Knock
Knock
Knock
"Miri, it's the man from next door." Alice called out.
Miri ran out the living room to the back door, and opened the door, stepping behind the door so the man from next door, his young boy and an unknown man rubbing his face walked in.
The unknown man marched in and went to the dining room area, completely ignoring Alice and Miri.
Miri really didn't pay attention to what he was saying as she locked the backdoor and covered up the window.
As she made her way into the dining room area, she froze at the sight of the man in front of her. Standing right there was her supposedly dead older brother, Rick.
"Rick?" Miri whispered, scared this was a dream and if she was too loud, he would disappear.
Rick, who was looking down at the floor in thought, snapped his head up when a familiar voice said his name. His eyes got wide and he attacked her in a hug.
She started to into his shoulder, overwhelmed on the emotions she was feeling. "This can't be real. This is either some messed up dream or I finally died." She mumbled into his neck, feeling the warmth of his skin on her face.
Rick cried too, but not as loud as she was. "Oh my God…" he squeezed her tighter, taking in her warmth and familiar feel. "What are you doing here?"
"I came as soon as Shane called me that you were shot, didn't waste any time and flew over here." She pulled away and wiped away her tears with Rick's help. She looked Rick's face over, not really believing that he was actually there and taking it in.
Her small smile dropped when she finally realized something important. "How are you alive? Shane told us you died when the army attacked the hospital. They cut the power and the machine that was helping you breathe stopped."
He shrugged his shoulders and shook his head. "I don't know… I just remember being shot then the next thing I know, I'm in a hospital nearly dead from thirst. Then I leave the hospital to go here, but there was no one around." He ran his hands through her loose hair as he looked her over, making sure she was really there. "I walked outside and got taken into the house next door by Morgan and his son Duane." He looked around the house. "Why are you here alone? Where are Lori and Carl?"
Miri shook her head. "I don't know. I got separate from them when everything went down, but Shane took them out of the town, to Atlanta. I tried to leave the town to go to them, but the dead trapped us."
Rick nodded. "They have to be alive then."
The man, Morgan, walked forward. "How do you know someone didn't just break in here and take some things?"
"Do you see the framed photos on the walls?" Rick pointed out as they looked around. The walls were bare of photos. "Neither do I. Some random theft take those too you think?"
"No one else has been in this house since the beginning of the outbreak, I made sure of that." Miri turned to Rick. "Lori took the frames, also the photo albums and family pictures. It was the first things she grabbed."
Morgan laughed darkly. "Photo albums…" he sat down as the siblings watched him. He looked like he was ready to start crying. He saw their confused faces and calmed down a bit. "My wife… same thing… there I am packing survival gear, and she's grabbing photo albums-" he stopped himself, trying to hold in tears at the thought of his wife.
The boy, Duane, stepped forward. "You said they were already on their way to Atlanta, right ma'am?" Miri nodded. "Well, I bet they're still there."
"Why?" Rick asked softly, hope filling his face.
"There's a refuge center, a huge one they said, right before the broadcast stopped. Military protection, food, shelter. They told people to go there, said to be safest." explained Morgan.
"Plus they got that disease place." piped in Duane.
"Center for disease control. CDC, they said they were working on a way to cure this thing."
The siblings took in Morgan's words when Rick smirked and went into the kitchen, he came back with keys.
Miri looked to the keys in his hand to his face. "Where are we going?"
They all were in the King County Sheriff's Department having the first nice hot shower since the world flopped. Alice and Miri were in the Women's shower room while the others were in the Men's shower.
Once Miri was completely clean, she walked over to the benches where she had put both her and Alice's clothes. She quickly put on clean underwear before toweling her now clean hair dry a bit more before she put on some new clean clothes that she had found in the house she found the bow. She looked down at the bench and she saw her guns with the holster, knifes and the necklace that had both her late mother's wedding ring set and the man she grew up loving as her father's ring. She put it around her neck, kissing it before she tuck it into her shirt.
"You finished?" Miri asked Alice as she walked over to her in a towel. She nodded. "Let's get you dressed."
