Tiptoe Through the Tulips

“You can have her shoes.” She said simply, walking to a corpse shortly after looking me up and down, “They should fit,” I took them mutely, amazed at how unbothered she was pilfering from a still warm corpse.
But then, after what I had just done.. I felt nauseous again.

“Who the hell are you?” I hissed, the echoes of shouts still loud in the air.

“I’m Sasha,” she introduced quietly, still staring out of the front window at the other main road of Woodbury, “And you’re Ariella.” I nodded, “You look like shit.” She said quite casually, my own mouth still opening and closing, both mutely and rapidly.

“I don’t understand.”

“We met your friends, we already had problems with Woodbury so we’re here to help apparently. What are we dealing with?” I still felt my lip quivering, trying to get my head in the moment. If they were here to save us, I needed to help.

Even if I had no clue who the fuck she was.
But, Daryl and that must trust her, they wouldn’t have brought her here otherwise, I had to swallow my questions until we were safe.

“In the town hall, in the basement, there were always a couple of guards, but they might be looking for me now so it could be quiet...but...” I swallowed deep, “No-one’s in good shape, he raped Michonne and he’s cut Rick’s hand off and...” My throat clogged, everything hitting me in that simple sentence.

We were in terrible shape whilst Woodbury was so strong.

“There’s too many of them, they’re too well trained.” I urged, still standing shakily in the doorway. She nodded at my words, keeping silent until we heard gunshot.

“That’s them,” Her voice was authorative.

“Andrea reckoned she knew where they’d be holding them and from what you said it’s right so that’s where were going... Daryl should be letting the Walkers in... got the shotgun?” I nodded, the gun she had given me in my grip.

“Walkers? What are...” she cut me off, flinging the front door open and running into the street, firing at anyone she could see.

I followed, the boots a bit too large, the damp shirt still warm and sticking to my bare legs, my feet slipping, the gun held more firmly as I shot at the men, unlike Sasha trying my hardest not to hit anyone who looked like a threat as we sprinted down the busy road, having to take cover behind various fences and anything else.

I had never been a great shot.

“Which way once we’re in?” Sasha shouted, popping up and shooting, the machine gun in her hand familiar, one we had gotten days ago. I tried to force myself to remember.

“The stairs are on the right and there’s only two rooms, they’re not locked cause they’re guarding it.” I yelled back, my body aching as I pushed myself away from the low fence, scurrying behind the same car as Sasha, bullets littering the ground inches behind me.

“They’re trying to keep the attention mainly on them, keep the men in one area, “ I nodded, “But whatever you did that got them following you has fucked that up a little bit.”

“I stabbed the Governor in the eye.” I said simply, it sounded ridiculous, almost laughable and Sasha did indeed chuckle harshly.

“Good, now, I’ll take the one of the left and you the right and then straight down to the Town Hall.” I nodded and we both stood, weapons firing, she was a very good shot and I was so glad that all my practising slotted in random times when we had enough ammo was coming in slightly handy as the Hispanic man fell heavily on the ground.

Once the men were down we sprinted, finding ourselves having to fight civilians, I winced each time a bullet pierced their flesh, but they had proved time and time again that they were...well...insane, twisted by him. That made the guilt fade slightly.

I could hear gunshots from the front of the area, where the large gates stood. That must be where Daryl and everyone was. The adrenaline was pumping, although my head still felt fuzzy, the drug slowly taking effect.
God I hoped every second I was awake that they would come.
But there was so much danger.

“Ariella,” another voice shouted and I turned, Andrea bundling into me and grabbing my arm swiftly, pulling me into the building. “Oh thank God you’re alive!” She turned mid-sentence, quickly shooting a hole between a man’s eyes.

I felt sick as he dropped down. “They’re downstairs,” Sasha told her, empty gun thrown away and a pistol pulled out, held in front of her with a very smooth hand. We started moving down the stairs and through the building, Andrea had pulled out a knife and used that to kill a couple of the guards, keeping us quiet.

“Are you okay?” she whispered, hands on my face as she looked over me quickly, eyes lingering on the blood and the bruises coating my visible legs. I took a shaky breath but nodded as we reached the doors, the other’s hadn’t come out, our attack was silent so they would have no idea the guards were dead.

“They tore Rick’s hand off,” I squealed, as we finally reached the end of the hallway and the cells. Her face paled, pushing past me and pushing one door open quickly as Sasha went for the other.

I heard their exclamations, the others shouting back, preparing themselves as best they could. I couldn’t fight the small smile that formed when Beth quickly wrapped her arms around me, her eyes easily filling with tears.

