Fic [Supernatural/The Walking Dead] Walk among the Cobras 3/3
Title: Walk among the Cobras
Artist: caluk
Disclaimer: Pure-blooded fiction
Type: Gen/R
Word Count: 15,023
Characters/Pairings: Dean, Sam, Daryl Dixon, Merle Dixon
Warnings: Violence, gore, language, character death
Spoilers: Season 1 of The Walking Dead and season 5 of Supernatural
Summary: Atlanta, Georgia. February 2011. It had been several months since the disease spread all over the country. The handful of people who haven’t been infected with the virus, yet, are hiding from the world.
Sam and Dean Winchester investigate the case of what they first think are their ordinary monsters, but what they find, is something else entirely, and will destroy everything they have been working for.
Author’s Notes: Written for sncross_bigbang 2011. Title taken from a song by Dan Sartain.
Sources for some info are the internet and The Official Supernatural Companion Guide Season 4.
“I knew it wouldn’t be such a bad idea to break the windows,” Merle said almost giddy.
“You did that?” Sam asked. “So, Daryl was right. He knew you would do something like that to make it easier for him to find you in the City.”
“I didn’t know which windows led to the streets, so I just took what I could find and threw all in.” Merle started to laugh. “Ha! That’s my brother. He knows me too well. But I guess you know what I’m talking about, when you’ve got a brother, as well.”
“Oh yeah,” Sam said with a smile and kept himself from rolling his eyes.
Merle leaned against the wall under the broken window with his back and held his entwined hands in front of himself.
“Ready?” he asked Sam who stood right in front of him.
Sam nodded and held onto Merle’s shoulders when he put his left foot into Merle’s hands. He pushed himself up and with Merle’s help, he could reach the window. With the sleeve of his jacket, he pushed the rest of the glass out, so he could easily grab the frame without hurting himself and pulled himself up, until his upper body hung half on the other side.
The window led to another storage room, Sam could see now. It was a little darker in there than in the room they had been in the whole time, but Sam also couldn’t see any movement. He guessed it was safe to go in.
Right under the window, there were boxes; in fact almost the complete room was packed with those, so it was easy for Sam to slip through the window and stand on top of the boxes. He looked back down to Merle.
“Let me see if I can find a rope or something to get you over here,” he said and when Merle only nodded, Sam started to look around.
In the rush, he couldn’t find a rope or chains or such, which he could use so Merle could climb up on them, but Sam noticed that almost all the boxes were covered with some sort of blanket. That would do the trick, too, he thought.
He jumped from the boxes that stood right under the window, grabbed two blankets and knodded them together. Then, he climbed back onto the boxes and threw the improvised rope down to Merle, while he held the other end in his hands.
“Grab the blanket,” he told Merle.”I’ll pull you up.”
Merle wound his end of the blanket around his left hand once and got a hold of it with his right hand a little further up. Sam also grabbed the blanket tight and got ready himself. Then, Merle used his feet to push himself up against the wall and slowly, but steady, climbed up to the window. Up there, Sam leaned backwards, so he could hold Merle with his own weight pushing against the pull.
It took them a moment, but eventually, Merle could get a hold of the window frame and then Sam grabbed him by the arm and pulled him into the other room where he took a look around himself.
“Okay,” he breathed exerted. “Where are we now?”
Sam already jumped down the boxes again until he had solid ground beneath his feet.
“Another storage room, I guess. There’s no other window, but maybe we can open the door.”
Sam tried it, but it didn’t open.
“Locked. Naturally.”
“Maybe if we both push against it,” Merle suggested.
“It’s worth a shot, that’s for sure,” Sam said, but then he stopped in his movements when something in the corner of his eye caught his attention.
He took a few steps back until he stood right in front of a large box. Again and again, for what felt like an eternity, he read the letters.
NIVEUS PHARMACEUTICALS
It took a second for Sam to understand what it meant, but then realization hit him.
“This can’t be,” he said more to himself, almost inaudible.
“What is it?” Merle asked and stepped aside him.
“This company,” Sam started. “Do you know anything about it?”
Merle read the name himself but shook his head.
“Never heard of it in my life. What is it? Meds?”
“I wouldn’t call it that,” Sam said harsh. “My brother and I have come across them before. They developed a vaccine for the swine flu, but actually it…”
“It what?” Merle asked further.
“It’s more like a virus that… It changes the people. They become…” Sam stopped in mid-sentence, turned his head to the door and from the outside, they could hear the moans. Merle followed his gaze.
“What? That? This here is responsible for all the people becoming infected?”
Sam could see the anger and surprise in Merle’s face and tried to calm him before he did something inconsiderately.
“I’m not sure. We should try and get out of here and find my brother and Daryl.”
Upset, Merle said loudly, “Damn right! I’m not sitting in this fishbowl a second longer!”
When he was about to walk straight towards the door and when Sam thought that he was about to kick it in, they heard footsteps coming closer to the door.
~~~~~
Dean and Daryl had climbed the ladder back down and now waited at the corner and watched the streets, which were still crowded with infected people. It didn’t seem that there was an easy way through.
“Well, that’s gonna be fun,” Dean said sarcastically. “Should we split up?” He asked Daryl but kept his eyes on the threat in front of him.
“I’ll go first,” Daryl announced. “You follow close behind. It’ll be easier if we don’t touch or hit them when we pass them.”
“You think they won’t notice us then?”
“Oh, they’ll notice us,” Daryl said. “But we’ll be fast and outrun them. Just like I said.”
“Don’t take it personal, but just because you said it, it doesn’t make me feel any better.”
“Try to keep up,” Daryl said and was on the main street in no time.”
“Son of a…”
Dean jumped to his feet, as well, and followed Daryl. Now, running in the midst of the infected, it was something completely different than watching them from the sidelines. Their moans were much louder and the smell! Dean thought that he would never get that smell out of his clothes or his nose, or his mind for a very long time. It was like rotten meat, mixed with the sweet smell of death. Only that these people were walking around, but he could swear that they looked like dead.
Inevitably, the thought of Sam came to his mind, changed like them, and Dean shuddered. No! He would rather kill them all himself before he let Sam become one of them.
