ROXANNE'S STORY: CHAPTER ONE - First Entry:
Roxanne was going to kill her husband. She knew she could get away with it but did not know if she could live with it. They had been thrown out of 2 different groups because of her husband's cowardice and were back on the road again, this time lucky to be alive. Ed was still sniffling and whining from his injuries. "A bunch of fools! I did what you're SUPPOSED to do when you see movement in the night. How did I know the damn fool had gotten up to relieve himself?" Ed had shot and killed a member of the group and the rest had turned against them. Ed would be dead if it hadn't been for the leader who stopped the beating that Ed received from the group. And who knows what her fate would have been. Instead the group leader banished them and here they were, yet again with 1 gun and a pick ax. They had been banished from a previous group because Ed could not be trusted driving the car or going out on supply runs. While everyone was inside a building Ed would wait in the driver's seat with the engine running, the windows up and the doors locked. At the first sight of a walker he would freeze and the other members would be left with banging on the car to get him to open the doors again. They tried taking him into the buildings to search with the group but found that he would shoot at the slightest sound or movement, putting their lives in danger. No one wanted him, so here they were again.
Roxanne was thinking of killing her husband….(to be continued.)
ROXANNE'S STORY: CHAPTER ONE - Second Entry:
Roxanne saw a Hostess Twinkie truck pushed off to the side of the road and asked Ed to stop so she could check it out. "There's nothing in there" Ed said and kept driving. Later they were going thru a small town and she saw a Laundromat down a back alley. "Back up" Roxanne said. "There would be vending machines in the Laundromat."
"There's nothing there. All that stuff is taken by now" Ed replied and kept driving. A voice started whispering in her head, "kill him, kill him now," but she suppressed the anger that was building up inside her.
Finally Ed stopped in front of a bar and told her to check behind the counter for a gun, "and don't bring back junk that I can't use neither!" He was right. In the beginning of the collapse of civilization Roxanne didn't know anything about guns or bullets. Didn't know what bullets went with what guns or how to load or unload. Ed refused to teach her always keeping the gun to him and sending her into stores with the pickax. She would bring back bullets unfit for his gun or guns that his ammo did not match. He would always throw them away telling her that she was useless. But one day she saw the look on his face when she handed him ammo and he realized that he had previously thrown away a gun that could use those bullets. After that he started keeping everything.
Unknown to Ed she had approached the women in the last 2 groups and they had been happy to teach her about guns. Eventually in all the raids she managed to find bullets that were the right caliber for a gun she had hidden in her backpack. The women also taught her how to syphon gas but since that was the only thing that Ed got out of the car to do she never mentioned it to him.
She got out of the car and immediately heard the door locks hammer down behind her. She was hungry, so hungry that she felt faint and would rather look for food than guns. She decided that if she found anything to eat in the bar that she would not bring it out to Ed and would consume it in the bar. She got out her pickax and looked in the window. She did not see movement but to be cautious she tapped on the window, and then sat down on the ledge before she fell down in the awful heat…. (to be continued)
Roxanne's Story – Chapter one - Third Entry:
Roxanne saw that the bar was empty. So were the shelves and there wasn't a gun behind the counter. She pulled her kerchief over her nose because of the stench and knew that someone had died here. Other than the restrooms there was only 1 other door leading to the back storeroom. She cautiously opened it a crack, waited, then opened it another crack where she could see a dead body in a chair. Someone had taken their own life or someone else had taken it for them. She didn't see a gun on the floor but anyone could have taken it during their raid of the place.
She went into the room but knew that she couldn't stay long because of the stench. Quickly she pried open the back door to allow in some air and glanced through the alley to make sure it was free of walkers. Then she began to search the storeroom but the only things left were a couple of jars of cherries for mixed drinks and some tonic water. She stepped outside to open one of the jars and eat the cherries but her stomach lurched as soon as the food hit it. Her stomach was rejecting what it hadn't received in a long time. She waited until it settled and then just held some cherries in her mouth until her stomach adjusted. She ate them slowly while standing outside looking into the storeroom and noticed a set of keys hanging from the pants of the dead body. Looking left and right down the alley again she noticed a compact car and felt confident that the keys would fit. But would it start? Perhaps it wouldn't be necessary to kill Ed after all. Perhaps she could just start the car, drive down the alley and leave by a different route.
