The row had grown quiet, and Amy decided she would like to get some fresh air. She descended the stairs and as she passed the cells on the floor, she came across the old man's cell. She stopped outside of it seeing that the others had left. When she saw the dreadful sight before her, the strange events of the past two days instantly started making more sense. His right leg was missing below the knee, and a bloody bandage covered the stump.
She quickly averted her eyes and felt anxious. No longer wanting to awkwardly stand outside his cell door, she took a quick step away before he called her.
"Hello dear. Who are you?"
Amy stepped back to the door and faced him, seeing that he looked kindly at her.
"I'm Amy," she replied. "I came here yesterday."
He nodded. "Come on in. I don't bite," he joked.
Still feeling awkward, Amy obliged.
He remained lying down and occasionally grimaced in pain.
"How did you come to join us?" he asked after a wave of pain passed.
"Maggie and Glenn rescued me on the road from walkers. Twice."
He nodded in approval, and Amy thought she saw a hint of pride in his smile.
"Could you get me an extra pillow?"
Amy grabbed a pillow off the top bunk and helped him adjust it behind his head.
"Thank you, Amy," he said as he rested his head back. He closed his eyes and smiled. "I'm Hershel."
"It's nice to meet you," Amy said smiling.
"May I ask… what happened to your leg?" Amy asked hesitantly after a pause in their conversation.
"Walker bit me," he said, opening his eyes again.
Amy's eyes widened with fear. "How are you?... not…" she stammered.
"Rick saved me by cutting it off," he said. "He's a good man," he added when she said nothing.
"Daddy, are you alright?" Maggie asked.
Amy jumped back. She looked over to see that Maggie and the young blonde girl had entered the cell. Tight lipped, Maggie stared at Amy.
"It's alright, Maggie. I was just having a nice chat here with Amy," he said easily with a smile.
"I best get going," Amy said to no one particular. She slinked out of the cell, while avoiding the girls' eyes.
Feeling even more uneasy, Amy retreated to the relative solitary her cell offered.
A couple hours later, while Amy rearranged the few items in her cell, she heard faint footsteps behind her.
"Would you help me with the laundry?" a woman asked her.
Amy turned to face a petite woman with short gray hair holding a large basket filled with clothes.
"Sure," Amy answered smiling. "Can I take that for you?" she offered.
"Thanks," the woman replied with a grateful smile. She rolled her shoulders after handing the basket to Amy, as if they were sore.
"I'm Carol," she added.
"Amy."
Amy followed Carol down the stairs and outside the building where a few wash buckets and clothes lines waited for them.
The women washed the clothes in silence, enjoying the warm sunshine overhead. Amy enjoyed the fresh air and relative peacefulness of the moment after the past two stressful days. Their spot overlooked a large field surround by a maze of fences. Beyond the fences, however, many dark figures wandered. The number of those people in such a random spot surprised Amy.
Well, walkers, she thought to herself.
Oddly, Amy thought how strange it seemed to call them walkers, even though it made sense.
That's going to take some getting used to.
A shiver ran through her body as she realized just how many of them lingered. Amy sat far enough away that she could not make out any of the walkers' features. But she no longer felt the bright sunshine, almost as if a thick cloud had settled overhead. Desperate to think about something else, Amy realized she still did not know her location within the U.S.
"Where are we?" she blurted out loud.
Carol looked up at her, amusement apparent.
"What?" Amy questioned.
Carol simply shook her head. "Nothing," she replied. She studied Amy's face, trying to figure out if she seriously just asked that. When Amy continued to wait for an answer, a brief flash of surprise registered on Carol's face.
"Somewhere outside of Atlanta," she finally replied while wringing out water from a shirt.
"And where is that?" Amy asked.
Carol looked at her, momentarily expressionless.
"Georgia…" Carol looked for a sign of understanding from Amy but found none. "Southern U.S…" her words lingered. It was not a question, but she felt baffled by what she had just seen and heard.
Amy finally nodded. "Oh, okay."
