Chapter Twenty Nine: Prospect
Prospect: a mental picture of a future or anticipated event.
Day 67
Glenn and Daisy flinched simultaneously as a large hole was punched in the plaster of the nearby wall; Shane tore his fist out of the wall and held it in his other hand, glaring at them as if it was their fault he was so impulsive.
"Th' fuck made you two think it was a good idea to talk to some stranger—put the rest of us in danger?" He growled, Rick was by his side trying to calm him with exasperation.
"Hey, what?" Daisy narrowed her eyes at him, then searched around the group for someone with sense, "We didn't put shit in danger! I didn't say where we were. And I can't control where other people go to get their supplies. Otis seems like an okay dude, so I took his offer of help? We don't have to meet up with him, Jesus." Daisy glared back at Shane.
With gritted teeth, Shane backed away from them at Rick's hand placed firmly on his chest, "Calm down, man. They didn't mean any harm." Daisy and Glenn shared a glance and looked back with eyes widened to propagate their innocence, channelling Disney—Stitch and Bambi respectively. Rick turned back to them, staring between Glenn and Daisy with an amused glint in his gaze, "What exactly did this guy say?"
Glenn and Daisy shared another glance, Glenn spoke, "He said he knew a vet that could help with T-Dog." He nodded his head over to where T-Dog was grimacing in pain at a nearby table, Carol reapplying his bandages—the old ones stained crumpled and stained a stark red, "We thought it would be better to be safe than sorry, be a bit of a bummer to die of an infection from a wayward car than from a walker..." Glenn quirked a smile, it dropped at Rick's raised brow.
"How did he look?" Lori suddenly interjected, "The man...was he—?"
Daisy furrowed her brow, "He seemed pretty normal...wore a camo hat?" Lori stared at her wordlessly, then accepted the answer with a sigh, Daisy turned back to Rick, "So, we gonna go? Or, are you on the side of...the Hulk over there?" She narrowed her eyes at Shane who glared right back.
"We can't risk it, Rick. This guy could be a psycho," Shane drawled.
"We could be psychos," Daisy said, "But that didn't stop him from offering help!"
"How 'bout we see how T feels?" Rick said tiredly, scrubbing a hand over his face. Daisy grimaced guiltily and quietened.
"Sounds good to me," Glenn smiled.
After consulting T-Dog—and receiving the go-ahead—Rick, Daisy, Glenn and the aforementioned T journeyed down the street towards where they saw Otis leaning against the faded brick wall of the presupposed meeting place: the Bank of North Georgia. Daisy grimaced lightly as T-Dog's arm pulled on her loose curls as it was slung over her shoulders and adjusted it accordingly, glancing behind his head she saw that Glenn was likewise struggling—they weren't the strongest of the group, and T-Dog was at least a contender for the title, so it was tough going for them.
"Otis?" Rick called as they stopped a few dozen yards from the lounging man. Otis' head snapped up and his brow furrowed at the sight of them.
"Is this the...injured man?" Otis said, his voice hard with wariness.
"Yep, thought it'd be best to just bring him and our...leader?" Daisy piped up, faltering on the last word with a calculating glance towards Rick, "At least until we all trust each other a little more." She smiled hopefully at Otis, who made his way towards them.
"My, uh, truck's over there." Otis nodded to a powder blue pick-up parked on the street, "Two'a you'll have to go in the back."
Glenn and Daisy shared an amused, weary stare, Glenn said wryly, "That'll be us, then." He nodded towards Daisy and she helped him over to the passenger side of the truck, Rick helping them manoeuvre him inside the cab once Otis had unlocked the door. Stretching out her overworked arms, Daisy followed Glenn to the back with a sigh.
"We do always seem to pull the short stick, huh?" Daisy chuckled as she pulled herself up into the bed of the truck and crawled to sit against the front.
"I think it's 'cause we're young and spry, able to cope with a lot more stress than these old folks." Glenn grinned and Daisy snorted in agreement, they settled in next to each other with their legs spread out in front of them, the truck started with a splutter and began to drive down the road.
Behind them, they could hear a wary T-Dog querying their new apparent ally on just how much his veterinarian friend had operating on people. At Otis' unsure reply, a groan sounded from T that Daisy did not think had to do with the pain he was likely feeling.
As the air rushed through her hair and blew it over her forehead, Daisy closed her eyes and relished in the light tickling feeling and the warm glow of the sun on her face, hand thrown to the side and waving up and down with the wind like she had seen in countless lame teen movies. She heard a snort from Glenn and opened her eyes a sliver to see him grinning and following her example, her contented smile widened with mirth and her nose wrinkled.
After a short drive, the truck turned off the main road and began to journey down a long dirt driveway, the sun was blocked by the heavy canopy of tall oak trees and Daisy spun around to examine the world around them. She could see fields of yellow grass on either side and, looking towards where they were headed, she saw a quaint, white-siding farmhouse with a wrap-around porch.
"Ah, man...that's certainly quaint," Daisy mumbled to Glenn who nodded in agreement, they both faltered in their respective kneels as the truck came to a stop by the front steps of the house. Glenn and Daisy scrambled towards the back of the pick-up and stood to clamber over the tailgate, landing on the yellowing grass with a dull thud.
