Minor warning for some gruesome detailing in here.
Also, this bit just took on a life of its own. It's all very vivid in my head, but I'm not sure how it comes across on the page.
So... hope you enjoy!
Chapter 44 - Dr. Death
The tunnel that they had entered was big enough for them to crouch on their heels, but Tahlia and Sasha crawled through on their hands and knees as they slowly made their way deeper through the concrete structure, the thin beam from their headlamps bouncing off the grimy walls, and Tahlia tried to ignore the growing unease rising inside her. As they travelled further through, the floor of the tunnel was building up with brown sludge, now nearly halfway up Tahlia's forearm as she continued to put one hand in front of the other.
"This is disgusting." muttered Sasha, as she struggled on through the muck.
"Hope you don't have a problem with rats!" gasped Tahlia as a rodent scrambled over her hand.
Sasha stifled a squeal in response. "Guess I don't have much of a choice!"
The tunnel widened enough for Tahlia to comfortably stand on her knees if she wanted to, and, up ahead, another tunnel opened out on their left, covered by a metal lattice grate, and Tahlia paused staring into the gloom. Sasha joined her and then hooking their fingers through the latticework they tugged at the grate, dragging it to the side, a loud grinding noise as it crunched across the concrete. Crawling in a little way, Sasha then glanced back at Tahlia.
"Nah." She shook her head. "Let's keep going the way we were. This way smells weird."
"Weirder than this?" Tahlia lifted a sludge covered hand up in front of her, then froze as rasping started to carry down the side tunnel towards them. "Yep, fuck that way, let's move!"
"Grate's jammed." grunted Sasha as she tried to pull it back across. "Can't move it."
"Uh... just leave it." replied Tahlia as she continued forward. "Let's just move a little faster! Hopefully we won't have to come back this way.
After several more yards, she stopped suddenly, feeling something hard and thin under her hand.
"What is it?" whispered Sasha from a few feet behind.
"Fuck!" cursed Tahlia, swiveling her headlamp down to the floor, cold dread flooding her stomach as she realised the hard thing in her hand was a leg bone. "Is this starting to feel like a very bad plan to you?!"
Then before she could say anything further, a decaying walker rose up out of the sludge, reaching its bony hands towards her, slime dripping from its eye sockets. Tahlia grabbed for her knife then promptly lunged for the walker, stabbing through the soft skull bone, putting it back down, only to look up and see more movement ahead as more of the undead in very advanced states of decomposition started to rise and come for them.
"We should turn back!" Sasha called out, but just as she looked over her shoulder, she saw hungry walkers dragging themselves out of the tunnel entrance they had just passed, rasping and pulling themselves along on their hands towards her, closing off their escape route. "Fuck! They're behind us too! Back or forward, Tahly?!"
Tahlia shoved the blade of her knife through another walker's temple. "Umm..." She risked a quick glance behind her, "Keep moving forward! I'll take care of these, you just make sure the ones behind don't get you!"
Several gunshots rang out as Sasha tried to gain the upper hand with the walkers closing in behind her.
"Holy shit, that's loud!" Tahlia ducked her ear to her shoulder, trying to ease the ringing from the noise.
"Sorry!" cried Sasha. "Just gotta get on top of these fuckers!"
Another three shots.
"Make sure you hit them first time! Don't want any damn bullets ricocheting back and hitting me in the ass!" called Tahlia.
Sasha gave a laugh in spite of the situation. "How dare you! I'm an excellent shot!"
The two women grinned at the fact that even in the direst of circumstances they could still find the lighter side of things.
Tahlia pushed on. With a knife in each hand, she crouched and waddled forward, bashing and slashing at the undead in her way. It was easier to take down these skeletal walkers than the newly dead, the bones were soft and gave way easily, and they weren't as strong. Just as long as she didn't let those ragged nails dig into her skin.
"Sash? You still with me? You good?" Tahlia called over her shoulder as she made headway through the bodies.
"I'm good!" came the reply, as Sasha moved backwards through the pipe, fending off the dragging corpses advancing on her.
They seemed to get through the worst of it and the sludge thinned out, making it easy for Tahlia to see if there was anything buried in it.
"I think we're near the end!" she cried, as she caught sight of another grate ahead. Booting at it with her foot, it wobbled slightly, but didn't budge. "This one's fastened from the other side. Chained shut." she said, indicating a loop of chain through the latticework.
"Swap places." panted Sasha. "Will try with the bolt cutters to cut through that bit of chain."
