I don't own Total Drama and The Walking Dead.
Sorry if you find any grammar mistakes. I'm still learning English because it's not my first language.
Darth krayt1: Glad to see you still reading! I'll make sure to remember your change of a nick on this site. You will have to wait see what will happen to Duncan in the future chapters. When it comes to my EEnE and GTA 5 crossover, to be honest Rockstar milking GTA 5 to death for the last years has completely killed my interested in this game (not to mention this GTA+ crap they recently came up with). Plus, If I will ever continue it, then I think I will start it by completely re-writing this story.
Brendan: Glad to see you still reading! Can you blame Izzy for being paranoid, though? Three people she was close with died in such short amount of time. At least she still has Noah by her side. I heard about this Resident Evil movie but heard it's pretty meh. The possibility of me doing a AOTxTD crossover instead of AOTxEEnE is pretty low because I already have some things planned out for the AOTxEEnE story such as who will be the tenth titan shifter (the tenth titan was something I came up for the purpose of this story if I will ever end up doing it), the relationships between EEnE and AOT characters (like Double D and Armin having the same dream of seeing the ocean), or who will be leading the Jaegerists alongside Floch in season 4.
Duncan had to admit one thing as Daryl made sure to explain to him and Carol how he and Beth got separated from each other and how a car with the white cross symbol on the back window was involved in her disappearance. It felt kind of strange to be in Atlanta again after all this time. He even wasn't exactly sure how much time had passed since his last visit in this city. A year and a half? Something close to that?
There was one thing that he was certain about, though. For him it felt like it was much more time than just a year and a half, considering all the stuff that happened ever since they left their camp the day after the walkers attacked it and killed Amy and Lindsay. Hershel's farm, Timothy, the Governor and Jose, Joe and his group, Terminus, the deaths of so many members of his group, simply too much stuff had happened since his last visit in Atlanta.
As soon as they drove into the streets of Atlanta, Duncan titled his head towards the window on his right, wanting to take a better look at his surroundings. Time had certainly taken it's tool on Atlanta. It was dark and lifeless. The city was a shadow of it's former self. He could already say it from the distance when he, Daryl and Carol were driving along the hallway leading to the said city, but this statement had become much more clear after they drove into Atlanta.
"Rick's gonna wonder where we went." Daryl's voice brought him out of his thoughts. Duncan shifted his gaze from the window he was looking through at the Dixon, "Tank's runnin' low."
"We can end this quick." Carol suggested, "Just run him off the road."
Daryl shook his head at her suggestion, "Nah, we're good for a bit."
"If they're holding her somewhere, we can get it out of the driver." Carol pointed out.
"I know but what if he will not tell us?" Duncan pointed out in return, "We will come back to the starting point."
"We'll see who they are." Daryl said, "If they're a group, see what they can do. And then we'll do what we gotta do to get her back."
Duncan nodded his head, agreeing with Daryl's plan. It was when something on the road caught his attention. The car they have been following ever since they left Gabriel's church had now stopped in the middle of the road. Daryl and Carol noticed it as well, the former stopping his car several meters away from the strangers, not wanting to get spotted by them.
"What the hell are they doing?" Duncan asked, narrowing his eyes at the strangers ahead of him and his group.
The group of three stared at the umoving car car in front of them for a brief moment, waiting for something to happen. A man in a police uniform got out of the car and took a a few steps away from the car, beginning to look around himself.
"A cop." Duncan immediately recognized the uniform the stranger was wearing.
"There's two of them." Daryl stated after seeing how the stranger got out of the car through the passenger seat.
Carol reached for her pistol and pulled it out, holding in ready. When Daryl and Duncan looked at her, she explained, "They might've seen us."
The stranger walked out of their view to the right side as Daryl, Duncan and Carol continued to stare at the car in front of them, waiting for him to return in complete silence. All of them jumped in their seats once a walker slammed it's hand against the window of Carol's seat. This sudden noise made them shift their gaze towards the window the moment they heard it.
"...God." Carol whispered to herself as she and her friends shifted their gaze back to the car in front of them.
The stranger returned to their view, carrying two bikes in his hands. He threw the bikes onto the ground and went back to where he came from, dragging another thing that resembled a body. He put it aside and looked over his shoulder before going back to his own vehicle. The stranger in the drivers seat started up the vehicle and began driving away from the place.
Daryl attempted to start his own vehicle up, but unfortunely it wouldn't move. He quickly realized what was wrong with it, "Shit. Tank's tapped. They'd have taken the bypass and they didn't. They must be holed up in the city somewhere." He looked up at Carol and shifted his gaze between her and Duncan, "We gotta move, find someplace to hole up till sunlight. I know a place just a couple of blocks from here. We can make it."
"Where will we wait for the sunlight?" Duncan asked, "Here or somewhere else?"