In the front, he saw Daryl raise his crossbow and silently fire an arrow that struck one woman to his right in the head. She dropped to the floor almost unnoticed. Some of the infected that stood close by seemed to have noticed that something was going on though, and started walking in Daryl’s direction. Dean kept following and hoped that he didn’t have to use his shotgun. The shot would alarm them all. He could see now that even a single disturbance like a body quietly dropping to the ground had them on the edge.
Dean watched Daryl take out two more and loading his crossbow again while running, until he was grabbed hard on his left arm. Dean shot around and looked in the most disturbing face he had ever seen. The eyes were missing and the flesh hang loosely from the bone. The mouth was one gaping hole with only some of the teeth left. You could hardly tell that this had been a person before.
In one swift move, Dean turned around and hit the woman - at least he guessed that it had been a woman - with the barrel of his shotgun against the jaw. It broke and then only some muscle and sinew held it in place. The woman didn’t seem to be affected much by it but for a split second, she stumbled and that gave Dean the time to increase his run once more and he caught up with Daryl.
“The door on the left,” Daryl said in between breaths when they got closer to the building. “We’ll kick it in and lock it from the inside again.”
“What makes you think none of them are in there?” Dean asked.
“I don’t know what is in there.”
As best as he could, Dean sighed heavily. “I really don’t like the way you think!”
~~~~~
Sam grabbed Merle by his shirt first and then by his arm and pulled him backwards again, behind one of the boxes.
“Get back here!” He yelled.
They heard the footsteps coming closer to the door. It sounded like more than one person running. But before Sam could think about it any further, the door burst open with a loud thud and was almost lifted off its hinges.
“Dean?!” He said half surprised, half relieved to see his brother again.
“Help us, Sam!” Dean yelled.
Then, he threw his bag and the shotgun he was holding on the ground and helped Daryl grab the door to push it back into place. Sam and Merle came out of their hiding place and Sam pointed to one of the boxes and together, they pushed it against the door. Only a few seconds after they had done that, they heard the loud moans of the infected and their fists, as they were pounding against the wood.
Exhausted, the four of them fell back. Dean bent forward, leaned with his hands on his knees and took some deep breaths.
“Dean,” Sam said and Dean looked up to him. “Man, it’s good to see you!”
Dean laughed once. “Did you really think I would let my little brother become zombie fodder?”
Next to them, Daryl and Merle stood in front of each other, a relieved look on both their faces, and then they leaned in and hugged and patted their backs.
“I knew you’d come,” Merle said into Daryl’s ear.
“Sure thing, brother. But alright,” Daryl said and parted from Merle. “Now, how do we get out of here?”
“There’s something you need to see first, Dean,” Sam said addressing his brother. “Here,” he pointed to the boxes around them and especially to the one right next to him, from which he had pulled the blanket before.
Dean read the imprint on the box.
“Well, this looks familiar,” he said with a very surprised tone in his voice.
“It’s the virus,” Sam said agitated. “It must be!”
“It would explain this mess, alright.”
“What are you talking about?” Daryl asked.
“This stuff here,” Dean explained and pointed at the boxes around them, disgusted, “was told to be some kind of medicine, but it’s actually a virus. A virus that turns people into that.” And with that he pointed with his chin towards the door.
“Is there an antidote?”
“I’m afraid there isn’t. Not that we know of,” Sam sad sadly.
“So, what do we do about it?” Daryl asked in a desperate tone, at a loss for words.
Merle pulled out a lighter.
“For starters, I say we burn this crap to the ground!”
“I agree,” Dean said. “But first, we really ought to get out of here.”
The door wasn’t an option anymore, with the infected outside. The way back through the broken window into the other room seemed to be the only way out. But what if the infected broke through the door there, as well? They had to come up with something else.
“What about the roof?” Daryl asked. “We could get some of the boxes together, climb up and remove some of the wooden panels.
Sam looked up, considered it and said then, “The wood does indeed look old and brittle.”
“Well,” Dean started with a mock grin in his face, “then lucky for us that I brought a crowbar.”
He retrieved one from his bag and smiled.
They started pushing some larger boxes together, with smaller ones around, on which they could step to build their escape route a little higher. Sam had also started to open some of the boxes and after he had taken a closer look at the viles inside, he carefully set them aside and took all the filling out. It was straw and would be a great use for burning material. The flames would take over the entire building quickly.
When Sam started to arrange the straw in the whole room, he watched Dean kneeling down and taking one of the viles in his hand, inspecting the ordinary looking liquid himself.
“Careful with that,” Sam said and stepped next to him. “We don’t know how sensitive it is.”
“We should take some of it with us,” Dean said. “For Bobby to examine, or something.”
Sam thought about it for a moment. He guessed that it wouldn’t hurt to know what was really in that.
“Alright. Here,” he said and took off his plaid shirt which he was wearing above a white t-shirt.
He took the vile from Dean’s hand and tenderly wrapped it into his shirt. Carefully, he placed it into Dean’s bag.
“You guys ready?” Merle asked, while Daryl already stood on top of the tower of boxes and tried to remove one of the boards in the roof.
“I think we should distract them, or something,” Dean mentioned. “So they don’t hear us on the roof and surround the building. If they haven’t done that already,” he added.
“I’ll do that,” Merle offered. “And then I’ll light this place up.”
“I got two out now,” Daryl said from above. “One more and we should fit through.”
“Alright,” Sam shouted up to him.
Dean already took the bag and their shotguns and climbed after Daryl. Sam turned to Merle and gave him a smaller gun.
“Just in case,” he said.
“I’ll be right behind you,” Merle said to Sam. “You better go up, too.”
Sam nodded and turned around. Then he heard Merle shout loudly as he also hammered against the door. Outside, they could hear as the crowd got wilder and more enthusiastic to get inside to them.
That should do the trick, Merle thought, and started to climb the boxes himself. Behind, he heard wood creak and knew that it wouldn’t be much longer and the infected were through.
On the top of the boxes, Daryl was the first to push himself up through the hole and then he crouched down on the roof. A quick glance on either side of the building told him that their diversion seemed to have worked. Only a handful of infected stood on the other side where they had planned to climb down and escape. Them, they could handle.
Dean was next and then Sam. There were some old, rusty drains on the side of the building. Dean tried one of them on its stability.
