"Not bad." Daryl said as he looked over all the stuff they had gathered on the table.
"Flash bangs, CS triple tracers. Not sure how they work on walkers but we'll take them." Rick said as he looked over a CS triple.
"I ain't wearing this shit." Daryl said as he emptied walker juice out of a swat helmet.
"We could boil." T-dog suggested as he copied Daryl and emptied a glove.
"Ain't another firewood in the whole forest. No." Daryl said dropping the helmet and grabbed a pole. "Besides we got this fair without them right?" He said as he took a swing with the pole.
"Yeah but you are going to need to get that gear cleaned and usable as soon as." Shakira commented from a nearby table that she was leaning against. "Get someone in the gear and you have yourself a tank. As long as they don't get overrun that is." She said walking over to their table, she picked up a glove and looked it over.
"Sadly boiling won't work. It will weaken the fabric and course it to rip easily. Just a bit of scrubbing, disinfectant, and then a five-minute boil will do the trick." She informed them as she wiped some walker juice off her hand.
"You know a lot about this. I am guessing you have had to do this before." Hershal inquired, watching the girl. Shakira chuckled and shook her head before walking off with some of the swat gear.
"You could say that!" Shakira yelled back as she walked off into cell block C. She nodded hello to Carol as she passed her.
"Let's hope she knows what she's doing." Daryl said watching the girl leave.
"If you ask me I don't think any of that family know what they are doing." T-dog said playing with some of the equipment.
"It's the baby I think I lost it." Lori quietly said in her cell.
"You haven't felt it move?" Hershal asked the concerned woman.
"Nothing." Lori said, she began to explain to the vet her theories as to what she thought was happening and why she thought she lost the baby. Shakira rushed over to Loris cell after lip-reading Lori talking about losing the baby.
"If we're all infected, then so is the baby. So what if it's stillborn. What if it's dead inside me right now. What if it rips me apart." Lori began to wander into her dark thoughts. None of her 'What if's' were questions, it was like she knew that it was all going to happen.
"Stop!" Hershal said quickly trying to stop her. "Don't let your fear take control of you." He told her.
"Okay." Lori said as she wiped away her tears and tried to relax. Shakira could not see the old man's lips but she could guess what he had said by the woman's response. "Let's say it lives and I die in childbirth." Lori began to deeper into her dark thoughts.
"That's not gonna happen." Harshal said sternly.
"Why not?" Lori asked with a sad smile on her face. "How many women died in childbirth before modern medicine?" Lori asked the vet as if he would know. "What if I come back and I attack it. Or you, or Rick, or Carl. If I do, if there is any chance, you put me down immediately, you don't hesitate. Me the baby, if we're walkers, you don't hesitate and you don't try and save us. Okay?" Lori said as she cried.
"Plenty of women died. But not from the act of giving birth. It was the bacteria and infections they got from the unsterile tools and a dirty environment they give birth in. And anyway we can get you antibacterials on some runs, set up a clean location and get some equipment we can sterilize using wipes and boiling water. This may be the end of the world but there are still plenty of things we can use and we have the knowledge to use them correctly. So stop with your what if's, your wasting your time and ruining your emotional state." Shakira informed her sternly as she leaned against the cell door.
"But you don't know if it will happen!" Lori raised her voice.
"Nor do you!" Shakira yelled back, she walked over to Lori and placed her hand on her stomach. "But what I do know is your baby is alive in there. Weak, but alive. Get some food in you and she will get stronger." Shakira stated and she stared back at Lori with glowing gold eyes. Lori stayed quiet and watched as the girl left the cell. "Stop worrying about the baby. I will know if anything happens to it and you will be the first person I tell." Shakira said.
"Thank you." Lori said with tears in her eyes. Shakira smiled and headed back over to her bundle of swat gear she left on the stairs.
"Now time to get these all cleaned up." Shakira said clapping her gloved hands and started her cleaning process. Beth wondered over and offered to help. "If you don't mind." Shakira said politely.
"I don't mind." Beth said silently helping the other girl with her task. She followed the older girls instructions without complaint and they worked in comfortable silence.
'Kira, we're back.' Ukie said throw their mind link.
'We found everything that you asked us to get. Formula, two different sizes of nappies, some clothes, two dummies, bottles, and wipes.' Alex listed off all the items they had.
'Good that's the basic stuff we need. I am going to give you your bodies in a second.' Shakira said as she carried on cleaning the gear as if nothing was happening.
'Sure you are strong enough?' Ukie asked as she and Alex waited in the tree line with all the stuff.
'Yeah, I am fine. Might need a nap later but other than that I am good to go.' Shakira said. she asked beth if she could carry on cleaning and then left to go see Rick.
"When're the others coming back?" The ex-sheriff asked.
"That's why I came over here. They are outside the gates at the moment. They need some help getting back in." Shakira informed him and soon after Rick, herself and a few others were outside in the field and headed towards the main gate.
'Going to give your bodies back now. Make sure there are no walkers around you.' Shakira ordered as she got ready.
'All clear.' Alex said back.
'Sadly.' Ukie complained as she gathered up their supplies. All the Fox siblings eyes began to glow. As the two Fox siblings moved throw the bushes their bodies bang to solidify. They were no longer a light breeze with solid human hands pushing past the leaves. They were human again. Could feel the warmth of the sun peaking throw the treetops as it hit their faces. they could feel the sticks below their feet crunch as they walked on them. Ukie let out a contented sigh with a large smile on her face.
