The Enigma That Is
An Alex Rider and The Walking Dead crossover
He is an enigma. As well as trying to survive the 'end of the world', the group spend time attempting to decipher one of their own. Alex Rider.
Snippets of moments with Alex and the Gang.
I do not own Alex Rider or The Walking Dead, those rights belong to Anthony Horowitz, AMC, Fox and the comic book creators Robert Kirkman, Charlie Adlard and Tony Moore respectively. I make no money from this writing, I write this purely for my own enjoyment and (hopefully) the enjoyment of others.
Chapter 8
So much had transpired in the last two days.
No one really had time to fully take in what had happened.
From one thing to another. They barely had the chance to eat and sleep, and if they got the opportunity, thoughts filled with sorrow and terror would take over their dreams.
Sophia. Her little Sophia, that's all she could think about. For her baby's entire life, Carol had protected her. From her abusive father, from the imaginary monsters hidden under her bed, to the real monsters that now walked the earth. Carol always looked out for her daughter, but now she couldn't. She couldn't hold her little girl tight to her chest and whisper that everything would be ok, she couldn't clasp her hands tightly around those smaller ones to reassure herself that they would live through this madness, and it was killing her.
She didn't know what to do.
Sure, she had Lori and Andrea who sat by her side when the pessimistic thoughts filled her head. But it wasn't enough, she needed her daughter back. She needed to know Sophia was safe.
Everyone was doing what they could to find her, search parties were being sent out left right and centre, but everyone had things going on in their own personal lives.
Carl had been shot the day the herd passed through the highway. A farmhand had mistakenly shot him when aiming for a stag. The owner of the farm was a veterinarian called Hershall, who patched Carl up as best he could. There was a funeral held for Otis yesterday, Carol thought the guilt of shooting Carl, had led to him leading Shane to the school for the medical supplies, which were urgently needed for Carl's survival. Otis lost his life whilst saving another, two if you count Shane who was saved by Otis's heroic act. It worked though, you could feel the tension lift from the camp's shoulders when they announced Carl would be alright, but the underlying stress was still there with Sophia's disappearance.
The Hershall family had allowed the group to stay on the land by the house. Jimmy decided to help with the search for Sophia, but Carol sensed Hershall wasn't keen on Beth's, his daughter, boyfriend's decision. She didn't think he wanted his family to get too close, especially so soon after Otis's passing. His daughters were kind and willing to help where they could, Glenn and Maggie had returned from their run into town for medical supplies with Glenn looking a bit sheepish upon their return. Carol smiled, at least someone was enjoying their new life here, so long as Hershall didn't suspect anything.
Carol was brought out of her musings as someone roughly brushed past the laundry she'd just finished hanging up.
"Alex!"
He turned to her, his stormy eyes catching the shirt which now lay on the floor.
"Sorry." He said guiltily as he hurriedly picked it up and pegged it back in place on the makeshift line.
Carol stopped him from turning away by gripping his arm. "That's not what I meant." She paused. "But thanks for hanging it up anyway." She said with a soft smile.
Alex nodded and made to turn away to continue his journey out into the forest.
"Alex," Carol repeated. "Please, just sit down. You haven't stopped. You've only been back about half an hour since you last went out." She gestured to the log nearby which people used as a seat.
He shook his head, his hair haphazardly waving around emphasising how dirty it actually was. "I can't stop. We can't afford to waste a second."
Carol's eyes shone with gratitude as she pulled him down to take a seat next to her. "I know. Truly I know, but you haven't stopped. The last thing I want is for you to collapse out there on your own." She found his hand which was gripping the log tightly and grasped it in her own. "I can't thank you enough. I really can't, but you need food."
Alex's head shot up from where he was stormily staring at the floor. "I've just had food!"
Carol shook her head. "Real food. Not just the odd snack here and there."
Alex shot his gaze over to her angrily. "You don't need to mother me. I'm perfectly capable of looking after myself."
Carol let go of his hand and stood up. "Yes well, someone needs to." She said stiffly.
Alex shot to his feet. "Says who? I've done perfectly well staying alive so far."
Carol sighed in exasperation. "I didn't mean it like that." She flung her arms in front of her as she paced a little way away from him. "I just think, we should all look out for each other, especially at the moment when so much is happening."
Alex stayed silent and Carol feared for a moment that he had slunk off during her tirade. She turned around. He had sat back down on the log with his head in his hands, breathing heavily.
She sighed and silently moved to sit beside him.
They both sat there for a while with cicadas chirping away around them.
The moment was broken with Alex mumbling something.
