"What'd you suppose I do now?" He asked raising an eyebrow. I laughed. I was sixteen again, and my nineteen year old brother had just dropped out of law school. He didn't even last six months, which caused my laugh to turn into a grin. I knew my brother was much too creative and free-spirited to be a lawyer.
"Anything you want!" I exclaimed, looking around. The store was quiet, the cashier looked up at us and smiled. She was young, maybe eighteen, with long black hair. Her dark eyes had a hint of a smile as she watched us standing there talking.
"Anything I want..." He mumbled, a smirk coming across his face. "Let's go. Just go!"
"Go? Go where?" I asked, confusion in my voice.
"I dunno. Just pack up the car and go."
"Sam, our parents will kill us..." I tried to sound convincing, but I wanted to go along with his idea.
"Oh, come on Spence! Live a little! They're gonna kill me either way, when they find out I dropped outta law school." My brother grinned, his eyes sparkling with mischief. He was trying really hard to convince me.
"Fine! Fine, we'll go. But not a word to nobody!" I said, shaking my head. "You're a bad influence on me, ya know."
"That's what older brothers do." Sam said, giving me a goofy smile. I turned walk out of the door, when I heard a snarl. I turned back around, just in time to see the cashier jump on Sam. She bit into his throat, and blood began squirting onto the floor. His hand was twisted awkwardly, reaching for me, as he made gurgling noises. Then, he fell to the floor. I screamed.
I sat up, jumping out of my sleep. I threw the sleeping bag off of me and glanced over at Shay and Cheyenne. They were both sound asleep. I turned the tent flap, unzipping it as quietly as possible. As soon as I had it open, I lunged out of the tent and walked quickly down to the lake area. I looked around, seeing that I was alone. Good.
Kneeling down at the edge of the water, I scooped water into my hands and splashed it on my face. I felt myself trembling slightly, as I scooped up more water, and threw it against my face. I sat down in the dirt, looking out at the water, shimmering in the early morning sun. I closed my eyes, willing the dream to go away. Just go away... The memory that I had dreamed of really happened... All except the walker part. That was just conjured up from my brain. I sighed.
I heard footsteps behind me, and I turned my head quickly. I saw it was only Merle, followed by Daryl, walking out of the woods. They walked toward the camp, not saying anything. Not that I had expected them to. I knew I would hear enough from Merle when we went into the city. I sighed again and pushed myself up off the ground.
Walking back toward the group, I began to think of Sam. I wondered where he was. Was he safe? I knew I shouldn't be thinking about him, because thinking about it only makes you drive your own self crazy. But he was my big brother... He had always stood up for me, when nobody else in the whole world would. I could feel a lump rising in my throat.
Stop! I ordered myself. I forced myself to think about the task at hand. It was time to get ready and go into the city. Our group needed supplies, we were all running short on things. I trudged up the small dirt incline and walked over to the tent I shared with Shay. I peeped my head inside, to see it empty.
"Looking for someone?" I heard Andrea's voice behind me. I turned to see her nod at the RV. "They're both inside with Dale and Amy. Dale is telling one of his famous stories."
"Then they all must be very entertained." I grinned and Andrea laughed.
"Yes. Shane and Lori are up there trying to get the radio to work." Andrea shook her head. "Don't think they're getting anywhere."
"I'm thinkin' we might not hear nobody on the radio for a long time." I said, and my voice was oddly calm. Andrea looked at me and tilted her head slightly.
"You sure you're okay to come with us into the city? You look a little pale." Andrea stared at me. I shifted from one foot to the other, giving a smile.
"No, I'm fine." I said surely. "Just didn't sleep good." I admitted, but I was not about to go into detail. The last thing I needed was to relive that dream.
"Very understandable." Andrea nodded her head, placing her hands on her hips. She looked back up at the RV's roof. "Maybe they'll get that radio working."
"Maybe.." I followed her gaze to see Shane trying his best efforts to pick up a signal. He became pissed, slammed the thing down, and climbed down the ladder of the RV. Lori had scrambled down after him, following him into the woods. Figuring the radio as a lost cause, I turned back to my tent so that I could prepare for our trip into the city. Stepping inside the tent, I realized I had left my gun beside my sleeping bag.
Stupid, stupid! I scolded myself, angrily. How could I have walked down to the lake, alone, and not have taken my gun? That kind of mistake could have caused me my life. I felt like I was being hard on myself, but it wasn't all about me. I had Cheyenne to think about. I had to protect her. How could I do that if I was dead?
