•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."
"Come on, Beatrix," Rick said before lifting up the door and jumping out. I scrambled up and pulled myself out of the tank right after he did.
As soon as I was out, I turned to my right and gasped as I looked around me. Easily a hundred or more walkers were making their way to the tank and trying to climb on top of it to get to us. I froze for a few seconds before hearing Rick's grenade go off. I pulled the pin and chucked it as far as I could away from us. It landed quite a bit away, but I still felt the heat on my face as it went off. Turning back to Rick, I felt for my knife and realized that I was unarmed. He grabbed my arm and pulled me through the small parting in the walkers to the alley where an Asian looking man stood. We ran fast, dodging all the walkers that were coming at us, with Rick shooting down any one that got too close.
"Come on, up the ladder," the man yelled as he started climbing. Rick pushed me up ahead of him and I climbed as fast as I could underneath the Asian man. He noticed me looking all the way up, seeing how tall the building we were climbing was. "At least it'll be the fall that kills us. I'm a glass half full kinda guy."
After a couple of minutes, we finally made it to the top of the building and I collapsed onto the roof top, breathing heavily. That's easily the most of them I've seen at one time, ones that hadn't already been put down at least.
"Are you alright, Bea?" Rick asked, squatting down next to me.
"Yeah, I'm fine," I mumbled and sat up. "Just sacred."
"What's your name?" The Asian man asked. I'm pretty sure I know him from somewhere; he just looks so familiar.
"Rick Grimes," Rick held his hand out for the man to shake and he hesitantly took it. "This is Beatrix."
"Glenn Rhee," the man nodded at me as a response to the small wave I gave him when Rick introduced me.
"Why'd you save us?" I asked, standing up and peering over the edge of the building. There were small fires in the streets about a hundred feet away from the tank on either side, with walkers walking around on fire.
"I figured that if I ever got that far up shitcreek myself, Karma would be good to me. I guess I'm an even bigger dumbass than the both of you," he shrugged. "Follow me, I need to take you to the rest of my group."
Rick and I done as Glenn said and followed him across a bridge type thing to another roof and down the flights of stairs to the outside of the building we were on. We quickly dashed across the space between the building we just came from and the one Glenn's group was in. It was an abandoned department store with a few people standing in the corner, and a small horde of walkers beating on the glass doors.
"Who are you people?" A blonde woman said, waking up and pointing a gun in Rick's face. A few seconds after, a black woman grabbed my arm and pulled me back way from the scene, which I was thankful for.
"I'm Rick Grimes and that's Beatrix," he tilted his head toward me and I awkwardly smiled in her direction.
"Were you two the ones that set off the explosives in the streets?" The woman demanded, shoving the gun even closer to Rick's face. "We're all dead because of you two!"
"Andrea, back off!" A Mexican lookin man yelled at her.
"Shut up, Morales!" Andrea, I'm assuming, shouted at him. "Now why would you be so stupid as to let off grenades in the middle o the city?"
"They had to," Glenn butted in. "They were surrounded and I told them to. So just put the gun away, okay?"
"What are you talking about?" Rick asked as the woman put her gun down.
"I'm Andrea," she said before grabbing Rick's arm and pulling him towards the doors with the rest of us following behind. "You know they're attracted to noise right? Every geek from miles around heard you two blowing up everything. You just rang the dinner bell."
"Spleen!" I exclaimed, pointing at Glenn and suddenly remembering where I knew him from. I knew he looked familiar.
"What?" He looked confused, just like everyone else did, at my sudden outburst. I felt my cheeks burn red from embarassment because of it.
"I thought you looked familiar, and i just figured out where I know you from," I smiled as I recalled the memory. "You were in a car accident about seven months before the turn, right? And you had your spleen removed?"
"Yeah," Glenn raised an eyebrow, probably now creeped out because I know that. "How do you know that?"
"Because I was the one that removed it," I shrugged. "It was all ruptured and gross. Pretty cool though."
"How come I never seen you then? I thought my doctor was the one that removed it?"
"No, it was me. I was a trauma suergon and I just happened to be at the hospital when they brought you in, unconscious might I add. I'm always the one that operates, but never gets the credit because people just assume their normal doctor done it," I explained. It's not really fair that I didn't get credit, but I saved their lives and that's all that really matters.
"Oh. Well, thanks I guess," Glenn laughed as we heard three gunshots ring out.
"Is that Dixon?" Andrea yelled and took off toward the roof, all of us following her.
"Hey, Dixon, are you crazy?" Morales yelled at a man who was standing on the edge of the roof with a sniper.
"You outta be more polite to a man with a gun," the guy, I'm guessing named Dixon laughed, jumping down. "It's only common sense."
"Man you're wastin' bulletts we ain't even got!" The black man, who's name I still don't know, shouted, running towards Dixon. "You're gonna bring even more of 'em down here on us, man, just chill!"
"You think I'm gonna take orders from you," Dixon gave another sarcastic laugh. "I don't think so, bro. That'll be the day."
"Oh that'll be the day? You got something you wanna tell me?"