Carol narrowed her eyes, attempting to decipher what he said. "What did you say?" She asked gently.
Alex sighed and spoke up a little. "I said it's my fault."
Carol sat there for a second, stunned.
He shot a glance her way, then regained his previous position with his hands cradling his head as he stared at the grass below their feet. "I know what you're going to say, 'whatever do you mean Alex? It's not your fault Alex'." He said in an odd voice as an attempt to mimic someone else. "It's just," He continued normally. "I could have done more." He groaned in frustration as he raked his hands through his hair, the odd finger getting caught in knotted blond strands. He lifted his head and gloomily stared into the distance. "I know how to survive out there, I've been trained for things like this. I-" He cut himself off and glanced to Carol in the corner of his eye.
She gave him a look of sympathy and nodded reassuringly. "I know what you mean, I could have done more too-" She began as Alex cut her off.
"That's just it!" Alex cried as he stood up sharply, the tiredness and frustration from the past few days which had worn down on him, caused him to finally snap. He spun on the spot to stare at her. "You don't understand. No-one here understands." He waved his hands around him as if to show her the members of their group milling around the farm. His raised voice caused a few of them to glance over towards them as their curiosity peeked.
She saw Rick and Shane set off in their direction with Glenn, Maggie and Lori trailing behind.
"I've seen things, I've done things that no one here would ever believe. I can do so much more than you people know. I've put up with being treated like a kid because for once in my life no one is expecting anything from me. If it wasn't my Uncle, it was them and if it wasn't them, then it was some insane maniac bent of taking over the world." He paused and let out a deranged laugh. By now the others had reached Carol and Alex. "Well good luck to them." He cried. "Because there really isn't anything worth taking over now!"
Rick approached him like he would a startled animal. "Hey Alex, you ok?"
Alex whipped around to stare at him. "There you go again!" He stepped closer to Rick, with a frenzied look in his eye. "I don't need to be mollycoddled! I'm not Carl." He poked Rick in the ribs. "I'm not Sophia." He turned to keep Carol in his sights. "I'm me, and you people don't even know who I am. Not really." He had stopped with the furious pacing and was just left looking exhausted, like all his energy was just stripped from him in one go.
Lori came over slowly, ignoring Rick's mumbled warning and held out a hand as she approached him. She gently grasped him by the elbow and spoke softly. "We're not trying to treat you like a kid Alex. Ok? We're just worried about you because you're our friend. We know you and Daryl have been working your asses off to try and find Sophia, but you're only human. You need food. Ok? You need rest. When did you last put your head down for an actual sleep, because no offence," she chuckled before she continued, "you look awful."
By now Alex's body had loosened up and he looked ready to drop. Carol came over to his other side, caught Lori's eye and shot her a concerned look. She shrugged her shoulders to express her unspoken question of 'what's just happened?'. Carol shook her head minutely in response.
"I don't even know anymore, Jack would know. She'd send me up to bed so fast your head would spin." Alex mumbled quietly to himself, reminding the women of Lori's question.
"Well," said Carol, taking charge, "you can start by eating a proper meal and catching a good night's sleep." Seeing Alex about to protest, she steamrolled on. "You can join in with the search tomorrow morning, first thing."
"The sun will be setting soon anyway so we would have to turn back in an hour at any rate. Besides Daryl's out there now." Lori inputted.
"Yeah, and I'll be talking to him about getting a good meal too when he returns." Carol continued. "I can't thank you boys enough for what you've done for Sophia and me. But like I said, you need to look after yourselves too." She said with a soft smile. "We all need to look after each other."
o0o
Two hours later saw Carol and Lori sitting on the front porch steps, after making some dinner for everyone. They took the time to sit and gaze towards the distant woodland.
Lori was aware of Carol shooting her looks every now and then. Eventually she sighed and cocked her head to the side to shoot Carol a look. "What?" She asked.
"Hmmm." Carol innocently questioned.
Lori sent her a mock glare. "Don't think I haven't seen all the looks you've given me."
Carol mulled something over in her mind before putting Lori on the spot. She turned her body around to face the other woman. "Are you ok?"
A slightly surprised look filtered across Lori's face before she masked it. "What, because of Carl? I'm fine. He's fine. We're all … fine." She fumbled over her words as she muttered weakly, not expecting the blunt question asked by the other woman. Lori was in no way ready to share the news with anyone, not when Rick didn't know. She had no idea what she was going to do with the baby, let alone how to deal with the father, whoever the father was.
