rooftop
i felt someone grab my arm leading me up a flight of stairs. everything was still a blur to me. i heard what sounded like gunshots ring and the rest of the group talking about someone named merle.
we made it to the rooftop and i was finally able to concentrate on what was going on around me. my arm started bleeding more from all the impact it had taken. aka andrea
me and rick glanced back and forth to each other while a fight broke out in front of us. merle and tdog started a fighting frenzy. the others stood behind, yelling for them to stop
"dixon, you're gonna hurt him!" andrea yelled to merle who was tackling one of the men who was in riot gear.
rick nudged glenn to see if he should intervene but glenn shook his head no
it became too out of control not to intervene, so rick stepped in only to get punched by merle. that's when i hit my breaking point. "hey!" i screamed, watching as merle turned around, scoffing. he ignored me, turning back around to tdog, who he punched across the face.
i stepped over, grabbing merle by the shoulder to turn him to face me. i punched him as hard as a i could, hearing the crunch from under my fist. he quickly stood up straight, eyeing me up and down as he lifted his hand up about to punch me back.
i closed my eyes and took a deep breath, waiting for the impact.it had already been too late to duck, and i knew this son of a bitch didn't care if i was a girl.
surprisingly, the hit never came causing me to hesitantly open my eyes. they glanced to merle, who now laid on the ground near a pipe. rick hurriedly stepped over the pipe from the other side, handcuffing merles hand to it.
the whole group shifted their eyes between me, merle, and rick. while i just stood there processing what could've happened if rick wasn't there.
"screw you man" merle snapped at rick, his eyes turned to me and then back to merle. "i can see you missing the point."
rick held his gun to merles head, "you wouldn't you're a cop" merle chuckled, a small grin forming on his face.
"all i am is a man looking for his wife and son. anybody who gets in the way of that is gonna lose." rick stated, getting up to walk towards me.
his hand grabbed my arm harshly, pulling me away from the rest of the group, hearing merle shout at us to come back.
"what the hell! let go of me." i shouted, yanking my hand away from his. only causing me to regret my actions as i winced from the pain in my shoulder.
rick looked at me worriedly, knowing what i did. he stepped closer to me with his hand out, only for me to back further away, "i'm sorry." he apologized, causing me to glare up at him.
"what do you want?" i bit back, causing him to look away. "what you did back there is gonna get you killed" he sneered, still not looking at me.
"it's what's keeping me alive", i protested, "i just helped save that group and im getting punished? you're not my dad." i whisper yelled, not trying to cause a commotion.
rick looked over to me causing our eyes to meet once again, "i'm the closest person you have right now."
i scoffed, "you're not my hero, you're just some guy i happened to wind up with." i muttered, turning my back to him, holding my shoulder. i could feel his stare on my back as i continued to walk back to the rest of the group.
i could hear rick behind me, following me back to the rest of the group. he was right, he was the only person i had left but i wasn't gonna admit that. i almost got a black eye standing up for him, which truly makes me a dumbass
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someone had come up with an idea to escape by going underground in the sewers, we all headed down to check out if it was an option or not.
"it's the only thing in the building that goes down" glenn explained, shining a flashlight into the dark circle, "...but i'd never gone down it. who'd want to, right?"
the whole group looked at him, knowing he was the one that would be putting himself in danger." oh. great." he mumbled turning his head, looking back down in disappointment. i felt a sudden flash sadness, feeling bad for him.
soon this rush came over my body, that was telling me i needed to go with him. "i'll go with-" before i could even finish my sentence ricks eyes protested against it. "no" he gave me a glare.
he was starting to piss me off, i backed away from the group, still getting insight on what they were doing.
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they guys finally came back up, shaking their heads no. meaning we couldn't get out by going underground.
we all headed back to the rooftop, where merle was still handcuffed to the roof, having a fit. we all ignored him, searching for a way to get us out.
"that construction sight, those trucks- they always keep the keys on hand." rick stated, looking through the pair of binoculars morales had.
i shook my head looking down at the huge herd of walkers , roaming through the street. "you'll never make it past..." i started my sentence, causing morales to end it, "... past the walkers."
"he got us out of that tank." rick said, turning his body to face towards glenn. "yeah, but they were feeding. they were distracted." glenn noted, causing me to nod.
"can we distract them again?" rick questioned, causing merle to speak his mind.
"right. listen to him. he's onto something."
i rolled my eyes, leaning my back up against the ledge, "merle, give it a damn rest." i sneered, eyeing him.
he chuckled, before tuning back into what rick was saying. "they're drawn by sound, right?"
"right, like dogs. they hear a sound, they come." glenn stated, looking between the group. "anything else?" i asked, looking to morales who nodded towards me.
"aside from they hear you. they see you, smell you and if they catch you, they eat you."
i raised my brows, crossing my arms over my chest. "they can tell us by smell?" rick questioned, squinting from the sun.
"they smell dead, we don't. it's pretty distinct." andrea uttered, nodding her head towards all of us. her words caused rick to think, looking up to where me and morales stood.
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"if bad ideas were an olympic event, this would take the gold." glenn mumbled, uneasy about ricks plan.
"he's right. we should take time to think this through." morales pleaded, walking towards where me and rick stood.
i shook my head, "we don't have time, you need to trust me and rick. at least rick."
