Chapter Five
"She's just hungry" I say trailing off my eyes going from Rick's face to above his head and up the slight hill to the guardrail where there's a large group of people standing, staring down at us.
Daryl and Rick's heads slowly turn to look at what my focus had turned to. We're all silent for a moment before Rick turns back to me.
"C'mon might as well introduce you now." He says gesturing in front of him.
"Go on Jackson" I say urging him to go in front of me. Once he's started up the slight embankment, I grasp penny's hand and usher her in front of me following close behind Jackson. We're about halfway up when her foot slips out from under her causing her to fall and me to stumble before hitting my knees.
"Are you okay Penn?" I ask and she nods looking at me with wide eyes.
"Here I can take her" Rick offers holding his hands out for penny who glances back at me unsure
"Go on" I tell her, and she does, allowing him to pick her up and settle her on his hip.
"C'mon" Daryl's voice comes from my other side startling me as I hadn't noticed he was that close and when I turn my face to him, he grasps my arm and pulls me to my feet and giving me a nudge up the hill.
Luckily the rest of the way up I don't stumble anymore.
Once over the guardrail I allow my gaze to once again settle on the large group before I turn my eyes to Rick who is placing Penny back on the ground. I watch as he rubs his hand over his jaw before beginning to speak.
"This is Gen and her kids uh..." he says trailing off realizing he never asked their names, so I fill in the blanks
"Jackson, Penelope and Anneliese"
"And uh we found them walking in the woods and thought maybe they could join us?" He finishes with a questioning tone
"Really rick?" A shaggy headed man asks from the front of the group.
"Shane, she has a baby and 2 other kids" Rick protests
"We could barely keep track of 2 of our own!" Shag-Shane bites out
"Now look that was no one's fault okay!" Rick defends
"I agree with Shane, Rick. How are we going to feed 3 eventually 4 more people when we barely have enough for ourselves" a brown-haired woman who has her arm a young boy, probably around the same age as Jackson, says.
"What if it was you Lori wouldn't you want someone to help you?" Rick asks
"Look if it's an issue we can be on our way" I speak up causing Rick's head to whip towards me
"No that won't be necessary" he states
"Oh! So, you make the decisions for the group now Rick?" A blonde haired woman says
"No Andrea. I just don't see how it's fair to leave 2 young kids a baby and their mom wondering the woods" Rick says once again rubbing his hand over his jaw.
"Rick really it's no big deal we can just-" I begin but am cut off by an older man with a fisherman's hat
"No, I agree with Rick you shouldn't have to wander the woods alone with 3 kids" he says
"Dale that's not fair. Like Lori said we can barely feed ourselves how can we feed 3 more people" the blonde protests
"We'll do more runs Andrea. How can you possibly justify sending a young woman with children and a baby back into the woods" Dale says back
"Okay, okay calm down. We'll take a vote. All in favor of them staying raise your hand" Shane says and to my amazement everyone except Shane Lori and Andrea's hands go up.
"Then it's settled they can stay" Rick says looking back at me. "How about we introduce ourselves?" He suggests
And the group does. There's Dale, the old man with the fishing hat. Andrea the bitchy blonde. T-dog a young African American guy. Glenn an Asian man who looks barely older than 18. Carol an older woman whose daughter Sophia was lost. Shane, who used to be a cop and is Rick's best friend. Lori Rick's wife. And then Carl Rick's 12-year-old son.
"Well I'm Genevieve, you can call me Gen. this is Jackson he's 11. Penelope she's 3 and Anneliese she's about 2 weeks old and very very hungry" I say as Anneliese begins fussing around her pacifier.
"Well let's find you guys an empty car to settle into for the night" Rick says, and I nod following him.
"This one should work" he says stopping next to an SUV not even 2 minutes later. "It looks like you can lay the back seats down and have more room" he says
"Okay thank you" I say giving him a small smile. And he nods before walking back to the rest of the group.
"Come on Jack help me fold down those seats" I say opening the back of the SUV. It takes the two of us 5 minutes to get the seats folded down and by that point Anneliese has graduated from fussing to whining verging on crying.
"Hey here's your bags. Almost forgot to give them to you" Rick says from behind me as I'm helping Penny up into the back. "Thank you" I say turning to take them from him.
"It's no problem. Do you guys have food and water?"
"Uh. We have a can of fruit left. And 3 bottles of water left" I say digging through the book bag one handed.
