Chapter 10:
That night I barely got any sleep. My head was pounding all night and my body felt like I fell from a thirty story building. I was too busy worrying about Lori and her stupidity. I was too busy worrying about what caring for the others would do to me. When the sun started to come up, I welcomed it. I was the first one up but I stayed in my tent for a while. I was thankful for the day but I was too sore to move. Once I heard more people moving around and talking outside my tent I decided I needed to get up. Just because I was hurt didn't give me an excuse to sit around all day doing nothing.
I walked out of my tent seeing Carol making something that looked like eggs over the small fire. She handed me a plate as soon as it was done. I mumbled a thank you and slowly made my way over to an empty camping chair next to the fire. I didn't look up from my plate until I heard Shane announce that he was going to go out looking for Rick and them. My eyes met Daryl's but I quickly looked away. I watched as Shane and Daryl threw a bag of guns in the back of a car and Andrea followed. Of course she would. She was dying to be one of the guys and any chance she got she was up Shane's ass. I shook my head and got up from the chair since I was finished eating. I put the plate and the fork into a bin filled with water that was lying on the ground a few feet away from me. The guys and Andrea got ready to go before a red truck can driving down the dirt road to the farm. I smiled, immediately knowing Rick was back.
As they came to a stop I counted how many heads I seen in the car. Four.
Rick hopped out of the driver's seat and Hershel out of the passenger one. Glenn came out from the back. We all watched as Maggie came running out of the house.
"Thank God, you're back!" Maggie let out and ran straight passed Hershel and into Glenn's arms. Rick and Lori were talking. She was explaining to him what happened to her.
"Who the hell is that?!" T-Dog interrupted every conversation, point to the truck. Everyone looked in the direction her was pointing.
"That's Randall," Glenn stated. Everyone moved to the back of the truck where a boy no older then maybe nineteen sat, blindfolded and unconscious. Shane gave Rick a disgusted look but Rick was unfazed by it. I narrowed my eyes. Shane couldn't even pretend to be happy my brother-in-law was back.
"We couldn't just leave him behind," Rick said. "He would've bled out…if he lived that long." After getting the kid inside so Hershel could repair his calf muscle, everyone sat around the dining room table in the Greene's house. Daryl didn't come inside yet. I didn't know where he went. You shouldn't care, a voice said.
"It's gotten bad in town," Glenn softly said, sending a glance in Maggie's direction.
"What do we do with him?" Andrea spoke up. Before Rick or anyone could answer, Hershel came into the room.
"I repaired his calf muscle the best I could but he'll probably have nerve damage. Won't be on his feet for at least a week." He informed us.
"When he is we give him a canteen, take him out to the main road and send him on his way." Rick told us all. Rick and Glenn told us about their trip to town to get Hershel. A group of guys had fired on them after a misunderstanding. They killed two of their men and the gun shots brought three more to them. They shared a few bullets, one getting shot by Hershel before getting bit by a walker. The other one drove off without Randall after he had jumped off a roof to get to the truck the guy was in. In the jump he ended up getting his leg pushed through a fence.
"Isn't that the same as leaving him for the walkers?" I asked as Daryl reappeared, walking in the door quietly. He looked eyes with me, nodding. I looked away.
"—you're just gonna let him go? He knows where we are." I only caught the end of what Shane said.
"He was blindfolded the entire way here. He's not a threat." Rick said.
"How many more are there? You killed three of their men and ya took one of them hostage, but they ain't just gonna come lookin' for him?"
"They left him for dead. No one is looking."
"We should still post a guard." T-Dog put in. I had to agree with both Shane and T-Dog. It really must be the end of the world but Shane had a point. There wasn't any way no one was looking for the kid.
"He's out cold right now…will be for hours." Hershel stated.
"You know what? I'ma go get him some flowers and candy," Shane sarcastically said. I rolled my eyes. I agreed we needed to be cautions but Shane was acting like a drama queen. "Look at this folks! We back in Fantasy Land."
"You know we haven't even dealt with what you did at my barn yet," Hershel stepped forward as Shane tried to leave the house. Once Hershel spoke, Shane stopped and turned around to face him. "Let me make this perfectly clear once and for all. This is my farm. I wanted ya gone; Rick talked me out of it. That doesn't mean I have to like it. So do us both a favor, keep ya mouth shut." I had the urge to applaud Hershel and hug him. Shane left without saying a word. Andrea following him out like a lost puppy.
