When Kendal woke up next, Hershel was by her side. Now lying in bed, she had to roll over on her side to cough off the edge to the ground. Opening her eyes, she saw small specks of blood on the ground. "I'm going to die?" A small voice echoed in her head, but it wasn't hers.
"You're goin' to be alright," the old man assured her, as if he read her thoughts, "Daryl and the other will bring back the medicines we need to fight this." He helped her turn back on her back and she groaned at the soreness of her body. "You're goin' to be alright." He repeated.
Kendal couldn't speak because her throat had ran dry. She felt herself wanting to slip, but told herself not to. He couldn't afford to go like this. "Hershel." The old man had stood up and stopped at her cell entrance. Sitting up and pulling on the bunk above her to get up and support herself. "I need to help." She mumbled, "I need to keep moving or I'll-"
"Alright." He stopped her, grabbing Kendal by the arm and helped her wobble out of her cell-room. "Alright…" He said softly setting her against the wall. He left her to follow the wall down the cell block. The brunette kept walking and limping until she heard high-pitched coughs from a room. Turning the corner, she found Lizzie curled up on a bed. Turning the corner, she fell to her knees next to the bed. The noise startled the girl as she turned her head to look up at the woman.
"Hey there Lizzie." Kendal smiled, brushing her hand over her head. She could hear the girl's raspy breath and her coughs were painful. Sweat caked her pale skin and the woman just wiped her forehead with her thumb. "You know that we'll be okay, right?"
Lizzie coughed in between her words. "How… do you… know?" She asked. Kendal could tell that she was scared; she'd seen those eyes before. She was small and fragile and this flu could kill her, just like it had killed him.
"I don't." She mumbled truthfully. "There is a chance that you might die, that I might die," Kendal kept stroking the young girl's hair, "everyone here will die eventually." Her words sounded like a promise, but Kendal still smiled through the hard truth. "But whether or not it is now, or much later, that's up to you." The girl's eyes softened as Kendal looked into them. "You have to keep fighting to survive in this world now, Lizzie, you have to be str-"
"I am strong." She pushed herself onto her elbows, "I know I am." She coughed roughly and Kendal reached around to rub her back as she cleared her lungs. She threw her legs over the edge of the bed and stood up next to the crouching woman.
"Yes you are." Kendal smiled and pushed and pulled herself to her feet. The sound of wheel brought the two females out of the cell-room.
"What are you doing?" Lizzie asked. Glenn and Hershel looked back at them as Lizzie took some steps forwards. The brunette woman looked at Glenn then to the stretcher next to him. She mouthed him a few words and he nodded. She inhaled and nodded back.
Once he was done telling Lizzie her job, Hershel looked up at Kendal. "And your job is to watch over things while I'm moving Mr. Johnson." His eyes were firm and she knew what he meant. She nodded and tried to hold back her coughs with a closed mouth as she turned Lizzie by the shoulders and led her to the doctor's office.
For the next few hours, Kendal and Lizzie read Tom Sawyer together in a cell with their backs against the wall. The woman's eyes kept closing, but stayed closed for longer periods of time. "You can rest, ma'am." Lizzie's voice perked the woman's head up, causing her to get slightly dizzy. Lizzie looked up at her blood shot eyes and smiled, "You can rest. I'll keep reading, I promise." Kendal nodded, unable to resist how exhausted she was. Letting go of Lizzie and unwrapping her arm from around her and pulled herself up once again.
Outside of the cell, Kendal saw Hershel and Sasha loading another body on a gurney. She stumbled over and leaned herself next to the old man. "I-I'm going to go lie down," she mumbled softly for only the two to hear, "One of you should come close my cell." She looked at Hershel and then to Sasha. They nodded. Hershel looked at Sasha and she started to walk around and the two women leaned on each other as they moved to Kendal's cell. "T-Tell Daryl that I won't be able to," She coughed, "tell him about Derek." Kendal fell backwards onto her bed and toppled over sideways, unable to move enough to bring her legs to the bed. Sasha heaved her legs up on the bed and rolled her on her back.
"You tell him yourself." Sasha said to her in a firm, but weak sounded whisper. Then Sasha turned around and closed her cell behind her. Kendal closed her eyes, thinking that she may never open them again.
On the way back to the prison, Michonne drove with Daryl in the passenger seat and the other two in the back seat. The drive was silent and it was getting dark outside. "Should we stop to rest?" Michonne asked the man next to her.
"If you want to rest," He mumbled, "I can drive the rest of the way." That wasn't what she meant, but she just kept driving in silence for a little while longer. Whenever she looked over at him, he was either staring at the jade stone or the street ahead of them. After the time they had together, it was still hard to tell what the man was thinking.
"Are you worried?" She asked. Daryl shook his head slightly.
"No." He answered simply. He stopped playing with the stone and just looked ahead of them. Michonne shook her head and looked back to the road.
"You don't have to pretend to be a tough guy, you know." She pestered him and he just scoffed.
"I'm not pretending." He grumbled. "Just stop talking, I liked the quiet."
"Are you worried about Kendal?" Michonne's question made Daryl look around at her, "Did you talk to her before we left?" He didn't answer and she took it as a 'yes'. "She's a fighter, she'll make it." Michonne assured him. Daryl grumbled a little bit, but he knew.
It was him that found Kendal before bringing her to the prison. He found her with a walker clinging to her ankle; alone but still fighting. He knew that is wasn't just her that would still be fighting when they got back. Their whole group were made of fighters and survivors. "She said that she will tell me about her lil' brother." He mentioned when they reached the gates of the prison. Michonne didn't say anything, but she didn't know that Kendal had a little brother.
When Rick let them in, Tyresse got out of the car and asked about Sasha. Daryl told him to go on ahead to give them the medicine and check up on them while they dealt with the horde that got through the fence.
