Surviving the Dead: The Beginning
"Rick, you with me? Rick?" Daryl asked kneeling down in front of him and Rick just looked out into space
"Let me see the baby." Hershel tells Maggie and she brings him over
"We're gonna feed it. We got anything a baby can eat?" Daryl asked
"The good news is she looks healthy. But she needs formula. And soon, or she won't survive."
"No. No way. Not her. We ain't losing nobody else. I'm going for a run." Daryl says putting his crossbow over his shoulder
"I'll back you up." Maggie tells him
"I'll go too." Glenn adds
"Okay, think where we're going. Beth." Daryl pulls her aside whispering something to her, "You two get the fence, to many pile we got ourselves a problem." He says to Oscar and Axel, "Glenn, Maggie vamanos" He says and Rick grabbed his ax then ran back inside
"Rick!" I yelled after him but he kept going
"Get the gate." Daryl tells me and I followed him, "Come on, we're gonna lose the light." He says to Maggie and Glenn and they followed him
Daryl POV...
"There." Maggie tells me and I pull over to I'm guessing a daycare and turned my bike off, "Company's close. Stay tight." I tell her and she opened the fence and we make our way to the building, Maggie looks in a window then smashed it with the butt of her gun and climbed in with me following after looking around the room, my eyes go over to a wall filled with paper hand prints and I see one that says Sofie and feel a pain in my heart because it reminded me of Sophia, "What happened? With um..." I started to ask Maggie really not wanting to bring it up
"There was a complication, Lori was...bleeding and Sam...Sam had to cut her open to get the baby out"
Oh crap, "I'm sorry"
"It's ok" She says and we make our way down the hall and hear a faint rattling, we move over to the kitchen and I open the bottom door while Maggie moved to where the sound was coming from, I raised my crossbow and nod to her then she opened the door revealing a possum that I quickly shot
"Hello, dinner." I said and grabbed it
"I'm not putting that in my bag." Maggie tells me and opens the cupboard
Samantha POV...
I was sitting next to Carl holding the baby trying to calm her down when Daryl and Maggie walked in, Daryl puts his crossbow down, "How's she doing?" He asked me reaching for her and I put the baby in his arms, "Shh. I'm sorry. Shh..." Beth walked back over and handed him a bottle and he tries to give it to her, "She got a name yet?" Daryl asked Carl
"Not yet. But I was thinking maybe Sofia. Then there's Carol, too. And...Andrea. Amy. Jacqui. Patricia. Or... Lori. I don't know." He says and I put my hands on his shoulder and looked at me big brother as he fed the baby
"You like that? Huh? Little ass-kicker. Right?" He asked looking at us with a smile and I shook my head, "That's a good name, right? Little ass-kicker. You like that, huh? You like that, sweetheart?"
The next morning I walked out of the prison to look around and I saw Daryl standing at the graves so I made my way down to him, "Hey"
"Hey" He replied and I saw Carol's scarf hanging from her marker
"Is it ever gonna stop? Are we ever going to stop losing people?" I asked and looked over at Lori's grave then I feel Daryl wrapped his arm around my shoulder
"I'm sorry you had to do what you did" He tells me and I look at him
"She wanted it, so the baby could survive," I said with my voice breaking, "I didn't want to I wanted to save her too" I cried and he pulled me into a hug
"I'm sorry Sammie, I'm so sorry"
We all sat around the next morning eating cold oatmeal, not very good oatmeal but can't be to picky nowadays, I looked over at Carl who was just looking into his bowl, "Hey buddy, you need to eat." I tell him rubbing his back and he picked up his spoon but didn't do anything.
"Everybody okay?" Rick asked walking into the room from the corridors
"Yeah, we are." Maggie tells him and he walks over to us
"What about you?" Hershel asked him
"I cleared out the boiler block."
