*Author's Note*
Thank you for the faves, follows, and reviews.
I had some free time again (finally) and was able to get this update done for you guys. Hope you like it.
Hell Is Nigh
Jean Walsh was sitting on her well-worn, but comfortable sofa, sipping on some mid-morning tea whenever the talk show program she was watching was interrupted by a PSA. "Well, looks like shit's hit the fan now with this stuff. All over the place now." Jean yapped to herself as the PSA was looped and repeated itself on the TV. "Better see what's on the Food Network or I ain't gettin' no tv today." She grabbed her remote from the coffee table, only to change the channel.
The cooking show she put on wasn't one of her favorites, but it'd do give the circumstances. About half a minute into the show a knock sounded at her door. She knew it wasn't her grandson, since Shane just walked on in every time he came over, so she set down her tea and made her way to the door. She wasn't in the mood to deal with visitors (that's what her bingo night was for- socializing), but she knew she'd have to be somewhat polite to who was on the other side.
"What in Sam's Hill you doin' over here for, Dean?" Jean blurted out, her gray brow arched high up, as soon as she saw her no-good drunken fool of a neighbor standing in front of her once she opened the door.
"I, uh, I need a ride to the hospital. Don't got nobody t'ask and I need'a get there soon."
"Your truck broke down?" She asked, looking at the beat-up old thing parked in the driveway next door.
"No. I, uh, I got an appointment; can't be drivin'." The drunk told Jean, causing her to cock her head in disbelief. "It's chemo. Doc says all my heavy drinkin' gave me the stomach cancer; I gotta have my first chemo appointment today."
"Looks like Karma's a real bitch, just like they say." Jean bluntly told her neighbor, causing the man to give her a pleading look. It was obvious that he was desperate for a ride if he was coming to her. Hell, a good decade or so ago she shoved a shotgun in his face and threatened to shoot his head clean off if he ever beat the shit out of his youngest daughter again. He clearly swallowed a lot of pride coming to her. Knowing she couldn't let a sick man miss out on treatment (even if she hated his guts), the elderly woman sighed, "Let me grab my bag and keys; then we'll go."
"Thank ya, Jean. Really, thank ya." Jean heard Dean's raspy voice echo from her front porch as she walked into her house to gather her things from a small entrance area by the doorway.
"Yea, well, don't be thankin' me. I'm only doing it cause you're sick; nothin' else." Jean retorted, taking her keys from the wall hook Shane had made for her back in high school during shop class. Grabbing her bag from a small decorative table, that had a nice evergreen houseplant on it, she tossed it over her shoulder and marched out the door.
Dean didn't say a word, just followed Jean towards her boat of a car. Quietly, they both got in. Jean buckled her seatbelt while Dean didn't, but she didn't care. He was nothing to her, except for the neighbor that's bad parenting had screwed up her grandson's chances at happiness when he was a young man. Her wrinkled hands cranked on the engine and turned on the radio with ease. She did a quick glance in her rearview to look for anything coming down and when she deemed everything safe, she backed out and drove off.
The silence between Mr. Lacy and Jean Walsh was broken after a few minutes on the road. "You try to reach out to Jenny; let her know you got the cancer?"
"Nope." Slipped off the sick man's tongue. "She's in California; not like she'd be worrying about me none."
"Well, you're wrong about her being in California. She hasn't been there for a while." Jean told the man in the seat next to her, earning her a confused look from him. Glancing at her neighbor, she explained, "She's in Atlanta. Been there raisin' Trevor after Sadie and that nice Dixon boy, Axel, died."
All the air fell out of Dean's lungs. "Sadie's dead?..."
"That's what your grandson told me. Yes."
"You're on talkin' terms with my family? Since when? And does that womanizer cop grandson of yours know 'bout it?"
"Trevor reached out to me, after findin' my number in Jenny's phone, to ask if Shane was ok. They saw a story on the news 'bout Rick Grimes being shot and the shoot out that happened with 'em criminals, but the reporter didn't say who the deputy was."
"Why'd Jenny have your number for?" Dean asked suspiciously.
"Cause I raised Shane, you idiot." Jean dryly remarked as she raced down the road, making the trees and green brush lining it look like blurs.
The man's face skewed up in confusion. "What?" Dean croaked.
"Are you really that dense or did bein' a drunk make your brain fog up?" Jean rhetorically asked, shaking her head in frustration. Jean knew she'd have to spell it out for him. So, after a sigh, she explained, "My grandson, Shane, and your daughter, Jenny, were best friends -and more- growing up. She was always runnin' over; staying the nights when you were in a drunken mood or were beatin' on her."
"They were friends? I didn't know that. I strictly told her to stay away from him; that he was no good an' would ruin her reputation."
