A/N: Trigger Warning: there is an interrupted assault attempt in this chapter (non-graphic). Summary at end for anyone who needs to skip it. And FFnet is being a brat on uploading the wrong file. Grrrrr
July 20, 2010
They've collected a decent haul of supplies in the hour Merle's gone. The Triumph can be heard before it arrives, so all of the searchers head back for the cars. Merle cuts the engine as soon as he stops, waiting on Quinn and Shane to reach him.
"Road's clear most of the way to Sharpsburg. Didn't go all the way down. 85 is passable til Newnan and then there's a military checkpoint in the middle of the freeway. That's probably why the jam happened up here."
Trust folks to go around the military, but Shane supposes they might have just assumed an accident and not a government checkpoint.
"What's the checkpoint look like?" he asks.
"Not much. Just a couple of Humvees and a cargo truck. Didn't even see any walkers rouse to the engine's sound." Merle shifts restlessly. "You thinking of raiding the vehicles?"
Shane exchanges a look with Quinn, who nods.
"They're bound to be useful and could have supplies, right?"
Merle nods. "Run on anything just about and probably fueled up before they were sent up. Probably regular Army and not Guard this close to Benning."
"We can spare the drivers, if they'll run," Quinn says. "Especially the cargo truck."
Shane nods and he and Quinn walk back to where everyone is sorting their newest supplies into the vehicle trailers. News of the checkpoint is greeted with acceptance, and Morales agrees with Merle about the ability to run the vehicles on various fuels.
Loading up takes another half hour, but circling down to the checkpoint less than ten. There are no walkers visible, but searching turns up that one is trapped in the rear of one of the Humvees.
"Poor bastard probably climbed up in there to safety, but got bit first," Daryl grumbles. "Somebody let him out."
Rick steps up to the rear door and yanks it open. As soon as the fully geared walker stumbles into daylight, Daryl releases a bolt, taking him down neatly. Merle's strangely gentle as he searches the man, removing a sidearm with a spent magazine and lingering over the dog tags before tucking them back inside the uniform.
Before Shane can ask, Morales speaks softly next to him. "If you can't take the body, you take the tags, but who would we give them to?"
He goes to help Merle move the body into the grass. No one comments when they cover the man with an emergency blanket they found in his supplies.
Just one of the Humvees is a troop carrier setup. The other has a rack on the back with four completely full jerrycans of fuel. The cargo truck also has enough jerrycans to refuel itself and one of the Humvees.
While Daryl and Quinn climb up to inspect the supplies in the back of the cargo truck, Morales approaches Shane and Rick, looking uneasy.
"This is not a good sign," he says, looking to Merle for confirmation. The older man nods. "This close to a major military installation and there's not only abandoned equipment, but men?"
"Ain't how the Army does it," Merle adds. "Equipment, maybe in a rush, if they're swarmed. But not one of their brothers. They fight battles to retrieve bodies."
Shane sighs. "Rick, didn't you say the checkpoint at King County was abandoned, too?"
"It was. Didn't even see any walkers, just a bunch of supplies and vehicles. About eight Humvees, two helicopters, just that I can remember."
"You think Benning fell?" Shane asks the two veterans. They exchange a look and nod.
"Reckon it don't change plans much," Merle drawls. "Just keep heading for the lake. But we might want to be even more diligent on collecting up supplies."
"Fuck. Well, can't argue that," Shane mutters. "Can you see if these will run? They're probably more reliable than anything we have."
Morales and Merle both agree. Morales goes off to the cargo truck, while Merle heads for the Humvee that held the lone walker. Both vehicles rumble to life, and Merle emerges to start up the second Humvee.
Quinn drops to the ground and heads for Shane. "Good selection of supplies. Got water and MREs on board, so either they were supposed to be here a while, or they were being cautious about being cut off."
"The two vets think this isn't a good sign that Benning held," Shane tells her. He can tell by the lack of surprise that she's already had the same thought.
"I think we stick to the plan. Just now we maybe keep an eye on what we can glean from the military leftovers."
"That was Merle's general idea too."
"Carol can drive Daryl's truck, so we can shift Morales to drive a Humvee and who for the third?"
"I will. Glenn can drive my Jeep."
Uneasy about the sound of the diesels idling, they load up and drive the wrong way on the freeway back to 154. The downside of the three new vehicles is the same as Merle's motorcycle: no compatible radio. Shane's near the rear of the caravan now and he can't see the reason they're stopping.
It's Merle who brings word back to the three rear vehicles. "FEMA camp at the high school. It's got a med trailer, but it looks like the place was used for a failed refugee camp."
Shane rubs the back of his head. Medical supplies are worth their weight in gold these days. "Think we can clear it?"
"Yeah. We got enough of the quieter weaponry if folks are willing to go on the ground too."
"Alright. Let's get set up."
