How the Man Designed Me

Chapter 4

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Allman Brothers: Dreams

watch?v=rK_5cJpM06k

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Their SUV slowly approached the washed out, blue and white clapboard country store & emporium. It had a long covered porch that rode the length of the storefront, complete with rows of barrels and baskets, which were now lined with the mouldy dried husks of fruit and vegetable remains. Being a remote rural store it was a stand alone building which gave it a good line of sight from the road. The faded red Chevy pickup on cinder blocks, by the side of the building made it a picture postcard of the vanishing Americana before the dead started to feast on the living, now it was just a sign of the times. Daryl thought that chances were good she'd been stripped of her parts but it'd be worth a look, every Southerner knows Chevy parts could be a gold mine as they can be swapped across decades of models.

They were all feeling keyed up, scanning for movement, but it was quiet and so the decision was made to go for it. "Shopping" was pretty second nature to them all by now, it was about being quick and quiet. Apart from deciding what the priorities were and who was going for what, it was pretty straight forward. Janessa pulled a black Chevy ball cap with the gold bow tie emblem and a man's oversized denim shirt out of her bug out bag at her feet. It's where she kept everything that was a needed should it ever come down to having to hoof it. Switching hats, not wanting to ruin her beloved cowboy hat and putting the shirt on over her clothes, she knotted it at her waist. Daryl smirked at her thinking she looked adorable.

Catching his teasing look she said, "Hey, corpse slime is a bitch to wash off and it smells even worse."

"It might not be Channel no 5, but out there believe me, you're gonna want as much of that shit on you that your skin can hold. It helps mask your scent," he said in all earnestness.

She nodded thanks for the tip, knowing it would be a lifesaver. She and Blake had been pretty lucky and hadn't had to rough it on foot very often, the perks of Blake being local is that he always seemed to know where to get what they needed. Musicians were useful for knowing a bit about a lot of places. He used to joke it was because he was like Johnny Cash because "He'd been everywhere, man."

Daryl had to agree with her though, suddenly becoming aware of just how stiff with walker bodily fluids his wardrobe actually was. Doing the classic smell yourself subtle move, where he turned his head to look out the window and inhaled deeply, his left eye closed and his right eye bugged and rolled back like Lucille ball used to. Fuck, he thought, you can get used to anythin'. He made a mental note to look for a change of clothes if they had any.

Blake twisted around in his seat to form a circle to go over final instructions, "Just so we're all on the same page, Daryl will take point since his crossbow has the best range and is silent. We'll leave the guns behind, except one." Tapping his holster. "And that's just for emergencies. If he gives us the go ahead, we'll sweep the store in a parallel line. Merle and I will take the perimeter, Daryl and Janessa you take the centre. Daryl, once the store is cleared if you could be so kind to double back and be our eyes on the street and watch our 6."

"You got it." Daryl replied.

"We need to concentrate on the essentials, but if you see anything useful might as well grab it too. As this is a store and emporium, there's likely to be a real mixed bag in there. Let's just see if we can't get you boys a leg up on your supply needs. Weapons, food, first aid, blankets etc. Any special requests?" Blake asked the group.

Daryl had been thinking back to his last shopping trip and realized there was a new essential that was now the first on the list. "Baby formula," he said quietly bringing all eyes on him.

"You holding out on me bro? What's the story?" Merle inquired.

"Lori had a little girl last week." Daryl replied with a half smile and a glimmer in his eye, thinking of the lil' ass kicker.

"That'll explain her mood swings. So how is Mrs Officer Friendly? Still Queen of the RV Castle?" Merle asked with a smirk.

Daryl bit the inside of his mouth and his eyes clouded over. "She didn't make it," he said softly. "We lost a lot of people from those days. Amy, Jackie, Jim, Ed, Sophia, Shane, T-Dog, Dale and his RV."

Merle whistled low. "That sucks bro. So who's got the baby?"

"Carol, some folks you don't know and whoever made it back from Woodbury," he replied sadly.

They exchanged heavy glances at the mention of Woodbury and Blake made a note to ask them more about that later. Janessa bit her lip and gave Daryl a sympathetic look, that was a lot of people to lose. Merle nodded and sighed in understanding what this meant. No more Dixon brothers against the world, they'd be going to the prison.

"OK, bro, baby formula it is," he replied wistfully, accepting the situation. "So, does that make me an uncle too?" he asked with a grin, the old fire back in his eyes.

Daryl just snorted and shock his head. "Not fuckin' likely." He replied, glad that Merle had changed the subject.

Janessa chuckled at the exchange, "Ok, I'm on it, I'll start at whatever passes as the baby section and hygiene products," she added looking pointedly at the brothers.