Sasha scrambled past Tahlia and pulled the tools from her pack as she started to work on the section of chain sticking through on their side.
Facing the tunnel, Tahlia lunged at another two walkers who were clawing and rasping their way towards her, caving in their skulls, as Sasha made progress with the chain.
"Got it." It took three big kicks until, with a rusty wheeze, the grate gave and clattered to the floor on the other side of the opening, and the two women quickly clambered through, jumping down into the space.
"Where are we?" Tahlia swung her headlamp around the large dingy room they now found themselves standing in, smaller metal pipes above their heads, concrete beneath their feet, boxes and general junk strewn around in disarray.
"Basement?" guessed Sasha, standing with her back up against Tahlia as the two nervously swung their beams around the room, checking for movement.
"Basements are the fucking worst!" hissed Tahlia. "I would rather be back in the damn tunnel than in this creepy place!"
Sasha fixed her beam on a set of rickety stairs leading up to a heavy door. "Should we...?"
They were both hesitant to bust into the house from the basement without the others, not knowing who or what or how many they'd find up there, especially after what they'd just encountered in the tunnel.
"What about here?" Tahlia made her way to a small window that was at ground level, evident by the long grass growing up against it.
Nodding, Sasha joined her. "Yep, let's get outta here, get the others, then tackle the house. Just in case."
Dragging an old crate over, Sasha climbed up and smashed the glass of the window, using her jacket to sweep away any remaining shards.
"Shit, lucky the guys didn't come – they'd never squeeze through there!"
Tahlia gave Sasha a leg up and helped shove her through the window.
"Ugh, I'm not sure I'm going to fit!" grunted Sasha as she wriggled her shoulders through.
"You'd better!" shouted Tahlia as two rasping walkers tumbled through the pipe out onto the basement floor. "Get your ass through there!"
Tahlia's attention was half on shoving at her friend, and half on the advancing undead that were groaning hungrily as they hauled themselves across to her. Eventually Sasha pushed her way through onto the grass. Passing their packs through the opening, Tahlia grabbed hold of Sasha's hand, quickly lifting her feet out of reach of the grasping rotting hands as more walkers toppled noisily through the tunnel onto the basement floor, and forced herself through the small opening.
"Argh, my boobs!" complained Tahlia as she squashed her chest through.
Sasha couldn't help laughing as she tugged on Tahlia's arms.
"Hurry up! We got company!" she warned, indicating a small group of walkers rounding the side of the house heading their way.
With difficulty, Tahlia wriggled her hips while kicking at the undead hands that were clawing at her boots, and eventually managed to push her way through safely on to the grass, while Sasha stabbed at two walkers that had reached them. Jumping up to assist, Tahlia took down the last two, and then the women collapsed on the long grass panting with effort, then high-fived, grinning with relief at the shitstorm they had just navigated and glad as hell to be back out in the sunshine.
"You stink, by the way." Sasha told her friend. The sludge from the pipe was coating their arms and legs, stray splatters over the rest of their bodies.
"Not so rosy yourself!" laughed Tahlia as she wiped as much off as she could on the grass.
"Ok, ready for the next bit?" breathed Sasha. "You wanna do the diversion or the gate?"
Tahlia's eyes lit up. "Diversion! Let me set some shit on fire."
"Ok, so let's head around to the front of the house, check what we're dealing with, then I'll go for the gates and you set off the fireworks."
"Got it. Let's go."
Warily skirting around the building, they arrived at the expansive front lawn where about 30 walkers were rasping and milling around aimlessly.
"We actually stink so bad, I reckon we'd have a good chance of getting through them without being noticed." Tahlia commented.
Sasha nodded. "Well hopefully that will work at least until I can get the gate opened and the others in."
Tahlia nudged her friend. "Right, I'm gonna light the flare, run straight across the front to that shed on the far side of the lawn, then get a bonfire going."
"Take my gun." Sasha held out her Glock.
"Nah, I'm good." replied Tahlia, forgetting that she had handed her katana over to Daryl. "You keep it, just in case. I'll be fine."
With a reassuring squeeze of Sasha's arm, Tahlia whipped out the flare, lit it, then was off at a run across the grass. Sasha immediately crouched and ran for the gate, bolt cutters in hand.
On the other side of the walls, Tyreese heard the scrape of metal by the gates.
"Sash? Tahly?"
