Hiraeth (The Walking Dead)

Chapter 16

"Canned corn, canned beans, canned water... Canned cans," T-Dog sauntered into the cell block, boxes of cans hoisted up on his shoulder. "And plenty more where this came from."

Rick and Daryl followed into the cell block, bags of rice and corn and cans in their arms. They passed the cells, carrying their supplies into a supply closet near the back. As Rick was coming back, he stopped by the stairs where Cailey was sitting. She used her hunting knife to carve into a small block of wood, shaping it to a point. The old sheriff sat down on the step next to the girl, giving her enough space in case she freaked out on him.

"You doin' okay, kid?"

Cailey didn't even try to respond, she didn't even look at Rick. She simply kept carving a cone into the end of the wood. Rick let off a small sigh, bringing one leg to his chest. "I know you have history with some of those prisoners," he explained quietly. "But we need you to try and let them come to our side, all right? It's only going to make it worse if you try to hurt them."

The girl dropped her knife, hooking it back to her belt loop. She threw her block of wood into her quiver as she stood. "I'm gonna try to find the infirmary," Cailey declared. "Ol' man's gonna need as many supplies as he can get."

Rick sighed internally again, leaning back on his hands as the brunette walked off. She held her bow tightly in her right hand, and her boots clicked quietly on the ground. She still wore the same camouflage pants and leather jacket she had when she joined the group, but for the past several months she had been wearing a t-shirt Beth had given her. Cailey did laundry every couple days in some form of water, but she only had the clothes she wore to clean. Others in the group had offered clean clothes to her, but she always declined taking things from others.

Rick was hesitant to allow Cailey to wander the prison herself, but it was no longer because he distrusted her- he was afraid she wouldn't be safe. She could get hurt, no matter how well she could take care of herself, but Rick also knew that she wouldn't accept anyone to go with her while she was in this mood. He had seen it in Daryl, too. However, it was mostly when Daryl found out Rick had left his brother Merle to die- not because Daryl had found his father like Cailey had. Rick was more surprised that Cailey didn't know that her father was locked up in prison here, somehow it had escaped her.

The leader set back to work helping Daryl and T-Dog organize the new food supply, and promised the prisoners to help clean out a cell block. Glenn went back and forth between helping Rick's team and watching over Hershel, who was now stabilizing after a near-death scare.

Cailey came back from wandering the prison nearly an hour later. She dumped a heavy duffel bag on the ground in Hershel's cell, and it thunked loudly. Lori and Carol looked up at her in surprise.

"I found the infirmary," she stated simply, beginning to walk away.

"Wait, Cailey!" Carol stood up. Her face flushed and she spoke frantically. "What happened to your shoulder? And that bruise on your face! Oh, sweetie, were you bit!?"

The older woman grabbed Cailey by the arm, staring at the girl's bleeding shoulder. Her jacket was ripped in another spot now, and blood was splattered all over her. Cailey pulled her arm from the woman. "I hit a nail," she stated simply. "Ripped into my shoulder."

"You went out in the prison by yourself?" Lori piped up in horror. "Okay, Cailey, you see this?" She gestured to Hershel, still unconscious. "This was with the whole group. It is still not safe out there, and you still got yourself hurt! I already had to pull back Carl from getting out there and looking-"

"Well, I ain't Carl, am I?" Cailey droned. "I'm quite a bit older, an' been taking care of myself since before all this bullshit. Take the supplies or don't, see if I care. There's painkillers and bandages an' stuff, but I ain't apologizing for leaving."

The girl turned to leave, stalking out of the cell. The two women and Beth were calling for Cailey to come back, asking to at least treat her wounds. The girl remained silent as she continued out of the cell. As if on cue, Rick and Daryl came through the cell block.

"Woah, woah, hey," Rick stopped the teen. "What the hell happened to you?"

Cailey pulled away from Rick, heading off again. Lori turned out of Hershel's cell to address her husband. "She went out on her own! To find the infirmary, Rick, you need to keep her under control, please, she's going to get hurt again."

Rick sighed rather loudly, hands on his hips in desperation. "I thought she would be okay," he drawled out. "I knew she wouldn't be wantin' me followin' her."

"You let 'er out on 'er own?" Daryl sounded absolutely livid. His voice became incredibly loud, and almost cracked in anger. "What the hell, man?"

The sheriff put his palms out in defense. "She said she'd be lookin' for the infirmary, I knew she didn't want anybody near her, I thought she'd be fine. We cleared out the hallways already, so I didn't know there'd be any walkers."

"Nah, that shit ain't from a walker!" Daryl gestured angrily to the girl's shoulder and the bruise forming on her left cheekbone. "Prisoners already tried to fight back! That shit's from 'er old man!"

"We had him under watch the whole damn time, Daryl, don't give me that," Rick began getting irritated.

"I know fer' damn sure-"

"Daryl, shut up!" Cailey finally snapped. "I'm not a fucking kid, leave it be!"

"You are a damn kid," Daryl retorted. "Ya shouldn't 'ave even been out on yer' own, ya know that. Ya knew ya could've gotten hurt!"

"Stop acting like you give a fuck," Cailey puffed out her chest. "What that asshole does is none of your business! You aren't my dad, or my brother, or anything. So stop pretending you don't want me gone like everyone else here fucking does."

"So I'm jus' supposed to let that ol' assbag come and attack you like that and preten' it's all good," Daryl scoffed. "You're full of bullshit."

"Am I?" The brunette spat. "I know you don' want me here anymore than they do! I'm not Carol or Beth or Maggie, you still think I'm a kid, but I'm not a kid you can take care of like Carl! So quit fuckin' pretending and leave me the hell alone. It's a surprise you haven't kicked me from this shitty fuckin' group already."

"That's complete shit," Rick intervened loudly. "You know that's complete shit."

Everybody was yelling loudly and arguing, and the others in Hershel's cell could only watch. Lori calmly brought Carl out of the cell, letting him hang around the cell block dining hall, hoping he would be able to tune out at least most of it.

"You know it's not shit," Cailey turned her head to the man. "I see the way you look at me. You're still scared of me like I'm going eat your fuckin' kid or something. Everybody here does."

"They do with me, too," Daryl piped up loudly again, "What's ya fuckin' point? I been here years with these assholes, and they still think I'm gonna snap on them, but ya don't see me goin' and doin' dumb shit and gettin' myself hurt all the damn time!"

Cailey only scoffed, shaking her head. She began walking away, and nobody stopped her this time. "Yeah, whatever."