This is my first long story/re-imagining, so let me know if you are feeling it.
On with the show.
...
"This is fucking dumb."
"You got a better idea Elliot, cuz I'm all ears."
Elliot glared at the stupid bitch. "Any idea is better 'n this." He hissed, lowering his voice as a few of the undead seemed to turn in their direction. Their collective milky white eyes roving unseeingly over their parked van.
"Sorry," She replied sarcastically. "I meant ideas where we can get some fucking answers. Not just guesses and trial-and-error, Elliot. Answers."
"Well Rose," He emphasised her name, just as she had to his. "It doesn't even look like anyone is here anyway. They're all dead. Look." Elliot pointed out the tinted passenger side window of the van at a corpse walking around in military uniform, dragging an automatic rifle beside him, clipped on to his flak vest by a black strap. "Uniforms. They're dead. Let's go." Elliot said firmly, as if that was 'case closed'. He put his hands on the keys.
"Don't you fucking start this van!" Rose hissed venomously. "We didn't come all this way for nothing. We're getting out and having a look around."
"Ya know... I'm getting' real fucking sick of this shit Rose." Elliot dropped his hand from the keys but didn't drop his glare from her stormy eyes. "We're going back to 'the basement' and waiting it out. We shouldn't have left it in the first place."
"Oh my god." Rose's voice had become a low growl. "If I had to spend one more day in that death hole with you I was going to slit your throat in your sleep."
He really couldn't tell if she was joking anymore or not. But it wasn't entirely one-sided.
Elliot sighed through his nose as his mouth was clamped shut in a tight grind, trying his best not to let go of his last bit of reasoning. "Look. We restock, we go back, and we wait a few more weeks. They might have this place back under control by then." He spat the words out slowly, holding her stare.
First to blink…
She doesn't blink.
"Get your shit Elliot. We are going now." Rose already had her finger on the trigger of the 9mm sitting in her lap.
The boil beneath Elliot's barely held together exterior was too much. He wasn't exactly known for his easy going personality.
Not that there was anyone to know him anymore.
Except Rose.
Elliot made a sudden lurch forward and grabbed onto the neck of Rose's t-shirt. Her hands sprang up instantly and clawed into his wrist as he held her.
"We are doing this only one way." He pulled her in close, so she was mere inches from his face. This was the only way he knew to really sink in to the stubborn bitch's head. Violence. "You stay behind me. One lap of the building." Each word was stressed with a spray of hot spit from his angry mouth.
Rose didn't fight because he was agreeing to her wishes. He just didn't like it.
I don't give a fuck what you like Asshole.
Elliot continued. "If there is nothing, no one or anything, we get back in this fucking van and GO BACK! You understand me?!" He didn't even flinch as Rose's nails sunk further into the flesh of his inked up forearm.
"Get the fuck off me." She leaned away from him, struggling to release her shirt from his grip.
"Do you understand, Rose?" He growled, yanking her back forward again.
"YES! Get off me!" She screamed, lashing out at him with a fast fist.
Elliot let go of her shirt with a shove, sending her punch off course. Her fist hit nothing but air and then the middle seat of the van.
Rose shrunk back to her side of the van collected herself, trying to straighten the stretched out neck of her brown t-shirt. Glaring flaming daggers at the asshole who was checking the clip of his M4 rifle which he fished out from behind the seat.
Their heated exchange had attracted the attention of more than one undead. The decomposing former military servicemen lead a small group of two other rotting corpses to the dark green 1964 Econoline parked in the rear carpark of the large government building.
"This side." Elliot hissed as he opened the driver's side door and slid out.
"No shit, really?" Rose mumbled back under her breath, following him out, eyeing the dead crew out her window.
Thick bile rose up in the back of her throat. That overwhelming stench of decay and sun-cooked rotting bodies, that littered the lifeless car park, invaded every part of Rose's senses. Her nose and mouth filled with the hot Georgian air, tainted by decomposition. Even her ears seemed to be ringing as her brain tried to close up shop against the sickening lurch in her torso.
She stayed close to his heels as they crouched at the back of the van. Elliot looked at her and pointed to a small decorative garden that had withered and died weeks ago, having no one to tend it any longer. He hardly even seemed to notice the stink anymore. She envied him for that.
