Remember folks, I don't read reviews. Got something to say, PM me. Otherwise, I'm not going to see it.
Enjoy!
xXx
23rd October 2010 - Georgia
Wrapped in a blanket, Rick Grimes sat on a mattress in the Drake family's living room. He leaned back against the couch behind him to get what little comfort he could. Lying on a nearby mattress were Morgan Jones and his son, Duane, the newest occupants of the home. He had a sneaking suspicion the Drakes weren't going to show up any time soon to complain about them squatting in their home.
It was just today that Rick had woken up from his coma. He expected to see the smiling faces of his family and friends when he woke up. Instead, he woke to find everything he knew turned upside down.
The hospital he woke up in had been abandoned. Parts of the building looked to have been caught in the crossfire of some kind of war with the military. From the piles of decomposing bodies he found laid outside the hospital and inside trucks, it was a war the military must've lost. He even found a military camp set up beside the hospital. The military must've been in a rush when they left because they didn't take with them their tents, armoured jeeps or the military helicopter that was left behind.
Then Rick found the corpse of a woman who had been missing the lower half of her body. Despite how she should have been very much dead, the body still moved. It wasn't dead but it wasn't alive either. That was what Morgan said and he seemed to be the expert on the subject.
Taking refuge with Morgan and his son, Rick contemplated how everything went to hell. Soon after he fell into a coma, walkers emerged without warning. Morgan mentioned that some people had gotten sick with no explanation. Whether they went to the hospital or not, the sickness killed them all the same.
Only, they didn't stay dead. Somehow, those who died from the sickness came back as walkers. Walking corpses who attacked anything with a heartbeat. Didn't matter if they were animal or human. And if you got bit or scratched by a walker, you die from the same sickness that killed them. Eventually, you would come back as a walker yourself. Morgan said he wasn't sure exactly how everything went down. All he did know was that panic erupted faster than he could've possibly imagined. The chaos had been too much for his family, hence why they stayed here while everyone else left.
Rick's thoughts drifted to his own family. His wife and son. After fleeing the hospital, he had gone to his house, hoping to find them there. Instead, he found the house empty with all their essentials missing. He was beyond worried and scared for them. He didn't know where they were. What was worse, he didn't even know if they were still alive. They could be dead or worse, had become walkers. That thought alone was killing him inside.
After he found his home empty, Morgan saved him from a walker who he thought was a normal man. Truthfully, he owed Morgan his life. At the time, he didn't know what a walker was. If it had gotten within reaching distance of him, Rick was positive he'd be outside right now, roaming the streets with the rest of the undead.
Duane did knock him out with a shovel but they brought him back to the house, treated his wounds and even fed him. Rick was lucky he was found by these good people.
They had been making idle chatter with each other just to have something to do. Rick didn't see him getting any sleep anytime soon. Neither did Morgan by the look of him. An exhausted-looking Duane was trying to sleep but Rick could tell he was struggling to doze off, not that he blamed the boy. He was a grown man and he was utterly terrified after everything he's seen and heard. He couldn't imagine what it must be like for a child to live through all this.
The sudden noise from a car alarm startled the group of three. A now very awake Duane nearly jumped out of the mattress when he heard the noise. Morgan wrapped an arm around him to calm him. "It's alright, Daddy's here," he said, trying to soothe his son by speaking low and calmly. He most definitely didn't feel calm but he did his best not to show Duane. "It's nothing. One of them must've bumped the car."
"You sure?" asked Rick.
"Happened once before. Went off for a few minutes" Morgan explained as Rick and himself slowly stood to check outside. He made sure to grab his snubnosed revolver. "Get the light, Duane."
Duane did as he was told and quickly turned down the light of the gas lamp that was beside his bed. Rick did the same, turning off the other lamps in the room. Rick then moved to the window where Morgan had pulled apart a small hole in the curtains to let them look out. Morgan moved to let Rick look. "The blue one, down the street."
From the gap in the curtains and the boarded-up window, Rick could see the blue car Morgan mentioned. Down the street across from the house, its lights flickered as the alarm blared. Walkers filled the streets, all moving aimlessly though they did gravitate towards the noisy car. "That noise... Won't it bring more of them?" he asked. He remembered Morgan telling him earlier that walkers were attracted to noise.
"Nothing we can do about it now" answered Morgan. "Just have to wait 'em out till morning."
As the two men talked, Duane had squeezed between the two and opened a gap for himself to look out of. He saw all the walkers on the streets but a new one walked within his peripheral vision. Duane quickly recognized the walker as his eyes got wet with tears. "She's here" he gasped.
Rick looked down at Duane, confused. Morgan recognized the walker as well. How could he not? "Don't look. Get away from the windows." When his son didn't move, Morgan ordered him again. "I said go. Go on." That time, Duane ran away from the windows and jumped onto the mattress.
Morgan looked down, eyes filled with grief before he followed his son to their bed. Duane's cries were loud, despite him crying into the mattress. Morgan fell on the mattress beside him and wrapped an arm around his son. "Duane. Duane, quiet now" he whispered, trying to both comfort his son and also lower the volume of his crying, in case any walkers heard him.
As Morgan comforted his son, Rick watched the walker that got such a reaction from Duane. The walker was a dark-skinned woman with long messy dark hair and wore a ripped nightdress. It didn't take Rick being a sheriff to figure out the walker was Duane's mother. Which also meant she was Morgan's wife. Rick's eyes never left the walker but he noticed how she wasn't attracted to the car like the other walkers. She was heading for the front door of the house they were hiding in! Did she hear Duane crying?
Losing track of Morgan's wife when she walked out of sight from the window, Rick headed for the boarded-up front door to look through the peephole. From the peephole, he saw Morgan's wife walk up the steps to the porch. She stopped right in front of the door. She then seemed to look all over the door, as if looking for something.