An uneasy feeling sprouted then in Amy's mind, especially when she thought back to the other people's resistance towards her story just a few hours prior.
First Dan's… no Daryl's outburst, then Rick, and now this lady.
Amy sighed silently.
When she drew a blouse out of her wash bucket, she noticed the red polish had chipped at the tips of her nails.
I'll have to redo those later.
She angrily groaned out loud for having forgotten that she currently did not have easy access to meaningless objects like nail polish.
Carol looked up from her work and to Amy questionably.
Amy just shook her head. "It's okay," she told her.
Carol pursed her lips together, looking unconvinced, before turning her attention back to her bucket.
Back in her own thoughts, Amy knew the foolishness of concerning herself with material objects, but it painfully reminded her of the current situation. Her life was falling apart just like the polish on her nails.
Amy looked up from her wash bucket to stare past the fence again.
She attempted to push her awkward feelings aside to salvage what she could of their conversation. Mercifully, she remembered another question she had. She knew it would not help her credibility any, given that it was no better than the last, but she needed to know.
"How long has this been going on for?" Amy asked delicately.
Carol noticed Amy looking at the walkers again. "About a year."
Amy looked over at Carol and saw how her features had turned worn and heavy. Obviously it had been a long year at that.
"I'm sorry," Amy said.
Carol attempted a crooked smile in thanks of Amy's sympathy, but her eyes remained dull.
Throughout the day, Amy followed Carol around. She learned about the necessary chores and officially met the other people in the group. Most of her introductions were rather awkward, and the others struggled to hold a conversation with her. When Carol introduced the teenage blonde girl, Beth, to her, Amy thought Beth showed the most kindness of the lot. The quiet girl smiled shyly at her with genuine interest. Sometime later, she approached Amy and invited her to explore the secured parts of the prison grounds with her. The two chattered easily about their observations.
Afterward, the girls walked through the courtyard on their way back to the cell block when they saw Carol removing the last articles of clothing from a line. They approached her and Carol smiled at them.
"Did you have fun exploring?"
"Yes! We did," Beth answered smiling. "I can carry that basket," she offered.
"Thanks," Carol answered as Beth picked it up. Beth walked off with it toward the door, and Carol turned her attention to Amy then.
"I was wondering if you'd help me change Hershel's bandage," Carol asked.
"Yeah, of course," Amy answered quickly, but she felt a little sick at the prospect.
Carol led Amy inside and to his cell. Given Amy's strange encounter earlier, she felt anxious again standing in his cell, even under Carol's invitation. But Amy did not have time to dwell on that, because Carol instructed Amy to open packets of gauze and other materials. Amy prepared the fresh bandages as Carol carefully removed the outer layers of the bandage. Amy laid the open packets on the bed within Carol's reach and put the first bloodied layers into a bag.
"Amy, if you're squeamish about blood, I'd suggest looking away now," Carol told Amy as she concentrated on prying the last layer away. Amy's attention was drawn to Hershel's contorted face, which paled by the second. She wondered if he would pass out from the excruciating pain. He bit his lip, trying to not make any noise, but he finally inhaled sharply.
Amy stole a quick glance at the wound and immediately wished she had not. She tore her gaze from the red, angry stump. Amy closed her eyes and took a deep breathe through her nose when she felt an unpleasant sensation in her mouth. When Amy opened her eyes, she saw Hershel's outstretched hand and firmly grasped it in her own.
"I'm going to apply the ointment now, Hershel," Carol informed him.
Hershel nodded and gripped Amy's hand even more tightly.
A few agonizing minutes later, Amy dared to look over and breathed a sigh of relief when she saw the stark white layer of gauze covering the area. With the first layer applied, a little tension in the room dissipated.
"Well, that should do it," Carol said several minutes later as she rose from the side of the bed. "Thanks for all of you help today, Amy. Go on and get some dinner," she said with motherly concern. Even covered in blood, Carol's kindness toward those around her shone bright.
Amy smiled back at her.
"Amy," Hershel said looking up to her. "Thank you."
She nodded and smiled in response.
