Full Time Job

The spring sun was warm on our bodies as Vinny and I tossed an old beat up baseball to each other on the grass of the prison grounds. Rick had cleared us to be able to roam the grounds after a few days of everyone being locked up in the cell block, as long as we stayed within the areas he mentioned. I chuckled at Vinny as he threw the baseball straight at the ground and knelt next to him to try to teach him how to throw.

Rick, Glenn, T-Dogg, and Daryl where discussing on how to clear the prison further, and I smiled as I saw Beth and Carol helping Hershel get outside to enjoy the sun. He was slowly making his way outside on a set of crutches that Beth and Lori recovered from the infirmary. Vinny and I walked from the grassy prison yard to where the others were when I saw two of the inmates from the same group that tried to attack us a few days ago approaching Rick and the group by the fence that were discussing battle plans. The light atmosphere immediately grew tense as the men pleaded with Rick to join us. I looked over at Daryl, who subtly shook his head at Rick, who ultimately ended up giving them a week’s worth of rations and sending them on their way.

Immediately after Glenn handed them the supplies, the loud buzzing of the prison alarm started to echo loudly around the entire prison, and we all looked nervously around each other. In the same instant, walkers began to approach us through the opened gate on the edge of the prison, and Rick began screaming towards the inmates who could only explain the cause of the alarm as the backup generators. Daryl rushed towards us, and pushed me and Vinny into a small fenced area that was used for high security inmates.

“Stay right here… I mean it, Gianna!” Daryl ordered after I began to protest. I angrily sat with Vinny in the center of the small enclosure, watching as Carol and T-Dogg ran to secure the gate. Daryl, Rick, and the inmates ran off to find the generators and cut the blaring alarm that was attracting walkers to the prison. I hated that I could never help the group when chaos like this ensued… Daryl always pushed us into a closet or corner and run off to risk everything to save everyone. I was always grateful, but I hated that he never wanted my help.

I stood up, watching in terror as I saw a tall, thin, bony male walker bite T-Dogg’s shoulder, and immediately after, he and Carol ran to safety. Walkers were surrounding the area around us, but thankfully, the fence held strong and they weren’t able to come anywhere near us. Vinny and I were completely alone, sheltered in an outdoor cage that was originally built to hold very bad people. Vinny was a little frightened of the walkers that pressed against the chain link fenced walls of the outdoor cell we were in, and I held him tightly until the prison alarm quit blaring. I instructed Vinny to stand directly in the middle of the cell as I removed Daryl’s hunting knife from its sheath on my belt and began taking out walkers one by one, shoving the pointed steel blade through their skulls. After I took out every one of them that was standing close enough to the fence, I returned to Vinny in the center of the small enclosure and held him tightly as I waited for Daryl or Rick to come and unlock the gate so we could get out of here. We sat in silence as the minutes ticked by.

When it was nearly dusk, Daryl, Rick, and Glenn returned to the fenced in prison yard and Daryl unlocked the gate to the security cage that Vinny and I were in. Vinny ran up and wrapped his arms around Daryl’s thigh when the gate opened. He pulled me silently into a warm hug, and the three of us walked together to Rick and Glenn, who were waiting for us to join them to go inside and check on the rest of the group.

“Gia,” Rick asked, “Did you see which way Carol and T-Dogg went?” he asked and my eyes dropped to the pavement, as well as my heart into my stomach.

“I saw T-Dogg get bit over by the gate… on the shoulder… Carol and him locked the gate and ran in through the main entrance…” I answered, pointing towards the door they had ran through. The three men in front of me were all looking at me like they didn’t comprehend at all what I had just said.
“What?” Rick asked, and before I could answer, one of the side doors nearby us to the prison creaked open, and I watched Carl and Maggie emerge from it, and Maggie was carrying a tiny, pink baby wrapped in what looked like a jacket or shirt. Maggie looked like she could burst into tears at any minute. She held the baby tightly and we all watched in silence as Rick approached Carl, who had steady tears running down his cheeks. The non-verbal communication was intense, and Rick started wailing hysterically, and after Carl nor Maggie made any effort to tell him otherwise, I knew that Lori was dead. Daryl pulled me close to him as I started to cry into his shoulder, but he seemed more angry then upset. Lori was gone, T-Dogg most likely didn’t make it, and no one knew where he and Carol were in the vast, walker infested prison.

