Battle Across The Omniverse

Glenn POV - Earth, Georgia, Mert County, Desert Town - 2010

Shane parks Carol's Chekoree just outside the apparently deserted town, and in such a way that in case something unexpected happens we can jump in and run off without doing any additional or complicated maneuvres.

He then picks up his favorite shotgun and gets out of the car shortly followed by Andrea who quickly checks on her father's gun, secures it, and picks up a metal baseball bat before she gets off.

Seeing that, I quickly fold the map, put it away on the back hood, and grab a crowbar to use as a close-range weapon before I also get out of the car ready to explore this deserted town and scavenge anything that may be useful.

With Shane leading the way we carefully walk into the small deserted town and after walking for a few meters, Shane turns around and says, "We should divide to cover more ground faster. Remember what we are mostly searching for are spare parts or base materials for the solar panels so that Doc can upgrade them, useful tools, non-perishable food, and any other useful things you can find."

Hearing that both Andrea and I nod with focused expressions on our faces and just as we are about to separate, Shane adds, "A few more things. In case you see other living people and they don't see you, keep your distance and observe their behavior. If something about them feels off do not approach. On the other hand, if you are approached by other living people be wary and do not reveal anything about our group or at most keep it very vague, or even outright lie and make us seem a bigger threat than we actually are. You'll never know if the person you are talking to is actually simply concerned about their safety, or if he or she is desperate enough to consider the idea of raiding our group to take from us what his or her group may need to survive. Moreover, there is always the option that the person you are interacting with has outright malicious intentions." 

At this point, Andrea chuckles and comments, "Well, the good news is that we are already quite a threatening group by ourselves. I mean we took out a walker horde without any losses and claimed quite a big piece of land. Moreover, we have Dr. Jayr on our side who is able to take out a horde by himself like a one-man army and seems to know just about anything."

In response to that, Shane smiles wryly before he says, "As exceptional as he is, Doc is still a human being like the rest of us, if he is shot he will still get hurt and may die."

Hearing that, I can't help but remember Jayr's exceptional body and some of the feats of strength that he accomplished while showing barely any strain, and then I mutter in a joking tone, "I'm not too sure about that. I mean did you see how deep he planted those logs into the ground yesterday using only his arms? I'm pretty sure that people usually use a hammer or something along those lines to do that. Aren't you sure he isn't actually an alien or something like that?"

Shane smirks and replies, "He may be, but at least we are sure he is on our side." followed by Andrea who says, "I don't know what would have happened to our group if he wasn't there with us. After everything we have gone through it is a miracle that we haven't lost more than half our group."

Then Shane turns serious as he says, "Enough about that for now! Let's focus back on our job. If nothing unexpected happens we will regroup back where Carol's Chekoree is. Good luck, and remember, be careful." before he turns around and walks away on his own in a random direction while he carefully looks at his surroundings.

Seeing that, Andrea and I look at each other for a few instants before she smiles and says, "Good luck, Glenn." which makes me reply with "You too."

After that, we also go our separate ways and start exploring this deserted town searching for anything that may be useful for our group.

I start by walking into the first random shop that appears in my sight, but I only need to take a brief look inside to notice that this particular shop is not worth exploring because it clearly has already been looted of everything that may be worth something, especially considering that it is a gift shop which makes everything that could be found inside mostly useless in the current situation.

After that, I continued to explore the town, and soon I passed by a completely ransacked jewelry store, likely the result of the first days of the outbreak where everyone still didn't really understand just how serious was the situation and took advantage of the chaos to loot shops such as this one of everything that they deemed valuable without knowing that in the end all of it would become useless trinkets.

I barely throw a cursory glance inside the jewelry store through the broken windows as I pass by, but more to make sure that there aren't any apparently dead bodies or other dangers inside rather than to check if there is something of value before I carefully move on. 

I continued to advance in silence trying my best not to make any noise that could alert some dormant Lurkers, or even worse reveal my position to a possible hostile living person, after all, both Shane and Rick were quite persistent in reminding us that not all the people we will meet would be nice people, hell Shane even told us the possibility of the existence of a group of survivor full of people like Merle, an idea that is as unpleasant as it is likely. 

The next shop I find is a grocery store, and seeing that, I hesitate a few moments in front of the entrance before I step inside and the sight in front of me is just as I expected.

