“You never heard of Rick Grimes?
He's like- the coolest cop ever!”
Just as Goldie predicted, when she, Judy and Lois came back to the ranch, the two girls got yelled at by the young Blackburn's older sister. Although, Jeremiah wasn't so angry at the two girls, since they brought a new survivor to their little-like camp. Having someone like Lois was a big plus since she was a nurse and probably was able to patch up many wounds and treat people with the right medication.
A few days gone by and Doug took his grief to another level. He decided to talk it out to the Trevor guy he and Matt met through the police radio. They talked every day and both Matt and Doug gave the man directions how he and his brother would be able to find them. Of course, they had in mind that this man could be dangerous, they weren't that stupid. After all, they were still police officers, they knew the tactics of the bad people and thiefs.
"You lost someone Trevor? In the... you know, the fall." Doug spoke to the radio mic again, as he was sat in the police car that was parked on the ranch's driveway.
The fall, that's how they called it a while ago, the way the world has gone to shit and the dead started walking around. There was silence for a moment on the other side, the only thing heard was the crackle of the radio as the brown-haired man waited for any response while staring absentmindedly at the microphone in his left hand, biting on his bottom lip.
"Yeah... yeah, I did." Trevor said finally, making Doug almost jump in his seat as he wasn't prepared for sudden reply. "I don' know what to tell you, though. I didn' lose a kid, man. I lost a friend, a father and my mom but she chose to... to die." He added after a second and it was heard that he struggled to say it to the cop.
"How did you- how did you went through all that? All that grief? Pain?" Doug pushed, wanting to keep his mind off his dead son. He needed answers though, like as if it would ease his pain.
"It wasn' easy. I struggled for some time, but my brother was the one that kept me sane. He was there, he still is. That's what 'm holding onto." Trevor admitted softly and Doug felt a slight, sad smile tug on his lips.
"It's good you have some family left, Trevor. I hope you two will like our little piece of safe space when you'll arrive." Brennan said more warmly, meaning the words.
"F'sure, Brian could use seeing more people that aren' me. He's just gettin' unbearable..." The man joked at what Doug couldn't help but chuckle softly. He liked that guy.
"Oh, I believe... When you get here, I owe you some beer."
"Make it a whiskey, man. I ain' drinking beer, 'm not a big fan." Trevor retorted at what Doug smirked slightly.
"Then it's a deal, Trev. I'm going to leave you for now, gotta spend some time with the family I have left." Doug responded, clicking the little button on the side of the mic before he placed it back in the holder.
"I can' wait to meet 'em!" Was the last thing Trevor said before the green dot on the front of the police radio went black again, what meant that the man turned it off.
Doug got used to it by now. Talking with Trevor about his struggles, Trevor sharing a bit of his life and his struggles and then both of them turning the radio's off so the battery wouldn't run out so quickly. As he got out of the police car he was in and closed the door behind himself, he narrowed his eyebrows at seeing Matt approaching him. They haven't talked much since what happened to Luke, even though Matt wanted, Doug needed some time to fully recover. When the blonde man in the cowboy hat was just three steps away, Doug tilted his head to the side in the questioning manner, waiting for any words.
"We've been talking with Jeremiah about going on a trip to the town, since Lois is a nurse and she'll need some things for the future..." The blonde started, scratching the back of his neck nervously as he stared at his friend. "She wrote me a list but I don't wanna go alone." He added right after, making the brunet raise his eyebrows this time.
Doug knew exactly what Matthew meant. It was his way of saying 'I wanna talk with you' without actually having to say it. The man only nodded and when light smile appeared on the blonde man's lips, he rolled his eyes only. About a couple minutes later they both were driving towards the town from where the girls brought Lois a couple days ago, although there were less biters on the streets, making it easier to drive or just move around. They were looking for pharmacy, of course, because they would be stupid to risk their life for the stuff in the overrun hospital.
When Matt was driving through the streets, Doug was busy leaning his forehead against the window and looking through it as they passed some alone biters. The blue-eyed man thought that life as a biter was really shitty, no more being human, only an empty shell left wandering around like a lost puppy but if the lost puppy had rabies and was hungry for fresh meat that would scream and hit it while it would chew on it.
"You with me?" He heard Matt's voice suddenly, what made him look at the man abruptly as he nodded slightly.
