digging graves// rick grimes x OC//

Guts Part 1

   After no response from the first set of questions, Glenn asks, "Hey, are you alive in there?"
"Hello? Hello?" Rick responds, finally, Winona lets out a breath she didn't know she was holding.
"There you are. You had me wondering."
"Where are you? Outside?" Rick asks frantically, Winona can tell he's still trying to stay calm but is really panicking. "Can you see me right now?"
"Yeah, I can see you. You're surrounded by walkers. That's the bad news."
"There's good news?" Rick asks.
"No," Glenn replies shortly, Winona snorts knowing he's joking.
"Listen, whoever you are, I don't mind telling you I'm a little concerned in here," Rick is starting to get frustrated.
"Oh man. you should see it from over here." Winona lightly hits Glenn on the shoulder. "You'd be having a major freak-out." Winona knows if she couldn't see the situation she, too, would be upset with Glenn, but she can tell he's a sweetheart and is currently trying to stall so he can think of a plan and not have Rick leave the tank without one.
"Got any advice for me?"
"Yeah, I'd say make a run for it." Winona starts to catch on to the plan, it's pretty risky.
"That's it? 'Make a run for it'?"
"My way's not as dumb as it sounds. You've got eyes on the outside here. There's one geek still up on the tank but the others have climbed down and joined the feeding frenzy where the horse went down. With me so far?" Winona notes how Glenn calls walkers, "geeks" as well.
"So far."
"Okay, the street on the other side of the tank is less crowded. If you move now while they're distracted, you stand a chance. Got ammo?"
"In that duffel bag I dropped out there, and guns. Can I get to it?"
"Forget the bag, okay? It's not an option. What do you have on you?"
"Hang on," Rick stops talking, Winona assumes he's counting what he has, "I've got a Beretta with one clip, 15 rounds."
"Make 'em count. Jump off the right side of the tank, keep going in that direction. There's an alley up the street, maybe 50 yards. Be there."
"Hey, by any chance did you see the woman that fell off the horse?" Winona feels content, he still cares about her and hopes she's alive.
"Have you been listening? You're running out of time."
"Right," Rick replies. Glenn turns to Winona,
"You stay here, I'll climb down. Don't worry, I'll get him up here safe and sound." He winks and runs off.
She watches as Rick climbs out of the tank hitting the walker that was climbing on the top. Rick jumps off and rolls, Winona inhales, "Shit, he needs to be more careful, or else he really is gonna reopen the wound." She tries to continue watching but she can't see him anymore.
——
Rick begins to shoot the walkers in front of him, almost shooting Glenn, "Whoa! Not dead! Come on! Come on! Back here!" Rick continues to shoot, "Come on! Come on!" Rick stops and tucks away the gun, looking around trying to find Winona; while Glenn is already climbing, "What are you doing?! Come on!"
The walkers reach at Rick as he climbs the ladder, they make it to a platform halfway up, to catch their breath. Glenn holds out a hand, "Come on, get up." They watch as the walkers keep trying to climb, "Nice moves there, Clint Eastwood. You the new sheriff come riding in to clean up the town? And was that lady the new deputy?"
"It wasn't my intention. And have you seen her? I wasn't able to see where she went after she fell off."
"Yeah, whatever. Yeehaw. You're still a dumbass, at least she was smart enough to run."
"Rick. Thanks." Rick turns to shake his hand, he getting worried that Winona is dead and that's why the man keeps avoiding the question.
"Glenn. You're welcome." Rick puts his gun in Glenn's backpack, he looks down at the walkers pushing each other up, "Oh no." They stand in front of the ladder, "The bright side: it'll be the fall that kills us. I'm a glass-half-full kind of guy." And they start the long climb up.
——
Winona goes over to where she saw Glenn climb down, she notices he's climbing back up and Rick's behind him. "Oh thank god," she whispers.
The boys reach the roof and Rick sees Winona, who waves at them, "Heya Cowboy."
He runs over and gives her a bone-crushing hug, "Winona?! Oh my god. I was so worried. You're okay right?!" He begins checking her for any injuries, she laughs at this.
"Yeah, yeah I'm all good, the real question is; are you? And what did I tell you about doing anything crazy?! In my dictionary this would qualify as insane! You'd better pray that wound didn't reopen or else you've got another thing coming," she lectures. Glenn clears his throat,
"Hey, not to interrupt you two 'lovebirds' but we need to keep moving, follow me."
