Chapter 5: It was you or us, friend…
My next few tussles with the walking dead went a lot smoother as I adopted the knee kick and using 2 hands to swing the machete by wrapping my left hand over my right. It wasn't a comfortable swing by any means, but now I was able to put enough force to cleave heads from shoulders that I couldn't one handed.
I did change up the method of take down though as to not get lulled into an autonomous state that might lead to mistakes. I continued the stab up behind the head, I chest kicked them into a pole or to the ground and drove my knife into their eye socket.
I did have to take a break about halfway to the store, as I had killed around 20 walkers along the way. I know I'm putting myself in unneeded danger and I know I can't kill every walker in the world myself, but I need the battle experience, and I need to feel like I'm making some sort of progress. It helps knowing that even if it's by a minuscule amount I'm slowly ridding the world of these monsters.
Maybe even now more people on the planet are dying faster than I killed these 20 walkers, fuck i mean it extremely likely. However I'll know that when I die I was worth at least the 30 some walkers I've killed so far. Some people may see it as pointless and I wouldn't completely disagree with them after all they would rather live longer having killed no walkers than live half as long killing hundreds.
That's just not me, not anymore at least. In my last body I definitely would have been like the more passive group, leaving the killing in more capable hands. Too scared to act. Now though I had the ability to incite change and I was going to do it one walker at a time. My blade drove deep into the eye of the walker, the hunting building standing just another 30 yards away.
Most of the walkers had scattered around the area no longer crowding the store, and I couldn't hear the sound of the alarm from the safe anymore either. I crept closer taking out stragglers as I approached until I reached the back door I had fled out of just yesterday. It was still propped open by the walker I killed, puddles of rain water filling the doorway.
Peaking inside I see a few walkers ambling around inside the store, clicking my tongue I continued to watch them as I thought. Damn I really wanted the rest of the stuff in here, but it just wasn't worth trying to clear this store again with just what I had on me. Maybe if I still had my rifle and wouldn't have to worry about the sound of gunshots attracting more of them to the store.
"Meow" I heard Cat in between my legs looking into the store, and leaned back over to come face to face with a walker.
"Shit!" I spat, keeping my voice low as I ducked back and as the walker stepped out I brought my heel into the side of its knee collapsing it, and quickly bringing my blade into its skull.
"Hah, thanks again cat. Though more of a heads up would be appreciated next time.
"Meeoow." He responded disinterestedly as he cleaned his fur, and I tried not think about what would happen if he ingested walker blood. I didn't remember there being any undead animals from the show, so let's hope that stays that way. Letting out one last breath I make my mind up to check the front before I try anything.
Walking around the edge I was surprised to not see any walkers, but I kept my guard up and eased around to front corner. When I turned I had stop myself from gasping out loud as I saw that nearly a horde of some 60+ walkers were still out front.
"What the fuck?!" I cursed through gritted teeth, why the hell hadn't they moved yet? I looked around the area again and saw that at least they weren't surrounding my humvee, though they were only about 15-20 feet away from it. I could risk sneaking up to the vehicle and making a get away with them right there, but something tells me that wouldn't go well.
Backing back down the side of the building I walked past the still open door of the hunting store and continued down the alleyway. Reaching the other end of the strip of buildings I peaked around to see a store just a little ways away with large glass windows. Grabbing a decent sized rock off the ground I threw it as hard as I could, but my aim left something to be desired.
"Guess Rick wasn't meant to be a pitcher." I grumbled as I leaned down for another rock and right as I threw it I saw a shadow move inside the store. It was too far away to make it out through the glass but as the rock hit its mark and sent the glass windows shattering to the pavement I saw it. Or rather them.
It was Morgan and Duane, I felt my heart sink a little as I could hear the horde begin to move away from the hunting store and begin their trek toward the shocked Morgan and Duane.
'What the hell are you 2 doing here?!' I mentally screamed, while I wasn't planning on meeting them and bringing them with me to Atlanta I also didn't want to get them killed whether it was purposely or not. Gritting my teeth my brain spun as I tried to think of something, but that's when I saw them finally beginning to move, they ran out the back. Only they were running in my direction.