"How many were there?" I asked
"I don't know. A dozen, two dozen. I have to get back. Just wanted to check on Carl." He says lightly patting Carl on the back
"Rick, we can handle taking out the bodies. You don't have to." Glenn tells him standing up
"No, I do. Everyone have a gun and a knife?" He asked Daryl walking over to him
"Yeah. We're running low on ammo, though."
"Maggie and me were planning on making a run this afternoon. Found a phone book with some places we can hit, look for bullets and formula." Glenn tells him
"We cleared out the generator room. Axel's there trying to fix it in case of emergency. We're gonna sweep the lower levels as well." Daryl adds
"Good, good." He says heading back to the door and shuts it
"Rick" Hershel called after him but nothing
Maggie POV...
"We just hit the powdered formula jackpot." Glenn says walking out with a few more things
"Oh, thank God." I tell him grabbing some stuff and putting it them in the truck
"I also got beans, batteries, cocktail wieners, many mustards. It's a straight shot back to the prison from here. Probably make it in time for dinner." He tells me and put the other stuff in there as I grabbed the basket with formula
"I like the quiet. Back there, back home, you can always hear them outside the fence no matter where you are."
"And where is it y'all good people are calling home?" We hear someone say behind us and I drop the basket taking out my gun
"Merle?" Glenn asked and I looked at him Merle? That's Sam and Daryl's older brother?
"Wow!" He exclaimed putting his gun down and started to come closer to us
"Hey, back the hell up!" I yell at him still holding up my gun
"Okay, okay, honey. Jesus."
"You made it." Glenn mentioned
"Can you tell me, are my brother and sister alive? Huh?" He asked Glenn, I was suprised he cared about Sam
"Yeah." Glenn replied and he smiled and sighed in relief
"Hey, you take me to them and I'll call it even on everything that happened up there in Atlanta. No hard feelings. Huh?" He asked and I glanced at his hand, or well the metal thing that was covering his hand, "You like that? Yeah. Well, I found myself a medical supply warehouse. Fixed it up myself. Well, pretty cool, huh?"
"We'll tell Daryl and Sam you're here and they'll come out to meet you."
"Hold on. Just hold up." He tells us and started to move forward
"Whoa. Whoa."
"Hold up here. Hold up. Hey, the fact that we found each other is a miracle. Come on, now. You can trust me." He begs
"You trust us. You stay here." Glenn tells him and he chuckled then after a pause he reached and grabbed a gun from his pants and shot at the truck, me and Glenn both ducked out of the way but Merle grabbed me bringing me to the ground holding his make shift knife to me and Glenn came around the truck
"No! Hey, hey, hold up, buddy, hold up."
"Let go of her. Let go of her!" Glenn yells at him
"Put that gun in the car. Put it in the car, son." Glenn puts the gun in and raised his hands, "There you go. Now we're gonna go for a little drive."
"We're not going back to our camp." Glenn tells him
"No, we're going somewhere else. Get in the car, Glenn! You're driving! Move!"
"Don't." Glenn pleaded to him while Merle still held the knife to me
"Get up." Merle tells me and I stand, we get in the truck and Glenn started it driving off, not knowing where we were headed.
Samantha POV...
Rick holding the baby, Carl, Hershel, me, and Beth walked outside the prison after Rick came back to us and I smiled at him, he lost his wife and was losing himself, but he was trying to come back.
"She looks like you," He tells Carl and he chuckled, "I never thanked you Sam" He says to me
"For what?"
