Daryl's Angel: Saviour (Book Two)

Chapter 14: Route 23

We only make it about ten minutes before Judith starts bawling her eyes out. Rick has some acorns in his bag and, using the butt of his gun, he tries to grind them up into something edible and small enough for a baby.

I hold her, hushing her, but she's hungry and she doesn't care who has to deal with it.

"You did see the jar of applesauce in my bag, right?" Aaron calls. Rick keeps mashing the acorns. "This isn't a trick. This isn't about trying to make you like me. It's self-preservation. Because if the roamers hear her and come this way, I know I'll be the first to go."

I move to the crate with all his things on it, eyeing the jar. It does look good, and I'm sure Judith would like it. Hell, I wouldn't mind a few bites.

Rick picks up a spoon, popping the cap on the jar and scooping out a bit of the sauce. My stomach growls, but he moves right past Judith and me to Aaron, kneeling to extend the spoon to him.

Aaron gawks at him. "You think I'm trying to poison your baby daughter?" he asks.

Rick stares at him, spoon still outstretched. Judith wails, and I shush her again, nearly begging. I don't know if too much noise can make you nauseous, but it's sure working on me.

"I'm tied up and you've already expressed a willingness to stab me in the head," Aaron says. "How would cruelly killing your daughter in front of you in any way help the situation?"

Rick levels him with a glare. "Maybe she doesn't die. Maybe she gets sick. Maybe you're the only one that can help her and I just lose."

"I am the only one who can help her because I have applesauce, and we all win."

Again, Rick lifts the spoon closer, and Aaron's face scrunches with disgust, like trying to feed a baby something that they don't like. "I hate applesauce," he admits. "My mom used to make me eat foods I didn't like to make me more manly. Salmon patties, applesauce, and onions. She was a very confused woman who tried her damndest. I just bring the jar to show that we have apple trees nearby."

"Like you said, you'll be the first to go," Rick says.

Aaron looks like he could cry, but he eats some of the applesauce. His face stays scrunched as he swallows it. Rick tastes some himself, tongue darting over his lips a bit as he nods, and he comes back to me.

I had Judith over. Settling her on his hip, he gets another spoonful of applesauce and gives it to her. She takes it happily, tiny lips smacking, and finally, the barn is quiet again.

"The community is big enough," Aaron says. "We can find a place for you to live where, even when she cries, no one, nothing can hear it outside the walls."

Rick glances at the watch on his wrist. "You've got forty-three minutes."

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I pace around the barn, glad to be free of Judith's crying, although everything else still feels like crap. A barn floor doesn't make for the comfiest place to sleep, even with straw to cushion everything.

"We have a doctor."

I look over at Aaron, and he's watching me with an earnest look in his eyes. I blink a few times, wary, and he shifts a bit.

"His name is Pete. He's a brilliant surgeon. He's helped a lot of people," he continues. "And...and there's a man named Elliot. He's really, really old, but he was an OB-GYN, dabbled in midwifery. He could help you."

My heart pounds even as my blood runs cold. Why does he feel the need to tell me this? How does he know? He can't know. Is it because I look young, or is he just trying to make small talk? Is it just another perk of his community that he just has to share, but he chose to tell me specifically?