I don't own Total Drama and The Walking Dead.
Sorry if you find any grammar mistakes. I'm still learning English because it's not my first language.
Darth krayt1: Yeah. I wasn't a large fan of this small arc they put Carol through the other half of season 6 and most of season 7.
rickgrimesdarlydixonglennrhee: If I would pick the Total Drama characters I have the most fun or had the most fun (because they died at some point of this story) when writing this story, then it would be:
1. Chris
2. Duncan
3. Chef
4. Tyler
5. Noah
6. Bridgette
7. Courtney
8. DJ
9. Harold
10. Izzy
fan: You'll have to wait and see which Total Drama characters from Rick's group will be in Negan's lineup :)
ThEndymam: I'm glad you liked it. You'll have to wait and see if someone from Total Drama will bite the dust in this chapter :)
Daryl was crouching down in front of his recently reclaimed motorcycle, going through it to see if everything was fine with it. He reached his hand into bag and searched through it, managing to find something that caught his attenion. He pulled it out of the bag, revealing it to be the wooden figurine that the unknown man from the forest was carving before he and his wife stole his motorcycle. He sighed, now knowing where the Saviors got his motorcycle from and tossed the figuring on the ground.
"Got your bike back." A familiar voice rang through his ears and saw Carol and Duncan walking towards him, "Duncan told me about it."
"Yeah." Daryl nodded in confirmation as he stepped away from his motorcycle and sat down on the stairs behind him. Carol and Duncan sat down next to him a few seconds later. It didn't took him long to notice the cigarette between Carol's teeth. He looked at her questioningly and gestured towards it, "You got another one of those?" Carol nodded, letting him know she had more and took one cigarette out of her pack and handed it to him, "Thanks."
Carol held the cigarette pack out to Duncan right after, "You want one?"
"No, thanks." Duncan declined her offer as Daryl put the cigarette between his teeth, "Cigarettes are one of the few things I don't want to be killed nowadays."
Carol nodded at him and shifted her attention to Daryl, looking at him questioningly, "Those people you met, the ones in the burnt forest, they took your bike from you?"
Daryl nodded in confirmation, litting up his cigarette, "Yeah."
"You saved them, right?" Carol asked. The silence she received from Daryl was the only answer she needed to get from him, "Sorry. It's who you are. We're still stuck with that."
"No, we ain't." Daryl replied, "I should've killed them."
"Don't dwell on it so much." Duncan said, "You couldn't have predicted what they would do to you. They were running away from the people who attacked the two of us and the rest. You couldn't have predicted they will have a sudden change of heart and will want to go back to their old friends?"
Carol looked at Duncan questioningly, "What about the people who attacked you? Are they all dead?"
"They probably are." Duncan replied, "Harold left one alive before we fleed the place, but he was bitten and trapped on the floor filled with walkers. No one could have survived something like that without a gun."
Carol nodded in understanding, "I see."
"I should go." Duncan got up from the stairs as Carol and Daryl looked at him, "Geoff wanted me to come over to his house to talk about something. It's apparently something important." Daryl and Carol nodded in understanding, "One more thing. Sanders will be moving into our house today. Don't get confused if you'll see her stuff laying around."
Daryl and Carol gave him another nod of understanding as Duncan turned away from them and started to make his way towards Geoff, Bridgette and Brody's house. Neither of them minded Sanders moving into their house. They were happy Duncan managed to find himself someone to be in a relationship with again after what happened with Courtney all this time ago.
Morgan looked around himself, having just layed down the final brick a jail cell he was was working on for the few days in the basement he used to keep the W man in before the walkers invaded Alexandria. He stepped away from the wall he had just finished putting together and looked around himself, feeling pretty satisfied with his work and with how well this jail cell turned out in the end.
"Morgan." He turned around to face the source of the voice and saw Rick standing on the other side of the cell door. His old friend looked at him questioningly, "Why?"
"It'll give you some choices next time." Morgan gave him an honest answer.
Noah was sitting on the couch in the living room of his and Izzy's house, his eyes fixed on the book in front of him as he relaxed in his favorite way before he will leave his house to do his usual activities in Alexandria. By reading a book. Izzy was in the kitchen right now, making herself something to eat. Both of them stopped what they were doing when someone knocked on the front door to their house.
The bookworm looked up from his book and looked over to the source of the knocking, wondering who it was. He thought about getting up from the couch and checking who it was. He stopped himself from getting up from the couch as he saw Izzy walk out of the kitchen and made her way to the front door. He set his eyes back on his book and went back to reading it right after, thinking Izzy will take care of it.
"Noah!" Izzy called out for him several seconds later, "Come here!"
"I'm coming!" Noah replied as he put his book on the table in front of him, making sure not to close it as he did so. He got up from the couch and made his way to the front door to his house. He stopped next to Izzy and looked through the open door, seeing who had just paid them a visit. I was Emma and Kitty. He smiled at him, specifically at Emma, "Hey, you two."
Emma smiled at him, "Hey, Noah."
Noah looked between all three of them with a questioning look on his face, "What's going on?"
"I don't know." Izzy replied, "They asked me if I could get you as they want to talk with both of you about something."
Noah raised his brow at Emma, "Did something happen?"
"No." Emma shook her head, "Don't worry. Nothing happened."
Kitty nodded in confirmation, "We just want to ask you a quick favor. Well. Mostly Emma does."
Izzy looked at Emma questioningly, "How can we help you?"
"I want you to accompany me and Kitty to Deanna's grave." Emma responded, "I talked with Spencer a few days ago and he revealed to me he managed to find Deanna's walker in the forest and buried her there. I asked him where he buried her and he told me the exact location. I would ask you to come with me a few days ago, but had to postpone it to another date as it was when all the stuff with Saviors came up."
"I see." Noah nodded in understanding, "With the matter of the Saviors taken care of, you decided you shouldn't postpone it for any longer?"
"Yes." Emma nodded in confirmation, "I want to pay my respects to Deanna for everything she has done for Alexandria and tell her a few things I didn't got a chance to tell her about before she passed away when the those monsters invaded our home. I will really appreciate if you and Izzy will accompany me and Kitty to her grave. I and Kitty may have improved our skills in handling ourselves against those monsters over the course of the last month, but I will feel safer if someone from your group will accompany us."
"So will you join us or not?" Kitty asked, "We will understand if you already have something else planned for today and won't be able to. We just will go ask someone else."
"Sure. I can join you." Izzy smiled at Kitty and Emma, "I had nothing planned for today and I don't think any important job for me will came up today."
"I can go as well." Noah nodded, "I could use a walk to clear my mind."
Emma smiled gratefully at them, "Thank you so much. I really appreciate it."
Denise stood on top of the watch tower close to the main gate of Alexandria, standing next to Rock who was on guard duty right now as she watched how Abraham and Eugene just left the walls of their community for some important reason. She looked down at the yellow torn up page from a phone book she was carrying with herself since she woke up today and clutched it tightly.
She shifted her gaze away from the yellow page and shifted it to the walker caught in Alexandria's spike array. She focused her attention on it and eyed it up down, readying herself mentally for something she was planning to do today. She nodded her head to herself, taking her eyes off the walker a few moments later as she knew she was ready for this.
She left the watch lower right after, offering her goodbye to Rock as she did so. She made her way through the streets of Alexandria and luckilly for her managed to stumble upon the people she knew were the right people for this job. Those people were Daryl, Rosita, Trent and Gwen. She gathered them around her and quickly filled them in about her idea, showing them a map with one location circled on it.
"After I got out of DC, I just drove." She began her explanation as Daryl, Rosita, Trent and Gwen looked at her with interested looks on their faces, "I remember seeing it right when I realized I had no idea where I was going. Edison's Apothecary and Boutique. It's just this little gift shop in a strip mall, but if it's really an apothecary, they had drugs."
Gwen raised her brow at her, "How do you know they still got 'em?"
"It isn't that far. I just wanna check." Denise replied, "And you and Rosita aren't out scavenging or pulling shifts.
Daryl nodded at her, letting her know they were up for this job, "We'll go."
"I wanted to check." Denise shfited her gaze between Daryl, Rosita, Trent and Gwen, "I just wanted to help."
Trent rubbed the back of this head, "We appreciate you want to help, but how much time you spend out there?"
"None." Denise gave them an honest answer.
"Forget it." Daryl told her she couldn't go with them as soon as he heard her answer.
Gwen nodded in agreement, "It's too risky for you."
"I can ID the meds. I know how to use a machete now. I've seen roamers up close. I'm ready." Denise tried to convince them to let her tag along.