"It's me!" Sasha hissed back. "Just trying to cut through. Got a whole bunch of walkers in here but-" She was cut off by the bang of a firework going off as Tahlia worked on the diversion. "-think Tahly's got it. Shit!" A walker appeared behind her, clawing at her back, and she swung the bolt cutters into its peeling face. "Asshole!" Turning her attention back to the padlock, she called through to Tyreese. "You shift the tree? You guys ready to go when this is open? Need to get these gates open and shut again as the noise that Tahly's making will draw – fucksake!" Another bang sounded behind her, but she didn't dare take her concentration off the task at hand.
"We're ready to go!" Tyreese assured her, then he turned and gave Daryl a heartening look. "They're through."
Daryl pursed his lips tight and nodded gratefully.
Michonne and Glenn were in the vehicles, and Daryl paced like a tiger back and forth in front of the gates waiting impatiently for Sasha to cut through the locks. He didn't dare ask if Tahlia was ok, he assumed from all the damned noise that she must be doing just fine.
"Would you quit it?!" Michonne flung a water bottle at him from the window of the pickup. "You're making me antsy over here!"
With an angry grunt Daryl glared at her, but stopped pacing.
Finally, they heard the welcome sound of the gates slowly squeaking open. They needed a lot of coaxing as they clearly hadn't been opened in a long time – the hinges were rusty and the grass was long and dragging the bottom of the gates, but they managed to pull them open enough to let the cars through before drawing them shut again.
"Whoa, what happened to you?" Tyreese stopped short as he took in Sasha's filthy appearance.
"Like sludge city down there. Freakin' gross."
"We heard gunshots?"
Daryl couldn't wait for the explanation. "Where's Tahly?"
"Have a guess." Sasha said drily, indicating the bonfire on the other side of the lawn, drawing all the walkers to its flames.
"Her and goddamn fires." muttered Daryl as he set off at a run across the grass, closely followed by the others.
There was a garden shed in the far corner of the lawn, an array of chemicals and flammable looking bottles in it, so Tahlia had set fire to the lot. It had taken pretty well, and the walkers on the lawn had certainly taken notice. As the undead advanced on her, she reached over her shoulder, only then realising with a loud curse that she didn't have her katana, and now found herself getting backed into a corner. It was a lot harder to take down all these damn walkers with just two knives.
Shit, make that one knife. She thought as one was knocked out of her hand.
Feeling something hard against her back, with a quick glance she saw that she was up against a barbeque. Quickly sheathing her knife, with the other hand she flicked the lid open, then did a 360 degree turn, grabbing out one of the grill plates on her way around, using the momentum of her turn to whack the nearest walker in the head with it, scalping it easily. Another walker came at her, but the plate was too heavy for her to gain enough momentum to do the same again.
"Goddammit!" she wheezed as she was knocked back onto the ground by the persistent walker, and she held the grill plate up in front of her face defensively as it gripped the grooves with decaying fingers, snapping its yellow teeth at her from the other side.
"Ugh, smells like burnt sausages!"
Just then, a bolt sunk into the side of its head, and the body collapsed on top of her, and Tahlia used the grill plate to shove it away. Another bolt quickly followed and made light work of the next monster in line trying to rip her face off. In the next moment, the welcome sight of Daryl appeared over her, a frown darkening his face.
"Oh hey! Fancy seeing you here!" she grinned as he kicked the corpse from her.
"Fucksake, Tahly, ya damn pyro! The hell ya thinkin' takin' all this on by yourself with just a knife?!" he berated her as he dragged her to her feet, then shoved her katana into her hand as he spun around to bash in the skull of another approaching walker.
"In my defense, it was originally two knives." she remarked lightly as she swung her blade through two more of the undead, feeling much more relaxed now she had her sword in hand.
"Coulda got yourself killed!" shouted Daryl as he fired off a bolt.
There was a momentary respite from oncoming walkers, so Daryl whirled back to Tahlia, his brow furrowed but his eyes bright with worry as he glared at her for one short moment before striding towards her, dropping his crossbow and knocking the sword out of her hand as he crashed into her and crushed her against his chest.
"Daryl, I'm all filthy!"
"Don't care. Don't fuckin' care." he muttered as he hugged her fiercely.
Tahlia relaxed into him. "Thanks for saving my ass. Always appreciated."
"Stupid, reckless goddamn girl." he said, releasing her, but there was only relief in his voice now, and he raised a hand to cup her cheek briefly, tenderly, before they picked up their weapons and jumped back into the fray.
With the help of the others, they soon managed to put all of the walkers in the gardens down, and they regrouped just down from the still-burning garden shed.
