Chapter 6
Back Ground: I don't know if you can tell, but I have never been to Georgia and I don't know the geography, I'm just writing.
Author's Notes: Sorry for the long breaks between updates, but I'm apparently busy a lot, at least way more than I want to be. Thank you to all that have left a review, I love getting them, seeing new ones pop up, and they keep me writing. Thank you to all that are still reading, I hope you're enjoying the story so far. Remember to review if you haven't already, I love the feedback.
Warning: Slightly graphic scenes
Now back to your regularly scheduled update…..
(A few hours earlier…)
A herd of more than three hundred walkers was walking across a plain field of low grass, randomly sprinkled with trees, next to a long narrow road that was leading out of a small city. The sun had just come up a few minutes ago and the herd was moving slowly up a small rise in the road. The herd was roughly ten miles from our group and they would still be able to surprise them.
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The first thing he was aware of when he woke up was that someone was grabbing at his arm.
Merle had fallen asleep last night with a blanket thrown over his legs, leaning against his tree. He had slept soundly through the night and was now being pulled from his sleep and he was reluctant to do so. He groaned in annoyance and tried to wake up enough to tell Daryl to go back to sleep, thinking it was his younger brother messing around or simply trying to wake him.
The second thing he was aware of when he woke up was a sharp pain shooting up his right arm starting at the wrist. Now Merle was fully awake and he started to scream. He reached for his gun that was lying on the ground by his leg and turned to start bashing in the head of the walker that had a hold of his arm. Blood was everywhere, but Merle was running on pure adrenaline and kept swinging, afraid to lose the adrenaline rush and have the pain of the bite take over.
Now the rest of the group was awake. Merle was vaguely aware of his brother yelling at him to stop, but he continued to smash his gun into what was left of the walker's head a few more times.
XXX
Daryl woke with a start and bolted up to a sitting position when he heard his brother's rough scream. He instinctively reached for his crossbow and gun lying behind him and quickly turned back to look at the make shift camp. The rest of the group had woken up or was now rising at Merle's scream and was now looking around trying to assess the situation as well. But all Daryl could focus on was the huge herd of walkers moving towards the camp and his brother leaning on his bleeding hand for support as he rammed his gun into the head of the walker that had bitten him.
Daryl jumped up and moved closer to his brother, kneeling at his side. He pulled his gun and shot two walkers that were reaching for him, and then he turned back to focus fully on Merle. He tried to get his brother's attention, yelling at him to stop so they could fix his hand.
Daryl watched as Merle finished off the walker's head with the butt of his gun. Merle stopped and tried to control his breathing as he slowly turned to his brother. His face was turning pale and he looked like his was about to go into shock.
XXX
Murphy hadn't had a single nightmare since being with the group and last night was no different. Murphy had been the last to fall asleep last night, watching as the last of the fire burned out and the sound of snoring gradually began to fill his ears.
Now he was startled awake when he heard a scream coming from under the nearby tree soon followed by the sound of gun fire. He sat up and looked to his right; his brother had sat up beside him. Connor was looking past Murphy after realizing he wasn't the one hurt and had a shocked expression on his face. Murphy turned to look to his left and what he saw shocked him as well.
A massive horde of walkers was ambling towards the camp. Merle's hand was bleeding and he was leaning over a walker beating the shit out of it. Daryl moved next to his brother trying to calm him. In less than a minute Sean and Norman jumped up and ran around the tree the Dixon's were occupying and had begun shooting the leading walkers that were getting too close to the camp. Everyone was screaming at each other over the noise and Merle was covered in blood up to his elbows. Connor and Murphy jumped up and ran to help Norman and Sean.
XXX
Connor had always been a light sleeper ever since he was little. He would always be the one to wake up in the middle of the night to take care of his little brother when he woke up after a bad dream or got sick. After the apocalypse hit he was use to waking up to small noises, then watching over his brother until he again fell into a shallow sleep. He was a great hunter; he always seemed to know where the animals were no matter how quietly they moved. So of course Connor was shocked that it was Merle's scream he was awoken by; that he didn't wake up to the sound of three hundred plus walkers trudging towards their small camp.
He looked past his younger brother, relieved he wasn't the one hurt, and watched as Merle pounded on a walker's head. Apparently he had gotten bit. Daryl had knelt down by his side after putting a couple of geeks down and was now yelling over him, trying to get him to stop. Connor turned his head at the sound of more gun fire and watched as Norman and Sean ran in front of the brothers to start firing off rounds as walkers started to get too close.
A moment later and Connor stood up with his brother, each grabbing their guns, and ran over to help them when he realized Norman was trying to get his attention.
Norman was yelling over his shoulder, "Connor, my bag, hand it to Daryl."