"Of course, you didn't know. Were too drunk to see what was going on right under your own nose." Jean scoffed, her hands grasping the steering wheel a bit firmer than necessary. "Her and Shane, well, I'm sure they would've faced their feelings for each other if you weren't such a horrible father." Shaking her head, the old woman bitterly told the drunk, "But, Jenny had to get away from you; from Kings County and that meant leaving Shane behind cause he was too stupid to realize why she had to break free of this small back ass rural county."
"Always reckoned Jenny leavin' tore up that grandson of yours. Always thought it was cause he couldn't conquer her, not cause she -what now?- ran away from him."
"She did run away from him. Wrote him a heartbreaking goodbye note and everything."
"Goodbye note? Jesus, how involved were there? So, all 'em rumors 'round the county weren't rumors?"
"She spent the night in my house plenty; even found a negative pregnancy test in the bathroom trash 'round the time of graduation. So, you tell me how involved they were." She bluntly told Mr. Lacy in a way only an old woman that doesn't give a shit about manners or propriety could.
Jean confronted Shane about the negative pregnancy test she saw lying on the top of the trash in the bathroom bin when she went to take it out. Oh, she can remember his reaction as if it'd happened yesterday.
*Beginning of Flashback*
"Shane, I wanna talk to you about what I found." Jean told her grandson as she hurried downstairs, trash bag in one hand and a tiny plastic stick in the other.
Turning his head away from MTV, he asked, "What'd you find?"
"This, Shane." Grandma Jean waved the white stick in the air for him to see. The teenager went white as a ghost, which was a telling reaction since he had a natural tan. "You and Jenny have a pregnancy scare."
"Um…uh…no. Uh, maybe-" Shane fumbled, only for his grandma to come to a stop in front of the tv and cut him off with a stern, "Cut the bullshit, Shane. Be honest with me, is this scare the reason why Jenny ran off; changed the plan for y'all's summer goodbyes?"
"No." Shane shook his head, causing his dark curly mullet to sway back and forth. His jaw set into a hard, rigid line. "She ran off cause she had to get away from her dad. She had to go to LA now and damn our friendship. She don't give a fuck 'bout me; I'm glad that test's negative."
"Shane. Don't act like that." Jean sternly barked. She knew her grandson was hurting, but it didn't give him the excuse to act like a little prick.
Rising from the couch, Shane sighed, "Just throw out the trash. I'm headed down to the Dairy Queen."
Grandma Jean narrowed her eyes at her broad grandson. "You should head down to LA. Find Jenny and fix whatever the hell is going in between y'all 'fore it's too late and you lose her for good." She advised as Shane walked by her. "Shane, I know your pride's wounded, but for Christ's sake go after her. You're young, Shane. Don't lose out on her and get stuck in this back ass county." Jean called out to her grandson as he snatched his keys from the wall hook near the door and stormed out of the house.
*End of Flashback*
"What?! They-they-", Dean's brain short circuited. His mouth flopped like a fish's as he tried to form a coherent sentence. Clearly, he didn't know what to make of the long-ago negative test he just learned about. The usually sharp-tongued drunk was stunned, to say the least.
"They were sweethearts, Dean. Ever since middle school." Jean supplied for the man whose brain had stopped working. "But you messed it all up by being a crazy drunk. You were too strict on Jenny; made her runaway from everything to find herself. And made her leave Shane behind to bury his feeling into any dumb bimbo he could sweet talk and charm."
"Don't blame me for your grandson's relationship issues. He should've been a man; told me off and went after my daughter." Dean had the nerve to say. He seemed to forget that he was a traditional father that a normal boy could approach about taking a daughter out on a date. The only way the Dean would've ever listened to Shane was if he'd shot him or beaten him to a bloody pulp. If it wasn't for the fact that Shane signed up for the police academy, well…
"He was fresh out of high school, Dean. His pride was wounded; he couldn't see past his own hurt to realize how she felt about him." Jean snapped a bit harshly at her neighbor. Taking a calming breath, she revealed, "They've worked things out. Shane's goin' down to Atlanta to help Jenny with Trevor come tomorrow."
"What? Now they're gonna shack up and play happy family? I thought you just told me they were miserable and not together?"
Jean just waved the drunk off. "They made up cause I gave my grandson's number out to your grandson to pass along to Jenny. And you know what? Trevor's a good boy cause he didn't just pass along Shane's number, but called him up himself too."
Dean just gave Jean a funny look. He didn't know what to make of anything he'd been told. Honestly, he just needed a ride to his chemo appointment and wasn't expecting a holy confessional of sorts on his way there from the woman giving him a ride. It was days like today which is why he drank. He couldn't handle the riddles of reality.
