Daddy's Little Girl

Chapter 15: Eaten By Dogs

"No, my hearing's fine. You said come locked and loaded." I say cocking my gun, than Daryl, then everybody else in the room. "Okay then, we here." I say pointing my gun at his head.

"Felipe! Felipe!" An elderly woman calls walking into the circle.

"Abuela, go back with the others now." Felipe calls out.

"Get that old lady out of the line of fire!" Daryl says.

"Abuela, listen to your mijo, okay? This is not the place for you right now." Guillermo turns and tells her.

"Mr. Gilbert is having trouble breathing. He needs his asthma stuff." She says to Felipe. "Carlitos didn't find it. He needs his medicine."

"Felipe, go take care of it, okay? And take your grandmother with you." Guillermo tells Felipe.

"Abuela! Ven conmigo por favor." Felipe tells his grandmother.

"Felipe who are those men?" She asks looking at us.

"Por favor, ven conmigo." He tells her again.

"Don't you take him." She says walking up to me.

"Ma'am?" I question.

"Felipe's a good boy. He have his trouble but he pull himself together. We need him here." She tells me.

"Ma'am, I'm not here to arrest your grandson." I tell her.

"Then what do you want him for?" She asks.

"He's... Helping us find some missing persons. A couple of kids, Glenn and Kathrine."

"The Asian boy and the pretty girl? They're with Mr. Gilbert. Come. Come, I show you. He needs his medicine." She says taking my hand and leading me to Kathrine and Glenn.

"Let 'em pass." Guillermo tells his men.

Everyone else follows as the elderly woman leads me to them I take the time to take in the surroundings. They got a pretty big, fortified set up here. She leads me into what looks like a seniors center. We stop for a moment and I look into the room and I see a woman helping one of the elderly drink.

"Abuela, por favor." Felipe says to his grandmother. "Take me to him."

The woman take Felipe to Mr. Gilbert, I take my hat off as I continue to follow them down the hall. There are many elderly here. I think as I am lead into a big open room with some people gathered in a circle and near the end of it, and I spot Glenn and Kathrine apart of that group.

"All right. All right. Nice and easy. Just breathe. Just breathe. Just let it out. Just breathe. Just relax." Felipe says to the elderly man as he gives him his puffer.

"What the hell is this?" I ask looking at Glenn and Kathrine.

"An asthma attack." She answers nonchalantly.

"Couldn't get his breath all of a sudden." Glenn adds.

"I thought you were being eaten by dogs, man." T-Dog fires back as Glenn and Kathrine look back reveling little chiwawas.

"Could I have a word with you?" I say to Guillermo as we walk away from the small group. "You're the dumbest son of a bitch I ever met. We walked in there ready to kill every last one of you." I say trying not to raise my voice.

"Well, I'm glad it didn't go down that way." He answers calmly.

"If it had, that blood would be on my hands." I say.

"Mine too. We'd have fought back. Wouldn't be the first time we've had to. Protect the food, the medicine, what's left of it. These people, the old ones the staff took off, just left 'em here to die." He says as I look around the room. "Me and Felipe were the only ones who stayed."

"What are you, doctors?" I ask a little confused.

"Felipe's a nurse, a special care provider. Me, I'm the custodian."

I gathered my thing and walk out of the room, following Guillermo with the rest of my group behind me.

"What about the rest of your crew?" I ask setting my bag down and a chair.

"The Vatos trickle in to check on their parents, their grandparents. They see how things are and most decide to stay. It's a good thing too. We need the muscle. The people we've encountered since things fell apart, the worst kind plunderers, the kind that take by force." He says nodding towards me.

"That's not who we are." I say defending us.

"How was I to know? My people got attacked and you show up with Miguel hostage... appearances." He says.

"Guess the world changed." T-Dog says.

"No. It's the same as it ever was. The weak get taken. So we do what we can here. The Vatos work on those cars, talk about getting the old people out of the city. But most can't even get to the bathroom by themselves, still, it keeps the crew busy, and that's worth something. So we barred all the windows, welded all the doors shut except for one entrance. The Vatos, they go out, scavenge what they can to keep us going. We watch the perimeter night and day and we wait. The people here, they all look to me now. I don't even know why." He says.

"Because they can." I answer I say handing him my shot-gun, then unzipping my bag and taking out one of the snipers and putting it down.