"Somewhere else." Carol responded, "I know a place just a couple of blocks from here. We can make it."
Duncan nodded, "Lead the way."
Carol nodded her head at him. She pulled out her knife and turned to look at the walker on the side of the window. She rolled down the window and used her knife to kill her walker, before getting out of the car. Daryl and Duncan followed her example and got out of the car as well, earning the attention of the nearby walkers.
Carol took Daryl and Duncan to an abandoned office building, leaving the walkers that noticed them on the streets ever since they left their vehicle behind outside. It was quite easy to say that there had been no one alive in this building for a long time. It had a few rotten bodies of either humans or walkers on the floor. None of them could tell it.
"How do you know this place?" Duncan wanted to know, he and Daryl shining their flashlights at their surroundings, "You worked here?"
"Sort of." Carol answered, leading Daryl and Duncan through the building,.
Daryl looked down at the dead body on the floor and leaned down to it upon spotting a set of keys laying next to it. He picked the keys up as Duncan and Carol pushed a desk towards the nearest door. They blocked thei door with the desk as Daryl made his way to another door and waited for them to approach him. He tried to open the door as soon as they approached him, but it was locked.
He used the keys that he found a second earlier to open it and he, Duncan and Carol entered the room with bunk beds. He shined his flashlight at the bunk beds and asked Carol, "What's this place?"
"It's temporary housing." Carol explained.
Duncan elbowed Daryl, earning his attention. Daryl looked at him with a questioning look on his face as Duncan gestured to the desk in front of them. On the desk was laying a book related the topic of child abuse. The two of them quickly connected the dots.
"You came here?" Daryl asked, looking away from the book.
"We didn't stay." Carol answered, referring to herself and Sophia as Daryl put his crossbow on the desk next to the book. Duncan took off his bow and placed it against the wall, followed by his rifle, "I'll take the top bunk. I think that one's more your style. It's up to you who will sleep on it, though."
Daryl looked at Duncan, "You take the bunk. I'll take the floor."
Duncan shrugged his shoulders was he was not going to refuse the offer of sleeping on the bunk instead of the floor, "Suit yourself, redneck."
"You two should sleep." Carol said, moving past Daryl and Duncan towards the window, "I'll take first watch."
"This is locked up pretty tight." Daryl pointed out.
Duncan nodded to Daryl's words, "We made sure to either block or lock each entrance to the building."
"I know." Carol admtted, looking through the opened window, "I'll keep first watch. I don't mind."
"Suit yourself." Daryl sat down on the floor and leaned against the wall as Duncan sat down on his bunk
Carol's back was facing Duncan and Daryl as she spoke to them again, "You said we get to start over."
"Yeah." Daryl replied as Duncan nodded his head.
Carol looked over her shoulder to look at them, "Did you?"
"I'm tryin'." Daryl answered, playing with his fingers.
Duncan was silent for a brief moment as he looked at the medallion he made out of the skull he made for Courtney's funeral, thinking about the CIT and all the good and bad times he spend with her. If there was one thing he regretted the most in his life, it was not convicing her to stay with him in the prison after they got back together after all this time.
Perharps if he convinced her to stay with him, then she would be in this room with him, Carol and Daryl, helping them to find Beth...
Not wanting to respond to this question, he replied with a question of his own, "Why don't you say what's really on your mind?"
"I don't think we get to save people anymore." Carol gave him an honest answer.
"Then why are you here?" Daryl questioned.
"I'm tryin'." Carol once again have an honest answer. She walked over to Duncan's bunk and sat down next to him, before laying down.
"When we were out by the car..." Duncan said, "What if we didn't show up?"
"I still don't know." Carol responded, giving an honest answer for the third time.
Daryl just gave a nod of his head in response as Duncan hummed in understanding. It was when the juvie laid down on the bunk next to Carol, placing his head on the pillow. It was how the group of three spend the next few minutes. In utter silence. There was nothing to talk about, nothing to do except waiting for the night to pass and morning to come.
Duncan and Carol laid on the bottom bunk in a row, their legs dangling off the edge as Daryl continued to lean comfortable against the wall. The group of three would definitely fall asleep in those positions if it wasn't for some banging noise somewhere in the building.
The group of three quickly readied themselves to move out to check it out. Daryl rose up from the floor and took his crossbow as Duncan and Carol got up from the bunk, with the latter grabbing her rifle from the top bunk. Duncan considered taking his bow with him for a few seconds but ultimately came to a conclusion that it would make more harm than good. He instead took his rifle with him and followed Carol and Duncan out of the room.
They quietly made their way through the building towards the source of the noise. They walked along the hallway, passing by various doors, closets and windows, knowing they were getting closer to whatever was causing all this noise. They reached their destination a moment later. They stumbled upon a glass door, with a walker of a woman on the other side of it.