Daryl shfited his gaze between Rosita and Trent, "You good with this?"
Rosita shook her head, "No."
"Same here." Trent nodded in agreement.
"I'll go alone, if I have to." Denise told them, insisting on joining them for this supply run.
"You'll die alone." Gwen pointed out.
"I'm asking you to make sure I don't." Denise pleaded them.
Geoff looked between Brody, Duncan and Harold who were sitting on the couch in front of him as he let out a deep exhale, readying himself to reveal why he wanted all of them to come to his house today. Brody, Duncan and Harold stared at him with questioning looks on their faces, wondering what Geoff wanted to tell them about as Geoff nodded to himself, knowing there no backing away from it now.
"Thanks you for coming here, guys." He smiled at them gratefully, "I'm sure you're wondering why I asked all of you to come here."
"You can say that." Duncan nodded at him, "It was bugging my mind since you told me about it."
"It's pretty unusual to see you play secrets." Harold nodded in agreement.
"What is it, dude?" Brody asked.
"I want to propose to Bridge." Geoff revealed his intention to his friends as Brody, Duncan and Harold felt how their eyes snapped open in suprise at this revelation because none of them were expecting him to , "This is something I've been thinking about since I learned about her being pregnant with my child and I have finally decided this is something I want to do."
"Damnnn." Brody whistled with an impressed look on his face, "Talk about making a big step."
"Okay." Duncan crossed his arms with smirk on his face as Harold smiled at Geoff, gladdened by this information, "You can color me impressed."
Geoff smiled at his friends, gladdened to hear all of them reacted so positively to his revelation, "This is why I gathered all of you here. I want to go to find a perfect ring for her. I asked Sky and Scott if there is any jewelry store near Alexandria. They gave me one location in the town nearby and I want to go check it out today. I gathered you here because I want you to ask my to come with me to find it. You guys are my closest bro's and I would love if you joined me today. Of course you don't have to force yourself to come if you already have something planned for today. I will completely understand if you won't be able to join me today."
"What are you talking about, bro?" Brody asked as he got up from the couch, "Of course I'll join you on this trip to the jewelry store. What kind of friend would I be if I didn't join you on your trip to choose the perfect ring for your girl after you asked me to?"
"Brody's right, Geoff." Harold smiled as he got up from the couch, "I will be more than glad to join you."
Duncan nodded in agreement, getting up from the couch, "Yeah. What they said."
"Thank guys." Geoff smiled at his friends in a grateful manner, "I appreciate it. I really do."
Brody patted him on his shoulder, "No problem, bro."
"When do you want to go?" Duncan asked.
"As soon as possible." Geoff replied, "I want to get this done before midnight."
Duncan nodded in understanding, "Alright."
"Let's go into the armory and get ready for this run." Harold said.
Geoff, Brody and Duncan nodded at him, knowing it was time to head out of they wanted to come back from this run before midnight. The group of four wasted no time and quickly left the house with their new mission stuck in their heads, beginning to head to the armory where they will get ready for their mission of finding a perfect engagement ring for Bridgette.
Denise watched how Rosita, Trent, Gwen and Daryl were getting an old truck ready for their supply run for the medication as she waited for them to be done with the preparations for this supply run. She glanced to her right as she heard someone approach her from this side and saw Bridgette walking towards her with her usual friendly expression on her face, the one she always used whenever they interacted with her.
Bridgette stopped next to her and smiled at her, "Hey."
Denise smiled back at her, "Hey?"
"Are you going somewhere?" Bridgette asked.
"Yes. Remember the place where we might find drugs that I mentioned to you?" Denise asked as Bridgette nodded in confirmation, "Rosita, Trent, Gwen and Daryl will be going to check this place out today. I'll be joining them."
"I see." Bridgette nodded in understanding, "Just watch out for yourself out there. I don't want anything to happen to my favourite assistant."
"Don't worry. I will." Denise reassured her. She smiled at the way Bridgette had just called her a second later, "Favourite assistant? I'm your only assistant."
Bridgette smiled back at her, "It won't change the fact that you're my favorite."
"Denise." Trent's voice called out for Denise and Denise and Bridgette looked at him, Gwen, Daryl and Rosita, "Come here! We're heading out!"
"I'm coming!" Denise replied to his calling and shifted her gaze back to Bridgette for a second, "I'll see you later."
Bridgette nodded at her, "Yeah. I'll see you later."
Denise turned away from Bridgette and walked over to the old beat-up truck where Daryl, Trent, Gwen and Rosita were waiting for her. The group of five got themselves into the truck, with Daryl taking sitting down on the driver's seat. Rock opened the gate for them and Daryl drove the truck through the open gate and started to drive towards the place Denise wanted to check out.
The glasses wearing woman looked at Daryl a few minutes after they left Alexandria as she noticed something about his driving, "It's the..."
Daryl looked at her questioningly, "What?"
"Forget it." Denise replied, hearing the gears grinding.
"No, what?" Daryl wanted to know what she wanted to tell him.
"I think maybe you're disengaging it too soon." Denise explained, "I've been driving stick since I was 15, usually beat-up trucks like this. I mean, before- you know, before I left home. My brother taught me, so I just know."
Daryl looked at Denise with an interested look on his face as Rosita called out for him, having noticed something ahead of them, "Daryl."
"We have a problem." Gwen added.
Daryl shifted his gaze away from Denise and shifted it back to the road back to the road, seeing a fallen tree preventing them from going any further. He stopped the car in front of the fallen tree and glanced at Denise, "Stay here."
Daryl, Rosita, Gwen and Trent got themselves out of the truck, holding their guns in ready and stepped closer to the fallen tree. Denise watched them walk over to the fallen tree from the truck as something in the fallen tree caught Rosita's attention. She picked up a few sticks and tossed them to the side, revealing a walker trapped underneath the fallen tree.
"I got it." She told her group, her eyes set on the trapped walker, "This happened fast. Tree rotted out. It wasn't people."
Daryl, Trent and Gwen nodded at her, keeping their eyes on their surroundings just in case if more walkers will appear and to see if there was any way around the fallen tree in their truck as Rosita unsheathed her machete and swung it at the trapped walker, finishing it off. After making sure the walker was dead, she unzipped the backpack and took the supplies she saw inside out of it.
She made her way back to the truck and opened it a few seconds later, "Come on, it's clear."
"What'd you find?" Denise asked out of curiosity as she got herself out of the truck.
"Bottles of booze." Rosita replied, showing Denise her most recent finding, "Any takers?"
"No, thanks." Denise declined her offer, "They were kind of my parents' thing. Which is why they aren't mine."
"That truck ain't gonna make it past this tree." Daryl stated, walking over to Denise and Rosita with Trent and Gwen, "Come on, let's walk."
"Hold up." Denise stopped the group from going forward, making all of them look at her and pointed at the train tracks leading to their right, "Looks like a straight shot if we follow the tracks."
"No." Daryl shook his head at her suggestion, "No tracks. We'll take the road."
"That's twice as far." Gwen pointed out.
"Go whichever way you like. I ain't taking no tracks." Daryl replied as he walked into the forest and vanished between the trees."
"We should stick together." Denise replied, adjusting her bag as she followed Daryl into the forest. Gwen, Rosita and Trent watched them walk away for a few seconds, before taking the tracks as they knew they will reach their destination faster if they will choose this path.
It had been a while since Abraham and Eugene left Alexandria together. The two of them walked together along the alley of the local town, making their way towards the place Eugene wanted to check out for some reason. As the two of them continued to make their way towards their destination, Abraham couldn't help but wonder about about one thing he noticed about Eugene since he laid his eyes on him in the early morning. That thing was Eugene's new hairstyle.
"I see you've tied back your Tennessee waterfall there." He said, finally bringing up the matter of Eugene's new hairstyle to him.
"I won't lie. I liked it." Eugene replied, "I may very well miss it.b The feeling of the billowy curtain catching the breeze some days was straight-up bliss. But brass tacks- the hair doesn't make the man, the man makes the man."
"Guard duty, weapon training, changing up the hairstyle, swigging some swagger with the ladies, spitting game..." Abraham started to say.
"If you don't spit game, you are game." Eugene pointed out, cutting him off.
"Man seems to be changing." Abraham stated, "At least trying like hell to. Makes me curious what that's about."
"It's simple, really." Eugene began his answer, "As with any RPG, tabletop, electronic, or otherwise, the key to survival is allowing oneself to be shaped by the assigned environment. In doing so, a broad range of capabilities are acquired, allowing one to flip the script and use said capabilities to shape said environment for maximum longevity. I'm saying I'm in the process of said stage two. I've changed, adapted. I'm a survivor."
