Stranger [The Walking Dead]

1 ; Pets

I didn't know how long it kept going before it stopped. I guessed I'd find out what it was all about. The aftermath was never good, always gruesome and bloody.

The walkers around me continued to snarl, riled up by the noise. I wondered if they could smell the blood before I could do the same. I saw some on the side lines get side tracked by movement on the treeline, a deer or a squirrel that made too much noise.

It had to be maybe half an hour before the large building came into view. TERMINUS was painted on the windows. I pulled on Ping and Pong's ropes, taking them to the side, moving away from the herd. It had amassed over the walk to the Terminus building, and I didn't want to think about the lives that would be lost because of this herd.

People never learned.

Quietly, I pulled out my Beretta, muffler in place. I was stood in front of a chain link fence, hidden away like normal, too far for them to notice me. I breathed in and out through my mouth, watching as the people at the fences of Terminus, killing the walkers, making more noise with guns, shouting. It sometimes amazed me how people could live that long while doing stupid stuff like this.

Behind me, there were footsteps, and I turned around, gun up, finger on the trigger, ready for if it was a human.

"I know you're there. I can see your walkers." It was a woman's voice.

I looked between Ping and Pong, glaring at them both, then looked into the trees, where I spotted movement. "Who the fuck are you?" I asked, voice stern and cold. I'd not talked for a long while, and my voice was rougher than I anticipated.

"Do you kiss your mother with that mouth?" the woman asked. She came into clear view. She was covered in walker blood. That was another good way to hide from the dead, but I felt my way was better; I wasn't as dirty. The man and baby didn't appear, so she had to have left them. Was she heartless, or doing them a favour?

"She's dead, so no." I told her, eyeing her up. "What do you want?"

"My friends, I think they're in there," she pointed to Terminus, "and I want your help. I need it." She was straight to the point.

I frowned at her. "Why my help? What about that man you were with?" I didn't know if I should trust her or not. I didn't want to.

She offered a smile, but it came across weird under the blood on her face. "You look like one of my friends. And that other friend you saw me with is keeping the baby safe."

That was reasonable. Her other friend was protecting a baby. She was doing the dirty work. "I'll help. But I won't stay."

"How many walkers have you killed?" she asked, and I looked at her, confused.

"A lot. Lost count."

"People?"

I shrugged. "Lost count on that too."

"Why?"

"Some want the easy way out, others get bit. Some want my body, and I killed them for it. Others aren't made for this world, so I stopped them before they lost their minds."

Maybe I should've lied at that part.

The woman nodded, and came closer to me, kneeling on the ground. I copied her, and we looked through the chain link fence in front of us. The people were still shouting and shooting. The herd was getting bigger.

"I need you to shoot that tank, while I set this firework up. It'll go to the tank."

I nodded, frowning at her before I took hold of the sniper rifle she held out to me. I looked down the scope and saw the people run away from the fences. I breathed in and out slowly, aiming towards the tank. It was an easy shot, and I snagged the pipe. I put the gun down and followed the woman's lead, putting my hands over my ears once she'd set the firework off on its course.