Ellie's POV
"Come on little sister, up and at 'em." Merle's deep voice called out causing me to groan. Now normally, his voice is mildly annoying, but in the morning Merle's voice is like nails on a chalkboard. My eyes opened slightly to see Merle standing with his hands on his hips expectingly, he was waiting for me to get up. I nearly let out a whale as I turned over to get out of the small cot that I'd been sleeping in for the past few weeks.
"Hold ya horses," I grumbled as I swung my legs over the cot and onto the floor of the tent. Merle stepped back, giving me room to stand up n' pout, and far enough away I wouldn't strangle him.
"Now come on, girl, ya movin' slower than molasses. We got things to do today." His voice made me want to pull out my eardrums. I sighed, ushering him out of the tent so I could change out of my pajamas which were nothing but a small tank top and shorts.
Once he was fully out of the tent I zipped it closed and went straight to my bag. I pulled out my clothes which consisted of a black tank top, a green sleeveless flannel, black skinny jeans that'd been ripped from countless falls, and the combat boots that I managed to snag from a store a week back with Glenn. Thank goodness for it too, my shoes had all sorts of holes in them from previous runs.
When Daryl and Merle are out hunting I tend to go with Glenn or whoever on runs. Staying cooped up in camp wasn't really my thing, and Daryl's protectiveness tends to be suffocating.
I lazily pulled my hair up into a low-side ponytail as I walked out of the tent with a yawn. Everyone was already up and about, doing our normal daily routines. Merle has yet to act on any of his plans to rob this place because these people didn't quite trust us yet, but maybe if he'd stop being such a prick on occasion, they would.
"Well good morning, Sleeping Beauty," Lori said as she walked up to me with a smile. I'd grown closer to Lori over time. I wasn't sure what it was, but I just couldn't keep myself from becoming increasingly closer to her, no matter how hard I tried not to. Eventually, I gave up, reminding myself every day that the hurt I'd feel once she realized who I was and where I came from would only hurt so bad because I didn't pull away. My whole life I'd been told that Dixon's weren't worth shit by damn near everybody in town. I still remember my first crush telling me that he would never date a Dixon simply because Dixons were trash. Somewhere along the line, after years of being told this, I started to believe it.
"Mornin'." I huffed, still half asleep. She smiled at my grumpiness before giving my back a quick rub and walking off toward Carl.
"Ellie!" Merle yelled to me. My head dropped to my chin, not wanting to move my tired legs. I trudged towards Merle and the small group he was standing with.
"You really want Ellie coming with us?" Andrea asked, her eyes skeptical as she looked at my brother.
"Ya weren't complainin' when she ran off with Glenn." Merle countered, still upset about recently finding out about my adventures while he and Daryl would hunt. Andrea let out a huff before dropping the topic, knowing she wouldn't win against the stubborn redneck.
"Since you two know the city well, having both of you could be an advantage." Morales nodded as he looked between me and Glenn.
I was still very confused as to what was going on. I was only halfway paying attention because I was still only half-awake.
"It could also be a risk." Shane piped in. "God forbid somethin' happens to both of them, we'll be stuck having to make someone else learn the city."
"I don't know about, Russell, but ain't nothin' happenin' to me." That was an ongoing inside joke between Glenn and me. I called him Russell, the little Asian kid from Up, and he calls me Chris, aka, Chris Griffin from family guy. It was a mean game we played a while back that ended with both of us crying of laughter on a roof while eating gummies. Good times. Glenn has become somewhat of a friend to me, and it was pretty cool having one considering I've only had maybe two my whole life.
Shane knew how stubborn us Dixons could be, and I think a part of him was just trying to protect me for Lori. The fact that she isn't here refusing and making me stay meant she had no idea I had somehow got involved in whatever plan this was.
"If the group splits up, we'll be lost." Morales segued.
"And if they're both in the same group when the group splits?" Ooh, didn't think that far. Leave it to Shane to think of the absolute worst scenario that could actually potentially happen.
"Shane, it'll be fine. We'll be back before ya know it." I confirmed with a smile, still not sure as to what was happening.
"Are you aware of the plan?" He asked skeptically.
"Nope," I said with the same smile, my face never changing. He let out a sigh, knowing Merle wanted me with him. I knew the truth though. Merle didn't trust these people to watch his back like he trusted Daryl, and in desperate times—much like this one—me. Daryl told me he was leaving first thing this morning to hunt by himself because he knew Merle wouldn't be up that early. Hell, no one would. I think he was getting tired of Merle's yapping while they hunted.
