Chapter Five: Bloodletting (pt1)


The next morning came with different challenges. They still had about twenty more cars to search through and move out of the way so that they could move on. T-Dog was still in an awful amount of pain from the wound she'd sutured the day before, but the man refused to take anything other than the antibiotics to fight the infection. In the end, despite the very real possible risk of encountering geeks in the surrounding woods that had splintered off from yesterday's herd, Daryl and Merle decided that they would try hunting for some game while the rest of the group finished clearing out the road.

The group wouldn't be able to get by on eating only MRE's, it simply wasn't healthy, especially in the long run, and Merle claimed that he'd spotted some deer tracks by a small creek in the forest when he was with Sophia. Rick and Shane had protested at first... before conceding that it was a good idea, after all some fresh game would be nice. Marie wasn't at all bitter.

Besides, Dale wasn't quite finished repairing his RV just yet, or so he 'claimed', since Merle had muttered under his breath when he'd passed her- something about the radiator hose they'd found yesterday being a perfect fit. Sophia was hanging out in her van with the Māhoe children, now that her shock had faded away, Carol did not want her daughter out on the highway anymore. Carl had been a bit peeved about that decision, especially since his mother still didn't want to let him out of her sight and refused to let him join Sophia in the Sprinter.

Glenn was going through some of the overturned cars farther away from where they'd camped the night before, her brother was convinced that the others had not searched the vehicles properly. She didn't blame him, she'd been witness to their poor scavenging abilities for an entire day now... and she really wasn't impressed. Marie would've joined him, but she was trying to stay relatively close by to her van. Miranda had offered to watch the little ones again, but the woman was already overwhelmed with her own squabbling kids... and was taking inventory of all the clothes that the women had been bringing her.

With a movie playing and a few toys thrown out on the bed, the Māhoe girls were fully entertained. Sophia, being the little angel that she is, promised to watch over all three of -her- the kids. Something that didn't bother Marie too much since Iolani was sleeping, Carol hadn't seemed to mind -the woman actually thanked her for giving Sophia something to do that was within the safety of the vehicle- that she was taking advantage of some free babysitting, and as long as Sophia got the attention of any adult when Iolani woke up... well Marie was happy with that.

Without having the kids to worry about now, Marie decided to do a little foraging on the outskirts of the forest closest to the highway. She grabbed one of the new bags they'd pilfered from the various abandoned cars, and let Dale know where she was going - since the man was currently on watch- before carefully climbing down the hill. The entire hill was covered in peppergrass and ferns. Marie cut a bunch of the peppergrass that looked untrampled before putting them in the bag. There was a bunch of creeping charlie at the bottom of the hill, which made Marie smile broadly before she immediately started snipping away with a pair of scissors and adding her finds in the backpack. Just under the shade of a couple of trees a few feet into the forest Marie spotted a large group of hedge garlic, or garlic-mustard; the invasive herb was good for both culinary and medicinal purposes, so Marie was more than happy to add it to her growing collection.

She'd only collected a few before she heard Rick calling out her name. Marie quickly zipped up her bag before running out of the dense trees and climbing up the steep hill, "Yeah? I'm here!"

Rick gave her a helping hand so that she could get over the guard rail, "Sorry, didn't mean to frighten you. Sophia's askin' for you."

"Oh," she hummed before sending the man a grateful smile, "Thanks. Ion must've woken up from his nap."

The man nodded, walking beside her as she headed for the Sprinter, "Did you find anything?"

Marie grinned sheepishly, "A few things. I'd rather not use the stove in the van unless we can't help it, but if we could get a small fire going, I picked enough creeping charlie for all of us to eat. I got squirrel and fish jerky we can munch on as well, while we wait for the Dixons to get back."

The sheriff tipped his hat, "I'll see what we can do." She shot the man another smile -Glenn would be proud of her for being so… cooperative with the man- as she opened the van door and climbed inside before shutting it behind her. Iolani was crying frustratedly from inside his Moses basket while Sophia tried to futilely calm him down.

"Oh, you're back!" Sophia gasped in relief, "I think he needs a diaper change."

"Give me a second to wash my hands," Marie stated calmly as she dropped her bag on the ground and lathered her hands with the homemade soap before carefully washing away all the dirt from her hands and forearms.

"Ma'ee!" Ailani chirruped, "Ion cwyin'!"

"Yeah, Ion's crying," Marie agreed as she dried her hands and picked up the infant. His cries almost immediately stopped now that he was in her arms, but it didn't take a genius to realize that the infant was in need of a clean diaper, "Let's change that stinky diaper, huh, nae dalkomhan agi ?"

Leilani giggled as Marie grabbed the diaper bag and began changing the youngest Māhoe's diaper whilst all of them watched, "You're speaking Korean again! What did you say this time?"

She didn't really know why speaking in her first language made Leilani so excited, but it was endearing to say the least, "I said 'my sweet baby boy' because even though he has a stinky diaper he's still a sweet baby, right Lilo?"

"Right!" the six-year-old agreed seriously, "My brother's the cutest and the sweetest."

Sophia giggled, looking a lot less frazzled now that Marie had things in hand, "I think he's pretty cute too."

Glenn dropped in about an hour later. Marie had fed Iolani and put him down for another nap by then, and was showing Sophia how to crochet a hat -she needed to start making Iolani some basic winter gear now before the weather started getting colder, of course, everything she was making for him right now would be too big for him for a while- with some of the softest yarn she'd taken from the nursing home. The preteen had been staring at Marie's nimble fingers as she finished one of the first chains around the perimeter of the hat, while the girls played quietly on the bed with their Barbies.

"Hey, ah- it's nice and cold here." Glenn greeted as he came in through the passenger door in the front and pulled back the curtain to look at them.

