In the Beginning
He comes awake slowly. A weariness dwells heavily in the marrow of his bones and within the lines of his veins. It is a struggle to open his eyes, fluttering open and close against the obscene light flooding his room. He inhales deeply before slowly exhaling, forcing his eyes to stay open as a cough seize the breath from his lung. Fluorescent lights assault his sensitive eyes as he stares up towards the bland cream ceiling. A groan leaves his mouth as he turns his head to check his surroundings.
Dead flowers are at his side.
The memories return in a wild rush vying for space within his aching head.
Carl. His son.
Lori. His wife.
Shane. His partner. Best friend.
Radio static. The robbers. The unseen assailant. The gun. The pain ripping across his chest. The darkness swallowing him whole.
Father. Husband. Friend. Sheriff's Deputy. Gunshot victim.
Dead flowers are at his side, his bedside. The room returns in full focus, a bland lifeless room, a hospital room.
Father. Husband. Friend. Sheriff's Deputy. Gunshot victim. Survivor.
Rick Grimes.
XxXx00000xXxX
Don't Dead. Open Inside.
He navigates the deserted hallways of the hospital. It is the same hospital his son was born in. A hospital he visited countless times. A hospital that was once pristine and bustling with nurses, patients, doctors, and visitors but now looks to be in ruins and abandon. Shattered glass decorates the floor. Blood stains and bullet holes paints the walls. Flicking lights cast eerie shadows in the halls. Rip electrical cords and falling ceiling tiles shout out the destruction that took place. He shuffles the dimly lit and destroyed halls in search of anyone, in search of answers but he only gains more questions in his quest.
He finally comes to a stop when he reaches chain doors with the hurriedly sprayed words upon them.
Don't Dead. Open Inside.
Rick stares with confusion knitting his brows as he tries to understand the meaning of the words sprayed against the hospital door. He shuffles closer to the door, muffle groans and growls sound from the open sliver. The doors shutter ajar with the weight of someone, something pressing against it but the chains wrap around the door handle keeps it from fully opening.
A gray grimy hand covered in dry blood creeps out in between the open space reaching out for him as he nears the door. Groans and growls increase as he draws closer, the hand violently claws against the door causing a dull fingernail to break. Rick jolts away when another violent shutter shakes the door; fear gripping him, he stumbles away from the clawing hand and re-reads the writing on the door.
Don't Open. Dead Inside.
It is a warning. Don't open, dead inside. Yet, why is there a hand reaching out to him? Why does he hear groans and growls of the living? He moves away from the door, allowing his instinct to guide him in the midst of his confusion. He knows he needs to find someone who can answer his growing questions. He knows he needs to find his son and wife, Carl and Lori. Rick ambles away from the door, vowing to return to help anyone inside once his strength fully returns and he's better equip with the means to help.
Rick stumbles through the seemingly empty hallways. He searches the majority of the second floor only finding more questions. Where is everyone? What happened here? Where is Carl and Lori? Are they okay?
An empty overturn gurney covered in dried blood is left abandon in the elevator causing a continuous dinging sound as the door shuts but repeal open when it hits the gurney. There's two elevators on this side of the building, two more on the opposite end. He briefly wonders if the others are functional. Weariness still clings to him causing him to move slow with the slowly ebbing pain; a part of his tired being wants to take the elevator but Rick opts to take the stairs not wanting to take the chance of getting stuck in the small space.
On the first floor, Rick starts toward the exit when a loud crash followed by a gruff curse grabs his attention. He moves in toward the sound, knowing the layout of the hospital, he knows it is coming from the cafeteria. Before he can enter the room, the doors burst open catching him off guard. A cart hits him against his pelvis causing him to stumble and fall back upon his posterior.
A growl sounds above him follow by a loud whoosh of air moving, Rick looks up the same moment a headless body starts to fall upon him. Allowing his instinct to guide him, he quickly rolls away from the body just as it lands in the space he once occupied with a loud thump, the detached head follows suite a second later. Rick glances from the body in time to lock eyes with mesmerizing chocolate brown eyes full of fear and adrenaline.
