Lone Survivors

“Hey Mandy, would you mind giving me a hand?” Lori called out. I was sitting under a tree reading a book Dale had given me, so I felt obliged to help her out. I probably should have offered earlier, just to make myself look more useful to the group, but I hadn’t got much sleep last night. The thought of zombies breaking into the tent and eating me alive freaked me out and kept my eyes open.

“Sure,” I replied as I bookmarked my page, then wandered over and sat across from the mother. She was peeling carrots and there was a pile of untouched parsnips too. “Parsnips?” Lori nodded at my guess, so I grabbed the other peeler and began the tedious task. Being the polite and kind person that she was, Lori started up a casual conversation, and I soon learned some more about her family and what her life was like before the apocalypse had started. I appreciated that she wanted me to feel more comfortable around her, but hearing joyful stories of a nice family with a son just made me even more depressed. A normal suburban life was out of my reach now. Everything would be different to what I had planned.

“So what’s going on with you and Daryl?” Lori suddenly asked, completely out of the blue. I had just been talking about a high school romance and a funny memory at prom, but that had nothing to do with Daryl.

“What?” I asked, stopping peeling and looking up at the slightly older woman.

“You’re spending quite a bit of time with him every day. Not even Carol does that, and they’re good friends,” Lori explained with a shrug. “Just sayin’, rumours are starting…” The tone of her voice implied she had already judged me and that it wasn’t a very good impression. After brushing aside a lock of hair, I looked back down at the vegetables and continued on with my task.

“Nothing is happening. He’s injured, I take some responsibility in changing his bandages because I have experience with that, and I’m used to massaging hurt people from my past job. It’s really nothing,” I told her. I glanced up at the sky and located the sun. Dale had taught me how to estimate the time of day by using the sun, and it was time for me to go and check on Daryl again. Awesome timing. “I have to go. Excuse me…” I set down everything and walked to the farmhouse, not surprised when Lori didn’t say goodbye.

I quietly went to the room that Daryl was staying in, my thoughts pretty hectic as I wondered about what the others were assuming about me. It wasn’t nice to hear that, especially when I thought I had started to fit in and earn some trust. I kept silent as I changed Daryl’s bandages and checked on the wounds, noting none of the signs that Hershel had warned me about. They were healing well and weren’t infected, which was good to see. I then gave him a quick massage, as always, and I made him groan quite a lot. Lately I had been able to push harder on him and go closer to the wound in his torso without causing any pain, which meant the massages were getting to be more for pleasure and relaxation rather than relief of the wound. But Daryl wasn’t complaining. When I was done, he said his thanks and went back to reading his book as I walked out, still feeling upset from the talk with Lori. After I had shut the door I saw Shane standing in the doorway with a glare on his face.

“Mandy, can I have a word with you?” he asked in a low voice.