Shane reluctantly pushed himself away from the circle. This was his way of saying he agreed to what was happening, even if he didn't want to. I removed my eyes from Shane, looking at the group of people around me.
"So, what's the plan?"
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It was a good plan, but for some reason, I couldn't shake the horrible feeling in my gut. I knew something was going to happen, I just didn't know what. Then I came to the conclusion that last night's beans did look a little weird, so I played it off as the bean spirits coming back to haunt me.
I gathered my things from my shared tent with Daryl, Grabbing my P365, a few of the various throwing knives I'd been collecting when I was on runs, and the Bowie knife that Daryl gave me a while back for protection. I had carved my initials into the wooden handle as soon as I got it, just like he had with his. I sheathed the large knife, a large belt hung around my waist that Shane found in his Jeep and gave me when I first started going on runs. I had my throwing knives strapped to my thigh, but my P356 and my Bowie knife were both held by the belt.
I slung an empty backpack that I used for runs over my shoulder and waltzed out of the tent, ready to take on the world. Not actually though, because taking on the world would involve a lot of decomposing walkers that smelt worse than dog shit.
"You're going too?"
That small voice made me stop in my tracks. I turned on my heels to see not only Sophia but Carl too. I'd be lying if I said I hadn't grown a little attached to the little rug-rats. The age gap was less than a decade, but having fun with them always beat arguing with my brothers, specifically Merle. I love my brother, I really do, but he could piss off mother Teresa.
"Yeah, but don't worry bout me." I grinned as I pointed to the Angel wing necklace that I'd taken. "My lucky charm has my back." That's what Sophia called it. She said that because it was special to me, I was special to it.
I walked over to the two and bent over to hug them. I may be short, but compared to them I felt like a skyscraper. That might be another reason why I prefer them over the adults.
"Be careful," Carl muttered over my shoulder as he hugged me.
As I pulled away from the two, Sophia stopped me. She pulled off the small bracelet from her wrist that she wore occasionally. It was a charm bracelet with two charms: a cross, and a moon. Sophia pushed the bracelet towards me, with a small smile.
"It's for when you get scared. You're gonna need it more than me." She said quietly. I knew of the things her dad did, everyone knew. He wasn't the best at hiding what a piece of shit he was. If this was her way of coping with things, I didn't want to take it forever, but I also couldn't refuse the small gift.
"I'll give it back as soon as I come back." I smiled as I grabbed it from her small hands. I reached down to hug her one more time before turning around and walking toward the car that we were all traveling in. It was a van, a kidnapper van to be exact.
As I approached I noticed I wasn't the last one there, and I could tell that was pushing Merle's buttons. Not only did he not have anyone to say goodbye to, but everyone was taking their sweet ass time doing it.
Merle opened the driver's side door before laying his hand harshly on the horn. "C'mon people let's go! We're losin' daylight!"
The annoyed looks on their faces didn't faze him, but then again a lot of things didn't faze Merle. I was about to hop into the van when I heard loud footsteps running towards us. Everyone else that was coming was already waiting to get inside the big white van, so my head snapped over to whoever was running at full speed towards us.
"Ellie, Wait!" Lori called out as she made a beeline for me. I stopped and moved out of the way so T-dog could get inside along with the others. I made my way towards Lori, a concerned look plastered on my face. "You can't leave without saying goodbye."
Lori pulled me into a hug. I could feel her heart beating quickly from the short run and I couldn't help but relate. Running is hard work.
"You be careful out there, okay?" She said as she rubbed my back. I nodded my head against her shoulder before she pulled back to look at me. For some reason, this felt like an actual goodbye, like she was preparing to never see me again. Although that very well could happen, I wasn't planning on letting it.
"Yes ma'am," I said with a small smile. She sent me a smile of her own, her eyes lingering on my face a moment longer before she patted my shoulder and turned on her heels.
"C'mon now, baby sister! We ain't got all day!" Merle yelled from the van. Thankfully Morales was driving and not Merle. We were all likely to die if he got behind the wheel. Something about the apocalypse and no one else being on the road makes my brother want to serve all over the road just to scare whoever's in the car with him.
