I.C.2014-Glad you've been sticking around and keeping up with my stories, hope you liked this chapter!
Thedarkpokemaster-Yes, things are still inching towards the first real antagonist and I'm pretty excited. As for Rick's hand, only time will tell, but I do remember Kirkman also said that he thought Rick's lost hand made him a better character overall.
Enjoy
Chapter 18: Riot Squad
Just about a month has passed since Rick's outburst and the group of survivors took to heart about making the prison into a new home. In the time since, the survivors finished Hershel's plans for a farm which now needed daily tending which mostly fell on the shoulders of Hershel himself, his son Billy, Chuck, Axel, as well as Ben. Andrea and Julie had kept their promise from weeks earlier and began to work on creating new clothing for the group, focusing mainly on summer clothing, such as shorts and T-shirts. Doug, with the help of Dale, had read the manual on the prison's generator and was in the process of getting it turned on and working.
This left the others with two jobs of rather great importance, namely, clearing out the remaining cell blocks, finally clearing the prison of the dead, and then the back breaking task of cleaning it all up. So far the group used the majority of their dwindling ammo supplies to take out the final horde of dead in cell block B. Once that was finished, Rick suggested that they push back into A-block finish their original task of clearing that and locating the hidden armory that Dexter and Andrew had pilfered almost three months ago. The idea of finding more ammunition as well as whatever else might be in that room pleased nearly all of the group and they quickly ironed out a group to go into the block.
This time, however, the group decided that they weren't taking any more chances with people who weren't ready for the responsibility of dealing with the dead. So survivors like Ben, and Doug were quickly pushed off the table. After a short session the committee decided on a group of six, paired off to check every nook and cranny three times over. The teams worked out to be, Lee and Kenny, Rick and Glenn, and finally Mark and Tyreese. This worked out for the best of everyone as it kept the tension to a minimum between the still sore relations of Rick, Kenny, and Tyreese.
By the end of the second day, navigating the dark passages of A-Block were becoming second nature to the teams, and without sight of the in nearly a day and a half, they were beginning to relax. As Lee and Kenny made their way down another dark passage in the cell block the southern man let out a low grumble and sighed, "We been down this way yet?" He asked while peering over to Lee, "Two straight days of this shit is starting to make it all blend together,"
Lee let out a light chuckle and nodded, "I think we have actually, but better take another look, better to be safer than sorry, especially if the kids are gonna be in here soon."
"Yeah, hard to argue with that I suppose," Kenny lemented, "Still, ain't seen nothing since the first pass,"
"We'll check in with the others after this pass," Lee nodded, "If they agree we're good, then we can finally put this all to rest. But I'll admit, makes me feel safer every time we go through it, I couldn't forgive myself if one of these things got to Clem,"
"Been looking out for here these last few weeks, haven't ya?" Kenny said with a bit of surprise, the fact finally dawning on him,
"More than that, she's been staying in my cell a few days out of the week. I eat breakfast with her, usually get the whole scoop of what her and the others been getting up to by the end of the day," Lee said with a warm chuckle,
Kenny let out a small humph and thought about everything for a minute, "Well, I know you weren't in here for like...touching kids so-"
"Jesus Kenny!" Lee exclaimed a bit insulted by the response,
"No, I ain't saying," Kenny quickly replied while stopping to look at Lee fully, "All I was trying to say was, do you really know what you're doing? Like did ya have kids of your own?"
