Walking through the woods quickly, I took out a few stray undead with my bow, picking up all of the arrows once I was sure that the undead were really dead. As I made my way into Atlanta through the eight lane highway I had to awkwardly maneuver past the cars. There must have been one hell of a traffic jam getting out of this place. Some had the undead inside of them, banging against the windows, and others had permanently dead people inside of them.
Considering the slow pace that I was going at I knew that it would take me a while to get downtown. And it did. Each time I saw one of the undead I would drop to the ground and make my way underneath a car until I saw them walk past me. They were even slower than I was. Finally the cars began to thin out as I made my way through the outskirts of the city.
The gravel crunched like leaves after a cold fall as I made my way slowly and carefully into Atlanta. I noted that although there weren't many straggling undead, they were in huge packs scattered throughout the city. It looked just like it had in my town. They were all grouped together to track food down. It would make it easier to take down their dinner when they found it.
But, as far as I was concerned, there weren't any other people around. I hadn't seen anyone since I had left my apartment back in south Georgia. And that was fine by me. I didn't want to see anyone until I was safe and sound in some place that others had already secured. The only people that I'd seen so far were the undead. And I wasn't looking to make friends with them.
I snuck through the streets almost silently, making sure that their next meal wasn't going to be me. As I passed what appeared to be the main street of a business district, very near the office of one of the job offers that I'd had lined up, I stopped dead in my tracks at a group of about two hundred of the undead. They were standing right where I had been intending on heading. I was pretty sure that there were a few grocery stores down that way.
They were slowly limping towards my hiding spot behind a large brick building that had once been a tax collector's office and I began to back away. I nearly tripped when I walked right over the body of someone who had clearly recently fallen victim to one of the undead. As my breath hitched in my throat from fear I silently stumbled over the body of the dead man, holding back the scream of surprise.
I retreated down the street and into a dark alley that seemed to have been a recent feeding ground. There were limbs strewn all over the place and bodies were torn to pieces. I began to quake slightly in fear, but forced myself to stay strong. I couldn't freak out because there were dead people back here. There were dead people everywhere. I sighed at the fact that, in the past, I would have been afraid of a homeless man or a mugger catching me in a dark alley by myself.
These days I would do anything to be caught by someone like that. At least I could scream and a cop would come to my rescue. Now, if I was cornered by one of the undead and I screamed, only more would come to attack me. I was more afraid of one of the undead stumbling upon me with my back turned then anything else. At least I could use weapons on the undead.
Without any way to go but back, I turned around and headed to the more commercial part of downtown Atlanta. I wasn't sure if it would be any safer, but it had to be better than just standing there, waiting to be attacked. The good thing about Atlanta was that all of the streets were connected together and each one had alternate ways to enter and exit. Perhaps they were waiting for something like this to happen.
Walking out of the alley and stepping carefully into the daylight I noticed a huge indoor market. I knew that they were all over Atlanta, but I was surprised that one was this far into the business district. I smiled to myself, very nearly whooping at my find. I'd made sure to bring plenty of supplies with me for the journey to Atlanta, but I was slowly starving myself to keep the rest of my dwindling supplies. At the rate that I was going, my food would be gone within the next two or three days.
That wasn't something that I could afford. Carefully moving towards the doors of the building, I nocked my bow with an arrow and aimed it in front of me. In such a heavily populated area, it was best to keep to silent weapons as the undead gravitated toward noise. Scent, too, but I couldn't think of anything to do about that.
Taking one last deep breath, I dashed for the building and ripped open the door. Once I was at the threshold I let out a breath and prayed that none of the undead were lurking inside. The door slammed shut behind me and I cringed. I made sure that it was blocked to keep any of the undead from making an unwanted entrance. The undead were stronger than they looked. I needed a block on the doors.
Once I was sure that the doors were barred, I turned back to the store and looked around. At first glance it seemed that no one was inside of the market. That was until I heard the unforgiving sound of the undead. Fear bubbled in my stomach and I whirled around to what appeared to have been an overweight cashier at the market stumbling toward me. Taking my time to nock the arrow and aim directly between the eyes, since it was so slow, I let the arrow go when it stood about four feet away.
It dropped to the ground and I watched as the skull crushed in on itself, the growls ceasing. It was gone, but the smell left much to be desired. I let out a few deep breaths, continuing to tell myself that I was fine. It had only been one of the undead and he was gone now. I could search the rest of the place now. As I unglued myself from my spot near the door, I slowly made my way through the front of the store.
Taking my time to search the rest of the mini-mart, I discovered three other of the undead, all who seemed to have been civilians who were shopping when the world went to shit. Unsurprising as there really hadn't been much of a warning. Relaxing now that the store had been cleared out, I had only one thing on my mind. What was it that I wanted to 'buy'? It was the first time in a long time that I had been in a store without worrying about how much money I could spend.
