Zedler, M.D. // Daryl Dixon

Chapter Two: Atlanta Escape

•two•

Beatrix

Rick slammed the door to the tank shut and sat down beside of a dead body while I planted my butt firmly in the drivers seat. My body started trembling from fear as I held my face in my hands, trying to pull myself together. I looked up at Rick just in time to see him attempting to get a grenade out of the dead soldier's pocket. The soldier's arms started to move towards Rick and I gasped. Once Rick noticed, he pulled out his gun and aimed it at the walker's head as it attempted to bite into his other arm.

"Rick don't sh-" I tried to warn him, but it was too late. He already fired off the shot and my ears started ringing. The aftermath of the gunshot inside the enclosed tank left the both of us disoriented and trying to regain composure by pushing our hands to our ears, like it would ease off some of the ringing. I managed to slur out, "You aren't supposed to fire guns in enclosed spaces like this. It could have busted either of our ear drums."

"Hello?" We heard another voice and turned to see that it was coming from the radio right beside of me. "Yeah you, the dumbasses in the tank. You wanna make it out of there alive?"

"Who are you?" I said as I grabbed the radio and pulled it to my face. Rick managed to stumble over to the passenger seat and take the radio from me. It's not like I minded, he probably has more experience with this stuff anyway.

"Does it really matter?" The man said back, "I'm offering to save your lives."

"Is there a way to get out of this?" Rick asked, wiping beads of sweat off of his forehead. I nervously bit my nails waiting for the reply.

"There are geeks completely surrounding the tank," the man paused momentarily. "Is there anything in there that you could use to distract them? Anything that makes noise?"

"The grenade you go off the walker," I whispered. "There's two more on that shelf over there."

"We've got a couple of lower grade grenades," Rick said, reaching over and grabbing the other two. "We could probably throw them without causing too much damage to any of the buildings."

"Alright, good. Right now, there are only three of them that have climbed on the actual tank. If you can go up the top, knife those and throw the grenades, you can distract them long enough to make your way to me in the alley," the man instructed.

"Are you serious? We can't go out there right now," I said, taking the radio from Rick.

"Beatrix, it's our best bet," Rick sighed and took the radio back from me. "We'll do it. Which way do we need to run?"

"Straight forward and slightly to the left," the man lightly sighed. "I'll be waiting at the edge, waving my hands so you can see me. Each of you, take a grenade and throw them in opposite directions so they'll seperate and you can get through."

"Thank you," Rick said and sat the radio back down in its rightful place. He handed me one of the grenades and I gave him a nervous look. "Keep your finger held down on the leaver. Once you get out, turn to the right. Pull the pin out and throw it as far as you can. Got it?" I nodded my head and he continued, "Since you've got a knife, can you get the ones on top of the tank?"

"Um I don't know. I'm not very good at killing them and-" I started to stutter and tightly clung the grenade in my left hand, afraid of accidentally setting it off.

"I'll do it, it's okay. Give me the knife," I handed him my knife and he stood up, undoing the latch on the top door.

"You all might wanna hurry up," the man called from the radio. "More and more are gathering around you."