The Walking Deth - Part II
Only Way Onward - Chapter II
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AN: I don't know if they're in a steel box or a fibreglass box, so lets just say its steel for now.
I couldn't remember how I got here. I couldn't even remember how I had left Terminus. I wasn't even sure what had made me want to come back here, to the funeral home. This was the place Beth and I had said we wanted to stay, before she had been taken. Was there some part of me that thought this is where she would go if I lost her?
My body was aching and exhausted, and my skin was both clammy and cold and my clothing wet with what I assumed to be sweat. I must have been running for hours, or maybe even days. I couldn't remember when I slept last. My legs were so tired and numb it felt like I was just gliding on air, but when I looked down I could see the muddy boots stomping along the ground, and I knew they were my own.
I kept on gliding past the line of stones growing out of the ground like grey, giant fingers pushing through the earth. One of them looked different and out of place, like it had recently been changed. I glanced at it as I slid past. It read 'Hershel Greene'. I didn't remember it saying that the last time I was here.
I continued up to the house, and stepped up on to the porch and pushed open the wooden door that was already ajar. The inside was clean like the last time I had been here, except it seemed a little different, a little more bare, like something was missing. I was sure there were pictures on the wall before, and weren't the walls floral? I went into the first doorway and examined the row of seating in front of the open casket. That room also seemed to be strange. The flowers by the casket were bright, fresh and living. Where would someone find flowers like that around here? I stepped back out into the hall and heard an unexpected yet familiar sound, traveling down the stairway.
It sounded like a muffled cry, and then a gasp, like someone was in trouble, and it sounded like it was a woman.
I raced up the stairs taking them two at a time and stormed over across the wooden floorbaords to the closed bedroom door where the sounds were coming from. I didn't bother turning the handle, somehow I knew it would be locked. I lifted my leg and drove it forward into the door, splintering it at the latch and forcing it to collapse into the room.
Before me was a brass posted bed, sitting below a sun filled window. On the bed the sheets were twisted and bunched and pushed to the side. On top of the bed was the milky white back of a woman. The curves were firm and subtle and familiar. I recognised the way the hips flared out just barely at the waist, the gentle hollowing than ran along the length of the spine, the blonde hair that curled softly over her shoulders, and sprang out in messy wisps at the top. That was Beth. She was grinding her hips around in a circular motion and upon them were strong dark skinned hands pressing into her pale skin. They didn't even seem bothered by me barging in though the door.
"Beth?" I said in a voice that wasn't my own.
She turned her head gently and I could see the profile of her face. Her big blue eyes looked back at me, still full of innocence, and her thin lips drew up into a grin. Then with a gentle and controlled voice, of someone who knew exactly what she was doing, she spoke.
"Daryl."
"Daryl?"
I could feel fine fingers pressed into my shoulder, through the layers of cotton and leather. I knew the voice that was calling my name. It was familiar, but it wasn't Beth, it was the other Greene. I opened my eyes and snapped my head around to the direction of the voice.
It was still dark inside, but it was light enough for me to make out Maggie Greene's facial features. She had jumped back when I had snapped my head around, and now looked down on me like I was some kind of rabid dog that just bit its master.
"What is it?" I said, giving my face a firm wipe downward from forehead to chin in an effort to wake myself up.
I stared up into the ceiling of the box car. It was covered in bloody fingerprints and indentations from where we had tried finding a weakness in the top. I was laying on my back with my head pressed hard against the warn timber fibre boards, not the most comfortable bed, but I had slept in worse. I pushed myself to a seated position and gave my neck a stretch and rolled my shoulders around, trying to loosen up a bit.
It had all been a dream. I wasn't outside enjoying the fresh air, and smell of rain and pine. I wasn't anywhere near that graveyard, or the funeral home, and I hadn't just been watching Beth fuck Anton.
I was in a room with eleven other people, some familiar and some not so much so.
"I think you were havin' a nightmare. You were breathin' real fast and it sounded like you called out for Beth." Maggie informed me.
