DISCLAIMER: I OWN NOTHING REGARDING THE WALKING DEAD - This includes any material or characters from any of the TV Series/Comics/Games Etc.
The only thing that I own is the characters I have created myself.
This is the original Survivalism fanfic that I wrote years ago although I have rewritten it and made some changes.
I will be updating this story as regularly as I can and also on depending how well liked it is.
I hope you guys enjoy it and I hope that I don't disappoint. :)
With her back against the wall Eilidh stared at the remainder of her food that was laid out on the floor infront of her, it consisted of a partially eaten chocolate bar, a bashed tin of corn and another tin that had fruit in it, with a dejected sigh she put the items back inside her rucksack and zipped it closed.
She leaned her head back to look at the ceiling, it had been a week now that she had been stuck in this room, this small room that couldn't have been much bigger than a prison cell, it even slightly resembled a prison cell it was that dull and bare looking but it was however an office of sorts and not a cell, although, 'whose' office was unclear, what was clear was that they, whoever they were, had someone that cared about them as there was a coaster on the desk of a frog dressed in business attire that said 'Congrats on your New Job!'.
She had been chased into the building by a bunch of walkers that she had ran into whilst she was moving through the city, there were too many for her to handle herself so she had no choice but to run inside the nearest unlocked door she could find and she continued until she came across the little office that had become her temporary home.
She had passed a few other bigger offices as she escaped the horde that was following her but they weren't suitable as mostly all of them had wide glass windows and she knew the walkers would never have left her alone if they saw her inside.
It had been an extremely close call getting inside that room, she had charged in rather clumsily and slammed the door loudly behind her but she wasted no time in yanking the desk towards her so she could shove it against the door, the walkers that had followed her had appeared seconds after she had and were throwing their weight against the closed door, fortunately she had managed to get the desk against it before they did this and it was heavy enough to prevent the dead from forcing it open.
The walkers had continued banging against the door for the remainder of that day and Eilidh had sat in silence for hours with her feet against the edge of the desk and her eyes on the door incase the walkers somehow managed to get inside, she knew that they couldn't though as after a long while the banging gradually stopped and the moans grew faint but keeping her feet firmly against the desk kept her mind at ease, she also didn't sleep that first night.
There was a fire escape right outside the window of the office, she had never been able to use it as there were always too many walkers wandering in the alleyway below but today had to be the day, regardless of the dead below, she had to try.
She had attempted to leave the way she had entered after staying put for a couple days, having heard no noise from the walkers outside the door she removed the desk as quietly as possible and opened the door but once she stepped out the walkers appeared instantly and tried to grab her, she had to repeat the whole first day she had spent in the office all over again.
No, today had to be the day, she needed supplies and she wasn't going to get them by staying where she was, she had to use the fire escape and move on or die trying.
She gathered her things quickly and stood up, she readied her gun for use and gripped her knife, she then moved towards the window and opened it quietly before climbing out, the alleyway was filled with walkers as it usually was and she was suddenly filled with dread, there was an identical fire escape directly across from the one she was on, she had to use it to get to the roof, it wasn't safe to travel on the ground in the city.
She would have to do this fast.
She shook her head and leaned on the railing, she was to weak to do this fast and with the two bags she was carrying she was about 28 pounds heavier than usual, she rubbed her forehead and then sat on the window ledge, time for a new plan.
As she sat there thinking of what to do her ears picked up a feint noise, she looked to the left and tons of walkers were suddenly moving in the same direction, the walkers below her in the alley also began to move towards the horde that was stumbling quickly to somewhere Eilidh couldn't see, she stood up quickly and waited until the walkers were near the end of the alley before she made her next move.
She climbed down the ladder as quickly as she could and hurried across to the other fire escape, she glanced over her shoulder briefly before climbing up the ladder, when she was safely on the ledge she looked back at the horde and saw that they were still moving and hadn't noticed her at all so she didn't hang around, she moved up the stairs that led to the roof and when she reached it she let out a sigh of relief, she was out of the office, finally.
She smiled and began to adjust the straps of her bags but it quickly vanished and the blood drained from her face when she heard what was clearly a horse neighing followed by gunshots, bang, bang, bang.
Instinctively she pulled out her own gun and then ducked down, the shots weren't anywhere remotely close to her but she could hear them echoing in the direction the horde had been moving and that wasn't very far from where she was.
