I woke early the next morning before going to let the dogs out. I carried the two pups and Fawn follow me out to the grass area beside the driveway and put them down for them to go. I went back to the Rv and started on Ethan's bottles for the day. When I finish making them I got dressed and laid out the boys clothes for the day. I let the dogs back in making sure both Rocky and Lady came back in with Fawn. I left the puppies with the boys asleep in the Rv while I went out to get some meat before sun rose up to far.
I grabbed my bow and arrows before making sure I had my pistol and ammo on my waist. I grabbed my hunting bag which had a couple days worth of food, water, a little dry dog food, small pup up bowls to put it in, a hat, string, hooks, map, extra ammo, rags to clean off the arrows and hunting knife with., extra hunting knife, flash light, matches, and a small tarp into the bag before putting a harness on Fawn then a long leash. I didn't know if she would run off but I wanted to make sure she didn't
The sun was just now starting to lighten up the sky a little so I had about an hour before the sun rose. I planned to be back by then to start breakfast and wake the boys up for the day. I notice that Daryl was also up and getting ready to go hunting to so i headed towards the side of the property that if you went through you wind back up at the highway eventually. I notice Daryl's tracks from the day before and went to the left of them not wanting to ending up taking his game or run across his traps.
I notice that Fawn was a natural in the woods which meant that Farmer John had taught her to be a good hunting dog as well as protector. I killed two rabbits coming out of their burrow. I added them to the top my bag before I contained walking. I set a trap here and a trap there along a decent size game trail. I shot about 6 smaller squirrels before putting up a couple more traps before heading back towards the house. Fawn start to growl at something that was to the left of me.
I got my bow ready to fire before she took running after it. I followed her through the woods until we came upon Daryl who was checking his traps. She charged him knocking him to the ground since she surprised it him by jumping on him. Fawn started to lick Daryl across the face before backing off and nudging him to pet her. Daryl didn't look to happy about being knocked down but just cussed and got back up and shooed her on before collecting his kill from his next trap.
"Sorry" I told him trying not to laugh.
"Fawn come, Sit." I told her pointing to my side and she came and sat at my side right where I was pointing.
"Fawn home," I told her as I started walking in the direction that the Rv was in.
"Fawn lets go home." I told her as I headed out of the woods and towards the direction the Rv was in.
I did stick around to see what Daryl was doing I just headed back to the Rv. I need to get back so that I could get breakfast skinned and cooking before getting the boys up for the day. I got back to the Rv and got a bucket out from under the Rv before grabbing the cutting board and two medium tupperware containers. One was for the breakfast meat and the other was for the meat i was going to freeze. I started to clean the squirrels first putting the guts in the bucket and adding the meat to the freezer tupperware.
I then started to cut the rabbits keeping there fur to make gloves or socks out of for winter. I put the rabbit meat int the tupperware for the breakfast meat. I then fed Fawn some of the guts to the animals before taking the bucket over to Daryl who was just getting back from checking his traps so that he could put his guts with mine. After feeding Fawn there wasn't much left and the puppies were still a litter young to give that to. I was going to start them on wet dog food first them move them to dry then guts of animals and dog food as their permit diet.
I took cleaned my hunting knife off with a rag and some water before taking the meat into the kitchen area of the Rv. The squirrel meat went into the freezer while the rabbit meat went in to the fridge while i woke the boys up and Sam went with Beth to get us some eggs to go with the meat. I went to the bedroom and woke Matt up first and then Sam. I laid out clothes for both of them and Ethan before getting Ethan up and taking him with me into the living area. i put him on the couch since he was still asleep. I left him in his moses basket so he wouldn't roll off the couch.
I put down dog food for the pups to eat while I waited on the boys to get up. Matt and Ethan came into the room after taking a shower and getting dressed for the day. Beth came to collect Ethan to go get eggs since we were running behind schedule he would help feed the animals right now. Sam brought back us 3 eggs and I started to cook the meat first. I left it in the strips that I had cut it up in after skinning the animals. I cooked the eggs next before putting plates together of 5 strips of meat and an egg for me, 4 strips of meat for Matt and an egg, 3 strips and an egg for Sam and the rest of the meat was put in the fridge for the next morning.
