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Beatrix
"Beatrix!" Glenn calls for me as I'm walking out of the house.
"Glenn!" I run up to him and grab his collar, shaking him, "Did you get all of the medical supplies?"
"Beatrix, calm down," Glenn grabs my shoulders and I stop shaking him. "Yes, I got all of your medical supplies."
"Promise?" I ask, my hands still gripping his collar.
"Yes, Beatrix, I promise," Glenn sighs and I loosen my grip a little.
"Take me to it," I demand and grab onto his arm so he can walk.
"You can be really scary," Glenn swallows and starts walking towards the cars. "You know, with your medical supplies."
"Not scary, just passionate," I shrug as he continues walking.
"Everything alright here?" Shane asks, stopping Glenn and I.
"I wouldn't try to stop her if I were you," Glenn mutters and Shane raises an eyebrow. "She's on a hunt for medical supplies."
"You should come with us," I tell Shane. "I need to talk to you and Rick about something when I'm done."
"Alright," Shane rubs his head and falls into step with us. Somehow he's managed to shave his head, which is really different, but it suits him.
"Bed of the truck," Glenn points to Otis' blue truck. I let go of his arm and hop into the bed. There are two duffle bags, not as big as mine, but they still seem to be filled up.
"Glenn, you're officially my favorite person ever," I smile at him and then sit down, unzipping the bags and quickly looking through them.
"What'd you need me for?" Shane props himself up on the truck.
"We need to talk to Rick," I mutter, getting up. Shane holds my arm as I jump out of the truck so I don't fall.
"Let's go then," Shane nods to me and we walk off, leaving Glenn. Rick is sitting on the porch of the farmhouse when we find him.
"Something wrong?" Rick stands up and takes a couple of steps towards us.
"No, man, Beatrix said she wanted to talk to us about somethin'," Shane rubs his head again.
"I had an idea," I look around to make sure nobody could hear us. "About a cure. Well, not exactly a cure, but rather an immunity to the disease."
"An immunity?" Rick whispers, leaning closer to make sure nobody hear us.
"Yes, an immunity. Jenner and I theorized that the reason this disease kills you so quickly, is that it's set in so quickly," I explain. "You have no defense system to it so your whitle blood cells can't fight it off. If your bloodstream were to have exposure, even the slightest bit, to the disease, it could built up an immunity to it. If I'm right, I could have our whole group immune to the virus."
"What's this got to do with me?" Shane asks, putting a hand on his hip.
"Remember back at the CDC when Jenner tested all of our blood?" I ask and they nod, urging me to go on. "Well, he let me see the results, and I have a copy if you don't believe me. I compared everybody's white count, and I thought we could try out my theory on the person with the highest. But that's only if you guys think it's a good idea."
"Who has the highest white count?" Shane asks, already knowing it was him. I gave him a small nod that let him know he was right. "Let's say I were to agree to this. How would you expose my bloodstream to it?"
"Walker blood injections," I mumble, looking down at my feet.
"Isn't that dangerous?" Rick asks.
"Yeah, but if it goes wrong I can control it. Between my blood thinners and the rest of my medicine, Shane should be fine. I wouldn't give him much at first, barely any. Just enough to expose it, then gradually getting more and more. Then if you get bit, you should be able to survive it," I pitch my argument, hoping Shane would agree.
"And you really think this will work?" Shane sighs.
"Definitley," I nod my head. "But we'll need to keep it quiet from the rest of the group. They might not like the idea."
"Alright," Shane reluctantly nods his head.
"You know what would help," I bite my lip. "If we had that FEMA trailer Hershel mentioned. There's probably a hospital bed, or at least one of the chairs. Not to mention the holy grail of medical supplies."
"Maggie said that place was overrun, Beatrix. We can't risk it," Rick shakes his head.
"Can't I at least go scout it out? Maybe there's a way we can get it done," I beg.
"I'll go with you," Shane says.
"No, I want to do the first round today, before I go. You need to go find a walker, kill it, and draw some blood from it. I'll take Daryl," I pull the towel out of my hair and shake it out, laying the towel on the porch. Daryl shouldn't have a problem going with me
"You sure he'll go with you?" Rick raises a eyeborw.
"Yeah," I nod my head and turn to walk away. "And Shane, I'll come find you soon for the first one."
"How do I draw blood from a walker?" Shane asks, stopping me from leaving. I quickly run into the house to grab a syringe.
"Take this," I hand it to him. "Find the vein in its arm and draw it straight out."
Shane doesn't say anything as I walk off to find Daryl. He's probably back at the tent, making arrows or something. It takes me at least five minutes to walk back there. I have no idea why he had them put his tent so far away from everybody else. It's dangerous, but I guess he just likes being alone.
"Daryl?" I softly call out for him, just in case he's actually making arrows. He could accidentally slice open his thumb and I just really don't want to deal with that today.
"Go away," he replies from the other side of the fire pit. I ignore his comment and walk over to him and sit down across from him. "Oh, it's just you."
