The thin paper covering the cushioned part of the exam table was sticking to the backs of Katie's thighs. Cassandra was next to her, doing whatever the older black woman who seemed to be the town's doctor told her to do and pretending she didn't know more about injuries than the person examining her. Maria was technically their medic, but Cassandra had already learned a lot from her. Roberta encouraged them all to learn, the more people they had with medical knowledge, the better.
Katie was swinging her legs, watching the man in the doorway out of the corner of her eye. Once in a while she sneaked a glance at him, then quickly looked back down at her boots. The way his pants hung on his hips made her face fell hot. She opened her mouth when the woman asked her to, sticking the tip of her pink tounge out and saying aaahhh.
Merle watched the blonde woman. Before she opened her mouth, he saw her look at him again. He was lounging casually against the doorframe, but now he was feeling the need to adjust the crotch of his pants. There was something off about these girls, he still felt it, but that wasn't going to stop him from getting a look. Especially at the barbie doll. Now she was looking around the small exam room with big wide eyes.
"So you have a doctor's office here...," she mentioned. Then her face lit up with excitement. "Do you have a starbucks?" The dark haired woman next to her started to laugh. Merle assumed Katie was joking until he realized she was staring at him, waiting for an answer.
"No," he told her. She shrugged, looking disappointed. Her friend was still laughing.
"Katie," Cassandra said, "Are you serious? Starbucks?" Katie wrinkled up her nose.
"Doesn't hurt for me to ask," Katie insisted. Besides, she only needed to think up about five more and her stupid questions for the day quota would be filled.
"We do have an expresso machine," said a voice from the doorway. Katie and Cassandra's heads popped up. The tall man that everyone called the governor was in the doorway.
"For real?," Katie asked him. He nodded. "Will you make me an iced mocha?" He nodded again. Katie gave the disgusting man her biggest prettiest fakest smile. Of course he smiled back. Then she turned and gave Cassandra a smug look that made the tall man laugh. They came to steal weapons, but if she could get some fancy coffee out of the deal she would take that too. And whatever else she wanted, she thought, looking at the man in the doorway again.
"Don't know why ya want to ruin perrfectly good coffee by dumping a load of bullshit into it," Merle announced from the doorway. Don't know why you'd want to ruin yor face by opening your mouth and talking, Katie thought. But she knew better than to say that.
"If you don't like iced coffee, you are just one unhappy person," Katie informed him instead, in her little sing song voice. This made the tall man laugh again. And she could see the corners of Merle's mouth twitch up even though he was trying not to smile. The governor was holding a clipboard, looking like he was there for some inportant purpose. He gave the woman doctor a look and she scurrried out of the room without speaking.
"I came to ask you a few questions," he told the women. He was happy when he noticed they both straightened up and gave him their full attention. Though the blonde woman was still glancing at Merle from time to time. Phillip wouldn't have minded if she was looking at him instead. She was unquestionably the best looking woman out of the group, and that was really saying something, since all the women in the group were attractive. But he had been concerned about Merle from the start. The man had a lot of survival skills. Unlike the other members of his group, there was nothing to hold him back from taking off and making it on his own. If he became involved with a woman here in town, it would give him incentive to stay here in Woodbury and he would be easier to control.
"What were your jobs before the turn?," the governor asked the woman. Katie tilted her head to the side.
"What do you mean?," she asked him. Two down, four to go, she thought. Or maybe that one counted as two, since it was really extra dumb sounding.
"You got Katie's name down on that list?," Cassandra asked him. He nodded. "Write down trophy wife next to it." Katie opened her mouth, acting like she was offended.
"Homemaker?," the governor asked her. He tried to keep his tone serious.
"Does it count as homemaking if you have a maid?," Cassandra asked. This time Katie smacked at her.
"Homemaker is fine," Katie said, "and the maid didn't live with us, she only came once a week." Then Katie looked at the man in the doorway again. "You know my uncle used ta take me huntin' all the time when I was little, maybe I could help with that." She watched the look that passed between the governor and Merle. The governor was looking at him questioningly, and Merle gave him a shrug. Katie smiled. She had a feeling he was in charge of the hunting, and now she knew. That's why she had said that. The thought of being alone in the woods with him made her lick her lips before she even realized she was doing it. She blushed and looked down at her boots.
"Are you sure you don't mind us staying here?," Cassandra asked. The governor smiled gently and moved to put his arm around the woman. Katie was glad he had not touched her. The thought of him touching her made her want to throw up in her mouth a little. Cassandra leaned into him.
"You ladies are welcome to stay here as long as you like," the governor told them. Cassandra started pretending she was getting emotional about his offer. And Katie had to hand it to her, she was a pretty good actress. She was even tearing up a little and clinging to the front of this jerk's shirt.
"It's so bad out there," Cassandra said, turning to bury her head in the man's chest., probably because she thought she might not be able to keep a straight face.
"The other people we have run into haven't been so nice to us," Katie explained. She could tell by the man's reaction that she had said the right thing. The governor was clearly an egomaniac with some sort of fucked up savior complex. She made a mental note to pile on the compliments whenever she had the chance. He rubbed Cassandra's back, holding her close. Katie glanced at Merle again, wondering if she might get a little squeeze out of him if she started fake crying along with Cassandra. She didn't think so. He looked rather uncomfortable with the other woman's emotional outburst.
"That's all over now," the governor told the women, "why don't I show you where you will be staying." They usually put new people in a certain area, where they could be watched for the first few days, but he didn't see the need to do that with these women. They were going to be shown right to the same housing that everyone else lived in. There was one large apartment that he thought would work well for them. It had two bedrooms with large beds, and he had a few of the men take a sofa with another pull out bed inside it over there, along with fresh bedding and clean clothes.
He hoped the women wouldn't stay together in the apartment too long. He would rather them pair off and move in with some of his men. But that would come in time. For now he guessed letting them all stay together would make them feel more at ease. Safer. He wasn't completely stupid though. He was still going to assign someone to sit outside their apartment door tonight.