The McManus' - Ch. 5: City of the Dead
Tyler’s moment of freedom didn’t last as long as she wanted it, the sound of screeching tires on wet pavement shattered the peaceful air and had her sprinting to the edge of the roof to see what it was. All she saw was the tailend of a delivery truck as it sped around the corner. She chewed on her lip, wondering if the others thought of a plan to get out after her and Merle snuck off; knowing Rick, he probably thought of something and had gone through with it.
She cursed, hearing the sudden wail of a car alarm, and took off towards the other side of the building with the fire escape. If she was lucky, maybe her and Merle could get back in time but with how close that alarm was getting, she figured luck wasn’t all the way on her side today. To make things worse, Merle wasn’t in the little office area where they’d said they meet up and she had no idea on where to begin looking for him.
“Merle, you jackass,” Tyler growled, stomping furiously through the office and towards the roof, already knowing that they’d all be gone. She just hoped he managed to leave with them and not get stuck here like she was - honestly, she didn’t mind that they left her.
Sure, it stung a little, but they all had family to get back to and she understood that. Hell, she walked all the way here from Augusta to find her sister, Tyler understood damn well. However, she was still human, it still hurt to know a fellow comrade and a new friend just left her. She’ll move on, though, and she’ll run into them again - probably in the next month or so. It’s a smaller world, after all.
A few walkers, that weren’t there before, had wandered in the staircase leading up to the roof. Tyler figured the glass doors for the shop downstairs finally gave in, stopping every so often to hack one in the head with her machete. Kicking in the metal door, she arrived to see an empty rooftop with various tools scattered about - they had left in a hurry and someone dropped the bag of tools.
Shrugging, Tyler picked them up and brought them with her back to the ground level, figuring she could use them later. She wasn’t completely sure if they’d come back just for a bag of tools but she wasn’t going to stick around to find out, her mind already racing a mile a minute on how to require a car and book it out of the city.
First, she had to make a short trip to the CDC, just to see what happened to it; she knew now that her sister wasn’t anywhere near the city, given how overrun it seemed to be. Dylan would’ve high-tailed her way out to the woods when things went to shit. Tyler would have more of a chance of finding her if she camped out in the depth of Georgia’s forest.
Making her way through the back entrance where Glenn brought them, she remembered Rick’s gun bag laying the middle of the street by the tank; she decided to leave it, not really wanting to find a distraction just to grab it. Her mind made up, Tyler used the safety of the empty alley way to scan the area for any useful cars.
Her face lit up when she found a solid black Ford Mustang at the far end of the block; getting to it without being eaten alive, however, was going to be a challenge. Studying the buildings surrounding her, Tyler thought up the brilliant idea of roof-jumping to get to the car - again, she just hoped she’d make it out of here alive. Tired, and probably bloody, but alive and with a car, at that.
In this new world, it was worth it.
Making sure her pack was secure and the tool bag was zipped, Tyler made her way across the alley for the other building, jumping up to pull down the ladder and quickly made her way up the fire escape to the rooftop. The roof on this building was slightly different than the other’s she was on previously, had little planter boxes scattered all over the place. Shrugging it off, she jumped around a bit before taking a running leap towards the next building, her foot catching just the edge of the roof to give her the right amount of leverage.
Not stopping for a breath, she kept running for the next building, going from rooftop to rooftop in a matter of seconds before she got to the building the car was next to. Peaking over the edge, she counted how many walkers she had to take out to get to the car, thankful that it was a small number and could take them out easily without attracting more. Scanning the rooftop, she didn’t see any door to go inside the building and, while she wanted to see if she could scavenged anything, Tyler wasn’t about to do a James Bond and smash through one of the windows.
Forcing herself to forget about the potential supplies, she made her way over to where she believed to be a fire escape - only to find there wasn’t one. Every building so far had a fire escape, why would this one not have one?! Tyler rolled her eyes in exasperation and decided to just take the drop, not even looking for a dumpster or anything to break her fall, swinging herself over the edge and made sure to keep her knees bent as she let go, doing a tuck-and-roll when she landed.
Taking a short moment to gather herself and test her limbs, checking to see if she broke or sprained anything, and when that was all clear, she unsheathed her machete, stalking towards the road in a low crouch. Double-checking her surroundings, she made sure she was alone before leaving her packs behind to deal with the walkers, her machete slicing through their skull like butter, dispatching all ten of them in a matter of seconds, her movements graceful and deadly.
Tyler didn’t even break her formation when they were all on the ground, she went directly to the driver’s door, wrenching it open and dragged the deceased driver from it’s seat, stomping on it’s head with a powerful thrust. Ignoring the stench of death and blood-soaked seats, she tried starting the car; it gave a couple pitiful tries before it caught and woke up with a roar, Tyler grinning with success. Darting out, she grabbed her packs and threw them in the back, slamming the door behind her and booked it out of the city, running over a few walkers in the process.
At the moment, Tyler didn’t care that the car was almost out of gas - there were plenty of cars leading out of the city she could syphon from. She just had to find one of those gas cans and a hose. Again, something Tyler was sure she could find on the highway and if she didn’t, she knew where to find one.
Rick had left his gas can behind at the farm house, figuring someone else might need it, since he could no longer use it. Tyler judged how far that house was and knew she’d be able to make it, hopefully with enough gas to make it back. If not, she’d have to go somewhere else.