I was glad for the darkness when I felt heat rise from my neck to my cheeks. How often had I called out Beth's name last night? She was in all my dreams, and nightmares.
I gave my shoulders a shrug trying to look as casual as possible.
"Just a bit worried 'bout 'er is all."
Maggie stuck out her bottom lip and lowered her eyes.
"She's not the one to worry 'bout." She said quietly and then looked around at our enclosure. "She's not the one stuck in a box car."
A steel box car, with the only light coming from around the openings of the side and back doors. Down one end was a stinking cesspit of what we all used as the shitter and pisser. Two five gallon bins, with nothing to use for toilet paper. We had all avoided having a dump over the last couple of days, but the smell from previous inhabitants still lingered, and I knew from the way my guts were twisting that we were going to have to add to it soon.
Down the other end was the twelve of us, with our bottles of water and paper food bowls. All cowered and huddled together like mistreated circus animals. In the early mornings and the nights it was like an icebox in here, and in the middle of the day it was like a sauna but we still all sat close together- well they did – I tried to keep to myself and keep my thoughts hidden.
My family was in here with me. Maggie, Beths sister. Her partner Glenn. Bob and Sasha who looked like they may be a couple now by the way they sat curled together. There was Rick, Carl and Michonne too. Carl spent most of his time curled up on Michonne's lap, and Rick spent his time watching over Carl with a guilty look on his face.
Then there were the newcomers. Tara, a trainee police officer who Glenn had come upon on the way to Terminus. There was Rosita and Abraham who were part of some military support group, and then there was the fat science guy with the stupid haircut. Apparently he was a big deal, but so far he had just been a big pain in the ass.
The science guy, Eugene, was watching Maggie and I talk and thought he would add some of his useless knowledge to the conversation.
"As part of the 'final solution' in 1941, the Jews were shipped out to concentration camps in freight trains."
Everyone stopped what they were doing, which wasn't much, and looked at Eugene.
"They were called Sonderzüge –that means 'special trains'. The cars were locked and windowless. They transported people like cattle."
"Thanks for the history lesson, but we don't need to hear it right now, okay?" Interrupted Rick. His eyes glanced over at Carl who had his head resting against Michonne's shoulder. The kid didn't need any reminders of our fate.
"Just thought you might like to know. They had no food or water, and there were something like 150 people per car, so we're not doing so bad."
"That's enough Eugene." Michonne snapped, giving Eugene one of her trademark scowls, while holding Carl protectively.
Eugene pressed his lips together for a few seconds and then let them open again.
"Don't think they're gonna gas us though, think they've got other plans for us."
"Shut up Eugene!" Came four or five different voices at once.
"It's okay guys." Carl spoke up for himself. "I know we're totally fucked."
"Hey, watch your language." Scolded Rick, wagging a disciplinary finger at his son.
"Seriously dad? We live in a world where people eat people, living people, and you're worried about my language?"
Everyone turned to look at Carl who had obviously come to the same conclusion we all had. Carl looked around at all of our faces.
"I'm not stupid. I've heard what you guys have been saying at night, and I can hear the screams of the others just as well as you can. They want to eat us, don't they?"
We all looked to Rick to see how he was going to respond.
He gave his nose an awkward rub and then sniffed. "I don't know."
"I would say there's a good chance that they are. They're feeding us powdered milk. Milk has the same caloric value as sugar you know? They're trying to fatten us up..."
We all turned to Eugene with groans and shushes and looks of warning.
"…and those bones out there, the ones we passed when we came in, they had the discernable structure of the human skeleton."
"Hey science guy." I butted in. "Why don't you use that big head of yours to think us a way out of here."
Eugene looked around at the surrounding walls, floors and ceilings.
"Well we did try to find the points of frailty, but there were none." Eugene nodded his head towards Carl. "and young Carl's hands weren't strong enough to shift the gears in the doors."
