บท 7: Chapter 6: Safety in Numbers!! Dixons on the prowl!! Dead Road p1!!
Chapter 6: Safety in Numbers!! Dixons on the prowl!! Dead Road p1!!
(Previously...)
After seeing that her father left them alone, Sophia clutched her stuffed toy doll tightly into her chest. "Mama, will everything be alright? Are we safe here, mama?" Sophia asked her mother worryingly. "Of course, baby. Everything will be ok, don't worry so much. Why don't you get some rest while you can. It's gonna be a long ride." Carol turned to her daughter, as she watched from a far as the others came together to one spot.
Shane, Lori, an older man who had climbed out of an old RV, and a man from a station wagon grouped together in front of Shane's vehicle. They were trying to figure out their next move or destination. Because as of right now, they knew that Atlanta may not be the safest place at the moment with all these vehicles crowding the road it was next to impossible to pass. Shane, who put himself as the leader of this convoy was trying to decide what to do.
As Soon as he pulled out a map of the area they were in, others soon gathered forming a circle around his vehicle. And from the body language the group was emitting, arguing soon followed. They were starting to get loud, and their voices would soon attract the wrong kind of attention. Shane quieted himself and held his hand up as to get their attention and silence. And after a few minutes of no talking, the crowd simmered down.
The small group of people around him stayed quiet and waited for his input, so they waited for him to talk. Carol from her seat as she watched the group thought to herself, 'That man, so desperate at wanting to be in charge. And they all knew this, and they allowed it to go on. That is why he acts that way, she wished they had left home earlier when they started seeing sighs of the outbreak.'
'They would have already been safe in a shelter. But nooo, that ass Ed decided for us to stay longer and ride it out. Now look at us, stranded between Atlanta and the middle of nowhere.' Carol thought as she saw the actions of the Sheiff's deputy and her husband from a far. Shaking her head as she saw their actions depicted the same as her thoughts and her husband was not left behind either when he demanded their full attention.
Fortunately for the deputy, Shane also seemed to be the one best prepared for this on-going nightmare they were living in. So, the others that followed him were happy to let him lead them, and when Shane told them that he knew where a safe place was, as well as having clear water, of course they'd listen and follow blindly. When Carol heard that there was a safe place, it sounded too good to be true to her.
Deputy Shane said it was protected by stone walls surrounding the place, it had clean water, fish, wildlife, and trees all over the place for us to gather fresh fruits and or berries. Almost to wholesome in my book, if you forgot that almost everyone you ever knew were shambling around mindless, rotting away, or trying to eat you. It would mean the death of us, if we were even a little complacent.
If you could go back in time and block out the smell, banish the memories of seeing your friends attack you, or being attacked. As well as the fighting the dead away from your children any way you could, not knowing what you were doing, just mindlessly lashing out with strength you didn't know you had— then it would be okay for that place. But she knew it was unsafe, even under the care of said deputy.
Carol soon refocused back to herself, too her surroundings as two rumbling sounds of motorcycles disrupted her, increasing her hysteria to high limits. And for once, she was grateful for it, for better or worse, she had to hold herself that she would be together with her daughter Sophia always. She couldn't afford to let this mad world get to her or overcome her sanity. She had to survive, if not for herself but for her daughter.
As she refocused on her surroundings, she heard two voices coming near the driver's side window of their vehicle. "Hey, Daryl, let's see what this'ng's got in it," said one of the voices as it approached the side of the drivers' window. When suddenly the back door to where Sophia was resting was pulled open, and it scared them both almost screaming. Carol immediately reacted, grabbing onto Sophia by the waist, bringing her to her side.
As she looked back towards the door, a bright beam of light from a flashlight shone into the back seats. When another voice spoke, "There's a little girl in here, Merle. And there seems to be a woman in the front as well." Carol cursed herself for not locking the doors earlier when Ed left, now here she was, and their truck was being raided by two unknown people. "Shit man!! What do we do know? Let's leave the s**t alone and leave."
