Chapter 10
Isabeau woke to the sound of roosters and birds. She was confused for a moment as to where she was, then raised up and looked around and remembered. She saw someone-Daryl most likely-had draped a light blanket over her while she slept. The breeze coming through the windows was slightly cool, but she was sure by midmorning it would have died down and the day would become just as swelteringly hot as the previous day had been. She had been in Atlanta last summer, and nearly every day had regretted not picking a hospital up North to do her surgical residency in. She missed the mild temperatures and cool nights of Michigan in the summer. Maybe if the group headed into the mountains and found a safe place she could have a relief from this heat before the end of summer.
She stood and stretched, pushed the loveseat back to it's former spot and folded the blanket. She had no idea what time it was, but it still seemed fairly early. Looking out the window she could see some stirring in the camp. She didn't see Daryl anywhere. She hadn't heard him leave, so she had no idea how long he'd been gone.
Isabeau wandered into the kitchen and found Maggie and Glen sitting side by side at the table, whispering. When they heard Isabeau, they looked up quickly and both turned beet red.
"I see you've met Glen," Isabeau murmured, laughing softly. Maggie turned even more red and Glen covered his face with his hand. Isabeau laughed slightly louder. "Hey, no worries-the only secrets I can't keep are my own," and she turned down the hall to find the bathroom.
After washing up some, Isabeau walked back into the kitchen to find Beth and Maggie starting breakfast along with Andrea and Carol and Amy. "Do you need me to help do anything?" she asked the women. Carol shook her head.
"No we've got it covered. Have you checked on Carl yet?" she asked.
"I'm going up now," Isabeau answered. She headed up the stairs and peeked into the room where Carl lay sleeping. She also saw Lori had made a pallet on the floor and was sleeping soundly, while Rick had fallen asleep in the chair he had pulled close to the bed. Isabeau felt Carl's forehead quietly, and took his pulse. He wasn't running a fever and his pulse was steady. Rick woke up and saw Isabeau.
"How is he?" he rasped.
"Well, he isn't running a fever and his pulse is steady. I'll wait a bit before I check his wound. How did he sleep?" She whispered.
"He never stirred. He slept more soundly than he has since he was a baby," Rick replied in a soft voice.
"Part of that was the pain meds," she replied. "I can watch him for a while if you and Lori want to clean up and get something to eat," she offered. "The Greene girls and some from our group are making breakfast in the kitchen." Rick nodded and reached over to Lori and shook her shoulder gently. Lori stirred slowly.
"C'mon Lori. Beau is going to watch Carl for a bit so we can clean up and eat something," he whispered. Lori started up and crossed over to the bed quickly.
"He slept through the night, no fever and his pulse is steady," Isabeau told her. "I'm glad to sit with him so you two can eat something." She offered. Lori nodded and touched Carl's hand softly, then turned and walked out of the room with Rick following. Isabeau sighed and sat back in the chair.
Chapter 11
An hour later, Rick and Lori came back up the stairs and into the room. Carl was sleeping. Isabeau had carefully checked his wound while Rick and Lori were gone from the room. There were no signs of infection. She had changed the bandages and when Carl had briefly opened his eyes she had asked him if he was in pain. He had shaken his head and drifted quickly back to sleep. Isabeau had given him another pain shot and antibiotic shot. She related all of this to Rick and Lori and then left them to watch over Carl.
Going into the kitchen, she saw the women had set up a buffet of eggs and ham and biscuits and jelly and gravy along with bottles of juice and water set out. Carol and Andrea were sitting at the table relaxing. She saw Amy and Beth and Sophia out on the back porch on the stairs. She heard Maggie and Glen in the living room.
"Everyone get a chance to eat?" she asked as she stepped over to the counter to look over the various dishes laid out.
"Yes," Carol answered. "Herschel is out in the camp, talking to Dale and Jim and Ed. Shane and Merle are sitting on the front porch. I don't know where Daryl is-no one has seen him all morning." Carol sounded slightly worried. Isabeau frowned and laid her plate back down, her appetite gone. Isabeau started toward the front porch.
Standing in front of Merle and Shane she looked over the yard again for a glimpse of Daryl.
"Hey shortstack, don't worry. Baby brother gets restless sometimes and has to go wander around out in the woods to blow off some steam. He'll be back soon," Merle told her, winking. Isabeau frowned at him. Why wasn't he worried? No matter how competent someone was, it was just foolish to go off alone nowadays.
