Chapter 12: Rick’s alive?? Merle’s gone!! Quarry Attacked!! The Greene adventure pt2
Chapter 12: Rick's alive?? Merle's gone!! Quarry Attacked!! The Greene adventure pt2
(Previously...)
The remaining group that was downstairs were already waiting at the loading dock entrance for T-Dogg, Merle, and Rick to arrive. And after a few minutes, while Glenn lead the corpses away, Rick backed up the delivery truck into the dock and everyone jumps into it. Soon after they left T-Dogg confesses that he had dropped the key to the cuffs down a drainage pipe, and left Merle on the roof alone still handcuffed to the pipe.
The atmosphere of the truck soon turned somber as Rick drove them back to the survivors' camp in the quarry, while Glenn following close behind in his new car that was making too much noise. Dale one of the survivors' that was on guard soon notices a loud alarm that was nearing their camp. As he notifies the people there, Shane rushes to see what the situation was. They all stood there watching and waiting for something to happen...
They were all tense and worried, until a red car with an alarm going off on it came down barreling through the quarry. With that god afoul blaring noise coming from it, as it drove into the quarry campsite. They soon noticed who was driving the car, it was being driven by their resident supply runner, Glenn, who at this point needed that moment to cut loose and relax from the danger that the day brought.
Glenn soon parked his new ride behind the delivery truck that Rick was driving with the others in the back. The people that who had gone on their own run to Atlanta were finally back to camp. Dale watched the tearful reunions of those who were left behind with those who were returning. And some were angry as the faces Dale and a few others could see. Dale wondered if this group have put us all in danger the way they came back noisily.
He couldn't have brought himself to embrace the reckless young man as the others were doing because hr needed them to see he was tough. And then there was a different kind of tension, as a new guy the others brought back with them. The man who had been driving the truck stepped out, and suddenly saw Shane, as they stared at each other across the camp. Shane turned pale as a ghost, and he looked worried for some reason.
The moment was soon broken by the surprised yell of the child named Carl, as his voice crying out to the unknown man, "Dad! Dad!" And the child ran past Dale and Shane into the open arms of this new man, who was wearing a sheriff's uniform. 'OOOHHH, now I know why he was worried. This fool was sleeping with this man's wife, while he was somewhere else, trying to survive.' Dale thought as he shook his head at what was to come.
Drama of the upmost grade and soon forgot did about this matter entirely because he was not gonna get involved on whatever that was. Lori, the woman that stayed with Shane stood frozen in place, not moving, as her son Carl and her apparent not dead husband embraced each other. A lot of people around them soon felt for her, but soon realized it was none of their business as they started to scatter to their own zones.
Some showed disdain for the three adults, some could see the shame on Lori's face as they passed her and Shane. All their looks were anything but forgiving for what that woman had done. And if the look on Shane's his face meant anything, he was seeing red as the husband had returned. Hard to tell from a look, Lori showed, she looked confused, ashamed, and you could see not far away from the little reunion hate from the two adults.
And Ed who was staring from afar looked pleased that there was something else that was prying the attention of the quarry from himself. Now why would that matter, because he was still searching for his missing wife and daughter. He was not convinced that they were dead and wondered how they got away without a trace. Anyways back to the drama unfolding with Lori and Shane who were exchanged their own look over Rick's shoulder.
While Carl recognized that his father was back, Rick and Carl thought that the family was back together as well. The formal family reasserted itself, but only superficial in nature. Looking at Lori, she thought that she was the luckiest of all the females, that she had two men who loved her, or maybe not so lucky, because she then realized that trouble would soon follow if Rick ever found out she was sleeping with Shane, the husband's best friend.
Did love end because an obstacle placed itself in its way? Was Shane really the kind of man to step back honorably from something he already had a taste of and now wanted for himself? Was Rick willing to share his wife with another man even if it was his best friend? Will this three-way encounter become more than what is shown here? Nothing but time would tell with these three. Or I could, but I'm not telling you right now, maybe later.
Meanwhile back on the Department store's roof top, where the group had just left from, we see Merle Dixon struggling to escape from the handcuffs after T-Dogg abandoned him. We hear Merle swearing vengeance on Rick and the others for cuffing and leaving him there. "I'll fucken kill you all bastards!!" Merle yelled out to the sky. From the deliria, he soon starts to beg for God's forgiveness as he saw walkers trying to force open the door.