Peering out past the tail lights, Elliot shook his head. He was trying to push back his anger at Rose so he could focus on keeping her alive. She had seen this crumpled angry expression many times before. His fury fighting his reasoning.
Elliot let out a heavy breath. He was focussed again. With a quick glance back at Rose, he stood up and took off towards the garden at a sprint.
He didn't have to look back to know Rose was right with him. Despite the rage and hatred that had built between them, they still moved like they were fused together. She was hardly an inch from the big guys heels.
Rose wasn't short by any means at 5' 10", but Elliot still eclipsed her with the sheer height and width of his frame. He stood at least a half foot taller than she. Big shoulders complete with the Marine Corp tattoos and shaved head, Rose felt almost invisible in the younger man's impressive shadow.
"Keep your fucking head down." Elliot whispered harshly without even looking to see if she was or not.
They had run far enough that the small group of undead by their van were not an immediate threat. They had turned to follow Rose and Elliot, but the scattered corpses on the ground was a maze they were struggling to negotiate in their pursuit.
Elliot crouched up and looked for their next point.
"Ok. We move to the building." He hissed as he crouched back down and double-checked the sight of his M4 Carbine. "Keep ya back to the bricks and run if I tell you to. Got it?"
Rose nodded and shifted her weight so she could be ready to move again. There was no 'ready, set, go', or count-in, with Elliot. You just had to keep up.
Elliot sprung up and closed the distance between them and the large grey building in a matter of seconds. He grabbed on to Rose and shoved her into a small doorway cut out, covering her with himself, back to her, and looking around for any undead.
Rose hit the door with a soft "Oomph.", knocking the breath she was holding out of her lungs. Elliot couldn't help but feel a little satisfied at her rough landing.
Catching her breath again and giving Elliot a glare he could feel through the back of his skull, Rose tried the doorhandle, knowing it was probably locked.
It was of course. Nothing worth it is ever easy.
"Lets get around the front of the building." She ordered quietly.
Elliot briefly looked over his shoulder at Rose and moved forward with a nod. He kept his rifle high and stepped slowly around the curve of the building.
Rose gripped her 9mm in her clammy palms.
Keep your breathing steady and remember, if you shoot yourself in the foot Elliot will never let you live it down.
Elliot picked up the pace. The man could run for days.
Making quick work of their circumnavigation of the government building, Elliot and Rose ducked under the large sign on the side of the structure.
CENTER FOR DISEASE CONTROL AND PREVENTION, ATLANTA GA.
"Elliot, stop." Rose whispered.
"Keep moving Rose, damn it!" He hissed back.
"Shh, I can hear something." She ignored his order and cocked her head, straining to listen. "I can hear people." She gasped, meeting Elliot's furious eyes that flickered with surprise at her words.
People.
Elliot pressed back against the bricks and closed his eyes, listening for the same voices.
She was right. There were others.
"Ok. Stay behind me." He reminded her. "We don't know them or who they are. We listen first, got it?"
Rose nodded, but all she could think about was the fact that there were other people so close. After months of 'Got it?' she was so ready to talk to someone else.
But Elliot was right. Like always.
Rose leaned against the bricks beside Elliot and listened. There was no undead in sight, just regular dead bodies. Focussing their hearing, the pair concentrated on the not too far away shouting.
…"Walkers!"…
…"Shut up!"…
…"He made a call!"…
…"Will you forget Fort Benning!"…
…"The camera, it moved!"…
…"You need to let go Rick!"…
…"Let's go!"…
Rose grabbed on to Elliot's shirt sleave and made eye contact. They only needed a split second for the message to pass from her grey eyes to his dark ones.
We need to help them.
"Fuck! Stay behind me." Elliot growled as he sprung away from the bricks towards the cries for help.
…"Please help us!"…
…"If you don't let us in you're killing us! Please!"…
…"YOU'RE KILLING US! YOU'RE KILLING US!"…
…
The sudden end to the cries for help made that familiar hot sick feeling rise again in Rose's mouth. She stayed close to Elliot as they ran. Fighting to see through the tears that were beginning to blind her, she just stayed on Elliot's heels as they closed the distance in a matter of blurry seconds.
