Chapter Twenty: Vulnerable
Vulnerable: exposed to the possibility of being attacked or harmed
Day 61
The sky was a dusky pink and orange with sunset when Daisy, Daryl, Rick and Glenn arrived back at camp. Brakes squeaked as Rick pulled the truck to a stop, the others were gathering around the van to hear of their success, or failure. Daisy squinted her eyes at the dull light that filled the truck, Merle's smirking face appeared as he pulled up the door.
"Ain't dead." Merle noted mockingly, Daisy saw Daryl roll his eyes across from her. He got up and pushed past Merle, jumping down from the truck and skulking off to his camp. Daisy sighed at his sullenness and scooted forward, dropping off the truck and landing beside Merle.
"You sound surprised." Daisy grinned at Merle.
"Daryl's the on'y one'a you who ain't a pussy…figured mathematically," Merle enunciated the last word with a sneer, "at least one'd have ta go." Daisy scoffed at him.
"How'd you figure that?"
"Daryl may be good, but he ain't as good as me. I reckon he might be able to help one other person, hence, two gone." Merle raised his brow at her expectantly, Daisy narrowed her eyes and her lip turned up in reluctant acceptance.
"We almost lost Glenn." Daisy admitted as they began to walk around where Rick was reuniting dramatically with his lady love and their progeny to the Dixons' camp.
"Hah. I was half-right…" Merle looked smugger than usual, walking taller. "'Course it'd be the Chinaman, weaker than you I reckon."
"Shit, Merle. Easy on the racism…" Daisy stared wide-eyed at their feet as they trudged across the dirt.
"Oh, I'm sorry Miss Daisy, to have offended your sensibilities so!" Merle said the last words in a mockingly light tone.
"You should be." Daisy said flatly, shaking her head. Merle sat in his camp chair with a sigh, which creaked wearily at his weight, and looked up at Daisy with intended snark filling his eyes. Daisy interrupted him as he was about to say something undoubtedly more offensive than he just had, "Catch you on the flip side, Merle." Daisy flitted away on light feet and made her way towards her own tent, shared with the sisters, Andrea and Amy.
Before she could approach her tent, she spotted a messy head of white-blonde hair whose owner was dozing lightly in a chair, wrapped in a sleeping bag. Daisy's head tilted in thought as she paused in her motion to open the tent flap. Her eyes suddenly widened in realisation.
"Kat," She said in a harsh whisper to herself, "Oh, I'm such a shit!" Daisy rushed forward and approached the girl, standing in front of her and placing her hands on either side of the chair. "Kat, what the fuck?" She said louder, smile overtaking her face.
"Wh—?" Kat was startled awake, looking strikingly similar to a baby deer with her long arms flailing out of the top of her sleeping bag. "Daisy? How long'a you been here?" She slurred, sleepy eyes blinking wider.
"I got here yesterday." Daisy managed, dropping down to rest on her knees, suddenly turning serious. "Man, I'm so sorry, I completely forgot…Glenn said you were here." Daisy surged upward and forward, wrapping her long lost friend in a tight hug, burying her face in Kat's unusually limp and scraggly hair. "Oh, man…"
"Daisy, you got here yesterday?" Kat pushed Daisy away from to at arm's length, wide eyes staring into Daisy's own. "You shit!" Kat reiterated, smacking Daisy lightly on the shoulder.
"Where were you? You weren't at dinner last night…" Daisy questioned, then turned in on herself, "I am a shit." She admitted, smiling wryly at her friend. Kat's smile returned and she brought Daisy back into a hug.
"I got stung by a freaking bee!" Kat exclaimed, bringing one arm up for Daisy to see; it was slightly swollen and reddened, "I was laid up in the RV."
"Oh, shit." Daisy stared wide-eyed at the appendage, then looked towards Kat, "You're allergic. How did you not die?" She exclaimed incredulously.