Very chaotic, some of the shelves are on the ground while others are leaning against other shelves like some kind of domino pieces, and the floor is full of all kinds of litter, from rotten fruits and other perishable food to broken bottles and bent cans.

All this makes the idea of finding anything useful very unlikely as it is clear that this grocery shop was also ransacked, but different from the gift shop and the jewelry store there is still the chance of finding something that may be useful.

With that hope in my heart, I slowly walked further inside the grocery store looking for anything that may be useful, and after spending a few minutes, the only things I was able to find were a couple of rotting corpses with their heads already destroyed and a bottle of pure ethyl alcohol which could still be useful especially for disinfect wounds or use it to prepare some molotov bombs and set something on fire. 

After grabbing that bottle of alcohol, I walk out of the grocery store and continue to explore the deserted town hoping to find something else, but the next few stores I find as I continue to explore can almost be considered duds. 

An empty pet shop, most likely all the pets have escaped or were eaten by the walkers, a music shop which isn't something I'm interested in or urgently need as there is Jayr's boombox for that, a barber from which I only took a few boxes of disposable shavers, a small boutique from which I grabbed a change of clothes for everyone, especially underwears, and a shoe shop where I took a few gym shoes which are good for running. 

After getting out of the shoe shop I immediately realized that I was a little too full and carrying too much to safely continue to explore this town, so, I decided to retrace my steps and bring everything I had recovered back to Carol's car before doing anything else.

It doesn't take me too long to reach Carol's car and once there, I open the trunk and dump everything inside before I close it and take another look at my surroundings while thinking, 'I'm the first one to return with something... It is clear that Andrea and Shane are still exploring and considering that I didn't hear any sound that may indicate a fight, it is very likely that they are safe.'

At this point, I look back at the car, then again at the deserted town, and mutter out loud, "Should I wait for them here or should I explore some more trying to find other useful things?" 

I remain standing like that for a few moments considering my options, but in the end, I decide that it is better to continue exploring the town as I may have more luck and find other things that may be useful for everyone back at the camp.

Coming to that conclusion, I walk back into the town and use the same route as before to continue my exploration from where I left before.

I quickly arrive at the same shoe shop I looted a few minutes ago and without wasting any time, I continue to carefully advance, throwing a glance at the various stores I find, and sometimes, even searching inside them only to leave in disappointment while thinking, 'It seems I used all my luck today..."

But right at that moment, I hear a faint sound in the distance which immediately makes me become more alert as I hide back into the store I just left and strain my ears to listen better and maybe catch some more clues about what produced that sound in the first place.

After a few seconds of tense silence, I hear that sound again, and this time much more clearly, so much in fact, that I'm able to recognize it as the sound of hooves striking the pavement rhythmically, a sound that I can easily associate with a horse trotting thanks to the many movies and TV series I saw in the past considering that the clip-clop sound is very distinctive.

More importantly, I feel that the sounds produced by what I think is very likely a horse is coming from a location not too far away from here.

After considering my options for a few seconds, my curiosity got the better of me so I decided to follow these sounds and see where they are coming from.

Coming to that conclusion, I get out of my hiding place and start to chase after those trotting sounds and while I'm not an expert on the subject, I think they are coming from a single animal.

Before long, I find myself in front of a T intersection and immediately notice the huge figure of a horse with a shining brown mane tied to a robust lamp pole.

Seeing that huge and impressive animal, I immediately realize that its presence means that there is likely another person nearby so I focus on studying the area to not only look for him or her but also to make sure that the person in question doesn't notice my presence before I can at least figure out a few things about him or her.

Shortly after that, I immediately took notice of one particular point of interest, it is a drug store named Steve's Pharmacy located right next to a gift shop named Old Horse and then another one that looks like a bar considering the signboard with Patton's Bar written on it made me realize, 'Either of those two locations may be the destination of the person riding that horse. Personally, I think that the drug store is the most likely option, but who knows, maybe it is someone who wants to grab a simple gift for another person like what Andrea did for Amy, or maybe someone who strongly needs a drink. After all, if there is one thing that I have learned since the outbreak began is that I have to expect just about anything.' 

