Disclaimer: Do not own anything.
Chapter Three – Bleeding into Life
"Freedom in a cage - no sun and too much rage
I don't know how much I can take
Push it down inside, but it knows just where to hide
I know that "normal" is hard to fake
Bleeding into life - it's like a thousand knives
Are slowly turning me into this
Why does it have to be like this?"
It was absolute chaos. Randall had slipped out of his chains, hit Shane with a board, took his guns and ran off into the woods. Daryl and Glenn had gone one way, Rick had Shane gone another.
"I hear something," Shane whispered. He pointed to his right.
There was a gunshot and Shane screamed, falling behind a tree. Rick pulled off his jacket, then his shirt and pressed it to the wound.
"Daryl!" Rick yelled. "Glenn!"
"Fuck are you doing?" Shane hissed.
"I'm going after Randall, Daryl or Glen will come get you, take you back to the farm." He stood up and took off, ignoring Shane's calls to come back.
"What happened?" Daryl asked, hurrying forward a moment later.. "Where's Rick?"
"Randall shot me, ran off. Rick went after him."
Daryl stood up. "Glenn, help Shane get back. I'm going after Rick." He was gone a moment later.
Shane winced when Glenn lifted him up but they made their way out of the woods as Daryl had instructed.
Daryl quickly caught onto the trail Rick was leaving. He crept along quietly, freezing when he heard the gunshot.
Randall led Rick far out into the trees, then hid behind one and waited for the lawman to catch up. He wasn't a good tracker and walked right past where Randall was hiding. Then the boy raised the gun and shot Rick in the back. The man went down and didn't move.
Daryl got there just in time to see Rick get shot. He raised his crossbow and put an arrow in the kid's head.
"Rick!" he called, starting forward. A sound to his left made him turn his head. Walkers. Dozens of them were coming right for him. They hadn't seen Rick yet. Daryl screamed drawing their attention. He would keep them from Rick if it was the last thing he did. His friend would not become one of those things.
Daryl turned, aimed at a nearby walker and shot. He fired off rounds all the way back to the farm, dismayed to see it already crawling with the undead, everyone was screaming and running for safety. He bit the inside of his cheek and ran forward.
Rick groaned, blinking against the blinding pain in his shoulder. He started to stand, horrified to see he was quickly becoming surrounded by walkers. One lurched forward, pushing him back to the ground. His shoulder exploded, sending a fresh wave of pain through him.
This is it, Rick thought. This is how it ends.
A flash of silver above him and the attack stopped. Rick blinked, seeing a hooded figure standing above him. The person leaned down and rolled him over to look at the wound.
"Who shot you?" the person asked, revealing herself to be female.
"I don't know. Randall?" he said, disoriented.
The woman said nothing, only nodded toward the hill before them. "There's a town nearby. We'll get you some medicine, treat your wound." She helped get his shirt off and ripped it so she could tie it around his wound.
"Are you alone?" he asked, standing up.
"I am, except for them."
Rick looked up, jumping back in alarm when he saw the limbless walkers.
The woman noticed and quickly explained their purpose. "They're harmless now. My name is Michonne."
"I'm Rick. Rick Grimes."
"Nice to meet you, Rick Grimes."
The walkers he'd seen before were all dead, but more were coming through the clearing toward them. Michonne noticed and began to lead Rick away. He walked beside her, glancing uncomfortably back at the walkers. It wasn't too long before they reached the house she was staying in. Rick begged her to go back to the Greene farm, Michonne refused. She gave him medicine, waited for him to fall asleep and went to check the farm out alone.
She stopped when she heard a gunshot and footsteps rapidly moving toward her. Michonne went forward seeing a woman trip and fell. She saved her, just as she'd saved Rick earlier.
Michonne pulled the woman to her feet. "Did you come from a farm?"
The woman's eyes widened. "Yeah, it's overrun. How did you know?"
"I have one of your people at a farmhouse. Rick."
The woman's mouth dropped open. "Oh, god, he's alive." She looked up. "The group will go to the highway, that's where we said we would go if something happened. We can go there, get the group and go to Rick. I'm Andrea."
"Michonne," the told her, following Andrea through the woods.
"We thought he was dead," Andrea said. She told Michonne about Randall. "Daryl said he saw him go down and didn't get back up. We thought he was dead."
"He's alive, for now."
They walked in silence for a while until they reached the highway clogged with vehicles.
"They're not here," Andrea said sadly. "Not anymore, at least." She pointed. "That was Carol's car. And we had food left on this car for Sophia. I can't believe they just left."
"They probably thought you were dead too," Michonne said. "Let's go to the house before Rick wakes up."
Andrea readjusted the bag of guns and nodded, following Michonne back into the woods.
Rick woke up, slightly disoriented. He could see someone sitting next to him from the corner of his eye.
"How long have I been out?"
"A few days," Michonne answered from the doorway. "You got dirt in your wound and got an infection. Lucky I had antibiotics though. We can move whenever you're ready."
"I want to check the farm," he said.
"There's no one there, Rick," Andrea said from the couch.
Rick turned to look at her. "Andrea? How did you get here?"
"Michonne found me. The farm got overrun with walkers. Hundreds, maybe a thousand. Everyone left."
"The highway-"
"-is empty. I checked. They left Carol's Cherokee there and the supplies we put out for Sophia are gone."
Rick covered his face with his hands, feeling the urge to cry. He sat up.
"No point sitting around here," Andrea said. "We're low on supplies. We should go soon."
"My family is out there!" Rick yelled. "I can't just leave. How do I even find them?"
Andrea didn't have an answer for him.
