Curative

By Kaimaler

So, we met the Atlanta Group and you now know the name of our main character. :3

Not too complicated all this, I hate putting in racial slurs and that kinda' shit, but hey, we all know what Merle said in the show. It wasn't cool, but it was awesome watching Rick kick is ass. :D

Go Rick, go! Too bad Rick couldn't kick it for a little while longer. :/

Now, there are more racial slurs in here, and while I DESPISE writing them, it is what the characters said in the show. I can't avoid it, trying to would only diminish the WD episodes and quality dialogue.

The group was watching the undead in the streets all shuffling towards their building. Andrea commented on the likeness to Times Square.

"How's that signal?" The man was holding his stomach carefully as he and Rick rejoined the group.

T-Dog was sitting down, being attacked took a lot out of him and they had no medicine for him. "Like Dixon's brain; weak."

Merle just flipped T-Dog the bird.

"Keep trying." Andrea looked over to across Rick to the other man, "Why? There's nothing they can do. Not a damn thing." She pushed herself off the edge and left them there to talk.

Laura was now sitting on the staircase nearby Merle, who would look her way every now and then. The glances were very unwelcome and made her skin crawl, if there was anyone she'd be happy to throw off a building, it'd be Merle.

The man sighed, "Got some people outside the city is all, there's no refugee center. That's a pipe dream." Rick looked a little disappointed, but hid it well. He was hoping that his wife and son were there, safe, but that wasn't happening.

"That means she's right, it's up to us to find a way out." Rick turned around to look around the roof for a second.

Merle just had to speak up. "Good luck with that. These streets ain't safe in this part of town from what I hear." Merle's eyes fell onto Andrea who was sorting through a backpack. "Ain't that right sugar tits? Hey, honey bun, what say you get me outta' these cuffs? We go off somewhere, bump some uglies. Gonna' die anyway."

Andrea, for the most part, ignored him. Until that last comment. "I'd rather." Andrea stood and returned to the others.

Merle looked honestly disappointed, "Figured as much."

Laura stood up and joined them too, opting to keep her distance though. She still didn't know what to think of these people, after all, they allowed someone like Merle into their group; how many other members of their group were like him? She didn't want to know, but she started to like Glenn and Rick, they seemed to have real integrity.

"The streets aren't safe." The man huffed, "Now there's an understatement."

"What about under the streets, the sewers?" Rick asked, sewer systems would be no doubt safer then the road.

The man looked like a light bulb had literally gone off over his head. "Oh man, hey Glenn, check the alley. See any manhole covers?"

Glenn got up and rushed to the side of the building, he took a few seconds before coming back. "No, they must all be out on the streets where the geeks are." They seemed a little disheartened first, then one of the women spoke up.

"Maybe not. Old building like this, built in the twenties, big structures often had drainage tunnels into the sewers in case of flood." She looked like she was trying to remember all this, like she learned it in school. "Down in the subbasements."

Glenn looked at her oddly, "How do you know that?"

"It's my job, was, I worked in the city zoning office." Laura smiled, what luck.

The group hurried down the stair well, Laura and T-Dog stayed on the roof with a cuffed Merle.

She walked over to T-Dog and sat down next to him. "H-hey." He looked over to her, "Hey, don't think we've met yet." He grinned at her, "T-Dog." He offered his hand, "Laura."

"So Laura, ya' know Officer Friendly?" He asked her, it was an understandable assumption, they had arrived to this group together. "N-no, ju-s-st met h-him today."

"Ah, well, how long you been in the city? We used to see a lotta' people hangin' around Atlanta, but not lately. How've you made it out there?" He fiddled with the radio, she was unfamiliar with the device but watched his hands mess with the buttons and knobs.

"O-only about t-t-wo weeks now." She answered as best she could, she actually lost track of time. She figured it must've been at minimal two weeks, possibly even more. "W-what 'bout y'all? H-h-how've you... m-made it?"

"Our group is actually outside the city, at a quarry not too far from here." He rested his head back, "I can't wait to get back."

