Disclaimer: I do not own the Walking Dead in any way whatsoever.
Author's Notes: Hey readers, I am Ethereal Bliss and I'll be taking over HyRool's FanFic for the next two chapters. It's a privilege to be able to do so. And if you haven't figured out already, HyRool and I are writing back-to-back FanFics that sort of act as companions to one another. Please check out mine if you have time and be sure to show HyRool love as well! Oh right, if you guys have any OC suggestions, be sure to PM HyRool!
s/10637252/1/The-Heart-of-the-Dead
Leave a word or something for HyRool!
Enjoy!
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"I can't believe this shit…"
Daniel and Faith looked at Sam as they walked the empty streets of San Francisco. The city was eerily quiet. There were no walkers in sight nor were there any survivors to be seen. The whole city just seemed to be dead.
"How long has it been?" Sam muttered to himself, exasperated. "God, I don't even know anymore…"
Daniel nudged Faith's shoulder. She looked at him. "What's wrong with Sam?"
Faith gave Daniel a similarly confused look. "Well… I mean we did lose Kenny and Philip… That alone is traumatizing. I didn't know Philip too well to be honest but I can't imagine what is going on in Sam's head… Being a leader and all… It's a heavy burden…"
"No kidding…" Daniel said. "Hell, it takes some major balls to be able to keep a strong face in front of everyone. Must be hard on him…"
Sam stopped in his tracks and so did Faith and Daniel. Sam looked around their current area. They were on a long strip of asphalt lined with abandoned cars and such. Some cars were still running, barely. Handbags and other miscellaneous items littered the ground upon which the walked. Still, there were no walkers in sight.
"Alright." Sam said, turning to face the two. "This seems like a good area to scavenge some supplies. Most of the cars still have some fuel in them so we should siphon what we can."
Faith and Daniel nodded.
Sam looked at the car to his right and saw that the window was smashed. Peering inside, there was a scoped hunting rifle slung behind the passenger seat. Grabbing the barrel of the weapon, he quickly pulled the rifle out the car. He unfastened the bolt to let the magazine fall loose. The small magazine popped from the chamber and landed in his hand. Looking at the bullets inside, Sam counted around six shots.
"You seem to know something about guns…" Faith said.
Sam semi-smirked. "Being in the Army reserves will teach you a thing or two… Not to mention hunting."
"Ex-Army?" Daniel said, confused. "Is that why everyone at TLC lost contact with you for almost two years back then?"
Sam sighed. "I was short on money and out of a job. I needed to do something to support my parents with."
"Oh." Daniel said.
Sam quickly refastened the gun and handed it to Daniel. When Daniel grabbed the weapon, he was confused.
"What do you want me to do with this?" Daniel asked.
Sam briefly looked around at the cars. He pointed to a white delivery van behind the two.
"Get yourself onto the roof of the car and be our lookout. That scope on the rifle will give you a pretty good visual of the surrounding area." Sam replied.
Daniel looked at the rifle and then back at Sam. "What do you want me to do when the walkers start coming around? You want me to pop 'em?"
Sam shook his head. "No. Shooting them will only get their attention. We will be swarmed. If you see them, give us a signal or something. Then, we will book it and get back to the group."
Daniel, although slightly nervous, nodded his head. "A-alright. I can do that."
Sam nodded approvingly as he reached back into the car and pulled out a small rucksack. He unclipped the top and looked inside. Inside the small sack were about twenty extra bullets or so. He closed the sack and tightened the top. He tossed the sack to Daniel who had already made his way up onto the van.
"What's this?" Daniel asked as he picked the sack up from the roof of the car.
"Bullets." Sam said. "Just in case."
Anxious and excited, Daniel tied the sack around his belt as he held the scope near his face, scouting the area out.
Faith and Sam looked at each other.
"So…" Faith began to say. "What are we supposed to do know?"
Sam looked at her, dumbfounded. "I thought it was self-explanatory."
"Huh?"
Sam pointed to all the cars around them. "Supplies, Faith. SUPPLIES."
"Oooh…" Faith said, nodding her head. "I got you."
"Then what are you waiting for?!" Sam asked, already starting his search on a car. "Hop to it!"
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The gun felt heavy in his hands as Daniel stood on top of the van. He was sure that rifles like these weren't so heavy before. That's when Daniel started to think.