“This should work,” he said and started to climb down carefully.
“Where’s Merle?” Daryl asked when Sam came through the hole.
Sam looked back down and saw that Merle had started climbing up the boxes.
“He’s right behind me. Come on,” he said and touched Daryl’s shoulder to indicate that he was next to go down after Dean.
“Dean could use your crossbow down there,” he added.
Daryl waited one more second but when he was sure that Merle was coming, too, he started climbing down the drain. Sam looked down to Merle one more time and saw that Merle was about to throw his lighter down into the straw.
The second it hit the ground, though, the door broke open and the infected shuffled in. Merle turned around and climbed the last two boxes until he reached the hole.
“Come on!” Sam yelled and reached out to him.
“It’s alright, I’m almost there!” Merle yelled back. “Go and get to the others,” he ordered.
As Sam was sure that Merle was okay, he did as he said and climbed down the drain, too. Down on the ground, Daryl had started to shoot the handful infected with his crossbow, so they could escape to the woods in the hills unnoticed and unharmed.
“Where’s Merle?” Daryl asked Sam again.
“He’s alright. He’s coming,” Sam assured him. “The infected just broke through when he lit the…”
All of a sudden, a heavy eruption interrupted Sam, and when the three of them looked up to the building, smoke and flames came shooting through the rooftop.
“Merle!” Daryl shouted.
Merle was nowhere to be seen.
“Merle!” Daryl yelled again and was about to enter the house again when Sam held him back.
“No! That’s suicide!”
“I’m not leaving him!”
Another darting flame came through the windows and more black smoke exited the building.
“Come on!” Dean yelled, ran back and took Daryl by his other arm and together, he and Sam dragged Daryl back into the safety of the forest.
Daryl fought with all his might though.
“Let go! I’ve gotta get to him! Let me…!” But then he stopped shouting at Dean and Sam and said instead, “There he is! Merle!” He yelled.
From a distance, Merle came running up the hill as well, and waved at Daryl, showing that he was okay.
Sam and Dean let go of Daryl as soon as they were up the hill and also saw that Merle came running after them. Behind him, high flames burned the sky and the fire took everything that it could in its wake.
Exhausted, Merle arrived where the others waited for him, at the fringe of the forest. He broke down on his knees and coughed like madly. Daryl was at his side as fast as he could.
“Merle! Are you alright?” He asked worried.
Merle coughed again but then he managed to say, “Yeah. Just… the smoke.”
“Your legs!” Dean gasped.
Merle rolled on his back and grimaced in pain.
“The fire… It got out of control a bit too quickly.” Despite the pain and everything, he managed a quick laugh. “But I saw that it burned some of these fuckers, as well.”
“Come on, sit up,” Daryl said and helped him sit up straight.
When he touched Merle’s arm though, he cried out in pain.
“I lost my balance when the fire erupted inside and fell off the roof,” Merle said. “I think it’s dislocated. But it’s okay, I’ll live.”
Sam crouched down besides Merle and started to examine his legs. Both his shins and feet were slightly burned and bloody. But when Sam carefully lifted the fabric from the skin, he discovered something else, as well.
“Merle? Have you been bitten?” He asked.
Daryl and Dean’s heads shot up and first looked at Sam and then at Merle, who sighed and looked down.
“Merle…?” Daryl started.
“After I fell,” Merle remembered and explained. “I must’ve been… unconscious or something for a minute. I felt this… pain, all of a sudden, and when I opened my eyes, this skank was sucking on me.”
Daryl sank back on his feet and sat then on the grass next to Merle, stunned and in shock.
“No…,” he breathed.
“I almost kicked her head off her shoulders and then I came after you guys,” Merle finished.
“I should’ve stayed behind,” Sam said, feeling guilty.
“Damn right, you should have!” Daryl shouted at him. “I asked you and you said Merle was right behind you!”
“He was…”
“Hey,” Dean interrupted their fight. “There’s no use of bashing our own heads in now.”
“He’s right,” Merle said calmly. “Could you give us a minute?” He asked Sam and Dean.
Silently, they stood up and walked a bit away from Daryl and Merle.
“Damn it,” Dean swore silently as he watched the two brothers.
“Yeah,” Sam only said, and then he turned around and walked a bit further away from the scene to give them some privacy.
For what seemed like a very long while, neither Daryl nor Merle said a thing. They sat in silence next to each other, not looking into each others’ faces. Then Merle, broke the quiet.
“You know what I’ll have to do now, little brother,” he said calmly.
“No,” Daryl answered. “You’re gonna be alright.”
Merle almost laughed. “You know I won’t be. You saw what it did to our family and friends. Do you remember when this one drinking buddy of mine got scratched by that hooker girl?”
“You mean the one who looked like trash even before she was turned?” He asked with a smile.
“That’s the one,” Merle said amused, but went on more serious. “Frankie flipped only hours later. And he was only scratched, Daryl. You know I can’t become of those things!”
“I won’t let you!”
“Then you do it,” Merle said.
That was when Daryl finally really looked at his brother again.
“No!” He said enraged. “You’re out of your mind!”
“That’s exactly what I don’t wanna become!” Merle shouted back at him.
Then, Merle took the gun Sam had given him before from the back of his belt and held it in front of Daryl.
“Do it,” he demanded. Then he moaned and fell backwards into the grass.
“What is it?” Daryl asked and was by his side immediately.
“It’s starting. I can feel it. The pain… It feels as if my entrails are burning up and my legs…” He moaned again, holding his stomach with his healthy arm. “I can’t even feel my legs anymore. Like they aren’t even there.”
“Hang on,” Daryl said and was about to jump up to get help from Sam and Dean.
“Wait,” Merle said and grabbed Daryl’s arm. “No, don’t get them. You have to, Daryl. You have to kill me. Now.”
“No, I can’t do that, Merle,” Daryl’s words were almost only a whisper. “I can’t do that to you.”
“You’ll be saving me.”
“But you’re my brother! Could you shoot me?” He asked him.
“Yes,” Merle answered without hesitation. “If it was you, I’d do it. Because I wouldn’t want that for you.”
Daryl closed his eyes and lowered his head. His hands grabbed the fabric of his jeans tight, so Merle wouldn’t notice them shaking. He wouldn’t admit it, but of course, he was scared. Merle was all he had left. How could Merle demand of him now to kill him?