Isabeau started down the stairs and headed toward the fence that marked the perimeter of the yard. She had been a runner in junior high and high school. Never on the track team or anything serious like that, she just liked to run to relieve stress and let out some energy. She hadn't had a chance to run now in weeks-not since the virus had started spreading and made going out anywhere dangerous. When she missed her runs, she felt like she had an overabundance of energy bottled up. It made her temper short and made her irritable. She looked down and saw if she wanted to run she needed to change. She walked over to the truck and rifled through her back pack for a pair of shorts. The tank top she had on would do, she just needed to change her shorts. She opened the passenger door and shucked off the cargo shorts and pulled on the running shorts. No one could see her change with the door open. Not that she cared. She flung the cargo shorts on the floor of the truck and did some warm up stretches by the truck, then started off toward the fence slowly. She could see the others in the group watching her. She was used to that down here-most folks didn't walk very much, much less run. She frowned that she had forgotten to clip her hair up, but she already felt better with her slow trot she didn't want to stop and go back in the house and look for the clip.
She settled into a rhythm and ran slowly at first, gradually gaining speed. She paced her breathing and made sure not to run too fast, she wanted to run a few laps and knew she was rusty from the weeks of inactivity. She smiled as she felt the sun warm on her face and shoulders, and was glad it was still early and the day had yet to turn steamy and hot. It was easier to breathe if you ran early in the morning here-even in the evening the air was incredibly humid and made it difficult to keep a steady pace and breathing.
She ran the perimeter of the fence, taking her behind the barn out back and to the far left side of the house. As she rounded the front of the house again she saw the group still watching her. She shook her head and tried to clear her mind and just think of the running-trying to empty herself of everything but the movement of her legs, the feel of the sun on her face and the smell of the grass and flowers in the yard and field. She picked up her pace slightly, enjoying the feel in her legs of the muscles stretching. She was sweating a bit now, and that felt good too-it felt like she was getting rid of anything negative in her system. She rounded the front a second time and saw the group had gone back to whatever they were doing and had stopped watching for her. She fell into a steady pace and breathed deeply in and out as her legs churned her around the field a third time. She smiled happily. She figured she'd do one more lap and then shower-she didn't want to push things and injure herself.
As she neared the back of the barn the fourth time, she caught sight of Daryl standing near the back of the barn, his head cocked in a listening position. He caught sight of her and waved to her to come over. Isabeau slowed her pace and turned toward him. He held up a finger to his mouth to caution her to keep quiet. She pulled up beside him, trying not to pant loudly as she bent over to stretch and try and cool down. She stood back up and frowned at him. He motioned for her to stand by him and listen.
Isabeau stood with her head tilted toward the wall, then jumped back quickly, a startled look on her face. Daryl nodded and walked a small distance away from the barn. He motioned for her to follow.
"That barn has got goddam walkers in it," he whispered angrily. Isabeau looked at the barn and back at him, nodding. "I got restless early this morning and headed out here to walk around a bit. I started hearing that moaning and scratching. I went out into the fields around here and the woods to see if there were any out there as well as in the barn. I didn't see any signs of any horde or stragglers out there. So I don't know who the hell is in the barn, but for some reason that old man has got walkers penned up in there." He paced angrily back and forth in front of Isabeau.
Before she could say anything in reply, Merle showed up. "Hey girlie, what's going on?" he hollered. "When ya didn't come back around the front I wondered where ya got to," he continued loudly. Daryl waved his hand at Merle to shut up, but it was too late. The walkers in the barn got louder and now Merle heard them. "What the hell is going on back here," he yelled angrily, looking at the barn. "Have you locked some walkers up or something?" he demanded, grabbing Daryl's shirt. Daryl tore loose from Merle's grip angrily.
"Fuck no," he spat out, "I heard some noise this morning and followed the noise to the barn. I don't know how manys in there or why. I was just telling Beau about it when you came barging up yelling like an idiot," he huffed out in disgust.
Merle shook his head angrily. "Maybe this is the real reason that old man don't want our group here," he growled. "Maybe we need to ask him just what the hell is going on." He headed back to the front of the house with Daryl and Isabeau following. Without thinking, Daryl grabbed Isabeau's hand and pulled her up beside him and slowed his stride so she could keep up.
The three rounded the front of the house to find Herschel arguing with Shane and some of the others.
"What's going on," Merle interrupted belligerently.
"Glen and Maggie went on a supply run to town by themselves and he's pissed and wants us to leave right now," Shane ground out.