To Rick's surprise and discomfort, Morgan's wife then looked straight at the peephole, as if she could see him from the other side. The sheriff found the sight of a walking corpse staring right at him creepy and nauseating. As if he wasn't uncomfortable enough, the walker looked down at something before moving one of her hands. Hearing something rattle, Rick's wide eyes slowly turned away from the peephole to instead stare at the doorknob.
A doorknob that was turning.
As Rick slowly backed away from the door to sit back down on his mattress, his eyes never left the doorknob that kept turning. With how the door was boarded up, he wasn't worried about the walker opening the door. He was highly concerned that walkers were aware enough to open doors though.
Morgan cradled his crying son to his chest. Duane had stopped crying, if barely. "She, umm... She died in the other room on that bed" explained Morgan, his voice ripe with emotion and his eyes teary over seeing his wife in such a state. "There was nothing I... I could do about it. That fever, man. Her skin gave off heat like a furnace." He sniffed and tried to hold back tears. It was a losing battle. "I should've put her down, man. I should've put her down. I know that, but... You know what? I just didn't have it in me. She's the mother of my child."
Rick wondered if he could do it. If he found Lori as a walking corpse, could he do it? Put her down. He looked back at the doorknob which kept rattling, his mind unsure of it all. He prayed he wouldn't have to make such a decision.
As the three sat there, contemplating how they wouldn't be getting any sleep, they heard something in the distance. It was hard to make out with the car alarm still going off but it was there.
"What's that?" whispered a teary-eyed Morgan, looking up at the ceiling as if trying to hear the noise better. Duane looked up from his father's lap, trying to listen in as well.
Rick sat in silence, trying to pick up the noise. At first, he could barely hear it cause it was far away. But then, the noise started getting louder. It got to the point where he could hear it over the blaring car alarm. "It's a helicopter" he whispered. Getting off the couch, Rick rushed back to the window. Morgan followed him and looked out the gap in the curtain Rick made. With how dark it was, they couldn't see too far. They could hear the helicopter now. It was loud as if it was flying right over their heads.
"The last helicopter we saw was over a month ago" Morgan mentioned. He saw his wife and the other walkers move, seemingly trying to follow the source of the noise.
"The military?" Rick wondered out loud. Who else could it be?
For a moment, the two men contemplated going outside and trying to signal the helicopter. "Is there any way we could signal them?" Rick asked Morgan.
Morgan shook his head. "This dark out? No. If we go out and wave our arms around, they either won't see us through the darkness or will just think we're walkers. If we go outside, the only attention we'll attract is the walkers."
Rick scowled and stared back outside. He knew Morgan was right. The chances of them getting noticed by the helicopter pilot this late at night were unlikely. With so many walkers outside, it wasn't worth the risk of trying.
Rick and Morgan could only look out the window and wait to hear the helicopter fly away and with it, their chances for safety and answers. Only, the noise wasn't going away. With how loud it was getting, the sound of helicopter blades cutting through the air was getting louder. Then they noticed strong gusts of wind blowing against the front yard's grass. The house shook slightly and the window rattled. Then a bright light shined down from the sky, brightening the street.
Morgan's eyes widened in realisation. "The helicopter's landing."
Then they saw it. Two sets of eyes watched with various reactions as the helicopter they'd been listening to landed in the middle of the street across from their house.
It had to be military. Why else would it have so much armour? But it wasn't shaped like any helicopter they had ever seen before. Rick had seen a military helicopter when he left the hospital but it wasn't anything like this. It was a greyish-green colour which further added to the belief it was a military vehicle. It also had a pair of four-bladed rotors keeping it afloat. As they watched the heavily armoured aircraft lower to the street, they were surprised to see four retractable landing struts extend out from underneath it. The aircraft touched down with a grace that surprised Rick. The thick armoured hull should be weighing down the helicopter and yet it manoeuvred with surprising ease.
The aircraft landed with the only door pointed right at them. That meant that when the side door slid open, they were able to see who stepped out. Because of the spotlight shining from the front-right of the aircraft, the area surrounding the craft was brightly lit up. That allowed Rick, Morgan and a now-watching Duane to get a good look at the pilot.
Spec ops came to mind when Rick saw who stepped out.
Whoever they were, they wore an advanced-looking suit of armour. Armoured plating covered their shoulders, forearms and knees. The torso was protected by a flexible vest of rigid impact plates, worn with adjustable straps on the sides and shoulders. A canteen was attached to their belt and a bandolier spanned across their chest plate, along with a strap of pouches. A throat protector was mounted on the vest, displaying the number '6'. The most noticeable feature was the helmet. Designed as a rounded shell for protection, the helmet was joined by a gas mask, making it impossible to see the individual's face. An antenna poked out from the right side of the helmet, making Rick suspect it was used for communication. When the person's head tilted to the right, he got to see the white U.S. star painted on the left side of the helmet. But even with how dark out it was, the mask's red lenses glowed with low-light optics. Rick thought the grey-green duster was an odd choice to add to the armour. It made the person look like a cowboy from the future.
"Woah" whispered Duane. Being a child, he found the armoured individual to be especially cool-looking.
Morgan was more concerned about how the person was standing out in the open, all while the roaming undead converged on him. "Bloody fool. He's going to get himself killed if he doesn't get moving."
As Rick opened his mouth to tell Morgan they needed to go out and help, the individual in question banged his fist twice on the armoured hull of the aircraft.
"Come on, boys. You know the drill."