"We know what we tried brainiac, think up somethin' new why don't ya?" I growled.
"Don't think its brains that will get this job done." Rick said, glancing back and forth between me and Eugene. "Think we gotta use some brawn."
We all looked to him waiting for him to explain.
"It's been light out for a while now, they'll be bringin' us some more milk and water soon. The last time we weren't ready, we didn't know what to expect, but this time we do. They only send a few to the door, we just gotta be ready for 'em, rush out at 'em when they open the door, take their weapons and use them as hostages."
"I don't know Rick, they shot at your hostage before." Michonne pointed out.
Rick was nodding his head. "Then we'll use them as human shields. We just gotta get their weapons, take as many down as we can and make for the fence. It's a no brainer- like I said."
"Sounds simple." Said Tara
"Sounds risky." Said Abraham.
"I calculate our chances of success to be rather low in this." Added Eugene.
"What other choice do we have?" Asked Rick.
We all looked around at each other trying to get a feel of what we were all thinking.
"I'm with you, man." I said as I strode over to Rick and gave him a pat on the shoulder. "Beats sittin' 'round in 'ere doin' nothin'."
"What have we got to lose?" Michonne said with a shrug.
We were all set to put the plan into action. Abraham, Rick and I would stand behind the door, while the others stood back. Then we would rush out at them and make for their weapons. The others would come out after us and give us back up, or go for any other guys that were around, and then we would make for the fence.
"As soon as all of us are out there, you follow, get low, stay low and run." Rick instructed Carl.
"You don't look back, you don't wait on us, you just get to the fence, get the bag and get out of here."
"I'm not gonna leave you guys." Carl said defiantly. "What the hell am I gonna do out there on my own?"
"Survive." Rick replied with a snarl.
Carl took a step back and started pouting at him, but he knew not to argue. Rick gave a sigh and softened his tone.
"It doesn't matter what happens to me, Carl. I just need to get you out of this, I can't see you hurt."
"What about me, dad? You think I want to see you hurt?" Carl pleaded.
"That's why you don't look back, son." Replied Rick firmly.
Carl looked like he was about to protest but he was interrupted by Maggie shushing. Her eye was pressed up to the gap in the door, peering out.
"They're coming." She whispered turning back to us.
We all shuffled into our positions waiting for the next move.
"Move to the back of the car." A voice demanded from outside.
Rick, Abraham and I stood by the side of the door and waited for the clanking and grinding of metal as they moved the latch and rolled it open.
The muzzle of a combat rifle was what entered first.
"Roll your empty bottles towards the door." The voice instructed.
The others all rolled the bottles and we watched as hands reached in and collected the bottles. Rick waved a hand and the three of us all bounded out the open doorway knocking into the waiting men.
I had grabbed the first guy, a young guy with blonde hair and ginger stubble on his chin. His eyes filled with shock and terror as I pinned him to the ground and started smashing the handguard of the combat rifle into his nose. I couldn't see anyone else, or hear anything else, just the grunts I was giving, the cries he was giving and the crunch of metal on bone.
I stopped pounding on the kids face and pulled the rifle out of his grip and stood up to see what was happening.
Rick and Abraham had guns pressed to their temples and a frustrated look on their faces. Another one of the Terminus people, a lady, had her rifle pointed into the opening of the car.
"You think no-ones tried that before?" Another man was strutting over to me now, he was balding with grey stubble growing out of his chin and had an arrogant look on his face.
"You think we're stupid? You think we don't know you're sitting in there planning your escape?"
Another guy was approaching from behind me and I lifted the rifle, turned and aimed it into his face.
"You best hand over the gun, before anyone else gets hurt." He pointed at the young guy at my feet who was gripping on to his nose and sobbing. "I'm not too happy about what you did to young Ben there, but I'll have to let it slide, we're not ready for you to die – yet."
"Hand it over, man." Said the guy who had the rifle in my face. I glanced over to Rick who nodded his head defeated. We weren't going to win this round. I gripped the rifle by the hand guard and the stock and pushed it angrily into the guy's chest.
