Chapter Two
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Lucy took a deep breath and knocked on the door of the huge house that had been handed over to the newcomers. She was still aching and dirty from a supply run with Aiden and Nicholas that had left her with more questions than answers, but after casting an eye over the videos her aunt had made of the newest residents in Alexandria, she had foregone a shower and simply downed an aspirin with a cup of coffee before heading over to meet them.
The videos had spooked her. If their stories were true, Rick Grimes and his collective from Georgia were impressive to say the least. But there had been something in all of their eyes; a wildness that seemed worryingly unstable. They would die for each other, that much was clear. What was not clear was how many people they were willing to kill for each other.
It took a long while for anyone to answer, and when they did Lucy almost didn't know what to say. She remembered him from the videos - Daryl, was it? Lucy had noted with intrigue his sullen unwillingness to cooperate with even the most minor of requests, preferring to prowl the room like a hunter instead of sitting in the chair her aunt had offered him.
Nothing however, had prepared her for the sheer animalistic energy of his countenance. He was a tall, lithe man, skin weatherbeaten and bronzed from years of sun exposure, his long dark hair hanging in seething blue eyes which glared at her suspiciously. He looked as though he hadn't slept for a year, and Lucy noticed one hand idling near a knife at his belt.
"What d'you want?" His voice was a low growl, like thunder.
Lucy opened and shut her mouth again, all sense of professionalism failing her for a brief moment. It had suddenly hit her that his presence here in Alexandria, where everything was neat and orderly and clean seemed entirely bizarre. It was as surreal as an Ostrich walking into a Starbucks, as incongruous as a single wildflower in the middle of a perfectly manicured lawn. Of course, most of the residents they had taken in had been filthy and a little wild when they arrived, but it seemed to her that no matter how hard he tried, the outdoors would not wash off this man.
She must have been staring because eventually he raised a vaguely irritated eyebrow
"You need help or somethin', lady?"
Lucy felt a blush creeping up her neck and scrambled inwardly to collect herself "Sorry, I- it's just… You're a lot taller than in the videos."
He stared at her as though she had grown an extra head and Lucy, aware of her rapidly reddening cheeks, said hurriedly "I'm Dr Lockett. Mrs Monroe asked me to drop in and make sure you were all OK." Lucy paused before adding gently "She said she thought you all must have had a pretty rough time out there."
He let out a faint snort of laughter which Lucy took to mean 'You don't know the half of it', before turning away and heading back into the house, leaving the door open. Lucy stared at his retreating back for a moment before deciding that this was as good an invitation as she was likely to get and stepped in out of the bright sunshine. She walked gingerly through into the family room where they all sat in silence, still filthy, still with the same look in their eyes she had seen in the videos. Lucy felt a small surge of warmth toward them. How many times had she seen that look in her career? Enough to know what it meant, that was for sure. They were ready to bolt at any moment.
Lucy smiled in what she hoped was a placating way and held up the palms of her hands in a gesture of deferential submission.
"Good morning."
Nobody said anything. Lucy lowered her hands and buried them self-consciously in the pockets of her mud-caked jeans. Looking around the room, her eyes fell on the piles of blankets, pillows and couches that had been shifted from other parts of the house. They had all been sleeping together in one room. Lucy suddenly felt deeply sad for the exhausted and traumatised little group in front of her. She tried again.
"Welcome to Alexandria. I'm Dr Lockett-" suddenly acutely aware of how stiff and unapproachable hat sounded, she corrected herself "-Lucy. I'm Lucy."
She thought for a moment that they would fail to respond once more, until a baby faced man with a terrible haircut sent her a quizzical look."
"... Your name is Lucy Lockett?"
Lucy grinned bashfully "You bet it is. And I lose pockets all the damn time."
The man with the mullet offered her the ghost of a smile before the room settled once more into an uncomfortable silence. Lucy offered them all a small smile.
"I can see that you're not comfortable being apart yet," she said gently, to which none of them responded "But perhaps a little further down the road, when you're a bit more settled, I'd like to offer my services to you all as individuals."
Again, they regarded her in silence, none of them moving except to cast glances at one another.
"You're a Doctor?" Lucy almost jumped in surprise as the teenaged boy stepped forward. She racked her brain to remember his video, having only skimmed through most of them before making her way over. He was called Carl, that much she remembered, and the toddler he was holding in his arms was his baby sister - was it Julie or Judy? Carl was looking at her expectantly, ignoring the glares he was receiving from the rest of the room. Lucy opened her mouth to respond but Carl spoke again before she could.
"Could you take a look at my sister? She has a rash on her shoulder that she keeps scratching-" He held the baby out to her and Lucy reached for the gurgling child without thinking. As she pulled the baby in close, she felt a sudden wave of sadness. The child was not more than eighteen months old - born long after the world had ended. If it was possible, the room bristled further and out of the corner of her eyes she saw more than one hand reach unconsciously for their belt. Swinging the baby onto her hip, she offered Carl a small smile.