Suddenly, the radio cut out to static before a PSA played. A PSA of:
All residents of Georgia, please stay in locked in doors. If you need assistance, please go to one of the local FEMA shelters. Atlanta has shelters in place for evacuees; National Guard will direct evacuees on where to go once in the city. A list of counties needing to evacuate to Atlanta will be posted shortly. Please, stand by.
"Pandemic's hittin' worse and I got chemo. Just my luck." Dean sarcastically guffawed.
"Yea, and I'm stuck drivin' you around. Looks like we both lucked out." Jean shot back, a slight attitude in her deep southern accent. "Jenny's a nurse at Piedmont in the ED. Main reason why Shane's going down there for her and Trevor."
"You tryin' to convince me that he's not as bad as he really is?"
"No. Just telling you some hard sung facts, you lousy drunk." Jean bluntly countered Dean's sarcastic question. "So, you need me to wait while you're gettin' chemo or can I run some errands while I'm in town?"
"Go run your errands, my appointment's gonna be a few hours."
"I can reach out to Jenny later, let her know 'bout your ailing health." Jean offered as they got closer to town.
"No. Don't bother." Dean turned down the offer with a shake of his head.
The latest PSA blared over the tv in the corner of the station, announcing that all state residents must stay indoors and giving out a hint of evacuations to come. Shane was sitting at his desk, phone pressed to his ear as he took a call from his mother. Since his mom was locked up in a Texas prison, he always made it a priority to answer whenever she called his cell. No matter where he was or what he was doing, he always made time to answer the phone and talk to his mother. Kat Walsh always got his full attention, no matter the time or the situation.
"I don't know how bad things are down in Georgia, but it's bad here, son. So so bad." Kat told her son, her voice holding a somewhat fearful and panicky tone to it.
"Things are bad here too, ma. Hell, can't you hear the PSA blaring behind me?"
His mother didn't acknowledge the PSA in the background, instead she just frantically told her son, "They're letting us make calls to our families. They don't know how many of us are gonna get sick or stay well cause we're locked in close quarters. All of B block is infected; half of 'em dead already."
"You call Grandma Jean yet?" Shane asked over the background noise in both of their locations. His being the PSA and hers being that of other inmates freaking out on nearby phones with correction officers bellowing 'Time's up!' after so many minutes to end inmates' calls.
"I tried, but she didn't answer. I only got two family members, meanin' I only get two calls." Kat nearly cried. Not being able to reach her mother was crushing her. Made her start to think the worst had happened to Jean Walsh during these times.
Shane's eyes widened a bit as he saw Lambert escorting Patty's cuffed daddy into the station while Patty begged him not to book him. He noticed that Patty had a towel wrapped around her forearm, causing his head to immediately go down the road of she got bite by one of those things. Leon, well, the dorky deputy was trying to assure Patty that everything would be alright and that her boyfriend would be safely transported to the local morgue, but she wasn't having any of that.
"Shane! Make them let my daddy go, please!" Patty begged, tears running down her flushed face, as she stopped right where she knew he'd see her.
Shane ignored Patty's pleas, only to turn his back on the situation at hand and get back to his phone call. "Sorry about that, ma. Some of the deputies brought in the father on an ex of mine and she ain't too happy 'bout it."
"It's okay, Shane." Kat assured her son, wanting him to know that his job distractions didn't bother her. She understood he had a job; was proud of him for being a sheriff's deputy too. "Just make sure your Grandma Jean's alright. I can't get a hold of her and my time's nearly up talkin' to you, son."
"Don't worry, ma. I'll make sure she's alright; I'll even swing by and check in on her before I go to Atlanta."
"Atlanta? Why're you going there?" Kat asked in a panic while the nearby correction officer bellowed 'Time's up!' to her.
"Jenny needs help with her nephew, Trevor. She's a nurse at Piedmont." Shane quickly supplied before telling his mother, "Love you, ma."
"Love you too, Shane. And son, keep your Jenny and her nephew safe. I have a bad feeling 'bout this virus." Kat told her son before hanging up with a loud clunk.
Not long after Patty's father was booked for shooting and killing her boyfriend, Patty started to get feverish. She refused to leave the station until her father was released. She went on and on about how Paul had seemed to be acting odd; that he was out all night and when he came home, he was lethargic and bit a chunk out of her forearm. She swore up and down that her daddy was only trying to protect her when he shot Paul. That Paul wasn't acting right, but nobody seemed to give her any mind.
