How the Man Designed Me
Chapter 37
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Sloan - Set in Motion
watch?v=9uPAAcq0VvY
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Janessa had to admit she was intimidated by the Woodbury perimeter with their rows of hundreds of dangling walkers strung up and twitching and snarling along the sides of the road. She wished she still had her big knife but that had been left behind with the last emergency pack they'd stowed and so she'd have to make do with what she had, grateful for the comforting bulk of Bob's pocketknife tucked away in her boot. She bit her lower lip realizing that she really didn't need to pretend to be nervous as they slowly approached the manned wall that now greeted them. A loud voice called out to them from the wall, making her flinch as he instructed them to exit the vehicle and raise their hands above their heads.
Bob reached over to give her hand a squeeze to help steady her nerves. "Don't worry none, I got this. Just take my lead," he said reassuringly before slowly opening his door and called back to the wall. "Hello Woodbury! It's Bob Jenkins back from my recon mission, and a survivor I found down south. That you Smith?" He asked with a friendly tone.
"Hell Bob! Been gone so long we just about wrote you off. Get in here before you rile up the neighbours." Smith replied with a grin and turned to tell a person behind him announce his return.
Bob turned to Janessa with a relieved smile as they got back in the car and drove inside as the gates opened. "Easy part is getting in. Next thing is to find David and get you out before nightfall or at first light if we can't do it sooner." Bob said as he turned up his smile while the crowd gathered around them.
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Daryl always found Motorhead improved his mood and within a few minutes he was already grinning. "So Mike, where do you guys feel like going today?" he asked as the song played on.
"Blake suggested we head back to Rick's hometown and see if his old buddy Morgan is ready to come back with us. I talked to him on the radio this morning and he said he just needed to take care of a couple of things," Mike replied as he tapped his fingers on the car door in time with the music.
"Fine with me, pretty country that way and 'sides they already know about it, might as well use our time here. Have you heard anything more on the mega herd heading our way?" Daryl asked.
"It's still as thick as flies on a meat wagon an' there seems to be some changes in behaviour." Mike replied softly as he abruptly stopped yapping to the music and turned towards Daryl.
"Like what?" Daryl asked turning to look at him catching something in his tone.
"They seem to be gettin' smarter. The old ones from the original wave still seem pretty gnarly, you know…slow an' predictable. Thing is, there's been a recent report of a fresher one usin' a tool." Mike informed him.
"Well that ain't all that new. Saw them smash windows with rocks in Atlanta an' hold onto weapons when we took the prison…" Daryl began.
"True, but that's just basic hold and smash...we're talking about a report of using a crowbar as leverage, that's more than pure instinct, that's problem solving." Mike stated with concern.
"Fuck...that ain't good." Daryl said slowly in a low voice.
"No, it isn't." Mike replied tersly.
"Ok, let's go get Morgan. Heard he's got some real interestin' ideas on walker management. Let's see 'em problem solve that." Daryl said as he turned up the music and stepped on the gas.
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"After you my Nubian princess." Merle said to Michonne with a grin bordering on a leer as he held open the back door of the machine shop room for her. Hell, he couldn't help it he thought, she just looked so damned good. Fact is, once they left the prison they'd be setting events in motion that couldn't be undone and he wanted to make sure she was 100% on board.
"Merle, get this straight. I'm not now, nor ever will be, your Nubian princess." She paused dramatically. "I - am a queen." She glowered before grinning back at him. What was it about this redneck that just got under her skin? She wondered to herself. He was a loudmouth, uneducated, good ol' boy bigot. One thing was certain you knew where you stood with him and he had a knack of saying what she was thinking, even if it was unpopular. She didn't think she would ever like this backwoods hick...but there you have it.
"Yes ma'am! You can sub-ject me to whatever you want, anytime...ummm ummm ummm." He replied with a crude wag of his tongue.
"Pffft" she huffed and thought, There he goes spoiling a mood again. She just nodded and said, "We gonna just stand here, or what?"
"Ok, ok, was just trying' to break the ice, no call to be snapping' my head off..unless you want to that is. It sure could use a polish, not havin' a right hand nowadays means there are times when I miss a spot. Would be obliged if you could give me a hand sometime." He drawled with a pelvis swivel.
Michonne couldn't help but smirk in reply. He may be crude but she had to admit he was funny and not for the first time wondered if he could do anything else with that mouth of his. "C'mon, I'm sure you and lil' Merle and your other lil' Merle have figured something out by now. We've got work to do so let's get out of here and grab a ride. I don't plan on walking the whole way." She said as she stepped out into the sunlight.
Merle watched her ass as she sashayed out the door thinking, Howt damn! If I could tap that just once, I could die a happy man. Instead he simply said, "Sure thing my Nubian Queen, we got plenty o' time on the road to share our deepest thoughts an' shit."
"Oh great." She grumbled.
The bright light that had filled the space during their exchange winked out as the gloom of the prison resumed with the solid thud of the door closing behind them.
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As Jimmy drew nearer to Blake's property it became apparent that they weren't alone. What had previously been mostly empty roads for the past few months now had shambling walkers in them. When the others had left just a few short days ago there had only been one or two in the fields, which was now becoming small clusters that were gathering more. Jimmy thought it was like the fields they passed in the break of the scrub along the road contained walkers like livestock, but these weren't domesticated cattle and they didn't just flick flies away in the Georgia sun as they drove past, they turned and followed them.
"Uh Magic," Jimmy called to the back seat. "Let me know what you think. Are the roads thicker with them now than they were on the way down?"
'Yeah I was thinking the same thing. We need to watch our approach. No point in being a pied piper. Turn south at the next turn, let have a quick look." Magic replied.
