"Hey you. Dumbass." Katherine smirked, looking over at her best friend Glenn who spoke into the walkie. "Hey, you in the tank. Cozy in there?" Kate looks over the building, spotting the tank not so far, with hundreds of geeks around it. "Hey, are you alive in there?" Glenn asks.
"Think he's a goner Glenn, we need to get ba-"
"Hello? Hello?" A thick southern accent interrupted her, huh, so the idiot lived.
"There you are. You had us wondering." Glenn told him,
"Where are you? Outside? Can you see me right now?" the man asked
Glenn nodded. "Yeah, I can see you. You're surrounded by walkers. That's the bad news."
"seriously? why would you say to him?" Kate said, crossing her arms and raising a brow. "we have no good news!"
"...There's good news?" The man asked.
Kate threw her hands up giving Glenn a pointed look to say 'i told you so.'
Glenn sent her an awkward look, before bringing the walkie back up. "no"
"Listen, whoever you are, I don't mind telling you I'm a little concerned in here."
"oh man. You should see it from over here. You'd be having a major freak-out" Glenn told him.
"Got any advice for me?"
Kate gently took the walkie from Glenn's hand. "Yeah, I'd say make a run for it." She voiced. Glenn nodded, leaning forward slightly to look over at the geeks who were currently munching on the horse.
"That's it? "Make a run for it"?" The southern man asked.
Kate rolled her eyes. "My way's 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. With me so far?" She questioned. Glenn smiled lightly listening to her talk, when they first met to now it was easy to see how much her confidence had grown.
"So far."
Kate nodded continuing on. "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?"
Glenn shook his head taking the walkie back off her, " Forget the bag, okay? It's not an option. What do you have on you?"
The walkie cracked "Yeah. Yeah. I've got a Beretta with one clip, 15 rounds."
Glenn nodded letting out a quick sigh. "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, what's your names?"
Kate let out a scoff, rolling her eyes as Glenn lifted the walkie to his mouth. "Have you been listening? You're running out of time."
Kate clipped the walkie back to her belt loop, giving Glenn a quick smirk as she rubbed her hands together. "Ready to get this show on the road Pizza boy?" she asked. Glenn gave her a disgusted look back as he jokingly knocked her shoulder.
"I told you that in confidence." he whined.
Kate laughed, side stepping him, holding onto the ladder before swinging her leg over and making her way down. "Think if we get him delivered in thirty minutes he's free?" Glenn rolled his eyes at her before quickly following her down.
As they get to the bottom of the ladder, Kate grabs the knife that was on her hip. There was only one geek in the alleyway, the rest had stumbled towards the gunshots that were getting closer. She pushes it against the wall, her arm going across it's chest as she bought the knife down into it's head. Turning in time to watch the dumbass in the tank run around the corner and put his gun to Glenn's head. Kate's eyes widened as she pulled Glenn back quickly. "Woah! Not dead! Not dead! Come on let's go" she exclaimed, grabbing onto the ladder and started to climb back up.
All three of them are halfway up when Glenn looks down to the man. "Nice moves there, Clint Eastwood. You the new sheriff come riding in to clean up the town?"
The man looks up at them, a sheepish look on his face."It wasn't my intention." He told them.
Kate chuckles looking back at the pair of them before making eye contact with the Sheriff. "Yeah, whatever. Yeehaw. You're still a dumbass." she tells him.
"Rick. Thanks." He says, introducing himself to the pair now there wasn't such a rush.
Glenn nods, pointing to himself." Glenn." He nods up towards Kate, who lost interest in listening to them and had carried on up the ladder. "That's Kate and you're welcome." He looks back past Rick to notice the walkers had learnt how the ladders worked and were beginning to try and get up." Oh no. The bright side: It'll be the fall that kills us. I'm a glass-half-full kind of guy." he smiled.
***
Katherine leans over the ladder, having reached the top earlier than the guys and reached out her hand to Glenn, who took it and pulled himself over. Looking over at the mess that Officer Rick had caused. Kate looked to Rick and reached her hand back out to him, a small smile on her face as he took it and stood by them.
Finally being able to get a good look at 'Rick' she could say he was definitely attractive, well she wouldn't say it but oh god would she think it.
Rick looks over to them, giving his saviors a quick once over before asking, "are you the ones that barricaded the alley?"
Kate shook her head. "no, but someone did, i imagine when the city was getting overrun. Must have thought they had a chance of stopping so many geeks getting through." She explained, before walking over to the hatch that goes back to the rest of her group.
"Back at the tank, why'd you stick your neck out for me?" Rick asked.
