((Disclaimer: I own nothing from the TV Series The Walking Dead and I am not getting compensated for this. I just love to write & I love TWD
The Walking Dead: Country Corn Chapter 2
"HEY BOY! WHATCHU GOT IN YER BACKPACK!" a rough, gravelly male voice called out to him.
Shawn had found a small pharmacy along the road and, seeing no one around, slipped out of the woods and into the building. The store front faced a blacktop road but along the left side, a red clay road led away into the countryside and curved away behind a field of dry corn stalks. The last few weeks he had learned to do all he could to replenish as many supplies that he could. For the longest time he had sat across the street of this small store and watched from the underbrush. The only sound he heard was the chirping and buzzing of tiny insects around him. The was no movement inside or outside of the building.
The windows were clean and unbroken, looking as though it was simply waiting for the owner to open it and begin the day. Satisfied it was safe he slowly moved out into the sunlight and cautiously made his way across the black top and up to the door. Stopping in his tracks he saw a man stand at the door looking at him but when realized it was his own reflection he chuckled slightly. Reaching for the door handle he found it locked tight. It was an older door handle with a part that you pushed with your thumb to open it. This was going to be easy. Pulling out his switchblade from his pocket he used it to jimmy the lock and opened the door and slipped the closed blade back into his pocket. A bell hanging above the door and jingled seeming too loud so he grabbed it and lifted it from a hook and closed the door behind him then began to peruse the many shelves.
On one of the shelves of the store he found some moleskin, perfect for treating blisters on your feet. On another shelf he found some power bars and several small bags of butterscotch hard candies and a couple of bag of orange circus peanut shapes candies. These would be good to help keep his mouth moist as well as providing a bit of energy. He had stuffed the items inside his backpack when he heard the rough voice ask a question and he turned in its direction.
There stood a hard looking man wearing a sleeveless denim jacket exposing muscular arms The man's eyes stared holes into him. It was quite apparent the man meant no good for Shawn. Shawn was not a big person and his chances with this brute were nil.
"Yer the perdiest boy Ah have ever seen," the brute grinned broadly."We could have us a good ole time. What's yer name, honey?"
Next to the pharmacy was a small drive-up window that had been opened by someone, probably the man and he silently berated himself for no noticing. Since the coarse man barred the front entrance Shawn, without saying a word to the muscular thug, bolted for the window and dove through it head first.
"HEY! COME BACK HERE, SWEETHEART! I DIDN'T MEAN TO SCARE YOU!" the man yelled as he moved towards him.
Shawn rolled on the asphalt parking lot and came up on his feet. Then he put his track training into action and bolted for the corn field. In no time he was hidden by the stalks listening to the clumsy footsteps of the would be rapist.
Finally, it was quiet but Shawn waited until he heard the sound a vehicle drive away. Gingerly he made his way deeper into the corn until he saw an old farmhouse. Although it looked abandoned he had found through experience that you never took anything at face value and so he waited and watched.
Daryl took Justin's sheet wrapped body around the back of the house and found what looked like once had been a small garden plot, the soil still soft and malleable, but the once nutritional vegetables were now spoiled or long ago eaten. With a shovel he dug a shallow grave and pulled the shrouded body over to it dropping it in and covering it with dirt then carefully placed rocks over the top to discourage any animals from trying to dig up the body.
Finished now, he sat back against a large boulder and wiped his sweaty brow, breathing hard to catch his breath. He was always aware that walkers were about and he kept an eye out for them during his regrettable chore. That was when he saw the glimpse of a shock of very blonde hair in the corn.
Was it a walker? Or was it a person? Or was it just the white of the corn silk being blown by the breeze? Watching for a bit he saw the corn silk move and the side of a light skinned face. If it was a walker it wouldn't hide out in the corn, it would come for him with vacant eyes and gaping mouth.
As though he was in no hurry, he simply walked around to the front of the house and went inside, grabbing a shotgun that was propped in the corner of the room. Checking to make sure it was loaded he slipped back out front and into the cornfield that was across the front of the house. Carefully moving away from the house he crossed the dirt driveway and into the adjacent cornfield moving towards the place where he first saw the light blonde hair.
A young fellow was squatted down watching the house, his light hair tussled by the errant wind. Raising the shotgun Daryl aimed it at the fellow.
