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Indy's Pov:
Waking up at the ass crack of dawn was not fun. But doing it with a concussion and two men yelling through a walkie talkie? 0/10 would not recommend.
After reassuring my two favourite worry warts of my continued painful existence, I look to Merle, who has finally stopped his chainsaw impression and was squinting at me.
"You good?" I ask and Merle snorts. "Should be askin' you that Girlie. Ol'Merle don't pull his punches.
"Yeah well, me and my face can attest to that, however, you hit like a bitch so Im good." My lips quirk into a smile but Merle just glares at me.
"Shut your trap and get me some food then woman. M'hungry."
I sling my backpack at him, and he grunts a little when it smacks his chest. "Bon appetit then."
Merle pulls some water, granola bars and a few sandwiches from my bag, tossing one of each at me, along with a small bottle of ibuprofen, and I immediately take 4.
I eat the food slowly, the pain in my face making it difficult to chew. Hopefully the pills kick in soon.
Merle and I sit in a comfortable silence that I'd almost describe as peaceful, if it weren't for the smell of rotting flesh permeating the air and the faint sounds of the walking dead coming from the street below us.
When we're done eating, we gather up our things, and Merle hauls me to my feet, grabbing my backpack and slinging it over his shoulders.
"The biters seem to have disbursed for the most part. Let's go see what we can scrounge up before the cavalry gets here. Might be a little slow going, but I reckon we can clear a good bit of the building within the next couple hours or so."
Wordlessly, Merle nods, moving towards the door and undoing the chains while I take down the spells.
We cautiously move down the stairs and back to the ground floor. The place is an absolute mess from the biters that ran through last night. There's broken glass and piles of shit everywhere.
I flick my wand out and using 'Wingardium Leviosa', levitate large shelving units to barricade the broken windows and doors, so more biters can't wander in.
"Why not just fix the glass?" Merle asks.
"Because I don't wanna be sliced and diced by all the glass that's gonna fly off the floor when the windows repair. But if that's something you wanna experience, just let me know. Im sure I can figure something out."
Merle's lips quirk in a sarcastic sneer. "Whatever Glinda, lets just get a move on it."
I raise my eyebrows at him and after vanishing the glass, begin my exploration of the department store.
Grabbing a cart, I head over to the baby section to see what's salvageable, while Merle grabs his own cart and disappears around a corner.
I stock up on some essentials for Rosie, including any formula not passed its expiration date, wipes and a really nice front carrying baby carrier that will hold up to 50 lbs, as well as some books and quiet toys I think she'll like.
Then I move onto the little boys section, grabbing some things for Duane, and repeat in the men's section, grabbing things for Merle, Darryl, Rick, and Morgan.
Im just finishing up, fixin' to go find Merle, when I pass half a biter dragging itself along, looking for something to sink its teeth into. Poor bastard.
I step over it, halting its movement with my foot on its back, before leaning down and quickly stabbing it in the back of the head.
Taking my cart, I walk around the entire ground floor, finding the pet isle and grabbing some things for Rhodey, but not finding Merle.
Where the hell did you go, you old bastard?
It probably wasn't the best idea to split up without any meetup spot or time.
After circling the ground floor one more time, just incase, I head towards the escalators. Ascending, I levitate my cart behind me.
When I reach the second floor, I pull out my wand and quietly mutter 'Point me Merle.'
"Really?" I ask when I find him. "This whole store stocked full of stuff to extend your survival, and you load up on beer? Im not sure if you haven't realized this yet Merle but hosting keggers is a thing of the past."
The sarcastic sneer is back on Merle's face and Im pretty sure he cracks open a beer purely out of spite. I cast a warming charm on the beer because he's being a dick, but other then his lips twinging in disgust, he keeps on drinking.
"Was this all you wanted? I want to look around a bit more, but I think its best we stick together.
"Also," I say while rummaging through my cart, "What size do you wear? I grabbed some clothes for you and Darryl, but I ain't sure what all will fit."
"Hold 'em up, lemme see." He says, so I do. "It'll work." He shrugs.
Men. I sigh.
Merle comes closer to peer into my cart. "You know about the baby then?" he asks to my confusion.
"Yeah, but how do you know about her? I didn't even tell you yet."
Merle's gaze turns sharp. "You up the duff too then girlie?"
"Too? No! Im not pregnant. Rosie is a little over one right now. Takes right after her mama tho I'll tell ya that." I say fondly. "All this is for her."
Merle's eyes salaciously roam my body, lingering on my stomach and chest.
"Well," he drawls, "you sure did bounce right back didn't 'cha?"
"Eyes up here Grandpa." I snap, not bothering to explain that Rosie isn't biologically mine.
"So, someone in the camp is pregnant then?"
Merle nods. "Yuh. Right little cunt she is too. If she's not playing Betty Homemaker, she's slobbin' on her mans cock or barking orders at the others while sitting on her fat ass. Real ungrateful little bitch."
"Damn," I laugh, very used to Merle's crude way of speaking. "Tell me whatcha really thing a 'her then Merle. Guess I'll see if they have any vitamins around or something. Momma might be a bitch, but that don't mean the baby should suffer for it." I shrug.