Beth and Hershel emerged from the building, and Vinny ran to Beth, who scooped him up and she kissed him lightly on the cheek. After Hershel and Beth realized what had happened, Rick stormed off towards the empty yard and Hershel began to examine the baby that Maggie was holding. It was a girl. I felt a little less heartbroken for the terrible losses of the day when I saw everyone unable to hide a smile when they looked at the newborn. The baby was hope and gave us all a reason to continue fighting.

“She’s going to need formula, and fast, if she’s going to survive,” Hershel announced. Daryl quickly stepped forward.

“We’re not losin’ anyone else today, I’m goin’ on a run…right now,” Daryl said, and I automatically knew that I needed to go with him. I looked at Beth, and she just nodded to me.

“Of course, I’ve got him. Don’t worry. Just come back soon and safe,” she said, and I immediately felt relief. I was so lucky to have her and the fact that she already knew what I wanted to say before I even had to say it was immeasurable. I kissed Vinny on the cheek and approached Daryl, who was already on the other side of the yard, packing his things into the saddles of the motorcycle that I hated.

“I’m coming with you,” I said bluntly, and he looked up from what he was doing and just stared at me for a few minutes.

“…Alright, but you have to stay by my side and if I tell you to run, you run…” he said seriously. He handed me a small .38 caliber handgun, and I locked the safety on and tucked it into my jeans. He sat down on the bike and looked over at me impatiently. I stared at him nervously until he pulled me closer to the bike and I hesitantly climbed on behind him.

“Trust me, sweetheart,” he said, smirked, and started the engine that roared loudly to life. I wrapped my arms tightly around him and hid my face into his shoulder as I felt us begin to move and wind started to rush quickly pass me. I never lifted my head up from his shoulder the entire ride, and I continued to cling to him tightly even after we had pulled to a stop in front of a run-down grocery store and he turned off the engine.

“Ya alright back there?” he asked, and I slowly relaxed my grip and he helped me stand up and off of the motorcycle. My legs felt shaky after the strong vibrations of the engine rattled my joints.

“Yeah,” I answered and he pulled my hand in his and we walked cautiously into the abandoned store. It was about sunset, and he clicked on a flashlight as we began searching the building for formula. It looked as though no one had been inside for months and most of the food was picked clean.

“Where do they put the baby formula? By the milk?” he asked, and I giggled quietly next to him.

“Are you serious?” I asked and yanked the flashlight from him, pointing at the aisle labels that were posted high above our heads, and pulled his hand as I started for the aisle that read “Baby Food and Diapers.”

“Well, I don’t know this stuff,” he said defensively as we reached the aisle as I looked at him with a raised eyebrow. He grabbed a nearby shopping cart and began tossing in cases of diapers and wipes while I pulled a case of formula from the shelf, and began to read the label.

“Does she eat this stuff?” he asked, and I looked over and he was holding a jar of baby food. I smiled at him.

“Not yet,” and he shrugged and replaced it back on the shelf. I went back to reading the label on the formula container. After a few minutes, I felt him wrap his arm around my waist and his lips on my neck. I put my arm over his as it pulled me against him.

“We have work to do,” I mumbled, trying to control my breathing that had hitched when the touch of his tongue to the thin skin beyond my ear made shivers run down my spine. He continued to hold onto me. We both froze as we heard a snarl coming from our immediate right, and I shined the flashlight to see two walkers stumbling quickly towards us.

I unsheathed my knife and plunged it directly into the smaller one’s ear as Daryl spun around me and took care of the larger one. They both fell heavily to the ground and he grinned at me.

