Chapter 36: You Follow Me?
Chapter 36: You Follow Me?
The truck's engine rumbled with power as it practically flew down the road, Rick was driving like a bat out of hell down the dusty back roads of Georgia, they were heading for a nearby town, the car had four occupant's; Rick, Carl, Ben and Axel, they decided to take the guy due to his eagerness to help out, Ben checked the chamber on his M9, there was a small jam in the weapon where the bullet was halfway between the clip and the chamber, the gun slide was slid a few times which knocked the bullet into the chamber, he ejected the bullet and clip and test fired it, the gun clicked! Soundly as the ammo was restored.
"How close are we?" Asked Ben
"About 2 minutes out" replied Rick as he moved the car expertly down the road.
He nodded and checked his surroundings, the countryside flew by but he could make out isolated walkers, random houses and abandoned vehicles, some with corpses and some without.
"Hey dad?" Asked Carl
"Yeah?" Asked Rick
"We need to get some baby clothes and toys, you mind if I get those?" Asked the kid tentatively
"Sure" said Rick as they neared the outskirts of the town
The truck ground to a halt in the middle of an intersection, this gave them a 360 degree field of view for walkers, They disembarked and gathered weapons, Carl had a suppressed Glock 17, Rick had a suppressed SIG-Sauer P226 while Ben had his trusty Berretta 92F M9, Axel reached for a gun but was stopped by Rick.
"Sorry man, don't trust you enough just yet, but you're welcome to any bat or blade" said Rick
"Hey, I aint going out there without a gun, you follow me?" Argued Axel
"We also need to conserve ammunition, can't take pot-shots at anything and possibly bring a herd on our heads" said Rick in a tone that brooked no further arguments. Axel scowled slightly before reaching into the bag before another hand stopped him.
"What did I do now?" Asked Axel as he raised his head to Ben holding his katana out to him.
"Borrow this" said Ben
"Really, you're letting him borrow that?!" Asked Rick
"Why, what's so special about this sword"? Asked Axel
"I've known him for about a year, and I have only seen him part with it about twice" said Rick
"A symbol of trust, just don't screw us over" said Ben
Axel looked at him before taking the sword and buckling it to his prison jumpsuit, Rick and Axel then moved towards the food and clothes shops while Ben and Carl took the kids, weapons and medicine establishments, they crept up the street together, neither making a sound as they entered a toy store after taking a basket, the place was left untouched by looters, probably because essentials like food and weapons were prioritized over toys and games, they walked down the aisles towards the baby and toddler section, Ben saw a few things that made him grin with old childhood memories returning to him.
Back in the good old days thought Ben, he then picked up a discarded toy rifle, about a fifth the size of an actual rifle that could fit in a child's hand.
"Hey Carl! Remember these things?" Asked Ben, waving the plastic junk in the air.
"Oh yeah, I remember playing soldiers as a kid, good times" said Carl
"Mate, you are still a kid, you just had to mature very quickly" said Ben as they reached the aisle, Carl said nothing as he started scanning the shelves for things to take, he took random cuddly toys and threw them in the basket, he grabbed a pram and wheeled it over to them so they take more stuff with them, Ben couldn't resist a quick dig.
"Hey, that suits you Carl!" Said Ben, narrowly dodging a flying teddy bear that flew at his head.
"Jackass" muttered Carl as he put the basket in the pram
Ben grinned as they left the shop; the pram and basket were filled with an assortment of items that the baby would probably like.
"Can you take this to the car? I gotta do something" said Carl
"Alright, back in a minute" said Ben as he wheeled the pram towards their vehicle, Rick and Axel were by the car with some of their haul, they turned and started laughing as Ben wheeled the pram towards, cat-calling and whistling all the while.
"Bloody karma" muttered Ben as he came to a stop by the two men.
"Where's Carl?" Asked Rick
"I just came back with the supplies then I'm returning to get more stuff with him" said Ben
"Alright, try and get as much as you can, don't want to make return trips all the time and waste fuel" said Rick as Axel led the duo back to the shops.
Ben walked back to where Carl was last, as he got to the front of the shop he could smell something… something strange.
"Is that perfume?" Wondered Ben aloud as he followed the odour to a chemists, he peeked in and saw Carl spraying different perfumes and colognes into the air, he crept inside as Carl muttered randomly.
"Too sweet… overpowering… not nice… just right" said Carl as he sprayed a lavender smelling perfume into the air.
"Enjoying yourself?" Asked Ben loudly
Carl damn near flew out of his skin, he turned with his hand on his gun before relaxing at the sight of Ben.
"How l-l-long have y-you been there?" Stuttered Carl
"Long enough for me to start questioning your sexuality" said Ben as Carl's face went red. "Relax, I'm joking, so… who's it for?"
"Sophia, my mom and the other ladies" said Carl
"Very thoughtful of you, I assume the cologne is for the men"? Asked Ben
"Yeah, I just wanted to get a gift for everyone, besides, you all stink" said Carl giggling
"How dare you good sir, I smell positively divine" said Ben as he sniffed the shirt sleeve, he reeled backwards. "On second thoughts… which one is mine?"
