Once Upon a Walker

Chapter 2

"I'll grab Glenn. You get yer brother," Rick suggested, looking to Daryl for confirmation that he planned to help split up what had to be at least the third fight between the two men.

"Should just let 'em go at it," Daryl grumbled, "...maybe they'll knock some damn sense into each other." Rick snorted out a grunt of indignation and shook his head at the two unruly men. Merle had one hand locked into Glenn's shirt, swinging at him with the metal sleeve that covered his bad arm. And Glenn was pummeling Merle in the side, using his other hand to try and keep his face from sustaining any more damage than it already had. Rick exchanged glances with Daryl again, pushing himself back off the railing and heading for the staircase without much urgency.

"Hey!," Carl hollered, climbing over a fallen chair and stepping dangerously close to Merle's wildly swinging arm. "Hershel said NO MORE FIGHTING! Come on you guys, stop!"

When Rick saw that Carl was not just talking to the two men but trying to push between them and physically stop the fight, he picked up his pace, rushing down the metal staircase. Daryl was close behind him. He jumped over one of the lunch tables and grabbed his brother's arm to keep Carl from being hit.

"STOP!," Daryl yelled. "FUCKIN' STOP!"

Rick grabbed Glenn, trying to pull him back and away from Merle. But the two idiots were locked into each other, their clothing ripping and tearing apart as Daryl and Rick attempted to separate them. Carl pushed further in and started trying to physically pry their hands off each other.

"Carl, get away from them before you get hurt," Beth gushed. She hesitated, scared to get too close to the brawl. Merle and Glenn might not care if their faces looked like raw hamburger meat. But Beth preferred hers in one piece.

Beth's concern for Carl's safety won out over her fear of having her face rearranged and she darted forward, grasping him around the waist and trying to pull him back. But he was tangled up between the two men, being half smashed as they attempted to get at each other.

Rick heard the wind before he felt it. It was almost like the sound of having a bullet whoosh by too close to his head. But this noise was all around him. He felt his feet lifting off the ground. And then Beth's screams were mixing in with the sound of the rushing wind. Their bodies twisted and moved as the wind increased, surrounding them and tumbling them into each other. Rick could feel his hair whipping around his face, Glenn's body slapped into his. And then just as suddenly as it started, the wind was gone. The air woofed from his lungs as Rick hit the floor. Beth shrieked again as she tumbled to the floor with Merle's larger body on top of hers. He was the first to regain control of his body functions, climbing to his feet and pulling Beth to hers. They both looked around the place in total shock. Rick got to his own feet a moment later.

"What in the flock just happened?," Rick asked, shaking his head to try and clear the force of the wind from his eardrums.

Before anyone could attempt to explain, a loud crash caught all their attention. The door to the room they were in was forced open. Rick raised his gun, prepared to shoot the walkers he assumed must be forcing their way inside. But the creature in the doorway was no walker. It looked far more fearsome. Almost like a giant monkey, but with large black wings spouting off its back. Rick didn't take too long to assess the creature. When it bared its fangs and hissed, he fired his gun, hitting it between the eyes. To his relief, the monster fell. But there were more where that one came from. Rick felt Daryl shoulder up on one side of him. Glenn was on the other. Merle stepped forward next to his brother. And they all started shooting. The way the monkeys were popping in through the door and windows, it was like playing some sort of deranged version of whack a mole. But before long, they had the mutated animals on the run. Rick could hear the flapping of their wings as they took to the sky. Once he was sure there were no more of them trying to get in, he turned and looked over the small group of strangers that was inside this strange house with him. There was a boy about Carl's age and a blonde man armed with a medieval looking sword. He had his arm around a woman with short dark hair. She was armed with a bow and arrows. There were three more women. A dark haired one that looked slightly older than the other two, a younger one that was rather scantily clad with long dark hair streaked with red, and a blonde woman that despite the totally strange circumstances he suddenly found himself in, still registered in Rick's mind as unquestionably the most gorgeous woman he had ever seen in his life. She also had a large heavy looking sword in her hands. But regardless of her impractical choice of weapon, she was dressed modernly in snug jeans and a red leather jacket.

