Here is chapter 2! Hope everyone is enjoying the story so far! Remember to let me know what you think :). I am planning to follow along the lines of the storyline, but may deviate here and there to really tell Violets story.
When we arrived back at the prison I was in shock at the structure before me. This was their shelter, and it was simply amazing. Tall double layered fences, room to run around and not just because you are being chased. It was the perfect apocalypse home. The gates were pulled aside and we entered into the yard. Driving up the path to the third gate. Once inside several people approached us, and I could hear the white haired man on crutches speak.
"Who do we have here? Looks like you brought more than just supplies back to camp." The man said with a smile.
"She was in the subdivision we were searching all alone. Helped us find the formula and baby clothes." Glenn said as he came to stand in front of the older gentleman.
I was just climbing off of Daryl's bike as he approached me.
"I'm Hershal, this here is my daughter Maggie." he said before pausing to look me over. "You must be tired from being on your own so long. Come on in and let's fix you a plate."
"Thank you Hershal, but I'd like to help get things unloaded first if you don't mind. I promised Glenn and Daryl that I would pull my own weight, help out just like any of you do." I said with a smile.
"That's fine by me miss…?" He said with a chuckle. Only then did I realize that I hadn't actually introduced myself.
"Oh sorry how rude of me." I said holding out my hand to him. "I'm Violet."
"Well Violet, welcome home." He said before pulling me into an embrace. My eyes started to well up a bit. The hug reminding me of Glenn's statement early; that they were all a family. These people were all a family of their own making in this dark and twisted time, and here they were welcoming me in with open arms. I almost had to pinch myself, because I couldn't figure out how the hell I had gotten so lucky to be found by them.
After hugging Hershal and Maggie we all began to unload the haul that had been brought back. Loading it all into old laundry carts and wheeling it into the cellblock to be put away and organized. Daryl mumbled something about going to check the snares he had put out yesterday and started to head off back down to the gate. I couldn't let him walk away though, not without thanking him for agreeing to bring me back. Even if they all voted against me staying I had already felt a little better knowing there were still good people out here in the world.
"Hey Daryl...wait up!" I yelled.
"What?! You're not coming with me if that's what you're going to ask." Daryl said gruffly giving me an annoyed look.
"No. maybe some other time. I just wanted to thank you again for bringing me back here. I don't know how I could ever repay you for this chance." I said, trying my best to not seem like a silly school girl. He was handsome, not in a classic way, but in his way. I found myself just staring at him waiting for some kind of reaction to my display of appreciation, but he just kept his eyes on his shoes. I decided to take a chance and took a step towards him and placed a soft kiss to the corner of his mouth. I had intended for his cheek, but he was so damn tall it was hard to reach. A shiver went down my spine like a jolt of electricity at the even minimal contact with his lips. He must have noticed something too because as I pulled back his eyes were searching mine for some sort of explanation.
"What the hell'd you do that for girl?" Daryl said as he took a step further away from me.
"Just wanted to." I said with a smirk. "Accept the appreciation Daryl a good man like you will likely receive lots of it in this world."
He didn't give me any other response, and honestly I didn't wait around to see if he would. I headed back up to where just Maggie stood having come out to grab another cart. She was smiling at me trying to contain her laughter. I just smiled to myself thinking that all I wanted to do was find some excuse to kiss Daryl again, but this time a real kiss. Maggie and I entered the cellblock and began unloading all of the supplies that we had managed to locate. It was a pretty good haul, that should last a small group a little while at least. As I entered the cell block I saw a man nearly covered head to toe in blood enter through the other gates.
"I cleared the boiler room block." He said before approaching a young man in a sheriff's hat. "Just wanted to come check on Carl."
I noticed that my presence seemed to catch his eye and he stopped to stand in front of me. It made me nervous, not that I was getting a bad vibe from him, but that it seemed his say may determine whether or not I was able to stay with the group. The way everyone seemed to look at him gave me the impression that he was their leader, calling the shots and hopefully he would be on board with me joining.
"Who's this?" The man in blood asked.
"This is Violet. Glenn and Daryl found her in the subdivision they were searching through. Helped them find a bunch of formula and clothing for the baby." Hershal said stepping forward to stand next to me. "We think she'd be a great asset to us, so we were going to offer her a place in the prison with us Rick."
"How many walkers have you killed?" Rick asked me.
"Lost track." I replied.
"How many people have you killed?" He asked me, I was surprised by the question, but knew honesty was the only way this man would truly trust me.
"One." I replied sadly.
"Why?" He asked as he took a step closer to me.
"Because he was my fiance and he was bit." I said sadly.
"I see no reason why she can't stay with us. Everybody has jobs to do here so you'll have to help out with watches, and our day-to-day operations." Rick said searching my face for any argument.
"Sounds fair to me." I said with a soft smile.
"Welcome to the family then." Rick said before walking back into the cell blocks. I could hear Hershal trying to get his attention, but it seemed Rick was on a mission.
"Is he okay?" I asked.
"The baby's mother didn't make it, Lori she was his wife and Carl's mom." Hershal said sadly. "Young man had to put her down himself before she turned."
"I'm so sorry. That is just awful." I said trying not to cry for them. I had basically lost my mother the day I ran out of the house on her and my step-dad. I had no way of knowing if they were alive or not now, so I had to assume that I would never see them again. Before I could say anything else a young blonde girl, looked to be about 17 or so entered with a squealing bundle in her arms. I smiled to myself, the sight of a little innocent baby in the mess of all this warmed my heart. "What's her name?"
