A/N: To Jestalnaker94000, I remember that, but I don't really see Daryl as the kind of person who would go through with it. Don't worry, neither of them are gonna be leaving, but despite initial misgivings about Daryl, he always kind of struck me as the more level headed and moral of the two. In The Walking Dead: Survival Instinct (Which I actually enjoyed in spite of its flaws), which is a bit of an origin story of sorts for Daryl, Daryl seems a lot more willing to help out people he encounters, and this is before the series. Granted, that depends almost entirely on the player, but I feel like they wouldn't have given you the option if Daryl wasn't the kind of person.
So I feel like Daryl wouldn't go through with robbing the camp in the end, and though he wouldn't just give up his brother, I feel like they would have had a lot of moments where they often argue. I also feel like Daryl was not a fan of Merle's less than stellar habits, and if it turned out that his addiction put the rest of the group at risk, I don't doubt that he would gladly help get rid of it.
So yeah, we're seeing Daryl a bit differently in the beginning, since his brother wasn't stranded on the rooftop, so he wasn't panicking or worried or anything.
Also, another thing. I'm aware that most fics right out the way the characters speak very clearly, for example, using 'Yer' instead of 'Your' and in Daryl's case, 'Y instead of You. However, while I have no problem with other's doing that, it's a personal preference to write out what the characters are saying properly, though I will still right what the characters say exactly how they usually would, like saying 'You okay' instead of 'Are you okay'.
John
Gunshots.
Explosions.
Snarls.
Groans.
Screams.
Words of cruelty.
Cries for help.
The sound of tearing flesh.
The sound of blood spattering.
The soft sound of dripping fluid, both blood and water.
…
…
This what I wake up from, every morning. From the day the shelter fell, to the incidents in the city where people raped, murdered, or all of the above.
My entire body is tense as my eyes shoot open. My mouth is open wide as I suck in a breath, trying to calm myself down as I process where I am.
I'm in a tent. I'm with Glenn's group. I'm no longer in the city. I'm in a quarry a little ways outside the city.
It takes me a few moments longer than it probably should've, but to be fair, I'm more familiar with the various hiding spots I have around the city. Meanwhile, this is my first time at this camp, and to be fair, it's also the first time I've ever slept in a tent in my life.
Shocker, I know.
I sit up, groaning a little, my body not used to movement from where I've sat still for so long. Even I can get a little stiff once in a while.
I unzip the tent I'm in, and somehow manage to drag my ass out of it, standing to my feet as I yawn and stretch.
"Wowza…" I hear Amy's voice coming from close by, and I turn to look at her as I scratch my stomach, though that is a habit, a useless one, a quirk more than anything.
"What's up?" I say as I pop my neck a little, still trying to wake myself up.
"I know you said you were strong, but… Jesus…" She says, and it's only now that I realize she's staring at my chest.
I glance down, and admittedly, I realize a little late that someone walking around without a shirt probably isn't the most normal thing in the camp. But it's kind of just habit to me, and like I said, I'm not ashamed of my body.
It doesn't take long to realize that she's staring at my chest, and more likely, the rest of my exposed body.
When I said I had the body of a bodybuilder, I wasn't joking. It's not gross looking, like some of the bodies you'd see in Mr. Universe competitions, it's more like something you'd see on a football player, or on a comic book character.
"Like what you see?" I can't help but tease I roll my shoulders a little to finish stretching, before raising an eyebrow at her with a grin.
Amy seems to realize what she's done, and her eyes go wide as she blushes like a school girl, and the stray thought passes through my head that this is a little weird, a seventeen year old kid teasing a woman who has to have reached her early twenties by now about staring at him.
But my birthday is in a few months anyway, so, fuck it. Then, it won't matter.
"Sorry!" She says, quickly averting her eyes up to meet my own playful expression.
"It's fine." I wave off, reaching back in to grab my shirt and throwing it on. "What's up?"
"I was coming to wake you up." Amy says, and then her face turns to one of concern. "You were kind of scaring people." She tells me.
"How so?" I ask, though I admittedly have a pretty god idea.
"You would scream every once in a while." Amy tells me, looking at me with concern. "Some of the people could hear you grunting an mumbling in your sleep."
I nod, and let out a sigh. When my nightmares before this would get real bad, some times, Papaw or Maddie would end up waking me up in the middle of the night, depending on if Maddie was over or not.
God… Maddie… just the thought of her being…
No, John. Don't dwell on it.
"Sorry about that." I apologize sincerely. "When the nightmares get real intense, I sometimes do shit like that in my sleep." I admit with a sigh as I glance off at nothing in particular. "Kind of felt weird to warn people. Like, 'Hey, just so you know, I scream in my sleep. Kay, bye!' Makes me sound like a fucking nutjob."
Amy looks at me for a moment, before she shakes her head. "How can you be a kid and sound so much like an adult?"
"Hey!" I say, a little competitive, admittedly. "You ain't that much older than me!"
Amy raised an eyebrow at my words. "I'm twenty-four."
I smirk. "I'm seventeen."
Amy's eyes shoot sky high at my words, and they are practically kissing her hairline as she realized the implications of her earlier staring. "Oh my god, I'm so sorry!" She apologizes, like she's committed some unforgivable sin anyway.