Glenn gave a little shrug, looking at Rick as he began making his way to where Kate was "call it foolish, naive hope that if i'm ever that far up shit creek, somebody might do the same for me. Or Kate. Guess i'm an even bigger dumb ass than you,"
Kate smiled as the guys came down after her, bouncing lightly on her feet. Rick was watching her, trying to figure out exactly who Kate was, and despite the horrors he's come to witness since waking up, he found himself with a small smile watching the woman who had saved him, because despite it all she still seemed relatively happy.
Kate leaned over the balcony quickly scanning the area before unhooking the walkie from her jeans. "hey, we're back. Got a guest and four geeks in the alley" she muttered into it, connecting it back to her jeans, she nodded at Glenn and Rick before the door burst open.
The door busts open and two men run out, Kate recognizing them as T-dog and Morales.
"Let's go!"Glenn calls, grabbing Kate's arm and pulling her in front of them, rushing through the doors the two men had just come through. Once she had gotten through they were met with the faces of the rest of their group. Jacqui smiled, taking the girls hand in hers lightly and giving it a slight squeeze. Kate winked at her, just as Andrea stormed past them.
"You son of a bitch! We ought to kill you." she shouted, sticking her gun up to ricks face.
Morales looked over. "just chill out, Andrea. Back off"
"Come on, ease up."
Andrea scoffed, shaking her head. "Ease up? You're kidding me, right? We're dead because of this stupid asshоlе." Kate looked back at Rick, and rolled her eyes slightly. how on earth did this guy look so confused the time.
"Andrea." Kate started, a sense of authority in her voice. "You're done, drop the gun." Andrea looked back at Kate, the fire in her eyes dying, her shoulders slumped and she sighed, dropping the gun to her side, she looked back at rick.
"We're dead... All of us... Because of you." Andrea staggered back, coming in to stand next to Kate who gave her a tight lipped smile, annoyed it had gotten that far but relieved at the same time the blonde had decided to listen to her.
Rick furrowed his eyebrows, "I don't understand?" he muttered looking at all their faces. Tired and scared faces stared right back at him.
Morales shook his head, looking over at rick "Look, we came into the city to scavenge supplies. You know what the key to scavenging is? Surviving! You know the key to surviving? Sneaking in and out, tiptoeing. Not shooting up the streets like it's the O.K. Corral" He told him
"Every geek for miles around heard you popping off rounds."
"You just rang the dinner bell."
The banging on the door get the groups attention, Kate tenses up seeing all the geeks piled up at the door trying to get into the shop where they all are. Andrea takes a step away from the door, lifting her hand to her face with a pained look. "Oh God. What the hell were you doing out there anyway?" she asked Rick.
"Trying to flag the helicopter."
Kate's head shot up, shaking her head at Rick who looked straight at her. "There's no helicopter Rick, I'm sorry."
Jacqui nodded along with Kate's words, adding on."You were chasing a hallucination, imagining things. It happens." she shrugged.
Rick shook his head. "I saw it."
Morales sighed. "Hey, T-Dog, try that C.B. Can you contact the others?"
T-dog nodded, heading over to the C.B. Kate moved from where she was stood, deciding to sit on a counter next to Glenn, giving each other a smile.
"Others? The refugee center?" Rick asked, looking over at Glenn and Kate, who happened to be the two people he felt most comfortable with.
Kate was about to reply but was interrupted by Jacqui "Yeah, the refugee center. They've got biscuits waiting at the oven for us." She muttered sarcastically.
T-dog huffed standing up and throwing his hands up in the air. "Got no signal. Maybe the roof"
Just as he finished his sentence gunshots started ringing out from above them. Kate and Glenn shared a quick glance before jumping up. "Fucking Dixon" Kate muttered, already making a move towards the stairs.
***
Kate swung the roof door open, anger flared in her eyes as she stomped towards him. "What is your deal? Are you crazy?!" she shouts at him, running her hands through her hair in frustration.
Merle smiled at the girl from his position on the ledge of the roof, "Hey! Y'all be more polite to a man with a gun! Huh? Ah! Only common sense."
T-dog pushed her behind him and got closer to Merle. "Man, you wasting bullets we ain't even got!" Merle just laughed at him, rolling his eyes. "And you're bringing even more of them down on our ass! Man, just chill."
Merle shook his head "Hey! Bad enough I've got this taco-bender on my ass all day. Now I'm gonna take orders from you? I don't think so, bro. That'll be the day." He called.
T-dog took a step forward, "That'll be the day"? You got something you want to tell me?" he asked, face screwing up in anger.
Kate shook her head, lightly grabbing T-dogs bicep, "Come on T-dog, forget it. Just leave him." she muttered.
Merle stepped closer, a smirk on his face. "You want to know the day?" he asked, a dark glint in his eye.
T-dog nodded. "yeah."