I grabbed my gun, shoving it into the waist band of my shorts. I looked around, realizing that there really wasn't a whole lot more I needed. I snatched up my duffel bag, and stepped back out of the tent. Looking around, I saw Andrea and Glenn walking toward me. I began walking in their direction, meeting them halfway.
"You about ready, Spencer?" Glenn asked, giving me a half smile.
"All set." I nodded and looked around once again. "What vehicle we takin'?"
"Maybe we can take yours?" Glenn asked, looking me. Andrea shrugged.
"Seems like a good idea to me. Jacqui's coming with us." She advised, and I was happy to know we'd have one more person along.
"All right, then. My truck it is." I felt better knowing that I would be driving. At least Merle wouldn't have the chance to be reckless. I shoved my duffel bag into the middle console and climbed into the truck, but didn't shut my door. I stood waiting on the rest of the ones coming into the city.
I saw movement to the right of the woods, and saw Shane appear, Lori right behind him. Then it hit me. Of course... They had been hooking up out in the woods. That's why those two disappeared together all of the time. I thought about the day that Amy had heard someone on the radio, and Shane had tried to keep the contact. Lori had gotten upset and stormed off.
Shane had consoled her somehow, and when she had returned in front of everyone else, she seemed to be in a much better mood. Thinking back, I had actually thought I had seen them kiss once, but dismissed it. I figured it was the heat playing tricks on me. Now, I knew it wasn't just the heat.
Suddenly, I heard a huge thump, and I turned quickly in my seat. Merle was standing on the back of my truck, grinning wickedly. I turned back to face the windshield, rolling my eyes. Good Lord, I thought to myself. As soon as I saw the others coming, I shut my door.
Everyone piled into the truck quietly, and Andrea climbed into the passenger seat, giving me a firm smile. I grinned slightly, and looked out of my window at others who were staying behind. I saw Daryl say something to Merle, and then laugh. Shane gave us a slight wave with a look that said, Be careful.
"Y'all ready?" I asked, looking into my rear view mirror to see that Merle had sat down, his back against the inner side of the truck.
"Ready," Andrea answered, and I could hear mumbles of the other's readiness to go. I nodded, and cranked up my truck. Throwing it into reverse, I backed up, threw into drive, and headed down the dirt path. We drove silently to the city. Once I saw the area where we always parked, I stopped my truck, and we all began to get out. I turned to Glenn and gave him a smug look.
"Where we need to go this time?" I asked, giving a quick glance at Merle, who had his gun in his hands. Great, I thought.
"It's an easy in and out, as long as we're all quiet." Glenn said, and I knew he meant Merle. I looked at Andrea and she nodded.
"This should be an easy run, everyone just watch your backs." She instructed calmly, but she looked nervous.
"Watch your back any day." Merle cooed at Andrea, who rolled her eyes in return. Merle chuckled and I shut my eyes. This is gonna be a long day, I grumbled in my head. I opened my eyes to see Glenn sharing the same look. I offered a forced smile at him, and turned toward the city.
"Let's go." I mumbled, as we all stalked off toward the buildings. Glenn led the way to this mall type building, and gave us whispered instructions to follow him closely and quietly. We all did as we were told. Even Merle, for once. Down a back alley, through gate, then another alley. We ran into two walkers, and Merle killed them with his hunting knife. I was quite impressed that he was keeping his big mouth shut and not using his gun.
We climbed up a ladder, and I was thankful that Andrea was behind me. I did feel bad however, when I could hear Merle grumbling quiet comments about her "sweet ass". I looked down at Andrea momentarily, to see her glaring. I tried not to laugh, as I scrambled up the ladder quickly.
"Just spread out and get stuff you need-" We were interrupted by a noise. Was that the faint sound of a helicopter? My heart began to race as I tried to listen, but another noise interrupted. A horse..? Oh, God. We were going to get trapped up here. I looked around, trying to spot the source of the noise, but Glenn seemed to have already found it. We all followed his lead and looked down to see whole different mess happening in the street below.
There was a man, or at least I thought it was a man. I could see a horse being devoured by a swarm of walkers. I frowned at the sight, my eyes darting back to the man, who was scrambling underneath a parked abandoned tank. Suddenly shots began to ring out. He was firing at the ones trying to crawl under the tank after him. I began to wait in horror, realizing that we couldn't help him. Then, the shots stopped and it was quiet. I couldn't take my eyes off of the tank.
"He made it inside." Glenn said surely.
"How do you know?" Andrea asked, her eyes wide.
"I just do." Glenn said grabbing the walkie. We saw the man appear, looking over at something in the street. But he had to duck back into the tank when walkers began climbing up the sides trying to get at him. Glenn pushed the walkie button.