This wasn't the only walker they had spotted, though. Another walker had pressed itself against the door shorty after. Only this time this walker was short and frail. The group of three quickly realized who these walkers were before the world became what it is today. They must have been a mother and her child who were seeking shelter in this place and right now they were locked up in here for eternity.
Carol stepped forward, with the intention of killing the two walkers but Daryl held his arm in front of hers, "You don't have to."
Carol looked at him and Duncan before proceeding to move forward to the glass door. She was about to grab the doorknob but Daryl once again cut himself between her and her destination.
"You don't have to." He repeated himself.
"Don't force yourseld to do it." Duncan added.
Carol stepped away from the door and walked away, with Daryl and Duncan watching her leave for a second before following her.
The next morning after Carol woke up from her slumber, she looked through the window and saw some smoke billowing up outside. She quickly got up from her bunk and made her way to where the smoke was coming from. She froze in her tracks once she reached her destination. She saw Daryl and Duncan outside on the back lot, walking towards the fire they had started with the bodies of mother and her child wrapped in white sheets. Duncan carried the child and Daryl carried the mother.
They put the bodies in the fire, allowing the mother and her child to rest in peace as Carol walked over to them and stopped between them, watching how the flames continued to consume the bodies.
"Thank you." She whispered to them, grateful for them putting the mother and her child to rest. An image of her and Tyreese digging graves for Mika and Lizzie and Bridgette and Heather approaching them with the bodies of two girls wrapped in white sheets flew through her mind.
Daryl and Duncan remained silent as the group of three proceeded to just stand there in total silence.
The group of three went back to their room a few minutes later, acting like nothing had happened at all. They begun packing their stuff, preparing themselves to move out of the building with the intention of finding the shelter of the people from the car with white cross.
"That car was headed downtown." Daryl said, slouching his crossbow over his back, "I say we get up in one of the tall ones, get ourselves a view, see what we see."
Carol picked up her rifle, "We can stay close to the buildings and keep quiet, but sooner or later, we're gonna be drawing 'em."
Duncan slouched his bow over his back and moved to the exit from the room, "We'll make sure to delay it for as long as possible, then."
The group of three moved out of the room and made their way out of the building, entering the streets. Atlanta looked much more differently than it did last night. The daylight showed how much the town was a shadow of it's former self. Thrash of all kinds, starting paper and plastic and ending with the abandoned cars was littered everywhere. Bodies were sprawled out over the road and grass was overgrown like it wasn't cut in over year and a half.
Daryl led his group through the city ever since they left the shelter they stayed at last night. He stopped once he was about to turn the corner and leaned against the wall, Duncan and Carol following his example. He slightly leaned out of his cover to take a better look at the streets, noticing a lot of walkers wandering aimlessly through it. Another thing he spotted was a bridge crossway linking two buildings.
"Alright." He said as he looked back at Duncan and Carol, "We can get up there. There's a bridge."
He took off his bag and reached into it, pulling out a notepad. He light it up on fire with his lighter and tossed it into a pile of thrash across the street. It bursted into flames, earning the attention of the undead. The walkers made their way towards it as Daryl, Duncan and Carol used this to their advantage and sneaked past them, making their way to a parking garage.
Daryl fired his crossbow at the walker standing in his way, killing it as he and the rest proceeded to move through the parking garage. It took them a moment to get to the skybridge because the garage was one of those big ones with more than three levels. At least they didn't stumble upon any walkers on the way to their destination. What happened after they reached their destination was a bit different story.
Duncan opened the boarded up door as Carol and Daryl readied themselves just in case if they would have to face any walkers on the skybridge. They walked through the opened door and were greeted by the view of four walkers in sleeping bags, the sleeping bags preventing them from rising up from the floor. Daryl, Duncan and Carol got rid of the walkers before they could leave their prisons.
There were more walkers in the three tents in front of them but the group of three ignored them, not seeing them as much of a threat to them, because the walkers were trapped within tents, unable to leave them. They made their way to the end of the skybridge where the double doors were chained shut. They crawled through an opening, one by one, not having any other way pass the doors right now.
They made their way into the building and started to make their way through it. It didn't took them long to realize what kind of building it was before the world changed. It was office. It was quite easy for them to say it because of the way the hallway was designed, with fake plants and ugly paintings being the most notable things they have noticed.
Daryl opened a door to an office and looked into it, before whistling, signalling Duncan and Carol that it was safe to enter. The group of three entered the office room and walked through it, eventually reaching the window at the end of it. They looked through the window and observed the destroyed city below them.
Duncan let out a sigh upon spotting burned spot on the street, caused by the napalm the army had dropped back when it all started. His mind flew to the moment when he and the rest were on the way to where the third season was going to start, completely clueless that these were the last moments of normalcy. He remembered how horrified all of them were when they watched how the army dropped the napalm into the city.