What came out of the aircraft made the two adults and one child do a double take. What looked like three small balls of metal floated out of the aircraft. Following them were two large blocks of metal with arms, a wheel for legs and a television screen as a face. With how dark it was, they could easily make out the cartoonish picture of a soldier's face on the screen.
"Are those... robots?" Rick looked at Morgan, hoping for answers.
"Don't look at me. I don't know what the hell is going on either" a bewildered Morgan loudly whispered. He never heard anything about robots.
"That is so cool." Duane was a big fan of the robots. It was like his favourite TV shows come to life.
The tens of the undead approaching the group weren't as enthusiastic as the child was. With loud groans, snarls and hisses, the small pack of walkers lumbered towards the group.
The lone man among the group didn't look too bothered by the approaching dead. The armoured man said something before the three floating robots disappeared on the other side of the helicopter. They couldn't see what they were doing but could see flashes of red light.
Rick's eyes widened when he saw the left hands of the blocky robots recede only for what looked like the barrel of a gun to poke out of them. The barrels were then raised and aimed at the approaching undead.
Only then did Rick realize that by aiming at the closest walkers to them, the robots were now aiming their guns in their general direction. "Get down!" Grabbing Morgan and Duane, he brought them down to the floor with him. Bullets started flying quickly after.
For the past week, Courier Six's schedule consisted of either hunting for walking corpses to bring back to Big MT or reading what information the Think Tank could retrieve from the worldwide network.
What was once a network that spanned the entire globe had gone offline weeks ago, either because nobody was left to keep it working or because it got damaged throughout the early beginnings of the apocalypse. While the Think Tank was able to download information from the offline network, they could only get the last pieces of data that had been flowing through the network before it went offline. Even then, the data they got all originated locally in the United States. They couldn't get anything from other countries. Still, that was millions of GBs worth of data to sift through.
Lots of data he surfed through were often messages, videos or calls made by the public as everything around them went to hell.
Unanswered calls to the police for help that never came.
Messages to family members either enquiring about their safety or saying their final goodbyes.
Most of the data were videos and pictures of the undead attacking people. When reports of the undead first emerged, both the public and government departments first suspected that the cause was a new kind of drug which caused users to turn violent and gave them a large threshold to damage and pain. It was the only reasonable explanation for people turning cannibalistic and surviving getting shot multiple times.
It took a day or two for the public to figure out it wasn't drugs but something else entirely. By the time the government realized what was happening and sent out the military, it had been too late. The disease had spread far and wide, especially in the cities. Hospitals got overrun. Police, fire departments and ambulance services were overwhelmed. Widespread riots occurred in every city which saw the disease spreading even faster.
What Six could gather from what little data he got on government communications, the military created safe zones where they gathered non-infected people to protect them. However, communications among those zones got cut off after something called Operation Cobalt was initiated two weeks later. Six wasn't sure if the safe zones still existed to this day. He did wonder what Operation Cobalt was all about but he didn't find much about it other than a few vague mentions of it. Whatever it entailed, the government made sure to keep it under wraps.
Having gotten sick and tired of digging through an endless pile of depressing communications between millions of people during their final moments, Six took to the skies in a vertibird to bring back another batch of undead test subjects for the Think Tank to experiment on. It's been two hours since he left Big MT and flew in a random direction.
With two securitrons, two eyebots and ED-E for backup, Six didn't have much to fear from the undead. As long as he wasn't attacked by a sizeable horde, he should be fine.
The Think Tank mentioned that their research was looking promising but they needed a constant influx of walking corpses so they could continuously perform all kinds of invasive tests on them. If the Think Tank were anything, they were thorough. He was sure that at some point in time, the scientists would know everything there is to know about the Wildfire Virus.
Within the past week, he brought back twenty-nine walking corpses for the Think Tank to cut up and prod all they wanted.
And in all that time, he never once found another living person. He searched the homes and settlements closest to Big MT. All he found were abandoned buildings and corpses, both the moving and nonmoving kind.
He had thought of trying his luck with one of the closest cities like Atlanta or Macon but thought better of it. The Wildfire Virus hit major cities the worst of all places in the world. The populace areas and chaos resulted in the virus spreading fast. Cities like Atlanta and Macon were most likely crawling with the undead. Nobody in their right mind would be staying there.
Six was beginning to fear that he might very well be the last human alive on this godforsaken planet. A depressing thought if there ever was one.
Luckily, he found something to distract him from those depressing thoughts. Not too far away, he spotted the flickering lights from a car. If it had been daytime, no way would he have spotted it. But in the middle of the night, it may as well have been a lighthouse. Theorizing that one of the undead managed to turn on the car's alarms by hitting off it, he turned the controls of the vertibird and headed in the direction of the car. Hovering the vertibird over the car, Six used a knob on the control console to move the spotlight so he could see what he was dealing with.
It looked like a neighbourhood. A nice one. With white picket fences, green gardens and big houses. Looked like it came straight off one of those pre-war 'American Dream' posters he would find on his journey across the wasteland. It was the kind of place made for families.
Now it was home to the undead.
"Jackpot." From the cockpit, Six spotted walkers all over the neighbourhood. Tens of them invested the area and they were now moving in his direction, attracted by the sound of the vertibird's twin engines and spinning propellers.
Lowering the vertibird, he flicked the switch to extend the landing struts before landing in the middle of the road. Turning off both engines, Six got up from his chair and walked through the cabin where two securitrons waited, as well as ED-E and two other eyebots who were hovering in place.
"You ready, ED-E?"
The eyebot let out affirmative beeps while strafing up and down.
"Attaboy."
Opening the sliding side door of the vertibird, Six stepped off the aircraft, followed by the eyebots who simply hovered out. The securitrons not so elegantly rolled out of the craft and slightly bounced on their wheel upon landing.
