Chapter Thirty-One: Wildfire (pt1)
So many people had died the night before. So much so that the once strong group of over thirty adults had been decimated to thirteen adults and seven terrified children. No one had slept much last night. Marie had offered to house all of the kids in her van for the evening after everyone reunited, she played mindless Disney movies all throughout the night for the traumatized children. The Māhoe girls had fallen asleep around two in the morning while the Morales children conked out closer to five. Sophia and Carl hadn't fallen asleep at all. Merle had stood guard outside of the van all night and continued to do so now, not trusting anyone else to keep the kids safe. As soon as the first rays of the morning light everyone got to work as they began taking care of the bodies strewn around the camp.
Morales had built up a large bonfire where they could drag the bodies of the walkers for cremation. The smell was pungent. Daryl was swinging a pickax into the heads of every fallen body before motioning for someone to retrieve it. Marie had only been at it for half an hour now since Iolani had just gone back to sleep, helping her brother lift walker corpse after walker corpse into the fire. Everyone worked with a solemn air surrounding them as they began uncovering more familiar and bloodied looking corpses of those that'd been camping at the quarry.
The youngest person that died last night was Amy, her sister Andrea was inconsolable as she stayed vigil over the corpse of her younger sister. The woman hadn't moved from her spot at all, ignoring everyone that had gone up to her. Blood loss may have been the reason why Amy had died last night, but her body was now a carrier of the same disease the walkers that'd killed her had. Any moment, the body that'd once been the chipper teenager would rise up and attack any living being in its path... especially since Andrea had no intention to let any of them get close enough to- well pierce the skull. Marie tried not to look at the bloodied visage of the younger blonde... Though it was more difficult now since Shane and Rick had called over the rest of the remaining group. Minus Merle who only shook his head and stayed at his post stoically, to talk about it since Andrea had pulled her gun on Rick when he tried to talk to her.
"Ya'll can' be serious. Let tha' gurl hamstring us?" Daryl whispered angrily as he gestured at the blondes, "Th' dead gurl's a time bomb."
Rick rubbed the bridge of his nose tiredly, "What do you suggest?"
"Take the shot." he answered bluntly, "Clean, in th' brain from 'ere. Hell, I can hit a turkey b'tween th' from this distance." Marie winced. So could she... but this was different, this was... well, this was Amy, even if it wasn't anymore.
"No." Lori shot down with disgust, "For God's sakes, let her be."
Daryl scoffed but he walked away from them determinedly towards the corpses. Marie shot the others an awkward smile as she followed him, Glenn hot on her heels as they grabbed the legs of the corpse Daryl and Morales had started dragging.
"Wait-" Glenn gasped as he realized the men were dragging the body towards the pyre, "What are you guys doing? This is for geeks. Our people go over there."
"What's th' difference? They're all infected." Daryl questioned without stopping. Glenn dropped the leg he'd been holding.
"Our people go in that row over there." he insisted as his voice broke, "We don't burn them. We bury them."
Marie let the leg fall from her hands as she placed a comforting one on his shoulder, " Oppa , hey- it's fine."
"It's not fine Marie! We knew them-"
She shook her head, "Glenn, in Korea we've been cremating people for centuries... We can build another pyre for o-our people, but we shouldn't bury them, Oppa."
"Why!" he gasped angrily, though from the tears Marie could see stinging in his eyes she knew that he was just hurting and grieving for all the people that they'd sort-of come to know… or maybe Glenn was projecting. Grieving the people that they'd known, their family and friends in place of the corpses of the campers.
"Their bodies are infected , Glenn, if we bury them, that affects the soil and the plants... anything that grows here might become infected too." Marie explained in a soft voice, "We can't do that either, Oppa, but we can cremate these people in another pyre and say goodbye to the ones we know, al-assda ?"
When her brother shakily agreed, Marie motioned for the two men watching their exchange to pile up the body with the others from the camp. It seemed like only a moment had passed before Jacqui began shouting from the other end of the camp. "A walker got him! A walker bit Jim!"
Fuck.
Immediately all of the men in the camp with a gun stopped what they were doing and started cornering said man. "Show it to us." Daryl commanded as he got closer.
"C'mon Jimbo, show us th' bite!" Merle parroted as he abandoned his spot and moved towards Jim from behind. The panic and fear was clear on Jim's face as he grabbed the shovel he'd been using to pierce the skulls of corpses and swung it around threateningly.
"Easy Jim!" Shane shouted as chaos erupted in the camp.
"Grab 'im!"
"Jim, put it down right now!" the ex-deputy commanded angrily as T-Dog ran from behind Jim and restrained him, forcing Jim to drop the shovel.
The man was murmuring, "I'm okay. I'm okay. I'm okay-" over and over again like a delirious person while Daryl dropped his pickaxe to lift up Jim's shirt... revealing a vicious bite wound in the man's side.