Abraham stared at him for a few seconds with a thoughtful look on his face before replying to his declaration, "Keep telling yourself that."
"I've changed, adapted. I've become a survivor." Eugene insisted as Abraham turned away from him and started to walk away from him. Not wasting any time, Eugene followed him.
Rosita, Trent and Gwen were sitting on the side of the road close to the entrance to the small town, waiting for Daryl and Denise to catch up to them as either of them were nowhere to be seen as of now. Denise and Daryl appeared in their view a few minutes later as both of them walked down the street in the direction of the entrance to the town. Upon setting their eyes on them, Rosita, Trent and Gwen got up from the ground and walked over to them.
"About time." Rosita said, now walking next to Denise as the now reunited the group of five started to make their way into the town.
"You took your time." Gwen added.
Denise looked at them with an apologetic look on her face, "I didn't mean to pick him over you back there. It's just..."
"Don't worry. You have nothing to apologize for." Trent reassured her.
Rosita pointed at Denise's mechete, "You're holding it wrong." Denise looked at her as Rosita showed her how to correct her stance, "Like this."
"Thanks." Denise nodded at her, making sure to correct her stance and looked at her, Trent and Gwen in curiosity, "Who taught you, guys? You know, how to fight?" She started to feel bad for asking them this question after she saw the way Rosita looked at her, "Sorry, I didn't mean to bring up..."
"A lot of people taught me a lot of things." Rosita replied, showing Denise she was not angry at her for asking her this question, "Years from now, he'll just be a name in a long list of names."
Denise nodded, relieved she didn't anger Rosita and shifted her gaze between Gwen and Trent, "What about you?"
"I just learned as the time passed." Gwen gave her an honest answer.
Trent nodded in agreement, "Same here."
The group of five continued to make their way further into the town and managed to reach their destination a few minutes later. Daryl stopped in front of the front door to the place, knocked on it a few times and put his ear against it, checking if there were any walkers inside as Denise. When no noises came from the other side of the door, he nodded to himself and shifted his attention to Rosita, Denise, Gwen and Trent.
"All right, me and her are gonna do this. You're gonna stay back, got it?" He told Denise, earning a nod from her as he handed Gwen his shotgun. He pulled out a crowbar from his bag and began trying to pry open the locked door with it as Trent, Gwen and Rosita aimed their guns at the door and readied themselves to move into the place, waiting for him to get the door open.
The door to one building was opened, revealing Abraham and Eugene to be standing in front of the front door to it. Abraham held his machine gun in ready, just in case if there were any walkers in the building as Eugene moved away from the door, holding a homemade picklock in his right hand. The two of them had arrived at their destination a few moments later, but couldn't enter the building because the front door was locked. Abraham thought about kicking the door open, but Eugene pulled him away from the idea, telling him there was a better, quieter way to open the door.
"Standard pin and tumbler." Eugene told Abraham, showing him a homemade picklock, "Tick-tick-click, easy peasy."
"This the place?" Abraham asked, taking a look into the building.
"It is indeed." Eugene nodded in confirmation, entering the building through the now open door.
"Okay." Abraham nodded and followed him into the building. He allowed himself to take a good look around the building after entering it and saw a bunch of interesting machinery around him and Eugene, "You about ready to spill the pintos on what the hell it is we're doing here?"
"Yeah." Eugene replied, looking around the machinery around him and Abraham with interest written all over his face, "We're gonna manufacture bullets here. I've been chewing the cud on this for a few days now. The Hilltop's dry, our supply's finite. So not only are bullets vital for defense, but per the law of supply and demand, a full cartridge is now the coin of the land."
Abraham raised his brow at him, finding Eugene's idea interesting, "Making bullets from scratch?"
"Spent casings, but the innards are all us." Eugene explained, "And by us, I mean me."
"And you think you can do that... here?" Abraham asked, gesturing to the machinery around them, "With just this?"
"Well, the digs will require a thorough scrubbing. We'll have to scare up a hella ton of lead, but, yes." Eugene answered, "I most definitely almost certainly think I can do that here."
"That, my friend, is some damn fine genuine outside-the-box thinking." Abraham chuckled, nodding in approval of Eugene's idea and Eugene nodded back at him, gladdened he was approving his idea to make bullets for their group, "Where do we start?"
"Well, we should inform Rick, talk with Olivia, see what types of ammo would be most valuable to produce." Eugene explained. Just as he finished his explanation, a walker appeared behind him.
"I'm gonna hit pause so I can kill that thing behind you." Abraham cut him off, pulling out his knife as he started to make his way towards the walker.
"Pump your brakes, Red." Eugene stopped him from approaching the walker, "I'm formally calling dibs on this one." He turned around to face the walker, seeing it's face was drenched in liquid metal, now hardened and unsheathed his machete, "Dibs is dibs."
"Well, be my guest." Abraham shrugged, "Get some." Eugene swung his machete at the walker once it was very close to him, hitting it in the head. He didn't kill the undead as the hardened metal protected the undead's head, "Strike one." The walker shoved itself towards Eugene as Eugene grabbed it by it's shoulders and pushed it against the wall next to him and Abraham, "Strike two."
Making sure to keep the walker pinned against the wall, Eugene looked around himself in search of a weapon he could use to kill it. He laid his eyes on a small pipe next to him right after. He tried to grab it, but unfortunely the walker he was trying to keep pinned against the wall made him unable to do so. Seeing the trouble Eugene was having with the walker right now, Abraham took the pipe and finished off the walker, angering Eugene.
Eugene looked at Abraham with an angered look on his face, dropping the deceased walker to the floor, "Why did you kill it? I called dibs. You had zero authority to..."
"To what?" Abraham cut him off, "Stop you from dying?"
"I had full control of the situation." Eugene argued.
"You had better luck picking up a turd by its clean end." Abraham argued back.
Eugene narrowed his eyes at Abraham, "I'm gonna allow you to apologize for saying that. So how about you do so right now?"
"Timmy down there almost ate your face, dumbass." Abraham pointed out, pointing at the deceased walker laying between him and Eugene.
"All due respect, screw you." Eugene said.
"Beg your pardon?" Abraham wanted to be sure if he heard him correctly.
"Dispatching walkers is well within my kill set, so screw you for suggesting otherwise." Eugene repeated himself, offering Abraham an explanation to why he told him this as he did so.
Abraham glared at Eugene, raising his voice at him, "Let me get something straight, all right? Using your cabeza, this whole DIY ammo thing, that is your damn kill set, just like ghosting hostiles, both of the undead and the living variety, is mine. Now, you truly want to survive this world long-term, I suggest you learn that posthaste."
"Okay." Eugene nodded at him, "Thank you for your protection. I most certainly needed it between here and Houston. But your services are no longer required. The truth, plain and honest. You've outlived your usefulness to me."
"Is that so?" Abraham asked angrily.
"Plain and honest." Eugene nodded in confirmation as Abraham tossed the pipe to the floor and turned away from Eugene, before making his way to the exit from the place, "Where are you going?"
"Home." Abraham replied as he stopped in his tracks and turned around to look at Eugene, giving him one last glare, "My services are no longer required. Find your own way back." He turned away from him and walked out of the building, "Asshole.
It had been a while since Duncan, Harold, Geoff and Brody left Alexandria to help Geoff in his search for the engagement ring for Bridgette. The group of four made their way into the town near Alexandria where the jewelry store Sky and Scott had told Geoff about was located. Upon arriving at the town, the group of four followed the map Sky and Scott made for Geoff and managed to find the jewelry store they were looking for few minutes later.
After finding the place they were looking for, the group of four walked into the store and took a good look around their new surroundings. From the first glance they took at the store, they could see most of the stuff was still on the shelves. As they looked around the store, it didn't took them long to notice two walkers roaming the store. The two walkers noticed them a few seconds later and started to make their way towards them
The group of four exchanged glances, knowing those two walkers won't be too big of a problem to them. Geoff unsheathed his machete and stepped towards the closest walker as Duncan readied his bow and took out an arrow. Geoff swung his machete at the walkers, cutting it's head clean off as Duncan fired the arrow at the other walker, ending it's life instantly by hitting it right in the middle of it's forehead.
Duncan walked over to the walker he had just killed and pulled his arrow out it's forehead, "At least we won't have to worry about this place being filled with those things."
"Yeah." Brody nodded in agreement.