The next morning Rick and Shane were getting ready to take the boy out and leave him. I needed to get out. I walked up to the two men. They were standing near the green Hyundai. I had my weapons and they realized I was going with them. Rick nodded at me while Shane just stared expressionless. I rolled my eyes at him. Rick got Randall and led him out of the barn blindfolded and his hands were tied. They put him in the trunk and then we were on our way.
We traveled for a little while before Rick pulled over and got out of the car. Shane followed. I stayed in the back seat of the car. They left the doors open and I watched as Rick led Shane a little ways away from the car.
"Thought we were goin' further?" I heard Shane ask Rick.
"We are. Eighteen miles out."
"So why we stoppin'?"
"I wanted to talk." Rick said simply. Maybe I should have stayed back at the farm. This was probably going to be a conversation Rick didn't want to have while I was around. This was Rick's, Shane's and Lori's business, not mine. I looked out of the window to the fields. We were stopped at a crossroads with empty fields on every side. It reminded me of when me and Lori were younger. We'd always go on road trips. Dad liked to take the "scenic route". I didn't blame him. The trips were always relaxing and with the beautiful, calm countryside passing by in a blur; it made it even more relaxing. I wish I could travel back in time just so I could experience it again. Just so I could go back to a time where the dead weren't walking and when people weren't as savage as they became recently. After a few more minutes of staring outside, Rick and Shane walked back to the car, got in and then we were off again. After what felt like hours, Rick spoke to both my and Shane.
"We gotta start usin' our knives more. If there's one walker, we use our knife. We keep things quiet and we save ammunition." Rick locked eyes with me through the rearview mirror. I nodded at him. "We need things for the winter: Warm clothes, fuel. Maybe we'll get a break. You gotta think the cold effects them. If it doesn't kill 'em its gotta slow 'em down. Second week of January last year, we got all that snow and ice; my cousin got stuck on eighty-five for twenty-four hours. Sittin' in his car with a birthday cake for his girlfriend at Georgia Tech. He just sat and ate birthday cake and listened to the Lord of the Rings book on tape. We could get lucky and get the same winter as last year." Whatever the two talked about when they left the car made it awkward. You could cut the tension with a knife. I knew Rick was just talking to fill the silence and hope to break the tension by thinking of the future. Truth be told, I didn't know if having a winter like they did last year would be a blessing or not. It could either help us get stronger to start fighting against the dead and make a dent in the population or it could kill us along with the walkers. "By December, it's a different world; safer." I hope so Rick, I hope so…After a while I started to tune Rick out. We had more important things to worry about this second then what to do a few months down the road. It was a good thing to think about these things but getting the boy away from us is the most important.
After driving more than eighteen miles away from the farm Rick pulled into what looked like an abandon building. It was fenced in. The sign just outside the fencing said Merit County Department of Public Works. We all—excluding Randall—got out of the Hyundai to look around. We walked up to the fence that was blocking us from getting in and anything from inside from getting out.
"This'll do," Rick spoke, looking through the gaps in the chain-linked fence. "We'll leave the boy here, scavenge some supplies." Shane wasn't paying attention and you could see his mind was somewhere else and I wondered to myself what had happened between the two. Rick had to be ignoring the tension and awkward air that settled on all of us. The blind could see the tension that had suddenly appeared and radiated off both of them. During the ride after their talk I thought I was going to suffocate because of it, now being out of the car it was a little easier to ignore it. Rick got out attention, cocking his head in the direction of an incoming walker just on the other side of the fence. Shane made a grab for his gun as my grip on my knife tightened. Being alone before finding the group again at the CDC, I stayed away from the geeks, only killing the ones I needed too. It felt like forever since I've been out farther than the town a little ways from the farm. I had forgotten how bad it was outside of those two locations. The barn was the most walkers I've seen since the horde that came through on the highway and the little town wasn't swarmed with walkers, at least not since I've been there. The bullet exchange between Rick, Glenn and Hershel with the other group changed that though. I didn't think getting into the town would be a walk in the park like the previous times before.
While I was thinking, Rick had stopped Shane from using his gun and had taken out his knife. I watched as he took the blade to one of his fingers, making a bright red line. He took his finger and wiped it against the fence and I watched as The walker, who had gotten closer became riled up after seeing us and even more crazed once he had smelled the fresh blood. The walker fell to his knees after running straight into the fence. He let out his tongue and let it swipe over Rick's blood that was now there. I grimaced. Rick brought his knife through one of the openings in the fence and drove it through the walker's—who I now realized was dressed in what looked like a police uniform—skull. As another one appeared, in the same uniform as the first, Rick told Shane it was his turn. Shane did the same as Rick before quickly killing the thing. I was quickly reminded how bad things were before. What used to protect the people pre-apocalypse—the military, the police—was no match for the flesh-crazed monsters that had risen up.
