Chapter Nine: Inauguration
Inauguration: the beginning or introduction of a system, policy, or period.
Day 59
Daisy was sitting at the dining table of Morgan and Duane's hideout, eager for the canned beans that Morgan had cooked up for dinner. The smell wafted in from the kitchen and Daisy thought that she had never smelled something quite so beautiful. A content smile lifted her face and she turned to Duane who sat opposite her.
"You like beans?" She asked tentatively, struggling to find a relevant topic of conversation. Duane gave her an odd look and an indifferent shrug. "Yeah, me too…but, a girl's gotta eat. Smells good, though."
Morgan entered the room, heavy silver pot in covered hands. He sat it on the table and both Daisy and Duane stood, holding out their bowls for Morgan to ladle in a scoop of beans. A scuffling sound came from the next room and the three looked up to see Rick ambling in, blanket huddled around his shoulders. There was an awkward silence, Daisy saw that Duane looked to his father for guidance and she looked at Rick with a welcoming smile.
She sat back down in her chair, Duane sitting opposite her, as Rick continued to shuffle through the room and to the next.
"This place. Fred and Cindy Drake's." Rick's tired voice came from behind Daisy, which she turned to look towards. Morgan followed him into the room and Daisy took that as meaning they were going to talk, so she turned her body around in her chair and leant her head on her hands that gripped the back of the chair, watching them silently.
"Never met 'em." She heard Morgan reply.
"I've been here. This is their place."
"It was empty when we got here. Don't do that." Daisy saw that Rick had begun to pull the makeshift curtain away to look out of the window. "They'll see the light. There's more of them out there than usual. I never should have fired that gun today. Sound draws them, now they're all over the street. Stupid, usin' a gun. It all happened so fast, I didn't think."
Morgan came back into the dining room and sat down in his chair, moving the metal pot out of the way.
"You shot that man today." Rick started, sounding disapproving to say the least. Daisy's lip tugged up in a sympathetic look, it seemed that the idea of the dead walking had yet to become fully absorbed into Rick's mind.
"Man?" Morgan questioned with disbelief.
"Weren't no man!" Duane interjected, Morgan turned to look at him with raised eyebrows.
"What the hell was that out your mouth just now?" Morgan demanded of his son.
"It wasn't a man." Duane corrected himself, and Daisy looked between the father and son with a brightly amused smile. Daisy loved the idea of Morgan continuing to teach his son in such matters even after the end of civilisation.
"You shot him, in the street, out front. A man." Rick came closer, leaning forward with his expression growing more intense and judgemental.
"For him, you need glasses. That was a walker." Morgan looked up at Rick with examining eyes. "Come on. Sit down, before you fall down. Here." He scooped some beans into a bowl and Rick sat down in his chair.
"Daddy, blessing." Duane reminded his father. Morgan turned his head back towards Rick.
"Yeah." He said shortly, continuing after the four had joined hands around the table, Rick being slightly reluctant and uncertain, only grabbing Morgan and Duane's hands after a pointed look from the kid, "Father, we thank thee for this food, Thy blessings. We ask you to watch over us in these crazy days. Amen."
"Amen." Daisy and Duane echoed.
They all started to eat in silence, it only being broken when Morgan sat forward and asked, "Hey mister, you even know what's goin' on?"
"I woke up today." Rick said with a quiet voice. "In a hospital. Left and soon after Daisy found me." He looked up to her with a small, tired smile. "Seems she'd been lookin' after me for a while… changin' my IV. That's how I survived. Then we went to my home, to look for my wife and son. They weren't there."
"But you know about the dead people, right?" Morgan asked.
"Yeah, I saw a lotta that. Out on the loading dock, hauling trucks."
"Nah, not the ones they put down. The ones they didn't. The walkers. Like the one I shot today. Cause he'd a ripped into you. Tried to eat you, taken some flesh at least."
"Mmm, yeah we saw a couple." Daisy interjected, all looking towards her. "This one gnarly lady, cut straight in half, dragging herself around the park. Couple walking around, too. Told Rick what they were when I was up there earlier, the dead come back to life, trying to eat people." Daisy gave a dark chuckle, looking down into her bowl, swirling the contents around with her spoon. "Not a hundred percent sure he believed me, though. I mean, I know I wouldn't…even with seeing those couple of…walkers, you call 'em?"
Daisy looked up to Rick, questioning with her eyes as to whether he did. His brow furrowed further and he nodded slightly, looking down.
"They're out there now, in the street?" Rick questioned after a short, heavy silence.
"Yeah. They get more active after dark sometimes. Maybe it's the cool air, or, Hell, maybe it's just me firing up that gun today. But we'll be fine, long as we stay quiet. Probably wander off by morning. Listen, one thing I do know, don't you get bit. I saw your bandage and that's what we were afraid of. Bites kill you. The fever burns you out, but then, after a while, you come back."
"Daisy told me…said that it had happened to her friend, and that another had died from a scratch." Rick trailed off. Morgan looked to Daisy for confirmation.
"Scratches too…good to know." Morgan gave a short nod to them.
"I seen it happen, too." Duane added, and Daisy sighed in empathy.
"Come on." Morgan told his son softly with a comforting smile, touching his shoulder with a light pat.