Lee let out a small sigh and shook his head, "No," He calmly answered, "No kids, and to be honest I really don't know what I'm doing, but someone needs to be there for that girl, and when she talks to me about everything, I know that's what I'm providing,"
Kenny let out an approving nod, "Well, that's one hell of a start, you already sound better than how I was doing when Duck came around. I was scared shitless," He admitted with a small smirk,
The pair continued to walk through the cell block in silence for a few minutes before Lee looked over to Kenny with a meaningful look, "Ken, you know, I never did get to thank you for what you did,"
"And what the hell did I do?" Kenny asked with a raised brow,
"Back in the cafeteria, after everything with Tyreese, I told everyone about what I did, and you backed me up. I didn't expect it, hell didn't think I deserved anything like that, but you argued for me," Lee explained, "And I really appreciate that,"
"Ah pal, nothing to thank me for," Kenny said with a shake of his head, "It took stones for you to admit it in front of everyone like that, and you did that because it's what a man does. Besides, any man who pissed you off enough to get you to kill 'em, well, he's gotta be one real piece of shit,"
Lee let out a nearly nervous chuckle, unsure if he really should find any humor in his deed, "Well, uh, good news is, Doug should be able to get the power running as soon as we give the all clear," Lee said changing the subject quickly,
"He damn well better, I've seen him read that damn manuel front to back, backwards, upside down, hell he could probably write the damn thing from memory!" Kenny exclaimed with a grin, "He's been talking about converting the power to only have it run the rooms were in, and how he could rig it on a sensor so it'd go off and on its own...plus all this other shit I can barely understand,"
"Hey, first thing he's been excited about in months I bet, we should let him have that," Lee gently argued for the dorky man who had grown to become a good friend,
"If he really can do all that shit, I'll let him have whatever he wants," Kenny smirked, "Being able to watch a movie with my son again...I'd give anything for that,"
"Carly found some old films in a storage closet so you should have that chance Ken," Lee happily replied,
"You two become as thick as thieves lately, huh?" Kenny noted,
"I..I don't know if you'd call it that," Lee said while scratching the back of his head and diverting his gaze,
"You two ain't slick, I've seen her leave your cell in the morning, makes sense why Clem doesn't stay every night," Kenny easily ribbed the man,
"Alright, let's get back to the job at hand," Lee muttered,
"Yeah, yeah, now we cut the chatter," Kenny said with a near snort before stopping as he shined his flashlight on a doorway to their right, "Lee, we been in there before?"
"Yeah, totally...right?" Lee said as he looked at the door in confusion,
"Hell no, I woulda remembered," Kenny denied as he pulled out his pistol and flicked off the safety, "Ready?"
"Do it," Lee nodded as he followed suit, taking position in front of the door, aiming his gun dead center.
Kenny carefully grabbed the handle and gave Lee a quick glance, nodding between each other for a short moment. Then the redneck ripped out the door, shoving his gun forward while illuminating the room with his light. Quickly his eyes went wide as he gazed into the room, "Sonofabitch," Kenny was just barely able to utter.
On the other side of the cell block Mark and Tyreese were finishing up another check of the main offices, "I'm totally gonna snag one of these couches once were done, I'm putting it right in my cell," Mark grinned,
"How the hell you gonna have any room to move in there? Tyreese asked with a chuckle,
"I'll...tear the beds off and just sleep on that, gotta be a hell of a lot comfier than those shitty things," Mark argued patting the sofa before the pair walked back into the halls, "I mean, it's not like I got anyone I need to share it with,"
"Don't tell anyone, but Michonne is a bed hog," Tyreese joked causing Mark to let out a hearty laugh,
"So, how have you been doing? I mean, none of us have had much time to talk these last few weeks, busy, busy, busy, right?" Mark asked,
"You can say that again," Tyreese agreed wholly, "It's been...something,"
"Right, with Kenny and Rick, that's gotta be tough," Mark assumed,
"Nah, it's not them, I can handle that. I just stay outta their way and they stay out of mine. It's Julie, she hasn't talked to me since...since Carol," Tyreese admitted with a slow exhale,
"No shit?" Mark said with a near solemn tone,
"I can understand why she was mad at first, so I gave her time. I figured she and Ben would do their thing for awhile, and I'd just do mine until she was willing to talk to me. But it never happened, man, and after this long...I don't think it's coming," Tyreese admitted,
"Yeah, well, that was a confusing time for everyone, maybe she just doesn't know what to say, you know?" Mark guessed, "Maybe you need to make the first move,"
"Yeah, you're probably right, I just hope that-" Tyreese continued only to stop dead as his the flashlight flickered a few short times then shut off. He gave it a few sharp smacks yet nothing happened, "Oh you gotta be fucking joking,"
"Wandering around in a pitch black prison on your bucket list by any chance?" Mark sarcastically asked,
"Shut up, man," Tyreese retorted with a short breathy laugh as the pair began to wander to what they assumed was the exit.
