.:Raelyn | 27 *Present*:.
Once Glenn and I reached the bottom of the ladder, there was really only one direction to go... Straight forward into the damp, rat infested tunnel that I couldn't see the end of, not even with the help of my flashlight. Chills ran up my spine, pricklin' at the back of my neck as I remembered we were actually about to walk into that... Great idea, this was.
"Okay... Let's go..." Glenn peeped out timidly, makin' me shake my head.
"Hey, I said I'd come with ya, not lead the way." I warned the young Asian man as I motioned my flashlight forward, "You go first."
Glenn sighed but reluctantly set off into the tunnel, and I kept my word, stayin' close behind.
We'd only made it about fives steps before somethin' got caught under my foot, wrigglin' violently.
I gasped loudly as I looked down, realizin' I'd stepped right ontop of a rat. It's squeal was one of the loudest things I'd ever heard, and it scared the livin' daylights outta me. I jumped back instantly, my feet splashin' in the shallow puddles as I braced myself against the wall.
"Little fucker..." I hissed as I pointed my flashlight at the rodent just in time to catch his tail as he scampered away. I glanced up to see Glenn standin' aside, holdin' back chuckles as I regrouped myself, "What're you laughin' at?"
"Nothing." Glenn replied over his shoulder as we started walkin' again. "It's just you act pretty tough, for a girl. Didn't think you'd be scared of rats."
"I ain't scared of 'em." I corrected Glenn, "That one just startled me. Don't see me freakin' out about those ones, do ya?" I pointed my light at a group festerin' in the corner, lookin' huge, greasy and mutated, "Damn, those suckers are big, though... What if these sewer rats could get infected with the Walker disease? Holy shit..."
My mind started racin', thinkin' about how crazy that would be. It reminded me of the black plague, the one from the medieval times that you learn about in high school that was caused by rats. Well, fleas on rats, but close enough.
The walker disease was like that, only super charged, and frankly a lot more horrifyin'...
Eventually, after walkin' for what seemed like miles in the dark, we reached a slight drop in the tunnel, and a door that had nothin' on it but a faded yellow and black triangle symbol. The hinges creaked as Glenn pushed it open, and it was so high pitched it sent chills racin' up and down my spine. The other side was just as dark, but I could see somethin' blockin' the tunnel up ahead a few feet.
"Yep, this definitely looks like a sewer." I grumbled as I observed the slimey walls and grungy floors with my flashlight, makin' a face, "Smells like one, too..."
"Shit, it's a grate..." Glenn whispered as we approached the corkscrewed metal bars welded into the tunnel, "You think we could cut through it?"
I heard myself sarcastically scoff as I stared up at the grate. "Yea, with what? Our blowtorches?" I knocked on the bars, "This thing's solid."
Suddenly, there was a sloshin' sound comin' from the other side of the grate, like somethin' was wallowin' in the water. Glenn and I each aimed our flashlights down, and let out startled screams as we came face to face with a nasty, waterlogged walker.
We doubled back, our initial fear subsidin' when we realized he couldn't get to us. He wanted to, though... His arms were outstretched through the gaps in the bars, and he was clutchin' somethin' bloody in his hand... Obviously he'd been eatin' it, 'cause the blood was caked all over his mouth, too.
"Jesus..." Glenn breathed as the undead thing roared and screeched at us, pressin' it's body into the metal bars.
"I didn't even see him there..." I whispered, squintin' my eyes at whatever was in the walker's hand, "What that he's eatin'?"
"A rat..." Glenn grumbled back in a morbid tone, soundin' like he might puke, "A big, juicy... Rat."
I lowered my flashlight away from the walker, still hearin' it's hungry growls in the darkness, "Yummy."
There was a short pause before Glenn turned to me and said what we both didn't want to hear, as much as we hated bein' down in these tunnels.
"Well, I'm pretty sure this tells us that the sewer's a no-go..." He sighed in defeat, "Let's head back."
