When they got to the store, the parking lot was already clear of walkers and there were people waiting for them with trucks and empty trailers. Along with the rest of the prison group, Beth was looking out her window with more than a little casual interest. One of the men she saw made her eyes fly wide open. He was easily the tallest and biggest man she had ever seen and he had his hair buzzed down short, but she could still see it was bright red. His arms had to be twice the size of her thighs. Next to him was a smaller version of himself that she guessed must be the man's son or maybe a younger brother. They looked too much alike not to be related.
There were two teenage looking blonde boys, and as they got closer, Beth could see they were identical twins. They also looked a lot like Katie, so Beth guessed they might be related to her somehow. Next to them there was a petite woman with long dark curly hair and a very round pregnant stomach standing with a young man that also had the same hair, except his was pulled back into a low ponytail. Over by another truck there was a strong and very tan looking man with silver hair that had seen so much sun it was almost white. He had a boy with him that looked about Carl's age.
Cassandra pulled the bus in and then backed it up to it was facing out and the back door was near the front of the store. Katie got up and popped the back door open. The big man Beth had seen caught her by the waist and lifted her down out of the bus, then wrapped her up in a big bear hug. Beth saw all the other girls were on their feet, heading towards the back of the bus and either jumping or getting helped down. Since she had decided the best thing to do was whatever they did, Beth got up and walked back there too. She saw Michonne doing the same. When Beth got close she realized the other tall man she saw must be the son of the really tall man. He was so big, she had thought he was a grown man, but when she got close to him, she realized he probably wasn't much older than Carl. He caught her by the waist, lifting her down out of the bus like she weighed no more than Judith.
Beth only came up to the middle of his chest, and she had to tilt her head back and shade her eyes to look up at him. He was giving her a warm smile. "That's my dad Tom," he told her, pointing to the huge man, "I'm Tommy." The boy was naturally friendly and open, he was always happy to meet anyone new that his cousin Kaite brought in. But he was even more happy to meet this girl, who was very pretty and looked like she wasn't much older than him. "Katie and Mandy are my cousins," he informed her.
"Beth," she said, sticking out her hand. He took it in his giant paw and shook it gently, his smile broadening. His dad was watching the encounter and trying not to laugh. Some men liked breasts, or big asses, but he had noticed his son was a sucker for pretty girls with big blue eyes. And there was no denying that this one was very pretty. As soon as he had seen her coming he knew his son was going to be buzzing around her like a bee to a flower. Kaite was done hugging her brothers, and now she was talking to the woman with the dark hair. Then she walked back to the bus and called to the two girls they had picked up earlier.
"Kristina, Janelle," she called, waving her hand to encourage them to come forward. Once they were down off the bus she introduced them to the dark haired woman. "This is Maria, she is one of our nurses," she explained, "she is going to take you back to camp and get a better look at your injuries. And then she will get you set up with clean clothes and a place to stay, okay girls." The girls nodded and Maria took them over to a van that she had waiting and ushered them inside. This was not the first time Maria had delt with girls in a similar position, they were in good hands. She used to be part of the group that went out on the road until she had gotten pregnant and decided to keep it. Kaite walked back to the bus, where most people now were climbing down and standing around in the parking lot.
"Hershel," she called to the man, "I am going to send you and Judith back with Maria too." Hershel came forward and Katie stepped back so Tom could help him down out of the truck. Carl brought Judith and handed her down to Katie, who turned and gave her to Maria. The woman walked slowly back to the van so Hershel could keep pace with her. She handed the baby to Kristina to hold. Rick was watching this scene, not quite understanding what was going on. When he saw Maria close the door on the van and start walking around to the driver's side like she was leaving he spoke up.
"Hey," he called out, "where do you think you are going with my daughter?" Maria looked at him like he was the biggest moron ever. He seemed to be getting that look at lot, from all these girls. Then she noticed someone she recognized.
"Hey Merle," she called, waving at the man. Merle gave her a little wave and then gestured to her stomach. She had been with the group when they had come to woodbury and if he remembered right, she had been pretty friendly with Martinez.
"Belong to anyone I know?," he asked her. She smiled at him, but did not answer his question. Instead she turned back to Rick.
