ATELOPHOBIA. . . the walking dead

I.

                   Lilith Smith made her way toward the infirmary. Her crutches squeaked with every step, irritating the young blonde. Once at the door, she banged twice, aggressively. 

The new Dr. Carson opened, "It was unlocked."

"I have crutches."

"Which, as I've told you repeatedly, you don't need. . . besides you still have use of your arms."

The girl groaned, "Whatever, let's just get this over with. I have a meeting to get to."

She was getting her stitches taken out today. The bullet wound in her leg still hurt like hell, but she was told it would heal smoothly and quickly. She sat on one of the beds swinging her legs up. The doctor began to take off her bandage as the door opened again and a young man walked in.

"Oof, today's the day, huh?" He said.

"No more shorts! Yay!" Lilith said with fake enthusiasm.

"You'll have to have a shopping spree," The man joked.

"Only if you're paying."

"C'mon, L, you know I don't got the points for that."

Dr. Carson walked over to the trash, throwing away the used bandage then going to get a new, clean one. "What can I do for you, Patrick?" He asked.

Patrick was in his late twenties, dark-skinned, with a subtle goatee. He'd come into the infirmary often the same days Lilith would, so the two had developed a friendly rapport. 

"Just a refill, doc," He held up an empty pill bottle, tossing it to him.

"Alright well I don't have enough for a full refill, so I'll do this for now and you can come back after the next supply run, hopefully they get what I need."

"You got it."

"Okay, lemme just finish with her first."

"Yeah, get in line," The teenager joked. Patrick sat on the bed beside her while he waited. "How's little Caleb doing? Still got the stomach bug?"

The man chuckled softly, thinking of his son, "Puking stopped but still has little to no appetite."

"Which is perfectly normal," Dr. Carson interjected as he continued to take out her stitches.

Patrick watched, grimacing, "You're not even flinching, how?"

Lilith shrugged, "Can't hurt more than the actual gunshot."

"True," the man nodded.

Eventually, her stitches were out and she was free to go. She bid both Patrick and Dr. Carson farewell as she left the room and headed to the meeting her dad had set up, fully preparing for her good mood to be squashed.

~~~~~~~~~~~~

Entering the small room with nothing but a metal table and chairs, Lilith counted heads. The entire crew was present today, along with a surprise guest. A face only a mother could love -- Gregory. He sat at one end, clutching a glass of water for dear life, and her father sat all the way at the other, bat in his lap with an intimidating stare.