A group of 10 or so men, women and children were standing in front of the CDC building, bathed in a white glow of light from the entrance.
Rose only caught a glimpse of the people before she was dragged to the dirt behind a large potted tree by Elliot. His sweaty palm clamped over her mouth before she could say 'Hey!'
She struggled against his large body until he caught her wild eyes. Holding a finger to his lips he silently gestured the words she had heard a million times from the man… 'Shut your fucking mouth!'
Her grip relaxed and her eyes lost their wild animal look. Elliot slid his hand from her mouth and sat up to look around the edge of the plant.
Everything in Elliot's instincts were telling him this was bad. These people were about to be mowed down by a spray of military bullets and he wasn't going to let Rose see that. He knelt on her thigh, keeping her pinned to the ground, despite her silent protests and flailing punches.
A man's voice echoed out from the white light of the building.
…"Move inside. Come to the back. Don't let any walkers in with you."…
Elliot watched the group move slowly inside. His pleads for them to turn away and run, dying on his tongue before he could scream it to them. He knelt down harder on Rose. Elliot wasn't going to let her up to get slaughtered along with these people.
Rose beat her fist into the hard muscle of his leg, desperately trying to free herself. The ache from Elliot's knee in her thigh was shooting through her body with each throb of her crushed muscle.
Elliot grabbed on to her wrist and pinned it to the dead grass beside him, not taking his eyes off the disappearing people.
Tears streaked down Rose's face as she fought back the pain building in her body. A scream of agony was choking her as she contained it in her throat. Her right hand pinned to the ground, her left clawed at the grass beside her until her fingertips brushed the cold steel of her thrown aside 9mm.
A split second was all it took for everything in her mind to weigh up the option of pulling a gun on Elliot. It didn't work out very well last time.
Elliot sensed when Rose suddenly stopped fighting him, and realised he was pinning her down so much harder than he meant to. He instantly lifted his weight off her thigh and wrist, remorse joining the massing amount of pain he felt as he watched the people walking into their death trap.
Rose shuffled back from Elliot, rubbing her wrist and trying to get her racing heart back under her control.
…"Why are you here? What do you want?"…
…"A chance."…
…"That's asking an awful lot these days."…
…"I know."…
…"You'll all submit to a blood test. That's the price of admission."…
…"We can do that"…
The conversation, from beyond where Rose could see, was making her head spin. The doors were going to close any minute.
"Elliot!" She shouted now, stunning the man from his silent observation. "We are going now!" Rose lunged forward to Elliot, shoving into his hulking frame hard and sending him crashing past the potted plant. "This is no time for your PTSD bullshit!"
Elliot fell to his knees and hands beside the plant. He could see the roller doors coming to life. So could Rose from her new standing position as she got to her feet.
"No Rose." He snarled at her. "They're going to kill them." He got to his feet and picked up his rifle. "And we ain't hanging around to watch. Get back to the van." He grabbed her wrist and looked her dead in the eye.
Rose twisted her hand free from his grip. "Not this time." She said, eyes wide and glowing with fire. "This time you listen to me." She stepped back, keeping his stare.
…"Make sure you got everything. Once those doors close, they won't open again."…
The roller door moved with a mechanical whirl, descending lower by the second.
"NOW ELLIOT! MOVE!" She screamed in his face.
Elliot could hear the blood rushing in his ears as his pulse raced. Rose's scream made his body move automatically while his brain checked out. Reaching forward and grabbing her wrist again, Elliot turned back and ran towards the steel roller doors.
Rose could barely keep her feet under herself as Elliot dragged her towards the blinding fluoresces of the buildings entrance.
The door was half shut all ready before they even reached the screeching metal rollers.
Grabbing on to the back of Rose's head and bending her over in the middle, Elliot pushed her down under the door, sending her sliding on her stomach across the polished marble floors on the other side.
The last members of the large group scuttered back out of the way as the unknown woman came to a short stop at their feet.
"Who the hell…" Was all Rose heard before she sat up in time to see Elliot rolling under the door, just before it finally closed.
The silence was ringing in everyone's ears as the mechanical screech and whir of the doors finally stopped.
Rose lay panting on the floor, eyes still on Elliot. They we're in.
We're safe.