*Disclaimer: I do not own The Walking Dead or any of its characters. I only own is my OCs Ava, and Harper. *
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No Rest for the Undead
Chapter Two: Guts; Part One
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I stared at the radio in absolute shock, not believing that I'd really heard a voice come through it. I glanced over at Rick to see him staring at the radio too. So, he'd heard too, so that means I wasn't hearing things.
"Hey, are you alive in there?" The voice asked.
Rick raced over to the radio and snatched it up.
"Hello? Hello?" He shouted into the radio.
"There you are. You had me wondering," The man stated.
"Where are you? Outside? Can you see me right now?" Rick questioned frantically.
I scooted closer to Rick so I could hear the man over the radio better.
"Yeah, I can see you. You're surrounded by walkers. That's the bad news," The man replied.
"There's good news?" Rick asked.
"No," The man muttered.
"Listen, whoever you are, I don't mind telling you we're a little concerned in here," Rick said, glancing over at me and Harper.
Harper was still crying though not as much as she was a few minutes ago.
"Oh man. You should see it from over here. You'd be having a major freak-out," The man stated.
"Got any advice for us?" Rick asked.
"Yeah, I'd say make a run for it," The man replied.
I stared at the radio in shock for a second before snatching it from Rick.
"Make a run for? That's your brilliant advice?!" I shouted.
Rick put his hand on my shoulder and gently took the radio back.
"My way's not as dumb as it sounds. You've got eyes on the outside here. There's one geek still up on the tank but the others have climbed down and joined the feeding frenzy where the horse went down. With me so far?" The man defends.
I cringed at the mention of the horse, the poor thing was being eaten alive, we were the ones that brought it into the city.
"So far," Rick said.
"Okay, the street on the other side of the tank is less crowded. If you move now while they're distracted, you stand a chance. Got ammo?" The man asked.
Rick glanced at me and took notice of the gun bag on my back.
"Yeah, and guns. And a Beretta with one clip, fifteen rounds," Rick replied.
"Make 'em count. Jump off the right side of the tank, keep going in that direction. There's an alley up the street, maybe fifty yards. Be there," The man instructed.
"Hey, what's your name?" Rick asked.
"Have you been listening? You're running out of time," The man stated.
"Right," Rick muttered. He glanced over at me.
"Ready?" He asked.
"One second," I replied.
I picked up Pepper and set her down on my shoulder, and she curled around my neck. She's a pretty big cat and actually a bit heavy but I could handle her weight. I wrapped my arms around Harper pulling her close to me.
"Harper hold on tight to me and don't let go," I instructed.
Harper nodded and her legs wrapped around my torso, while her arms latched onto my shoulders. Pepper rested her head on Harper's shoulder, and had one of her claws dug into the dirty pajama shirt that Harper wore.
"Ready," I stated, glancing up at Rick.
Rick nodded his head. He pulled out his Beretta and quickly opened the top hatch of the tank. Rick climbed up out of the tank and I heard a thud a few seconds later. I carefully climbed out of the tank and jumped down to the ground below. Rick was waiting for me at the bottom of the tank. Rick grabbed me by my elbow with his free hand, and started pulling me down the street.
Normally I would be taking out walkers along with him, but I didn't want to get to close to any of the walkers with Harper in my arms, so I allowed Rick to pull me along and take out the walkers in our way. Rick fired his gun at the few walkers who were in our way, and we quickly reached the alley the man on the radio had told us about. As we turned into the alley a young Asian man appeared and Rick damn near shot him.
"Whoa! Not dead! Come on! Come on! Back here! Come on! Come on!" The man exclaimed, leading us down the alley towards a ladder.
The man went up first and I shoved Harper towards the ladder.
"Harper climb up, follow him," I ordered.
Harper quickly scurried up the ladder and I followed her up with Rick right behind me. We reached a small platform after a few seconds of climbing. All of us are breathing hard, and Harper is clutching my leg, tears rolling down her face. I reached down and gently threaded my fingers through her hair to comfort her.
"Nice moves there, Clint Eastwood. You the new sheriff come riding in to clean up the town?" The man asked, glancing over at Rick.
"It wasn't my intention," Rick muttered.
"Yeah, whatever. Yeehaw. You're still a dumbass," The man stated.
A smirk appeared on my face, and I shook my head.
"Rick, Ava, Harper, and Pepper. Thanks," Rick introduced.
