Violet
Most of the men and some of the women had gone on a run the day before. With forty people to feed all winter now instead of only four, Iva needed more canning equiptment, especially jar and lids. Hershel had suggested an Amish store he knew of and the place had been a jackpot. They must have received a shipment right before the turn, and since empty jars and giant water bath canners were not really something starving people on the run would want, most of it was untouched. They had to hot wire two extra trucks and a minivan just to bring it all back. Besides the canning items, inside there had been rows and rows of economy sized bags of flour and sugar, plus rice, powdered yeast, baking soda and baking powder. It was enough to hold them through the coming winter and spring. Daryl knew Iva would be excited, she had been worried she might have to slaughter more of her animals than she wanted to, in order to keep everyone fed.
Even with everyone helping, it ws going to take most of the day to sort through everything and get it hauled inside. Most of it went to Iva's block, because they had the most empty space to put things. Hershel had moved in, and then Maggie and Glen had come along as well, but there were still a ton of empty cells were things could be sorted and stacked. Glen had been a little reluctant at first, but found he enjoyed having more space and since Maggie was helping everyday with the animals, it was much easier for her to not have to walk back and forth all the time. Plus she liked being closer to her sister now that they were both pregnant.
Iva was carrying in a few more cases of jars when Carl came running up.
"I think something is wrong with Violet," he told the woman. She thought about who he might be talking about, and then remembered she had heard some of them calling one of the pigs by that name. No matter how many times she warned them not to, these people insisted on naming the animals. Iva handed her load off to Daryl and headed over to the pasture to take a look. When they were tiny piglets, Rick and Hershel had been keeping them in a small pen they had made from wooden pallets, but once they were a little bigger, Iva had put them in to graze with her sheep. Pigs and sheep could both be bad tempered at times, but so far it seemed to be going well. Carl climbed up on the split rail and pointed. Iva could see the pig, laying out in the middle of the grassy area by herself.
She hopped the fence and went to get the piglet, keeping careful watch over the sheep to make sure none of them were thinking about butting into her. They usually only went for the guys, but you could never tell. The small pig was laying on her side, and her breathing sounded labored. She was definatley sick. Iva picked her up and took her out of the pasture. She headed over to a small shed she sometimes used to quaratine sick chickens. It would work fine for the sick pig as well. It would be a shame if they lost her, but worse if all the pigs got sick and died. Iva sent Carl to bring the pig some water and food and told him to keep checking in on her. It was all they could do for now, but maybe later she would ask Hershel to take a look.
Later that night, people started coughing, and several of them took off for bed right after dinner. Iva offered to check on them but Dr. S said he woud do it. She was pregnant, and had no interest in getting herself and her baby sick, so she was grateful to the man for offering to go. After dinner, she went to check on Violet. The pig seemed about the same, and felt a little hot. Iva pushed the water closer and decided if the pig was still sick the next day she might try to give it something for the chest congestion. Remedies that worked on people, usually worked on animals as well, but it was best to let them recover on their own.
The next afternoon, everyone was out, hauling in the last of the supplies and trying to decide where to put them. Then they heard gunshots coming from inside the prison. Iva moved to run towards the noise but Merle held her back.
"Stay here," he told her. She nodded quickly.
"Toby is in there," she told the man. The words hit him like bricks and he ran for the block where the noises had come from. He could see Rick and Daryl ahead of him, grabbing guns out of a shed before they headed in. Merle already had his handgun so he an ahead of them. Inside the doors complete choas had broken out. People were screaming and and person was being eaten alive by several biters. Merle's first thought was that one of the barred doors had given in and they had been overrun by a herd from deeper inside the prison. These biters were not wearing prison uniforms though, they were people he knew. He took out the ones closest to him, searching frantically for Toby. Rick and Daryl ran in behind him and started shooting and herding the people that were unharmed towards the outside door.
"UP HERE!," Toby screamed. He was on the upper level with Carl. The two of them had Nevaeh and most of the other kids behind them and were fending off three walkers with only Toby's pocket knife and a broken off two by four. They were backed up into a corner and couldn't risk making a move on the walkers in front for fear the other ones would surge in and someone would get bit. Merle couldn't shoot at the bastards either, they were too close to the kids. He grabbed the one by the back of the shirt and beat its head in with his arm sleeve. Another one dropped with an arrow in it that Daryl had shot from below, and Toby kicked the third one's knees out and stabbed him through the ear several times.