The drive to the city was overall exhausting. Playing peacekeeper was tough work, especially with Merle's big mouth. Glenn looked uncomfortable, T looked like he just might take his chances with Merle, Morales looked like he wanted to jump out of the car, Andrea was... annoyed, to say the least, Jacqui was—rightfully—offended, Merle clearly was having a grand ol' time, and I'm sure I looked like I was about to pitch a hissy fit.
When we finally arrived I all but leaped out of the van. T and Glenn were right behind me, all of us trying to put some distance between us and my big brother.
Luckily for us, Merle had the good sense to shut his mouth while we ran silently through the city. We hid between alleys and ducked behind large trash cans. There were groups of geeks and the biggest one crowded a single street, but we decided to take the long way to the department store to avoid that street. It seemed as if the entire population of Atlanta was in that single street, even Merle didn't want to go through it.
"Morales, T, you go first," Glenn whispered as we hid against a brick building. The two men nodded their heads, a determined look on their faces. As soon as we were sure the coast was clear the two men booked it for the department's back entrance through the alleyway. Next was Jacqui and Andrea, after that I made Glenn go so I could keep an eye on Merle. My stomach was still doing flip-flops, and I wouldn't allow my brother to either do something stupid or something stupid to him. We ran for the door that was being held open by Glenn. As soon as we were in the clear I let out a deep sigh.
"There should be all sorts of supplies here that we could use, I've never seen any other doors open when we come," Glenn said to the group, referring to the times we've both come to the dangerous city when we desperately needed supplies.
"I have a pretty good idea where we could find the food," I spoke up, the others looking towards me. "I say we split up, make this a quick trip."
The others nodded in agreement. Glenn and I took separate teams, he had Morales, T, and Jackie, while I took Andrea and Merle to avoid any issues. Out of everyone, Andrea was less prone to get picked on by Merle, and I was the only one who could get him to shut up on occasion.
Glenn's team took the lower levels while the three of us took the upper levels. We found a level that looked to be some sort of sports shopping center. Inside was not only sports things but survival things like camping gear and supplies we could really use. I found a few water purifiers and shoved them into my pack along with a bunch of jerky on the shelves near the cashier. Daryl was gonna have a field day.
While we were scavenging there was a loud neigh that sounded like it came from outside, followed by loud gunshots. All three of our heads turned, there wasn't supposed to be anything outside let alone a horse. The sounds of growls and snarls traveled through the air, the sound getting closer and closer. Merle ran for the roof while Andrea and I ran for the rest of the group.
We barreled down the stairs at full speed. My chest constricted at the thought of losing anyone. There were doors but they were glass, and with the number of walkers outside they're bound to come crashing down. The sound of Andrea's panicked breaths behind made me push my legs to go faster, nearly falling in the process. My foot tripped against the concrete steps, causing me to roll my ankle and fall the rest of the way.
"Ellie!" Andrea screamed. It was so dark I could hardly see a thing, the only light came from the opened door from upstairs. I saw Andrea run towards me, but the feeling of bruises forming made me wince. I used my hands to push myself up, my ankle screaming in protests but the growls and snarls coming from outside pushed me to ignore it.
"I'm okay, I'm okay!" I breathed out harshly as I stood up, using the metal railing to help me. Andrea slung my arm over her shoulder, helping me run down the last two flights.
We pulled the metal door open and nearly cried out in happiness to see the others okay. Their eyes were trained on the front of the department store with horror etched onto their faces. My eyes followed their gaze, Andrea and I both let out a fear-filled breath.
Walkers. They began piling against the door, banging and snarling against the glass, desperate for a meal.
"Come on!" Glenn half yelled half-whispered as if whispering would help them not notice us. Andrea helped me limp across the store. What was probably a few seconds felt like an eternity as we ran towards a back room.
Glenn shut the door behind us when we got inside before he walked towards the exit.
"Whoa, where are you going?" Andrea asked, panic filling her voice. Glenn turned to us, obviously in a hurry.
"That guy is out there, I have to help him." He didn't give anyone a chance to argue. He grabbed one of the walkies and ran out of the door.
Andrea looked bewildered at the fact that Glenn was helping save someone that might've just sealed our fate, but I wasn't surprised. Glenn is a good person, he wouldn't be able to sit back while someone gets eaten alive by the largest group of walkers we've ever seen.
"What happened?" Jacqui asked wide-eyed as she made her way towards me. I winced when Andrea helped sit me down on a box on the other side of the room. I cursed my idiocy, wishing I could've gone with Glenn. There's strength in numbers, plus whoever he's helping could need my help.