The man stared at the cat on my shoulders for a second his eyes wide. Seems like most people haven't seen a living cat since this whole thing started. I can understand why though. When I first found, her I was surprised to see a living cat as well. It had been about two weeks after everything went to hell. I'd been searching an empty house for supplies when I found her. At first Pepper didn't want anything to do with me. I'm not sure if she'd had an owner before everything went to shit but she kept her distance from me. It took several days of feeding her before she finally let me get close enough to pet her. And the rest was history.
"Glenn. You're welcome. Oh no," Glenn glanced up and I looked up as well.
That is a long climb.
"The bright side It'll be the fall that kills us. I'm a glass half-full kind of kind of guy," Glenn stated.
I grimaced at that. Glenn started up the ladder. I picked up Harper and helped her onto the ladder.
"Be careful climbing up okay," I said.
Harper nodded her head and glanced up at Glenn. She slowly started climbing up after him.
"Let me take the gun bag. You've got your own bag, weapons, and a large cat weighing you down already," Rick suggested.
I nodded my head, and handed him the gun bag. Rick slipped it onto his back, and I started up the ladder with Rick once again right behind me. It took a few minutes but we finally reached the roof of the building and I sighed in relief. Harper was sitting on the ground and I could tell she was exhausted from that climb.
"Are you the one that barricaded the alley?" Rick asked.
"Somebody did… I guess when the city got overrun. Whoever did it was thinking not many geeks would get through," Glenn explained.
"Back at the tank, why'd you stick your neck out for us?" Rick questioned.
"Call it foolish, naïve hope that if I'm ever that far up shit creek, somebody might do the same for me. Guess I'm an even bigger dumbass than you," Glenn replied.
Glenn walked over to another ladder leading down and I heard Harper whimper.
"It's all right Harper we'll be able to rest soon enough," I said, helping her stand up.
We climbed down into another alley. I could see four walkers standing around the alley. Glenn took out a walkie-talkie.
"I'm back. Got guests plus four geeks in the alley," Glenn stated.
Two men wearing protective gear and holding baseball bats appeared through a door across the alley. The two men went after the walkers, and bashed their heads in using the baseball bats.
"Let's go!" Glenn exclaimed.
I picked up Harper and we all raced inside what appeared to be a department store.
"Morales, let's go!" One of the men shouted.
We moved through the store, and I noticed two women standing in the middle of the room. Suddenly one of the women raced over to us and shoved a gun into Rick's face.
"You son of a bitch. We ought to kill you," The woman shouted.
I set Harper down on the ground behind me and pulled out my hunters knife ready to defend Rick if I needed to.
"Just chill out, Andrea. Back off," Morales interrupted.
"Come on, ease up," The other woman said.
"Ease up? You're kidding me, right? We're dead because of these stupid assholes," Andrea shouted.
"Hey, watch your language, we've got a kid here," I exclaimed, scowling at the woman.
That seemed to get Andrea's attention and she glanced with wide eyes at Harper who was hiding behind my leg. After a few seconds, Andrea glanced back at Rick then scowled.
"We're dead… all of us… because of you," She muttered.
"I don't understand," Rick said, sounding lost.
"Look, we came into the city to scavenge supplies. You know what the key to scavenging is? Surviving! You know the key to surviving? Sneaking in and out, tiptoeing. Not shooting up the streets like it's the O.K. corral," Morales explained.
"Every geek for miles around heard you popping off rounds," The other man stated.
"You just rang the dinner bell," Andrea muttered.
"Get the picture now?" Morales asked.
I glanced around the store and noticed two sets of large glass double doors. Behind them was dozens of walkers all attempting to smash through the glass. I glanced around the rest of the store. Mine as well get some supplies while we're here. I walked over to the small kid's section not too far away, and started grabbing a few clothes for Harper seeing as the only thing she had was her tattered dirty pajamas and her one slipper. I shoved the clothes and a pair of tiny shoes into my bag, deciding to help her change once we were safe till then I'll just have to carry her. I walked back over to the group just as the sound of gun shots from the roof reached us.
"Oh no, is that Dixon?" Andrea asked.
"What is that maniac doing?" Morales questioned.
"Come on, let's go," Glenn said, racing off to a set of stairs.
I picked up Harper and followed the group up the stairs. As we raced up the stairs Rick told me everybody's names. When we got to the roof I could see a tall man standing off to one side of the roof with a snipper rifle in his hand shooting at the walkers down on the street.