"Hey you," He spoke into the walkie. "Dumb ass. Yeah, you in the tank. Cozy in there? Hey, you alive in there?"
"Hello? Hello?" The man's voice was frantic.
"There you are, you had me wondering." Glenn mumbled.
"Where are you? Outside? Can you see me right now?" The man asked.
"Yeah, I can see you. You're surrounded by walkers. That's the bad news." Glenn spoke into the talkie.
"There's good news?" The guy asked, and I could barely hear a sliver of humor in his voice.
"No." Glenn replied flatly.
"Listen, whoever you are, I don't mind tellin' you I'm a little concerned in here." The man said, his country accent coating his voice.
"Oh man, you should see from over here," Glenn went on, "you'd be having a major freak out."
"Glenn, you're not helpin'!" I spat, giving him a dirty look.
"Got any advice for me?" The man asked, his voice sounding worried.
"Yeah," Glenn advised, "I'd say make a run for it."
"That's it? Make a run for it?" The voice asked from the other side.
"My way is not as dumb as it sounds. You got eyes on the outside here." Glenn was trying to make a plan in his head, I could see it. "There's one geek still up on the tank, the others have gotten down and joined the f-feeding frenzy where the horse went down. You with me so far?"
"So far." He answered, but he sounded doubtful.
"Okay, the street on the other side of the tank is less crowded. If you move now while they're distracted, you stand a chance. Got ammo?" Glenn was trying hard for this guy.
"In that duffel bag I dropped out there.." I quit listening. I looked at the bag and realized there was no way he could get it. I heard Glenn tell him it was not an option, and asking him what weapons he had on him. I heard the man say he had a Beretta with fifteen rounds. Before I knew it, Glenn was running off, walkie in hand.
"Where you goin'?" I called to him.
"To save this guy's ass!" Glenn called without looking back. I watched as the man emerged from the tank, smacking a walker with something. He dropped from the tank landing on the ground, hard. I watched him get to his feet and begin firing off rounds like a crazy man as he ran. Then, I lost sight of him. A few minutes went by, and I was beginning to get worried.
Then I heard Glenn call in on the walkie, and I watched as Morales and T-Dog jumped toward the door in their protective gear, weapons ready. I heard slight noises outside, followed by Glenn yelling something, before he and the stranger came rushing through the door. Morales and T-Dog right behind them.
"Son-of-a-bitch! We oughtta kill you!" Andrea slammed the stranger up against some boxes. I noticed he was in a sheriff's uniform, and his face was drained a bit.
"Stop!" I yelled at her, and I was about to tell her to back off, but Morales beat me to it.
"Chill out, Andrea! Back off." He warned.
"Come on, please stop." Jacqui pleaded. Andrea kept on, and Morales was trying to convince her to leave the man alone. I just stood looking at Andrea as if she were stupid, finally I grabbed her arm harshly, and turned her toward me.
"Andrea, snap outta it!" I growled. "Yea, he popped off rounds, yea he's an idiot. But he just almost got killed, too. Give him a fuckin' break."
"We're dead. All of us." She said looking at me, then turned to Rick. "Because of you."
"I don't understand." The guy said, looking straight at me.
Morales began going on about how in order to survive, we had to be sneaky. It seemed as if everyone were ganging up on him all at once, as we walked, explaining that he had just fucked all of us over. I seemed to be the only one who hadn't yelled at him yet. A walker began smashing a rock into the store's outer door's glass.
Andrea asked him what he had been doing out there, and the stranger said he had been trying to flag down a helicopter. The others began giving him, yet again, more hell about how he had been imagining it and hallucinating. The man had an angry look in his eyes when he spoke.
"I saw it." He growled.
"Thought I heard it, too." I spoke up. Morales ignored us, and told T-Dog to check the CV radio to get in contact with the others. The sheriff began to spazz out, asking about the others and if there was a refugee camp. I laughed, as Jacqui shot down his dream real quick. T-Dog was becoming frustrated with the CV, and then his eyes lit up.
"The roof!" T-Dog said excitedly.
"Duh!" I smacked my palm against my forehead. We all tensed up when we heard gunshots coming from the roof.
"Oh, no, is that Dixon?" Andrea mumbled, as we all took off for the roof.
"SHIT!" I growled, as we ran up toward the roof. "Fuckin' Merle!" My thoughts ran rapidly through my mind as I realized that we were all fucked. Royally fucked.
Well guys, you can only imagine what's next ! Thanks so much for the readers/reviewers/followers/favoriters ! I am hoping you all are enjoying this story ! There is much more to come, so everyone get ready. So excited for tonight ! Daryl better get his ass back to the group.. haha anyways, enjoy !
~Kaila