At this point, I started to think about all the incredible things I had witnessed and experienced since the outbreak started, 'Escaping from Atlanta while complete chaos was ongoing all around me with crazy people getting sick and attacking, biting and devouring everyone else sight turning others into them. Forming a survival camp outside of Atlanta with a few other people who were able to escape. Meeting a person who was left alone in a hospital in a coma state was able to safely wake up after a few months and was able to find his way back to his family. Using the guts of a dead person to walk among those things which I still consider the most terrifying experience of my life. A mysterious young doctor with the body of a Greek God arrives at the camp who seems eerily capable of doing just about anything, and at times, makes some choices that seem strange at first but in the end, they turn out to be the correct ones which ensure the survival of the group almost like he can predict or see the future. And let's not forget about the fact that he fought and defeated a horde of more than 100 walkers all on his own...'

While thinking that, I carefully move closer to the drug store and at this point, I notice a small sign on the window that simply says, "Take what you need and God Bless."

This makes me understand that the owner of the store knew his or her store was most likely going to be looted so the owner put up this sign to somewhat give permission to the would-be looters to take what they needed, but also hoping in their good faith of leaving what they didn't so that someone else could find what they need in an emergency, a small but meaningful act of mercy and kindness.

"NOOOO! HELP! HELP ME!!"

I'm suddenly brought out of my thoughts by a shrill female voice crying for help.

In a few instants, I immediately realize that the cry for help is coming from within the drug store, and on instinct, I rush into the store without any hesitation on my part.

Once inside, I quickly search for the person requesting help among the mostly empty aisles, and soon, I see two figures struggling on the floor and I immediately realize that the one on top is actually a walker.

The woman under the walker notices my arrival and as she continues to struggle to keep the walker away she quickly screams, "Get it off me! Help!"

Seeing that, I don't waste any time and quickly rush toward them, and once close enough, I push away the walker from the woman with a kick before I quickly swing the crowbar in my hands aiming at its head but the first blow isn't nearly enough to put down the walker for good who starts to slowly regain its bearing.

In response to that, I don't hesitate and swing once more with even more force, and as a result of the blow, the skull of the walker slightly caves in, but even with that the walker is still moving, relentlessly crawling on the ground as it moves toward me despite the clear damage on its head which makes me instantly realize, 'This is one of those Cohort variants that Jayr talked about, the ones with increased agility, speed, strength, intelligence and especially their durability that makes them hard to dispatch, surviving blows to the head that would down a regular walker.'

Coming to that conclusion, I quickly swing the crowbar in my hands again and again until the skull of the walker completely gives in and finally stops moving once and for all.

Shortly after confirming the walker's death, I focus on the woman who was attacked, and with clear concern in my tone, I ask, "Are you okay?" before I look at her more closely and add, "Did it get you? Did it bite you? Were you bitten or harmed by it in any way?"

At this point, I take a better look at the woman to make sure that she is fine and see that she is a beautiful young woman who looks around my age with a fair skin complexion, short wavy brown hair that perfectly frames her face, and her green eyes which are open wide at the moment as she is clearly still in shock as she looks at the dead walker, but more importantly, I don't see any clear wounds on the exposed parts of her body. 

(Image Here - Maggie Greene)

I feel a little more relieved seeing that, but I can't be too careless, and noticing that she is still in a state of shock as she stares at the dead walker, I gently ask once again, "Please, answer me. Are you okay? Did the walker bite or hurt you in any way?"

The young woman finally tears her gaze away from the dead walker and looks at me before she stutters, "I-I'm fine... He didn't bite me..."

Then she looks back at the dead walker and mutters, "Why... Why... Father told us that they were only sick people that needed a cure... but that thing is no person... I stabbed him in the heart by mistake but he continued like nothing happened... and even when you were hitting his head he continued to advance until you completely smashed the head... What's truly going on here...!? If he is like that what about Mom, Shaw, Arnold, and all the others!?" 

Hearing that makes me understand that it is very likely that this young woman doesn't even know what exactly is going on for some reason but at the same time, I also can't help but smile wryly as it isn't like I was much different at the start of the outbreak. 

At first, I also thought that the walkers were people who had gone crazy because of some kind of illness, but soon I realized that I was very wrong as none of the walkers were truly alive, that is something that anyone who survived the chaos in Atlanta has learned.

