Warnings: Language, Violence, Zombie gore, Mention of Rape
Possibly more warnings to add later but they will be mentioned in the chapter.
Story-wide Disclaimer: I do not own The Walking Dead
It was a very hot day in Georgia when the two Dixon brothers, Meryl and Daryl, had returned to their old home town to relax at their favorite hang out. While they usually drifted just about anywhere, somehow they always managed to ended up back here. The place had probably been there since before either of them were born and had definitely seen better days. It was dark and seedy but felt like home to the two men. Most of their old friends had moved on from the town but one or two of the patrons gave them a wave as they made their way to sit at the bar.
"Well well, if it ain't the Dixon boys. Bout time you showed your faces back round here." The bartender, a 50 something year old woman who still dressed like a teenager rasped as though she had chain smoked since she was 11. The usual smile she wore for her customers straightened into a thin line and her arms were braced stiffly on the inside counter of the bar. The two ordered and got their beers but not without the glasses hitting the wood of the bar with a loud 'clunk'. May seemed to have an ax to grind.
"How you doin' May?" Meryl asked in a far easier tone than he usually did, "Don look so pleased."
"Me? I'm Fine. Just fine, aint me I'm worried bout though." Her face looked grim.
Condensation gathered and slid down the side of the cold glass as Daryl picked it up and asked, " Wha's the problem, May?"
"Don't go play'in stupid with me, boys. Ya finally back to grab yer sister now? It's the least you could do for the poor lil thing." she said in a sympathetic tone.
The two exchanged a confused look, "Ain't got no sister, May. Must be gettin up there in years" He said with a chuckle but was cut off as May glared, then reached under the bar. She shuffled through some old newspapers then slapped one down hard on the bar between the two. The headline read "Man killed by child- deemed self defense"
Daryl Picked it up to look over the article while Meryl looked confused and angry at the bartender, "What happen?"
"Yur Father raped some poor woman and left her to rot," Daryl and Meryl looked at her sharply before she continued, "But she died after she birthed the baby. Stupid woman put yur father's name on the certificate and they gave the kid to him."
Daryl was pissed and looking sidelong at his brother saw just as angry as he was. May continued, "Hear kid's real clever, found yur daddy's gun, aimed and fired one was all torn up, " She tapped the newspaper, "in there says she shown signs a bein beaten, cut, scraped and," May clenched her jaw, "sexual abuse." Meryl and Daryl looked gobsmacked, not knowing how to handle this information, "so it summed to self defense. Girl's at the orphanage next town over."She took a deep breath,"Gunna go get er then?"
There was a tone of finality in her voice as she pretended to wiped the bar with a rag and stared the two down. For once in their lives, both Dixon brothers were speechless. All Daryl could think was that that man had ruined yet another person's life.
The air smelled hyper sterilized, the incessant beeping around them and in the halls, yells of demands from doctors and nurses were muffled by the thick wooden door. Once again Daryl Dixon found himself slumped in a chair in the hospital room with his young sister, Flynn, who had been jumped on her way home from a convenience store. The lanky teenage redhead had hair and clothing styled just like her brothers but in shades of black and was accosted on the street fairly often because of her boyish appearance and awkward stature. She couldn't try to blend in, her hair was short, spiky and an almost florescent shade of orange. She always fought back as her brothers had taught her but being outnumbered didn't help her success rate. She did win one n one's easily and was very fit physically thanks to her brothers' bringing her up but you can't win them all.
There were stitches on gruesome looking cut on the right side of Flynn's face, it started on her forehead, above her eyebrow, rounded her eye and stopped in a big curve on her cheek like a backwards ','. Daryl's patience was running out as he tapped on the arm of the chair. The doctor had stepped out to get some bandage and that was an hour ago.
"Daryl," Flynn said in a small, low voice as she peered at him with a nervous look, sitting hunched over on the exam table, "again, I'm really sorry."
"Ain't no need, kid." He said, getting up. He ruffled her hair and she let slip a little smile, "Not your fault.". Daryl grabbed a medical glove, took a deep breath and blew it up like a balloon. When he tied it, he gave her the middle finger via inflated glove. She laughed and he gave her the balloon, which she fiddled with while he opened the door and looked around, there were no nurses or doctors as far as he could see. At some point it had gone silent. "This ain't right." His eyes narrowed. He went back in and decided to take matters into his own hands, there was plenty of medical tape but no bandage, not even paper towels, he saw while he quickly rummaged through the drawers and cabinets.
