"Merle! Merle! Get your ugly ass out of here!" Daryl called out arriving at the camp and ahead of him are the rest of the survivors gossiping under the shade of the RV.
"I got us some squirrels! Let's stew 'em up."
"Daryl, just slow up a bit. I need to talk to you" Daryl had carefully placed his crossbow down by a log and when started making his way over to the RV, Shane suddenly called out to him.
Daryl slowly paused in his tracks, and he turned around to face Shane. "About what?"
Shane hurriedly walked past him and paused. He turned around to face Daryl with one of his hands on his waist. "About your brother, there was a…there was a problem with Atlanta"
'Oh shoot, it's happening. This one is a crucial scene' Like the rest of the survivors, Michael decided to just look on near the Jeep. He had no plans to interfere as he also had his own plans when he decided to follow Daryl back to his camp.
'But where's Carol? I don't see her. I remember the women are pretty much inseparable during the beginning of the series'
Feeling the slight tension in the air, Daryl already had a feeling about what Shane is about to tell him. "Is he dead?"
"We're not sure" Shane couldn't give him a straight answer since he's also uncertain about the man's fate.
Shane's answer just made Daryl agitated, and he raised his voice at him. "It's either he is or he ain't!"
"No easy way to say this, so I'll just say it" Rick didn't like the way Shane was beating around the bush. So, he immediately walked over towards them and chimed in.
"Who are you?"
"Rick Grimes"
Daryl stared straight at him and with sarcasm in his tone. "Rick Grimes~ you got something you want to tell me?"
In all seriousness, Rick also stared back. "Your brother is a danger to us all, so I handcuffed him on a roof, hooked him to a piece of metal. He's still there"
Michael then spotted T-Dog walking back to camp with a pile of firewood in his arms before turning his attention back to the arguing two.
Agitated by his words, Dary started pacing back and forth. "So let me process this. You're saying you handcuffed my brother to a roof, and you left him there?!"
"Yeah" Rick looked away in guilt.
"Ohh, it's coming" Michael mumbled while covering the smile that's tugging at his lips with his hand.
There was a short silence between that, when from out of nowhere. Daryl, who has now clearly reached his boiling point, angrily hurled the squirrels he hunted at Rick and was about to throw a punch when Shane tackled him to the ground.
"Oof!"
Though unsuccessful with his first attempt, Daryl quickly drew his knife as T-Dog yelled at them. "Watch the knife!"
"Graah!" Daryl angrily lunged at Rick with the knife. Rick immediately dodged, but the second time Daryl came at him, Rick skillfully caught his hand and both him and Shane quickly restrained the enraged Daryl.
Shane placed him in a headlock while Rick quickly disarmed the knife from his hand.
"You'd better let me go!"
"Nah, I think it's better if I don't" Keeping the chokehold on, Shane replied with a slight humorous tone in his voice when Michael noticed the man looking in his direction.
'He probably thinks I would interfere'
"Damn it, chokehold's illegal!"
"Yeah, yeah, you can file a complaint later if you want" Shane slowly forced Daryl to sit down on the ground. "Come on man, we'll keep this up all day"
Obviously, the ensuing events that followed was Rick and T-Dog slowly explaining to Daryl the events that took place at Atlanta while they were there, and followed by Lori being that selfish bitch again because she didn't want her husband to help Daryl rescue his brother.
*****
"Why would you risk your life for a douchebag like Merle Dixon?" Shane was feeling irate at Rick's decision to rescue Merle after he had just got back to his family.
"Hey, choose your words more carefully" Daryl warned.
"No, I did. Douchebag's what I meant, that Merle Dixon"
"You're coming right?" Daryl ignored him and went over to Michael, who's by his truck.
Michael smiled and shook his head before pointing at Rick and the others. "No, I think you guys have enough muscle to rescue your brother."
Rick had just guilt-tripped Glen into joining him with T-Dog volunteering after.
Shane was mad. "You're putting every single one of us at risk. Just know that Rick. I mean, you saw that walker. It was here. It was in the camp."
Shane eventually relented when the topic of guns was brought up and Rick was also able to convince his wife after he told her why it is important for him to go back to the city.
The walkie-talkie, the only means of communication he has with Morgan.
*****
Shane looked perplexed while holding four bullets of Rick's python. "Well..four men, four rounds. What are the odds huh?"
After another short talk between them, the group of four then started their drive back to the city on the very same truck they escaped from before.
