Chapter Thirty Five: Gratitude
Gratitude: the quality of being thankful; readiness to show appreciation for and to return kindness.
Day 71
It had been an hour and the walkers had yet to move. Daisy peeked over the lip of the front window, and studied them with narrowed eyes; a particularly nasty walker scratched weakly at one of the others, a thick slab of skin slid off its shoulder and dropped to the ground with a sickening slap. Shuddering, Daisy ducked back down and twisted to rest her back against the wall. She gazed over at Glenn who was sitting cross-legged in the aisle in front of her, staring forlornly at his pack—likely envisioning the pack of condoms and the unlikeliness that he would get to use them if they did not find a way out of this mess.
Steeling her stomach and sighing harshly, Daisy turned around once more and peeked through the window. She studied the two dozen walkers as they stood around between the door to the pharmacy and their truck, cursing their coincidental lethargy that had apparently kicked in just in time to screw Daisy and Glenn over. Daisy tried to look on the bright side of things—the walkers had yet to acknowledge their presence in the store, and the other side of the truck was free and clear, no walkers were lingering in the street.
"We have to find another way out," she muttered distractedly, turning to try to find said exit.
Glenn startled at her words and came out of his day dreams, nodding his head in agreement, "Yes, yes...exactly. But, where is this other way out?"
Daisy thought for a moment and shrugged, "There's probably a staff exit in the back, into the street over, or an alley." She aimed one last look back at the walkers to confirm that they had not moved during the short time she had looked away—they hadn't, the bastards, she grumbled mentally to herself, not willing to let this one act of unintentional compliance sway her to sympathise with them.
Picking her knife up from where it had ended up beside her, Daisy crouched and began to make her way through the aisle to the back of the pharmacy. After checking once more on the walkers, Daisy stood and pulled herself through the small window into the back room. She immediately spotted two doors, one with a sign declaring it to be the "employee bathroom." The other door was unlabelled, but Daisy recognised that it was likely the staff exit, she strode across the small room and twisted the handle, but met resistance. Jiggling the handle once more, she sighed exasperatedly as she realised it was locked.
There was a strangled moan behind her—Glenn had landed wrong on his slide across the counter. Daisy restrained her amused smile and informed him of their predicament. "You're strong," Glenn responded, seemingly apropos of nothing.
"Well, not really...but, your point?" Daisy squinted at him with suspicion.
"You can break the door down!" Glenn beamed, pleased with himself finding the answer to their problem. Daisy was not so pleased.
"What?" She sighed, "But, no...that seems like it could end in grievous injury." Daisy looked nervously around the tiny room, then looked at the door with consideration. She huffed and rolled her eyes, muttering to herself, "I could never break that, are you kidding."
Seeing no other option, she tried the knob of the bathroom door, and was pleased when it opened readily. She was considerably less pleased when she found herself suddenly on the ground, a growling and moaning dead man snapping at her from above. With a startled scream, Daisy swung her fist up towards the walker, giving an internal sigh of relief when she noted it was the fist with the knife clenched in its fingers; the blade swung true and embedded itself deep into the walkers skull with a loud crack.
"Oh, whoa...shit."
Daisy glared up at Glenn, who stood still with a surprised nonchalance that irked her, he had not moved an inch, "Thanks for the help, Glenn." She huffed and cringed away from the walker that had slumped down over her, promptly pushing her arms out and shoving it to the side. Sticking her hand up, Glenn thankfully took her hint and helped her up. Grimacing at the addition of some new blood stains to her black shirt—which had been striped with white before the dead started rising—she examined the bathroom and determined that the walker had no friends lurking within.
Stepping over the surprise walker, Daisy entered the bathroom and looked around: no windows. Daisy groaned deeply and leant back against the dirty tiled wall, beyond caring about stains. She kicked back with her heavy boot and dropped her head, her eyes landed on the walker. It had a white shirt hanging loose on its mottled shoulders over stretched-tight skin. This piqued her interest.
Daisy dropped down to her knees, wincing at the low thud, and took hold of the walker. Steeling her arms, she heaved it towards her, then turned it over. An embroidered nametag on his chest named him "Steve." The same Steve that owns "Steve's Pharmacy," Daisy guessed. While reminding herself that Steve was long dead and this was a body, and did not want her to feel remorseful for it—did not want or feel anymore at all—she patted down its pockets.
"What are you doing?" An intrigued voice asked from somewhere above her, Daisy shot a glance towards Glenn, then moved on to the walker's pants.
She felt what she was looking for, "Aha!" and dug into the walker's pants, pulling out a ring of keys. Jingling them in the air, she shot a smile towards Glenn, "Keys to the door, likely! No impossible amount of force necessary!" Daisy got to her feet and approached the door, flicking through the keys. Trying the shiniest silver key, the doorknob twisted easily and she pulled it back towards her.
"Oh, thank god," Glenn said, passing her and leaving the store.
"Wh—" Daisy protested his lack of foresight—for all they knew, the alley was swarming with as many walkers as the street was— before giving up and leaving Glenn to look out for himself. She poked her head out after him and quickly looked both ways, determining it to be sufficiently safe after a moment. The rest of her body shuffled out, and she closed the door behind her, making sure that it did not close with a harsh slam.
"This way!" Daisy reminded Glenn in a harsh whisper, his pack slammed against his shoulder with the swift movement of his turn as he stared at her with wide eyes.