"Bullshit," Isabeau spat out. "You know Carl can't be moved yet. And you can't have been too damned worried about your daughters when you have," here Daryl placed his hand over her mouth and pulled her back against his chest. She shook her head angrily and tried to stomp his foot, but he tightened his hand on her mouth and whispered in her ear.
"Hush now, we have to be careful how we handle this. Just be still a minute and let me and Merle talk to Shane and the others." He pinched her cheek with his finger and let go of her. Her eyes filled up with angry tears and she crossed her arms over her chest and blew out her lip in an angry pout. Daryl felt bad about silencing her, but he didn't trust Shane or Merle not to get riled up and do something stupid right now. He walked over to Merle and motioned for Shane and the others to follow him over to his truck.
He quickly explained what he had heard in the barn, and told the others that the walkers needed to be taken care of before they broke loose and killed anyone. But he also insisted that they talk to Herschel first to see why he had walkers penned up in his barn. The others agreed and Dale said he'd do the talking since he and Herschel had spent most of the previous night talking about family and the virus. They approached the porch again, where Herschel sat frowning on the swing. Beth had appeared in the doorway and stood watching. Isabeau looked up and saw Rick watching from the bedroom window.
"Herschel, can you tell us why there are walkers penned up in your barn and how long you've had them in there?" Dale began. Beth gasped in surprise and looked over at her father in disbelief.
"It's my barn, and it's my business," Herschel snapped. Dale shook his head.
"No, Herschel, I'm sorry but this is everybody's business. We need to make sure we're safe while we're here. We also want to be sure that you and your family are safe when we leave. We can't leave knowing you've got walkers penned up in your barn. Those walkers get out, they bite folks, that makes more walkers. That makes hordes. And that is a problem for anyone around here, not just your family." He paused for Herschel to absorb this. "Now, I'm asking politely. Why are there walkers in your barn and how long have they been in there?"
Beth started to cry. Maggie and Glen pulled up in a truck just then and Maggie hopped out and quickly ran up the steps to Beth.
"What's going on Daddy?" Maggie asked. Herschel sighed.
"The folks in my barn are my family and friends," Herschel said tiredly. Maggie and Beth both shrieked in horror and started to cry.
"What are you talking about," Maggie yelled at her father.
"Your momma and brother are in there," Herschel explained. "I didn't know what to do after they turned. So I just shut them in the barn. Beth's friend Jimmy showed up, a walker, and I shut him in the barn too. A few stragglers from the farms down the road showed up and they got shut up as well. I just didn't know what to do with them. I couldn't let them just roam around and take the chance of my girls getting bit." He sighed and put his hands over his face and leaned over, ashamed.
Rick showed up in the doorway and squeezed past the Greene girls who clung to each other sobbing. Rick looked over at Shane and nodded.
"Herschel, I'm sorry but we're going to have to put the walkers down. We can't leave them in your barn. They'll get out and kill your family or anyone else that happens to be around here." Rick waited for some response from Herschel. When none was forthcoming, he walked slowly down the steps toward Shane and the other men. "Okay then, we need to get our ammo and weapons and head toward the barn and take care of it," Rick said. Rick and Shane headed toward the barn, with Merle and Daryl following. Daryl looked toward Isabeau and saw how angry she was. She turned her back on him and stomped up the stairs to go inside and clean up from her run. Maggie and Beth sat on the porch steps, calming down as Carol, Andrea, Amy and Sophia talked quietly to them. Glen looked toward Maggie uncertainly, then headed back toward the barn with Dale and the other men.
Isabeau popped her head into the room where Carl slept. Lori was sitting in the chair, dozing lightly. Carl seemed to be resting comfortably, so Isabeau went into the bathroom and started the shower. Apparently the farm had a well and some kind of hook up that had kept the house in running water and flushing toilets. Isabeau stripped off her running clothes angrily and stepped out of her shoes and stepped into the shower, grateful for the hot water. As she began to lather up she heard shots in the distance, from the direction of the barn. She knew logically that Daryl had been right to tell her to keep quiet, she just didn't like the way he had done it. She sighed. She was probably not going to like a lot of things he did-he had been raised entirely differently than she had, and truthfully men in the South had a much different way of looking at women than men in the North had. She was lucky any of them had listened to anything she had said so far-and that was probably only because of Rick's stamp of approval of her because she had been his doctor and kept him alive. She would have to tread carefully if she wanted to keep their respect and have them listen to anything she said. But that didn't mean she had to be a doormat and be meek about it.