"Hi, Glenn!" Leilani greeted without moving from her spot, too busy parrying away Ailani's attack- Marie wasn't sure what exactly they were playing, only knowing that their Barbies were some sort of ninjas that said "hi-ya!" a lot.

She shot her brother an amused grin, "You're drenched in sweat. What on earth were you doing?"

The older Rhee shot her a mischievous look, "I fo~und something."

"What?" Marie questioned, an eyebrow delicately raised at his childish taunting.

"You know that truck that was overturned at the start of the pile-up?"

"Yeah," Marie said dryly. Sophia was leaning in now, filled to the brim with curiosity as Glenn continued to hold off.

"Well~"

Marie rolled her eyes, "Geez, Glenn spit it out."

Her brother rubbed his hands manically, "Well... it was heading for Costco before it was overturned."

"No." she gasped, as she set down her unfinished hat.

"Yes."

"So- SO, is there-"

"O~h yeah!" he interrupted.

"And-"

"Yes!" he crowed.

"Wait I don't get it..." Sophia mumbled, brows furrowed as her eyes bounced between the two of them.

"Have you ever been to Costco before Sophia?" Glenn beamed at the preteen, practically twitching to get back to the truck.

The girl shook her head emphatically, shaking loose dirty blonde strands, "No... is it a store?"

"Yeah." Marie spoke in an almost breathy tone, "Um, they are like really really big grocery stores where you can buy things in bulk... Glenn, is there- have you gone inside yet."

He shook his head as he waved a clipboard with information, "I came running after I saw that this was one of Costco's trucks. The manifest says that they were hauling canned food. Canned food, Marie!" he practically squeaked.

Just this once, Marie would not tease him for it.

Why?

Because she was the bigger person.

And because she really needed to go see it for herself.

Immediately.

"Oh god, we need to go check that out right now." she blurted out, practically vibrating in her seat, "Have you told anyone else?"

"Nope." he denied, "I figured we shouldn't get anyone's hopes up if the manifest is inaccurate or if someone else already went through it, besides... well, it's our little secret for now." Glenn turned towards Sophia, "Can you keep it a secret for now Sophia? Just while Marie and I check it out?"

"Yeah!" Sophia squeaked, excited at the prospect of being a part of a secret, "But ya need to come and tell me if it's really full of food okay?"

"I promise," Marie swore on behalf of her brother. She was grinning uncharacteristically wide as she got up and headed for the front of the van to hop out from the passenger's seat, "Ion shouldn't wake up for a while, but if you need me don't be afraid to ask for help, okay?"

"I won't!" Sophia agreed, her hazel eyes practically gleaming as she distracted Leilani and Ailani from trying to follow them out.

After grabbing a flashlight, crowbar, and bolt cutters from the trailer... The Rhee siblings practically skipped over to the fallen truck, earning more than one amused look from the rest of the group -the majority of which were rigging the Grimes and Peletier truck that would turn into the sleeping place for the majority of the others- as they came to a stop in front of the downed behemoth.

They couldn't get in from the front of the truck, so they would have to pry the loading door open. Glenn quickly snipped the lock open and kicked it away from where it landed on their feet. Marie placed the crowbar at the edge of the metal door and floor of the truck and wedged it in between, together they pushed on it until the door groaned a bit and opened by a crack. Glenn fished for the flashlight in his back pocket while Marie pushed at the metal door, though it didn't move more than a few more inches so that it was wide enough for Glenn to flash the light through and for them to peer inside.

An excited -breathless- gasp escaped from her throat, "Oppa."

"I know." she could hear the smile in his voice as he whispered out a successful, "Jackpot."


Words: 1998


Futago: I-

Merle: Zip it.

Futago: I just wanna-

Merle: NO!

Futago: But I'm sor-

Merle: SHUT IT!

Futago: *bows head down*

Futago: Sorry.

Merle: *screams incomprehensible curses*


(LOL. In all honesty, I've been suffering from some major writer's block for a while and I haven't had the inspiration to write creatively for a long time. I worked all summer -it was exhausting- and I'm finally in my last semester of college, and I'm working at the preschool at the same time, and tutoring high school seniors and editing their college essays... it's been a hot minute since my brain's had the willpower to work on my own WIPs. And boy-o-boy do I have a lot of WIPs. Even my anonymous works have suffered. *shrugs* What can you do?)


Merle: *running and carrying Sophia while looking for geeks*

Also Merle: Hey look, deer tracks.

Miranda: *aggressively sorts through clothes*

Juan: There, there...

Miranda: *starts violently flinging clothing into piles*

Juan: You'll get to hold the baby again soon.

Miranda: *looks into his soul*

Juan: *shudders*

Eliza & Louis: *shrug and commence WW157*

Glenn: *boogieing and having a /good time/*

Glenn: ~I wanna go adventuring, adventuring, adventuring~

The entire group: *side eyes*

Glenn: ~I wanna go adventuriiiiiiiiiiing, and and who knows what I'll find~

Glenn: *goes into the Sprinter and reappears with Marie*

Glenn & Marie: ~We're gonna go adventuring, adventuring, adventuring~

Glenn: *twirls Marie around*

Marie: *magically acquires a crowbar and bolt cutters*

Glenn & Marie: ~We're gonna go adventuriiiiiiiiiiing!~

The entire group: ...

T-Dog: *tripping from fever and medication*

T-Dog: Are the Dixon's the sane ones in that group?

Carol: *smile menacingly*

T-Dog: *sweats*

The entire group: *looks away*

Carol: They're adorable.

T-Dog: *nods* Yes'mam.


(Grand prize to whoever can tell me what song Glenn is singing.)


(I'll come back and edit this chapter later with review responses, promise!)