She took a few deep breaths to calm herself and then gasped when the gunshots fired again, who the hell would be stupid enough to fire a gun in the middle of the city, she looked in the direction the shots were firing and then to the right, she could go, now, while the walkers were distracted in the opposite direction and put some distance between herself and them, it would be easy and sure she may come across some here and there but they would be easily dealt with and the shots would draw most of them away anyway, yet...she was still crouched in the same spot, why was she still crouched in the same spot she thought with a groan.
Someone could be needing help, noone with sense would fire a gun in the city not unless they had no way out and Eilidh hadn't heard any screaming yet to confirm that, she thought for a long moment on what to do before groaning loudly and standing up, it was worth checking out so she broke into a run in the direction of the gunshots that fired once again.
There was a burning protest in her lungs as she ran but she refused to stop, she could see her destination across the rooftop; the ladder that further lead to the top of the building.
With energy that she didn't realise she still had she pushed herself on and sprinted the rest of the short distance until she was stood at the bottom of the ladder.
Breathing rapidly she glanced quickly upwards before grabbing onto the bars, she then began to haul her weary body up, a rather challenging task as she had her duffel bag on her shoulder across her body and her rucksack over the top of that on her back.
When she finally reached the top she leaned against the railing of the ladder for support, only for a second so she could take a breath though because she then immediately took off running again in the direction the gunshots were coming from and she almost tripped as she did.
She skidded to a halt when she saw an Asian guy suddenly appear from a hatch in the roof, he quickly climbed out and closed the door behind him.
She instantly aimed her gun at his back whilst steadying her frantic breathing as she waited on him to turn around, when he did he jumped and reached behind him.
"Don't move." She told him through hard breaths, his hands shot up in surrender, "Give me it."
"What?" the guy asked nervously.
"The gun." She said.
"I don't have a gun." He replied and she gave him a sceptical look, "No I swear!" he said and reached behind him again but stopped when she shook her hands with her gun at him, he put his hands up again, "I don't have a gun, really. It's my walkie!"
She stared at him for a moment, trying to study his face to see if he was lying and he turned his back to her, "Look." he said.
She slowly stepped towards him until the gun touched his back making him tense up.
The walkie he was talking about was sticking out the back of his jeans, she took a step back, "Drop you pack…slowly." She told him and he did, she crouched, grabbed the bag then she swiftly stepped back further with her gun still aimed at him.
She pulled the zip open in a rush to look in his pack; it was difficult with just the one hand since she still had her gun aimed at him so the task was rather clumsy also he had turned back around to face her causing her to feel pressure under his gaze.
She saw the bag had a bottle of water, a hatchet and a hoodie inside, no gun.
She dropped the bag next to her feet and lowered her gun a little; she looked at him over it, "What's your name?"
"Glenn." He said after a moment of hesitation, his eyes moving from her gun to her face.
"What's your hurry Glenn?" she asked.
"Those gunshots…I'm heading to check out what's going on, someone could need help." He said and lowered his hands some more.
"Are you alone?" she asked as she glanced at the hole he came from, he shook his head.
"I'm with a group; we came here to do a supply run in the department store," he said and glanced over his shoulder at one of the buildings, "It was supposed to be a quick in and out run but...we're kind of stuck in there now." He added with a sigh and looked at her once more.
"Because of those shots." She said in response, it wasn't a question, he nodded.
She stared at him for a brief moment with her gun still aimed at him, "You aren't stuck anymore, you could go, right now."
He frowned at her, "I'm not going to just leave them behind."
"Most people would." she said.
"I'm not most people." he replied instantly, "...and they're my friends."
She thought hard about what he had said as she stared at him for what seamed like the longest time before she eventually lowered her gun completely so it was at her side and he seamed to visibly relax, "You said you were on a supply run."
"That's right." he said with a nod of his head.
"So you're part of a bigger group somewhere?" she asked after a beat.
"Yeah, our camp isn't too far from here." he replied after a brief delay.
She nodded with what she hoped was a nonchalant expression, "I think I heard a horse." she said and indicated with her head to the edge of the roof before she took a step towards it.
He waited before taking a step also, "Can you see from there?"
"No...how about we move forward and look together?" she said.
He didn't respond, he only watched her closely with an uncertain look on his face, obviously he was scared incase she pointed her gun at him again, she rolled her eyes and reluctantly put her weapon away in the back of her jeans.
He relaxed some more before moving swiftly towards the edge of the roof to look over, she began to follow but stopped when she saw him recoil, "What is it?" she asked him anxiously, the last thing she wanted to see was some poor soul being ripped to pieces.
