A few notes from missCanary
Disclaimer: I own none of the TWD characters.
I'm excited about this chapter! Enjoy!
xoxoxo
Scarlett
All Scarlett could hear was her jagged breath as she ran toward the screams. There was something very ominous about them; more than just a person in trouble. Scarlett felt like she was going toward someone familiar, and the thought made her sick with worry.
Daryl grunted out commands every now and then. "Left here." "That way." "Sounds like she's moving." They had deduced that it was a female, based on the pitch of the screams. Scarlett wondered vaguely if the camp could hear it as her feet pounded on toward the scene. The screams were getting louder as they approached, edging more toward wailing.
Suddenly, with a garbled moan, they stopped. "Shit." No noise was worse. They sped up, climbing up a wooded hill and bursting through a thick tangle of vines.
There she was. Scarlett gasped. A walker was crumpled on the ground, feasting on a tiny little form. The girl's shoes were small and dirty; too familiar. Sky flew over to the walker, ripping it off of the victim.
It was Sophia.
She froze in place, hardly registering the sight before her. Her instinct had been right, it was someone she knew. She just failed to acknowledge that it could ever be Sophia.
Daryl aimed and took a shot. The walker collapsed, failing to latch onto Scarlett as it got up and stumbled toward her. He grabbed the corpse by the shirt collar and dragged it away, leaving Scarlett to collapse beside Sophia. The damage was done. A jagged crater lay where her neck should have been smooth and pink. Bright red blood spurted out in time with her fading heartbeat. The monster had been chewing on her arm and chest as well, which lay mangled and glistening in the sun.
"Oh my god, oh god, oh god." Scarlett couldn't catch her breath. She shoved two shaking fingers into the hole of the artery where the small girl's life was quickly spilling out. "Sophia, stay. Stay, Sophia, stay awake." Scarlett didn't even know what she was saying. This couldn't be happening. There was no way this was happening.
The beautiful little girl beneath her had a look of pure terror plastered on her face, as if she were silently begging Scarlett to make it better, to make everything that had just happened disappear. She drew in a muddled, raspy breath. Sky could see the tiny exposed ribs move as her lungs inflated beneath them. Tears blurred Scarlett's vision as she shushed her small friend, feeling hopeless.
Daryl came up behind her, standing over the two girls. "Fuck," he breathed, his voice breaking ever so slightly. She felt him leave and heard what sounded like him kicking the lifeless body of the walker.
The force of Sophia's heartbeat pushed less and less against her fingers, which couldn't contain all of the gushing blood. A silent whimper escaped Sophia's small, pale lips. Sky cradled Sophia's head in her other hand, looking her straight in the eyes. There was nothing she could do. "It's okay," she choked, stroking the little girl's pained face with her thumb. "I'll be right here the whole time. Just go to sleep sweet girl."
Sophia's lids grew heavy. Scarlett could tell that she was trying to keep them open, hanging on by a thread. She let the girl do it, having learned from years of ICU experience that death was something to observe, not dictate. It was Sophia's to experience, and the very thought of it overwhelmed the nurse with intense grief. She kept it in until the little girl's eyes didn't open again. The pulse against Scarlett's fingers faded to nothing.
Then, wave after wave of grief hit the nurse like a freight train. Her body was racked with sobs as she lovingly cradled the little one's head, unable to keep her own up. They remained that way for a few minutes, Scarlett crying and Sophia a cold lifeless body. Daryl had been pacing behind her, but she felt him now squat down next to her.
Sophia was supposed to stay at the camp. Why was she not at the camp? She was supposed to survive and grow up; see the world get put back together. Scarlett couldn't comprehend it. She felt like she could vomit.
Gingerly, she placed Sophia's head on the ground and stood. Daryl held his hands behind his head, gripping a pistol with white knuckles. He cleared his throat, looking angry, sad, and apologetic all at once. "Y'know, we…we gotta—"
His voice faltered, not quite sure how to say it. Scarlett rubbed her forehead with her shoulder, keeping the blood dripping from her fingers off her face. She wasn't really registering where Daryl was going with this. Only when he checked for rounds in his gun did she realize what he meant.
"No!" She grabbed his wrist and he hesitated, looking at her calmly. "Not a gun, Daryl, please." He looked at her for a moment and then nodded, stuffing it into his holster. His hand drifted instead to his hunting knife on his waist. He walked over to the body, looking down at her for a few minutes. "Do it behind her ear, so Carol doesn't have to see it." The mention of Carol made more tears stream down Scarlett's face. She knew what this was going to do to the mother; she knew from experience.