They end up with the taller vehicles nudged to the fences. It's hot, gorey work, stabbing the walkers through the fence while the archers aim from above. Shane wishes they could afford to use firearms, but no one wants to waste ammo that's not reusable with a little cleaning and bleach.
There are easily fifty walkers down when Quinn joins him, using a tire iron like a pike through the fence. "Gave the girls the last of my arrows."
Micah and Jesse fall in beside Quinn, working with quiet, snarky conversation that makes Shane snort in laughter.
"Are they running a head count?"
Quinn nods, tugging her tire iron back through the fence. "It's irreverent, I know, but considering what they're having to do, I'm letting it roll."
Shane supposes he can understand that. He looks down the fence line, seeing that everyone is looking as tired and sweaty as he feels. Surprisingly, even Lori is helping, although that may be from not wanting to be the only adult sitting it out other than Dale, who's acting as watch.
He stabs two more before the clog of fallen bodies prevents any others from approaching.
"How's it looking, Dale?" he calls up.
"I can still count at least twenty mobile, but they're out of reach."
An arrow zips by, making a wet thud into the forehead of a walker near Shane. "We're out," Harper calls down from the top of a Humvee.
"Alright. Time to open the gate to finish it off," Shane calls out. "Ladies, fall back as watch in case there's a weak spot we missed."
Merle circled the entire fenced-in area, but there's always the risk of walkers outside the fence. The big redneck is the one to pop the lock open, dragging the chains off even as a walker manages to stumble over the fallen ones and face plants in the opening. Glenn cleaves its skull with a machete and steps back into line with the others.
Finishing the last of the walkers is damn near boring. Every damn one of them mindlessly trips over the same bodies as the first. It leaves them to take turns.
"Two incoming," Quinn calls out from her end of their vehicles. With their gate covered, Shane chances looking.
Quinn steps forward toward a walker that towers over her in height, calling out to Carol. "Legs, then head." She bypasses the walker, confusing it, and hamstrings it with a machete before finishing it off.
Carol is clumsier, and she could probably skip the step of knocking it down because her walker is smaller than she is. But she follows the same pattern.
"Practice," Glenn says, catching Shane's puzzled look. "She made me practice on smaller ones like that before I took on the big ones."
"Huh. Need her to train the other women that way."
Once they have five minutes go by with no new walkers sighted, cleanup begins. They drag walkers clear of the gates, advancing a team of four toward the FEMA trailer. It's unoccupied, so Quinn ventures inside.
Five minutes later, she returns. "Trailer is gonna be too heavy to tow, but we can strip it bare of supplies. They didn't seem to use much."
"Must have gotten overrun early on," Shane assesses. The walkers they've laid to rest are from all walks of life, including a pair of county deputies and the paramedics that probably belong to two ambulances in the area. King County looked much the same way when Shane grabbed Lori and Carl.
"Easiest to just back the cargo truck off in here," Quinn suggests.
He sends Morales back to get the truck. "What about the ambulances?"
"If the keys can be located for the bigger one, it wouldn't be a bad thing to just take one. Micah can drive my Ford. Load any leftover supplies from the smaller rig into the larger one."
"We're going to end up with a mile long caravan," Daryl grumbles, but he goes to relay the idea to Rick and Jacqui where they're inspecting the smaller ambulance.
It's Miranda Morales who locates the keys, not in the pockets of any of the paramedics, but kicked beneath the bigger ambulance. By the time they've loaded everything and checked all the walkers, they have a plastic shopping bag full of IDs, mostly off the males. Purses just don't travel well with the undead.
"Leave this in the FEMA trailer. It's at least a record of who was here once the bodies are gone." Micah takes the bag from Shane and jogs over to the trailer.
Shane tries not to think of the badges riding in that bag. He didn't know either man, with there being a bit of a buffer between this county and his home. But they're still fellow deputies who died doing their jobs.
At least now they are at rest.
"Map from the trailer shows they have a pharmacy in town," Rick notes, looking at the paper spread on the hood of the Cherokee.
"Alright. We'll park and go in on foot rather than drag the whole caravan down that side street." Quinn folds the map and passes it off to Glenn, who tucks it with the others he's collecting.
It's not far at all to the next stop. Glenn and Quinn disembark with duffels.
"We should take another pair," Glenn says. "Stand guard while we load, if there's any meds."
Quinn looks down the row of vehicles, nodding slowly. This is her domain, not Shane's, so he waits. "Shane and Jacqui."
He's already killed the engine on the Humvee, so he climbs out and reaches for his machete. Jacqui joins him, her weapon of choice is a softball bat. She's got a gun at her belt now, courtesy of a few hours practice back at the horse farm.
Daryl and Dale climb to watch points, and Shane can see them alert as Quinn and Glenn lead the way across a grassy area, approaching the pharmacy building from behind.
They both halt, Quinn holding up one finger before pointing to the side of the building.
