Chapter 2: Shoot To Kill
Dean led us to his black 1967 Chevy Impala that I completely ignored as I pulled up to the driveway. He opened the trunk and gave Crystal and I knives and a handgun. He gave us both a quick rundown of the guns, when the safety is on and how it works. I knew how it works, I mean come on, my husband was an officer, I just never thought I would ever fire one in my life but I still listened to what Dean had to say about it. We got into his car and drove off. I sat in the back seat with Hunter sending him calm words and brushing his hair back to relax him. Dean turned on the radio.
"This is an emergency broadcast. Warning, this is not a test. The bodies of the dead are returning to life and attacking the living. Warning, The bodies of the dead are returning to life and attacking the living. Do not approach or apprehend these bodies as they are extremely dangerous. If you are hearing this broadcast take caution and make your way to the nearest Military base camp. If you cannot make it to your nearest Military base camp stay home and lock your doors. I repeat, do not make contact with the bodies of the dead." After that broadcast all you can hear was the Emergency Alert sound. It was spine chilling to hear that. I looked out to the foggy dark night as we got closer to the city. I saw people running down the streets, cars going in wrong directions and fire flames coming out of buildings.
"We are going to make a quick stop at Top Ammo Justice." Dean informed Crystal and I.
"Why?" I questioned.
"I'm running low on ammo. I'm going to park in the back. I gave you what you need to protect your selves while I go in and sweep out what I need."
We got the ammo shop.
"I'm gonna go in quick. Don't make a noise and don't open for anyone." Dean firmly looked to Crystal, Hunter and I. We didn't say a word, just nodded to what he was saying. I saw Dean disappear through the door.
"Mommy, I'm scared."
"I know Hunter, you need to stay strong right now and be a big boy now you hear me?"
"Why isn't daddy here?" I just looked down, not knowing what to tell him. I then looked around trying to figure out my surroundings. It was quiet. Why wasn't anyone at the gun shop? I'd figure people would try to get in and get weapons. Minutes passed.
"Dean is taking too long." I mentioned to Crystal.
"He's a big boy, he can handle it."
"I don't know, I have this real bad feeling." We stood quiet and I heard Hunters stomach growl. "I'm gonna go in and see what's taking him."
"Are you crazy! You can't leave me here. He told us to stay here."
"I need you to watch Hunter. You are armed, you guys will be fine." I kissed Hunter on the forehead and gave him my knife. "You listen to Crystal. You are a big boy now, hold on to this and use it on anyone you do not know okay."
"Okay." Hunter looked to me like he wanted to cry.
"I love you honey."
"I love you too mommy."
I walked out of the car and looked to Hunter and Crystal one last time before I quietly walked into the shop. I looked around. I saw no one. There was broken glass on the floor and ammo scattered around like someone raided the place already. I turned and saw another room. I quietly walked towards the room with my back against the wall to not be seen as I had my gun out ready to fire. As I looked in I saw three men whose backs were facing me and saw Dean standing with his hands in the air. One of the men had a gun pointing right at him and the other two were holding a knife and an axe. Dean's eyes quickly glanced at me acknowledging my presence. I pointed my gun right at the man holding the gun and with my other hand signaled Dean to take down the other two men. I then nodded slightly signaling him that the action was about to start.
I fired my gun as Dean charged after one of the men. My shot was not great. I grazed the man's shoulder but it was enough to make him drop his gun. I walked closer to him as he turned to see me and shot again this time getting him right in his stomach. The man fell to the ground and I turned and saw Dean struggling with both of the men. I then shot the man who was holding the axe in his chest and the man started gasping for air. Dean then picked up his gun from the floor and shot the man with the knife cold in the face. Dean then looked to the man I shot in the stomach as he was bleeding out. Dean shot him in the forehead. I looked blankly at what just happened. I couldn't believe I shot someone.
"Come on, let's get what we need and get out of here." Dean gently pulled my arm with him. Dean was quickly coaching me through what we need to get, what kind of bullets and how to tell them apart. We stocked up and jogged to the back exit. My heart dropped when I saw more than 20 dead people surrounding the car with Crystal and Hunter screaming and I saw more of the dead walking towards the noise.
"Shoot to kill." Dean loaded his gun and started taking out one by one with head shots. I started shooting but I was real bad at it. I was getting the chest and arms. One of the dead grabbed a hold of my arm and I put my gun to his head and shot… nothing, I ran out of bullets. All of a sudden brains splattered all over me. I turned quickly and saw that dean was covering me when I was in danger of being taken down by the dead. I quickly reloaded and started shooting.
"There are too many!" I yelled out to dean who was several feet away from me.
"Crystal! Can you hear me! You need to drive to the front of the shop. We'll meet you up there!" Dean yelled to the top of his lungs. I saw Crystal climb to the driver's seat as Dean and I were moving around and shooting. I then heard more gun shots. I looked around to see where it was coming from and saw two men in police uniforms running to the middle of the dead infested parking lot shooting the dead. After that raid each of the dead were on the floor, dead again. I ran to the car and opened the door and Hunter jumped on me. I held on to him hugging him with a strong relief. I saw Dean pointing his gun to the two men.
"Whoa now. Put the gun down. We're not here to hurt you." One of the men calmly told Dean.
"Dean, what are you doing?" I yelled out. "They're cops!"
"I don't care who you are, what do you want?"
"We don't want anything from you. We saw you guys were in trouble, we though you could use our help." The man stated.
"Dean!" I yelled out again. Dean then slowly put down his gun.
"This place is not safe; this whole city is not safe. We have a small group of people outside the city. You are more than welcome to come with us."
I put Hunter back in the car and told him to stay put. I walked up to Dean.
"Dean, I think we should go with them. They seem genuine. They are cops and they are helping us out. I know you are looking for your brother but we need to at least look into what they have, then we will go find your brother and I'll be right there by your side, I promise but please, I'm begging you, Hunter is hungry and we all need a quick breather to clean up." Dean then stopped looking to the two men and looked at me. The man who was talking to Dean slowly walked toward us and held out his hand.
"Rick Grimes. That man there is Shane Walsh." I went in and shook his hand.
"Lana."
"You can trust us." Rick calmly stated. I saw Dean suck up his pride and shook Ricks hand.
"Dean." He introduced himself back.
"We should wrap this love fest up, more walkers are coming." Shane announced walking towards the police car.
"You guys can follow us. Stay close, the roads are pretty ugly." Rick warned us as he walked to the police car. Dean and I got into his car and followed Rick and Shane to God knows where.
After we got out of the mess in the city we got on an empty highway and drove deep into the fog. It was quiet in the car. Dean serious expression wouldn't dim down.
"How did you lose your brother?" I softly asked from the back seat.
Dean stood quiet, like he didn't want to answer the question. "We got in an argument. He took off. That was two days ago."
"Do you have an idea of where he could maybe be?"
"If I know Sammy, I have a couple of clues."
"Mommy, we need to go get daddy." Hunter said yawning as he was falling asleep.
I sat there silently not knowing what to say. I glanced at Dean through the rear view mirror and he looked at me with slight concern on his face. I leaned my head on the window looking out to the night fog. Keeping Hunter safe was all that I was worried about right now.