For a few chapters Eric will be away from his group. This will mean that a lot will change in the time it takes for him to get back. Expect to see new faces. I thought that an early meeting with Woodbury would be an interesting turn for the story, I have a few ideas about what will happen when we get there but any of your thoughts are helpful.
This chapter Eric is on the road with his prisoner, being led to Woodbury to meet with 'Blake'. The road will be dangerous.
The next day: 11.47am
"What has Merle been up to?" I asked Shumpert as I lounged in the passenger seat with my Beretta pointed at the side of his head.
Shumpert was driving his black van with supplies in the back, I had already helped myself to his breakfast. "Looking for his brother... He ain't found him yet." The big man said plainly.
"Probably dead." I said, looking out the window to hide my regretful expression.
"Merle thinks they're on the move. Always running, too hard to keep track of." He explained briefly and quietly.
"What's he gonna do when he finds them?" I asked him.
"Get his brother." Shumpert said slowly.
I smiled at him knowingly. "And?"
He looked at me and grinned. "Yeah, he wants to hurt the leader guy, Rich or whatever his name is."
"Hurt him?" I asked, my anger rising slowly.
"I heard him say worse." He said with a slight reminiscent chuckle.
I looked back out the window and grimaced. Merle seemed like a dangerous man. Maybe I could get to know him at Woodbury... If he is even there, hell for all I know Rick and Daryl could already be there because of me. "How far are we?" I asked him silently.
"Couple hours at the least. Roads could be blocked." He muttered grudgingly.
"Don't be angry. You're gonna get your chance to get your revenge soon enough right?" I said to him.
"How you figure that?" He asked gruffly.
"I turn myself over to your boss, release you as a gesture of co-operation, he has me tied up waiting for punishment and you get a quick visit in the room to beat the crap out of me..." I said, looking out the window distantly.
"Or I could pull over and we could get all that out of the way right now." He said calmly.
"I need to make sure my people are safe..." I said slowly.
"Cut the shit." He said suddenly. "I know that's bullshit. You ain't giving yourself up."
I looked at him purposefully. "You think what you want tough guy... All I care about is the safety people, they ain't done nothing to deserve no suffering." I said to him.
"And you have?" He asked.
"You'd be surprised." I said to him, looking back out the window.
"You know Blake would be willing to spare your life if you worked off the debt... Seen it happen before. Until the guy tried running and Blake ran him down and killed him." Shumpert said slowly and carefully.
I chuckled to him. "Work? I don't know if I would call it that." I told him.
"Well what would you call it? Robbery? You go from house to house taking what you want and that's okay?" Shumpert said a bit louder.
"Don't you dare compare us... I don't kill the innocent. I don't slaughter people who are just trying to make the best of what they got." I said to him defensively.
He chuckled and suddenly turned down a dirt path that lead up a hill. I noticed a reasonably tall building at the top of the hill with some solid concrete walls around the property. I saw on the signs as we got closer that it was a National Guard Station and smiled. There were a few other buildings inside as well as space for truck parking and a gas pump.
"That thing works?" I asked him.
"Woodbury's been using it for some time..." He said with a smirk.
"Handy asset for you." I said to him sarcastically. I pulled the pair of handcuffs from my back pocket and tossed them onto his lap as the van came to a halt. "Put 'em on, and fill her up." I said to him simply.
Shumpert sighed and clicked the handcuffs on before opening the door and dropping out of the side. I stepped out of my door and he came striding around the back and released the pump. I watched him as he filled the van with petrol and had a quick look around the station. There seemed to be three main buildings. One of them has to be and armoury. I thought as Shumpert twisted the gas can back on.
"Turn around." I said calmly. He turned so that the gun was pressed against the back of his head. "Back in the driver's seat." I told him slowly.
He started to walk back around the car and I followed him with my gun raised. He got in and started it and I jogged around to the passenger side. I got in and went back to my relaxed position, aiming the gun at him all the while. "So tell me about Blake." I said to him enthusiastically as I tossed him the handcuff keys.
Later on that afternoon: 1.31pm
Shumpert hadn't finished eating yet. We had driven into a campsite to see what we could find and had found a fair bit of food. I had made him cook it of course and we had a fine meal of baked beans. I felt refreshed but Shumpert was taking his time and I saw no need for it, I was starting to get suspicious.
"This was a good find." He said as he ate back another spoonful of beans. "We could be a good team... A couple of archers. Blake owes me a favour, I could put a word in for you." He said, looking up at me with a grin.