"Bye," Amy said, looking to both Carol and Hershel before exiting the cell.
Amy did not know it at the time, but after she told Maggie, Rick, and Daryl about her life, the story had circulated throughout the entire group within a few hours. It was not easy to top the weirdness of their everyday life, but somehow she had done it. What a juicy bit of gossip for them. But rather than wonder about the details of her previous journey or even its plausibility, they instead collectively pondered what could have driven her to tell such a tale. Did someone kidnap her and push her to the point of insanity? Or had the world's hardships caused a mental break in her?
Most of them did not view her as a direct threat but questioned letting her join the group. She appeared sane, once they ignored story, and she acted nice enough. But would she burden them in the future? Or even worse, betray them someday? Despite these thoughts, no one objected Rick's decision. Some even pitied her; they believed she would not stand a chance on her own.
Any questions the others held quickly subsided. After all, trying to hold their fragile existence together kept them busy enough from dwelling on such ideas. Any remaining questions just sat at the back of their minds. Always present, but not at the forefront, as Amy gradually integrated into their group.
For Amy, however, she knew the others did not believe her. Feelings of awkwardness dominated her second day with the group. The faltering conversations, the surprised glances made in her direction, and the brief looks the others shared amongst themselves. She picked up on all of them. Very quickly she learned she best just shut her mouth around them when it came to her previous experiences.
They must think I am crazy. Not that I can really blame them…
She felt like a kid again, everyone dismissing the stories of her raggedy doctor.
As an unspoken agreement, Amy joined Carol outside each day to wash clothes and hang them to dry in the wind. Amy kept busy throughout the day by helping the women with the other chores too. She felt grateful after all to them for taking her in, and she intended to do her fair share of work. But she was also trying to avoid a trouble that seized her heart throughout the day, right up to her last waking moment. As the candlelight flickered, ominous shadows moved through the cell block in the evenings. The shadows captivated her eyes, rendering her immobile. Amy felt especially vulnerable then as her thoughts ran rampant and unchecked. They even manifested themselves in her dreams.
While Amy had experienced quite a shock when she first heard about the walkers, she managed to remain relatively calm about the fact that the world had ended. She liked to think that having traveled with the Doctor had somewhat prepared her to handle all of this weird stuff. Remaining in the present, she solely focused on the day's activities before her, holding out hope that he would return shortly. When he did not come back that week, she just told herself that her busy Time Lord never excelled at arriving on time. She did her best to remain patient, as she believed he would come any day.
By waiting for his arrival though, she had unknowingly put up barriers between herself and the rest of the group. She absolutely could not tell these people that she was waiting for a man to whisk her away from this world and all of its troubles. For the meantime, Amy had to make sure she played her part well enough to remain in the group's good graces. If the Doctor was going to save her, she would have to endure long enough to see it happen. In a way, even though she saw the walkers outside with her own eyes, it just did not feel real to her. In her mind, she had already left the prison and returned to the Doctor, her Doctor.
One evening later that week, Amy sat on the main floor of the cell block with her back resting up against the wall. While mending a shirt, Beth approached her. She smiled timidly at Amy, wringing her hands slightly. Beth opened her mouth to say something but closed it again, as if unsure what to say.
Amy smiled reassuringly at her. "You're wondering about where I came from, aren't you?"
Beth released a held breath. "Yes," she whispered behind a timid smile.
"Thought so," Amy replied playfully. She patted the ground next to her.
"What would you like to know?" Amy said as she turned her head to smile at the now sitting girl.
Beth pondered this a second before asking, "Did you see any aliens?"
"You bet I did," she said grinning.
"Weren't you scared of them?"
Amy laughed at her cute question.
"Nope," she replied confidently with a twinkle in her eye.
Amy paused a moment before throwing a conceding look at her.
"Well, most of the time."
The girls giggled at that.
Amy further added, "They weren't all bad. Some were actually quite similar to people, if you can believe it. It's something I just got used to over time."
"What is the coolest thing you have ever seen?" Beth asked.