Meanwhile in another section of the cell block, Rick and Glenn continued their search, talking about the general state of the prison. "Once we finish clearing out these cell blocks, I'm gonna feel completely secure here," Glenn said with a grin, "Knowing I'm not sharing this place with any walkers will give me, like, ten years back on my life,"
"If we're lucky, it'll give us all our lives back," Rick said in a hopeful tone, "And once Doug gets the power going, this place will be perfect. We'll all be able to build a life here,"
"Yeah, then I can finally hear some music again, man, it's been so long since i've heard anything...even radio static," Glenn sighed, "Didn't realize how long until just now,"
"You know who I've been thinking about, Morgan, and his son...jeez, I don't even remember his name anymore." Rick said as he paused to think for a moment,
"Who?" Glenn asked in confusion,
"Just before I met you, back in my home town of Cynthia, there was this man Morgan and his son staying in the house next to mine. They saved my life, explained everything to me, gave me a chance to get back to my family. Except, when I left he decided to stay back, saying it was safer for him and his son to stay there instead of going to the cities...little did I know how smart he was about that," Rick explained, "Still, I wonder about them, if there still out there,"
"I mean it was over half a year ago, so who knows but...you know, maybe Rick, can't count anyone out these days," Glenn said in a hopeful tone,
"Yeah...you know, you're probably right," Rick nodded before the pair stopped as the heard the sound of paper crunching under a foot,
Rick and Glenn hunched against the wall and slid up to the corner slowly, "I'm gonna jump out, when I do, shine the light around the corner for me,"
"You got it," Glenn nodded,
Rick quickly jumped out of cover, gun drawn while Glenn ran over to shine his light right into the faces of Tyreese and Mark, "Whoa! Cool the brights!" Mark exclaimed while covering his eyes,
"Mark, Tyreese?! What the fuck are you doing over here, and where is your flashlight, we could have killed you!" Rick nearly growled out at the pair,
"It fucking died," Tyreese lightly snapped back,
"What are you two doing over here anyway, I thought we cleared this area?" Mark asked with a raised brow,
"We were just finishing up," Glenn quickly interjected, "C'mon, let's get where there are some windows, yeah?"
The four men made their way down the hallways in mostly silence until they finally reached the outer walls with a long strip of windows going down the left side. "So, did you guys find any more lurkers?" Glenn asked,
"Nah, I honestly think we got them all guys," Mark replied,
"Well, I'd still like to search a few more areas before we give the official all clear for letting people move in here, if it's all the same to you guys," Rick explained,
"If that's what you want to do, sure I support it, I don't see it as a necessity but I won't argue," Tyreese replied,
"How's the clean up going by the way, I know you guys started in here a little later for it," Rick asked,
"Yeah, we got the bodies all out of the prison to burn, Maggie and Carly took over with that part of it a few hours ago, so that should be all handled pretty soon," Mark answered,
"Guys!" Lee's voice suddenly called out. The four survivors whirled around towards the sound of Lee's voice expecting the worst, "Take a look at what me and Ken found," The man smiled as he walked up with Kenny in tow holding up the chest piece of a riot suit,
"What the heck is that?" Mark asked,
"Riot suit, tough as nails," Kenny grinned, "And that's just the tip of the fucking ice berg,"
Rick smiled wide, "Show us,"
Lee tossed the riot suit to Glenn before turning and leading the others back down towards the armory, "Man, this thing is awesome!" Glenn grinned, "It's probably bullet proof, but even if it's not, this thing could totally stop some rotten old teeth. Hell, I could even probably go back to scavenging again, bringing back some stuff for the prison,"
Just as Glenn finished his thought the group arrived to the tucked away armory, "Place ain't got no windows, makes sense since they probably to keep it extra secure with all the prisoners walking around," Kenny guessed while shining his light into the dark room for the others who shuffled in,
"Actually, we weren't allowed down here at all," Lee corrected, "Warden's office is just down the hall, staff only area. Gotta admit though, surprised they'd keep this much firepower inside the prison, figured it'd be off site somewhere,"
"Old prison, lucky us," Mark grinned as he grabbed a sniper rifle off the rack and looked it over, "Just a little dust but damn near perfect,"
"Dexter and Andrew must have gotten up here in a hurry, mostly in the dark too. Maybe he had a plan to break in ahead of time? Still must have been tough without getting swarmed by the walkers," Rick guessed as he was almost impressed by the prisoner,
"They must have just stumbled around in the dark, grabbing whatever was they could that was useful, lucky for us they didn't get to the suits. If they got them, would have been a hell of a lot harder to handle them, these helmets...probably bullet proof," Tyreese muttered as he inspected the gear,
"Yeah. Right." Rick frowned while glaring over to Tyreese, sensing his disapproval over what happened with Dexter again,
"Look, the cell block is clear, let's just get the fuck outside, alright?" Kenny snapped out as he turned and stormed out of the room, not interested in fighting today.