"Ah shit." I cursed and began backing up keeping in the shadows of the building until I reached a dumpster and I hid behind it peeking over to see what was happening. They reached my corner of the building but Duane tripped, as Morgan turned back to help him the first of the walkers passed the corner at the front and. The volume of the snarls and growls increased and I could see Duane panicking his father also panicked as he began to yell.
"Up, Duane! Get up! We gotta go!" Before Duane could get to his feet though a walker was in front of them, Morgan went to pull his gun out, but the tip of the sight at the end of his revolver got caught on the fabric of his pants.
"Damn it!" He roared as he pulled with all his might and with a tear the revolver came free and he just got it up in time to kill the walker with a headshot. It fell forward and almost landed on Duane who barely rolled away as he continued to cry.
"Daddy! What are we gonna do?" He asked finally making it to his feet but Morgan didn't answer him as he fired another bullet into the next walker.
'Damn it.' I cursed to myself as I stepped out from behind the dumpster.
"Hurry! This way!" I called to them, Morgan whipped his gun around to me and I held my hands up before dropping them to my pistol.
"Look out!" I managed out before I drew my pistol and fired at walker that came around the corner. As the sound of my beretta echoed off the walls another shot went off and I felt I sharp burning pain in my left shoulder. The shock caused me to drop my pistol and clutch my shoulder as i gritted my teeth. Memory of when Rick had been shot twice came through my thoughts as i seethed and rocked on my knees.
The pain blurred my vision, but I could make out shapes as they grew closer. I heard the chambering of another revolver round and I looked up to see Morgan pointing his gun at me with a complicated expression on his face.
"Sorry, it was you or us, friend." I guess he thought he was giving me a mercy killing by preparing to put a bullet in my head, but it was actually his biggest mistake. His brief hesitation to finish it was all I needed as I adjusted to the pain in my left shoulder, my right hand dropped down brushing my pistol beside me.
"Fuck you." I said, and my words seemed to shake him slightly, and as soon as I saw his son's hand pat his arm I drew my pistol. I rolled to my right side as I fired my aim barely off as instead of hitting his body I hit him in his shooting arm, now it was his turn to drop his gun.
"Gah!" He let out a strained gasp as he clutched his arm.
"Daddy!" Duane yelled as saw his father reach back down for his gun but I was now up on one knee right hand raised as I kept my left tucked against my chest under my vest. Just as his finger gazed the revolver I fired again this time hitting him in the chest which sent him tumbling back.
"Nooo!" Duane yelled as he knelt beside his father and I stood up, now 5 more walkers were already coming around the corner but I stepped up beside Morgan and Duane, kicking the revolver down the alleyway. I could see the rage in Morgan's eyes fade as he heard his chances of saving his son skidding down the pavement.
"I can't believe you fucking shot me!" I growled turning only to shoot the closest walker, before looking back down. I'm sure my face was grim based off the scared expression on Duane's face, but that could also be because of the state of his father bleeding out on the ground.
"Sorry, it was me or you. Friend." I spat as I pulled the trigger and bullet hole splattered from his forehead. Before Duane could even yell I pulled the trigger on him too, closing my eyes as I heard his body collapse beside his father's.
"You weren't made for this world kid, especially not without you father." I could feel a heavy guilt beginning to rest in my chest, but I pushed it down as far as I could. The soothing feeling of Cat's fur brushing up against my leg helped and brought me back to saving myself. After all it would be pointless to have killed them if I was just going to die right after them.
I didn't have time to grab their packs so I just stood up and fired 2 more bullets into the closet walkers and then turned back down the alley holstering my pistol. It was awkward running with one arm stuffed under my ballistic vest and damn it if it wasn't painful but I bore the pain. When I reached the revolver I picked it up in my right hand seeing only 3 shots left as I continued to run.
By the time I got to the hunting store the walkers were filling the alley, but thankfully there were no more in front of the store. So doing some quick math, I pulled the walker blocking the back door out of the way and entered into the store. The sound had drawn the few still inside and I made quick work of them with the last 3 bullets of Morgan's gun.