Am I getting weak?
It was true, he and the group hadn't eaten anything a decent meal in the past couple of days. Ever since this nightmare began, everyone was so busy scavenging and trying to survive, no one could really wind down and take time to look after themselves. Daniel looked down at the sun roof of the van and saw his reflection. To say he was shocked would have been an understatement.
Dark eye bags had formed beneath his eyes, giving him a ghastly appearance. His glasses had hidden most of his eyes but without them, he looked sickly. His face appeared gaunt as well, as if he were malnourished severely. He was also dirty beyond comprehension. Daniel sure as hell didn't feel as bad as he looked, but upon seeing his reflection, he had second thoughts.
Damn… How long has it been since I had a decent shower?
Daniel sat down on the roof of the van, sighing. To be blunt, he was a pothead and a college dropout. He was caught with the possession of marijuana on the school campus back at Berkeley University and was expelled on the spot. In short, his life was over. He could no longer attend school, he couldn't afford an education, and he was out of a job. Life became a downward spiraling staircase and he was the unlucky sap that happened to leap down. Before all of this started, he wished something would happen, something that always happened in those books he had read when he was younger. Tragedy strikes and a hero rose to save the day and blah blah blah. It was one of those childhood fantasies he occasionally had.
Daniel had asked for a tragedy but this wasn't what he had in mind. Now, in the present, a real tragedy struck the whole earth and he could no longer be see himself as the protagonist but merely as a bystander caught in the full blast of the catastrophe. There would be no happy ending or a satisfying conclusion.
"One day…" Daniel muttered to himself unwittingly. "I am going to die. It might be tomorrow… Hell, it might even be today, who knows?"
And that was the reality of things. He was going to die one day. And so were his friends.
"I can't take this anymore." Daniel said, reaching into his jacket's pocket. "I need a smoke."
From the inside of his jacket, Daniel pulled out a small pharmaceutical container and a small roll of paper. Cutting a small piece of paper off with his pocketknife, he popped the container opened and poured some of the crushed leaves onto the slip. As the enrapturing smell hit his nose, Daniel slowly felt his worries slip away and his craving kick in.
Tightening the roll around the crushed marijuana, Daniel pocketed everything and pulled out a silver cased lighter. On the lighter were the letters D.I, his initials. He flicked the wheel and saw the sparks fly. Soon, his roll was burning. Breathing in the sweet smoke, Daniel let it back out.
"I really needed that." Daniel said, his blunt in one hand and the rifle resting in the other.
He thought back to the vacation his friends were on. The period when he was finally back with his friends was when he finally felt alive again. Of course, his friends didn't know anything about his destitute situation at first but when Daniel broke the news to them, all hell broke loose.
Especially his brother Paul.
He went absolute bat-shit crazy on me… Daniel reminisced to himself.
But even so, it didn't bother him. His friends still loved him the same. But that happiness was cut short as real hell broke loose on Earth.
Still can't believe this is going on…
He brought the paper back to his mouth, about to take another inhale when a terrible odor hit his nose. He at first thought his scent had gone bad, smelling the marijuana differently than he had before but he smoked long enough to be able to distinguish between the scent of weed and anything else.
And this was definitely not the smell of his weed he was smelling.
Daniel looked over the edge of the van and the shield that his marijuana had created was shattered.
Around his van and along the cars, a horde of walkers had swarmed the area. Daniel was exasperated find the situation he had found himself in. He would be able to wait the walkers out without having to worry too much about getting caught. By now, he was probably in the eye of the storm.
And that's when it struck him.
His friends were still out there.
And there was no way he could alert them.
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"God… This is disgusting…" Faith said as she opened the door of an abandoned car. There was blood deeply stained into the expensive leather of the car. Whoever used this car before must have been in a deadly struggle. The side mirror was broken off and the window next to the driver's seat was smashed to pieces with strips of cloth hanging on the shards and blood specked all over the place.
"It's gotta get done." Sam said, shutting a car door behind him and walking towards Faith. "We may not be in dire need for most of these things but when the luxuries of our previous lives fall away, everything will be invaluable."
Faith shot a glance at Sam. "Can you ever talk like a normal person and use simple words for once, please? For my sanity?"