Meanwhile outside in the yard Lori looked over seeing Julie walking out of the cell block with a huge stack of books, barely able to keep them balanced, "Wow, looking forward for the next few years of reading?"
"Please, this will probably only last me a few weeks, with Ben helping more and more with the farm, I've gotten a lot of free time, and this is the best entertainment we have," Julie smiled with a small huff,
Lori let out a small laugh and jogged over, "Here let me lighten that load for you," The woman quickly took half the stack from Julie and began to walk with her,
"Whew, thanks Lori," Julie sighed in relief,
"You did leave some in the library right?" Lori smirked,
"Just a few," Julie teased back before glancing down at Lori's stomach, "Um, you sure you're okay to carry all those...I mean with the baby and all,"
"Please, I can carry at least this much, and you can't fool me, you think I'm just gonna snag a few from you," Lori smiled,
Julie let out a light laugh, "No I don't, that was genuine concern I promise," She assured, "I just want to make sure you aren't pushing yourself too much,"
"Julie, trust me, I'm fine," Lori said a bit more firmly, "And besides, I'm a little more concerned about you,"
"Me?" Julie replied in surprise,
"Julie...you haven't talked to your father in over a month now," Lori said as the pair set the books down and took a seat in a pair of lawn chairs, putting the books on a plastic table,
"And that's a problem? It hasn't bothered me any," Julie replied a bit defensively,
"Julie, it's okay to be upset with your father, but cutting him off...it's extreme," Lori explained,
"Tyreese will be fine, after everything he's been through, I can promise you, this isn't bothering him. And to be honest, I don't think this is extreme, after everything he and Michonne did, and what they caused poor Carol to do...this is exactly what he deserves. I mean, have you even talked to Sophia?" Julie frowned,
"No, she hasn't really been talking to anyone,"
"Exactly, Sophia lost her mother and her father at such a young age, she deserves our concern not my giant manchild of a father, he's a big boy, he can handle his problems himself," Julie finished while jumping to her feet and quickly grabbing her books, "Thanks for the talk Lori, I'll see you later," Lori let out a soft sigh and nodded, seeing the girl wasn't prepared to talk to her about Tyreese any farther.