"Eat your beans quick and shut up." I said to him impatiently.
"He's gonna rip your skin off, he's gonna fuck you up in ways you can't even imagine before he kills you. Then he's gonna drop your fucked up walker body at your group's door as a final warning. They don't give us what we want and they'll all suffer the same fate. It's cute... Y'know... You're little odd crew of misfits you've got going on in the woods there. But they ain't worth the effort against us." He said gravely. "It's just a fact man... If your people make a stand... They will die, if they leave, and leave their supplies behind. We will have no quarrel with them."
"I didn't take this trip to have this talk with you." I said to him with a raised voice, I kicked his plate out of his hands and it clattered across the dry leaves and sticks and his food was spread on the ground. I aimed the gun back at his head. "Lunch time's over. Back in the car." I said to him angrily.
"You can't shoot me, you'll have no idea how to get to Woodbury." He said aggressively with a menacing grin as he approached me.
I leaped backwards over the fire pit and backed up into the little clearing next to the sitting area around the fire. I put the gun back in the holster and removed all of my weapons. "I know how to get to Woodbury... Been there before the turn..." I told him with a chuckle. "I told you why I was bringing you, but it isn't necessary."
He walked towards me and tried to stand over me. I kicked him in the balls as he opened his mouth to threaten me and he wheezed in a high pitched tone as he reached for his nuts and doubled over. I whipped a lazy but powerful left uppercut into his neck and then thundered my hardest right uppercut into Shumpert's nose. He flipped onto his back at a startling pace and I kneeled over him "It's about survival shit-head... not strength." I turned him over and handcuffed his hands behind his back.
He was moaning and grunting as I tried to lift him up and I chuckled. I smashed his face in to the side of the van and he was knocked unconscious in a second. He slid to the ground and I lifted him to my shoulder and opened the back doors of the van clumsily trying to keep him balanced as I slid his limp body inside.
"Don't you dare move." I heard from behind me. I was about to disobey the command but I suddenly felt the sharp point of steel resting lightly against my spine and I tried not to gasp in fear. The voice had come from a woman, a strong woman, I thought with a grin. "What are you up to?"
"Dealing with an unruly prisoner. Why are you interrupting?" I asked her without turning.
"Looked suspicious... what happened?
"He wanted to test his luck against his me, for his freedom, got downed like a baby." I told the woman.
"He dead?" She asked lightly.
"No, unconscious." I told her slowly. "Can I... Can I turn now?" I asked her slowly.
"Let him turn.' I heard a second woman's voice say, this one was softer, but sounded intelligent, and quick witted.
"Go on then.' The strong woman said threateningly.
I turned around cautiously with my hands raised. I was a little bit scared when the turn revealed a buff looking, athletic, dark-skinned, angry woman with a katana raised to my chest. I glimpsed at the other woman briefly and she was holding all my gear and I grimaced and sighed. "You guys gonna stare all day or tell me what the fuck you want?"
"Don't you talk to..."
"I remember you." The other woman interrupted. "I remember these weapons." She said intensely. "You're the one that came to the farm... killed Randall. You knew Rick and Shane."
"And Lori and Carl." I said slowly, always looking in the black woman's eyes. "The night was a bit of a blur, I couldn't recognise you I'm sorry, I've forgotten your name."
"Andrea... And you're Eric..." She said slowly. "Where's Leon? Did he...?"
"No... He's safe... We have a place... A group. But it needs work." I told them, shaking my head. "We take in too many more people and it could become crowded, we need to expand or find somewhere better."
"What's the prisoner got to do with this?" The black woman asked.
"Did I catch your name?" I asked her staunchly.
"I don't think I threw it at you." She answered defiantly.
I pushed her katana out of the way and approached Andrea, she handed me my weapons and I strapped everything back on. "What are doing out here with Blackie Chan?" I asked Andrea with a grin at the woman, who was sliding her sword back in it's sheath.
"Her name is Michonne." She said simply.
I spread my arms innocently. "How hard was that?" I said.
"Farm got run over by a heard, I got split from the rest, I dunno if they're alive or dead..." She said sadly.
"You didn't even go back to look?" I asked her.
"I had my own ass to think about, sick of watching theirs anyway. Was a ticking time bomb the way Shane and Rick were going." She said looking away.
"I saw the aftermath. The vehicles were all gone, all the camping shit. None of the group that I could recognise down there. The name Merle Dixon mean anything to you?"
"You've got to be fucking kidding me?"