He bent down, brushing a strand of hair off Sophia's pale forehead. It was a sweet gesture. The gentleness in his touch surprised Scarlett. She could see her bloody fingerprints where she'd gripped his wrist. Then, Daryl cupped the side of her face with one hand and quickly drove the blade into her skull, behind her ear. It was done; Sophia wouldn't wake up now.
Scarlett turned to the walker as Daryl carefully picked up Sophia. Its face had been kicked in; only a bloody pile of bone and flesh remained. She glanced at Daryl's foot, noting the dark blood splattered up his pant leg.
They made their way down the mountain slowly, in a mild state of shock. Daryl cradled the girl against his chest. Scarlett still hadn't washed the blood off her hands.
"There was a walker up here." She finally said. Daryl looked at her blankly. "Why was there a walker up here? Shane said they wouldn't come up the mountain..." She was speaking more to herself, trying to get her sluggish thoughts to connect.
"Must be runnin' out of food in the city," Daryl muttered. The mention of "food" disgusted Scarlett, even though it was accurate. She looked at Sophia and grimaced; Sophia wasn't food. Scarlett wanted to go back and pound the festering corpse until it was just a smear on the ground.
"Why was she up here? She was so far from camp."
"No point wonderin'." She felt comfort in his gaze. "She died in your arms, not underneath that dead asshole. Last thing she saw was a woman who loved her. Ya gave her a gift." The camp appeared before them, making Scarlett's stomach flip like a fish on a water bank. Daryl stopped. "Ya want me to tell 'em?"
She shook her head. "No, I found her." Scarlett rubbed a bead of sweat off her cheek, forgetting the blood. A lump rose in her throat. "Why is this so hard? I've done this a million times at the hospital."
Daryl shrugged, looking down at the girl in his arms. "This ain't a hospital. It's just life now." The nurse nodded, biting her lip. She saw Carol in the distance, coming up from the quarry. An invisible hand clamped over Scarlett's throat.
"Let's go," she croaked, moving from the trees so that she was visible to everybody. Daryl followed, and they silently walked toward the crowd. One by one, people noticed the pair, each expressing surprise and horror in their own way. Carol slowly registered that her daughter was curled up in Daryl's arms, and Sky watched her fall into a heap on the ground.
She felt like she had cotton in her ears; everything sounded so distant. Dale reached them and put a hand on her shoulder, trying to get her to look at him. She obliged, not really understanding what he was saying. He let go and moved to Sophia, speaking animatedly to Daryl. Daryl responded something.
She just kept moving until she reached Carol. The other campers parted to let her through, dumbstruck. Scarlett felt herself fall to her knees in front of the mother, suddenly aware of how jarring she must look covered in Sophia's blood.
She couldn't speak. She just looked at the mother, watching as Carol dissolved into sobs.
Shane
The cab was quiet as Shane, T-Dog, and Andrea sped down the deserted road. A lone walker stumbled out in front of them, having heard the truck. Shane swerved lazily and they heard a shot from the back of the truck. He looked in his rearview mirror and saw the corpse drop; Merle had put it down.
"He's going to attract every walker right to us," Andrea complained. The cop gritted his teeth. He slowed to a halt in the middle of the road and rolled down his window.
"Aye Dixon, ya mind not wastin' ammo?"
"Naw I don't mind!" The response was condescending and sarcastic. Shane's nostrils flared. He pushed open the door and climbed out, adjusting his pants and hooking his thumbs in the belt. Merle huffed. "Aw shit, puttin' me in time out, cop?"
Not yet. Shane knew he needed to wait until he could split off from Andrea and T-Dog. He didn't want any distractions during their little "conversation". The hard part was pretending to roll over like a damn bitch in the meantime. "There's gonna be plenty of target practice once we get into town. Just gotta sneak in quietly, make our ruckus on the way out. Right?"
Merle grinned scathingly, leaning back against the truck window. "Sure, whatever."
It would be so damn easy to just throw him out of the truck and back over him; finish this and go on their merry way. In spite of his desire to punch the fuck out of the redneck, Shane nodded curtly and headed back to the driver's seat.
"Few more miles."
The town was ghostly, if they could even call it a town. Shane rolled to a stop on the county road, parking behind a billowy tree. They could see every business from their truck.
"You sure we gonna find much out here?" T-Dog looked out the window skeptically.
"Yep," Shane muttered. "My aunt lived out here 'fore she died. There's a grocery store right in that strip mall over there."
"And the guns?" Shane raised an eyebrow and looked at Andrea, who looked back expectantly. Damn, she was pushy.
"There's a gun shop off the back of the gas station right there. Ain't got a sign or anything. Should be plenty left."
Merle's face appeared by Andrea's window. "The fuck are y'all doin', jacking each other off? Let's go."