"The coolest? Hmm, well… I'm going to have to go with what I saw on my first adventure away from earth. A star whale."
"Wait…what?"
Amy chuckled. "A whale that lives and travels through outer space," she explained.
Beth still looked puzzled.
Amy giggled again, "Sorry, that doesn't help much."
Beth smiled in return. "So how did you end up seeing the star whale?"
"Me and my friend, we traveled to the future..."
Just then, Daryl walked by and interrupted her story with a scoff and a subtle shake of the head.
"You're just jealous!" Amy retorted.
The girls shared a wild grin, unseen by Daryl.
"Very," Daryl replied dryly without turning around or altering his stride.
They broke down into uncontrollable giggles once he disappeared. It took several minutes for the girls to recover from their fit.
"What happened when you went to the future?" Beth asked breathlessly.
"My friend saw a little girl crying, and he can't resist helping crying children. So we stopped by to see what was wrong. It's kinda a long and complicated story, but everyone had to leave earth and live in space. Their spaceship was settled on the back of this star whale. Eventually, I figured out that the people were inadvertently torturing the whale to control it. The whale was actually a very kind creature and once they stopped hurting it, their problems were solved." Amy finished with a smile.
"So in the future there are lots of star whales in the universe?" Beth asked excitedly.
Amy sobered a little. "No. This star whale was very old and the very last of its kind."
Just like the Doctor, she wanted to add. She remembered thinking that very same thing when it had all first happened. In that moment on the spaceship, she began to truly understand the Doctor for the first time.
"Why were people living in outer space?"
Beth's question snapped Amy to attention. She shook her head along with her thoughts of the Doctor away.
"Uhh… I think my friend said why, but I didn't hear him. This was really far in the future."
"Did you go to the future again, but only closer in time to now?"
"No…" Amy answered, unsure of Beth's reason for shifting the conversation.
"Do you think they left to escape the walkers?" Beth whispered shakily.
Amy felt like she had just fallen hard on the ground and had gotten the wind knocked out of her. It happened again, that harsh wake up call. She had let her previous memories sweep her away and consequently forget about the Doctor's absence. Instead, she remained stuck on an Earth overrun with walkers. She was now just like Beth. Someone who only thought, only wished, to live somewhere, anywhere else.
A pit of dread settled in her stomach as she picked at her nail polish. She had no words to answer Beth with. Up to this point, she had not thought of the future or more importantly, it's implications on the present.
Had he known all this time? No, that's not possible. Surely he would have mentioned that Earth had fallen victim to this. Yeah, I haven't been to the future a lot, but he has. And he knows so much about everything. How could this just go silent? Then again, this shouldn't be an issue in the first place. He has saved Earth so many times before from far more complicated matters.
Beth, once again, broke Amy from her now frantic thoughts.
"But this is good right? Someday everyone will be free from the walkers," Beth encouraged, but she frowned slightly.
Amy reacted quickly by brightening her tone and appearance as best she could. She was not going to plague Beth with ideas she herself failed to understand.
"Yeah," Amy said, attempting to sound convincing. However, her voice had cracked a bit despite her efforts. Amy smiled at Beth trying to cover for that.
An uneasy silence reigned for several minutes until Beth spoke again.
"Well I better go see if my dad needs anything before bed."
She rose to her feet, but paused before turning away.
"I really like your stories and would love to hear more someday if you don't mind," she said timidly.
"Of course not." Amy beamed. "I'm glad you like them."
Beth smiled shyly back.
"Just don't go telling them to that grumpy Daryl." Amy winked at her.
Beth laughed quietly, but she could not hide the grin on her face.
"Goodnight," Beth said still laughing.
"Goodnight," Amy replied.
While Amy had enjoyed revealing her happier memories to Beth, the unease in her mind returned. A weight burdened her shoulders once again. It helped, remembering her time with him. But she continued to dwell on those memories to a fault in that she was not fully present in her new surroundings. Even worse, Beth had questioned the future before Amy did. Why had the Doctor not told her?
At that moment she only had one thought.
Rule number one: The Doctor lies.