Before Winona or Rick can protest, Glenn turns around and starts to lead them across the rooftops.
"Are you the one that barricaded the alley?" Rick asks Glenn.
"Somebody did— I guess when the city got overrun. Whoever did it was thinking not many geeks would get through."
"Back at the tank, why'd you stick your neck out for me?"
"Call it foolish, naive hope that if I'm ever that far up shit creek, somebody might do the same for me. Guess I'm a bigger dumbass than you." Glenn starts to go down into a building but pauses, looking at Winona, "And she said she wouldn't leave unless we tried to help, so I wasn't gonna have two deaths on my conscious."
Glenn continues to climb down, Rick looks towards Winona, "Why wouldn't you leave? I was a deadman."
"No, you would've been if we didn't help you." She starts to climb down, Rick goes down last, shutting the hatch behind him.
They run through the building, and out the back exit, Glenn pulls out a walkie talkie, "I'm back. Got some guests plus four geeks in the alley." They halt at the bottom of the stairs, there are walkers in front of them. All of a sudden, two people come out of a building covered in protective gear and equipped with baseball bats.
They kill the walkers and the group runs inside. "Morales, let's go!" one of the men yell to the other.
Getting inside, an angry blonde lady pushes Rick up against some crates, aiming a gun at him, "You son of a bitch. We ought to kill you."
"What is with you and guns to the face, Cowboy?" Winona whispers to him, startled.
The lady turns to her, Winona flinches, "And you! Shouting so loud, people in Florida could hear you!"
"Just chill out, Andrea. Back off," one of the men say.
"Come on, ease up," an older lady says.
"Ease up? You're kidding me right? We're dead because of these stupid assholes," Andrea says turning her attention— and gun— back at Rick. Winona didn't think the problem is that bad, but it seems like it is.
"Andrea, I said back the hell off," the man, who Winona believes is the group's leader, commands. Andrea doesn't, Winona starts to intervene but Glenn stops her. The leader continues, "Well, pull the trigger."
She takes the gun away, "We're dead— all of us— because of you."
"I don't understand," Rick says, Winona facepalms she was catching on.
The leader grabs Ricks arm and starts to walk, "Look, we came into the city to scavenge supplies." The group follows, "You know what the key to scavenging is? Surviving! You know the key to surviving? Sneaking in and out, tiptoeing. Not shooting up the streets like it's the O.K. Corral."
They stop in front of the glass doors, "Every geek for miles around heard you popping off rounds," the other man states.
"You just rang the dinner bell," Andrea says.
"Sound draws them and you fired your gun 15 times, Sheriff. I yelled when I fell off the horse. We were the loudest people on the scale of the apocalypse," Winona explains.
"Get the picture now?" The leader says. They look at the doors and just see the hundreds of undead trying to get in.
"It's not even Black Friday," Winona sighs, noticing how it looks like the crowds you would see right before a store opens on that day. Glenn chuckles at that, but Andrea glares at her. They see one of the Walkers start hitting the glass with a rock. "Uh... When did they get smart?" Winona questions.
"Oh God," Andrea says. The group turns to back up. "What the hell were you doing out there anyway?"
"Trying to flag the helicopter," Rick answers.
"Helicopter? Man, that's crap. Ain't no damn helicopter."
"You were chasing a hallucination, imagining things. It happens."
"I saw it. We saw it," Rick said sternly, Winona nods confirming.
"Hey, T-Dog, try that C.B. Can you contact the others?" The leader tells the other man. Winona remembers that the leader's name must be Morales, since he's the only other male.
"Others?" Rick asks.
Winona sees where he's going with it and continues, "Like the refugee center?"
"Yeah, the refugee center. They've got biscuits waiting at the oven for us," the older lady sarcastically says.
"Got no signal. Maybe the roof," T-Dog says.
Then gunshots go off, "Oh no. Is that Dixon?" Andrea asks.
"What is that maniac doing?"
"Come on, let's go."
——
They get to the roof, Winona sees an older man with a buzz cut and leather vest shooting a hunting rifle off the building. "Hey, Dixon, are you crazy?!" Morales yells. The man, Dixon, starts laughing.
"Oh, jeez."
"Hey! Y'all be more polite to a man with a gun!" Dixon states in a rural southern accent. "Huh?" He says jumping down from the ledge he was perched upon. "Only common sense."
"I don't like him, he gives me the creeps." Winona whispers to Rick, stepping closer to him.
"I don't either," he replies, putting her behind him.