Carol stayed quiet for a moment before responding. "You just seem distracted, and I not talking about Carl or Sophia."
Lori looked up to meet her waiting gaze. "I'm fine, really." At Carol's raised eyebrows she repeated herself, stronger this time. "Carol, honestly. Everything's fine. Or at least it will be when we find Sophia." At Carol's morose slouch, Lori rubbed her friend's back reassuringly. "We will find her."
Carol smiled, a flicker of hope was seen amongst the despair that littered her façade.
Suddenly a call sang through the grounds of the farm.
"Walker!"
It was Andrea standing on watch, positioned on the RV roof. Lori and Carol were too far away to hear the conversation between everyone but they saw a group break away from the RV to investigate.
Suddenly a shot rang out, followed by Rick's cry.
"No!"
It was Daryl. He'd been shot in the head by Andrea's overenthusiastic effort to show off her skills.
Something shot past everyone stood at the RV, as the blur ran towards their fallen comrade and the group gathered there.
Alex rushed to Daryl's side, shoving Shane out of the way as he helped Rick and Glenn carry the bloodied man towards the house whilst the others ran inside calling for Hershall.
o0o
Hershall announced that Daryl would be laid up in bed for his stomach and head injury for a while. The shot to his head looked worse than it was. Not that Daryl hadn't had a lucky escape. Something Shane heard Rick mention to Andrea after Daryl had been handed over the vet. He knew that after Amy's death, she was a loose cannon but this was a close call. Not that he really liked Daryl that much, but he couldn't deny that he was a help to the farm and brought another level of security which could keep Lori and Carl safe.
As he rounded the corner of the barn, he stopped suddenly when he heard raised voices. He ducked into a nearby stall as he came across the middle of a conversation.
"-Just be careful next time." Alex was saying. "Always ensure your target's identity before pulling the trigger. Always."
Shane frowned, that sounded like something a shooting instructor would say, like he'd been taught it professionally.
"But he looked like a walker." Andrea protested.
"Yeah, but what if it had been Sophia? She's been in the woods for a few days now, she going to be filthy. She might even be injured and moving sluggishly. Would you just shoot her?"
Andrea scoffed. "Of course not! I'd know if it was her, I'd recognise her."
Alex shook his head in disappointment. "Well by that reasoning, you shouldn't have shot Daryl."
Shane heard Andrea take a step closer to Alex. He peered his head around the corner to get a better look. "What do you know? Huh? You're just a kid with some weird hero complex who thinks he knows better than the adults. Have you even ever fired a gun before coming here?" She laughed tauntingly.
Shane couldn't see what Alex did next, but Andrea's laughter was cut off. "Hey!" She cried in outrage. "How did-. Give that back."
Shane strained his neck as far as he'd dare and caught a glimpse of Alex holding a gun and emptying the bullets out on the floor in a few slick movements. In the next second, he had tossed the weapon into a pile of straw in the corner and whipped the knife out, which was previously stashed securely in Andrea's belt, with the art of an accomplished pick-pocketer.
He stood there with a cold calculating look in his eye, the likes of which Shane hadn't seen before, and certainly hadn't expected to see on a teenage face such as Alex. He twirled the stolen knife in his hands, leading the blade through a merry dance between his fingertips.
He took a solitary stride towards Andrea causing her to take a stiff step back.
"You, have no idea what I am capable of." He said slowly. "I may be absolutely knackered, and feel like I'm ready to drop, but I could take you any day. Don't push me. I am at the end of my tether so back off." He looked at the knife in his hands. "Learn how to use this properly, same goes for the gun." He tossed it back to her so the handle ended up in her fumbling grip. "Don't go round shooting my friends again or I'll give you a lesson you'll never forget, Malagosto style."
He sauntered off, leaving a frozen Andrea behind. As he passed Shane's hiding place, who had shrunk to the back of the darkened stall leaving no trace, Alex murmured into the empty space. "Enjoy the show?" He chuckled tiredly to himself as he left the barn leaving two confused and slightly terrified adults in his wake.
Phew! Two chapters this quickly, my fingers wouldn't stop typing
So as you can see, Alex kind of goes off the deep end here. He's been searching for Sophia non-stop since her disappearance, so we saw him go from an already sleep deprived, grumpy and tired teenager to a teenage super assassin trained spy within a few paragraphs. Carol and Lori did manage to get him to sleep for a bit, but Andrea rudely woke him up with the gun shot situation!
As for the Malagosto reference slipped in there, you may remember this as the assassin school Scorpia sent him to during that little adventure!
As ever, thanks for the reviews
-Skendo
