The smell of death and decay lingered inside the walls of Edison's Apothecary and Boutique. The second Louise had pried open the doors with a crowbar, the damp walls inside ruined their appetites'. Every object found within had been destroyed. Moss covered every surface and puddles of unfamiliar substances were scattered across the floor.
Louise patted Denise's back as she hunched over and dry heaved.
"We gonna find out what you have for breakfast?" she laughed before shining her flashlight into the dark room.
"Oatmeal" Denise sighed as she stood up. "Just so you know"
She chuckled at her friend before taking a look around. Glass artifacts stood tall on display cases and souvenir named key chains hung from a small, rotating stand. Louise smiled as she ran her fingers across a plastic rectangle. HOLLIE was written in thick white letters across a black background. Quickly, she tucked it into the back pocket of her jeans.
"Hey, look at this" Rosita yelled. Above the Latina women was a large pharmacy sign that had faded slightly over the years.
"Jackpot" Lou said, shoving her crowbar under the shutter. She wedged it to the left and put all of her weight onto the bar, smiling to herself as the white barrier flew upwards. "Bingo"
Behind the counter were three large shelves, packed with medicine bottles. Daryl and Rosita slid over the countertop, bags in hand and began wiping the contents of the shelves into them.
Denise placed her hands beside the till. "If you set them on the counter, I can tell you which-"
"Nah, we're gonna take it all" Daryl stated.
"Are you sure because-"
"It's fine" he insisted.
Louise nodded at Denise and placed her own bag beside theirs. "Fill mine up too, I'll wait with her"
A sudden rattling noise from the restroom next door grabbed her attention and her head snapped to the right.
"It's just one" Rosita said, still filling her bag with bottles.
"Sounds like it's stuck" Daryl grumbled.
Slowly, Denise walked towards the door and pushed it open with her machete.
"Denise, what are you doing?" Lou sighed, following her. When it was clear her friend wasn't going to back down, Louise slipped into the room beside her.
A 'walker' lay in the right hand corner, a cast on his left leg. The bottom of his jaw was missing and he reached for his prey, half heartedly. A meter to his left was an empty wooden cot, the word 'SHUSH' written over and over again above it. She shined her light at the other wall, grimacing as the tip of a infant's shoe could be seen from the backroom sink. The remains of the young child were visible underneath the shallow dirty water.
Louise brought a hand to her mouth and closed her eyes tightly. "Oh god..."
Denise gagged and bolted from the room. The sudden movement sent a display cabinet crashing to the floor and resulted in the smudge covered glass shattering across the tiles.
"What the hell are you doing?" Rosita asked, cautious of the sudden noise attracting the dead.
"Nothing" Denise said quickly as she ran towards the exit.
Louise sighed heavily and ran a hand through her hair as she processed what she had just seen.
"'Sup with you?" Daryl asked, zipping up his bag and grabbing hers off the counter.
YOU ARE READING
When the dead roam - (Daryl Dixon)
FanficNot a single cell in her body was scared. Nobody should be scared of death anymore; it's inevitable. Each direction you took still ended with a dead body. Another loved one to bury and mourn. In the end, death is the only certain aspect of life.
