Chapter 9: Vatos Part 3
The older woman led us through the back of the warehouse, through an open area, and to another building. As soon as we entered through the doorway, the scent of the elderly assaulted my nose. We were in a nursing home. I noticed Rick was slowly realizing that we weren't dealing with hardened tough guys. We were dealing with men who protected those who were too weak to protect themselves.
As soon as we got in the door, Felipe walked up next to Rick, and addressed his grandmother. "Abuela, por favor take me to him," he said.
Abuela took his hand and let Felipe, who was limping with a hand to his ass, to a sort of stage area. We followed quietly through the hallway and saw a small crowd around a dark skinned man in a wheel chair, who was gasping for air; Glenn among them. Felipe went over to the man and gave him an inhaler, while giving him instructions to take slow breaths.
Rick looked at Glenn with disbelief. "What the hell is this?" he asked in a soft tone.
"An asthma attack," Glenn replied. "Couldn't get his breath all of a sudden."
"I thought you were being eaten by dogs, man," T-Dog complained.
Glenn turned around to look at something, and when I looked around him, I almost laughed at what I saw; three small Chihuahuas.
"Could I have a word with you?" Rick whispered harshly, and dragged Guillermo a few feet away to talk to him.
I didn't really pay any attention to the conversation. I spared a glance at Daryl, just in time to see him look away. He hadn't asked me anything about when I growled at Guillermo, and I was starting to get suspicious. At first, I thought it was because he wanted to focus on what was going on, and not get distracted. But, the more I thought about when I it, the more I realized that Daryl hadn't look shocked.
That's what made me get suspicious.
Guillermo led us into a room, so we could talk more privately. Rick placed the bag of guns down in a chair, while T-Dog took a seat near the door; Glenn stood opposite from him, Daryl leaned against the door frame, and I leaned against the corner between T-Dog and Daryl.
"What about the rest of your crew?" Rick asked.
"The vatos trickle in," Guillermo explained shrugging. "To check on their parents, their grandparents… They see how things are and most decide to stay. It's a good thing too, we need the muscle." He paused, giving Rick a serious and grave look. "The people we've encountered since things fell apart, the worst kind—plunderers; the kind that take by force."
"That's not who we are," Rick objected quickly.
"How was I supposed to know?" Guillermo asked with another shrug. "My people got attacked, and you show up with Miguel hostage. Appearances."
"Guess the world changed," T-Dog sighed.
"No," Guillermo disagreed. "It's the same as it ever was."
"The weak get taken," I finished for him, not even thinking about it. I had been remembering what my father had told me during training. Everyone in the room looked at me in surprise. I merely glanced around at each person, and then looked at Guillermo. "My father used to say the same thing."
Guillermo nodded at me, and both Daryl and Rick regarded me with suspicious looks for a moment. Rick turned back to Guillermo after a second, but I could still feel Daryl's stare.
"So we do what we can here," Guillermo went on. "The vatos work on those cars, talk about getting the old people out of the city. But most can't even get to the bathrooms by themselves, so that's just a dream. Still, it keeps the crew busy, and that's worth something. So we barred all the windows, welded all the doors shut except for one entrance. The vatos, they go out, scavenge what they can to keep us going. We watch the perimeter night and day and we wait.
"The people here, they all look to me now," Guillermo said, as if he was admitting a dark secret. "I don't even know why."
Rick looked at him for a few seconds. "Because they can," he said. Rick then held out his shotgun to Guillermo.
Guillermo hesitantly took it, and Rick started to look through the gun bag, taking out guns and ammo, and placing them next to Guillermo.
While Rick was doing that, I was lost in my own thoughts; thinking about how similar this was to my own situation with my family. If I wasn't the Alpha, what would they be? Omegas? I knew how dangerous being an Omega was, and Abby and Ronnie had two kids who could possibly be werewolves. When that thought crossed my mind, I gripped the shotgun in my hands tighter.
I had made my decision: I would be their Alpha. I missed the calculating look that Daryl gave me.