A few more hours passed by as the group ate lunch before Rick, Lee, Kenny, and Glenn returned to the cell block with Doug and Dale. "Doug, you sure you can get this thing running?" Lee asked the man while they lead the pair towards the generator room,
"Well, starting it takes a few people but once it's up and running I can monitor things from there. As long as we don't run into any issues with the actual equipment, I see no reason as to why Dale and I couldn't get this turned on!" Doug smiled back,
The group reached the generator in minutes, Kenny, Lee, and Rick held flashlights for Doug and Dale while they quickly began to look things over. After only a few moments Doug called out to Glenn, "Here, what I need you to do is…" He began to say while pulling out the manuel and flipping through the pages, "See these switches, make sure they are all in the correct position like shown here,"
"Gotcha," Glenn nodded, "Lee a light?" Lee quickly moved to Glenn's side helping the young asian man perform the task,
"Kenny, shine that light down here for me would you?" Dale asked while he began to inspect the generator as a whole,
"You got it," Kenny replied,
Rick stayed close to Doug as he remained at the main power console, flipping switches, twisting a few nobs, and finally taking hold of the large power lever, "Okay if I read everything correctly, and we prepared things right, when I pull this lever the prison will have power again,"
"Okay," Rick smiled, "Then let see it,"
Doug grabbed the lever and with a small grunt flipped it, the group of men heard the generator sputter before a low whirring sound filled their ears. For a moment that was all, then a light flickered on above them, "Holy shit," Kenny grinned,
Their smiles quickly faded as a loud alarm quickly blared out across the whole prison, "Fuck!" Rick exclaimed while covering his ears, "Doug, turn it off!"
"What?!" Doug shouted back while grimacing from the loud blare,
"Turn it the fuck off!" Kenny screamed,
Lee ran over and quickly grabbed the lever, slamming it back into the off position, "Man...god damn," Lee groaned while shaking his head, trying to stop the ringing in his ears,
"What the hell was that?" Glenn said with a moan of pain,
"Security alarm, probably went off during the initial fall," Dale deduced,
"Shit, well how do we turn it off?" Rick sighed in agitation,
"Not completely sure, I'll need some time, the alarm is completely separate from the generator, but I should be able to cut power to it, I just need to...figure out what button to press," Doug mumbled as he began to wander around the room, checking each of the circuit boards,
"Well, that's alright, we have another issue beyond that," Dale spoke up, "This thing runs off gasoline, and its tapped out, probably has enough to run for fifteen minutes tops,"
"Great so we gotta get gas," Rick groaned,
"That shouldn't be too hard, we have all those cars just outside the prison in the parking lot, we can siphon it out of those," Glenn interjected, "Won't take a minute,"
"Alright, well we can do that tomorrow while Tyreese and Mark are cataloging everything we found in the armory," Rick nodded,
Lee, Rick, Glenn, and Kenny slowly made their way to the exit as they talked only to notice Doug and Dale staying behind, "You guys coming?" Lee asked,
"You go on ahead," Dale said with a wave of his hand, "Think it's that one?" He lowly asked Doug while pointing to a switch,
"Maybe...either that or it goes the sprinklers," Doug replied,
"Uh...let's be sure before we flood the place," Dale muttered.
Glenn smirked and shook his head as he watched the pair before leaving with the others. As the four made it back out to the yard, Glenn spoke up again, "Guys, we have like five hours of daylight left, the four of us can get that done in no time. And Doug's smart, we could have power tonight if we just do it now,"
"The boy does have a point…" Kenny admitted,
"I can go spread the word and we can pull together a group to lead the dead away from the gates, then we run out, siphon what we need and be back before the dead heads even know we were outside." Glenn said with a wide smile, "It'll be like old times,"
Rick let out a breathy laugh, "Well, hard to argue with that, I guess I'm in. Guys?"
"Yeah, gimme a minute to go tell Duck," Kenny replied as he wandered off,
"Lee? Ready to be outside these fences for once?" Glenn asked with a hopeful tone,
"Sure, I just need to...let Carly and Clem know," Lee replied causing the men to have a minor surprised look,
"Oh I didn't know you and Carly were so...close," Glenn admitted,
"Not our business anyway Glenn," Rick reminded the man, "Do what you have to Lee, Glenn spread the word, we can meet back up in thirty minutes."