I wave it off with a shrug. "Eh, it's not like it's some big deal." I shrug off, even though, before, society and the law would technically dictate otherwise. "I turn eighteen in a few months anyway, so by then, there won't be a thing wrong with it."
Amy looks at me for a few moments, blush still apparent on her face, before she smiles. "I'll try to wait until then before pulling anymore stupid stunts like that."
"There ya go!" I say with a chuckle.
Our conversation is interrupted fairly quickly, however, by a scream. A few screams, as a matter of fact.
The familiar voices of Carl, Sophia, and Jacqui fill my ears as I snap towards the direction it came from.
From around me, I can hear a few other voices speaking up in alarm and curiosity, and I hear some footsteps, but I pay no heed to it. Someone screamed, something is wrong.
I take off from my spot in an instant, bolting past tents, chairs, and cars as I shoot for the direction the screams came from. I pass by Jacqui, Sophia, and Carl, running right past them in the direction they'd come from.
I vaguely hear someone call my name, but I don't pay any attention to it. My first priority is getting to what caused them to scream.
Leaves crunch under my feet and rocks probably shatter as trees pass my vision one after another as I run right by them.
I come out into a small clearing, and what I see explains everything, and is still completely horrifying, especially with the implications.
There's a dead deer sitting on the ground, with a few arrows, crossbow bolts from the look of it, sticking, out of it. But that's not what's terrifying.
No, what's terrifying is the fact that there's a walker, this far up the mountain, this far from the city, feasting on its corpse.
I process my horror quickly, before going into action as I finally hear a few footsteps catch up with me in the clearing. I snag the walker by the collar of its shirt and drag it onto its back, and the thing doesn't even get to process the sudden action before I slam my foot down on its skull.
I don't use enough strength to completely crush the head, because no human could do that unless the bones were really weak, but I slam it hard enough that the skull does cave under my boot in one go, leaving the corpse dead.
"Holy shit…" I look up at the sound of the voice, and I see most of the men in the group, with the exception of Merle obviously, present, looking at me with wide eyes. Behind them, I can see Amy and Andrea in each other's arms, and Miranda and her kids are further back, while her husband stands with the other men.
Shane's the one who spoke.
"You just rush in here without a weapon?" He asks in disbelief, and I can see him holding a sledgehammer in his hand, as well as a shotgun that he usually carries around. "I hollered for you. Was gonna give this to you." He raised the sledgehammer slightly, but I shrug.
"Wouldn't have needed it anyway." I say as I look down at the now half-headless corpse at my feet. "All it took was a good boot."
"Seems risky." Dale says, obvious concern in his voice as he looks at me. "Maybe you should be a little more careful, next time." He says as he turns to look at the walker. "This is the first one we've had this far up the mountain."
"They're running out of food in the city." Jim says, but I shake my head.
"No." I disagree. "If they actually needed food, they'd have left long ago." I say as I crouch down to one knee, studying the corpse at my feet. "No, something brought this guy up here, and they never travel this far alone."
"You learn that from being in the city?" Glenn asks me as I stand to my feet. I nod in response.
"Yeah." I answer. "I got used to seeing certain walkers in the same locations every time I'd go back. They don't leave unless they heard or saw something to drag them this way."
"I don't like the sound of that." Rick says, glancing towards the others, and I'd say he's got good reason not to like the sound of it.
"I'll say it again; they never travel this far alone, so we've got three possible reasons why he's up here, and only one of them is even remotely good." I say as I turn to look at them, and I'm dead serious when I speak. "Best case scenario is he was up around here when he died, which I find unlikely considering you all would've probably killed him for now."
"And the worst?" Morales asks me, though it's clear that he's dreading my answer.
"The worst is one of two things. He's either a straggler in a herd that passed by, which means there's a shiton of walkers nearby the camp for a while."
"And option C?" Dale asks, though he looks like he's god a pretty good idea of where I'm going with this.
"He's the first in a herd that's coming this way." My words give a forboding feeling throughout everyone, as they all glance at each other at the implications, and no one looks at ease at what I've said. Hell, even I don't. Regardless of risk to me or not, a herd rolling through is not a pleasant thought.
"H-How do we know for sure?" T-Dog asks me, and I gotta admit, it's a little odd hearing the big guy stutter, but I'm not about to pretend that he has no reason to.
"No way to know for sure without risk." I say as I glance down at the walker corpse, before turning my gaze towards Rick and Shane, who seem like they're gonna be the leaders of our little merry group. "Safest option would be to start getting ready to leave, right now." I say as I step towards them.
"I don't mean to doubt your wisdom, bud," Shane says as he glances at me. "But what if we leave, and it turns out that we're in the clear?"
Shane has a point, I guess, but it's very risky to take that route. "Only way to know for sure is to stay, see if a herd pops up within the day." I explain to him, before I shake my head. "I know I'm no leader, but my advice would be to haul out of here ASAP."
Rick and Shane both look at each other, but any further conversation is interrupted by the sound of shuffling in the leaves behind a nearby rock.