"they already got through one set of doors, that glass won't hold forever." rick stated, pulling a lab coat over my shoulders, giving me a nod.
i gave a nod in reassurance before following him and the rest down to where the two walker bodies laid from earlier.
me and glenn stood by the door, holding our weapons out just in case more walkers were to come towards the area.
morales and rick pulled the body inside, causing glenn to slam the door shut behind us.
we now all stood around the walker body, face coverings and lab coats on all of us. rick raised the hatchet above his head, ready to cut into its body.
we all flinched, ready for the guts to splatter, but when we opened our eyes rick was kneeling on the ground, opening a wallet.
"wayne dunlap. georgia license. born in 1979" rick started, soon handing the license to glenn who stood near him, "he had twenty-eight dollars in his pocket when he died. and a picture of a pretty girl. with love from rachel."
i stood with my arms crossed over my body, thinking about when we used to do this at the hospital. when i had to read over the charts or tell the patients parents or loved ones about the death.
i just shook my head, "one more thing-" glenn started, glancing between the group, "he was an organ donor."
we all looked at him with disappointed faced, our attention was soon turned from him to rick, who raised the hatchet above his head, slamming it down on the body.
"oh!" andrea groaned, turning away from the guts. i held a disgusted look, watching rick go ham on the body.
"madre de duos!" morales yelled, with sweat beads rolling down his face. our groans filled the room, and with every hit rick took, we gagged.
"oh god." glenn mumbled, holding his hands above his head. i stepped over placing a hand on his shoulder for comfort.
i'm not sure it was helping either of us. "i am so gonna hurl" glenn mumbled to himself, it was loud enough for me to hear.
"everybody got gloves?" rick started, causing us all to nod, "don't get any on your skin or in your eyes."
with his words, everyone bent down taking handfuls of the guts, spreading it all over glenn and rick. "oh jeez. oh, this is bad. this is really bad." glenn wailed, trying not to focus on the guts.
"think about something else— puppies and kittens." rick suggested, his face also holding a disgusted look.
"dead puppies and kittens." tdog chimes in, causing us all to gag even more. the next thing we knew, glenn was bent over, vomiting from the guts and the comment tdog made.
i looked away, patting him on the back along side andrea. "that is just evil. what is wrong with you?" andrea questioned, looking at tdog with disgust.
i smiled, holding back my chuckles. "next time let the cracker beat his ass." jackie stated, glancing between me and rick, while sending intense stares toward tdog.
"i'm sorry, yo." tdog apologized to glenn, while i stood next him, still rubbing his back. "you suck" glenn groaned, still bent over.
"do we smell like them?" rick questioned, looking around at us.
"oh yeah" me and andrea said in unison, looking to each other before nodding to rick.
"if we make it back, be ready."
"what about merle dixon?" tdog asked, looking towards rick who soon threw the key in his direction.
i watched by the door as rick and glenn left. morales pulled me back inside with him, pulling me up the stairs with the rest.
i stood near the ledge by morales and andrea, scanning the crowd, trying to find glenn and rick among it.
"there!" morales shouted, pointing to where my two friends walked. the thunder rumbled, causing me to look up at the sky, seeing the dark clouds.
"guys." i mumbled, flipping over the palm of my hand to feel and see droplets of rain. "oh man." morales uttered, pulling the binoculars to his eyes.
"give me those!" i yelled, snatching the binoculars from his hands.
i let out a heavy breath, pulling the binoculars away from my face. "what's wrong? did something happen?" andrea panicked, looking at me.
i turned, "they've been figured out, they're running towards the gate"
the worry they already had on their faces turned more intense, causing my breathing picked up.
"they're leaving us." andrea uttered, he shaky breath setting us all off.
"no.no.come back."
i shook my head towards them, "they wouldn't leave us, rick wouldn't do that." i assured, only causing them to lash out on me.
it all stopped when a loud beeping noise went off, along with a crackling sound, that came from the walkie.
"those roll up doors, at the front of the store facing the street. meet us there and be ready" i heard glenns voice, crackle on the walkie.
a smile appeared on my face, along with the others. "come on. let's go! let's go!" morales yelled, ushering for us to grab our stuff and leave.
"hey, you can't leave me here! i'm not fooling man! morales!" i stopped in my tracks, looking back to where merle laid.
"shit" i mumbled, getting ready to turn back for him, only to be pulled back towards the door by morales.
"you can't, rick will kill me if you're not with us. tdog has him." morales stated, pulling my arm.
i hesitated, before nodding, "okay."
i ran behind the group, trying to wait for tdog as long as i could but it came to the point where i couldn't.
we made it to the roll up door, everyone in a frenzy trying to get the door open. once we did, rick met us on the other side, standing near a truck.
rick pulled me up into the truck first, the others helping their selves in. i ran to the front, sitting down in the passengers seat next to him.
my smile that had appeared when i first saw rick had disappeared, realizing glenn wasn't with him. and merle wasn't with tdog.
"i dropped the damn key." tdog sneered, knowing we had all been looking at him. well that answered one of my questions.
"where's glenn?!" i asked, looking at rick with a worried expression.
"don't worry, he'll be at the camp before us." rick smirked, driving out of the city.
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2/6/2021