He let out another sigh, remembering DJ's tearful question as the gentle giant couldn't figure out what was going on or Tyler comforting Lindsay or Courtney leaning against him to support herself because of her broken leg. It was hard for him to believe that those four people, along with many other people such as Dale or Andrea who observed the bombing of Atlanta who later became a part of his group were now gone, dead by either walkers or humans and yet was still here, because he was lucky enough to survive to this point.
He bit his lip as he continued to remember how everyone were reacting to the bombing, the faces of other people who were now dead such as Cody or Sierra making him more saddened. He remember how utterly horrified Izzy was by this view which started the change of her becoming much less crazy than she was back when the world was normal and Owen attempting to comfort her in his own way.
It was when he paused his thoughts, his eyes shooting open as he realized something.
Christ, he couldn't even remember how Owen's voice sounded like.
He and Owen were good friends since the island and he couldn't even remember how his friends voice sounded like. At least he still remembered what he looked like, or so he thought.
"How did we get here?" Carol's voice brought him out of his thoughts regarding his dead friend.
Daryl hummed in response, "Mm-mm."
"We just did." Duncan answered, not taking his eyes of the ruined street.
"You still haven't asked me what happened." Carol pointed out, "After I met up with Tyreese, Heather, Bridgette, the girls."
Daryl slung his crossbow over his shoulder, "Yeah, I know what happened. They ain't here."
"Bridgette told me and Geoff what happened with Lizzie and Mika." Duncan explained, "Poor Malibu had tears in her eyes as she told us what Lizzie did to her sister and wanted to do to Judith. Good thing Geoff was here to comfort her. She needed it."
"It was worse than that." Carol stated as Daryl and Duncan exchanged glances with each other.
"The reason I said we get to start over... is because we gotta." Daryl said after a brief moment of staying silent, "The way it was..."
"Yeah." Carol replied as Duncan just gave him a silent nod of his head in response.
It was when Daryl leaned his head towards the window, peering through the glass as if he noticed something in the distance and wanted to get a better look at it.
"You see something, redneck?" Duncan asked his friend, wanting to know why was he doing this.
"I don't know." Daryl replied, "Hand me that rifle." Carol handed him her rifle and Daryl looked through the scope of it to look at whatever caught his attention in the distance. He gave Carol her rifle back after a moment and pointed at something, "Right there." Carol looked at the place he was pointing at through the scope of her rifle, "It's been there a while."
"What is it?" Duncan asked as Carol handed him her rifle. Duncan looked through the scope and looked around the area on the other side of the window, eventually spotting something on the bridge. It was a van with two white crosses painted on the back doors of it.
"Definitely one of 'em." Daryl stated as Duncan gave Carol her rifle back, "It's definitely some kind of lead."
"We should check it out." Duncan voiced his mind about this finding, "It's not like we have any other lead at the moment."
Carol turned away from the window and began making her way to the water dispenser, "We should fill up."
"Alright." Daryl answered as he and Duncan followed Carol to the water dispenser.
Carol took her canteen out of her bag and used a half empty water dispenser to fill it up. She took a sip from it and handed it to Daryl who too a sip from it as well before handing to Duncan. Duncan took the canteen from him and took a sip from it, before giving the canteen back to it's owner.
Daryl pointed at a painting by the window after Duncan took a sip from Carol's canteen, "I bet this cost some rich prick a lot of money. Looks like a dog sat in paint, wiped its ass all over the place."
"I'll never understand why people saw this kind of shit as art." Duncan stated as he set his eyes on the painting, nodding in agreement.
"Really?" Carol looked suprised by their dislike of this painting, "I kinda like it."
Daryl laughed, "Stop."
"You're kidding?" Duncan chuckled.
"I'm serious." Carol told them as she turned away from the painting and went to get her stuff, preparing herself to leave this place, "You don't know me."
"Yep, you keep tellin' yourself that." Daryl responded as he and Duncan headed out of the room.
Carol slouched her bag over her shoulder and followed Daryl and Duncan out of the room. The group of three made their way to the entrance to the skybridge. Carol knelt down and began climbing her way to the other side of it as Duncan got himself down on the ground, waiting for his turn.
He began to climb to the other side of the doors as soon as Carol climbed through the gap in the doors and stuck his head out through them. It was when he froze in his spot as Carol called out for them, "Duncan, don't."
Her voice was followed an unknown voice saying, "Get up. Hands up, both of you." Seeing no other option right now Duncan climbed through the gap and saw a black skinned man who was about his age. The stranger was aiming Carol's rifle at her and now at him as well. It wasn't long before Daryl climbed through the gap as well, "You." The stranger pointed at Daryl after he climbed through the gap, "Lay down your crossbow." He then looked at Duncan, "The same goes for your bow and your rifle."
"You got some sack on you." Daryl said, glaring at the stranger.
Duncan glared at the stranger, "Going against the three of us."