Suddenly she heard tires squeal and ran through the bar to the front of the building to see ED driving away as 2 walkers slowly followed the car. There was no need to shout after him since it would turn the walkers toward her so she silently stepped back into the dark and coolness of the bar. Twice in the past he had driven away leaving her behind but he always returned. Well, except that once when she found him parked on the side of the road a mile outside of a small town. When she asked him about it all he said was, "I knew you'd be OK and would find me."
She opened a bottle of tonic water and leaned against the bar, taking her time to drink it. She gathered the rest of the cherries and water putting then into her backpack and was going to get the keys to try and start the compact car when she heard ED return. Who is to say that she survived this time? She could just stay in the bar and he would think that she had been attacked and killed. She knew he wouldn't get out of the car to come looking for her but was she ready to do this alone? She could die just as easily with or without him but Ed would surely die without her… (To be continued).
Roxanne's Story – Chapter One – Fourth Entry:
Roxanne walked back to the dead body and removed the car keys dangling from his pocket. But as she was leaving she noticed that there was a rawhide string hanging on the door with 1 key attached. Since it was such an odd place to put a single key she took it down and looked at the tag that was attached. "Above Apt" She had not seen any staircase in the bar to indicate that there was an apartment above, nor had she seen a fire escape outside. She began walking toward the car and again heard the squeal of tires as Ed sped off. She walked past the car in the alley, past the garbage cans and saw that there was an alcove with stairs leading to the top floor. She climbed the long staircase and listened at the door for any movement. After not hearing anything she gently knocked and waited for the sound of groans or shuffling of feet but there was nothing. She did however hear Ed return again and actually jumped when she heard him yell out her name. "ROXANNE! COME ON YOU BITCH. I'M NOT COMING BACK AGAIN."
If there was anyone in the apartment, alive or dead then they would have gone to the front of the building where Ed was yelling. She used Ed's distraction as an opportunity to use the key and quickly slipped in….(to be continued) DB
ROXANNES STORY – CHAPTER ONE - FIFTH ENTRY:
It was starting to get dark and Ed had returned several more times. Roxanne had checked the apartment which was free of walkers and decided she would sleep here tonight, and then try the compact car in the morning. She went back down the stairs and used the garbage cans to block the staircase knowing that she would hear the racket if any walker stumbled into them. They didn't usually climb stairs unless they heard a noise but she wasn't taking any chances.
She found 1 can of pudding and 1 can of peaches in the kitchen. The bathroom had a bottle of aspirin and a bottle of tums which she put in her backpack. She had eaten tums when there was nothing else. Under the sink she found a can of dog food which she also packed. She opened the valve to the hot water heater in the utility room and found that no one had thought to drain it for drinking water. She found some empty bottles which were tossed on the floor and filled them from the hot water heater.
Roxanne finally heard Ed leave for the last time. He would not be back in the dark. Most likely he would find some isolated driveway and sleep in the car, if he slept at all. She wanted to sleep in the bed, but that part of the apartment carried the smell of the corpse below so she slept on the couch. She kept the windows open to catch some breeze and to hear if there was any activity during the night.
The next morning Roxanne woke feeling confused and couldn't believe that she had done it. She had decided to go it alone and hadn't consciously made the decision. This time it had been her body pulling her along while her mind had been padded in cotton, numbed from hunger, fear and desperation. She felt rejoiced that the ZA hadn't turned her into a murderess.
She took some men's shirts out of the closet and packed them along with her meager supplies and headed down to the car in the alley. She stood at the car lightly running her fingers over it, whispering, "Come on baby, will you start for me? Will we have an adventure together you and me?" She hoped that the dead guy had only been a corpse for weeks and not for months and that the car still ran. She finally unlocked the door and got in, continuing to talk to it. "You don't know me baby but I'm going to pull the seat up and make some adjustments and then you'll talk to me, OK?"
The car turned over on the 2nd try. Roxanne laughed uncontrollably and cried at the same time shouting, "YES, YES, YES!" Finally she relaxed, sighed with relief, patted the steering wheel and said, "OK, Dollywood here we come!"
