CHAPTER 5
- Kate -
Kate was sitting at one of the common room tables with Maggie, Glenn and Beth when Daryl walked over.
"Was thinkin' 'bout goin' on a run, take the bike and see if I can find a pharmacy. Try and get some painkillers for your dad." He said to Maggie.
"Thank you Daryl. That would be great. I hate seeing him hurting."
Daryl nodded and looked over at Kate. "Wanna go with me?"
She was surprised he was asking, but quickly said yes.
"Be ready in 15 minutes. I'm gonna go talk to Rick and get the bike going."
He left them then, walking out the door and into the yard. Kate looked at Maggie but regretted it immediately.
"I take it whatever you had to talk to Daryl about in the middle of the night went well?" She said, mischief lighting up her face. Kate rolled her eyes. She should've known Maggie wouldn't let the opportunity pass.
"What?!" Maggie said feigning innocence. "I'm just askin'. You both spend the whole night up in the tower together and now he's askin' you on a run?"
"It's not like that Maggie. Who else is going to go with him? You, Beth and Carol need to stay with your Dad. Lori obviously can't. He's not going to take more men away when we need all the protection we can get here."
Maggie backed off. Kate provided a convincing argument; so much so that she felt disappointed herself. Of course that is why he asked her. It made perfect sense. Why did she let herself think for a minute it was because he was interested in her?
She headed back to her cell to grab her pack and added a few things from their make-shift kitchen.
Armed with her knife and gun, she headed out the main door and heard the roar of Daryl's bike. He was down by the gate with Rick and Carl.
She sprinted across the yard to them and threw her leg over the back of the bike. Rick and Carl opened the gates and she gave them a wave as they headed out.
"Hold on." Daryl shouted over his shoulder. She slipped her arms around his waist and he gave it gas, tearing out of the prison gate, quickly passing the clutch of walkers who had been drawn to them by the noise.
A few minutes later, they turned onto a main road and Daryl picked up speed. Kate relaxed a little when the number of walkers started to dwindle and there were patches of road where they didn't see any at all. It was during those moments when she wondered how life had led her here - hurtling helmetless on the back of a chopper in the middle of nowhere, her arms around a Georgia redneck.
About an hour on the road and Daryl pulled off into a small town, she had spotted a Walgreen's sign off the highway a while back and was surprised when he didn't stop.
"There was a Walgreens." She shouted above the engine's roar.
"Naw. Picked through a long time ago." He had shouted back over his shoulder.
They drove up a few blocks lined with small stores until they came to a small medical building. In peeling white vinyl across the plate glass window it read, "Rhodes Pharmacy". He parked the bike and she climbed off the back. She looked at him expectantly when he stayed put.
"I was thinkin'." He began. "If you wanted, I don't see any reason I couldn't sleep in the tower while you're on watch. If it helps."
"Yes! Thank you!" She said and in an effort to not make him too uncomfortable, she suppressed the desire to throw her arms around him. "That is such a relief."
He stood and swung his leg off the bike and headed for the building. He knocked on the door a few times and almost immediately two walkers were pressing their faces against the glass, jaws snapping open and shut and their rotting fingers slipping. Kate took a step back.
"Good sign." He motioned towards the walkers. "Maybe no one has been in here yet."
He looked around the sidewalk and found a large rock in some weeds.
"Get your knife out."
With a grunt he hurled the rock through the large plate glass window. In the moment it took for the walkers to make their way through the shards of glass, Daryl had his bow aimed and took the first one out easily. He moved forward quickly and buried his knife deep in the skull of the second one before casting the body to the side. He loaded his bow again, turned and held his hand up to her. She understood he wanted her to wait and she eyed their surroundings, hoping the shattering glass hadn't drawn the attention of any more walkers.
Daryl crept in slowly, and surveyed the store quickly before motioning her in. Kate gingerly stepped thorugh the window and looked around the dark store. It was small and although it wasn't untouched, there was enough stuff remaining that she thought they might find some useful things.