Merle nodded. "I'll tell you the day, Mr. "Yo." It's the day I take orders from a *** "
"Mother-" T-dog launches himself forward, a hand had grabbed Kate's arm and pulled her back. Her back hitting their chest. She turned her head, her eye's meeting Rick's. She could feel her cheeks get warm at being so close to him so she gave him a grateful nod, and stepped slightly away from him clearing her throat to try and calm herself down. 'Get a grip of yourself.' She thought, looking back to the scene in front of her. Rick then attempted to stop Merle himself, which ended pretty quick with a swift punch to the jaw.
As much as she adored T-dog with her whole heart, it was incredibly clear who was winning the fight. Merle had T-dog pinned to the floor and was on top of him, landing punch after punch. Andrea and Morales were trying to talk Merle out of continuing the fight, but as expected he was blocking them out. "Stop it! Dixon, get off him! Dixon, you're gonna hurt him." Andrea begged. Just as Merle pulled out his gun and held it to T-dogs face, who had stopped moving. "No no no, please. Please." Andrea continued, before falling silent. They all waited in a tense silence, Kate glanced to her lift to see Glenn shaking his head at her, a warning not to bother trying to convince him to put the gun down.
"Yeah! All right! We're gonna have ourselves a little powwow, huh? Talk about who's in charge. I vote me. Anybody else?" Merle had lifted himself off T-dog, giving the girls and Glenn time to pull him away from the redneck, all keeping an eye on him. "Huh? Democracy time, y'all. Show of hands, huh? All in favor?" Morales was the first to put his hand up, getting an eye roll off Kate. Followed by Glenn and a swift middle finger off Jacqui. Seeing no other option Kate and Andrea reluctantly raised their hands. "Huh? Come on. Let's see 'em. Oh, come on. All in favor? Yeah. That's good. Now that means I'm the boss, right? Yeah. Anybody else? Hmm? Anybody?"
"Yeah." Rick hits Merle over the head with a pipe, knocking him to the ground.
"Who the hell are you, man?!" Merle shouts trying to get up, Rick drags him over, handcuffing him to the pipe.
Rick leans over him. "Officer friendly. Look here, Merle. Things are different now. There are no *** 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." he told him. Glenn and Kate look at each other impressed, raising their eyebrows. Kate wore a small smirk, finding the situation incredibly amusing. God she hoped 'officer friendly had another set of handcu-
"Screw you, man." Merle muttered back.
Rick shook his head, sighing. "I can see you make a habit of missing the point."
"Yeah? Well, screw you twice." Merle spat back.
"Ought to be polite to a man with a gun." Rick mocked, gesturing towards the gun in his hand before cocking it. "Only common sense."
Merle shook his head "You wouldn't. You're a cop"
Rick looked right back at him. "All I am anymore is a man looking for his wife and son." Shit, wife. Kate thought. A girl can dream. "Anybody that gets in the way of that is gonna lose. I'll give you a moment to think about that." He finished. Before flicking Merle on the nose, gesturing towards the drugs that was left there. "Got some on your nose there"
Merle laughed "What are you gonna do? Arrest me?" He mocked. Rick glanced at him before reaching into Merle's pocket getting out the small vial of drugs that was hidden. Merle began panicking "Hey! What are you doing?" Rick walks over to the ledge of the building before dropping over the vial. "Man, that was my stuff! Hey! If I get loose, you'd better pray... Yeah, you hear me, you pig?! You hear me?!" The redneck shouts.
"Yeah, your voice carries." Rick remarked, heading back over to the group. Kate stifled a laugh nudging Glenn with her elbow as they watched Rick.
Morales looked to Rick "You're not Atlanta P.D. Where you from?" He questioned.
"Up the road a ways"
Rick looked back to Kate as she gestured to the city around them. "Well, officer friendly from up the road a ways, welcome to the big city."
***
Andrea sighed from her place beside Kate "My God, it's like Times Square down there" Muttered the blonde, Kate nodded agreeing with the girl.
"How's that signal?" Morales asked, causing the rest of the group to look over at T-dog who sat with his back against the wall.
"Like Dixon's brain." The man started. "Weak"
"Keep trying." Morales told him.
Kate ran her hands through her hair, beginning to regret not taking that hair tie from Amy before they left. "Why? There's nothing they can do. Not a damn thing." She reminded them.
Morales looked over at Rick, who shock looked confused. "Got some people outside the city is all. There's no refugee center. That's a pipe dream." he informed the sheriff.
The sheriff gestured towards Kate "Then she's right. We're on our own. It's up to us to find a way out."
Merle piped up from his place on the ground, still handcuffed. "Good luck with that. These streets ain't safe in this part of town from what I hear." He looked over to Andrea and Kate "Ain't that right, sugar tіts? Hey, honeybunch's, what say you get me out of these cuffs, we go off somewhere and bump some uglies? Gonna die anyway."
