…
FOUR. Shopping.
Prisons like this, there were always towns very nearby; sometimes built right up in the shadow of the prison. A prison employed so many people and those people lived within the town and where there were jobs and people, a town sprouted up. A town with people and good – albeit dangerous – employment meant grocery stores and clothing stores and schools, doctors offices and houses. Finding this prison would be good for them in more ways than one.
In the pickup truck, before turning the engine over, Daryl pulled the atlas out that was crammed in the door. He didn't want to waste the gas until he knew exactly where he was going.
"There," he told Maggie once he found it and passed the atlas to her, leaving it open on her lap. The town was on the other side of the prison from where they came in.
It was called Whitehead.
"I wonder how picked over it is," Maggie said as Daryl turned the truck on and began heading down the road away from the prison. He glanced in the rearview mirror to see that Glenn was checking the gates to make sure that everything was locked up securely behind them.
"Guess we'll find out," Daryl said as he headed down the road until he saw where he could turn left.
The prison stayed to his left and Maggie leaned forward to look at it through the windshield. Fencing with barbwire and additional walls were built around the entire thing and neither said so but both silently agreed that it was one of the best things they had seen for a long time.
"We're going to have to fix that," she said and Daryl looked away from the road to see that one of the brick walls had fallen along with a section of the fence. He took note of the location. Luckily, it was on the entirely opposite side of the prison so they didn't have to get to it immediately. Still, they'd have to do something for the time being so walkers – or other people – just didn't come in whenever they damn well felt like it.
The town appeared and Daryl eased his foot off the gas. Both he and Maggie saw the walkers stumbling around. Some had fallen – tripped over one thing or another – and they were still there, snarling as they dragged themselves around, not able to get back to their feet.
Daryl creeped the truck forward. For once, they weren't searching for food and it felt weird but he was grateful. Looking around at the main street of stores, he saw that there was a "Fashion House", whatever the Hell that was but it seemed like something they needed. He pulled to a stop in front of it.
He was counting at least thirty just in the street. He moved slowly, picking up his crossbow from the seat in between him and Maggie. He didn't know if they would be able to handle this, to be honest. Maggie was on the best their group had, that was no secret, but still he didn't know if they could handle this – just the two of them. They should have brought someone else with them. Forty might be just too many.
Maggie was reaching into the bag on the floor at her feet and pulled out a jar of something. She handed it to Daryl before taking out another for herself. Daryl looked at the rust-colored liquid inside of it and couldn't stop himself from grimacing.
Maggie saw and smiled as she unscrewed the lid of her jar. "It was Lori's idea." She began taking the walker blood and rubbing it onto her face and neck.
"How'd she even get so much of it?" Daryl asked as he began doing the same with his, biting back a cough. He really hated this but it'd make it easier than having to kill all of these walkers. They'd still have to kill a fair share but this would make it more doable.
"Do you really want to know?" She was grinning as she rubbed the blood over her arms. She let out a gagging cough and Daryl was glad he hadn't first. "Lori has some frustration and anger she's been needing to get out. She and Carol found a few of the prisoner walkers and strung them up. Drained their blood. Medieval stuff."
Daryl didn't comment but he reminded himself to not piss that woman off anytime in the future. She and Rick were angry at one another and were doing everything but talking – or fighting – with each other.
Maggie put her jar and then took Daryl's jar and stowed both away into her bag. She then took out a string of firecrackers they all had on hand – after finding a box of them as they ran through once place over the winter – and Daryl reached into his pocket, pulling out the book of matches. He took the firecrackers from her and opened his door as quietly as he possibly could. A couple of walkers were beginning to show interest in them but they seemed confused, snarling but looking as if they didn't know what they were snarling at with Daryl coated in their own dead blood.
Lighting the fuse, Daryl then chucked the firecrackers as far as he could up the street and away from them.
The exploded loudly is a succession of sharp pops. Sure enough, every walker within their vicinity turned and began to shuffle towards the noise.
Maggie got out of the truck, both leaving their doors open – closing them would cause too much noise. Through the windows of the Fashion House, they saw a couple of walkers but no big deal. The front plate-glass window had been smashed and Maggie hopped up first, followed by Daryl, and within the first minute, they took care of the walkers inside. They then took another minute to have their eyes adjust fully from going outside in the sunshine to a dim store.
Maggie grabbed a scarf that was hanging next to the cash register and began wiping her hands and arms so she didn't get walker blood over everything and Daryl grabbed another scarf to do the same.