Considering what I just told everyone close enough to hear and listen, it's now wonder that everyone tenses up as Shane raises his gun, ready to fire at the source. For my part, my entire body tenses up, but I can tell at the very least it's only one walker, if it is a walker. If it were the herd, we'd have a lot more noise.
But rather than a walker, a rather strong looking man comes out of the bushes with a crossbow, and the moment he spots the dear, and the walker nearby, boy is he pissed.
"Oh Jesus…" Shane mutters as he lowers the gun.
"Son of a bitch!" The man exclaims, his face twisting into a snarl as he comes to see what's become of the dear he was presumably tracking. "That's my dear!" He walks closer and moves around the disemboweled animal, glaring down at the corpse that I had just killed. "Look at it, all gnawed on by this filthy, disease-bearing, motherless, poxy bastard!" With each insult from his mouth, he delivers a rage fueled kick to the dead walker's body, and I gotta admit, I got a little smile on my face at the site.
The others, not so much.
"Calm down, son, that's not helping." Dale says with a shake of his head, to which the newcomer apparently doesn't like.
"What do you know about it, old man?" The redneck asks as he marches right up into Dale's face, causing Shane to hold his gun out between the two, though something tells me he's not actually gonna hit him. "Why don't you take that stupid hat and go back to 'On Golden Pond?'"
I'm not ashamed to admit that I got a grin on my face, watching this guy act like a complete child.
"I've been tracking this deer for miles." The man says as he moves to retrieve his crossbow bolts from the dead deer carcass. "Was gonna drag it back to camp, cook us up some venison." He moves and runs his hand around the section of the deer that's been gnawed. "What do think, maybe we could around this chewed up part right here?"
"I would not risk that." Shane replied with a shake of his head, and I'm with him there. That would be a bad idea, especially since we know little to nothing about how this virus works.
"That's a damn shame." The man replies, shaking his head, before he gestures towards a sack on his shoulder. "Got some squirrels, about a dozen or so. That'll have to do."
Admittedly, the idea of squirrel or venison doesn't really appeal to me like it does anyone else. I'm a rather picky eater, and considering my extremely slow metabolism, that's not a habit I've had to break yet.
The man moves past us and begins walking back to camp, and we all follow after him. I find myself surprised when he begins shouting for Merle.
"Merle!" He shouts out. "Hey Merle, get your ugly ass out here!"
"Merle's asleep, Daryl." Shane says, causing the man I now know as Daryl to turn around and look at him.
"Asleep?" He asks with a raised eyebrow. "He's usually up real early, why the hell is he still asleep?"
I speak before I can even think. "Probably cause he's sleeping off a meth binge from yesterday."
Daryl's eyes go wide and he jerks towards me. I'm half expecting him to ask who I am, but he seems more concerned about my words. "What?!" He pretty much yells as he processes what I've said, before he turns to look at Shane. "Is he for real?"
Shane nodded. "He volunteered to go out on a run yesterday, while you were out on your hunt." Shane explains to Daryl, and he looks a little tense and apprehensive talking to the man. "Got doped up while he was out with them. From what I hear, he was taking potshots at walkers from a roof."
Everyone here seems to be looking at Daryl nervously, as if they expect him to immediately deny their words or jump to his brother's defense.
So their eyes go wide when he shakes his head in disbelief. "You gotta be fucking kidding me." He mumbles, before he looks back at Shane. "Anybody get killed?"
Shane actually looks shocked at the question, but he answers fairly quickly with a shake of his head. "No, man. They all made it back."
"And with some new guests, it looks like." Daryl responds, glancing towards me and Rick. "Who the hell are you two?"
"Rick Grimes." Rick says in response.
"John Gallagher." I follow after his words.
Daryl simply nods his head. "Daryl. Hope my dumbass of a brother didn't give ya'll too much trouble."
I can't help my smartass remark that follows, accompanied by a grin on my face. "I mean, we had to handcuff him to a pipe when he started hitting people, but nothing else."
Daryl scoffs at that. "Fucking figures."
"Daryl." Shane steps towards the redneck, who doesn't seem so bad considering everyone seems to be looking at him like he'll snap at any second. "For the good of the camp, I have to ask, does he have any more?"
"Got a big bag of meth and some cocaine in his bike." Daryl admitted, pointing towards the bike I just now am noticing sitting in the back of the truck.
Badass bike, actually.
"Plus some painkillers and antibiotics, if the camp needs them." Daryl adds as he turns back towards Shane.
"You didn't think to share this with the rest of us?" Shane asks, looking none too pleased that Merle's less than stellar habits and a stash of painkillers and antibiotics were kept from the rest of the group.
Daryl shrugged. "Up until now, nobody was at risk. Probably waited till he got out into the city so he could try to keep it quiet." He gave his reasons and beliefs as to why Merle did what he did. "If it's hurting people, it needs to go."
Everyone looked surprised at Daryl's blatant words and agreement against his brother's habits, and I can't help the little smirk on my face as I realized this.
"The dope needs to go." Shane says sternly. "And the medicine needs to be shared with the group."
"Piece of advice?" I speak up, catching their attention. "Wait till Merle gets up, and make him do it."
"You really think he'd do it willingly?" Shane asked, looking at me with a raised eyebrow, before looking at Daryl. "Would he?"