I nodded in agreement and followed Glenn back through the door, and into the dark tunnel. The way back seemed a lot faster than the way there, probably because we knew what we were headed for, and what to expect... Sort of.
Just as the light became visible at the end of the drainage pipe, my ears perked up at the sharp sound of shatterin' glass, comin' from the front of the store...
Glenn and I instantly exchanged wide eyed glances of panic.
"Rick and Andrea..." He whispered urgently, and we took off fast as lightnin', somehow manangin' to clamber up that ladder without breakin' our legs.
Luckily, Glenn really did know this department store up and down, so all I had do was follow behind him while he lead me around two corners and down a long hall like a human GPS.
It didn't take us long before we wound up in that little boutique full of cute clothes and jewelry, where Rick and Andrea stood with their guns pointed at the glass doors. Jackie and Morales were close behind, and everyone was starin' at the same thing...
The peril that was unfoldin' outside. The geeks had managed to use their combined weight to pound and smash the first set of glass doors to their shatterin' point. Now, they were that much closer, and doin' fast work on the second set, the only thing standin' between us and them.
"What'd you find down there?" Rick growled urgently in my direction, never takin' his eyes or gun off the walkers.
"Nothin' pretty..." I muttered back, "Definitely not a way out."
Everyone gasped and shrank back away from the doors as a big crack started to splinter in the middle of the glass, just like what had happened to the first set the last time we were all down here. We didn't have much time... Those things were just pilin' up out there, soon they'd just bust on through and devour us all, if we didn't do somethin'...
"We need to find a way!" Andrea said urgently, and I glared at her, even though she didn't notice.
No shit we needed to find a damn way.
We needed another plan, fast. A good one, one that would actually save our asses. But, right now, everyone knew our only option for the moment... Go back to the roof.
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T-Dog and Merle were still up there waitin' on us when we all burst through the door leadin' from the stairwell to the roof.
"Any luck with the signal, T-Dog?" Morales asked in a dry tone, as if he already knew the answer.
T-Dog shook his head, which was what I was expectin'.
"Been yellin' into this thing the entire time ya'll been gone," He grumbled in reply, still tryin' to tweak the knob on the top of the device, "Nobody can hear me out there."
Rick sighed in frustration, snatchin' a convenient pair of binoculars restin' near Merle's head. He quickly made his way to the south corner of the building, his boots clankin' as he crossed the metal grate, with all of us except T-Dog, and of course Merle, eagerly and quietly followin' behind.
Andrea, Glenn, Jackie, Morales, and I lined up single file behind the police officer, leanin' against the ledge and watchin' him scan the entire perimeter of the department store with the binoculars. We were all real fidgety, but tried our hardest to wait as patiently as we could for him to say somethin'.
When Rick stopped movin' and set his sights through the binoculars at a fixed point, I followed the path of his vision to an old construction site, fenced off and Walker free. There wasn't much in there but some lumber, sheet metal, a small one story buildin' that looked like an office of some sort, and two white box trucks.
"That construction site..." Rick began in a husky voice, lowerin' the binoculars and turnin' to flash his eyes down the line of us, "Those trucks... They always keep keys on hand."
Morales then motioned for the binoculars, and Rick reached passed Andrea to hand them off. The stalky Hispanic man took a second to peer through them to get a better look at the ground, but I knew what he was lookin' at, and you didn't exactly need binoculars to see 'em.
"You'll never get passed the walkers." Morales told Rick grimly, now lowering the binoculars from his own eyes.
Rick didn't seem to wanna take that for an answer, and quickly turned to Glenn. "Well, you got me outta that tank. I got passed 'em then."
"That's because they were feeding," Glenn countered, steppin' away from the wall, "They were distracted. It was all luck."
As I listened to Rick and Glenn bantor back and forth, I wondered how in the hell Rick could have possibly gotten himself stuck inside a tank...
"Can't we distract them again?" Rick asked hopefully.
Everyone looked around at each other skeptically, until Merle's raspy voice suddenly spoke up behind me.