The only reason why this young woman still thinks like that is likely because she has been living a sheltered life in a mostly isolated and tranquil place and most of what she knows about walkers came from watching the chaos of the Apocalypse on TV.

Realizing that I gently tried to answer some of the questions that the young woman asked, "I-I am not sure of what you know, but those things aren't people, not anymore, in fact, they are not even alive to begin with. It's the main reason why the people in my group call them walkers and refer to those things as "it." It's because that is truly what they are, nothing more than walking corpses whose only instinct is that of attacking and devouring everything that is living to spread what is causing them to move even more." 

At this point, I simply explain, "They don't need breath, their hearts don't beat, if you cut off an arm, a leg, or even the head, they continue being active no matter what. The only way to put them down for good is to destroy the brain, any other thing is useless." 

Hearing that, the young woman looks at me and asks, "How can you know that?" to which I reply, "My group got in contact with someone at Atlanta's C.D.C. and thanks to that we learned a lot about the walkers, and the thing that caused their emergence. We even learned something about the cure they are trying to create, but even that will only prevent the people from turning into walkers. Turning walkers back into people would be actually like resurrecting them, and that just isn't something that is possible."

At the same time as I'm saying that, I look at the young woman and remember that she uttered a few names before, among which I clearly remember that she also said "mom" which makes me realize that she very likely a few people close to her got turned into walkers and immediately add, "I'm sorry for your loss."

In response, the young woman looks visibly upset about what I just told her, but she holds in everything putting up a strong front before she says in a low tone, "Thanks..."

After that, she gets up from the floor and asks, "By the way, I'm Maggie Greene. Thank you for saving me and for telling me that."

Hearing that makes me realize that I was so concerned that I forgot not only about everything that Shane warned me about but also about introducing myself.

Realizing my mistake, I awkwardly say, "Right, you're welcome... I'm Glenn Rhee, I'm exploring this town with a few people in my group searching for anything that could be useful. Nice to meet you." before I quickly change the subject by saying, "Anyway, I think we should get away from this place as your screams from a few moments ago may have attracted other nearby walkers to this location and it isn't a good idea to be surrounded by them."

In response to my suggestion, Maggie glosses over my previous statement, shakes her head, and says, "I don't think we have to worry about that. I came to this town many times before today to grab some needed supplies and this is the first time I've actually encountered one of them. This is also the reason he was able to surprise me because the last few times I came here the store was completely empty and safe. More importantly, I still need to grab a few things to bring back that can only be found here."

After saying that, Maggie picks up her knife that had fallen on the floor during her confrontation with the walker and starts to walk around the store to gather what she needs.

At the same time, I also started to take a closer look at the store while following after her and saw that the store was stripped of most of its supplies to the point that most of the shelves became nearly bare, but still, there were a few products that may still be useful, like some batteries, bottles of shampoos, and more importantly a few boxes of generic Antipyretics, Antibiotics, and condoms all of which may be very important so I grab a few of them.

Sometime later, Maggie and I walked out of the drug store with bags full of what we gathered in the store in our hands, but as soon as I stepped outside, I felt someone grab me from the side and throw me on the ground quickly followed by Maggie's panicked scream before I hear an unknown man's voice as he says, "See! I told you, I heard a sexy chick's voice screaming for help, didn't I?" followed by another one who chuckles and says, "Hehe... You are right, Chuck. This one looks even better than that farmer's daughter we fucked while forcing her father to watch a few weeks ago."

I hear Maggie yell, "Let me go!" which makes me turn around on instinct to look at what is going on and see the figure of two men, one armed with a gun which he is pointing directly at me, and the other is armed with a machete holding Maggie hostage while keeping the machete close to her throat. 

While I'm looking at them searching for a way out of this situation. the one holding Maggie hostage says, "Come on, Chuck. Shot that small dicked Asian so that we can enjoy our time with this chick!" but his companion quickly rebuts, "Don't be a fucking idiot, Sean! The presence of these two tells us that there is another group nearby which means that we have to gather more information about them if we want to successfully raid their camp."

Both their actions and manner of speaking make it very clear that those two don't have any kind intention toward us, so I start to search for a way out of this situation, but soon the man who is pointing his gun at me says, "Do not make any funny move. We may need you alive for the moment but that doesn't mean that we need you healthy. One wrong move and I will put a hole in your body."