"Not if he had a choice." Daryl says with a shrug. "Which, in this case, I don't think he does."
"There we go." I say, smiling at Shane as I gesture towards Daryl at his words.
"It'd be best to wait till he gets up, though." Daryl warns us. "It's gonna be hell getting him to do it when he gets up, and that's a trainwreck we're gonna hear for days." He says with a sigh of annoyance. "It's gonna be even worse if we wake him up, cause then he's gonna be tired, pissed, and looking to start a fight."
"Got it." Shane says with a nod. "Bring him here when he gets up, so we can get this shit over with. We got another issue as it is."
"Why, what's up?" Daryl asks with a raised eyebrow.
"That walker we killed." Shane replies, before he glances over towards me and gestures towards me. "According to him, the thing might be a straggler from a passing herd, or the first of a herd coming this way."
Daryl looks none to pleased at the info, and he glances towards me. "Makes you say that?"
"I was in the city since a little after it was bombed." I explain to him. "Paid attention, learned what I could about the walkers. They don't travel this far alone unless something is leading them. So either that thing followed us up here somehow, or-"
"Or a whole fucking herd is nearby if it's not on it's way." Daryl sums up, before cursing. "Fuck."
Looks of panic and discomfort spread through the camp at my words, but Shane is quick to speak up and assure people. "Now, we don't know if that's true, and we have the firepower to defend ourselves now should the need arise, but I want everyone to start packing up and getting ready to move out, just in case!" He orders everyone.
There's a visible air of discomfort around the camp at the revelation, and it doesn't take long for people to start obeying, scurrying around the camp almost immediately.
Shane looks at Daryl. "If your brother's not up in an hour, wake him up. We're doing this before we possibly leave."
Daryl nodded in agreement. "No problem."
Rick
It's been a few hours since we discovered the walker, and everyone is still packing things up. The only things they are leaving, or saving for last, are the tents.
It feels weird, being around a group of people like this, right now. After the past few days with Morgan and his boy, Duane, it seems so… unusual. For the first few days, it was just me, Morgan, and Duane. Only other thing left was the walkers that roamed the streets when the sun went down.
I hope Morgan eventually put his wife down. He needs to, grant her peace, and himself.
I warned him earlier, but I never got a response through the walkies. I don't even know if he heard me, but all I can do is hope that he did. I warned him not to go into Atlanta, to come here.
But with John's warning, I don't even know if we'll be here on the chance Morgan's on his way here. Everyone's gearing up right now, packing their stuff up in case we need to leave quickly. From what I can gather, John says the walkers will be here some time within the day if they're on their way here, but Shane, god bless him, seems pretty adamant about trying to at least keep the place.
He wants a safe place for these people, and so do I. But the truth of it is, this may not be a safe place anymore.
Hell, it really doesn't seem safe to begin with. Now that I think about it, the camp around us has no real defenses except for someone on watch at all times, taking them in shifts. The trees around us can hide the walkers pretty easily, and considering how quiet the things can be, it's not that hard for them to sneak up on us.
I gotta say, kid's smart. If a little reckless.
I can not say it enough, I owe him my life for getting me out of that tank. But with his words last night… a part of me is worried that he might've done it so recklessly because there was a good chance he'd die.
Then again, from the way it sounds, there was a good chance he'd die on half the stuff he did in the city, and yet he still lived for so long in that nightmare.
I can't lie… it surprises me. He's only seventeen, but the way he acts… you'd think he was a veteran or something. Sure, he's got the typical personality of a teenager. He's a smartass, and he's a bit playful. Hell, him playing with Carl and those other kids yesterday are a damn good example of just how much of a kid he still is.
But then he gets a little more serious. Talking about what he lost last night, his past, his threat to that Ed Peletier guy… his time in the city, his… lack of a drive for self-preservation… He said he doesn't believe in suicide, and I believe that, but I wonder if there's a part of him, deep down, subconcious, it I'm using that right, that's suicidal. That wants to just pass and be with his family again.
There's also something about him. I have no reason not to trust the kid, and he seems like a good kid, he really does… but I can't help but wonder if some of his tales about being in the city are… lacking something. A little more information.
Don't get me wrong, his stories and explanations add-up, but it's just that I have a hard time believing anyone, even someone suicidal, would run the risk of getting eaten by the walkers. It's a horrible way to go, no two ways about it. Thousands of ravenous corpses eating at you, tearing you apart… and in the middle of it all, you can't do anything but struggle, as you are ripped apart by the dead hands and gnashing teeth.
I have no reason to doubt the guy, not a single bit, and he's been more of a help than a hindrance, and I'll say it again, I owe the kid my life. But…
I don't know, maybe I'm just overthinking things, making a big deal out of nothing.
But I can't help but feel like there's something he ain't telling us, you know?
But I won't question him on it. And I'm not really suspicious, per say. Okay, I am, but John's done nothing to warrant any prodding or distrust. Like I said, I owe the kid my life.
I can at least keep my thoughts to myself, not badger him about it.
Hearing Shane barking out orders almost reminds me of back when we were with the force, when the dead stayed dead. But it's not.
"You really think it's a good idea to stay here, man?" I ask him as I move to stand next to him, glancing at my best friend, curious for his answer.