"Naw, listen to 'im. He's onto somethin'." The redneck started off, but by the tone of his voice I knew some smart-ass remark was coming, "A diversion... Y'know, like Hogan's Heros."
I rolled my eyes as Merle chuckled dryly, really wishin' I could find some duct tape right about now for that mouth of his...
"Give it a rest, Merle." I growled at him over my shoulder, "Nobody's in the mood for yer stupid comments."
He surprised me and didn't say anything back, and just grumbled to himself, lettin' his head hang low with a nasty scowl on his face.
"They're drawn to us by sound, right?" Rick muttered as he brainstormed, leanin' his back against the ledge of the roof and strokin' his scruff chin.
"Right." I clarified with a nod as I took a few steps closer to the group.
"Like dogs," Glenn quickly added in, "They hear sound, they come."
"Okay..." Rick said, seemin' like he was takin' notes in his mind, then glanced around at us all, "What else?"
"Well," Now it was Morales's turn to add into the conversation, "They can see you, hear you, smell you... And if they catch you, they eat you."
I flinched slightly as he said the word "eat", absent mindedly tuggin' down on the hem of my black tank top. Sometimes, I forgot about the bite mark etched into my side as a raised pink scar, and to this day it still terrified me as to why I never turned after bein' bit by one of those freaks... The possibility was still there that I could turn at any moment... But it was been weeks since it happened, so I was tryin' to stay as hopeful as possible.
"They can tell us by smell?" Rick asked, raisin' his eyebrows at Morales, who nodded.
"Can't you?" Glenn piped up.
He had a point. None of us smelled like soap or roses, that was for sure. But that was somethin' you stop noticin' after a while. Ya shower when ya can.
"They smell dead, we don't." Andrea said, crossin' her arms over her chest, "It's pretty distinct. Where are you goin' with this, Rick...?"
The sheriff took a long pause, runnin' his head through his dark, wavy hair and lookin' all around at us, his expression just dreadful... Finally, he let out a sigh, and put his hands on his hips.
"All right, I got a plan, but it ain't gonna be pretty... Everyone, follow me. You too, T-Dog, we'll need ya."
As we all followed behind Rick back down into the dark, musty stairwell, I hung at the back of the group, stealin' a lingerin' glance at the back of Merle's head, and I couldn't help but worry about him bein' up here on his own... But he deserved the predicament he was in. At the rate things were goin' earlier, he was gonna get everyone killed.
So, I swallowed my sympathy and straightened up before disappearin' through the rusty metal door behind the others. I wasn't gonna let my feelin's get in the way of me doin' whatever I could to help get us the hell outta here.
Rick made our path through the store quick and efficient, first passin' through the garden center to get some heavy duty gloves... I was already gettin' anxious as to what exactly Rick's plan was. So, naturally, I had to ask, as we headed to the janitor's closet and Rick busted the lock with the butt of his gun.
"Okay, so are you ever gonna tell us this plan of yours, Officer?" I said from behind Rick as he pulled out two white zip up body suits, lookin' like they'd fit Morales and T-Dog perfectly, so he tossed them over.
They each caught one, lookin' skeptical as they examined 'em in their hands.
"Well, they can tell us by smell." Rick started to say, leadin' our group back into the boutique and straight to the khaki section. "So, we need to make it so we smell like them." He paused, lookin' over his shoulder at all us starin' at him quizzically. "There's an ax in the storage room we came in at earlier. Dead walkers in the alley way. You follow me?"
There was a pause amoung us as everyone put two and two together, and it was a domino affect as one by one, each of our faces twisted up in disgust.
"Oh, God...!" Andrea groaned from next to me, "That's sick!"
"Maybe." Rick grumbled back, startin' to toss khakis back to each of us, along with white trench coats for everyone besides T-Dog and Morales, "But we have to get to the construction site, we need those trucks for our get-away outta this shit storm."