Daryl caught Tahlia's eye and pointed at the fire, then raised his eyebrows and held up two fingers, and she gave him a guilty look. She was definitely never going to live this one down.
"So, what happened in that tunnel?" asked Glenn, casting his eyes over the two grimy women.
Tahlia shared a look with Sasha. "It was a lot hairier than we were expecting, but we made it!"
Daryl flinched at that. So, she had been in danger. He had let her walk into danger. Well, she wouldn't be doing that again without him right by her side.
Sasha nodded. "Yeah. There were a lot of dead fuckers in that pipe – we weren't expecting that! Looked like some of them had been dead a long time. And then there were others coming out from another tunnel that blocked our exit."
"I wonder how they all got in there?" mused Tahlia. "It did look like some of them had been dead for a while, so maybe they were trying to escape and died in there?"
"Or they came in from the outside and couldn't get through and then died in there?" suggested Glenn. "But why are there so many walkers here in the grounds if the gates have been locked?"
Michonne glanced around at the corpses on the ground. "That guy could've let them in? Or maybe that's just how many people were already here."
"Maybe people broke in then locked the gates behind them." added Tyreese.
Sasha frowned. "I guess we're not gonna know for sure. But it definitely makes me feel like I want to hurry up and do what we came here to do, then get the hell out." She then turned to Tahlia. "Wanna rinse off real quick in the pool before we go in?"
Tahlia glanced to where Sasha was gesturing and wrinkled her nose. "It's a little green!" she noted, gazing at the slimy water.
"Better than what we got on us now." said Sasha wryly as she jumped straight in, boots and all. "Fuck it's cold!" she spluttered as she bobbed back up to the surface.
Tahlia laughed, then quickly followed suit.
"Argh!" she hissed at the temperature too, but ducked her head under, washing the sludge out of the ends of her hair. Within a couple of minutes, they'd cleaned themselves up a bit and climbed back out of the pool, feeling a lot better despite the fact they were dripping wet.
"Alright." Michonne gestured ahead to the sprawling two-story brick mansion beyond the gardens. "Let's go check this place out, then."
She led the party across the lawn and onto the cobbled path, pausing in front of the large oak double front doors.
"What, you gonna knock or something?" Tahlia asked at Michonne's hesitation.
Michonne just gave her a withering look, then tried the handle. Locked.
"Window?" Glenn indicated the wide sash window to the left, then picked up the pot plant from the doorway and hurled it through the glass.
"Give it a minute." instructed Daryl, waiting for the tell-tale noise of walkers.
A couple staggered across the plush carpet, and Daryl fired a bolt straight into the first one as Glenn jumped through the smashed window and stabbed the other.
"Alright, let's do this." Daryl climbed in after Glenn, and the others followed into the spacious front sitting room.
Jogging to one end, Sasha checked behind the sofas as the others glanced around carefully and listened for any further noise, but all seemed quiet.
Warily moving towards the door, Daryl rested his fingers on the handle. "Stick to the plan. Clear downstairs first, then move up. Anythin' we want, leave it near the front doors and we'll collect it on the way out. Any sign of danger other than walkers, we take it down or get out. Stay together."
Pushing the door open he quickly moved into a wide foyer, the front doors behind him now and a large winding staircase in front. He pointed beyond the staircase to the hallway, the others following and covering all angles. Pausing momentarily, he glanced at Tahlia, nudging his head to indicate she should move just behind him. She rolled her eyes, but did as he wanted.
At a set of double doors, Daryl paused, listening.
"Walkers." he mouthed, before busting through.
It was a large family room which now had makeshift beds on the floor, junk everywhere and a fetid stench in the air – it looked like a lot of people had camped out in here together, and there were at least 8 walkers now snarling their way towards them. Daryl fired at the first, while Tyreese drove his axe through the head of the next.
"We've got these." Tahlia called out as she and Sasha took down the next few. "Keep on moving through."
Daryl and Michonne pushed forward down one side of the room while Glenn and Tyreese headed down the other. Stepping over a sleeping bag, a walker inside feebly reached for Daryl's ankle, but he kicked it out of the way, noting the belt wrapped around its arm, then the needle next to it, then suddenly noticing the array of drug paraphernalia scattered around the room.
"Ain't this place meant to be for recoverin' drug addicts?"
Michonne stabbed her sword through another body on the floor. "Right? Looks like it was the opposite here."
"Well, that guy was a doctor, guess he coulda had access to a lotta good shit."