"I don't know, Rick." Shane admits to me, his mouth a thin line as he turns to look at me. "I really don't know. I've done my best to lead these people, keep them safe… but I never thought this would be a risk we'd face, especially not so soon."
"I don't mean to talk about issues I have no clue about, but this camp doesn't really seem all that safe." I tell him, and he looks at me with a raised eyebrow. "No real defenses. If anything, the trees work for the walkers more than us, considering how easily that one snuck up on us."
"You got a point." Shane admits with a sigh. "I guess I just… I want to keep hope alive." Shane tells me with a shake of his head, before glancing towards me. "Everyone looks to me cause I'm a cop, I guess. Probably helps that I'm the one that rounded everyone up and got us up here."
"You're trying to play the role of leader, when you probably ain't ready for it." I say. Shane visibly grimaces at my words, but he accepts the nonetheless.
"Yeah, man… I just kind of hoped we could stay here until someone rolled through. But I think a part of me knows that ain't happening." Shane says with a shake of his head. "But… I don't want to immediately leave, if there's a chance that this place is still safe."
I nod. I understand that. Why leave a place that's already a safe haven?
The thing is… with no real defenses, this place being safe is only a pipe dream. That walker only proved it. Sure it was only one, but even assuming John's just talking out his ass and has no clue what he's talking about, which I do find unlikely, it doesn't change the fact that the walkers can be surprisingly quiet when they want to be, and like I just told Shane, the trees and bushes work more in there favor than ours.
"Maybe we could head somewhere safer?" I propose, and already, a few ideas are popping into my mind. "Fort Benning's a good drive away, but I doubt the walkers have overran a military base."
"Well, Dale and Jim will need to get that new radiator hose on the RV first." Shane responds with a sigh, before shaking his head. "But I'm not completely sure we're all up for that drive right now, and I don't want to spend any time on the roads if we don't have to."
He makes some good points, I'll admit. But that's not the only place springing to mind. "What about the CDC?" I suggest, looking at my best friend.
Shane raises an eyebrow, but I've got his attention. "Assuming they'd let us in, that would work, and it's just on the edge of Atlanta. Shouldn't be too many walkers." He nods his head in agreement. "But that all banks on them even opening the doors for us."
I hate to admit it, but he's right. The CDC may not even let us in because of possibility of infection, which would mean the drive there is only a waste of fuel.
But… it's closer, and it would be better to at least try. Especially if we need to leave here in a hurry.
"What if we try the CDC, and if that goes south, we pretty much have no choice but to get our asses to Fort Benning?" I propose to Shane. Regardless of who is the leader, I intend to help these people to the best of my ability.
Shane looks at me for a few moments, before he lets out a sigh. "Only if we're desperate, man." Is his response.
I can't fault that.
The silence of the camp is interrupted rather harshly though, not by a walker, but by a familar voice yelling in rage.
"WHAT?!"
Here we go.
John
And cue the sound of Merle getting pissed.
"No, man, you fucked up." I hear Daryl respond. The hustle and bustle of the camp pretty much comes to a stop at Merle's outburst, jerking in the direction that the voice came from. Daryl comes marching out back towards the rest of us, and Merle's hot on his heels.
"That's my stuff, man!" Merle objects, looking absolutely livid. "Ain't no law anymore, so why do I have to get rid of it?!"
Daryl immediately spun on him, getting right up in Merle's face with a look of fury on his own. "Cause your dumbass decided to get doped up on a run!" Daryl shouted, his teeth gritted, and he looked like he was trying not to kill his brother.
"I was just having a bit of fun!" Merle says with a shake of his head. "And nobody got killed!"
"Yeah, no thanks to you!" Daryl retorted. "You looking to get your dumbass killed?"
"Ain't no one can kill a Dixon except a Dixon!" Merle shrugged it off.
"Merle!" There's Shane, and boy does he look pissed. "Come on, the dopes going."
"Fuck you, Walsh!" Merle replied, spinning on Shane with a snarl on his face. "That's my stuff! It ain't going anywhere!"
Rick takes that moment to step up, looking none too pleased with Merle as well. "We don't need someone getting themselves doped up here. It's only gonna put us all at risk."
"What do you know about it, Officer Friendly?" Merle asked sarcastically, glaring at Rick.
"I think we all know enough." I speak up, glaring at Merle. "We don't want an addict here."
"You can either get rid of the dope, or you can hit the road." Shane says sternly, his face leaving no room for debate as he glared at the jackass.
"You think we need you people?!" Merle shouts at the top of his lungs, turning on Shane once more. "Me and my brother did just fine without you, and we can keep going!"
"Oh hell no." Daryl immediately objects, looking at Merle sternly. "It was your idea to join up with these people in the first place, and I'm not gonna be alone with you as long as you got plans to get doped." He says, immediately shutting down Merle's argument. A part of me wonders if he actually means all of it, or is saying it in a bid to convince Merle.
Merle looks at Daryl, surprised by the fact that his brother apparently isn't on his side, before his gaze moves around.
Absolutely no one has any sympathy for Merle, all of them giving him rather loathing looks. I'm kind of wondering if Merle's looking for anyone on his side, or just guaging to see how people are reacting.
