The Walking Dead Season 1

32 Whatever it Takes!

A/N: The song above is for the fight scene, but let's be honest. This is Y/N. Parts of this chapter were inspired by herbalmite97 and his seminal work The Walking Dead Clementine x Male Reader book. If you haven't read it, you seriously need to.

The group had arrived at River Street just as the sun was starting to set. The promenade was swarming with walkers, hundreds of them milling around.

Y/N had walked ahead of the group, quiet. Too quiet. The group looked down at the horde in front of them.

"Fuck that's a lot of dead people" Omid said as he looked down wide eyed.

"We have to get across this street, and the Marsh House is the next block over" Lee said, slightly panicked.

"This is the only way I can see" Y/N said coldly, pointing to the rusting 'MACCABE IMPORTS' sign in front of them that led across the street.

"Are you ok Y/N? Do you want to talk?" Carley asked concerned.

"Nothin' to say. We need to stay focused on what we're doing" Y/N answered in the same tone.

"I know we need to get there, but you're not a machine Y/N" Christa said warmly.

"Yeah, you two were close. You called him Dad. You've gotta be hur-"

"We go across one by one" Y/N snapped, cutting Omid off. "I'll go first, I'm the lightest"

"Yeah but I'm the shortest" Omid chuckled. "I reckon you've just passed me no-"

"I'm going first" Y/N snapped coldly again, as Carley rushed over to him and hugged him tight:

"Be careful Y/N. Please be careful"

Y/N nodded and hugged back before slowly started his climb across.

The four remaining adults watched Y/N crawl across, Christa looked to Lee and Carley as the couple stood hand in hand and asked:

"Are you both ok?"

"Processing" Carley replied teary eyed.

"The fucker who took Clem has Kenny to answer for, too" Lee snapped.

"Keep a clear head, Lee" Christa replied.

"We wouldn't be out here. We'd all have been together to defend against Vernon, Ben wouldn't have pulled the stunt that he did and we'd be out on the water. Everyone would be alive!" Lee snapped again.

"I guess that's a no, then" Christa said quietly as Omid whispered to her:

"We just lost someone; let's give him a break".

They looked out to Y/N who was half way across.

"Just go nice and slow" Omid yelled.

"Almost there! It's an easy crossing" Lee yelled in encouragement as well.

"You fucking dangle twenty feet in the air above dead fucking cannibals and tell me it's fucking easy!" Y/N yelled back.

"We'll let you concentrate" Christa yelled out, which Y/N appreciated.

Y/N continued to edge across the sign, high above the horde of walkers underneath him.

"Just don't look down" Omid yelled out again, increasing Y/N's frustration levels even further.

"I will fucking use my last three arrows to shoot your ass" Y/N yelled back as he edged along. He got within a couple of metres of the building and heard a loud groan from the metallic framework he was standing on.

"Oh fuck" he muttered as he rushed and jumped just as the sign collapsed, holding onto the building's awning under his arms as he scrambled to pull himself up, ignoring the pain from his shoulder as Carley and the others shrieked in panic.

He finally managed to lift himself up and leant down on his hands and knees breathless before standing and turning to the relieved adults on the other side of the street.

"Now what do we do?" Omid yelled.

Y/N looked around, considered his options before yelling:

"Fuck it! I'm going for it!"

"Going for it?" Lee yelled back.

"What does that mean?" Carley asked, dreading the answer.

"I'm gonna fight my way through the horde" Y/N yelled back.

Omid's eyes grew to the size of dinner plates as he yelled: "What the fuck?!?!"

"Get to the edge of town, where the train lines are. I'll save Clem and meet you there!"

"You're crazy!" Christa yelled as Carley screamed "Y/N no!"

"There's no other way" Y/N answered as he looked at Carley, smiled and nodded, and turned, climbing down a fire escape.

He double checked his lack of bullets before he holstered his gun behind his back and strapped his crossbow over his shoulder. Not enough bullets, not enough arrows.

He looked around from the alleyway and saw it, the Marsh House, across the street from where he stood. Between him and his destination stood hundreds of walkers.

He inhaled deeply, steadying his nerves as he unsheathed his knife. A glinting flicker caught his eye, reflecting the afternoon sun.

A broken window, shards of glass, lay on the ground in front of him. He saw one- long, thin, sharp, an almost perfect isosceles triangle. He gripped its thicker end and squeezed, feeling his hand slice and blood trickle down to the floor as his glare hardened. He breathed heavily, growling to himself. Getting the adrenaline pumping. Fight or die...

Fuck fear. Clemmy needed him.

He stepped forward, the first walker leaning forward toward him was met with a knife plunged up under its jaw, splashing Y/N with blood. He continued forward, another seeing him and reaching out only to be met with a glass fragment to the forehead.

Y/N pulled it out, spraying blood and brain matter as he used his knife to stab another walker, more blood splashing as the blood lust started to take over.

Losing Clem. Losing Ken. Katjaa. Duck. Chuck. Daryl. He funnelled his anger and rage as he slashed, stabbed, kicked and dodged, steadily making his way across the street.

He was covered in blood and walker fluids as he arrived at the front of the Marsh House. He'd killed the last three walkers near him but none of the others seemed interested as he stood there breathing heavily- not out of breath, but in a fit of blood lust, pure animalistic rage. The Marsh House looked abandoned but for a single station wagon sitting in the car park. Y/N glared at the front door that was closed, the shutters drawn, before dropping the piece of glass and entering the hotel.