Andrea and Kate shared a look of disgust, rolling their eyes at him. "I'd rather." "Go fuck yourself Dixon." they both snapped, with no hesitation.
"Rug munchers. I figured as much." He answered, receiving a swift middle finger from the duo, who turned to ignore him.
"What about under the streets? The sewers?" Rick suggested.
Kate nods, pointing at rick "not a bad shout, Glenn can you see anything from the alley? Any manhole covers?" Glenn looks over the ledge where he was standing into the alley.
"No, must be all out on the street where the geeks are." Glenn tells them, walking back over to stand next to Kate.
Jacqui looks up, "Maybe not. Old building like this built in the '20s... Big structures often had drainage tunnels into the sewers in case of flooding down in the subbasements." she informs them. Kate rose an eyebrow looking at the woman.
"How do you know that?" Glenn asks, a hint of surprise in his voice.
"It's my job... was. I worked in the city zoning office."
***
Glenn and Kate lead the group down to the sewer entrance in the shop.
Morales took a step in front glancing into the entrance. "This is it? Are you sure?" He asked them both.
Kate nodded but Glenn answered for the pair of them. " We really scoped this place out the other times we were here. It's the only thing in the building that goes down. But I've never gone down it. Who'd want to, right?" he asked, rhetorically. Looking up at their faces he quickly realized everyone was looking at him. "Oh, great." He muttered.
Andrea gave him a comforting smile. "We'll be right behind you."
Glenn frowned looking at the blonde "No, you won't. Not you." Kate rolled her eyes at the way he had said it, with Andrea desperate to prove herself in this world, undermining her was not the best way to do it.
"Why not me? Think I can't?" she snapped, taking offence.
Glenn shook his head, holding his hands in front of him. "i wasn't.."
"Speak your mind." Rick interrupted. Kate gave him a thankful smile before focusing back on her best friend.
"Look, until now it was always Kate and I... In and out, grab a few things... No problem." He pauses to look at Kate, who gives him a quick wink of encouragement. "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." Everyone nods in agreement, deeming its only fair. "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 steps forward but Glenn shoots him down. " Not you either. You've got Merle's gun and I've seen you shoot. I'd feel better if you were out in that store watching those doors, covering our ass." He then points to Andrea. " And you've got the only other gun, so you should go with him." Glenn gestures to Kate. " You be my wing man. Jacqui and Morales stays here. Something happens, yell down to us, get us back up here in a hurry."
Everyone looks at each other in a tense silence before Kate throws an arm round Glenn's shoulders. "Oh yeah baby! A-team back together!" she exclaims a bright smile on her face.
Rick chuckles, eyes sweeping over the girl then declaring "Okay, everybody knows their jobs."
***
Glenn and Kate make their way down the sewers, Kate's face scrunched up. "This is-" She's cut off by a rat squealing as it rushes past the pair. "fucking gross." she finished with a shudder, taking a step closer to Glenn.
Glenn chuckles, looking at her. "No way?" he exclaims, she looks at him in confusion. "The Katherine Louise Carter is afraid of a big mouse?"
Kate shoves him, rolling her eyes at the man."Okay firstly, pizza boy. A rat is not a big mouse. It is however; gross, and full of diseases. Want to catch a disease from a rat? I can start calling you rat boy? or disease boy?" She teased him.
They stopped talking as they reached a gate.
"Jacqui was right." Kate remarked. "Here's our tunnel."
"Think we can cut through it?" Glenn asked, trying to find another way in.
"Not with Dale's hacksaw. That's a shitter." She muttered. A walker stumbles into the gate, half an eaten rat hanging from it's jaws as it reached to try and get them. "Let's go." Kate says, grabbing Glenn's arm and dragging him out.
As they get upstairs and run towards Rick and Andrea, the first set of glass doors shatter. Rick glances back at them, gun in hand and ready to shoot. "What did you find down there." He asks them.
Kate sighs "Not a way out."
Andrea looks at the doors. "We need to find a way... And soon."
Hello!
Well thank you for suffering through that first chapter, I had actually pretty much finished all of episode 2 on this one page, but decided last minute to spread it over two, do you guys prefer that? I can get updates out slightly quicker that way but if you prefer for it to be an episode a chapter i can try my best.
I actually found this chapter super hard to write. I think after not writing for years and going back in with a fanfic like this, i was scared of the dialogue etc. Plus i know i used so many of the same words, but I'm hoping that in time I'll get more comfortable and it'll flow better.
How are you all liking Katherine? I love her, but I'm biased. Her and Glenn's friendship has my heart too I just love them.
Anything I can do to improve?
Thanks guys :)