"I'm afraid I'm not that sort of Doctor. But we do have a medical facility here that will be made available to all of you." Lucy tried not to grimace as she recalled her last encounter with Pete before the supply run "Would you like me to show you where it is?" She shifted, bouncing the baby a little on her hip and making her laugh "If you like, we could take a tour of Alexandria together. I've been out on a supply run and need to drop a few things off at the infirmary anyway."
"We'll be fine, thanks." Rick Grimes spoke as quietly as he had on the videos. He stepped forward gently and reached out for the infant, his stance a non-negotiable statement - you will not fuck with me. As Lucy handed her over, she felt the collective sigh of relief ripple around the room "What sort of Doctor are you if you're not medical?" He asked, and Lucy realised that he kept his voice low because it was not necessary for him to raise it. Glancing around the room, she noted that every other person in it was awaiting his next move. Rick Grimes wasn't just their leader; he was their anchor point in a universe turned on its head.
"I'm an army psychologist. I used to counsel soldiers returning from their tours, amongst other things."
"You think we all need therapy?" Rick's expression was as genial as it was possible to be under the circumstances, but there was still a challenge in his voice. Lucy smiled in a way that she hoped wasn't patronising.
"I understand that you've been through a lot. I just want to let you all know that if you require support, then we can provide that at Alexandria. To all of you." She saw Rick glance quickly at his son before looking back at her.
"No offence lady, but I didn't go in for that touchy-feely bullshit even before the dead rose." A muscular giant of a man with a thick handlebar moustaches spoke from the opposite side of the room where he was leaning against a bookcase, cracking his knuckles and making no effort to hide his displeasure at seeing her.
"And it's certainly not up to me to change your mind," said Lucy pleasantly, although she felt the initial unpleasant prickle of irritation at his words. She needed a shower and her bed. Perhaps it was a mistake to come here without a plan after everything that had happened in the last few days "Just know that I'm here if you need me."
"Thank you," Rick spoke quietly "for the offer."
Lucy nodded and took this as her cue to leave "I'll uh - show myself out." At the door, she turned back "If you want to reach me, just leave a message at Deanna's house and I'll seek you out."
She was halfway down the front steps when Carol, the grey haired woman from the videos caught up with her "Dr Lockett?"
"Please, call me Lucy. Mrs Monroe likes me to introduce myself using the formal 'Doctor' title because it shows that we're running a professional operation, but I prefer to keep things a little more casual."
"Lucy," Carol took a deep shaky breath "I'd like to come and see you sometime. If that's OK, I mean. It just - things got… kinda scary out there." Her lip trembled and Lucy remembered how in her interview, Carol had spoken about becoming a den-mother to a group that was 'nice enough to protect her'. She smiled warmly back at the older woman, who was currently acting at a very high standard, but not well enough to conceal the sweeping hunter's glance she took of the street every few seconds. This was no den-mother.
"Of course, Carol. I'd be delighted. I'll check my diary and make time for you." Lucy stepped onto the sidewalk before turning back as though a thought had just struck her "By the way, I don't know if you're familiar with doctor-patient confidentiality, but the the rule is that you can be whoever you are in my office - not whoever you're pretending to be - and unless I have reason to think you could be dangerous, it will stay between us." She winked and turned away once more, taking a leisurely pace down the street toward Aunt Deanna's house.
X
Lucy shifted uncomfortably on the hard uncomfortable back seat of the van. Outside, she could hear the buzzing of cicadas and the faint shambling of one of the infected. She should stop wriggling; it might draw attention. But she was so damn uncomfortable it was hard not to.
She was sick of sleeping in the van, less than a foot away from Aiden and Nicholas, both of whom snored like trains. If anything was going to attract the infected it would be that racket. Luckily, only Nicholas was sleeping right now - Aiden had taken first watch for the night and was sitting upfront.
Thank God they had agreed to head back to Alexandria in the morning. Lucy thought grimly of the list that Pete had given her, how she had only been able to source two thirds of the stuff on it. He would probably complain to Deanna again. Lucy wasn't worried about him kicking up a fuss; she knew her aunt had the measure of most people. She knew that she shouldn't let a petty little prick like Pete get to her, but all the same, when people were going out and risking their necks to find stuff for him to use and he had the cheek to complain when his order wasn't one hundred percent fulfilled, she had to hold her tongue, stop herself from suggesting that maybe he should go out next time.
In the dark. Without a weapon. Wearing a dress made of meat.
She must have dozed off at some point, because all of a sudden, the inside of the van had gone quiet. Lucy lay still in the dark with her eyes closed, listening hard for the hushed whispers of a watch changeover. There was nothing. Not even the sounds of other people breathing - a sound she had gotten very used to in the last forty eight hours.
Lucy cracked one eye open, willing her eyes to hurry in adjusting to the dark all around her. Slowly she sat up, muscles and joints protesting. She was definitely not young enough to sleep rough any more.
"Aide?"
No reply.
"Nicholas? Are you awake?"
Nothing. Lucy groped for her pen torch and cupped her hand around the bulb so as not to create too much light. As she cast the miserly glow over the van, her heart sank as she confirmed what her gut had been telling her the moment she had woken up.
That she was alone.
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