"So, what, we're all just gonna cover ourselves in rotten guts, and stroll our way down the street six blocks?" Jackie demanded, from the back, soundin' horrified.
"Not all of us." Rick corrected her with a shake of his head, "Just Glenn, Rae and I."
At that moment, Glenn and I both perked up at the same time, our eyes wide and faces pale.
"What?!" We both gasped in unison.
"Just like you said before, Glenn." Rick started to explain as he looked at each of us sternly, "You two are the smallest and fastest. I need ya out there in case shit hits the fan, for extra cover. But this'll work... It should work."
I nodded in disbelief at what I was hearin'. "Great. Just great."
"If bad ideas were an Olympic event, this would take the gold..." Glenn mumbled as all the color drained out of his face, and he absent mindedly caught the pair of khaki pants soarin' towards his head.
"We'll be fine." Rick assured us before startin' to lead everyone off in the direction of the storage room, where we first busted in earlier, "Everyone got gloves? This is gonna get messy."
"Glenn's right," Morales said urgently, followin' right behind Rick, "Just stop. This is crazy, take some time to think it through."
"How much time?" Rick snapped over his shoulder, "Those freaks already busted through one set of doors, and that glass won't hold forever."
Morales shut up, obviously knowin' Rick was right, and proceeded to help him and T-Dog clear space as the rest of us pulled on our white trench coats and khakis over our regular street clothes. When we were done and had our gloves on, we looked like the members of some gruesome crime scene clean up crew.
When there was enough room for us to all move about freely, Rick, T-Dog, and Morales pulled on their protective clothes, and headed over to the door to the alley way. Glenn followed behind, and I could see 'em workin' out a plan amongst themselves, before countin' to three, and havin' Glenn throw open the door.
I could hear scufflin' footsteps and a series of gruntin' out in the alley way, as well as a few distant shrieks of stragglin' geeks in the street. Before too long, the three men reappeared, workin' together to drag one of the dead bodies layin' in the alley way into the storage room.
Glenn slammed the heavy metal door shut behind them, and they dropped the rotting corpse in the middle of the floor. We all hesitantly moved forward, formin' a circle around the dead walker.
It was a man, or had been, with short blonde hair and a thin build. He was wearin' a red striped shirt and a regular pair of jeans with a brown belt, all of which were coated in crusty dirt, blood and grime. His head had a gapin' hole in the right side from where it had been fatally bashed in with a blunt object, and his face was frozen in a horrible scream.
I gulped as I watched Rick slip on a visor with a big, plastic safety shield, and picked up a crowbar from the corner of the room. He briskly made his way to a glass case on the wall, protectin' a big red ax with a razor sharp blade.
The police officer didn't waste any time in smashin' that glass, and even though I watched him do it, the loud sound made me jump. When all the shards were outta the way, Rick tossed the crowbar aside and carefully reached into the shell of the case, snatchin' the ax and graspin' it in both hands.
My heart raced as we waited, all of us watchin' Rick pace around, listenin' to his deep breathin'. He was preparin' himself for what was about to happen, and in my mind I was doin' my best to do the same...
Everyone tensed as Rick suddenly raised the ax and lunged forward, but unexpectedly stopped short, causin' all of our muscles to deflate in slight relief. Rick then tore the protective visor off and tossed the ax to the side with a loud clank against the cement floor.
He then dropped to his knees beside the body and started diggin' through the pockets of its jeans until he pulled out a plain brown wallet. Rick unfolded it and pulled out a laminated card; the used-to-be person's driver's license.
"Wayne Dunlap." He read off the name on the ID, his voice quiet but loud in the silence, "Georgia license. Born... 1979."
As Rick handed the license over to Glenn, I calculated Wayne Dunlap's age in my head... It was the middle of 2010, so he would have been... 31. Daryl's age... My heart instantly sank.
Rick continued siftin' through the man's wallet, examinin' some stray bills of money that looked so foreign and unimportant now, "He had twenty-eight dollars in his pocket when he died..." He flipped a section of the wallet open to reveal a picture of a young woman with short blonde hair cut just below her chin, "And a picture of a pretty girl..."