ROXANNE'S STORY – CHAPTER ONE - SIXTH ENTRY:
Roxanne sat in the car and studied the map. There was something outside the park called Dollywood Train Station that showed tracks going through a tunnel. Perhaps that was how visitors were taken into the park. If it turns out that the park is safe it would be a good idea to block that tunnel with cars or maybe a bus across the entrance.
She sat back in the car seat and sighed, then reached over and patted Mutt on the head. She came across the dog in the last town or rather it came across her. When she first spotted the dog it darted out of sight around a corner. She decided to follow because if it were still alive after all this time, then he had a feeding ground somewhere. She saw it again in an alley this time slowly backing up from something hidden from Roxanne's sight. Then it barked, back-peddled some more and barked again. Soon 2 walkers who had been following the dog came into sight. The dog turned to run, saw Roxanne and ran behind her legs, whining as if to say, "DO something". Roxanne grabbed the lid off of a trash can using it to knock down both of the walkers and then used her pickax to finish them off.
The dog immediately ran past Roxanne to the end of the alley and through a doggie door. Then it popped its head back out, whined again and disappeared back inside. Roxanne tried the door but it was locked so she knelt down on the concrete, pushed her arm thru the doggie door allowing her to reach the lock and released it. She was not afraid of walkers since the dog felt safe on the premises but she drew her gun in case the dog's owner was inside. She entered a kitchen, waited then called out, "Hello". The dog appeared again, stared at her for a moment then darted out of sight so Roxanne followed.
She stayed there for 3 days taking care of the old lady until she died, promising at the end to take Mutt with her. She was glad to have the company since it didn't feel as strange talking to a dog as when she was talking to herself or the car Jenny. It wasn't as if she had a schedule to keep but she felt sure that Dollywood would be the ideal place to go although ED had wanted to stay in Chicago. Without a way to heat the apartment or build a fire in the apartment they had gone to various relatives, but that never lasted long once they saw that ED could not contribute to their survival.
The dog had proven to be an asset to her, drawing off walkers while she was scavenging for supplies. The worst was finding gas and it looked as if they would need to abandon the car soon. These mountain roads were hard on using up gas and although there had been some houses on this road none had a car parked out front. She reached over and scratched Mutt's ears and said, "Well, let's just go until Jenny gives out on us. Looks like we'll be on foot soon."
ROXANNE'S STORY – CHAPTER ONE - 7TH ENTRY:
Roxanne stood on the mountain side looking down at Dollywood after abandoning the car. She had left the road and cut through the forest for better protection from any walkers. Mutt was confused as to why they had stopped and was getting impatient beside her. The place was huge and practically swallowed up after being unattended for so long. She hadn't expected so much acreage and that portions of it would not be visible to her. It looked as if it had been built in sections with each hidden within its own mountain space separated by train tracks, or tunnels, or waterways. What movement she had seen was not human or walker just disrepair. It was overgrown and some of the bigger rides had collapsed. Her hopes were dashed. It did not look inviting at all; it looked ominous, haunted and gave her a slight chill. There were echoing sounds that she contributed to the slamming of a screen door, the squeak of something rusty, and a tree limb banging against a window. This would be very, very difficult to stay here alone. She could go insane in this place. It appeared as if the mountain was trying to take its land back and erase any memory that an amusement park had existed here.
She decided to go down and walk the fence line to get a better look at things. Perhaps it wouldn't seem so spooky to see it up close and identify some of the sounds. She also wanted to check the fence to see if it was still secure or if it had been breached. If she still didn't feel comfortable with the place she would go back up into the mountain to spend the night and continue checking the next day. …. (To be continued)
Roxanne's Story – Chapter One - 8th entry:
Roxanne sat in the driver's seat of the tour bus and wondered if she released the brake if it would roll downhill to the tunnel. She would use it to block the entrance to the park, swerving so the front was against one wall of the tunnel and the rear of the bus against the other wall. She would go thru the bus to get in and out of the park if necessary. So far she didn't see any need to leave the park since there was water, stored goods and medical supplies. She could use the other buildings and its furniture for firewood during the winter. She had seen rabbits raiding the overgrown and unattended gardens and deer had come up to the fence line. She did not know how to catch or kill either of these animals but would learn by her mistakes. No longer disturbed by humans the wildlife had started to come back including ducks and geese settling into the various ponds.