Standing outside the safety of the heavily armoured vertibird, Six could now get a good look at the walking corpses that were correlating to his position. Even now, he still couldn't get over how fresh they looked. "ED-E, you lead the others around the vertibird, make sure nothing sneaks up behind us."
ED-E beeped an affirmative before leading the two other eyebots to the other side of the vertibird. The sounds and flashes of light from laser fire came soon after.
Six then turned to the securitrons who were silently waiting for orders. While ED-E cleared the area on the other side of the parked vertibird, the securitrons could deal with those on this side. "You two know the drill. Aim for the heads but I need some of them alive and intact. Keep to the 9mm. I don't want this neighbourhood to get lit up like the first time we did this."
On the first day he hunted for some undead, Six discovered that unless told otherwise, the securitrons would go... overboard. He had found a lone house on the same road where he came across the crashed car. From outside, he counted seven of the walking corpses shambling around inside. He had ordered the two securitrons to kill three of them so they could capture the other four. If they had been the non-upgraded securitrons, they would've shot into the house with 9mm rounds. However, these securitrons were all upgraded, which meant their main choice of weaponry was the Gatling laser instead. The result was a house set aflame and the undead turned to ash.
It had been an educational day. Now, he made sure they used their 9mm submachine guns unless ordered otherwise. It helped to keep the captured undead somewhat in good condition. It also resulted in fewer fires.
"Affirmative" responded the two securitrons.
Moving in synch, the securitrons left hands receded into their arms where the barrel of a 9mm submachine gun then took their place. There were well over two dozen zombies converging on them at that point. Then gunfire erupted from the securitrons and the undead started dropping like flies.
"GET DOWN!"
Six's head perked up. Did he hear something? It was hard to tell with the loud gunfire. He shrugged. Probably just his imagination. He watched on as the undead numbers dropped in seconds, all while the house located behind the group of walking corpses was peppered with 9mm rounds that either missed or passed through bodies.
Within seconds, what was once over two dozen zombies now became four. Those lucky four hadn't been bunched up with the rest, keeping them out of shooting range. The securitrons switched out their submachine guns for their pincers and rolled towards the remaining walkers.
One lunged for a securitron but the robot's titanium alloy housing proved to be far superior to the walker's strength. A metal claw clamped around the undead man's throat. A second walker found its neck grabbed as well by the same robot. The pair of walkers groaned and scratched against the robotic limbs. All they managed to do was scrape off skin and flesh from their hands, revealing bone underneath.
The remaining two walkers were captured similarly by the second securitron.
As the four walkers trashed under the unbreakable grip of the securitrons, Six reached into his duster and pulled out a rope. He addressed one of the thrashing walkers. "It's your lucky day. You get to decide how we do this. Are we going to do this the easy way or the hard way?"
The zombie hissed and snapped in Six's direction.
"Ha. Never gets old." Chuckling, Six got to work tying up the living corpses. Restrained by the neck, it made it far too easy for Six to tie up their limbs even with them thrashing about.
By the time he was done, the zombies were all lying on the floor with their arms tied to their torsos, their legs tied together and their mouths gagged. "Throw them on the bird." He pointed a thumb over his shoulder at the vertibird.
The securitrons did as they were told. Each grabbed a restrained walker and rolled up to the vertibird before tossing them through the open doorway without care.
"Careful! I don't want to hear the scientists bitch and moan again 'cause I gave them damaged goods."
ED-E flew over the vertibird and hovered beside Six's head, beeping happily. Six translated it as 'All clear'. Six had long since learned how to interpret ED-E's various beeps.
If he were to look around the vertibird, he would find only corpses and piles of ash.
The lack of the other two eyebots suggested they were scouting out the area, in case any more threats had been attracted by the gunshots.
Silence filled the air with the only sounds being the rolling of securitron wheels, the beeps of ED-E and the muffled moans of the captured test subjects.
That was why when a glass broke inside the house across from him, Six heard it loud and clear.
As a hand held up Lucky, Six scanned the house. It had a few holes in its walls and the glass pane of the window now littered the floor. The pack of undead had been coming from the direction of the house, meaning it had been unfortunately in the path of the securitrons firing line.
The planks of wood that barricaded the window held up, though with a few extra holes now in them. Six compared this house with the nearby ones in the neighbourhood. He noticed that this house was the only one with such safeguards.
Holding his revolver so the barrel was pointed to the sky, Six took measured steps towards the house. "Hello?" Not that he was expecting an actual reply. It was probably just another one of the undead trapped in the house and it stepped on a piece of broken glass.
Rick Grimes stepped out into view by the window, arms raised. "Wait, we're not infected!" he shouted.
Morgan kept out of sight from the window, one hand on his gun and the other keeping his son back.
Courier Six's lips twitched under his helmet, both surprised and relieved to find he wasn't the last human alive anymore. "I knew humanity is too stubborn to die out. If nuking the world didn't wipe us out, a zombie apocalypse surely wouldn't."
"You folks alright?" he asked, taking a chance by showing how he was holstering his revolver. Even if the person proved to be a threat, Six was confident he could deal with them without issue. He was also secretly asking if it was only one man or if others were hiding inside the house.
Rick looked at Morgan and Duane from the corner of his eye. Neither of them looked to have been hit "Yes, we're fine," told the sheriff.
"Rick, what the hell are you doing?" an angry Morgan asked, whispering loudly. He was annoyed Rick revealed himself to the dangerous stranger but was even more so now that Rick revealed it wasn't just him in the house.
The Courier didn't miss the 'we' part but chose not to address it. These were the first people he met since getting into this world and he didn't want to ruin it by antagonising them. Not to say he wouldn't kill them if they proved to be threats but until then, he'd try to befriend them.