“I can’t,” he said again, but quieter now.
Merle didn’t listen and put the gun in Daryl’s hand nevertheless.
“You can,” he simply said, and with that, the subject was closed for him.
For just a moment longer, Daryl just sat there, thinking. But if he was honest to himself, he had known the answer to it all before they even started aguing.
He didn’t say anything more to Merle, just looked at him, took his hand and held it for a second. Merle nodded, closed his eyes and waited.
Sam and Dean both shot around when they heard the shot. They didn’t run to Daryl who kept sitting with his brother a moment longer, still holding his hand and with his head held low, but instead gave him time to say goodbye. They both knew very well what it meant to lose a brother.
All of a sudden, though, Dean got nervous and looked straight ahead.
“Sam, we should leave. Now!”
Following his gaze, Sam saw a large group of people coming their way.
“The gunshot must’ve alarmed them. Come on, we have to get Daryl and then let’s get out of here!”
“Daryl!” Sam said and crouched next to him. “Daryl, we have to go. They’re coming.”
First, he didn’t answer Sam, but then Darly said, “Thought so. Let them come.”
He looked up and ahead and in his eyes lay only anger and hatred.
“I know how you feel right now, Daryl, but those are too many. We can’t take them all. We have to leave.”
Daryl knew that Sam was right, so he slowly got up. He picked up his crossbow and turned around, facing the forest. He didn’t even look at Merle for one last time.
Daryl seemed more relaxed and calmer now when he said considerate, “We have to go further up the hill. They won’t follow us there, until maybe nightfall. Then, we should move again.”
And he was right. A few hundred meters up the hill and it was almost dead quiet around them again. They came to a road when Dean remembered something.
“The car should be here somewhere. I would say we go there, get some rest, and as soon as it gets dark, we leave. You can come with us, Daryl,” Dean said to him.
“I don’t know. I don’t think so. Remember what I told you when we met?”
“That this was your City,” Sam said with a slight smile. “Was that really only just yesterday?”
“You can’t seriously mean to stay!” Dean said surprised. “After everything that happened!”
“Exactly,” Darly said. “Exactly because of everything that happened. I don’t know if I stand a chance but I have to try. I don’t think I got anything more to lose.”
“How about your life?” Dean asked mockingly.
Daryl snorted and stepped closer to Dean. “Yeah. Like that would hold you back.” He looked to Sam and back to Dean.
Dean followed his look and eventually had to agree with him. “I guess you’re right.”
He held his hand out to Daryl who took it. Then, Daryl walked over to Sam.
“I’m sorry we couldn’t save Merle,” Sam said apologetically.
“I’m sorry, too,” Daryl said and also shook Sam’s hand.
“Take care,” Sam said.
“You, too.”
Again, Daryl didn’t look back when he left. He walked straight into the woods and after a short while, Dean and Sam couldn’t see him anymore.
“I hope he makes it through this,” Sam said.
Together, he and Dean followed the road in what they thought was the direction where they had parked the Impala, and really, after an hour, they found it. Untouched, it still stood where they had left it. Dean sighed deeply when he sat into the driver’s seat.
“Feels good to be home. You know what’s funny?” He added. “We made it through this without firing one round.”
“Huh…,” was all Sam could think of to say to this.
“Honestly, I didn’t think this was possible, considering who we were facing,” Dean said astonished.
“We should leave soon,” Sam said after a moment.
“I guess you’re right. We shouldn’t stay here any longer than necessary. Who knows if they aren’t after us already. You know, sniffing us out like bloodhounds. Literally.”
“Let’s go then.”
Dean started the car and they drove further down the road, which Dean thought would lead them to the main road that led out of the City. Of course, then, they would follow it down the opposite direction, away from this madness. Dean thought that he wouldn’t really want to visit Atlanta anytime soon again.
On a high point of the mountain, they could overview almost the whole City and they stopped to look down at it again, one last time. But what they saw, gave them chills to their bones. It looked like a herd of wild animals, trapped within the City, but with the gates open. They could leave, but they never did. They had overtaken Atlanta and now they were just waiting for a poor soul to cross their territory. Fresh blood. New fodder for the beasts.
“I can’t believe this, Dean. It’s like nothing we ever encountered. How can we stop this?”
Dean shook his head. “Honestly? I have no idea.”
After a moment, he added, “Hey, do you see that?”
Dean pointed at a small group of people on their way back into the City. They were dragging something behind.
“Are those the ones who came after us?”
Dean focused on them. “I guess. They’re coming from the forest. What do they have there?” He squinted his eyes, but couldn’t really make it out.
“Oh my god!” Sam breathed out. “That’s Merle,” he said and gulped. “They’ve got Merle.”
“You cannot be serious!” Dean was furious. “He’s dead! What could they possibly still want with his body?”
“I rather not think out it,” Sam said and turned around.
When the group had made it back into the City and joined the others, it almost sounded as if the crowd was cheering. Loud moans could be heard and the masses pressed together to where they had put Merle’s lifeless body.
Dean, as well, couldn’t look at this scenario any longer and wanted to join Sam in the Impala again. But before he turned away, he took one last long look at the City below and said out loud,
“This is the end.”
~~~~~
Five years in the future, the Croatoan virus had taken over most parts of the world and was still coming on strong. Not very much longer and mankind would be extinguished because of it, and only the walking dead would roam the earth.
At this point, it didn’t look like there was a way back to normal, to what the world had been before people got infected and kept infecting those who had gotten away, so far. Life as it had been known was over, and it wouldn’t ever be the same again.
In this no man’s land, Daryl Dixon was walking alone on an empty street with nothing but the clothes on his body, a crossbow in his hand and a small bag slung over one shoulder, filled with only the most necessary things he needed these days.
He must have been walking for days now, but he knew he was close to the end of his journey, to what he was looking for. Or actually, who.
After several more hours of this new day, of which he didn’t yet know that it would be the last of his long journey, he arrived at the gates to a secured area. Almost immediately, two guys with shotguns appeared on the other side of the fence.
“What do you want?” One of them asked harsh, his gun slightly pointed in Daryl’s direction.
Daryl looked up and said calm, “I’m looking for Dean Winchester.”
