Carter's P.O.V
" Next time, I'm leaving you for the geeks." I run towards the alleyway, killing the geeks that get too close. I hear the man's steps behind me, followed by gunshots. I guess he's shooting them like it's Time Square.
I run into the alleyway, about to kill another geek until it speaks. " Whoa! Not dead! Come on! Come back here! Come on! Come on!" I nod my head quickly, following him up the ladder, the officer behind me.
When we finally climb up the guy I nearly killed speaks. " Nice moves there, Clint Eastwood. You the new sheriff come riding in to clean up the town?"
I hold a smirk from growing onto my face, moving my hair out of my face as the officer answers. " It wasn't my intention."
" Yeah, whatever. Yeehaw. You're still a dumbass."
The officer held his hand towards him before saying, " Rick. Thanks."
The guy glances for a moment before shaking his hand and saying, "Glenn. You're welcome." He then looks at me. " What's her name?"
" I thought she was with you," Rick's expression grows with confusion before turning his body to me, Glenn looking over his shoulder.
" Why'd you save me?" I shrug my shoulders, climbing up the ladder behind us to the roof.
" On the bright side: It'll be the fall that kills us. I'm a glass-half-full kind of guy," Glenn states before climbing up behind me, Rick following. We then make it to the roof, the two talking while I look around, trying to find a way into the building. I spot a hatch, running over and popping it open.
I finally tune into their conversation when Rick asks, " Back at the tank, why'd you stick your neck out for me?"
" Call it foolish, naïve hope that if I'm ever that far up shit creek, somebody might do the same for me, probably her reason too." He nods at me, " I guess we're both even bigger dumbasses than you."
Rick looks at me for an answer. I give a shrug before climbing down the ladder. Rick follows before closing the door, creating darkness.
-
Carter's P.O.V
Glenn talks on his walkie-talkie as we run down another staircase, Rick and I following behind him. " I'm back. Got a few guests with me and four geeks in the alley," he speaks into it before putting it back in the waist of his jeans.
We open a door in front of the staircase and see two walkers. Both men freeze in front of me while I grab my knife from my pocket. Two men dressed as blackberries with bats run out, smashing the geek's brains in.
" Let's go!" Glenn yells. I stick my knife back where it belongs and follow him inside, the two blackberries following as well.
Right when I get inside I'm pushed up against containers, a gun at my head. " You son of a bitch. We ought to kill you," blonde growls at me. It isn't frightening, her petite frame not helping either.
I let out a small snort for a laugh. Her face grows a brighter red while the rest around me look shocked and afraid. "Andrea, come on just put the gun-"
" You think this is funny? I could shoot you right now!" She yells.
I shake my head, allowing myself to show a small smirk. I snatch the gun from her hands, popping it out of safety mode before handing it back. She stares at me with shock for a moment before stating, " We're dead... All of us... Because of you two." She points between me and Rick.
I raise an eyebrow at her, knowing this isn't my fault. Rick then seals the deal on who's to blame. " I don't understand."
The Hispanic I believed named Morales grabs Rick's arm. He forces Rick towards the front of the store, explaining scavenging while the rest of us follow.
" You just rang the dinner bell," Andrea states when we stop at the front.
" You get the picture now?" I look across the room to see a full horde of geeks behind two walls of glass windows. The first layer seems it'll explode any minute.
" Oh, God. What the hell were you two doing out there anyway?" Andrea questions, glancing over the two of us before looking back at the window.
I give a grunt for my answer while Rick says he was trying to flag a helicopter. I shake my head at his answer, hearing no helicopter at all.
" Helicopter? Man, that's crap. Ain't no damn helicopter," the black man states.
" You were chasing a hallucination, imagining things. It happens," the black woman, Jacqui I believe, says trying to comfort him.
" I saw it." I shake my head in disappointment, knowing his answer won't budge an inch.
" Hey, T-Dog, try that C.B. Can you contact the others?"
" Others? The refugee center?"
I let out a slight snort, only Rick noticing. He glances at me as I shake my head no to answer his question. Jacqui adds on with sarcasm. " Yeah, the refugee camp. They've got biscuits waiting in the oven for us."
" Got no signal. Maybe the roof." A gunshot goes off, barely letting T-Dog finish his sentence. " Oh no. Is that Dixon?"
" Come on, let's go." I follow right behind Glenn, the rest following as well.
Glenn opens the door to the roof. A man with gray hair and a rifle shoots at geeks from the roof. Probably high off his ass with the aim he has.
" Hey Merle, are you crazy?!" T-Dog yells. This only made the guy laugh and shoot again, missing and wasting a bullet.
" Hey! Y'all be more polite to a man with a gun! Huh? Ah only common sense," Merle states. T-Dog only fumes more.
" Man, you wasting bullets we ain't even got! And you're bringing more of them down on our ass! Man, just chill."
Merle jumps down from the ledge before speaking. " 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."
The two to get closer, both fuming as if gas is coming from their ears. My mind tunes them out, my body leaning up on the edge until Merle says, " I'll tell you the day, Mr.'Yo.' It's the day I take orders from a n*gger."
T-Dog throws a punch at Merle, which he ducks before tackling T and punching him repeatedly, making everyone else yell at him. I start walking over to them but freeze when Merle points a pistol at T.
Everyone freezes to see what he does. Merle just spits at him before pulling him up, pushing him towards the huddled group.
" Yeah! All right! We're gonna have ourselves a little powwow, huh? Talk about who's in charge. I vote-" he stops his speech when I stick my gun to the back of his head. He begins to chuckle.
" Well, whaddya know? Officer's grown some balls. Sadly that ain't working with me." I raise an eyebrow confused, not noticing his arm doing a half-circle. The butt of his gun hits me in the face. I drop my piece, trying to keep balance before going into a fighting stance.
I hear a few people holler at us to stop. Neither of us listen. He throws a punch, which I duck and hit him in the stomach. He tackles me, throwing a few punches at me, missing most. I punch him once in the jaw, enough to throw him off. Rick finally comes into view, grabbing Merle's arm and handcuffing him to a pipe.
" Who the hell are you, man?!" Merle yells, trying to get the handcuff off.
" Officer friendly. 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," Merle snaps, making my eyes roll.
" I can see you make a habit of missing the point."
" Yeah? Well, screw you twice."
" 'Ought to be polite to a man with a gun. Only common sense." Rick points the gun at Merle's head.
" 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. I'll give you time to think about that." He pauses for a moment, looking at Merle before digging in his pocket, finding powder. No one's surprised really.
" Got some on your nose there." He stands up and throws it to the geeks. Merle gives a tantrum as Glenn helps me up. I nod in thanks.
Morales then asks, " You're not Atlanta P.D. Where you from?"
" Up the roadways."
He then pats Rick back before saying, " Well, officer friendly from up the roadways, welcome to the big city."