"T-Dog it's not worth it," Morales said from beside of the black man. "Now, Merle, just relax okay? We've already got enough trouble."
"You wanna know the day?" Merle said, getting up in T-Dog's face. So his first name is Merle and his last name is Dixon, got it.
"Yeah, I do."
"I'll tell you the day, Mr. Yo," Merle pointed his gun. "It's the day I take orders from a nigger."
T-Dog immediately lunges at Merle, punching him in the face. I want to go help, but Glenn shoots Rick and I a look that tells us not to, and then goes to help himself. Rick doesn't listen, but I stay put as Merle continues to hit and kick T-Dog even after he's on the ground. Merle hits Rick in the face, sending him onto the ground as well.
"Get off him, you're gonna kill him!" Andrea screeches, while keeping her distance. Merle pulls out a handgun, seeing as he threw his sniper to the side, and stuck it on T-Dog's mouth. "No, no, no please."
"Yeah," Merle says after he spits on T-Dog. "We're gonna have ourselves a little powwow. Talk about who's in charge. I vote me, anybody else? Democracy time ya'll, all in favor." Everybody, aside from Rick and I raise our hands, "Anybody else?"
"Yeah, me," Rick says as he comes up behind Merle and punches him in the jaw. Merle falls to the ground and Rick handcuffs him to a pole on the roof.
"Who the hell are you, man?" Merle frantically yells.
"Officer Friendly," Rick growls. "Listen, Merle, things are different now. There are no niggers anymore. There aren't any dumb as shit white trash inbreds fools either. Only dark meat and white meat; there's us and the dead. We survive this by puing together, not apart."
"Screw you, man."
"I can see you have a habit of missing the point."
"Yeah, well screw you twice."
"You outta be more polite to a man with a gun," Rick says, pointing his handheld to Merle's temple. "It's only common sense."
"You won't do it, you're a cop."
"All I am anymore is a man looking for his wife and his son," Rick says, tilting his head. I remember his wife and son, Lori and Carl. I ran into them while checking up on Rick's condition post-op before the turn. "Anybody who gets in the way of that is gonna lose."
Rick pats him down before pulling out a half smoked joint from his pocket, flicking his nose and throwing it off the building. Merle started screaming some more, but I just tuned it out.
"Beatrix!" Andrea called from the other side of the room. I looked up to see her waving me over, "Come over here."
"I didn't get to properly introduce myself earlier," the black woman held her hand out to me and I shook it. "I'm Jacqui."
"T-Dog," the black guy said form the ground. He was still lying down and breathing heavily from his fight with Merle. He then grabbed a radio and started changing the frequencies, trying to contact somebody.
"I'm Beatrix," I smiled and pushed a piece of hair behind my ear.
"How's that signal?" Morales asked T-Dog, walking back over to the group with Rick.
"Like Dixon's brain power," T-Dog laughed. "Weak"
"It's not like they can do anything to help us," Andrea scoffed while Merle flipped T-Dog off.
"Got some people outside the city," Morales said to Rick and I. "There's no refugee center."
"We'll just have to find a way out ourselves then," Rick said, glancing down at the walker filled streets.
"Good luck with that. I hear the streets in this part of town ain't safe," Merle butts in, then turns his attention to me. "Ain't that right sugar tits? Say you get me outta these cuffs. We could go out somewhere and bump some uglies. We're gonna die anyway."
"I'd rather," I barely glance his way. I'm appalled at his behavior. Seriously, who says that stuff?
I then sit down next to T-Dog as the rest of the group try to plan our escape. The group heads downstairs to try and find a drainage pipe while I stay on the roof with T-Dog and Merle. It's not that I'd rather be near Merle, I just don't wanna chance going into the store and have the walkers break through the glass.
"Anybody out there?" T-Dog said into the radio, "I wish I could hear somebody else's voice because I'm gettin sick and tired of hearing mine."
"That makes two of us," Merle scoffs. "Why don't you just give up? Ain't nobody gonna answer?"
"Why are you such a jerk?" I looked up at Merle. "You're rude to people when you literally have no reason to."
"Well, sweetheart, I do it because it's fun," Merle smirks and continues to pester T-Dog. "Why are you still sittin up here, talkin into a radio that ain't nobody gonna reply to? You're givin me a headache listenin to you go on."
"If you'd pull your head out of your ass for half a second, maybe your headache would go away," T-Dog retorts and I feel like high-fiving him. That was a good one.
"Why can't you just be positive? Think happy and everything will work out for you," I advise him.
"I tell you what, honey buns. You get me outta these cuffs and I'll be all Sammy Sunshine for you." Merle smirks at me, "Get me that hacksaw from that toolbox over there. I'll make it worth your while."
"Just so you can beat my ass again?" T-Dog scoffed, "Or call me a nigger some more?"
"Oh come on, it ain't nothin personal," Merle tries to reason with him and I just shake my head. "It's just that your kind and my kind ain't supposed to mix. Don't mean we can't work together as long as there's some kind of mutual gain involved. So, how bout that hacksaw?"