She had not seen any walkers since arriving 2 days ago, but walkers had a habit of showing up everywhere eventually. She was tired of looking over her shoulder, tired of quietly moving in and out of buildings, opening or searching in a haphazard way in order to avoid detection.
She opened the door of the bus and said, "Get out of the bus Mutt. I don't want you getting hurt when we hit the wall." He looked at her and whined. "Go on now. I'm not leaving you." Mutt stepped out and looked back. "Go on now", she waved her hand. "Further, further". When he was safely away she released the break…nothing. She stood up and jumped up and down. Nothing. She stepped down on the last step of the bus and jumped up and down but still nothing. Finally she went to the front of the bus and climbed on the bumper and while holding onto the grill she jumped up and down but almost killed her when the bumper broke off. She fell to the concrete and Mutt came running up to lick her face. Roxanne laughed and said, "Well Mutt I may have great ideas but I never know how to execute them."
She brushed herself off and inspected her torn hands from hitting the concrete. "Let's go to the wishing pond to get washed off and think on it some more." She moved the bumper away from the front of the bus and they walked off to the pond where Mutt had been sitting. Roxanne liked sitting here because the pennies on the bottom gave her some sense of happiness and hope. She opened a bag of stale M&M's and shared a can of sardines with Mutt. It was turning cool here at night and the sun felt good on her face. Then she realized that the silence was disturbed by the crunching of tires on concrete. She grabbed her gun and cursed herself for letting someone creep up on her. Mutt was busy with his sardines and hadn't warned her, damn him! She spun around to see that the only danger was the bus slowly starting to roll downhill. She quickly holstered her gun and ran for the driver's seat so she could steer the bus in the right position….. (To be continued)
ROXANNE'S STORY – CHAPTER ONE - 9TH ENTRY:
Roxanne sat in the Mechanics Office reading a car repair manual. She knew she should not become complacent in her security and should plan a backdoor exit if necessary. She had found the keys to a chain-link fence at the far end of the park that appeared to access a road used for service contractors. The road was overgrown now, but usable as long as she could avoid the saplings growing up between the broken asphalt.
"Batteries can last 5 – 12 years depending upon the variables" the manual said. "Variables?" she questioned. "What about in a ZA you jerk". Her plans were to stock the car with supplies, bedding, extra gas, and clothing and park it at the back gate for a quick exit. She would put the keys to the fence on a string around her neck and find something to camouflage the car. She knew she should leave the car in the shop for protection against the weather, but the bay door was too difficult for her to open. She had managed to get it up but had struggled with it and knew it wasn't something that she could easily do again.
There were 2 cars in the bay area but neither would start. She changed all the fluids in one, not taking any chances that the oil was old and hard, that the antifreeze and steering fluids were topped off, even added windshield washer. She finally retrieved a boxed battery from the shelf and studied how the old battery was placed in the engine, then changed it with the new one. She was just getting into the seat to see if the car would start when Mutt came trotting into the garage with a rabbit in his mouth. She really wanted to start this car, but Mutt's pride came first. She got out and knelt down and petted him, praising him for his catch and saw his joy of "I did good, huh?" in his face. "Yes sweetie, you did good. Now let's go cook this thing up."
(To be continued…)
Roxanne's Story: chapter one - 10th Entry:
Roxanne heard the car attempting to make the upgrade to the park long before it came into sight. She could tell that the car was on its last legs by the knocking, rattling and grinding as the driver attempted to shift gears.
She ran to the bus and got down on her hands and knees to remove one of the barriers she had placed there in an attempt to deter walkers from crawling under the bus. After crawling on her belly under the bus she removed a small peephole in an outside barrier and watched the parking lot until the car limped into view. "Shit!" she couldn't believe it. ED with a male companion. A thousand thoughts went thru her mind in seconds. "I can't do this again. I should have killed him long ago. But what about the other man? Was he an innocent passenger or another asshole? Shit!" She heard the other man caution ED as they approached. She wasn't worried about them coming through the bus because she had locked the back door and only unlocked it when she left the interior of the park.