Carl handed him a bottle of clear liquid that read AXE it smelt a bit musky but that didn't stop him from spraying most of the bottle on himself.
"There... NOW I smell good" said Ben
"Any more and I'll faint" said Carl
"From my sheer awesomeness and manliness?" Chuckled Ben
"No, from that smell, my dad and Axel can probably smell it up the street" said Carl
"Eh, worth it. At least I don't smell like a sewer now" said Ben
"Close enough" said Carl
"Touché, numb nuts" said Ben as the various smelly items were dumped in a bag with the pharmaceuticals, all that was left was the gun shop which was, predictably; empty, not even a bullet was scavenged from the shop and unlike last time, no overprotective Russian vault filled with loot. They left the premises and took the goods back to the car, Rick and Axel weren't there so they put the stuff in the boot, the boot however, already had a ton of clothes in the back though.
"They'll be getting food and drinks" said Carl
"Let's go help" said Ben as they walked towards the supermarket down the road. They walked in silence as they saw a few carts of food and drink outside the shop, a dead walker was slumped by a wall with a incision in its forehead.
"So Axel has used me sword, good" observed Ben as they entered the store, it was swelteringly hot outside, so they were relived for the reprieve. The store was gargantuan, there was definitely someone here though, some wheels could be heard squeaking to their left, and they checked the aisle to see Rick pushing the trolley while Axel walked alongside put in big packs of food.
"Ah look at them, they look like a wonderful couple" said Ben to Carl as Axel and Rick looked over at them in annoyance while the boys just laughed, they finished filling up the trolley with tins, cans and some baby formula and hauled it outside, Ben got to the car and parked it at the front of the shop where they began loading up the car, after a few minutes, Rick sniffed and glanced around.
"What the hell is that smell?" Asked Rick
"Dunno, smells weird" said Axel
"That gentlemen, would be my cologne which we looted, thanks" said Ben
"Oh, sorry" said Rick as Axel chuckled at the man's accidental insult.
"We're gonna need more baby formula though, they only had enough for about two days" said Axel
"We'll have to search elsewhere for that though" said Ben
"I'll send Glenn and Maggie tomorrow" said Rick
They finished loading up the car and got in, it was a tight squeeze due to the amount of supplies scavenged.
"If this thing goes beyond 30, I'll be amazed" said Ben as Rick started the car.
The car was about to move off when an alarm started blaring down the street.
"What the hell started that?" Asked Axel as he peered over Rick's shoulder to look down the street.
"I dunno" said Rick as he started the car and drove out of the vicinity as walkers started appearing in the streets, drawn by the sound of the alarm. Rick gunned it out of the town while the dead were drawn into the town.
"I believe this is your's" said Axel as he unbuckled the katana from his suit and handed it over to Ben who was riding shotgun.
"Cheers mate" said Ben as he hooked it around his shoulder. The drive went smoothly until with a loud BANG! One of the wheels hit a rut and ruptured.
"Damn it" said Rick as he let the car roll to a stop. "Gonna have to repair that"
"Yep, I'll get the spare" said Ben as the two left the car, Ben got into the boot and lifted the cover to get the tyre from the hidden compartment, he took it out and closed the boot. Rick lifted up the car with a jack while Ben undid the nuts on the spent wheel, soon the transition was done. The blown tyre was thrown unceremoniously aside and the journey resumed, they reached the prison gates shortly afterwards, the car was let in by Glenn while Carol killed any walkers foolish enough to get close. The car drove up the field and parked by the cell block, most people were outside enjoying the weather, they all helped place the items in the block, they now had enough food and drink to last a long time, everyone had at least two new sets of clothes and when Ben returned after grabbing the last bag from the car, he was hit by a wall of scents in the air.
Oh God… Has Carl given them all of the smellies already?
Sure enough, when he entered he saw each person with a bottle and each person was spraying their bottles on their selves or each other, Ben looked and saw Carl was being hugged by Lori, Carl patted his mother's back awkwardly as she retracted from him, he straightened himself only to be hit by a blonde torpedo, Sophia had him in a vice like grip as she bear hugged him. He blushed and tried to extricate himself from her arms while the cell block laughed at his predicament. She eventually let go when she kissed him on the cheek before heading into their cell, everyone whistled or cheered at Carl whose face had gone so red, it would probably be seen from orbit at night. Everyone then turned to see Ben who had finished packing the last bag away walk in, Rick asked for him and Carl to go on watch so the two walked out into the daytime while the others followed them outside to sit on the field. On the whole it was a boring watch, only a few walkers were hanging around and the group just ended up on the field enjoying their good fortune. The sun soon descended though, so they retired to the cell block, Ben passed by Lori's cell where he heard Carl, Lori and Rick talking, he was about to walk into his cell when he heard Rick calling for everyone's attention.
"Hey people, we named our child just now, wanted to get the family together and discuss it, we decided to call her Judith after Carl's teacher, now it's been a long day, get some sleep" said Rick
The group clapped and smiled at the announcement, Rick smiled and headed back into the cell with Lori, everyone then left for their respective cells. Ben walked in and sat on the bed, he laid himself down on the mattress and fell asleep with a smile on his face, today was a good day.