The younger guy, Ben, Scrambled off the ground and to his feet, holding his broken nose.
"You should do them next, these guys are dangerous, just look at 'em, look what they did to my face." Ben snorted angrily, jutting a finger towards his swollen nose.
"You know how Gareth rotates his stock, he's not ready for these ones yet."
"Yeah, well on this occasion we should have the fresh stuff first." Protested Ben.
The bald man tilted his head back towards the open train car. "You all hop on back in there. We're not ready for you yet."
I gave the kid one last sneer and turned to followed Rick and Abraham as they climbed back into the train car.
The nine faces that stared back at us from the darkness all had the look of disappointment in their eyes, and as I heard the door roll shut behind me, I felt my heart sink with disappointment too.
There were too many, and they were too organised. There was no way we were going to get out of here, which didn't involve mass slaughter, and most likely of us.
This time I woke up in the middle of the woods. Another fucking dream, and to make things worse I was butt naked. I could see something moving in the bushes and hear the snapping of branches and cracking of twigs. Some kind of instinct took hold of me and I started running, not in any particular direction, I just ran.
I had only taken a few steps before I heard a loud thump and felt a searing pain in my left shoulder. I turned my head to look down at it and saw an arrowhead protruding through the flesh.
I gripped around the arrowhead feeling the warm sticky blood that was oozing out of the wound. I could feel the length of the shaft running through the muscles in my shoulder and exiting out the back. I turned my head to my back to see a few inches of black shaft and white fletching. It was too long to be a crossbow bolt but it looked somewhat familiar.
I turned around to see who had shot me, and there standing before me with an arrow nocked and ready to let fly, was Beth. Her blonde hair was tied back in a tight ponytail pulling her temples taught, her face was heavily made up in black eye liner and blood red lipstick, and she was wearing army issue camos. She was holding a compound bow, an airborne by the look of it, like Len's bow.
"What're you doin', Beth?"
"Just huntin'." She said casually before letting the arrow go and sending it into my other shoulder.
I let out a growl as I fell to the ground. Both shoulders were throbbing now, and I crossed my arms over so I could hold on to each.
Beth walked over to me and dropped herself down on top of me heavily, pushing all the air out of my lungs.
"You taught me well."
She tossed the bow to the ground and then placed her hands down on top of mine that were resting on my shoulders, causing a new wave of pain to run through my body. I grunted through the discomfort.
"Don't know about you, but I'm starving." She gave me a wide grin and then threw her head down into my neck and started tearing at the flesh with her teeth.
I shot up straight from my position on the ground and tried to get control of my gasps, not wanting anyone to know I had another bad dream.
I was starving, and I think it was the growling in my stomach that had woken me from my nightmare. After our attempt at escape yesterday we weren't given any more food, which was unfortunate because now we were all weak with hunger and none of us could think clearly.
Every plan we had come up with sounded exactly the same. Running, tackling, dodging, killing, climbing. Some of us had even thought of ways to outsmart them, convince them we were no good to them, no good to eat, that they had to let us go. Some plans involved us convincing them that we would help them, support their cause. But none of us, not even smart ass Eugene, knew how to make any plan work.
Everyone had huddled into their little groups talking about their histories. What college they went to, where they met their first loves, the fun times they had as kids. I didn't know what any of that was like so I just kept to myself, and listened to what everyone else had to say.
Everyone was sitting in there Kumbaya sharing circle when Rick tapped Carl on the shoulder and pulled him off to the side. It was the first time I had seen them alone together since we had been put in here.
They were talking in low voices and I had the feeling I shouldn't be listening to their conversation, but the only other thing to do was turn myself in knots stressing about Beth, or listen to the bullshit happy stories of everyone else, so I let my ears absorb what Rick and Carl were saying.
"I'm sorry about what I did, about what you had to see. I know you're mad at me…"Rick started explaining.