Part 1 ~ Part 2
Artist: caluk
Disclaimer: Pure-blooded fiction
Type: Gen/R
Word Count: 15,023
Characters/Pairings: Dean, Sam, Daryl Dixon, Merle Dixon
Warnings: Violence, gore, language, character death
Spoilers: Season 1 of The Walking Dead and season 5 of Supernatural
Summary: Atlanta, Georgia. February 2011. It had been several months since the disease spread all over the country. The handful of people who haven’t been infected with the virus, yet, are hiding from the world.
Sam and Dean Winchester investigate the case of what they first think are their ordinary monsters, but what they find, is something else entirely, and will destroy everything they have been working for.
Author’s Notes: Written for sncross_bigbang 2011. Title taken from a song by Dan Sartain.
Sources for some info are the internet and The Official Supernatural Companion Guide Season 4.
“I knew it wouldn’t be such a bad idea to break the windows,” Merle said almost giddy.
“You did that?” Sam asked. “So, Daryl was right. He knew you would do something like that to make it easier for him to find you in the City.”
“I didn’t know which windows led to the streets, so I just took what I could find and threw all in.” Merle started to laugh. “Ha! That’s my brother. He knows me too well. But I guess you know what I’m talking about, when you’ve got a brother, as well.”
“Oh yeah,” Sam said with a smile and kept himself from rolling his eyes.
Merle leaned against the wall under the broken window with his back and held his entwined hands in front of himself.
“Ready?” he asked Sam who stood right in front of him.
Sam nodded and held onto Merle’s shoulders when he put his left foot into Merle’s hands. He pushed himself up and with Merle’s help, he could reach the window. With the sleeve of his jacket, he pushed the rest of the glass out, so he could easily grab the frame without hurting himself and pulled himself up, until his upper body hung half on the other side.
The window led to another storage room, Sam could see now. It was a little darker in there than in the room they had been in the whole time, but Sam also couldn’t see any movement. He guessed it was safe to go in.
Right under the window, there were boxes; in fact almost the complete room was packed with those, so it was easy for Sam to slip through the window and stand on top of the boxes. He looked back down to Merle.
“Let me see if I can find a rope or something to get you over here,” he said and when Merle only nodded, Sam started to look around.
In the rush, he couldn’t find a rope or chains or such, which he could use so Merle could climb up on them, but Sam noticed that almost all the boxes were covered with some sort of blanket. That would do the trick, too, he thought.
He jumped from the boxes that stood right under the window, grabbed two blankets and knodded them together. Then, he climbed back onto the boxes and threw the improvised rope down to Merle, while he held the other end in his hands.
“Grab the blanket,” he told Merle.”I’ll pull you up.”
Merle wound his end of the blanket around his left hand once and got a hold of it with his right hand a little further up. Sam also grabbed the blanket tight and got ready himself. Then, Merle used his feet to push himself up against the wall and slowly, but steady, climbed up to the window. Up there, Sam leaned backwards, so he could hold Merle with his own weight pushing against the pull.
It took them a moment, but eventually, Merle could get a hold of the window frame and then Sam grabbed him by the arm and pulled him into the other room where he took a look around himself.
“Okay,” he breathed exerted. “Where are we now?”
Sam already jumped down the boxes again until he had solid ground beneath his feet.
“Another storage room, I guess. There’s no other window, but maybe we can open the door.”
Sam tried it, but it didn’t open.
“Locked. Naturally.”
“Maybe if we both push against it,” Merle suggested.
“It’s worth a shot, that’s for sure,” Sam said, but then he stopped in his movements when something in the corner of his eye caught his attention.
He took a few steps back until he stood right in front of a large box. Again and again, for what felt like an eternity, he read the letters.
NIVEUS PHARMACEUTICALS
It took a second for Sam to understand what it meant, but then realization hit him.
“This can’t be,” he said more to himself, almost inaudible.
“What is it?” Merle asked and stepped aside him.
“This company,” Sam started. “Do you know anything about it?”
Merle read the name himself but shook his head.
“Never heard of it in my life. What is it? Meds?”
“I wouldn’t call it that,” Sam said harsh. “My brother and I have come across them before. They developed a vaccine for the swine flu, but actually it…”
“It what?” Merle asked further.
“It’s more like a virus that… It changes the people. They become…” Sam stopped in mid-sentence, turned his head to the door and from the outside, they could hear the moans. Merle followed his gaze.
“What? That? This here is responsible for all the people becoming infected?”
Sam could see the anger and surprise in Merle’s face and tried to calm him before he did something inconsiderately.
“I’m not sure. We should try and get out of here and find my brother and Daryl.”
Upset, Merle said loudly, “Damn right! I’m not sitting in this fishbowl a second longer!”
When he was about to walk straight towards the door and when Sam thought that he was about to kick it in, they heard footsteps coming closer to the door.
~~~~~
Dean and Daryl had climbed the ladder back down and now waited at the corner and watched the streets, which were still crowded with infected people. It didn’t seem that there was an easy way through.
“Well, that’s gonna be fun,” Dean said sarcastically. “Should we split up?” He asked Daryl but kept his eyes on the threat in front of him.
“I’ll go first,” Daryl announced. “You follow close behind. It’ll be easier if we don’t touch or hit them when we pass them.”
“You think they won’t notice us then?”
“Oh, they’ll notice us,” Daryl said. “But we’ll be fast and outrun them. Just like I said.”
“Don’t take it personal, but just because you said it, it doesn’t make me feel any better.”
“Try to keep up,” Daryl said and was on the main street in no time.”
“Son of a…”
Dean jumped to his feet, as well, and followed Daryl. Now, running in the midst of the infected, it was something completely different than watching them from the sidelines. Their moans were much louder and the smell! Dean thought that he would never get that smell out of his clothes or his nose, or his mind for a very long time. It was like rotten meat, mixed with the sweet smell of death. Only that these people were walking around, but he could swear that they looked like dead.
Inevitably, the thought of Sam came to his mind, changed like them, and Dean shuddered. No! He would rather kill them all himself before he let Sam become one of them.