"That leaves Merle and I to scout for food, weapons and whatever else seems useful." Blake added. "Ok kids, let's do this. Daryl's up first for reconnaissance. Janessa, when he gives us the go ahead, you get to the trunk, gear up and grab the duffle bags. Merle and I will watch your 6 and then we'll meet up at the entrance."

"Sounds good" she replied. "If we could just have a quick moment for prayer?" Everyone agreed and bowed their heads. Merle rolled his eyes at Daryl, who just rubbed the back of his neck and shrugged. She chose a Methodist prayer, thinking when in Rome...

"Lord, we pray not for tranquility,
Nor that our tribulations may cease;
We pray for thy spirit and love,
That thou grant us strength and grace to overcome adversity;
Through Jesus Christ."

"Amen" they said in chorus.

Daryl thought it had been a while since he prayed, maybe years. Figured if there was a God he sure as shit wasn't lookin' out for him. But if it made her happy what did it hurt? And strangely he did feel a little better. Whatever, he scoffed to himself, annoyed at that uncomfortable feeling and getting anxious as his endorphin levels started to rise.

"We gonna do this? Let's go people." He snapped with a little more heat than he intended.

With a nod he was out the door with his crossbow out, the bolt loaded and the string drawn. He was ready. He crouched as he ran from the car to the row of wooden barrels out front, taking cover behind them. Doing a visual sweep, and finding the way clear he ran on to the edge of the big storefront window left of the door. Shading his eyes with his hand to avoid the reflection he crouched down and peered closely inside the dim interior, scanning his entire line of sight. Not finding any movement he continued to the other side to repeat the action. Encouraged, he moved to the door and reached up and grabbed the door handle glad that it was unlocked and opened easily when he pulled lightly.

Turning back to them, Daryl held two fingers up, then pointed at his eyes followed by pointing inside the store letting them know he was doing a 2 minute reconnaissance. Stepping inside Daryl held the door so that it would close silently, grateful it didn't have bells attached to it and took a deep breath. It smelt musty with a hint of a cheesy scent, something he'd come to know meant death. Just past the fermentation stage and at the beginning of skeletal, it could be a walker but at least it wasn't a wet one.

He proceeded to the far right of the store to peer down each aisle as he paced the length of the storefront, paying particular attention to the space behind the counters. You only need a walker to catch you unawares once to never fall for that one again. He still didn't see anything moving but he could see with all the aisles and racks that there were plenty of blind spots but he didn't see any reason for him to do it alone when help was right behind him. Stepping back outside, he grabbed his nose and wiggled it, placed a finger in front of his mouth in the universal "shush" position and beckoned them forward.

Blake popped the trunk as Merle strapped a bayonet onto his stump and checked the pull on the Bowie knife on his belt loop. Janessa hopped out of the SUV and reached into the trunk to get her gear. Handing four military duffle bags to Blake she then grabbed her black tactical vest and slipped her combat knife into the sheath on her left shoulder. Lastly, she grabbed her long handled tomahawk and nodded she was ready.

Blake was happy with his Mark II, something that he was long practiced with from his days of service back in 'Nam. He added a trench spike, designed to go through helmets and was perfect for undead skulls.

Meeting Daryl by the rows of barrels outside the store he filled them in with a hunter's low volume of speech rather than a whisper, which actually carries. "I could smell something but not fresh, didn't see any movement but there are a lot of blind spots so we should all do a slow sweep and be ready for it."

"I should go next then because women have a more developed sense of smell and I can let you know where it's coming from more quickly." Janessa stated assertively.

Daryl looked to Blake for confirmation who nodded in return.

Janessa squared her shoulders, a little annoyed as Daryl openly sized her up combat capabilities. "Nice" he thought, noting the vest and the excellent choice of knife, an Eickhorn para commando. Those Germans sure made great knives, he also approved of its placement on her shoulder instead of her belt as the upward motion of pulling it out of its sheath and the backhand swing would be very energy efficient. She then rotated the weapon in her hand, drawing his eye to her RMJ tactical shrike hammer forged tomahawk.

"I call him George, the other one on my shoulder is Gracie and we can handle ourselves." she said with understated confidence, with just a touch of attitude as she grinned wickedly, showing her ferocious side.

It had a vicious axe blade on one side and a long spike designed for serious penetration on the other. He could clearly see she could pull free from a walker skull and in the same stroke get one behind her if she needed, the insulated long handle would give her reach, absorb some of the shock and provide a better grip. Good for one or two hands or she could choke the handle and hold it nearer to the blade for close combat.