"Yeah, just... god. A lot happened in so little time, you know?" Doug muttered in reply, making Matt frown a little as he nodded in agreement.
It was true though, a lot of shit happened in so little time and Matt so fucking much blamed himself for it. If only he would check the gate before they left with Kristine, maybe Luke would be alive. Maybe he would be running around with Tommy as they always did, maybe he wouldn't stop yapping about dinosaurs and Spider-Man as he always did, maybe if he would check that damn gate that day, he wouldn't hate himself so much now. He didn't had any good sleep the past few days, always awake in case something would blow up, as if something would blow up.
For the sanity of the two men, it didn't took long as they reached the pharmacy that lucky for them seemed to be without any biters inside. As the two of them got out of the car, Matt placed his cowboy hat back on his head and pulled out a machete Joan gave him a day prior while Doug grabbed his gun. He still wasn't a fan of knives or machetes, even though they made much less sound than a bang of a gun. Slowly they made their way towards the pharmacy door and as they pushed it open, a rumbling was heard inside. Matt stopped immediately and looked behind his shoulder at Doug who only nodded before they both walked in fastly with their weapons high and ready at any potential threat.
Turned out it was just some raccoon that got stuck under a shelf, so when they were both sure the place was safe from biters, they placed down their bags and started rummaging through the shelves for anything that was on the list made by Lois or anything they could possibly use. It took them a while, but when they were fully packed and turned around to leave the pharmacy, their faces fell at the sight before them. Their car was surrounded by the dead ones that were probably drawn there by their smell.
Matt cursed under his breath at that.
"Shit, now we're fucked." He whispered toward Doug who sighed softly and looked back at his friend.
"There's a back door, we can try making it through the woods..." The blue-eyed man muttered in a hushed tone, not wanting to draw attention of the biters to the two of them.
"That's our only hope." Matt said back, his dark eyes straying away from his friend as he tried walking backwards and not stumble upon anything.
As fast and as quiet as they could, they ran toward the back doors and then made their way towards the woods. Both men weren't sure if they wouldn't find any biters in the woods, but one thing they knew, that alone they weren't that much harm. To their luck, every biter they ever met was slow so it would be easy to take it down. They were going for quite some time without spotting any undead ones until they heard a stick snap somewhere near them and then a shuffle. Doug pulled out his gun immediately and so did Matt, not caring now about the guns drawing the attention, not until they'll see the threat.
As they waited for another sound that would indicate from where the threat is coming from, Matt heard footsteps behind them and was quick to move. With one swift push, he made the opponent fall to the ground as he pointed his gun at him only to see a teenager raising his hands in defeat. The blonde narrowed his eyebrows as he looked the boy up and down but didn't lowered his gun as he aimed at the boy's forehead.
"Woah, woah, woah!" The boy said as soon as he realized that Matt was pointing the gun at his forehead. "Pump the brakes, Rick Grimes!" He added almost immediately, what made Matt frown slightly.
"Who the hell is Rick Grimes? That's not my name, boy." Wilson muttered, narrowing his eyebrows even more at the boy's scared but also weirdly fascinated look.
"You never heard of Rick Grimes? He's like- the coolest cop ever!" The boy exclaimed a bit too enthusiastically, for a second forgetting about the gun pointed at him. "Well, uh, you sure as hell act like him." He corrected himself as he saw the confused look on the blonde man's face.
Slowly, but unsurely Matt got off the boy and helped him get up as he then inspected him intensely. It was weird seeing a teenager wandering all by himself in the woods, especially around a town that was completely overrun despite some places.
"What are you doing here all by yourself?" Doug asked the young boy, causing the boy's eyes to wander towards him with a slight confusion.
"Obviously, it's safer here than in the cities. Walkers tend to wander in the areas where they would easily find people. Well, at least for now." The boy stated, crossing his arms on his chest as he felt more comfortable without the rifle of the gun in front of his forehead.
Both men looked at themselves a bit confused at the teenager's words, especially how he said it all so casually. As if he knew everything about the shit that's going around.
"Walkers? What the hell are those?" Matt asked the dark-haired boy, tilting his head to the side.