"Oh, okay well let me go grab you guys some more food-"
"No! No, it's okay we're fine"
"If you're sure. Do you need anything else?"
"Blanket" Penny states rather then asks causing Rick to laugh
"I will go see if I have a blanket" he says walking off.
"Jack can you open the can of fruit and share that and a bottle of water with Penny please" I request opening the diaper bag and pulling out the stuff to make a bottle for Anneliese. It's a little difficult one handed but I manage to get it down just in time for her to spit out her pacifier and let out a wail.
"Okay shh shh here you go" I say sliding the bottle into her mouth which she eagerly begins to drink.
"How's the fruit?" I ask Jackson and Penny
"It's good" Jackson says around a mouthful
"Alright I found a few blankets for you guys and a pillow" Rick says approaching once again
"Rick you didn't have to" I begin to protest but he shakes his head and places the blankets in the SUV.
"Well thank you. Guys tell Mr. Rick thank you" I instruct
"Thanks" Jackson says
"Thank you Mr. Rick" Penny says
"You're very welcome. If you need anything don't hesitate to come find one of us. It'll be getting dark soon" he says looking to the sky where the sun has just begun setting.
"Okay" I say pulling the bottle from Anneliese's mouth making her whine as I shift her to burp her.
"I know. I know. You'll have it back as soon as you burp" I murmur to her as Rick walks away
"Gen? Can I color?" Penny asks
"Sure" I answer pulling her coloring book and crayons from the book bag and handing them to her.
"Once it's dark. It's going to be time to go to sleep." I tell them and they both nod. Jackson surprises me by beginning to color with Penny. By the time the sun is almost completely down Anneliese has finished her bottle and I'm changing her diaper before it gets too dark. Once I'm done that I have Penny put her coloring book away and have her and Jackson settle down to sleep before I place the mosses basket in the passenger seat and hop out of the back and close the trunk area door before sliding into the driver's seat with a wide awake Anneliese propped up against my chest. I let her rest propped up for about a half an hour before I wrap her in a blanket and settle her into the Moses basket. Before I get ready to sleep myself, I prep a bottle for Anneliese for when she wakes up midway through the night.
And just as I thought Anneliese wakes me a few hours later. So, I change her and feed her before settling her back down to sleep. Not even an hour later going by my watch she wakes up crying again and nothing will settle her. Although she does break for her early morning bottle. We sit in the SUV for hours until the sun barely begins to peek over the trees. Then I get out and bounce her while walking around the SUV in hopes of soothing her. On our 5th lap Rick approaches us and stops to talk.
"I hope she didn't wake you" I say gesturing to the constantly whining baby in my arms.
"She didn't. The sun did. Is she okay?" He asks
"I think she has a little bit of colic. But it hasn't been this bad" I say, and he nods before holding out his hands making me raise my eyebrow
"Can I try? Carl had colic when he was a baby" he says, and I look at him for a moment before hesitantly handing her over. And I watch closely as he props her up Almost into a sitting position in the crook of his left arm while his right-hand rubs circles on her back. After a few minutes she begins to calm down. And I raise my eyes to meet his.
"Rubbing their belly always helps" he says
"I know. Penny had colic when she was a newborn, but it went away after a month or so"
"Well hopefully this little lady will have the same luck" he says "Here you go I better get the rest of the group moving. We're going out today to look for Sophia. I would suggest you stay back here. You're more than welcome to look through the cars. You might find some baby items" he says handing Anneliese back to me who snuggles into my arms and closes her eyes sleepily.
"Okay." I say
"You're more than welcome to join us for a small breakfast too" he says and I nod
"Thank you. For that and for soothing her" I say and he smiles
"It's no problem. If we don't help each other then we'd all be in a world of misery" he says before walking off. Shaking my head to myself. I open the back of the SUV and retrieve the discarded baby sling and put it back on before settling Anneliese in it against my chest.
"Jack. Penny. It's time to get up." I say gently pulling the blankets off of them
"Do we have too?" Jackson whines
"Yes. Come on get up" I say flicking the bottom of his foot and laugh as he sleepily sits up Penny doing the same. They both slide to the edge and Jackson hops down. But instead of hopping down Penny just holds her arms up towards me making me smile. As I lift her onto my hip, she snuggles her head into my shoulder. With a little struggle I grab the diaper bag and place it on my shoulder before closing the SUV. I nudge Jackson to where the rest of the group is conjugating in front of the RV. Once there Rick smiles warmly at us and holds out 2 cans of fruit to us.
