Pretending to be Dead

Daryl Dixon and Adeline Mimieux woke up one morning and left the group.

For weeks they had been planning to leave, and kept putting it off. But finally that day had come. Addie put their belongings into a small hybrid vehicle to save on gas. Daryl reprimanded her for choosing such a womanly car, but Addie told him to deal with it and drive.

They have been driving all day now. Addie’s back was sore from sitting all day, and when Daryl saw the discomfort on her face he made the decision to stop in the next town.

It never got old. The way you’d pull into a once busy town and see abandoned cars on the road, money in the streets, and blood everywhere. Every time Addie wondered what exactly happened to the people lived here, and every time Daryl tried not to picture it. It looked like the army had been here for a while. Sandbags were piled high, damaged to buildings from explosives, and piles of bodies, it made it obvious.

Daryl drove past the battlegrounds to a perhaps… safer part of town. A small motel was stuck between two boarded up buildings.

“Sleep in the car, or sleep in there.” Daryl said.

Addie finally did regret her choice of car. Neither of them would’ve been able to sleep in it comfortably.

“I’ll get a key from the office.” She said spitefully.

“Be careful, just cause you can’t turn don’t mean they won’t eat your face.” Daryl said laughing at her. She playfully punched him in the arm before exiting the car and taking the fire axe with her. She carefully opened the door and cringed when she heard that familiar ding of a bell. He quickly waited for something to move. But nothing came near her. She heard the car door shut as Daryl got out to check the perimeter.

Adrienne followed the hallway back, past a couple washers and dryers and into an office. Papers covered the floor, but she couldn’t see any sign of the dead. She casually walked back and pick a key out of a metal box on the counter. She made sure that the room was at the end, and had an easy escape route.

She tossed the key to Daryl when she stepped out of the office.

“Looks deserted.” He said. Addie nodded and pointed to the end room.

“Seem safe?” she asked.

“Guess there’s one way to find out.” He said. Daryl threw his favorite cross bow over his shoulder as he scuffled across the asphalt parking lot. He turned the key in the rusty knob and opened the door. The room was unused; the bed was made, and everything was habitable except for the thick layer of dust that covered every surface. Daryl checked the bathroom before he appeared back in the doorway to tell Addie it was clear.

“Figured I’d go for a walk around the block.” Addie told him, “Look for anything useful.”

“Fine. But limit yourself to one block.” He called out. “Ya’ get fifteen minutes.”

“Oui.” She said smiling at him. She fastened an empty backpack to her shoulders and then threw her axe back over her shoulder. “I’m going left first.” Daryl waved at her to assure her he’d heard what she said.

Addie carefully made her way down the sidewalk, she looked and listened for any sign of danger, and from her experience she knew that it could always be worse than walkers. She was half sure that this town was nearly dead. It was quiet, like the dead had moved on or something. She slightly missed Lori and the others. But now that they were safe for the time being, they had found an abandoned correctional facility, and had begun to call that home.

Until Addie and Daryl decided they had to leave. They had a gift, and they couldn’t just keep it to themselves.

Addie didn’t know where to start, she had assumed that medical centers were the best places to find information. And this guy, Faust, she remembered her grandfather speaking his name on several occasions. She remembered because Dr. Faustus was her favorite play, and Faust would always remind her of that. They needed to find him as well, Addie knew that someone who worked closely with her grandfather would have the most answers. There were several facilities were dotted along her grandfathers map, and she figured if she connected the dots long enough, someone would crop up. She knew that whatever she had become was something due to her grandfather’s research, and from all that she’d read she had realized that they had to be others that had undergone the same treatment. And perhaps with a little perseverance a cure was possible.

She had completed her walk early; the block had been pretty bare, as if many survivors had cleaned out the town already. It was small and easily picked over. She had a few more minutes, enough time to check out the store across the street. She wasn’t quite as interesting in the butcher shop, as she was about the ladder on the building. She managed to pull herself to the top; she could see several other rooftops that had chairs or old boxes, like somebody had waited out a horde. The town was quiet, almost too quiet. Then she realized… she could hear breathing, heavy, labored breathing.