I set the plates on the table as Ethan started to cry for his bottle. I picked him up and started to feed him while the boys ate. I stopped to burp Ethan and let the dogs out to go to the bathroom after breakfast. I walked out with them while feeding Ethan the rest of his bottle. I lead the puppies back inside having to help them both up the steps of the Rv. I started Ethan on his baby food jar while the boys got their school books and flashcards together to go up to the main house.
I gave Ethan a bath and got him dressed for the day while Matt did the dishes and Sam played with his toys. I ate a cold breakfast while all three of the boys played on the floor with the puppies. I dug out harnesses for the pups that I had bought along with other dog supplies over from Farmer John's house. I didn't have to worry about leashes because Fawn would stay close to me and boys and the puppies would stay close to their mother so it was a win win situation. I put Ethan in his sling before grabbing my bow and Ethan's diaper bag.
I turned off the lights and turned everything off before locking up the Rv. I made sure the boys had their shoes and school books before heading towards the main house. Rick's group had built camp area out on the front lawn and we passed them as they started to get ready for the day like we were. I got to the main house and put the puppies in the play pin that had now been moved to the front law so that they could play on grass with their toys. The play pin was tall enough to keep the puppies in but short enough that Fawn could jump it if she wanted to.
I left the boys on the porch to start on their flashcards. They were going to quiz and help each other go through their set of flashcards. I knocked on the front door and waited not wanted to intrude on someone else's house like Lori, Shane and many of the other group seemed to do. Maggie answered it smiling when she saw me and the puppies. She got into the pin with the puppies and started to play with them. I entered the house calling out so they would know who it was and I didn't want to scare them if they turned around and there I was.
I found Beth cleaning up the kitchen with Patricia. They were cleaning up the dishes from the breakfast meal. Beth came over and got Ethan from me as she started to talk to him which made him smile and kick his legs. I smiled at this before walking over to where Patricia was drying dishes so I took over for her while she started to put the dishes up making the whole process go faster at the same time we talked about little things like food, clothes, soap before I got to main reason I wanted to talk to her. I wanted to express my condenses for her since she lost her husband the day before.
"So Patricia how are you holding up." I asked her surprising her.
"Okay I guess it's hard knowing that he won't walk through that door anymore but for some reason I still expect him to." She told me tearing up.
"I know I lost my husband about year and half ago." I told her sadly
"O wow i'm sorry my dear." She told me giving me a hug as finished with the dishes.
"It's okay he died doing what he loved fighting for his country. We were both military but I went into reserves to take care of Matt after severing 10 years. We decided when Matt turned 5 that it would be a good idea for me to start staying at home more instead of leaving him with his parents while we were on tour. No more than a year or so later I found out I was pregnant again just as we were getting the paper work finalized."
"Then when Sam was about a year old his parents died leaving us their small two bedroom house. It was funny just as we were getting settle in with having two kids I found I was pregnant with Ethan and not even a month later he was dead. I was three months pregnant at the time and almost lost the baby from my grief." I told her tearing up a little.
"O Wow that's quite a story and I sorry for your loss that must have been hard. Me and Otis always wanted lots of children but were only gifted two are probability dead by now." She told me making us both a cup of tea that we took to a small sitting room where we sat down and talked some more.
"I won't lie to you Patricia it's almost been two years now and I still expect to see Michael coming through the front door or waking up beside him in bed in the morning sometimes. I keep my self going by focusing on my kids and keep them safe, happy and alive." I told her wiping tears out of my eyes.
I got up and went to check on the boys who had moved on to problems in their workbooks. Beth was playing with Ethan and puppies in the play pin that was in the grass. I went back inside to check on Carl's stitches to make sure everything was good and not infected. Lori was sitting in the room holding Carl's hand when I knocked on the door before coming inside. I walked over to the small side table and put on a pair of gloves before opening some fresh gauze and tape ready.
"I'm here to check on Carl's stitches can you please step put for a minuet." I asked her in neutral voice.
"Why can't I stay in here." Lori demanded.
"Because you are in the way and will only stay in the way plus Carl with most likely wake up in pain when I start moving him around." I told her.
"Even more reason for me to stay." Lori demanded.
"Lori just let the woman do her work. Go get breakfast or take a shower you haven't have one since the CDC." Rick told her leading her out of the room so I could check Carl's stitches.