"There's a woman here who's a nurse, Maria, she looked after me after I gave myself the EpiPen." Kat smiled fondly, Daisy huffed a relieved laugh. Kat's expression suddenly turned serious and her smile softened, "I'm glad you're here, Daze."
"God, I'm glad you're here." Daisy hugged Kat to her one last time, her fingers tightened around her shoulders as if she was afraid that Kat would go, her eyes screwed shut to dissuade any tears from falling.
Daisy and Kat retired to Daisy's shared tent, where they snuggled in their respective sleeping bags for hours, to them it felt just like they were kids again, sleeping under the stars of LA, not that the stars were visible in the city; light pollution and all that.
The two were only raised by the call of dinner, the enticing smell of frying salmon filled the air and Daisy's stomach grumbled with her hunger. Daisy led the ailing Kat out of the tent towards the camp, where the group was gathered around multiple fires, chatting happily with full plates in their laps.
"I never thought I'd be so glad to eat fish." Kat said wide-eyed as Amy placed a fillet on her plate.
"Who caught these?" Daisy asked the smiling Amy.
"Me and Andrea." Amy shot a happy smile at her sister who was keeping a protective eye on her.
"Thanks, man." Daisy said emphatically, before being led towards the fire by an eager Kat.
Kat plonked down onto the ground, dragging Daisy with her. She let out a huff at the force of her landing, elbowing a giggling Kat in her side.
"Nice." Daisy shook her head and smiled, picking at the fish with her fingers. A hand struck her shoulder and she looked up startled to see Glenn staring at her wide-eyed.
"I forgot! Daisy, there's Kat!" He said guiltily, cracking a nervous smile. Daisy snorted at him and shook her head.
"Yeah, I realise."
"You know each other?" Andrea asked, interested. Beside her, Kat hummed in the affirmative and shook her head up and down.
"We were together when it all started…childhood pals and all that." Daisy informed the group, all of whom were as interested as Andrea. This sort of a close community had always freaked her out, so Daisy remained short, only divulging the basics.
"Oh…" Andrea trailed off awkwardly, before perking up again and continuing, "So what did you do before all this, Daisy?"
"Uh, I was in my last year at UCLA." Daisy shrugged, feeling distractedly annoyed by her lack of skills that were applicable post-apocalypse.
"Studying what?"
"Law." She said shortly, causing Andrea to pause in confusion and no small degree of doubt, but she soon snapped out of her stupor.
"I was a lawyer." Andrea began, the conversation had officially shifted to her and Daisy just sat back as Andrea continued to talk.
"Is it weird that I still feel like we're at some adults-only brunch, sitting at the kiddie table?" Kat mumbled to Daisy, who laughed under her breath in agreement.
"Ugh, I know…you'd think that after the world ended, there'd be more substantial questions than, 'what are you gonna do with your life?'" Daisy smiled contentedly and took another bite of fish, then paused thoughtfully, half-heartedly listening to some soliloquy about Dale's watch.
"Anyone else gotta pee? Buddy system and all that…" Daisy interrupted Dale subtly, raising her voice. Across from her, Amy looked up relieved.
"Yes." She said emphatically, standing and backing up towards the RV. Daisy smiled at her enthusiasm.
"Mind my plate." Daisy whispered to Kat, handing her the half-eaten plate of fish, then she stood and followed Amy. Daisy walked alongside her, they paused as they came to the door of the RV.
"You go…I'll keep watch." Daisy nodded towards the door, Amy smiled gratefully and slipped inside. As the door clicked shut behind her, she leant against it, her eyes scanned the clearing around her.
"Aagh!" Daisy stuttered forward as a surprisingly strong force pushed her forward. She turned quickly, wide-eyed expression giving her the appearance of a stunned lemur. Amy's head stuck out of the doorway, she looked both amused and confused at Daisy's alarmed, defensive stance.
"Hey, can you…stand over there?" Amy pointed a finger to a space some few feet away, "I don't want you to hear…" She trailed off awkwardly. Daisy relaxed and chuckled in amusement.