Geoff sheathed his machete and looked around the shelves, seeing just how much jewelry was on them, "Good to know it was worth to come to this place. Just look how much jewelry there is in this place."
"Not suprising to be honest." Harold stated, "The jewelry stores were one of the few stores people weren't looting when all of this started."
"Yeah." Brody nodded in agreement and smiled at Geoff, "I'm sure we'll find a perfect ring for you gal here."
Geoff smiled back at him, "I hope so."
"What are we waiting for, then?" Duncan asked, "Let's split up around the store and begin our search for the ring."
"Yeah. Let's get to it." Geoff in agreeement, "Let me know when you will come across something interest."
Harold, Duncan and Brody nodded at him, voicing their understanding in their own ways. The group of four split up around the store right after, beginning their search for the perfect engagement ring for Bridgette. As they continued to look for the perfect ring for Bridgette, something managed to catch Harold's attention. It wasn't a ring, though. It was a beautiful ruby necklace.
Duncan walked over to him with a questioning look on his face, "Something caught your attention?"
"Yeah." Harold nodded in confirmation and pointed at the necklace he was staring at for the few moments, "This necklace over here. I feel like my beloved Leshawna would love to receive this a gift from me."
"Then why don't you take it?" Duncan asked, "I doubt whoever owned this place will mind?"
"You're right." Harold nodded in agreement as he reached towards the ruby necklace, taking it from the display and placed it in his bag, "How about you? You aren't going to take anything for Sanders?"
Duncan rubbed the back of his head, "Our relationship is still pretty fresh. I don't know what kind of jewelry she likes."
"I see." Harold nodded in understanding, "We can always come back here after you will learn what kind of jewelry she likes. I'm sure she will appreciate this gift after you will give her."
"Yeah. I doubt anyone will be interested in robbing this store anytime soon." Duncan nodded in agreement as Harold chuckled, making him raise his brow at him, "What's so funny?"
"Nothing." Harold smiled at him, "It's kind of ironic. A delinquent like you ended up in a relationship with a police cadet."
"I suppose." Duncan smiled back at him, letting out a chuckle of his own, "I wonder how many pops would react to it if he learned about this."
"Hey, dudes." Brody called out for them to gain their attention as he walked over to them, "What are you talking about?"
"Nothing. Just talking about Harold making a gift for his girl." Duncan explained.
"I see.." Brody nodded in understanding, "Too bad I can't participate in this little relationship talk as I'm the only one from our four who is not a relationship." He looked at Duncan questioningly, "Hey, dude. Does Sanders have any free friends out there?"
"I don't know." Duncan gave him an honest, "The only friend of hers I know of is McArthur. I don't think she will be up for the relationship anytime soon, though because you know."
Brody gave him another nod of understanding, knowing he shouldn't ask further as he determined what happened with McArthur from the tone of Duncan's voice. Their attention was shifted to the door in the back of the store right after as someone or rather something started slamming their body against it. It didn't took the three of them long to figure out a walker was trapped there.
"I got it." Brody said, pulling out his knife as he walked over to the door. He grabbed the door handle, readying himself to take out the walker trapped there and slowly opened the door. The walker snarled as it came out of the room it was trapped in. The walker wasted no time and immediately moved towards Brody. It never reached him, though as Brody stabbed it in the head, killing it immediately. He turned away from the walker as it's body collapsed on the floor and saw the looks Harold and Duncan were giving him righ now, "What? Have to grow up someday. Can't life just for the party, especially in the times like this. Right?"
Duncan nodded in approval, "I see your training with Geoff paid off."
"Yeah. I'm glad someone other than me or Geoff or Bridge noticed it." Brody smiled at him, "My bro did his best to make sure a novice like me will be able to handle himself against those things." He turned to look at Geoff, "Right, dude?" Geoff remained silent. "Dude?"
"Can you guys come here for a second?" Geoff asked them a few seconds later, "I think I found a perfect ring for Bridge."
Duncan, Harold and Brody wasted no time and walked over to Geoff as soon as they received this information from him, interested to see what kind of ring he had chosen for Bridgette. The party animal slowly turned around to look at them and showed them the ring he considered perfect for his beloved Bridgette. It was when the three of them got a good look at the beautiful diamond which was as blue as the ocean.
Needless to say, all three of them instantly agreed Geoff made the right choice...
Daryl, Denise, Trent, Gwen and Rosita walked into store after Daryl managed to get the door to it open with the crowbar. The Dixon took the lead of the group, holding his shotgun in ready as all of them slowly made their way into the place. The first thing all of them noticed about this place was the gate connecting this store to the apothecary and the unpleasant smell this place was giving. Denise gagged as soon as she walked into the store.
"We gonna find out what you had for breakfast?" Daryl asked.
"Oatmeal. Just so you know." Denise replied, shining her flashlight around the darkened store.
She turned away from Rosita, Trent, Gwen and Daryl and walked over to the counter, shining her flashlight on it as Rosita, Trent, Gwen and Daryl moved towards the closed gate to the pharmancy. As soon as she shined her flashlight on the counter, she saw a few pictures of a young boy. She smiled to herself, knowing it must have been the son of the owner of this place. Her attention was brought towards the pharmancy right after as Daryl opened the gate to it with his crowbar.
She walked over to them as soon as she noticed the pharmancy was opened, "Hey. If you set your bags on the counter, I can tell you which."
"No, we're gonna take it all." Daryl replied as he climbed into the pharmancy, followed by Trent and Rosita.
Denise raised her brow, "Are you sure? Because..."
"No, it's fine." Gwen reassured her, climbing into the pharmancy. She was about to start putting the medicine into the bag, but stopped herself when she heard a walker bang their fist against wall in the back room of the store. She moved closer to the noise, leaning over the counter to take a better look at the source of this noise which was the door to the back room as Daryl, Rosita and Trent followed her example and did the same
"It's just one." Rosita stated.
"It sounds like it's stuck." Trent stated.
"Let's leave it be." Gwen turned away from the source of the noise and turned back to the pharmancy. She went back into it and began putting the medicine in her bag, "It won't cause us any trouble."
Rosita, Daryl and Trent nodded in agreement and went back into the pharmancy, beginning to put every medicine they got their hands on into their bags as Denise continued to stare at the door to the back room of the store. Wanting to take care of this walker, she pulled out her machete and walked over to the door to the back door, before slowly opening it.
She walked into the darkened room and shined her flashlight around the room, trying to locate the source of the noise. As soon as she located the walker responsible for this noise, she regretted she had entered this room. She saw a walker in a leg cast with the words "Hush Hush Hush Hush" written on the wall above it. She turned away from the unpleasant sight and found something even worse than this. She saw a child's shoe protruding from a blood and sludge-filled sink.
Horrified by this view, Denise quickly made her way out of the room and fleed from the store. Rosita, Daryl, Trent and Gwen exchanged concerned glances with each other as they watched Denise leave the store, wondering what caused her to leave the place. Denise sat down on the ground as soon as she left the store, allowing herself to released the tears she was holding in her eyes since she saw this terrible view in the back room. Daryl, Trent, Gwen and Rosita walked out of the store a few minutes later, making her glance to the side as she wanted to hide her tears from them.
"Hey." Daryl gently called out for Denise as Denise looked up at him, Rosita, Trent and Gwen, "You did good finding this place."
"Yeah." Trent nodded in agreement, "You did a great job today."
"Tried to tell you you weren't ready." Rosita said as Denise got herself back on her feet, "All of us did."
"I know." Denise nodded.
The group of five walked away from the store right after as they started to make their way back to Alexandria, using the same path as they did earlier. As they continued to make their way out of the town, Daryl felt like he had to ask Denise about something as he couldn't stop thinking about the brother he had mentioned to him and the rest earlier today before they came across a fallen over three.
"So was he older or younger?" He asked her.
"Older. By six minutes." Denise responded, "My parents came up with the Dennis/Denise thing on one of their benders. Hilarious, right? Nothing scared him. He was brave. He was angry, too. It's kind of a dangerous combination."
"Sounds like we had the same brother." Daryl stated, seeing some similarities between Denise's brother and Merle as Gwen nodded in agreement, seeing the similarities between Denise's brother and Merle as well. The Dixon turned away from his group shorty after and started to make his way down the train tracks. He looked over his shoulder and saw Trent, Gwen, Rosita and Denise looking at him questioningly, "This way's faster, right?"
Trent, Gwen, Rosita and Denise exchanged smiles with each other and followed him, proceeding to make their way back to their community.
