04/28/17
Rick Grimes screams out in pain and he swears the mountains scream back at him. The sun hangs high above and his eyes turn all black as blood runs from the corners of them. His body is racked with extreme pain and he coughs blood. He feels like time is running out and he is dying. He sees his gun on the hot highway and scoops it up, growling, "What have you done to me?!"
The man standing nearby with goggles and a dirty cloth covering his face, responds, "You've been looking for me for a long time, Sheriff Grimes." He moves closer, "You came all the way up into the mountains for little ol' me."
"You know me? What did you do to me?! I….I want answers!"
The man simply takes the gun from Rick, "Yes, Rick, I know you. Your tale as spread. To answer your other question, I infected you with the walker virus."
"Why…..I'm turning?!" Rick stares at the man as he lays on his back and feels the world spinning. He can't imagine being more helpless than he is now, but still he struggles to move. "I don't want to be like them!"
The man sounds amused, "Rick, you're not turning. No you and the world were infected before the walkers began appearing. All of you carry it. It was a small scale experiment attacking an enemies water supply. With the help of wildlife and evaporation, it got out. It spread faster when it got into the rain."
"I knew you had a hand in this. I came to make you fix what you've done."
"For years the infection showed no sign of turning anyone into walkers. We thought that was the end of it, but we were so very wrong."
"You're going to fix this! I'll make you!"
The man laughs, "You'll make me? Rick, I'm already fixing it. It's taken awhile, but you are experiencing the fix. The infection is being dealt with and you won't be able to get infected again. The tankwr there is full of an airborne solution. You're a long way from King County, Georgia."
"How…how do you know where I'm from?"
The man removes the goggles and cloth to reveal a familiar face. "I know your tale, but I know you from before." Rick stares up at the man's familiar face, but can't place a name with the face. "A late night stop by the Sheriff. Do you remember me? Ironically if you had brought me in, the infection may never have occurred and no walkers. But you're good generous man and let me be on my way with a severe warning."
Suddenly, Rick kicks the man's legs and the man hits the highway hard. A gentle wind blows across Rick as he scoops up the gun and rises to his feet. His eyes clear as he feels his strength returning. He points the gun at the man and pulls back the hammer with a click. He wipes the blood from his mouth and growls, "I remember you. Do you remember what I said would happen if I ever saw you again?"
The man looks fearfully up at him and his voice cracks as he answers, "You said there would be trouble."
Rick smirks, "That's right." A gunshot thunders around the landscape and the body falls over. He looks at the tanker truck and knows the gunshot will draw walkers, but doesn't care. He aims the gun at the tanker truck as a wind blows across him and fires every shot in the gun. The gun clicks empty, he dumps the empty shells out onto the highway, and the wind whistles through the holes in the tanker. He reloads the gun and says softly, "Blow wind blow." He smiles and knows in a year or a little more the infection will be gone. The wind will see to that.