"Look, nobody has to get hurt. I just need weapons, that's it." The stranger explained his reasoning for doing this to them, "So, please, lay down your weapons." Duncan and Daryl hesitantly complied and put their weapons on the ground, "Back up." The group of three did as they were told and backed away from him, allowing him to pick up the weapons from the ground, "Sorry about this. You look tough. You'll be all right."
He pulled out his knife as he began to back away from the group of three. He cut the tents on the skybridge open, freeing the walkers trapped within them as Duncan and Daryl pulled out their knives. The two of them made sure to take care of the undead coming their way as Carol aimed her revolver at the stranger. She pulled the trigger but her bullet didn't hit him because Daryl moved it away. The bullet hit the ground as the stranger walked out of their view.
The group of three quickly followed the stranger and eventually reached the door in which they came. The tried to open it but unfortunely was locked, chained up by the stranger.
"Great." Duncan sighed in frustation, realizing that it was no use, "This is just what we needed."
"How much ammo do you have left?" Daryl asked. He and the other two turned away from the door and began looking for another way out.
"None." Duncan answered, looking around himself, trying to spot another way out of this place, "I only have my knife."
Carol closed the cylinder of her revolver after checking how many bullets she had left in it, "Three bullets. We're in the middle of a city." Daryl and Duncan remained silent, the latter too focused on looking for a way out to hear her, "He was stealing our weapons. Did you think I was gonna kill him? I was aiming for his leg. Could that have killed him?"
"Maybe, I don't know." Daryl replied.
"But he was stealing our weapons." Carol pointed out.
"He's a damn kid." Daryl pointed out in return as he stopped in front of a locked door, "No older than Duncan."
"Without weapons we could die." Carol said as she glanced at Duncan, hoping him to take her side in this conversation, "Beth could die."
"We'll find more weapons." Daryl said as he put his hand on the door handle and twisted it, hoping it will open but it didn't.
"I don't want you to die." Carol said as Daryl pulled out his knife and tried to pry open the door with it, "I don't want Beth to die. I don't want Duncan to die. I don't want anybody at the church to die, but I can't stand around and watch it happen either."
"Try this." Duncan held his knife out to Daryl after seeing how Daryl was struggling to pry open the door with his. Daryl glanced at Duncan and stared at him for a second before sheathing his knife. He took the knife from him and turned back to the door.
"I can't." Carol continued as Daryl proceeded to try to pry the door open with Duncan's knife, "That's why I left. I just had to be somewhere else."
Daryl pulled Duncan's knife away from the door and turned away to face her, "Well, you ain't somewhere else. You're right here. Tryin'."
Carol shook her head as Daryl turned away from her and went back to what he was doing, "Look, you're not who you were and neither am I or Duncan." Daryl finally opened the door and handed the knife back to Duncan, "I don't know if I believe in God anymore or heaven, but if I'm going to hell, I'm making damn sure I'm holding it off as long as I can."
The group of three eventually made their way to the van on the bridge. It took them a while to get there, because without any weapons they had to dodge every walker that they stumbled upon on their way to this place. A few walkers were following them, but they didn't paid much attention to them, because the undead were several meters away from them.
Daryl stopped in front of the back doors to the van and opened it, "All right, let's get this done."
He was about to enter the van but Carol stopped him from doing so by pointing out, "It's not stable. I'm lighter."
Daryl looked at her for a brief moment before hopping into the van, making Duncan and Carol exchange glances with each other.
"I'll stay here and keep watch." Duncan said as Carol nodded. She got herself into the van. The vehicle shuddered a bit, but didn't fall of the bridge.
Daryl sat down in the drivers and began searching through the vehicle, finding some old maps. Carol sat down on the passengers seat and began searching through the vehicle as well, finding some old papers. A huge of group of walkers walking towards the van because more of them were drawn to the group of three by the noise made by the van when it shuddered.
"Guys!" He shouted, readying his knife for the upcoming fight, "Need a help here! There's too many of them for just me!"
One of the walkers practically shoved itself towards him and he got rid of it by placing the tip of his knife in the middle of his forehead as Carol climbed out of the van, followed by Daryl. Daryl and Duncan began fighting off the undead with their knives, killing as many of them as they could as Carol fired his revolver, emptying it. Their effort was unfortunely for nothing, because there was simply no end for them.
The group quickly climbed into the van, knowing that it was their only shelter from the walkers on this bridge and Daryl shut the doors. The walkers shoved themselves at the van and began banging their hands against it, trying to get to the people hiding inside.
"Anything we can use?" Carol asked as the van shook a little, making Duncan almost fall into Daryl.
Duncan eyed the insides of the van, "I don't see anything."
Daryl stared ahead at the windshield before making his way to the drivers seat, "Buckle up."
