Broken Sundown

"I'm sorry, I'm so sorry. I didn't mean to hit you so hard, I'm sorry." I heard as I came to.

My head was pounding and the small of my back throbbed a little. Underneath me I felt a soft mattress and someone was fanning me.

"She's up!" The apologetic man yelled as I opened my eyes and looked around.

I was in a room, probably someone's bedroom. There was a window on the far wall and the bed I was on was pushed against a side wall, my head was nearest to the doorway. There wasn't much of anything else to the room.

A young Latino man was sitting beside me in a chair with a magazine in his hands that he was using to fan me.

"Listen little lady, I'm so sorry. I didn't mean to knock you out." He pulled out a cold compress and pressed it to my forehead.

I lifted my hands to take the compress into my own hands and moved it to the back of my head. "Where am I?"

"You're at our compound. I'm Pablo." He held up his hand to me.

I cautiously lifted my hand and shook his. I wanted to sit up but I knew if I did it too quickly, I would get dizzy. My head was spinning and I knew I probably had a concussion. "What the hell happened?"

"You and your group were going after the guns we wanted. You got them before we did, and we needed something to trade."

"So you knocked me out and kidnapped me?" I asked, slowly moving to sit up.

"Listen, I'm sorry little lady. I was just following orders." He helped me a little. "What's your name?"

"Shannon." I murmured.

"Shannon, we got your friend here too."

"Who?" I asked eagerly.

"Asian kid, Glenn."

"Where is he?"

"Out here, c'mon. Follow me."

Pablo waited patiently in the doorway as I stood up and caught my balance. He led me out into the main area of their compound. There were a lot of older people inside of the compound, a few looked ill, and most of them looked scared and exhausted, hungry even. I could see now why they wanted the guns, they had a lot of helpless people to look after and protect.

"Glenn!" I said in relief as I came across him unharmed and playing checkers with an older gentleman.

"Shannon, thank God you're okay." He smiled and stood to hug me.

"What is going on?" I asked, desperate to know if we were going to make it out of here.

"Rick and the group came by not too long ago, trying to get us back, they took one of their guys too."

"What happened?"

"Guillermo, their head guy, says he wants the bag of guns and his guy back before they give us up."

I nodded slightly and sighed. "We need those guns."

Glenn nodded up at me with an unsure face. "I don't know what Rick is going to go. If he takes the violent approach, all of these people are helpless."

"But Rick's not just going to leave us here." I trailed off. "He'll be back."

Quite some time passed before Glenn and I watched the group reconvene for our group's return. They opened up the main doors, but an armed man stood beside us so we wouldn't think of running out until the group got what they wanted. They also kept us out of main view of the doors.

I could hardly hear the confrontation taking place between the two groups, but there was a dispute once again over the weapons. Suddenly, an older woman clad in slippers and a bathrobe waddled over to the open door.

"Felipe! Felipe!" She called out to one of the men involved in the meeting.

"Abuela. go back in with the others, now!" He said, an embarrassed look on his face.

"Get that old lady out of the line of fire!" I heard Daryl yell.

"Abuela, listen to your mijo, okay? This is not the place for you right now." Guillermo tried to intervene.

"Mr. Gilbert is having trouble breathing. He need his asthma stuff. Carlitos didn't find it. He needs his medicine." The old lady begged of them.

"Felipe, go take care of it, okay? And take your grandmother with you."

"Abuela! Ven conmigo por favor!" Felipe said, gently grabbing his grandmother's arm.

"Who are those men?" She said, staring at Rick.

"Por favor, ven conmigo." Felipe begged again.

"Don't you take him."

"Ma'am?" Rick asked a bit confused.

The old lady pulled away from Felipe and waddled toward Rick. "Felipe's a good boy. He has his trouble but he pulls himself together again. We need him here."

"Ma'am, I'm not here to arrest your grandson."

"Then what do you want him for?" She asked him confused.

"He's...helping us find our missing friends." He paused. "Glenn and Shannon."

"The Asian boy and little lady? They're in here, come. Come, I'll show you."

The grandmother walked toward Rick, took his hand and led him inside the building.

Guillermo was obviously not happy, but he respected her and allowed his group to let the rest of our group into his compound with their weapons lowered.

Rick saw me and Glenn and relief washed over his face. I stood up and ran towards him and he took me into his arms, lifting my short frame off the floor.

"I'm so glad you're safe." He whispered into my ear, breathing me in.

"I'm okay." I nodded and let go of him, letting him return to what he needed to do.

He patted Glenn on the shoulder and all of us followed him and Abuela to the man who needed his medicine. Abuela led us to a gym where several people were gathered around an elderly man that appeared to be having an asthma attack.

Felipe went to work trying to help the old man regain his breath and control it, doing slow breathing exercises with him.

"What the hell is this?" Rick asked, his outrage quite clear.

"He's having an asthma attack." Glenn answered.

I glanced at Rick as he pulled Guillermo aside to speak with him. Rick's body language gave away every emotion he was feeling right now, but it was clear that he was angry he had been lied to. I heard part of the argument where he yelled at Guillermo for kidnapping Glenn and I, and also how he wanted to put a bullet through his skull just for harming me they way they had.

"Are you doctors?" I cut in, hoping to draw Rick's attention away from his anger and redirect it at the poor elderly that were struggling here.

Guillermo paused for a minute and then answered me. "Felipe's a nurse, he's a special care provider here. Me, I'm the custodian."

"And what about everyone else?" Rick asked.

"The Vatos trickle in to check on their parents, their grandparents. They see how good we have it here and decide to stay. It's a good thing that they do, too. We need the muscle. We've encountered some pretty bad people since the outbreak, people that take what the want by force."

"Well, that's not who we are." I said, glancing at Rick as he approached me and cupped my face to look at the bandage wrapped around my head. It felt nice to have him touch me so lovingly, and I could see the worry start to melt from his eyes. It made me nervous though, as I felt the eyes of Glenn, T-Dog and Daryl looked on and knew that I was not his wife.

"How was I supposed to know? We've been attacked so many times, and then you show up with Miguel as your hostage. Have to keep our guard up, have to play safe."

"The wold has really changed." T-Dog muttered.

"It's not the same as it ever was. The weak get taken. So we do what we can here to survive. The people here look up to me now, it's my job to protect him."

Rick seemed to be getting along with Guillermo better as we prepared to leave. One of the other abuelas in the complex offered to make us a small meal, and the rice and vegetables she brought to us filled my starving belly. It was decided amongst our group to split the guns and ammo 50/50 between both groups. Guillermo was thankful, mostly because no violence was needed to come to this decision.

The five of us left the nursing home, Rick has his gun bag slung over his shoulder. Before we left, he slipped me another handgun, which I changed out with the one I already had slid underneath my shirt. He smiled at me as we walked along, the mood much lighter than it had been when we entered the city, but still extremely cautious.

"Admit it, you only came back to Atlanta for the hat." Glenn joked, smiling at the two of us.

"Don't tell anybody." Rick winked at him.

"You'be given away half of our guns and ammo." Daryl snarled.

"Not nearly half."

"Where's the truck?" I asked, coming to a stop before the boys. "I know this is where we left it."

"Where the hell's our van?" Daryl asked, looking around.

"We left it right there. Who would take it?"

"Merle." Rick sighed.

"He's going to be taking some vengeance back to camp."