The Walking Dead: Ghost Story.
Chapter Two: Onryō.
AN: Do please note, I'm trying very hard not to simply re-tread the same conversation paths as canon, but it's a bit hard to do while also trying hard not to make the characters Out-Of-Character.
Onryō (Japanese, literally translated to "vengeful spirit"): A ghost (Yūrei) believed to be capable of causing harm in the world of the living.
Atlanta, Georgia.
September, 2010.
Making a brief decision, I levitated forward and phased into the ground, rising into the inside of the abandoned tank moments before the man who so resembled Andrew Lincoln climbed in and shut the hatch behind him.
As he turned and crawled backwards on his hands and knees, the bag of firearms obviously having been left outside on the overrun street, his eyes met mine just before his back and shoulders hit the interior hull and he pressed himself against it, left hand reaching into the side holster of the inactive zombie next to him.
Just as he drew the M9 Berretta and began to raise it in my direction, the zombie beside him began to stir, and I surged forward as he turned his head to stare directly at it.
Even as he began to raise the Colt Python in order to put a bullet into the abomination's skull from far too close range, I seized control of the undead corpse and grasped the arm holding his revolver with its left hand, the man attempting to pull away in fear as I stared at him through its eyes and slowly raised its right hand to press one finger to its lips in a shushing motion, Rick Grimes pausing his attempts as my host body released his arm and crawled until it was on the opposite side of the tank.
Then, as the man watched with a look of utter incomprehension at my host body's strange behavior... I proceeded to smash its head into the metal hull until my spirit form was pushed out of the now twice-dead corpse.
The man stared at my transparent form with widened eyes, and finally spoke. "What in the hell are you?!"
Hearing this, I raised my right arm to stare at him with my glowing green eyes and grinned, "Well, I'm not too sure about the 'hell' part, but as far as I'm aware? I'm a literal ghost, and isn't that just the edgiest fuckin' thing you've ever heard?"
Rick blinked, and then started to chuckle, the two of us quietly laughing at my horrible joke as we listened to the undead swarm around the tank, before he spoke once again, "Rick Grimes, Deputy of the King County Sheriff Department, or, at least, I was."
I then watched him open the top hatch of the tank and take a look around, the man dropping down as the zombies began to press down on the now-closed hatch, before I replied.
"Michael, just a person trying to do what he can against these undead abominations."
Seeing him open his mouth to reply, I grinned, "Before you say anything, I might be undead by a certain definition, but at least I'm not mindless, you know?"
The man nodded at that and leaned back against the wall, seemingly contemplating, before the radio on the interior hull next to us crackled to life.
"Hey you, dumbass. Yeah, you in the tank. Cozy in there?"
Rick sat up, staring at the radio as I smiled.
"Hey, you alive in there?"
Rick scrambled to answer it, hitting his head on what might have been a fuel pipe on the way as I watched in slight amusement, before he grabbed the radio and spoke into it, "Hello? Hello?"
"Ah, there you are. Had me wondering."
Silently phasing my head and upper body through the side of the tank, I looked around, taking note of the bag of firearms on the ground as well as the fact that most of the undead around the tank had now joined the rest in devouring Rick's unfortunate horse, leaving only a few dozen still wandering the street or shambling around the tank.
Quietly considering the possible options we had, I floated back into the interior just after laying my spectral eyes on a discarded claw hammer and rejoined the conversation just as the voice of Steven Yeun said "Yeah, I'd say make a run for it."
Finally deciding to forgo silence, I replied, the radio briefly crackling with interference as I spoke, "If you want, Rick, I can distract them and then grab the guns on my way back."
Rick glanced at me, most likely considering how I had previously taken control of the zombie he had been prepared to shoot at point-blank range, before the voice of Steven Yeun spoke once more, "Hey man, I don't know what kind of badass you think you are, but I'm pretty sure that's a one-way trip."
I grinned, and the radio crackled with interference once more as I replied to the man directly, "Though I may risk sounding emo as fuck...not for me, it's not."
I turned to Rick and nodded, "Wait twenty seconds and then go, I'll do what I can to distract them and grab the bag...also, see that grenade on that corpse? Yeah, grab that shit, just in case."