T-Dog and Daryl let go of Jim like they were disgusted and moved back. Jim hadn't stopped his mantra of "I'm okay." As his voice took on an almost child-like pleading tone... like he was trying to convince himself that he wasn't turning into a walker rather than the group. Horror was evident on everyone's faces, and Marie's stomach churned as Kai's face overlapped with Jim's. Jim was a breathing dead man walking.
This time when the sheriff called for a group meeting all the adults circled up. Though Merle had insisted that they do it closer to the van in case any trouble appeared, something that the other parents had agreed on. Daryl surprisingly spoke up first.
"I say we put a pickaxe in 'is head an' th' dead gurl's an' be done wit' it."
"Is that what you'd want if it were you?" Shane snapped.
Daryl nodded, "Yeah, an' I'd thank you while you did it."
"Ma baby brotha's righ'." Merle grunted, "Ain't got no time ta babysit 'em. They's gonna turn inta geeks anyways. We got shit ta get done 'fore nightfall."
"I hate to say it- I never thought I would- but maybe Daryl and Merle are right." Dale added in a defeated tone.
Rick angrily piped up from where he was glaring at the ground, "Jim's not a monster, Dale, or some rabid dog."
"I'm not suggesting-"
"He's sick. A sick man." Rick insisted, "We start down that road, where do we draw the line?"
"Th' line's pretty clear. Zero tolerance fer walkers, or 'em to be." Daryl stated bluntly. Marie chewed on her lip nervously as Merle clapped his brother on the back.
"Well sai' baby brotha."
"What if we can get him help?" Rick offered, "I heard the CDC was working on a cure."
"I heard that too." Shane admitted, "Heard a lot of things before the world went to hell."
"What if the CDC is still up and running?"
"Man, that is a stretch right there." Shane shook his head slowly.
"Why? If there's any government left, any structure at all, they'd protect the CDC at all costs, wouldn't they?" Rick explained, "I think it's our best shot. Shelter, protection-"
"Okay Rick, you want those things, all right?" Shane interrupted, "I do too, okay? Now if they exist, they're at the army base. Fort Benning."
Great.
This was turning into an argument between Rick and Shane. A freaking pissing match between two 'alpha males'. Marie didn't know about her brother or the Dixons but she still wasn't so sure if they should merge with the other group... even with their numbers so decimated as they were. Though it did look like the boys were leaning towards it more now… instead of hightailing it out of the quarry like they'd been planning to do yesterday. There was safety in numbers after all, and Rick had - shockingly - left a good impression on all three of them during their run back to Atlanta. As it was, it seemed like Shane's camp was slowly starting to break away from his leadership and going under Rick's.
"That's a hundred miles in the opposite direction." Lori piped up.
"That is right. But it's away from the hot zone." Shane agreed, "Now listen to me. If that place is operational, it'll be heavily armed. We'd be safe there." Merle snorted softly under his breath, making Marie look at him questioningly.
"The military were on the front lines of this thing." Rick countered, "They got overrun. We've all seen that. The CDC is our best choice and Jim's only chance."
"Fort Benning's prob'ly lost." Merle grunted making everyone's eyes shoot towards him, "Ain't no way they hol' off 'til this point. An' if they was, whose ta say tha' they'll welcome us wit' open arms. Nuh-uh, don' care much 'bout Jimbo or the CDC, but Fort Benning's not an option."
"What the hell do you know!" Shane snapped angrily.
"You thin' fer jus' one-second tha' those boys didn' hightail it to their mommies o' wives when things got bad, yer delusional. 'Sides people must a flocked ta th' base when shit first hit th' fan, tha' means tha' they is a hot zone too." Merle explained, "Those tha' were rejected entry o' was bitten an' their families prob'ly still hangin' around."
Before Shane could speak up Glenn mumbled, "That's true."
"What?" someone, T-Dog, blurted out.
"Our sister's brother-in-law," Glenn divulged, "Oliver defected the second he was on U.S. soil. I mean- you don't know the guy, but Oliver bled red-white-and-blue... He was the one who warned our sister that things weren't going to get better."
Marie nodded, "He told us that L.A. had fallen, the military hadn't been able to control it. That eventually they wouldn't be able to control Atlanta either and that's why we needed to pack up our stuff and leave."
"That doesn't mean that the military has failed everywhere !" Shane countered.
"You're right." Marie hummed as she shifted on her feet, "But it does mean that I'm not willing to drive a hundred miles away on a hunch that the military is still running."
Words 1946
(So... I meant to post this chapter on Tuesday... and I forgot... I really thought I posted it... and I kept wondering why there were no reactions... LOL... Sorry? For those of you who are some form of Christian, I hope you have a wonderful Easter... and for others that get to enjoy some sort of Spring Break... I hope you're having a relaxing time!)
(Saraobrien: LOL. You got lucky! I hope you enjoyed the update!)
(flawsome4ever: Thank you!)
(Hi . Ruby: Thanks for being understanding! LOL. That's basically Marie's question too. Are they parting away from the Quarry group or heading with them... not giving any hints since the answer is basically they entire next chapter. LOL.)
