glenn smiled. "there you are. you had us wondering."
"where are you? outside? can you see me right now?"
"yeah, i can see you. you're surrounded by walkers. that's the bad news."
"there's good news?"
"no."
"listen, whoever you are, i don't mind telling you i'm a little concerned in here."
glenn grimaced. "oh man. you should see it from here. you'd be having a major freak-out."
"got any advice for me?'
"yeah, i'd say make a run for it. "
"that's it? 'make a run for it'?"
"my way is not as dumb as it sounds. you've got eyes on the outside here. there's one geek still up on the tank, but the others have climbed down and joined the feeding frenzy where the horse went down. you with me so far?"
"so far."
"okay, the street on the other side of the tank is less crowded. if you move now while they're distracted, you stand a chance. got ammo?"
"in that duffel bag i dropped out there, and guns. can i get to it?" juno barely saw the bag amongst the shuffling walkers. absolute impossible to get to. what a shame.
"forget the bag, okay? it's not an option. what do you have on you?"
"hang on."
glenn looked at juno. "was that cool? that felt cool."
juno nodded. "it was cool." she looked back down at the tank. "this is insane. you think we can help him?"
"i hope so."
the radio buzzed."i've got a beretta with one clip, 15 rounds."
"make 'em count. jump off the right side of the tank, keep going in that direction. there's an alley up the street, maybe 50 yards. be there."
"hey, whats your name?"
glenn pulled a face. "have you been listening? you're running out of time." he clipped the walkie to his belt. "c'mon, let's get down there quick."
juno stopped recording and shoved the camera into her backpack. they both quickly decended down the fire escape, the gunfire echoed throughout the street, getting louder and louder. the sound made juno cringe as the sound would surely attract more walkers down on them, not making their 'trapped situation' any better. they jumped from the ladder down into the alley way. glenn ran ahead of her, just reaching the end when the sheriff himself turned the corner, his gun aimed at glenn's face. "not dead! not dead!" glenn cried out. "come on!"
they lead the sheriff back to the fire escape. glenn had lola climb up first, and he quickly followed. sheriff popped off another round. "what are you doing?! c'mon!!" shouted glenn. the sheriff turned and followed, barely getting up the ladder in time. the walkers had quickly crowded the ladder, reaching towards the sheriff's foot.
juno reached the top, then turned to help glenn up. she offered a hand to the sheriff too, who graciously accepted. she noticed the silver wedding band on his finger, and the watch around his wrist---she was a little surprised it wasn't broken.
the three took a moment on the platform, heaving and panting, looking down at the walkers as more and more stumbled their way into the alley and joined the growing crowd, which also meant the growling got louder. mixed with this and the gunshots, it was too much noise for juno. she had to stop herself from holding her ears.
"nice moves there, clint eastwood. you the new sheriff come riding in to clean up the town?" glenn said.
"wasn't my intention." said the sheriff. it was now lola noticed his southern drawl. she wasn't surprised of course. they were in georgia, after all.
"yeah, whatever. yeehaw. you're still a dumbass." glenn said.
the sheriff turned to the two and held out a hand. "rick. thanks"
"glenn." he pointed a thumb to his friend, who smiled and waved. "that's juno. you're welcome." glenn shook rick's hand, and juno sent a little wave.
"mighty fine shooting there partner." juno said with a drawl, and did some finger guns. pew pew pew.
"oh no." glenn leaned over the railing, where they could all see a walker actually trying to climb the ladder.
"you don't think it can actually get up here do you?" asked juno. "because that would make a huge problem for my treehouse plan."
"i don't wanna stick around long enough to find out." glenn said.
the three eyed the next ladder and its lack thereof a guard rail.
glenn grimaced. "bright side: it'll be the fall that kills us." he turned to rick. "i'm a glass half full kinda guy."
"are you the one that barricaded the alley?" rick asked as the three were traveling from rooftop to rooftop.
"somebody did-- i guess when the city got overrun." answered glenn. "whoever did it was thinking not many geeks would get through." glenn lead them to a hatch on the far side of a roof. glenn helped juno take off her backpack, then tossed it down the hatch, his following suit. juno started climbing down the ladder.
"back at the tank, why'd you two stick your necks out for me?" rick asked.