In the front, he saw Daryl raise his crossbow and silently fire an arrow that struck one woman to his right in the head. She dropped to the floor almost unnoticed. Some of the infected that stood close by seemed to have noticed that something was going on though, and started walking in Daryl’s direction. Dean kept following and hoped that he didn’t have to use his shotgun. The shot would alarm them all. He could see now that even a single disturbance like a body quietly dropping to the ground had them on the edge.
Dean watched Daryl take out two more and loading his crossbow again while running, until he was grabbed hard on his left arm. Dean shot around and looked in the most disturbing face he had ever seen. The eyes were missing and the flesh hang loosely from the bone. The mouth was one gaping hole with only some of the teeth left. You could hardly tell that this had been a person before.
In one swift move, Dean turned around and hit the woman - at least he guessed that it had been a woman - with the barrel of his shotgun against the jaw. It broke and then only some muscle and sinew held it in place. The woman didn’t seem to be affected much by it but for a split second, she stumbled and that gave Dean the time to increase his run once more and he caught up with Daryl.
“The door on the left,” Daryl said in between breaths when they got closer to the building. “We’ll kick it in and lock it from the inside again.”
“What makes you think none of them are in there?” Dean asked.
“I don’t know what is in there.”
As best as he could, Dean sighed heavily. “I really don’t like the way you think!”
~~~~~
Sam grabbed Merle by his shirt first and then by his arm and pulled him backwards again, behind one of the boxes.
“Get back here!” He yelled.
They heard the footsteps coming closer to the door. It sounded like more than one person running. But before Sam could think about it any further, the door burst open with a loud thud and was almost lifted off its hinges.
“Dean?!” He said half surprised, half relieved to see his brother again.
“Help us, Sam!” Dean yelled.
Then, he threw his bag and the shotgun he was holding on the ground and helped Daryl grab the door to push it back into place. Sam and Merle came out of their hiding place and Sam pointed to one of the boxes and together, they pushed it against the door. Only a few seconds after they had done that, they heard the loud moans of the infected and their fists, as they were pounding against the wood.
Exhausted, the four of them fell back. Dean bent forward, leaned with his hands on his knees and took some deep breaths.
“Dean,” Sam said and Dean looked up to him. “Man, it’s good to see you!”
Dean laughed once. “Did you really think I would let my little brother become zombie fodder?”
Next to them, Daryl and Merle stood in front of each other, a relieved look on both their faces, and then they leaned in and hugged and patted their backs.
“I knew you’d come,” Merle said into Daryl’s ear.
“Sure thing, brother. But alright,” Daryl said and parted from Merle. “Now, how do we get out of here?”
“There’s something you need to see first, Dean,” Sam said addressing his brother. “Here,” he pointed to the boxes around them and especially to the one right next to him, from which he had pulled the blanket before.
Dean read the imprint on the box.
“Well, this looks familiar,” he said with a very surprised tone in his voice.
“It’s the virus,” Sam said agitated. “It must be!”
“It would explain this mess, alright.”
“What are you talking about?” Daryl asked.
“This stuff here,” Dean explained and pointed at the boxes around them, disgusted, “was told to be some kind of medicine, but it’s actually a virus. A virus that turns people into that.” And with that he pointed with his chin towards the door.
“Is there an antidote?”
“I’m afraid there isn’t. Not that we know of,” Sam sad sadly.
“So, what do we do about it?” Daryl asked in a desperate tone, at a loss for words.
Merle pulled out a lighter.
“For starters, I say we burn this crap to the ground!”
“I agree,” Dean said. “But first, we really ought to get out of here.”
The door wasn’t an option anymore, with the infected outside. The way back through the broken window into the other room seemed to be the only way out. But what if the infected broke through the door there, as well? They had to come up with something else.
“What about the roof?” Daryl asked. “We could get some of the boxes together, climb up and remove some of the wooden panels.
Sam looked up, considered it and said then, “The wood does indeed look old and brittle.”
“Well,” Dean started with a mock grin in his face, “then lucky for us that I brought a crowbar.”
He retrieved one from his bag and smiled.
They started pushing some larger boxes together, with smaller ones around, on which they could step to build their escape route a little higher. Sam had also started to open some of the boxes and after he had taken a closer look at the viles inside, he carefully set them aside and took all the filling out. It was straw and would be a great use for burning material. The flames would take over the entire building quickly.
When Sam started to arrange the straw in the whole room, he watched Dean kneeling down and taking one of the viles in his hand, inspecting the ordinary looking liquid himself.
“Careful with that,” Sam said and stepped next to him. “We don’t know how sensitive it is.”
“We should take some of it with us,” Dean said. “For Bobby to examine, or something.”
Sam thought about it for a moment. He guessed that it wouldn’t hurt to know what was really in that.
“Alright. Here,” he said and took off his plaid shirt which he was wearing above a white t-shirt.
He took the vile from Dean’s hand and tenderly wrapped it into his shirt. Carefully, he placed it into Dean’s bag.
“You guys ready?” Merle asked, while Daryl already stood on top of the tower of boxes and tried to remove one of the boards in the roof.
“I think we should distract them, or something,” Dean mentioned. “So they don’t hear us on the roof and surround the building. If they haven’t done that already,” he added.
“I’ll do that,” Merle offered. “And then I’ll light this place up.”
“I got two out now,” Daryl said from above. “One more and we should fit through.”
“Alright,” Sam shouted up to him.
Dean already took the bag and their shotguns and climbed after Daryl. Sam turned to Merle and gave him a smaller gun.
“Just in case,” he said.
“I’ll be right behind you,” Merle said to Sam. “You better go up, too.”
Sam nodded and turned around. Then he heard Merle shout loudly as he also hammered against the door. Outside, they could hear as the crowd got wilder and more enthusiastic to get inside to them.
That should do the trick, Merle thought, and started to climb the boxes himself. Behind, he heard wood creak and knew that it wouldn’t be much longer and the infected were through.
On the top of the boxes, Daryl was the first to push himself up through the hole and then he crouched down on the roof. A quick glance on either side of the building told him that their diversion seemed to have worked. Only a handful of infected stood on the other side where they had planned to climb down and escape. Them, they could handle.
Dean was next and then Sam. There were some old, rusty drains on the side of the building. Dean tried one of them on its stability.
“This should work,” he said and started to climb down carefully.
