Wake the Dead

chapter 45

I brought my head off of Daryl's shoulder and summoned my strength. I had to be strong for Rick and Carl.. I looked up and saw that T-dog and Carol where missing. "T-dog and Carol?" I asked Daryl, my voice a whisper. He just shook his head no. I took in another deep breath at the thought of what could have happened. The baby started to cry louder and squirm more in my arms as I held on to it.

I looked over and saw Rick was struggling, looking like he was in another world. Carl walked over and I handed him his baby sister, and then went over to Rick who had his hands on his knees. He was staring right at me, but looked like he wasn't seeing anything. "Rick. Rick you with me?" I asked as I crouched down to his level. Rick looked at me, but then in a quick movement he grabbed my machete and then ran into the prison. People called out for him, but I knew he needed this. "Let him be." I said as Maggie walked over. 

"Good news is, she looks healthy." Hershel said as he inspected the baby. "But she needs formula and soon." 

I stepped over to them, ready to do anything that needed to be done, but Daryl stopped me. "No. No way. We ain't losin anybody else. I'm goin for a run." 

"I'll back you up." I said bluntly, not caring about my broken arm, I had to do this for Lori... He knew there was no stopping me so he nodded and threw his crossbow on his back. He started to take the lead and told everyone what they needed to do. It was nice to see how he stepped up and became a valued member of the group, and I definitely loved seeing him be leader, no disrespect to Rick of course.

"You three get the fence. Too many pilin up we got our selves a problem." Daryl told the prisoners and V. "Fi, Glenn, Vamanos!" He yelled. The others didn't move, so he ordered again. "Come one! We're gona lose the light!" He grabbed the keys and threw them to Glenn so he could open the fence. We all ran over to his motorcycle and Glenn was trying to tell us places to go, but Daryl said they where all ransacked. 

"Is there any place that hasn't been looted?" Daryl asked as he put his crossbow down and slid on his poncho. "Wasn't there signs for a daycare or something down the road aways?" Glenn asked, making a bell ring in my head.

"Yeah, there is. They could have lots of formula." I said to all them. Daryl nodded and then started up his motorcycle. Glenn handed me an empty backpack and I slid it on then sat behind Daryl, holding on to his waist. Glenn unlocked the gate for us and shut it after we drove through, heading off to this unknown daycare.

We drove around for a while, but ended up on dirt roads most of the time. The playground of the daycare was in sight and Daryl drove onto the grass leading up to it. We both got off the motorcycle and I pulled out my knife while he got his crossbow ready. "Stay tight." He told me and then we went inside of the fenced playground. There were swings, sandboxes, and jungle gyms that would have seemed fun, but now its just creepy.

I walked past Daryl and peeked through the windows of the building. I didn't notice anything odd so I took my knife and smashed open the window while Daryl watched my back. I climbed in, knocking everything off the desk that was against the wall and jumped down to the ground with a soft 'thud'. I looked around and saw that everything was a mess, looking like people ran out in a big hurry. The walls were covered in paper hand prints with children's names on them. I bet 90% of them are dead...

I stopped myself from thinking like that and pulled the back pack off my back and walked over to cupboards by the sink. I opened them up and found some empty bottles, blankets, diapers, and some clothes which I quickly stuffed in the bag, but no formula.  I heard Daryl come in the window now, letting out a grunt as he jumped to the ground. I quickly looked through the rest of the drawers, but found nothing useful.

I then followed Daryl out of the room, since he was the one with the flashlight, and crept into the hallway. We walked as quietly as we could down and I peaked into a room real quick, but saw everything was gone inside. I heard some banging come from the room next to us, and quickly tip toed over, with my knife ready. Daryl did the same thing, but came from the other side. He slowly pushed the door open for me and I spun around, ready to attack, but saw nothing except the close doors moving.