𝐂𝐑𝐎𝐒𝐒𝐇𝐀𝐈𝐑𝐒.
chapter thirty-one; Shaken Soda Can
" You're cute when you're worried, though. "
DEAN WAS ENJOYING a quiet morning. He got up with the sun, had his instant coffee outside, and scanned over a book as if absorbed the words on the page. Following this, Dean would try to wake up Zeppelin and Vex, sometimes he was successful, and sometimes he was not. He'd grab breakfast with them, before starting his day at the fenceline and ending it in the garden.
Today, he got to the try to wake up Zeppelin and Vex part before hell broke loose.
"Wakey, wakey," Dean sang, entering his sister's room, "The sun is up, so you should be, too."
Vex groaned, pulling a pillow over her head.
"See, now I know you're awake," Dean mumbled, pulling the pillow back, "Come on, up and at 'em."
Vex groaned louder, but sat up, staring angrily at her brother.
"We have things to accomplish today, come on," He clapped, "Get dressed."
The woman pulled herself out of bed, shooing Dean out of the room.
He stood on the other side of the sheet, checking his broken watch often.
Vex finally emerged in regular clothes, still fastening a holster to her thigh as she did.
"Zep awake?"
Her voice was thick with sleep, the woman still attempting to wipe the sleep from her eyes as she looked at her brother, wondering how he had more energy than her twelve-year-old kid.
"She's next, you were lucky number one," Dean smiled.
"One of these days, I'm gonna--"
A gunshot echoed through the prison, and for a second, Vex thought it was the leftover sleep.
But then there was another.
"Go," Vex said, taking off, "Get Zeppelin, tell the others--!"
"Vex--!"
"Just do it, Dean!"
Vex ran quickly, spotting Daryl, Tyreese, and Sasha.
"What's going on?!"
"Walkers in D," Sasha announced, "Tombs are locked down, Hershel's on guard."
Vex took off alongside them, the group running into Rick on the way who joined in.
It was chaos.
Rick stayed by the staircase, ushering people out, as Vex ran deeper into the cellblock. She worked quickly, taking out walkers with her knife. She yelled, instructing people to lock themselves into cells as she cleared the remainder of the downstairs alongside Daryl.
"Are we clear down here?!"
"Yeah!" Daryl responded.
Vex followed him up the stairs, checking each cell as they passed.
Glenn had the unfortunate discovery of another walker, one that leaped out from behind a sheet.
"Down!"
Glenn followed Daryl's instruction, leaving room for an arrow to take out the final walker.
Vex couldn't understand how it happened, joining the men as they pushed back the curtain to see the walker.
"Oh, it's Patrick."
The woman frowned-- he had been so young. What happened?
The group continued checking the remainder of the cells, finding some that had died but not yet turned.
"You alright?"
"Good, not bit," Vex mumbled as Daryl joined her side, just after the woman sunk a knife into the skull of a corpse.
Daryl nodded, staying at her side as they walked to the end of the cells where Rick stood.
The door was shut, a walker inside that Rick took down before entering the cell.
"No bites, no wounds," Rick said, "I think he just died."
"Horribly, too. Pleurisy aspiration."
"Choked to death on his own blood," Hershel supplied, "Caused those trails down his face."
"I've seen 'em before," Rick said, "On a walker outside the fences."
"I saw them on Patrick, too."
"They're from the internal lung pressure building up-- like if you shake a soda can and pop the top. Only imagine your eyes, ears, nose, and throat are the top."
"Very clear image in my mind," Vex mumbled, "So, it's a sickness."
"From the walkers?" Bob added.
"No, these things happened before they were around. Could be pneumococcal. Most likely an aggressive flu strain."
"Someone locked him in just in time."
"Nah man," Daryl said, "Charlie used to sleepwalk. Locked himself in. Hell, he was just eating barbecue yesterday. How could somebody die in a day just from a cold?"
"I had a sick pig," Rick spoke up, "It died quick. Saw a sick boar in the woods."
"Pigs and birds," Hershel said, "That's how these things spread in the past. We need to do something about those hogs."
"Maybe we got lucky. Maybe these two cases are it."
"We need to play it safe," Vex said, "Can't risk. . . this."
"Yeah, I haven't seen anybody get lucky in a long time," Bob said, "Bugs like to run through close quarters. Doesn't get any closer than this."
"All of us in here, we've all been exposed."