"Just me," I shrug my shoulders and watch as he uses my knife to carve sticks into arrows. "I need a favor."
"I ain't one for favors," Daryl grunts and continues carving.
"Yeah, but you're supposed to be nice to me, remember?" I laugh. "You said it yourself. You don't hate me."
"What do ya want?" He sighs and drops the arrow he was finished with.
"I need you to take me to that high school with the medical trailers," I look up at his face. "Because apparently I'm not capable of going on my own."
"You're not," he grunts. "I'll take you. Gotta have somebody to watch your ass. Keep you safe."
"Thank you," I smile and stand up. "We can leave in a hour or so."
Daryl nods his head and I head back to the farm. Before I leave though, I strip off my lab coat and throw it into the tent. Carol offers me something to eat, but I shake my head. I don't need to eat right now. Shane's green car drives up while I'm walking up the porch steps. He gives me a nod, letting me know that he got it. I wave my hand and motion for him to follow me into the spare bedroom that Maggie put my medical supplies in.
"How much did you get?" I ask, locking the door behind us. We don't need anybody walking in and seeing this.
"Half of a syringe," Shane pulls it out and hands it to me. "Blood was almost too thick to draw."
"I'm not surprised," I shake my head and sit him down on the bed. "I need to get to your shoulder."
"You gonna put all of that in me?" He unbuttons his shirt and slings it off of his left shoulder.
"No, all of this would probably kill you," I let out a small laugh, trying to lighten the mood. It did not work. "I'll only put in a little. It won't be that bad."
"And you're sure about this?" Shane asks. I go through my duffle bags until I find a bottle and another needle.
"Very," I nod my head and squirt the blood out into the bottle. I open the new syringe and draw a small amount of it back out.
"Why'd you do that?"
"Sharing needles isn't sterile," I get some gauze and tape ready.
"Stop stalling a just do it," Shane demands. I sigh and stick the needle into his upper arm. He winces as I push the blood out into his muscle.
"You might get sick," I tape gauze into where the needle was. "Not deathly ill, but nausea or headaches, dizziness or weakness."
"I'll be fine," he pulls his shirt back on.
"If you get bad off before I get back, tell Hershel to give you blood thinners. I'll explain to him when I get here," I explain as I hide the small container of blood behind the dresser. "I'm surprised you're being so cool about all of this. I didn't figure you'd let me do it."
"Pros outweigh the cons," he shrugs. "Plus you're a good doctor. I trust your opinion."
"Thank you," I smile and unlock the door.
"Beatrix?" Lori stops me as I get ready to walk out the front door. "Are you going to be busy today?"
"Yeah, I was getting ready to head out. What did you need?" I follow her into Carl's room.
"I was just going to get you to help me get settled in. Maybe start organizing everything," she sits back down in her chair by the bed.
"I'll help you when I get back. I promise," I smile and head outside again.
"You gonna head out soon?" Rick asks me as I step off the porch.
"Yeah, I just got done with Shane. Daryl said he'd go," I push my still damp hair behind my ear.
"There he is right now," Rick points to Daryl walking toward us. "You have a gun?"
"No, I don't want one," I shake my head.
"You need one," Rick sighs and hands me his handheld.
"Rick, I don't know how to shoot," I try to hand it back to him, but he won't let me.
"It could save your life," Rick says. "Please take it."
"I'll bring it back to you," I slip it into the waistband of my pants.
"I thought we agreed on no guns, Rick?" Hershel asks, walking down the steps to us.
"She only has one because she's getting ready to leave. Her and Daryl are going to go scout out that high school," Rick explains. "Would you mind giving them directions to it?"
"I wouldn't suggest taking your girl out there. It's overrun," Hershel says to Daryl, who had finally made his way over to us.
"We'll be fine. I'll keep her safe," Daryl says, not even addressing the face that Hershel referred to me as his girl.
"If you say so," Hershel sighs. "Go back out into the main road to town for about two miles, then take a right. It should be up through there."
"What are we driving?" I follow Daryl over to the cars.
"My bike," he says as if it's the most obvious thing in the world.
"Great," I mumble, getting on behind him.
"Don't like bikes?" Daryl asks as he starts up his bike.
"They make me nervous," I say as I wrap my arms around his waist. "First time I ever rode one was with you the other day."
"Ain't nothin gonna happen to you. Just hold on," he says as he picks his feet up and starts driving off.
Once again, I bury my face into his back and shut my eyes, not wanting to accept that I'm on the back of a motorcycle. My arms tighten around his waist every time he makes a turn from fear of falling off.
"Beatrix, you can let go now," I can practically hear the smirk in Daryl's tone. "We're parked."
"Right, sorry," I let go of him so he can hop off and I follow him. "And I told you that you can call me Trixy. I like it."
"What are we doin' here anyway?" He starts walking. I realize that he's parked a little ways away so they walkers wouldn't hear the bike.
"We're here to look around and see if there's a way we can steal the medical trailer," I smile happily.
"Figures," he grunts. "Wouldn't expect any less of ya."
