Georgette ran into the backyard of the house, looking around for anything in the yard that could help her. She saw a pile of rotted wood which she assumed used to be a shed. She quickly dug through it but didn't find anything. She turned around and dashed up the porch steps, her mind only on finding rope. She hadn't realized how rotted the steps were until she heard the wood underneath her crack and in a split second she had fallen through the stairwell and landed on the ground. She lay there, the breath had been knocked out of her. She gasped for air, slowly sitting up, her mind still focused on helping Odilia. She got up and instead went around to the front of the house to find a better way in. She looked around to see that she was in a neighborhood. A small rusted pink bike lay fallen near the curb, the wind blowing the silver tassels on the handlebars. It made her shiver. Two decades ago a little girl had probably fallen off, maybe she was getting attacked by walkers or maybe she went inside to get a band-aid only to find her parents watching the chaos on TV and she'd forgotten about her bike. She turned back to the house and went up to the front door. She tried the door knob, finding it locked and then kicked the door in, sending it flying inside. She took her knife out ready for the attack. As she had expected a walker came stumbling out of the living room from the right and lunged for her. She held it back by its shoulder and quickly stabbed it. She slowly walked in, keeping her guard up.
She went into the living room. The signs of a struggle was evident. The coffee table was knocked over along with the arm chair. But it must of happened a long time ago as everything was covered in a layer of dust. She searched the rest of the house to come up empty. All she found was a roll of yarn which would be no help to them. She ran back outside and went into the back yard of the next house over. She pushed the gate open and saw exactly what she was looking for. An old overgrown swing set still stood in the backyard. It was mostly covered in vines and tall grass but Georgette could just make out the thick rope that ran up the side of the small rock climbing wall. She ran over and quickly got to work. It was attached at the bottom to the wall and then went up to the top which led up to the small playhouse at the top. It was covered so thickly in vines and foliage she couldn't see inside and had to cut through it to get to where the rope was attached at the top. She climbed up to reach it and started to cut at it. She almost had it loose when a small hand grabbed hers. She looked up to find herself staring into the face of a walker. She felt vomit rise in her throat as she got a good look at the face. The flesh had mostly melted away leaving yellowed bone showing through. Its bottom jaw had fallen off and its rotting tongue lawled out. One of the eyes was gone while the other hung out of the socket slightly, hanging on by a thread. She pulled her hand away, not wanting to get scratched. The walker let out a sickening gurgling sound, unable to make the usual hisses and moans without its tongue or jaw. Georgette saw that it had a pink bicycle helmet on, and knee and elbow pads. She felt sick as the scenario played in her head. The little girl was riding her bike when a walker came up and bit her. She ran into her backyard and hid in her playhouse where she thought she'd be safe. Slowly she succumbed to the disease and became one herself. The walker reached out for her and started to fall forward out of the house. Its leg got caught on the handlebar on the side of the entrance and tore right off. The walker lay on the ground, clawing at her shoes, trying to get back up on its remaining leg. The smell was horrendous and she couldn't stop her stomach from releasing its contents as the rotted leg still dangling from the tree house. Maggots covered the stump of the leg, crawling over each other to feast on the rotting flesh. She couldn't watch any longer and quickly stabbed the girl in the forehead. She carefully finished cutting the rope at the top, not getting any maggots on her. She then cut the bottom piece as quickly as she could. She sprinted out of the yard, wanting to get back to Odilia and Candice and away from what she had just encountered. She knew no matter what she would never be able to scrub her mind clean of what she had just seen.
Candice still sat at the edge of the cliff. The sun had nearly set now and she was starting to get anxious. Odilia sat on the small ledge, looking up at her.
"Do you see her yet?" Candice looked back down the trail and said
"Nope."
"What's takin' her so long?" Candice didn't answer and nervously bit at her lip. When she heard the sound of footsteps she looked up again, expecting to see Georgette rounding the corner with rope in her hands. Instead she saw a walker.