I stashed it in my bag and blacked the back door by pushing an employee fridge in front of the door. When it was in place my boots slipped in the rain water and I fell on my ass banging my shoulder on the fridge.
"Fucking hell!" I groaned, but forced myself up. My arm was still bleeding and I did not want to pass out anywhere near this horde of walkers. I made my way back to the front and after assuring the coast was clear out front I grabbed the last remaining bags I had left at the front of the store and threw them without care into the back of the humvee.
I immediately jumped into the front seat tossing Cat into the passenger seat and without thinking I went to close the door with my left arm that sent a shooting pain through my shoulder. Turning my body I reached over with my right and slammed the door shut, cranked the vehicle and peeled out of there.
I decided I wanted another shower and skipped heading back into the suburbs for my scavenged supplies for the moment. I was heading back to the police station, showering and then figuring out how to patch up this goddamned bullet wound. Thankfully with quick yet painful probing I could tell that it had went clean through my shoulder, and hadn't shattered against the bone.
When I reached the police station I didn't have the strength in me to unload everything nor did I want too. I closed the gate to the parking lot after I parked the humvee out of site from the front and unlocked the door at the back. I did a quick sweep of the building just to calm my slight paranoia before heading to the showers. Once there I tore everything off with groans and sharp inhales of breath as everything seemed to jostle my wounded shoulder.
I jumped into the stream of the shower as soon as the water turned hot and just gritted my teeth as it stung my bullet wound. I grabbed a soaped up rag and scrubbed away the dirt and grime that had built up and kept scrubbing. The guilt I had felt started to creep up and I felt a lump rise to my throat like I wanted to throw up. My heart rate increased and I could hear the blood pulsing in my ears.
I clutched rag tightly in my hand and scrubbed at my chest ignoring the tiny pricks of pain as it pulled the hairs from my chest. I was sure I was crying though they mixed with the water that flowed down my head. I gritted my teeth to keep from letting out any sound, but all I could think about was the fact that I had killed a man and his son today.
Yes it was to survive! Yes it was me or them! But that didn't change the fact that me, a mere bedridden, illness suffering obese man had never thought of killing another human being before. Walkers were one thing it was easy to justify them as already dead or abominations, but this.
A character I enjoyed from the show and his son that I thought deserved better ends up dying, by my hands no less. It's for the best though, right? Nobody besides me truly wants to live in this world. They just don't want to die either, maybe it's some thought process on an instinctual level to preserve the species but not everyone wants to die even in this world.
Hell even after killing them I still want to live, that's why I killed them after all. So that I could continue living.
My heart beat began to steady as my thought became clearer and turned off the shower. I couldn't become like this every-time I had to kill another person. Even if the shows timeline is already fucked there are still other humans besides the group that I want to catch up to and join. Maybe it will go as bad as meeting Morgan did, but I'll never know unless I find them. I don't want to live my life locked up from the outside world again.
Alone.
With this body I'm going to experience everything this world has to offer.
'The pains.' As I pour alcohol over the wound feeling the sting of it burn, as I begin to wrap a thing of gauze around my shoulder.
'The pleasures.' As I think of all the intimate things I couldn't experience in my last body.
'The laughs and sadness.' I thought with a smile as I pictured funny moments from the show. I hadn't had people to laugh and joke with and person, or people to give me a shoulder to cry on when I needed it. From now on I'm going to take this world more seriously.
I was still treating it lightly by going out while I was still this weak from being bedridden. Going out with guns and melee weapons I had never personally learned how to use. That was going to change.
I was going to spend a month recovering and working out, training my marksmanship up to a more acceptable level for an apocalypse. I had been trying to do too much too fast, I was going to slow things down. By the time I'm ready they should be around the Green farm, though without Rick-er me there they might have got kicked off and continued to fort Benning. But that will be there problem until catch up to them.
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Time line is getting stretched a little bit, but it should be fine.
Until next chapter. If one doesn't get posted tomorrow(Thursday) then it most likely won't be until next Tuesday.
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