Duncan and Carol nodded as they made their way to the closest passengers seats. Duncan sat down on the seat behind Carol and made sure to strap the seatbelt around him as Carol made sure to do the same on her seat. The group of three exchanged uncertain looks with each other as the pressure of having several walkers lean against it made the van lean forward a bit.
Duncan held his breath as he recalled the time when he and the other contestants fell into the abyss during the celebrity race, knowing what was about to happen in a few seconds. It was just a matter of seconds before the van fell down the bridge. Duncan let out a relieved sigh. It fortunely for them landed on the four wheels. The windshield cracked and it was definitely in a much worse condition than it was a moment earler, but at least it didn't overturn.
Carol breathed out a sigh of relief, "We're okay."
It was when one of the walkers from the bridge landed on the windshield, it's head exploading into pieces upon the impact. The walkers from the bridge continued to fall down, landing on the roof of the van, one by one. The group of three waited it for it over, before getting themselves out of the van. Carol struggled to walk on her own because of the rough landing and went over to Duncan and Daryl.
The two of them wrapped their arms around her, Duncan on the left side and Daryl on the right side. The group three began to make their way away from the scene, with the intention of finding a place where they could patch themselves up.
"Tell me you at least found something useful in the van." Duncan said, wanting to know if this entire thing was worth something or if they went through this entire thing for nothing.
"We found a stretcher." Daryl replied, "The people who took Beth might be from the hospital."
"Grady Memorial Hospital to be exact." Carol added.
Duncan nodded his head, "At least we have another lead."
Daryl, Duncan and Carol stopped at a loading dock, outside of some building to take a rest after their rather rough last several minutes. Daryl and Duncan were standing in front of Carol who was sitting on the sidewalk, being the one who was feeling the worst out of three of them after their rough landing.
Daryl pulled out his canteen and held it out to Carol, offering it to her, "Here."
"I'm fine." Carol tried to assured him that there was nothing wrong with her.
Daryl however was not buying it, "Prove it."
"We won't move for as long as you won't prove it." Duncan added when Carol looked at him, with hopes of him talking Daryl out of this.
Carol sighed, knowing that she won't convince them that there is nothing wrong with her in any other way. She took the canteen from Daryl and took a sip, visibly wincing as she swallowed the water.
"You don't seem fine to me." Duncan pointed out.
"How bad is it?" Daryl wanted to know.
"I've had worse." Carol replied, pulling her shirt collar down, revealing a purple bruise on the side of her chest.
Daryl shook his head, taking his canteen from Carol, "Damn, that was stupid."
"We made good time down." Carol attempted to make a joke about this situation as Duncan sat down next to her.
"Yeah. Who knew that falling from a bridge in a van would be a life saving thing." Duncan let out a short laugh and added his own part to Carol's joke, making the short haired woman smile at him.
Daryl scoffed as he sat down on the other side of Carol and Duncan.
"There's only three blocks between us and Grady. " Carol stated.
"We need to find a place nearby, scope it out, see what we can see." Daryl said, taking a sip from his canteen.
"Hopefully this hospital won't turn out to be a dead end." Duncan said.
"You can say that again, juvie." Daryl agreed with him.
"You really think we're gonna find out what we need to know just by watching?" Carol questioned.
"It's where we start." Daryl answered as he got up from the sidewalk, Carol and Duncan following his example, "Come on."
The group entered another office buildiing, but this one was much different from the one they visited earlier that day. It looked much poorer than the last one. It didn't have any paintings on the walls or leather armchairs. The door squaked when it was opened and Daryl walked into the hallway, followed by Carol and Duncan. There was one walker on the floor with a machete close to it's hand.
The walker snarled as it looked up at Daryl, Duncan and Carol. Carol and Duncan walked past it, ignoring it's presence as Daryl picked up the machete from the floor and used it to kill the walker. Duncan separated himself from Carol and began to search through the room, hoping to find something useful in it. He eventually found a plastic with a few small bag of chips in it.
Carol made her way to the window on the end of the roof and stared ahead, "It's them."
Duncan and Daryl stopped what they were doing and moved forward to the window. They looked through the window, noticing a large high story building. It must have been the hospital from which the stretcher from the van came from.
"Okay." Duncan said, leaning against the wall with his arms crossed.
"We wait." Daryl said, "See what we can see."
Duncan pulled out a small bag of chips from the plastic bag and handed it to Carol, "Yeah."
"You said I ain't like how I was before?" Daryl asked, looking at Carol as Duncan gave him a bag of chips as well.
Carol nodded, "Yeah."
"How was I?" Daryl wanted to know.
"It's like you were a kid." Carol responded, "Now you're a man." She shifted her gaze from him to Duncan, "So are you Duncan."
"What about you?" Duncan asked after Carol brought him into this conversation.
