Beth peered around the corner of a crumbling building and down the main street of the desolate village. Rusty cars and abandoned belongings littered the way. It was only about a block or two of deserted storefronts and broken windows that once served as the commercial hub of the small and remote community. On the corner opposite of them, a lone gas station stood with a coke sign waving in the wind. The place was a ghost town. She seriously expected to see tumbleweeds blowing down the road any minute.
It had been a really long time since the young woman had seen the ruins of civilization as her very protective family was not about to let her out of the prison. But she was not exactly a stranger to it either. Prior to securing their former home, the group had spent months on the road after the farm was over ran. Back then, they wandered from house to house, catching sleep whenever they had a chance and eating whatever they happened to come across. It was a miserable experience. However, it was not too long after society started to unravel and structures were at least still intact. Now everything was crumbling following months and even years of no upkeep and weather. It was more shocking now and much lonelier.
"There," Daryl whispered in her ear, pointing to an old brick building with a Pharmacy sign hanging over the entrance but Beth just shook her head no. They would not find much there. She looked back and met her husband's eyes before nodding toward another place at the very end of the block. Above the door read Donna Stanton, Midwife.
Daryl pushed her against the crumpling brick wall and crept around the corner, crossbow raised. He turned in all directions looking high and low before motioning for her to follow. The young woman's heart pounded loudly as she closely walked behind her husband, pausing at every crinkle of a leaf or crunch of a paper under their feet. The sidewalk beneath them was crumbling, allowing the little pebbles of rock once held together by concrete to escape. Shards of glass and piles of trash covered what was left of it. Still, the couple desperately attempted to walk on as quietly as they could. Shredded awnings flapped in the breeze above them. What was left of a flag hung from a rod attached to the outside of the town Post Office.
Beth paused and stared through a shattered window into a beauty salon. Inside the word HELP was finger-painted in large bloody letters on the wall. A shudder went down her spine. By the look of the place, with its overturned chairs and disheveled equipment, it appeared help never came for whoever wrote it.
"Come on," Daryl hissed, low enough that only she could hear while grabbing her elbow and leading her past the nightmarish scene. "We aren't sightseeing Beth." She knew that he could care less about the people who probably died a long time ago. All he cared about at the moment was getting her back to the lookout without any trouble – or at the very least back to the woods where he was more in his element.
After what seemed like an eternity, they finally stood in front of the wooden weathered entrance of their destination. Daryl lightly tapped on it and waited. When nothing came he knocked a little louder. After a minute or two, the man slowly turned the cast iron knob and pushed her inside.
Small slivers of light shown just enough through the slits of the door to reveal a dark and dusty waiting area. Crossbow drawn her husband quickly began checking the place out.
"Wait," he ordered before disappearing into the exam area.
Beth sighed and picked up a magazine from a large stack on the table. On the cover was a smiling baby girl, dressed in frilly pink. The child reminded her of Judith, causing the mom's chest to ache until one of the headlines proclaiming, How to Know When You Are in Labor, caught her eye. She quickly rolled up the publication and stuck it in the waistband of her black thermal pants.
A few minutes later Daryl reappeared. "It's seems clear," he declared. "Don't think anyone else found use here."
Beth hadn't thought so. In truth, the town was so remote and off the beaten path that she seriously doubted many knew it even existed. It appeared the good townsfolk probably just bunkered down in their stores and houses when all hell broke loose until someone – rather dead or living - came through and destroyed it all. As for Donna Stanton, well she probably just locked up and went home. Never the less, they had to make sure regardless.
The pregnant mom did not exactly know what they would need but started pilfering through a closet in the dark narrow passageway for anything that looked like it could be useful. Beth wasn't totally ignorant to the birthing process though. She has spent many summers on dirty farms assisting her Daddy in the delivery of livestock. As for an actual human birth, well she had never even seen that, but still figured it couldn't be much different from birthing a steer or a horse. At least she hoped so.
Beth frowned upon realizing that there was really nothing of use in the closet. It was filled with only pamphlets and literature. Still, she quickly thumbed through the papers, picking out anything that might be informative, before stuffing them in the bottom of the large hiking bag that hung on her husband's back.
After rummaging through the closet, the couple turned around and entered an exam room behind them. It was marked with a big number 1 on the door. Beth walked over to the medical table and ran her hand over the smooth coldness of the metal stirrup while Daryl opened the cabinets above the sink. A few months before the turn, her mother had drug the reluctant teen to the town doctor for a pelvic exam. It was not a fun experience. Her cheeks almost flushed again at just the thought of Doc Martin, a gentle man in his late sixties and whom she had seen since birth, doing what such a procedure entailed. In the end, he had declared her woman parts perfectly healthy. Beth hoped he was right.
