The Walking Deth - Part III

Where we Belong - Chapter XI

New Arrivals

I wanted to believe that the visitors to the school were the others, that we didn't have to leave the safety of the school, that we could all be happy together and live our days out in peace forever, but that that would be too good to be true.

The mini-van looked similar to the one Rick and the others were in, but silver was a popular colour. It could have been anyone. And there were other cars parked there too. It looked as if there would be enough to carry at least twenty people, and the group wasn't that big when we left, although it had been a few months, and I guess anything could have happened in that time.

If it was Rick why would he have tied Mix up? He knew he was a friend. And there was blood staining the fur around Mix's mouth. He had bit someone, so he either didn't know them or didn't trust them. Whoever he had bit hadn't killed him. It could have been someone from the group that Mix didn't know too well…or maybe it was a stranger who had left him for the walkers.

Turning to Daryl in the seat next to me, I could tell by the tension in his jaw, the bulging in his neck, and the rise of his shoulders that he was having the same internal debate I was.

We parked the car outside the gates beside Mix, armed ourselves, and got out the car. As we approached Mixy, his barking and jumping stopped and he began pawing at the dirt, whimpering.

I made to remove the loop of rope from his neck, but Daryl stilled my hand.

"Leave 'im tied up." Daryl urged in a hushed tone, kneeling in the dirt beside the dog.

"Why? He could help us."

"Nah." He shook his head. "He follows his instincts. If there's trouble he'll attack without a plan." Daryl's eyes narrowed as he scanned over the school. "We might not want 'em knowin' anyone else is here."

"You don't think it could be the others?"

"If somethin's too good to be true, then it prob'ly ain't." He tapped at the pistol on his hip, then the rifle slung over his shoulder and then the bow in his hand. "And if they ain't good. I'll take care of 'em."

I put the crossbow to the ground, put my foot in the stirrup and drew back on the string as smoothly and efficiently as I could. I scanned over the cars parked by the bus. I wasn't leaving him to handle that many on his own. "I will too."

Daryl gave me a reluctant nod with his face full of concern. I knew he hated me doing anything but being protected by him. His eyes slowly scanned over my body, and I was reminded of the date attire I was wearing. A mini dress and pumps were not the best clothes to be fighting in.

His eyes rested on my feet. "You best take those off."

I kicked my shoes off into the dirt, and felt the bite of the cool earth on my bare feet.

Daryl removed the pistol and holster from his waist and wrapped it around my waist, fiddled with the straps and buckle so it would sit right and then shifted the pistol sheath into an easy access position at my hip.

"We go in quiet, and we stay quiet 'til we know what's what."

I nodded my head, and swallowed the lump in my throat that continued to grow along with my anxiety. I wasn't only concerned about what might happen to me and Daryl, but what had already happened to the kids. I hoped that all of the lessons in survival he had given them had paid off.

Daryl led the way towards the front door, crouching low as he moved over the grass and up the stairs.

He pressed his back up against the glass door and peered through the boards that covered most of the view. I sidled up beside him, and concentrated on quietening my breathing, and stilling my shaking hands by squeezing the crossbow, while I waited for his next move.

He turned the handle, pushed the door open silently and waved me through, and then gently closed the door behind him.

We could hear voices echoing down the corridor, and Daryl skimmed across the floor to the stairwell, and I followed close on his heels.

"Shit kid, settle y'self." I heard a deep male voice, it wasn't one I recognised.

"Fuck you!" That was without a doubt Austin. I heard a spitting sound, then some scuffling a thud and a muffled yelp.

"Always had a filthy mouth that one." Came another male voice.

They knew him. It must have been the people who had lived here before us. Had they returned to right there wrongs, or to take back what was theirs?

"Take 'im to the library with the others." The first voice instructed.

Daryl glared at me and held up a finger telling me to stay put, and I watched anxiously as he disappeared around the stairs.

After a moment he scuffled back and past me onto the stairs, flicking his hand through the air telling me to follow.

At the top of the stairs he stopped and whispered to me; "I gotta get some stuff. You go on to the library, just observe, don't do nothin' til I get there." He made to turn down the hall towards the faculty offices and then turned back. "Unless you have to."

I nodded, and keeping low, I made my way through the dark corridors towards the upper floor of the library.

The library was lit up as bright as a June day in Georgia, and I could hear muffled voices coming through the closed glass door. I pressed myself against the door and scanned over the tables and bookshelves of the first level. There didn't appear to be anyone up there so I carefully pulled on the handle and pushed the door forward, slipped through the gap and closed it behind me.