Sam rolled his eyes as he looked into the car Faith was scavenging. "Whatever you say, miss."
"I doubt that you will follow up with that…" Faith muttered to herself.
"Look!" Sam said as he rummaged through the car. "You overlooked so many things in this car!"
Faith sighed as she took reluctantly looked back into the gore sight she tore her eyes away from earlier. As her eyes scanned the car again, she had to agree with Sam. She had ignored a lot of things. In the passenger seat, there was black compound bow with a case full of brightly painted arrows. Sam had opened the glove compartment and pulled out a snub-nosed revolver. Faith took out the bow and arrows and slung it over her shoulder.
"You think you'll know how to use that?" Sam asked her as he released the hammer on the revolver. "Bows are some tough stuff to work with."
Faith gripped the bow grip tightly as she pulled the elastic banding. It required a lot of force but eventually, Faith pulled the banding back far enough. "I'll learn."
"You better." Sam said, counting the bullets in the chamber. "You get yourself pinned down by walkers and you pull a bow like that, you are going to be devoured faster than I can say 'Boba'"
Faith glared at Sam. "Don't say that! You're gonna end up letting it happen!"
Sam chuckled, holstering the revolver into his inner jacket pocket. "Not with us around. Don't trip Faith. The only time you'll have to worry about that is when everyone is dead."
"Now you got me even more worried."
"Sigh. Forget it then."
Faith shook her head as she took one last glance at the car and she peered into the backseat.
What she saw deeply engraved that very image into her mind.
The backseat was even worse than the front when it came to gore. Literally gallons of blood were spread along the seating. On the seats, there were several infant toys, all equally drenched with dark blood. There was also a car seat, the ones specifically designed for toddler use. In the seat was a pool of blood, sitting motionlessly, and glinting sunlight off the dark, fluorescent sheen. The glass window was covered in chunks of bright pink flesh that had hardened onto the glass. Blood was everywhere on the glass. With a careful eye, one could even make out a small handprint left by a toddler on the glass.
Faith bolted out of the car and threw up in front of it, much to Sam's surprise. She held her head down, feeling the wave of nausea take over. She gasped for breath as leaned against the front of the car. Sam went over to her and helped her upright.
"Are you alright?" He asked, concerned.
Faith slowly nodded her head, she almost felt like crying.
"What's wrong?" Sam asked, wiping the bile from her lips with a gloved finger.
She merely pointed at towards the backseat of the car with a shaky finger.
Sam followed her finger and approached the same car door. While leaning on the front, Faith heard Sam mutter something in a horrified manner. When he came back, his face was pale, as if he had seen something terrible, similar to Faith.
"We best get a move on." Sam said, taking deep breaths. He too was taken aback by the sight in the backseat. "You good?"
"Yeah." Faith said, wiping her mouth for good measure. "I-I think I'm better."
"Good. Let's get going."
The two began to walk back to Daniel, keeping an even pace on one another. Sam glanced at Faith and sighed.
"What is it?" Faith asked.
Sam stuck out a lip. "You say you're okay yet your face tells me otherwise."
Faith shook her head. "Sam, I said I'm fine."
"You sure as hell don't look like it though." Sam stated adamantly.
Faith said nothing.
"Look, I know you are a strong person. You're probably stronger than most of the group members. But that doesn't mean you need to act it when you're not. It's okay to let others know when you aren't feeling game."
"I-I'm…" Faith started to say. Then she sighed. "Look, do we have to this now?"
Sam shrugged. "It's up to you."
Faith sighed again. "The thing took me off guard was not the blood and gore… It's the fact that there was a car seat in the backseat… A child, maybe even a toddler, was caught up in this mess… It's just… Oh, I don't know… Saddening…"
"I know what you mean." Sam said sympathetically.
Faith remained silent.
"It's funny what the world has come, isn't it?" Sam said, leaning on a car.
Faith leaned on the same car. "Funny wouldn't be the word I'd use to describe it…"
Sam let out a small laugh. "Yeah, I guess..."
Sam continued. "But I think what the funny thing is that several days ago, I was complaining about life. Our previous life, mind you. Complaining about traffic, school, personal life… And now… in this… twisted sort of fate, all of those things were taken away… I would do anything to have all of it back…"
"For all those problems, "Faith said. "Anything?"