“We tried what we planned but the guards stopped us and he...” I pushed her gently away, limping to the open door and seeing what horrified her so.

T-dog was dragging Rick out, a simple nod to me as they passed. I stayed still eyes fixed, he had gone so far, further than I could ever imagine. He had strung a body up, stripped naked, the wounds growing black as the skin slowly turned green.
Lori.
Hung up like a hunk of meat.

I tried to fight the bile rising in my throat once again, Andreas horrified noise sent a shiver through as she stepped forward. I shot a shaky hand out, seeing double of it for a couple of seconds, “We don’t have time, we can’t...” my voice sounded slurred.

Whatever painkiller that women had injected into me was beginning to really take effect. A slight ringing was building in my ears, my hand shaky, my joints felt too smooth, oiled.
I blinked and was outside, half way down the street.

Wonderful, now I was tripping.

I watched as Merle lept forward, he had vanished after we had opened the prison door and returned, large dagger attached to his handless arm, savagely attacking the men he had once worked with. The people he had killed others to help defend.

There were seconds when it struck me how ridiculous everything was now.
Andrea had vanished as well , reappearing with a number of weapons that she handed out. I didn’t question where they came from, at this point I didn’t feel like I could speak without giving away that I was slipping. My tongue felt too large for my mouth, and I swear I could feel my teeth. Turning mutely and slipping slightly as an arm pulled me up.

I blinked hard, forced myself to concentrate, we weren’t out yet. The shouting and shooting was still growing when suddenly all my senses were irrelevant. Smoke flooded the narrow street, a loud bang cause my ears to burn, the smoke blinded me, caused me to cough, the others the same.

“That should be Maggie and...!” I heard a voice, Andrea perhaps yell, and my arm was grabbed again, more gently than before. A shaking Beth.

We ran forward, although in many cases it was more of a stumble, the others had been down in that basement for almost four days, and I doubted they had been given much food or water. In a twisted way, where I had been was better.
Unless you counted the mental torture, that is. I snorted, almost laughing as the smoke began to clear.

We dove behind random cars, bins, people even as we headed towards the gates. T-dog and Carl were still dragging Rick, who I think was unconscious as we finally reached the border.

At this point the people of Woodbury weren’t the problem, The others had literally broken in through the fence, and all the noise had attracted Walkers, which were flooding into the small settlement.

I shot widely at one, missing its head completely, the bullet spraying through the window of a car.

My eyes were drooping, my feet dragging along the floor rather than picking up between steps and I aware it had gotten to the point that Beth was supporting most of my weight. “You can’t carry me,” I slurred, “Get someone else too...” There was another loud shot close to me, and I could feel the vibrations of all the feet stamping on the floor.

And then I felt another arm loop around me, wider, stronger. A deep voice, southern accent.
And then I heard and saw nothing of Woodbury.

_______________________________________

I could hear a baby, whimpering.
Was I dreaming? It reminded me of being at Naya’s a girl that had been on our course, had been , she had dropped out when she was pregnant had come over a couple of times. I didn’t really like her but Naya did, she liked everyone.
Maybe it was Lori’s baby.

I couldn’t tell how much was real anymore. My body felt heavy, like a stone sinking in water, but I was on something soft, fabric around me. The baby cried again, louder. I moved my hand, feeling it clasp around cold plastic. I blindly let my fingers explore it, still fuzzy, pins and needles but I worked out what it was. A seatbelt, the bit you plug it into.

I was in a car?

I felt my lips move, mumbling words even I couldn’t understand as I tried to force my eyes open, my eyelids were so heavy. I could hear talking, it was blurry, voice I recognised from the tone itself, other’s I didn’t.

“His hand is gone, we need to make sure it isn’t already infected!”

“Well how do we know that?”

“When the flesh grows black is a really bag sign and if it does then we’re looking at him possibly..”

“Will you lower your voice? Not near Carl. We need to see what we can use from what we have. If we continue on and find somewhere better to stop Seth and I can do a run.”

Who the hell was Seth?

“We ain’t going anywhere near towns anymore.”

“We’ve tried that Daryl and it didn’t work. We need to be close enough to places with supplies or stock up...I don’t think there’s anywhere we can permanently settle.”

Daryl.

“What we need to sort out first is your brother. He is not staying with us,” I could almost feel the tension myself, even as I was still sprawled across the back seat inside the car. I heard Daryl’s voice raise and the car door was pushed shut my someone. The baby stirred again, Sophia?