"call it foolish, naive hope that of i'm ever that far up shit creek, somebody might do the same for me. guess i'm an even bigger dumbass than you." said glenn.
juno took the lead, taking them through what looked to be an office room building, and back outside through another door, and down a staircase that lead to another alley. much to their dismay, glenn pulled out the walkie to report to the rest of the group. "we're back. got a guest plus four geeks in the alley."
as the three got to the bottom of the staircase, they nervously eyed the walkers that stumbled about. then, the door across from them burst open, and out came two people armed in with baseball bats and dressed in padding. juno suspected it was t-god and morales. they ran to the geeks, and started bashing in their heads.
"lets go!" ushered glenn. they ran to the door, the amoured people not far behind, and shutting the door behind them.
just when juno thought she could take a breather, doubled over with her hands on her knees, taking deep breaths, a commotion ensued.
"son of a bitch. we ought to kill you." andrea sneered, shoving the poor sheriff against some wooden skids, and shoving her pistol in his face. rick's eyes widden, and he held his arms up in surrender.
morales was quick to speak up. "just chill out , andrea. back off"
"c'mon. ease up." said jacqui.
"'ease up'? you're kidding me right? we're dead because of this stupid asshole." her gun remained trained on her face.
morales rushed to andrea's side. "andrea, i said back the hell off." the tension in the room was thick, everyone watching her next move. juno eyed the gun, but she knew andrea wouldn't do it; judging by her tearful expression, she was just scared, like everyone else, and maybe just needed somebody to shift the blame to. at least that's what juno came to learn. "well, pull the trigger than."
andrea's face contorted as her eyes welled up with tears. she lowered the gun. "we're dead. all of us--because of you."
rick looked around. "i dont understand."
morales grabbed rick by the shoulder and pushed him down towards a hallway. the rest of the group followed suit, juno staying close behind glenn. "look, we came into the city to scavenge supplies. you know what the key to scavenging is? surviving!" and actually finding things. "you know what the key to surviving is? sneaking in and out, tiptoeing. not shooting up the streets like it's the o.k. corral."
t-dog chimed in. "every geek for miles heard you popping off rounds." pew pew pew.
"and you just rang the dinner bell." said andrea.
they ended up in the clothing store, where the group had gotten holed up in. "get the picture now?" they all stopped to turn towards the front glass doors, where the walkers had crowded around. one even had a rock in its rotten hand, and it was actually trying to smash the glass. the glass started to spiderweb. "oh god."
"we don't have much time." said juno.
"what the hell were you doing out there anyway?" asked andrea.
"trying to flag the helicopter."
juno tilted her head. she didn't remember seeing a helicopter, or hearing much less. to turned to glenn, who was just as confused.
"helicopter?" doubted t-dog. "that's crap, man. ain't no damn helicopter."
"you were chasing a hallucination. imagining things. it happens."
"i saw it." rick stated, rather confidently.
juno's eyes went back to the evermore cracking door. "hey t-dog. use the c.b., try and contact the others. "
"others? the refugee center?" rick asked.
"yeah, the refugee center. they've got biscuits waiting in the oven for us." said jacqui. i want biscuits. ooh no, sugar cookies. maybe i could get glenn to find me some. i miss sugar cookies.
t-dog fiddled with the radio for a bit. it emmited some crackle and static, but evidently nothing more. "got no signal. maybe the roof."
on cue it seems, a loud gun fire went off. "oh no. is that dixon?" cried andrea.
"what is that maniac doing?" the group was quick to leave the store, and run up the stairs leading to the roof. more and more gunshots went off, getting louder and louder the higher they climbed.
they burst through the door, not so blessed by the sight of merle dixon standing on the edge of the roof, a sniper rifle in hand, aiming down below.
"hey, dixon, are you crazy?!" shouted morales.
merle only laughed, and fired another shot. "hey! you better be more polite to a man with a gun!" said merle, turning to the group and jumping down from the ledge. "only common sense."
"man, you wasting bullets we ain't even got!" yelled t-dog. "and you're bringing even more of them down on our ass! man, just chill."
"bad enough i've got this taco-bender on my ass all day. now i'm gonna take orders from you?" merle said, walking up to t-dog. "I don't think so, bro. that'll be the day."
oh boy.