"Too bad we have no way of taking it with us," Daryl remarked jokingly after noticing she was studying the table. "I can imagine of all sorts of fun stuff we could do with something like that."
Beth immediately turned around and shot her husband a disgusted look beneath the blush that quickly sprang to her cheeks. He grinned at her a minute like he wanted to crack up before thinking better of it and turning his attention back to the cabinets. She took one last look at the large object. It was too bad that they could not possibly take the table back to the lookout….though her reason for wanting it had more to do with delivering the baby and not what he had in mind.
A loud crash rang out as Daryl opened the last cupboard door, causing the startled pair to pause a moment, making sure that the noise did not attract trouble. Once it became apparent that it hadn't, he lowered the ready crossbow and Beth glanced over to see what had fallen. In the sink laid a blood pressure cuff. The woman quickly picked it up and placed it in the bag. Upon further inspection, she noticed a digital thermometer on the shelf beside where it must have laid. She stashed it as well after making sure that the battery still worked. Daryl grabbed the remaining bandages and antiseptic before exiting into the hall.
The other exam rooms pretty much contained the same type of stuff, though Beth was pleased to find real stiches and the kit to go along in one marked by the number three. They were the actual dissolvable kind. She tried not to think about why she would need them but they were good to have on hand. Goosebumps prickled her skin just imagining what she was about to endure in only a few weeks. Still, she would do so gladly just as long as the baby was healthy.
But they still hadn't found any IVs or antibiotics and Beth knew doing so could be the difference between surviving through childbirth or not. She wondered for a moment if Donna Stanton believed in such interventions, instead opting for a more natural approach. But then the blonde remembered how far the closest hospital was and decided the midwife had to have meds in case of an emergency somewhere. She prayed that they would get lucky as they walked through the last door.
The final room was an office. A huge mahogany table sat in the middle covered with several patient charts. Two dusty wooden chairs were placed in front of it, causing Beth to guess that was where the expecting couple would sit while waiting for confirmation they would be parents. Three matching Barrister Bookcases were along the wall behind it. Off to the side was another door. After Daryl carefully opened it, Beth realized it was another closet.
Stuffed onto the top shelf was a bunch of diaper bags, decorated in cute little Teddy Bears. Daryl followed her gaze toward them. Understanding that they might contain something worthwhile, he reached up and grabbed one down before handing it to Beth.
"Wow, what a score!" the young mom could not help to exclaim after unzipping the bag and glancing inside. Smiling at her husband and turning away from the closet to face him, she pulled out a can and held it up for the hunter to see. The label showed that it was powdered baby formula.
"There must be twenty or so more where that came from," Daryl replied with a grin, knowing the importance after searching for the stuff so many times for Judith. "But then it would probably be better for the kid to just drink your milk."
Beth's face fell as she looked back down at the can. Of course breastfeeding would be better for the baby - if she survived. However, neither of them knew what was going to happen once the time came for their child to be born. Regardless, these cans of formula ensured her baby would eat anyway. That it could survive without her. The thought was bittersweet but in the end it made her happy none the less. It was what she wanted more than anything else. More than her own life.
She peered through her eyelashes back at her husband who was now staring down at her severely. He obviously knew what she had been thinking. His eyes were almost begging, pleading with her not to go there. Beth had to anyway.
"Daryl, if something happens to me, you have to promise to take care of our child," she whispered. "You…..you've got to protect and love it always. Don't…..You might want to blame it…don't ever. Whatever might happen is not its fault."
"Quit," he answered softly in a cracked voice as his dark blue eyes began to glass over.
"No Daryl," she said defiantly with desperation. The mom needed some sort of assurance. "You have to swear to me that you will. Please. The baby would be the only thing you would have left of me. Of us."
The man in front of her sucked in a long breath and considered what she was asking for a moment. She could see the emotion on his face. It had to be his worse fear. He went to open his mouth to respond but no words were coming out. Instead, Daryl just nodded in agreement. That was enough for her though. She knew he meant it. Of course he would take care of his own child. The blonde sighed in relief.
The old familiar feeling of electricity ran between their unbroken gaze until he diverted his eyes back to the open closet and grinned unexpectantly.
"I think the odds of that not happening just greatly improved," the hunter remarked while reaching past her for something on one of the shelves.
Beth turned around to see what had caught his attention. It was a box. A case of Saline solution. Next to it was a plastic container containing several vials of medication. Elated by the discovery, the blonde beamed. Donna Stanton was prepared for an emergency just as she had suspected. Daryl removed the large backpacking bag from his shoulders and placed it on the floor while Beth quickly dumped the solution, meds, and various other bins of supplies the closet housed into it.