“Where’s Merle?” Daryl asked when Sam came through the hole.
Sam looked back down and saw that Merle had started climbing up the boxes.
“He’s right behind me. Come on,” he said and touched Daryl’s shoulder to indicate that he was next to go down after Dean.
“Dean could use your crossbow down there,” he added.
Daryl waited one more second but when he was sure that Merle was coming, too, he started climbing down the drain. Sam looked down to Merle one more time and saw that Merle was about to throw his lighter down into the straw.
The second it hit the ground, though, the door broke open and the infected shuffled in. Merle turned around and climbed the last two boxes until he reached the hole.
“Come on!” Sam yelled and reached out to him.
“It’s alright, I’m almost there!” Merle yelled back. “Go and get to the others,” he ordered.
As Sam was sure that Merle was okay, he did as he said and climbed down the drain, too. Down on the ground, Daryl had started to shoot the handful infected with his crossbow, so they could escape to the woods in the hills unnoticed and unharmed.
“Where’s Merle?” Daryl asked Sam again.
“He’s alright. He’s coming,” Sam assured him. “The infected just broke through when he lit the…”
All of a sudden, a heavy eruption interrupted Sam, and when the three of them looked up to the building, smoke and flames came shooting through the rooftop.
“Merle!” Daryl shouted.
Merle was nowhere to be seen.
“Merle!” Daryl yelled again and was about to enter the house again when Sam held him back.
“No! That’s suicide!”
“I’m not leaving him!”
Another darting flame came through the windows and more black smoke exited the building.
“Come on!” Dean yelled, ran back and took Daryl by his other arm and together, he and Sam dragged Daryl back into the safety of the forest.
Daryl fought with all his might though.
“Let go! I’ve gotta get to him! Let me…!” But then he stopped shouting at Dean and Sam and said instead, “There he is! Merle!” He yelled.
From a distance, Merle came running up the hill as well, and waved at Daryl, showing that he was okay.
Sam and Dean let go of Daryl as soon as they were up the hill and also saw that Merle came running after them. Behind him, high flames burned the sky and the fire took everything that it could in its wake.
Exhausted, Merle arrived where the others waited for him, at the fringe of the forest. He broke down on his knees and coughed like madly. Daryl was at his side as fast as he could.
“Merle! Are you alright?” He asked worried.
Merle coughed again but then he managed to say, “Yeah. Just… the smoke.”
“Your legs!” Dean gasped.
Merle rolled on his back and grimaced in pain.
“The fire… It got out of control a bit too quickly.” Despite the pain and everything, he managed a quick laugh. “But I saw that it burned some of these fuckers, as well.”
“Come on, sit up,” Daryl said and helped him sit up straight.
When he touched Merle’s arm though, he cried out in pain.
“I lost my balance when the fire erupted inside and fell off the roof,” Merle said. “I think it’s dislocated. But it’s okay, I’ll live.”
Sam crouched down besides Merle and started to examine his legs. Both his shins and feet were slightly burned and bloody. But when Sam carefully lifted the fabric from the skin, he discovered something else, as well.
“Merle? Have you been bitten?” He asked.
Daryl and Dean’s heads shot up and first looked at Sam and then at Merle, who sighed and looked down.
“Merle…?” Daryl started.
“After I fell,” Merle remembered and explained. “I must’ve been… unconscious or something for a minute. I felt this… pain, all of a sudden, and when I opened my eyes, this skank was sucking on me.”
Daryl sank back on his feet and sat then on the grass next to Merle, stunned and in shock.
“No…,” he breathed.
“I almost kicked her head off her shoulders and then I came after you guys,” Merle finished.
“I should’ve stayed behind,” Sam said, feeling guilty.
“Damn right, you should have!” Daryl shouted at him. “I asked you and you said Merle was right behind you!”
“He was…”
“Hey,” Dean interrupted their fight. “There’s no use of bashing our own heads in now.”
“He’s right,” Merle said calmly. “Could you give us a minute?” He asked Sam and Dean.
Silently, they stood up and walked a bit away from Daryl and Merle.
“Damn it,” Dean swore silently as he watched the two brothers.
“Yeah,” Sam only said, and then he turned around and walked a bit further away from the scene to give them some privacy.
For what seemed like a very long while, neither Daryl nor Merle said a thing. They sat in silence next to each other, not looking into each others’ faces. Then Merle, broke the quiet.
“You know what I’ll have to do now, little brother,” he said calmly.
“No,” Daryl answered. “You’re gonna be alright.”
Merle almost laughed. “You know I won’t be. You saw what it did to our family and friends. Do you remember when this one drinking buddy of mine got scratched by that hooker girl?”
“You mean the one who looked like trash even before she was turned?” He asked with a smile.
“That’s the one,” Merle said amused, but went on more serious. “Frankie flipped only hours later. And he was only scratched, Daryl. You know I can’t become of those things!”
“I won’t let you!”
“Then you do it,” Merle said.
That was when Daryl finally really looked at his brother again.
“No!” He said enraged. “You’re out of your mind!”
“That’s exactly what I don’t wanna become!” Merle shouted back at him.
Then, Merle took the gun Sam had given him before from the back of his belt and held it in front of Daryl.
“Do it,” he demanded. Then he moaned and fell backwards into the grass.
“What is it?” Daryl asked and was by his side immediately.
“It’s starting. I can feel it. The pain… It feels as if my entrails are burning up and my legs…” He moaned again, holding his stomach with his healthy arm. “I can’t even feel my legs anymore. Like they aren’t even there.”
“Hang on,” Daryl said and was about to jump up to get help from Sam and Dean.
“Wait,” Merle said and grabbed Daryl’s arm. “No, don’t get them. You have to, Daryl. You have to kill me. Now.”
“No, I can’t do that, Merle,” Daryl’s words were almost only a whisper. “I can’t do that to you.”
“You’ll be saving me.”
“But you’re my brother! Could you shoot me?” He asked him.
“Yes,” Merle answered without hesitation. “If it was you, I’d do it. Because I wouldn’t want that for you.”
Daryl closed his eyes and lowered his head. His hands grabbed the fabric of his jeans tight, so Merle wouldn’t notice them shaking. He wouldn’t admit it, but of course, he was scared. Merle was all he had left. How could Merle demand of him now to kill him?