"Beth told me that right now, the sweatpants and tee-shirts we found at the prison are best for her to wear. At least for a few more days since her body is still so sore," Maggie said. "And I don't blame her. I would hate to wear jeans right against my crotch right after shoving a watermelon out of it."
Daryl didn't say anything to that but he felt his face burn with fire at that. Maggie had a way of saying things that made him wish either she was a mute or he was deaf. The last thing he ever wanted to think about was Beth's crotch.
"But I still need to get her some underwear and bras. Actually, I'm sure all of the women need those. How are the guys holding up with underwear?"
"Maggie," Daryl grumbled her name, giving her a frown, too. "Don't say underwear."
Maggie just rolled her eyes. "I'll get it for everyone. Go find the baby clothes and don't even worry about sizes. Just grab everything. We'll figure out what fits and what doesn't fit him when we get back."
Daryl gave a nod in agreement and both took two shopping carts, moving silently as they looked for what they were there for. The walkers wouldn't be too distracted forever but hopefully, they would stay and mill around the other end of the street for a while and give him and Maggie enough time to do this.
He wondered if there was a way to pull them further away from the town. He didn't know how but maybe if they got some speakers from somewhere and loaded them on the back of the truck and somehow blasted music, one person could draw the walkers away while the others took their time going through the whole town. That would obviously have to be another day.
Daryl found the baby section and he saw that it had been helped to. There were still clothes though and Daryl looked for only a minute before he grabbed every piece of newborn clothing that was still on its hanger – even the onesies that were pink and purple and clearly meant for a girl. Jamie was a day old and wouldn't care and none of the adults would ever give a shit about that either.
He put everything into the cart and looked to see what else there were. He grabbed a couple of the packs of pacifiers that were still swinging on hooks, figuring that Beth would want to use them, and he grabbed a couple of spit rags, too. He had never been around a baby all that much but spit rags were pretty self-explanatory. He grabbed a variety pack of baby socks and another of baby hats.
Shit, babies had a lot of crap they needed. Made him think of himself when he was a baby. He doubted his mom – and sure as Hell not his old man – went to a store to buy him all of this stuff.
He didn't want to think about it but he thought of Beth and if she had had a baby back when the world wasn't like this. He easily saw her going to a baby store and picking everything with all of the care in the world, making sure everything matched and had its own theme. What would she have chosen if she had all of the options available to her still in the world? Of the stuff that was left in this place, farmyard baby animals seemed to have been pretty popular. So were the animals found in the woods. Daryl found himself leaning more towards those – not that this had anything to do with him.
The baby was a part of the group and the baby needed things. It was as simple as that.
And why the Hell was it so hard for him to remember something so simple?
Daryl couldn't stop himself. There was a bunch of animals still on one of the shelves to choose from and he grabbed a couple. A beaver and another of a pretty standard stuffed bear. He knew the kid really didn't need two stuffed animals but what was the harm in getting him some if they were here? He wondered if Beth would like these.
He dropped them into the cart before going back to looking.
Huh. That might not be a bad idea. He thought of the way she had tried to stir the pot of oatmeal that morning while holding the baby in her other arm. It would help her, that was sure.
Daryl took the box of the baby bouncer down from the shelf and set it down in the cart. If she didn't like it, it was no big deal. It wasn't like he was paying for it or anything.
He looked into the cart. Clothes, socks, hats, pacifiers, a beaver and a bear and a baby bouncer. Not too bad. He wasn't going to think why there was still plenty of baby stuff when just about everything else was sparse because that didn't matter. His group did have a baby – in this shit world, they now had a little baby to take care of – and he was grateful that all of these things were still here for Jamie and Beth.
Diapers. Beth really wanted diapers and Hershel had mentioned formula. Daryl didn't want to think of how Jamie was getting fed right now – he was not going to think of that part of Beth just like he wasn't going to think of her crotch – but Hershel was right. There was nothing wrong with having a backup plan just in case.
Just in case.
That was definitely one thing he didn't want to think about.
Diapers was actually one thing that wasn't on the shelves. Same with formula. It looked like they didn't sell anything like that here which made sense. It was Fashion House – not Baby World. That meant he and Maggie would have to find another store and distract more walkers.
It had to be done though. This was for Beth and Jamie. Ten and Eleven and members of their group. Daryl would do anything for anyone in their group and if diapers and formula were wanted, then that's what he was going to bring back.
Hearing another shopping cart coming, he turned and saw Maggie coming up the aisle from the other side. Christ, she had done good, too, judging from the pile of clothes in her cart. That was good because while Beth was going to wear the prison sweats for a while, that didn't mean anyone else really wanted, too, and the clothes they all wore were so dirty and sweaty, they could probably stand up.