Judging by the security and heavy doors in the place, I assumed that if I barricaded the doors the undead wouldn't be able to get in here and I would be able to rest for a while. It would give me a good time to rest up from the long days of hiking in the brutal Georgia summer sun these past few weeks, and replenish my supplies. Then, when and if I was ever ready, I would leave.
I smirked as I made my way through the aisles, happily grabbing whatever it was I felt the need to. After three weeks of nearly starving myself, my newfound appetite was ferocious with plenty of food to go around. I ended up garbling down two apples - browning and slightly smashed, but no real complaints. There was a stale lukewarm personal pizza, three flat sodas, a brownie (also pretty stale, might I add) and some pistachios. Not to mention the stack of Slim Jim's that I now had in the bottom of my Army pack. Maybe I was a little more sentimental than I thought I was.
The dinner was absolutely disgusting, but it was better than starving. Maybe sometime soon I would make a quick trip into the woods to get myself some fresh meat. I could find a place to make a fire in here. Seated in the middle of the store, stomach slightly bloated, I decided to get up and see if I could find anything fun. Humming an old country song, I made my way to the back of the store to see a monstrous shelf of liquor. I wouldn't have been surprised if I'd let out a girlish shriek.
Now don't get me wrong. I liked to drink, again a trait from my father, but I wasn't a drunk. At least I liked to think that I wasn't a drunk. I drank plenty growing up but I had always known how to control myself and keep my liquor down. Not to say that there were some nights that I spent hovering over the toilet and other nights that I couldn't even remember. But hey, that's college, right?
To my ultimate pleasure, I found my favorite, Tennessee Bourbon Whiskey. I let out a small whoop before cracking the cap off and tossing it to the side. I wouldn't need it. Tipping the bottle back I took a long swig and smiled to myself. It was so much better than the lake water I had been drinking. I smiled contentedly as the fiery liquid burned down my throat and cleared out my sinuses.
With my new-old friend in hand, I made my way to the front of the store where I went on a quick run to gather more supplies. On my quick swoop of the place I found another two tank tops, a few pairs of socks, some extra hair ties, another pair of shorts, and a bottle of aspirin. Making my way back over to my makeshift dining table I cleaned up the mess that I had made, taking small swigs of the bottle the entire time. I tossed the trash behind one of the cash registers and shoved my new items into my pack.
Just as I made it to the back of the store where I had laid out blankets and some pillows to sleep, I heard a small nudge of the door up front. Groaning, I stood and made my way over to take care of the undead that were now trying to get in. I had figured that they would eventually smell me, I just thought that it would take them longer. Standing behind the rack that protected me from the front door I reached for my bow. Just as I swung it over my shoulder, I heard the door slide open.
My stomach sank to the floor and I tried to clear my fuzzy vision to fight off the intrusive undead. Damn it. I shouldn't have drank. Just as I made my way to the front, I heard a set of more defined footsteps, unlike the dragging footsteps of the undead. Heart leaping into my throat, I began to wonder if these were living people. There was no way. I hadn't seen anyone when I was out in the streets and I hadn't seen any cars that looked like people had been in them recently. However, if they drove in by car and I was absorbed in my drink I may not have been able to hear them.
"Oh shit," I managed to mutter, before it was too late.
I dashed back behind a small display a few rows back from the front door and ducked just in time for the new people to walk in through the doors. My thoughts were racing in my mind as I tried to think about what to do. I couldn't leave and I couldn't run. They were blocking the doors. My thoughts were finally silenced when I heard an unmistakable rough southern accent.
"Check the back," one man said.
My thoughts were muddled as I tried to reason with myself through my drunken stupor. You wanted someone to come so you could have a life, someone or something worth living for. Why run? Why are you so afraid of them? I knew that I should go and see them. But then again, what if they were bad people? Suddenly, even in the slight haze of the alcohol, I knew it was time to leave the two men in the store without making introductions. I was too nervous to find out if they were good or not.
Running along the back wall as quietly as I could with my gear in tow, I attempted to sneak around the men. If I was quiet and fast enough I could get out of here without them knowing that anyone else was here. None of us would get hurt. We would all get out of here and the two men would be none the wiser. My feet gently scraped against the floor and I cringed, hoping that they hadn't heard it. I stopped and hid behind the row, waiting a few breaths to make sure that they hadn't heard me.
Once I was sure that no one had, I turned to head towards the front doors again. Almost shrieking as I turned the corner, I saw a young looking Asian man in a red hat. He hadn't seen me yet, but I couldn't help it. I let out a small pip of fear. I knew that I had alerted the man to my presence and they weren't just going to let me go.
The Asian man turned to look at me and that was the last thing I saw before I ran in a dead sprint out of the aisle. I heard the indistinct shout of the man and knew that I had to hurry out of the building. I had no idea where the other man had gone, the one I'd heard earlier with the thick southern accent, and I didn't really care.
