Elle looked over the man that had just entered the room. He was tall, obviously strong and armed. He stared her down and asked again
"I said, you bit?" this time he raised his crossbow and aimed at her head. She was at a disadvantage, sure she had a gun, but it was empty, the stranger didn't know that and she didn't want him to find out.
"No, not bit I was shot. I'm trying to stop the bleeding, it's slowing down, but I'm not quite there yet." She decided to try and sound as unthreatening as she could, she knew he could easily overpower her or kill her if he wanted to so she tried to appeal to his survivors instinct, he must have one if he's still alive after all this time. "Could you please get down, and keep your voice down?" She gestured at the door he just came through, there was a window in the top half obscured by a blind but they could both make out the shadow of a walker hovering near it. "I think they can smell the blood, and the noise you just made will have riled them up for sure"
Daryl knew she was right; he slid down and sat on the floor, resting against the door he just came through, trying to offer a bit more protection from the undead. "Who shot you?" He asked the girl, never taking his eyes off her.
"My group was overrun; I got shot in the confusion and made my way here to try and get some supplies, the only thing I managed to grab was my gun."
"Where are the rest of your group?" Daryl asked her.
"I don't know, once the zombies turned up everything went crazy, I got shot and just got out of there as fast as I could" Elle was starting to worry, she couldn't read him, she normally had a good judge of character, years of working in a bar had honed her skills for spotting trouble. She was trapped with this stranger and her hackles were starting to rise. The only way out was through the door he was guarding, there was another door in the room but this was just through to a supply cupboard, the only other way out was through the window and she was 3 storeys up, "last resort" she thought. Daryl watched her frantically scan the room, she was looking for something, he could see the fear in her eyes, and he knew he was a threat to her.
"I'm not going to hurt you" he whispered,
"I'll just get what I'm here for and go"
Elle looked at him, "What are you here for?"
"Baby formula" he replied.
"You've got a baby!" she asked a bit louder than she expected.
"Ssshhh!" Daryl said as he put his finger to his lips, "take your own advice and keep your voice down! There is a baby in my group and we need formula for her"
Elle started to feel more uncomfortable, "Your part of a group? Where are they? Are they with you?" she blurted out.
"Calm down, I told you I'm not going to hurt you, I've more important things to do just now."
Elle looked at him, she still couldn't really read him but she had no other choice other than to believe him, she had a useless weapon, she hadn't seen anything else in the room to use against him and he had a clear height and weight advantage against her. She thought to herself if she made herself useful to him then maybe he would be more reluctant to hurt her. "So what do you need? I know a lot about babies, been round them all my life, practically raised my four younger cousins." She said with a forced smile on her face.
"I told you, formula!" Daryl said, he started to wonder how much blood this girl had lost, she was acting strange.
"Well do you have diapers, diaper cream, pacifiers, bottles, sterilising equipment, sterilising tablets, clothes, vests, socks, hats, blankets, bibs, you know, baby stuff?" She enquired.
"Uh, I dunno" he replied "Does she need all that stuff?" he asked her
"Oh yeah, and that's just for starters" She saw the confusion flash across his face and she couldn't help but stifle a small smile, he had no idea what he was doing, she could tell. "I could help you gather the stuff up if you could help me first" she said to him. He raised his eyebrows
"Help you with what?"
"The bullet went straight through my flank, it's a clean wound, I've managed to stitch up the front but I can't get to the back. Could you stitch it?" she asked him.
He noticed the way she spoke "You a doctor?" he asked.
"No I was a med student, a while ago, dropped out about a year in, some of the terminology must 'a stuck" she told him.
"Let me have a look" he scootched over towards her, he noticed her breath increasing as she turned her back to him and lifted her top, he could tell she was still afraid of him. He looked at the bullet hole on her lower left side, it was starting to clot but still slowly oozing blood. He considered his options, he could use her help showing him what he needed for Rick's girl, help him take the supplies back to the prison, plus she had some medical knowledge that was like goldust in this day and age, maybe the group would invite her to stay. She didn't seem a threat, she was afraid of him, but you could never tell for sure. "I'll tell you what," he said to her. "I can stitch this up for you but I'm no expert, but we do have a doctor in our group, if you help me get all the baby stuff I need I'll take you back to my group and get our Doc to look at ya"
Elle knew she needed help with her wound, it would need to be dressed properly to stop any infection, the lack of meds meant any infection could be life threatening. How bad could this guy be if he was out risking his neck to get supplies for a baby? "Ok" she agreed, "but at least bandage my back up for me"
Daryl quickly packed the bullet hole with bandages and taped it up. "That should hold for now" he said.
"What's your name?" She asked him,
"Daryl" he replied,
"I'm Elle" she said.
The supply cupboard in the room they were trapped in was like an Aladdin's cave of baby stuff. They managed to get everything Elle had listed plus infant teething tablets, medicine to treat colic and infant paracetemol. "Jackpot!" Elle had exclaimed when they opened the door to it. They had packed Daryl's bag with what they could and had managed to acquire some free samples of diaper bags that the maternity hospitals carried, they filled these and Daryl took one and Elle carried one on her uninjured side. Now they just had to get out, "easier said than done" Elle muttered to herself. The hall was still littered with walkers, they could make them out when the staggered past the door to the room Daryl and Elle were in. Daryl knew he could probably make it, but he didn't hold out much hope for Elle's chances with her injury and having to make her way down 3 flights of stairs. He looked out the window, they were above the emergency room entrance at the back of the hospital, there was an ambulance bay which was covered, and this meant they only had to jump down 2 storeys to reach it.
"Oh, only 2?" Elle had said sarcastically when Daryl had told her of his plan.