A retracting wall halfway across the space was lying half-open, and they could see into another room much the same as this one – once an expansive lounge area, now host to the remains of a camp, junk, and bodies. Daryl and Michonne carefully rounded the wall, then Michonne swore as a walker stumbled into her and clutched at her arm - she quickly spun out of its grip and put it down.
Turning around she saw Daryl staring up at three writhing walker bodies hanging by rope around their necks from a beam above the fireplace. Daryl quickly glanced behind him to check if Tahlia was anywhere near by, and when he didn't spot her, raised his crossbow to fire bolts through their heads. Immediately understanding his intention, Michonne jumped to his side and cut the bodies down.
Daryl gestured to the corpses, now on the floor. "Just didn't want her to see-"
"I know." cut in Michonne. "I know."
"What the hell was going on in here?" came Tahlia's voice from behind them as she glanced around. "Doesn't look like a recovery residence to me."
"Ready to move through?" Glenn was waiting by the door at the far end of the space.
Moving through the next rooms, they could see that, despite the current state of disrepair, this place was once opulent and grand, and, aside from a walker here and there, there was nothing anywhere near as grim as the room with the makeshift camp.
In the huge kitchen they were rewarded with plenty of food and kitchen equipment that they eagerly packed up to take back with them.
Tahlia jumped as a hand landed on her waist, then saw it was Daryl, holding a large jar of peanut butter in front of her.
"Found any pickles?" she asked with a grin, to which he just pinched her lightly on the side before adding the jar to a box.
"Looks like someone had been preparing." remarked Glenn as he opened yet another cupboard stacked full of non-perishable food.
"Add it to the pile."
"This is a really good score already, but there's a super weird vibe in this place." commented Sasha as she pushed another box into the hallway.
"Yeah." agreed Michonne. "Like eerie, creepy. I don't like it."
They had nearly cleared the ground floor, moving through the high-ceilinged rooms, only a couple of the undead to be seen, and already had a huge pile of things stacked by the doors to take back to the prison.
"Last room down here." Daryl indicated the oak double doors, a smaller replica of the ones at the entrance, and paused for a second. "Can hear somethin' inside. Get ready." He kicked one of the doors open and strode in, crossbow at the ready, then stopped so suddenly that Tahlia bumped into his back.
Peering around him, she gasped. "What the...?"
They were in a drawing room decorated with expensive furniture and plush carpet, a grand piano in the corner. And on the far wall, the body of an undead man who had been immobilised upside down on two large planks of wood in the shape of a cross, lengths of rope lashing his limbs in place, blood streaking his clothes, a dried pool of it on the floor under him, his hands and eyeballs missing, his head still twisting from side to side, rasping and gnashing his teeth at the company.
And smeared on the wall next to him were the words 'Dr. Death' in bloody lettering.
"Oh my God, that's him! That's the surgeon!" exclaimed Sasha, moving forward. "What the hell went on here?"
"Looks like he musta pissed some people off." muttered Daryl, instinctively laying a hand back and pushing Tahlia behind him a little as he gazed at the gruesome sight.
"Let's just clear upstairs and get out of here." said Michonne as she left the room and headed for the staircase.
Sasha strode forward and plunged her knife into the surgeon's forehead. Dr. Death? She didn't know the whole story, but she did know that she would make sure that fucker wouldn't bring death on anyone again.
At the top of the grand staircase there was a large corridor flanked by many doors on either side.
"God, how many rooms are up here?!" speculated Tyreese in wonder as he gazed down the hallway.
"Let's start down that end, take a room each, then work our way along." instructed Sasha, cautiously leading the way to the far end of the hall.
They split up, and Tahlia entered what looked like a child's room. Minnie Mouse grinned out at her from the bedspread, and an upended chest of toys had spewed its contents on the floor. She quickly bagged a few for Judith as well as some clothes out of an open drawer, then treading carefully, she gingerly opened the wardrobe door. The stench of decay assaulted her nose and she was immediately set upon by two walkers. Grabbing at the long hair of the first, a large piece of scalp ripped off as she pulled, but she managed to shove it back and get in a good swing with her knife jamming the blade through its temple. When she looked at the second walker, she saw it was a child, couldn't have been more than 5 years old. A mother and daughter perhaps, who had been hiding out in the cupboard. Taking a step back, Tahlia couldn't take her eyes off the snarling girl coming towards her and couldn't bring herself to do anything about it. The undead child clawed for her, milky eyes wide, mouth twisted in a snarl, then all was silent as a bolt shot past her and connected with its head, taking her down.