Noah looked around the trees around him and his group, trying to see if there were any walkers close to him, Izzy, Kitty and Emma as the four of them continued to make their way through the forest towards Deanna's grave. Emma and Kitty walked in front of Izzy and Noah, leading them towards the grave as they unlike Izzy and Noah knew where the grave was located, thanks to Spencer.
The bookworm increased his pace a bit and catched up to Emma, wanting to talk with her about something, "So." He told her as soon as he catched up to her to gain her attention as Emma looked at him, "Why do you want to talk with Deanna so much?"
"I just want to thank her for everything she did for Alexandria." Emma replied, "She may have done many mistakes when it came to leading our community such as ignoring the outside world, a mistake I made myself, but it doesn't change the fact Alexandria would be never created if it wasn't for her. She was a great friend to me since I and Kitty found ourselves in Alexandria and she always helped me out whenever I came across a problem since she assigned me to work her. The fact I never got a chance to say a proper goodbye to her feels wrong, you know?"
"Yeah." Noah nodded in understanding as Kitty increased her pace to distance herself from them, sensing a private talk between them coming. Izzy walked behind the two of them, paying more attention to her surroundings than to them, "I can understand it."
Emma looked at him questioningly, "Did someone close to you die and you didn't have the opportunity to say goodbye to them?"
"Yes." Noah nodded in confirmation, having one person he didn't have a chance to say goodbye to, "My buddy Owen. He was Izzy's boyfriend. He died a long time ago. His death came out of nowhere. The place our group was staying in was invaded by the walkers. Our group tried to fight them off, but it was in vain and we were forced to flee. He was grabbed by the walkers when he was making his way to safety with some other members of our group. We couldn't do anything to save him."
"I see." Emma nodded with a saddened look on her face, "I'm sorry to hear this happened to your friend."
Noah nodded at her, appreciating her condolences, "I haven't thought about him in a long time, you know. I guess I just didn't got a chance to think about him because of everything our group had went through in the past few months. I'm having a hard time even remembering how he looked like. The same goes for the rest of my friends, minus the part where I'm having hard time remembering how they looked like, because they didn't die that long ago. I might not show it like most people do, but I do miss all of my close friends who died since all of this started. Owen, Cody, Eva and Ezekiel. I miss them all and I wish they were here with Alexandria with us right now, even though I don't think about them as much as I would like to. In the end, I'm just grateful I got a chance to say goodbye to Cody, Eva and Ezekiel."
"If you got a chance to say goodbye to Owen, what would you say to him?" Emma asked out of curiosity.
"I guess I would thank him for being my bud and promise to him that I will make sure me and Izzy will keep surviving." Noah gave her an honest answer as Emma nodded in understanding.
"Guys." Kitty called out from the front of the group. Izzy, Noah and Emma looked at her as she stood ahead of them and saw she had stopped in her tracks and looked at something in front of her, "I think we're here."
Emma, Izzy and Noah nodded at the information, knowing they must have reached their destionation and wasted no time in walking over to Kitty. They looked in the direction she was looking at right now as soon as they catched up to her and their eyes immediately caught the sight of a grave all four of them knew must have belonged to Deanna. The group of four exchanged glances with each other, now certain they had reached their destination.
"Yeah. That's the place." Emma nodded as she stepped closer to the grave and stopped in front of it, "I better get to it."
"Do you want us to leave you alone when you'll be talking with her?" Izzy asked as Kitty walked over to Emma and stopped in front of her.
"No." Emma shook her head, her eyes not leaving the grave in front of her, "I'm okay with you two staying close to me and Kitty for this."
"Alright." Izzy nodded as she walked over to Kitty and Emma, stopping next to Kitty. Noah followed Izzy and stopped next to Emma.
Emma set her eyes on the grave in front of her and opened her mouth, intending to begin her goodbye to Deanna. No words left her, though. She couldn't find the right words to say as a goodbye to her deceased friend. Why couldn't she find the right words to say to Deanna right now? She knew what she wanted to tell her back in Alexandria. Why couldn't she think of the right words to say to Deanna when she was standing in front of her.
She closed her mouth and lowered her gaze, cursing herself mentally for not being able to say anything to Deanna. Kitty, Izzy and Noah saw the way she was behaving right now and looked at her in concern. Emma's eyes widened a few seconds later as she felt someone putting their hand on her shoulder. She looked in the direction of this person and saw Noah looking at her with a gentle look on his face.
"Take your time." He told her as Emma shifted her gaze to him, "This is your chance to say your goodbye to your dead friend. Make sure you will find the right words for it."
Emma nodded at him and shifted her gaze back to Deanna's grave. She spoke up to her a few seconds later, "...Hi Deanna. Spencer told me where you were buried and I felt like I needed to come here to tell you some last words I didn't have a chance to say to you." She pulled out the letter Deanna had asked Michonne to give her, "Michonne gave me this letter after we reclaimed our home from the dead." She rubbed the back of her head with her free hand, "I lost the count of how many times I read this since I received this. At this point I'm certain I memorized it at this point. I have to say. The knowledge you thought so highly of me made me tear up the first time I read it. I'm just here to say I'm glad that I had you as a friend and how much I appreciate everything you've done for me and our community. If it wasn't for you, Alexandria would be never created and I, Kitty and many other people wouldn't have a place we could call home in these tough times."
She wiped her her eyes as she felt them watering up and continued to say her goodbye to Deanna, "I want you to know that I will do my best to make sure the community you have built will never fall. B has been working tirelessly on expanding our community and Rick has been doing a great job at leading our little community to future. We even recently formed a trading deal with another community Rick, Chris, Chef and Daryl had stumbled upon during a supply run. Who knows. Perharps we will find some communities in the near future and will be lucky enough to form deals with them. I can only imagine how everything will look like after we will encounter more friendly communities. No matter what will happen, I'm certain the future of our community is looking well and promising right now and hopefully it will continued to look promising. All the hard work you put into creating our community will no go to waste. I promise you this."
She nodded to herself, satisfied with her final words to Deanna and wiped the tears she felt forming in her eyes when she was speaking to her deceased friend. She shifted her gaze from the grave to Noah and saw him smilling at her. Emma smiled back at him and leaned closer to him and rested her head on his shoulder. Kitty and Izzy exchanged glances with each other and smiled at the sweet scene between them.
Daryl, Rosita, Trent, Gwen and Denise walked along the train tracks, proceeding to make their way towards Alexandria. On their way back to Alexandria, Denise noticed a few abandoned cars on the side of the road. She stopped in her tracks as she saw a cooler on the front passenger of one of the cars. She pushed herself into walk towards the car, interested in checking out this cooler as stopped in front of the door to the driver's seat. She jumped a bit where she stood as a walker slammed their fist against the window, starling her a little.
She shifted her gaze from the car to Rosita, Trent, Gwen and Daryl right after and informed them about her recent finding, "There's a cooler in there! Might be something we can use inside."
Rosita turned around to look at Denise, "We got what we came for."
Daryl nodded in agreement, "It ain't worth the trouble."
"Come on. Let's go home." Gwen said as Trent silently nodded in agreement.
Denise turned away from them to look back at the car with the cooler and the walker inside, having made her choice to take care of the walker and check out the cooler. She circled around the car, making her way to the door to the passenger seat the cooler was laying on. She slowly opened the door and reached forward, grabbing the cooler. As she was about to pull the cooler out of the car, the walker crawled itself out of the car towards her.
The walker got itself on top of Denise, bringing her down to the ground as Denise clenched her teeth, trying to push the walker off of her as her glasses fell off her face. Daryl, Rosita, Trent and Gwen turned around to look at her after hearing the sounds of a fight and saw the walker on top of Denise. Not wasting any time, the four of them quickly pushed themselves into run towards Denise with the intention of helping her.
Denise managed to get the upper hand in her fight with a walker after a few seconds and got herself on top of it. She stabbed it in the head, killing the undead for good as Rosita, Daryl, Trent and Gwen arrived at the scene. She looked up at them and got herself back on her feet, letting out a deep breath as she did so. She stared at them for a few seconds, sheating her machete before lowering her head and vomiting out everything she had eaten today as Trent, Gwen, Rosita and Daryl either cringed at the scene or looked away from it.
"Oh, man." Denise said as she looked up at her group, "I threw up on my glasses." She turned away from her group and crouched down in front of the cooler. She opened it, seeing a couple cans of soda inside and pulled all of them, one of those cans turning out to be the soda she asked Daryl, Chef, Chris and Rick bring on the day they encountered Jesus, "Hot damn."
Daryl took a few steps towards Denise, "What the hell was that?"
"Do you know how stupid it was?" Gwen asked, "You could've died right there, you know that?"