She nodded, "Your group... t-t-there mo-r-re like M-Merle?"

He looked sharply to Dixon, fixing the cuffed man with a solid glare she was sure could kill a man. "Nah, well, maybe his brother, but the other folk there... They're good people, just tryin' ta' make a life for themselves."

She liked the sound of that, so long as Merle wasn't around that is.

"N-n-neat."

"Thank you, by the way." She stared at T-Dog, a little confused. "For standin' up to Merle like that, tryin' to get him off me. Real brave to stand up to a guy like him."

She grinned, "I-I've fac-c-ced worse."

"Well, still, thanks. Figure I should thank Rick for stoppin' him. Bastard probably woulda' killed me if he hadn't stepped in." Laura frowned and looked to Merle who was listening to them. "I d-d-didn't do nuthin', I c-couldn't even g-g-get a hit on him."

"Ya' took a hit though, should get that looked at when we get back to camp." T-Dog smiled at her, through the bruises and cuts. They'd been cleaned as best as they could out here, but they still looked messy and angry. She only hoped they wouldn't get infected.

She patted his shoulder, stood up and looked out over the edge again. The undead at ground floor was growing in numbers, a few would be wandering by and join in the frenzy just because they knew what it meant.

Their comfortable silence was interrupted by Merle, who was practically leering at her. "That's a nice ass ya' got there, mind bringin' it over here to ol' Merle, sweet cheeks."

She spun around, she didn't want to be looked at like that. She knew he was undressing her in his head, but his expectations of her figure and the reality of her starved, weak physic meant he would've been very surprised if he knew about her.

"Man, just back the hell off." T-Dog defended her after he saw how uncomfortable Laura got when he spoke to her.

"Now, this is between me an' the lady." Merle grinned devilishly, "Come on, baby, let Merle get a hand full."

T-Dog just shook his head and returned to the radio, "Anybody out there?" He sighed, "Can anybody read? I hopin' to hear somebodies voice 'cause I'm gettin' sick and tired of hearin' mine."

"Yeah, well that makes two of us." Merle commented, a permanent smirk stuck on his face.

She sat back down with T-Dog, she didn't feel right leaving him alone with Merle when the others went to check the subbasements, that and she still had quite the problem with stairs. She didn't want to make Rick carry her down and back up again.

"Why don'cha knock that crap off, ya' givin' me a headache boy." Merle seemed to have come to terms with his cuffed position, he was no longer whining about it.

"Why don't you pull your head out your ass and maybe your headache will go away." T-Dog retorted, no longer caring about Dixon's comments. He still found it enjoyable to insult the man, since he couldn't do anything about it. "Have some positivity for a change, damn."

"I tell you what, you get me outta' these cuffs and I'll be all sunny sunshine positive for you." Scratch that last statement. Merle was just complaining about it in his own way now. "Hey, see that hacksaw in that tool bag over there? Get it for me, hmm? Could make it worth your while. Whadda' say man, come on. Get me outta' this thing." He jostled the cuffs against the pipes.

"Why? So you can beat my ass again? Call me nigger some more?" T-Dog was tired now, Merle wasn't bothering him so much, but he was exhausted.

"Come on, it wasn't personal. It's just your kind and my kind ain't meant to mix." Laura groaned and ran a hand over her face. "That's all, don't mean we can't work together, partners, as long as there were some kinda' mutual gain involved."

Merle smirked, figuring he convinced or was about to convince T-Dog to do anything for him. "So... about that hacksaw."

"I guess you want me to get that rifle over there too so you can shoot that cop when he comes back up, huh?" Laura sneered at Merle, she liked Rick, he was nice guy. Merle was an ass.

At that point, Merle gave up and fell silent.

Both T-Dog and Laura were thankful for that. Everything he said grated on her nerves, she felt bad for T-Dog because he'd been pretty badly beaten up. She wouldn't let Merle lay a hand on T-Dog again, he was just as nice as Rick and Glenn.

"T-T-T-Dog, how l-l-long y'all been here?" She remembered Andrea's reaction to Rick's entrance, claiming that he'd just gotten them all killed.