Without a second thought, I bounded over a display in the middle of the store only to hear footsteps at the end of that aisle. It was the southern man that I'd heard earlier. Slipping in my alcohol induced haze, I wheeled around without thinking and sprinted down another aisle. It was the long way around the store but I knew that the southern man was in the aisle right in front of me.
Just when I thought I was in the clear - I could see the door right in front of me - I felt a powerful set of arms lock around me. In my fight or flight mode, I quickly slammed my head back into my assailants head and the man released his grip on me, groaning at - what I assumed - was a good deal of pain.
It wasn't just him. That had hurt me like hell, but at least I was free. I stumbled up, ecstatic to be out of the man's grip. My excitement was short lived when I felt a heavy object come down on the back of my head. From the concussion of the impact, I fell forward. My vision, which was already blurry from drinking, blurred even more as I saw the figures of two men approaching me, one rubbing his forehead.
Right before I passed out, as I do have the best way of saying things, I muttered, "God damn you hit hard," and I was out in the abyss of unconsciousness.
Daryl's P.O.V.
The guy that had been hiding in the store was passed out on the ground in front of us. He was barely ten feet away from me. A few trickles of blood were seeping onto the white-tiled ground, leaking out from near his temple. Glenn had hit him way harder than I'd originally thought.
"What the hell did you do that for short-round?" I yelled, angry that the Chinese kid had fucked up and hit the guy with a damn metal baseball bat.
I didn't need some guy's blood on my hands. This was only supposed to be a simple supply run. I didn't even think someone was in here. "I thought he was gonna kill you!" Glenn shouted back.
He was clearly afraid of what he had done to the man, who seemed to have only been fighting out of fear. But he wasn't dead. The guy was still breathing. I could see his back moving slightly. Leaning down and turning the guy over, wanting to see what damage the stupid kid had done to the him, I flipped him over. The man's baseball cap fell off and with it came a long stream of blonde hair. Turning the person fully over, I saw a feminine face along with some feminine 'features' I hadn't seen before.
"Shit. You knocked out a girl with that damn thing! You coulda killed her!" I snapped.
The last thing that I wanted was some girl dead because of us. Glenn's face turned a pure white and I knew that he was afraid he had seriously hurt her. She was still breathing, only bleeding slightly from where she had been hit over the head. She would be fine, but probably in a lot of pain.
"I didn't know it was a girl, I was just trying to help you out! I thought she was hurting you!"
"Yeah, right," I puffed out. She hadn't hurt me, just surprised me. I'd never been headbutted before. "So what do we do with her now?"
We couldn't just leave her here. A walker would get her. Or another person. "Bring her back to camp?" Glenn finally suggested.
My face heated up at the thought of having to take her back with us just because Glenn had screwed up. It was bad enough with the nearly thirty people that we had already. She would just be one more person that Merle and I would have to hunt for. One more stupid person to not appreciate what we did.
"What?" I growled at him.
The fear rose in his eyes, but as quickly as it had appeared, he pushed it back down. "Look, Daryl, I almost killed the poor girl. She was just looking for food, or water, or supplies. Just like us. We can't just leave her here like this as walker bait," Glenn argued.
Hunting would be harder now, but it wasn't going to be long before Merle and I took off. "Whatever, you can explain it to them assholes," I muttered back to him. "Go get the food."
As Glenn ran off to get what we had gotten before the fiasco, tail tucked between his legs, I looked at the girl. She was pretty and not too old, maybe twenty-one or twenty-two. She had long blonde hair, brown eyes from what I'd seen before Glenn had hit her, an athletic but feminine build, and she was definitely short. Probably just a little bit over five feet. Merle would definitely like her, there wasn't a doubt about that.
The other thing I had noticed was a tattoo on her shoulder; of what, I couldn't tell, and a simple piercing in her belly button where the shirt had ridden up during the struggle. Across her stomach was the bottom of another tattoo that looked like a giant bird. What the hell was that? Rolling my eyes, I leaned down and I picked the girl up under her legs and shoulders.
She wasn't that heavy, so it was easy enough to hold her and grab my crossbow. She shifted slowly in my arms, letting out a soft sigh, and I groaned, knowing that someone was going to have to take care of her. It sure as hell wasn't going to be me. I turned and looked over at Glenn, who was gathering the few things that we'd found.
"Let's go. Get the car ready," I ordered.
The girl once more shifted at the sound of my voice. With that, we made our way out of the market and to the campsite we had set up in the quarry. Pray help the girl that Merle never saw her. Lord knew what he'd say or do to the her. Probably much worse than he'd said to any of the other women at the camp. Either way, a baseball bat over the back of the head would be nothing compared to him.
A/N: Here we are with another updated chapter. Please review! Until next time -A