"I am taking her back to camp to be checked over by the midwife," Maria told him, "did you want her out here in danger longer than she needs to be?" Rick stammered and stared at the woman. He did want his daughter safe, but he wasn't sure how he felt about some strange woman taking offf with her. Roberta stepped in.
"If you don't feel comfortable letting her go back to camp with Hershel," Roberta told him calmly, "you can go with them. But we could really use your help here to load supplies." She could see he was looking at her and then back at the van, uncertain. Placing her hand gently on his arm she told him, "we would never let anything happen to your daughter." Rick still wasn't sure. Then he heard a voice from behind him.
"I will keep and eye on her," Morgan offered. He touched the part of his ribs that were still very painful, "I don't think I will be much good for hauling supplies anyway. Roberta smiled warmly at him. She had forgotten he was hurt as well, he should be going back with medical anyway.
"Well if you're coming, lets go," Maria called to him. Her brother opened the side door for Morgan and then closed it once he was inside. Then he and Maria hopped into the front seats and fired the van up, pulling away quickly. Rick watched them until they were out of sight. He had chosen to trust these girls, and he hoped it was the right decision. Roberta rubbed his arm again and gave him a soft smile. She was really a beautiful woman. Then she turned and started laughing. Tom had a huge chunk of a log that had two thick peices of rope running straight through it and fastened into handles on the other side. He was calling it the door knocker. Katie was laughing like crazy. Rick looked confused so Roberta explained.
"We have been trying to get inside the pharmacy here for months," she said, "I guess they are going to knock the door in with that thing." Rick laughed. The thing looked funny but he figured it might work. At least it would be funny to watch them try to beat the door in either way. The blonde twins headed for the front door of the store, and used a key to unlock the huge chain that was wrapped around the doors. Roberta turned to Daryl and Addy.
"You two want to take watch?," she asked. Addy nodded and Daryl shrugged. "People will switch out with you when they get tired," she explained to Daryl. Then everyone else started heading inside the store. The people from the prison group were much more cautious, but soon noticed there were no walkers to be found anywhere inside.
"We already cleared it out and then locked up all the doors," Katie told Merle. Then she grabbed a cart, one of the big flat ones that a lot of stuff could be loaded onto. Then she turned and yelled at everyone else. "Hey, everyone will have time to get their own crap in a minute," she said, "first I want help loading up the big bags of flour and sugar and rice."
"First I am knocking that fucking pharmacy door in," Tom announced. She laughed and told him to knock himself out. Spying the stubborn door in question, Tom and his son got a goot grip on the ropes with the log between them and hollered charge, running full force at the door.
"We are going to need another medical pickup when those idiots get done," Katie mumbled. Merle laughed at her.
"Friends of yours?," he asked. She felt bad for not introducing him.
"The really tall one is my uncle," she said, "the other one is his son." He was relieved they were related to her but tried not to show it. When he had seen that giant man picking her up and hugging her, he had been worried that it might be a boyfriend of some kind. "These two here," she said pointing to the blonde twins, "are my brothers Greg and Gannon." They smiled at Merle and the one called Gannon gave him a little wave. Then she pointed to the older man, "thats Rich and his son Troy." Merle was about to say something back but there was a huge crash and then lots of clapping and applause. Katie turned to see her Uncle and cousin sprawled out inside the doorway of the pharmacy. The door was busted all to shit. She ran over to get a peek inside.
They were in luck. The place had not been touched at all. They were going to have enough antibiotics and painkillers to last them a long long time. "Anyone know anything about what pills are what?," she asked. Looking around, no one seemed to be volunteering and then Merle stepped forward.
"I used to sell drugs," he admitted.
"Good," Katie told him, "then you are in charge. Ziplock bags are in the last aisle on this side of the store. Pick you a few people and lets clear this place out." She gave him a pat on the arm and set off to go load bags of flour, pushing her cart in front of her. Merle looked around trying to figure out who he wanted to ask for help.
"Take some of the kids," Tom suggested, "they aren't much help with the heavy stuff anyway." Merle nodded. but made no move to call on anyone. "Lexi, Troy, and you," Tom said pointing to Carl, "y'all help him and don't be giving him any shit either." Most people were heading the direction Katie went, but the kids crowded around, looking up at Merle for some direction. Merle scratched his head.
