40. pharmacy run
QUINN
SHINING HER FLASHLIGHT THROUGH THE DARKNESS she followed Daryl inside the garage. Bob was right behind her, holding his gun up as they entered the building.
'Here we go,' Daryl's voice echoed through the dusty place. He walked towards a shelf, putting his crossbow down and took a car battery off the shelf.
Bob walked towards him, inspecting the battery. 'Mmm, cells look pretty dry.'
She didn't even bother to try and look at it. She had zero knowledge about cars, though nowadays she wished she had.
'A little distilled water will clear that right up,' Daryl replied.
Turning around she walked down the shelfs, inspecting them for anything that might be useful. But except for car parts there wasn't anything special.
Footsteps sounded behind her and she turned to see Daryl walk up to her, shining his flashlight right in her eyes. A frustrated sigh left her lips as she looked away from the light, her eyes going back to the shelves.
Daryl walked passed her, shining his light around before stopping. 'That's puke,' he said, making Quinn turn to look at him. On the ground was a colored spot of something that had been puke long ago. Next to it lay a jerrycan of some car cleaning stuff.
'Those douchebags in the vines took themselves out, holding hands,' Daryl said. 'Kumbaya style.'
She frowned at the mocking tone in his voice and Bob didn't seem to agree with him either. 'They wanted to go out together same as they lived. That make 'em douchebags?'
'It does if they could have gotten out,' Daryl replied.
'You don't know what happened,' Quinn said, still frowning at him as she watched him pick up a jerrycan with filled with water. 'If this was what they wanted to do, who are you to question it?'
He simply narrowed at her with his piercing blue eyes, mumbling something she couldn't make out before turning around the corner of the row made out shelves.
Quinn shared a brief glare with Bob, deciding to let it go as she followed Daryl. She frowned when she noticed a walker lying on the ground, burried underneath a fallen shelf. Taking a deep breath she looked away and walked outside, followed by the two men.
She sat down in the grass and watched as Daryl opened up the car, starting to put in the new battery. Bob offered him a cigarette before taking one himself and leaning against the wall. He raised his eyebrows at Quinn but she shook her head. Back in the day she used to smoke but she figured after going through all that trouble to get rid of her ugly past, she didn't even want something as small as a cigarette to remind her of it.
Her eyes scanned the streets and she noticed Michonne and Tyreese sitting a bit further away, keeping an eye out for danger.
'You never told us about the group you were with before,' Daryl suddenly said, looking up at Bob.
'Which one?' The brown man questioned him.
'You were with more than one?' Quinn asked, playing with the grass between her fingers.
Bob nodded. 'You know, when you found me out on that road, I almost kept walking.'
That made Daryl look up from the car. 'Why's that?'
' 'Cause I was done being a witness. Two times, two different groups, I was the last one standing. Like I was supposed to see it happen over and over, like it's some kind of curse,' he said, before pausing and blowing out some smoke. 'But, when it's just you out there with the quiet...Used to be I'd drink a bottle of anything so I could shut my eyes at night. Figured the prison, the people, thought it'd be easier. The run to the big spot, I did it for me.'
Quinn frowned up at him, pulling out some more grass to play with between her fingers. She'd never heard him talk about where he came from before. And hearing him admit he'd gone on a run to find alcohol for his own addiction was something she respected. Mostly because she could imagine what it must feel like. She didn't even want to start thinking about what her life would've been like if the end of world happened when she was still using drugs. She probably wouldn't have made it this far.
'Well, you gotta keep busy,' Daryl said, taking her out of her thoughts. The comment was simple but she knew Daryl meant to say he understood. In his own way.
'No. I did it so I could get me a bottle. Of anything,' Bob replied. 'I picked it up, I held it in my hand but I put it down. I put it down so hard it took the whole damn shelf with it. That's what brought on the walkers and that's what got Zach killed.'
Silence filled the air and Quinn found herself at loss for words. Memories of her father sleeping on his couch flashed through her mind. If she had woken him up that day, he might have been with her now. Maybe he would have changed, maybe he would have turned back to the man he used to be, before her mom had died. With no way of getting alcohol all the time, maybe her dad would've been better. She knew exactly how Bob felt but also knew thinking about what could've been would drive you insane. Especially with the way life was now.