"ED, I think this place is already claimed" the traveler said. "This bus was positioned to block the tunnel and did you notice all the stakes and spikes protruding thru the fence? Let's take our time on this and walk the fence line to see if there is any activity inside." They went to their right which would take them up the mountainside where they would have the same view of the park that Roxanne had when she first approached the park. She knew the view would be good there and that it would be hard to stay undercover without being noticed. No, she was not going to play this cat & mouse game. On this she needed to get out there and get it over with.
She crawled back to where Mutt was waiting for her with anticipation in his eyes. She had him get under the bus so he wouldn't be seen, told him to stay and pulled the barrier back with just enough room for him to get out if necessary. She picked up a ladder that she had placed for this possibility and leaned it against the hill that covered the tunnel. The hill extended out along the fence line and she would be able to run across it undetected. She knew that they could scale the fence but the hillside was wet with morning dew and any attempt by them to climb it would be a slow process. The ladder helped her to reach the top quickly, and then she ran along the top until she was directly above them and the sun would be in their face. She cocked the rifle and yelled, "HOLD IT RIGHT THERE!" (to be continued)
ROXANNE'S STORY: CHAPTER ONE - 11TH ENTRY
Both Ed and the other man started to raise their hands to shield their eyes from the sun but Roxanne ordered them to keep their hands down. "I have a rifle trained on you and will blow both of you away before you even get a bead on me so don't move."
"Roxie?" Ed asked. "Roxanne is that you? I thought you were dead. How'd you get here?"
"I'm with a group," she answered. "They sent me out because I recognized you. We're not taking in any more people, least of all a worthless piece of Shit like you. Now beat it! Get out!" Ed started to whine, "The car is shot Roxie. You can't send us out on foot. We'll never make it. You know what it's like out there. You know that I'm good with cars Roxanne. I can be helpful. I can keep things running but I'm just no good out here. You gotta talk to them Roxie. They gotta let us in."
Roxanne hesitated. Ed had a point there, he was good with machinery. He could get the Water Wheel going again to keep the pond water circulating and fresh. He was good with wood and could devise fishing poles, could make more stakes to fortify the fence, could build more barriers. He was useful as long as he was protected and not out in the ZA world.
She turned her gun on the other guy. "What's your name and what skills do you have?" "Name's Lucky", he said. "I'm good at tracking and hunting animals and I'm good with a gun." Roxanne was startled by the softness in his voice which surprised her. She hadn't heard that certain "calmness" in a person's voice since the ZA started. People now spoke in tones of fear; panic, screaming, yelling and even whispers had the tone of urgency in it. Ed had been whining and she had been yelling yet here was this man, this Lucky who had not let their drama suck him into the circle. She changed the tone in her own voice and said, "Well Lucky, if you can answer 3 questions to our satisfaction I'll talk to the council about letting you in." … (to be continued).
ROXANNE'S STORY: CHAPTER ONE - 12TH ENTRY:
Roxanne sat on the rock pile watching Lucky and Ed work on the Water Wheel and clogged pipes to the filtration system. They had been here for 3 days and she didn't know how much longer she could keep up with her lies. She wasn't worried about Ed although he would be mad once he found out that there wasn't a "group" working in another section of the park. Ed was happy to have a bunk, food, shelter, protection and was actually taking pride in his work. She had seen him smile a few times as he stood back with his hands on his skinny hips and surveyed his accomplishment at the end of the day.
But Lucky? She hadn't fooled Lucky from day one and wondered why he hadn't said something before now. From the moment she handcuffed them to one another and let them out of their bunk, his eyes never stopped taking in the place. He said he was a good tracker but she suspected that he had been a cop, detective or a bounty hunter. Maybe military, because he saw all the indications that the place was deserted.
'Boss, may I approach for water?" Lucky called out taunting her. She had to hide her face so he couldn't see her smile.
"Take it slow so Mutt doesn't tear into you." She watched him as he approached the water bucket which was 8' away from her. He kept his eyes on Mutt as Roxanne kept her eyes on Lucky. His face was glistening with sweat and a few brown hairs had escaped from his ponytail so she didn't think that he was faking the need for water. Mutt stood up and began to growl. She calmed the dog but didn't tell him to sit, wanting Mutt to be ready if Lucky should make a movement toward her.
