©JRF2016
Darrick and Reid jumped out of the car first. Rachel sat in the back seat for a minute scoping the scene. An older woman carrying a baby walked up to Reid and handed her to him as a young boy was closing the gate. He walked past the car staring at her.
"Who's she?" He asked as he walked up to Reid. "Rachel," Reid answers the boy gruffly, "We found her alone on our run. But she is part of our group now." Rachel couldn't help but notice how angry this boy seemed. He was so young to be so angry, she found herself wondering what made him like this.
Rachel smiled at the two men responsible for saving her life. Reid made the rounds introducing her to everyone. She couldn't believe that they had made a home out of a prison, this prison. It was the one Conner had worked at. She hunched over in the backseat of the car as she thought about her lost boyfriend. "Hey," she looks up at the voice to see Reid staring at her, "You coming in to meet the rest of the group or you going to stay out here?" She nods as she reaches for the door handle but he has already pulled the door open for her. They walk inside and Reid introduces her to the rest of the group as he bounces his baby girl in his arms. After all the introductions have been made he tells her, "There are plenty of empty cells upstairs. You can take your pick." She started up the stairs when she heard Darrick whisper to Reid, "We still don't know nothin' about this girl." Reid holds up his hand to silence Darrick. "She's alone. She's not a threat." Reid didn't say much but what he said he said with authority.
"Fine," Darrick said, "But if she tries anything it's on you." Reid turns to Darrick.
"She's not gonna try anything." Darrick walks away and he lets out a sigh before heading up the stairs to see where she is going to be staying. "You gettin' settled?" Reid asked from the door of her cell. She nods.
"If this is gonna cause trouble in the group I could go back. I've made it this long I'm sure I'll be fine." Reid looked confused at first until he remembered Darrick's words, she must have overheard. He shook his head. "You're not gonna cause any problems. We've just had some bad luck with strangers. Everybody will get used to it and we're all gonna get along fine, just as long as you're not prone to doin' anything stupid."
Rachel laughed, "Not usually."
Reid turned to walk away, "Come and eat when you're ready." She didn't wait until he had left the cell completely before she follows him out. "I'm so ready. I'm starving right now." She walks beside him down to the cafeteria. She glances around at the facility, she had never been inside this place but she remembers descriptions from her conversations with Conner.
"What did you do before all this?" Reid asks as he hand her a plate. She shrugs.
"Nothing much, I was actually going to school. Worked at a gun store to pay for college."
"Really?" He seems really interested now, "Where was this gun store? Did you have anything left we could use?"
"No we were pretty much cleaned out the night it all started," she put her head down, "People around here, that's the first place they headed when it started going down." Reid nodded and she flipped the question back to him, "What did you do?"
"Was a cop," he said as he sat down at a table beside the young boy from earlier. "This is Charlie, my son." She smiles at the boy but he doesn't look up at her.
"Where's his mom?" She asked innocently enough and Charlie dropped his fork and jumped up from the table. He looks at her and there is sadness in his face as he runs out of the room. She realizes right away why, what had happened to his mother. "I'm sorry, I just thought she was here somewhere, I didn't think." Reid holds up a hand to stop her.
"It's okay, you couldn't have known. It's just that it's still pretty fresh, she died giving birth." Rachel gasps.
"The baby," she whispers, "God, I'm so sorry."
"It's okay, really."
They eat their dinner in silence from that point. Rachel finishes shortly after Reid and they walk back down the hall side by side. Reid stops at the door of his cell and Rachel keeps walking and heads up the stairs to her new room. "See ya in the morning." Reid says as she is about to leave his line of sight. She turns around and gives him a smile. Inside his cell Charlie is holding his baby sister. "I got her son," Reid tells the boy who immediately lays down on the bed and goes to sleep. He waits a little while to make sure both of his kids are really asleep before going up to talk to her more. He didn't want to make a nuisance of himself, but he couldn't stop watching her earlier and now that she has been out of his sight for a little while he hasn't been able to quit thinking about her. He finally lays his sleeping daughter down and climbs the stairs to the cell she had picked out for herself.
**Rachel's POV**
The months went by and the group got bigger. Going out on runs we would usually find more people needing help. They had all told me about the problems they had had with this other guy and his group. It was easy to see why they were so selective in the people they trusted to bring back to the group. I was becoming a big part of this group too. They were becoming family. If I wasn't going out on runs I was helping Reid with farming, he had a plan to grow food so we wouldn't have to go outside the fences as much. We were getting closer at least. I was helping Reid today and I was already out working the field. "You're up early," I heard Reid say behind me.
"Somebody's gotta get up early to do some work around here, lazy bones." I laughed and turned to look at him.
"Lazy bones," he asked, "Really." I smile back at him and nod before turning back to my work. I could tell Reid was standing right behind me, his frame was casting its shadow over me but I ignored him and kept my head down until I felt the handful of dirt he had picked up fall onto my head.
"What the hell!" I screamed as I turned to Reid who was laughing now.
"You're not dirty enough for a farmer," he said still laughing. I squinted my eyes and glared at him, "Oh, yeah? Well you're not dirty at all pretty boy." I said as I grabbed a handful of dirt and heaved it at him before he even realized what was happening. His jaw dropped in shock as he ran over and grabbed me around the waist and wrestled me to the ground. We rolled around on the ground for a minute laughing when a squeaky voice rang out, "What are you guys doing?" Reid stopped laughing and quickly stood up.
"Just lettin' off a little steam. Weren't you just telling me I've been working too hard?" Charlie stared at me as I brushed the dirt off myself.
"Whatever," he said as he turned to walk away.
"Sorry," Reid said grabbing the tools and handing one to me, "Guess he is still a little angry with me about his mother. We should get back to work so we can get this done." I looked up at him and he started to work without looking at me. "No problem," I said and continued working. We finished the work in silence. Reid went back to the cell block and I went to Darrick and Cearra to see if they needed any help. I walk up to Cearra and point to the knives she carried on her sides. "So what's the deal with those fancy looking knives?"
"They are called Sai knives. I found them in a house I had crashed in right after the shit started, practiced up, they are a lot easier to handle than a gun for me. A lot quieter too." She explained and I listened. "Show me how to use them one day?" I ask. She just smiles and shakes her head. They were loading up a car for a run to try to find some more medicine for the people that had gotten sick over the last few days. "You guys need any extra help?" I asked walking up to Darrick.
"Naw," he replied, "Think we got this one covered. We need all the people we got to help out here." He pointed to the fence where the walkers were piling up and I nod as I turn in the direction he was pointing. Reid had come back outside with Grace. I walk passed Reid and he looks up from his baby daughter, I think he was starting to say something, but I kept walking, not giving him a chance. He starts off behind and is following me down to the fence line. "Hey," he shouted, "Wait up." I didn't say a word just kept walking. I wasn't even sure why I was upset with him. "Hey, I want to talk about what happened earlier," Reid said catching up to me and grabbing my arm.
"There isn't anything to talk about. We had work to do, we got it done." I pulled my arm out of his grip and started walking again. I glanced back to see him standing there watching me walking away, Grace was swatting at his face wanting him to play. I quickly turned and picked up the shovel handle that had been sharpened into a spear and started taking out the ones that were piling up on the fence.