Sam nodded. "Anything."
Faith sighed as she leaned her head on Sam's shoulder. "I could say the same… Finish all Med School exams… Graduate… Become a world renown doctor and make lots of money… and then settle down and enjoy the rest of life… THAT would have been my life…"
"Would have…" Sam muttered to himself.
Faith glanced up at Sam and asked, "Do you think all of this will be cleared up soon?"
"I hope so…" Sam said, sighing. "I want all of this to go away as badly as you do."
Faith smiled, "Glad to hear that you're still human in that head of yours."
"Of course I'm still human." Sam said, in a matter-of-fact way. "What makes you think I'm not?"
"Oh I don't know…" Faith said sarcastically. "Your best friend suddenly packs up and leaves the group without much a word or so?"
Sam slumped back onto the car. "I still don't know what to do about that… I mean Kenny… why would he…?"
"Quit killing yourself over that." Faith said, patting his shoulder. "And what was that earlier?... about not acting tough when you're not?"
"I am tough."
"Oh, please…" Faith said playfully. "You couldn't hurt a fly."
Sam snorted. "Excuse me while I go clean all the BS out of my ear right now."
"Oh please do." Faith replied. "You'll probably need an electrical drill for that."
The two laughed.
"Y'know…" Sam said. "We've all been trying so hard to survive, we've all forgotten how to live…"
Faith nodded her head slowly. "It's good to hear the laughter of another person…"
Sam smiled.
His face suddenly went dark.
"Wh-what's wrong?" Faith asked, pushing herself off the car, her senses heightening.
Sam glanced around. "You hear that?"
Faith honed in on whatever noise was around her. Listening acutely, she heard the shuffling of padded feet and the occasional moan. A noxious smell had also hit both of their noses. Faith held her hand to her mouth.
Sam gritted his teeth. "Walkers… We were being careless."
Faith felt her heart rate skyrocket. "Why didn't Daniel alert us a horde was coming?"
"I don't know." Sam said. "Whatever the reason, it can't be a good one."
Faith looked around. "What the hell do we do?"
Sam thought for a moment. The direction in which they were walking was the source of the sound. They needed to the head the opposite way if they were to avoid the horde of walkers that was inbound any moment. He looked at Faith.
"Head back down."
She nodded and began to walk back down the highway in which they were scavenging previously without hesitation. Sam trailed slightly behind, trying to unsuccessfully get a visual on the walkers. As they approached the car they rummaged through earlier, Faith's heart dropped.
There was a horde coming from the other direction.
She had never seen anything of the sort.
"Get down!" Sam whispered furiously as he pulled Faith behind the car. As she hid behind the car, a walker briskly passed by, unaware of the two.
Faith looked at Sam, her eyes filled with terror. "We're caught between two hordes of walkers and we have virtually no way out… What the hell are we gonna do? We're stuck in the open like this!"
Sam looked around the cars. They could try to hide in the cars but then they would risk being seen by the walkers. If that were to happen, they would be boxed in with no way out. Sam looked at the roof of the car they searched earlier.
That's it!
He looked at Faith who was terribly scared. "Come here."
"Wh-what do you plan on doing?" Faith whispered shakily.
"Getting you the hell out of here." Sam said. "Now come here and extend your foot."
Sam used his hands as a step for Faith to get onto the roof of the car. Once Faith had most of her upper body above the roof level, she managed herself. Every movement she made sounded like thunderclaps and clanging metal in her head but the walkers did not seem to notice as she slowly sidled down on to the roof.
Faith eventually settled herself onto the roof despite her shaky disposition. She looked back down at Sam.
"What are you waiting for?" She whispered. "Get up!"
"Okay, okay!" Sam said, hoisting himself onto the trunk.
As he did, Faith heard a loud snarl.
Looking back down again, Faith saw that Sam had attracted the attention of a wandering walker. It shambled towards him and grabbed his shoulders, much to his shock. Sam, unable to respond, simply held onto the car trunk helplessly. The walker clamped its teeth onto his shoulder.
Faith shut her eyes, unable to witness the scene about to unfold before her.
No… What the hell am I doing?! I need to do something
Faith thought fast and hard about what to do. Sam's life was at stake.
….
…
…
The bow and arrow!