Lucky used the ladle to get a drink then took his eyes off the dog and put them on her. "When do you plan on telling us that the place is empty, Roxanne?" he asked in that soft voice. "Or do you want me to tell Ed for you after you've locked us up tonight? He'll be plenty mad that a woman made a fool out of him but he'll have all night to get over it."
"And you Lucky?" she asked. "Would you feel like a fool?"
He took another drink of water and shook his head, "Nawwww. I figure you had to be careful. I know you can take care of yourself because I saw in your eyes that you were ready to take Ed's head off right then and there. You just didn't plan it out well, that's all. No one can go it alone anymore Roxanne."
Roxanne smiled, "Oh, I'm not the complete fool Lucky."… (To be continued)
ROXANNE'S STORY – CHAPTER ONE - 13TH ENTRY:
Lucky & Roxanne sat on the porch of her cabin, both tired after another productive day. It had grown dark and the only sounds were the crickets. Ed had decided he was going to bunk in the garage and was moving a cot from the First Aid Lounge into the facility. He felt safer within the bay's steel doors especially since the facility only had 1 window. Lucky had convinced Roxanne that they did not have the manpower to fortify the whole park and that they needed to centralize. "Start with a smaller space and build your wall. Localize everything you need within it and if our group grows then you can expand by building another wall outside the central wall, and so forth."
They saw a flashlight approaching from the pathway and Mutt started to growl. Ed came into view carrying a gas can and said that he had seen several sheds throughout the park which he thought could contain generators. "You know, in case they lost electricity and people were stuck on the rides. They'd have generators near to get the people down. I'm not an electrician but I thought I would check out a few and see if they still run." Lucky & Roxanne looked at each other. Ed was going out alone at night?
"That's mighty big of you Ed," Lucky said. "If you want to fiddle with it go right ahead. " After Ed left Roxanne told Mutt to keep an eye on him. Mutt's head snapped around to look at her as if Roxanne was crazy. "You don't need to like him Mutt, just make sure he doesn't get into any trouble. Stay your distance." Mutt got up, hesitated, and then slowly walked off as if he were going to see the Vet.
"We need to block off all the various paths leading out into the park and centralize here. We have all these amusement rides and can use the metal instead of wood. In fact we can take the cars off the rides and stack them to build a barrier," Lucky expanded.
They exchanged ideas for another twenty minutes when suddenly Roxanne grabbed his arm. "Wait! Did Ed intend to start the equipment NOW? At NIGHT?" They immediately received the answer when the sky suddenly lite up by ED having turned on the Ferris wheel. The lights flashed several times followed by a grinding sound and then the wheel slowly started to turn. Both of them made a mad dash into the night, yelling "turn it off Ed. Turn it off!"
Cami, Gene and Morgan had taken the first night shift and were in a circle surrounding the camp when Cami noticed the glow in the far distance. She walked over to where Gene and Morgan had already gathered and asked "What the Hell? Those lights are moving. Do you see that?" she turned to look at Gene.
"Looks like Dollywood is already occupied" he said, crossing his arms.
"And occupied by damn fools" growled Morgan.
ROXANNE'S STORY – CHAPTER ONE - 14TH entry:
While Lucky and Ed were busy dismantling the park rides Roxanne decided to move her get-away car to the outside of the fence-line. She had not told either of the men about her backup plan and especially did not trust Ed. She had seen how he freaks out when in a state of panic. If he knew the location of her car it would be the first thing he'd go for and he would leave her, Lucky and everything else behind. Eventually Ed will have another car ready for backup so there was no reason to disclose to either of the men about her little secret.
She slowed her step as she approached the car and came to a stop as she spotted 3 walkers outside the fence. They had seen her, pressing their body against the fence with their arms extended through the links. It had been so long since she had seen a walker that she was momentarily stunned. They must have been close last night when ED started the Ferris wheel or they wouldn't be at the fence already. She took the steel bar that ED had pounded down into a point, went to the fence and was able to kill two of the walkers by puncturing their skulls through the chain links. But the 3rd walker she could not get to because of bushes on her side of the fence. She decided that he was not a danger and went about her business of taking the tarp off the car, starting it and getting back out again to unlock the gates which would open outward. Getting back into the car she used the vehicle to do the work for her, bumping the front fender against the gate and letting it open a little, then bumping the gates again until finally the car could get thru. The 3rd walker lunged at the car but Roxanne planned on it following her away from the park gate.