While that was happening, Michael had started walking around the camp and making small talk to the survivors he would be sticking with in the long run.
"Wow, you're Carol? You…you're young" When Michael found out that she turned out to be a younger version of her instead of the one Melissa McBride auditioned for, he was shocked.
'What the hell? The comics and TV series put together? I'm suddenly feeling a little uncertain about my future.' This revelation made him a little uncomfortable since he has little knowledge about the events following the comic series.
"Y-yeah. Why? Was I supposed to be older?"
"No. Anyway, good meeting you" Michael smiled before quickly walking away. He doesn't want to deal with her right now. He made his way over towards Dale and exchanged some small talk with him. He did the same with the rest of the survivors, especially the major characters as he wanted to be acquainted with them.
Though guarded at first, they became a little friendlier towards him when they realized that he seemed at least nicer than his friend, Merle. Most especially when he distributed the body essentials from the bag he had brought with him. Which also contained a few antibiotics, painkillers, antiseptic wipes, and antiviral medications he brought.
It made the women even happier when they found several tampons on the bag, where they evenly distributed them among themselves.
With a plan in mind, Michael made his way to the forest and started looking for something and while doing so, he also started clearing the area with his machete.
It took him several minutes before he finally found what he was looking for, a small cluster of bamboo.
Michael quickly made his way over and started looking for an appropriate size he had planned in mind, which is a bamboo as thick as a 50-cent piece.
Satisfied with his haul, Michael made his journey back to camp after he managed to harvest nine of those.
Trat! Trat! Trat!
Throwing the bamboos onto the ground, they produced a mix of dull-rattling sound.
Michael sat on a log and started working on them while the others curiously looked over.
Driven by their curiosity, the kids at the camp approached him. "What are you making?"
Michael threw a quick glance to Carl and the kids. He ignored them for a moment as he began shaping the bamboo in his hands with a pointed tip. "I'm making a spear. It's for protection"
"How does it work?"
Michael smiled at that question. He didn't give them an answer and instead gave them a demonstration after he was done working on the first bamboo. "Let me show you"
He had created a five feet long bamboo spear.
"Whoa! That's so cool!"
Michael wielded the spear like a skilled martial artist, aweing the kids with his masterful display of his skill.
"Remember, a spear is one of the oldest tools and weapons in human history. Aside from guns, they are our most effective tool against the zombies, walkers, geeks or whatever you want to call them. Spears are most notable for the additional reach they offer. Where you can strike your enemies from a safe distance. Hold them tight like this, then thrust forward like this! Make sure to aim at the head, that's the weakest spot of the walkers. Strike them on their heads and they quickly drop dead. Everyone understood?"
"Yesss!"
Michael smiled and immediately shooed them away. "Now move along, I'm busy."
Dale, while keeping a look-out of the camp on top of his RV, was also watching the short demonstration. "Damn, how come I've never thought of doing that?"
In no time, Michael successfully crafted nine bamboo spears and quickly placed all of them in an open area where he could sun dry them.
"We don't have enough time to dry them, but a little increase in firmness is enough. Just to tide over tonight's attack" Michael mumbled.
That's right, Michael plans to interfere in tonight's incident. That's why he went out looking for bamboo earlier. He plans to arm the women and give them a short lesson on how to properly use it, for what's to come tonight.
'I know this won't save everyone, but It would at least lessen the casualties. I need to save as many survivors as I can since having manpower in the long run would prove beneficial to the group' Michael contradicted the words he said to Daryl beforehand. His earlier advice is most suitable for a nomadic group, but since this group would eventually create a community of their own. They need all the hands they can get, and there's also safety in numbers which is a huge advantage.
Night fell.
The group gathered around the campfire while having a feast on the fishes that the Harrison sisters had caught earlier today. They chattered on the subject about why Dale keeps checking his watch everyday.
Unawares, the group didn't even notice Michael disappearing somewhere around the camp.
Dale laughed along with them and then shared a saying. "I give you the mausoleum of all hope and desire, which will fit your individual needs no better than it did mine or my father's before me. I give it to you, not that you may remember time, but that you may forget it for a moment, now and then, and not spend all of your breath trying to conquer it."
There was a short silence following after, as the survivors pondered on the words that Dale shared while exchanging looks with each other.
"You are so weird." Amy looked at Dale with a small shake of her head. Which elicited chuckles from the people around them.