"God it feels good to have a body again." She said stretching as best she could with all the stuff in her arms. Alex smiled, he was also happy to have a body again. As they got closer they could see their sister leaning against the wall of the guard tower. She looked tired. The others cleared up any walkers that were at the gate or nearby. Rick opened the main gate and rushed them inside before closing it behind them. Ukie and Alex passed the stuff over to T-dog and Daryl before making their way over to their sister. They spent a good minute in a group hug before following the others back inside.
"I appreciate you guys heading out and getting all this. But next time check with me first. We could have gone on a proper supply run and took a vehicle, so we could get more stuff." Rick said, he tried to act like he was not worried about the teens, but he was.
"Well it wouldn't be much of a surprise if we told you now would it." Ukie said as she chucked a cold soda can over the Carl.
"Wow! It's cold!" Carl said in shock.
"And still in date." Ukie said as she shot him with a quick trigger finger.
"Where did you find all this?" Lori said as she walked over to the table covered in baby bits.
"We raided a small Mothercare type place." Ukie said as she passed some nutrient bars over to Lori. The woman sent the girl a thank you.
"Mothercare?" Carol asked picking up one of the little pink baby grow.
"Back in England, there is a chain of shops called Mothercare. They have everything you need, from the first few weeks of pregnancy to when the child is six years old. Nursing furniture, formula, counselling clubs and baby baths, are some of the things they have." Alex informed the group as he looked over an odd toy Ukie had grabbed.
"I don't think we have anything like that in the US. When I was expecting Carl I had to shop at a lot of different places for everything we needed." Lori said smiling at a little red coat.
"The shop we found looked like a small family run place. Could tell by the pictures of a family all over the wall behind the desk." Ukie said.
"You know a lot about this Mothercare place. Ever worked there or needed to buy stuff from there." Carol asked Alex.
"I did some research for my auntie a long time ago. She was expecting twins so there was a lot of things she needed and she wanted to know everything she could and know all the options available to her." Alex smiled remembering his aunt rushing around, even when she got close to her due date.
"I bet they were so cute when they were born." Carol said smiling sadly as she remembered the birth of her own little girl.
"I didn't get to see them. They were killed by my aunt's Ex a week after she got out of the hospital." Alex left that in the air as he headed towards Shakira's cell.
"Good job gloom and doom! You fucked up the feels goods!" Ukie yelled at her brother before hooking her sister's arm over her shoulder. "Come on you. You need a nap." She said while following their brother with her sister leaning against her.
"Is she okay?" Beth asked. "She was fine a little while ago."
"Yeah, I'm fine Beth I just get light headed from time to time. Low blood sugar and all that." Shakira informed the girl as they walked past her.
"They are just kids, but they have been through more than any of us. Even before the apocalypse happened." Hershal said what was on everyone's mind.
The siblings made is to their room, far away from the rest of the group. Ukie helped Shakira onto the lower bunk and went to get a clean blanket from another cell. Alex began looking throw his sisters backpack and pulled out a small bottle of Dr Pepper and an oat bar.
"Here we found you your elixir of life." Alex said handing the girl the items. Shakira suddenly came to life and snatched the drink from his hand. The drink was cold and refreshing as it run down her throat. A few seconds later Shakira had finished the fizzy drink.
"I missed you, my love." Shakira sighed with a goofy smile on her face. Ukie came back into their cell and quickly figured out what happened.
"God darn it Alex! I wanted to see her freak at seeing the drink." Ukie complained as she put the blanket beside Shakira.
"Well, it's a good thing we brought back more than one." Alex said pulling out another bottle. They both watched as Shakira's eyes sparkled and she became like a cat trying to grab the drink in Alex's hands. reached up as high as he could out of his sisters reach. Shakira tried jumping and pulling at her brother's arms. After a while of her siblings laughing at her, Shakira jumped up onto the top bunk and used the new hight to jump onto her brother.
Everyone was busy getting the final bits together before they went further into the prison. Only small chatter could be heard until a loud bang came from the far end of the cell block. Everyone was alert as they waited for something to happen. A second later a frightened Ukie and Alex came running out of their cell block holding bottles of Dr Pepper with a crazed Shakira on their tail. Everyone laughed as they watched the Fox family jump around the cell block with ease as they tried to either get the bottles or try to run away. Alex ended up running up the wall and held the barred windows as he watched his sisters run around. After Shakira tackled Ukie to the ground and grabbed all the Dr Pepper bottles from her, she rolled them back over to their cell and then turned to Alex. Shakira had tackled her sister on the second floor and was now crouched on top of the railings, getting ready to pounce. Alex saw his doom coming, the second his sister came flying towards him. She tackled him and sent them both falling to the ground ten feet below them. The group was worried until they saw Alex and Shakira fighting over a Dr Pepper bottle like some kids. Ukie laughed like a maniac as she jumped down and joined in with her family.
'Well, at least things are going to be interesting with these kids around.' Rick thought. He finally smiled after a long time and even laughed a little along with everyone else as they watched the family mess around.
Notes
Well here's another chapter for you guys I hope you all like it. Please show the love by reviewing the story. It helps me know if people are reading this story and not just clicking on it by accident and then leaving.
Sorry if there are still some grammar and/or spelling mistakes.