Glenn gave a quick nod and jogged off towards the cell-block. Rick in turn began walking the yard to find his wife, instead the sheriff instead found his eyes locked on Otis rolling forward in a wheelchair. He hesitated for just a moment before pursing his lips and heading over to the ginger man, "Otis, it's good to see you out of that bed,"
Otis glanced over his shoulder and let out a grunt as he readjusted himself, "Yeah, took awhile for Doug to find this damn thing, then I had to convince Patty to actually let me the damn cell,"
"Yeah, uh, things have been good between you two now, huh?" Rick awkwardly asked,
"Suppose so, she at least talkin' to me now," Otis shrugged,
"That's good," Rick nodded, "It's good that you're doing alright,"
"Well, lost a leg but ye gave me my life," Otis firmly said, "So I think I'm doing better than alright,"
Rick hung his head and shifted for a moment, "I am sorry about the leg,"
"What, why?" Otis frowned,
"I cut it off, I thought it would save you but I didn't know, it could have just killed you, and that would have been on me," Rick admitted,
"Rick...I ain't a smart man, I know that," Otis gruffly stated, "But you and I both know that I was gonna be dead from that bite sure as shit. So whatever you tried, it didn't make a lick of difference, I was fuckin' dead already," Rick gave the man a look of genuine relief, "Besides, I think this offically makes us square for that accident with Carl, don't ya think?"
Rick let out a breathy laugh, "I'd rather not think about it like that," He replied, "Anyway I got to go, things to do as always,"
"Sure, I getcha," Otis nodded while giving the cop a small wave off before rolling forward in his chair while Rick headed off the other way.
As Rick made his way across the yard he was able to spot Lori with the rest of the children and a few others, though it seemed something had them all riled up. As he closed in he heard Lori sternly saying,"No, it's too dangerous,"
"That's not fair!" Carl exclaimed,
"I don't care if you think it's fair, the answer is no!" Lori firmly replied,
"What's going on?" Rick asked while looking between Kenny, Lee, and Lori,
"We want to help distract the walkers from the fences with everyone else!" Carl quickly explained while Duck and Clementine rapidly nodded in agreement,
"I mean, they'd be on the other side of the fence with Tyreese and the other's, don't sound that dangerous," Kenny admitted,
"See Kenny is letting Duck do it!" Carl exclaimed,
"Whoa, whoa, whoa, let's all just calm down," Rick said while holding his hands up,
"It doesn't matter what Kenny is doing, he's not your father," Lori reminded Carl,
"Lee, can't I go too?" Clementine pouted,
"Uh," Lee groaned while looking over towards Carl who raised her brow, "Clem it's probably safer if you stay back here with Carly,"
"But I want to help," Clementine begged,
"All you guys ever let us do is play with dumb toys, we want to help with something important," Carl agreed,
"We've never done something like this before, there might be a hole in the fences we don't know about or the walkers might push it over. Maybe after we've done this a few times you can help but for right now I agree with your mother and Lee," Rick explained,
"Fine," Carl pouted while turning away and stomping off,
Lee gave Clementine a weak reassuring smile, "Maybe next time sweet pea," He warmly said,
"Okay…" She sighed while wandering off with Carl,
A few minutes later Tyreese along with Duck, Ben, Billy, and Molly were slowly leading a pack of walkers away from the gates and far down the perimeter of the fences. Billy used a pipe to drag along the fences to keep just enough noise up so the ones in the back wouldn't wander off as they walked, "Duck remember what your dad said, keep away from the fence," Tyreese said,
"I will," Duck nodded back,
"Remember don't linger guys, we don't need them to get too riled, we don't want them to push the fence over," Tyreese continued,
"You know, you gotta accept that were not a pack of idiots," Molly retorted,
"Just you right?" Tyreese smirk while glancing back at the woman,
"Oh fuck off," Molly snapped back,
Tyreese rolled his eyes and shook his head, "Just focus on leading the dead alright?"
Billy looked over to Molly and whispered out, "You know, I think that was a joke,"
"Whatever," Molly replied with a toss of her eyes, "Weeks of farming and burning bodies doesn't exactly make me a ray of sunshine,"
"You sure, you seem positively glowing to me," Billy sarcastically replied,
"Shut up," Molly smirked while lightly elbowing the short haired man.
