She stood and did her business in the woods, everyone else was up when she returned to them. They looked at her as she came back. "Thought you might have decided to leave us." Rick said to her.
"Nah. I just slept through the night for the first time since this started. I figure I might get a few more of those if I stick with you people." she said shrugging.
Rick nodded to her, a few minutes later everyone had their things ready and the five of them set off into the woods towards the railroad tracks. She brought up the rear, keeping her bow strung and every muscle ready to fight when the time came. She relaxed a bit when they reached the tracks, she was saw the brilliance of using them. Clear visibility to the tree line, all heading straight to the same place, only going through towns every so often.
The boy intrigued her, he couldn't have been more than twelve but he walked with confidence with a gun on his hip and a stone face. She spoke to him. "I'm Deb. What is your name?"
"Carl." he said stiffly but he looked back at her. "Thank you for killing that man."
She nodded to him and smiling gently. "Who were you?" he asked of her.
She blinked, she didn't think about before much. "Care to guess?" she said teasingly.
His eye lit up and for the rest of the day the went back and forth as he guessed over and over again never coming close. They were getting off the tracks to find a place to camp when Carl guessed, "Were you a doctor? Or a nurse?"
Deb smiled. "No."
"Hey!" Daryl protested. "I thought you said you were!"
She explained herself. "I took a six month course on assisting doctors for my job. That is your hint." She said addressing Carl.
"That is a terrible hint!" he protested but she just smiled and told him nothing else.
They found an inlet of trees and set up camp, she pulled the gloves out of her pack as took her barbed wire and wrapped it around the perimeter once at knee and one at chest level. "Smart." Rick told her.
"Keeps them back. Hopefully keeps us alive." she told him.
"You're on third watch." he said before handing her a can of ravioli.
She smiled at his trust but gave the can back, "You seem to be a man of honour Rick. Promise not to kill me."
He looked at her with a furrowed brow but promised all the same, she pulled her bag close and opened it for him to see the contents. He literally gasped. She had more than half her bag full of canned goods, the other half filled with water bottles. "I've done alright." she said sheepishly.
"This is worth more than gold now." Rick said.
"It's also heavier than gold." she laughed at her but didn't catch her meaning. "Let's spread the love around. Divide it by five. everybody carry their share. If we get split up we'll have supplies to last us."
"Are you serious?" Carl said coming up behind his dad.
"I am." she told him.
From that moment forward they treated her like one of their own, all except for Daryl who didn't seem to trust her but she accepted that as it was even when she saw his eyes glistening in the firelight every night for the whole time she was on watch. His rib seemed to heal well enough and the bleeding resolved itself quickly enough.
They were getting close, they figured that they would get there before dark the next day as they set up camp once again. Rick sat at the campfire and addressed them all. "We have to go there, we have to but we aren't walking up like cows to the slaughter." he said. "From what the maps look like it has a main gate and it's encircled by walls, we'll watch for a while before finding a place to jump the wall and find out if someone is there."
"I'll stay outside. Keep an eye on everything, that way if things go south there is someone on the outside to help." Deb suggested.
"Nah." Daryl said.
"It's a good plan." Michonne told him.
"Didn't say it wasn't." Daryl responded. "I'll be the one on the outside, no guarantees this broad won't just pack up and leave if things go wrong in there."
"That may be true but I don't wanna walk in there without you watching our backs." Rick told him. That seemed to settle the matter.
"You got to tell me." Carl said as he lay down.
"What's that?" Deb asked.
"What you did, before all this." Carl said. "I'm never going to guess."
"Fine." Deb told him. "I lived in Nairobi, Kenya. During the day I worked on the ground in a hospital taking care of people with wounds, mothers who needed pre and post natal care, anyone who needed it. My evenings were spent in the government offices trying to establish some sort stability in the country."
"How did you end up in the states when all this went down?" Rick asked.
"I was in Atlanta for a conference, talking about my work. My sister had never been out of Canada so she figured while I was a bit closer she would visit." She told him.
"What about your husband?" Rick asked again. "Sorry, but I saw your wedding band."
Her throat went tight but she told him, "He's up north, he was in Toronto for a different conference." she smiled wistfully. "I like to think he made it. Living up there."
"That's a hell of a hope. And a hell of a distance to find out." Daryl chimed in.
"I'm of the same mind. Krista. My sister. She was adamant about trying to get home, she seemed to think that this thing was unique to the US but I told her that contagions tend to ignore international borders." Deb said. "and that I like to this he's alive but I also like to think he's given up on me, maybe moved on with another woman. Happy. Safe."
Both Daryl and Michonne stared at her. Remembering her sister hurt but her optimism was comforting.
Carl was grimacing at her. "What?" she asked him.
"I wish I had that." She did not push him but he went on. "I saw my mother die. My baby sister was eaten as we left the prison. There is no making up stories for them."
She was shocked but couldn't leave him with those dark thoughts. "Maybe your little sister met my little boy after they died."
"There is no heaven!" He said standing up to glare at her.
"Probably not." she said holding his gaze and raising my voice. "My husband is probably dead. But we are alive and we need to make it through this day and the next so I suggest you try not to think that way."
He stood defiant to her with his jaw set but after a moment he relented and laid back down in silence, a few moments later she heard his stifled crying. Maybe it was the boy she lost but the sound of his ragged breathing crushed her, she pulled her things over next to his head leaning back on the tree. Gently she stroked his long chestnut hair, he flinched away at first but slowly relaxed back then seemingly without thinking the hard man he was trying to be melted away and lifted his head and put it in her lap. He fell into a deep sleep after a while and only then did she pull away to lay down herself.
She saw Rick watching her with a strange look on his face, for a second she thought he was going to say something but instead he rolled over and stayed that way. Night fell in truth not long afterwards but sleep didn't come to her, she gave up shortly after she saw the moon break the treeline and joined Daryl in his place on the edge of the camp.
"That boy," he said. "I ain't seen him look like a kid since his mom died."
She nodded to him and he went on. "Her name was Lori, I never liked her much but she took mothering seriously, she got pregnant, not long after this all started. Got lost inside the prison with Maggie, one of our own and Carl before we cleared it, went into labour. Maggie had to perform a c section in a stall. She was bleeding out and they had to go with the baby. Carl, he shot her so she wouldn't come back."
She looked out into the darkness thinking on what he just said, cursing the world for coming to be the place where sons have to mercy kill their own mothers.