"Shit they've got everything here." A voice came from the lower floor, low and gruff. "They've got cows. Real cows! You should've taken us back here sooner."

Dropping to my belly and crawling along the carpet, dragging the crossbow behind me, I made my way over to the balustrade of glass panels suspended between poles of silver stainless steel. I moved in close to one of the poles and aimed the bow through the four inch gap, between the glass and the steel.

All the kids were sitting in a circle in the middle of the library, surrounded by a group of adults. They all looked rough, like they had been on the road for a long time. They were skin and bone and missing teeth, scars and matted hair. Most of them were men, but there were a few women down there too, but they looked so grizzled and rough, you could barely tell the difference.

The children all looked to be perfectly fine, all huddled together with Austin at the lead of the group on his knees in-front of one of the men who I guessed was the leader of the new arrivals.

They hadn't killed them. Did that mean they were good?

"How'd you get out of there anyway?" The man talking to Austin tilted his head back towards the ground floor corridor.

"Broke them brooms." Austin jutted his chin out defiantly "We're stronger than you thought we were. You made a mistake leavin' us behind."

"Now don't be bitter." The man chuckled and shook his head gently from side to side. "We talked about it and we couldn't take you kids along. It's a dog eat dog world out there, and you lot would've been the first to get eaten. Much better that you died here."

"Well we didn't die. And this is our school, so you need to get the fuck out!"

I jumped a little as I felt a flutter against my skin. Rolling over and bringing the bow up ready to fire, I was relieved to see it was Daryl, kneeling beside me. He had his bandanna wrapped around his neck, his bow on his shoulder, two rifles on his back, a hand-gun in the waist of his jeans, and holding my boots in one hand and an odd looking yellow canister in the other.

He placed the boots down beside me and then pushed his finger to his lips to tell me to be quiet. He nodded his head to the opposite side of the room near the staircase.

"I'll cover the other side" He whispered. "If I give the signal, you shoot anythin' that's standin' over five feet tall."

"What's the signal?" I whispered back, as I began tugging on my boots, grateful that he had left my switch in there.

"You'll know."

Daryl crept across the floor towards the staircase, and I resumed my position on my stomach with the crossbow aimed to the people having the conversation below.

"What happened to your brother anyway?"

"He died. He starved to death and died. And then I had to finish him off."

"Shit. That must've been tough." The man shook his head. It almost looked like he was remorseful. "What about that other little girl, what was her name? Courtney? Caroline?"

"Chloe." Austin said with a sneer. "Dead too! They both died because you selfish fuckers left us."

"I see you still got that filthy mouth." The man said with a chuckle.

I glanced over the opening to Daryl wondering when or if he would give me that signal. He still had his eyes focused on the scene below.

"What're we gonna do with all these kids now?" Called one of the women.

"Fucked if I know…maybe we should wait til the others get here?"

Others?

"I've had my time with kids. They're nothin' but noise and mouths to feed." The woman dropped her eyes and looked a little sullen. I wondered if she had lost her own children, and if it had made her as mad as Carol. "I don't want to babysit them, let's deal with them now." The woman replied.

I hoped by 'deal with them' she meant send them to bed. I glanced back up at Daryl. Still no signal.

"Yeah, alright." The man rubbed his chin and began looking over the cluster of children.

"Mary." He called.

"Marie." Marie corrected.

"You always had the prettiest hair. Like copper that glimmered in the sunshine." He chuckled lightly and took a step towards her, she shuffled back a little.

"How old are you now?"

"I'm…ten."

"Ten? Almost a woman."

The man turned back to the group standing behind him, shifting on their feet nervously, while holding their weapons at the ready.

"Kill the rest, but leave her, she might be useful."

Without even waiting for the signal Daryl was supposed to give me, I aimed the bow at the man who was striding towards Austin with his arm extended and holding a handgun. I was about to pull the trigger when I saw an object drop off the side of the staircase, spewing out yellow dust as it fell.

Guessing that was Daryl's signal, I shot the arrow into the man's head, rolled away from the balustrade and then stuck my foot up in the air and into the stirrup of the bow to reload it, while surprised yells and cries rang out from the smoke filled lower level.

I saw Daryl stand and begin firing arrows down into the smoke cloud. I was afraid he might hit one of the children as the view became obscured, but I guessed this was what he meant by not shooting at anything below five feet tall.

By the time I had another arrow ready, Daryl had emptied his quiver. He looked up at me, pointed a finger at me telling me to stay and then tugged his bandanna up over his nose and leapt over the barrier of the staircase, disappearing into the smoke below.