"Man, you wasting bullets we ain't even got!" T-Dog says, Dixon starts laughing again. "And you're bringing even more of them down on our ass! Man, just chill!"
"Hey! Bad enough I've got this taco-vendor on my ass all day. Now I'm gonna take orders from you? I don't think so, bro. That'll be the day," Dixon says back.
"'That'll be the day'? You got something you want to tell me?" T-Dog starts to get visibly upset over this obviously racist man.
"Hey, T-Dog, man, just leave it," Morales tells him.
"No," he says brushing him off.
"Alright? It ain't worth it," he's still trying to convince T-Dog.
"Hey, maybe we should step in? I mean you are an officer," Winona whispers to Rick.
"I don't want things to get too out of hand because I do step in, Dixon is the only one with a gun. Mine is all out," he says sighing. Glenn also shakes his head at this.
"I still have mine— it's fully loaded."
"Keep it you don't know when it'll come in handy, especially right now," he says, she nods and goes back to watching the scene unfold.
"Now Merle, just relax, okay?" Morales says turning to the man, "We've got enough trouble."
"You want to know the day?" Merle asks T-Dog.
"Yeah."
"I'll tell you the day, Mr. 'Yo.' It's the day I take orders from a [redacted]," Merle says. Winona gasps.
"Mother——" T-Dog starts and throws a punch, which Merle returns, but with the butt of his rifle.
"Hey, come on Merle. That's enough," Morales says. Rick tries to stop him but Merle punches him square in the face and he goes over the pipe. Winona runs over to him, but he waves her off assuring her he was fine.
"Come on. Come on." Andrea tells T-Dog. They all start shouting, trying to stop the fight. Dixon keeps punching T-Dog, hit after hit. Dixon knocks T-Dog against one of the pipes of the roof and Winona fears for him.
"Stop it, Dixon! Get off of him!" Everyone is yelling. "Dixon you're gonna hurt him!" Merle keeps kicking T-Dog on the ground and Winona is getting pissed. Morales tries to pull him off the beaten man but he gets a punch to the gut. Merle pulls out a pistol, everyone starts pleading.
He glances at everyone and spits on T-Dog, "Yeah! All right! We're gonna have ourselves a little powwow, huh? Talk about who's in charge. I vote me. Anybody else?" Everyone is too afraid to disagree. "Huh? Democracy time, y'all. Show of hands, huh? All in favor?" No one raises a hand, "Come on. Let's see 'em."
"Oh come on," Andrea says, rolling her eyes.
"All in favor? Yeah. That's good." Slowly, the group starts to raise their hands, "Now that's means I'm the boss, right? Yeah. anybody else? Hmm? Anybody?"
"Yeah," Rick says.
"Us," Winona finishes. Merle turns around to see Winona holding a loaded pistol at his head. Before Merle can retaliate, Rick lands a solid punch on him, handcuffing Merle to the pipe and pulling him up so they're face to face.
"Who the hell are you guys?" Merle asks upset.
"Officer Friendly and his deputy," Rick replies.
"𝐎𝐡 𝐝𝐚𝐦𝐧. 𝐇𝐞 𝐦𝐞𝐚𝐧𝐬 𝐛𝐮𝐬𝐢𝐧𝐞𝐬𝐬. 𝐍𝐨𝐭 𝐠𝐨𝐧𝐧𝐚 𝐥𝐢𝐞 𝐭𝐡𝐚𝐭'𝐬 𝐩𝐫𝐞𝐭𝐭𝐲 𝐚𝐭𝐭𝐫𝐚𝐜𝐭𝐢𝐯𝐞... 𝐇𝐎𝐋𝐃 𝐎𝐍. 𝐀𝐓𝐓𝐑𝐀𝐂𝐓𝐈𝐕𝐄?! 𝐆𝐞𝐭 𝐚 𝐠𝐫𝐢𝐩 𝐆𝐫𝐚𝐯𝐞𝐬, 𝐡𝐞'𝐬 𝐦𝐚𝐫𝐫𝐢𝐞𝐝 𝐚𝐧𝐝 𝐲𝐨𝐮'𝐫𝐞 𝐧𝐨𝐭 𝐠𝐨𝐧𝐧𝐚 𝐝𝐨 𝐰𝐡𝐚𝐭 𝐒𝐡𝐚𝐧𝐞 𝐝𝐢𝐝." Winona shakes her head trying to clear her thoughts, and walks over to T-Dog and the group, "Hey, the name's Winona, I'm a nurse so let me check you over." She squats down and starts to asses T-Dog.