"Okay, you two," he said pointing at the two boys, "go down and get a ton of ziplock bags, and some big garbage bags." The boys ran off in the direction Katie said the bags were. Then Merle and Lexi headed inside the pharmacy to get started. This place had really been a good score. It didn't look like anyone had been inside since the very beginning of the turn. He started by grabbing a large black marker and the biggest pill bottles he could find. Lexi watched him and did the same. "Write down what it is," he told her, "and then fill the bottle up. Tell me the name before you start. Some stuff here we don't need." Lexi nodded and headed down an aisle. This was going to take a while.
Beth was walking with Tommy. They got to the aisle where all the bulk baking supplies were. Katie was up on a metal stair case she had pushed over, handing big bags of flour down to Roberta, who was handing them to Rick. Glen and Maggie were helping Cassandra load up another cart with bags of rice and beans. Mandy and Carol were helping Tommy's dad and the twins load up sugar.
"Why don't you two get big tupperwares and put them on another cart," Tom told them, "then start packing up all the lemon juice and salt and baking powder and shit." Tommy nodded and they set off. Getting the cart was easy, and Tommy had been in the store before, so he knew where the tupperware bins were. They grabbed as many as they could and pushed the cart back over to the aisle. Then they each took one side of the aisle and started loading up. By the time they had one container loaded, Katie was pushing a cart filled to the brim with bags of flour past them and out to the bus. Tom went after them. It was usually his job to supervise the loading up of the trucks. A few minutes later, Katie was back with an empty cart. Glen and Maggie were pushing the rice out, and Maggie returned alone with a new cart.
Maggie had to say, she had held off on judging these girls. But now she was impressed. They had usually only come back from a run with no more than a backpack full. She was now aware of how unorganized they had been and how much gas they had wasted. In one trip, these people were going to get enough to feed themselves for the entire year. Back at the prison they had been living day to day. Cassandra smiled at her, flopping another bag of rice onto the cart.
"You shouldn't have to go on a run for a long time after this," Maggie commented.
"Not back here anyway," Cassadra said, "but we having a trading route we run every month."
"Trading route?," Maggie asked. She wasn't sure what the woman meant.
"Yeah, we have a few other camps we trade with," Cassandra said, "you can come along sometime if you want. Andrew's group is all guys, and some of them are cute. They wintered with us this last year, but during the spring and summer they live on boats off the coast. We trade with them for seafood. Thats why we have that big freezer on the bus." Maggie nodded and smiled, but she had to admit she was having a hard time believing some of this. She had started to wonder if there were any other people out there. So the fact that there were multiple other organized groups that got together regularly for trading was blowing her mind a little. It seemed like all the people they had run into had been hostile. Until now at least.
With enough dry stock to last the winter and extra for trading loaded up, the girls went back in for the rest of what they wanted, which was mostly alcohol. They were running out of room until Daryl had the bright idea to get his bike down off the bus and load that up too. The more liquor they had the better, in his opinion. Mandy had gone to help with the rest of the pharmacy, which really meant that she was filling up a huge garbage bag with all the birth control pills she could find. Katie poked her head in.
"What's your poison?," she asked Merle. He looked at her like she was batshit nuts. "We are loading up alcohol," she said, "what do you want?"
"Whiskey," he told her without any hesitation. She gave him a wink and took off. They loaded up all the cases of beer and liquor and wine they could fit and ended up even loading most of the seats in the bus. besides alcohol, they also took cases of bottled water, juice and soda pop. Glen about hit the roof when he saw a whole aisle of energy drinks, and he hurried to load up a few cases before there was no more room. Pillows, blankets and bags of socks and underwear were tossed in on top of the heavier stuff.
"I think we are done," Roberta said, looking at the back of the packed bus. They were going to have to squeeze three in a seat on the way back as it was. Katie agreed. She sent her brothers to go round everyone up and lock up the store. With so many people to help, the loading had gone quicker than it normally did. But she was still tired and ready to go home, get a shower and some food in her belly. Tom, Rich and Gannon were firing up their trucks. Daryl kicked on his motorcycle and Addy ran over and climbed on the back with him, hugging him tightly around the waist and resting her head on his shoulder. Katie waited for the last few people to climb onto the bus and then shut the door. Then they set off following the trucks, heading for home.