"Wa.. wait!" He croaks out, his voice horse and dried.
The woman back-paddles and scrambles away from him, pulling a cart pile high with food as she moves. She presses the button for the elevator and it dings immediately open.
"Wait!" Rick calls out again rushing but stumbling to get onto his weak legs. The woman rushes onto the elevator with her supplies overtaking the cart, she leans to the side and presses the button to the desire floor, then hurriedly clicking the button to close the elevator doors. Rick is on his feet, rushing toward her in his weaken state is a slow process.
"Wait! I just woke up!" He shouts at her. She keeps her eyes steady upon him as the doors of the elevator begins to close, "Please, just tell me what's going on?"
Rick is still a few steps away as several inches remain before the elevator door closes completely; the woman's face softens a fraction before she shouts, "Don't let them scratch you. Don't let them bite you."
With those last words Rick leaps toward the elevator but the door seals shut and the woman is lost to him. He glances up to watch the lift start its ascension. He watches and debates whether to follow the woman or not. The lift stops on the second floor, the floor he awoken on, then the third, the fourth floor, and finally the fifth. Rick continues his debate to search for the woman, he already knows she's not on the first floor nor the second since he already searched the area.
A part of him wants to follow the woman but the tasks of searching three floors with no knowledge of what awaits him is daunting, especially in his weaken state. After taking another long moment to debate with himself, Rick finally decides to continue with his original plan and search for Carl and Lori. He hopes he can find answers on the way; he dwells on the woman's warning, don't let them scratch you, don't let them bite you.
XxXx00000xXxX
It has been two days since he awoken in the hospital. It has been two days since the woman's warning: don't let them scratch you, don't let them bite you. It has been two days since he met Morgan Jones and his son, Duane. The young boy reminds him of Carl, which only fuels the desire to find his son. Searching his home, the day before he notices the missing photographs and clothes, which leads him to think that Carl and Lori are still alive and made it to the safe zone in Atlanta that Morgan told him about.
"What are you thinking about?" Morgan asks a silent Rick. They finish distributing the cache of weapons at the police station and supplies between them; the trio now stands beside their respective vehicle getting ready to go their separate ways. Rick looks over his shoulder at Morgan and his son who stand behind him. He then glances to his left, the direction leading to Atlanta; before, he turns to the right, the direction leading back to the hospital.
"You thinking about that woman? Morgan asks. During the course of the two days, Morgan explains the end of the known world and the rise of the dead, expanding on the mysterious woman's warning. Rick in turn recounts his awakening the days prior and the fleeing woman scavenging food in the hospital.
"Wonder why she was there," Morgan goes on as Rick remains silent trying to come up with a decision, "Do you think she was hurt? If she was- I don't think she's still alive."
"She didn't look hurt scared but not hurt," Rick finally comments.
"I thought you didn't get a good look at her."
Rick looks to his left again, the direction of Atlanta. The directions of his son and wife but there's a pull that draws his eyes to the right, the direction of the hospital.
"I didn't get a good look of her, but her eyes... she didn't look hurt."
"If she ain't hurt then maybe someone's who is with her is."
The pull is too strong for Rick to ignore. He wants to, he wants to find his family but he needs to find the woman too. He needs to make sure she's okay. Rick recalls her chocolate brown eyes and the fear coursing through them, "I'm going to go back… see if she's okay then I'll go find my wife and son."
Morgan gives Rick a curt nod, "Just be careful, hospitals were the first to go. That is where they took all the sick, that's where the panic started. Just be prepared that she may not still be there."
Rick nods but holds onto his instinct and the pull drawing him back to the hospital. The two men exchange goodbyes and best wishes before they part ways. In his police cruiser Rick turns right towards the hospital, towards the mysterious woman with the brown mesmerizing eyes.