"I'll go look behind the counter." Daryl said. "See if I can find anything for Hershel. You check out the rest of the place, looks like there's some good shit here."
Kate started down the first aisle, opening her empty backpack. She filled it with some bandaids, gauze, rubbing alcohol, bars of soap, tiny bottles of travel sized shampoo and lotion, condoms (hey, at least Glenn and Maggie could use them.), Kleenex and all the toothbrushes and toothpaste they had left. A lot of this stuff seemed like a luxury, they had gone without it for so long, but it was here and maybe they'd be at the prison long enough to make use of it all. Maybe they could use one of the cages in the common room to store supplies like this that they found on runs.
She was a little wrapped up in daydreaming about what could be and didn't even notice the walker that was pinned to the ground by a fallen shelf until she stepped right in front of it. It grabbed her ankle with its outstretched hand and she screamed. The creature had gripped her tightly, trying desperately to gnaw through her boot. She tried to step back and fell to the ground, simultaneously kicking and trying to pull her knife. She heard Daryl yelling her name and scrambling over the counter. She wrenched her leg free and dragged herself backwards down the slick linoleum floor. She heard the thrum of an arrow and the walker fell silent forever.
Daryl rushed down the aisle towards her and hit his knees as she tried to scramble to stand.
"Kate? You ok? Did you get bit?" He demanded, his voice cracking.
"I'm ok. I'm ok." She gasped, holding onto his arms for support and trying to catch her breath. Her hands were shaking badly and her knees felt weak.
"That was a close one." She said, taking a deep breath and hoping she didn't sound as scared as she was.
He pulled away from her suddenly and took a few steps back. His face twisted into a scowl. "Damn girl, pay attention!" He turned to head back towards the pharmacy counter, and shouted over his shoulder. "You're gonna get yourself killed."
His annoyance took her by surprise and her fear quickly turned to anger.
"I'm sorry," She bit back. "I was under the impression you'd cleared the store."
She said it to his back and he wheeled around quickly. This time it was more than annoyance contorting his features. He was angry, she could see it in the set of his shoulders and his eyes were narrowed into slits.
"I ain't your babysitter." He spat, taking a few angry steps towards her and pointing to his head. "Use your brain. Can't just go around expectin' everyone else to keep ya safe."
She heard the words and they stung. She immediately thought of his willingness to keep watch with her and she felt abashed, but she could see doubt in his face too, although she didn't know what it meant.
She looked back at the walker laying still on the linoleum floor of the pharmacy and saw Daryl's crossbow bolt sticking out at an angle from its temple.
"Use your brain Daryl" She said mimicking the insult he had just hurled at her. "You don't have an unlimited supply of these arrows."
She thundered over to the walker, feeling Daryl's eyes on her the whole time, and reached down to rip it out of its head. She'd seen Daryl do it a million times over the last several months and she thought she might throw it at him to make her point. She grasped the arrow firmly and yanked hard, but it slipped right out of her grip and she took a clumsy step back into the shelf. Her face turned red and her hand began to sting. She reached down again, this time with both hands and pulled. Nothing. She pulled harder, and finally, with a great deal of effort managed to free the bolt from the walker's skull. She looked up to see Daryl grinning at her. It was a smart ass grin and at first she really did think she'd hurl the arrow at him, but then she realized how ridiculous the whole scene had been and she started to laugh.
"You done?" He asked, a hint of laughter in his voice and all the anger gone.
Kate walked towards him and put the bolt in his open hand.
Her mouth curled into a smirk. "Yes. I am and from now on I'll leave the arrows to you."
"Probably a good idea."
He headed for the pharmacy counter again and Kate followed him. It didn't take long for them to finish going through the shelves. They found a couple of bottles that either had instructions that seemed to be related to pain, "Take two as needed every four hours", or some more common painkillers and antibiotics they even recognized the names of. Codeine, Vicodin, Amoxicillin were all loaded up into Daryl's pack and they headed back out the front, looked around for walkers, climbed onto the bike and started back to the prison.