"Stand up real slow," Daryl ordered the figure. Shawn's eyes flew open wide as he heard the voice and turned in it's direction iand came face to face with the end of a shotgun and a pair of dark eyes peering at him down the barrel. Slowly raising both hands he rose to his feet, some of his light colored hair blowing in his eyes. He wore a pale blue jacket over a black t-shirt that had the famous prism design of "Pink Floyd" on the front.
"I ... I ... I didn't mean to ... to ..," he stuttered nervously, trying to think of the right words to say, "to impose ... on you, Mister. I was hiding in your corn. A man chased me from the store down the road aways. I didn't know anyone was inside. Honest I didn't and I don't mean no harm to you and yours," he explained best he could. His knees were shaking as he stood there and he wasn't sure if it was from fear or hunger. "My name's Shawn. Shawn O'Brien and I'm ... a college student. Or I used to be, that is, until the insanity happened. I'm still not sure what happened. All I know is I lost my brother and sister. Who ...," he pointed to the back of the house, "who was you burying back there?"
"A fella that asked too many questions, that's who," he growled at the blonde kid. "Move real slow towards the house. You do anything I don't tell you to do, I promise you you're a dead man. Now move!" he ordered the lanky young man.
When they moved over to the front of the house he told the kid to stop and frisked him. He found a pistol in the kid's front pocket of his pants and a switchblade in his back pocket.
"What's in your backpack?" he asked. "You got any weapons in there? Slowly drop it on the ground. Real easy like. Don't think for a moment I won't kill you. Now, lay face down in the dirt with your hands behind your head, just like you would for the cops. Nice and slow." Easing the backpack off Shawn did as the man had ordered him, his heart pounding in his chest.
Opening the pack the man dumped the contents out and began sifting through it. "Tell me about this man you ran from. You see where he went? Did he follow you into the cornfield? What did he look like? What did he say?"
Daryl found a bag of orange candy circus peanuts and opened it, sticking one in his mouth. It had been ages since he'd had one and he relished the flavor. At least the kid had good taste in candy. There was no way for Shawn to know the truth of what the man was telling him and had no choice but to believe him about the body he had buried. His face in the dirt he did everything he was told to do, not knowing if he was about to breathe his last or not.
He began asking about the man he had confronted in the store.
"He was a big, ugly brute. Dark hair, big arms and real mean looking. I think he wanted to steal my stuff and maybe do more than that. He called me sweetheart.
"I jumped out of the drive-up window and ran as fast as I could into the corn. I don't think he followed me 'cause he couldn't jump out of the window. He was too big," he chuckled softly at the memory. "I stayed hidden until I heard a motorcycle drive away so I careful like moved slowly until I caught sight of the house. That's when I saw you out back."
He heard the dark haired man rummaging through his backpack but he dared not react. "You stealing my stuff?" he looked around behind him and saw the bag of orange candy peanut in the man's hand. "Ah, man," he huffed in disgust, putting his face back in the dirt. "Those are my favorites." Daryl snickered at the kid's retort about the candy peanuts.
"Yeah, mine too," he ate several more as he watched his long legged kid blowing dirt out of his face.
There was just the basic stuff in the kid's backpack, no other weapons that he could find and, still holding onto the two weapons he had found on the kid, Daryl moved over to the edge of the front porch and leaned against it, allowing the shotgun to droop, the barrel pointing to the ground. Just the day before he had been sitting with both Diana and Justin on that very same porch enjoying the late afternoon sun and the peace and quiet of the countryside.
Now, for some odd reason, God or at least a higher power of some kind, deposited another kid in their lap. He figured this one, with his face in the dirt, was around the same age as Justin had been but with a huge difference. This one seemed a bit more organized and capable than Justin had been.
Justin was a kid thrust into a situation not of his making, just like the rest of them had been, but Justin was dependent on others for his survival. This kid had taken care of himself, somehow. Not only did he at least have a couple of weapons to protect himself, in his backpack was pharmaceutical supplies as well as a fair amount food and several changes of socks and a pair of expensive running shoes like you would see an Olympic runner wearing.
"You can get up now," he told the blonde kid. "But I still got your gun and your knife - Oh, and your circus peanuts," he continued munching on them. "You want one?" Daryl held the clear plastic bag out towards him. "So tell me, Shawn, it is Shawn, right? You alone?" Standing up Shawn dusted dirt off his clothes and turned to look at his captor. He was a lean, hardened man with blue darting eyes that scanned everything around him, immediately determining if it was friend or foe.