Denise nodded and got up from her crouching position, "Yeah, I do."
"Are you hearing us?" Daryl asked.
"Who gives a shit?" Denise replied, "You could've died killing those Saviors, all four of you, but you didn't. You wanna live, you take chances. That's how it works. That's what I did."
Trent raised his brow, "For a couple of sodas?"
"Nope." Denise answered as she pushed herself into walk, "Just this one."
She walked past Daryl, Rosita, Gwen and Trent, showing her one can of soda to clarify her point and started to make her way towards Alexandria. She hid the soda can in he rbag as Gwen, Trent, Rosita and Daryl exchanged looks of disbelief before following her.
"Are you seriously that stupid?" Rosita asked as she followed Denise.
Denise stopped in her tracks and turned around to look at Daryl, Trent, Rosita and Gwen, "Are you? I mean it. Are you? Do you have any clue what that was to me, what this whole thing is to me? See, I have training in this shit. I'm not making it up as I go along, like with the stitches and the surgery and the... " He shifted her gaze to Daryl, "I asked you to come with me because you're brave like my brother and sometimes you actually make me feel safe." She shifted her gaze from Daryl to Trent and Gwen, "I asked you two to come with me as I can there's something bugging you two from the way you two act around each other from time to time." She shifted her gaze from them to Rosita, "And I wanted you here because you're alone. Probably for the first time in your because you're stronger than you think you are, which gives me hope that maybe I can be, too. I could've gone with Tara. I could've told her I loved her, but I didn't because I was afraid. That's what's coming out here, not facing my shit. And it makes me sick that you guys aren't even trying because you're strong and you're smart and all of you are really good people, and if you don't wake..."
She didn't got a chance to finish what she was saying a crossbow bolt striked her through the right eye from behind, making her pause in the middle of the sentence "...Up and face your..."
Those were the last words Denise managed to utter, before she collapsed on the ground. She was dead. Rosita, Trent, Gwen and Daryl reacted as soon as they broke themselves out of their shocked states and aimed their guns in the direction the crossbow bolt came from. It was when a group of unknown people came out of the forest with their guns aimed right at Daryl, Rosita, Trent and Gwen.
Daryl, Rosita, Trent and Gwen were forced to lower their guns a few seconds later as it was when they saw this unknown group had captured Eugene. Something else caught Daryl's attention about this group. It was the man who had stolen his motorcycle and his crossbow to him after he helped him and his wife. He'd recognize him everywhere. He may have looked a bit different, because he now had a large burnt scar the right side of his face, but he could see it was the same person. It didn't took him long to notice one more thing about him. He quickly noticed he was wielding his crossbow, having just used it to kill Denise.
"Well, hell. You got something to say to me?" The unknown man smiled at Daryl, standing behind Eugene who was on his knees as Daryl, Rosita, Trent and Gwen dropped their guns to the ground, knowing they had no other choice rigth now, "You gonna clear the air? Step up on that high horse?" When Daryl remained silent, he continued to speak to him, "No. You don't talk much." He glanced at the crossbow he had stolen from Daryl, "Still getting the hang of her. Kicks like a bitch, but..."
Daryl cut him off, pushing himself out of silent state as he glared at the unknown man, "I should've done it."
"Oh, what's that?" The unknown said asked, "Seriously, I didn't catch what you said."
"I should have killed you." Daryl revealed to him what he was thinking right now, looking at him with murderous intentions in his eyes.
"Yeah. You probably should have." The unknown man nodded, agreeing Daryl made a mistake by letting him live, "So, here we are. Kind of begs the question, right? Who brought this on who? I mean, I get that you'll just have to take my word for this, but... she wasn't even the one I was aiming for. Like I said, kicks like a bitch. It's nothing personal. Look, this isn't how we like to start new business arrangements, but, well, you pricks kind of set the tone, didn't you?"
"What do you want?" Gwen asked, glaring at the unknown man.
"I'm sorry. I didn't catch your name. I'm D, or Dwight. You can call me either." The unknown man introduced himself as Dwight to them, "So? What's your name?"
"Gwen." Gwen introduced herself to him, her glare not leaving her face, "What do you want?"
"I'll tell you in a moment." Dwight replied as he shifted his gaze between Trent and Rosita, "What about you two?"
"Rosita." Rosita introduced herself to him.
"Trent." Trent introduced himself to him right after Rosita made her introduction.
Dwight nodded at them, making a mental note out of their names for the future, "Well, it's not what I want. It's what all of you are going to do. You're going to let us into your little complex. It looks like it's just beautiful in there. And then you're going to let us take whatever and whoever we want... or we blow Eugene's brains out. And then yours. I hope it doesn't come to that, really. Nobody else has to die. We just try and start with one. You know... maximum impact to get our point across. So what's it gonna be? You tell me."
"You wanna kill someone, you start with our companion hiding over there behind the oil barrels." Eugene answered before Daryl, Rosita, Gwen and Trent could answer to Dwight's offer as he gestured towards the old barrels not too far from. Dwight took his eyes off Daryl, Gwen, Trent and Rosita and looked in the direction of the barrels, "He's a first-class a-hole and he deserves it so much more than us three. Go check it out."
Dwight turned to look at one of his men, "Go check it out."
The unknown man nodded and stepped closer to the barrels, holding his shotgun in ready as Dwight continued to look at the barrels, taking his attention off Daryl, Gwen, Trent and Rosita. Seeing how everyone around him were focused on the oil barrels, Eugene knew it his time to act. He turned around and bit into Dwight's penis as Dwight screamed in pain. Abraham opened fire at Dwight's group, revealing himself to be the man Eugene had just mentioned.
Dwight's group was taken by suprise by Abraham's sudden attack. All of them immediately shifted their attention to him and opened fire at him as Rosita, Gwen, Trent and Daryl knew it was their time to attack. Rosita, Gwen and Trent picked up their guns from the ground and opened fire at Dwight's group as Daryl ran up to the closer person from Dwight's group and slit their throat, before taking their AK from them.
Gwen, Rosita, Trent and Daryl quickly made their way to the abandoned cars and took cover behind them as they continued to return fire at Dwight's group. Dwight continued to scream in pain, trying to get Eugene off of him as a few walkers walked out of the forest, being led here by the noise of a gunfight. Seeing all the undead walking towards him, Dwight grabbed Eugene by his shoulders and pushed him away from him.
He landed on the ground right after he pushed Eugene off of him and pulled out his pistol. He opened fire at the approaching walkers, killing the one closest to him and turned around to look at his group, "Fall back!"
He quickly got himself back on his feet and made his way to the remaining members of his group. Not wasting any time, all of them made their way into the woods and started to flee from the scene as Daryl left his cover, dropping the now empty AK to the ground and quickly made his way to his crossbow Dwight had dropped to the ground after Eugene bit into his manhood.
"Daryl. Stop!" Rosita shouted, preventing Daryl from going after Daryl and his group as she knew exactly what he was going to do.
"We can't go after them now, man." Trent added. He came out of his cover behind an abandoned car and walked over to Daryl, followed by Rosita and Gwen, "It's too risky."
Daryl sighed, knowing Rosita was right and looked down at Denise's lifeless body, feeling bad for not killing Dwight when he had a chance as Abraham walked out of the forest and made his way to them. He picked up Eugene who was knocked out by Dwight by his shoulders as Daryl and Trent picked him up by his legs, holding one leg each. Not wasting any time, the group started to make their way back to Alexandria as Rosita and Gwen kept their eyes open for the possible threats.
Duncan, Geoff, Brody and Harold walked along the forested road as they were slowly making their way towards Alexandria after completing their mission of helping Geoff find a perfect engagement ring for Bridgette. Geoff held the ring he had chosen for his beloved one in front of him as couldn't keep his eyes off of it. Duncan, Brody and Harold exchanged amused glances as they watched their friend stare at the engagement ring like it was most precious thing in the world to him.
Brody snapped his fingers, trying to gain his attention, "Hey."
Geoff took his eyes off the ring and looked at Brody, "W-What?"
"You alright, dude?" Brody asked, "You've been staring at this ring for the few minutes."
"I really did?" Geoff asked with a suprised look on his face as Brody, Duncan and Harold nodded in confirmation. He smiled at them sheepishly right after getting the confirmation from them, "Sorry guys. I guess I just lost myself in my thoughts after I took a look at this." He hid the ring in his bag, "I just can't believe I'm about to propose to Bridge. It just feels surreal to me."
"It's okay, man." Brody smiled at him, "You don't have to apologize to it."