"Not long, we had to duck in here when the walkers started showin' up. The cop did exactly what Andrea said, he rang the damn dinner bell." He chuckled, it was almost depressing, giving up hope, but then he sent a genuine smile at her. "Still, he's helpin' us get out of here. Can't say the same for Merle here."

"W-w-why did y'all l-let M-Merle come al-long in the firs-s-s-t place?" Her speech was getting worse, T-Dog took notice and, unfortunately, so did Merle.

"Jesus woman, speak a little clearer would ya'? Ya' stuttering so bad I can barely understand you. Damn annoyin'." T-Dog's jaw clenched and Laura felt herself sinking a little. She knew her speech was bad, but she was hoping they'd be kind enough to overlook it.

Then again, she just thought Merle and kind in the same sentence. Which was impossible.

"Just lay off man, so what she stutters?" T-Dog scoffed at Merle, "I can hear her just fine, don't care if your dumbass can't."

Merle laughed, "So annoyin', if ya' gonna say somethin', say it right."

"I s-s-speak jus-s-st f-f-fine." She pursed her lips, she knew her voice was strained, quiet, hoarse, and all around unpleasant to listen to, but she wanted to know about this group and T-Dog was nice enough to fill her in on the details while he fiddled with the radio.

"I-I-I-I d-d-d-didn't c-c-catch t-t-that." He was antagonizing her now, mocking her speech.

"Ignore him, he's just some ignorant redneck bastard. Ain't worth our time." He glared at Merle before looking at her. She may have hated her poor speech, but it was all a side effect of her time as part of the undead, or walkers as they called them. "I'm curious though, you always do that?" He meant it as an honest question, T-Dog would mock her like Merle did.

"N-n-no, only s-s-showed up in the pas-s-st few m-months." She raised a hand to her throat and patted it with her figures, "G-g-got hurt, dama-a-a-ged my v-v-voice."

"Ah, alright. Well, do you think it's going to last or do you feel it going away?" T-Dog saw a bruise on her neck, but didn't comment on it.

"It's g-g-goin' away. S-s-slowly, but I c-c-can f-feel it getting b-better. A few w-w-weeks ago I c-c-ould barely talk a-at all." She rubbed her sore throat, the more she talked the worse it got, but she liked talking to T-Dog, he was kind to her.

"Well, that's good." He smiled at her, "Figure that it's best the damage ain't permanent, that would suck."

She chuckled, "Y-y-yes, it w-would!"

While they laughed, the group came back up the stairs, she saw they all were quite focused, as if something was wrong. "D-d-did you f-find anything?"

Rick looked towards her and shook his head. She sighed, well, at least we tried.

Taking hold of the binoculars, Rick scanned over the streets. "That construction site, those trucks, they always keep keys on hand." He handed the binoculars to the other man who saw what Rick was talking about.

"You'll never make it passed the walkers." He observed, the street was full of them.

Rick looked to Glenn, "You got me out of that tank."

Glenn shook his head, "Yeah, but they were feeding, they were distracted."

"Right, can we distract them again?"

Merle chose this moment to speak up again, "Listen to him, he's onto somethin'. A diversion, like on Hogan's Heroes." The woman who had worked for the zoning office just glared at Merle. "God, give it a rest."

Rick was in deep thought, "They're drawn by sound, right?"

"Right, like dogs. They hear sound and they come." Glenn answered.

"Alright, what else?"

"Aside from they hear you, see you, smell you, then they catch you and eat you." The man replied, trying to talk Rick out of his forming plan.

"They can tell us by smell?" Rick was a little surprised at this.

Glenn shook his head, "Can't you?"

"They smell dead, we don't. It's pretty distinct." Andrea added, it was very noticeable.

Laura realized what he wanted to do, he needed to get passed the walkers to reach the truck and get them all back to safety. She could do that easily, but they would need to distract the other undead so they wouldn't catch up with them while she pulled the truck up.

"I can do it." She stood, thankful she didn't stammer this time.

