Back to Life

Chapter 7: Empty

Rick

"Well, what do you think?", Nicole asked, handing the mirror to Rick as he sat on the worn down wooden chair. He thought she'd been working on his hair a little too long; he'd expected a quick trim, not the full haircut, but when he saw himself in the mirror, he smiled. The long curls were all gone. "You've got nice hair Rick. All you need is some conditioner and it would look just perfect", the girl commented. He inspected the sides and the back of his head, then handed back the mirror to the girl. "Yeah I don't care how it looks. As long as it's short," he replied bitterly. As soon as he said, he realized that it came off sounding a little harsh. "I'm sorry. I like the haircut. Thank you," he said in a kinder voice.

"No problem", Nicole said, then smiled. He then got up and caught Daryl standing in the hallway, leaning against the white colored wall. "What do you think?" Rick asked him. Daryl's eyes widened a bit and said, "who the hell are you?" Rick laughed. "Looks good man," he added.

Daryl was next to get his hair cut and Rick said, "I'll go make sure things are ready", then walked into the living room.

The bags were set on the table and he opened each one to check their contents. Each bag had at least three bottles of water and some canned food. Rick knew this wouldn't be enough for a week and that they would have to find a place that wasn't too rummaged up and see if they could find any supplies. He wondered which direction they would walk since Daryl hadn't talked to him about that.

He grabbed his handgun from his holster and checked how many bullets it had in it. Six. "Damn", he muttered. Rick knew he would have to use them really wisely.

He noticed Daryl's crossbow resting on the table next to his bag. He wondered how the redneck came to own a weapon as this one. Then he realized that Daryl had been a hunter since before he met him. Rick also wondered if Daryl had had other interests besides hunting animals. He then heard footsteps coming from the hallway and met Daryl's gaze. The hunter's long hair was completely gone. "I gotta say, I liked the long hair look," Rick joked.

"Yeah?"

Rick nodded and Daryl smirked a bit. "I did too," Nicole said, walking into the room.

"You guys ready to go?" Rick asked.

They walked west for a log period of time and then stopped for a short while for Nicole to rest momentarily. She'd been walking in the middle with Daryl in the front and Rick in the back. Rick had taken ahold of Nicole's spear when both he and Daryl decided that she shouldn't risk killing walkers on her own anymore. The girl had protested against that, saying that she should help out but gave in to the being pregnant logic. She needed to be cautious more than ever.

Rick noticed her silence but doubted it was because she was upset. They were only trying to keep her safe; she had to understand that. In the corner of his eye, he saw Daryl step forward with his crossbow in attack mode and Rick did the same with the spear. The redneck motioned them to keep quiet by holding up his index finger and bringing it to his lips. They then heard the footsteps dragging across the leaf-covered ground. "Oh shit. There's too many. Run now!" Daryl whispered loudly, knowing shouting would only complicate the situation.

An arrow was sent flying to the closest walker while Rick and Nicole ran together in the opposite direction. As he ran, Rick turned his head to make sure Daryl was right behind him and felt relief when he saw him running a few yards behind them.

They stopped running when they thought they'd put up some distance away from them. "How many were there?" Rick asked, not having a chance to really look at them. He was bent in a way that both of his palms rested on his knees while he tried to catch his breath.

"Looked like more than ten. We needa get going. We'll go around this way", Daryl said, pointing his finger southeast.

They encountered three more walkers and this time Rick killed one of them. The spear wasn't as efficient as his gun but it kept distance between him and the undead creature and did not make a loud sound like the handgun. After another two miles of walking, they were finally out of the forest.

The road in front of them was completely empty of life and death. There was not even a building or house in sight. As if reading Rick's thoughts, Daryl said, "we needa find a car. Just because it's lonely here don't mean we're safe next to the forest." Rick mentally agreed with him. Despite the haircut, Daryl's head had already become wet with sweat and his cleaned up face was beginning to look dirty.

"Which way now?" Nicole said, finally breaking her silence.

"This way," Daryl said walking south.

After walking almost a mile, they found a sign on the side of the road that read "Kent Gardens – in 2 miles". Rick felt like it might be a death mission to enter that town but waited on Daryl to say something since he was the one making the decisions. He watched Daryl stood in front of the sign and remained there as if contemplating whether it would be good to go there.

"It's risky", he said as he turned around to face his companions "There could be anything there. A car maybe. Or just walkers. Maybe people", he said, his face looking concerned at the last word.

"If we do go, how would we do this, if it's overrun?" What Rick was really trying to say how they would do that while have to keep Nicole safe. If they all had guns, they would maybe be able to do this but all they had was a crossbow, a spear, and six bullets. It wasn't enough.