As Raul always said, if he could befriend Boone, he could befriend anyone.
"Sorry about the window. I didn't know there was anyone in there" Six apologized. "You need anything? Food? Water? Medical attention?"
Rick looked between the armoured stranger and the pissed-off-looking Morgan. "Some answers would be nice."
"For nearly getting you killed, sounds like I'm getting away with a bargain." The Courier turned to the two securitrons. "Keep watch. If you hear gunshots, come in guns blazing" he ordered quietly. It was always good to have precautions in place in case shit hits the fan.
The securitrons silently took positions in front of the house. One stood with their back to the boarded-up broken window. The other stood guard by the front door.
"You stay by the vertibird, ED-E. People here aren't used to seeing robots like you."
ED-E floated lower and beeped in disappointment. He floated away but did so in a manner that made it obvious he was sad. Looking at him float away in such obvious disappointment made Six feel a little bad.
Deciding that he would make it up to the robot somehow, Six walked up to the front door of the house which miraculously survived the gunfire unscathed. The Courier waited as someone on the other side took down the nailed-in boards from the other side of the door.
Eventually, the last board was ripped free and the door opened. The person who opened it wasn't the same one he saw by the window. This was a bald, dark-skinned man who was pointing a snubnosed revolver straight at Six's helmet-covered face.
"Who are you?" demanded a fidgeting Morgan.
"You know what? Not the worst greeting I've ever had." Six wasn't too concerned about the gun in his face. The small revolver would have to puncture through his military-grade helmet and his metallic skull to be a threat to his life.
Morgan drew back the gun's hammer. "I won't ask again. Who. Are. You?"
Before things could escalate, Rick emerged from the doorway and placed a hand on Morgan's gun-wielding arm. "Morgan, calm down."
"Calm down?" repeated Morgan, his voice coming off jittery. "He nearly killed me and my boy with those... things!"
"They're securitrons," told Six calmly. "And I am sorry about that. Till now, I didn't think there was anyone else left alive because of this whole mess."
"You see? It was an accident" said Rick, imploring Morgan to put the gun away. "He didn't know we were in the house. Besides, if he wanted to harm us, would he not have done so by now?"
Morgan's gaze shifted between Rick, Six and the nearby securitron before he slowly lowered the gun. He took a deep breath to calm himself. "Sorry. It's just... today has been a lot more chaotic than normal."
"With the world suffering from an undead apocalypse, that is saying something," said Six, nodding understandingly.
Following the men into the next room, Six found a pair of mattresses laid out on the floor in a living room. The lit candles provided little light but that was solved when the men started turning on gas lamps. With the room now properly lit up, Six spotted the pile of supplies left in between the corner wall and a couch. Non-perishable food, bottles of water and extra sets of clothing. He looked around further and found that every window was covered either with curtains or blankets that had been nailed up to further prevent any light from being seen inside or outside the house.
"Very clever," thought an impressed Six. He didn't expect to see such survival skills from people who had been living in a pre-apocalypse era till recently. At least one of the men must've either had experience in scavenging, or they had adapted to their new circumstances far faster than most others.
"I think we got off on the wrong foot here," said Rick, deciding to act as peacekeeper. He felt that Morgan was probably still mad at him for revealing himself. "I'm Rick Grimes. This here is Morgan and his son, Duane."
Only then did Six see the young child hiding behind Morgan, poking his head out so he could see. Smiling under his helmet, Six offered his hand to Rick. "Courier Six. You can call me either one, I don't care which."
Rick accepted the handshake but gave him a dubious look. "Your name is Courier Six? Is that a codename or...?"
"Nope. Couldn't tell you my real name even if I wanted to. Took two shots to the skull not too long ago. I survived but forgot some things because of it. My name in particular. With no name, I simply went with my current job title at the time, Courier Six. I think it suits me."
Morgan and Rick stared at the Courier with a mixture of expressions but the most noticeable was pity.
"I'm sorry," a sympathetic Rick said. What else could he say? At some level, he somewhat understood what Six likely went through. To get shot and then wake up one day into a world that didn't make sense. It was beyond scary.
Six surprised the men and child by chuckling good-naturedly. "Nothing for you to be sorry about. I'm alive and I got my health. That's all that matters."
A befuddled Morgan was caught off guard by the stranger's surprisingly mature point of view. Most wouldn't be right in the head after losing important memories like their own name. Hell, most would've died from taking two bullets to the head, let alone one. He gestured to the small dinner table. "Would you like to take a seat?"
Courier Six knew an olive branch when he saw one. He happily took it. "Thank you." He sat on the closest of the four available chairs. The others were soon taken by the rest of the house's occupants. Rick sat to his right, Morgan to his left and Duane directly across from him.
"You hungry? Thirsty?" Morgan asked.
Six smiled beneath his helmet. Even though they only just met, they were offering him some of their limited food and water. "Looks like they haven't lost their humanity. Not yet at least." A different reality or not, humans were prone to commit immoral acts if they could get away with it. He could imagine some were happy to see law and order fade away with the old world. But, people like Sunny, Arcade and Raul would always be there to try and balance out the evil with good. Perhaps Rick and Morgan would do the same. "No thanks. I ate before I left."
The Courier reached for his helmet and with a slight twist, air escaped with a hiss. The others watched in rapt attention as Six lifted the helmet off his head, revealing his face.
With the helmet off, everyone could see the Courier's tanned skin. It didn't look like his natural skin colour but rather because he spent a lot of time out in the sun. Two miscoloured spots along his forehead confirmed his story of getting shot in the head. A stubble covered his chin, groomed unlike Rick's. His dark hair was shaved on the sides while the top was brushed back. A few strands of hair had already turned grey. Dark eyes stared back at them, looking amused. Bags were starting to gather along his eyes, indicating the Courier hadn't been sleeping well lately.