"Shit." She took out her knife, waiting for the walker to make its way over. But more appeared behind it, hungrily hissing at her. She reached for her gun in its holster but heard Georgette's words in her head. She had to save the last five bullets for when it really counted. Five bullets was gonna do her no good against a herd of walkers. She frantically looked around, debating on whether to run or stand her ground. she heard Odilia call out.
"What's goin' on?!"
"Walkers!"
"Run!"
"I'll be fine, they won't be able to reach me here." Candice thought about going over the edge and joining Odilia on the ledge, but it might not hold both of their weight. She heard Odilia call out again. "Run! Before they get you!" Out of options and time, she grabbed onto a thick tree branch and tossed it down to Odilia.
"If they fall near you you can hit them away with this." Then she turned and ran. She quickly untied both of the horses from the tree and hopped on one, leading the other with her. She urged it into a gallop and took off into the woods.
Beau sat in the boat. He watched Vince toss the rest of the remains over the side of the boat and into the water. They had them stuffed in boxes that were also filled with rocks so there was no way they'd float back to the top.
"Do you think you could talk to your mom for me?" Beau snapped out of his trance and said
"What?"
"Been trying to get her to come to me since you were born." The reaction of a normal son would have been to tell him to fuck off and leave his mom alone but Beau didn't care. He just shrugged and said
"Sure, whatever." They sat in the darkness listening to the sounds of nature around them.
"Surely she hasn't been with anyone in awhile, I don't see why she hasn't come running to me yet." As careless as Beau was he didn't want to hear Vince talk about hooking up with his own mother anymore. Thankfully Vince shifted the subject and said "She never did care to tell me much about your father." Beau shrugged and said
"He doesn't matter." He smiled and thought of what his mother had told him of his father. She hadn't been very detailed. Just that she had loved him very much and along with his two sisters, he'd been killed. He wished she'd tell him more but it was a touchy subject, and he had never cared enough to push for more info. She had never fully gotten over his death.
"He must of been one cold bastard to produce a kid like you, you're nothing like your mom. My dad was like me. Ended up in jail for life, never did get out to see the walkers take over." As a child he'd watched the other children with their fathers. Of course there were ones like him who were orphaned but the safety of the town, for the most part, kept families intact. Vince had become that father and mentor he never had. While his mother had been overprotective, Vince had shown him the world. Once Vince had him his mother couldn't baby him anymore.
Beau watched as Vince made an incision at the top of the walkers chest and slowly cut downward. He dragged the knife all the way down to its belly button and then cut horizontally across to fully open up the abdomen. He pushed open each side of flesh so Beau could see inside. When they'd first done this together, Beau had been shocked at what the inside of a human looked like. Vince had promised him excitement and fun and he hadn't exactly got what he meant at first but now, after a year of experiments on walkers, he knew what Vince had been talking about. Something about it thrilled him. Vince handed him the knife and said "Your turn pal." Beau got to work on digging out the organs, examining each one, Vince explaining what they were to him.
"Do the insides of a walker look different than the insides of someone who's just died?" Vince smiled at him and said
"I'll show you sometime, when you're older. But not today." It didn't even cross Beau's mind to think that there was something wrong with any of this. If there was why would Vince have shown him? Why would he be having so much fun?
When they returned home later that day he found his mother standing out in the front yard waiting.
"How was your day with Vince?"
"Good." Vince had told him to keep what they were doing a secret from his mother. He said that she wouldn't understand it. He trusted and looked up to Vince so he had just told his mother he was training to fight and hunt. He walked past her to go inside and turned back and called out
"Bye Vince!"
"See you tomorrow kid." He continued to watch Vince stand there and talk to his mother. She was smiling and nodding at whatever he was saying. Maybe someday Vince could come live with them. Then they could hang out all the time.