It took all my inner strength to not call and cuss out after him. I had the upper hand having the most visibility, and a silent weapon so they wouldn't know my exact position. I only hoped that Daryl was going to keep himself below the five feet limit he had set.

I managed to fire off another two arrows, and then reload the last one, before there were no more heads floating on top of the yellow cloud. I listened carefully for any sound below, but all I could hear was hushed cussing behind me. I turned just as a dark haired, dark eyed man fell on top of me, wrapping his hands around my throat.

I dropped hold of the crossbow and attempted to reach down to my boot, searching for my knife, But even as skin and bone, his body was heavy, and it restricted my range of movement.

I was struggling for air as he pressed on my throat, my vision was becoming blurry and my head was spinning. This wasn't like when Daryl had a hold of me. This guy wasn't going to snap out of it, he knew what he was doing and he was going to keep at it until I was dead.

I stared into his cold, dark eyes, while I continued to wriggle and stretch grasping at the leather of my boot.

His eyes widened in shock as I finally got a firm hold of my knife, popped it open and slammed it into his neck; dragging the small blade through the flesh to open his throat.

He gasped and choked, spraying droplets of blood all over my face. His head fell onto my shoulder and I felt the warm sticky blood ooze out of his throat and all over my chest. I brought my knee up under his body and pushed it upwards, shifting it to the side and off me.

After some coughing and rubbing at my own throat and a few shakes of my head to regain my senses, I tugged at the long sleeved shirt that was tied around the man's waist, and used it to wipe up some of the blood on my chest. Once I had mopped up as much as I could I decided to tie the shirt around my own waist, thinking it would be more comfortable to fight in than just a strapless mini dress.

I took a moment to reload the bow with the last arrow and then crawled back over to the gap below the glass balustrade. The smoke had settled, and was now just a yellow haze about a foot above the surface of the lower floor. I scanned the bodies in the room. They all looked to be adult strangers, no children, and no Daryl, but they didn't account for all the intruders, so they were still in the school somewhere.

I backed towards the wall near the upper level door, and then peered through the glass, making sure it was clear before I made my way into the dark corridor.

When I got downstairs into the entry way, I made my way towards the main corridor, where all the yelling and gunshots could be heard. I stopped halfway down the hall and then glanced back at the front entry doors to the school. With all the confusion that was already going on surely Mix could only help and not hinder.

I threw myself into the door and bolted down the steps and to the front gate. I took out my knife and sawed away at the rope around the dog's neck and then raced after him as he darted back into the school snarling and barking and ready to fight.

I stepped through the door and Mix pushed past me, almost knocking me over, and sped down the hallway, all wild fur and claws scratching on the floor. I cautiously made my way after him, checking up the stairs and in the doorways for unexpected surprises before arriving at the main junction. I sidled up to the wall and peered both ways down the hall. There was no sign of Mix, I couldn't tell which way he went, and there was yelling and gunshots coming from both directions.

I tapped my hand against my boot to make sure the knife hadn't slipped too far down, then tucked the shirt behind the gun holster, and made my way down the corridor that led back to the lower floor library.

I jogged down the empty darkened corridors listening to the sounds of my shaky breathing and my footsteps as they echoed off the walls and mingled in with the battle sounds coming from down the hallway. I couldn't hear Daryl's voice, but one of the voices sounded juvenile. In a panic to get to the children, I stepped around the corner carelessly and smacked straight into a heavy figure, with a force that sent me falling back on my behind, and the crossbow tumbling out of my grip and skimming across the floor.

The man looked just as stunned as I was, yet while I fumbled to reach for the arm of the bow, he swung a rusted machete over his head, ready to slam it down. I shot my arms up hoping to defend myself from a fatal injury, and then felt warm chunks, spray all over my palms.

I dropped my hands to see the man now had a mess of raw flesh and blood for a face.

The body crumpled before me, and Austin stepped forward, smoking pistol in hand. He had blood all up his arms, and some splatters over his face, but he looked unharmed.

"All clear back there." He said as he nodded his head behind him towards the glass doors of the library.

I wiped my blood and brain covered hands against the shirt, and reached for the crossbow. "Where are the others?"

"They're safe." He grabbed at a bundle of bloody arrows slotted through his gun holster, and held them out for me to take.

"C'mon." He said with a wave of his hand. "Need to go help Daryl."

I took a second to put the arrows in to the quiver and then followed the twelve year old, who had obviously gotten over his initial shock of killing the living.