So, when Daryl opened his mouth and spoke in his own not so subtle way, she agreed with him. 'That's bullshit,' he said.
Bob didn't react, stared at the man, clearly not knowing what to do with that reaction.
'Why don't you get in there and try the engine,' Daryl said, pointing to the car. 'It's a red and a green wire. Go on. It ain't rocket science.'
A small smile lingered on her lips as she watched Bob walk up to the car, climbing inside. She didn't know how Daryl did it, but in his own blunt way, he could say exactly what needed to be said sometimes.
'Give it some gas,' he said to Bob.
For a second it was dead silent before suddenly the engine came roaring to life. Daryl clapped his hands before whistling for Michonne and Tyreese to come over. Then he walked over to Bob. 'Sasha and me picked that spot. He took you with us. There ain't no way anybody could've known. You ain't gonna stand alone, not no more.' He turned around, raising his voice. 'Let's go.'
Quinn pushed herself off the ground, ready to get going. She threw Daryl one last glare before walking to the car and taking place in the backseat. The people at the prison had waited long enough.
When they finally reached the veterinarian college the wind had picked up and it was an honest relief of the constant heat.
'Looks like we're getting closer,' Daryl said.
'The building you want is just up ahead,' Tyreese confirmed.
They walked down the street, reaching the college. Standing behind Daryl they formed a line, Quinn held her daggers firmly in her hands, trying to keep breathing in a normal rythm. Daryl opened the door, gesturing for them to follow. Trying to be as silent as possible they went inside.
'All right, let's make this quick,' Daryl said, walking inside a classroom and beginning to put everything within his grasp in a bag.
Quinn walked up to a cabinet on the wall, opening it her eyes fell on thousands of bottles filled with pills. Taking her backpack off her shoulders, she opened it up and threw all the bottles inside. Once she was done she closed it and followed the others into another room.
They walked up to a huge medicine cabinet that hung on the wall, opening the little doors and opening their bags. 'Anything ending with -cillin or -cin,' Bob said, scanning the bottles. 'We'll dissolve the pills in the iv's, put 'em right into the bloodstream. Dosage will be tricky but considering the time we lost...' There was no need for him to finish that sentence.
Quinn narrowed against the dust that came flying of the shelves as she tried to read the names of the pills. Anything that ended with -cillin or -cin, she took, throwing it in her backpack without questioning.
'How'd you do?' Bob asked, making Quinn turn around to see Tyreese and Daryl walk into the room with full backpacks.
'Bags, tubes, clamps, connectors. Everything on the list,' Tyreese replied.
'What about ya'll?' Daryl asked, looking at their backpacks.
Michonne turned back to throw a look at the medicine cabinet behind them. 'Yeah, we're good,' she said.
'All right, let's roll,' Daryl said, throwing a backpack over his shoulder and taking his crossbow in his hands.
Walking through the dark hallways they followed the signs with exit written on it. Suddenly Daryl held up his hand, pointing at a classroom on their right. Looking around the corner Quinn noticed a few walkers stumbling around. Quickly they ran passed the opening as Michonne nodded to a door at the end of the hallway with exit written on it.
The room behind the door was completely dark and with only two flashlights Quinn found herself stumbling through the darkness blindly as she searched for the exit.
The snarls of the walkers grew louder and a shiver crawled down her spine. Finally Michonne spotted the door leading to the staircase. Quickly they walked forwards but out of the darkness came a sudden figure stumbling, snarling as it attacked Tyreese.
The man took out his hammer, groaning as he hit the creature down, the corpse falling limp on the ground.
Turning back to the door, Michonne looked down on the chains it turned out to be locked with. Suddenly hands came pushing through the crack of the two doors, loud snarls coming from the other side of the door.
'How many?' Quinn asked, raising her dagger.
'Can't tell,' Michonne replied.
A sudden loud bang echoed through the room. Looking over her shoulder Quinn spotted walkers walking inside from the same door they had used to enter the room. They were locked in.
'We can take 'em!' Tyreese shouted.