"Yes, it's Shawn," he replied to the man and bent down to repack his backpack. "Yeah, I'm alone. I was traveling with my best friend and my girlfriend but they got killed." Finished stuffing his things away he stood back up and moved over to take an orange peanut from the bag. "You know that store is just down the road a piece," he told the man. "That man might come back and come looking. I don't know if he's alone or not but I think he might be dangerous," he bit the sweet, soft peanut shaped candy in half. "You never did tell me your name. I think it's only fair, since you know my name."
Shawn looked at him, the early afternoon sun causing them both to squint and raise their hands over their brows to shade their eyes from the harsh rays. Diana stirred as the sun peaked through the small attic windows. She never slept this late. Ever. She sat up, back tight, and face stiff as she wiped at her cheeks. She stood and tried to push the image of Justin's corpse from her mind. No. That didn't happen. Nothing happened. He's downstairs... like he has been for the last three weeks. Just a terrible dream... so why wasn't she going down the steps to prove this to herself? She swallowed hard, her throat was dry and rough. She had cried herself to sleep. It was true he was gone. Someone else walked into her life, and someone checked out. Wasn't that the way things had always gone?
She ran shaky fingers through her hair, and composed herself. Justin was going to get her killed, it was best he was gone, she lied to herself. Daryl... he said he was going to bury him this morning... that was the last thing she remembered... she was holding his body and Daryl was saying something to her... She figured it was a mercy everything went black for her. She made her way to the exit and calmly walked down the lowering steps.
Voices ... Justin her heart raced, and she made her way to where they were, of course it was a dream. Justin wasn't dead. She entered the entry room where she saw Daryl, and a boy... a blonde boy... "JUSTIN!" she called out, about to rip into him over something- she didn't know quite yet what but she would when she saw him, she would think of something, anything. Hell, she might even give the kid a hug, then slap him for the stupidity he had demonstrated in her dream. But the blonde boy was not Justin, she took a step back and halted her forward motion towards the two men. It punched the air out of her. A stranger, not Justin. She looked to Daryl, thousands of questions racing through her mind. Search for the answers instead of asking them. It had always been what she was better at. She wasn't liking the tone of this, she wasn't liking that Justin was gone... Daryl startled at the sound of someone nearly crashing down the screen door and turned to see Diana standing there on the porch. For the briefest of moments she had a look of joy on her face, as though she was elated to see someone she hadn't seen in ages. He understood.
"Justin," she spoke the name and he knew a world of pain was getting ready to crash down upon her.
"Diana!" he spoke her name. "This is Shawn," he introduced the blonde kid. "Shawn, this is my very good friend, Diana," when he said her name it was filled with respect. In the short time that he had known her he had come to see her as a loved one. "How did you sleep, Darlin'?" he spoke the term of endearment. In a very short time he had come to care deeply for this woman. Not exactly in a lovers sense, he didn't think, but more like a sister, a dear companion, a trusted friend. But in the back of his mind he knew that if she let him he would make her his own.
He didn't want to mention Justin for the moment but it seemed they were destined to have a young male companion with them if they wanted it or not. "Shawn brought some Circus Peanuts. You want one?" he held the clear bag out to her, a gentle smile on his face. Shawn's eyes widened at the sound of someone rushing out onto the porch and looking at him. He wasn't sure if this dark lady was going to hug him or attack him. But when his blue-green eyes met her dark brown eyes she looked both afraid and disappointed. He was unsure of what to do as she stood there in shock looking at him, no more like looking through him, that he decided to give her a friendly smile.
"Hello!" he greeted with a slight nod of his head, his voice soft and lilting, the subtlest hint of his Irish heritage wafting through. His Grandparents on his father's side were from Ireland and, on occasion, the heritage came through as though the past would flash forward and a glimpse of who your ancestors were would poke through for a moment.
"My name is Shawn. Shawn O'Brien. It's nice to meet you," he nodded. "Diana, is it?" he asked, hoping he got it right. "I hope that we can be friends."
Was he overstepping the friendliness? He hoped not but he had been taught to be mannerly with others. This was something that would have helped him with his Olympic dreams. The world loved a man well-bred and well taught. His chances were good of going far. At least they used to before the world changed. She watched him cautiously, her eyes searched his face. Now that she got a better look he didn't resemble their lost friend that much. She could have sworn it was him a minute ago though. She watched Daryl as he did the introductions, she nodded at Shawn as he spoke, she watched him, he was too young to have to go through this. She hoped he would be wiser than the last and not run off into the corn fields blindly on the loose hope that things were going to work out. Nothing would ever be safe. Nothing could ever be back to normal. Lesson learned.