Tahlia sensed Daryl at her shoulder, but still couldn't look away from the body on the floor.
"I'm sorry." she said. "It's just when it's a kid sometimes I... I..."
"I know." Daryl said softly as he retrieved his bolt, then tapped her elbow. "C'mon, let's keep movin'."
Everything they'd witnessed so far had left them a little tense, so they didn't say much more to one another, but Daryl stayed right by her side as they made their way through the rest of the rooms upstairs, clearing them and collecting up anything of use before meeting Tyreese and Sasha in the master bedroom.
"Come Tahly, let's get some clean clothes on." Sasha flung open the closet doors and let out a low whistle. "Whoa, would you look at this?!"
It was a massive walk-in wardrobe jam packed with clothes - one whole wall of which was glamorous dresses.
"I could see me in one of these!" Sasha pulled down a sweeping floor length blue silk gown, and held it in front of her, twirling around.
"Ain't very practical." muttered Daryl.
Tahlia gazed at the clothes. "Whose dresses are these? Did that guy have a wife?"
"He did, but apparently she passed away not long after they moved here - a bit of mystery surrounding her death, apparently. And Selena also said he was known to have a taste for the ladies."
"Huh. The contrast in this place is so weird." murmured Tahlia as she ran her hand over an expensive-looking fur coat. "Was this really just some super-rich guy wanting to help down-and-outs from the good of his heart? Feels like something more sinister than that."
Just then Michonne and Glenn appeared.
"What is this?!" Michonne joined Sasha in the wardrobe and ran an admiring hand over all the dresses. "These are beautiful!" She turned around, her eyes sparkling. "Hey, we should take some of these back to the prison - we could have a little party tonight! We got a lot of food here and still have the wine cellar to raid. Might help people to feel like their old selves again for a night."
"My old self ain't never dressed up like that for parties. And my new self ain't doin' it neither." groused Daryl, but the women ignored him.
"Yes!" agreed Sasha. "That's a great idea!"
"Ooh, look at this dress!" Tahlia was already picking items out of the wardrobe.
Daryl rolled his eyes. "Outta all the shit we could scavenge to take back to the prison for the others, you girls wanna take some fancy dresses?"
"And suits." Tahlia threw several men's shirts at him. "You won't be allowed into our party if you don't meet the dress code."
"I'm outta here. Gonna take the other stuff we found up here downstairs." Daryl turned on his heel and left.
"We'll go help him and start loading up, you girls grab what you want, then we'll see you down there." Glenn told them, then he and Tyreese quickly headed after Daryl.
Finding a couple of trunks in the corner, the women packed them with an assortment of dresses, shoes, suits and shirts, then shoved in as many of the casual clothes they could find before raiding the ensuite as well. Tahlia and Sasha both changed out of their wet clothes into clean fresh outfits, then they dragged the trunks down the stairs.
The men had collected several crates of booze and added them to the stash, and Glenn was loading their supplies into the vehicles.
"Tyreese and Daryl have gone to check out that big shed-thing around the back. Then we're good to go."
Buzzing over such a successful run, the women helped him to pack the cars, then Tahlia glanced around noting that Tyreese and Daryl still hadn't returned.
"Just gonna go check on the guys." she called as she headed around the side of the house, and Sasha jogged after her.
"I'll come with."
The building that Daryl and Tyreese had gone to inspect seemed to be a purpose-built, narrow, solid concrete structure, a security panel on the wall outside suggesting that this was not a common space. The panel had already been smashed in and the door busted open, so warily, they crept inside.
It took a little time for the men to adjust to the gloomy light in the dank interior, but when they did, they wished they'd never come in.
One wall was lined with what seemed to be bleak prison-style cells, with solid walls and barred doors. Some of the doors looked to have been forced open, some were still shut, walkers pressed up against the bars, reaching desperately through at the sight of fresh meat.
Opposite that there were three adjacent rooms spanning the length of the space, which, when they looked inside seemed to be operating rooms, with gurneys, operating tables, and generally torturous looking contraptions and equipment lining the tables inside. In the middle room there were still two walkers shackled to gurneys, one with a gaping hole in her stomach, an empty space where her organs should have been.
"The fuck...?" muttered Daryl, glancing in horror around him.
Suddenly the privacy curtain around a bed in the corner of the room rippled and something launched at him, and Daryl jumped backwards as the curtain ripped from the rails, a walker now tangled in the material as Daryl quickly stabbed it through the back of the head.
