The Bad, The Ugly, And Us

Shortage

"Dylan, he's finally awake!" Julia screams at me waking me up. I get up slowly, and follow Julia across the hallway to Derrick's room. "Hey sleepyhead" Derrick says to me in a sarcastic and playful tone. "Oh I'm the sleepyhead Mr. In and out for days." He chuckles to himself before he starts coughing. Julia walks up to him and grabs his hand. "I bet you missed me Jules" he says to her in yet again a playful tone. "Of course I did, I was worried for a while there."
"Well I'm not going anywhere, I'm still breathing."
"I'm not.. intruding in anything am I?" I said teasing Derrick and Julia.
"Um no, I was just worried about a good friend is all." Julia says kinds defensively. Derrick coughs yet again and holds his stomach, "Dylan can you grab me some water."
"I'll get right on that." I walk out of the room and head downstairs.
"Hey I heard Derrick was up." Max said to me as she gets up to follow me.
"Yeah he is, Julia is with him right now, where are Dexter and Patrick?"
"Dexter and Patrick are actually out making a fence right now, they are working on fortifying and securing the surrounding area so if we need to stay here long term we can."
"That's good, I'm glad they are trying so hard to pull their weight, they've made nice additions to the group so far, what do you think?"
"After what Eric did I don't know if I really trust anybody fully anymore, this world does some fucked up things to people but if you think they are doing good for now I'll trust you but if you think we need to take them out, you let me know and I'm with you."
"Good to know Max, that's why I'm going to need you to come with me for a run, you've always got my back and I'd like to also have someone I trust with me."
"Why not take Julia, you guys survived together on your own for a while and she's your sister haven't you guys been spending enough time away from each other."
"Well Max, she hasn't been 100 percent since Derrick was stabbed and besides she can keep the fort down on her own, besides we are probably gonna have to bring Patrick with us on the run."
"Why do we need to bring Patrick with us?"
"Well not only are we once again running low on food because Dexter and Patrick's rations are about out but also medical supplies to properly get Derrick back to 100 percent. I figured taking Patrick with us he will know what we need." Dexter and Patrick come back inside. "What's all the chatter about guys?"
"I'll brief you guys in a second I gotta run this water up to Derrick." I walk into the room, Derrick looks over at me weakly, he still very clearly has a lot of recovering to do. I hand the water bottle to Julia who just smiles at me. "Thanks Dylan, it means a lot to me." He then coughs again, Julia grabs a cloth right next to the bed and starts patting down his head. I slowly make my way out of the room and head downstairs.
"So I need Patrick for a run we are doing, this is gonna be a long one as we are going to try and get everything we need before coming back. Max has already agreed to also accompany us because we know Patrick isn't the most efficient at killing zombies."
"Wha- why not just take me, I am more capable and-" Patrick quickly cuts off Dexter. "Bro I can do this, it's time for me to step up." Dexter looks to the side clearly upset which I can't blame him, I never would've let Julia do something like this if I knew she wasn't capable. "Dexter I promise that Patrick will come back alright, Max and I will make sure he's alright."
Dexter looks at all of us and then reluctantly says "fine."
"So what exactly do you guys need me for, isn't Dexter more capable?"
"Yes he is but we need you to get more medical supplies for Derrick and we need him here to help Julia hold down the fort."
"Alright I'm in, when do we leave?"
"First thing tomorrow morning."