"Otis?" A weary voice called from the house, Daisy turned to see an older man standing wearily on the porch, a blonde-haired woman beside him. After a nudging push from Glenn, Daisy rushed around the side of the truck and helped Rick pull T-Dog from the truck, she could hear Otis explaining their situation in the background.
"Shit, it hurts." T-Dog grouched as they helped him up to the house, following the directions of the older man, who named himself as Hershel. With a sigh of relief, Daisy let go of T-Dog's arm after helping him sit at the table that Hershel had shown them and backed away.
"Patricia, get my kit, and some painkillers." Hershel ordered the blonde-haired woman as he pulled his sleeves up. Daisy and Glenn were ushered to the side by another girl who seemed to be their age, Daisy shot a side-eye at Glenn when she noticed that he was staring at the girl with wide eyes.
"Now is not the time," Daisy said quietly to Glenn with a mirthful snort, he blushed and looked both abashed and annoyed at Daisy, which caused her to chuckle.
"You sure he wasn't bit?" The girl asked Daisy, Daisy nodded with emphatically wide eyes, "Just have to be sure...I'm Maggie."
"Daisy...Glenn." She nodded at the silent Glenn who smiled weakly at Maggie's attention on him.
Maggie smiled at both of them and turned to help Hershel, handing him needle and thread when directed. T-Dog grimaced in discomfort as Hershel began to stitch his wound closed, but seemed grateful to have been plied with painkillers.
"How did this happen, young man?" Hershel asked with a furrowed brow as he concentrated on stitching the sutures.
"Uh, cut it on a rusty piece of broken metal when we were hiding from a herd of walkers." T-Dog said shortly, Hershel looked up and studied his face for a moment with concern.
"Walkers?"
"Yeah, those dead things? You might'a noticed 'em, walking around." T-Dog smiled wryly.
"Fair enough." Hershel tied off the last stitch and began to wrap T's arm.
Daisy huffed a bored sigh and leant against the wall behind her, shooting a considering glance towards Glenn, "So, that Maggie girl," Daisy wiggled her brow when Glenn returned her gaze, "You like her?"
"Jesus..." Glenn sighed, rolling his eyes heavenward, "Well, Daisy, I haven't said two words to her, so I don't exactly know her."
Daisy quirked a wry smile, "But...you do, right?"
"Maybe," Glenn said shortly, making Daisy snort another laugh. The person of their discussion looked over at her snort, and Daisy tried to supress her smile at Glenn's elbow digging sharply into her stomach.
"Whoa, be cool, man." Daisy ducked away from his elbow, "No need for violence."
"What are you two giggling about?" A voice suddenly asked from beside them, both Glenn and Daisy snapped their eyes to see Rick staring at them with a tiredly amused smile.
"Nothing!" Glenn whispered harshly, shooting a warning look towards Daisy who just smiled innocently back.
After a moment, Daisy spoke, "Glenn has a crush on Maggie."
"I do not!" Glenn said a little too loudly, causing the rest of the occupants in the room to shoot him confused looks, he leaned in and stared at Rick with pleading eyes, speaking more quietly, "I do not."
"Who's Maggie?"
"The cute brunette helping Hershel." Daisy informed him with a smile, he glanced back at her and then shot a knowing smile towards Glenn who blushed once more.
"Ugh, this is the worst." Glenn muttered, crossing his arms.
Soon after T-Dog had been fully bandaged and the four newcomers were invited to drink tea in the living room of Hershel's house, Daisy had her eyes closed in bliss as she hovered the teacup in front of her face, the warm and milky aroma tickling at her nose. She had never been too fond of tea, but it felt like heaven as it slid down her throat after the chaos of life in the past few days.
"Are there...many more of you? In your group, I mean." She cracked her eyes open, Hershel was not one to beat around the bush, it seemed.
Rick pursed his lips and remained quiet for a second, before answering with some trepidation clouding his tone, "Not including us? Nine," He said bluntly. Across from them, Daisy saw Hershel's eyes widen and he spared Otis a troubled look.
"No threat though...a small percentage of those people may or may not be women and children," Daisy said with an eyebrow raised, feeling comfortable releasing that information to these people—they seemed nice enough. As Daisy expected, this calmed the others somewhat.
"I expect it takes a lot, feeding and protecting a group of...thirteen," Hershel said.
Daisy took another sip of her warm tea as Rick replied shortly and reluctantly, "Yes." Rick sighed, "Things have been...difficult, to say the least. Not enough food...no shelter."
Maggie stepped forward, "You have kids?" She clarified, then turned to Hershel, "Daddy, I think we should help them, offer them a place here."
"Now, Maggie, we don't know if we can trust—"
"Daddy. They could starve." Maggie raised her brow and looked expectantly at Hershel—who was apparently her father.
Daisy buried her nose in her cup and took another sip, eyes gazing wide at Hershel over the rim. She sneaked a finger onto the saucer and picked up the cookie she had been given, taking a bite—it crunched loudly in the silence and brought Hershel's gaze to her, she tried to widen her eyes further to perpetuate an aura of innocence.
"I don't think I can, Maggie." Hershel sighed, then turned to Rick, "You seem like nice people, but I just can't put my family at risk." At that, Daisy huffed in disappointment, her hand coming up to twist in her hair. She took another sip of tea but it tasted bitterer to her, after their hopes had been dashed, "I'd like you four to be on our way, now. Otis'll take you back to your people."