Carol was silent for a brief moment before answering to his question, "Me and Sophia stayed at that shelter for a day and a half before I went running back to Ed. I went home, I got beat up, life went on, and I just kept praying for something to happen. But I didn't do anything. Not a damn thing. Who I was with him... she got burned away. And I was happy about that. I mean, not happy, but... And at the prison I got to be who I always thought I should be, thought I should've been. And then she got burned away. Everything now just... consumes you."
"Well, hey..." Daryl said, making Carol and Duncan look at him, "We ain't ashes."
Their conversation was interrupted by a loud distant noise of someone shutting the doors. The three of them quickly jumped onto their feet, alarmed by it and quickly made their way to the source of the noise. As they went further into the building, they heard more noises. They eventually stumbled upon a walker pinned to the wall with a crossbow bolt with a green and white fletchings.
"Is that yours?" Carol asked as Duncan took a better look at the bolt and nodded to himself. Yeah. It was definitely one of Daryl's bolts.
Daryl nodded in confirmation, "Yeah."
He killed the walkers and yanked the bolt from it. It was when they heard the sound of someone firing a machine gun in the distance. Carol pushed herself into, taking the lead in the group of three and once she passed the corner, a walker was thrown at her. She fell to the ground and screamed as Duncan wasted no time and stabbed the walker on top of her in the head, killing it.
"You okay?" He asked as Daryl held his hand out to Carol and brought her back on her feet.
"I'm good." Carol replied, "You two go."
Duncan and Daryl wasted no time and immediately pushed themselves into run after the guy who stole their weapons. It wasn't long before they found him. He was trying to move a bookshelf, completely unaware of their presence. Daryl rushed at towards the stranger shoved himself at the stranger, making the bookshelf fall down. It landed on top of the stranger, making him unable to move.
Duncan walked past them as if nothing had just happened and began to check if the stranger still had all of their stuff. He had. His bow, Daryl's crossbow and his and Carol's rifles were still with him. He picked up his bow and his rifle, Daryl doing the same with his crossbow as Carol entered the room. The walker on the other side of the door which was blocked a few seconsd earlier by the bookshelf pushed it's hand through the slightly opened doors, reaching down for the trapped stranger.
"Plea- please. I had to protect myself." The stranger pleaded for help.
Daryl glared down at him, "Why you followin' us?"
"I-I didn't, I swear!" The stranger stuttered out, "I thought you followed me."
"Bullshit." Duncan spat out, glaring at the trapped young man.
The walker got a bit further through the door, now having it's arm and head through the gap, making the trapped stranger more nervous, "Come on, man. Plea- please! Please, please."
Daryl shook his head at his pleading as he picked up a pack of cigarettes from the floor, "Nah, I already helped you once. It ain't happenin' again."
"We almost died because of you." Duncan said coldly as he gave Carol's rifle back it's rightful owner. Daryl pulled out a cigarette from the pack and placed it between his teeth and lighted it up, "Have fun with the walker."
He and Daryl turned away from the stranger and began to walk out of the room, leaving him for the walker, the cries for help of the trapped young man falling deaf on their ears. Carol remained where she stood, making them stop dead in their tracks.
"Guys." She told them, "Stop."
"What?" Duncan looked at her with a suprised look on her face.
Daryl looked at her like she was insane, "You almost died because of him!"
"But I didn't." Carol pointed out.
Daryl shook his head, "Nah, let him be."
"I'm sorry." The stranger continued to beg for the help, "Please, I'm sorry!"
He and Duncan turned away from Carol and began walking away from her and the trapped stranger, making the short haired woman cry out for them, "Daryl! Duncan!"
The walker fell through the door and landed on top of the bookshelf, right above the man trapped underneath it. It grabbed it's collar and leaned it's head towards it as Daryl fired a bolt at it. The bolt hit the walker in the head, killing it. He and Duncan walked over to the bookshelf and lifted it up, freeing stranger from it.
The stranger got himself back on his feet, "Thank you. Thank you. Thank you." Daryl and Duncan ignored him as he walked over to the window, looking through it, "I gotta go. I gotta go." He turned to the three people who just saved him and started to walk towards them, "They're gonna come. They probably heard the shot. If they find me..."
Daryl looked at him, "Who?"
"Them, people at the hospital." The stranger answered as he was about to walk past Daryl.
Daryl stopped him from going any further, "Wait, wait, wait, just tell us- is there a blonde girl there? You see a blonde girl?"
"Beth?" The stranger said the first person that came into his mind at the description Daryl just gave him. The looks that he received from Daryl, Carol and Duncan upon mentioning her name was enough for him to know she was the one they were looking for, "You know her? She helped me get out, but she's still there."
Duncan looked through the window and saw a white car park next to the building, "They're coming."
"We gotta go now." The stranger said as he rushed out of the room, Daryl, Duncan and Carol following him. He led them down the stairs to the bottom lobby, "The building next door has a basement. It's clear. We'll be safe." He tripped over himself and landed on the ground, "Ah! Ah!"