And then when Shane thought his day couldn't get any worse, the Sherriff emerged from his office to announce that the National Guard was going to the hospital to help staff separate the sick from the well. That he was sending out pairs to patrol the area and make sure that all residents of King County were locked up inside and prepared for a potential evacuation order. So, that meant the only people left at the station were him, Sherriff Grimes (Yes, as in Rick Grimes' father), Lambert, Leon, and the girls from dispatch.
Oh, of course Patty, her father, and a few others locked up in cells were at the station, but technically they didn't count. Even the blonde secretary (the one that Shane couldn't stand) had left for the day. Shane assumed she had a kid, otherwise her early clock out didn't make sense to him.
Just sitting around; waiting for the clock to mark the end of day was making Shane anxious. With every second that ticked by, he could tell that something was wrong. He was having an internal war with himself about what to do. A part of him wanted to tell Sherriff Grimes to fuck off and leave to go to Atlanta right now while another part of him was trying finish up his day so that he'd still have a job when (if?) he returned from Atlanta.
*Meanwhile, In Atlanta*
After her write up and disciplinary reprimand, Jenny grabbed her things from the lockers adjacent to the breakroom and went to the elevator. It took a few minutes for the elevator to reach the ICU, but when it did Jenny practically ran onto it. She pressed the button for the ground floor, causing the doors to swiftly shut and send the metal box descending to its destination.
To say it was a shit show on the ED when Jenny got off the elevator and stepped onto the floor was putting it lightly. Staff was running around like chickens with their heads cut off while the military were shooting at sick people like they were shooting skeet in an Olympic contest. It alarmed Jenny; made her afraid even. So, before anyone could truly see her (like her boss) she darted into a supply closet and pulled out her phone. Quickly, she called up Shane to warn him that she might not be getting out of the hospital that night. That things were bad.
Ring-ring-ring…Ri-
"Hey, you okay, Jenny?" Shane asked as soon as he picked up the phone while a service announcement played in the background, of what Jenny assumed was the Sherriff's Station in the county seat, instructing all residents to remain calm and to stay locked in doors until further notice.
"Yea, for now, but things are really bad here, Shane." Jenny told him, only to quickly add in, "I got sent back to the ED and it's crazy. I mean I have no idea if I'm gonna make it out of here when my shift's over or not." She purposely kept out the detail about the military shooting a bunch of people since didn't want him to worry too much about her. She also knew he'd blow a gasket if he knew about the military shooting people like they were skeet.
"Fuck your shift, Lil Bird. You need to get out of Piedmont now. I know you made an oath or whatever to your patients, I get that cause I made one too to the community, but right now you gotta get back home to Trevor."
"I know, Shane. I mean, god damnit, I'm hiding in a supply closet right now cause shit's that bad. I needed you to know how bad in case…" Jenny's words hung heavily in the air.
"Nothing's gonna happen to you, Jenny. You're tough and a survivor. Always was; always will be." Shane told Jenny as he shot Patty, who'd tore right into Sherriff Grimes' neck. The shot made Patty fall to the ground and take the head lawman with her. It also made her father scream and cry out in both horror and grief.
"Shane?!" Jenny exclaimed, fear thick in her voice as a reaction to hearing a gunshot ring out over the phone.
"I'm okay, babygirl. Sherriff Grimes ain't tho. He got bite by-" Shane started to explain, only for Jenny to cut him off with a high pitched, "Oh god, this shit's reached King County?!"
"Yea, but the broadcast says to just stay indoors til further notice; schools were closed early too."
"You're still coming to Atlanta, right?"
"Yea. I'm gonna head there now. Just gotta get Rick and his family; Grandma Jean too 'fore I hit the road." He told her while rushing to the large locker room grab his duffel bag and extra guns he had in his locker.
"Are you even going to be able to get Rick out? He's in a coma; I doubt they'll just discharge him cause you're a cop."
"Lori said he's supposed to be transported to Atlanta for treatment; thought I'd just use that as an excuse. Say I'm escortin' him to the med-evac or something cause of the chaos starting up." The deputy explained while quickly unlocking his locker and grabbing his things. "I'm gonna try to get to the townhouse tonight, Chickadee. Might be pulling in later then I want tho cause I got a few stops to make 'fore I can hit the road." Shane slammed his locker shut and rushed out of the room. "I'm gonna tell Leon and Lambert that I'm leaving; got my own people to get to yours down in Atlanta."
"I understand, Shane. Just do what you gotta do and be safe. I'm gonna call Merle and Daryl; tell them to get their asses over to my place too since the world's gone to hell right now."
"I gotta go, but see you tonight, Jenny." The tone of Shane's voice held a promise in it. A promise of his intentions that went beyond simply seeing her again.
"Bye. See you tonight, Shane." The strawberry blonde simply said before ending the call.
AN:
And the zombie apocalypse is happening. IT'S HAPPENING!