"You- oh shit, don't tell me you haven't watched the walking dead." The boy said abruptly, a bit of sadness heard in his voice. When he didn't got any reply, he huffed annoyed. "Man, come onn! It's a classic, top tv show about zombies!" The teenager continued, hiding his face in his hands for a moment.
As the boy took his hands off his face, he saw the puzzled look on both men faces. It was then that he decided to introduce his new companions to the TV show he loved. The three of them continued the walk through the woods, being careful about any walkers as the boy called them. It was kinda funny to Matt, he thought biters was more accurate since they were actually biting people and all. Walkers, for example, was funnier.
"Hey, what's your names?" The boy asked suddenly, making the blonde and brunette men narrow their eyebrows almost in sync.
"I'm Matt..." The man in cowboy hat started, pointing to himself before he placed his hand on his friend's shoulder. "And this is Doug." He added right after, shifting the bag full of pharmacy products in his left hand.
"Doug..." The dark-haired boy muttered, as if testing the man's name on his tongue, what made the said man chuckle. "You seem more like Daryl than Shane, so I like you."
"Uh, thanks?" Doug muttered back, his brows furrowed in confusion. "What's your name, kid?" He asked then, looking behind his shoulder at the boy in grey hoodie.
"Oh, I'm Max. Max Foreman." The teenager said swiftly, flashing the two older man a slight smile.
For some time the three of them were walking through the woods, luckily on their road they met only three biters who Matt and Doug easily killed. After a half an hour they were finally able to see the road somewhere between the trees, so they immediately rushed towards it. It didn't took long as the three of them reached the ranch's gate and Max made a whistle sound at seeing the metal gate and the brick fence. It was impressive for him how people that weren't preparing themselves for a zombie apocalypse build up a brick fence that was now more useful than ever.
-
At lunch, as everyone was sat by the table along with Lois and their newest addition — Max, Doug knew they were getting somewhere. Their little camp was becoming bigger every day due to arriving people and that made Jeremiah proud. He always wanted his ranch to be a place where everyone would feel like at home and with that apocalypse happening, his wishes came true.
"Max said he knows some things about the biters. He says they're very similar to the walkers that were in his favourite tv show." Doug started the conversation after a moment, looking around the people that were sat by the table eating chicken.
The fact that Doug was the one to start any conversation, was new to everyone. He didn't spoke to anyone since what happened to Luke, neither did Jenny who was also by the table but awfully quiet as she was feeding little Toby his soup. At Doug's mention of Max's name, the boy perked up from his chicken wing and licked his fingers before he smiled at everyone. He didn't had any chicken in a long time.
"Yeah, that's true... I've been around them for a long time, basically from the start of the apocalypse." Max admitted, pushing his plate away from himself a little as he continued. "They react to sounds, smells and lights. They're quite fast when they're fresh, but the more rotten they are, the slower they get. I also tried to see if the idea with covering myself in their guts would mask my smell but- just don't try it, believe me." He murmured at the end, looking back to his half eaten chicken.
Judy looked at him interested, feeling a little blush creep on her cheeks as she found herself looking too long at him. She thought that Max seemed nice and kind, if that made sense. He looked experienced in this whole thing that's happening and that piqued her interest in him.
"So what, they almost ate you?" The comfortable silence broke Kristine's voice who couldn't keep her mouth shut as Jenny thought.
"Yeah, kind of..." He muttered, glancing towards the woman and secretely looking her up and down. "So this is the Shane..." He mumbled to himself as he looked away immediately, making the woman narrow her brows.
It didn't took Max long to figure almost everyone out and compare them to characters from the walking dead, like he used to compare everyone back before the world was turned into hell on earth. He already saw the similarities between Jeremiah and Hershel and when he got to know that Joan and Goldie were his daughters, he knew why he couldn't stop comparing them to Maggie and Beth. Although he didn't knew them at all, he was able to read people well at most times.
Maybe that's why he compared Kristine to Shane right away, because he had a bad feeling about her. He felt it in his guts that this woman couldn't be trusted fully.
*:;,．★ ～☆・:.,;*.*:;,．☆ ～★・:.,;*
—ANN'S NOTE
hii!! so you got introduced to our lovely twd fan of the group!
so, basically, with Max around, he'll be comparing some situations and people to the things from twd since he's literally obsessed with it. (max being us fr)
LIVE, LAUGH, LOVE MAX EVERYONE!
see ya x