Merle, from all the worry, suddenly spots a hacksaw that was laying close to him. He tries desperately to reach for the saw, but he couldn't reach it, and soon uses his belt, while screaming that he will never beg God again if he ever escaped this. After trying for a half hour, he soon reaches the hacksaw and by all grace that he could handle, he starts to cut off his hand to escape the incoming corpses and escaping.
Elsewhere, after all the warm hugging was over, Glenn leads Rick and the other members that just came from Atlanta to where Daryl and Merle usually stayed at, nearing their campsite, they soon hear small screams coming from the nearby forest. They take off at a sprit towards the creams and soon discover a dead walker munching on a dead deer. The people who surrounded the walker start to stomp on the dead corpse.
Quickly dispatch it as a group when Glenn ended the corpse by decapitation. Though the fear that this may be a sign of incoming trouble, and the walkers were getting nearer to the camp. They had yet to see any walkers make their way anywhere near the quarry and their camp because Jack was the one dispatching them earlier before they could head up to the quarry. And since he was gone, the walkers will start to be seen frequently at their camp.
Soon, they heard noise coming from the nearby bushes, the group that was there were thinking it was another walker only for Merle's little brother Daryl Dixon returning from his hunt from this morning. Daryl soon learns of Merle's fate and becomes furious with the new guy, Rick, and the group that went with Merle. He was not pleased when the two cops ganged up on him as Daryl was trying to fight Rick.
--Half an hour earlier--
The hunt had taken longer than Daryl had meant it to… or maybe just exactly as long. Daryl was tired of hanging around this camp with those people who always looked down on him and his brother Merle. Merle didn't help much either, he was always talking trash around the camp and waiting for them to die, so he could steal the stuff they had, just like the rest of them.
Sometimes, Daryl thought Merle might do something about them dying faster, maybe let the walkers into the camp or something. So, he could make things go faster, but still… Daryl needed to get back eventually, no matter how much quieter or more peaceful it seemed, he was alone in the woods. In the woods, he understood who he was, and what he was meant for, back at camp through, with so many people around, he never liked crowds.
When he came back from his hunt though, he soon found himself facing off to the barrel of Shane's shotgun, and a bunch of other melee weapons held by the other men from the camp surrounding him. Right then and there, he wished he hadn't bothered returning to these sons of B**tches. Yeah, he got that, they thought he was a walker, but if they'd known he was Daryl, would their attitude be any different? He bet it wouldn't.
Then he saw that they were all standing around his hunted deer, he had so carefully sent their direction just to get eaten by a filthy walker, and now he was pissed. All that damn work, and none of these people could lift a damned finger to help him. They were all useless, weak, bunch of soft idiots, the lot of them. They hadn't even killed the stupid walker correctly, just cutting off its head won't cut it, they still hadn't learned the simplest thing.
Maybe Merle was right. Maybe all they were good for was their stuff, once their dead, of course. He called out for his brother as he approached the main camp but soon saw no sign of him. "Merle, get yo' ass out here." That's when Shane, the big leader that he was, the poser, the one who thought he was the leader, took it on himself to tell him that his brother was still in Atlanta, but they weren't sure if he was dead or not.
Some new guy he hadn't seen before came toward him. "No easy way to say this, so I'll just say it straight." The new guy said as he stared at him. "And who the f**k are you?" He was trying to be intimidating toward the new guy as he stepped forward. "I'm Rick Grimes." Rick responded trying not rill the guy up and cause more trouble. "Well, Rick Grimes? Got some'ing you want to tell me?"
He asked in a threatening manner as he walked forward towards the new guy. "Your brother was a danger to us all back in Atlanta. So, I handcuffed him to pipe at the roof top of the Department store we were in, he should still be there, hooked to a piece of metal pipe." Daryl's mind was going ballistic listening to this s**t of a man. "Still there, huh? What's that suppos' to mean? Wait, hold on, Merle!!"
As he took a long breath in while he had his hand on his forehead as if relieving a headache. Then continued, "Let me process this straight, you say you handcuffed my brother to a roof top pipe? And then, you lef' 'im there?" Daryl was looking very pissed at Rick and everyone around them saw it. "Yeah, that's correct." Daryl had to give it to this Grimes guy, he wasn't trying to make excuses for himself.