The group looked at her oddly before Rick spoke. "I don't mean to sound insulting, but with your leg, I don't think you can outrun them."

She shook her head, "N-no, not t-that. I m-mean I c-can get pas-s-st the w-walkers wi-th-thout being h-harmed."

Glenn blinked, "That's right! You can!" The group threw him a confused look, Glenn looked to Rick. "Remember when I told you that I met her a few days ago, that she got us out before a herd of those geeks got us? Well, she stood in front of them and they didn't go after her, they completely ignored her, like she didn't exist."

Rick tilted his head and nodded to her, "That true?"

"Y-yes, the u-undead h-have never t-tried to e-e-eat me b-before." This confusing news made the group all the more curious. "I c-can w-walk through a h-horde and t-t-they don't b-bother me. N-never have."

"If that's true, can you reach the truck and bring it back?" Rick almost didn't believer her, wouldn't have if Glenn hadn't vouched for her. She nodded, "I c-can."

"Good, but we still need a distraction, some way to pull them away so we can get out and into the truck when Laura brings it around." Rick looked down to the street, "Do you think you can take someone with you?"

She furrowed her brow, "I d-don't know. N-never t-t-tried it before."

"So we still need a way to get one more person to go with Laura." He had to think on this a moment before coming up with a plan.

When he told her what it was, she couldn't believe it. If they smelled like the dead and walked like them, would they notice them? He was sending Glenn with her as she said she didn't know the city well and Glenn knew it best.

Glenn looked sick to his stomach, when Rick offered to take his place, Glenn refused, he knew he would have to go. He knew Atlanta like the back of his hand, he had to help Laura navigate the city if they were going to do this.

"Laura, when you get to the van, drive out and find a car, the newest one you can." He told her, the group wasn't present for this dicussion, "Make sure the alarms go off, Glenn will take that car and use it to lure the walkers away from the building. Once he does that, drive the truck to the loading dock and knock on the door. I'll take it from there."

She understood just fine, it was a good plan, but poor Glenn looked about ready to choke.

"R-Rick can c-come w-with me if t-this is t-t-too much G-Glen." She put a hand on his shoulder, "W-we'll unders-s-stand if y-you d-don't want t-t-to do this."

He shook his head, "This is a terrible idea, but I'm not going to back out now. Besides, they're right, if you're as unfamiliar with these streets as you say, then you'll need a guide and I'm the best for that."

Rick started getting things for Glenn to wear over his clothes. Heavy gloves, large jackets, oversized pants, and the like.

"If bad ideas were an Olympic event, this would take the gold." Glenn stared at Rick as he gathered the clothes.

They went downstairs, back into the room where they'd first met the group. Rick, Glenn, the man she still didn't know the name of, grabbed a dead walker and dragged it inside.

Rick was hesitating, he smashed open the fire emergency ax and turned to face the dead walker lying on the ground. It was still human, or was once, and the idea that he had was definitely pushing it.

Still, she hoped it would work.

With a running start, Rick was about to swing the ax down on the body before he froze up and slid across the floor. He paced, pulled off his helmet and dropped both the helmet and the ax.

The group was cringing the entire time, they couldn't imagine they were actually doing this.

Rick got down and searched the dead walker's pockets, he pulled out a wallet and his shaking hands opened it. He was inspecting it, "Wayne Dunlap. Georgia license. Born, nineteen-seventy-nine." He handed the license to Glenn, who took it cautiously, like it was some kind of fragile fine china.

"He had twenty-eight dollars in his pocket when he died." Rick smiled grimly. "And a picture of a pretty girl. With love, from Rachael."

Rick stared at the picture a little longer, "He used to be like us. Worryin' about bills or rent, goin' to the superbowl." He looked down, "If I ever find my family I'm going to tell them about Wayne."

He stood up again and put on his helmet and wielded the ax. He was ready to do it.

"One more thing..." Glenn spoke up, "He was an organ donor."

Laura thought that was the strangest thing to point out, she was sure that he didn't mean for his organs to be used like they were about to be used. The group just stared Glenn down.

