Many thanks to all those who took the time to leave a review - especially to Ariel and Emma for your helpful insight! I will try my best to update this story at least once a week so I don't leave you hanging for too long.
Let me know what you think...
Chapter Four
He's so tired that all he wants to do is sleep. Rick knows there is work to be done, always work to be done, but he just doesn't have the energy to get his body moving. It hurts - a lot. A throbbing ache pulses in the side of his chest reminding him why he wants to stay asleep. He keeps his eyes closed. He thinks of Carl and reconsiders opening his eyes. His body won't move. He decides to sleep just a little bit longer. Someone yells at him - a woman. She's scared. He opens his eyes at his grandfather's cabin. The pretty redheaded nurse is there with him. It feels so real, yet not entirely tethered to reality as she urges him to wake up…
All alone in a hospital in the devastated city of Atlanta, Officer Rick Grimes opens his eyes to a real nightmare.
It's been one week since he woke up in a world very different from the one he'd closed his eyes to nearly a month ago. Seven painful days of wondering if his family is okay and where they may be while he recuperates from his injury.
Finally feeling close to healthy enough to face the walker-infested world, he heads out toward Woodland, believing that Shane would have taken them to his grandpa's cabin just a few hours away. Please, God.
Rick steers the police car down the quiet country road, avoiding major highways like Morgan had suggested. Though his wound is healing better with fresh bandages, he still tires quickly and prays he doesn't run into too much trouble. He knows that if Morgan Jones and his son Duane hadn't found him that first day he'd woken up - he'd already be dead.
Glancing down at the walkie-talkie lying on the empty passenger seat, Rick fights the urge to pick it up to contact his friend. They had promised to turn them on each day at dawn to stay in touch. He just hopes the connection will work come morning. Either way, he expects to see Morgan again in a week or so when he and Duane come to the cabin themselves. His friend just needed a little more time before leaving the small house in King County; time to exorcise some personal demons.
Ignoring the temptation to check on Morgan, Rick pulls the cruiser into the parking lot of a CVS store in Adamsville, hoping to scavenge some supplies.
A warm breeze drifts through the camp enticing Erin with the smell of hot coffee as she pours water into the dog bowl. Nikki laps at the stream as it flows from the bottle. "Hang on buddy, you have absolutely no patience." She thinks of all the times Tim had said that to the Husky and feels a twinge of regret that she has his dog. Assuming that he is okay in Nashville, she imagines how much he must be missing his beloved pet. She does feel bad about that but she is extremely grateful to have Nikki with her. The big dog brings a sense of security to the camp with his sharp nose and protective nature while his playful spirit brightens the long uncertain days.
Along with Carl, Daryl has created a very strong bond with the animal over the last two weeks, spending a lot of time with Nikki and teaching him how to hunt. They've become a great team and have kept the group fed with squirrels and rabbits while the redneck vows to get them a deer one of these days.
Glenn supplements Daryl's kills with frequent runs to nearby towns. He'd stopped going into the city after the first week, reporting it to be completely overrun with the undead walkers and way too dangerous to navigate. Today he's got Merle with him to check out a small town not too far away.
Erin suspects the only reason Merle wanted to go with Glenn is to look for drugs. She's seen enough patients come into the hospital high on all kinds of narcotics and she has recognized the same glassy-eyed expression on Merle's face many times since they'd met. He's been more ornery than usual the last two days so she figures he must have used up his stash. She just hopes he doesn't give Glenn too much trouble on the run - God knows the young Asian guy doesn't deserve it. She actually believes that if it weren't for Daryl being his brother – Merle would have been kicked out of the camp days ago. Shane has almost come to blows with him several times but always backs down knowing that they need Daryl's hunting skills if they want to survive out here.
Pouring herself a cup of black coffee, which she doesn't think she'll ever get used to but is desperate for the caffeine, she takes a seat in front of the fire pit next to Carol. She sees Ed smoking a cigarette in front of their tent, watching over everything as usual. He doesn't do much around camp other than observe what everybody else is doing. He seems suspicious of everyone and everything around him and Erin can't figure out how Carol ever ended up with a guy like that. Maybe he wasn't always this bad but she has seen Carol cower in front of him on more than one occasion which makes Erin believe it is an abusive relationship. Unfortunately, she has seen enough of those cases in the hospital as well.
She thinks of Tim occasionally but is a little surprised that she doesn't miss him more. She'd thought of him a lot during the first couple of days after the outbreak, then less and less as she settled into camp life survival mode. She hopes he is surviving okay with his aunt and uncle in Tennessee, but worries more about her parents and her sister. She's coming to accept the fact that she will probably never see them again, but she refuses to believe they are dead. She just pictures them surviving in their own little pocket of civilization in their corner of what's left of this Godforsaken world.
Although Shane believes that the government is working to set up refugee shelters to save them all, Erin isn't convinced that they will be rescued any time soon. Not after hearing the stories that Glenn comes back with from his excursions; stories which seem to get worse and worse each day.
"Goddammit, Merle! We gotta go! I told you not to open that fucking door!" Glenn grabs a handful of Merle's vest as three more walkers come out of the stockroom of the CVS Pharmacy.
"Don't get your panties in a knot, Chinaman, we can handle these pussies. I gotta get into that room!" Merle argues as he backpedals with his knife raised, ready to dispatch the walkers blocking his path to the stockroom. He stumbles once and Glenn grabs him roughly, shoving him toward the front entrance to safety.