"Go." Daryl said, stopping next to the stranger with Duncan.
"We got this." Duncan added, bringing the stranger back onto his feet as Carol ran past them to the glass door.
She made her way to the door and opened it. She rushed out of the building as Daryl and Duncan began taking the stranger to the now opened door. They froze in their tracks in shock when a car came out of nowhere and crashed into Carol, making her fall to the ground. Daryl and Duncan practically shoved themselves towards the door as the two cops came out of the car, one of them holding a stretcher.
"Wait!" The stranger stopped them from rushing out of the building, "They can help her. They're the only ones who can. They have medicine, machines, a doctor." The two cops put Carol on the stretcher, "You go out there, you'll have to kill them, okay?" They put her in the back of the car, "And then she can't get their help." The two cops got themselves into the car and drove off, presumably towards the hospital, "Is that what you want? We can get her back. We can get Beth back."
"What's it gonna take?" Daryl asked after watching how the strangers just took Carol away.
"A lot." The stranger replied, panting, "They got guns, people."
"So do we." Duncan answered.
He and Daryl turned away from the stranger and began making their way towards a loading dock from before, remembering seeing a lorry in a rather good state there. The stranger followed them. They sneaked their way to the lorry, avoiding all the walkers they had come across on their way to their destination. Upon reaching the place, Daryl started to work on getting the lorry to work as the stranger and Duncan waited for him to finish his job.
"Hey." Duncan called out for the stranger after a few minutes of waiting for Daryl to finish his work with the lorry, "What's your name?"
"Dylan." Dylan introduced himself to him.
"Dylan." Duncan nodded his head at him, "I'm Duncan." He gestured to where Daryl was, "This is Daryl."
Dylan nodded in acknowledgement, "How many people do you have? Is there enough of them to take on the hospital?"
"A lot." Duncan replied, "Trust me, it is more than eneough to take on these bastards from the hospital. They won't know what hit them. The last people who messed with us learned it the hard way."
Daryl listened to their conversation as he continued to work on the lorry. He was unaware that someone was walking towards him. It was a black skinned woman with a handgun in her grasp, wearing a blue police related clothes.
"Don't move " The black skinned woman ordered, aiming her handgun at the Dixon, "Don't think about doing anything reckless and something you might end up regretting.
Daryl stopped his work and looked at the unknown man. He glared at her and she glared back, keeping her eyes on his sheathed knife. Daryl didn't do anything because out of the corner of his eye, he saw Duncan quietly moving towards them with his knife out in ready.
"Wait, wait, wait." Dylan stepped between Duncan and the unknown woman, stopping the juvie from doing anything to her, because he recognized her, "Sanders."
Sanders looked at him in suprise, her expression softening upon seeing him, "Dylan? Do you have any idea what you've done? Dawn sent most of us into town. She started a literal manhunt for you."
"I know." Dylan nodded, "I had to stay hidden ever since I left the hospital."
"Do you know what I need to do now?" Sanders asked, "I have to bring you back to the hospital otherwise you know what Dawn will do to me. I already have to look over my shoulder ever five seconds after you left. Dawn might found out that I knew about your escape plan and that I did nothing to stop you from leaving."
"You don't need to do this, Sanders." Dylan told her, "Dawn will never find out that you found me. You don't need to follow her orders right now. I know you hate the way things are in the hospital as much as I do."
"...Go." Sanders said after a moment as she made her choice to let them, putting her handgun down, "I haven't seen you or your new friends here."
Dylan smiled gratefully at Sanders, "Thank you."
Sanders said nothing in response, just nodded her head at Dylan. She holstered her handgun and turned away from the group of three. She walked away from them, Daryl and Duncan watching her leave carefully.
"Are you sure about letting her go?" Duncan asked, not knowing if letting Sanders go was a good idea, "Isn't she gonna rat our position out to the others?"
"No." Dylan shook his head, "She hates the way things in the hospital are. I and Beth wanted to take her with us, but she refused. When she asked why
She prefers to live in the hospital with the others, despise everything because according to her any place is better than being out there."
Daryl and Duncan exchanged glances, still relucant about letting Sanders go, but ultimately decided to trust Dylan on this. It wasn't long before Daryl got the lorry to work. He, Duncan and Dylan got themselves into the vehicle and drove off, with the intention of bringing their people to Atlanta and taking Beth and Carol back from the people in the hospital.
As you most likely have noticed, I've changed Noah's name to Dylan. My reason for this is because there already is one Noah in the main group and having two people with the same name in the main group would get confusing.
What are you thoughts on the Commonwealth so far? Personally I like this arc so far. Lance is so much interesting character than he was in the comics, Sebastian is much more hateable than he was in the comics (the actor does a great job a playing him) and Mercer grew into one of my favourite characters on the show right now.
Hope it wasn't that bad. See you in another chapter.