Miri pulled out clean underwear and clean clothes for Alice. She went through her bag after helping Alice get dressed and pulled out a purple pop-up hairbrush with mirror. "Sit down baby, I'm going to fix your hair so it's out of your face."
Alice sat down in front of her on the bench and stayed still as Miri brushed through her hair softly until it was completely smooth and tangle free. Miri gave her the brush and started to do a classic French braid in her hair. When Miri finished, she used the mirror to look at her hair. "I like it!"
Miri laughed. "Good." She put on her holster and put her guns where they always go and her machete knife on her belt.
"You two ready?" Rick called into the room, not wanting to walk in on them.
"Yeah, we're going now." Miri put everything into her backpack and walked out to see everyone clean and the men freshly shaven. "You guys look a lot better."
"So do you." Rick laughed and petted her hair lovingly. Rick was back in his sheriff deputy uniform. "Follow me. We're going to the armory to get some guns and ammo."
Everyone followed him until they came across a cage with all the guns and equipment inside.
"Looks like a lot of it have gone missing." Rick commented as he looked around.
"Probably used it against the first few that attacked." Miri went over to the ammo for the pistols while Rick put the larger guns and pistols in his duffle bag.
"Daddy, can I learn to shoot?" Duane asked his father. "I'm old enough."
Morgan looked at his son. "If I'm going to teach you, we have to do it carefully, teach you to respect the weapon."
"That's right." said Rick as he got a shotgun from the wall. "It's not a toy. If you pull the trigger, you're gonna have to mean it. Just remember that, Duane."
"Yes, sir." Duane nodded.
"Always remember to aim for the head." Miri tapped her temple. "Anything can be stopped with a hit to the brain, undead or alive." Duane looked at her and nodded.
They finished cleaning out the armory and headed out by the back with all of their bags.
Miri was carrying her backpack that had the ammo, some small guns, some food and water bottles from the house, the case holding her bow in her left hand and a duffle bag filled with clothes, medical supplies for Rick and some more ammo shoved in there in her right bag.
Alice had on her purple backpack filled with her own personal stuff and in her hands was Burnie, as always.
Rick snapped Miri out of her thoughts, speaking to father and son. "Conserve your ammo. It goes by faster than you think, especially during target practice."
They hurried to Rick's dusty old squad car, the 134.
Miri opened the boot and put the duffle bag and the bow case inside. She told Alice to put everything else into the backseat next to her. Alice listened and put everything carefully into the seat next to her before walking over to Miri.
"You sure you don't want to come along?" Miri asked Morgan as she closed the boot and held Alice's hand. "We'd make a hell of a team."
Morgan took off his hat and wiped the sweat off his forehead. "Give us a few days. By then Duane will know how to shoot and I won't be so rusty."
Rick suddenly went into the car and pulled out a police radio. He handed it to Morgan. "You got one battery. I'll turn mine on every few minutes every day at dawn. You get up there, that's how you'll find us."
"Be careful Morgan and be safe." Miri told him.
"Listen, one thing, though I'm sure she knows what I'm talking about," Morgan pointed to Miri, who frowned in confusion. "They may seem like nothing only one at a time, but in a group all riled up and hungry, you watch your asses."
"You too." Rick and Morgan shook hands.
"You're a good man, Rick. I hope you find your wife and son." Morgan turned to Miri. "I want to thank you too for helping us, even when you didn't know who we were."
Miri smiled at him. "I can tell good men from bad, Morgan. Besides, I couldn't let Duane and you starve." She laughed. "It goes against who I am." Morgan nodded and stuck out his hand for a hand shake. She ignore it and pulled him into a hug. "By the way, I'm a hugger."
Morgan laughed and patted her back. "You and your brother are a lot alike."
They pulled apart and Miri gave Duane a hug too. When they separated, everyone froze once they saw a roamer on the other side of the chain-link fence.
"Leon Basset?" Rick mumbled in surprise. "Didn't think much of him, careless and dumb…"
"We can't leave him like this though…" Miri whispered to him as she squeezed Alice's hand. She never took her eyes off Leon, remembering the young man when he was alive.