All in all, he looked like any regular Joe Rick might see walking the street. He was good-looking but not overly so. He would pin his age from somewhere in his early thirties.
Six placed his helmet on the table, its red lenses staring at Duane from across the table. "You wanted answers?"
Rick shook himself out from his observations and nodded. "I do."
"We all do" mentioned Morgan, staring at Six intently.
Six nodded in understanding. "I can answer what I can."
"Then let's start with you. Who are you? You look military but not even the military has robots" asked Morgan as he glanced at the securitron stationed behind the boarded-up window.
"That's because I'm not. I'm in no way connected to the government or military in any shape or form. I govern a science facility in Georgia called Big MT. Privately owned and run by six of the brightest scientists in the world. It's home to the most advanced pieces of technology ever created. They're working on a way to fix this mess but they need test subjects. Hence, why I go out to find some of the undead to bring back." That was the story he was going with. Six couldn't exactly say he came from an alternate reality where the world got nuked. Most of what he said was true anyway, only it happened in his reality, not this one.
Rick and Morgan processed all the information they had just been told. They were disappointed he wasn't from the government, but the thought that the brightest scientists were working on a cure was somewhat good news.
"So what you're saying is that those scientists might find some kind of cure?" Rick asked, hopefully.
His hope was dashed when the Courier shook his head. "Sad to say, it's not that simple. The virus, the Wildfire Virus, isn't something that can just be cured. I'm sure you're already aware that those... things are no longer alive. They're nothing more than walking corpses. Even if my scientists came up with a cure, the victims would still be dead. No, the best thing we can hope for is a vaccine. One that will prevent a person from dying if they were to get scratched or bit."
Morgan closed his eyes and rested his chin on his interlocked finger. His brows clenched in frustration. He inhaled then loudly exhaled. "It's... better than nothing at least."
Rick would have preferred more but he understood this virus was unlike any other this world had ever seen. He wasn't a scientist but he knew a virus that brought back the dead wasn't normal by any means.
As Six mentioned, walkers weren't alive. Rick remembered the first walker he came across. It had been a woman. Everything below her hip had been gone, devoured by walkers when she was alive. A terrible way to go. His fists clenched when an image of Lori and Carl attacked by walkers crossed his mind.
Shaking away the thought, Rick looked back at Six. "This Big MT, you don't happen to have other people staying there? My wife and son are missing. They might have ended up there" he asked, hoping for some kind of good news on the whereabouts of his family.
"I'm sorry, Rick. I wasn't lying when I said you three are the first living people I've seen. There are only the six scientists and myself in Big MT."
Rick knew he was reaching but it still hurt to know he was no closer to finding his family.
Morgan changed the subject before Rick could further sink into his thoughts. "What about the government? Surely you must have some contact with them." Even if privately owned, there was no way Big MT wouldn't be monitored by the government, especially if the technology was so advanced that they could make gun-wielding robots. Seemed like something the military would be heavily interested in.
"The government is gone." Better he rip the bandaid off now rather than later. No point in giving them false hope in thinking the government will one day march down the street to restore order.
"What?" muttered Rick in disbelief. He had been in a coma for around two months. Was it possible for the U.S. government to fall in such a short amount of time? "That can't be right."
"There might be remnants of it somewhere but they are in no position to help anyone. Law and order is gone. Everyone is on their own. As for the military, I'm not entirely sure but I imagine they're facing something similar." Six was nearly positive there was some remnant of the U.S. government somewhere out there. He just hoped they didn't end up turning into an organization similar to the Enclave.
Rick had been hit hard by being told the government was gone but it struck Morgan harder. He had planned to hold out till the military travelled through and dealt with the walkers. If the government really was gone, he needed to start rethinking his plans. They had two-maybe three months' worth of food and water. He would need to think of something within that time frame.
"Do you know how this started?"
Surprisingly, the question wasn't asked by Rick or Morgan but by Duane. The question shook the two men out of their spiralling thoughts but they looked back at the Courier, showing they wanted to know as well.
Six looked at the child sitting across from him. He saw the serious expression on Duane's face, or at least the closest thing to a serious expression a child could have. Six couldn't blame any of them for wanting to know. If his entire life was completely uprooted and turned upside down, he'd want to know why as well.
"If you're looking to know if the Wildfire Virus was some sort of biological weapon used by a different country, I can only tell you I don't know."
"You don't know?" repeated Morgan, sounding sceptic.
"As I said before, I don't have all the answers. I don't know where the virus originated from. All I can tell you is that the virus was identified by the U.S. government in mid-April."
"Mid-April" repeated Morgan almost in a daze. The government was aware of a virus that resurrected the dead for months!? It was August when everything went to shit. What did they do in all that time to stop this?! Luckily, Duane grabbing his arm helped him come back to his senses. He held onto his son's hand for reassurance.
The group chatted for an hour with Six answering what questions he could. Some jokes were thrown in to lighten the mood, even if only for a moment. Then Morgan mentioned Rick's situation.
"No shit. You just woke up today?"
"That's right" Rick nodded to the Courier. "Got shot a few weeks back. Fell into a coma then woke up to... this."
"Not the best thing to wake up to," said Six in understanding, having been put in a similar position after Benny shot him. Hell, Rick had it worse than him. He might've lost a few important memories, but at least he still remembered all the basic knowledge of the Wasteland. Rick woke up to find his family missing, the world in ruins and corpses walking the streets. It took a strong mind to not break under such strain.
"The hospital was in ruins. Looked like a warzone went on there. There was even a military camp left abandoned" told Rick.