Connor had missed the conversation, but immediately did as he was told. He ran back into the camp circle, towards the pile of bags, and dug out Norman's personal bag from the pile. Murphy had run to the front line to help Norman and Sean and Connor took Daryl the bag and knelt beside him, waiting to offer more help. He watched as Daryl shifted a few things in the bag. Merle had moved off the walker and moved to lie down on his back, he looked pale and like he was trying to force himself to relax. Daryl pulled out a small hatchet and looked at Connor with a solemn expression on his face, then turned towards his older brother.
XXX
Norman's eyes shot open when he heard a rough scream coming from the person who had been sleeping a few feet away. Before he had time to react he was being pulled to his feet and Sean was in his face.
"Merle is hurt and we have to stall for time."
Norman wanted to ask what was happening, but then his question was answered when Sean pulled his gun and shot off two rounds over Norman's shoulder. He was then pulled out of the camps circle and he was now the only thing standing between it and a huge herd of zombies.
Sean handed Norman his own gun and an extra clip, "Ready?" he asked. He was wearing a smile on his face.
Norman smiled back with a nod of confirmation and they turned to started firing into the crowd.
XXX
"Merle, snap out of it," Daryl was yelling in his brother's face now.
Merle turned to face him, he felt ready to pass out.
"Merle, come on man, I need your help here. What do ya want me to do," Daryl asked a little softer as he looked down at his brother's bleeding hand.
Merle looked behind him to see Sean and Norman began to move between them and the herd.
"We don't have a lot of time, but ya have to cut it off before we try to move," he replied, going even whiter as he registered what he had just told his younger brother to do, but it had to be done if he was going to survive this.
"What no, we can't, we can't do it here," Daryl began to panic too and he was talking fast. "Ya need to get up, we need to move, put some space between us and that herd. You can't be bleeding out while we're on the run."
"I'm already bleeding out, there's a hole in my arm. Don't argue with me Daryl, we don't have the time and we can't wait till after we get away, you have to do it now!"
"Fine," Daryl agreed a little reluctantly, "Do we have anything to cut it with, do we have bandages, you can't just bleed out for ten miles back to the city."
"Ask Norman, I think he has something," Merle suggested, now holding his arm trying to slow the blood flow.
"Norman…"
The conversation had all together lasted less than four minutes and now Daryl held a small hatchet raised in his right hand. Merle was lying in front of him trying to regulate his breathing and Connor was kneeling beside him. Norman, Sean and Murphy were still firing at walkers in the back ground and were yelling to move things along.
Daryl drew in a deep breath…
And the hatchet came down hard just above the bite mark on Merle's wrist. Merle screamed out in pain and doubled forward cursing, but didn't dare to move his arm. Connor turned his face to look away. He dug the bandages out of the bag and placed them at Daryl's side. Then he stood and went to stand in line beside Norman, firing off rounds. Daryl brought the hatchet back down and blood hit him in the face. He listened to his brother scream and curse as he quickly wrapped up his cleanly cut, freely bleeding wrist as tightly and neatly as he could. He helped Merle stand and told him to keep pressure on it.
Norman and Sean were now out of ammo and began to back into the camp towards their bags to hopefully find more ammo. Connor kept firing, but would soon be out himself. They had to leave now!
The herd wasn't thinning at all and the guys had hardly made a dent. The walkers began to close in on the camp.
"Leprechaun," Merle was the first to call, trying to get Connor's attention and ignore the pain of his cauterized wrist.
Connor turned to see that the group had grabbed up all the bags and had them slung on their backs. They were now walking towards the road, guns reloaded in hand, all except for Merle who was holding his hand trying to stop the bleeding. They were waiting to run until Connor joined them.
Walkers were now right on top of Connor as he slowly backed away; they were closing in on the camp and were either reaching for Connor or walking blindly past him towards the fleeing group.
Connor shot two more walkers in the face, now out of bullets, and took off at a run towards the group. Daryl and Sean covered him as he ran to catch up. He caught up easily, took a bag off of Merle to lighten his load, and the group began to run as fast as they could with Merle bringing up the rear at a slightly slower speed, but managing to stay with the group.
They didn't run as long as they did four days ago, Merle would have to stop more often now with his injury. They could never stop and walk for long, the herd continued to follow the road trying to catch up to the group. The group had at first ran as fast as they could for about twenty minutes, then stopped to walk for a short minute or two, then would run again for as long as they could, trying to put as much space as they could between them and the herd.
After the first three miles, the group was moving quickly enough and put a good four hundred or more meters between them and the herd. Merle was holding up well, though they still had the huge herd in their sight, a glimpse in the distance of the still moving herd, and the group was stopping to walk more than any of them cared to admit, and not just for Merle.
After the next three miles of the same continuous routine of running and walking, walking more often now than not, the herd was now out of sight, but the group was tired and more than ready to rest.