"I'm not I'm sorry. He's been tracking the others, trying to find Daryl..." I said sadly. "He's working for a man who is threatening me, trying to slaughter my people and take what we have." I looked around in anger and slicked my neck. "They live at Woodbury. That's where I'm taking this son of a bitch." I said tapping the van. "I'm gonna turn myself in, hand him over as a gesture of good faith... try to avoid causing any bloodshed on my group, it's me he wants." I said sadly.
"What'd you do?" Andrea asked me curiously.
"I killed two of his men trying to save a thirteen year old girl's life after they killed her family and tried to fucking rape her." I said simply, "Me and Leon both, she is a little sister to me now. Then we find this asshole watching us at our new home. I'm ending this before it goes to far..." I said slowly.
"It won't be the end." Michonne said.
"Well I can at least try."
"And get yourself killed." Andrea pointed out
"If that's my fate..." I said defensively.
Michonne was staring at me strangely, her eyes were wandering as she tried to process everything. She went a fair way away towards the snarl of walkers and I saw her come back around from some tents with two walkers on chains. The sight made me feel sick to my stomach at first, then I saw what she was up to. The walkers had bags attached to them left right and centre. Pack horses, clever strategy. Their arms had been removed as had their jaws and their top teeth. The no longer posed a threat to anything and they seemed so much more docile, almost content with their surroundings and uncaring about what had happened to them. These fucking things are getting stranger by the second. I could hear the snarl of walkers coming from multiple directions now and I chuckled. "We could either stand here and talk or you two could get in the van with me and I'll drive you someplace safe." I told them.
"Why should we trust you?" Michonne asked.
"Because you haven't come back from the dead." I said slowly and sarcastically.
"He's not trying to get one over on us Michonne, let's just take the ride." Andrea said slowly. "It's getting cold out here." She said looking around slowly. She seemed to be struggling with something in her head as we made for the van. I heard two swift cuts and I turned around before I opened the driver's door to see her pack horses drop to the ground with no heads, she grabbed her bags and set off for the passenger door and I chuckled to myself in amusement. I started the van up and continued on my path to Woodbury, the van was shaking and heaving itself all over the place as I drove the bumpy path out of the campsite.
"Where do you guys want to go?" I asked as I pulled out of the driveway and started slowly driving towards Woodbury.
"We don't have an end destination. We've been struggling day to day." Andrea explained slowly and Michonne scoffed.
"You see it different?" I asked.
"It ain't a struggle, this one just ain't fit enough." Michonne said with a slight smirk.
"I can see that." I chuckled.
"Your group, they're good people?" Andrea asked.
"Nothing but..." I said simply.
"How many?" Michonne asked.
"Twelve... Including me. Four woman, one child... the girl I saved. The rest are the men." I said simply.
"What's your place?" Andrea asked.
"One of those illegal bars you find in the forests." I said to them, they seemed confused. "Y'know... one of those ones that rednecks use to get their kids pissed." I explained.
"Yeah I remember helping out on a case against one of those places." Andrea suddenly realised with a smile.
"Yeah well this one is secure. And we've just found a carpenter, so we are gonna start expanding and making it bigger soon." I said carefully. "Plus... someone... goes out there every day... looks for supplies, but mainly looks for survivors, I've tried to put it in a way so that we will cover all the ground in this part of Georgia, that way if your group is still alive we could find them out there, all join together, and create a community."
Andrea and Michonne looked at each other and I pulled the van over to the side of the road. They were both deep in thought and I knew what was being decided, they both stepped outside and started speaking to each other in a hush. I leaned back in my seat and reached for a cigarette lazily. I lit it and relaxed a bit as I inhaled the smoke. Andrea came around to the driver door. "Michonne has a map." She said in an apologetic voice. "If you could tell us where it is, we'll go give them a hand." Andrea said.
"You don't have to apologise, you two have no reason to come and die next to me... Take the van." I said. I can walk the idiot from here. I told them as I stepped out and continued with my smoke. I opened the back door and dragged him out by his feet, his head smacked the road as I pulled him all the way out and he woke up with a pained groan.
"My fucking head is killing me... How many times have you hit it now?" He asked as he got up onto his knees. I drew my arm back steadily and crossed another right hook over his face and two of his side teeth got spat out as his head smashed to the side.