Harold nodded in agreement, "I'm sure I would be going through the same thing if I was about to propose to my chocolate goddess."
"What?" Duncan asked, "Are you planning to propose to her or something?"
"What?" Harold blushed at his words as Brody and Geoff chuckled, "Not right now. I love Leshawna, but I feel it's still too early for us to marry each other as we have been together for only a few months. Maybe somewhere in the future."
Duncan chuckled after seeing the blush on his friends face, "Fine. If you so, Doris."
"Doris?" Harold deadpanned at him, his blush fading away from his face, "Really?"
Duncan nodded at him, "Yup."
Harold put his hand on his chin in thought, "How long has it been since you called me that?"
"I don't remember to be honest." Duncan gave him an honest answer, "Probably on Hershel's farm before we buried the hatchet."
Harold nodded in agreement, "Yeah. Probably."
Brody looked at Duncan questioningly, "Why would you call him Doris?"
Duncan chuckled and looked at Harold, "He should tell you why."
Harold sighed, "Doris is part of my full name?"
Brody laughed at the revelation, "Really?"
"Yup." Harold nodded in confirmation, "Gosh." He shook his head, "I lost the count of how many times people made fun of me after they found out about it."
"Yeah." Brody nodded with a smile on his face, "I can imagine."
Harold crossed his arms as he looked at Duncan, "And right now I can point towards one person who was making fun of it the most?"
"What?" Duncan shrugged, "I found it funny back then. Don't tell you're suddenly angry about it again?"
"No." Harold shook his head, "To be honest I don't get angry about this anymore. Right now I'm treating it more like a memory of when the world was normal."
Duncan nodded in agreement, "Hard to believe it's been only a little year and a half. Feels like so much more."
"Yeah." Harold agreed with him.
"You know what dudes?" Brody asked, trying to lit up the mood a little, "I feel like we haven't discussed one important matter back when we were in the jewelry store."
Harold raised his brow at him, "What is it?"
"We haven't discussed who will be the best man at Geoff's wedding." Brody revealed.
"Good point." Duncan nodded in agreement and looked at Geoff questioningly, "So. Who will be your best man, dude?"
Geoff rubbed his cheek, "To be honest. I don't really know. I don't think I will be able to choose just one from the three of you. If this will be possible, I would like all three of you to be my best men. All three of my are my bro's and it would just feel wrong for me to choose just one from you."
"Alright." Duncan smiled at him, "You can color me honored."
Harold nodded in agreement with a smile on his face, "I'm sure it will be fun."
"Alright. With this matter taken care of." Brody said, gladdened by Geoff's choice and looked at his friend questioningly, "Have you considered the offer I made you when the two of us and Alejandro were hiding away from the herd?"
Duncan raised his brow at him, "What offer?"
"He asked me to name my kid after him." Geoff revealed, "He told me his name would fit both genders."
"That I did." Brody nodded in confirmation, "So. Have you made up your mind?"
"No. Me and Bridgette haven't decided how to name our kid, yet. I told her about your offer and she told me Aaron and Brick asked her and Maggie to name their kids after Eric and Jo." Geoff replied, getting chuckles out of his friends.
Duncan chuckled, "I feel like everyone in Alexandria will ask to name your and Glenn and Maggie's kid after them by the point Bridgette and Maggie will go into labor."
"Can you blame them, dude?" Brody asked, "It's been so long since all of us saw a pregnant woman."
Duncan shook his head, "Not really."
"I and Bridge decided one thing, though." Geoff revealed as Harold, Duncan and Harold looked at him with interest written all over their faces, "We decided who will be the godfather of our child."
"Really? Who it will be?" Brody asked out of curiosity.
Geoff smiled at him, "You."
"What?" Brody's eyes widened at the information, "Me?"
"Yeah." Geoff nodded in confirmation, "Out of all people in Alexandria, we feel like you were the best choice for it. You are the person in our little community I know the longest, after all." He shifted his gaze to Duncan and Harold, "No hard feelings, guys?"
Duncan nodded at him, "Don't worry, man. I'm fine with it."
"I can see why you choose Brody for this role." Harold added, letting Geoff know he was fine with his and Bridgette's choice.
Geoff smiled at Duncan and Harold, gladdened to hear they were okay with his and Bridgette's choice. He shifted his gaze to Brody right after, "So. What do you think about it, dude? "
"To be honest I don't know what to say." Brody gave him an honest answer, "Thank you, dude. I'll be honored to be your kids godfather."
Geoff smiled at him, "I see you are up for this role."
"Yup. You can count me in." Brody smiled back at him, "This just makes me much more excited to your kid to be born."
Geoff looked at him with a curious look on his face, "Why?"
"I'm just looking forward to be his or her godfather. I can already see how funny it will be. Just thinking about her or him calling me uncle Brody makes me super excited. No matter what happens, I promise I'll be the best godfather your kid could ask for." Brody explained. He opened his mouth to say more, but never got a chance to do so as a bullet hit him in the back of his head and penetrated his skull, killing him instantly.
Geoff, Duncan and Harold felt felt how the time around them slowed down when a bullet hit Brody in the back of his head. His body dropped down to the ground like a ton of bricks with a bullet hole in the back of his head as Duncan, Geoff and Harold looked in the direction the shot came from and saw a group of armed people walking out of the forest right into their view.
There was one person Duncan and Harold, especially the latter, were quite familiar with walking on the front of the unknown group. It was Alvin. He was still alive. He looked slightly different than he did the last time they saw him as he was missing a good portion of his left arm. It didn't took Harold long to figure out what happened to it. It must have been cut off after he was bitten during his fight with him.
"Hi there, you two." Alvin smiled at them in a cruel manner, wielding his UZI in his remaining right hand as he set his differently colored eyes on Harold and Duncan, "It's been a while, hasn't it?"
Geoff broke himself out of his shocked state caused by the sudden death of his close friend as he looked at Duncan and Harold questioningly, "You know this guy?"
Duncan nodded in confirmation, glaring at Alvin and his group, "Unfortunely."
"He and his friends attacked us when we were leading the walkers away from Alexandria." Harold explained, suprise evident in his voice when he uttered those words as he was certain Alvin had died after he left him to fight off the walkers back at the abandoned construction site, "We thought you died. How did you survived?"
"Do you really need to ask, four eyes?" Alvin asked, hatred becoming more evident in his voice as he referred to Harold, "You shouldn't have left your precious shotgun behind. It really did it's job when it came to taking care of the geeks you left me with. There wasn't a single one left on the floor after you left the building with your friends."
"But you were bitten." Harold pointed out, his suprise not leaving his face and his tone, "How did you cut off your hand and survived? There was nothing you could use to patch yourself up back at the construction site."
"I got lucky." Alvin gave Harold an honest answer as he glared at him, "I would most likely die to the infection if it wasn't for Kenneth bringing Amy and the rest to the construction site shorty after you and your group fleed like a bunch of cowards." He gestured towards Kenneth and the blonde haired young woman with a mole on her left cheek who was wielding Striker 12 which used to belong to Harold, "They managed to cut off my bitten arm in time and I ended up surviving after receiving the medical treatment I needed." Hatred filled his voice when he uttered the next words, "Too bad I can't say the same about my friends, though. Too bad I can't say the same about my Manny. I dreamed of the day when I would come across you and your group again. I dreamed of the opportunity of the day when I will make you pay for everything you've done."
"For everything we've done?" Duncan asked, "In case you forgot, your men attacked us first. What we did was in self-defense."
Geoff glared at Alvin, "Why would you kill Brody? He had nothing to do with what happened to your friends."
"He got caught in the crossfire." Alvin shrugged his shoulders like it was nothing important. Like Brody's death wasn't anything important, "Wrong place at the wrong time."
Geoff clenched his hand in anger, "Why are you so..."
"Shut up." Amy cut him off with a glare on her face, aiming her Striker 12 at them, "You really think you have the right to judge us after what your and your group did?"
"Calm down, Amy." Kenneth told her, aiming his M4A1 at the group of three in front of him and his group, "Let Alvin handle this."
"Who said I killed him? Does it really look like a bullet hole made by an UZI, you idiot?" Alvin pointed out like it was the most obvious thing in the world as he pointed his arm stump at Brody's lifeless body to clarify his point. He licked his lips in an excited manner as he set his eyes on Harold, "If it was up for me, I would put a bullet in someone else."
Duncan glared at Alvin, "We should made sure you were dead back at the construction site."