"I don't know if you can," Michonne said. "But we can try. When we go out for supplies."
Rick nodded, reaching for his shirt. "Let's get going then."
Merle, Natasha and Sophia ducked into a gas station, quickly emptying the place of walkers. They had finally made it to the highway and found nothing but cars and a smudged note on the windshield of a car. They waited three days there but no one came, so they left heading into another town nearby.
Merle was angry and upset at not finding Daryl, but he knew he was okay.
Sophia put their sleeping bags in a corner and began to search for food.
"Whatcha thinking bout, Red?" Merle asked. He spread a map on the counter. "Any ideas?"
"A few, none of them particularly great."
"Tasha!" Sophia hissed, running to them. "I hear voices out back."
The two adults shared a look as they drew their guns, aiming at the back door. Sophia hesitantly drew her knife, standing slightly behind Natasha.
There was a rattle of chains and the back door opened. A dark woman with a large sword entered. Natasha immediately recognized her from Atlanta.
"Small world," she said.
The woman nodded, raising her hands. "Getting smaller everyday."
"Michonne?" another woman called, entering the back door and freezing when she saw the guns aimed at her. Her mouth dropped open.
"Well, well, hey there, sugar tits," Merle said.
"Merle Dixon. We thought you were dead."
"Nah, not me." He shook his head. "Little Red here found me and took me in."
"I bet you were unconscious when she did. If she heard you talk she'd have left you where she found you," Andrea shot back.
"He's not like that anymore," Sophia said, finally moving away from Natasha.
Andrea's eyes widened, filling with tears. "Sophia? Oh my God, we all thought…hold on." She wiped her eyes and went out the back door, returning a moment later with a man.
Natasha and Merle finally lowered their guns, exchanging a look. Rick's own eyes welled up with tears when he hugged Sophia.
"We looked for you, every single day. Daryl especially," Rick told her. "He almost died bringing your doll back to your mama. She has it still, clings to it everyday just waiting to give it back to you."
Sophia cried and explained what happened. When she had settled down, she found some food and everyone sat down to eat. Sophia introduced Natasha and Andrea introduced Rick and Michonne.
Rick was weary about Merle at first but seemed to relax a little after a while. Natasha slipped away to lean on the counter, listening to Rick tell Sophia and Merle what they had missed on the farm. Michonne joined her after a moment and they stood together silently.
"They were all part of a group," Michonne commented. "They won't want to be separated again. You and I are the odd ones out."
"That's always nice," Natasha replied dryly.
"Look, I know I'm new to the group," Michonne started. "And we don't know each other but I need to know if we have a plan to go somewhere more permanent to stay."
"We're looking. You know I was traveling with Merle first."
"That racist hick?" Michonne scoffed.
"He's not so bad once you get past his bad mouth," Natasha replied. "I think it's mostly an act. He's been through some abuse. He says things to keep people from getting to close to him. It's why he clings to his little brother."
"You know this?"
"I inferred it. All he's talked about is finding his brother. Don't take anything he says to heart. Just ignore him."
Natasha could read past the coldness in Michonne's eyes and the way she kept eyeing Sophia. It was obvious.
"Like I was saying, Merle and I were looking for his brother. Ran into Sophia, who was from the same group. We tried to get to the highway but we were cut off by a herd. We finally ended up here," Natasha told her.
"Rick wants to keep looking for his family," Michonne said. "Winter is coming and we need a place to stay. That little girl night not survive the cold. She needs to be protected."
Natasha leveled her gaze on the other woman. "How old?"
"What?" Michonne snapped, jerking in surprise.
"Your daughter. How old was she?"
Michonne swallowed hard. "Seven," she said finally. "And nine."
"I'm really sorry," Natasha said sincerely.
Michonne looked away. "If that girl's mother is still alive, she'll give up her own life if it would keep the girl safe. We need to get her inside somewhere. I'll look for her mother myself, as long as she's safe."
"I'll talk to the others," Natasha promised.
"That's all I ask," Michonne said before walking away.
Natasha sat down, her back sliding down the counter as she did so. It was only a few minutes before Rick came over and sat down next to her.
"I just wanted to tank you for keeping Sophia safe. She told me all you did for her," he said.
"It wasn't a problem."
Rick shrugged.
Natasha shifted and began to lay it down for him. "Look, if you're going to travel with us, I think we should start looking for a place to stay. It's going to be winter soon. We can't live outside all winter."
"My family-"
"-is in the wind, I hate to tell you. They didn't leave you any clue where they were going or even which direction they were headed. You can't go around chasing ghosts and if that's what you want to do you leave now and do it alone. Sophia is just a little girl. Think of her as if she were your own daughter," she paused. "Would you drag her around the state looking for something that probably isn't there in the first place?"
Rick sat in silence for a long time letting Natasha's words set in. "I promised Carol that I would find her daughter and bring her back safely. I can't ignore that."
"You don't have to. We'll keep looking but she can't live like this all winter. Merle and I have put her enough looking for your group, we need to end it now. Put Sophia first, the rest of us can suffer," Natasha said. "And just think if we keep looking for your family and something happens to Sophia. You would never forgive yourself and how would you look her mother in the eye?"
Rick gave her an odd look and she knew she had said too much.
"Speaking from personal experience?" he asked. "What happened to you?"
Natasha stood up without answering and went to her spot in the corner. She lay down, facing away from Rick. Her heart was pounding and her forehead was sweating. Never before had someone read her so quickly. She tried to shake it off but found it difficult with Rick's eyes on her all night.
A/N: And so it begins. Rick has joined our little group and already touching some nerves with our favorite heroine. Next chapter: A surprise.
~JLL
