I do not own any characters from The Walking Dead (Kerri is mine though!)
Chapter Six
A month had passed since Kerri had joined life at the prison. She was now considered a full-fledged member of the group who even seemed to be well-liked and respected much to her surprise. She still went out on runs from time to time, but as Daryl had predicted, Rick much preferred her staying at the prison with Hershel to help with any medical issues that might come up. Although, after the incident during her last run she wondered if Rick would ever let her go out again.
They had been clearing a local gas station, a place the group had realized they had missed during their initial runs in the areas nearby the prison. It seemed like it was going to be easy enough. They had been so confident that only Daryl, Michonne, and Kerri had gone. But, as always, things hadn't gone nearly as smoothly as they had hoped.
The gas station at first glance had only three walkers inside, a decaying cashier and two customers. They were all taken out with ease allowing the group to search the isles for anything useful. Their group, however, had failed to notice the door towards the back of the building that led to a storeroom, assuming that it was just another door leading outside.
Shortly after they began searching and collecting things from the room, a loud creaking and moans of walkers began echoing around them. The group all stopped and looked at one another, but before they even had time to react, the door to the storeroom broke open from the immense weight of a dozen walkers who were excited at the prospect of a fresh meal.
The trio was immediately overwhelmed by the mountain of bodies. Michonne swung her katana, clearing a path to the front of the building. Kerri quickly found herself to be surrounded, swinging her hunting knife into the temple of the female walker closest to her. As the body fell, it was promptly replaced by another walker, arms outstretched.
Kerri began backpedal to give herself more room to take the walker down, but she stumbled over a fallen walker and twisted her ankle on the way down. White, hot pain throbbed through Kerri's ankle causing her to cry out in pain. The walker that she had been attempting to avoid was closing in and collapsed on top of her, its jaws gaping and gnashing as it attempted to reach the flesh of her face and neck.
Luckily, Daryl had seen her go down and heard her cry out in pain. He quickly shot an arrow into the skull of the walker that had Kerri pinned to the floor and then cleared another pair that had been closing in.
Michonne successful killed the last three walkers that had been stumbling in her direction while Daryl moved to help Kerri to her feet. All three seemed a little shaken by the ordeal, they took it as a lesson not to get too comfortable, no matter how straightforward a situation might seem.
Back at the prison, Hershel had diagnosed Kerri with a severely sprained ankle and promptly ordered her to rest. Which is what she had been doing for the past two weeks and was the only reason she wasn't going on the upcoming run to the local Big Spot.
Kerri would be lying if she said she wasn't disappointed that she wasn't healed enough to go with them. She hated feeling cooped up inside the fences of the prison and she was nervous that she wasn't going to be able to see the run through, especially after she had helped brainstorm the idea of using the boom box to lure the walkers from the parking lot.
The group who was planning to go on this run included Daryl, Michonne, Tyreese, Glenn, Sasha, and Bob. Sasha had just recently been cleared for duty after taking a few weeks break for her sprained knee. Zach was younger guy, probably in his early twenties, who Daryl had just agreed could come on runs. He seemed eager to prove himself and maybe a little cocky, a trait that made Kerri nervous about his ability to be a team player in such a high-stakes environment.
The vehicles prepared to leave the prison fences early, Kerri hobbled out on her bad ankle to wish them well and to say goodbye. She saw Beth, Hershel's youngest daughter, talking to Zach before kissing him.
"It's like a damn romance novel," Daryl scoffed, watching Beth walk away. Kerri laughed at his gruff view of the young couple, not surprised that he didn't appreciate their public display of affection.
"Be careful y'all," Kerri said, watching them load the last of their gear into the vehicles, "I wish I could be going with you."
"Nah, ya need to stay here an' get tha' ankle straight 'fore ya worry 'bout any of tha'," Daryl answered, climbing onto to the back of his bike.
Kerri didn't respond, she just nodded her head, surprised that Daryl seemed concerned about her well-being. He didn't usually say things like that to anyone at all.
She didn't have much time to ponder his words before the sound of engines starting pulled her from her thoughts. She watched as Rick jogged forward to open the gates and waved as their little caravan pulled forward, leaving the security of the fences.