"I'm not angry at you dad." Carl interrupted. "I heard what you said to Daryl, when I was in the truck, about that man, about what you did to him. I'm not angry, and I'm not scared of you."
Rick was watching him with a pained look on his face.
"I know you did what you had to, and I…I'm glad you did it." Carl shrugged his shoulders like what he had seen that night was nothing at all. "I'm not just glad, I'm pleased…satisfied. He got what he deserved."
Rick nodded and gave a weak grin. "You just been real quiet, you haven't said much to me since we been here."
"Well…I'm a little…scared, dad."
Rick reached an arm around Carl's small shoulders and pulled him against his chest. Carl tucked his head under Ricks chin. "I'll do whatever I can to protect you Carl, I couldn't be there for your mom, and I couldn't be there for Judith, but as long as I have breath in my lungs I'll be here to protect you."
It was a father and son moment I had never experienced. But I had a pretty good feeling that what I had just seen and heard was love.
Everyone kept up the chatter throughout the day. I was amazed of how much these people could talk about nothing and everything. It made a droning sound that echoed around the steel box and vibrated through my head making me want to sleep the day away. I felt my head nod to my chest but then I was pulled back from slumber by a sudden change in the air.
Everyone was suddenly silent and I looked up at them to see what had stopped the chatter. Now I could hear what the others could hear. It sounded like gun fire, and a lot of it. There was shouting and yelling and orders being thrown around. The sound was somewhat muted, so it must be coming from the other side of Terminus. Maybe they were being attacked? Maybe there was someone coming to rescue us? That's was a stupid thought. It was probably just a walker attack. Maybe all these cannibal fucks would get eaten themselves, and then we could just be left here to waste away and die peacefully, before coming back and wandering around in the box car for the rest of eternity.
The gun fire didn't last all that long, and it fell back into silence. We were all quiet for a few minutes waiting and wanting for something to happen, but nothing did. There was no rescue, there were no walker groans outside the door, it was the same as it had been for the last few days.
The chatter started up again and I let myself fall back in to sleep.
I woke up to total darkness. It was so dark I had to touch my face to make sure my eyes were open. I had never remembered it being this dark, but I had slept through the dark nights over the last few days. Sleep had actually come pretty easy to me despite our intense situation. I guess that was the exhaustion caused from extreme boredom. I sat for a moment trying to let my eyes adjust to the darkness but it seemed like the longer I waited the darker it became. I listened for a moment waiting to hear a sigh or a snort, or hushed whispers or some sound of sleeping, but I couldn't hear anything. I couldn't even feel the heat radiating from the distant bodies. It was like everyone had gone.
I pushed my hands against the floor and up to a stand and began feeling around the car with my toes. I could feel nothing but the firmness of the timber of the floor below my boots. I stepped out into the darkness, waving my hands, investigating the air in front of me, while taking another step and then another. The train car seemed to have grown, I was sure that the walls had only been a few yards away. I started running now just trying to find the wall of the train car, and not caring about stumbling in the dark. I called out, and the sound of my voice just disappeared into the darkness with nothing to echo the sound back to me. I now realised that I wasn't in a box car anymore, I was just running around in a pitch dark empty area.
Then I saw a small white dot over in the distance. I turned towards it and started running again, calling out to it. As I got closer the dot grew bigger and started to stretch out into a pointed cylindrical shape. The light from it was also illuminating a figure behind it. It was a female figure and as I came nearer I recognised the slight body shape and the blonde hair. Beth was standing there, dressed in the clothes I had last seen her in, although somehow cleaner. Her blonde hair was tied to the side with a thin plait curling down by her neck, and she had a soft smile on her lips. Her eyes peered up at me from lowered lids. She was holding a candle that had melted into her bare hands. The wax had trickled down over her thumb and between her fingers and set hard in the shape of tears hanging off the underside of her hands. I stopped myself before her.
"What are you doing here?" I asked her.