"Outside, go go!," Merle yelled at them. Most of the kids took off but there was one younger one huddled in the corner crying. No time to waste, Merle picked him up and handed him to Nevaeh. "Take them all to the animal pasture and close all the gates behind you," he told the girl. She nodded and did as she was told. Now that most of the dead had been dispatched, they needed to check cell by cell and make sure there were no more left and try to figure out what happened.
There was no evidence that anyone had come in and they found no bodies except those of people that they knew. The only explaination was that someone had died in the night for some reason and turned while everyone was sleeping. Merle saw Iva in the outside doorway with Hershel and he motioned them inside. Together they looked over the dead bodies. Hershel noticed that Iva had a strange expression on her face. It was terrible for all of them to see the dead bodies of people that they knew, but this seemed like more than that.
"Got to burn them all," she told Hershel.
"Do you know what this is Iva?," he asked. She nodded. How was she going to explain. As soon as she saw the blood coming out the eyes and noses of the dead and connected it with the sick pig, she knew exactly what was happening. This was a terrible sickness. It had passed through her small community about a year before she had become a woman. Her first husband Zachary had lost his wife and two grown sons to the disease. She had fallen ill with it as well, but recovered. One of her younger sisters had not been so lucky. She did not want any more of these people to die.
"I know," she told Hershel, "many Shamish get sick long time ago. Some die. Same sick." She pointed to the blood on the body closest to them. "Bleed from eye and mouth then die."
"Do you know anything we can do to help anyone else that may get sick?," Hershel asked. She nodded again. A few year after the first round of sickness had hit her small community, people had started getting sick again. She had been married then, and since her husband was considered the town doctor, all the sick people had been brought to their house. She had helped him to care for them. Iva was not sure how to explain all this to Hershel so she told him to send anyone who seemed sick down to the empty block they had just cleared out the week before. No one had moved down there yet, but there were beds with mattresses that people could lay on, and it was cool in there and quiet.
"Aren't you worried you might get sick?," Hershel asked her. She said no and explained as best she could that she had been sick with the same disease once before and wasn't likely to get it again. Hershel seemed to be satisifed with this and Iva set off to get what she needed from her stores of herbal medicine.
Karen and David were down in the secluded area. They both looked sick, but David sounded worse so Iva concentrated on him first. She used some of the water that Hershel had boiled for her. She poured it into a bowl and mixed in some herbs, then leaned him over the bowl and started making tea for both of her patients to drink. Dr. S came down to help her. While she was worried he might get sick, she was glad to have the help. Karen took the tea gratefully and she could tell right away that whatever was in it was helping her. Her coughs seemed more productive and her lungs stopped burning. The doctor gave them both IVs to be sure they wouldn't get dehydrated and then went to get Iva some more hot water.
Carol was up very early the next morning. She saw most people were stll sleeping and she was glad. She would need privacy to do what she knew needed to be done. Carol had been relieved when the sick people had been quarantined, but when she had seen that doctor coming and going she knew that separating the sick people from everyone else was not enough. She felt bad for Karen and David, but they were going to get a lot of people killed. She gripped her knife tightly and tuned the corner to look inside the room. What she saw shocked her.
Karen was sitting up in bed, sipping on a mug of tea and looking much better. Iva was fast asleep in the bed opposite from her. Karen smiled when she saw the woman and gestured her inside. Her fever had broken a few hours before, but David had died in the night.
"Iva did everything she could for him," Karen said, "but you know he had asthma already so I'm not sure anything woould have helped." Carol nodded and asked Karen if she could bring her some breakfast. Karen thanked her warmly but said she was fine with her tea for now. Carol kept it together until she got out of the room and then she collasped, hugging herself and feeling tears come into her eyes. Sh had been ready to murder those people. And what would she have done to Iva, stabbed her too to keep people from finding out. What had she been thinking. Carol reminded herself that no one knew what she had been ready to do. And no one would ever have to know either. She pulled herself together and headed up to the kitchen to start breakfast.