Shane watched the older Dixon throw his rifle over his shoulder. The man looked like he hadn't washed his shirt since the outbreak. The wife beater was stained and off-white, paired with muddy khaki cargo pants. He studied the way Merle walked, how aware he was of his surroundings. Shane couldn't tell if he was reckless because of his personality, or if he was doing it strategically. Either way, he didn't seem to care about attracting walkers. He emulated this by slamming his hand down on the hood of the truck. "Let's go cop!"
Careful not to say anything that might trigger an argument, Shane climbed out, throwing his hat into the seat. "Alrigh', let's clear the buildings and then we'll split off, depending on how many walkers we run into."
They jogged across the road and crept toward the grocery store first. Merle behaved himself, surprisingly, though the smug look never left his face. Shane glanced around from any sign of movement; none. It was eerie. A shopping cart lay overturned, empty and dented. From what he could see, there were no broken windows or open doors to the store.
"Y'all ready?" T-Dog went to grab the handle.
"Hold up." Shane walked up to the window, peering inside. He couldn't see much through the dust and the grime, but he had a strange feeling about the silence around here. This town was small, but it hadn't been empty. There had to be people around here, dead or alive. Also, he thought he remembered something about this grocery store, now that he saw it. On a whim, he decided to knock on the window.
"What good is that gonna do us?" Andrea muttered.
"Jus' wait." Shane sucked on his teeth warily, squaring his feet with the window.
All at once, dozens and dozens of walkers appeared at the window, all trapped inside the store. They moaned, bumping into the glass windows like fucking lemmings. Everybody jumped back at the sight of them, staring in horror at the sheer amount of dead people in front of them.
Shane's stomach fell. This was where the town was. Now he remembered that the grocery store had been the disaster shelter. The virus must have wiped them out quickly. The entire town was dead inside this grocery store, and now he had the attention of every single one.
"What now?" Andrea yelled, panicked. Shane considered the question quickly, trying to assemble a game plan.
"Now we play!" Merle yipped, and before Shane could stop him he kicked in a full-length window, opening a floodgate of corpses.
Scarlett
Scarlett sat on the edge of the picnic table, bouncing her leg as she thought. Her hands were pressed in a prayer against her lips. The afternoon breeze stung her tired eyes, which were swollen and red from crying.
She looked out across the field and watched Glenn and Daryl. They were digging. Amy and Dale sat with Carol by the fire, among other campers. Everything was quiet; everyone was where they needed to be. Everyone except Ed.
It was interesting how Ed magically disappeared the moment he saw Sophia. Scarlett couldn't get it out of her head, how he crawled into his tent instead of going to Carol.
Sophia had been out looking for food again. Sky's foggy memory barely recalled seeing the food bucket strewn to the side in the forest. She remembered how uneasy the little girl seemed last time, so far deep in the woods. She thought Sophia was happy to go into the woods the first few times she caught her, but maybe she misinterpreted it. Maybe Sophia was just happy to be back. Ed had sent her into the woods again, even after Shane warned him…
Scarlett's leg shook harder; she was getting upset. Sophia was wrapped in a blanket across the field, waiting to be lowered into her grave by Daryl and Glenn, and Ed was nowhere to be seen.
She suddenly stood up and paced toward Carol, but then turned around. That wasn't where she wanted to go. Sky's head was so jumbled, so mixed up with feelings of rage and grief and the inability to understand all of this.
Then, Ed appeared outside his tent.
She watched him with predatory intensity. He wasn't crying. He shuffled around, swigging a beer that he magically had stashed. If anything, he looked bored. His daughter was just killed by a walker, a result of his negligence. It amazed Scarlett that he could possibly look bored.
Scarlett didn't know what she was doing, but her feet pulled her toward him. With each step, her rage grew. All the light in the clearing narrowed down to one, red-tinted tunnel, aimed right at Sophia's father.
Amy turned to watch Scarlett walk by. "Scarlett, are you okay?"
Scarlett ignored her. Sophia was dead. Did he not understand it? Sophia was dead.
The mantra escaped her mouth as she reached him. "Sophia is dead." She heard her voice shake. Ed jumped slightly, surprised to see her. "Sophia is dead." She didn't give him time to speak. Scarlett shoved him as hard as she could, which, admittedly, didn't get her very far. "Your wife is grieving over there by the fire and you're drinking a goddamn beer," she hissed, growing louder.
Ed's eyes narrowed the moment she shoved him. "You mind yer own damn business, bitch."
"It is my business you piece of shit. You sent her out there." She shoved him again. "You let her go alone," She could hear the group growing restless behind her, but she didn't care. Angry tears pricked her eyes as she felt herself losing control. "You don't even fucking care. What kind of goddamn father are you?" She shoved him again, noting how little he seemed to move.