"We haven't actually decided on one yet?" The blonde said with a smile. "I'm Beth."
"Nice to meet you Beth, I'm Violet." I said as my fingers just naturally went to run across the smoothness of the baby's skin. "Can I hold her?"
"You can feed her if you want?" Beth said with a smile as she handed the baby and bottle over to me. I immediately pulled the baby up to my nose, deeply inhaling that beautiful newborn baby smell.
"Thank you, she is just beautiful. I never thought I'd ever even see a baby again." I said as I placed the bottle in her mouth noticing her latch with ease. "How old is she?"
"Just a few days old." Hershall responded. "But healthy thus far. No reason she can't survive so long as we can keep getting formula into her."
"She looks a bit jaundice? Have you brought her outside at all? The Vitamin D could help." I asked as I looked up at the older man.
"No, honestly in this light I hadn't even noticed. You're welcome to take her out for a bit if you'd think it would help." Hershall said with a sigh. "How might I ask did you notice that?"
"Oh I did some shifts on the maternity ward at the hospital in Savannah that I worked at. Mostly I was OR or ER though." I said with a smile. "I'm a nurse...or I was a nurse."
"Well we might just have struck the gold with you then." Hershall said with a laugh. "I am a Vet, so my human medical experience is limited. It will be a huge help to have you around to help."
"I'm glad I can be of use." I said as I cooed at the baby. "I think I'll take her out for a bit, shouldn't be too bad in the evening heat."
I made my way back out to the yard deciding I would walk around a bit to let the baby get some sunshine. I ended up going through the first gates and sitting out in the grass looking out at the woods that seemed to surround the fences. I sighed to myself it felt good to be sitting here in the grass, knowing I would have a bed to sleep in tonight. Things in the last 24 hours had really gone from hopeless to hopeful. As the little one finished the first ounce of her bottle I decided I should probably burp her a bit, help prevent gas and discomfort and keep her crying limited. I moved her up to my shoulder so her face was facing the prison and began patting her on the back. As I did this I noticed the front gate open and in walked Daryl carrying what looked like a few rabbit's on a string. Looked like we would eat a nice hot meal tonight too.
"What the hell are you doing out here with her?" Daryl asked as he handed off his rabbits to Beth.
"Burping her, and she needed to get outside." I said with a squinted look up at him. He came over and took the baby in his arms resuming feeding her. "She needed the vitamin D to help get rid of her jaundice."
"Jaundice? What's that? She gonna be okay?" He asked, which caused me to smile. It was sweet to see this rough and ruggad hunter being so sweet and caring for a little human being that wasn't even his.
"It'll be fine. We just need to keep feeding her and getting her outside and it should clear up soon." I said as I ran my hands over the little bit of sandy blonde hair that sat on her head.
"Oh okay." He said before sitting down next to me in the grass. "How'd you know she had it?"
"I'm ...was a nurse before all this." I said with a smile. "Rick said I could stay."
"Well guess it can't hurt have another medical professional round to help take care of little ass kicker here." Daryl said, his gaze staying fixed on the baby.
"You did not name the baby that?" I asked with a laugh.
"What? She likes it?" Daryl replied. The tiniest sliver of a smile crept on his face as he did so.
"Whatever you say. She will eventually need a proper name." I said before standing to head back into the prison. "We should take her back in it's getting cooler out here. If you're nice maybe I'll even help you skin those rabbits."
"You take her. I have to skin these and get them over the fire before they spoil." Daryl said as he moved to hand the baby back to me.
"Okay." I said before heading back inside the prison. When I went back in Hershall asked me if I'd be willing to help him clean his stump. While I did we chatted about life before all this, but I still wasn't ready to divulge my entire life story. These people seemed nice enough but you never could be too careful. Daryl hollered that dinner was ready. Beth said she was going to wrap the little one up and then bring her out with us. We all sat chatting by a fire , and for a moment it felt as though we were all on a camping trip, not in the midst of an apocalypse. I noticed Daryl off standing watch my the gate taking out walkers here and there with a metal bar. I decided he hunted the damn meat he should at least get to enjoy it while it's hot. So I made him a plate and headed down to the gate to give it to him.
"You should eat." I said as I finally got close.
"I'll eat after. Have to take care of these fence clingers so we don't get a damn build up." Daryl said sternly.
"Well let me take care of them and you eat. I'm not completely useless. I have survived this long on my own." I said as I continued to try and hand him the plate. "Come on you deserve to eat something while it's still hot. You did hunt the damn thing after all."
"I need to do this." He said looking me in the eye for just a moment.
"Why? What aggression or anger are you working through by doing this and don't say nothing because I can tell something is bothering you." I said as I set the plate down and grabbed the other bar that was leaning against the inner fence. I moved to stand beside him and started stabbing walkers in the head, waiting for some kind of response.
"The day the baby came, some douchebag prisoner cut one of the gates we had secured open. A bunch of walkers came through and we lost people." Daryl said sadly. "She was a nice woman, a friend and I let her down."
"I'm sure she wouldn't think you let her down Daryl. I imagine you did everything you could to save her." I said turning to face him. He just sort of gave me a small nod, before looking at me awkwardly. "Please go eat something. I'll keep at it here."
He didn't respond that time. Just sort of sighed and went off to sit by the gate to eat what I had brought down to him. He ate in silence, but I could feel his eyes on me as I was taking down the walkers lining the fence. When I had told him I would pull my weight and be a part of this I meant it. So that meant I had to contribute in the dirty work too. This was most definitely dirty work.