"'that'll be the day'? you got something you wanna tell me?"
morales tried to defuse the situation, "t-dog, it aint worth now. now, merle, just relax. okay? we've got enough trouble."
juno could see tell rick wanted to step in. his hand rested on the gun in his holster, and his stance changed, but glenn gestured for him to hold off.
merle continued his taunting. "you wanna know the day?"
"yeah"
"i'll tell you the day, mr. 'yo'. its the day i'll take orders from a nig-" t-dog swung a fist, but merle ducked and smacked t-dog with the butt of his rifle. the group closed in. rick tried to break them up, but merle socked him one in the face, knocking him down. merle continued his wrath on t-dog while everyone else were begging him to stop. lola stepped in, a taser buzzed in her hand as she pressed the button, a taser that she may or may not have snagged off the sheriff belt. "get off him, dixon!" she yelled. she threateningly zapped the button. merle laughed and swatted it out her hand, and then roughly shoved her down. she hit her head on the ground, and most certainly got a scrapes on her arms and hands now. her stomach swirled, and her face turned pink. how embarrassing.
merle punched t-dog again, and again. he fell to the ground, his face slamming into a metal pipe before he hit the ground. a little splotch of blood was left on the pipe. merle straddled t and wailed on him some more, over and over. morales tried to cut itn, but the psycho elbowed him in the gut. then he pulled out his pistol that was tucked into the back of his pants, cocked it, and aimed it at t's head.
juno slowly sat up, her head pounding from the movement, and everything semed a little fuzzy to her. she felt the wind pick up, which stung at the scratches on her arms, and she could hear t-dog whimpering and everyone begging merle dixon to stop; also, in the distance, she could hear rolling thunder.
merle hocked a loogie on t's chest, and stood up. "yeah! alright! we're gonna have ourselves a little powwow, huh? talk about who's in charge. i vote me. anybody else?" as glenn and andrea pulled t-dog away from merle, juno ran over to rick, who was cradling the side of face and seeming a little distorted. ("hey are you okay?")
"democracy time. y'all! show of hands! all in favour?" merle hand his gun trained on the group. "c'mon, lets see em." morales raised his hand first (andrea just about laughed out loud in disbelief: "oh come on.") then glenn, andrea, and jacqui (who actually just flipped him the bird).
juno helped rick to his feet. he stumbled for a moment before completely coming too. he gently pushed juno behind him, (she noticed rick's head do a little tilt) then stalked forward towards merle.
oblivious, merle continued his monologue. "yeah, that's good. now that means i'm the boss, right? yeah. anybody else?"
"yeah." rick whacked merle with the discarded rifle, knocking him to the ground, then swiftly hand cuffed a hand to the pipe just behind merle.
"who the hell are you, man?!" grunted merle.
"officer friendly." rick grabbed merles gun and popped out the ammo clip. "look here merle. things are different now. there are no niggers anymore. no dumb-as-shit, inbred white-trash fools either. only dark meat and white meat. there's us and the dead. we survive this by pulling together, not apart."
"screw you, man."
"i can see you making a habit of missing the point."
"yeah? well screw you twice."
rick scoffed, then aimed the gun at merle's head. "ought to be polite to a man with a gun." he taunted. "only common sense."
"you wouldn't. you're a cop."
"all i am anymore is a man looking for his wife and son. anybody that gets in the way of that is gonna lose." rick uttered lowly. "i'll give you a moment to think about that." rick patted down merle's pockets, and pulled out what looked to be a little baggie of cocain. rick flicked his nose and jeered. "got some on your nose there." he stood up and walked to the building's edge.
"what ya gonna do? arrest me? —hey!" rick tossed the baggie off the building. "what are you doing? man, that was my stuff! if i get loose, you'd better pray—yeah you hear me you pig?! you hear me?!"
glenn and jacqui walked over to juno. "hey, are you okay?" glenn asked. jacqui grabbed her arms to inspect them, but she brushed her off.