"There's a LOT of walkers down there." he replied with a shake of his head and she noticed that he'd gone white all of a sudden, she picked up his pack and walked towards him.
"Here." she said and handed him the bag, he thanked her and then put it on his back.
"They seam to be heading up that way." He said and began to move along the rooftop, "Come on."
She stayed where she was with her brows furrowed, "Seriously?"
"Yeah." he told her as if it was the most natural thing in the world, she tilted her head to the side a little before moving in his direction, she then quickly broke into a run and he copied her movements so they were jogging side by side.
"After the whole gun thing, you don't mind me coming?" she said to him.
"We're strangers, I don't blame you for being careful." He replied.
She nodded and kept moving with him, "What's your name?" he asked.
"Eilidh." She said.
"Nice to meet you." he said and grinned at her, she almost laughed.
"I'm sure it is after pulling a gun on you." she replied.
"Like I said…you were being cautious, nothing wrong with that, watch yourself going across this." He said as they approached a makeshift bridge across to the other building.
"You're not from around here." he said, "Do you have a group somewhere?" he then asked her and she shook her head as she followed him across, they jogged on along the roof to edge of the rooftop.
"No and it's just me, has been for months." She told him.
"Man…that sucks." He said as they approached the edge of the roof.
She knew she wasn't wrong about the horse, she heard it again but this time it sounded more agitated than it had before.
Glenn looked over the edge of the rooftop first and immediately stepped back, "What?" Eilidh asked as she approached him, he held a palm up to stop her.
"If you're squeamish like me…you don't want to look down there." He told her and exhaled a long breath.
She moved forward anyway so she could look, ignoring the warning and she instantly wished she hadn't.
There was a horse and the walkers were devouring it, the poor thing was still alive, there were hundreds fighting over it.
"Man that's disgusting." She heard Glenn say beside her and she opened her eyes that she had briefly closed, she looked at the ground again and saw that there were other walkers crawling under the abandoned army tank that was next to the animal.
"I think it's owner might be underneath the tank." She said and Glenn looked back over the edge.
"Well...they're done for." He said glumly.
"…No...we would have heard screams would we not?" she asked and his brows furrowed.
"Probably?" he said, "Can you get inside a tank from underneath it?"
"I don't know." She said and scratched her eyebrow.
Just then a single gunshot fired and it was much louder than before, it seamed to echo everywhere, "What the-" Glenn said and looked around quickly.
"That came from inside the tank." Eilidh gasped.
"…are you sure?" Glenn asked.
"Yes. Look, the hatch is open." She said and pointed to it.
"You're right…so…they made it?" Glenn asked.
"Maybe…maybe not." She said and they exchanged a look.
They then stared at the top of the tank, some walkers had begun climbing up onto it at the sound of the gunshot, Eilidh glanced at the now silenced horse but all she could see were the backs of the greedy walkers feeding on it.
"Oh! Look!" Glenn brought her attention back to the tank, a man was peeking his head out of the top of it, "He made it." there was shock and relief in his voice.
The walkers around the tank that weren't preoccupied by the horse noticed him and began climbing to get to him; he ducked back inside and closed the hatch behind him.
Eilidh looked at Glenn, "We have to help him." he said immediately.
"What?" she asked, thrown by his answer, "How do we help him? There's no way we can get to him to help without getting killed ourselves."
"We can't leave him in there to die." He protested, "Anyone with common sense knows not to fire guns in the city right…so, he must not be from here...right?"
"That doesn't matter; if he's still alive since this started then he's been surviving like everyone else therefore he's bound to understand by now that they are attracted by noise?" she said.
"I…I don't know. God! I can't just walk away…there must be something we can do." Glenn said with a frustrated sigh.
"I don't think we can…he's closed the hatch so we can't shout down to him even if we were stupid enough to do that." She said with her hands on her hips.
They were both silent for a moment, trying to figure out what to do until Eilidh had an idea, "Unless…your walkie…there should be a radio in that tank right?" she asked, he nodded slowly as if he was unsure, "We should be able to radio down there...no?"
"I…I think so." He said and brought his walkie out the back of his jeans.
"Wait." She halted him, "We need a plan first…if we do manage to contact him…then what?"
Glenn thought about it for a second and then his expression changed like a light bulb just flashed above his head, "There's an alley just around the corner there." He said and pointed across the roof over his shoulder, "Down there…that ladder takes you down, those gunshots brought almost every geek around out from where they are."