"Oh no we only need one" I protest
"Gen I know you didn't eat last night. You need to eat too" Rick says frowning at me
"You didn't eat more than a few bites the day before" Jackson states making me blush and glare at him.
"Take it" Rick urges and I motion for Jackson to take the cans. Before walking to a nearby car and settling on the already warming hood. Jackson opens both cans before handing one to me. I only eat half the can before I feel full, so I give the rest to Jackson and Penny to split. Not long after we finish eating does the group assemble and head out. Dale and T-Dog staying behind. Dale to watch everything and T-Dog because he cut his arm pretty bad.
"What's your plan for today?" Dale asks me
"Would it be okay if I set Jack and Penny up in RV with something to do while I go through cars?" I ask
"Yes of course" Dale says
"There might be some board games in there" he says
"Okay thank you. I'll get them settled and then I'll begin looking through cars" I say opening the RV door and ushering Jack and Penny inside. Once they're seated at the table I look around for the board games. After finding a few I set them on the table between Jack and Penny.
"Have fun. If you get hungry come, get me I'll be nearby looking through cars" I instruct getting nods in response. Shaking my head to myself I head back out of the RV and towards the abandoned cars.
I work for about an hour before Anneliese begins to stir so I go to the SUV and change her diaper before feeding her. Once I have Anneliese settled in my arms drinking her bottle, I head over to the RV to see how Jack and Penny are doing.
"Hey guys how'd you enjoy the games?" I ask pulling the door closed behind me
"They were okay. Penny doesn't understand some of them but Mr. Dale came down and got out connect 4 for us so we've been playing that." Jackson says not bothering to look up from the game
"Well that's fun. I figured we could eat some lunch in about 2 hours. How's that sound?" I ask
"Sounds good Genny" Penny says
"Once Anneliese is done eating, I'm going to look through some more cars okay?" They both nod and deciding against going back outside for the time being I sit down in the driver's seat while Anneliese finishes eating. And once she's done, I strap her back into the carrier and head out of the RV and tell Dale I'm going to head down the highway a little farther to look through some untouched cars.
Which turns out to be a very good decision because I find a trunk full of clothes and baby things. One of which is a little baby hat which I immediately place on Anneliese's head to shield her some more from the sun. In one of the bags I find a few onesies and a receiving blanket. And in the diaper bag I find half a pack of diapers and a bottle. I empty the book bag and place the items in it before slinging it onto my shoulder and walking to a different car.
Over the course of 2 hours I find a few throw blankets. A couple cans of food and a case of water. I take it all back to the RV with me when I go to give Jack and Penny some lunch.
But upon entering the RV I find them already eating.
"What're you guys eating" I ask sitting next to Penny across from Jack.
"Mr. Dale gave us some green beans, corn and spinach. He said to save one for you" Jackson says sliding the can of spinach towards me.
"Thanks" I laugh grabbing the can opener.
"Did you find anything?" He asks
"Yea I found some stuff for Anneliese there wasn't much else" I say beginning to eat the spinach
"Gen?" Penny says
"Yes?"
"I want a dolly" she says simply
"Well I'll keep my eye out Penny. No promises" I tell her
She nods her head and looks quite dejected and I feel horrible but before I can even tell her that I will look for one I hear a distant loud boom. A sound I quickly recognize as a gunshot. I stand quickly briefly turning to face Jack and Penny
"Go back to the room with T-Dog don't come out until I get you" I order before rushing out the RV door knowing they'd listen to me. It takes me all but 6 seconds to climb the RV ladder.
"Was that a gunshot?" I ask Dale pulling myself to my feet
"Sounded like it" he replies looking through his binoculars
"Do you see anything?" I question
"No." Is his simple response
We stand on top of the RV for about an hour and just as I'm ready to climb down the ladder the group emerges from the tree line. I hurry down the ladder and into the RV to retrieve Jack and Penny. And come out to Dale questioning the group.
"Was that a gunshot?" He asks frantically
"Yes-" Glenn begins
"Was anyone hurt? Where's the rest of the group?" Dale says
"Carl got shot" Daryl says
"What?" I say
"Carl was shot and this chick on a horse cane and got Lori. She told us where to find the farm they're at"