Daryl remained quiet at that and looked thoughtful. "I can help", said Nicole. Daryl and Rick stared at her in disapproval. "I can. Please let me. There could be anything there, like you said. Or nothing. It's a risk we have to take," she insisted.

"She has a point", said Daryl, his hand on his chin. "Ok fine. But you have to do as we say. We be really careful and if things go wrong, you run. You don't stop running and we meet here by the sign. If me or Rick don't make it back in ten minutes, you run away from here. Rick will give you your spear but don't kill unless you think you can do it. Let Rick and me do all the work. Got it?" Nicole nodded in agreement.

Rick became nervous as they began their walk to the unknown town. He tried to distract his mind knowing that he needed to prepare himself mentally for possible running and killing who knows what. After this for so long, he still hadn't gotten used to it; the killing and the running; in fact, he hated it. He hated it a lot.

He tried to focus his thoughts on anything that would calm his nerves and it took him a couple of seconds to find his distraction. The thought came to him as his eyes were pulled to a beautiful orange-colored flower resting on its bud. The plant stood on the right side of the road with the flower sticking out, curved in a way that seemed inviting, for a stranger to take it. For a short moment, he was mesmerized by its beauty. He then looked at the green plants around the beautiful flower and the whole vicinity. There were so many of them and their green color radiated like fire in the dark. How was it that in a world so ugly and sad, so dark and empty, there was still some beauty in some places? How was there still color in this gray world? There isn't. It's just a stupid flower. Stupid plants, he told himself.

"It's called a Dward Pomegranate", the girl's voice said next to his ear.

"What?" he said confused.

"The flower. That's what it's called. I've seen it before, so I looked up its name."

"Oh", Rick replied, feeling as though she'd intruded into his thoughts but he wasn't annoyed. "It's beautiful", Nicole added, her face looking calm. He was surprised at how calm she looked considering where they were walking to. Rick also wondered what she was thinking but did not feel like asking. "Yeah", was all he responded. He knew she was just trying to lighten up the mood but he preferred to be lost in his thoughts.

After walking for what felt like twenty minutes, Daryl said, "I see it", to which Rick then felt a weird feeling in his stomach.

"I'll run ahead but I'll stay close to you guys", Daryl stated as he did just that. Rick only began walking a little faster to keep up; Nicole did the same.

There was no walker in sight as they entered the town. Various buildings and some homes stood on both sides of the road they were on. Rick looked for a car ad spotted a few; they all looked battered; windows broken, doors open, and one of them was even missing a tire. He watched as Daryl headed for a black Nissan and followed after him. He hurried towards him to tell him to hold up on trying to turn it on so they could go look for some supplies first, but as he finished his sentence, he heard the growling coming from one of the houses close to the parked car. Rick stood there, looking ahead in the direction the growling came from, but saw no walkers. Must be inside the house, he thought.

"Too risky Rick. With Nicole with us", Daryl said, his eyes already looking pumped with adrenaline. He knew he was right. His eyes then scanned the area for a building that could be worth checking out and spotted a building smaller than a Walmart less than two blocks away.

"I see something. Let's check it out. We need food", Rick said with an edge of demand in his tone. "The three of us go together. We'll be careful. We'll run back into the forest if there's too many of them. Although by the looks of things, this place seems far from overrun. It's almost deserted even." He waited for Daryl's response and he expected him to say no but the redneck agreed to the risky suggestion.

"Let's go", he said, motioning to Nicole to follow.

They walked straight down the empty street, always looking left and right at the buildings for any movement. Some of them had broken windows and some looked intact. There was no walker on sight other than the ones they'd heard growling from inside the house close to the car. That was odd to Rick and he kind of wanted to go to the house and see why the growling was only coming from there. He'd expected this town to have at least a few of them and he didn't feel safe with the place proving so empty. Not a single walker. We can't be that lucky.

When they reached the building, Rick could see all the broken glass on the floor. The building's walls were painted black and the letters above the glass doors read "Smart Buy" in blue. Daryl walked towards the door, pointing his crossbow side to side, then tried pushing the door and swung it open.

Rick rushed to stand by Daryl and was disappointed to find the place almost empty. Big shelves were scattered on the floor along with various store goods which were mostly items that they didn't need desperately. He scanned for any items that would prove useful but all he saw were home supplies, cosmetics, books and magazines, toys, some electronics, etc. He couldn't see any food though.

They walked in further into the building, both men vigilant with their weapons, Nicole keeping close. Nicole covered her mouth in shock as she saw the blood splattered across white floor. It followed in a long trail down the corridor to a door that read "Employees only". She moved to the side to not step on it.