Odilia sat on the ledge, looking up in horror at the walkers raining down at her. The ones falling directly towards her she knocked out of the way with the branch Candice had given her. Her location was no secret anymore. It was getting dark and she hadn't heard from either Dixon girl for awhile now. Surely Candice would come back for her eventually? What about Georgette? She continued to beat off the falling bodies. Then she heard a voice from up above, quickly approaching.
"Odilia! Are you still there!" She heard the slicing of a knife and the surge of walkers stopped. Georgette's face appeared over the side, looking down at her. She looked as white as a ghost. "where's Candice?"
"She ran off, there were too many for her to take on herself."
"Alright everything's gonna be ok," she said, seeming to reassure herself more than Odilia. "I found the rope, I'll feed it down to you. Grab onto it and I'll pull you up." Odilia threw down the stick. Georgette disappeared and in her place a thick rope started to lower down towards her. When it stopped she grabbed onto it as tightly as possible.
"Ok I'm on!" She felt the rope ascend slightly, but not by much. She could hear Georgette struggling at the other end. The tension let go and Odilia landed back on her feet.
"It's too heavy!"
"Tie it to a tree or somethin', I can try 'n climb up on my own." Georgette did so and then threw it back down to her. Odilia slowly made her wa up the rope, ignoring the pain in her muscles, wanting to let go. When she reached the top Georgette grabbed onto her and helped pull her up. She lay on the ground, breathing heavily.
"Do you know where she went?"
"No," said Odilia, "She took off with the horses." Georgette helped her up and said
"We have to go after her!" Odilia knew that Georgette was worried about her sister but it wasn't a good idea to go wandering around the woods at night.
"Maybe we should take shelter somewhere for the night, try 'n find her in the-"
"No way," said Georgette, "I gotta find her. We've been separated before and had some close calls. Can't let it happen again."
"That four-wheeler is loud," she said, "We could be doin' Candice more bad than good ridin' it around in the woods, we could draw them to her." She saw Georgette thinking about what she had said. She made sense. The four-wheeler would draw them in for miles. While they'd be safe constantly moving at a fast speed Candice was on horseback out there somewhere. She'd have no way of getting through them if they boxed her in. Her expression looked pained and she said
"You're right."
"The only question is where is there to stay?"
"Those houses are pretty far back, we can't lose anymore time going backwards."
"Well we can set up camp here, get a fire goin'." Odilia got to work and gathered wood before the last of the light faded away. Georgette stood at the end of the trail, looking out into the woods. Odilia couldn't blame her for worrying. If she had any siblings she'd feel the same. But she was grateful that she didn't, the more people you cared about the more hurt you get when they died.
Daryl was back in the village. He stood outside by the fire pit where he and all the guys would sometimes gather to have a drink. He was alone, the whole place was empty. It was fall, and all the ground was covered in the dark shades of orange and brown with fallen leaves. The atmosphere didn't seem right. There were always people moving around during the day. He started to walk in the direction of their house. As he walked the leaves crunched under his feet, the only sound breaking the silence. Where was Beth and the girls? He picked up the pace and it didn't take him long to reach the cabin. He threw open the door and called out.
"Beth? Georgette?" He looked around. There was some raw meat on a cutting board on top of the counter. There was a butcher knife right next to it and it had been cut into four different pieces. He moved into the living room and saw a fire going in the fireplace. There was a pan set up over it but nothing was inside. He assumed that was where the meat was supposed to go. There were a few of Georgette's dolls sitting on the floor near her dollhouse and Candice's bouncy chair next to the couch. He turned around to look for his crossbow which usually hung on a rack by the door. The rack was empty. When he turned back to face the living room he jumped back in horror. The rug was now covered in blood, deep fresh red blood. It was all over the couch, Georgette's dollhouse, the walls and to his horror, was pooled in Candice's chair. Feeling adrenaline rush through his body he went into the girls room. It was dark, the only light coming through the side of the closed shades. He heard a movement from somewhere inside.