"oh definitely. nothing i can't handle." a minor lie, she did have a headache, that didn't feel like it would be getting any better. not to mentioned the sheer embarrassment she felt getting tossed aside like trash by merle dixon of all people. she bet that daryl would sure find that amusing. "maybe i should invest in a self defence class."
jacqui handed her a rag. "here. wipe yourself off a little."
juno smiled. "thanks." jacqui walked back over to andrea.
glenn and juno looked towards where rick walked off too. him and morales were having a conversation. "that was incredible." she commented. "do you think he'd wanna act? or maybe i can quote him: 'officer friendly'. that was badass!"
glenn laughed. "you think he'd let me borrow the uniform?"
"how's that signal?" morales asked t-dog.
"like dixon's brain: weak." merle flipped off t-dog.
"keep trying." said morales.
"why? there's nothing they can do. not a damn thing" said andrea.
unfortunately, juno agreed. even if we could get a signal, what could they possibly do? the only really able bodied person there now is shane, and maybe daryl (though last she heard, he went off on a hunting trip just before they left, so who knows when he'll be back). nevertheless, they would need to stay back to protect the others back at camp.
"then she's right. we're on our own." said rick. "up to us to find a way out."
"good luck with that." laughed merle. "these streets ain't safe in this part of town from what i hear." he looked to andrea, "ain't that right, sugar tits?" gross. "hey honey bunch. what say you get me out of these cuffs, we go off somewhere and bumb some uglies?" juno gagged. "gonna die anyway."
"i'd rather." said andrea.
"hey what about you?" he called out to juno, who was sitting on the stairs next to glenn. "what about you get that camera out and we make a movie of our own."
juno grimaced. "if that movie involves me pushing you off this building, then sure."
merle swore under his breath and grumbled some words to himself. seriously, what did the man expect?
the group (minus t-dog, who stayed up on the roof to watch merle and try and contact the others) now found themselves in the basement of the building, looking for drainage tunnels. apparently the older building in the city had them in case of flooding, an idea brought wonderfully by jacqui. "how do you know that?" asked glenn.
"it's my job--was. I worked for the city zoning office.
"i know where that might be. the tunnel, i mean" juno piped in.
so the idea was to escape by going underground through the sewers, something juno wasn't too keen on doing, but whatever got them out, she was willing to try.
morales aimed his flashlight down a ladder which led to the tunnel in the basement. "this is it? are you sure?"
"we really scoped this place out the other times we were here." said glenn. "it's the only thing in the building that goes down."
"we didn't go down though. we were daring each other to do it, but it's a bit spooky." juno added.
"who'd want to, right?" asked glenn. everyone but juno looked to glenn with an expected look. his smile dropped. "oh, great."
andrea tried to reasure glenn. "we'll be right behind you-"
"no you won't. not you."
"why me? think i can't." andrea challenged. juno had to stop herself from rolling her eyes.
"i wasn't-"
"speak your mind." rick encouraged.
"look, until now it was always me and juno, in and out, grab a few thing—no problem. the first time we bring a group—everything goes to hell. no offense. if you want me to go down this gnarly hole, fine. but only if we do it my way." juno watched proudly as glenn stood up for himself. "it's tight down there. if i run into something and have to get out quick, i don't want you all jammed up behind me getting me killed. i'll take one person--" rick went to step up. "not you either. you've got merle's gun and i've seen you shoot. i'd feel better if you out in that store, watching those doors, covering our ass." he pointed to andrea. "and you've got the only other gun, so you should go with him." he pointed to morales next. "you be my wingman. jacqui and juno stays here. something happens, yell down to us, get us back up here in a hurry."
rick nodded. "okay, everybody knows their jobs."
juno watched glenn climb down the ladder, morales following behind. "hey glenn, watch out down there. and don't accept any sewer pizza from turtles. i hear raphael is really convincing."
"got it. i'm more of a donatello man anyways." he called back. she give him a salut, then they both disappeared down the tunnel.
the tunnels ended up being a dead end. ("all we found was a walker munching on a rat." glenn so eloquently explained.) then rick rushed down to tell the basement gang that the geeks smashed through the first door, and that the next door was just a ticking time bomb. so, they found themselves back on the roof with some binoculars, trying to devise a plan.
"that construction site, those trucks—they always keep keys on hand." said rick, handing the binoculars to morales.
"you'll never make it past the walkers." he concluded.
rick looked to glenn and juno. "you two got me out of that tank."