As her husband pulled out the formula from the rest of the diaper bags, she walked over to the bookcases and scanned the titles of the many medical books on its shelves. One titled Pharmaceutical Guide: 2010 caught her attention. Now that could be useful, she thought to herself while carefully lifting the dusty class front that protected it.
Just as she was about to turn away, the blonde noticed a large black bag resting on the bottom shelf and smiled at their luck. Ms. Stanton had a medical bag. Beth placed the book inside of it and walked back toward Daryl.
"Let's go," the hunter ordered while raising the full backpack onto his shoulders. He reached for her elbow and led her back into the dark hallway. "Time to get the hell out of Dodge."
Halfway down the passage, her husband suddenly paused causing Beth to accidently run into him. He looked back at her and held his index finger to his mouth, indicating for her to listen.
In the distance there was some type of racket going on. The couple crept toward the waiting room as the noise got louder and louder. The blonde tightly gripped the handle of the medical bag nervously as she followed.
When they got to the reception area, the hunter motioned for her to stay in the hall, before raising his cross bow and heading toward the wooden door. Peeping around the corner to watch the man, Beth noticed shadows in the sliver of light that trickled through the narrow windows at the top of it. Something or someone was on the other side. Daryl carefully leaned up and glanced out. He jumped back startled when something heavy banged against it followed by several growls and snarling, before leaning up and looking again.
"Walkers," he whispered once he was back at her side. "Lots of them. There has to be another way out."
The couple quickly made their way for the back of the building searching for another exit. They sprinted past all three exam rooms and towards a small open foyer opposite the office. As they got closer, it became apparent they had somehow previously missed the rear door, hidden in the darkness, at the bottom of the steps that led to the second level. Now the undead was hungrily clawing at it too. They were trapped.
Strange, Beth thought to herself as Daryl swore under his breath. How did they sense they were there?
Daryl pushed her back towards the front of the building and peeped out the window on the old door again before turning to her again, a grim look on his face.
"They're all down the street," he informed his wife. "We have to make a run for it. There is no choice."
Beth stood on her tippy toes and looked out the slits herself. A large crowd of walkers where gathering around the structure and several more were staggering down the road. Where in the world did they come from?
"See that sign for the lawyer? I will distract them and want you to run there," he whispered taking a deep breath and pointing to another building across the street. It looked untouched. Dark green drapes hung on the inside of what had once been display windows for a shop. They created a short narrow passage that led toward the door. "I'm almost certain it is empty too like this one was."
Beth looked at him horrified. The man might have been a beast but he was still mortal. What would she do if something was to happen to him?
"Don't worry! You'll be fine," he tried to reassured while placing his large hunting knife in her shaking hand. "Focus, Beth! Now listen! After I draw most of them away, run as fast as you can to that building. Lock the door once you are inside and do not open it until you hear me knock, okay? But be careful when you first enter it. If there are any walkers at all, it would only have to be one or two so I'm sure you can handle it. Just don't take down your guard. You hear me?"
Beth nodded her head in shock but it wasn't her that she was worried about. She feared for him and tried to understand how this had happened in the first place. The town had been deserted before they entered the medical office and it wasn't like they were being loud or anything. She began to panic. The scene around her was playing out in slow motion. Almost like she was stuck in a really bad dream.
Daryl walked toward the reception desk and picked up a thick glass candy dish off the counter. Swearing again, he opened the door and threw it as far as he could into the street before fighting his way out of the threshold. The sound of glass shattering against blacktop loudly in the distance caused Beth to snap out of it. In front of her, the beast was smashing his crossbow against the skulls of the crowd around him. Then the door slammed shut with a bang. Before it did, she heard him exclaim "What in the hell?"
Beth stared at the entrance in disbelief. The sound on the other side was nightmarish. When the noise finally got fainter, she said a little prayer, clung to the medical bag, counted to three, and flung the door open again.
At first, the sudden light temporarily blinded her. Beth shielded her eyes with the hand holding the knife and looked around. The crowd of walkers were now chasing something down the street to her left. It took her a moment to realize it was her husband. To her right, a couple of stragglers had noticed her presence and were dangerously close. She scanned the buildings across the street, located the Attorney's office, and ran for it. As she did, the woman stumbled on something on the sidewalk but did not take the time to look and see what it was.
Upon reaching the stoop of her destination, Beth desperately tried the door but it would not budge. Once again she started to panic. The plan did not take into account it being locked. Snarling rang out loudly behind her. The walkers were getting closer. She swung around just in time to see a bolt plow through the head of a dark haired dead woman in a floral dress just inches from her. To her surprise a shiny name tag on the chest read Donna Stanton, CNP. The blonde blinked in shock.
Suddenly, out of nowhere the locked door that she was backed up against sprung open and a rough hand pulled her inside. Beth looked up long enough to see the horrified expression on Daryl's face across the street. Then everything went black.