We walk down each isle on the second floor, killing biters as we go, when I find the small luggage section. I grab two of the largest duffle bags and make quick work of enchanting them with expansion charms to carry everything we pack up. Merle stuffs his beer and the clothes in his duffle while I neatly stack my stash in mine.
It dawns on me that I'll be needing to do some washing, so we swing around the laundry isle, and I grab a few bottles of detergent.
A few isles away, are food isles so we split all the can and dry goods between us and pick through the perishables, but most of it has already gone off.
By the time we're finished scavenging everything we want, a few hours have passed. We settle down in the furniture section of the store. Merle's sprawled out in a Lay-Z-Boy recliner, a bottle of water in one hand and another sandwich in the other.
"Ya know, if you want, I can shrink down one of these for you to take with us. I mean you won't be able to use it in the camp obviously, but when we leave and hole up somewhere a little more permanent, you'll always have a comfortable place to rest. Hell, even covered in biter guts and sweating my ass off in the middle of a fuckin biter infested city, I could fall asleep right now." Turning on the massage feature, I sigh deeply.
"Forget it, I'm for sure taking a few of these with me oh my god."
Merle grunts his affirmation, and we lapse into a comfortable silence once again.
It isn't long before Rick radios in again. "Indy? We're just pulling up outside now. Where are you holed up? Still on the roof?"
"No actually we're not. We're on the third floor towards the back. Just follow the signs to the furniture section. And listen Rick, y'all are gonna have to come thru the same door we came in yesterday. We barricaded pretty much everywhere else. Let Darryl pick the lock alright?"
There was a brief pause before Rick agreed and we signed off. I got up, stretched, and shrunk down half a dozen recliners, storing them in a pocket of my duffle bag.
I shake Merle out of his light doze. "Cavalry's here, time to go."
By the time the group reaches us, we're on our feet, bags packed and were ready to go.
The first person I see is Rick, who rushes to me, grabbing me up in a tight hug. "Thank fuck your okay," he mutters into my hair. "Im so sorry I left you behind darlin'." He rasps out.
"Not your fault Ricky, things we're crazy, and we got lost in the mayhem. We'll be better prepared next time. Quit feelin' so guilty."
He nods and presses another kiss to my head, then pulls back grinning.
"Guess what? I found him! Carl, my boy, I found him. And he's okay. He's back at the camp and I can't wait for you to meet him. Him and Duane send their greetings, and a certain green-eyed baby is very much anticipating having her mama back. Damn near been chanting your name since she opened her eyes this morning, so let's hurry this along. Here."
He slips me 3 vials of different colored liquids. "Courtesy of Morgan."
Rick then turns around, taking a half step in front of me to block me from the others while I down the potions. They taste like Goblin piss, Ogre sweat and Troll boogies, respectively, but I manage to get them down with out retching. The effects were instantaneous. The pain in my face was completely gone and I had a nice energy boost to perk me right up.
While Rick and I we're catching up, Merle and Darryl were slapping each other on the back in greeting and reserved happiness to see the other, while Glenn and T-dog were keeping watch.
But when Rick turned around, Merle and T were having some kind of silent stand off and the tension in the air was high.
"Alright!" I exclaim while clapping my hands once, suddenly feeling very chipper. "That's enough testosterone for now. Let's blow this fucking pop stand! I wanna see my baby!"
They all collectively turn to look at me and I wink at Rick before catching Darryl's eye. He gives me a look that says we'll definitely be talking later, and I nod in acknowledgment.
I reach for my duffle bag on the floor, but Rick slaps my hand away, grabbing it before I can and slinging it over his shoulder. The look on his face says 'Don't argue with me on this', so I grab my silenced gun and take point, leading us out of the store.
We're about halfway to the truck, walking in a lose formation, when I hear a pained call for help in Spanish.
"Ayudame! Ayudame!"
The call is coming from the mouth of the alley closest to me and without thinking, I dart towards the alley, ready to help whoever it is, even if its just to put them out of their misery.
I hear Rick, Merle and Darryl cursing after me, but just as I reach the alley entrance, two guys jump out and grab me. Guy number one sucker punches me on the bruised side of my face, re-breaking the fragile freshly healed bone, and guy two throws a cloth sack over my head.
Dazed from the repeat injury, Im pliant as they shove me into a vehicle and speed away.
Screams and gunshots fade away as the driver hightails it and I slip into unconsciousness.
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A/N: The department store in the show looks like a JCPenny type of store but I combined it with like Walmart, so there's a pretty big variety of what's there. Indy isn't the type to take everything just because and I didn't want to write a fic where everything is so easily accessible and there isn't any struggle for them to survive because Indy just has everything stashed away somewhere. She doesn't have unlimited space and all the things you see in the preparing for the apocalypse trope. She also wants to fly under the radar a bit and there is no way to inconspicuously shrink down everything in a department store without anyone noticing. So that's my reasoning on why she only takes what she thinks she'll need, unless its food. They always take as much food as possible because she does actually have adequate storage for it.