We quickly got the chain that was keeping the fence gate closed and began to scout out the place, leaving a tied up, blindfolded Randall in the trunk of the car. Shane went off to a school bus that was here, checking it out while Rick went downhill and I checked out the small administrative building. The door was open when I walked up to it. I gripped my knife even tighter in my hand, my knuckled protesting and turning white with the amount of pressure I was using. Inside was a mess. There were papers and books lying haphazardly across the floor. The counter that separated the front with the back was also a mess. I looked around, not moving after hearing something. I didn't know what it was—an animal, a walker or another survivor, I wasn't sure. I slowly made my way around to the other side of the counter. There were pools of blood on the floor mixed with more papers, these ones stained red. On the other end, a few feet away from me lay a dead body. I felt bad as I hoped that the person lying dead on the ground was actually dead and not undead. The smell of death that I hadn't noticed before— how, I had no idea — hit me. The smell was so strong my eyes watered and I had to resist the urge to gag. I felt my hope shatter as I seen the thing move and I froze. It was lying on its back and upon hearing me, or smelling me I bitterly thought, its head snapped in my direction. Its eyes were glazed over and yellowing bore into my own as it let out a groan and started to pull itself up. Only went it was up and advancing toward me did I snap out of my frozen state and got ready to defend myself. It was taller than me by a good foot and realized how stupid I was for freezing up. I didn't know why I had frozen up in the first place. Maybe it was because he looked like someone from the group I was in before finding my family and the group. Maybe because it brought up bad memories from the first time I had encountered the undead. I was by myself then. When I felt cold hands grabbing my arms I freaked. I didn't scream, I didn't make a sound. I pushed the hands away taken a step back before kicking my leg out. It didn't go far but it gave me a few seconds to collect myself. When I came back towards me I kicked it again, this time harder. It fell to the ground and I followed it. I drove my knife into its skull the second I was next to it. I brought the knife down a few more times for good measure before standing up. The fight wasn't loud nor was it quiet but it brought Rick and Shane to the door. I stood up from behind the counter. I wiped the back of my hand against my forehead when I felt dripping. I pulled it back to see a blackish red color. I knew it wasn't my blood and the revolting smell proved it too.
"You alright, Len?" Rick asked. I nodded before walking around the counter to join them. I followed them wordlessly. I helped Rick syphon gas from a few cars and trucks. Once we were done we joined Shane who was standing near both of the police clad walkers. We moved them from the place we'd killed them at the fence over to a small grassed area. He was looking at them, searching for something. When we stood next to him he looked at us both once before turning back to the two walkers on the ground in front of us.
"I don't see any bites." She said while pulling at one to turn him over looking at his back.
"Gotta be scratches then." Rick said. "This one's hand," he pointed to the smaller of the two walkers. "Other one's cheek," he pointed to the bigger one now. I looked down seeing a scratch in both spots. Somehow though, I didn't think the scratches were what turned them but I didn't see any other reason as to why they had. "They had walkers here." I almost snorted at his statement. Obviously. What place didn't have walkers? "Burned bodies down the hill."
"It's gotta be scratches then," Shane offered quietly. After a few seconds Rick walked away with us following him.
Shane pulled the Hyundai in after Rick opened the gate for him. I stood by making sure nothing would appear. It was pretty quiet besides the three walkers and to be honest that had me on an edge. Once Shane pulled in and Rick closed the gate, all three of us walked to the trunk. Shane and Rick roughly grabbed the boy, pulling him out. He still had the blindfold on and the headphones that Rick had taped in his ear were loudly blasting music. Rick and Shane dragged Randall between a fire truck and a school bus and I silently wondered what had happened here. Where were all the walkers? There were a few buses inside the fence and it was unnerving to not see anything but those three.
Rick pulled the blindfold off of Randall and Shane pulled the tape off of his mouth and the tape holding the ear buds in place. Rick pulled the ear buds out and handing me the music player. I quickly shut it off hearing it become louder that it was no longer being muffled by being in the boy's ears. The kid looked around a few seconds be for speaking up.
"What the hell is this?" Rick and Shane turned around leaving him still tied at the wrists and ankles. I followed suit. I wasn't okay with leaving him hear without any protection. Sure I was angry that he had fired Rick and them but I didn't really think this was what needed to be done. There had to be other ways to deal with the problem that was Randall. We continued to walk away as Randall desperately threw words out of his mouth to try and convince us to let him stay in the group with us. I felt sick but didn't turn around. Rick's word was final and the only way he would change his mind was if Shane did too and I knew that would never happen.