'No, they're infected, same as at the prison,' Bob told him. 'We fire at 'em, get their blood on us, breathe it in, we didn't come all this way to get sick.'
'How do we know the ones in there aren't any different?' Tyreese said, gesturing towards the exit.
'We don't,' Michonne replied, shining her flashlight at the door to get a better look at the amount of walkers inside.
'Well, it's gotta change sometime,' Daryl said then walked towards a table that lay on the ground, breaking off one of its legs and using it to break the chains on the door. 'Ready?' He asked.
'Do it!' Tyreese replied.
Quinn took a step back, daggers in both of her hands and the loud snarls of the walkers in her ears. Then Daryl opened the doors, the corpses stumbling inside. The sound of Bob's gun firing echoed through her ears and next to her Michonne sliced the head of a walker clean off. Raising her dagger she plunched it through the eye of the an approaching corpse, kicking it down to the ground as she pulled her weapon back out.
Luckily for them there weren't many walkers, only five and they'd taken them out pretty quick. They rushed into the stairwell, having no other option than to go up, they ran upstairs, her heart beating wildly in her chest.
Entering another hallway they quickly ran across it, slicing down walkers that came stumbling out of classrooms as they went. Quinn could hear Bob throwing down stuff on the ground to slow the walkers down but their ever present groans didn't quiet down.
Michonne tried to kick open another door but it wouldn't budge. 'Don't have an exit!' She yelled.
'Then we make one!' Daryl shouted, running up to the windows.
'Get down!' Tyreese screamed, lifting a fire extinguisher above his head. Quickly Quinn jumped aside as he threw it towards the window, the glass shattering with an awfully loud crash.
'Come on, move it!' Daryl yelled. 'Jump down to the walkway below.'
Michone rushed forwards, climbing on the window frame, jumping outside. Bob gave Quinn's shoulder a push and she ran forwards. Daryl took her arm, helping her climb and giving her a slight push as she jumped. For a second she was weightless before landing on the walkway. A shock went through her body and she collapsed on her knees. Groaning she quickly rolled out of the way, just in time for Tyreese to jump down. Daryl followed quickly and lastly Bob came but as he landed he stumbled forwards, his arm with a backpack swinging of the edge, immediately being grabbed by walkers on the ground.
Quinn jumped up, running over to him. 'Let it go!' She yelled, her eyes wide.
But he didn't let go and kept pulling at the bag, trying to get it out of the walkers their grip.
'Let it go man,' Tyreese said, taking Bobs legs to make sure he didn't fall down too.
'Bob!' Quinn yelled, trying to get him to snap out of it. With one last pull he finally managed to get the bag free and he threw it on the walkway, the bag being open and a bottle of alcohol rolling out of it.
She stared at it, not sure what to feel as her thoughts raced through her mind. He almost got himself killed for a bottle of liquor.
Daryl walked over to it, taking it off the ground before looking over at Bob. 'Got no meds in your bag?' He questioned. 'Just this?'
Bob didn't reply, he didn't have to, just by the look on his face they all knew it.
'You should've kept walking that day,' Daryl mumbled before raising his arm to throw the bottle away.
'Don't,' Bob spoke quickly, his hand going down to his holster where his gun rested.
Quinn found herself tightening the grip on her dagger as her stomach turned inside of her but before she could do something Daryl walked up to him, standing dangerously close, his forehead pressed to that of Bob as he looked down on him, pushing him to the edge of the walkway, anger radiating off of his features. He reached down, taking Bob's gun away before grabbing him by the collar of his shirt, pushing him further backwards.
'Daryl,' she whispered his name, not sure what else to do. 'He made his choice, let it go.'
For a second she was afraid he wouldn't listen and throw him down to be eaten by walkers but he slightly surprised her upon letting go and turning away.
'I didn't want to hurt nobody,' Bob mumbled. 'It was just for when it gets quiet.'
Taking a step forwards Daryl pushed the bottle in his hands. 'Take one sip. When those meds get in our people, I will beat your ass into the ground.' Shoving him backwards once again, he added: 'You hear me?' Not waiting for a response he turned around and walked away, leaving Bob standing there with the bottle in his hands.