It was nearly dark when the group returned, the sound of Daryl's bike roaring up the road alerting everyone that they were back. Kerri was tempted to leave her cell to go say hello to everyone, but her ankle was throbbing particularly badly after moving around on it all day long. She decided it would probably be better for her to wait and just see them all at breakfast the next morning.
About thirty minutes after the group returned, Kerri heard Daryl's familiar footsteps moving down the hall. She was surprised, though, when they stopped in front of her cell instead of moving on down the row to his own room like they usually did.
Kerri looked up to the doorway noticing the shadowy outline of Daryl's body standing there behind the curtain. He seemed like he was hesitating, debating whether or not to come in and speak to her or to just keep moving.
"Daryl?" Kerri questioned her tone gentle as she sat up on the edge of her bed.
He slowly pulled back the curtain, peaking his head around, "I didn't wake ya up, did I?" he asked, keeping his eyes down.
"No," she answered, "I was just propping my ankle up; it's been killing me all night," she stretched her leg out to show the joint wrapped tightly with an athletic bandage, "You can come in and sit down if you want," she offered, gesturing to the old wooden chair she kept in the corner by the door.
Daryl stepped inside awkwardly and sat down, "The run went ta shit," he began, propping his elbows on his knees and placing his face in his hands.
"I figured something must've happened," Kerri responded, immediately thinking the worst and wondering if everyone made it back okay.
"How'd ya figure tha'?" he asked, looking up at her confused.
"You normally don't stop by and see me just to talk," Kerri replied, a grim smile on her face.
Daryl snorted, "I reckon you're right about tha'."
"What happened out there?" she inquired, growing more worried with each minute that passed.
"Whole thing jus' went ta shit," Daryl began, "First Bob got fuckin' trapped under a shelf in the beer an' wine isle. Don't know wha' the hell he was doin' down there. We were supposed ta just be in an out quick, not worry 'bout fucking drinks."
Kerri's stomach did flips at his mention of Bob sneaking off to get alcohol. She hoped her decision to keep quiet about Bob's potential alcoholism hadn't caused all this.
"Then, while we tried ta get the fuckin' shelf off Bob's leg, walkers started fallin' from the damn ceilin', shit jus' got worse from there," Daryl continued.
"Falling from the ceiling?" Kerri asked, confused as to how in the hell something like that even happened.
"Ya, from the fuckin' ceilin'. It was rainin' fuckin' walkers in the store. Some helicopter crashed on tha roof, must've happened not long afta' the turn. So tha weight of that an' the walkers too made the whole damn roof cave in."
"That's crazy as hell," Kerri muttered, "I never would've even thought about them falling from the ceiling."
"Well neither did we," Daryl said, "So we was all runnin' 'round like chickens with their damn heads cut off. Everybody had at least a few close calls, then Zach wen' back to try 'n get tha' shelf of Bob's leg again. We finally got 'em loose, but Zach got bit and then a whole mess a walkers got hold of 'em. Wasn't nothing we could do. Then tha' whole fuckin' roof caved in cause of tha' helicopter, we barely made it out," he finished.
"I'm so sorry Daryl," Kerri whispered. She knew how much he hated losing people; he had mentioned it on previous runs when he was giving directions. They hadn't lost anyone in the whole time that Kerri had been a part of the group, but it seemed like their streak of good luck was ending.
"The worst part was havin' ta tell Beth," Daryl sighed, pushing his hair back off of his forehead.
Kerri's stomach sank even more, she hadn't even thought of Beth. She knew from Carol's stories after she first arrived that Beth hadn't taken loss very well back when they had been at the farm.
"Is she okay?" Kerri asked, hoping that Beth wouldn't sink back into the depression Carol had mentioned.
"Ya, it was weird as hell. She ain't even cry when I told her. She told me tha' she don't cry anymore."
Kerri didn't respond, not crying or showing any emotion was almost as unhealthy as Beth's prior coping methods. But she didn't have much room to judge, she honestly couldn't remember the last time she had cried herself or allowed herself to grieve all that she lost. Maybe everyone's way of coping changed in the apocalypse and that was just part of their lives now.
A/N: 2 chapters posted back to back! Whoohoo! Hopefully I can keep the train rolling and get these chapters out to y'all. Please review!