"I guess you want me to get that rifle over there too, huh?" T-Dog nods his head towards the gun. "So you can shoot that cop when he comes back up."
Mere just scoffs and it falls silent. Except for the walkers on the streets, of course. The rest of the group comes back up and starts looking over the rooftop with binoculars when an idea pops into my head.
"Wait guys," I jump up and grab a pair of binoculars from Rick and look over the ledge. I see a construction site with delivery trucks parked in it. "Construction sites normally keep a set of keys to their vehicles on site, right? And the walkers, they can tell us by our smell, am I correct?"
"Yeah, what's your point?" Glenn asks.
"What if one or two of us covered ourselves in walker guts. We could easily blend in with them long enough to get to a truck and swing back around to pick everybody up," I smile, proud of my idea.
"That's insane," Rick says, shaking his head. "But it'll work and I'll do it. Glenn will you come with me?"
"I-" Glenn starts, but eventually gives up. "Yeah, I'll go."
"Good, come on," Rick says, taking off down the stairs again. Merle starts his screaming again, but we all ignore him as we follow Rick.
"If bad ideas were an Olympic sport, this would take the gold," Glenn complains as we all grab pairs of gloves and trench coats and put them on. Morales and T-Dog run outside the doors to retrieve a dead walker and they pull him back inside. Rick takes an axe and starts to swing it at the body on the ground, then stops.
"Wayne Dunlap," he says, looking through his wallet. "Georgia license, born nineteen seventy-nine. He had twenty-eight dollars in his pocket when he died, and a picture of a pretty girl. He used to be like us, worrying about bills, or the Super Bowl. If I ever find my family, I'll tell them about Wayne and the sacrifice he made for us."
"One more thing," Glenn speaks up, also looking at Wayne's wallet. "He was an organ donor."
I couldn't help but to chuckle at the irony, which earned me a few disapproving looks from everyone. Rick proceeded to chop up the body anyway, making sure to get blood and guts everywhere. Glenn, Jacqui, and Andrea all puked as Morales continued chopping. It didn't faze me though; this is basically what I saw every day with my job.
"Everybody got gloves?" Rick asked and we all nodded our heads, "Good. Don't get any in your eyes or on your skin."
We all nodded and began picking up the mangled body parts and rubbing them on Rick and Glenn. Andrea picked up the large intestine and hung it around Glenn's nick, while I coped her and hung the small around Rick's neck.
"Oh this is so bad," Glenn shivered, his face turning paler than normal.
"You'll be fine, it's just the human body. You have the same things inside of you," I shrugged he gave me a 'you really are insane' look.
"Think of other things," Rick suggested. "Like puppies or kittens."
"Dead puppies and kittens," T-Dog mumbled.
"That's just evil. What is wrong with you?" Andrea groaned, while still lathering walker guts onto Glenn, who just puked again.
"Next time, let the crack head beat his ass," Jacqui said to Rick.
After a little while, the were completely covered in guts and were armed with an axe and a baseball bat. Rick have T-Dog the key to get Merle off of the roof and we all ran up there to watch them.
"Do you think they'll make it?" Jacqui asked. Not to anybody in particular, just in general.
"If it starts raining they won't," I mumble, looking at the rain clouds overhead.
"You mean that asshole's out on the streets with the handcuff keys?" Merle yelled.
"Nope," T-Dog said, waving the key in front of his face. He kept trying to get ahold of their group, and he eventually did. I hope we can get back to them though.
"There, look!" Morales pointed down to the streets to a delivery truck driving by. Rick and Glenn had made it and they were coming back for us. "Come on, we've gotta go."
I follows the rest of the group, save T-Dog who was uncuffing Merle, downstairs and to the delivery dock in the back. Seconds later, T-Dog came in screaming to open the door, so we did and Rick was outside waiting on us. We all scrambled in the back of the delivery truck, T-Dog coming in last without Merle. He couldn't have possibly left him there on purpose.
"I dropped the key," he suddenly said, probably guessing what we were thinking.
"Where's Glenn?" I asked from the front seat, right beside of Rick. As soon as I said it, I heard a car alarm going off as Glenn sped past us on the road in a Dodge Challenger. Even from inside the car with the windows rolled up, I could hear him screaming with joy as he drove past. I lightly laughed at his excitement of driving an expensive car.
A/N:
Hello, everyone! First of all, I just wanted to say thank you for reading my story! I have over 100 reads on the first chapter and that's awesome! I've worked super hard on it and I hope you all like it. I've pre-written about twelve chapters, but I'm going to try to space myself out updating them so I don't put them all up too quick. I'll probably put up three a week maybe? Probably more because I just love writing this. And I hope that you love reading it just as much as I love writing it.
Second, please, please, please comment, vote and share with your friends or whoever! I would love for people to share my love for Beatrix and Daryl (even though she hasn't even met him yet). I've worked super, super hard and I just want all of my work to pay off.
Third, if you have a book you want me to read, I'll gladly do it! Just comment or message me or whatever. Maybe we can even be fiends :)
-Bailey :)