Rick took out his gun.
"You know they'll hear the shot, right?" Duane asked scared.
"Let's not be here when they get here then. Come on, in the car." Alice listened to Miri and jumped into the car, scared and wanting to get away from the growling roamer. Miri turned around to see Rick pointing his gun at Leon's head and then shot him in the forehead.
The siblings hopped into the car and followed Morgan out of the drive way. He honked at them and Rick turned the siren on to say goodbye.
Rick drove for a little bit when he stopped near the park where they would spend summers together.
"What are we doing here?"
"When I got out the hospital, I ran across a dead woman that was in half." His frown deepened. "I know who she was. I need to free her from this hell."
Miri looked into Rick's eyes, seeing how seriously it bothered him. "Okay Rick, we'll wait for you right here."
Rick kissed her forehead and left the car.
"Miri?"
"Yeah?" Miri turned in her seat to look at Alice.
"I'm hungry." She rubbed her stomach with a small pout.
"I got something here." Miri reached back into the seat next to Alice and brought her bag to her lap. She looked through it until she found a granola bar. She opened it and handed one to her. "Here you go."
Alice placed Burnie next to her and reached for the bar, taking small bites of it. "Thank you."
They sat in silence when a loud bang came from the middle of the park, like from a gun. Minutes later, Rick came back and they took off.
They drove for miles, only stopping once at an abandoned gas station to get some gas, since they were running low, but it looked like there was an abandoned camp site around it.
Rick had to shoot a little girl who had become a roamer. Alice thankfully did not see it as Rick made sure she and Miri stayed in the car.
Rick was letting Miri drive, after she threatened to knock him unconscious of course, as he tried broadcasting help on his CB radio.
"Broadcasting on an emergency channel, will be approaching to Atlanta on highway 85. Anybody reads, please respond." He put the CB radio down, waiting for an answer. "Hello? Can anybody hear my voice? Anybody out there? Anybody hears me, please respond." He continued to do this for a while, hoping someone answers.
He placed the radio back and sighed deeply. He leaned his head on the head rest, feeling tired and hosing a small bit of hope on getting anyone on the radio.
Miri looked into the rear view mirror and saw Alice had fallen asleep hugging Burnie. "Why don't you take a small nap? I know you need it and you need the energy to heal." She told Rick softly, not wanting to wake up Alice. "I promise not to crash."
"I can't sleep now…"
"Rick…" Miri went to talk him into taking a small nap when the car suddenly started to slow down. "Shit! Out of gas…"
Miri stopped the car and got out. She knocked on the window Alice was using as a pillow, waking her up. She went into the trunk and took out her duffle bag.
"Here you go, Miri." Alice handed Miri her book bag, which she quickly put on.
Alice looked like she was having trouble carrying the case with the bow, so Miri took it from her.
Miri handed her the empty gas canteen. "Here, a lot less heavy." Alice took it after she put her backpack on with Miri's help.
Rick came from the corner and took the case from Miri's hand. "I got it."
They had to leave the car behind as they walked through the Georgia heat, the sun baring down on them. They walked until they came across a small white house.
"Hello?" Rick called out. "A woman, a child, and a police officer are out here." They dropped the bags onto the floor except for their backpacks and the gas canteen. "May we borrow some gas?" he called out again.
No one answered, so they walked up to the porch to see if anyone was even inside. Rick looked through the small window of the door, asking again if anyone was there, while Miri went to check through the windows of the left side, to see if there really was no one home or if they were hiding from them.
She was at the third window when bile rose up in her throat.
The scene was horrific.
On the wall in old dried up blood was the words 'GOD FORGIVE US' while in the chair was a man who shot his own brains out through his mouth with the shotgun still held in his hands. On the ground in front of him was a woman who was also shot in the head. Flies were all over the room and on the bodies.
"Oh my God…" Rick gasped under his breath as he peeked through the same window, in shock from the scene. They moved away from the window and off the porch, not wanting to see that again. Rick spotted a truck and quickly went to investigated it.
"What happened?" Alice asked Miri, seeing the woman looked a bit pale.