"Bringing my daughter into the world, I know it wasn't easy for you and I'm sorry." He said and I put my hand on his shoulder
"It wasn't," I tell him and looked at the baby, "But it was worth it" I said with a smile
"I just..." He started to say but stopped and I followed where he was looking, we see a woman walking up to the fence carrying a basket
"Would you...you got her?" He asked Carl handing him the baby, "Sam" He says and we walked down to the fence, I looked at her then Rick
Carl comes running down to us and I see the woman groan and put her hand to her leg, just then the walkers that were next to her turned to face her and she backed away pulling a sword from her back and stabbed one then continued to limp away from them, "Should we help her?" Carl asked and Rick and I exchanged a look then move over to the main gate
"Carl!" Rick says and Carl threw him the keys then he unlocked it
"I got you go" I tell him holding my crossbow up and as soon as he opened the gate I shot one followed by him and Carl, Rick went over to the woman while Carl grabbed the basket
"Is she bit?" I asked him
"Gunshot." Rick lifted her up and I grabbed her sword then we head back inside
"Carl, get a blanket. Beth, water and a towel." Rick tells them as he dragged the woman inside and puts her down by a cage
"Here?" Carl asked him
"She's not coming in the cell blocks." He says laying her down, "Whoa, whoa, whoa. Steady now. All right. All right." Beth hands him water and a towel, "Thank you. Shh. It's all right. It's all right." He reassured her pouring the water on her and she jerks away, "Hey, hey, look at me. Look at me. Who are you? Hey, it's all right. Hey. Hey." She goes to reach for her sword but Rick kicked it away, "No. We're not going to hurt you unless you try something stupid first, all right?"
"Rick. Who the hell is this?" Daryl asked coming out of the cell block
"You wanna tell us your name?" Rick asked her but she stayed quiet, "You wanna tell us your name?" He asked again but she just looked at him
"Y'all come on in here." Daryl tells us and Rick stood up
"Everything all right?"
"You're gonna wanna see this." He says
"Go ahead" Rick told us and we walked into the cell block then they followed shortly after. Daryl led us to a cell and I saw Carol sitting on the bed
"Oh, God." She says slowly standing up and hugged Rick
"Thank God. Thank God. Thank God." Rick says hugging her
"How?" I asked as she hugged me as well then Hershel
"Solitary."
"Poor thing fought her way into a cell. Must have passed out. Dehydrated." Daryl told me and Beth walked over with the baby. Carol looked at the baby then Rick, he didn't say anything just gave a small nod and tears form in Carol's eyes and Rick started to cry as well
"I'm sorry. Oh, God." She says and walked over to the baby
"We can tend to that wound for you, give you a little food and water, and then send you on your way. But you're gonna have to tell us how you found us and why you were carrying formula." Rick tells the woman as me, Him and Daryl walked out of the block over to her
"The supplies were dropped by a young Asian guy with a pretty girl."
"Maggie" I whispered and put my hand on Hershel's shoulder
"What happened? Were they attacked?" Hershel asked her
"They were taken."
"Taken? By who?" I asked
"By the same son of a bitch who shot me."
"Hey, these are our people. You tell us what happened now!" Rick says and pushed on her wound
"Don't you ever touch me again!" She yells standing up and Daryl raised his crossbow
"You'd better start talking. You're gonna have a much bigger problem than a gunshot wound." Daryl Warned her
"Find 'em yourself."
"Hey, shh, shh, shh. Put it down." I told Daryl and he lowered it then I looked at her, "You came here for a reason." I said and she looked at me
"There's a town. Woodbury. About 75 survivors. I think they were taken there."
"A whole town?" Rick asked
"It's run by this guy who calls himself the Governor- pretty boy, charming, Jim Jones type."
"He got muscle?" Daryl asks her
"Paramilitary wannabes. They have armed sentries on every wall."
"You know a way in?" I asked
"The place is secure from walkers, but we could slip our way through."
"How'd you know how to get here?" Rick asked her
"They mentioned a prison, said which direction it was in, that it was a straight shot."
"This is Hershel, the father of the girl who was taken. He'll take care of that." Rick tells her pointing to her wound and we walked away
"How do you know we can trust her?" Oscar asked
"This is Maggie and Glenn. Why are we even debating?" Beth asked as well
"We ain't. I'll go after them." Daryl says
"I will too" I add
"Well, this place sounds pretty secure. You can't go alone."