Well, Daryl wouldn't make any excuses for himself, either. He threw the string of squirrels he was carrying at him as the weapon nearest to hand and then got set to lay into him with his fists, only for Shane to come at him from the side before he could swing his knife at Rick. He struggled to get to his knife, but Shane and Rick worked together, pretty well too, and disarm him Daryl just as quickly.
Shane the cop had him in a chokehold, which almost made Daryl wish for law and order to come back to keep guys like this under control. Rick got in his face, demanding a calm discussion between them. What was Daryl supposed to say, fighting to breath like he was? "What I did was not on a whim... cop!!" Rick said after Shane let Daryl go and Daryl was trying to catch his breath.
"Your brother does not work and play well with others." Daryl knew he wasn't lying, still leaving a man behind, wasn't sitting well for him. Merle didn't work and play well with Daryl either, much less people like this, soft and vulnerable. As all this was going on, T-Bone got in the middle of it all, he was owning up to his part in the whole mess. He told Daryl that is was his mistake as he was the one who lost the key to the cuffs.
That pissed Daryl even more, and then he started walking back to his camp tent. So, what? They left his brother handcuffed on a roof and they wanted him to give them a goddamned medal or something? So, they chained the door closed, those walker are way stronger than regular humans, they would break the door down, sooner or later? "The hell with all y'all! I'll get my brother by my damn self."
Daryl shouted at them, trying to fight back the tears of maybe losing his brother. He had never belonged here, anyways. He would never belonged, anywhere, especially not around people like these. "Jus' tell me where he at, so's I can go get him. I don't need none of you." That was when Shane's woman, Lori spoke up for Rick. "He'll show you where he left him. Isn't that right, Rick?"
Lori and Rick traded serious looks at each other, and that was when the name rang out loud, the right bell in Daryl's head. Grimes. This was the dead husband; she'd been talked about. Well, wasn't that just the way things ought to work out. Rick wasn't sure he liked being put on the spot like Lori just did, but he took his medicine raw and proud, then agreed to take Daryl back to the Department store.
'Maybe he'd be less useless than the rest of them, or maybe he'd die in the process.' Thought Daryl as he kept eyeing Lori from the side where Rick and Shane were standing, who soon sported a smirk on her lips. The next morning came, and four people left the quarry for Atlanta early. As Rick as its leader with Daryl, because his Merle's brother, T-Dogg, for the muscle they might need, and Glenn, because he knew the city streets.
While Rick was gone, Lori tells Shane secretly that with Rick back they must end their relationship with each other, causing Shane to become very bitter, not liking that idea. When Shane was walking away from Lori, he witnessed the sneers that Ed Peletier was giving him. Shane who was already pissed off confronted the a**wipe and then took his anger out on Ed severely, beating him down to the ground, it was a long-time coming idiot.
As the commotion between the two was dragging more attention to themselves, Shane was pulled off Ed by Dale and Morales, leaving a beat-up Ed on the ground bruised and bleeding, as Shane walked away with less anger in him. So to cool his head, he headed to the quarry lake to try and simmer down from the rejection that Lori was giving him, trying to take his mind off the women he fell in love with a few weeks ago.
Meanwhile, Rick and his group arrive back to the department store in Atlanta, they all make their way up to the rooftop with Daryl at the front. And as soon as they exit the doors to the roof, they find that Merle apparently was gone. However, Daryl soon sees a bloodied hacksaw lying beside Merle's severed right hand with the bloody handcuffs still hanging from a pipe, where Rick and the others left Merle cuffed too.
Daryl goes into a fit of rage and screams at the others as they looked helpless at each other for what they had done. Daryl not wanting to be near them at the moment follows the trail of blood down the stairs where he sees that Merle had killed several walkers as he made his way down. Daryl kept following the blood as they lead to the kitchen where they find that Merle managed to cauterize the cut off stump using the stove fire.
'OOhhh, that must have really hurt.' Thought Glenn as he saw the cooked skin on the grill. "Merle's one tough sonva B**ch, only a Dixon can kill a Dixon!" He was proud that Merle wasn't dead, but he was worried for his brother. He's lost a lot of blood, even if he cauterize it. It also looks like he escaped the building as well, I need to follow it best I can before the trail ran cold, as Daryl looks through the broken window.
He soon leaves the others behind and follows the cold leading trail out to wherever it led to, which wasn't far, because Daryl loses the trail. Back at the survivors' camp, Dale is getting worried for his friend Jim. Who he sees digging holes up at the top of the hill where the survivors are sleeping at. After a short talk with the man, Jim refusing to explain why he was digging the holes to Dale, and it was scaring him and the others around Jim.
