The Walking Red
Chapter 1: Things Get Started
Disclaimer: I do not own The Walking Dead or any of the characters involved except Red
It was quiet that night, the crickets chirped and the sounds of nature were obvious. The stars shone brightly in the sky with the lack of any moonlight. A figure rushed through the trees, stepping carefully to avoid any branches or small animals. They stopped up against a large trunk, their breathing was calm and steady, their features hidden in the darkness. Before them was a small circular clearing, two jeeps with mounted guns in the back were parked around a campfire, six men were sitting in a circle around the fire.
The figure lifted its hand up to its head and laid it against their temple before whispering:
"Targets sighted, six males, sitting around a fire," a male voice spoke
"Ironic isn't it?" A female voice replied through an earpiece.
"No kidding, requesting advisement," The male answered back.
"Black usually waits until one of them gets up to take a leak,"
"Copy that," The figure removed his hand from the piece and crouched very slowly toward the ground, never taking his eyes off the figures.
After a lengthy period of time, maybe an hour, one of the men stood up and grabbed a rifle that was leaning against a jeep beside him.
"What's up?" one of the men asked.
"Gotta take a leak,"
"Alright, try not to take too long, we need to be heading back anyway,"
"Yeah yeah," The man replied as he wandered into the trees. The figure quickly and quietly stood and started following the man.
He whistled a tuneless melody as he wandered through the trees, completely oblivious of the man stalking him in the bushes, eventually he stopped and a zipper was heard in the darkness, followed by the clinking of a belt buckle. The figure took his chance and dashed forward, bringing something large in an upward swing. The man didn't make a sound except for the thump when his body hit the ground. The figure swung the weapon downward, flicking the blood off.
Lifting his hand again, "One target neutralized, now what?"
"Man, you are bad at this aren't you?" The woman's voice replied over the earpiece.
"This is Black or Green's territory, not mine,"
"Yeah yeah, anyway, Black disposes of the body, usually he hides in a bush or something, then he waits for them to send another man or two after the dead one, pick them off until only one or two are left then move in and make your demands,"
"Understood," The figure lifted the large object up over his head and the sound of a blade sliding into its sheath sounded quietly amongst the trees, after the blade clicked into place he knelt down and grabbed the man's legs, dragging him through the underbrush before eventually dropping him into a bush.
Returning to his position at the edge of their camp the figure knelt back down and waited, although this time it didn't take nearly as long, the static of a radio echoed over the camp and one of the men stood up and leaned into one of the jeeps
"This is Alpha team, watcha need?"
A garbled voice came over the speaker but they were too far away for the figure to hear.
"You sure? I thought we had more time?"
Another garbled reply.
"Alright, we're on our way," The man leaned back into the jeep and as he stepped away from the vehicle one of the others stood up.
"What did base want?" He asked.
"Says we're loading out in two days, wants everyone back and accounted for. Somebody go get Charlie and make sure he didn't fall asleep out there,"
The man who was already standing sighed as he grabbed his rifle and walked into the trees, clicking a flashlight that was taped under the barrel of his gun to provide some light. The figure laid as flat as he could and remained perfectly still, waiting as the light swept over his head. He listened as the man's footsteps began to get louder and louder, then softer and softer, passing him while traveling in the direction of Charlie. After a minute he couldn't hear the footsteps anymore, he leapt to his feet and disappeared into the trees, heading back toward where he had killed Charlie. As he made his way through the forest he heard the man mutter something like:
"What the hell?"
The figure mentally scolded himself, he'd forgotten to hide Charlie's gun, it was still laying in the spot he had started to do his business. He was only a few steps away from the man when he stepped on a branch and it snapped loudly, the man turned with his gun pointed in front of him and before him stood the figure revealed in the flashlight. They were thin, average height, but their features were hidden under a red hood and coat. His face was covered in a black cloth that made it impossible to see his features, but allowed him to see those he was hunting.
"What the hell?!" The man asked in surprise.
The figure didn't waste the opportunity, taking advantage of the man's stunned reaction he drew a large, red-bladed sword from his back and cut the man in two at the waist. He fell to the ground with a thump, followed by his knees as they collapsed. The figure flicked his blade of the blood and sheathed it on his back once again. Kneeling down he picked up the gun and clicked off the flashlight. Taking care to hide both guns and both halves of the new man in a different bush than Charlie, the figure returned to the campsite to find the rest of the men were packed up and waiting, their fire was now smoking coals, providing very little light.
"Where are those two?" The man who'd answered the radio asked.
"You think Charlie got lost and Adam can't find him?" Another asked, he sounded much younger than anyone else in the group.
The figure waited patiently, wanting to see how this played out, when he heard something walking through the woods behind him. He laid low and tried to remain as perfectly still as he could. Listening as the sound drew closer.
"Here they come," The leader said as he lifted his gun and turned on the flashlight. As the light hit the trees Charlie stumbled out, a large hole in his chest where the Figure had stabbed him.
"What the hell!? Charlie are you ok?" The younger man asked
Charlie let out a throaty snarl and began to walk toward the group.
"Charlie, man, if this is some kind of joke you better knock it off!" The young man shouted.
The team lifted their guns and watched as Charlie stumbled closer, when he was a few yards away the leader fired and put a handful of shots into Charlie's chest, staggering him, but he kept coming, and in a second he was on top of the leader, the man began screaming as Charlie ripped into his chest with his bare hands.
The figure lifted his hand to his head "My god, are you seeing this?"
"Yes and no, I can't watch that, look away and get the hell out of there," She said.
The figure needed no further motivation, he stood up and made a B-line in the opposite direction of the camp, as he sprinted through the trees he began to hear more of those throaty snarling sounds that Charlie had been making, after a few minutes of running the figure burst from the tree line onto a road. He turned and began jogging up the pavement until he came to a vehicle. From the outside it appeared to be a phone-line company's repair van, but inside it was actually a mobile mini-base for people like the figure. He sprinted up to the back doors of the van and once he had his hands on the latch threw them open and got inside, he slammed the doors behind him and made his way up to the front where the driver and passenger seats were. He reached up and hit the lock button. The doors all locked and he sighed in relief, collapsing onto his rear and leaning back against the wall of the van. He put his hand up to his head again.
"What's the plan now?"
"Just get back to base, we need to figure out what's going on, more operatives are calling in with similar situations,"
"Great, so this thing isn't isolated," He said sarcastically.
"No, as far as we can tell it seems to be affecting people all over the nation,"
"What the hell," He stood up and made his way to the driver's seat, he slid the large blade off his back and placed it into the foot area of the passenger seat and let the rest of it lean against the seat. He reached down under his chair and produced a set of keys. Starting the van he turned back onto the road and drove off, leaving the men in the forest behind.
As he started down the road he noticed human figures were shambling along on the edge of the road, and as he approached they turned toward his vehicle and tried to give chase, but they were only walking at best.
"What is going on?" He asked himself as he watched a person reach out for his van as he drove past.
"Red are you there?" The woman's voice came in over his headset.
"Why are you breaking comm. rules?" He asked as he put his hand on his head.
"Orders from the higher ups, base is being moved to DC, all operatives are to report to the central command, I'm on my way out and- oh my god!"
The woman's voice shouted the last few words and then gunshots were heard.
"Watch! Watch what's going on?! Watch!?"
"I'm here, one of those things was in the base, it stopped coming after a shot to the head,"
"So they only go down with headshots? What the hell are these things?"
"I don't know, and I'm not waiting to find out, make your way to central command, I'm uploading directions to a nearby rendezvous point with some other local operatives, meet up and make your way there,"
"Understood, Red out,"
"Good luck Red, and be careful"