He walked in, his eyes adjusting to the darkness. The shifting sound came again and this time he heard it coming from Candice's crib. He slowly made his way over and looked inside. He saw Candice's little form curled up in a little ball. He reached for her and picked her up, hugging her to his body. She moved in his arms and looked up at him. He yelled and put her back in her crib where she stood on two legs. She was a walker. She had what looked like a bite on the top of her soft head. He could clearly see her gray brain poking out. She hissed at him and reached out, unable to get over the side of the crib. He felt his stomach churn as another small figure shot out of the darkness at him. It took him a moment to recognize Georgette. Her face was heavily mutilated. She'd been bitten on the right side of her face, leaving it a tattered, bloody mess. Her right eye was gone and she watched him intently with her remaining one. He backed out the room. At this point tears ran down his face. He tripped over his own feet and landed on his back. Georgette came out into the light, standing over him, moaning and growling at him. He heard the other bedroom door open and gasped. Beth walked out. Her skin was pale like Georgette's, but she was still alive, just barely. She was heavily bleeding from a bite wound on the right side of her ribcage. Broken bones sharply pointed out of the torn flesh. She saw him lying on the ground and collapsed next to him. He looked at her on his right and saw her looking at him. He wanted to get up, grab her and run but something was holding him to the floor. He couldn't move or speak. She was trying to say something to him and he listened closely.
"Help, please Daryl." He felt her weakly grab onto his hand. It was cold and shocking.
He sat up in his bed. Breathing heavily and soaked in sweat, he threw the covers off of his body. His face fell into his hands. He was pissed. Why was he having these dreams? Why was he tormenting himself like this? He thought about them enough during the day, he would think that he could have a few hours of undisturbed sleep. He felt a cool hand on his shoulder and a familiar voice.
"What's wrong?" He turned to see Pedro standing behind him, his dark face looking concerned.
"Nuthin' man, just a bad dream." Pedro knew what it was about, he'd woken up to find Daryl yelling out in his sleep. His bed was across the room but that didn't seem to help.
"It'll be alright amigo, just try and clear your head. Take some of those meds I gave you. They helped me when I came home from the war."
"Ya," The medication Pedro had given him had helped his nightmares but they had other effects. It had plagued him with dizziness, heart palpitations and muscle pain, or maybe that was all just old age catching up to him. He was nearly sixty now if he was counting the seasons right, but he took good care of himself. Before he started taking the pills he had felt as strong as he had been when he was in his forties. He didn't like to think of himself as an old man, he sure didn't feel like it. His face had gotten some more harsh lines in it and his hair had several silver strands but for the most part he was holding up.
Pedro went over to his corner, grabbed the bottle off the shelf and tossed it to him. "Where are you even still gettin' this stuff?"
"Had a big supply of it. When I stopped needing it I just stopped taking it." Daryl nodded and quickly opened the bottle. He dry swallowed two pills, desperate to shake the feeling of despair that the nightmare had left him with.
Thanks DarylDixon'sLover, electrickpanda, VampireTrekkie1701, daywalker28, Caitiann, hearts-without-chains, K. Lynn Perks, Eliza and all the other guests for commenting :) You guys makes my day when I receive a review notification in my email! One of the guests asked about my writing history so I thought I'd answer here. I've been writing since I was little and have stayed with it over time. I'm mostly self trained but I did take a creative writing class in high school which did help me improve my writing.
On the previous chapter, Daryl wasn't so worried about Beth's pregnancy as far as what happened to Lori and Judith because he's denying the idea that she could be pregnant completely because he's scared by the idea. In his mind he's blocking out the possibility because he doesn't want to face it yet. He's building a wall up against it if that makes sense lol. In his stubborn mind he's not going to let himself believe it until he absolutely has too.
Also I've got the three banners for Georgette, Candice and Beau posted on my profile page. The next I'll be doing is Beth, Daryl and Odilia. Photoshop isn't my strong point but I think they came out pretty good. Let me know what you think :)
Thanks again for everything!