Steven Yeun spoke once more, his voice filled with resignation, "Hey man, if you want to commit suicide by walkers, then there's not much I can do to stop you."
In reply, I phased my upper torso through the tank, seized control of a nearby zombie, of which there were many, and picked up the claw hammer I had previously spotted.
As Steven Yeun watched incredulously from the rooftop of a nearby building, I bent down to pick up the hammer, grinning through rotted lips as my host body shambled towards a nearby semi trailer.
Then, I lifted the hammer and provided a distraction that the undead swarm couldn't hope to ignore, even had they possessed the sapience to want to.
Atlanta, Georgia.
September, 2010.
Rick Grimes.
Rick watched as the ghost floated through the hull of the tank, before drawing the Beretta that he had taken and raising the tank's turret hatch, a single glance noting the fact that all of the walkers that had climbed the tank in order to reach him had now gone towards the feeding frenzy.
Then, just as one of the walkers began to turn its head to face him, Michael began his distraction.
Bang!... Bang!... Bang!...
Turning his head to stare as the walkers began to swarm towards one of their own, the walker swinging its claw hammer once more as he practically rang the dinner bell for what the swarm most likely thought of as an obvious meal.
Bang! Bang! Bang!
Deciding not to waste time, Rick jumped off of right side of the tank and began to run down the street, shooting an approaching walker in the head as he sprinted towards the alley Glenn had directed him to, each moment of the fifty yard journey feeling like an eternity as he shot every walker that was directly in his path as he noted the walkers Michael had distracted beginning to react to the gunshots from the corner of his left eye, the transparent man speeding up his efforts in response as the walkers failed to perceive his host body as anything other than one of their own.
BangBangBang! BangBangBang! BangBangBang!
Then, just as he approached the alley, the hundred strong walker swarm spotted him and began to shamble their way towards him, the man turning just as he narrowly avoided running straight into a walking corpse, the walker grabbing his arm as Rick began to pull away and Michael spotted the confrontation.
Even as Rick began to raise the Beretta desperately in order to put a bullet into its head, the spectral man pulled out of his host, and then proceeded to open his mouth and scream, the walker releasing Rick's arm and growling in hunger as it turned and shambled toward the discordant and warbling sound, Michael diving back into his host in order to throw the hammer towards the edge of the undead swarm that had now surrounded him with increased ferocity.
Rick then continued to run as the ghost floated into a walker on the edge of the swarm and seized control of its body, Rick reaching the fenced-in alley just as Michael's host body bent down and retrieved the bag of guns as well as the claw hammer he had previously thrown.
Just as he turned the corner, he registered movement directly in front of him and raised the gun, his finger momentarily tightening on the trigger just before he recognized that the man in front of him was alive, Glenn quickly shouting "Not dead! Come on! Come on!"
The two men ducked into the alley and Glenn closed the gate, asking "Where's the other guy?", to which Rick pointed towards the approaching host body and Glenn grimaced, "Shit, man, I'm sorry...wait a second."
As Glenn watched incredulously, the walker holding the bag full of guns opened the gate, shut it behind him, and handed both the bag and its hammer to Rick...before promptly smashing its head into the nearby wall until it died, the now twice-dead corpse slumping to the ground against the wall as a transparent man emerged and began floating in front of them.
Glenn stared at horror at the literal ghost, and muttered, "What the fuck, man...and here I thought people turning into flesh-eating monsters was bad enough? Now we've got ghosts?" before turning away and motioning for the two to follow him.
The two began to climb the ladder, momentarily pausing as the undead swarm flooded into the alley underneath them, Glenn began to climb again, glancing in envy out of the corner of his eye as Michael simply floated upwards, the spectral man staring at the gate as the entirety of the wire fence swung open.
Michael then looked between the fence and the undead swarm, idly remarking, "You know, I'd love to have a discussion with whoever designed that...if they aren't already dead, that is...admittedly, I can see the utility of it, but that's not exactly helpful to us at the moment, now is it?"
The ghost then turned, watching as Rick climbed the ladder with a full bag of not fake guns...somehow, and then spoke once again, "So, Glenn, is Rick still a dumbass?"
Glenn's eyes widened as he turned to stare at Michael, before sighing, no doubt entirely done with all of this shit, "Nah...both of you are. Anyway, let's go."
End of Chapter Two.