That was impossible.
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Daryl first took a long drink of water before he drew the curtains to the room. He shut the door and began to head around back to look for any trapped walkers. At first he wasn’t nervous about walking around, but then he ran into a walker, granted it was already dead, but that was the unsettling part.

It had been torn apart. It wasn’t shot, or bludgeoned to death; its insides were all pulled apart and hanging off a nearby fence, like something had been eating it. It looked similar to what a bear would’ve done to a buck.

He was thinking infected dogs, or perhaps a pretty stupid cannibal, but whatever did this was dangerous, and probably not safe to be around. He took a few more minutes to inspect the dead thing at his feet. He was biting his nails and beginning to sweat before he decided they wouldn’t stay here.

Daryl tapped his watch, her time was up.

He walked back to the lot, and through the gate he had watched her leave, but now she wasn’t there.
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Addie’s curiosity always seemed to get her into trouble. This time she was peering over the edge of the tall building and looking into the alleyway below. She could see the seething walker. It’s breathing was heavy, skin like leather, and it looked like the body was exhibiting mass amounts of heat. She had seen this before, once before. Now she realized the worst had finally happened.

She stepped back, slowly backing away from the monster below her feet. But she struggled when she was grabbed. He feet kicked at the gravel as she tried to struggle free, but then she realized it was only Daryl. He motioned for her to be quiet.

She couldn’t hear it’s breathing anymore, She softly stepped back to the edge to peer into the alleyway once more, the empty alleyway.

Addie spun back around in time to see the creature already coming at them from behind Daryl. The look on Addie’s face made Daryl spin around instinctively. He aimed his crossbow and fired.

The beast, stunned, wobbled on its two feet for a moment while it tried to register what the arrow was. Daryl had aimed fine; the arrow was sticking out of its hollowed nose. But it wasn’t dying. Daryl just stood there, not understanding what was going on. But he hadn’t been there the night Merle killed Addie’s friend, fiancé, Alex.

The creature was now running the short distance towards Daryl, who was trying to reload his crossbow. He wasn’t able to in time before the walker tackled him to the graveled roof. He had his crossbow between him and the beast, struggling, pushing, trying to keep it away from his neck.

Addie swung her axe down on its neck, hard. She could hear a distinctive grunt come from its mouth. She pulled the axe back out of the lodged space, one more swing would do it. She kicked the beast as hard as she could so she could get a clear shot without hurting Daryl. And as soon as its jugular was exposed she swung her axe again, severing it’s head clean off.

Daryl kicked himself away from the body that was now pooling blood.

“What the fuck was that?!” he asked.

“Walker.” She said, not really knowing what to call it.

“Ain’t no god damn walker, I shot it in the brain!”

“You’ve met one before Daryl.” She said. “When you first met me, remember?”

Daryl looked down for a moment, remembering the walker he’d gotten off her that first time they’d met.

“That sumbitch died.” He said. “I killed it.”

“You only wounded it Daryl, Merle killed it a few months later.”

“You saying it got up and walked away? After what Shane and I did to that thing?”

“They heal.” She said.

“Still the brain is what controls it!” Daryl said looking down at the severed head.

“I don’t know what does anymore, but I have a feeling it’s lethal to us.”

“Yeah, we ain’t stayin’.” He said. “Get back in the car.”

Addie came up and grabbed his hand. “Daryl I’ve got a better idea.” She said while pointing across the city. Daryl could see the Huey Chopper at the top of the town’s local hospital.

“You can actually fly that thing?” Daryl asked. Addie nodded. “Great cause I hate flying.”

Addie smile at him and used her sleeve to wipe away some blood spatter.

“Go and pack up. I’ll be there in a minute.” He told her. Addie began to walk away until she felt Daryl tug on the axe she was carrying. “Leave it.” He said. Addie let go and climbed down the ladder. She knew Daryl was going to make sure that thing never got up again.