Rick moved to speak. But before he could get a word out, everyone in his group started yelling at the same time. Glenn was screaming about Maggie. Daryl and Carl were hollering about the monkeys. And Merle was just yelling because everyone else was yelling. Rick turned to them, trying to shut everyone up so he could figure out what in the fresh hell was going on. It took him a minute, but he managed to quiet them down. Then he turned to the blonde woman, trying to focus on the information he wanted to get from her and not the way her white shirt was clinging to her curves under her jacket. She lowered her sword. Rick hesitated a moment, then tucked his gun away.

"Where are we?," Rick asked. That seemed to be the most pressing concern. Because they sure weren't in Georgia anymore. That was certain. The woman started to speak, but Merle cut her off.

"In the middle of one bad fiddlin' acid trip," he announced. The woman with the long dark hair giggled, revealing her long pointed canines. Rick wasn't sure he liked the look of her teeth and he shifted his body slightly, making sure he didn't have his back to her. The blonde woman cleared her throat. Ignoring Merle's outburst, she kept her attention focused on Rick.

"You're actually in Oz. Like from the wizard of Oz," she told him.

"What?," Rick asked, assuming he must have heard her wrong. "Oz?" She shrugged her shoulders slightly, giving him an apologetic look. It was clear to him now that he heard her right. And that while she might be crazy, she wasn't lying. She believed they were in Oz. At least that explains the army of flying monkeys, Rick thought.

"Is everyone here very floundering high right now?," Merle asked. The long haired girl giggled again and Rick wondered if maybe she was actually as high as he felt.

"Thanks for saving our lives," the blonde woman said, stepping forward and extending her hand to him. Just shoot me now, Rick thought to himself, she's even prettier when she smiles.

"Yer welcome," he said, taking her hand in his. Her skin was warm and soft against his. And he felt a charge of energy when he touched her. "I'm Rick Grimes," he added, hoping to receive her name in return.

"Emma Swan," she said, her hand still holding his. Her eyes were big and green with long dark lashes. And for a moment he was lost in them. But then her giggling companion moved away from the wall.

"Someone in here smells really good," she said. Her cheeks were flushed pink. And when she stepped closer, Rick could see he had not been exaggerating the size of her eye teeth. They were twice the length of normal teeth. Rick tensed, moving closer to Emma as the other woman sniffed the air close to him.

"Ruby? Are you okay?," Emma asked. Ruby ignored Emma's question, sniffing at Glenn next. He cringed back, obviously as uncomfortable with the woman's odd display of behavior as Rick was. She approached Merle next. He didn't seem as nervous as Rick and Glenn did as his eyes roamed over the woman's tight leather pants and the edges of her red lace bra where they were peeking out from under her black tank top.
"Hey there sugar," Merle teased, "...smell something ya like?" Rick had no idea what the woman could be smelling that she liked. None of them had properly bathed in at least a week. Maybe longer. But that didn't stop her from leaning in close to Merle and pressing her nose right up into the crook of his neck. She inhaled forcefully. But then the woman jerked back, her nose wrinkling up like she just sucked on a lemon. She turned towards Daryl, sniffing at the air again. Taking a step closer to him, she took another deep breath. Then her blue eyes began to glow red.

"Mine," she said, the word a low growling rumble in her chest. She moved quickly. But Daryl was faster, darting out of her path and around his brother, trying to keep Merle's body between his and Ruby's.

"Hey," Daryl said, "...just calm yer ash down." Ruby moved, lunging at him again. He darted away again, skirting around Rick and trying to get as many people as he could between himself and the woman with the glowing red eyes.

"Hey Darylina, I think she likes ya," Merle teased with a loud raucous laugh.

"Oh my gosh," Mary Margaret gushed. "This is so exciting! I think Ruby just found her mate! You know werewolves can recognize their soulmate by smell."