"What are you doing?" Flynn looked at him curiously.
"Gettin us atta here." He said, still searching, "Goddamn." He kicked one of the cabinets in frustration. A scream erupted on a floor above them and the two looked up in unison. Chaos seemed to be breaking loose over their heads.
She got up quickly to help, wobbled a little dizzily but Daryl kept her on her feet with a hand on her arm and let her help. He had taken her to a child center weekly and they did tests that deemed her something of a genius. He knew she could help him figure something out to keep infection off the cut even if she did have a concussion. She grabbed some sanitizer and dabbed it lightly on the cut, careful to keep it out of her eyes. Then Daryl offered the big roll of medical tape. She stared at it for a minute and looked around, then her eyes widened and she went to work measuring strips of tape then rubbing the adhesive off the tape where her cut would touch it using the strong sanitizer which made sections of the tape no more than thick paper. She then applied it with the help of a mirror next to the cabinets.
About 3 minutes later, she was sealing off the sides carefully when the two heard the stomping of feet, gun shots and screams echo through the hall. Daryl and Flynn's eyes widened when they looked at each other, Daryl held her behind him as he peeked into the hall again. What looked like soldiers or SWAT was rounding up the patients on the wall opposite them, their room was at the corner of the corridor. Suddenly the soldiers shot every person dead. He closed the door quietly and saw Flynn shaking, "Whats going on."
"You don wanna know. How we gunna get atta here?" he looked outside again but in a smaller crack, the soldiers were clearing the dead patients. Heavy footfalls were getting closer to their room, slamming every other exam room door open in the process chanting 'clear'. Daryl shut the door and was ready to fight when Flynn moved him aside and looked at the room from the point of view with a quick scan. First she quickly shoved the medical supplies back into the cabinets and closed them so it looked like they were never there. Then she ripped some longer tape off her face and ripped it down the middle then went to the space behind the exam table and put the tape slanted on the floor to indicate the space that would go unseen from the point she had stood.
She grabbed Daryl, who went along with it but didn't quite get it; she stuck him in the space and he just barely fit. When he saw the tape and he looked back he couldn't see the door, he got it, "And you,"
She cut him off by sliding into the cabinet adjacent to him with the sink's plumbing being the only thing in it. As soon as the cabinet door was totally closed, the door slammed open. Her breath hitched. It felt like forever while they scanned the room but eventually she heard them.
"Clear!"
She let out the breath she was holding and waited a bit before she heard the stomping go down the hall and Daryl slip out of his hiding place. As she crawled out of the cabinet he whispered, "Nice one." and helped her up. The door was still open but the soldiers were rounding up the patients down the hall "We got a chance, take my hand and do not let go, got me?" He said, looking her dead in the eyes, she nodded shakily and grabbed his hand. Thankfully they were only on the first floor, so they silently crept out of the room as though they were on another hunting trip. Once the soldiers were out of sight and they were hidden by the nurses station Flynn noticed a flashing notice on the computer next to her, "QUARANTINE"
"Daryl," She said, her voice breaking a little, "it's a quarantine, the front doors won't open."
"Shit." He tried to think of a way out and peeked around the corner at the front door, Flynn was searching the rest of the nurses station, letting go of his hand lightly. She spotted a man hiding under the desk, he was shaking like a leaf, "Come with us. We can get out." he nodded.
She went back to Daryl with the man behind her, "Daryl, he's coming with us."
"Flynn," He growled
"It'll be fine, is the entrance clear?"
"No, four guards."
"Ok..." She had a distant look, then tried to break the wooden shelf off with her elbow, achieving nothing,"Ow" she said quietly.
Daryl shook his head at her and bent over, punching the wood apart and off the desk, the sound muffled by more gunshots, he waved it at Flynn, "Whats this for now?"
"Ok." She was still shaking, "The nurses alarm should sound through the whole building."
"Should."
"Yeah?" She looked unsure, "Anyway, the guards will scatter and if one comes this way, Daryl, hit him with that, ok?"