Everyone watched in silence as Rick solemnly pulled the small photo from Wayne's wallet, readin' some chicken scratch on the back. "With love... From, Rachel."
He let out a shaky sigh, pausin' for a long few seconds before lookin' back up at the group of us, his lips pressed into a tight line. "He used to be like us. Worryin' about bills, or the rent... Or the superb owl..."
I stared at the ground, stayin' silent and mourin' Wayne for a few seconds. Even though I obviously hadn't known the man, nobody deserved to go out like that, as one of those flesh eatin' monsters...
"If I ever find my family, I'm gonna tell 'em about Wayne." Rick finishes honorably, before tuckin' the wallet back into the dead body's pocket, standin' up and replacin' his head gear, finally grabbin' the ax off the ground and holdin' it firmly.
Oh, God, he was really gonna do it now...
"Wait!" Glenn piped up as he glared down at the driver's license in his hand, "One more thing... He's an organ donor."
Everyone silently stared at Glenn with disgusted, morbid expressions on their faces, includin' me.
"Thank you, Glenn, for creepin' me out even more..." I grumbled, starin' at Wayne and startin' to feel sick to my stomach.
Before I knew it, Rick was takin' his first swing at the dead body, plungin' the ax blade deep into its bloated belly with a sickeni' squelchin' sound. Everyone flinched and made sounds of morbid disapproval, includin' Rick. After another few swings, the room was filled with the most putrid stench I'd ever experienced, and it was gettin' really hard not to gag...
Glenn was particularly sensitive to all this, hangin' back and watchin' the action with his hands braced on his head and his eyes wide and horrified, like he was witnessin' a murder.
By now, Wayne had only on limb left, the others severed and chopped into chunks, and his torso looked like ground beef that'd been sittin' out in the sun for about a week.
Rick backed off, slumpin' his shoulders and breathin' heavy, and for a second I thought he was done... Until he handed the ax and visor off to Morales.
"You chop it." He said breathlessly to the Hispanic man, who looked completely horrified, but complied.
Once Morales was ready, he chopped into the body a few good times, makin' the entire group moan and squirm in disgust.
"Ohhh..." Glenn groaned, droppin' down to a crouched position and holdin' his stomach, "So gonna hurl..."
"Later." Rick said as he tossed a glance at the Asian over his shoulder.
Soon, Morales backed away from the body, tossin' down the ax and hastily strippin' the visor. For a second we all just stood starin' at the minced up mess that used to be a body, until Rick started givin' us direction again.
"Okay, ya'll... Dig in." He grumbled to us as he leaned down to the body, stickin' his hands right in and scoopin' up a heap of guts, "Get us nice and bloody."
Rick then proceeded to smear the bloody goop down the front of his chest, frownin' as he rubbed it into the white fabric.
The rest of us exchanged glances before stoopin' down to grab some ourselves... I expected it to be warm, but really, it was kinda cold... It was a dead body, after all. It was just strange... And of course, completely revoltin'.
"Oh, this is bad." Glenn moaned as Jackie ripped an intestine from Wayne's insides and draped it over his neck, while Andrea simultaneously smeared him with goo, "This is really bad..."
"Think about somethin' else..." I suggested as I bent down to the rotten mess and grabbed a good handful, slappin' it onto my right pant leg and rubbin' it in like lotion.
"Yea, like... Puppies and kittens." Rick offered up in a grumble.
"Dead puppies and kittens..." T-Dog added in.
"Hey, I was just about to say that-" I said, the loud hackin' sound comin' from Glenn finally upchuckin' cuttin' me off.
Jackie, Morales and I were the closest to him, and instantly backed away. We were already drenchin' ourselves in walker slime, we didn't need puke added to the mix.
"That is just evil," Andrea scolded T-Dog from across the room as Glenn lurched again, "What is wrong with you?"