"Hey, Dixon, are you crazy?" T-Dog shouted.
Dixon laughed and took another shot at the street below.
"Oh jeez," Andrea muttered.
"Hey! Ya'll be more polite to a man with a gun! Huh? Ah! Only common sense," Dixon exclaimed.
"Man, you wasting bullets we ain't even got!" T-Dog stated. Dixon just laughed again.
"And you're bringing even more of them down on our ass! Man, just chill," T-Dog shouted.
"Hey! Bad enough I've this taco-bender on my ass all day. Now I'm gonna take orders from you? I don't think so, bro. That'll be the day," Dixon growled.
I scowled at that. It's the end of the damn world and he's still acting like a racists jackass.
"That'll be the day? You got something you want to tell me?" T-Dog asked.
"Hey, T-Dog man, just leave it," Morales exclaimed.
"No," T-Dog replied.
"All, right? It ain't worth it. Now Merle, just relax, okay? We've got enough trouble," Morales stated.
"You want to know the day?" Merle asked.
"Yeah," T-Dog shouted.
"I'll tell you the day, Mr. 'Yo'. It's the day I take orders from a nigger," Merle stated. I blanched at the word. The hell is wrong with him.
"Mother…" T-Dog went at Merle and tried to punch him.
The two started fighting, and everyone started shouted. Rick tried to step in but Merle punch Rick knocking him to the ground. I set Harper down on the ground along with my bag. Pepper jumped off my shoulders, and I pulled out my hunting knife. Merle was too busy pounding on T-Dog, who was lying on the ground by now, that he didn't notice me sneaking up behind him. I kicked the back of his knee making him fall down and I wrapped one arm around the arm holding the gun, and held the hunting knife to his throat digging in slightly causing him to hiss in pain.
"Drop the gun, now!" I growled.
"Fucking Bitch," He muttered, dropping the gun to the ground.
Rick was quick to grab the gun, then walked in front of Merle.
"Who the hell are you?" Merle shouted.
"Officer friendly. Look here, Merle. Things are different now. There are no niggers anymore. No dumb-as-shit, inbred white-trash fools either. Only dark meat and white meat. There's us and the dead. We survive this by pulling together, not apart," Rick explained.
"Screw you, man," Merle said.
I dug my knife into his neck just a little bit more and he growled but shut up.
"I can see you make a habit of missing the point. Ought to be polite to a man with a gun. Only common sense," Rick said.
"You wouldn't. You're a cop," Merle denied.
"All I am anymore is a man looking for his wife and son. Anybody that gets in the way of that is gonna lose. I'll give you a moment to think about that," Rick replied.
He walked away towards the rest of the group.
"I'm gonna let ya go. But before I do I'm'a let ya know, don't try notin' cause I won't hesitate to kill you if I have ta'. Got that!" I stated.
I heard the man snort and I twisted his arm slightly, and made sure to draw a bit of blood from his throat with my knife. He let out a yelp of pain.
"All right fine, damn woman!" He agreed.
I let go of the man and walked back over to Harper, while keeping my eye on him. He stood up, rubbing his throat. He glanced back at me and scowled. I picked Harper up and walked over to the group.
"Got some people outside the city is all. There's no refugee center. That's a pipe dream," Morales stated.
I stopped at that. No refugee center? Damnit! I was hoping to find my family there.
"Then she's right. We're on our own. It's up to us to find a way out," Rick said.
"Good luck with that. These streets ain't safe in this part of town from what I hear. Ain't that right, sugar tits?" Merle turned to Andrea, "Hey, honeybunch what say we go off somewhere and bump some uglies? Gonna die anyway."
Andrea cringed slightly, a scowl forming on her face.
"I'd rather," Andrea muttered.
"Rug muncher. I figured as much," Merle said.
"The streets ain't safe. Now there's an understatement," Morales said.
"What about under the streets? The sewers?" Rick asked.
"Oh man. Hey, Glenn, check the alley. You see any manhole covers?" Morales ordered.
Glenn ran over to the other side of the roof and glanced down into the alley, then ran back over to us.
"No, must be all out on the street where the geeks are," He answered.
"Maybe not. Old building like this built in the '20s… Big structures often had drainage tunnels into the sewers in case of flooding down in the subbasements," Jacqui explained.