As a few survivors press Jim to explain why he's digging the holes, he lashes back at them to leave him alone. Which forces Shane to restrain Jim, which causes Jim soon after to break down and start crying for some reason. Later on he explains how he had lost his family to some walkers earlier in the outbreak, and a few days later he had dream telling him to dig the holes he had been doing before on this very day.
Jim then turned to warn Lori to keep her son Carl close and safe, scaring the woman, which caused Shane to get angry again. And almost lashed out at the poor man they had tied to a tree. They soon left him there so he could get some rest and shade from all that work he had been doing. Soon the camp goes back to its normal state, and everything seemed normal, well on the cover that is.
Back in Atlanta, Rick's and Daryl concluded that Merle survived and left the area and is hiding out somewhere to heal his wounds. So, they wanted to collect Rick's gun bag from the streets and head back to the quarry. After a well-rehearsed plan, they executed said plan, but right when Daryl and Glenn had collected the bag of guns, they were attacked by a group of Hispanic delinquents that was eyeing those guns as well.
They called themselves 'The Vatos', a group of Latinos delinquents that have been surviving the area since the beginning of the outbreak. They soon start to beat down on Daryl and Glenn, after a while they kidnapping Glenn but dropped the bag of guns. So, they could demand a trade. The bag of guns for the exchange of Glenn's safe return. Hours later, they face-off with 'The Vatos' at their base in an old folks home.
And soon discover that 'The Vatos' have been secretly taking care of a nursing home since no one else would, leaving the place and its residents abandoned in the middle of the city. After their stare down, the Vatos explained to Rick that they were only trying to protect their families and the people there, especially the old folks in it. Rick, with the displeasure of Daryl, leaves half of the weapons and ammo for 'The Vatos' defense.
Meanwhile Glenn is returned unharmed, but not unhurt. That mean ass Chiwawa still bit his arm, as Glenn was trying to play with it. As they left the old folks home, they were making their way back to their vehicle, when they found it had gone missing, maybe by Merle or someone who knew how to hotwire a car, who knows. Rick automatically suspect Merle, then thought he would seek his vengeance on the survivors' back at the quarry.
So they race back to the quarry, as fast as they could on foot, and it didn't help that it was already getting dark, hoping that they would make it in time. Back at camp though, the survivors were enjoying a calm and well-deserved dinner, when suddenly a small horde of walkers appear from the bushes and started attacking the survivors. They managed to bite several of the members including Amy, Andrea's sister.
Who just so happen to step out from Dales Winnebago, then getting bit by one of those things. As well as Ed Peletier, who was suddenly startled awake by the commotion outside. Thinking that it was his wife and daughter that had returned from wherever they were. That was when a dead walker attacked him as he was stepping out from his tent. Rick and his group arrived just in time to kill the small horde of walkers that attacked the campers.
After the attack had concluded, and the morning sun was rising, Amy dies in Andrea's arms. As the others stand around in shock, when Andrea puts a bullet through her sisters head making sure she did not hurt anyone when she changed. And Jim soon recalls why he had dug those grave holes earlier. This was what his dream was about, he had seen this and was unable to save the people, which brought Jim to his lowest... again.
--September 12, 2010--
--Greene Farm, Present Time--
I explained their situation so they would not receive a cold shoulder from Hershel's family and Hershel agreed by nodding his head at my request. And two minutes later, the three girls walked up, standing behind me, as Carol waved hello with a slight smile on her face, Sophia holding her hand, and Olivia grabbing mine for support which made her happy that I grabbed it.
"Well, let me begin with my name, Hello everyone, my name is Jack Keller, the two standing behind me are Carol Peletier and her daughter Sophia Peletier, and of course you all know Olivia Watson. Let me start by saying that we all met in different places when the world went to s**t, pardon my French. I'm from a small town called Marshallville, southeast of New York city, and that is where it all started."
The people around me got comfortable, as I started to tell my story to the Greene's. I started talking about myself first and how it led me to the camp in Nevada, to the streets in California, to the streets when I went through Texas, and finally to Harrison Memorial Hospital where I found Olivia living alone for the past week or so. After what was an hour, maybe two, I ended my story as I went through the last week since I met Olivia, Sophia, and Carol.