Rick took this moment to swing the ax, the sound of blood and bones cracking made everyone ill.

Except Laura, who would never admit this, but was not bothered by the sight of the dead walker. It was as if it wasn't there at all, like the crunching of bones and the swish of blood actually didn't affect her like she thought it would.

Instead, she watched from her seat on some nearby boxes without any problems.

Everyone stumbled back, cringed, winced, heaved, as every swing of the ax hit the dead walker. The smell was quite rancid, but she wasn't bothered by it either.

The sounds of their disgust made her bite her lip, perhaps she should care a little bit more then she was showing.

"I'm so gonna' hurl." Glenn dry heaved.

Rick pointed to him, "Later."

He handed the ax to the man, "Get chopping."

"Everybody got gloves?" The all nodded, "Don't get any on your skin or in your eyes."

Laura joined them, her large gloves were a little difficult to maneuver, but she found they functioned like large spoons when she held the blood and guts right.

"It is too late to back out?" Glenn could feel the walker guts being smeared on him, everyone got into it and while they were all groaning and on the edge of vomiting, they all took part.

"Oh jeez, this is bad, this is really bad." Glenn closed his eyes, he felt ill smelling it, but looking at it? He just couldn't bring himself to open his eyes and look down.

"Think about something else, puppies... and kittens." Rick stressed, he tried to force more pleasant images into his own head, he wouldn't say anything, but it wasn't working very well.

T-Dog seemed to drift off into his own head, "Dead puppies and kittens."

That did it for Glenn.

He spun around and hurled, gasping for air.

"That is just evil, what is wrong with you?" Andrea recoiled from the stench.

When Glenn came back, he shook his head. He didn't feel any better. "Does he smell like them?" Rick asked around, the entire group agreed.

Andrea came to Glenn, holding her gun out. "Just in case." She pulled back his gut covered coat and put the gun securely in his belt. He was appreciative, but he hoped he didn't have to use it.

"When they make it back, be ready." Rick addressed the group, all of them slowly recovering from the mutilation of the walker corpse.

"What about Merle Dixon?" T-Dog questioned, a certain level of venom in his voice. He was concerned not about Merle's safety, but about what Merle would do when he got free.

Rick contemplated this before removing his glove and pulling back his coat, he took out the cuff key and handed it to T-Dog. He looked thoughtful and backed away from the group.

"Give me the ax," The man handed it to Rick, "Need more guts."

Once Rick was satisfied with Glenn's appearance and smell, he deemed them ready for the job.

Right before she and Glenn left, Rick stopped her.

"Are you sure you can do this? They won't try to hurt you?" He tried to catch her eyes, but she lowered her head and the hood covered her face. She nodded surely, but he was still worried.

"If anything happens out there, if you can't get to the truck, don't worry about it. Surviving is the only important part of this." She smiled brightly, "Y-you got it R-Rick."

Glenn and Laura turned to the door and left the building, the group trying to keep an eye on them as long as they could. Then, the door closed and they all rushed back up the stairs.

She found Glenn's zombie acting skills so amusing she could barely contain herself. He groaned like he was just making sounds flatly.

Glenn was in the open, she knew they wouldn't bother her, but Glenn was human, they'd charge him if they got the slightest hint that he was edible. They couldn't move too fast, or rather, Glenn couldn't, because they'd notice him, but she could do hop scotch and they still wouldn't bother her.

She had to keep an eye on Glenn, make sure he didn't do anything that got him noticed by the walkers.

He limped like he was actually undead and when a very suspicious walker came by, he groaned quite convincingly. Which impressed her due to his earlier undead sounds which were quite pitiful.

They had to get down and crawl on their bellies underneath a bus to get out of the alley. Then, when standing again, headed straight towards the truck Rick pointed out to them.

It had taken a few moments to get close enough to the gates that they both felt confident they, or Glenn, was going to make it.

Then, it started to rain and pour down it did. Georgia weather, notorious for it's unpredictability.