*What Walks the Earth*
We were walking back to the van; everyone carrying a shotgun, and Daryl and I carrying my bow and arrows, and his crossbow. I had new purpose to my steps, like accepting being the Alpha of a pack gave me more power.
"Admit it," Glenn joked. "You only came back to Atlanta for the hat."
Rick chuckled. "Don't tell anybody."
"You've given away half our guns and ammo," Daryl accused.
"Not nearly half," Rick countered.
"For what?" Daryl questioned. "Bunch of old farts who are gonna die off momentarily anyhow? Seriously, how long you think they got?"
"How long do any of us?" Rick asked gravely.
We all stopped short when we looked to where we had left our van. It was gone.
"Oh my God," Glenn said.
"Where the hell's our van?" Daryl asked.
"We left it right there," Glenn answered. "Who would take it?"
"Merle," Rick answered.
We all took a second for it to sink in, but it made sense. Merle was the only one who would take it.
"He's gonna be taking some vengeance back to camp," Daryl told us solemnly.
I glared at the spot where the van had been, but sighed and began walking down the tracks.
"Where are you goin'?" Daryl yelled.
"Back to camp!" I yelled back, not turning around. "It's a long way, and I'd like to get back before it gets too dark!"
I eventually heard the sound of gravel being crunched as the boys followed me.
*What Walks the Earth*
We were still running up the gravel road when the sun set. Even though it was getting too dark to see much, I could still see just fine. When the light faded, Rick looked at me. "Can you find the way Gale?" he asked.
Even though it would arouse suspicion with the others, I nodded. But then I remembered that he couldn't exactly see me. "Yeah," I replied. I moved to the front of the group and continued to run in the direction that I could smell fire. After a few more minutes of running, I suddenly stopped, screaming reaching my ears.
"What's wrong?" Rick whispered. Then, we could all hear gunshots, and the screaming got louder. "Oh my God."
We all ran towards the camp in time to see Shane, Lori, Carl, Carol, Sophia, Morales' family, Abby's family, and Matt crowded in front of the Winnebago. All of us began to fire our guns at any walker we could. I soon ran out of shells in my shot gun, and didn't have any time to reload. Quickly looking for another walker, I saw one sneaking up behind Morales, who was beating another walker with a bat.
My instincts took over and my vision turned red. My nails grew longer and so did my canines. Before I knew it, I had shifted. Using my speed, I slashed the head of the walker, just as it grabbed Morales by the shoulders. When it fell to the ground, I turned towards Morales to make sure he was okay.
I caught the look of fear he gave me, but I ignored it. When I was sure he was unhurt, I closed my eyes shifting back to normal, but I kept my nails long. I opened my eyes, knowing that they were still red, but again I ignored that. "Go to your family," I ordered, that came out in deep voice.
Morales blinked, but nodded at me and ran to his wife and kids. I got rid of a few more walkers that tried to get to Rick. Rick looked at me surprised, since he'd never seen any form of my shift, but gave me a nod all the same. Rick then started to shout for his wife and son, while I attacked a few for walkers.
I looked around for more walkers, since my adrenaline was still pumping. When I didn't see any, I took a deep breath and let my nails shrink back down to normal, and my eyes dim back to their deep gray color. Looking around at the survivors, I saw Matthew had shifted, as did Abby and Ronnie. The three of them looked at me, their eyes glowing amber. My eyes flashed red for a second, and they shifted back.
Alex and Leah unlatched themselves from their mother's waist and ran to me. I hugged them both to me tightly. I looked up when I heard three footsteps approaching. Abby, Ronnie, and Matt stood in front of me with a look that held anticipation. I stood up, with my hands on Alex and Leah's heads.
"I'm the Alpha now," I said with authority in my voice.
Each of them nodded, and then smiled. Abby was the first to launch herself at me in a hug. I held her tightly, letting her scent of spring water calm me down. After letting her go, I hugged both Ronnie and Matt. A cry of pain, sorrow, and loss made Matt and I break apart, and look towards the RV.
There we saw Andrea leaning over her younger sister Amy, who had blood covering her front and neck. Andrea continued to cry out for her dead sister.
"I remember my dream now," Jim said, covered in walker blood. "Why I dug the holes."