"yeah but they were feeding. they were distracted." said glenn.
"plus you had eyes on the outside telling you where to go." juno added.
"can we distract them again." rick asked.
merle unfortunately decided to chime in. "right. listen to him. he's onto something. a diversion, like on 'hogan's heroes'."
"how surprisingly positive of you, merle." juno teased. merle jeered a fake smile and flipper her off.
"they're drawn by sound, right." rick asked.
glenn nodded. "right. like dogs. they hear a sound, they come."
'what else?"
"aside from they hear you. they see you, smell you, and if they catch you, they eat you." added morales.
"they can tell us by smell?"
"can't you?"
"they smell dead, we don't. it's pretty distinct." said andrea.
"if bad ideas were an olympic event, this would take the gold." glenn stated as rick haned him rubber gloves.
"hes right." morales said to rick. "just stop okay? take some time to think this through."
"how much time? they already broke through one set of doors. that glass won't hold forever." rick tossed glenn a coat.
rick, glenn, and morales ran back out to the alley way where he and t-dog killed the two walkers. him and rick grabbed onto one, and quickly ran back inside; glenn shutting the door behind them.
everyone stood awkwardly around the the walker. its pungent dead smell already taking over the room. nobody was really ready for what was about to happen. rick sighed, and put the visor down on the facemask he was wearing. with a crowbar, he smashed the glass case of the the emergency axe (i guess you could say this qualifies as an emergency). he walked back over the the group and dead walker. everybody wore long coats to protect their clothes, and rubber gloves to protect their skin. rick reared up and went to swing the axe on the body (juno grimaces and turned to look away), but rick hesitated. instead bent down and started going through the body's pockets, pulling out a wallet. "wayne dunlap. georgia license. born in 1979." he handed the license over to glenn. "he had $28 in his pocket when he died... and a picture of a pretty girl. 'with love, from rachel.' he used to be like us. worrying about bills or the rent or the super bowl. if i ever find my family, i'm gonna tell them about wayne." rick stood back up and grabbed the axe.
"one more thing--" glenn chimed in. "he was an organ donor."
"thank you wayne dunlap, for your generous donation."juno said (without thinking).
"dude..."
"sorry."
rick swung down on the body, chomping right into his guts. everyone flinched and cringed. ("madre de dios!" morales prayed). the gushing and splotching sounds it made and rick kept swinging was enough to make juno gag. "oh god." she uttered. in one swing, rick also chopped off poor dead wayne's leg, then his hand. chop! chop! chop! the floor was very quickly covered in bits of minced guts and dead blood. glenn sickly groaned. juno tried to comfort him by ribbing circles on his back. she felt bad, but she was happy she didn't get volun-told to take part in what they had to do soon.
rick (looking very pale) passed the axe and mask to morales. "keep chopping."
"i am soo gonna hurl." groaned glenn.
"later." rick advised.
"yeah, it wouldn't help with the smell." said juno.
chop! chop! cop!
"everybody got gloves?" ricked asked. "don't get any on your skin or in your eyes."
the term 'dig in' wouldn't exactly be appropriate for what happened next. the squelching sounds and squishy-ness of the guts as they smeared it on glenn's and rick's coats, put juno hairs on end. she even had to closer her eyes when morales pulled out a long chuck of intestines, and hung it over glenn's shoulders. "oh this is bad. this is really bad."
"think about something else--puppies and kittens." rick said.
and t-dog just had to add. "dead puppies and kittens." which lead to glenn turning and vommiting, narrowly missing juno's shoes.
"that is just evil. what is wrong with you?" andrea scolded.
"next time, let the cracker beat his ass." jacqui told rick, then glared at t-dog.
"i'm sorry, yo."
"you suck." glenn groaned.
"do we smell like them?" rick asked.
"oh yeah."
"definitely."
"glenn." andrea held her gun out. "just in case." and tucked it into the front of his pants.
"what about merle dixon?" t-dog asked. rick took off a glove and reached into his pocket and tossed t the key to the handcuffs.
"give me the axe." rick told morales. "we need more guts.
chop!
juno and the rest were quick to loose the gut covered gloves and coats, and races back up to the roof.