"What?," Emma asked, looking at her friend with concern. She moved, placing herself between Ruby and the man she was currently stalking like a jungle cat. "Ruby," she said, placing her hands on Ruby's shoulders and trying to get the woman to focus on her. "...maybe you better just calm down and think about this for a minute." Not only did Ruby look ready to dry hump a total stranger in front of all of them, the man didn't exactly look like he was into what was happening. He was fingering the crossbow on his back, looking like he was thinking about using it to defend himself from her advances.

Ruby growled, baring her elongated canines. Then she reached up and tugged at the strings that were holding her enchanted cape on. The long red cape fluttered to the ground at her feet. And then instead of Ruby, there was a giant white wolf standing in front of Emma, issuing her a warning growl.

"Or instead of calming down, you could totally wolf out. I guess that'll work too," Emma said, taking a large step back and pulling Rick with her. She felt Rick reaching for his gun, but she shook her head and put her hand over his. Not only would his bullets do nothing to stop a werewolf, there was no need. Ruby wasn't going to hurt his friend.

Daryl moved slowly, eyeing the giant wolf. They circled each other for a moment. But when he saw the animal lower down with the intention to spring at him, he grabbed for his bow. All he managed to do was get it off his back before it was knocked from his hands. The wolf tackled him roughly to the ground and began giving him a very thorough tongue bath. He thrashed and shoved. But the large animal had him pinned beneath her.

"Whoa," he hollered, "Get off! Hey! That tickles! Lemme go!" He grabbed the wolf by the scruff and tried to drag its head back and away from his face and neck. Suddenly, Daryl realized he had a handful of long dark hair instead of fur. Ruby transformed back into a woman and was straddling him as she stared down into his eyes. He was so shocked that his grip on her loosened. And she buried her face into the crook of his neck, breathing in deeply and moaning like she never smelled anything so good in her life. And to be fair, she smelled sort of amazing herself. Like fresh peaches with honey. She smelled him again, this time parting her lips and licking at the spot where his neck met his shoulder. Daryl wriggled under her, embarrassed that he could feel himself getting strangely aroused in front of a large group of people. He wasn't expecting it when he felt her break the skin and bite him.

Ruby sunk her teeth in, burying her face in Daryl's neck. She sucked, tasting the salty tang of his blood in her mouth as her venom entered his system. She felt his hand fisting into her hair again. But instead of pulling her away he was holding her to him. When she withdrew, she licked the wound to close it.

"Holy snapper," Daryl huffed, "What just happened?" He pushed himself up into a sitting position on the floor. Ruby was still nearby. But she had climbed off him so that he could sit up. Daryl looked her over, not as afraid as he was when she was chasing him around the room. How had he not noticed that she was drop dead supermodel hot? Her eyes were like the sky after a rain. And the amazing smell that was wafting off her was getting stronger. It smelled so good, it was starting to make him hungry. And he had the weird desire to bite her the same way she just bit him.

Daryl noticed the tingling sensation in his neck first, where the bite was. it fanned out, traveling through his body until even the tips of his fingers and toes were on fire with sensation. He rolled over onto his hands and knees, closing his eyes as he waited and hoped for the weird feelings to run their course. When he opened his eyes again, everything seemed clearer. More focused. Almost like he was looking through the scope of a gun. When he looked down, there were large black paws where his hands used to be. He turned towards Ruby. She squealed in delight and clapped her hands. Then she shifted, quickly turning back onto the large white wolf he saw before. She lowered her furry head, wagging her tail in the air and she barked at him. When she leaped, she sailed over him and landed near the open doorway. Daryl moved, surprised at how easy it was to control his body in its unfamiliar form. He circled Ruby, nipping gently at her flanks and sides. And when she leaped over the pile of dead monkeys and tore off into the strange abandoned town, Daryl went after her. His paws pounded against the uneven ground as he easily traversed the obstacles in his path.

Back inside the abandoned house, what remained of the two groups of people were left staring at each other awkwardly, not knowing what to say after the strange scene they just witnessed. Merle jabbed Beth in her ribcage, making her squeak.

"Ya just saw my brotha get dry humped by a stripper and then turn into a giant dog right?," he asked, scrubbing his face with his hand. Beth nodded.

"I don't think she's a stripper but yeah …I definitely saw that."