Said the voice from the one that opened back door as he yelled out to the other one searching the back of the truck. The man with the flashlight soon moved away from the back door and walked towards Carol's window, shining it in towards her, getting Carol's attention. The man motioned his hand for her to roll down the window. As Carol agreed, she cracked it just enough for them to talk to the man standing outside her window.
But not too much for the man to reach in, just in case he tried anything she had room to protect herself. She couldn't see the person holding the flashlight very well, she tried to think of what she would do if he forcefully tried to open the door. Carol reached deep within herself and brought out that one courage she used to show before she was married to Ed. She grabbed onto the door handle inward tightly, just in case the man forced it open.
She thought that she might be strong enough to hold the door closed until Ed would come back or someone else would notice that their vehicle was being raided. Then the voice brought her back to reality and spoke to her again. "Are you okay, mame?" The mans voice said. "We're fine!! You just surprised us, is all. My husband Ed's back there with the one in charge of this convoy and well... the others."
Carol tells the man about the group to maybe scare them off and leave her and her daughter alone. "Back there? If you don't min' me askn', why'd he parks so far away?" The man beside her window asked in a calm voice. She had no answer or reply to that, so Carol just shrugged her shoulders. Then flashlight moved away, and soon after she saw the two men walking away, leaving them behind.
The two intruders walked toward the crowd and join the little group surrounding the deputies car. Carol was relieved that they left them alone without incident. Then she heard a scared little voice from behind her seat, "are they gone, mama? Were they going to hurt us?" Sophia spoke softly as Carol saw tears coming out of Sophia's eyes. "No, I don't think so, baby. It looked like they thought this car was empty and they just wanted the stuff in it."
Carol wasn't sure she blamed them, not in this new world. She imagined they might all have to get used to taking what they needed when it was available to take. Well, maybe not, maybe the quarry would be a safer place for them, they could hide there until… maybe... someone will come to straighten this mess all out right? And put down the dead as well, then we could all go back home to live our normal lives again.
To calm her daughter further Carol said, "we'll be all right, baby. We'll find a safe place so you can play all you want. And maybe you can make some new friends while we're there." She said to reassure Sophia as it worked to calm her. "You really think so mama? Promise!!" Sophia asks her mother giving her mother a wide smile. "I promise, my angle." Carol replied as she trails her hand through Sophia's hair, soothing the girl from her earlier scare.
That was when Carol noticed that her husband Ed was walking back toward them, he did not look happy, more like someone managed to pissed him off. As he was getting back into their truck, he was making grunting sounds while the weight of his body settled in the driver's seat. "Ed, what happened? You look mad." Carol asked after Ed sat down. After getting no reply as seconds passed, it was totally clear that he wasn't answering.
He was to angry and bullheaded to volunteer anything that was said during the group meeting that Ed went too. Not wanting to press the issue further, she just sat there waiting for an answer from her husband. It was better to let his anger fade away, or it would be worse for her and her daughter if she kept pressing for an answer. Sophia and she were too afraid of getting Ed's attention when things like this happened.
Out of nowhere Ed decided to speak but not in a very helpful tone . "We're gonna have ta' sleep in the cars best we can for tonight and start setting up a base camp at first light. That was what that... leader of ours said." Ed wasn't happy about it; pretty sure he was told what he had and his family had to do once they arrived there. And it looks like he didn't like what was said. But he knew that he still had to go along with whatever they told him to do.
He has no choice in the matter. Which meant that officer Shane had been very persuasive, and maybe his plan must have been the best of the others, or they didn't have a plan themselves, and they were right, no but Shane had some decent sort of plan. At least she looked forward to the small community they would build together and maybe finding a few new friends of her own and Sophia while there.
It was exhausting being careful, it was a full-time job hiding Ed's… beatings and mood swings from the others. It was equally exhausting, that she and Sophia were lying on the edge of their seats as Ed slept nearby, they were nervous he would wake up and beat on them as he had done before in the past. After her third beating, Carol was always a light sleeper, she tried to be aware of every move Ed made when he was with them.
And the nights were the worse for the two of them, she would always keep herself between him and Sophia, that was her most important job when Ed was around. Carol made sure that she never took her hand off her little girl, it was for her daughter safety. Since Sophia was born, she has never been able to relax her vigilance for a second. When Ed came home to one of his moods and he would always try and lash out and hurt her daughter.