"Would you wear this?" She asked, holding up a baseball cap with the Georgia Bulldog on the front of it.
"Doubt it," Daryl said and went back to looking over the baby things, making sure he had gotten everything.
"Here," Maggie said and he saw she was grabbing a couple of coats made for even bigger babies and toddlers. She then began grabbing clothes meant for toddlers, too. "Hopefully, we'll be at the prison for a while and Jamie will be able to grow into these."
Jamie will be able to grow into these.
Daryl looked at her and then looked to all of the clothes she was grabbing and putting into his cart. Jamie had only been here for a day and Daryl couldn't imagine him not being here and Daryl knew he wasn't the only one in the group who would do anything to make sure that Jamie grew into all of these clothes.
…
Jamie was napping in her arms as Beth walked slowly around the yard, rocking him in her arms and humming a soft song, feeling the sun warm on her face and a cool breeze through her hair. Her daddy had told her that for the first couple of days, Jamie was going to be sleeping and resting a lot. And then, the real fun would start. Beth was already worrying about his constant cries during the day and night bouncing off of the prison walls and making everyone in the group hate her.
Maybe, once they had been here for a while, she and Jamie could move themselves to a different cell block.
It was a beautiful day and she didn't even hear the snarls of the few walkers trying to bite at the fence down the slope of the prison yard. Rick, T-Dog, Glenn, and Carol were moving their cars and Hershel and Lori were inside, beginning to get things in order in there. She imagined Carl running around, exploring, seeing where it was safe for them to go.
She didn't pay attention to anything as she walked, looking down as Jamie slept peacefully. He was perfect. She and Jimmy had made such a perfect baby and in this kind of world he was born into, who would have ever thought that anything would be perfect anymore?
"That's a beautiful lil' baby," a voice suddenly spoke, startling her.
She looked up and saw there was a small man with thinning blonde hair, a handlebar mustache and a prison jumpsuit looking at her through the other side of one of the fences that separated the yards.
Beth naturally took a step back even though a fence separated them. "Thank you," she said politely, holding Jamie a little bit more tightly as if this man just looking at him was going to hurt him somehow.
"Can't remember the last time I saw a baby," the man continued.
Standing a bit behind him, she saw a much taller, bigger black man, also in a jumpsuit. He was leaning against the wall, arms over his chest, not approaching but watching and keeping himself silent.
Behind her, she heard the gate opening and the truck pulling in, signaling that Daryl and Maggie had returned. She didn't take her eyes off of the man in front of her though, his eyes focused on Jamie.
"Boy or girl?" He asked, still smiling.
She swallowed, her throat feeling dry. "Boy."
"He yours? He must be. You have that motherly glow to you," he chuckled.
"Hey!"
She jumped when she heard Daryl's voice suddenly behind her, getting closer. Behind him, she saw the pickup truck and Maggie was getting out, looking confused as to what was happening.
Daryl sounded absolutely furious. But when she had turned to see him approaching, she saw that he wasn't even looking at her. He was staring past her to the man on the other side of the fence, his crossbow in his hands as if he was ready to shoot. Rick was right behind him, looking just as pissed and Beth took another step back.
Daryl stopped beside her, putting himself in front of her, as Rick went to the fence.
"We had an agreement," Rick growled to him.
"I know we did, mister. I'm just making conversation," the man tried to explain.
"Don't even look at her," Daryl snarled.
He then put a hand on her arm, barely there, and she looked at him, seeing his eyes were hard and his jaw was clenched angrily. Without a word, he gently tugged her away.
"Don't talk to him," he told her in a low voice and she looked up at him.
"I'm sorry," she swallowed. She had never quite seen Daryl that angry before but she didn't feel fear towards him in the moment. Just confusion. She wasn't even entirely sure what she had done. "He was just talking and I-"
"You're too nice, Beth," Daryl cut her off.
Beth looked up at him. That was the first time he had ever said her name. She was just a number apparently. There were times when she thought he didn't even know her name. But he had just said it as easily as if he had always said it. She couldn't help but stare at him.
She didn't think her name had ever sounded better.
And then she had to wonder where that thought had come from.
Daryl stared at her and didn't seem to know why she was staring at him.
"Take you and Jaime back up. Maggie's got some stuff for you," he said.
She nodded. "Thank you," she said to him in a soft voice but he was already turning away, heading back towards Rick and the man on the other side of the fence.
"I didn't mean no disrespect. I never would of talked to her if I knew you were the dad…" she heard the man saying and she looked back as she walked away to see him looking at Daryl as he said that.
…
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