"Yep, yep! I knew that," Glenn smiled nervously, grasping at the straps of his pack and jogging slightly to backtrack, slowing to walk alongside her, "So, we'll be able to get to the truck," he said certainly. Daisy hummed in agreement, slowing as they came to the end of the alley, peering around the corner to see only a few walkers meandering around the side street. Determining them to be too far away and sluggish to be a threat, Daisy walked easily with Glenn down the side street and out onto the main street, spotting the congregation of walkers still standing by the truck on the sidewalk.
"Do you think we could sneak in through the open side?" Glenn supposed, gesturing vaguely to the majority of the street that was clear of walkers.
"That's the plan," Daisy said shortly, adjusting her fingers where they gripped her knife to hold it more securely. She started forward, walking swiftly and lowly, keeping her eyes on the walkers. A few who were lingering on the edge of the crowd swayed their heads, they looked as though they had caught a scent. Daisy was calmed somewhat by hearing Glenn walking closely behind her, they soon came close to the walkers.
The growling and moaning was growing louder as the group of walkers began to stir, the majority of them catching sight of Glenn and Daisy. As Daisy reached the truck, the walkers were starting to slump against the truck in an effort to reach them, some proving smarter and shuffling around the front and back of the truck.
"Go, go, go," Glenn muttered behind her, Daisy swiftly opened the passenger's side door, swinging it wide and shuffling into the cab on her knees. After a short struggle, Daisy fell into the driver's seat, her only casualty being the beginnings of a bruise on her backside from the gearstick getting in her way. She winced at the thudding of walkers hitting their faces against the window beside her and reached down to turn the keys where she had left them in the ignition.
The truck started in a heartbeat and Daisy praised her luck—not minding that said luck had failed her in initially keeping away walkers. One particularly heavy walker thudded its shoulder against her window and a loud crack sounded throughout the cab, Daisy's heart faltered in her chest. Not taking the time to look, Daisy shifted the gearstick into 'drive' and pressed her foot hard on the accelerator. Grimacing at the walkers gathered in front of the truck, Daisy slammed into them. Most of the walkers were nudged off to the side, but one walker landed on the road in front of the truck. There was a tense moment when the truck rose as it surmounted the walker's body, but both Daisy and Glenn breathed a sigh of relief as the truck continued on down the road.
"That was...close," Glenn said succinctly. Daisy sighed heavily and glanced to the side; the window had smashed near the centre, a long crack running either side of the smash to almost touch the borders.
"Too close."
Later
Upon arriving back at the farm and dispersing the gathered supplies, Daisy pocketed Lori's pills and searched the yard for Lori herself. Almost immediately, Daisy spotted Lori sitting underneath a tree with Carol, Sophia and Carl. She started to move towards them, scratching at the dried blood that had made its way onto her cheek from the surprise walker attack—she thought that perhaps it would not be advisable to frighten the children by reminding them of the dangers the post-apocalyptic world held. Of course, if the world was going to stay like it was—which was a very real possibility—then they had to grow up sometime. But that was not Daisy's place to judge, thankfully.
"Are you okay?" A soft voice asked upon seeing her, Daisy gave Carol a thankful smile and a nod.
"Yeah, just...had a run in with a walker, Glenn and I are fine."
"Did you get...?" Lori trailed off, and gave Daisy an expectant look, eyes narrowed. Daisy turned her attention to Lori, feeling somewhat irked that she seemed entirely unconcerned with Daisy's well-being, despite the fact that Daisy was doing this favour for absolutely nothing in return. Supressing these feelings—remembering Rick's insistence that she be the better person with Shane and deciding to apply the same rule to Lori—Daisy nodded wordlessly. Lori smiled, "Oh, that's...thank you."
"Look," Daisy sighed, her heart stuttering in her chest as she looked around at Lori and Carol, then her gaze stopped on Carl and Sophia as they looked up with their wide smiles and trusting eyes. She turned her attention back to Lori, "You should tell him about..." Lori's face fell, she knew what Daisy was talking about.
"No, that's not...that's none of your business, Daisy." Lori said frankly, Daisy agreed but she could not help the spark of annoyance that flared at Lori's disregard of her husband.
"What's this about?" Carol asked with a hesitant smile, brow furrowing in concern for Lori, who seemed to be faltering in mild distress, staring at the grass by her feet with a clenched jaw.
Lori startled slightly and seemed to realise that they were not alone, "Oh, nothing," she said lightly, "I'll see you later, Daisy. I'll get that thing you got me...later," Lori spoke firmly, then widened her eyes marginally and quirked a tight smile.
Feeling utterly dismissed, Daisy scoffed under her breath and returned Lori's smile with an equivalent degree of tension, "Okay, see you later, then." Nodding towards Carol, Sophia and Carl, Daisy sidled off back towards the farmhouse. Daisy rolled her eyes to herself and patted the pocket of her jeans where she had stashed the pills, she could hear them rattle quietly and grimaced at the sound. Daisy had tried to suppress thoughts of what the pills were intended to do, but now that she had them in her possession, she could not help but realise that Lori was pregnant. She had a baby in her belly, Rick's baby—or Shane's, but Daisy did not want to think too much of that mess. A baby.
The queasy discomfort rising in Daisy's stomach meant nothing, however. It was Lori's choice, not Daisy's. Swallowing around her suddenly dry throat, Daisy spotted Rick and Shane standing by the truck, studying something spread out on its hood. A creeping wish to tell Rick of what Lori intended to do came over Daisy, but Daisy battered it down. Not my place, she asserted, scratching again at the dried blood on her cheek. Still, that did not make her feel any better, or any less like she was betraying Rick, who had been the one to stick with her in the new world. Daisy was not certain of what she would do, she just hoped that Lori would get her head out of her ass and tell Rick the truth, before Daisy did something rash; he deserved to know.