Now since the dead have started walking about, she had to be double vigilant while she kept her daughter safe from both entities that would cause harm to Sophia. If worse came to pass, and she had to choose on what was more dangerous, Ed or the shambling figures, Ed would still take the winnings and keep Sophia away from this man that was her husband. And since Ed's here now, Carol has been very vigilant of Ed's mood swings.
She was very tired; she hasn't slept more than an hour all this week. After Ed spoke that they would stay in the car, she had finally released the door lever as she was still holding onto the door itself. Then she reached down to the lever that made the seat lean back and touched Sophia's leg softly as she slowly leaned back. She would try to get as much sleep as she could before she passed out.
She couldn't afford passing out, her daughter was too important to keep unguarded with Ed around. As she leaned back, she spoke softly to her daughter, "try to get some sleep, baby. Tomorrow will be a great day, ok?" Afterwards, she turned to look at Ed, and shook her head wondering how the hell he was already snoring, he had just sat down. 'I know he was totally faking it, the bastard.' She thought to herself as she closed her eyes.
He was probably faking, so Carol would stop her from asking more questions, or maybe, so he wouldn't have to take on any of the tasks like settling down Sophia, he was always an ass about that. She was always nervous around him and now she looked downright terrified as he slept so close to the two. Carol didn't mind him when they were alone, she was used to having him act that way with her.
But he was always unpredictable when Sophia was in the same room or when she would ask Ed for something. She could always feel how nervous her daughter was when she was in the same room as Ed. So, to help Sophia sleep, Carol would sing very softly to Sophia. And after a few minutes of Carol's lullaby, she could feel Sophia calming down and shifting in the back seat sleeping, curling around her favorite doll.
"We have survived another day." She whispered to herself as she closed her eyes. As her consciousness faded into darkness, her thoughts lingered, 'Another day closer to normality. Anything was possible, maybe.' Soon, Morphius took her as two voices were barely heard as two men spoke not far away from their vehicle. "Look at them, idiots. I cann't believe ther' sleep'n in the open like this. Are they mad?"
--Dixon brothers POV--
A day later, the whole group had followed deputy Shane to a nearby Quarry and had made it into a survivors camp there. As the group of refuges were setting up their sleep areas, Daryl Dixon gestured to his older brother Merle about the survivors in the camp, "They actin' like they're on some campin' trip. It's not good lettin' those young in's run around like it was before them walking dad came along, it's not safe. Don't they know nothin'?"
--August 30,2010--
He was spilling his grievances to his brother as they just stood there looking at all the fools while they set their camp along the road. Daryl who was talking earlier stayed silent watching Merle grinning witch led to a wide smile plastered on his face. "Better for us, little brother. The safer they feel, the easier we can take their s**t. Let them do what they want, we'll just pretend to be friendly fer' awhile."
"And then we get the best of what they got on'm and we'd be off on our happy way, leaving them nothin'." Daryl shook his head at his brothers' antics but didn't bother arguing with him either, because he knew Merle was right. It never paid to argue with Merle anyways, it never ended well for either of them. But his brother's plan had a pretty damn big flaw, far as he could tell, and that was where the hell was this place they'd be off to.
And was it safe enough for all of them? Now that the whole world was overrun with the walking dead walking, there was no point in taking the stuff of another living person if deemed unnecessary. Not when there was a lot of abandoned places and other people who were dead to take from instead. Daryl was getting upset the way these survivors were taking it too easy around this opened area.
They haven't reached the safe area yet, they act like it's a camping trip, If things keep going like this, they'll be dead soon and their stuff would be theirs without Merle or Daryl doing anything. We've been following this groups long enough to know that they'll die soon. And we'll have to find another group of scared refugees who didn't know the first thing about how to survive and join them or if it got bad enough with this group.
