The Ðying Liƒe. »A Walking Dead Fanfic«

8. At the Pharmacy

I woke earlier than usual the next morning. The sunlight beat down on the sides of my tent, warming it and making it so I couldn't sleep. Stretching, I remembered the trip into town and climbed out of my tent to look for Glenn and Maggie. Honestly, I didn't know why I wanted to go along with them after seeing how into each other they were but I was never one to do things the easy way.

I found them both in the stable getting two of the horses ready and putting saddles on them. Maggie had been laughing about something Glenn said but promptly stopped when I walked up. Suddenly I wanted to go hide back in my tent. "Glenn said you were thinking about going with us into town?" Maggie asked, eyeing me a little, "you ever ridden a horse before?" I couldn't remember the last time I had been on a horse. "Yeah, loads of times," I lied. She nodded slowly and went to get another horse ready. "You know you don't have to come with us," Glenn said softly to me. I shrugged and said, "Yeah, I know. I just thought it would be a nice change of scenery and maybe help out a little, pull my weight." Just then Maggie walked up with a black horse and handed me the reigns. "Here, you can ride him. He's not as skittish as the others so he won't give you any trouble," she gave me a little smile before turning back her horse.

We walked the horses out to the dirt driveway to make sure we had everything we needed. Since this was my first trip into town, everyone was extra vigilant in making sure I knew what I was doing. Rick gave me a few pointers on being out with a fewer number of people and Andrea hugged me. "I'll be back, no worries," I said pulling myself free of Andrea's embrace before giving her a peck on the cheek.

I tossed my backpack around my shoulders and went to climb on the horse. As I went to throw my leg over the horse, a hand grabbed my foot -it was Daryl. "Hey..." I muttered. "Here," he said and handed me his knife, "if anything jumps out at you, just give 'em hell." I scoffed, a grin spreading across my face, "thanks." He stood there for a minute like he wanted to say something else but stayed quiet. Shane and Dale were waiting to see us off so I mounted the horse and glanced down at Daryl. He tilted his head to look up at me, shielding his eyes from the sun with his hand, "Just watch your back, OK?" He put a hand on my knee and my stomach flipped. "I'll bring you back something pretty," I joked and he smacked the horse on the hind end.

As we made our way down the two lane country road that lead to the pharmacy, I took a minute to really appreciate the scenery. It was late summer and the tall trees were lush and green, most of them stretched across the road, touching the trees on the other side. Every now and then a bird chirped and there wasn't a single cloud in the bright blue sky.

It took us about thirty minutes to get to the pharmacy. The small store front had a few boarded up windows, but looked alright, to say the least. A sign hung on the door that read: 'Take only what you need -God Bless' in red paint. We climbed off our horses and restrained them on the bicycle rack out front. Before we went in, the three of us cupped our faces to the store front windows to make sure the coast was clear and then headed in.

The inside of the store had been picked over many times but there were still a few random items left on the shelves. Glenn had told everyone about the Walker that attacked Maggie a few days earlier and I peaked around the back counter and sure enough, there it was. I covered my mouth in disgust. "Yeah, it's never an easy sight," Glenn said walking around the other side of the counter. "Eh, no, it's not," I replied before turning away. Slowly, I made my way though the store, looking over what was left behind by others before us and it wasn't much, really. I knelt down to search through a pile of papers on the floor and found a greeting card. On the front of the card was a picture of a squirrel with big goofy eyes. The inside read, 'I'm nuts for you'. I scoffed and shook my head but stuck it in my bag for later and kept moving through the store. Along the way I found a few more things to take with me before making my way toward the front entrance of the store. "I think I'm done here guys," I called to the other two, "I'm gonna wait outside." I walked out the door to where the horses were, patting the neck of the black horse as I went by and it blew air out its nose. It seemed a little spooked about something and I reached up, trying to shush it and then heard scuffling and a thump from around the side of the building.

I walked to the side of the building and peeked around it and there were a few broken down cars and a dumpster. There, on the far side of one of the cars was a walker, just one, but enough to rile up the horses. Reaching my hand around to the back of my belt and I was reassured when I felt Daryl's knife hooked to my belt loop. Slowly and carefully, I made my way to one of the cars. The soles of my shoes crunched softly on the gravel as I came up to the first car and I stayed low to the ground, watching as the walker moved closer. It hadn't noticed me just yet as I tried to figure out a way to deal with it before Glenn and Maggie came out of the pharmacy.

My breath became short and shallow and I thought my heart was going to pound out of my chest. I pulled the knife from my belt and moved around the side of the car opposite of the walker until it was at the front and I was at the rear. Once I had the upper hand, I gave myself a little pep talk, telling myself that it was nothing, that I could do this on my own. The walker continued moving toward the front of the building and I could hear the horses. I stepped out from behind the car and tapped the side of it with the knife.

The walker turned and lurched at me and as I walked toward it, I kicked it in the middle, sending it stumbling backward on the pavement. When it was down I went to kick it again, this time in the head but it grabbed a hold of my right foot. I whacked at its hands with the knife but couldn't break its grip and I toppled to the ground. I fell hard on my left side and cracked my elbow on the pavement. It hurt like hell, but I knew I couldn't lay there whimpering with pain. The walker was still clinging to my boot, trying to pull me closer, its teeth snapped with hunger. I turned on my back and with my free foot, I kicked at it again and smashed it right in the face. Finally, it let go. I scrambled to my feet and I brought my foot down on its ugly face one last time. When I lifted my foot, all that remained was a pile of bloody mush.

My boot was covered in blood and dirt and I stood over the walker to make sure it was done and when I was satisfied, I went and wiped the knife on the grass near by. I made my way back up to the front of the pharmacy to see if Maggie and Glenn had finished yet and saw they were still inside. I sat down on the curb near the horses and picked the loose gravel from my elbow. When it was clean, I stretched my legs out in front of me and enjoyed the warmth of the sunshine on my skin.