Poison [Rick Grimes]

0.5

"For life is only what I can make of it and never what I truly want it to be. How can life give me lemons if it were man that gave lemons life?"

          -C.G.

~~~~

Rick and Gonzalez were running for their lives. The dead surrounded them reaching out to get a piece of their flesh. And asian boy stood in the alleyway egging them on to move faster. Gonzalez didn't move fast enough. A walker grabbed her shirt and pulled her to the ground. Four other walkers were immediately on her. Rick turned around and called out to her desperately.

"Gonzalez!" He shot a walker down. "Get up! You gotta get up!" He shot again.

Gonzalez suddenly felt a pain in her left arm. She gritted her teeth and kept in a cry of agony. "Go, Rick! Just go!"

Rick shook his head as the Asian boy pulled him back and into the alley. Gonzalez grabbed her bat and used all of her strength to push the remaining walkers away from her. She got up and ran to the nearest building. A different building from Rick.

An hour. For an hour Gonzalez fought through walker after walker. Her arm was bleeding, but she wouldn't dare stop to check it. Not until she made it to the roof. She only had one floor left to go. Just as she reached the door to the last round of stairs she heard numerous grunts and groans coming from the other side. She would have to continue fighting her way through. Gonzalez dug through her backpack for her two guns before slinging the bag back over her shoulders. She took the safety off the guns.

"Here we go."

After a deep breath, she quickly swung the door open. The stench of death flooded her nose as empty eyes slowly turned to look at her. One growl. One growl was all it took before a dozen walkers scrambled to take a bite out of living flesh. One by one Gonzalez shot the walkers down. They never even got near her. She had two more to go when she ran out of bullets. She quickly grabbed her bat and swung, with perfect form, at the remaining dead. After approximately three minutes and thirty-five seconds the dead had their heads smashed to smithereens. Gonzalez quickly made it to the roof and took a moment to gather her senses. She dug through her pack and quickly reloaded her guns.

Rick could barely make out Gonzalez standing on the building across from where he was without the help of T-Dog's binoculars. He let out a sigh of relief when she waved her arms at him letting him know that she was alive and well. Glenn came up behind him and pat his shoulders.

"Looks like your girl made it out okay. Question is how we're gonna get to her."

Rick nodded at him. "Gonzalez is smart. She'll catch on to what ever plan we hatch up. She can handle herself better than anyone else I know."

"Are we gonna listen to you boast about how great your girlfriend is," Andrea interrupted, "Or are we gonna find a way out of this hell hole?"

Everyone immediately got to work as Rick's face flushed in embarrassment.

Gonzalez cleaned her arm off and wrapped it with some gauze that she packed in her bag. She even put some Neosporin on the wound. She liked to be prepared for everything and anything. Just as she had finished prepping herself for her next move she heard a car alarm. A car alarm that was coming in her direction with incredible speed. She ran to the edge of the roof just in time to see a red sports car pass by with it's whaling sirens and Rick pull up into the alleyway besides her in a white van. He popped his head out of the window and called out for her,

"Gonzalez!" He yelled. "Now would be a very good time to get your ass down here."

With a smile of excitement Gonzalez wasted no time launching herself off of the building. Just as she leaped into the air a walker grabbed onto her ankle and dragged her down, making land harshly onto a fire escape. She barely even let out her groan of pain before turning and shooting the walker right between eyes. She rolled her eyes in annoyance as she realized that her arm had stared to bleed again.

"Gonzalez!" Rick yelled out.

"Fucking hell. Give a minute ya fucking cunt!" Gonzalez screamed. She gave herself another moment to catch her breath before speeding her way down the fire escape. Her escape was rather easy, but very painful. It wasn't long before she joined Rick in the front seat of the van and they sped off.

" You okay?" He asked scanning her body for injuries.

Gonzalez scoffed. "Ask me that when we're safe." Rick nodded at her.

Rick pulled the van into camp. Glenn was already there and being yelled at by members of the group over the car alarm. Gonzalez and Rick were the last ones out. He pulled her aside and looked at her arm.

"You're bleeding." He pointed out in a quiet voice.

Gonzalez shrugged. "Got scratched up by a pipe in that building. It started bleeding again after my fall. I'll be fine."

Rick nodded. He knew better than to ask to take a look. Gonzalez took a peep over her shoulder at the group. Her eyes widened in realization. Rick took this time to admire her. Even covered in dirt, sweat, and grime Rick thought she looked absolutely beautiful. A few strands of her curly hair had come loose from her ponytail in a crazy fashion that somehow framed her face perfectly.

" Uh... Rick?" Gonzalez said snapping him out of his daze.

"Uhuh?" He inquired in an airy starstruck voice.

"Ain't that your wife and kid?"

Rick turned his head in shock. Just as he did so Carl spotted him. "Dad!" He called out with a grin. Carl ran right into his father's open arms followed by his mother, Lori Grimes.

"Well I'll be damned." Gonzalez muttered to herself with a small smile on her lips. The faint hickey on Lori's neck did not go unnoticed by her. Shane's eyes welled up in tears at the sight of his best friend being alive. His breath caught in his throat when he saw Gonzalez's smiling face from behind the Grimes family.

"Gonzalez," Shane called out. Her eyes found his and immediately her mouth dropped into an 'O' of surprise.

"Oh fuck. It's Walsh."

Shane ran up to her and engulfed her into a tight embrace and lifted her into the air. Gonzalez meekly raised one of her hands and pat him on the head.

"Hello, Shane."

From the sidelines T-Dog, Glenn, and Andrea had their own conversation.

"I thought Rick and Gonzalez were together," Glenn said in a confused tone.

"Yeah, me too," T-Dog said in an equally as confused tone. "Isn't Shane screwing Lori?"

"Maybe they're all one big happy family." Andrea piped up. The three of them struggled to hide their snickers and giggles before heading off to mind their own business.

It took nearly ten minutes and a swift kick to the no-no zone for Shane to finally put Gonzalez down. It had already gotten dark and everyone was sat around the fire listening to Rick tell his tale of how he came to be in the zombie apocalypse. Everyone except for Gonzalez. Instead, she sat in the RV's bathroom disinfecting and inspecting the wound on her arm. She hissed as she poured alcohol onto her arm. The wound was red with blood and left decent sized indents in her arm. Gonzalez stared into the mirror with a pained look on her face.

"Gee," She whispered to herself.

"That's one hell of a bite."