He nodded reluctantly as his sister crawled back to the station, 'if i were a fire alarm... There!'
She peeked behind her, no one, then went for it. She lifted the clear cover grabbed the lever and pulled. It would have been like all hell was breaking loose, if it hadn't already had.
"Here he comes." She heard Daryl say before there was a hard crunch muffled by the alarm. The three ran to the entrance and Flynn didn't notice Daryl take the gun from the unconscious guard before he grabbed her arm again.
As the two approached the door, which wouldn't open like she had said, she saw something in the hall to her right, there were three people, one on the floor, two others on their knees were ripping him apart and eating him. She was frozen in her spot, eyes as wide as they could be. Daryl yelled, "MOVE" barely audible with the alarm, but when Flynn just stood there. He shoved her behind him and quickly saw what she was gaping at before he shot the glass doors. He kept hold of her arm and they ran out the shattered entrance with the man a little behind them.
Daryl had parked on the street and the hospital was barricaded but to the side was a thick cover of shrubbery on top of a wall since the hospital was on a hill. Flynn spotted the opening first and when she moved, so did Daryl. She immediately got down on one knee leaning on the wall; it was just a little shorter than Daryl, he would be able to pull himself up, then her.
He tucked the gun into the back of his jeans, then gently stepped on her knee and lifted himself up; he reached down and grabbed his sister, tossing her into the bushes they were hiding in. They started heading out in a crouch until they heard yelling. The two of them were thoroughly covered by the plants around them, but when they looked around, they saw the police shoot the man they thought they saved in the head. Daryl ripped Flynn out of her stooper and dragged her through the garden and to the police free street a block or two down. Meryle was on his motorcycle parked behind Daryl's truck, he must have just gotten there, "Hey kiddo, I hate to see the other guy." he chuckled but noticed the two were extremely shaken, even Daryl.
"What's up Darylina, can't take care'a our lil sister."
"SHUT UP Meryl." Flynn yelled, her voice cracking, she was looking at him with extremely wide eyes, clutching her stomach and shaking visibly.
The brothers were surprised at her uncharacteristic behavior and Meryl was actually showing concern, "What the fuck happen in there?" he asked Daryl, who was leaning on his truck.
He looked up and shook his head, "Dunno man, police, military, goin through the halls shootin all the patients but before we got out, saw this guy on the floor bein pulled apart eaten by two other people."
At that point Flynn fell to her knees and vomited on to the sidewalk. After a while Meryl got up from his bike and handed her an old rag then patted her on the head. Flynn wiped her mouth, spat in disgust and looked up, "C-check the radio?" She felt like her legs had turned into overcooked pasta.
Daryl got out his keys, started the truck up and turned on the radio, usually they rode without it. Immediately the high screech of the emergency broadcast system sounded. The mechanical voice was urging the public to head to the refugee center in Atlanta or stay inside their homes and that there is an unknown virus epidemic that spreads through a bite from the infected; it was spreading very quickly. Flynn was getting a grip on her breathing and Daryl turned the radio down to a murmur, Meryl leaned against the motorcycle.
"Guess we're goin to Atlanta," Meryl said, moving to start the bike but stopped when Flynn held up a hand, head down and eyes closed.
She cleared her throat then said, "If we're going you shouldn't ride that, it's too easy for you to get bit." There was a rasp in her voice but back to it's usual reasonable, if quiet, tone.
Daryl nodded at his brother. Meryl didn't like it but he agreed. While her brothers lifted the bike into the truck, she got up slowly. The shaking didn't stop but reduced significantly, she went to the truck and grabbed a half empty bottle of water. After throughly washing out her mouth and eating a mint that was hidden in the back of the glove compartment she was feeling better. Daryl handed her the guard's gun and she immediately felt more secure. As they entered the truck Flynn steadily talked herself out of being disturbed by what she had seen; it was easier considering what she's seen, and done, on hunting trips with Daryl but the human factor made her stomach lurch.
So they headed to Atlanta, agreeing to stay on back roads. It was a long drive so they drove fast, faster at first to get away from that hospital. As the distance grew between them, the engine covered the military fire and screaming from victims of the infected people escaping through the shattered glass doors. The computers were still blinking QUARANTINE.