"Let's grab whatever is good to take. Don't try to make your bag so heavy you can't run either", Rick whispered. He knew that even though there were no walkers in view, it was better to be quiet and safe than sorry.

The only food Rick was able to find were a couple of granola bars, three jars of peanut butter, a box of chocolate mini donuts, and two boxes of saltines. Is this it? Damn it. The place had been obviously been looted a few times by whoever had passed by. Rick's eyes looked for Daryl but couldn't see him. He tried not to worry and continued searching the shelves. He then tapped Nicole's shoulder and her face lightened up when she saw the box of saltines in his hand.

They continued walking along the aisle and found three boxes of cereal on the floor. As Nicole over to pick up one of the boxes, she saw what looked to be a small bag of marshmallows. She got up and started walking to where it was. She then saw the trail of blood again and stopped on her heel. She stared at the door that was for employees and grew fearsome. Piqued with sudden interested, she walked forward to the door and stood only inches away from it.

"What are you doing?" Rick's voice said and she let out a loud scream that she didn't intend and regretted immediately. Rick stared at her in astonishment and cursed under his breath. He stood there, hoping whatever was behind the door, if anything, did not hear but he knew that wasn't possible. "Get away from the door", he demanded and as she did that, they were startled by the loud banging that came crashing on the closed door. The banging became stronger and louder and Daryl came running to stand behind Rick and Nicole. "Let's go!" he yelled but as his words came out, the door broke open and out came the walkers.

They ran down the corridor they'd walked on when they entered and went out the door. How the hell was Daryl supposed to start a car up now? Rick thought. Fuck.

He couldn't count how many there were as he ran because he was focusing on Nicole running in front of him. I'm going to have to shoot some to give Daryl a chance. Rick stopped running and held up his gun and in a breeze, took aim and pulled the trigger. As he pointed his gun at the next moving target, an arrow beat him to it and sent the walker to the ground. The two men shared a quick glance and Daryl retrieved another arrow and put it in his bow then shot it. They continued doing that until there was only walker left and Rick watched as Nicole ran towards it and struck it with her spear. He hadn't realized that he'd dropped the spear in the midst of all this when he used his gun. When she removed the spear off the walker's head, she said, "I'm so sorry Rick. I didn't mean to scream," and the two men stared at her in shock. Rick was angry at her but decided to let it go and focus on getting back to starting up a car and getting the hell out of this place.

"There might be more. They'll follow the gunshots", he said, turning to Daryl as if telling him exactly what to do without saying it. Daryl began sprinting towards the black Nissan and they followed after him when they more walkers coming out of the house close to the parked vehicle.

"Fucking shit", Rick heard Daryl say and did a quick head count and counted eleven.

Rick didn't know what to do and he felt the panic invade his whole body. He knew whatever direction they ran they might encounter more of them and get trapped by them somehow.

"We have to get the car", Daryl shouted as he stepped forward and shot an arrow through a walker. Rick couldn't help to admire how perfect his aim was every time. He stood there and hesitated on firing his gun but knew he had to help Daryl. "We take them out and head straight for the car", Rick shouted, then ran forward to take better aim and fired his gun. Another walker slumped onto the grave and he forgot about Nicole. "Stay back!" he commanded, firing another shot. He cursed knowing the gunshots were going to bring even more walkers. Nicole hesitated at trying to take a walker down with her spear, so she stayed back and looked around to alert her companions of any incoming zombies.

Using his last bullet, Rick watched as the one-eyed missing walker fell to the ground. Daryl ran to the dead once again corpses and retrieved every arrow from their lifeless skulls. Rick and Nicole stood out by the car as the redneck headed into the car and messed with its wires. "Almost got it", he said as Rick's heart continued to beat fast from the never ending adrenaline.

The loud sound of the car roaring to life almost startled him and he ran to open the passenger's door afraid that something else might happen if they didn't leave now. They sat in the car, all three trying to catch their breath from the running and adrenaline and Daryl stepped on the gas pedal and drove down the gravel, then stopped the car abruptly.

A woman stood in the middle of the street, blood covering her face and clothes and Rick tried to figure out if it was another walker as she just stood there not taking a single step forward. She looked straight at them, eyes unblinking. Rick felt the alert lights go off in the back of his head and grabbed his bullet-less weapon. He then turned to see his friend, the expression of robbed of him; his eyes wide with confusion. "Hey", Rick told him but he didn't reply. "Hey", he repeated and got no answer. Rick was so focused on Daryl's odd behavior that he didn't notice the woman right next to the driver's seat window.

"Daryl?" the woman's voice said as he rolled down the window.