"Sure thing…shy bladder? I know how that goes." As Daisy backed away, she felt even more amusement as Amy's eyes widened and her cheeks reddened with embarrassment.
Amy's wide eyes narrowed dramatically at Daisy, mockingly upset, she closed the door with a firm click. Daisy stood in place, looking down at the ground where her foot was kicking the loose dirt around. She looked up at another click, Amy stepped down from the RV.
"Whoa…Amy, speed pee-r." Daisy admired with incredulity. Amy rolled her eyes fondly and shook her head.
"We're outta toilet paper, again!" She lamented. Daisy groaned quietly to herself, then huffed in annoyance; not that the lack of toilet paper was able to be blamed on anybody, as the classic novel permits, Everybody Poops.
Unexpectedly, Daisy could still hear a groaning sound, even though her own had ceased. She looked up and immediately spotted the source: walker, directly to the right of Amy.
"Amy!" Daisy exclaimed as she leapt forward, Amy looked at her startled.
Daisy caught Amy's arm and roughly dragged her back, Amy shouted in annoyed protest. Immediately, Daisy was set upon by the walker. It lunged at her with greying fingers, growling harshly as its hand scraped her shirt, but she was not caught yet.
"Help, you bastards!" Daisy called behind her as she backed away, her heart dropped as she heard the kids begin to scream. Her hands scrambled at her thighs, suddenly realising that she had obviously not brought a weapon to the supposedly safe campfire dinner.
Daisy turned as she was backing away, catching Amy with a flailing arm. She dragged the now panicking woman along with her towards camp, where the others were finally realising the gravity of the situation and were rushing forward to deal with the walker. Along with that walker, Daisy could now hear multiple sources of groaning and growling, her eyes darted around to see at least a dozen walkers ambling towards the convening group. Ahead of her, Daisy could spot Kat sitting where she had left her, frozen in place.
"Kat!" Daisy called for her friend. She rushed past the others and stopped in front of Kat, pulling the reluctant girl up roughly and dragging her with her. Daisy flinched at the loud ringing gunshots that filled the air.
"What are we gonna do? Where are we going?" Kat's panicked voice shouted directly behind her ear. Daisy winced at the loudness but continued, aiming straight for her tent.
Daisy quickly unzipped the flap and fell onto her knees on the sleeping bag, hands scrambling to surface her backpack. She unzipped the bag with shaking fingers and opened it wide.
"Aha!" She cried, lifting her machete from where it was buried snug underneath an embarrassingly lacy bra.
"Aghh!" Daisy's head snapped around at the scream, it sounded so close. Her heart beat louder in her chest, she could hear it in her ears.
Daisy lunged forward, swinging her knife up and then back down, it landed in the back of a walker's skull, causing it to gargle one last time then fall forward, twice dead. She whimpered as she pushed the walker to the side with all of her strength, locking eyes with Kat who was staring back wide-eyed.
Kat grew paler, holding one hand to her neck, blood made a dark, glistening red by the moonlight rushed through her fingers and trickled out of her parted lips. She crumpled, and Daisy caught her with weak arms, holding Kat to her chest. Her shirt stained red as she held Kat to herself, her friend made no sound.
Daisy looked down with eyes blurry from tears, one hand shoved Kat's blonde hair from her face, it was heavy with red. Kat stared up at her with open, dead eyes, cheeks wet with pink tears, her wound glaring at Daisy from Kat's neck.
"Fuckin'." Daisy managed, her wounds grounded into a harsh yell and her fingers tightened around Kat's body. She couldn't help but stop and wonder at the cruelty of whoever did this to her, whoever had taken her family, killed her friend and taken her remaining friends. Daisy thought it was a godsend that she had been given back one of those taken from her, but of course it wasn't.
Daisy shut out the world around her, clutched the cold, dead corpse of her friend to her and sobbed. She buried her face in Kat's hair, as she had earlier that day, and brushed one trembling hand through the tangled strands, dying them that ever-present red. It was obviously too much to ask that one fucking person close to her survived this goddamn hellscape.