The Wolf You Feed
Chapter 38
Olivia scooted down in her seat and leaned back. Lifting her legs, she rested her feet on Tank's back, using the large animal as a footrest. She was enjoying the attention that Rowan was giving her, but she drew the line when the woman attempted to pull her shirt up and run her fingers over her bare stomach in front of everyone. Later, when they were alone, Olivia wouldn't mind. But she was still self concious of her naturally thick waisted body type. It made her appear overweight when she really wasn't much larger than anyone else.
Rowan scooted closer, her tattooed hand hovering over Olivia's stomach. A sewing needle dangled from a thread that was pinched between her slender fingers. The thread was bright red and the light from the partially shaded windows glinted off the reflective surface of the needle, making it appear to sparkle.
"If it moves back and forth, then the baby is a boy," Rowan explained, "and if it moves in a circle, then the baby is a girl."
Eugene cocked his head to the side in order to get a better look at the thin red string. He didn't believe in the scientific accuracy of Rowan's test but he found he was enjoying the game despite his doubts. Olivia had been certain of her pregnancy for several months now. They had kept it a secret, not because they were worried about people's reactions, but because Olivia was afraid and unsure if she would be able to carry a baby to term. She was very vague on the exact reasons for her fears, only citing that she had an accident many years ago that she was afraid might have damaged her in some way. A chance to see a doctor that might possibly be able to alleviate some of her worries seemed too great an opportunity to pass up. So they had been forced to finally make their announcement public. Seeing how happy Olivia was to finally have friends and loved ones to share in her joy made Eugene wish they had told people about her condition weeks ago.
"Blow on it," Rowan suggested. Olivia hunched forward, forcing her body into a very uncomfortable position that she was sure gave her at least one more extra chin than normal. She pursed her lips and blew on the needle. It swung around wildly for a few seconds. Then slowly the needle's movements began to take shape. It swung this way and that, until finally it was rotating above Olivia's stomach in a perfectly symmetrical circle.
"It's a girl!," Rowan sang. She gathered the needle and string up, barely giving Olivia time to sit back up before she was wrapping her arms around the woman for at least the tenth time since they climbed into the RV together. Rowan pulled a small piece of cork from her bag and stuck it onto the pointy end of the needle. Then she wrapped it in a colorful bit of cloth and handed it to Olivia. "Save this and use it when you sew your daughter's receiving blanket," she instructed, "It will bring her good fortune in love and life."
"Oh Roe," Olivia gushed. Her hormones were starting to get the better of her. Tears were welling up in her eyes and she wiped them away with the back of her hand before they could spill out over her cheeks. "I don't even know how to sew," Olivia admitted. Eugene wrapped his arm around her shoulders as her reached to take the small bundle from her hands.
"I know how," he said. After his admission earned him several curious glances from the men in the RV Eugene explained that he used to visit his aging grandparents in the summers. His gran had taught him how to sew and his Pop had taught him how to fix things.
During this endearing exchange, Rowan found herself glancing towards Jesus to see what his reaction would be. Except for the directions he was giving Rick and Abraham, the man had been quietly observing them for most of the ride. He now wore a soft smile on his face. Rowan could tell from the change in his body posture that whatever questions Jesus had been mulling over in his mind had now been answered. He trusted them now. The aura around him was calm and still, the colors melting into each other until they formed a softly swirling bubble of contentment. Then suddenly the man was on his feet.
"STOP!," Jesus hollered. Smoke was coming from a vehicle on the side of the road. It appeared to have been involved in a recent crash. "I know that truck," he added, "those are my people."
Abraham pulled the RV over onto the side of the road. There was a small building nearby. Half a dozen walkers were pawing at the front door of it, trying to get in. This left little doubt as to where the passengers of the crashed car had gone. Jesus hurried down from the RV with Rick close behind him. Before the man could dart away again, Rick grabbed him by the sleeve of his leather coat.
"This better not be another trick," Rick warned the man. Jesus shook his head.
Deanna shifted her weight from one foot to the other. She was alone inside the RV. Everyone else had climbed down to investigate the crash and decide on whether or not to lend aid to the people Jesus was insisting must be trapped inside the small building. When she left Alexandria, she had been prepared to lead possible trade negotiations. Not to fight undead cannibals on the side of the road. It had been a long time since Deanna had been outside the high walls of her town. And even longer since she had been this far from home. She was afraid to even set foot down outside the RV and it made her feel instantly ashamed of herself. Deanna had never intended to become the sort of leader that always left the dirty work to others.