Surprise, surprise, everybody agrees that Merle's drugs need to go.
"Fine." Merle growls, relenting as he begins marching over to his bike, with Shane and Daryl hot on his heels. I look at Rick, silently asking if we should follow, and he nods his head. Me and him move after them, trailing behind as they reach the pickup truck.
Merle climbs into the bed of the pickup, easily hauling himself onto the bumper and over the door. He comes to stand next to his bike, and opens up one of the saddles on the rear, before he pulls out a decent bag of meth, which is blue in color rather than the white I was expecting, and a smaller, but still decent sized bag of cocaine.
"There!" Merle says, frustration clear in his tone as he aggressively tosses the bags to Shane. Shane manages to catch the meth, but the cocaine hits the ground as Merle jumps over the side of the bed. "Take my shit and be done with it."
"And the meds?" Shane asks.
Merle frowns. "No one needs them right now, do they?" He asks with a raised eyebrow. "No? Didn't think so. They stay."
Not sure if I trust Merle with the antibiotics and other meds he's probably got in there, but I suppose that as long as we know where they are…
Shane disagrees.
"Considering you had them stashed with this shit, I don't trust you to have them." Shane said bluntly. "Put them with the rest."
"You think-"
"Aw, Merle, enough!" Darly interjected, glaring at his brother. "You've already got us into enough shit! Half these people probably think I was getting doped right there with you. Just stop!" He snapped, visibly bristling in anger at his brother's antics.
Merle stops and looks at his brother, his gaze just as harsh as the other Dixon's, before he lets out a sigh and stomps off.
"Get it yourself." He says with a wave as he stomps towards his tent.
"Start packing your shit up! We're gearing up to leave in case a herd rolls through!" Shane calls after him, before looking at Daryl. "You got him?"
Daryl nods. "Yeah, I got him." He says with a nod. "You focus on getting everyone geared up. Wanna be ready to haul if a herd shows up like you said."
Shane gives a nod of affirmation towards Daryl, before he moves towards the back of the truck, climbing into the bed and searching through Merle's bike as Daryl turns and makes his way after his now even more irate brother.
The withdraw's gonna be hell.
Maybe he should've though about that.
Shane gets out the meds that Merle had, and I gotta say, it's a decent bit there, before climbing off the back and making his way towards me and Rick.
"Here." He says, offering the medicine to me. "Take this to Dale, have him put it in his RV with the rest of the meds we have."
I nod my head, and immediately move to obey him. Most of the meds I'm able to tuck into my arm, with a few more bottles in my other hand as I make my way back to the RV.
"Dale!" I call out as I approach the RV. The man in question exits the RV when he spots me, and I walk up to him so I'm not yelling halfway across the camp.
"What's this?" Dale asks as he spots the meds in my arms.
"Shane told me to bring this stuff to you and put it with the rest of the medecine you got here." I explain to the old man. "I think he and Rick are getting rid of the drugs Merle had, and they took this stuff too since they don't trust him with it. Quite frankly, neither do I."
"Come on." Dale says, before he moves back into the RV, waving me in.
I take a step onto the RV, and I gotta admit, I throw myself off-kilter when I step into it. Due to my increased weight, the RV jolts slightly when I step into it, and Dale notices.
"Put on a bit of weight?" He jokes with a laugh, thinking nothing of it. I laugh it off as well.
Most vehicles I step into will visibly lower when I'm in them, but they can still support my weight enough that they can drive with me in them. Some bumps just have a bit more bounce to them, that's all.
I grin in response to Dale's joke as I step fully into the RV. "A little." I say with a grin. "I've always been a heavy bastard."
"Well, I imagine all that bulk will come in handy these days." Dale says as he moves further towards the back of the RV, where I'm assuming a bathroom is. He opens up a door across from it, and now I can see a little closet, stacked with all kinds of meds, from antibiotics and shit like penicillin, to small over the counter stuff like Benedrill and Tylenol. "Put that stuff here."
I try to put everything where it looks like it goes. He has this thing sorted out pretty well, heavy stuff at the top, light stuff at the bottom. Once my hands are free, I nod and look at Dale. "There." I say as I back away from the closet.
"Thanks." Dale says. Me and him go to leave the RV, but he stops for a second when he grabs my shoulder. "Will you do me a favor?"
"Sure." I respond immediately, more than willing to help out where I can.
"The only thing you have right now is your jacket and that tent we set up, right?" He asks me, and I nod. "Well, I'm gonna ask Shane, but I think we're leaving the tents up for now. We might spend another night, and then maybe take off in the morning."
"I say we should go as soon as possible." I throw in my two cents on the matter. "But Shane's leader, and I understand that he doesn't want to leave if he doesn't have too."
Dale nods in agreement, before he looks towards his rifle, which is sitting in the booth spot of the RV. "Here." He says, picking it up and offering it to me. "There's binoculars up on the roof already if you need them. Would you do me a favor and keep watch, since you don't really have anything to pack?"
"No problem." I say, taking the rifle from his grip. One good thing about my powers is my muscle control. My hands don't jerk from the kickback of any gun anymore, and even without a weapon, I perfected my aim to the point that anything I can pick up and throw always hits it's mark. I probably don't even need the scope on this gun.