"Something you should never see, okay sweetie?" Alice nodded and sat on the steps of the porch. Miri looked over at Rick, who popped his head out of the truck and shook his head.
Miri rubbed her forehead in frustration, wiping away the sweat that built up there. They were going to die out here before they could even get to Atlanta from this heat.
Suddenly, they heard what sounded like horses from the back of the house. Rick and Miri looked at each other before the three of them went around the house to see two beautiful horses. One was brown with a white strip down its nose and the other was a white horse with random black dots on its body and nose.
"Oh, they're so pretty!" gasped Alice as she played with the Sheriffs hat that Rick put on her head to shield her from the sun a bit.
They walked over with two reins for the horses. The horses easily spotted them and panicked a bit.
"Whoa now," Miri whispered to the white and black one. "It's okay."
"We're not gonna hurt you, not like that." He said to the brown horse. "More like a proposal." They took a few steps closer to them. "Atlanta is just down the roads, there'll be food, shelter, people," Miri reached her hand out so the horse could sniff it as Rick continued talking to the horses. "Other horses too I bet, that way you aren't alone. How's that sound?" Rick put the rein around his horses' neck and Miri mirrored his actions.
They led them to where the saddles were and secured them onto the horses.
Miri helped Alice onto the horse first before she got on behind her. She placed the bow case in front of Alice, so she could hold on to it, while she strapped the duffle bag around her back, squishing the backpack closer to her sweaty back. She was already starting to hate the feeling.
Rick started to fidget a bit, clearly uncomfortable. "Haven't done this in years."
Miri smirked and whispered to Alice. "Hold on to reins, I got an idea." Alice held on to the reins tight like Miri told her. Miri tapped the sides of the horse with her feet lightly, making the horse run forward. She knew her plan worked when Rick screamed and was telling the horse to slow down.
Alice and Miri laughed as Rick glared at them playfully.
XD
They finally slowed the horses down to a slow gallop to preserve energy as they made it to the highway. One side of the highway was filled with cars leaving the city while the one they were on was barren. The city was in sights and it looked a bit shadowed, even though it was day time.
Miri went into her bag and pulled out two packets of the Jack Link jerky for them to get some emergy, one for her and Alice and one for Rick, who tore open the packet and bit into a piece of jerky.
He moaned. "Oh god, teriyaki. Haven't had these in a long time." He shoved another one into his mouth.
Miri laughed. "Chew your food, Rick. I found a bunch of these yesterday." She went back into the bag again and pulled out two bottles of water. She opened one and handed it to Alice and the other to Rick.
"Thanks." He chugged half the water, needing to quench the dryness in his throat.
The rest of the ride was quiet. They made it into the edge of the city when they noticed just how empty it was. There was no one around, not even roamers. They stopped the horses and looked around.
"Where's the people?" Alice whispered as she looked around.
"I don't know, but let's go this way." Rick turned the horse to the left and Miri followed after him.
They rode the horses pass a burned helicopter on the ground, burnt cars and buses. The entire scene looked like chaos had destroyed the city.
They passed by a burnt bus and peeked inside, where two bodies were sitting.
Miri's horse got spooked by bird flying away near them, jerking her and Alice a bit and making them scream a bit. Their small screams scared Rick's horse, which jerked him too.
"Whoa there." Rick tried to sooth the horses.
"Rick." Miri pointed to the roamers walking out of the bus and toward them.
"It's alright, it's just a few of them. We can out run them." Rick told her as they galloped away from them.
"This way." Miri pointed to the left, guessing where they should go. They rode down the street to see a tank. "Jesus, what happened here?" She asked when they stopped to stare at crows feasting on a dead soldier's body that was on the tank.
"Miri, come on." Rick snapped her from staring at the body. They rode around the tank but stopped again when they heard what sounded like a helicopter, but couldn't pinpoint where it was coming from.
They kept looking for it until they spotted the reflection of it on a glass building. They kicked the horses to a run as followed the helicopter.
They were about to turn the horses around the corner when the sight before them freeze in terror. The whole street was filled with roamers, who noticed them quickly.