"How do you know that?" Glenn asked.
"It's my job… was. I worked in the city zoning office," Jacqui answered.
I grabbed my bag and followed everyone down the stairs towards the basement and the sewer entrance.
"This, is it? Are you sure?" Morales questioned.
"I really scoped this place out the other times I was here. It's the only thing in the building that goes down. But I've never gone down it. Who'd want to, right?" Glenn replied.
We all looked up at him, and he frowned.
"Oh. Great," He muttered.
"We'll be right behind you," Andrea stated.
"No, you won't. Not you," Glenn denied.
Andrea looked offended at this.
"Why not me? Think I can't?" Andrea asked.
"I wasn't…" Glenn paused seeming to think about something.
"Speak your mind," Rick told him.
"Look, until now I always came here by myself… In and out, grab a few things… No problem. The first time I bring a group… Everything goes to hell. No offense. If you want me to go down this gnarly hole, fine… But only if we do it my way. It's tight down there. If I run into something and have to get out quick, I don't want you all jammed up behind me getting me killed. I'll take one person… Not you either," Glenn glanced over at Rick, "You've got a gun and I've seen you shoot. I'd feel better if you were out in that store watching those doors, covering our ass," He turned to Andrea, "And you've got the only other gun, so you should go with him," Now he turned to Morales, "You be my wingman. Jacqui stays here. Something happens, yell down to us, get us back up here in a hurry."
"Okay," Jacqui said.
"And just what the hell do you expect me to do huh?" Merle asked, scowling at Glenn.
"Ugh well… you, Ava, and T-Dog can continue to gather more supplies that way we won't have to make another supply trip anytime soon," Glenn suggested.
Merle snorted at the suggestion and rolled his eyes. I glared at the man for a second.
"Okay, everybody knows their jobs," Rick said.
Glenn started down the ladder, followed by Morales, and everyone else moved off to do what they had been told.
"Come on let get some more supplies," I muttered. I walked out into the store with T-Dog right behind me.
"What so we're all just gonna do what little china man says? Who the hell put him in charge?" Merle shouted.
I stopped, a scowl moving onto my face.
"Harper I want you to go with T-Dog and look around the store for anything you might need. Stay within his sight, and do what he says okay," I said, glancing up at T-Dog for a second.
Harper hesitated for a moment seeming to not want to let go of me, but she eventually nodded her head. T-Dog gently took her from me and moved off into the store. I turned to face Merle.
"We're doing what he asked cause his plan makes sense. Ya don't like it ya free to leave the store an go out on ya own an do whatever ya want," I answered.
He scoffed, and moved past me, bumping my shoulder as he went. I rolled my eyes, and moved around the store, picking up items here and there. A couple times Pepper would bring something over to me and I would shove it in my bag. Soon enough my bag was full of clothes, cat food, a few things of canned foods, and a few hygiene products. I came across a small section filled with hunting and camping equipment. I smiled at this.
I grabbed a large Hiking Backpack off one of the racks and put two sleeping bags, in it. I grabbed a small box that had an image of a tent on it. The box stated that the tent was just big enough to fit two people so I shoved it in the bag with the sleeping bags. I stuffed a black tactical flash light into the bag, along with some batteries, a mini med kit, a compass, and two blankets. I stopped at one shelf and almost started jumping up and down in excitement.
Sitting at the back of the shelf was a Sawyer Mini Water Filter. I snatched it up and shoved it into the hiking bag. This will definitely come in handy. Wish I had one of these when the dead first started walking. I also noticed a small taser sitting on the same shelf and put it into one of the pockets on my cargo pants. I found two bottles of sun screen and shoved them into the bag.
Suddenly the sound of glass shattering reached my ears and I took off towards the doors. When I reached them I could see that the walkers had managed to break through the first set of glass doors, and were working on the second. I could see Rick and Andrea standing by a counter full of jewelry, and Andrea had a necklace in her hands. T-Dog came running over to us with Harper in his arms, and Harper had a bag in her hand that seemed to be almost completely full. He glanced at the door in fear. Merle was the next person to show up, and behind him was Glenn and Morales.
"What did you find down there?" Rick asked, turning to Glenn.
"Not a way out," Morales stated.
T-Dog set Harper down on the ground and Harper walked over to me and latched onto my leg.
"We need to find a way…" Andrea glanced over at the doors, "And soon."