Tyler just had to get out of Atlanta, the echo of her sister’s absence lingered around her as she sped down the highway. She knew Dylan wouldn’t stay in the city, she would retreat to the woods and that should’ve been the first place she went to. But Tyler had to see. Had to see what the city had become. Had to see what they assigned her sister to defend.
A city full of the dead.
She cursed, hearing the sudden wail of a car alarm, and took off towards the other side of the building with the fire escape. If she was lucky, maybe her and Merle could get back in time but with how close that alarm was getting, she figured luck wasn’t all the way on her side today. To make things worse, Merle wasn’t in the little office area where they’d said they meet up and she had no idea on where to begin looking for him.
“Merle, you jackass,” Tyler growled, stomping furiously through the office and towards the roof, already knowing that they’d all be gone. She just hoped he managed to leave with them and not get stuck here like she was - honestly, she didn’t mind that they left her.
Sure, it stung a little, but they all had family to get back to and she understood that. Hell, she walked all the way here from Augusta to find her sister, Tyler understood damn well. However, she was still human, it still hurt to know a fellow comrade and a new friend just left her. She’ll move on, though, and she’ll run into them again - probably in the next month or so. It’s a smaller world, after all.
A few walkers, that weren’t there before, had wandered in the staircase leading up to the roof. Tyler figured the glass doors for the shop downstairs finally gave in, stopping every so often to hack one in the head with her machete. Kicking in the metal door, she arrived to see an empty rooftop with various tools scattered about - they had left in a hurry and someone dropped the bag of tools.
Shrugging, Tyler picked them up and brought them with her back to the ground level, figuring she could use them later. She wasn’t completely sure if they’d come back just for a bag of tools but she wasn’t going to stick around to find out, her mind already racing a mile a minute on how to require a car and book it out of the city.
First, she had to make a short trip to the CDC, just to see what happened to it; she knew now that her sister wasn’t anywhere near the city, given how overrun it seemed to be. Dylan would’ve high-tailed her way out to the woods when things went to shit. Tyler would have more of a chance of finding her if she camped out in the depth of Georgia’s forest.
Making her way through the back entrance where Glenn brought them, she remembered Rick’s gun bag laying the middle of the street by the tank; she decided to leave it, not really wanting to find a distraction just to grab it. Her mind made up, Tyler used the safety of the empty alley way to scan the area for any useful cars.
Her face lit up when she found a solid black Ford Mustang at the far end of the block; getting to it without being eaten alive, however, was going to be a challenge. Studying the buildings surrounding her, Tyler thought up the brilliant idea of roof-jumping to get to the car - again, she just hoped she’d make it out of here alive. Tired, and probably bloody, but alive and with a car, at that.
In this new world, it was worth it.
Making sure her pack was secure and the tool bag was zipped, Tyler made her way across the alley for the other building, jumping up to pull down the ladder and quickly made her way up the fire escape to the rooftop. The roof on this building was slightly different than the other’s she was on previously, had little planter boxes scattered all over the place. Shrugging it off, she jumped around a bit before taking a running leap towards the next building, her foot catching just the edge of the roof to give her the right amount of leverage.
Not stopping for a breath, she kept running for the next building, going from rooftop to rooftop in a matter of seconds before she got to the building the car was next to. Peaking over the edge, she counted how many walkers she had to take out to get to the car, thankful that it was a small number and could take them out easily without attracting more. Scanning the rooftop, she didn’t see any door to go inside the building and, while she wanted to see if she could scavenged anything, Tyler wasn’t about to do a James Bond and smash through one of the windows.
Forcing herself to forget about the potential supplies, she made her way over to where she believed to be a fire escape - only to find there wasn’t one. Every building so far had a fire escape, why would this one not have one?! Tyler rolled her eyes in exasperation and decided to just take the drop, not even looking for a dumpster or anything to break her fall, swinging herself over the edge and made sure to keep her knees bent as she let go, doing a tuck-and-roll when she landed.
Taking a short moment to gather herself and test her limbs, checking to see if she broke or sprained anything, and when that was all clear, she unsheathed her machete, stalking towards the road in a low crouch. Double-checking her surroundings, she made sure she was alone before leaving her packs behind to deal with the walkers, her machete slicing through their skull like butter, dispatching all ten of them in a matter of seconds, her movements graceful and deadly.
Tyler didn’t even break her formation when they were all on the ground, she went directly to the driver’s door, wrenching it open and dragged the deceased driver from it’s seat, stomping on it’s head with a powerful thrust. Ignoring the stench of death and blood-soaked seats, she tried starting the car; it gave a couple pitiful tries before it caught and woke up with a roar, Tyler grinning with success. Darting out, she grabbed her packs and threw them in the back, slamming the door behind her and booked it out of the city, running over a few walkers in the process.
At the moment, Tyler didn’t care that the car was almost out of gas - there were plenty of cars leading out of the city she could syphon from. She just had to find one of those gas cans and a hose. Again, something Tyler was sure she could find on the highway and if she didn’t, she knew where to find one.
Rick had left his gas can behind at the farm house, figuring someone else might need it, since he could no longer use it. Tyler judged how far that house was and knew she’d be able to make it, hopefully with enough gas to make it back. If not, she’d have to go somewhere else.
Tyler just had to get out of Atlanta, the echo of her sister’s absence lingered around her as she sped down the highway. She knew Dylan wouldn’t stay in the city, she would retreat to the woods and that should’ve been the first place she went to. But Tyler had to see. Had to see what the city had become. Had to see what they assigned her sister to defend.
A city full of the dead.