"Shawn," a slight nod of acknowledgement. "It seems sleeping in has left me out of all the action. How'd you stumble upon us?" She didn't feel like eating, she felt sick. However, Diana had an image to uphold, and that relied on her being okay about how everything had played out, how everything was still playing out. She extended her hand to Daryl and slipped a few of the marshmallowy candies in her mouth, she seated herself on the worn, wooden front steps. She caught Daryl's eyes. Reading how the situation was playing out for him. Shawn grinned hearing her question. It was nice to be able to talk to a female once again, especially one that seemed intelligent and friendly. and not trying to bite off his face.
"I came across that small store that's down the road apiece," he hoped he didn't sound too countrified. "There wasn't anyone inside so I went in and found some stuffs. Those candy peanuts," he pointed with his chin, "and some kind of power bars. Then some big ugly guy came in and, well let's just say, I don't think he had my best interests at heart. Called me sweetheart so I jumped out of the drive up window and ran. You see, I was a track star in college so it was easy to out run the muthaf-," he stopped mid-word before he let out a cuss in front of a lady. "Well, I ran and hid in the corn and found my way here. That's when Daryl found me."
Diana looked at Daryl for a moment watching him eat his orange candies and she almost laughed. Daryl seemed to be enjoying them.
"I've been traveling for days, now. Was with a group of students that banded together for safety. We were hiding out in the woods when we got over run by a herd of those rotters. My brother and sister were with me but we got separated. I don't know if they are alive or dead," he looked down a moment in thought.
"I understand if you don't want me around but, if you'll let me stay a few days to rest up, I'll be on my way. I - we were trying to make it back to my - our folk's home in Marietta. I come from a pretty big family and my folks own a big house on about 35 acres. We figured it'd be safer than in Statesboro where I was going to college there." "Statesboro?!" Daryl questioned, practically swallowing a candy peanut whole. 'You went to Statesboro?" he looked back at Diana with hopeful eyes and back to the kid. "I got a sister that goes there. What's it like? I mean, did it get run over? Her name is Claire. Claire Dixon. You ever heard of her?" he asked with excitement.
It had been his hope to make it to Statesboro, get to the college, find his sister and find somewhere safe for both of them. Even though he knew Claire was strong-willed and tough, she was family. The only sister him and Meryl had.
"She was living on campus at some dorm called ..., what was it called?" he asked himself out loud. "What was that friggin' named of the - Oh yeah," he snapped his fingers remembering. "It was called Knollcrest Resident Hall," his eyes were wide with excitement. "That's it! Knollcrest." he was proud of himself for remembering. "How did Knollcrest do? They still alive? They make it?" he asked, ready to hear a positive message, knowing in his heart of hearts Claire was there waiting for him to come get her. Shawn looked at him for a moment, uncertain of what to say. Then he looked at Diana, hoping she could somehow interpret his expression.
Clearing his throat he pawed the ground uncertainly with the toe of his boot and sighed. There was no getting around the inevitable.
"The whole campus went down. The dorms were the first to go. It was terrible. Those that didn't die were bitten or eaten. The police just started shooting everyone; dead, alive or ... undead. They did't have a choice. The only reason I wasn't on campus was our brother had come down from Atlanta to visit my sister, Meg, and me. If it hadn't been for that I wouldn't be here.
"Last I saw of Statesboro college it was burning. Might have taken the whole town with it. If your sister got out it was by the skin of her teeth but I wouldn't bet on it. I'm sorry. I really am." Daryl listened quietly as he leaned against the front porch and sat down on the edge, the plastic bag of circus peanut candy dangled from his hand, the taste suddenly turning bitter in his mouth.
Looking down at the dirt for a moment he kept trying to justify everything in his head. His purpose in life had been to rescue his kid sister from death and destruction. Now, it seemed he was on a fool's mission. If ever in his life he had ever contemplated suicide it was at that moment, as his grasp on reality seemed to waiver. Looking back at Diana, he was a man without a purpose, a reason to live, and it told on his face.
Setting the bag of candy on the porch he went around to the back of the house to where he had just buried Justin. Standing there looking down at the grave he realized that Justin was the lucky one. He was out of this pain filled world and was in eternal peace.
"You're the only smart one, Justin," he spoke very softly as he stood there. If there was ever a man devoid of hope it was Daryl at that moment.