"I'll go." Beth says
"Me, too." Axel added
"I'm in." Oscar says as well
"I got the flash bangs and I got the tear gas. You never know what you're gonna need." Daryl says as me and Oscar load stuff up in the back of a car and we walked back inside to grab more things, "I don't like the idea of you goin" Daryl tells me as we load more stuff
"I know, but after everything Maggie has done for me I just...their family Daryl, we protect our family."
"Don't leave my side okay?" He asked and I lightly pushed him
"You ever gonna stop worrying about me?"
"No" He said and I smiled as we walked over to Carol, "Stay safe" He tells her
"9 lives remember?"
I smile at her and kissed the top of the babies head then put my hand on her arm and we got in the car and left
"They have patrols. We're better off on foot." Michonne tells us as we get out of the car
"How far? Night's coming." Rick tells her
"It's a mile, maybe two." She says and I grab my crossbow and bag slinging them over my shoulder and we head into the woods, Michonne and Oscar in front, me behind them and Daryl and Rick behind me
"You know, what you did for me, for my baby, while I was...working things out- thank you." I hear Rick say to Daryl as we walk
"It's what we do." He tells him and we hear snarling, "Rick."
"Down." Rick tells us and we crouch down seeing a bunch of walkers come towards us, "Get in formation. No gunfire." Rick says and kills a walker with his machete, I aim my crossbow up and kill another, while I was reloading Daryl shot one, "Oscar." Rick says and Oscar kills one with a hammer
"There's too many of them." Daryl pointed out as we back away
"This way." Rick says and we make our way between a gap into the trees, "Through there. Come on." Rick pointed to a small cabin and we head in, "Get the door." Rick instructed and Michonne shut it, and I swear you could see the smell, "Keep it down. Keep it down."
"The smell, it's loud." Daryl mentioned and I nodded my head as we made our way quietly through the cabin seeing something on the floor
"What the hell is that?" Oscar asked
"It's got to be a fox or what's left of one." Daryl says and we see a dead dog on the ground, "I guess Lassie went home." He says and I tried not to gag when someone sits up in the bed
"Ah! Who the hell are you?"
"We don't mean any harm." Rick tells him
"Get outta my house!"
"Okay, okay, okay. We will, but we can't right now." Rick says to him
"Now!"
"Shut him up." Michonne says as the walkers kept pounding on the door
"Get out right now!"
"There are walkers outside." Rick informed him
"I'll call the cops!"
"I am a cop. Now I need you to lower the gun. Don't do anything rash. Everything's fine. Let's just- let's just take this nice and slow, okay? Look at me. Hey, hey." Rick said trying to calm him down
"Show me your badge." The man says cocking his gun
"All right. It's in my pocket. It's in my pocket. Now, I'm just gonna reach down nice and slow." Rick says and quickly knocked the gun away causing it to go off, Daryl and I ducked as it shot the wall behind us and Rick grabbed the guy
"Let go! Let go of me! I'll kill you, you- let go of me!"
"Shut up! Shut up!" Rick tells him and the guy bit Rick's hand and runs to the door
"Help! They found me! Help me!"
"Don't open that door." Rick says
"Hel-" Michonne stabbed the guy killing him and looked at us
Daryl looked out the door as the walkers continued, "Remember the Alamo?" He asked
"Daryl, help me with the door." Rick tells him and they grabbed a ahold of the body
"You've gotta be kidding." Oscar says
"He's dead. Check the back." Rick told him and he walked to the back door opening it
"It's clear!"
"One, two, three." Rick counted and Michonne opened the door and they shoved the body outside then we made our way out the back
We arrive outside of the town and take a look at the guards that are station on top of a makeshift wall, just then Michonne moves away from me and hurrys away, "Hey! Hey!" Rick called after her but she kept going, "Damn it" He grumbled and backed over to me, Daryl and Oscar, "All right we need to down size." He tells us and I take off my bag grabbing my hand gun out of it then put my crossbow over my shoulder
"Ain't no way we're gonna check in all them buildings, not with all them guards there." Daryl points out and a twig snapped, we turn around raising our weapons as Michonne indicated for us to follow her
"All right, let's go." Rick says and we followed
Merle POV...