Tethered to a bush beside the building is a saddled horse. He's quietly grazing what grass he can reach and looks undisturbed by his visitors.
"Probably a local, if they're riding," Quinn says softly. "We can try to touch base. Make contact."
Shane shrugs. "Worth a shot."
Before they can make it to the front of the building, there's a half-smothered, feminine scream.
"We got the back, you take the front," Shane orders. Quinn nods and they split into pairs. The back door isn't locked, yielding easily when Shane tries the handle and he realizes it's broken. Keeping Jacqui behind him, he weaves through a maze of boxes and office furniture.
Just as he clears into the shop front, he sees Glenn take a swing with his bat. The man crumples instantly from the impact to his head. Shane can't see Quinn, but he can see the strange woman struggling on the floor. The gun to her head drops this neatly into his old wheelhouse and his gun is drawn almost by instinct.
"Buddy, this goes one of two ways," he starts, glad that he's in one of his King County shirts after changing out of the earlier grimy shirt from clearing the FEMA camp. The grungy man's eyes definitely orient toward the logo.
"Either you let that woman go, and we handle this the proper way, or my partner puts a bullet through your head."
"Your partner is behind you and hasn't drawn her gun."
"Jacqui's not my partner."
The man actually wavers, trying to assess the room. Glenn's got his bat on his shoulder, working well as intimidation with the blood smeared down it. The kid's got one hell of a dead eyed stare when he needs it. The gun to the woman's head wavers, and Shane assesses taking a shot.
The distraction works for whatever Quinn is planning, because she pops into view behind the man and jolts him in the groin with a stun gun. He drops like a rock, and Quinn snatches the woman to her, already running a patter of calming speech as she tugs her out of Shane's line of sight.
The guy on the floor is choking on vomit, so Shane rolls him to one side with a booted foot. He stoops to take the dropped gun, checking the safety and tucking it away. "Jacqui, can you see if she needs any help?"
The woman hurries off while Shane turns to Glenn. "Throw me that jump rope from the toy display."
Glenn releases his grip on the bat to grab a blue and white jump rope and toss it to Shane. It takes just a minute to leave the man hog-tied in the puddle of vomit.
"Is he supposed to vomit?"
"Ever felt like vomiting after you got kicked in the nuts?" Shane asks, checking for and finding a weak pulse in the man's wrist that Glenn waylaid. He hands the man's gun to Glenn, who clears the chamber and drops the gun and magazine into his bag.
"Oh."
"Yeah, oh. Give me another rope."
Glenn hands it over, this one red and white. "Why are we tying them up?"
"Because we might want to know if they're part of a larger group when we're traveling into unknown territory." Shane finishes tying up the second man. "Although this one probably won't be much help. You did good, and I think she did damage too. Looks like his nose is broken."
Shane can hear soft women's voices still. "Do you need anything, Quinn?"
"Ever cracked the narcotics cabinet at a pharmacy, deputy?"
"No, but I'm sure I can figure it out. Watch the doors, Glenn."
The kid nods and Shane steps behind the counter. It doesn't take him long to retrieve the meds, and he's not sure what Quinn needs, so he clears everything into a reusable shopping bag.
"Coming around," he announces, handing the bag off to Quinn and backing up around the aisle again. "Can she be moved? This place is too open."
With the protective gates raised, the front of the pharmacy is all glass. It makes his skin crawl these days, and he can see a pickup truck he suspects is the transport of these two bastards. It's across the street at a place with a defunct neon bar sign.
"Hey, Maggie. Think you're up for getting out of this place? You can't ride with that collarbone broken, but we can get you home." He's close enough to hear them clearly now.
"Yes, please." A pause and a groan. "That's the deputy with you?"
"Yeah, one of two. The other is back with the rest of our people." Quinn and Jacqui appear, trying to support the woman with one arm immobilized against her chest with an elastic bandage.
"Back is a maze, but still better than going out front," Shane says. Quinn nods, letting Jacqui guide the three women.
"Help me pull the gates down, Glenn. Even if we can't lock them, it'll make the place look more abandoned."
Glenn nods, actually figuring out the locking mechanism. When they jog after the women, the pharmacy is locked up tight from the front. Shane snags the reins of the horse, coaxing the animal to follow. It obeys easily once it spots Maggie moving slowly ahead.
"What do we do now?"
"We get her home and then we see if those assholes live long enough to explain how they're surviving in this day and age."
"Will I be allowed to help?"
Shane takes a long look at the kid's determined expression and remembers the complete lack of hesitation in that swing.
"Yes."
A/N: After raiding a military checkpoint and the FEMA medical camp at the high school, a team goes to raid a pharmacy. Glenn, Shane, Jacqui, and Quinn disable Maggie's attackers and plan to get her home and find out if the two men are alone.
In other words, we're skipping the lost child and wounded child scenario and going rogue with a different season two plotlines.