Daryl approved of her weapon choices, and frankly was impressed. "Fuck me, Ripley," he murmured, "If you can use 'em you can watch my 6 anytime".

Merle opened the door for her and with his trademark grin told her to "Lead the way ya' badass babe." Feelin' like a possum eatin' a sweet tater.

Daryl quickly moved ahead of her though and said, "You and your nose stick close to me, you can show off later."

With that they entered the store quickly, Blake took the far right, Merle the far left, Daryl and Janessa the two aisles down the centre, and moving in tandem they slowly swept the store systematically. When they reached the aisle break with the cross lane they paused and gave the "all clear" nods to each other before proceeding. Continuing silently they moved past the tables clustered in the centre of the store that housed much of the emporium's bric-a-brack.

As they moved further into the store the cheesy scent got stronger. She motioned to Daryl, held her nose and pointed to the centre of the back wall. He held his arm up with his elbow bent at a 90 degree angle with his fist clenched, the military hand gesture to stop. He looked over to Merle and Blake and pointed to where Janessa had gestured to. They nodded and continued down their rows but now hyper aware of the back wall as they approached.

The scene that greeted them was heartbreaking, the corpses of a family huddled together sharing a blanket, they must have died in the fall judging by the stage of decomposition, a child nestled in its mother's arms, the father leaning over them. The cheesy smell was much stronger which was due the butyric acid and adipocere as the flesh was starting to dry and preserve itself. Much of their organs and tissue that they could see had dissipated into a sludge-like stain on the floor and the bones were starting to show through.

In the father's lap was a revolver and the holes in the mother and child's skulls explained their fate. Blake and Merle had come around on either side and grimaced at the sight. Daryl hunkered down on his heels to reach in for the gun, and in that moment Janessa raised her tomahawk in a blinding flash. Crushing the father's skull just as he lunged towards Daryl with a snarl.

"Fuck me!" he exclaimed scrambling back on all fours and landing on his ass in shock, a fraction of a second later his knife drawn defensively raised to eye level ready to lash out, his deltoid, bicep and triceps muscles rippling in the process. "Seriously, what the fuckin' hell was that?" he breathed.

"That's what we call a lurker." she said wiping the blade on the blanket, liking his sleeveless look very much at the moment. "They play possum when there isn't a food source, I noticed he was a little wetter than they were, sure he was bigger so a slower decomposition, but we couldn't see the front of his skull and there wasn't an exit wound. When in doubt, double tap."

Daryl laughed slightly in relief reaching for the revolver again. "Ain't that some sheeeiiiit! Good to know. Thanks."

Janessa shrugged, "We've probably had more experience with isolated, contained ones, whereas you guys have dealt with more free range types I think." She held out her hand and he put his knife back in its sheath and clasped it to pull himself up.

"Nice, is that a Busse Gemini?" She asked earnestly.

He chuckled, thinking a girl who knows knives is pretty fuckin' hot. He nodded and passed it to her as he pressed the extractor rod on the revolver and the cylinder assembly swung out showing that is was empty.

"GD Motherfucker! Musta not been enough bullets for all of 'em. Got bit but didn't want to turn on 'em so he killed 'em and then just sat and waited." Daryl exclaimed.

She nodded thinking it was pretty sad as she hefted the blade and felt the neutral balance right near her index finger, she could see how you could use the entire length of the blade while still maintain a high degree of control.

She smiled as she passed it back to him commenting, "Surprisingly light for its size, a thing of real beauty."

Blake walked up to them and lay another blanket over the family, shaking his head at these two, he had almost died, she put one down and within seconds they're playing with weapons. Astonishing how easy it is to become desensitized to the violence of their new normal.

Merle was still amazed at the lurker, that was new to him, it must have sat there for 8-9 months. Months! Fuckin' unreal! He also noted she was faster than green grass through a goose with that tomahawk of hers, he could see she was handy to have around.

Janessa realized with chagrin as she met Blake's eye, that a moment should be taken over this family's passing. Standing over them she bowed her head as Blake said:

"Eternal rest grant unto them, O Lord, and let perpetual light shine upon them. May they rest in peace".

They all said in "Amen' in unison.

"Ok boys", she said with a smile. "The clock's ticking, let's go shopping!"

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Thanks for the reviews Hateofme; FanFicGirl10; Manchester lady; Guest; fanreader01 and DixonLover. As always, it's a huge encouragement and I really appreciate it. I'm glad you like where I'm taking Merle. I see him as a really complex character rather than just a two diminutional redneck, Michael Rooker is so expressive in his portrayal that I wanted to put thoughts behind them. Factoid: The Allman Brothers are Based in Macon Georgia, which is about 50 miles from the Prison.