"Hey Rick Hershel said that Farmer Johns dog Fawn had like 7 puppies but we only found 4. Will you tell Maggie and Glenn to get ready to leave with Fawn once I'm done here. I think they will be a good warning system for walkers and humans plus I can train them to protect the kids and hunt for meat." I told him nicely with a soft smile.
"Sure I think Carl's old enough to have one I just have to talk Lori into it." He told me as he went to leave.
"Hey Rick I have an idea about supplies but if Shane or Lori gets wind of it I will get screwed out of my portion of them. I mean food to last us all winter if we get to them in time before other people do" I told him as I started to unwrapped Carl's wrappings.
"Okay we can talk about it later." Rick said leaving and shutting the door.
I realized that I couldn't do the job by myself so I carefully laid him back down and took off my gloves before setting them down on the table to reuse when i came back. I walked out of the room and Lori was standing there but when she tried to enter I stopped her and shook my head now then pointed to Maggie who was standing there with Glenn ready to go. I motion Maggie forward and let her enter the room before me then went back in shutting the door and locking it knowing Carl would start crying when he woke up from pain.
"I need you to put some gloves on from the box. Then hold him up while I unwrap his bandages wrapping. Maggie when we start moving him he will wake up and he will start screaming so don't drop him the faster I unwrap him the faster we can put him back down." I told her looking her in the eye so she understood fully what I was saying.
"Okay so lets get started." She told me making me smile as I put my gloves back on.
"Carl I don't know if you can here me but I'm going to sit up now and it's going to hurt by try not to thrash to much or might pull your stitches. I'm going to be as quick and gentle as I can but it will hurt." I told him as I motion for Maggie to grab his arm while I grabbed his other one.
I counted down from three and we sat him up and it surprised that he didn't start crying or screaming but it worried me more. I gave Maggie a look of worry before I started to unwrap his dressings. It was several layers thick to protect the wound as much as possible. After unwrapping the all the bandage I now had to cut through the couple layers of gauze that was there before I got to the stitches. I threw the dressings into the bed beside his leg before I started to put the medical cream on the stitches. I started to dress his wound back up in gauze before taping it down.
I then wrapped him back up in the long roll of ace bandage. I wrapped it up until I was happy with it them I helped Maggie lay him back down and it really worried me that he didn't seem to notice at all that he had been moved. I took the dirty dressings and the two pairs of gloves and threw them away in trash can that was by the door before unlocking it and sticking my head out. I called for Hershel not letting Lori or Rick in yet.
"Hershel come here please Carl's not responding did you give him anything." I asked him as he walked around the conner and into the room.
"NO but he did lose a lot of blood so he might sleep for a couple days." Hershel told me.
"Okay Well Me, Maggie and Glenn are going out for more supplies so we will be back later." I told him as I past by him and started to collect the boxes that were put out on the porch after we went through the boxes the day before.
"Mommy where are you going." Sam ask me running up to as I was packing boxes into the bed of the pick up truck from Farmer John.
"Well Fawn still has some puppies out there so i'm going to go see if I can find them and then we are going to get more supplies like food, water, medicine, warm clothes, weapons, and ammo. We need to go get it now before everyone takes what is left." I told him kneeling down to his level as I explained this.
"But you just got back why got to go again." Sam asked me as he frowned.
"If we don't get it now it will all be gone because other people will take it. Don't worry Matt and Beth are going to look after you, Ethan and the puppies while i'm gone." I told him kissing him on the head before standing back up.
"Beth, will you watch Ethan and Sam for me while Maggie, Glenn, and I go out for more supplies." I asked her.
"Yeah sure but what about the puppies." She asked.
"They should be find for a few hours with out their mom it will be good for them to start getting use to not always being with her." I told her as I walked over and kissed Ethan on the head.
I walked over to the Rv and went inside to get my bag and some extra ammo before we left. I grabbed extra arrows and ammo clips. I grabbed a couple handguns one for both Maggie and Glenn to use incase we ran into trouble out there. I also grabbed a couple extra hunting knifes because I knew neither Maggie or Glenn had any weapons, well that's a lie Glenn has a baseball bat but that dose that really count I didn't think it did but it was better than nothing I guess. I walked out of the Rv grabbing Ethan's moses basket on the way and shut it locking it before going back over to where Beth was sitting in the puppy pin with Ethan sitting up by his self between her legs.