An increase in the volume of the argument outside finally propelled her from the large vehicle. The moment she felt the crunch of the uneven gravel under her feet a walker was already coming at her, drawn away from the building by the loud voices in front of the RV. Deanna shrieked and started fumbling for the gun at her waist. The walker only got the chance to take one more step towards her before a tiny stone whipped through the air and hit it right between the eyes. It slumped to the ground in front of her.
Deanna breathed a sigh of relief, glancing to the direction the stone had come from to see Rowan poised with her slingshot in her hands. Her hair hung loose down her back, the feathers she had twined into the thin braided sections ruffled up in the slight breeze of the day. A thin beaded headband stretched across her forehead. It matched the beaded sheath of the knife she wore on her belt. The young woman's dedication to her belief that one didn't have to give up all personal style in order to be well prepared for the apocolypse always made Deanna smile. She was eager to reach for Rowan's hand when the young woman approached and held it out for Deanna to take.
"They're scarier up close, aren't they?," Rowan asked. Deanna bobbed her head. The closest she had been to a walker was watching people shoot at them from on top of her high walls. Being close enough to see the milky dead whites of that one's eyes had been more unsettling than she would have imagined. "Just stay close to me and Tank," Rowan suggested. Deanna nodded again. Being close to the large black beast made her feel more secure. The dog seemed more concerned with watching the ongoing argument that Daryl was involved in than he was in her, but he leaned in a little closer and allowed Deanna to scratch him beind his ears.
"Just hurry up and help them!," Jesus insisted. He reluctantly allowed Rick to handcuff him. Then Olivia, Deanna, and Rowan were instructed to watch Jesus while the rest of the small group went inside to help his friends. Olivia pointed her gun in his general direction, her face getting paler as she watched Eugene enter the building with the rest of the men.
"Abe's been training him," Rowan reminded her, "He'll be okay." Tank paced back and forth before letting out a loud whine. "Go on and help Daryl then," Rowan told the large dog. She whistled and pointed towards the building. Usually Tank liked to stay with her. But he hated when any of the members of what he considered to be his pack were out of his sight and in possible danger. Rowan also guessed their were more dead inside the building. Tank could probably smell them. At her signal the dog tore off in the direction Daryl had gone, kicking up a shower of road dust and gravel behind him.
Deanna had been entrusted with the keys to the handcuffs Rick put on Jesus. Rowan held her hand out for them. Deanna handed them over to the woman, assuming she planned to tuck them away somewhere safe. To her surprise, Rowan stepped right over and released their prisoner from his bonds. And not only that. When she was done taking the cuffs off Jesus she hurled them and the keys right away into a large section of bushes, throwing them as far away as she could.
"Rowan!," Deanna exclaimed, "I can't believe you just did that!"
Olivia started laughing. Nothing Rowan did surprised her anymore. Though even she had to admit she hadn't been expecting that particular move. Rick was going to give birth to a small bovine animal right there in the road when he found out Rowan tossed away his last good pair of handcuffs.
"He can't just go around shackling people like animals," Rowan argued, "That's not what we do." The encounter she and Daryl had with the women that had taken him prisoner was still fresh in her mind. She didn't like the idea of Jesus being held against his will. Especially when he hadn't done anything to hurt them. And it had been obvious to her that his concern over the members of his group was sincere. Either that or he was the most talented actor she had ever seen.
"Thanks," Jesus told Rowan. He was smiling at her again as he rubbed the feeling back into his wrists and hands. She smiled back. A few moments later Abraham and Eugene exited the building with an injured man propped up between them. Daryl and Rick were herding a few more scragglers towards the RV. Tank stayed close to Daryl's side until Rowan was visible again. Then he ran back to the woman, eager for her affection. Rowan gave him a quick pet before she signalled the dog up into the RV ahead of her.
TWD
Rowan was more concerned with the injured man Abraham and Eugene had helped out of the building than she was with introducing herself to the other members of the small group. The man had a nasty gash on his leg that had been tied off using too much pressure and with a dirty bandage. Her full pharmacopeia of herbal medicine was back at her house with her mother's book of herbal remedies. But she had gotten into the habit of taking a small stock of emergency supplies with her.
"What are you doing?," the man questioned nervously. Rowan was already pulling gently at the dirty rags tied around his calf, trying to see how badly he was cut.
"Helping you," Jesus assured the man. Rowan had no idea that one of the strangers her people had rescued from the building was a doctor. And Jesus didn't want her to know. He wanted Carson to get the chance to evaluate her healing skills, which were judged as more or less valuable depending on who's opinion you asked for. From what he had overheard already, some people seemed to honestly believe that she possesed some sort of magic powers while others thought she was nothing more than a simple minded hippie with a strong love for animals.