She maneuvered the car around the saplings until she reached a bend in the road where she could park it without it being seen from inside the fence. She was met by 2 more walkers on the road. Hell, ED must have brought in every walker that was on the hillside last night. She pulled the car off the road into a bed of pine needles and got out with her steel pole. The 2 walkers were too close together so she separated them by side-kicking one causing it to fall. She had learned that her legs were her strongest asset so she always started with a kick to the legs or stomach of a walker to slow them or knock them down first. Then finish them off with a blow to the head with her pickaxe.
The 2nd walker lunged at her but as she lashed out to kick him he stumbled and fell at her feet. She lost her balance since her kick did not meet contact with the target and almost fell on top of him. The walker had grabbed her other leg when he fell and was attempting to pull her leg toward him. The 1st walker was already up and coming toward her when Mutt suddenly appeared and began barking to draw the walker away from Roxanne. She kicked at the downed walker until he lost his grip on her pants leg then quickly smashed his head with the pickaxe. Mutt had drawn the other walker away and it now had its back to Roxanne. She got on her feet and in a moment of anger that she hadn't felt since she wanted to kill Ed Roxanne used the axe to bury it in the walker's ear. When it fell she went down on her knees and used her knife to stab it over and over again. (continuing..)
ROXANNE'S STORY – CHAPTER ONE - 15TH ENTRY.
Roxanne was still on her knees, breathless with the kill of the walker. She used her forearm to wipe the sweat off her face and pushed her hair back. Mutt came up to her and nudged her elbow, whining, trying to lick her face. "Good boy, good boy. Where did you come from?" She looked up to see Lucky at a distance standing in the middle of the road. Her heart dropped. Oh Shit, how could she explain this? She got up and walked over to the car and waited for him to close the distance. He was silent. She quickly checked her back pocket and realized that the axe was still embedded in the walker's ear. The steel bar was where she had dropped it but she still had her knife. His silence was scaring her but when he was close enough she saw that he was fighting several emotions. His eyes showed anger, confusion, distrust and concern. But worse of all there was the look of hurt in his eyes. He saw the knife in her hand and stopped 6' from her, still silent waiting for Roxanne to speak first.
Why was her heart beating so fast? …..Because she had recently killed her first human while on the road with Mutt and it had left a deeper mark on her than the entire ZA of killing Walkers. He was still a stranger to her and she knew that Lucky would be too strong for her if it was his intent to kill her first.
Mutt stood to the side, looking from one to the other then approached Roxanne and tapped her leg as if to awaken her from a dream and bring her back to reality. "I…I couldn't let Ed know" she whispered. "If anything happened he'd take it and abandon us. Both of us." She sensed that Lucky was trying to get inside her mind and read the truth there. Then he took a step forward and reached out for her but quickly dropped his arms and stepped back again when Mutt started to growl. "Call off your dog," he calmly asked, or ordered, she couldn't tell which but decided to take her chances. "Sit Mutt."
Lucky stepped forward to put his hands on her shoulders and pulled her into his arms. Roxanne froze from the human contact, and a loving gesture of human contact at that. She did not put her arms around him in return but she did briefly put her cheek against his shoulder. "Remind me to never piss you off," Lucky said. She touched his arm and stepped out of his embrace.
"How did you know I was here?"
"Mutt. He wouldn't leave me alone, kept pulling at my clothes and growling. When I didn't see you around I became suspicious. He led me to the back gate. Never been back here before." Roxanne went over and retrieved her axe from the walker's ear and heard Lucky open the car door. "Looks like you have it fully stocked." He got out the tarp and began covering the car while she picked up her steel bar. But then Mutt started whining and backing up. They turned to see another walker up the road and Lucky asked, "You up for this?"
She shook her head, "No, I've had my fill of walkers today. Ed must have called them out from miles around" she sighed. They both turned and began to trot back toward the compound together.
*** END OF CHAPTER ONE
READERS: From this point I will begin Chapter Two of Roxanne's story, 1st Entry.
BEGIN CHAPTER 2 FOR THE INSTITUTION
BEGIN ACCESSING "ROXANNE & LUCKY" IN WORD.