"Let's get anythin' we can use then get the hell outta here." Daryl called to Tyreese, grabbing a bag and sweeping a whole bunch of surgical tools from a bench into it. "Few things Hershel might be able to use. Even if this is some seriously creepy shit.
"You should see this!" Tyreese was flicking through a couple of large scrap books filled with notes and polaroids. "Looks like this sicko was doing experiments on people... living people... cutting them up, operating on them and stuff, and has documented it. Torturing them, basically. These first pictures date back to more than a decade ago! He's been at this for years! And look at how many more of these books there are!" cried out Tyreese, gesturing at the shelf of dated books in front of him. "Kinda makes a bit more sense now – a rich, crazy guy bringing in addicts and people he thinks won't be missed to some secluded fortress in the middle of nowhere and then... and then..."
"Dr. Death sounds about right, then." muttered Daryl. "Don't look at no more of it, Ty."
"Sadistic asshole!" Tyreese exclaimed before quickly slamming the book shut, shaking his head in disgust. Taking a deep breath, he then looked at a cabinet next to the shelf. "Looks like there might still be some medication here that we can take. Lots of anesthetic. Go fucking figure."
As they cleared the last operating room at the back of the space, Tyreese pointed to a grate lying next to a hole on the floor near the back wall, a chain that had once secured it lying broken nearby.
"Hey, maybe that's one of the escape tunnel entrances." He peered a little further into the black hole, then quickly moved back as rasping echoed from the gloom. "Walkers in there for sure."
"Think I got 'bout all we need from here. Let's get the fuck out of this place." Daryl said as he quickly made his way to the door.
Tahlia was only yards away from the entrance when Daryl burst out of the building, promptly tossing the bag and armful of tools to the ground as he raked his hands through his hair in agitation.
"Was just coming to check if you guys were ok. You need a hand?" Tahlia asked, concerned now at Daryl's obvious distress.
Tyreese then emerged, a large box in his arms and a haunted look on his face.
"Damn, that is some sick shit." he muttered, shaking his head, while Daryl paced a little, his expression tight.
"What's in there?" Sasha asked, a waver in her voice.
Tyreese shook his head again. "Looks like that doctor guy was doing experiments on people. Cutting them up. Been doing it for years."
"No fucking wonder they crucified him then." murmured Tahlia.
Unable to resist, Sasha moved forward and peeked through the door, her eyes taking a moment to adjust to the low light, then gave a gasp, stepping further in.
Tahlia started forward, wanting to see for herself, but as she went past Daryl, he shot an arm out and caught her around the waist, stopping her in her tracks.
"Naw, Tahly." His voice low and urgent at her ear.
"I just wanted to-"
"Naw." he repeated firmly, one arm still around her waist, the other slipping around her shoulders as he drew her closer. "Just don't, girl, please. Not you."
She looked up at him quizzically at that last remark, and saw a little spark of pain in his blue gaze.
"Ya got enough shit to have nightmares 'bout, ya don't need no more."
At that she just nodded, acquiescing, but they didn't move any further away from one another until Sasha came striding back out of the building.
"Shit, Tahly! Looks like there's the other tunnel entrance in there. That would explain where all those bastards came from when we were in the tunnel!" Sasha called as she walked over to them, Daryl quickly releasing Tahlia and going to pick up the tools from the ground. "Looks like some of them had managed to get themselves free, I guess they were trying to escape and went through the tunnel but couldn't get through the gate at the other end. Or maybe they were already walkers and just... fell in, or something. Pretty awful. Sooner we get out of here the better. Come on."
They made their way back to the vehicles, stoked with the success of the run but ready to put the horrors they'd seen behind them as quickly as possible.
"I'm definitely going to need a strong drink after all this shit today." remarked Michonne, and the others nodded in agreement.
"Ok," Sasha glanced around. "We good then? Ready to go?"
"I had to put one of the backseats down so I could fit those last boxes in, so one of us will need to ride in the truck with the others." said Tyreese to the women as he shut the door of the Land Rover.
Michonne immediately pushed Tahlia forward, shooting Daryl a little knowing smile. "I nominate Tahls to be the cheese in the smelly guy sandwich in the truck."
"Hey!" exclaimed Glenn indignantly as he gave his armpit a quick sniff.
"I probably don't smell that great myself, to be honest." remarked Tahlia, looking down at some dried remnants of sludge on her arms. "So, I guess I'll fit right in!"