"Go, go, go!" Glenn yells, sensing the band of walkers getting closer to his back as he follows the frustrating redneck up the center aisle. He is right on Merle's heels as the man reaches for the front door handle only to have it pulled away from him. The door opens wide and they tear out of the store, running past a tall brown figure.
"Shut the door! Shut the door!" Glenn yells at the man holding the door, just as he feels a strong tug on the back of his shirt. "Aahhh!" An extremely loud crack deafens him momentarily as he feels what is most likely walker brain matter dampen the back of his neck. He hits the ground with a frightening heaviness falling on top of him. Another loud crack and then a hand is curling around his arm and pulling him out from beneath the now twice-dead walker.
Glenn looks up as a man in a brown King County sheriff's uniform shoves a third walker back just before firing a bullet into its malfunctioning brain. The decomposing middle-aged woman falls in the doorway, blessedly slowing the ones coming behind it.
"Let's go!" Glenn yells as he pulls the officer toward their car with Merle already in the driver's seat and about to pull away. He sees the man glance toward the patrol car on the other side of the lot where another group of undead are staggering past it to converge with the walkers coming out of the store, coming toward them. "Forget it!" he yells, yanking the brown sleeve of the man's uniform.
Glenn jumps into the front passenger seat as the officer leaps into the back, barely getting his foot off the asphalt before the car speeds out of the lot.
"Woo hoo! Well that was a helluva rodeo! What d'ya say, sheriff?" Merle laughs as he presses down on the gas, leaving the infested store safely behind them.
Glenn turns in his seat to face the new guy. The man leans his head back on the hot vinyl upholstery, breathing heavily and sweating profusely.
"Fuck," the sheriff mutters, holding his left side with a wince.
I agree," the redneck driver answers. "That place was a total bust."
"Hey," Glenn says into the back seat. "Thanks for saving me back there. I'm Glenn. This asshole who almost got me killed is Merle."
The officer nods his head in a tired greeting. "Rick. Rick Grimes."
Erin rolls her eyes as she watches Andrea pull Shane's clothes off the line, fold them meticulously and carry them over to the small tent he shares with T-Dog. She wants to ask the blonde woman why she didn't take T-Dog's shirts as well but she lets it go, reining her temper as she continues to help Kelly fold the rest of the clothes from yesterday's laundry.
"Could she be a little more obvious, you think?" Kelly says, echoing Erin's own thoughts about the way Andrea fawns over Shane.
"I know, right? If she sticks her chest out any further she's going to fall over backward." Erin replies.
Kelly pulls Glenn's jeans off the line and gives Erin a pointed look. "The problem is that her boobs aren't the ones he really wants though."
"Well he's not getting these so he may as well take hers."
"Why don't you like him, Erin? He's not a bad guy."
"I never said that I didn't like him, I just have no intention of showing him my boobs, or any other part of my anatomy for that matter," Erin responds as she folds a small tee shirt with a large paw print and adds it to the pile of Carl's clothes on the table. "The only reason he wants me is because I don't want him. I'm a challenge, and like a typical egomaniac - he just can't walk away."
"Oh, so Andrea should just ignore him like you do and he'll be all over her?"
"Exactly. You should go tell her that. And then if he still doesn't want her – at least she would have better posture." Erin pulls her shoulders back dramatically to lift her chest.
"Cut it out, she's coming back," Kelly says behind the hand covering her laughter.
"Great. Here's your chance to tell her before she offers to give him a sponge bath."
"No thanks. She's all yours." Kelly picks up a large pile of clothes and Erin watches her carry it into their tent.
"Chicken!"
"So where are we going?" Rick asks, a little uncertain about the redneck driving the car.
"We've got a camp set up not far from here." Glenn informs him. "You're welcome to stay as long as you like."
"The hell?" Merle glares at Glenn, clearly not happy about the invitation.
Rick ignores the comment, and the attitude. "Thanks, but I've got to find my family."
"Where are they?" Glenn asks.
"Woodland, I think." God, I hope.
"You won't be able to take Fairburn much farther. There's a huge snarl with a helicopter blocking the whole road just south of Horseshoe," Glenn tells him. "You can jump on Cascade over to Childress to get around it."
"That's fine except for one problem. We left my car back there."
"Don't worry, I'll bring you back in a day or two," Glenn offers. "It should be clear by then."
Fifteen minutes later they pull up behind a row of cars parked near the woods at the top of an old quarry. "Come on, Rick, I'll introduce you to everyone." Glenn tells him as he slowly climbs out of the car.
Rick sees several small clusters of people spread out among tents, small tables and an array of chairs all within a border of strung up cans encircling the campsite. Clever. Thirteen heads look up to welcome them but two faces shine brighter than the rest. "Oh, my God," he breathes as his precious son rushes toward him with his Aunt right behind. His knees almost give out as he crushes them to his chest, his heart pounding and his throat clogging on a brick of overwhelming emotion. He can't keep the tears from falling as the three of them cling to each other, crying and struggling to find words that are impossible to form. Thank God, thank God, thank God!
Carl smells pretty bad but he has never felt so good and Rick tightens his hold, squeezing his son's ribs a little too hard until the boy grunts in elated pain. Rick loosens his arm fractionally at the sound and sees Shane over Kelly's trembling shoulder. He gives his partner a heartfelt nod. Thank you.
Shane grins back at him, returning the nod while the pretty redhead to his right smiles softly with tears shimmering brightly in her own warm eyes, watching him with an expression that can only be described as shockingly joyous bewilderment.