Merle tried to sit down for a few minutes, what adrenaline he still had when they left the camp had left him when he lost sight of the group of geeks staggering after them.
"We can't stop yet," Daryl said as he handed him another bottle of water from a bag he was carrying.
"Not till we're back in the city Red," stated Murphy with a smile. He was panting slightly from the last four or more hours of constant movement and took a drink from his own bottle.
"Aye," his brother replied stealing the bottle from his younger half and downing half of it in one go. Sighing with relief and exhaustion, he continued, "You and hillbilly need to try to keep up. Come on let's move."
The Dixon's openly smiled at the nicknames they'd been given in return for leprechaun and clover, they had to deal with them either way.
Daryl patted Merle on the back and Merle nodded that he was ok to keep moving.
Daryl walked ahead of him. "Ready leprechaun?"
"You're on old man," Connor replied with a grin and the two took off at a run, passing Norman and Sean who had been in the lead. "Hey Sean, Norman you're fallin' behind," Daryl threw over his shoulder and the two took off after them.
"Wanna race Merle," Murphy asked, turning back to face him. He looked like an energetic kid ready to play a game.
"You're on kid," Merle replied with a smile and took off running, Murphy running alongside him.
By now the group had stowed their weapons and even though Merle's hand still hurt, the bleeding had slowed down immensely within the last hour and he could now use his arms. So now they all had free movement, except for being weighed down a little by the bags they carried, and they were running till their lungs gave out.
After the end of the next three miles of playing chase, the group was collectively thinking that they could all just lay down now and wait for the herd to come and put them out of their misery.
"As much fun as I have had today, and don't get me wrong it's been fun, probably more than it should have been, but how much further do we have to go?" Norman asked through gasps of air. Sweat was pouring down his face and he ran the back of his hand across his forehead. "I mean we've been running for hours."
It was about four thirty in the evening and there was still about a mile to go till they reached the nearest town (they decided to pass the gas station and go on to the town). There had to be at least a mile between them and the herd, so the group wasn't concerned about being caught anytime soon. But they had been running and walking for around six hours now and the group was ready to drop.
Everyone was walking with their heads down, water in hand, trying to catch their breath.
"'Bout another mile Norm, hang in there," Sean said as he bumped their shoulders together as they walked. Five minutes later the group took off running again.
When they reached the town about twenty minutes later the group couldn't have been more relieved. They walked straight into the first building they saw, which happened to be a small gas station sitting at the front of the town, and they all collapsed to the floor between the first two aisles. Connor and Murphy were the first ones in; they ran into the town and straight through the door, collapsing to the floor, the rest of the guys dragging in behind them.
The gas station was dark except for where sunlight was coming in through the windows. The place had been looted several times over and the shelves were almost completely empty. It was a small building, only five rows of shelves and two cash registers. The boys were alone. They stretched out along the aisle they had claimed and ended up taking up the whole row.
Norman was sitting in the corner, leaning against the back wall of shelves facing the registers and, after catching his breath, pulled out a much needed cigarette. Sean was lying next to him, his feet sticking out slightly into the next aisle. Connor and Murphy were lying with their heads together against the left side of the aisle panting, and Merle was lying down against the right. He was breathing heavily and finished the last of the water he had from his personal bag. He was holding his hand on his chest, thankful that the bleeding had finally stopped around an hour earlier. He was wondering if he should cauterize the wound and if he would be able to find any kind of pain killers while the group was in the town. Daryl sat beside him leaning against the shelves, facing the only door to the building, with his eyes closed and he was breathing deeply. The bags were lying in a pile in front of the door, completely forgotten.
As the group began to relax and catch their individual breaths, the building grew quiet. Norman finished his cigarette, putting it out on an empty shelf, and closed his eyes as well. After a long day of running they were all extremely tired. One by one they all dropped off into a much well deserved and much needed sleep.
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Daryl woke up about two hours later feeling much better than when he had fallen asleep. It was around seven, the sun would be down within the hour, and the light was slowly beginning to fade. He knew it was dangerous to fall asleep where they had, they weren't in the safest of buildings and, as far as they knew, they still had a herd of walkers on their tails.
Daryl stretched a little in his sitting position and then looked down the aisle. Everyone else was still asleep, snoring softly. 'Well, it looks like nothin' bad happened. Guess we're ok', Daryl thought silently.
Or that's what he had assumed.
Now that he was rested and awake, his senses started to come back to him. He heard a strange and almost constant noise coming from just outside the small building and he immediately froze. He was positioned closest to the doors and he slowly looked towards the glass.
What he saw made his blood run cold. The herd had caught up to the group during their little nap and was now stumbling past the building. None of the walkers had yet to either notice and/or act upon seeing Daryl sitting at the end of the aisle or the sound of snoring coming from inside the building, if any could hear it.