"Right." Eilidh said and gestured with her head for him to continue.
"That alley should be clear." He added and her mouth slowly opened.
"…you're not serious...you want to go down there?" she asked shocked.
"Don't look at me like that it's making me doubt my plan." He told her.
"Yeah, that's the idea. Your plan is crazy." She told him matter of factly.
"No it's not, look." He said and pointed at the horse, "Most of them are surrounding the horse yeah? Or heading that way and there's not as many on the other side, if I manage to contact this guy, I can direct him to the alley, meet him there and bring him up here."
Eilidh stared at him still in shock, "Glenn…this is…I...I'm only about forty percent confident this plan will work." she said.
"Yeah? Well…I'm sixty?" He said a little nervously and he answered in the form of a question which made Eilidh's uneasiness increase.
"You'd risk your life for a stranger? He could be anyone." She said.
"Like I said…I can't just leave him in there to die." He replied with a sigh, "And…your right he could be anyone…but he's just one person, there are more of us than him if he tries anything."
"You don't know that, he could have others somewhere close…I've seen that sort of thing happen before." She said and instinctively grabbed her forearm which she proceeded to squeeze, a habit that appeared whenever she was nervous or scared.
"There's a lot of what if's I know…but lets cross those bridges when we come to them." He said with a shrug.
Eilidh was sure the guy in the tank was alone but she wasn't going to let her guard down, there were too many liars these days, trust was limited, she didn't even fully trust Glenn yet but so far he hadn't given off any bad vibes.
"Are you absolutely sure that you want to do this?" she asked him.
"Yeah…I have to." He said.
"…okay." She said after a beat with a quick simple nod.
He returned the nod and pressed the walkie on, "Hey…dumbass." He spoke into it, Eilidh's mouth twitched at his choice of words, there was no response, "You in the tank." He added but there was still no response.
He glanced at Eilidh and she moved to look down at the tank once more to see if the guy inside had maybe opened the hatch and jumped out or something, but it was still closed with walkers banging on the top of it, she shrugged at him and moved so she was back infront of him.
"Hey, you alive in there?!" Glenn asked more urgently, he and Eilidh stared at the walkie for a few seconds and it eventually crackled.
"Hel…Hello?!" The voice replied, slight disbelief in the tone.
Eilidh and Glenn sighed in relief, "You talk him through the plan, I'm going to have a quick look down the side where the entrance to the alley is." She said, he nodded and she jogged off down the roof to the edge holding her duffel at her hip and she heard Glenn explaining to the man what he was planning to do as she went.
Once she reached the edge of the roof she looked over, there were a lot of walkers wandering in the street, some heading towards the tank but there wasn't near as many as what was crowding around it.
"Eilidh." Glenn said from across the roof and pointed to the opposite side, she jogged towards it along with him.
"So?" she asked as he put the walkie in the back of his jeans.
"Down here." He said and began climbing down the ladder to the alley quickly, she took her duffel off and left it at the top of the roof then she followed behind him, "I told him the plan, told him to wait a minute so I could get down there…as for the result…keep your fingers crossed for me yeah?" he said as he stepped off the ladder onto the fire escape ledge.
"Um…I'm not coming?" she asked once she was stood next to him, he shook his head, "Glenn…I can watch your back."
"No…you wait here, I'll be right back, I'm quick." He told her as he adjusted his rucksack on his back.
"So am I." she said and he gave her a look, she rolled her eyes as he moved towards the ladder.
"Oh." He said and stopped, he turned around to face her once more, "If I don't make it back…that hatch I came out of where we met…climb down there, go through the building out into another alley…that's where the department store is, go through the side door and you'll meet my people…okay?" He said.
She stared at him in disbelief, even after pointing her gun at him when they met he was telling her where to go incase he didn't make it back because he knew she was alone, she simply nodded in response as she wasn't really sure what to say.
She wasn't sure what to make of what she was feeling, an intense happiness overwhelmed her.
The people she'd come across since the dead started walking had all turned out to be either liars, thieves, crazy, murderers or something else, but Glenn wasn't like any of them, he was different.
"Be careful." She told him intently, it was almost a threat.
"Always am." he said and then he began to climb down the alleyway ladder.
Once he reached the bottom he looked up at her and gave her a brisk nod, she had no time to return it because he was off, jogging towards the gate at the far end of the alleyway, she was frozen with fear.