves. He threw some different brands of baby wash, diaper rash cream and teething ointment into the cart and made his way over to the baby slings and carriers. He grabbed 2 of each and put them in the cart; walking out of the section and towards the clothing section he stopped and grabbed a few baby hats adding them to the haul. Beth had mentioned that it was hard to keep the baby was out of the sun all the time and she worried about Jude getting sunburn. He figured a hat would give her one less thing to worry about. He saw a display of "What to Expect in the First Year" books and grabbed one for Beth. Hell everyone at the prison should probably read the book, it couldn't hurt. Walking up to the clothing section he cleared the rack of rain ponchos that were folded into a square the size of a pack of smokes, they looked like they'd be great for keeping clean during fence duty. He grabbed a few heavy plaid work coats for the winter, there were only 4 left on the shelf, and he really hoped there were more coats in the women's section. He added packets of boxers and plain white undershirts to the over flowing cart and made his way over to the women's section, into the cart went packs of panties, sports bras, tank tops, consulting his list for the girls size he threw in a few pairs on jeans for each of them, along with some pajamas. He wandered a rack of plaid shirts and grabbed one of every color in small and medium for Beth, Maggie and Carol, and threw in a few larges just incase. He wandered back to the men's section to get some button up shirts for them as well and some more jeans and pants. He grabbed about 5 of every size of shirts, not caring about the colors, and then randomly adding multiple sizes of jeans, figuring they'd eventually get used. He went to the front of the store and grabbed another cart; he went back to the baby section and decided to clear the formula shelf. He whistled 4 times, letting Rick and Glenn know that he was ready to go back out and pack up the truck. He met Rick at the front of the store a few minutes later and noticed that he had a cart full of blankets, packs of seeds, and the curtains that Carl had suggested for Beth. Glenn came up with carts full of dry goods and one full cart of bars of Dove soap, deodorant. Condoms and various medications and supplies Hershel had asked for.

"Just a minute." Rick replied as he jogged off to the home improvement section. He later came back with a tarp. "We can tie this over the truck bed for the drive back in case it rains."

"I want to stop at that baby store and see about a rocking chair and crib and at that pawn shop, they might have weapons in there." Daryl stated as he made his way over to the emergency exit they had parked beside. "If we see a furniture store, let me know."

"A furniture store?" Glenn asked looking at Rick confused. "How are we going to haul any furniture black with all these supplies?"

"We're going to back the truck up to that trailer over there and take it." Daryl replied pointing to the end of the parking lot. "Were getting some mattresses and bedframes and getting rid of those god damn bunks." Daryl moved his crossbow off his back and slowly opened the exit door, looking out into the lot, he only saw 2 walkers. He quickly shot one through the head, reloaded and shot the other before he got within 5 feet of the door. "Let's start loading." Glenn took watch at the end of the truck, making sure no walkers made their way into the back lot. Rick and Daryl started loading the bed of the truck. There would be room in the bed for their next few stops, if they could get the trailer attached the truck, they'd be able to get the beds Daryl wanted too. It had by far been one of the easiest runs Daryl had ever been on, and for that he was grateful. He was slightly surprised that there was still much useful supplies in the store, it's not like it had been over run, or hard to break into. He jumped into the truck and drove down to the trailer, and shockingly he got it attached with too much of a struggle.

"Let's get a move on before our luck starts to run out." Rick replied from the passenger side. "Anyone else feeling like this day is going by too easily?"

Daryl nodded his head. Let's be quick, we'll hit up the pawn shop, then the furniture store, maybe we'll get everything we need for today there and we can come back and hit the baby store. I got a feeling we should get back to the prison sooner rather than later."

Back at the Prison

Beth packed Judith's diaper bag full of the few cloth diapers and clothing she had on the self in their cell, her book bag was packed on the bed beside the sleeping baby with everything she wanted to take up to the office. She reached over and hauled the bag to her back, then put the diaper bag on her shoulder before bending down and scooping up the still sleeping baby. She had a plastic tote packed that Carl said he'd bring up as soon as he was off watch duty with Maggie. She started her trek up to her new room, noticing that she was all alone in C. Carol must have gone back out to do laundry or check on supper, and Daddy must still be out in the fields. She went into her new, very empty room and laid Judith down in a laundry basket she had lined with a folded blanket earlier. She still had to wash the windows, but she was sure she could finish before thy returned from the run. She started with the windows that looked out onto her cellblock, then moved on the ones facing the yard where the garden would grow; she waved to her dad then moved on the window looking on to the cell block with all the inmates. She washed away with the vinegar and water solution Carol had mixed for her and noticed one of the inmates, Carter leaning back against the wall staring at her while she worked. Once he noticed that Beth had noticed his stares he slowly put his hand into his pants and started to pump away. Beth immediately ducked down out of his sight and made her way over to the office door that faced B block and made sure it was locked. She crawled over the door facing C block and shut and locked it too, not knowing if he'd risk getting thrown out by trying to get to her through the C block. Beth felt her face flush and wondered if she was feeling threatened for nothing, but remembered what Daryl had told her about trusting her gut. She really wanted Daryl, Rick and Glenn to come back; she wasn't going to feel safe until they were back. They couldn't all go out on a run again.