"Why would ya save my life to just kill me by leavin' me here!?" He yelled out. I cringed at the volume before silently agreeing with the boy. I ignored more of his words trying not to feel bad for leaving the kid. Rick pulled out his knife before dropping on the ground. It was at least twenty feet away from Randall, maybe more. Rick didn't leave him weaponless but he didn't exactly give him any help either. He continued screaming about how he 'watched football', 'got drunk' and 'screwed around on the internet'.
"I went to school with Maggie for God's sake!" We all stopped. My head started to beat faster. We turned around to look at him as he continued. We only heard one thing though.
"You went to school with Maggie?" I asked as we made our way back to him. Rick and Shane both echoed my question when he didn't answer right away.
"I…Sh-She didn't know me. Didn't even know I existed! I mean, I knew her. I knew who her dad was," He said before continuing on after seeing Rick and Shane walking away again. I stayed near him. "There is no way I'd ever do anything to hurt her or her family! Or you! Or your people!" I stared blankly at him. "I' not like the guys I was with!" He screeched out. I looked away from him to see Rick facing us with a furious but slightly anxious expression on his face. Shane was faced away but I could tell he was speaking to Rick. Quickly Shane turned around pulling out his gun. Rick shouted out 'No' before I heard the gun go off. It hit the ground less than a foot away from Randall's head, on the opposite side of where I was standing. I grabbed the gun I had from behind me, tucked in the waistband of my jeans before pointing it at Shane. I stayed where I was watching as Rick kicked Shane's gun away from him and it went under the fire truck. Randall looked at me.
"Please don't let them kill me! Please do—" He started but Rick interrupted him yelling for him to shut up. My heart started to beat even faster and my breathing to become labored. The amount of noise we were making was sure to bring attention to us and it made me nervous.
"Keep struggling with it Rick! It ain't hard, man! The right choice is what keeps us alive!" Shane yelled at him. "It's always the same with you. It's whenever you're put to tha' test!
"Quit acting like you know tha' way ahead, like you know the rules. There are no rules, man. We're lost."
"Nah, man. I know exactly where I am."
"You don't know shit anymore."
"I don't think you can do it, I don't think you can keep them safe." Shane told Rick accusingly. I took in a breath of air, my eyes wide. Before I could say anything Rick threw a punch at Shane but Shane grabbed his arm. I watched, in horror as Shane head-butted Rick, sending him to the ground. I looked down to Randall and back at the two grown adults beating the living shit out of each other. Shane managed to get ahold of Rick's pistol and I feared for the worse. I didn't put it past Shane to shoot Rick and the fear that the man I used to know would turn the gun on Rick this time, instead of Randall. Shane was a manipulative man before the dead came back to life. He shot at people before, killed a few but they were criminals. The apocalypse changed Shane. He got rid of threats and right now, Shane had made Rick out to be another one of those threats. I looked down at Randall once more before running over to the two. I grabbed Shane who had Rick pinned to the side of car that was next to them. Shane pulled his elbow up and hit me back. I heard the crack and then felt warm liquid coming down my face. I didn't know if it was broken or not but hell, did it hurt like a bitch. I fell backwards hitting the ground hard. I felt a sharp pain flow through my body before ignoring it and getting back up.
I heard Rick let out a grunt of pain before seeing him lying on the ground with a motorcycle on top of him. I ran—more like hobbled—over to him and pulled it up a little so he could slide out from underneath it. Rick got up from the ground and sprinted away from me. He tackled Shane as he held the gun at Randall. I swore as I realized how out of hand this got. I heard someone let out loud battle cry before I heard glass breaking. I ran towards where Rick and Shane were. Everything was quiet for a few seconds before we all heard the familiar sounds of walkers. I let out a startled cry as one walker from inside the large building Rick and Shane were fighting next to came out from the now shattered window. Rick killed it before we heard more and not even two seconds later at least two dozen walkers came stumbling out of the window. I turned and ran before getting hit in the face again. I fell to the ground as Randall appeared above me. He looked shocked to see it was me, maybe expecting it to be a walker or Shane or Rick. He quickly recovered from his obvious shock before landing a hard blow to my face. I groaned. What was with everyone hitting me in the face today?! Brought my own hand back shaving at his face before bringing my other one up and throwing as much of my weight as I could, punched him in the side of his face. I quickly got up, ignoring the dizziness and hoisted him up. His hands were still tied but instead of being behind his back they were now in front. His once tied ankles were free, making it easier to pull him along with me. He struggled but quickly stopped. I looked to him from out of the corner of my eye before looking away.