And what led us to be on their farm, which is now. What an exhausting explanation that was. A roller coaster of emotions from all that were around me. I saw anger, hate, confusion, and that was just the adults standing around me. Especially coming from the women on the porch of Hersel's home. Well, you know that there if no furry as a women on a rampage against any man, and I agree totally.
"WOW!! That... that was just... awesome and awful at the same time. So, you've been alone for the past year and half, Jack." Maggie says as she looked at the four of us as if she was missing something. "What about Carol and Sophia, why did you leave your other group?" I shrugged my shoulders at her and didn't bother with her stare and let Carol answer her that herself if she wanted to explain or not.
Carol looked a little nervous, but still answered her. "Well, my husband that was back with the last group, he was not a very nice man. I won't go too much into it, but we were treated very badly most of the time, less than dirt even. Until I decided to leave in the middle of the night with Sophia alone. That was when I met Jack and Olivia, they were camping a couple of miles away from the camp and they were nice enough to let us join him."
As she hugged her daughter beside her and then kissed her on the forehead. "Since then I haven't seen Sophia this happy around anyone without flinching or curling up into a ball and break down crying. She likes Olivia and Jack, and so do I." As she ended her story, the Greene's were showing pity faces at Carol and Sophia, but also looked angry for how they were treated before.
"So, the Watson's are dead. And you know this because? Maybe they are searching for Olivia as we speak." Hershel tried to make some kind of excuse to why Olivia's parents were there. I shook my head at his trying to find some reason, to contradict everything that's happened, and it was getting irritating. "Hershel, when I arrived at that hospital, I only saw dead walkers that surrounding the place."
I just spent two hour explaining what was going on out there and how I ended up finding Olivia, back then in the hospital. "I even took another look around the area after we were leaving. We took the long way around the place just in case they had made it to the nearby houses or something, but I found nothing, not a clue about them. I did met a couple of people that were still held up close by, but no one else. You could ask Olivia if nothing else."
Which Hersel did right after, Hershel questioned her as to what we did after leaving the hospital. "Yup, Mr. Hershel, we tried finding them and nothing. I was sad when we didn't find them, but Jack and I did help a few people that asked for help. Then there was this one group that wanted our food and wanted to fight us for it. It was a good thing Jack has guns with him or something bad would happen to us."
And here he is, still trying to blame me for taking Oliva from where her parents had left her, in other words he was making excuses. That didn't go well on me, "You know Mr. Greene," as I stood away from the man, as I was tired of explaining, as did Olivia and Carol, "those things that roam around are not human anymore. If they ever get a hold of any of you I hope you do the decent thing and give them mercy."
I turned to Carol and asked her to take the girls back to the Winnebago, and I would be there soon. "If you don't, they will either infect you and you'd join them soon after or they eat you where you stand. Those things you have in that barn, will kill you and yours, if you give them that chance to. And all the praying you and your family do, will not bring them back. Get it through that stubborn head of yours, THEY. ARE. ALREADY. DEAD!!"
As I pointed at the barn that was near the house and all the Greene's getting scared at what I said. "And here I thought you were a doctor or something. Read the report for the last month that came out on the news. Don't risk the lives of your family for your religious beliefs and wishful thinkings. That they'll be returned to you. Now if you want us here, we'll stay as long as you'll have us, but if you don't, we'll be gone by the morning."
"For now good night to you all. Please excuse me." I excused myself from the rest of his family and went back into the Winnebago to cook dinner for the group as I let the Greene's think about what I said. I wanted to rest and if Olivia decided to leave faster, we would be gone faster than when we got here. Minutes later, Carol walked out of the camper searching for me. She had found me just standing beside a tree just outside the doors.
I was thinking about our next move as I wanted the RV I had in storage and make it bigger. "Jack, what was that? Why did you want to scare the poor family just now? This isn't like you. Please explain it to me." She came out nervous, still under the impression that I might hit her like Ed would when questioned. "Carol, when we got here, I felt something was wrong with this place, but I didn't want to voice it out until I was sure."
"But after I stepped out from the camper, and got closer to their house, I could feel what was coming from that barn, there." As I pointed at the red barn behind the Greene house. "The only time I had this kind of feelings, was when there were walkers nearby, always, that feeling has never failed me once and has saved me many times." Carol was surprised to hear that from Jack, and since she met him, he has never lied to her, he had no reason too.
(To be Continued...)