I Need You

Guts

Beth

The smell of rotting walker blood assaults my nostrils as I rub the warm liquid all over my face and clothes. It stinks to high heaven but I remind myself it's gonna keep us alive. Aaron gags as he guts up. He's never had to do this before. My hands dip back into the open stomach of the dead walker in front of me. When they reemerge, they're more black than red. I rub the warm wet on my arms and try to think of it as lotion. I haven't used lotion in so long. Instead of it gliding over my skin smoothly, chunks catch leaving a trail of slime as I smear it everywhere. I can already feel the stickiness begin to settle on my clothes and face.

I'm thoroughly covered in walker blood but I'm worried it's not enough. Last time I gutted up, I had a sheet over me with all the blood and guts. In theory, we should be able to walk inside the walls and to the safety of a house with no issues, but I'd rather be safe than sorry. I reach down and my fingers search for a particular squishy tissue. I watch my hands disappear under the rotted flesh. It's so nasty. The tips of my fingers brush against the texture I'm looking for. There it is. I wrap my digits around it and pull it up. The intestines look like a snake wrapped around my hand. I make sure I remove both the large and small intestines from the corpse.

Aaron makes a disgusted sound. "Is that really necessary?" He asks me squeamishly as I drape the small intestines around my neck and shoulders, letting them hang equally on either side of my body. I pretend I'm graduating high school and have already put on my robes and the intestines are the sash I need to complete the ceremonial attire. I used to dread the thought of graduating and leaving my old life. While I was excited to move on to bigger and better things, the thought of leaving my family and friends and everything familiar was scary. Now I use the thought as an escape because the reality of my actions is scary in a completely different way. Graduation was scary exciting, this though, is just scary.

Once I make sure all is in place, I grab the large intestines and hold them out to Aaron. I look him in the eyes with sadness. "Yeah it is. Take it."

He obeys silently and makes quick work of putting the intestines around his shoulders. "We should be good now." I say confidently. "You ready?"

"As ready as I can be I guess." He says warily.

"Come on." I jerk my head to Alexandria. We are just inside the treeline outside of the breach. He stands close to me and we draw our weapons. I opt for my knives rather than my bows. We will be in close quarters with lots of walkers, I won't have time to reload fast enough.

There aren't any walkers outside the walls now. They are all inside. We enter the community through the breached perimeter. There are walkers everywhere. The hairs on the back of my neck stand straight up. The fallen tower lays perfectly in the middle of the steel panel beneath our feet. We try to make as little noise as possible as our heavy boots hit the metal. Every now and then a small squeal or groan will reverberate from the metal and stretch out to mix with the moans of the walkers. Each sound rips through my very being. I remain calm and thankfully the walkers don't seem not to notice.

We encounter our first walker and I shake my head to Aaron not to kill it. If we kill it, its body will land on the metal and make even more noise. He seems to understand and we continue on until our feet finally hit the grass. The tower, still at our side. Somewhere under it is the manhole Aaron and I used to get to the sewer. I say a quick thank you above for allowing us to escape. So many things could have gone wrong. The sewer could have caved in. We could have been unable to open the door at the other end. There could have been more walkers down there. We are lucky to be alive.

The roar of an engine sounds and a second later a massive truck speeds past us. I gasp and watch it back up to the pond. Abraham, Sasha and Maggie appear from the cab of the truck. My heart leaps at the sight of them. Maggie. I feel like I haven't seen her in weeks but I was just with her earlier today. Another flash of red hair and I see Abraham and Sasha again. They are here. They are back which means Daryl might be here too. My hopes lift at the thought. I watch them in rapt fascination as they start siphoning the gas from the truck and dumping it into the pond.

"What are they doing?" Aaron asks quietly.

"I'm not sure." I don't see anyone else around. "Let's go find out."

We weave our way toward them. The amount of walkers between us and them is overwhelming. Now that our feet are on solid ground, we don't hesitate to put down any walkers that get too close. We do it quietly as to not draw too much attention to ourselves. The only sounds we make are grunts of exertion and thumps of walkers falling to the ground. In the distance, I can see Abraham climb on top of the truck with a rocket launcher. He stands up tall and aims the long weapon at the water. A moment later a huge fireball erupts across the pond. The fire illuminates the area and the walkers all turn to the new development. Just as they did at the farm when the barn caught fire, the dead begin walking to the heat.

Hope rises in my chest as more and and more walkers walk willingly into the water to their demise. Aaron and I make our way closer to the pond and start walking near the water's edge. I take a quick look around as Aaron kills another walker. We are still a little ways from the truck. There's a group of walkers in front of us but for some reason they aren't being drawn by the flame. They're stumbling along the shore but not going into the water like the rest which is weird.

Aaron and I approach them from behind. Aaron and I kill two in the back of the pack. One walker towers above the rest. There's a faint familiarity and uneasiness that licks it's way down my spine. Something isn't right. I kill another one and look cautiously at the group of walkers that surround us. A movement catches my eye and I realize the walker upfront is trying to go toward the water but the walker next to it bumps it to keep it straight. Fear cripples me.

These are the walkers that can talk.

Aaron has pushed his way in front of me. He's putting down another walker with ease. He's right beside the big one. I need to stop him and make him aware of our situation. My eyes look for Aaron's arm. I want to grab him and get his attention. Something silver flickers just beyond Aaron's form. A blade. The big walker is holding a large knife. I reach out to stop him but Aaron's arm is just out of my reach as he moves to stab the big one in the skull.

"Aaron! No!" I shout in panic and desperation.

But I'm too late. The big one ducks suddenly and sidesteps Aaron's attack. It grabs Aaron's free arm and twists it around his back. The knife it's holding disappears into Aaron's body. I gasp in horror. The big one holds Aaron still and whispers in his ear. It's voice is so deep and eery.

"Youuu don'tttt belongggg hereeee."

Aaron makes a guttural strangled sound. The walker yanks the knife from Aaron's back and wipes the blade on its pants leg. Aaron drops to heap on the ground and takes in a shallow shaky breath. I am frozen in place looking down at him with terror and sadness.

"Annddd neitherrrr dooooo youuuuu." A whisper dances to my right.

I gasp and immediately turn my head to the voice. A walker is looking right at me with its head cocked slightly. It looks wrong somehow I think as It draws a knife from its hip.

"Killllll herrrrr." Another whisper cuts through the groans somewhere behind me. But I don't dare look. I keep my eyes trained on the walker watching me.

Next thing I know, the walker charges. Acting on pure survival instinct, I dodge the attack. It takes an angry swipe at me again. It's blade slices my arm. I cry out in pain. Adrenaline courses through my veins as I defend myself. I forget the pain. I forget the fear. I forget the sadness. I just focus on staying alive. I won't be any good to Aaron or Alexandria if I'm dead.

A sound of agony rings closeby. And more whispers circle around me as I fight.

"The prisonerssssss...."

"They're hereeeeee."

"Killlll themmmmm."

"Killllll herrrr."

"Killlll."

"Killll."

"Killll."