🗡
Daryl had not left Vex's side. She'd sat silently in the council meeting, nodding her head in agreement with the quarantine order.
She'd stayed by him when he spoke to Carol and Hershel and allowed him to lead her out to the field to start digging graves.
Daryl secured a bandana over her nose and mouth, before tying his own, tossing the woman a set of gloves as well.
"You good to do this, Vex?"
"Yeah," She said finally, "Just. . . you know."
Daryl nodded, watching the woman start digging.
"Zep was hanging out with that kid yesterday," Vex said as Daryl started on another grave, "What if she has it, too?"
"She's tough," Daryl said, "She'll be alright."
"But what if she isn't, and I'm out here, digging graves for people I met a month ago--"
"You can't go see her."
"Yeah, I know," Vex said thickly, continuing the actions, "What if she gets sick and I'm not there?"
Daryl looked at the woman, before continuing on digging.
They stayed like that in silence for a while, until Vex felt the sweltering sun taking a toll on her. The woman stepped out of the fourth grave she'd dug, tugging down her bandana and taking a seat on the grass.
"Water?"
Vex extended a hand, accepting the bottle Daryl tossed her.
He kept on digging, sneaking glances at the woman as she wiped her brow.
"Feelin' okay?"
"Promise I'll tell you if I start feeling like a shaken soda can," Vex sighed, taking another big swig of water, "Right now? It's hot, I haven't had anything to eat or drink, and I'm worried about Zep."
Daryl nodded.
"Take a break," He pointed, "Grab somethin' to eat, here--"
"I'm alright," Vex waved, "You're cute when you're worried, though."
Daryl raised an eyebrow, Vex laughing as she took another sip of water.
"Alright, I'm grabbing more water," She said, standing, "And a snack. Any requests?"
"Not pork."
Vex rolled her eyes, starting off toward the prison again.
It was a very fun game of telephone to get her and Daryl a bowl of scrambled eggs, and to pass a message along to Zeppelin and Dean, letting them know she was okay but had been exposed and needed to stay away.
Vex took slow bites of the eggs, ensuring she was saving enough for Daryl as well, on her walk back. She spotted Rick talking to the man, slowing her pace just slightly.
It had to be hard. Rick had been allowed six months of peace, of putting his and Carl's guns away, in an attempt to amend the choice Carl had made so long ago.
And now here he was, right back in it.
"Eggs," Vex greeted, passing Daryl the bowl, "You needa eat, too."
Rick watched Daryl accept the bowl and fork from Vex, taking a few quick bites.
"How ya doin'?"
"You know, as well as you can be right now," Vex said to Rick, "Got a message to Zep and Dean. Zeppelin said I should just spend my time waiting this sickness out tryna figure out new ways to piss Dixon off."
Daryl scoffed, taking another bite.
"She also says Judith misses you and Carl," Vex informed softer, "And that she's annoyed Carl ditched her."
Rick dared to crack a smile.
"Got a lot of things to say, that one," Vex sighed, accepting the bowl back from Daryl, "Eat the rest, I already had my share."
"Nah, you need it," Daryl said, pointing, "We don't need you passin' out."
Rick looked between the two as Vex finished off the bowl, showcasing it to Daryl like it was a gold medal.
"Clean plate club," Vex mumbled through a mouthful of food, setting the bowl down and wiping her hands off, "Alright, let's go."
Vex hardly got to pick her shovel back up before Maggie was yelling.
And then she and Daryl and Rick were running.
The fence had begun to give in, too many walkers piling into one spot. They worked quickly, trying to take down as many as they could, but it didn't seem like enough-- Vex swore every walker she killed revealed two more, three more-- it was endless.
And when Sasha shouted the revelation that it looked like someone had been feeding the walkers, Vex nearly went right on over the edge.
Rick came up with a plan as the fence dared to cave in, taking Daryl in the truck, along with the piglets of the sick pig that had died only days prior.
Vex wanted to offer Rick some sort of solace, wanted to tell him there was a middle ground between ruthlessness and pacifism, that she had walked a fine line before and in a world harsher now, the line grew thinner.
She wanted to tell him it would be okay. That the violence wouldn't always be so harsh.
But Vex had hardly been able to wrestle with these thoughts herself, so she stayed behind and helped fortify the fence as Rick and Daryl lured the herd of walkers away from it.
She only hoped it held, at least until the sickness passed.
WORD COUNT : 1653