Six perked up. "Anything of interest in the military camp?"
It took a second for Rick to recall what he saw. "There were a few tents, some armoured jeeps... oh, and a helicopter."
Throughout his recollection, Six was inputting the information into his Pip-Boy. "They must've been in a rush to leave if they left all that behind. Or they were all killed. Oh well, their loss is our gain."
Morgan quirked a brow. "You plan to get all that back to your science facility?"
Six shrugged. "Why not? Better to have it than let it rust."
Neither man could see a problem with that. Not like there was a government that was going to be looking for their stuff back anyway.
Six turned back to Rick. "Here I thought I had the best luck but you beat me by far, Rick."
"I don't feel so lucky" muttered Rick, glumly.
"Let's circle back then." Six started counting his fingers. "You got shot and survived. You slept through the end of the world without getting either shot or eaten. Despite the end of the world, someone had been at the hospital treating you because there would have been no way you'd survive for that long if not for that. You woke up to an abandoned hospital and not once did you get attacked by a walker. You met a walker who you thought was a regular living man and would've gotten killed if not for Morgan saving you. The fact you met a good man like Morgan to save you instead of someone uncaring or bloodthirsty is a stroke of luck on its own."
"He's got a point" told Morgan with an amused smile, one that was copied by Duane.
Looking between the three, Rick couldn't stop the smile from stretching his lips. "I guess when you put it like that." He would've said more if not for a slight jolt of pain reminding him of his injury. He grabbed the wound on his left side and hissed in pain.
"Injury still at you?" asked Morgan.
Rick silently nodded and took some deep breaths until the pain died down. It still pulsated but at least it was containable.
"You mind if I take a look at that wound?" asked Six, nodding at the injury hidden under the blanket Rick was using to cover his upper body.
"You a doctor?" asked Rick. He imagined doctors were a rare commodity nowadays.
"In a manner of speaking." With the numerous dangers that linger all over the Wasteland, everybody had to learn a thing or two about medicine. With all the dangers he ended up facing daily, he had all the time and experience needed to study what he could on healing.
When Rick nodded his consent, Six stepped to Rick's side. "Stand up and drop the blanket."
Being reminded of his past experiences in the hospital, Rick did as he was told. Standing up, Rick dropped the blanket, leaving his torso bare, except for the bandage on his left side.
Crouching so he was at eye level with the bandaged wound, Six hummed as he studied the bandage. "This bandage is fresh. Your work I take it?" he asked Morgan who stood watching.
"I did. Washed it too. I was afraid it might've been a bite."
"You can't be too careful nowadays." Six carefully removed the bandage, showing the patchy red skin and flesh underneath. "Hmm, it's healing but it must've been a while since somebody changed your bandages. By the wound, it looks like you were shot by a 10mm round."
"You can tell all that by a wound?" Rick asked, looking down at the crouching Courier. That was impressive.
"What can I say, I'm that good" chuckled Six as he reached into his duster. "I've got something here that can help speed up the healing process."
The sheriff didn't like the look of the needle Six just pulled out. "What's that?" he asked, rightfully nervous. It didn't look like any kind of needle he ever saw doctors use before. Looked more like something a junkie would use.
Six held up the needle so the point was aimed upwards. "It's called a stimpak. Can guarantee it's the best medicine you will ever get. Produced by the great minds of Big MT." Not true but they didn't need to know that.
"What's in it?"
"What, you think I'm going to poison you now? Do you want to be healed or not?"
"Fine" Rick grumbled.
Satisfied, Six stabbed the needle close the Rick's wound.
"Don't just stab it in! I thought you said you were some kind of doctor."
"Oh quit being a baby." Duane giggled from the banter. "See, even Duane thinks you're being a baby."
The Courier waited until all the needle's contents emptied into the sheriff before pulling it out and returning it into his duster.
"Now what?" asked Rick, wondering what he was injected with and what it did.
Standing up, Six rubbed his hands together. "Now we wait and enjoy the show."
"Oh my God."
It was Morgan who said those words as he and Duane stared at Rick in shock. "Rick, your wound!"
Furrowing his brow in confusion, Rick looked down at his wound. What he saw made his eyes widen.
Right before their very eyes, the wound healed itself. Slowly, the flesh was fixed while fresh new skin stretched across the wound. Within moments, the patchy red wound was gone. All that was left was a small scar.
Rick touched the spot of his healed injury and was amazed to feel no pain whatsoever. "How?"
"Science." That was all Six said as he shrugged.
"No-no, that isn't science. Can't be. No medicine can just do... that!" told Morgan, gesturing to Rick's completely healed wound. It took medicine, surgery and weeks if not months of rest to heal that kind of injury.
"Big MT is home to the most advanced science in the world. Medicine included. Injuries that would leave a man crippled can now be completely healed" Six explained with a knowing grin.
"Incredible" gasped Morgan in disbelief. He wouldn't have believed it if he didn't see it with his own two eyes.
As the others grasped the scientific wonders he held, Courier Six took his helmet and placed it back on. A hiss could be heard as he secured his helmet back on. "Tell me, now that you're aware there's no government, what are your plans for the future ahead?" he asked, curious to know what Rick and Morgan planned to do now.
Once he got over the wonder of the healing properties the stimpak held, Rick answered. "In the morning, I'll head back to my house to find any clues on my family's whereabouts."
If it was anyone else, Six would put money on Rick's family being dead. The virus killed billions. What were the odds that Rick's family survived? A million to one at best.
But seeing as Rick had the luck to match his own, Six wasn't keen on counting them out just yet. If Rick's luck were to hold, he might very well find his family alive and well.