I put the moses basket outside the pin but where she could reach it if she needed it along with his diaper bag. I handed Matt the keys to the Rv since I would be gone. I got in the driver seat of the truck before passing both Maggie who was in the middle seat and Glenn their weapons which was a handgun and hunting knife each. I gave each of them a couple extra clips of ammo before I started the truck. I was pulling out of the drive way when Fawn started to run along beside the truck and she followed us all the way to the gate. I stopped and looked at Glenn and motion towards her.
"Glenn grab her and put her in the crate in the back please. I was going to leave her but she wants to come." I told him pointing to Fawn who was standing there wagging her tail.
Glenn took a minuet to get Fawn in the crate that was in the bed of the truck that I had brought to put the puppies in if we found any more. I drove down the road to the farm on the other side of Hershel to find that it had been abandoned for a while base on the look of the house and how tall the grass was. I turned off the truck and got out before opening the crate for Fawn to get out knowing that if we had to leave quickly she could ride up front in someones lap or just in the bed of the truck no problem. I ready my bow and headed for the front door.
I knocked on it before stepping to the right side of the door. Maggie followed me to the right with her machete while Glenn went to the left with his baseball bat. We were going to try and stick with quiet weapons but had guns as backup just in case we had to use them. We shuffling and groaning coming front upstairs and watched through the small windows on each side of the door as walker that was an older woman came down the stairs tripping down the last flight but she got back up like nothing ever happen.
I waited until the walker was almost at the door before shooting it in the head with my bow. We waited and listen but no one else came so we entered the house. I went to the kitchen to find that it was even more stocked then Farmer John's was. I made sure to separate the supplies as I packed it up so that I didn't have to worry about it when I got home. we ended up using all the boxes on food, medicine, weapons, ammo, and I took the two queen mattresses that was in the house it was the kind that me and boys used and liked so I took them. I put them down in the bed of the truck first then the dog crate and boxes on top of it.
I made sure to get most of the soups, pasta sauce, beans, some jams, most the honeys, lots of canned onions, peppers, and herbs that was canned. I left what I didn't want for Rick's group another house like this one and i would be set for two almost three winters at this rate and that was a good feeling. The only problem was that I was going to have to put more shelves in the storage room so that I could stack the boxes with out them moving or falling over when the Rv moved.
After getting the truck loaded up we went to the back of the house to find a couple piles of wood that I added to the bed of the truck. It was now to the point that we were going to have stuff falling off the truck if we added anymore. I made the choice to head back to the farm not wanting to be driving around with all this supplies incase we ran into other people. We pulled up at the farm and was met by Shane and T-dog. I sent Maggie inside to get Rick because other wise Shane was going to be a problem.
I had started to unload putting boxes that were mine beside the door to the Rv and Rick's group. Shane tried to start just taking boxes but I stopped him quickly and that made him mad so he stomped of to go find Rick after he yelled, ranted and raved at me causing everyone to come see what was going on but I just stood my ground and let him through his little temper tantrum that he was doing like a little kid. When he started to try and use brute force to take a box. I knocked him on his ass before he even saw it coming which just made him madder.
"What the hell are you doing you can't just take over half the supplies." Shane yelled at me after everyone gathered around.
"Yes I can. I went out found the supplies, got the supplies and brought it back so why don't I get to keep it." I asked him which made him madder.
"NO he is right you can't keep all this to your self it's over half the supplies." Andrea demanded pointing to my boxes.
"Fine tomorrow you can go out and find supplies and then you get to keep what you want out of it until then shut up and sit on ass like you do everyday after all it's what you do best." I told her as I stood up in her face making her back step a couple steps.
"Glenn, Maggie start taking this into the Rv and put it in the living room for now all 15 boxes should fit just fine in there until I can put them up later." I told them taking the keys from Matt and unlocking the Rv door for them.
"Whoa Whoa Whoa hold up you can't just take all that. It's the groups food not yours." Shane said trying to stop Glenn and Maggie from getting to the boxes.
Rick now reached us now looking tired and not in the mood for Shane's shit. Lori looked even more pissed and it seemed to aimed at me for some reason. I wasn't the problem so i didn't know what hers was but I wasn't going to put up with it so I gave her a go to hell look while keeping my head up. Beth was keeping the boys back away from all the drama that was unfolding on the porch with Hershel and Patricia who were also watching to see what was going on.