Sasha stepped up. "Ok, we got a few walkers outside the gate, so, Michonne, set those fireworks off over that side and Ty, molotov cocktail for you to send over the fence next to that. Glenn, give it a few minutes, and then open the gates."
"Alright, we'll get you outside, Glenn." said Daryl, then beckoned to Tahlia. "C'mon."
He opened the door for her and then climbed in after, feeling calmer and more level-headed than he had in days, despite the things he'd seen today.
He had a better plan now. Well, actually, it was still mostly the same, but it just felt a lot less daunting after recent revelations.
Tonight. He would talk to her tonight at the party.
"Hey, how did the wine cellar raid go? I'm looking forward to getting into a bit of that." asked Tahlia as Daryl shut the door behind him.
He shot her a mysterious look. "Good. Real good. Got plenty of stuff. Think you're gonna be happy."
"Ooh, I got something for you." She pulled a bowtie out of her pocket and grinned. "Black tie party!"
Daryl looked horrified. He'd never even seen a bowtie in real life before. "Nuh-uh. Not happenin'."
"Come oooonnn. Just let me..." She turned to kneel on the bench seat next to him, and laid one hand on his shoulder as she leaned closer, and reflexively he leaned away from her into the door.
Tahlia scoffed and rolled her eyes. "Don't panic, I'm not going to try and kiss you!" she said playfully.
Daryl felt his cheeks flame instantly. "Tahly!" he exclaimed. "Why ya gotta say shit like that?!"
"Like what?" she chuckled, although she knew what.
"Ya never just leave anythin' be! Always say what's on ya damn mind. Always make a joke outta everythin' no matter how damn... damn..."
"Awkward?" she suggested with a grin. "It's better to just say stuff than have it hanging over us like a big embarrassing cloud. Get it out there, smile about it, let it go."
He huffed in annoyance, but knew she was right. He just didn't have the balls to air things out like she did.
"Anyway, you were supposed to come and see me yesterday and you didn't! So I'm guessing I have to clear the air first." she said loftily with a grin, then turned somewhat serious. "Look, I know there's a lot on your mind after that run and all the stuff that's happened lately, but me and you are... you know, we've got a good thing! I'm not gonna lose all that just because you're being all weird about a 'could have, but didn't' moment. We might as well laugh about it and go back to being us. Now hold still while I put this thing on you."
"Ain't bein' weird!" he grumbled, wanting to say something more right now, but she just shushed him and looped the tie around his neck, eliciting an angry growl from deep in his chest, although he made no attempt to shrug her off. It always felt good to have her hands on him - her fingers grazing at his skin sending shivers up and down his spine.
"There you go!" She sat back on her heels to admire her handiwork, stifling a giggle.
Daryl, with his straggly hair hanging in his face, dirt smeared skin, tattered shirt with several buttons undone at the collar, his worn leather angel wings vest – and a black bow tie around his neck.
"I love it!" she enthused.
A very dark look immediately came her way. "Ya got five seconds to drink it in, then this shit is comin' off."
"Aww please, you look so-"
"Two, one!" He ripped the bow tie off with one hand and promptly threw it out the window. "Only let ya get away with that coz you crawled through that stinkin' tunnel today. That was your reward."
"It was totally worth it!" grinned Tahlia. "I'd do it all over again just for five more seconds of bow tie."
He shook his head, lips twitching, then glanced up to where Glenn was beckoning by the gates.
"Sit down. Glenn's openin' the gates."
Obediently, Tahlia settled back into the middle of the bench seat, then Daryl spoke up again quietly.
"Shouldn'ta let ya go in that tunnel by yourself."
"What? I wasn't by myself. I was with Sash."
He bit his lip as he started to drive forward. "Nah. Without... I shoulda been with ya."
"It was fine. We were fine."
"Didn't like it. You bein' in there. Not knowin' what you're getting into. Scared me half to death hearin' them gunshots, then seein' ya set on by walkers after that." confessed Daryl.
Tahlia smiled. "Lucky you were there to rescue me! Again!" she laughed. "God, how many more times are you going to have to come to my rescue?"
There was no trace of humour in Daryl's reply when he said, "As many damn times as ya need me to, girl."
Then, he reached for her hand and linked his fingers through hers holding it tight against his thigh as he drove through the gates. He held onto her right up until Glenn jumped into the truck next to Tahlia, and even after that, they stayed pressed up against one another all the way back to the prison.