If it was left up to Daryl, he and Merle would be at their daddy's old tumble-down booze shack right now fencing it off and setting traps all around the woods the shack was in. The two of them could live pretty good on trappin', huntin', and fishin', 'til somebody from the government fixed all this mess. If they fixed all this mess. No more talking to Merle, though, him and his ideas are going to get them killed.
Merle still thought 'the fix' was coming soon enough, that stealing people's stuff was worth doing and he wasn't happy with doing that for now. So, here they both stayed, 'til Merle got himself a new idea or wanted to move on to somewhere else. As Daryl looked over the camp and its people, Daryl wondered if the government could fix this mess, he even thought that there was no more government.
Daryl started thinking of all these people, how do all these people of all kinds of feel about each other? Look at them now, the rich sharing with the dirt-poor, the rednecks sharing with the normals people, and everyone in between, just to live on. Like those two blonde girls, Andrea, and Amy, who were with that the old man in the RV I watched earlier, they'd mustta had it good in the real world, he could tell by how well dressed they were.
How are they feeling now? Privileged no longer, Andrea who was digging in and lending a hand to others as if she was Mother Teresa. She looks like she is struggling, doesn't really know what she was doing and it's frustrating her, Daryl could see it. And that other tall woman that was with the deputy, Lori or something, the one with the little kid that's with them. She looks like she was leaning pretty hard on that man, there.
She's acting like she's the queen of the camp, trying to take control of all the women to do chores. Seems to Daryl like that deputy hadn't been her man for very long. Well not before they net the others. 'What? Her man dead or something? Look at her now, she switched mighty quick to a new guy,' Daryl thought to himself as he observed each the camp survivors silently. He wanted to know if any of them could be trusted, and that would take time.
He supposed that was the way things from here on out and he would see this everywhere he went. Not enough of them left to worry about what used to be of the old world. He wasn't sure that he or Merle would fit with this bunch. Looking down at his hands, stained with dirt, gunk, and engine oil. He'd figured that prejudice folk would act differently now a days, but he knew that by all the stared they were receiving from the others, nothing changed.
He'd seen the way all the clean men and women folk stared at him and Merle from afar. Before all this, they were always given nasty looks when they were around the clean ones, even now, nothin' changed. They seemed to be treated like if they were dogshit under everybody else's heels, no matter how much the world fell apart or how much they contributed to the camp. That's why he and Merle were further away from the others.
As he was trying to set up his own tent, out of the corner of his eye, he spotted the truck that one woman and child were in when he and Merle had tried to take their things last night. It looked like she was setting up their tent and having a hard time doing it with her little girl glued to her side. The little one looked scared as she look towards her father with scared eyes. And her momma was talking to her softly, as if trying to cheer her up.
Daryl had noticed that she never tried to send her girl off to play with the other kids as if she didn't trust them or maybe it was something else. No... she kept her close, and then he heard the man that walked up to her. It must be her man; he wasn't in the truck when they tried to rob it. Daryl wondered, why was he taking it easy out in the sun, while the woman worked? Why was he ordering the woman to move their tent further away?
And was he not doing the work himself instead of her and that little girl? As the man walked away, the woman looked pissed off at the man, there was a very small pause when she was about to answer back. But the woman froze not wanting to argue back. She then turned around obediently and set about doing what she was told to do by that man. Daryl shook his head when he saw this, he also saw the little girl flinch away as the man approached them.
And that only happens when she is either beat or yelled at constantly and Daryl was already planning to off the man. Soon the woman moved and worked faster re-dismantling and moving the tent further away like the man said, away from the cluster of the other tents. Daryl couldn't help but get angry at how little the woman stood up for herself. He remembered from yesterday, they moved away from others like they did today.
They had parked off by themselves where other group would not see them. Sure, he and Merle had set up camp off by themselves, too, but they knew how to handle themselves. Not like that man of hers, he looks so soft and fat as he was, didn't know, and neither did his little woman or his terrified little girl know how to survive on their own. Did he want to get them all killed or something?
It was a sad sight to see, while the mother was busy, the little girl strayed off toward their truck where her daddy was. When the woman noticed this, she hurriedly called her back, she yelled out her name sharply and clearly and from this reaction, Daryl had seen the whole picture that was shown there. Now he knew why the woman was so nervous, Why her daughter was never left alone, Why she kept her close all the time.