Rowan cleaned and stitched the man's leg where the tear in the flesh was the worst. She smothered his wound in a mixture of healing herbs and honey before wrapping it back up in clean bandages. When she was done she sat with the man a while holding one of his hands between hers. Rowan promised him once they got him home she was going to leave him a tea blend that would ease the pain and help him heal faster. The man seemed leery of her help at first, but her gentle and caring presence quickly put him at ease. He was quick to thank her for her help, especially since she didn't demand anything in return for her services.
"Were you a nurse?," a taller man asked. Daryl had stayed back while Rowan helped the stranger with his leg. But he watched the man and his companions. And while the tall man had been quiet, Daryl noticed that he had been watching Rowan with more than a casual interest. Daryl was relieved to hear that the man had only been concerned with finding out what sort of medical skills she posessed.
"No," Rowan answered with a small shake of her head. She left the injured man with a soft pat on the back before moving to take the seat between Daryl and Jesus. Daryl wrapped an arm around her shoulders, pulling her closer to his side. "My mother was a wich-asa wakhan," Rowan informed the man with a heavy accent and a wink before she translated her words for him. "A witch." There was a small smile playing at the corners of her mouth. Daryl could tell she was having a bit of fun with the man, teasing him a little to see what his reaction to her might be.
"Rowan's our resident herbalist," Deanna explained. Rowan knew more about plants and herbs than anyone Deanna ever met. She didn't know why the young woman insisted on down playing her knowledge and abilites. More and more, people in Alexandria were starting to see Rowan for their minor medical problems instead of going to the actual medical center. Part of it was that she did posess actual knowledge and skills. But the other factor was her bedside manner. People swore that just having Rowan lay her hands on them rid them of headaches and other minor ailments. She was a natural healer. Deanna was sure of it, no matter what Rowan said about her mother and how much more skilled the woman had been in comparison to her.
Unlike manufactured drugs, Rowan's remedies were made of things they could plant and grow more of. Deanna wasn't sure what would be useful as leverage in these and future trade negotiation, but she thought recipies and the seeds needed to grow plants for herbal remedies might be something of high demand one day.
"We were out on a run gathering medical supplies," the man explained, tapping his fingers on the box in his hands. "You all saved more lives today than just ours. We owe you a debt."
"This is Doctor Carson," Jesus added, "the obstetrician I told you about."
"Got any prenatal vitamins in that box?," Eugene asked. The man poked through the box and selected a large orange bottle. He handed it to Olivia. Then he produced another bottle that he held out for Rowan to take. Carson hadn't been totally sure while he was watching her work. The loose fitting dress she was wearing disguised her figure. But once the slender woman sat down her dress had pulled tight against the swell of her stomach. Witch or not, she was pregnant. At least five months along if he had to make a guess.
Rowan took the bottle, wrinkling up her nose as she turned it around in her hands. It took her a few hard twists to get the child safety cap off. And once she did she immediately regretted it. This man was either crazy or he was trying to make her sick. Because the stench that was coming out of that bottle of horsepills almost made her breakfast come back up. She wasn't sure if they had gone bad or if the pills were suppposed to smell that way, but either way she wasn't going to take them. Tank had also leaned in, taking a suspicious sniff of whatever the stranger had handed his mistress. The dog snorted and jerked his head back.
"Olivia can have mine," Rowan offered, handing her pills down to the other woman, "I'll stick to eating kale." Several people laughed. The doctor that had given her the pills scratched his nose in an obvious attempt to hide a smile. He had often wondered how pregnant woman managed to choke down the prenatal vitamins he prescribed them. They smelled like dirty feet and were at least twice the size of anything he would want to attempt to swallow.
"If you'd like to know the sex of the baby I have an ultrasound machine back in my office," he offered. Daryl was quick to nod his head. He liked feeling the baby when it moved around inside Rowan's belly and he actually seeing it was an appealing concept. Rowan shrugged, feeling a little more ambivalent about the offer. She was already sure she was having a girl. And she could tell from the way her pregnancy was progressing that her daughter was growing healthy and strong. There was no need for futher tests. The only reason Rowan didn't decline the man's offer was because of the look in Daryl's eyes. If he wanted confirmation of what she already knew, then she wasn't going to deny it to him.
"That would be very nice," Rowan lied, "Thank you."
The day was long from being over. But Rowan already felt her eyelids getting heavy. She nuzzled in closer to Daryl and rested her head on his shoulder. The rocking motion of the road had lulled her unborn baby to sleep for most of the morning. But the excitement and more jerky motions of climing in and out of the RV had woken her. Rowan rested her hand on her belly, feeling the little flutters of movement inside. She made sure to pretend she was fully asleep when she overheard Rick asking what happened to his handcuffs.
**Big thanks to anyone that left a review. I get more requests for this story than any of my others, so I'm going to do my best to get some more new chapters out soon. **