"Yeah." Alvin nodded in agreement, his glare not leaving Harold, "You should have." A sadistic smile grew on his face, "Feels bad when your mistake comes back to bite you in the ass, huh?"
Harold pretended like he didn't see the look Alvin had directed his way and shifted his gaze to Brody's lifeless body for a second, more specifically the bullet hole in the back of his head. As much as he hated to admit this, Alvin was right. It didn't seem like a bullet hole made by an UZI. It seemed like a bullet hole made by the machine gun. What kind of machine gun it was? He couldn't determine it.
He was pushed out of his thoughts regarding the type of a gun Brody had been murdered with just a second later as a shot echoed from the forest. He immediately shifted his attention to it, fearing more members of Alvin's group must have arrived as Geoff and Duncan followed his example. Much to their suprise and relief, it wasn't anyone from Alvin's group as one of Alvin's men got hit in the head by whoever had just fired their gun, killing him instantly.
"Gideon! Shit!" Alvin cursed as Gideon's lifeless body fell to the ground like a ton of bricks.
Alvin's group entire attention was shifted in the direction the shot had came from and Duncan, Geoff and Harold immediately used this to their advantage. The three of them grabbed their guns and aimed them at Alvin's group, before opening fire at the group that had just attacked them, immediately using this opportunity to fight back they have received by this unknown shooter. The unknown shooter followed their example and opened fire at Alvin's group as well, revealing themselves to be two people.
Everyone from Alvin's group looked around themselves as they found themselves in the middle of two groups shooting at them. Seeing no other option in this situation as staying here would only result in more death on his side, Alvin shook his head in frustation, disappointed he won't get his revenge on Harold today and ordered his group to fall back into the forest as quickly as they could.
His group immediately showed their understanding of his recent order and started backing away from Geoff, Duncan and Harold, fleeing into the woods behind them as Geoff, Harold and Duncan continued to fire their weapons at them. A few of them were disappointed by how this situation turned 180 degrees after this unknown person attacked them, but understood how risky it was for them to stay here right now and how it would have resulted in more members of their group dying.
Duncan put his smoking Colt Model 933 down as soon as Alvin's group vanished from his view between the woods. He shook his head with a frustated look on his face, "Dammit. Bastard got away."
"Don't dwell on it." Harold said, "What is is that most of us made it out alive from this ambush."
"Yeah." Duncan nodded in agreement, "I know."
Geoff shook his head as he stepped closer to Brody's lifeless body and knelt down in front of it, looking like he was seconds away from bursting into tears, "Brody. Shit. Dude. Not you..."
"Poor guy." Duncan whispered to himself, shaking his head as he set his eyes on Brody's corpse. He may have not known him for long, but he managed take a liking in Geoff's old friend.
Harold walked over to Geoff and put his hand on his shoulder to comfort him, even though he knew how it wouldn't do anything to make Geoff feel better right now, "Geoff. I'm sorry for what happened to Brody. I truly am. He didn't deserve it."
"Guys." A familiar female voice sounded from the directiont he mysterious shooters opened fire at Alvin's group. Geoff, Harold and Duncan looked over to the source of it and saw Izzy, Noah, Kitty and Emma walking towards them.
Kitty covered her mouth with her hand, her eyes watering up at the view of Brody's body, "Brody. No..."
Harold looked at them questioningly, "Izzy? Noah? Emma? Kitty? What are you doing here?"
"We were visiting Deanna's grave." Emma explained.
"What about you?" Izzy asked, "What are you doing here?"
"We were on the run in the town." Duncan replied, "Son of a bitches caught us by suprise when we were coming back to Alexandria."
Kitty's eyes widened in fear, "Were they the Saviors?"
"Probably." Harold sighed, "One of them was with the people who attacked me, Duncan, Sanders, Abraham, Sasha and Daryl when the six of us were leading the herd away from Alexandria."
"Guys. I know this isn't the moment, but we should get out of here." Noah said, "Those bastards can come back here any second and I don't think any of us are in the condition to fight them right now."
Everyone silently nodded at Noah, knowing the bookworm was right. The possibility Alvin and his group will try to attack them again if they won't leave this position was very high and they had to get out of here as soon as possible. They started making their way back to Alexandria a few seconds later, hoping they will reach their home as soon as possible without any encountering more problems in the process.
Geoff and Noah carried Brody's body together, the former carrying him his shoulders and Noah carrying him by his legs. Geoff did his best to hold back tears, doing his best not to look at Brody's lifeless body as his friends lifeless eyes stared up at him. Emma and Kitty stayed close to each other, looking around each other every few seconds as Duncan, Izzy and Harold kept their guns in ready and kept eyes open on their surroundings to ensure their group will make it back to Alexandria without any further losses.
On their way to Alexandria, all of them could have sworn they heard a haunting whistling tune sound in the distance from the direction Alvin's group had fleed after Izzy and Noah attacked them. All of them quickly brushed it off and focused on making their way back to their home with Brody's body, though as they were certain their minds were playing a trick on them...
The atmosphere in the clinic was grim as everyone returned from their supply runs to Alexandria and revealed they the lost Denise and Brody to the Saviors after the two groups were ambushed by them. Abraham, Rosita, Gwen, Bridgette, Emma, Kitty, Noah, Izzy, Trent, Duncan and Harold were gathered around Eugene who was sleeping on the bed. Daryl wasn't in the clinic right now as he was too busy with digging graves for Denise and Brody and Geoff wasn't in the clinic right now. The party animal was sitting on the steps leading into the clinic, leaving himself alone with his thoughts.
Abraham looked at Bridgette questioningly, "How is he?"
"He should be fine." Bridgette replied, her voice shaken because of the deaths of Denise and Brody as she had visible tear marks going down her cheeks, having bursted into tears after she was informed about the deaths of Denise and Brody, "Bullet just grazed him, but it's a good thing we got him back when we did. Antibiotics we picked up could save him from an infection. Could save his life."
Rosita sighed, "That's what Denise did."
Trent looked at Bridgette pitfully, "I'm sorry about Brody and Denise, Bridgette. I truly am. I know both of them were your close friends."
Bridgette nodded at him, appreciating his condolences. It didn't change how terrible she was feeling right now because of their deaths, though, "I should go outside and check how is Geoff doing. This must be tougher for him tham for me as he knew Brody much longer than I did."
"Alright. We'll let you know if something happens." Gwen nodded at her as Bridgette turned away from her group and walked out of the clinic, intending to join Geoff on the stairs. It was when Eugene let out a few coughs, having awoken from his slumber.
Rosita leaned closer to Eugene, "You here?"
Eugene nodded, looking up at the people gathered around him, "Present."
"Good." Trent nodded, gladdened Eugene was alright and they won't put more stress on Bridgette today.
Eugene set his eyes on Abraham, "I was not trying to kill you. I was looking for a moment."
Abraham leaned closer to him, "You found it."
"Do you apologize for questioning my skills?" Eugene asked.
"I apologize for questioning your skills." Abraham apologized to him, "You know how to bite a dick, Eugene. I mean that with the utmost of respect. Welcome to stage two."
Eugene gave him a small smile, "Don't need to welcome me. I've been here a while."
Bridgette walked out of the clinic and set her eyes on Geoff who was sitting on the stairs all by himself. She called out for him in concern evident in her voice and on her face as soon as she laid her eyes on him, "Geoff. Are you alright?"
Geoff stayed silent, not answering to Bridgette's question because he was too lost in his thoughts to give her a proper answer right now. The sight of Brody's lifeless corpse just couldn't leave his mind, no matter how many times he tried to push it out of his mind. He couldn't stop thinking about the fact it was his fault. If he hadn't asked Brody to help him choose the ring for Bridgette earlier today, then Brody would still be alive.
The party animal felt tears forming in his eyes as the feeling of guilt continued to go through his body. He quickly blinked those tears away, making them vanish from his eyes as he didn't want Bridgette to notice them and worry about him more than she already does. She already had to deal with enough today after Denise and Brody's deaths. She didn't want her to deal with more stress than she already does.
It was when the faces of everyone from Alvin's group flew through his head. He thought about Alvin. He thought about Kenneth. He thought about Amy. He thought about every single member of Alvin's group he did not know the name of. He thought about every single one of them acted after Brody's death and how nonchalant Alvin was after someone from his group ended Brody's life.
He clenched his hand as those feelings of guilt and anger continued to go through his body, swearing to make everyone responsible for Brody's death pay...
Let's end this chapter with a quick question: From Total Drama characters in Rick's group, who do you think will be present during Negan's introduction and will be forced to kneel?
Hope it wasn't so bad. See you in another chapter.