"Thanks to your... securitrons was it?" Morgan asked with Six nodding. "Breaking the window and blasting holes in my barricade, me and Duane will need to find another house to fortify and move all our stuff there. After that... I'm not sure. We'll think of something."
Looked like Morgan had a good survivalist head on his shoulders. Even more impressive by the fact he lived in a pre-war era. "Well if you want, you can come back with me to Big MT."
By Morgan's reaction, he didn't expect him to make such an offer. "You'd bring us back with you?"
"Of course. We all have to stick together if we hope to survive through this" said Six like it was obvious. He wasn't someone to ignore those in need of help. That was one of the reasons why he took over New Vegas in the first place. Under Mr. Houses's rule, the strong preyed on the weak. He didn't care for such a ruling. "Big MT has all the food, water and electricity a growing boy like Duane needs. It also has automated turrets and robots keeping the place secure from any walkers."
Morgan looked at Duane, contemplating his decision. He didn't want to rush his decision but if this Big MT was as safe as the Courier said it was, it might be the best place for them. It sounded a lot safer than them hunkering in a house on their own "We might just take you up on that offer."
"Great! Though, you will have to wait till morning for me to pick you and your son up. The vertibird will be packed as it is with the walkers and the robots."
"That should be fine. It'll give Duane and me time to pack up our supplies" nodded Morgan in understanding.
"Are we going to go where the robots live?" asked an excited Duane. The sight of his son acting like a child again made Morgan smile. It's been so long since his son could act his age.
"That's right. If you think the securitrons are impressive, wait till you see the cyberhounds" said Six, smiling as well. The Courier always had a soft spot for children. He turned to Rick. "Offer is there for your family as well, Rick."
The sheriff nodded his head in thanks. "Thank you. Once I find them, that's where we'll go."
The Courier then tilted his head to the window. "I better head off and take the walkers back to Big MT. While the area has been cleared of threats, the gunfire might have attracted others nearby. I'll leave the securitrons here with you just in case. Don't want you waking up to a corpse crawling around the house."
Smiling, Morgan offered and shook Six's hand in gratitude. Having witnessed firsthand what those robots could do to walkers, he was grateful for the protection. It saved him and Duane from finding a different house to sleep in tonight. "Thank you for this. For everything."
Nodding, Six clasped arms with Rick before leaving. Everyone exited the house, feeling safer with the robots around. Rick and Morgan did a double take when they spotted the three small robots floating by the vertibird. Duane gasped in excitement.
"You two are staying here overnight. Protect this house and its occupants until I return" Six ordered the securitrons.
"Affirmative."
The group jumped slightly. "They can talk?" asked Rick in surprise. How advanced was Big MT?
"Somewhat" Six answered with a shrug. He was about to climb onto the aircraft but was stopped by Morgan's voice.
"Wait."
Six looked over his shoulder. He saw Morgan and Duane staring into the vertibird. Both had eyes filled with heavy emotions.
"You can't take her." Morgan pointed at one of the walkers.
Looking into the cabin, Six saw the walker was a dark-skinned woman in a nightdress. "Family?"
Morgan nodded, pulling his crying son to himself to comfort him. "My wife."
Six nodded. He reached into the cabin and pulled Morgan's wife out. He lowered her as carefully as he could to the ground, a difficult task when she was a trashing walker. Her thrashing didn't stop when she was set to the floor but the group fell into silence as they all stared at what was once a loving mother and loyal wife. Tears enveloped Morgan's eyes and Duane cried into his father's side.
The Courier allowed the husband and son to grieve for a moment. Then, he addressed the deathclaw in the room. "You know she can't be left like this."
Sniffing loudly, Morgan nodded. He knew from the moment she turned that he had to put her down. But he never could. He didn't have the strength to finish her off. How could he harm a hair on the love of his life?
The Courier could see the turmoil brewing in Morgan's eyes. He knew the man didn't have it inside him to put down his wife, even if all she was was a walking corpse. He slowly unholstered Lucky and showed it. "I can do it. End her suffering."
Morgan looked up at the decorated revolver and a part of him grew enraged that Six would ask to kill his wife. Then he buried down that rage because he knew, deep down, Six was offering his wife mercy. A mercy he couldn't provide. "Please" he asked, voice raw with emotion. He felt Duane's arms tighten around his midsection and cry deeper into him. All he could do was tighten his hold on his son. If not out of comfort, then to at least remind him that he wasn't alone. They were both losing her but they still had each other.
Giving the father and son a moment, Six aimed at the walker's forehead and pulled the trigger. She fell limp immediately. A harsh gasp escaped Morgan and Duane's crying worsened. Rick closed his eyes as Six holstered his weapon.
Tears freely spilled from Morgan's eyes but he didn't care. "T-Thank you." He meant it as well. While a part of him felt like his heart just got ripped out, he was grateful that his wife was finally put to rest. As he gazed down at her dead body, he thought of how at peace she looked. She no longer looked like the monster she had been these past few weeks. She looked more like his beautiful wife.
"Of course." Six bowed his head in respect. "I'm heading off now. Remember, I'll be back in the morning to pick you and your son up."
"A-Again, thank you. It'll give us time to gather our supplies and... say our final goodbyes" answered Morgan, sniffing.
Silently saying his goodbyes and giving Rick a pat on the back, Six climbed back on the vertibird. Closing the sliding door once the eyebots floated in, Six took a seat in the cockpit. Flipping a few switches and pressing a few buttons, the vertibird's twin engines turned on and soon, Six was back in the air. He headed back to Big MT to deliver his next supply of walkers to the Think Tank. Afterwards, he would rest for the next few hours.
Tomorrow was going to be a busy day.
xXx
Author's Note: Trying to think of a name for the Courier's group. It's going to grow in size so it needs a good name.