(NaRuKo-InuTaiSHo-XD: Yay! Hope you you enjoyed the update!)
(OldLonBird: I knooow... The whole reason I decided to add that scene was to emphasize how much the Dixon-Rhees are on the outskirts of the Quarry group. They expect for the Dixon-Rhees to fall in with them, give them what they want, but the majority of them also want nothing to do with them... not just because of the Dixon men, but because Marie was "stupid" enough to bring back vulnerable little kids... and Glenn, well he didn't side with Shane... I didn't really go into the details over the immediate after-effects of the walker attack... maybe I'll write an omake for it when I have time. I will say this though, Glenn was just relieved that his sister and their charges stayed inside the van... Merle and Daryl are not happy with Shane for not having someone on guard duty... and as you can see Merle does not trust the other group to watch over the kids so he's doing it himself. Carol and The Morales family are definitely on Marie's wavelength... this all comes down to the fact that they all have kids, and even before Marie took in the Māhoe kids she was kind to their children, offered to watch them and showed them some important survival skills. In my head-canon, the only reason that Juan and his wife stayed apart from the Quarry group is because they didn't like how Shane handled the situation... but also, since the Dixon-Rhees are on the outskirts of the group, they are a bit afraid to step on Shane's toes and invite Marie to the fishfry... not to mention, they probably didn't think to until they were all sitting around the fire and realized she and the Māhoe kids weren't there. I'm pretty sure that Juan was the one to help prep the fish and his wife, who's name is escaping me at the moment, was probably taking care of her kids and the food as well. About Glenn and the cremation... so I think I sort of explained that above... Marie was right in assuming that Glenn was seeing their friends and family in place of the dead survivors from the Quarry... At least that's my reason behind his little freak out. Anyway, I hope you enjoyed the update!)
(acetwolf94: THANK YOU!)
(JustanamelessGirl: Oh, thank you! You're so sweet! I love writing about TWD... my family is starting to complain about me and my zombies... to be fair... I should probably branch out and start writing about other things... but... well I love apocalyptic stories... and well zombies. I'm high-key devastated about Pogonip though... I think I lost like ten pre-written chapters... I'm trying to see if I can find/restore them... but I'm not having much luck so far. I'll try to update Pogonip soon! (It took me a second, but... Bye J.A.N.G.!) Thanks for reviewing!)
(MADStar529: Thanks! Yeah I didn't see how to save Amy realistically...)
(GameofSuperwholockathohwarts: No shame! I love your name. It took me a few seconds to figure out who you were 'tipping your hat' to... tell me if I'm right: Game of Thrones, Supernatural, Doctor Who, Sherlock, and Harry Potter... LOL... you're missing TWD. Wink, wink. Nudge, nudge. I'm just messing with you. Hope you enjoyed the update.)
(TomRiddlesTwin: Thank you! Marie was definitely on top of things while the men were away. You should see Leo in his lion-mane costume... he looks like the cowardly lion! It's super cute... and funny!)
(Guest1/Kyr: LOL! You freaking slayed me! "From the Gospel of Merle 'Dumbasses'." XD I'm still cackling over it. You want the link for Marie's van? I think I put the link for it in AO3 where I cross-posted it... It's a freaking PAIN trying to put links or anything that vaguely looks like an email on ... that's why I have to put spaces in between HiRuby's name... otherwise automatically deletes it [it's because of the period... which I left here... life HACKs]. Thank you for the virtual cookies, I dunked them in milk! ;P)
(Illuminaax: LOL. No shame in forgetting what you've written in previous reviews... I do it all the time! Before I say anything else, thank you so much for your wonderful review! I really tried to convey in my fic that there's right/wrong side... even if the Quarry group is annoying and pretty ungrateful towards the Dixon-Rhees... if anything, Marie could also just go up to the Quarry group and demand that they give her a share of the fish that she's entitled to... because, well, she is... she could have also taken Carol's invitation and sat with the Peletier women that night... but she doesn't want to either. Marie doesn't want to bridge that gap between the Dixon-Rhees and the Quarry group, so she doesn't and neither do they... soooooo. Yeah. LOL. I hope that sort of made sense. And you are totally right about the Terminus Group and Woodberry... and, yes, even the freaking Saviors. They were all the 'heros' in their own stories. So as you can see, I didn't really go into what happened in Atlanta... mostly because, Marie wasn't there. But if you're interested I can write a little omake/short over what went down over there... It basically went pretty close to canon... although there was no reason for them to go back to the building where canon-Merle had been trapped on... Oh, YES! Let's start hyping up Marie & Maggie! They are going to drive one Glenn nuts! It'll be magnificent. Not going to give any spoilers for season 2... but *snorts* let's just say that Glenn is not a very sly man. LOL. I'm so happy to hear that you enjoyed the short in the last chapter! I didn't write one for this chapter... but I might end up editing it later and adding some deleted scenes or maybe some POVs in Glenn's or the Dixon boys perspectives... Let me know what you think!)