"C'mon! Gimme a knife or somethin'! There're chompers behind us!" I looked, seeing three walkers stumbling behind us, one straggling behind the other two. I ignored his plea for something to defend himself. He attacked me and although he might help, who's to say he wouldn't shoot me in the leg or drive a knife threw it to save his own ass, leaving me for walker bait? I wasn't taking the chance so I quickly pulled him with me, harder this time making it to the car before throwing him in the trunk and closing it quickly. I turned around, knife in hand before plunging it into the nearest walkers head. That left two let to deal with. I started to back up as the next walker came towards me but I tripped over my own feet landing with a thud on my backside, the walker following me to the ground. My grip on my knife loosened and it flew out of my hand a few feet away from me. I swore as the walker fell on top of me. I brought one arm up, pushing my forearm against its neck to keep its snapping jaw away from me. I quickly started to wiggle my way over to the knife. I felt the tip of the blade before moving just a little more to grab it. Right when I did I felt the other walker fall on top of the one on top of me. I drove the knife through the walkers' skull that was on me before turning my attention to the other one. I struggled to push the dead walker off of me but with the other one's added weight I wasn't able to. My arm was pinned underneath the dead walker and my other arm couldn't reach the other walker. Suddenly a gunshot sounded and the walker above me stopped moving.
"Lennox?!" I heard Rick call to me.
"Under here, Rick." I huffed out. I felt the weight of the walkers being pulled off of me before Rick helped me up.
"Where's Randall?" He asked. I pointed to the car, us both hearing the pounding and muffled yells from the boy.
"Where's Shane?" I asked Rick after not seeing him behind Rick. I could hear growls off a little ways and got worried. I didn't like Shane but I didn't want him to die being torn apart by the flesh hungry monsters.
"Let's go." Rick said, ignoring my question.
"What?"
"Let's go." He said again. I stared at him for a minute before shaking my head.
"Me and Shane…We don't see eye-to-eye. We haven't for a long time but we can't leave him. Whatever happened between the two of you, happened. He's your best friend, for God's sake! Whether you want to admit it or not you don't want to leave him. I know you Rick, as soon as we leave, you'll regret it. You'll blame yourself even though Shane would have it comin'… we can't leave him." Rick stared a few seconds before getting into the passenger side.
"Remember when we were younger and we all went muddin'? You were always the only one who knew how to handle the truck and not spin outta control and always got out of the way of fallen trees or anything that got in the way…drive like that again." I stared at him again before hopping into the driver's side and starting the engine. "Let's go get 'im." Rick said as he rolled the back window down and I drove off in direction of the growls. I drove through a fence towards the bus Shane was holed up in. There were at least ten walkers trying to get in the bus and have a feast called Shane. Ricked stuck him torso out of the window, gun in hand and ready.
"Shane! Go for the back door!" Rick yelled over the growls and now the gunshots he was firing. Shane ran through the bus coming out of the back as I pulled next to it. His feet went into the open window first then his body. I slammed the car into reverse before going out the chained gate next to the bus. Walkers hobbled after us but as I pressed on the gas harder they got smaller and smaller through the rearview mirror. I drove for a while before pulling over to the side of the abandon road. I got out and Rick and Shane did too. They went to the trunk while I got into the back seat, slamming the car door closed once I was in. I leaned my head back, trying to stop the images that were flying through my head. I was able to push them aside before but now it was proving to be difficult. Today proved even more to me that even the people we once knew weren't as trustworthy as we thought. I felt sick to my stomach once I realized if it had been Rick cornered in that bus, Shane wouldn't have went back for him.
The ride back to the farm was tense after coming to that realization. After tying Randall back up and in the same way when we had left, Rick and Shane got back into the Hyundai, this time, Rick driving.
The last few days took a toll on me and if I wasn't feeling it before, I sure as hell was now.
Here's chapter ten! so far the longest chapter I've ever written. Ever. It's just over 5k. I hope you like it! Sorry it's taken me so long to get this chapter out also. On the Brightside, after Thursday I'll officially be done with school (and no longer a Junior-it's frightening and exciting to know that) and it'll be summer which means more time for me to write and update for you guys. I hope this chapter was good though, leave me some feedback! I'd really appreciate to know if you guys like the story or if you don't. Critique me, point out where it's good or bad, I don't care. I want you guys to like the story as I'm writing it for you guys!
-BLArensman xx