Daryl shifted ever so slightly and carefully closer to his brother and hit him on the leg a few times to wake him up. Merle sat up to yell at his brother, but was stopped, when he looked through the door and immediately went still. Since he couldn't be seen through the door he carefully slid backwards across the floor towards Sean. He shook his arm for a few seconds and then Sean sat up looking very unhappy.
"What the hell do ya want," Sean asked, slightly irritated from being woken up.
Merle answered with a finger to the lips and pointed towards the door. Sean leaned forward, looking passed Merle, and could just get a glimpse of figures passing by the door of the gas station. He nodded in silent understanding and turned to wake up Norman.
A few moments later and everyone was now wide awake. They were sitting up alert, tense and just waiting for the herd to realize where they were hiding. Daryl was keeping watch of the door. He sat looking like a statue, he hadn't moved since he woke Merle and it looked like he wasn't even breathing. Norman had carefully stood up and was now looking over the aisle at the parade that was passing him. He was watching as walkers moved down the street slowly, slower than they had been at the camp, as if they had given up finding the group and were now just walking aimlessly.
About ten minutes later and almost all the walkers had passed by the gas station. Daryl shifted slightly, and then stood to walk completely out of sight from the door.
Murphy was the first to look up from the floor and whisper, "Are they gone?"
"Most of them have moved down the street," was his reply.
"Now what," Sean asked. This seemed to be the popular question among the group and was always the go to question to start a conversation or plan.
"We find a car and keep on movin'," Merle answered.
"Head to the coast like we were talking about," Norman continued.
"Where do ye suppose we get a car," Connor asked.
"There's a truck sittin' at the end of that street," Daryl said pointing across the road and down a street several meters away.
Everyone but Merle stood up and looked outside to see a small two passenger, light blue truck sitting at the end of a street that a few stray walkers were limping past.
Murphy looked down the street they were sitting on towards the large herd. "Are we goin' to hope that the truck starts before the herd has time ta turn around?"
"Me and Merle will jump in the truck and get it runnin', the rest of ya jump in the bed and we'll be out in two minutes and be headin' back towards the coast leavin' the herd behind," Daryl spit out a plan like he had it made an hour ago.
"Ya had that thought up since ya woke us up, haven't ya," Sean asked the obvious.
"Quickest and best way to get out of here," was his answer.
"Alright let's move," Merle agreed and stood to start towards the door. The rest of the group followed.
Everyone grabbed their bags and pulled a gun except for Daryl and Merle and they all ran out the front door.
Running through stray walkers the group ran across the street towards the truck. Daryl and Merle climbed in the cab, throwing the bags they carried into the back, and immediately started trying to hotwire the car while everyone else jumped into the bed, dropping the bags and pointed their guns toward the street the walkers were now turning around on.
The herd turned around after seeing the group run from the gas station and was now turning left down the street towards the truck. Merle was currently leaning over Daryl in the driver's side as they were both pulling out wires furiously trying to get the truck to run.
As the herd began to get closer the guys in the bed began firing off rounds while beating on the back window with their knees every few seconds to warn the brothers inside. As the herd reached the truck they started scratching at the hood and walking around to claw at the windows or reach into the bed.
By the time Daryl and Merle got the truck to start and Daryl started to pull the truck away (running over a fair number of walkers in the process), the group in the bed was out of bullets and kicking walkers back away from the truck. Connor stood beside Murphy and they were back to back with Sean and Norman in the middle of the truck. A walker started to climb into the bed and Sean kicked it off, losing his balance, and falling backwards into Connor. Connor fell forward and was meet by multiple pairs of dead, pale, and blood covered hands. The truck started to pull away as Murphy pulled his brother back into the truck while Norman and Sean were pulling the undead bodies off of him. Thankfully no one was hurt during the scrapping and once they were out of range of the walkers they all sat on the edge of the truck bed to breathe. Connor and Murphy sat facing the cab with their ankles crossed in front of them, leaning against the tailgate. Norman and Sean each took a side leaning against the cab and each had a leg thrown over the side, the other was resting bent on the edge lining the bed of the truck.
Daryl drove past the gas station they had rested in and back down the long road that the group had come from. He knocked on the window behind him and Sean answered by opening the window.
Daryl asked, "Everyone alrigh'?" after seeing the short struggle as he pulled the truck away.
"Yeah, we got it back under control," Sean answered reassuringly.
"No one was hurt," Merle asked again, only slightly concerned.
"No we're fine, nothin' to worry 'bout," was his answer.
They left the window open after that, but the rest of the trip passed in mute silence.
Thankful for the full tank of gas the group left the herd behind and passed their make shift camp on the side of the rode and drove through the next town they came to (the town from which the herd had come from).
After the long day the group had they decided to stop outside a small house on the outside of the town and they all climbed out of the truck with all their belongings to hole up for the night.