“I’m surprised their yelling didn’t wake you up earlier.” A soft voice said, aged, a hint of an accent I couldn’t fully place. I went to move but it shushed me, “Not yet, you’ve got a lot of something still in your system, the others reckon it was morphine, but too much. Lucky you didn’t overdose.”

The shouting continued outside the car, and I eventually pulled myself up, rubbing my eyes as I tried desperately to open them, surprised by what I saw when we did.

We were down another country path, although to be fair most of the State was formed of them. There were three cars, the small one I was in, the larger almost family car that Daryl, Maggie, Glenn, Beth, Andrea and myself had travelled in before Merle had taken us, and a simple ford.

What I was more surprised by was the woman in front of me, she was small, surely under five foot, her face thick with trenches dug over her years of life. Her hair a peppered brown, her hands more tendon than flesh.

She grinned at me, showing a remarkable set of what I assumed were false teeth, “You take it easy now. Don’t need more disturbing her,” she glanced down to her lap and I followed, recognising baby Sophia easily, the relief hitting me.

“Who are you?” I breathed, my throat burning, she handed me a small bottle of water, it was warm, stagnant but I downed it quickly as she answered. “I’m Martha Lopez,” she nodded at me, “And your Ariella if all the fuss is correct.” I nodded, my brow furrowed.

“How did?”

The grin never dropped from her face, “We was part of a larger group, eventually it was just me, Abed,” she raised her claw like hand, pointing out of the dirty windows at figures. She pointed to a middle aged man, he was tall and very skinny, and seemed to be checking over some of the others.

“He a doctor?” I asked, my eyes still full of blinding sparks, she chuckled.

“Hell no, he’s an IT consultant who just liked to watch medical programs, lucky for us that is.” I nodded, and she continued, “You met Sasha, she's a nice girl...anger issues but it’s a help.” She stared at me until I nodded, her free hand gently stroking Sophia’s stomach.
“Then there’s Seth,” A young guy, about the same height as Glenn but better built who was one of the people involved in the argument.

“We already had trouble with that Woodbury place, there used to be twelve of us but they attacked,” I instantly murmured my apologies, she waved me off, “Then the other day we was crossing a bridge and got in some trouble, and who knew suddenly your people appeared, the Chinese boy and the girl and they saved us, met us up with your Daryl fella and that Andrea woman,” she pulled a slight face as she said Andrea’s name that made me smirk.

“We needed help, and so did your people so the others agreed to get you guys out and burn that hell of a place to the ground.” I turned instantly, her words rang true when I noticed the large trail of smoke breaking through the air what must be a few miles behind us.

“I’m not much help obviously, with my arthritis, but I’m the only one here who grew up not replying on technology for every damn thing.” I nodded, instantly liking her but need to know what happened.

“Hey, don’t stand up now,” she scolded, shaking her head as I opened the opposite door to the others and unsteadily pulled myself out, wincing at the cold. She murmured something, and I closed the door behind me quietly, just a gently click that was swept away by the harsh words on the other side of the road.
Seth, saw me first. Stopping the argument and just staring at me until everything involved int he argument was doing the same,

“What the fuck is happening?” I croaked, shaking my head slightly as I made my way around the car, still slightly spaced out. Daryl was with me in seconds, hand on either shoulder as he checked me over,

“I don’t know how many time I have to tell ya to try and not die?” I smiled lightly, leaning forward and resting my head on his chest, the others were looking away and the conversation grew again to give us some privacy. “Abed reckoned it was morphine, you feelin’ alright?” I nodded lightly against him.

“I feel like shit.” I complained lowly, pulling my head away and meeting his eyes once again, “He didn’t...” I paused, but Daryl nodded before I could answer.

“I know, Andrea told me you had been there, we had a lil’ chat before I ripped the fuckers throat out.”

So, the Governor was dead at long last.

He moved so his arms were tight around me, his head resting on my own. I fought the urge to cry, to try and divulge how I had felt there. I couldn’t explain it.
In truth I didn’t want to reveal how weak I was, how I could have ended it far sooner.

“How is everyone?” He shrugged,

“Alive...and as long as we sort Rick’s hand out it will stay that way.” I nodded again, suddenly catching a word of Glenn’s conversation.

“Merle,” I said quickly, pulling away from him, “What about...” Daryl frowned; it was clear what was happening. Glenn didn’t want Merle with us, why would he? Why would any of us.

“He’s my brother.” Daryl said definitively, raising his voice so the others could hear, “I ain’t leaving him.”