She quickly unfastened the arrow container and brought it to the elastic banding on her bow. Feeling the arrow come into place, she pulled as hard as she could. She took aim at Sam and the walker.
And she let go.
She shut her eyes.
As she did, she heard a THUNK!
Upon opening her eyes, she saw Sam breathing heavily over a fallen body, which turned out to be the walker. His face was covered in dark blood.
"Oh my god! Weren't you bitten?!" Faith whispered, nearly screaming silently.
Sam shakily shook his head no.
Faith saw a huge tear in Sam's backpack strap and the shoulder portion of his leather jacket. The walker had indeed bitten through the strap and jacket but was unable to bite deep enough to inflict any wound of a sort.
"The walker bit into my backpack strap luckily…"
Faith felt tears welling in her eyes. "I-I thought I lost you!"
Sam managed a small shaky smile. "Aw… you care about me…"
"Please don't ruin the moment…"
Sam devised another plan and checked the car trunk. It opened with creak. Slowly, he fit himself into the SUV's trunk and shut the door behind him. Faith lay on the roof in a fetal position, praying that no walker would see her. She had to wait out until the horde had passed.
When she lay there, it felt like an eternity for all the shuffling feet and moaning voices to pass her. They all unnerved her.
Then, after what felt like sheer eternity, Faith looked over her shoulder and saw that the walkers had all wandered off. Sam must have noticed too because the trunk door slowly opened again. Sam emerged from the car, barely able to catch his breath. He looked up at Faith and she looked back down at him.
"Well… That happened." Sam muttered.
"Yeah…" Faith said in a shaky voice. "It did."
"Thanks for saving my ass back there." Sam said, looking down at the walker from earlier and back at Faith.
"Well, I DO care about you, Sam."
"Awwww… ain't that sweet."
"Can it."
Sam shrugged as he walked slowly from the back of the car and onto the highway straight. He couldn't see any walkers.
"I think we're good." Sam said, giving Faith a quick glance. "You ready to come down?"
Faith nodded as Sam approached her, extending his arms.
"I got you. Don't worry about it."
Faith did a small leap off the roof and landed on her feet. She dusted herself off. Sam whistled.
"Badass." He said, smirking.
Faith smiled slightly. She looked back down at the walker and reached for her arrow. It wouldn't budge. Putting her foot on its head, she pulled as hard as she could and soon enough, the arrow popped out loose. The tip was covered in black, decayed flesh and smelled terrible.
"Oh God…" Faith muttered, shoving the arrow back into the case.
Sam looked over her shoulder and saw no walkers in sight.
"All right." He said, pacing around slightly.
"That horde will have given us some precious time by blocking the pathway for the other oncoming horde. We better get a move along, ASAP."
"But what about Daniel?" Faith asked, concerned as she looked back towards where they came from. "Are we just gonna leave him?"
"Knowing Daniel," Sam started to say. "He'll probably be out of trouble. He'll manage on his own for now."
"But-"
Sam grabbed Faith's shoulders. "Look, I know you care about Daniel. I know how close you are to him but he'll be fine. I promise. He'll make it out alive."
Faith sighed. "Yeah, okay."
The two stood there, looking around.
"We can't head back that way…" Sam muttered. "So we can't regroup with everyone back at the apartment…"
"And we can't just blatantly walk forward on this highway…" Faith said. "We're only going to push ourselves further from the group…"
"And we can't just wait out the horde either…" Sam added. "We might get pinned down… Considering that we can't do a detour, we may even have to spend the night away from the group… Where to?"
Sam thought long and hard but no thought came into his head.
"How about that?" Faith suggested.
Sam looked up and saw that Faith was pointing at a billboard of some sort. Following her finger, Sam saw where she was pointing at and read the billboard.
SAN FRANCISCO AIRPORT: NEXT EXIT ¼ of a mile.
Sam looked at Faith and smiled.
"That's more like it."
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(A/N): THANKS FOR READING Y'ALL. HOPE YOU ENJOYED IT! I'M GOING TO WRITE ONE MORE CHAPTER AND I'LL BE DONE… Who knows, I might come back and write some more! Anywho, I hoped you enjoyed it as much I did writing it.
Give HyRool some love! Leave a word or something for him!
Until Next Time,
~SAYONARA~