XxXx00000xXxX
The ache in his side hurts from his gunshot wound but Rick ignores the distress and starts his search for the woman. King's Medical center is not a large hospital but it is state-of-art enough to service King's County and several smaller town around the area. The fifth floor holds the surgery recovery rooms as well as the cardiac and lung specialty of the hospital, this is where Rick starts his search. He rechecks his loaded gun then switches it to his left hand, clutching his police Maglite in his right hand as he creeps along the quiet hallways of the fifth floor.
The smells of rotting corpses permeate the air and starts to sink into his pours. The lights flicker casting shadows. The fifth floor is a grave yard, a dumping ground of the dead. One room has dead bodies pile in heaps, flies buzz around the corpses in a thick dark cloud. The stench causes Rick's stomach to lurch, threatening to expel his breakfast. Rick only search a fraction of the floor before he realizes no sane or living person would stay on this floor.
He quietly takes to the stairs and moves his search to the fourth floor which holds several surgical rooms and sterilize ICU section. Two surgical rooms are clean and empty of the signs of the apocalypse. The third room is painted red with dried blood, decaying corpses and scattered entrails with three of the walking dead milling around the room; two nurses and one doctor. As soon as he enters the room, the walkers turn and amble towards him with malicious growls. Rick is able to kill them all but it is a great effort to do so using only his Maglite and not his gun. His rib and side throbs angrily in pain. He grabs his side, waiting for the pain to abate as he catches his breath. Once he regains his breath and strength he continues his search, the destruction on the fourth floor is similar to the second floor. Blood painting the walls, ceiling coming undone, shattered glass, and toss equipment. He carefully navigates the halls in search for the mysterious woman with the alluring eyes. Rick doesn't understand his pull towards this unknown woman but he follows his instinct; he turns the corner towards the ICU sections and immediately freezes.
The ICU double glass doors haphazardly chain separates him and a large group of walkers packed in the ICU section aimlessly milling about and bumping into one another. Rick takes a step back hoping the walkers don't catch sight of him, his hope are dash when two notices him and immediately starts pressing against the glass doors. Their action quickly gains the attention of the others and soon the large group starts pressing against the glass and the ill chain door starts to give way. Rick starts toward the stairs he came up from, he starts to run toward his exit when he hears the ICU glass and door crash open. The sound of the dead roaring behind him pumps adrenaline into his veins and ceasing the pain at his side.
Quickly turning the corner and flinging the door open Rick realizes his mistake too late, two walkers' growls and stumbles out the room reaching for him. He twists out their reach and nearly trips in his rush. Rick rights himself and hurry away from the walkers behind him. He's out of their reach but as he rushes to correct his missteps to the stairs he comes face to face the large group of walkers once trap in the ICU.
Lifting his leg Rick kicks one out his way before starts down what he hopes is the right hallway, the dead remain close behind him. Twisting he lifts his gun to shoot when he hears a loud shout behind him.
"NO!"
His head whips toward the voice, once again he locks eyes with chocolate orbs.
"Duck!" She yells. Rick immediately follows her instructions and drops to the ground three seconds before several scalps fly above his head. He chances a glance behind him and watches as the surgical blade hit each of their target. Several walkers fall causing the other behind them to stumble and block the other's path.
Rick leaps to his feet and rushes towards the woman. She stands before him with a long blade extended in her left hand and as she continues to throw scalps with her right hand with deadly precision. Glancing behind him at the walkers who fall from her strikes, he's in awe of her skills. Rick slides to a stop in front of her and his eyes widen as he takes in her swollen belly.
"You're pregnant!" He gasps.
"Later! Now we run!" She coolly replies.
A/N: I'm sorry, I've been gone for so long. I will explain more with my next L4yers update, it is coming soon!
Let me know what you think of this new tale! It has been on my mind for a while and I even written about six chapters of this re-imaging of The Walking Dead (which I do not own). As always, thank you for reading, commenting, and favoriting!
Thank you! Thank you! - Fithola