“I can’t believe you’re the same little girl who was terrified of these dead assholes a couple of months ago…” he chuckled as he returned the hunting knife to its sheath. I did the same and shrugged.

“I’m not the same person… going through what we’ve gone through changes you…” I answered, and started to pull all of the containers of formula that I could find into the shopping cart.

“Don’t let it change you too much,” he said quietly, squeezed my behind, and continued to look further down the aisle for more supplies. After I packed the formula, I pushed the cart over to him and we began to make our way for the exit. On the way out, I smiled widely at him as he picked up a small package of Hotwheels cars that stood on an endcap by the door.

“I can’t believe you’re the still same redneck dickhead that I met all those months ago,” I said sweetly and he rolled his eyes at me.

“Hush,” he huffed, and we walked out of the store together, packing the supplies tightly onto the motorcycle. Before I was ready for it, we were back on the motorcycle and back at the prison. It was dark when we got back.

We lugged the baby supplies back to our cell block, and I quickly taught Beth and Maggie how to measure out formula to make a bottle. I was super excited when they asked if I would be the first one to try to feed her… I had plenty of practice when Vinny was the same age as her when he was that tiny. She immediately took the bottle and started drinking deeply, and I smiled down at her sweet face. I was showing Beth how to avoid air bubbles to prevent gas and how to support her head. I couldn’t believe that no one around, besides Carol, knew how to take care of an infant. My heart dropped uncomfortably as I realized that Carol hadn’t made it back yet. I hoped that it was because she had stayed with T-Dogg until he changed and she had to … take care of him.

I was cradling the baby softly in my arms, Beth close by my side, watching everything I did, when I looked up and locked eyes with Daryl, who was watching me with a gentle expression from the top of the cell block metal stairwell. He was sitting on the top step, near our beds, and I motioned for him to come down. He descended the stairwell, and stood in front of us, watching the baby.

“Do you want to hold her?” I asked him, and he looked towards me and the baby hesitantly. I chuckled, and stood up in front of him, carefully placing her tiny, fragile body in his arms. She was still drinking from the bottle, so I put his hand around the bottle and watched as he held her gingerly, smiling my favorite crooked smile down at her.

“Is Vinny sleeping?” I asked Beth, and she nodded and sat down by Carl, who was watching Daryl feed the baby.

“She doesn’t have a name yet,” Carl announced, and Daryl started talking sweetly to the tiny baby.

“We could call her little ass kicker,” he cooed, and my heart melted even more for him as he talked gently to the baby and we all smiled around him.

“Little ass kicker’s a good name, right?” he asked us as we sat around him, chuckling, and he handed her off to Beth who slowly rocked her to sleep. Daryl motioned for me to come and sit on his lap while he talked with Glenn and Maggie; all three were seated around the worn metal table and stools that were outside of the cell doors. He wrapped an arm around me as I took a seat, resting his hand on my hip.

“If she doesn’t come back tonight we have to go out and find her…” Daryl said, and I knew he was talking about Carol. My warm and fuzzy feelings from the baby were instantly replaced by the normal worrying and unsureness. Glenn and Maggie looked towards him grimly.

“I don’t know, man, if she doesn’t come back tonight, I’m not sure that she survived,” Glenn added and I felt Daryl’s grip tighten around my waist.

“Well, ‘m not just going to give up on her,” Daryl spat out, and Glenn and Maggie grew silent. I knew that I didn’t think I would be able to handle another loss, emotionally, especially if it was Carol. I didn’t think that any of us could.

“Where’s Rick?” Daryl asked, and Maggie and Glenn shrugged and shook their heads.

“He took off after he found out about Lori; we haven’t seen him since… I’m sure he’s fine and he just needs space,” Maggie answered, yawned, and rested her head on Glenn’s shoulder. We talked for a little while longer before everyone headed off to bed. I climbed the stairwell and quickly changed out of my jeans, and climbed into bed and into Daryl’s arms.

“I love you,” he whispered quietly to me, kissed my cheek and we fell quickly asleep.