After a few more minutes Rick, Lee, and Kenny headed down to the gate with Mark, Hershel, Axel, and Chuck. The group looked out at the few remaining walkers that stuck behind and seemed content with the small number. "Right, now that the main group is fair enough away, we can do this. When we're ready, you four pull that gate open and we'll run like hell. Just keep a sharp eye out, we may need to get back in a hurry," Rick explained,
"We should probably take out these last few walkers while you guys are gone, no reason to leave them lurking out here, risking you guys," Mark suggested,
"Couldn't have said it better myself," Chuck nodded in agreement,
"Where the fuck is Glenn?" Kenny asked with glancing around, "This was all his fucking idea,"
"Probably off with that pretty little thing of his, hard to say I blame him myself, you follow me," Axel said with a short laugh,
"Maggie is my daughter Axel," Hershel frowned,
"Oh right! Uh, sorry about that," Axel swiftly apologized while scratching the back of his head,
"Speak of the devil," Lee suddenly said causing the others to turn back seeing Glenn and Maggie approaching them, the former in a complete riot suit,
"Sorry I'm late guys," Glenn smiled, "Took me a little while to get dressed,"
"And a little help," Maggie added on,
"Really think that's all necessary," Rick asked with an amused smile,
"Hey we need to test it out, what better time? And come on, don't act like you haven't been dying to put one on," Glenn grinned as he tossed Rick and Kenny two suits. Maggie let out a small giggle and handed off a final one to Lee, "Suit up boys," Fifteen minutes later the trio were dressed and putting on the riot helmets now decked out in thick riot gear, "Looking good guys,"
"I'll admit, feel a lot safer going out there already," Lee said as he did some final readjustments,
"By the way, here, we brought a couple of these batons out, should be a quiet way of dealing with any roamers," Glenn said while handing Lee and Kenny the sticks,
Rick shook his head and patted the hand ax on his belt, "I'll stick with this, it's served me well," He then took a sharp breath and looked between the others, "Ready?"
"Say the word," Mark replied while grabbing hold of the fence.
Glenn handed Lee a siphoning tube while picking up a pair of gas cans. Rick readied his hatchet and Kenny gripped his baton. "Now!" Rick exclaimed causing Mark, Hershel, and Axel to rip open the gate. Chuck ran forward and whacked the head of a nearby walker while the four men charged out. Rick and Kenny killed a few walkers as they sprinted while Glenn and Lee stuck close behind them.
"Let's get this shit done fast," Kenny huffed out while running,
As the four ran Lee couldn't help but glance over to Glenn whose visor was down on his helmet, "You know, you don't really need to have that down, they aren't throwing shit at us,"
"If I don't need the visor then I don't really need the helmet either right? Or maybe I don't need these boots slowing me down either? Like I said we're testing all of this out," Glenn shot back,
"Look I get there cool, but you don't need to obstruct your vision," Lee lightly argued,
"I'm kinda going for the full effect," Glenn simply replied, and Lee could tell he was grinning like an idiot under the helmet, "Rick I would have killed for one of these back in Atlanta!"
"I hear that, stab proof also means bite proof," Rick called back with a smirk,
"Shit, heads up," Lee called out as the spotted a fat walker lumbering towards them,
"I got it!" Kenny called out while running forward and slamming the walker across the face with his baton. A spurt of blood splatter the front of Kenny's suit and the creature fell with a thud,
The group approached the parking lot within moments and split into two teams breaking open the gas covers and draining out any remaining fuel, which was luckily a lot since most of these cars seemed to be untouched since the fall. As they finished getting their first can filled Lee paused as he heard a strange noise. "Rick, you hear that?" He asked with a tilt of his head,
"That sounds like a…" Rick muttered while he and Lee turned and looked up at the sky,
"Please tell me you are seeing that," Lee nearly gasped,
"Holy shit, it's a fucking helicopter!" Rick exclaimed causing Kenny and Glenn to spring up and look at the flying chopper with joy.
Alrighty, and there we are another fun chapter with the prison survivors but more importantly we're mere chapters from the intro to Woodbury! I have big plans for all the new characters that shall be introduced while still fleshing out our group of survivors inside the prison! I hope you all have liked this chapter and I'd love to hear your thoughts on the story and characters so far! Anyway, I'll see you all in the next one!