More walkers became interested in Glenn, they didn't even try to go for her, but they did make her uncomfortable by the way they were ogling Glenn like he was some kind of five star meal.

A minute passed before the first walker tried to get Glenn. She just turned around and shoved it away, she had no melee weapons. Probably a bad idea considering she was supposed to be keeping Glenn safe.

"Run!" She yelled, her coarse voice sounding far too similar to a walker's screech. It made her worried for a second, but the moment passed, she had no time to dwell on it. She had to get Glenn out of here.

They ran through the undead, she shoved them over and Glenn hacking the heads of walkers who came too close to him. She grabbed him by his coat, the blood of the dead walker covered her hand and forearm by the time they reached the fence.

Glenn jumped up and Laura did her best to climb, her brace still making the more acrobatic part of her life quite challenging. Glenn took hold of her arm and dragged her up with him, they both jumped off the fence and the moment her left foot connected to the street, she felt her femur crack.

He rushed to a wall mounted box where the keys were stored, "I got them, let's go!"

Dammit, that would add a great deal of time to her recovery. "Go! Get to the truck!" She cried out to Glenn who had just now jumped into the passenger side of the truck and she jumped in the driver side.

A walker slammed itself against Glenn's windshield.

"Can you even drive?!" He jumped back from the window, she just rolled her eyes as he handed her the keys. She started up the truck and took off. She had to follow Rick's plan, to find a car with a loud alarm and use it to lure the walkers away from the building so that she could pull the truck up to the loading dock without a horde surrounding them.

"Turn here! There's a parking lot, gotta' be a car in there somewhere." Glenn pointed out and she turned, luckily for them both, there was one car left.

And it had a hell of an alarm.

She waited and waited, the alarm was plenty loud enough to attract walkers from all around the city. She had to be ready to pull up fast, she drove slowly so Glenn could make his way around her and to the street the group were waiting on.

Once she gave Glenn his time and watched him leave the street with the horde chasing after him, she backed into the loading dock as quickly as she could.

Getting out of the driver seat, she knocked on the dock garage door and it instantly raised up. "Come on, come on, don't have much time!" She helped them get bags in before they hopped into the truck.

T-Dog leaped into the truck and the other man held onto rope attached to the side of the truck wall as Rick took the driver seat and sped off. She came up front with him, preferring to sit in the comfort of the chair rather then the hard bumpy floor of the truck. She cracked her femur and it hurt.

She was gripping the spot absent mindedly while the others in the back got comfortable.

Rick saw this and figured she'd gotten hurt. "What's wrong?"

Staring at him, she removed her hand. "J-just... s-s-strained m-my leg, it's n-not in the b-best condition ever." She smiled, trying to tell him that it was alright, that there was nothing to worry about.

"You did a good job, both you and Glenn." He was on the road out of the city and she was never so happy to leave Atlanta before. "Thank you."

She shook her head, "N-no, it w-w-was your plan, R-Rick. I s-should be t-t-thankin' you."

The group in the back made sounds of agreement, each of them happy Rick had found them a way out, even if he did cause all this.

She looked behind her and noted they were one man down, "Merle?"

T-Dog had an expression that told him he was very unhappy. "I dropped the damn key." The group understood, Merle was left on the roof to be eaten by the walkers, it wasn't a pleasant thought, but then again, Merle in general wasn't a pleasant thought.

Shrugging, she leaned back in the chair and let out a comfortable sigh.

"How do you do it?" Andrea asked Laura, who was unaware of the question being directed at her. "Laura, right?" Her head snapped up, "How'd you do it? Those walkers didn't even try to go for you. Glenn was right, they treated you like you weren't there. So, how did you do it?"

Rick glanced at Laura who looked extremely uncomfortable. There was something she was hiding, something she didn't want to tell them, but after her work today he figured they could hold off on the questions for a while.

"Let's let Laura be for now, she's probably very tired from her adventure today." Her mouth was pulled into a frown, but she nodded to Rick after he spoke up for her. "Get some sleep, I'll wake you when we get to the camp."