“I can’t,” he said again, but quieter now.
Merle didn’t listen and put the gun in Daryl’s hand nevertheless.
“You can,” he simply said, and with that, the subject was closed for him.
For just a moment longer, Daryl just sat there, thinking. But if he was honest to himself, he had known the answer to it all before they even started aguing.
He didn’t say anything more to Merle, just looked at him, took his hand and held it for a second. Merle nodded, closed his eyes and waited.
Sam and Dean both shot around when they heard the shot. They didn’t run to Daryl who kept sitting with his brother a moment longer, still holding his hand and with his head held low, but instead gave him time to say goodbye. They both knew very well what it meant to lose a brother.
All of a sudden, though, Dean got nervous and looked straight ahead.
“Sam, we should leave. Now!”
Following his gaze, Sam saw a large group of people coming their way.
“The gunshot must’ve alarmed them. Come on, we have to get Daryl and then let’s get out of here!”
“Daryl!” Sam said and crouched next to him. “Daryl, we have to go. They’re coming.”
First, he didn’t answer Sam, but then Darly said, “Thought so. Let them come.”
He looked up and ahead and in his eyes lay only anger and hatred.
“I know how you feel right now, Daryl, but those are too many. We can’t take them all. We have to leave.”
Daryl knew that Sam was right, so he slowly got up. He picked up his crossbow and turned around, facing the forest. He didn’t even look at Merle for one last time.
Daryl seemed more relaxed and calmer now when he said considerate, “We have to go further up the hill. They won’t follow us there, until maybe nightfall. Then, we should move again.”
And he was right. A few hundred meters up the hill and it was almost dead quiet around them again. They came to a road when Dean remembered something.
“The car should be here somewhere. I would say we go there, get some rest, and as soon as it gets dark, we leave. You can come with us, Daryl,” Dean said to him.
“I don’t know. I don’t think so. Remember what I told you when we met?”
“That this was your City,” Sam said with a slight smile. “Was that really only just yesterday?”
“You can’t seriously mean to stay!” Dean said surprised. “After everything that happened!”
“Exactly,” Darly said. “Exactly because of everything that happened. I don’t know if I stand a chance but I have to try. I don’t think I got anything more to lose.”
“How about your life?” Dean asked mockingly.
Daryl snorted and stepped closer to Dean. “Yeah. Like that would hold you back.” He looked to Sam and back to Dean.
Dean followed his look and eventually had to agree with him. “I guess you’re right.”
He held his hand out to Daryl who took it. Then, Daryl walked over to Sam.
“I’m sorry we couldn’t save Merle,” Sam said apologetically.
“I’m sorry, too,” Daryl said and also shook Sam’s hand.
“Take care,” Sam said.
“You, too.”
Again, Daryl didn’t look back when he left. He walked straight into the woods and after a short while, Dean and Sam couldn’t see him anymore.
“I hope he makes it through this,” Sam said.
Together, he and Dean followed the road in what they thought was the direction where they had parked the Impala, and really, after an hour, they found it. Untouched, it still stood where they had left it. Dean sighed deeply when he sat into the driver’s seat.
“Feels good to be home. You know what’s funny?” He added. “We made it through this without firing one round.”
“Huh…,” was all Sam could think of to say to this.
“Honestly, I didn’t think this was possible, considering who we were facing,” Dean said astonished.
“We should leave soon,” Sam said after a moment.
“I guess you’re right. We shouldn’t stay here any longer than necessary. Who knows if they aren’t after us already. You know, sniffing us out like bloodhounds. Literally.”
“Let’s go then.”
Dean started the car and they drove further down the road, which Dean thought would lead them to the main road that led out of the City. Of course, then, they would follow it down the opposite direction, away from this madness. Dean thought that he wouldn’t really want to visit Atlanta anytime soon again.
On a high point of the mountain, they could overview almost the whole City and they stopped to look down at it again, one last time. But what they saw, gave them chills to their bones. It looked like a herd of wild animals, trapped within the City, but with the gates open. They could leave, but they never did. They had overtaken Atlanta and now they were just waiting for a poor soul to cross their territory. Fresh blood. New fodder for the beasts.
“I can’t believe this, Dean. It’s like nothing we ever encountered. How can we stop this?”
Dean shook his head. “Honestly? I have no idea.”
After a moment, he added, “Hey, do you see that?”
Dean pointed at a small group of people on their way back into the City. They were dragging something behind.
“Are those the ones who came after us?”
Dean focused on them. “I guess. They’re coming from the forest. What do they have there?” He squinted his eyes, but couldn’t really make it out.
“Oh my god!” Sam breathed out. “That’s Merle,” he said and gulped. “They’ve got Merle.”
“You cannot be serious!” Dean was furious. “He’s dead! What could they possibly still want with his body?”
“I rather not think out it,” Sam said and turned around.
When the group had made it back into the City and joined the others, it almost sounded as if the crowd was cheering. Loud moans could be heard and the masses pressed together to where they had put Merle’s lifeless body.
Dean, as well, couldn’t look at this scenario any longer and wanted to join Sam in the Impala again. But before he turned away, he took one last long look at the City below and said out loud,
“This is the end.”
~~~~~
Five years in the future, the Croatoan virus had taken over most parts of the world and was still coming on strong. Not very much longer and mankind would be extinguished because of it, and only the walking dead would roam the earth.
At this point, it didn’t look like there was a way back to normal, to what the world had been before people got infected and kept infecting those who had gotten away, so far. Life as it had been known was over, and it wouldn’t ever be the same again.
In this no man’s land, Daryl Dixon was walking alone on an empty street with nothing but the clothes on his body, a crossbow in his hand and a small bag slung over one shoulder, filled with only the most necessary things he needed these days.
He must have been walking for days now, but he knew he was close to the end of his journey, to what he was looking for. Or actually, who.
After several more hours of this new day, of which he didn’t yet know that it would be the last of his long journey, he arrived at the gates to a secured area. Almost immediately, two guys with shotguns appeared on the other side of the fence.
“What do you want?” One of them asked harsh, his gun slightly pointed in Daryl’s direction.
Daryl looked up and said calm, “I’m looking for Dean Winchester.”
Part 1 ~ Part 2