"Listen, it's not as bad as it seems" he impatiently said to her. "I'll lower you down first, so you're only going to be falling about 6 feet, we'll throw some blankets down and the mattress of this bed to break your fall" he said pointing to the hospital bed in the room.
"Why do I need to go first?" she asked him "Cause you're not strong enough to lower me down" he told her bluntly. "Now come on, we're burning daylight."
They managed to get down to the ambulance bay without too many walkers noticing them, the noise Daryl made when entering the building had brought them all round to the front of the hospital. They lowered themselves down from the ambulance bay and out through a gap in the fence.
"Where now?" Elle whispered. Daryl pointed to the woods in the distance,
"Through those trees to my transport then about a 20 minute ride, you manage that?"
"Sure I'll be fine" she lied.
It was longer going through the forest on the way back. Elle was very slow and breathing heavy. Daryl didn't say anything as he could see she was desperately trying to keep up he just slowed down a bit to let her catch up before moving off again, he was anxious to get back to the prison, he didn't know how long a newborn could go without food. When they finally made it back to the country road Elle bent over double to try and catch her breath
"You ok?" Daryl asked
"Yeah…..that was just harder than I imagined, I'm fine, just give me a minute" she said, clutching her side. When she got her breath back she stood up straight again and paled at the sight of Daryl straddled over a motorbike motioning at her to get on.
"You didn't tell me it was a bike" she said
"You never asked" he replied, chuckling at how childish he sounded. The last thing Elle wanted was to be that close to someone again so soon. She knew she would actually need to hold onto him to stop her falling off. She hesitantly made her way over,
"Don't go too fast" she told him.
"No can do," he replied "little miss is waiting on me" and with that he kicked off with a start, forcing Elle to jerk back and instinctively grab on to his sides so as not to fall off.
The prison came into view and Daryl sped up. Glenn spotted him and shouted to Axel and Oscar "Open the gates! He's back!" Daryl rode his bike right up to the entrance and jumped off his bike. He helped Elle off and grabbed the bags from her before running into the prison. Elle just stood in the prison grounds.
"This was a terrible idea," she thought, her heart was racing, her breathing increased. "I'm in a fucking prison" she noticed the two men that let them in were now locking the gate and they were both wearing prison jumpsuits. "Oh my God!" she started feeling faint, her vision was blurring and she could feel herself fall. "Oh please, not now!" she screamed into herself, but it was too late, she was out before she hit the ground.
She felt herself being carried along; she opened her eyes and saw that the tallest man in the prison jumpsuit was carrying her in his arms. He could tell he was strong, just by the way he picked her up and carried her like she was nothing. She saw he was taking her inside the prison,
"No, no!" she started to scream and thrash in his arms.
"Hey, hey it's ok" he tried to soothe her while putting her down. They were inside the prison now and she looked around, terrified. She spotted Daryl looking at her,
"Elle its ok" he said, "this is Herschel, our doctor, he'll take a look at your side" he told her while nodding towards an elderly man with grey hair, he was sitting down at a table with a young girl, and an even younger boy holding a baby. Once she saw the children in the group she started to feel more at ease.
"Sorry" she said to no-one in particular. "I got a fright when you brought me to a prison and then just disappeared, must 'a fainted, then when I woke up a man mountain in a jumpsuit was carrying me inside" she said looking at the tall man behind her that had lifted her through to the cell block.
"Just trying to help" he said to her.
Herschel had moved her through to a cell so she could lie down flat while he examined her wound. "You did a good job with your stitches he" he said to her "Daryl mentioned you had some medical training?" he enquired.
"Basic" she replied,
"Enough to do this" he said pointing to her stitches on her lower left side.
"I suppose" she said. After Herschel had cleaned up her back and stitched it up, he gave her some antibiotics to stop any infection occurring.
"It looks well enough, but you've lost a lot of blood, sitting on the back of Daryl's bike didn't do you any favours," he said. You'll probably need some new clothes, she looked down at what she was wearing, they were soaked in crimson red blood. "I'll have Maggie bring you some in. Rest up a while" he smiled at her and left her in the cell. Elle took in her surroundings, she was in a prison, it seemed secure from the undead what with all the fences and chains she had seen. The group didn't seem hostile, and there were children here surely that was a good sign. She could hear laughter coming from outside. She tried to sit up as a brunette girl walked into the cell.
"Here lem'me help you" she offered as she rushed over to help her up from the bed. "My daddy says your needing new clothes" She handed her a bundle of clothing. "Do you want me to help?" she asked
"No I'm fine" said Elle.
"Ok" replied the brunette girl "but I'm just waiting outside in case you faint again, holler when you're done"
"Thanks" Elle whispered as she began the painful task of stripping off. It was difficult with the injury to her side, but that was nothing compared to the deep purple bruises all around her thighs and the top of her arms, "they'll fade" she tried to reassure herself.
When she finally got herself ready she called the girl back in "I'm sorry are you Maggie?" she said.
"Yeah, and your Elle?" Maggie enquired. Elle nodded. "The man who fixed you up before is Herschel, my dad, you've to come and get some food in you, doctor's orders" Maggie smiled at Elle and held out her arm for Elle to grab onto. Maggie led her out to the room she was in before and led her over to a seat next to the blonde girl.
"I've got some soup for you" the blonde girl said.
"Thanks" Elle muttered trying to hold back tears. This was the best she had been treated in a long time and it was getting to her. She started spooning into the soup and looking around the room. Daryl was stood in the middle of the group holding a tiny baby and feeding her from a bottle, he was beaming down at her. Elle smiled at him and then felt sick in the pit of stomach as a thought crossed her mind of what she had to do later that night, when everyone was asleep.