——
Rick notices Winona's shocked expression but assumes it's from the current situation, he starts talking to Merle, "Look here, Merle." He unloads the man's pistol, "Things are different now. There are no [redacted] anymore. No dumb-as-shit, inbred white trash fools either. Only dark meat and white meat. There's us and the dead. We survive this by pulling together, not apart."
"Screw you, man," Merle grumbles.
"I can see you make a habit of missing the point."
"Yeah? Well screw you twice."
Rick stands with his gun, "Ought to be polite to a man with a gun." He cocks the pistol, putting it to Dixon's head, "Only common sense."
"You wouldn't. You're a cop."
"All I am anymore is a man looking for his wife and son. Anybody that gets in the way of that is gonna lose. I'll give you a moment to think about that."
——
"Alright, you probably have a concussion, it's hard to asses anything else with no tools, but other than that it seems to just be minor cuts and bruises." Winona tells T-Dog— he nods.
She looks over to see Rick start to pat down Merle, he pulls out a baggie of cocaine, "You've got some on your nose there," Rick says flicking Merle.
"What are you gonna do? Arrest me?" Merle asks sarcastically. Rick goes over to the ledge and tosses the drugs, "Hey! What are you doing? Man, that was my stuff! Hey!" He begins to thrash against the pipe. "If I get loose you'd better pray— Yeah, you hear me, you pig! You hear me?!"
"Yeah, your voice carries," Rick responds walking to the opposite side, Winona follows, same with Morales.
"Do you hear me, you filthy pig?!"
"Man, shut up." Winona says rubbing her forehead. She notices Rick grabbing his wrist, "Hey you okay, you didn't hurt your hand did you?" she asked him, concern written over her face, but before he could respond, Morales walked over.
"You two are not Atlanta P.D. Where are you from?" he asks.
"Up the road aways. And you're rights she's not police, she's from a hospital," he says, correcting him about Winona.
"Well, Officer Friendly— and Doc— from up the road aways, welcome to the big city." They look out, seeing a massive group of the walkers below, covering the streets.
Winona heads over to the women, "God, it's like Times Square down there," Andrea says.
Winona agrees, "Took the words out of my mouth."
"Sorry to get off on the wrong foot, you seem pretty decent. I'm Andrea and that's Jacqui."
"It's nice to meet you both, wish it could've been under better circumstances," Winona shakes their hands and turns back to the group's conversation.
"How's that signal?" Morales asks.
"Like Dixon's brain— weak," T-Dog responds.
Winona laughs at that. "Find something funny, Princess?" Merle asks her, annoyed.
Rick starts to step in but Winona stops him, "Yeah, actually, I was just thinking of your face when you turned around and saw us. It was quite the sight, not gonna lie. You looked like you were about to shit your pants." He flips her off.
Morales sighs, turning back to T-Dog, "Keep trying."
"Why? There's nothing they can do," Andrea says, "Not a damn thing."
Rick and Winona are confused as they look to Morales to explain, "Got some people outside the city is all. There's no refugee center, that's a pipe dream."
"Then she's right. We're on our own. Up to us to find a way out," Rick says.
"Good luck with that," Dixon speaks, "These streets ain't safe in this part of town, from what I hear." He turns to Andrea, "Isn't that right, sugar tits? Hey, honey bunch, what say you get me out of these cuffs, we go off and bump some uglies?"
Winona is grossed out by this, "What the actual fuck?"
Merle turns to her, winking, "Don't worry, Princess, you can join too."
Winona gagged and Rick stepped forward, "That's enough, Merle."
"Jealous, Officer Friendly? Gonna die anyways." Rick groans, pinching the bridge of his nose.
"I'd rather," Andrea replies, Winona chuckles at that.
"Rug muncher. I figured as much."
"'The streets ain't safe,'" Morales states, "Now that's an understatement."
"What about under the streets?" Rick questions.
"Ah like the sewers?" Winona adds on.
"Oh man," Morales says shocked, turning to Glenn, "Hey, Glenn, check the alley. You see any manhole covers?"
Glenn runs over to look, coming back shortly, "No, must be all out on the street where all the geeks are."
"Maybe not. Old building like this built in the 20's—big structures often had drainage tunnels into the sewers in case of flooding down in the sub basements," Jacqui says.
"How do you know that?" Glenn asks dumbfounded.
"It's my job— was. I worked in the city's zoning office."
——
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