"hey! what's happening, man?" merle was ignored. the group ran past him and ran to the roofs edge to see down.
"t-dog! try the c.b." morales said.
"hey, c'mon. talk to me, y'all."
without looking at merle, juno quickly explained. "we covered rick and glenn in walker guts, and now they're walking the streets to get to the a vehicle."
there was a pause as merle processed what she said before his face morphed into utter disbelief. "what?!"
"base camp, does anybody copy? over."
morales spotted rick and glenn. "there!" he pointed. juno was quick to spot them: they walked slowly, feighing limps, and nervously eyeing every walker they past, but nevertheless remained unsuspected. the fact that the plan was working, she had no words--only erally feeling sheer relief . . . but that didn't last long. the teasing sound of thunder rumbled, and dark clouds rolled over the once clear sky. oh no, please not now. and just like that, a raindrop fell on juno's hand. she stared at it, watching as is ran off her pointer finger, dripped off, and platted on the floor. then, as the sky's floodgates opened; a downpour of rain cascaded on the city and it's streets—on rick and glenn, washing away their disguises. they were so so close.
"mother nature and her impeccable timing." juno muttered.
"it's just a cloudburst." reassured morales. "we get 'em all the time. it'll pass real quick."
she nervously picked at the skin on her bottom lip, a terrible habit she picked up whenever she was anxious. the walkers starting getting closer to glenn and rick, watching for much longer, and (what juno suspected as) smelling their human scents. then, a walker charged at rick. he was quick to turn and bash it's skull with the axe before it got too close. rick and glenn swung at the incomers, and hightailed it to the fence. they threw their weapons over first, then climbed over to safety. the group on the roof released a collective sigh of relief. the two were quick to find the keys to a cube truck (glenn tossed them to rick) and they both got into the truck unscathed. the walkers were able to push down the fense, and tried to swarm the truck. fortunately, they were able to drive away. wait, they're driving away?
"they're leaving us." andrea said.
merle cried out. "what? what?"
juno shook her head. "no. no way. glenn wouldn't do that."
"where they going? where they going?"
"come back."
juno put a hand on morales' and andrea's shoudlers. "guys, they're probably circling around. think about it. there were a lot of walkers. okay? they wouldn't just leave us."
then the radio in t-dog's hand crackled. "those roll-up doors at the front of the store facing the street—meet us there and be ready." glenn.
had there been more time, juno would've gloated in their negative faces. but there wasn't time. she swooped her bag off the ground and followed the others to the stairs. but then she remembered: goddamn merle dixon ("hey you guys can't leave me here!") who was still hand cuffed. she turned to see t-dog has stopped midway on the roof.
"juno let's go!!" andrea screamed.
"t, you got him?" she quickly asked.
"yeah, go! go! we'll meet you down there!"
juno nodded. she turned and hightailed it down the stairs, skipping steps and nearly tripping a few times. she reached the garage door, where the others were waiting to open the door.
"where's t-dog?" morales asked her.
"getting merle."
they waited, listening. faintly, what sounded like a car alarm could be heard. then, rattling metal followed by three found knocks on the door. they pulled the chain to lift the garage door, then rushed out to the back of the cube truck that was wide open. "ey! wait for me, man!" t-dog shouted. he ran around the corner and through himself into the truck. morales hopped in last, shutting the door, and then they were off.
juno had tucked herself fin the far corner of the truck, pulling her legs up to her chest as she took this time to finally relax. she could hardly belief that they got out of that mess. she never wanted to admit it, but she really thought they were goners. of course she never said that out loud though. someone needed to stay positive, and she always found herself taking up that role. the fact that everyone got out . . . she looked around, and she was quick to notice a missing loudmouth redneck . . . i take that back. everyone else seemed to notice too, and looked to t-dog for an explanation. "i dropped the damn key."
juno glanced at the passender seat, where she assumed glenn would have been sitting. her heart dropped when she didn't see him. "where's glenn?!"
and right on cue, came blazing past them was an orange dodge challenger. car alarm blaring, and a fist pumping excitedly out the window. he zoomed past them with zero intent on slowing down. juno was quick to jump into the front seat and pull out her camera, filming him quick before he disappeared over a hill. "cheeky bastard."
"damn you to hell!"