"Lost count." I said as I shook my right fist in pain. Andrea and Michonne were watching, Andrea looked shocked but Michonne was just smirking knowingly. That there is a good woman to have by your side, I thought as I stared at her admiringly. She smiled back and I chuckled. Michonne drove the van as they pulled a U-turn around me and my beaten up prisoner.
Later that Afternoon: 4.52pm.
The rifles on the wall had been pointed at me for five minutes and I was growing impatient. I had been holding Shumpert by the throat with a gun to the side of his head all that time and the men on the wall were silent and steadfast in their orders as they kept me quiet and still. Merle wasn't on the wall. I had concluded that much before they had caught on that I was there. I saw the Latino man I had seen with Merle and Shumpert earlier however.
One man had gone to get Blake and I looked at all the soldiers on the wall, a rabble, I thought with a smirk. There was no organisation among the sldiers. They were there for fear, but they weren't much of a threat, in any big firefight they would all turn to cowards, and it would all go to chaos. Hell Leon could probably pick all these guys apart by himself with his rifle. I thought with a chuckle, it made me sad that I hadn't brought him. We ride together, we die together. We were partners in crime. He was hurt when I left without him. But I gave the little greater good speech and told him to take care of Rea. She had been hysterical when I took off without saying goodbye... I could see her crying in the rear view mirror when I left. It was too hard for me to be that emotional when I had all that anger flooding through me. Back then all that was on my mind was the fear and the panic. The reaction to imminent danger.
Now I realised that reaction was going to get me killed, and I was actually okay with it. My grief and my introversion would eventually start impacting the group anyway, best that I die trying to relieve them of more grief. Shumpert was relaxed in my grip, we had been together long enough now that he knew I wasn't going to kill him, I had him gagged for that very reason, there were two spotlights shining on me with stunningly bright lights that pierced my eyes. I tried to catch a look at the men on the wall but it was difficult to see anything outside of the light. I had to try and use Shumpert's head as a barrier from the blinding spotlights.
"I take it you got some kind of list of demands?" Came a loud and confident voice with a smooth southern accent. I saw two new figures had made their way onto the wall.
"No demands. I wanted to see the man in charge... Blake?" I asked loudly and calmly.
"You're talking to him. What's this about?"
"I'm the man that killed the two men of yours in that gas station, the one you sent this one to follow." I announced slowly.
I heard rifles cock and Blake started yelling over the sound. "Whoa! Whoa!" He said as they all paused. "Hear the boy out." He said softly. "Go on son!"
"My name is Eric. I been travelling around this area since it happened with my friend, avoiding large groups of people so we could go about our business without being harassed." I said softly. "Me and my friend came across your two men after having murdered a thirteen year old girls family, one of them right before her eyes and then trying to violate her. I couldn't allow it, when I tried to stop it your men tried to end my life. It wound up the other way." I said carefully. "I'm sorry that it had to happen like that but your men chose their own fates, I gave them a clean, easy way out." I said defensively, raising my voice as my emotion got the best of me.
"And they underestimated you?" He asked with a chuckle. He gave a whistle and the spotlights both shut off.
My eyes had white rings around them and my vision was blurred intensely for a minute or two as he spoke to his men. "This kid's got some balls huh?" He said with another laugh. "What's your move now big guy?" He asked with a grin as I looked up at his face.
He was exactly how Rea had described him, he was middle-aged, strong looking, full, thick head of black and grey hair. An aged sort of handsomeness to his look, he was wearing a padded, quilted, black winter shirt like the one I had been given by Rea in the clothes store. He had brown work pants on and simple black shoes. He looked like an average guy at first glance.
"I ain't come to kick up no shit sir." I said to him softly. "I came to give you the facts and surrender myself to you." The men on the wall all began to laugh and chuckle menacingly. I pulled the round out of the chamber of my pistol and unscrewed the silencer, I unloaded the clip and kicked it down the road towards the gate and slid my gun along the ground. I ripped the tape off of Shumpert's mouth and pushed him forward. I held the keys up from my pocket.
Blake was silent for a moment before he jumped down off the wall onto our side and I slid the keys along the ground towards Shumpert. I began to unbuckle the rest of my weapons and placed them at my feet as Blake released Shumpert from his cuffs. "Go on back inside, get your cuts seen to by Stevens." Blake said to the big man as he glared at me longingly.
Blake walked up to where I was standing and kicked my weapons behind him. The Latino man had followed him down onto the ground and he picked up all my shit. "Take that to my apartment." He ordered strongly. "Welcome to Woodbury son." He said to me with the happiest grin... But behind the joy... something more sinister was lurking