Carl put his arm around Beth and the baby, wishing he could protect her from the view as he continued his watch.
As they headed south they could see the clusters of walkers were becoming much thicker and there was no avoiding the fact that the head of the herd was heading their way.
Hershel thought back to his farm being swallowed by them in minutes, and found himself saying Psalm 23:4 out loud. "Yea, though I walk through the valley of the shadow of death, I will fear no evil: for thou art with me; thy rod and thy staff they comfort me."
"Keep up the prayers Hershel," Magic replied, "We're going to need them. Jimmy change of plans, we can't go to Blake's, they'd just follow us. We can't go back the way we came…"
"We'll, we can't just stay here." Beth said with a catch in her voice.
"She's right, we need more intel. We need a radio to see if anyone else in the network is tracking their movements or can help draw them off." Carl replied assertively.
"My thoughts exactly Carl." Magic said approvingly. "Ok Jimmy, were heading north to a safehouse that's not too far from here. It's got a radio and we can take it from there. Keep the driving smooth we don't want to draw any more than we have to."
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David watched with delight Janessa get out of the car and it took considerable self control not to run to her. Instead he hung back from the gathering crowd and watched things unfold. From what he could tell this guy coming in was pretty popular and around here that wasn't necessarily a good thing. He'd noticed earlier how the trucks had bullet holes and dried blood on them. Things around here were definitely not what they seemed. Since he'd found the Governor's "workshop" he'd been looking for a way to get out. Now that Janessa was here, he needed to get to her without blowing their cover and get the hell out of here. Keeping his head down he pulled his ball cap down on his face and edged closer to the crowd so that he could listen to what people were saying.
"Bob! What did you find out? Is help coming?" A man asked as he helped to unpack his car.
"Hang on, hang on everybody. Give the man a chance to breathe." Martinez said loudly to the gathering group. "He'll brief the Governor and then everyone will get a chance."
There was some grumbling but quietly, no one wanted to get on his bad side. Things had changed since the outsiders had attacked them and that uncertainty bred fear. Everyone was on edge which made information even more precious.
"Karen. Hold up. I'm sure Bob's guest could use a friend, why don't you show her to the guest quarters." Martinez said quietly but with a slight edge to his tone.
"She's with me." Bob said pointedly, making it clear that she was spoken for.
Martinez nodded and smiled but it didn't extend to his eyes. Something didn't feel right and Bob had been gone for a long time. Things had changed and he needed to get with the program if he wanted to stay, founding father or not.
"I'd be happy to show her to your place Bob, while you guys talk." Turning to Janessa she introduced herself, "Hi, my name is Karen, welcome you to Woodbury," she said kindly as she reached out her hand in friendship.
"Thank you. I'm Janessa." She replied timidly, remembering Merle's advice to trust her. "Please to meet you." She continued, trying to make her accent as generic as possible, without luck.
"Oh hey, that's a nice accent ya got there? Sure is North sounding." Karen replied with interest.
"Yeah, I'm from Canada. We were on vacation in Florida when this all happened." Janessa replied warming up to the woman but still trying to be careful in her responses.
"We?" Martinez asked pointedly.
"Her baby brother. They got separated a ways down the road. I reckoned someone here would have picked him up if they saw him." Bob interrupted.
"Well yes...we did have a boy come in last week…" Karen began before Martinez silenced her with a look. She'd forgotten only the Governor decided what information was shared with outsiders now.
"Tell you what, why don't you two get settled and I'll let you know when the Governor is ready to hear from you." Martinez said, ending the exchange and looking to two of his men to escort them. They weren't prisoners but they wouldn't have free reign.
David was glad that he had hung back and blended in with the crowd so that he could watch and see where they were being taken. Janessa leaned in closer to Bob which David took as a good sign, at least she wasn't frightened of him. Whether he was actually trustworthy remained to be seen. He thought of a Canadian band Sloan and softly hummed the chorus of a popular song of theirs.
Just accept that these things are going to happen
Everything is set in motion
It will happen anyway
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Later that day Rick paced the watchtower restlessly, playing over the conversation he'd had earlier with Merle in his mind, as much as he hared to admit it he had to admit Merle had surprised him with his insight. He realized he'd still been seeing him as the crack addict redneck he'd handcuffed to the roof last year, but a lot had changed for everyone since then and if he was to be honest, treating Merle like a criminal had made it easier to pretend he was still a Sheriff. He owed that man an apology and it was on him to try and smooth the way between Merle and Glenn. He was a part of the group, he'd earned his place and so had Michonne. No more provisional half measures. If they were going to do more than just survive to the next day they need to think about the bigger picture. He needed to, he corrected himself realizing that he'd been the one in denial.
Hearing footsteps behind him he was glad to see Carol saunter into the guard room, finding himself taken with the change he saw in her now. The confident way she slung her rifle and the purposeful way she moved. The mouse was long gone and had been for quite some time. He felt like he was coming out of a fog and wondered what else he'd missed in his tunnel vision.
"Want some company?" She asked. "I could use a bit of sun, gets a bit grey inside and even with the moaning out here it's worth the tradeoff." She said waving at the walkers milling about on their lawn in the distance. "Besides, Daryl and Blake's boys should be back in a couple of hours."
"Sure thing. In fact could you spot me for a few minutes? I want to talk to Merle and Michonne and apologize for something I said earlier." Rick asked.
"They weren't in the cell block I just came from there. I thought they went on a run." Carol replied.
"Oh, fuck." Rick said quietly, "What have I done?"
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Shout out to my reviewers as always. GemmaTellerSoa; FrankiKaos; and fanreader01. As I always, I really appreciate your feedback.