"Rick this bitch thinks she can keep all this food and supplies to her self and not share." Shane demanded stomping to Rick.
"Like I said I found it, got it, and brought it back so that makes it mine you better be grateful i giving you any of it since all you do is treat me and my kids like shit and expect us to do what ever it is you say." I told Shane rudely.
"Rick we had an agreement does it still stand." I asked him raising my eyebrows at him.
"Yes it stands do you have your end of the deal." Rick asked me shocking everyone.
"Wait a minuet what deal are you talking about." Lori demanded stepping away from Rick and looking at him angrily.
"I told Rick that he would get a third of supplies along with pain medicine for Carl after surgery in return for letting me keep the rest of the supplies and he agreed." I told them handing Rick the bag of 3 vials of morphine and 2 couple bottle of lighter pain meds.
"Rick you can't agree to that medicine isn't worth all this food that she is keeping." Shane and Lori started to demand.
"Lori that is morphine the strongest pain meds you can get and 2 lighter pain meds for whatever happens in the future." I told her showing her the medicine in the bag along with the bottles of lighter pain meds.
Shane stomped off to gods knows where and Lori went back inside to be with Carl but she wasn't happy about the trade that Rick had agreed to. Everyone else wasn't sure what to say some agreed that it was a fair trade while other didn't. I sent Maggie with Glenn and T-dog to see if the other puppies were under the porch or in the house while i worked on the inside of the Rv. I started with the shelves in the storage room. I had the measurements written down all I had to do was get out the tools that I got from farmer John and start working.
It took about 2 hours to get all the shelves cut, put together, and installed in the storage room now there was enough room to have 2-3 winters worth of food in there since I had made it so that the crates that I was going to spend the rest of the day building would fit in the shelves and still allow plenty of storage. I went and checked on Beth who was feeding Ethan with a huge smile on her face while the puppies chased each other around the pin not even missing their mom yet. I knocked Hershel's door and waited for someone to answer before entering.
"Hershel I was wondering if you had any nails I could use. I ran out building my shelves and need some more to finish building the crates to go in the shelves." I asked him feeling kind of stupid.
"Sure come on let me get them for you and in return I have something I want you to do for me." He told me leading out to the barn.
"Sure what is it." I asked him.
"After hearing the stories of everyone talking about how these people are now after they get sick. i have my wife, stepson, and some neighbors in the barn. I can't kill my wife and son." He told me as he climbed up the ladder that led to the loft of the barn.
"Sure I can kill them now if you want." I told him as I drew my bow and started to shoot the 20 walkers that were in there one by one.
"There all done now what are planning on doing with the bodies. We could burry your wife and son but I suggest cremating them so that you don't contaminate the soil since you have animals, water, and crops that come from your land." I told him as I hopped down on to a barrel of hay before i started to make sure they were all dead.
"I guess we could burn them separate so we can spread their ashes." Hershel said.
"Hershel I'm going to be honest to you I still have my husbands ashes and it has been almost two years this winter. I plan on keeping them until I find my forever home and then I spread them there or have my sons get rid of our ashes together when I die." i told him using one of the cleaner walker's shirt to wipe the brains off my arrows before I put them up.
"Let me think about it. But lets get you those nails you need and I want to see what kind of Rv you have on the inside because I was thinking of getting one. I know that this farm won't last forever." Hershel told me.
"The first step is to decided are you going for a fancy one or a livable one. Mine is was built to be a seasonal living Rv and it's not really doing that for me now that I have to live in it full time but after I'm done with these upgrades it will be the best thing for my family." I told him.
"There is an Rv park about 30 minuets from here taking back roads or on the other side of town. They just got a shipment of the newer solar powered Rv's in. What if we made a day trip put to look at them they run off of gas and solar power so when gas runs out we can still use them." Hershel told me as we walked back to the house.
"Yeah sure we might have to take Rick, The boys will want to go, Maggie, Beth can go and watch the boys, Glenn needs the training so does T-dog. We should talk to everyone at dinner and get their opinion and if decided to make a day trip out of it my Rv will hold Me, Glenn Maggie, The boys, and Beth since I'm not leaving it here. We could also take a truck to hold the rest." I told him as we got to the shed beside the house.