"Go back!" yelled Rick. They turned the horses around back to where they came from. They rode fast until they saw the other side of the street had roamers. "Shi-"
Miri screamed and kicked a roamer in the face as he tried to bite her leg. The scream and roamers scared the horse and she fell back with the bags and Alice on top of her, cushioning the little girl's fall. They started to attack the horse, bringing it down to the ground. "Rick!"
"Miri!" Rick shouted as he ran over some roamers but got throw off his horse near them. The roamers started to attack his horse as well, tearing into it quickly with teeth and sharp nails.
"No! Rick!" Miri stabbed a roamer in the head with her machete while running to help Rick up and keeping Alice near her.
Rick kicked the now dead roamer off him. "I'm fine!"
They were getting surrounded even more now by roamers that couldn't get a bite of the now dead horses, wanting to take a bite out of them.
Rick pushed Miri and Alice under the tank.
Alice crawled under first with Miri keeping close to the ground so the duffle bag wouldn't bother her while dragging the bow case along in her hand. She felt Rick next to her as they crawled more under the tank. Rick was kicking a roamer back when Alice started to move back into Miri with a whimper.
Miri quickly looked up to see why she had made that noise and saw roamers were coming in from that way too. She took out her guns and started to fire at the ones coming in front of her while Rick shot the ones that was behind them.
She heard something that made her heart stop. Echoing clicks showed that she was out of ammo in one of the guns. She looked at Rick in a panic.
He knew what happened and gave her a scared look. Guilt filled him as he stared into his sister's wide bright blue eyes.
Miri cried as she knew what she had to do in a situation like this. She pressed her other gun to Alice's head. "I'm so sorry, baby girl. I love you." Alice just cried, making Miri's heart break even more. She was ready to pull the trigger when Rick yelled.
"Wait! There's a hole!"
Miri pulled the gun away and dragged Alice back to where Rick was pointing to.
Alice went into the hole that was above them quickly as Miri pushed her up.
Miri quickly threw the bow case into the hole before she went through and pulled Rick in. She quickly shut the hatch, sitting on it to insure that none of the roamers was going to push it open and kill them.
Rick moved away from the door to the end of the tank, where there was a dead body of a male soldier. He got the soldiers gun, felling safer and not too out of breath. The head of the soldier move his head. Alice screamed and moved away from the body. Rick gasped in surprise and shot him from under the jaw.
There was a loud ringing in their ears after the shot.
Miri gasped in pain and covered her ears, wanting the ringing to stop. When the ringing finally stopped, she saw Rick close the top door of the tank. She looked around and saw Alice with tears in her eyes and covering her ears.
"Ali, sweetheart…" Miri dragged her into her arms and rocked her as she cried. "I'm so sorry. We're okay." She whispered into her hair. "We're okay now." Alice just sobbed quietly. "I'm sorry you had to go through that." She hugged her closer to her person as Rick sat down next to them. "What are we going to do?" her voice cracked as she held back sobs.
Rick shook his head and reached for the gun. He stared at it for a bit. "I'm sorry…"
"What for?" Miri asked as Alice had stopped sobbing but was now just holding her tight.
"For leaving you alone in this world so long, for dragging you to Atlanta," he sighed. "And now to die in Atlanta." He looked so exhausted…
Miri shook her head. "I wasn't alone, Rick. I had Alice and you didn't drag me here. You know I was going with you even if you didn't want me to." She looked at Rick as she grabbed his hand and laid her head on his shoulder. "I love you, Rick. No matter what." She gave a small smile. "You're the best big brother ever."
Rick squeezed her hand tighter and moved his head to give him a kiss on the head. "Love you too, Miranda."
Miri scrunched her nose. She hated being called Miranda. He chuckled when he saw her reaction.
White noise started from a CB radio in the tank, making them all look over to it, shocked that it was working.
"Hey, you." A voice said from the radio. "Dumbasses."
Rick and Miri looked at each other before looking back the radio. Were they actually hearing someone talk to them?
By the voice coming through, they could tell it was a young man. "You guys in the tank, cozy in there?"