Now he knew why she was watching for her daughter's safety. Not so much from the other kids, but from her husband. Now he knew why she wore that long-sleeved sweater. It was almost 95 degrees out here, and she was doing all that work on a very hot day. Daryl's hand closed tight into a fist as he wanted to crush the can of beer he had in his hand. Good thing it's none of his business, but if he gets out of line, I'll fix him good.
He looked away from the group of campers as he drank his beer. Thinking back when it was that they found the twelve pack they had. His brother, Merle had swiped it out from an empty broken down camper that was on the highway two days back, he thought it was coincidence as he crumpled the can and threw it on the ground next to his sleeping tent. Then his mind wondered back to the woman and the little girl and their situation.
There was nothing he hated worse than a wife-beater, except for a child-beater, and Daryl knew, he was going to confront that shit of a man sooner or later. Even before he wanted to tell his brother about the man, Merle had already beat him to it, as he walked up to Daryl. He saw that look in Mele's eyes, it was "let's make trouble time" look. "Come on, little brother. Let's go make nice with the locals. Let's play all nice and stuff."
Merle grinned at him, and he returned it willfully nodding his head as he followed behind Merle. "Maybe they'll need some help settin' up their stuff. What do you think little brother? Maybe they'll be too scared to notice if they don't have so much stuff once we're done. Let's liven up the place." He strolled off in the direction of the woman and the little girl he was watching earlier.
"Those two look like they could use a man to help 'em, man up little brother and offer them a hand." That made Daryl catch his brother's arm as it made him blush. He could already imagine, only too clearly what would happen if they went up and started talking to the woman in front of her man. Things will not go well for him or us, but it would bring unwanted attention from the others.
"Not them, I'm sure they have nothin'. But look over there, think they got anythin'? Let's go find out, what do ya say little brother?" As Merle pointed to a Mexican family of four that was near the small lake at the bottom of the hill. They looked at the pitiful man who was struggling with the tent poles, unable to set up their tent, while the mother was distracted chasing down her two little ones.
Merle looked from one group to another and nodded at his next move. "Good call, little brother. Let's do 'er." They left the truck that the woman and child were in last night who were alone once again. Daryl didn't give it too much thought afterwards and followed after Merle. Thinking that the woman was too scared to defend herself, too scared for her child that they'd be dead in a few days, poor things.
--September 5, 2010, Macon County, GA--
As I made my way through the empty streets of Macon, (yes I could have drove there, but didn't want to make too much noise...) the felt like I was in a scene from a horror show, blood, guts, body parts everywhere on the streets. The once busy streets of the city were no more, now it's just a ghost town, I saw abandoned cars, abandoned buildings with broken windows, and heard the occasional gunfire in the distance.
I could smell the smoke of the burning buildings and the rotting flesh that lay on the streets, the smell was everywhere in the air. I even saw three individuals running from something, might have been a horde of undead. As I was watching these three people run away, one of the men in the group suddenly trips his companion next to him, what a low-down dirty trick, those are the type that do not deserve to live.
Instead of stopping to help the downed man, he chose to use that moment as a distraction to get away from the zombies that were chasing them. This is why I chose not to involve myself with large groups, because stuff like this. I just stared at the man that was getting ripped apart by the small zombie horde and shook my head at the event. Just seeing this person get ripped apart, made me think about that small group I used to be with back in Utah.
The helping part was the highlight to that time, but I could still feel the betrayal of my so-called friends, it just brought bad memories. These are the reasons I try not to get involved with other groups, but there are a few that truly deserve the help I have offered. So far it's only been two groups that actually deserved the help I gave, and the thirteen that were in that small school back in Texas deserve a medal for helping their community.
Anyways, focusing back to the here and now. It just pained me to see them that way, so I lent a helping hand, call it a mercy if you will. I threw a small disposable knife through the dying man skull ending his suffering. One of the men that were running away had seen me kill their friend and it looked like they doubled back. I knew that once they lost the horde of zombies I would see them again.
(To be Continued...)
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