Ed's face had grown red with anger. Someone called out to Sky to calm down; probably Dale. "Shove me again, bitch, and I'll make sure you go blind." She heard Dale yell out for Daryl.
The fire was roaring inside of her now. "Then hit me. Do it. Or would you rather send me out into the woods to be mauled by a walker?" His fist clenched, and he slowly, deliberately, took another swig of his beer, throwing the empty can to the ground.
"You best shut the fuck up, cunt."
"I'm not gonna do shit."
She went to shove him again but was ripped backward by two strong arms around her waist. It was lucky, because as Scarlett lunged at Ed he took a swing, narrowly missing her face. She briefly saw Glenn and Dale swoop down in front of Ed before she was picked up and turned away. "Shit, Scarlett!"
Scarlett knew it was Daryl. She could tell by his bare arms, which were tanned to a deep golden color. He let go of her and she whipped around, looking for Ed with wildness in her eyes that could very likely be hysteria.
"Stop!" He anchored his wide hands on her shoulders. "What the hell, Sky, you tryin' to make this worse?" Ed was yelling now, at her and Carol and anybody who would listen. Scarlett saw Carol sobbing again under the raging tirade of her husband. It made her feel awful, vaguely, but the heat in her head was fogging anything rational.
Her chest heaved as she sucked in air, trying to calm herself down. The urge to attack Ed was unlike anything Scarlett had ever felt. She suspected that she might have reacted this way if the driver who hit her husband and son had survived.
"Shit, calm down." He gripped her shoulders, no doubt feeling her shaking with adrenaline. She had to do something; Scarlett couldn't keep this feeling inside. She needed to punch somebody, or scream, or cry, but she couldn't do any of them. "C'mon," he mumbled, leading the shivering nurse toward the quarry.
Gunshots rang out in the far distance, but nobody heard them.
Shane
"Are you fuckin' kiddin' me, Dixon!" Shane backpedaled, aimed, and took a shot. Then, he took another shot, and another, and another.
The other three followed suit, cursing and yelling. Merle whooped and hollered in a sick, gleeful way, blowing walkers' heads off with his rifle. He was practically skipping. It took everything in Shane not to swing his glock slightly to the left, taking Merle out with the rest of them.
A pile formed around the broken window in a "U" shape, corralling the walkers for the most part, but more slammed viciously against the glass. "They're going to break through!" Andrea yelled, panicked. Shane was amazed at how many corpses were actually in there.
"Yo, we're attractin' more!" T-Dog nodded behind them, pointing out seven or eight wandering walkers. They no doubt heard the gunshots. Shane wondered how many more they were currently attracting.
"Fuck. You and Andrea get those guys, will ya? Guns down, no more shots fired unless it's life or death!" The cop was suddenly thrilled beyond belief that he'd hooked the small ax on his belt. He holstered his glock, which was empty anyway, and whipped out the weapon.
Merle positioned his rifle again. "Merle! I said guns down!" He took a shot, blatantly ignoring Shane. Shane saw red, he was so angry. He swung the ax down on top of one of the corralled walkers so hard that he practically split the head in half. "You wanna end up like that?" he roared, catching the corpse as it crumpled and hauling it over the pile of bodies, throwing it at Merle's feet.
Merle looked momentarily taken aback at Shane's outburst. Shane continued, swinging his ax at walkers as he yelled. "You gon' listen to me or you gon' die; choose, asshole."
The redneck bared his teeth angrily, finally letting some common sense control him. "Yer lucky I'm outta rounds, douche bag!" He threw his rifle to the ground, whipping out his long hunting knife. They worked in tandem, putting down walkers and slowly growing the wall of bodies. Andrea and T-Dog returned quickly, helping to kill the rest. Miraculously, the glass held.
Finally, they stopped pouring out of the store. There had to be at least 70 bodies strewn on top of each other. Shane caught his breath, feeling like he'd just run a marathon. Everybody heaved in air, exhausted.
"You fucking asshole," Andrea growled, moving toward Merle. Shane didn't move quick enough to stop her, and she slapped the redneck clear across the face. "How dare you, you careless son of a bitch!"
Merle rubbed his cheek and smiled menacingly. "Easy sweet cheeks, I like it rough." Andrea's eyes flared again and Shane scooted between them, pushing the blonde back gently.
"We don't got time or energy for this," he told her plainly. Besides, he was going to be the one to put Merle in his place. Andrea backed up, staring daggers at Merle. Shane felt like he was trying to control a bunch of circus animals. "Let's clear the gun shop and get this over with."
More action this time, I hope you enjoyed it!
xoxoxo
