I do not own The Walking Dead or any of its characters.
She couldn't decide how to proceed from this predicament. It was a choice between darting out in the rain in the search of a small car to hole up in, or staying in the cramped, leaky Dollar Tree storage closet she was in with a faceless stranger. And by stranger she meant zombie and by faceless she meant faceless. She didn't feel immediately threatened by her docile companion, for it seemed he received a very damaging blow to the face with a sharp object prior to their acquaintance, and had lost both his nose, jaw, and left eye. He saw her with his right eye, but due to the state of his thoroughly fucked up nose, he couldn't sniff out her delicious living flesh, and was not tempted. Good on him.
But the thing was, he was still a zombie and looked really gross and could still infect her, what with all that bodily fluid dripping about and her shoulder wound not being properly wrapped. On the other hand, Sloan could still see the two other zombies who had followed her in the store from behind the closet door. For the moment, and for lack of anything less dangerous to do, she took inventory of her backpack. One small first-aid kit (1 pack of sutures and stitches -partially used, 1 roll of bandages - half already generously applied to her person, 1 box of waterproof band aids -hell yeah, 1 small bottle of rubbing alcohol - 3/4 full, and 10 disinfectant wipes), two bottles of water, a box of crackers, plastic baggie of dried fruit, sealed jerky of ambiguous ingredient- hell yeah, a flashlight in need of batteries, a flathead screwdriver, a Phillipshead screwdriver, a hammer, five extra pairs of socks, three extra pairs of panties (sealed in plastic baggie), one extra T-shirt, and a plastic baggie filled with more plastic baggies.
Following the moment of appreciation for her amazing packing skills, Sloan grabbed her trusty, rusty crowbar and peeked out the door.
Zombie #1 was shuffling around the cash register, leaning two and fro. Sloan could only assume he was trying to get around that shopping cart that had rolled in front of him, successfully confusing and parking him, and not checking out those rad as hell candies across the aisle from him. She understood his plight, the poor, uncoordinated bastard.
#1 seemed down for the count so the search for zombie Mach. 2 was on. Sloan found it hard to look at this zombie, not only because his previous exposure to rain made him look all melty, but because he was leaning against the glass of what once was the liquor section of the refrigerator and was wearing a pair of corduroys. She did not understand his plight, the poor, misunderstood bastard.
Due to the fact that Mach. 2 was not hindered by any physical barrier, it was decided that she would wait here the night, and get to know her ever pensive, taciturn, and nasty as fuck friend. She'd call him Bruce.
And with that settled she pulled her gray hoodie tighter over her shoulders, fastened her backpack on in case she needed to hit the road, held her friendly neighborhood crowbar closer to her chest, leaned back against the wall and counted sheep.
Sloan woke up to the pain in her shoulder, which fucking sucked, and the icky, sweaty feeling of a fever. Oh shit, she thought. that ain't good.
Looking over at Bruce, she noticed that he was just as docile as when they first met, which is good. Looking out the closet door, she found that she actually couldn't find Mach. 2. Which could be good or bad. #1 was still hanging out between a cash register and a buggy.
Staying wasn't an option, she didn't have antibiotics for her shoulder, and viewed the option of getting terribly sick, whilst alone and surrounded by the undead, with a less than optimistic eye. Quickly eating a few pieces of jerky and taking a sip of water, she steeled herself to run out and locate a pharmacy. Surely it'd have something left.
Feeling a slight pang of sadness (or soreness?) in her chest for having to part with her undead BFF Bruce, she turned to him and nodded a farewell. He drooled some more. How sweet.
Stepping out of the closet as quiet at possible, Sloan proceeded to immediately fuck right up by stumbling over debris left over from previous loots. #1 looked over and leaned over the buggy in a very pitiful way. No immediate threat, but he was making quite the ruckus and Mach. 2 could still be around. Jogging towards the front, Sloan was startled to find three more zombies outside the front door. And they saw her. So she ran.
Shooting out the door as fast as her short legs allowed, she darted past the slow zombies and ran as far as she could. Which wasn't far. Sloan was no athlete. She didn't even have enough breath left in her to mutter obscenities. Pity.
The road was devoid of moving bodies, which made sense considering the rural town she was in. If they weren't dead, they got the hell outta dodge. Whether that meant going to a now imploded safe zone or leaving to search for family or a community, she didn't know. She recalled seeing a small pharmacy a few buildings back, and turned around.
The trek to the pharmacy wasn't long, and when she got there, she was surprised to find two horses tied up outside of it. Then she saw the two idiots who tied up good horses outside without protection walk out of the pharmacy. A man and a woman. Maggie. Holy shit - !