"I'm here to give you hope." She said in her gentle warm and familiar voice.
I woke up in the darkness again, but not the same type of darkness. This was filled with familiar bodies making familiar sounds. It had just been another dream about Beth, she wasn't really here, but somehow the candle was. Actually it wasn't a candle it was a flashlight. How did someone get a flashlight?
The uneasiness caused by the sudden appearance of a flashlight caused me to shoot upright and jump to my feet ready to fight or flee. The door to the car was opened and a grey blue light was cast across the wooden floor and on to a line of people standing with weapons aimed towards us. The leader of the group at Terminus, Gareth, was among them.
He was rubbing his chin thoughtfully and letting his eyes rest on each of us, examining us from head to toe. He stopped rubbing his chin and pointed his finger out towards Abraham.
"The commando." He ordered. Then his eyes moved over to Rick. "The ring leader."
Four of his people stepped forward moved over to Rick and Abraham while the others kept their weapons aimed on us.
"Where are you taking us?" Asked Rick
"Out of here, you want to get out of here, right?" replied Gareth.
The men made Rick and Abraham turn around and started looping zip ties around their hands.
"What about my son?" Rick asked, turning his head to Carl who was gripping onto Michonne's arm.
"Not his time." Replied Gareth, with a shake of his head. "Alright get them out of here." He said to his men.
"Dad?" Screeched Carl in his breaking teen voice.
"It's okay son, you stay with Michonne and the others. You'll be okay." Rick said unconvincingly.
"I'm supposed to stay with you dad…you're supposed…to stay with me." Carl said between strained sobs.
Rick turned his eyes to Gareth and gave him a pleading look.
"I don't think you want your boy to be with you." Gareth advised.
"Take me." I blurted out.
Everyone turned to look at me.
"You his son too?" Gareth said with a chuckle.
"No take me, instead of him, Rick, the ring leader." I said, pointing at Rick.
Gareth ran his eyes over me and then gave a shrug. "Makes no difference." He turned back to Rick. "I'll let you guys have a few more moments together if that's what you really want."
Gareth waved a hand to the man who had hold of Rick and pointed him in my direction.
"Take the archer instead."
I willingly held my hands up and let them be zip tied together. I was fine to take Ricks place. I didn't want to see him and Carl separated, and I was anxious to get out of here and get to the next stage of my journey. Even if the next stage was the last.
"Thanks." Rick said with a nod of his head. His voice was strong, but there was pain in his eyes.
"No Problem, brother." I replied.
"Take these off?" Rick queried pushing his tied arms out behind him towards Gareth.
Gareth shook his head. "You're still gonna need them. Don't come by those easy you know."
I may have saved Rick for now, but if they didn't come up with something soon, it would have all been for nothing.
They lined Abraham and I up at the door. The girl Rosita was sobbing and the rest of the faces of my fellow captives all looked as grey as a walker's. I felt like I should say goodbye or something meaningful to them, but the only person I really wanted to say anything to was Beth, and she wasn't here. So I kept my head turned towards the fur lined collar of Abraham's coat, and marched forward.
We were pushed out the door and down the steps and made to wait while they closed the door behind us. They started marching us forward and then to the right towards a concrete ramp that led up to a huge metal rolled door.
I knew the room they were leading us to was going to be the where they killed us. We had nothing to lose now, the others were safely away in the box car, may as well take out as many as I could before they took me out.
"You in?" I asked Abraham, without need to explain.
He gave a nod of his head and threw his bulky body into the man in front of him knocking him to the ground. I stepped backwards landing my foot in hard to the instep of the man behind me. He wailed in pain and began hopping. I turned and kicked forcefully into his kneecap making him fall to the ground. I lined up his head with my boot and started stomping it into the ground.
Then everything went black.
AN: I couldn't resist using Norman's candle in the dark reference.
I'm sure they're going to use Eugene's brain to get out of there in the canon, but I really would love it if they were rescued...by Beth.