The Walking Dead {Daryl Dixon}

S2Ch5 "In sickness and in health"

The walk to the school had been uncomfortable. MacKenzie had hardly ever minded when she got caught in the rain, part of this was because when she did it was during the summer when the air was like sand against her sweaty skin. However, the most important factor was that she didn't stay soaked for long. Whenever she ended up like a drowned doll, she'd be on her way home already. She'd get there and change into dry clothes almost immediately. How did she miss the good old days when she'd come home from a soccer match, drenched like never before, walk herself to the bathroom to take a long, relaxing shower, then, grab a snack from the fridge and pass out from exhaustion on her bed with the curtains closed.

That's what MacKenzie kept on thinking as she walked there. She tried to convince herself that if she were to really submerge herself in the memory, then, she'd be able to ignore the godforsaken squelching sound from her soaked feet swimming in the pool of her shoes. Perhaps, if she focused on how she'd crave a tuna-filed tomato after an arduous training session, she'd forget how much it unnerved her to feel her clothes sticking to her like a second moist skin.

"Ah, thank goodness", she muttered to herself as she stopped to admire the building.

After spending a hot minute to catch her breath and strategize – aka count how many of the dead were lurking around and finding possible exit points – she took out some tools from her bag and doublechecked her knives before venturing herself into the unknown.

-

With a huff and a jump MacKenzie pump herself up with enough adrenaline to make a run to the trailer. Still, finding herself in need of a distraction she convinces herself that the idea that popped in her mind is not as stupid as it sounds. Fast and careless is all she really needs at the moment, so she doesn't trouble herself with making sure to be quiet as she opens the drives door of one of the patrol cars. Some of the dead nearby hear her and start tumbling toward her. That won't suffice though. She draws one last breath before slamming her hand against the horn. She winces at the volume. An eye shut close she peeks through the other to check if that is enough to gain the dead's attention. It does.

She jumps out of the car and snakes her way behind them to walk around the abandoned cars and avoid being seen by the living corpses. She makes a run for the trailer. Her blood is deafening in her ears as she hears the squelching from her soaked shoes. 'They're gonna hear it. They're gonna hear me.' Shivers run down her arms at the thought. There's a bunch of them and only one her. She's got no guns, just close-range weapons. If they were to turn around, if the dead so much as glanced over their shoulders...

The door is right there. She could just walk to the other side and go up the stairs, but no, her brain is too panic ridden to consider that as an option. Instead, MacKenzie pushes herself up the railing and jumps over it in a frenzy. The door is swung open and she pushes herself inside and against the door after locking it. Her chest is rising and falling, rising and falling, from all the adrenaline fogging her brain. It takes her a couple of minutes for the fog in her brain to dissipate and realize that she made it to the trailer safe and sound. Finally, she sighs.

"Okay... That's step 1. Fuck, should've thought this through. I wasn't expecting to make it this far"

She pushes herself away from the door, and triple-checks that it is in fact locked and that there's no dent they could get through before walking further into the trailer.

"Antibiotics. Antibiotics. Antibiotics"

Over and over, she chants the list in her head. She gotta focus. She gotta remember what she needs, what Merle needs: cleaning supplies, antibiotics, maybe something that will help his immune system.