There was another silence, this time longer, and they began to eat again. Daisy savoured the taste of the warm food as she had done for the past two months, constantly unsure in this new life that any would be available in the future.
Later
They had reconvened to the living room, Morgan and Duane lying on a double mattress on the floor and Daisy and Rick each having their own singles arranged haphazardly around each other.
"Carl." Morgan stated suddenly. Daisy's head turned up away from the book she was reading to look at him, Rick's doing the same. "He your son? Well, yeh—you said his name today." After a short pause, Rick answered.
"He's a little younger than your boy."
"And he's with his mother?"
"I hope so."
There was a short pause before Morgan started talking again, "Daisy says you're a Sheriff's deputy?" Daisy could see Duane's head raise slightly in interest.
"Yeah." Rick said with a slight smile.
All of them startled as an alarm suddenly pierced through the silence, with Duane jumping the most. He sat up and his father quickly followed him, arms bringing him back against his chest.
"Hey, it's okay, daddy's here." Morgan comforted his son. "It's nothing. One of them must've bumped a car."
"You sure?" Rick questioned.
"Happened once before. Went off in a few minutes." Morgan and Rick both rose from their beds. "Get the light, Duane."
Duane hurriedly did so and Daisy turned off of her stomach and sat up on her mattress. The room darkened as the squealing knob was turned by Duane and the alarm continued to wail. Rick went over and turned the other light off, then both he and Morgan walked to the window to pull the curtain back slightly to look outside at the street below.
"It's the blue one, down the street. Same one as last time. Think we're okay."
Daisy saw in the dark that Duane was scrambling off the bed and going over to the window to peek out beside the others, so she followed him and knelt down, parting the blinds with two hands. The lights of the car flashed outside and a few dozen walkers meandered around the street, she could hear them growl faintly along with the alarm.
"That noise. Won't it bring more of 'em?" Rick asked Morgan.
"Nothin' we can do about it now. Just have to wait 'em out till morning."
"She's here." Duane gasped beside Daisy.
Morgan startled and looked down at his son and Daisy who kneeled next to him. "Don't look. Get away from the windows." Duane did not move. "I said go! Come on!"
Duane strode quickly back to the mattress and through himself down, weeping loudly into the bed. Daisy fell back onto her own bed and looked towards the boy with immense concern.
"Quiet. Come on, quiet." Morgan sat beside his son and leaned into him, comforting him with a hand on his back. He shushed him softly and looked around. Daisy distractedly saw that Rick had moved around to the front door and was now looking out of the peep hole.
"It's okay, here. Cry into the pillow. You remember?" Morgan looked up at Rick who was still staring through the hole at something, though Daisy did not know what. There was a muffled clicking sound, the door knob slowly turned back and forth, though the locked door did not open. Rick backed away and sat back on his bed.
"She, uh, she died in the other room, on that bed. Nothin', I can do about it. That fever, man. Her skin gave off heat like a furnace. Shoulda—shoulda put her down, I shoulda put her down, I know that, but. You know what, I just didn't have it in me. She's the mother of my child." Morgan sighed in his upset, looking down at the head of his son in his lap.
Daisy's eyes darted around and she lay back in her bed. She pulled the covers out from under her and threw them over herself, snuggling in with a tight, frustrated blink. Her eyes opened again and she turned to lay on her side, facing Duane who was still crying into the pillow. She gave a sad sigh and closed her eyes tightly, hoping for sleep.
Day 60
It was the next morning and the four exited the house, Rick with a splash mask and a baseball bat, ready for his first kill. Daisy stood at the end of the line, hands clasped in front of her in worry.
"Are we sure they're dead? I have to ask, just one more time."
"They're dead. Except for something in the brain. That's why it's gotta be in the head."
They walked along the path from the house, gaining the attention of Rick's target. The walker that sat at the end of the fence between this yard and the next stood on wobbling feet and turned towards them. Its white eyes stared at them, almost with intent. It stumbled towards them, and Rick started forward, promptly hitting it in the face with a dull thud.
The walker remained standing, the growling increased and Rick swung the bat again and again. It dropped to its knees, and then fell to the ground after another hit. Rick swung the bat down at its head again, the hardest hit yet, but it had caused him to fall to his knee in pain. He knelt up and gripped his side with one arm wrapped around his stomach.
"You alright?" Morgan asked, him, Daisy and Duane came around to Rick's side.
"Need a moment." Rick managed, still holding his wound tightly.
"I can—?" Daisy started, but Rick shook his head and managed to stand upright with his bat trailing beside him. The walker continued to growl faintly, seemingly unable to move any further than a few inches from where it was on the ground. Rick steadied himself and gave a final swing, the heavy thud breaking through the walker's skull and stopping the weak growling.
"Shit, nice one, Rick." Daisy praised him, giving an appreciative smile down towards his kill, she glanced up at him and narrowed her eyes. "Maybe a wrong choice with the white shirt though, bud." He glanced down to see blood splattered all over the aforementioned shirt, nose crinkling in disgust. Daisy chuckled and walked back down the path, the others following her to come go back inside the house, away from the walker body that continued to lay still, head caved in and leaking blackened blood onto the dewy grass.