"She tripped down the stairs," Andrea answered for me while I pulled a box over to elevate my ankle.
"Probably just some bruised ribs, I'm good," I promised the group who looked worried about my current health status. "It's gonna take a lot more than some stairs to bench me."
"By some do you mean the entire flight of stairs?" The lawyer deadpanned. Was it really the whole flight? Those were some weak stairs.
"You gonna be alright to run?" T asked to which I nodded instantly.
I'm sure everyone noticed the absence of my dear brother because no one was talking shit about our situation, or about Glenn going to help a stranger, it was just that no one cared. We finally got a breath of air, but my only concern was him doing something stupid to put us further in the shitter.
T and Morales began gearing up for when Glenn made it back. The "armor" looked like glorified paintball gear, but I wasn't going to bash them when I just took an L from some stairs.
My good leg bounced up and down anxiously. The one time it wasn't just Glenn and me who were out on a run, everything goes to shit. I began to mess with the bracelet Sophia gave me, hoping and praying we'd all be able to make it back. Andrea needed to get back to Amy, Morales had his whole family, Merle and I had to get back to Daryl or lord knows how big of a rampage he'd be on. The others didn't have much family, but they'd definitely be missed by the group. Plus I promised to give Sophia her bracelet back, and I don't break my promises.
It was maybe thirty minutes before we heard Glenn's voice through the other walkie. Everyone's face visibly lit up while T and Morales put their helmets on.
"I'm back. Got a guest, plus four geeks in the alley."
It took a minute for them to get out there with their wooden bats. Andrea was visibly heated, she knew who was with Glenn, the guy who caused this mess. She drew her gun from her pants and my eyes widened.
Soon Glenn and another guy dressed in a cop uniform were running through the door with T-dog and Morales right behind them. Within seconds Andrea grabbed the cop and slammed him against a large container on the other side of the room.
"You son of a bitch, we oughtta kill you!" She growled with her gun in his face. He held up his hands in surrender, breathing hard.
"Just chill out, Andrea, back off." Morales was clearly annoyed, but we knew what the man did wasn't intentional.
"Come on, ease up," Jacqui said like she was talking to a madwoman. Which she was.
"Ease up? You're kidding me, right? We're dead because of this stupid asshole." Andrea glared at the man, her gun still in his face. Though I wasn't worried, considering the safety was on.
"Andrea, please!" I begged, trying to help deescalate the situation.
Once Morales had all his gear off he made his way over to the angry woman. "Andrea! I said back. The hell. Off."
Glenn was next to me, watching the whole situation unfold, clearly worried that Andrea would blow the brains out of the man he just saved. I'm not sure if anyone noticed how calm he was though, but I'm sure he saw what I saw about Andrea's mistake.
"Well, pull the trigger," Morales said tauntingly, knowing that she wouldn't be able to do it.
Andrea let out a breath as she pulled the gun away, shaking her head as tears filled her eyes. "We're dead, all of us, because of you." She continued to shake her head as she spoke.
"I don't understand." The man said dumbly causing me to roll my eyes as I painfully stood up.
"Look," Morales spoke annoyedly as he grabbed the man by his upper arm, dragging him towards the store. Glenn helped me walk with them, and I sent him a grateful nod. "We came to 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 OK Corral."
We all walked towards the clothing store, showing the man exactly why he was stupid. Exactly why we were all dead.
"Every geek for miles around heard you poppin' off rounds." T-dog glared.
"You just rang the dinner bell," Andrea said dreadfully.
"You get it now, Deputy Dumbass?" I hissed angrily as he stared at the doors being banged on be a sea of geeks. The glass cracked and squeaked in pain as more continued to push relentlessly. One even had a rock, banging it against the window hungrily.
"Oh god," Andrea mumbled as we all backtracked, stepping behind some clothes as if it'd help. "What the hell were you doing out there anyway?"
"Trying to flag the helicopter.." The cop said with regretful eyes.
"Helicopter? Man, that's crap. Ain't no damn helicopter." T exclaimed, clearly annoyed like the rest of us.
While their conversation of the imaginary helicopter continued, I began looking around for anything that could help us get out of this mess, or at least something that could make a barricade to help buy us some more time so we could find a way out.
Out of nowhere, a loud shot rang out causing everyone to flinch and look upwards. Fucking Merle.
"Oh no, Is that Dixon?"