"Thanks." Dale says in appreciation, and I nod, before I make my way out of the RV. The RV visbly shifts up without my weight on it, but it quickly goes back down when I hang the gun on my shoulder and begin climbing up to the roof.
The roof of Dale's RV gives me a good view of the entire camp, not just the little quarry and cliffside with the lake down below.
Once I'm up top, I kind of go into a sentry mode, if you will. Considering the day's discovery earlier, I can't bring myself to relax right now.
I settle the rifle in my grip, keeping the strap against my arm as I turn towards the camp. The quarry isn't gonna have any walkers to surprise us, since the walkers wouldn't even be able to climb the rocks up the cliffside. It's the trees I need to concern myself with.
Outside of an occasional person asking me if I want them to take over, no one really speaks to me, focusing on packing their stuff. I could sit here all day anyway if I wanted too. As much as just sitting around drives me up the wall, watch duty isn't doing nothing. I'm making sure I can keep these people safe.
I'll admit, from up here, I can now see there are a lot more tents around the camp than I thought, but it makes sense. No one would want to sleep in a car if they didn't have too, except maybe Papaw if he were here, and considering the sheer size of the camp in terms of people, it makes sense.
"Hey!"
I hear Lori call to me from down below the RV, and I do a quick scan out of habit before I finally turn down to look at her. "What's up?"
"Do you care to keep an eye on the kids?" She asks me. "We're trying to pack up and keep an eye on them, but I would be more comfortable knowing someone is always watching over them."
"For sure." I nod with a small smile. "If I can't find them from up here, I'll tell you." I assure her.
"Thanks." Lori says, before she turns and walks back off towards Rick, where I'm assuming they are packing up what they can.
Everyone seems to be packing one thing or another up. Even Merle's pitching in, helping some people since he and Daryl apparently don't have much to pack.
The only person I don't see helping out at all… is Ed.
Of fucking course.
I do a scan of the camp to see if I can find him, and I eventually do. Though I don't see him directly, he's in his tent, which is zipped up, while Carol is the one packing up everything. Sophia seems to be helping her out, which is good. It means Carol's keeping an eye on her as well.
I'm up there all day as they pack shit up, before finally finishing when the sun is hidden over the horizon, and the sky is illuminated orange.
I hear footsteps approaching the RV, and I look down and see Glenn approaching the RV.
"What's up?" I ask him. He comes to a stop and looks up at me for a moment.
"Care if I come up?" He asks me. I shrug my shoulders.
"No." I say, and I mean it. "Go ahead."
He smiles at me, before he's moving towards the ladder on the RV and climbing his way up to the top.
"Thanks." Glenn says as he moves to stand next to me. "Everyone's done packing up. Shane says we're gonna stay here for the night at least, then take off in the morning."
I nod. When Dale didn't come and find me earlier, I kind of figured that's what we were doing, though I'm still not comfortable with it. Every second we stay here, I have a bad feeling in my gut, and it only grows worse. But I'm not gonna scare Glenn by saying something like that.
"I figured as much." Is my simple response.
A silence falls between us for a few moments, and I can feel Glenn's gaze on me as I do yet another scan over the campgrounds. I've been playing sentry for what has to be damn near eight hours now, and though I won't lie and say I'm not bored, it keeps us safe. It's the only reason I haven't moved from the spot for that long.
"Jim knows who you are." Glenn suddenly says, and my attention is now on him completely.
"What?" I ask more out of habit than an actual request for a repeat, as the sudden statement catches me off-guard.
"Jim." Glenn says, pointing towards the man in question. "He's the one I told you about back in the city."
"The guy who was at the refuge center?" I can't help a feeling of nervousness at the newfound revelation that Jim recognized me, in spite of my change of clothes, but Glenn is quick to ease it.
"He said he's keeping it a secret." Glenn assures me with a smile, and I can't help a sigh of relief at his words. "He doesn't care if you're the Juggernaut. He thinks it's too much responsibility for you anyway, and he said that if you wanted to keep quiet, it wasn't his business to tell."
When I get the chance, I need to thank Jim. I haven't even talked to the man yet, and he's already keeping a big secret for me. I like him already.
"I'll tell him myself when I get the chance, but let him know I said thanks if you can." I tell Glenn.
Glenn smiles. "No problem." He says, before he glances down at the rifle in my hand. "Are you sure you don't want someone to take over watch duty?" He asks for the second time that day.
I smile. So far, I've had Rick, T-Dog, Glenn, Shane, and even Daryl offer to take over watch duty. But I've declined them all so far.
"When I need to sleep, maybe." I tell him with a smile as I turn my gaze back out towards the camp. "But you, me, and Jim probably, all know I could keep this up for weeks if I needed to."
"I don't know about that." Glenn says, probably thinking what I'm saying is an exaggeration. But I'm not gonna correct him. "But when dinner time rolls around, I let everyone know."
I smile at Glenn, thankful for his words. "Thanks man. I-"
I stop myself short as movement catches my attention. But everyone's mostly in the middle now, huddling around a campfire as Daryl stews up some of the squirrel he brought back, with the exception of Glenn, who's right next to me, and Ed, who I assume is sawing logs in his tent.