"The prison's the perfect place to hole up. What once kept prisoners in now keeps biters out. And that's smart." The Governor tells me as we look at a map
"You thinking of taking it over, moving Woodbury there?" I asked him
"People love it here because it feels like what was. Move them to damp cells surrounded by barbed wire? No. We gotta take out the group that's living there. Let the biters move back in. No one'll be the wiser."
"The problem is my brother and sister are with them." I tell him
"Well, you'll talk to them. Make them our inside people. They'll get us in there. We'll wave the white flag like we did with the National Guard."
"Nothing happens to Daryl or Sam." I said to him
"Of course not."
"What about Glenn and the girl?" I asked
"Well, the longer they're here, the more chance Andrea will find out. Take them to the Screamer Pits." He tells me and left, I looked at the map, he better not hurt Daryl or Sam or I swear to god.
Samantha POV...
"This is where you were held?" Rick asked Michonne as we slipped our way into a building to get behind the walls and into the town
"I was questioned."
"Any idea where else they could be?" I asked her and Daryl moved over to a window
"I thought you said there was a curfew." He says to her
"The street is packed during the day. Those are stragglers."
"If anyone comes in here, we're sitting ducks. We gotta move." Rick pointed out
"They could be in his apartment." She says to us
"Yeah? What if they ain't?" Daryl asked as they walked back over
"Then we'll look somewhere else."
"You said you could help us." Rick tells her
"I'm doing what I can."
"Then where in the hell are they?" I asked getting frustrated
"Hey." Rick says and nods for me, Daryl and Oscar to follow him, "If this goes south, we're cutting her loose."
"You think she's leading us into a trap?" Oscar asked him
"Right now it's the blind leading the blind. Let's split up." Daryl says and we hear knocking on the door
We hide as the door opened, "I know you're in here. I saw you moving from outside. All right, now. You're not supposed to be in here and you know it. Who's in here?" the man asked and Rick popped out from the curtain pinning him to the wall
"Shut up. Get on your knees." He tells the man who complied, "Hands behind your back. Zip tie him." He tells Daryl who does so, "Where are our people?"
"I don't know."
"You are holding some of our people. Where the hell are they?" Rick asked him again
"I don't know."
"Open your mouth." Rick told him then shoved a cloth in it and Daryl knocked him out
We hear gunfire a short distance away from us and slowly make our way out of the building heading towards it which lead us to a warehouse. We duck down behind a wall hearing muffled talking, "On your feet move!" Someone says I'm assuming to Maggie and Glenn
"Shit" Rick said and both him and Daryl grabbed flash bangs and threw them, we make our way back over, Rick went to Glenn and I went to Maggie taking the cover off her head
"I got you" I tell her then shoots at us as we walked away getting out of the building
"Inside, quick" Rick tells us and we head into another building and Glenn fell to the floor, Maggie knelt down next to him
"Ain't no way out back here." Daryl pointed out as he looked for an exit and I was knelt down next to Glenn and Maggie
"Rick, how did you find us?" Maggie asked him
"How bad are you hurt?" Rick asked Glenn
"I'll be all right."
"Where's that woman?" Maggie asked
"She was right behind us." Rick answered and looked out a window
"Maybe she was spotted." Oscar mentioned
"Want me to go look for her?" Daryl asked Rick
"No. We gotta get them out of here. She's on her own."
"Daryl, Sam, this was Merle. It was. He did this." Glenn told us and I looked at Daryl then we walked over to him
"You saw him?" I asked him
"Face to face. Threw a walker at me. He was gonna execute us."