"Maggie!" How fucking convenient.
Said woman, who Sloan now noticed had a frustrated and guarded posture, turned around in shock. She looked confused at first, and then she recognized the girl standing in front of her. Her eyes teared up. The man just looked vaguely uncomfortable and skittish.
"Sloan, is that you? What happened? Where's your family?" By family, she means Sloan's sister, Meridith, who was her best friend before they moved two counties away a couple years ago. She didn't want to explain what happened, but Maggie needed answers.
Shortly after the whole zombie thing started, Sloan's dad wanted the family to go down to the Atlanta safe zone. He was a very patriotic man, and trusted the military's strength and reliability. Not so much Sloan and her sister. They'd seen plenty of apocalyptic movies to know that a dense population + urban setting + apocalypse + questionable military did not equal happy times. But her dad would not be persuaded, and so they went. By the time they got there, the undead had already breached the city, and soon the bombs started dropping. Sloan's family were on the outskirts, so her father turned that car around so help him God and they skedaddled. Its too bad that the car was hit by two other fleeing trucks, and rolled twice. Sloan's dad died on impact, her mom died shortly after receiving large shrapnel to the stomach, but she "woke" sooner than he did and wandered off before the two siblings regained consciousness. Sloan woke to her sister shaking her awake, and telling Sloan they had to go. So they did. Their dad was "stirring", but his seatbelt was still on and they ignored him as best they could. Merry seemed to be in shock, quiet and calm while she retrieved their backpacks from the crushed car. Sloan was beside herself, sobbing and crying like no tomorrow. Despite the circumstances, and how reasonable it was to break down like that, Sloan was eighteen years old goddamnit and felt deeply ashamed for not being in a state to assist her sister in getting their shit together. She had the wherewithal, however, to thank whatever fuckhead deity there was up there for leaving herself and her sister mostly unscathed. She very soon reneged on that bit of gratitude. They moved on, and after staying in various abandoned cars for a week, they decided to make he journey back to their old home. They got about halfway on foot before a particularly nasty encounter with the dead left Sloan's sister bitten and fading fast. Sloan remembered nursing her sister and finally burying her in a roadside field. She cried for days, but continued with their original goal to return home and started moving again. She didn't have the heart to think up another plan. Now here she was. Still standing right in the shitting open, Sloan decided to tell Maggie the SparkNotes version of events while trying to get that twig out of her eyes and the quiver from her chin.
"Yeah, uh, fancy meeting you here. Um. So. Yeah. Hi." Sloan stalled.
"Sloan, you're crying, tell me what happened." Maggie didn't look much better, either, gathering a good idea of what's become of Sloan's family.
"Dad took us to Atlanta, it was awful. Got in a car crash, Merry and I got out. Decided to come back up here, Merry got bit, I helped her while I could, did all I could. There wasn't much I could do. I worked my way back here. I didn't realize I was so close." Sloan was very suddenly receiving a hug from a very suddenly tearful Maggie. Condolences were offered, introductions were made, and Maggie finally realized how shit Sloan looked, and possibly why.
"Sloan, god, were you bit? Let me see your shoulder."
"Maggie it's not a bite, I swear, I'm just a huge klutz and fell on some rocks"
It wasn't rocks, but it was a broken, bent up tricycle that she tripped on but hell if she was telling anyone that.
"Come with us, Daddy'll fix you up. We just gathered a good amount of medicine just now, too."
Sloan very politely ignored the dirty look Maggie shot the guy she was with, Glenn. Glenn looked very conflicted.
After around fifteen minutes riding behind Maggie on her horse, Sloan started feeling more curious than calm. She tried to engage Glenn in conversation, but he seemed a bit down so she let it alone. She gave him the benefit of the doubt and assumed he was much more fun when he wasn't in hot water with his girlfriend. She understood his plight, the poor, whipped bastard. Maybe Maggie could hold a conversation? Its been a while since Sloan's been able to talk to people.
"So this group that you said lives with you now, is there anything I should know about them before I meet them?
After learning about the kid that got shot, the kid that went missing, the death of a kind man named Otis, the gung-ho gun toting, and the aggressive personalities of Shane, Daryl, and Andrea, Sloan had the talkativeness drop kicked right out of her.
I hope its clear that Sloan interrupted Maggie ripping Glenn a new one for getting Lori's abortion pills. I didn't want to start Sloan's story as early as season one, so here we are, in the middle of the Greene Farm arc.
Tell me what you think! Feel free to criticize and give me tips.