T-Dog just shrugged and continued slatherin' blood and guts all over Rick' back.
"Next time, let the crack'a beat 'is ass." Jackie said jokingly to Rick as she aided T-Dog in paintin' him, smirkin' a bit in his direction.
When Glenn was finally done hackin', he stayed stooped over for a second, and grumbled up to the sheriff weakly, "You suck..."
After about five minutes, Rick, Glenn and I were covered head to toe in blood and guts. Not the best look.
"Do we smell like them...?" I asked, scrunchin' up my nose and holdin' my arms out away from my sides. I already knew the answer to the question.
"Oh, yea..." Andrea replied anyway. "Glenn." She walked over to the still sickly Asian, holdin' a silver handgun out to 'im in her clean, ungloved hands. "Just in case."
He nodded thankfully, and she cautiously stuck the weapon into the waist band of his blood soaked pants, careful not to contaminate her skin.
"All right, ya'll." Rick spoke up again, "When we get back here, be ready."
"Wait," I said, a thought suddenly crossin' my mind that had been clouded by this whole gorey mess, "What about Merle?"
Rick's face fell in the silence that followed, showin' me he hadn't really thought of that... Never the less, he urgently stripped one of his gloves off, and carefully dug into his pocket. When he pulled out a tiny gold key, he tossed it underhand to T-Dog, who swiftly caught it and studied it in his palm.
After a second, he looked up with a serious look on his face, noddin' to show he understood his responsibility.
Rick nodded back to him and made solid eye contact before turnin' to Morales and holdin' out his hand. "Gimme that ax."
Morales tossed the weapon over to the police officer, who grumbled, "We need more guts..."
This time he swung the ax down a lot faster, splatterin' the guts about and sprayin' our pant legs.
Now it was me that was probably gonna hurl next...
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"I really hope this works..." I groaned almost silently as Rick, Glenn and I stood by the door, Morales waitin' behind us to open and shut it.
"Just remember." Rick instructed as he turned to Glenn and I, intently starin' us both in the face, "Stay close, walk like them, and most importantly... Don't draw attention. Everyone got their weapon?"
Glenn and I nodded, placin' our hands on our pistols jammed into our waste bands for the worst case scenario, which made me even sicker than I already was to think about...
"All right." Officer friendly whispered as he turned around and nodded to Morales, who pushed the door open, "Here we go."
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.: Daryl | 31 *Present* :.
Damn, this buck was givin' me hell. What was he, made'a stone? I'd already lost four arrows tryin' to nail 'im in his kill zone, an' I only had three more in my quiver, so I had to be careful now.
Luckily, I had my huntin' knife in its leather sheath strapped to my belt, just in case I had an unwanted guest try to sneak up on me... That wasn't real likely, though. No walkers this far out in the hills... Not yet, at least.
I spent a lot'a time thinkin' about Merle while I was out roamin' these trees, huntin' down a meal like a wild animal. I dunno why he volunteered to go on that run with Glenn and those other clowns in the first place. I hadn't been back to camp in over 24 hours, so I was hopin' they were all back already.
If they got themselves trapped trapped an' eatin' alive, the blood'a my brother was on their hands... But I guess it wouldn't really matter if they were all dead, it'd just be a nasty case of the blind leadin' the blind.
I'd tried to talk Merle out of goin' along with 'em the other mornin', but he wasn't havin' it. I shoulda known and just not wasted my breath, that brother of mine was stubborn as all hell, just like he'd always been. If anythin', this crazy world had just made him cockier and more power hungry than he was b'fore.
But I dealt with 'im, even though it was impossible sometimes an' we didn't always agree. Hell, sometimes I wanted to drive an arrow straight through his skull and just be done with it. We just had different morals and values, but in the end he was all I had left.
With Rae gone from my life, and an empty hole she left in my heart finally healin' and tryin' to fill itself, I had to make sure Merle stayed by my side.
I knew I could take this bullshit world, but I didn't know if I could do it completely alone...
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To Be Continued...