"S-So my brother's this governor?" Daryl asked
"No, it's somebody else. Your brother's his lieutenant or something." Maggie replied as Glenn put on a sweatshirt she handed him
"Does he know we're still with you?" Daryl asks
"He does now. Rick, I'm sorry. We told him where the prison was. We couldn't hold out." Glenn told him
"Don't. No need to apologize."
"They're gonna be looking for us." Maggie pointed out
"We have to get back. Can you walk? We got a car a few miles out." He asked Glenn
"I'm good."
"All right." Rick says and helps Glenn stand up
"Hey, if Merle's around, I need to see him." Daryl said to Rick
"Me too" I add
"Not now. We're in hostile territory."
"He's our brother. I ain't-" Daryl started to say but Rick cut him off
"Look at what he did! Look, we gotta- we gotta get out of here now."
"Maybe we can talk to him. Maybe we can work something out." I argued
"No, no, no. You're not thinking straight. Look, no matter what they say, they're hurt. Glenn can barely walk. How are we gonna make it out if we get overrun by walkers and this governor catches up to us? I need both of you." Rick tells me and Daryl, "Are you with me?" He asked, Daryl and I shared a look before Daryl looked at Rick
"Yeah." Daryl replied and I nodded my head
"On three, stay tight," Rick tells us as Daryl held a flash bang, I stayed by Maggie and Glenn helping to hold him up, "One, two, three" Rick says and opened the door, Daryl threw it out
"Hey over there!" Someone yelled
"Let's go" Rick says and we made our way out the door after it went off
"There they are" A guard on the wall said and Rick shoots at him killing him, Daryl shoots another one and shots go off behind us
"Behind you!" Daryl yelled and we both shot in that direction
"Go! Get cover! In there!" Rick tells us as we make our way over to a building ducking behind the pillars, "How many?" Rick asked Oscar
"I didn't see"
"Don't matter there's gonna be more of them" Daryl pointed out
"We need to move" I add
"Any grenades left?" Rick asked Daryl
"Uh huh"
"Get them ready. We got to gun it to the wall" Rick told us
"You guys go ahead I'm gonna lay down some cover fire" Daryl says and I look at him
"No we gotta stay together" I tell him
"Too hairy, I'll be right behind you"
"Well I'm not letting you do it alone" I said to him
"Sammie..."
"This isn't up for debate" I argued reloading my gun
"Fine but don't leave my side" He tells me and I nod my head, "Ready?" He asked the others and threw a smoke grenade, the others made their way to the wall while me and Daryl stayed behind a bench firing at the other shooters. Daryl reloads and I kept firing.
"Daryl! Sam!" Rick yells at us
"Go!" Daryl told him and started shooting again then everything went black
I didn't know what was going on, Daryl and I got covers put over our heads and I hear a bunch of people talking, "What can I say?" I hear someone ask as the people stop talking, "Hasn't been a night like this since the walls were completed. And I thought we were past it- past the days when we all sat, huddled, scared in front of the TV during the early days of the outbreak. The fear we all felt then, we felt it again tonight. I failed you. I promised to keep you safe. Hell, look at me. You know, I- I should tell you that we'll be okay, that we're safe, that tomorrow we'll bury our dead and endure, but I- I won't, because I can't. Because I'm afraid. That's right. I'm afraid of terrorists who want what we have. Want to destroy us! And worse... because one of those terrorists... is one of our own. Merle..." the guy says and I stop struggling against the person holding me, "The man I counted on, the man I trusted. He led 'em here. And he let 'em in. It was you. You lied, betrayed us all." I heard him tell Merle and the person holding me started making me walk, "These are two of the terrorists. Merle's own brother and sister." He said and the cover gets taken off my head and I see Merle standing there in the middle of, well whatever it was and I looked at Daryl who was next to me, then I looked forward again and saw Andrea, "What should we do with them, huh?"
"Kill them!" The crowd yells
"What? What you want?" The guy asked again
"Kill them! Kill them!"
"You wanted your siblings. Now you got them." The man said to Merle who looked at us.