I could hear shrieking, grunting and growling travelling down the corridor to the gym, and then loud echoing footsteps before the winged doors flew open. I readied my bow, and then dropped it and sighed with relief when it was Daryl and Mix who emerged.

Daryl ran straight to me, griped me around the shoulders, and clutched me to his chest. He was covered from head to toe in blood, and so was Mix, but they both looked in good health.

"You okay?" He held me at a distance and looked over me, eyes resting on my chest.

"Yeah I'm fine…this isn't mine." I ran my hand over the dried up blood crusting over my skin.

"Nor is that?" he said tugging at the shit at my waist.

"No. I had to borrow it."

He shook his head, and gave me a wry smile, before turning back to the gym doors.

"All clear that way."

We both jumped as we heard a door slam back down the main hallway, and the four of us made our back through to the main entry hall and saw two bodies duck out through the front door. Daryl and Mix bolted after them and Austin and I took up the rear.

By the time we made it outside, the silver van was skidding through the dirt and making its way out the gates. Daryl stood at the bottom of the brick staircase, following the van with the aim of his gun.

I ran down the stairs and to Daryl's side, and watched the mini-van disappear down the darkened street, before noticing the walkers that were tumbling over each other as they forced their way through the open gates.

Without hesitation Daryl emptied his handgun into the walkers, and then tossed the gun, and grabbed for the rifle and emptied that too. Austin was firing his weapon, Mix was growling and darting up and over the steps, and I managed to fire off three arrows, and empty most of the clip on my gun, before the rotting bodies lay still, strewn across the school's front courtyard, looking like some kind of awful massacre we used to see on the news before we thought the world had gone to hell.

It was only then that I allowed myself to take a full breath, dropping my head down and pressing my hands to my knees to keep my balance.

"Are we...safe?" I gasped.

Daryl stepped away from me and began retrieving the arrows from the walker corpses. "We gotta get outta here."

"Now?"

"Yeah, now. All this noise will only attract more walkers." He pointed down the dark street to the place we had last seen the mini-van "And they'll be back. Said there're more of 'em."

I pushed myself upright. "But it's dark out. Where will we go?"

"Looks like we'll be startin' our road trip early." He handed me the arrows for the crossbow and then stepped past me back towards the school.

"You go get the kids, get 'em on the bus." He said to Austin. Austin nodded and raced back inside.

Daryl looked back to me over his shoulder. "You grab all our shit. I'm gonna make sure there are no more lurkers.

For the first hour of the trip the kids bounced around in their seats excitedly and chased each other up and down the aisles. I was beginning to think Daryl had the better deal, out there in the cold with only his poncho, but with only Mix to deal with. When my patience had worn away to nothing I snarled back at the kids, that if they kept distracting me I would crash the bus and we would all die and become walkers. After that they curled up with their blankets and dozed off so that all I could hear was an infrequent murmur and snore.

Thankfully, we didn't encounter any other major troubles on the road. When we passed through towns, the odd walker would stray on to the road and was knocked down by the passing bike, or pulverised into mush by the bus. We had to turn around twice and take back streets when the roads became too blocked with rusting car bodies, and the trip began to take longer than expected. After driving for hours in the dark we stopped to refuel, stretch our legs and consider camping on the bus until morning, seeing as Daryl was struggling with the cold, and I was struggling with staying awake. But as we looked over the map trying to figure out the best way to take the remainder of the journey, walkers started stumbling out of the trees surrounding us, and we figured it would be best to move on to the safety of Washington DC as soon as possible.

We knew we were getting closer to the capitol when we passed through towns with buildings that were nearer together, and taller, and the walkers idling down the streets appeared in larger groups.

We came to a road surrounded by trees just as I crested a gently sloping hill. I could make out the vast city sprawling out far off in the distance, glistening white in the dawning sunlight. I marvelled at the view with mixed feelings of relief, anxiety, grief, and exhaustion from the all night trip.

I had been in a dazed kind of state staring at the city, and I shook myself back to sense and turned my attention back to the litter covered road. Daryl's bike was stopped right in the centre of it. I slammed my foot on the brake, and I heard cries from behind me as the children were thrown from their seats. No seatbelts for passengers in a school bus.

The bus was heavier than a car, it was taking too long to stop, and Daryl was directly in its path.

A/N: Another cliffhanger!

I kind of feel like this chapter sucked a big one. Don't think I'm the best at writing action scenes.

I hope to have the finale out within the next 24 hours...