"Where are you going?"
Amy took a sip of her drink and slowly stood up. "I have to go pee. Geez, you try to be discreet around here"
Her words, eliciting another bout of chuckles among them.
Amy came out of the RV and paused by the door. "Guys, where's the extra toilet paper?"
While the group feasted and enjoyed each other's company by the campfire. They had completely failed to remember that the world had become…
A Zombie Apocalypse!
"Kyaaa!" Amy screamed! A walker suddenly emerged from the side and grabbed her arm!
The walker was about to dig in when something suddenly flew out from somewhere out in the dark and lodged itself on the walker's head!
Thwack! Thud!
"Get back into the RV and close the door behind you!" Michael, who had just been lurking in the dark immediately came out and started shouting at Amy and the others. "Walkers! Pick up the bamboo spears near you!"
The people by the campfire heard Amy screaming, and they were just in time to witness something sharp striking the walker's head and dropping dead to the side. Amy quickly picked herself up and was quick to heed Michael's word. She gave her sister one last look before she hastily entered the RV and closed the door behind her as walkers swarmed from the other side of the RV and towards the campfire where the others were.
"Kyaaa!"
"Mom!"
The women started screaming as they all stood up in panic while securing the kids within the safety of their bodies.
"Lori, get him down!" Shane yelled, cocking his shotgun and started firing multiple shots.
Splat!
"The bamboo spears! Use them!" Michael yelled again while taking down a walker with a strike from his machete.
"B-bamboo spear! I got them! What now!"
By the grace of the god, the women calmed themselves and finally registered Michael shouting from somewhere in the camp and hurriedly picked up the bamboo spears near them.
"Aim at the head, then strike forward!"
Lori, the relieved Andrea, Carol, Miranda and the other women in the camp quickly picked up the bamboo spears they were given earlier today. It wasn't only them, some of the men had also been inclined to craft their own spears when they witnessed Michael giving the women a special lesson and also joined in the defense.
The presence of the weapon in their hands surprisingly calmed them fast and they were able to assess the situation around them clearly with a calm head.
Michael made his way towards them while yelling. "Remember your lesson earlier today! Circle formation with the kids in the center! Quick!"
He was slightly rattled. Michael had noticed something amiss.
'S-shit! Why do I feel like there's more zombies than the ones shown on the show before?!'
He didn't mind the numbers, but he's worried about the following casualties because of this deviation.
'Is it because I saved Amy?'
On the other hand, Rick and his group are currently making haste to ascend the hill when the sound of multiple gunshots rang in the distance and had them pausing in their tracks.
Bang! Bang! Bang!
"Oh my god!"
"Let's hurry!"
"Graahh!" Michael had just dispatched a walker when another suddenly sneaked up from behind him. He quickly crouched down and threw a leg sweep. Throwing the walker off of its feet and falling down on its back.
Thud!
"Grrraah!"
"Sneaky bastard." Michael cursed as he drew his pistol and shot the walker on the head.
Bang!
Due to Michael's intervention for tonight's event, the chaotic scene that was supposed to happen on the show didn't take place.
And with the women keeping a tight formation together, it became manageable for Shane and the others to take down the walkers with relative ease. Since they didn't have to divide their attention protecting the women and kids.
Obliviously, even with the women taking up arms, their situation remains dire as a few of the women still made the mistake of not striking the walkers in their head.
Shane yelled at one of the men who had strayed a little too far from them while directing the women to slowly move closer to the RV. "Morales, work up here!"
"You smelly bastard!" Michael picked up a spear lying on the ground and threw it towards one of the walkers like it was some kind of a javelin.
Splat!
Bang! Bang! Bang!
Michael then emptied his clip on the zombies, taking down several of them.
Just in time, Rick and the rest of the crew finally arrived with guns blazing. They slowly advanced towards the others while carefully shooting the walkers in their heads. Daryl even used the butt of his shotgun and made a baseball bat out of it.
Rick fired off his signature Python and yelled with so much emotion that his voice slightly cracked. "Baby! Carl!"
"Dad!" Carl cried as he ran up to his father and hugged him, while the poor lad Shane looked on with a slight jealousy on his face.
Michael and the rest of the cavalry cleared up the scene, which the former certainly enjoyed, for one good reason.
"I'm rich" Michael mumbled while looking at something that he had been ignoring up until now.
[Coins: 347]