I half expect it to be Ed, and it does come from by his tent, but the reality is not so kind.
It's walkers.
Two of them are already climbing inside Ed's tent, so he's a lost cause, but now that I'm looking, I can see walkers, a bunch of them, a herd, like I said, shuffling towards the camp from the trees.
I act on instinct.
"WE GOT WALKERS!" I shout out as loud as my lungs can as I raise the rifle and begin firing, nailing a walker square in the skull. I don't hesitate, pulling the bolt and ejecting the shell as I aim for another.
I can hear the camp shuffling into a panicked frenzy at my words, finally noticing the walkers approaching, and I take aim at another walker and blow it's brains out, before I turn to Glenn.
"Get down and get a gun!" I tell him quickly, jerking back to take out another walker before looking at him once more. "Get the kids and the people without guns too the RV, and then focus on taking down walkers."
Glenn nods without hesitation, and then he's scrambling down the ladder quickly as I turn back towards the walkers.
The herd's coming from one side but they're coming in bulk, a wide berth of them, now closing in on me and the other survivors. I start to spread my shots. No point in focusing on one section. I can now hear the sound of gun fire below, the sounds of shotguns, rifles, pistols, and Rick's Magnum, a Colt Python, I now know, firing off at the walkers.
I focus on the ones who are getting too close. The ones the others are missing. They're firing at walkers within their sites, but the kids and others without guns are panicking too much to notice the stragglers coming too close.
So I focus on them.
The group's spread out over the camp, and I can hear the sounds of screams and tearing flesh, telling me that the walkers are already claiming lives, but the best I can do is scan and shoot the ones that are two close.
I can see Jim fighting them off with a shovel, and I see a walker he's knocked down slowly returning to its feet. Right as it's about to lung at him, maybe get him in the gut, I fire at the son of a bitch, taking it down with one shot to the temple.
"JIM!" I call out to him, and he gives me a quick glance before focusing his attention on the walkers, but I know he's listening. "GET TO THE RV WITH THE OTHERS! TAKE OUT THE ONES THAT GET TOO CLOSE!"
He gives me a nod before he books it to the RV. I can see Shane, Lori, Carl, Carol, Sophia, and Rick down below me, Rick, Shane, and a few others I can't see shooting down any walker that gets too close. Over across the camp to my right, I can see Glenn, Daryl, Merle, and Morales firing at walkers as well, while Miranda holds Eliza and Louis close, keeping them huddled next to her as the others focus on the walkers.
I refocus my attention on the walkers, alternating between the two groups as I take down as many walkers as I can.
It's not a big herd, not by a mile, compared to the ones you'd find in the city, but it's still a herd, and it feels like they just keep coming. They're endless, and they never fucking stop.
Until they do.
It takes forever, far too long for my liking, but we widdle the herd down. As big as it is, it's small enough that they can't survive against the onslaught of all the guns we have.
The attack probably wasn't that long, but it lasted far too long for my liking.
I take it one last walker with the rifle, before I do a quick scan as the shooting seems to stop. Bodies litter the camp, most of them walkers, but I can unfortunately see a few fresh corpses with chunks taken out of them. No one I got to meet, but still…
We lost people.
Dammit!
Once I'm sure all the walkers are dead, I forgo the ladder completely, jumping off of the RV into a roll to make sure it doesn't look too impossible, rolling directly onto my feet.
The sounds of crying are all through the camp in the moments that follow the siege of walkers, and it bites at me with every little sniffle and sob I hear.
"John." I hear Shane's voice, quiet, breathless, come up next to me.
His face is flooded with emotions. Shock, horror, fear, shame, guilt, all of it.
He brings his gaze to look at me.
"I should've listened to you."
Yeah, he should've. Unfortunately, there's nothing we can do about it now, and it's not like he did it to be cruel or kill people. He wanted to give them a place to sleep before we most likely left tomorrow.
It wasn't his fault that the herd rolled up, and I will not blame him for it.
"Don't beat yourself up." I say, resting a hand on his shoulder. "You wanted these people to have hope and a safe place to sleep for the night. It doesn't matter what you were told, you couldn't have predicted this."
"I should've, man." Shane can only say with a shake of his head.
I can only look at him for a moment, sympathy for the responsibility he has on his shoulders all over my face. It's a burden I'm glad I don't carry.
Not anymore.
I turn to survey the two groups. I can now see Dale, Andrea, and Amy were with the group below the RV. Amy and Andrea are trying to comfort each other as best as they can, sobbing into each other's arms. Dale has a look of pure and utter shock on his face. Carl and Lori are sobbing into Rick's arms, the whole Grimes family holding each other tightly, and Rick looks a little shaken himself, tears flowing down his eyes. Sophia's tucked into Carol's side, and both of them are absolutely bawling at the bloodbath that just happened.
I glance towards the other group. Glenn looks absolutely terrified, and even Merle, look a little shaken by what occurred. Morales is trying to comfort his family as best as he can, his kids bawling their eyes out into Miranda's sides. Miranda herself is sobbing her eyes out, and I can only imagine what Morales himself is thinking.
The only people here with level expressions are probably me, Jim, and Daryl.
But make no mistake…
This night has us all scared.