"Hershel and Otis said it was overrun though," I frown as we approach the high school. It's surrounded by cars, so we can't exactly get a good idea of how many walkers there are yet.
"Ah hell," Daryl whispers when we get close enough to see. There are at least thirty walkers in the area that's surrounded by cars, with the trailer supporting one of its sides. Behind the gates surrounding the school, there's at least fifty that are visible to us, not to mention the ones we can't see. "Trixy, there ain't no way."
"Daryl, we have to," I grab his very-healthy-arm and sigh. We've moved behind one of the larger cars and sit down.
"There a back door on them trailers?" He points to it. "We could creep our way around and get in. Just to see if it's even worth tryin' to figure out somethin'."
"You're a genius, Daryl. I could kiss you right now," I joke, but I guess he takes it seriously because he stiffens up and looks away from me.
"C'mon," he whispers, not looking at me. He quietly makes his way behind the cars, killing two walkers in the process, with me right behind him.
"You go in first," I push him towards the door.
"Ya really need to learn how to defend yourself," he sighs and opens the door, doing a quick sweep of the trailer before motioning me inside. I try to be as quiet as I can shutting the door behind me.
"Oh my God," I mumble, a massive smile spread across my face. "So many medical supplies."
"For God's sake don't pass out on me," Daryl sighs and sits his crossbow down on one of the portable hospital beds. "Anything good in here?"
"All medical supplies is good, Daryl," I shake my head and start going through the baskets of medicine. "There's enough antibiotics in here to save all of us from influenza twenty times over."
"Is that a good thing?" He hopps up onto the hospital bed and lays back.
"Daryl, we have to get this back to the farm," I walk over to him and sit on the stool beside of the bed.
"I'm sure we'll figure out a way," he puts his hands behind his head. "What's in it for me if I help you?"
"Hmm," I look around the room as I search. "I'll let you have that IV pole over there. Then we can match."
"You can keep your damn pole," he scoffs. "Still don't understand your obsession with that stupid thing. It's almost got us killed, multiple times."
"It's something to remind me of what the world used to be," I smile, thinking back. "Like my scrubs. I like wearing them because they remind me of my days as a trauma suergon in an actual hospital."
"It ain't like it was before," Daryl mumbles with his eyes shut.
"I wish it was," I push a piece of hair behind my ear. "Can I check your vitals?"
"The hell are my vitals?" He sits up and raises an eyebrow. "If you wanna feel me up, just say so. Don't try to pass it off as some medical shit."
"Daryl, no," I shake my head and try to hide the blush that creeps into my cheeks. "Your vitals are what you need to live. Basically your temperature, pulse, respiration and blood pressure."
"Damn," he sighs. "How long will it take? Gotta get back soon or they'll worry about us."
"Like five minutes," I smile excitedly. I look around in the containers before finding everything I need. Daryl lets me take his arm and slap the blood pressure cuff on it, I don't fail to notice again how... healthy they feel, as I put the stethescope in my ears. "Open your mouth," I tell him, holding a thermometer in front of his face. He slightly opens it, but not enough to where I can get the thermometer in. "Jesus Christ, Daryl, I need to slip it under your tongue."
"Do you really not realize how sexual you're making all of this sound?" He raises his eyebrow and his tongue. I blush, but shake it off and stick the thermometer in his mouth.
"I don't mean to," I mumble and take his blood pressure before his respiration and pulse. I gently place my fingers on the left sid of his neck. After all, the left carotid is the most accurate pulse site. "Daryl, do you feel okay?"
"Fine, why?" He says when the thermometer beeps. I take it out of his mouth and look. He doesn't have a fever and his blood pressure is normal.
"Your pulse is a hundred and two beats per minute," my eyes widen. "That's borderline tachycardia. I'm pretty sure I counted right. Let me do it again just to make sure."
"Nah, it's fine. Leave it alone," Daryl jerks his arm away from me and yanks the cuff off of his upper arm.
"But what if-"
"I said I'm fine," Daryl cuts me off and picks up his crossbow, heading to the door. "Now let's get back."
"Okay," I reluctantly follow him outside. On the way back to his bike, he manages to take down four more walkers, "We need a plan to get them all away from here. I don't think we could kill them all if we tried."
"I'll drive around here, see if there's some place we can draw them to," he sits down on his bike. "But you'll have to keep your face off my back so you can look with me."
"Oh, does that bother you?" I sit down behind him. "I'm sorry, I won't do it again."
"It don't bother me," Daryl sighs and turns around to look at me. "You just gotta help me look, I'll drive slow. And stop apologizing. You ain't got nothin' to be apologizin' to me for."
"Alright," I nod my head and he starts up the bike.
Daryl keeps to his word and drives slowly while we look. Well, slow for him. I can deal with that, it's not as bad as I thought it was. After we've drove around for a while, we discover a housing development that sits right behind the school. I have the perfect plan to get my medical trailer.
Hi guys! Thanks again for reading! In case you were wondering, I won't be following the story line after the farm. It'll be completely different up until the point of the prison, which won't exactly be the same either. I'm so excited for it!
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