Spider Monkey

Chapter Thirty - One - Smile

( Notes: TW - A lot of blood and violence against children :3 ) 

Rick, Daryl, Bob, Glenn and two others were lined up on their knees, facing a tin draining tub. A man behind them with a bat while the man in front held a gun.

Giving the other man a nod, the man with the bat slammed it into the first man's head, then slit his throat to allow the blood to drain into the tub and down the plug. He let the man's body hang over the edge, as if a puppet that had been de-strung.

Glenn whimpered at the gurgling noise the now dead guy made as his life literally oozed out from him.

Another man, Gareth, came in with a clipboard.

"What were your shot counts?"

"38." The man with the gun answered.

Gareth wrote it down before looking at the other guy for his answer, but the man was already hitting the next in line with his bat, slitting his throat. "Hey! Your shot count?"

"Crap, man, I'm sorry." The other gun rubbed his forehead in defeat, "It was my first roundup."

"After you're done here, go back to your point and count the shells. Kaylee won't be gathering them until tomorrow."

Bob's muffled voice then rang in the room, "Hey. Hey, let me talk to you."

Gareth ignored him, turning to the gunman, "Four from A, two from D?"

"Yeah."

Bob continued, "Hey, let me talk to you for a minute. Let me talk to you for a minute. Let me talk to you for a minute!"

Gareth rolled his eyes, taking the cloth out of Bob's mouth, "What?"

"Don't do this. We can fix this."

"No, you can't."

"You don't have to do this. You just have to take a chance. We have a man who knows how to stop it. He has a cure. We just have to get him to Washington. You don't have to do this, man. We can put the world back to how it was."

"Can't go back, Bob."

"We can! You don't have to do this!"

Gareth huffed, putting the rag back into Bob's mouth then addressed the group, eyes on Daryl at first, "We saw you go into the woods with a bag and come out without it. Had to pull my spotters back before we could go look for it. What was in it?" He turned to Rick, "You hid it, right? In case things went bad? Smart. Still, we'll find it. But it's too dangerous to go out there right now. What was in it?" He took the rag out of Rick's mouth to let him answer, "I'm curious. And it was a big bag." When he got no response, he looked at the man with the bat, "You really gonna let me do this?"

The man with the bat was behind Glenn and went to take a swing.

Rick's voice stopped him, "Well, let me take you out there. I'll show you."

"Not gonna happen." He nodded to his guy, and he raised his bat again.

"There's guns in it. AK-47. 44 Magnum. Automatic weapons. Nightscope. There's a compound bow and a machete with a red handle." Rick said, tilting his head, "That's what I'm gonna use to kill you."

Gareth smiled, "Thanks." He put the cloth back in Rick's mouth then went to leave but suddenly, an explosion from outside happened and it shook everyone.

"What the hell was that?!"

Gunshots rang out and chaos was ensured to follow.

Another explosion happened, this one bigger and it sent everyone to the floor. Rick managed to snap out of his cuffs and when Gareth went out to investigate, Rick attacked the two men with the sharpened piece of wood he used to escape, slicing their throats. He then got Glenn, Bob and Daryl free.

"It sounded like a bomb!" Exclaimed Glenn.

"Sounds like a damn war." Daryl said, taking the knives from the dead.

"What the hell are these people?" Bob asked, frazzled.

"They ain't people."

Just as Glenn was about to stab one of the dead men in the head, Rick stopped him, "Don't. Let him turn."

Rick led his men to the door, poking his head out to scope, "Cross any of these people, you kill them. Don't hesitate. They won't."

The men nodded, going with their leader to get their people out of the now walker infested Terminus.

****

Hedley stood up, fists ready to fight.

That made Lewis laugh. He put Judith down on the tractor's seat, put his own gun down on the floor before putting his own fists up. "You wanna fight like a man, do you? Come on then. Show me what you've got."

Hedley made a swing, but Lewis grabbed it, twisted it then hit Hedley hard in the mouth. Hedley fell down, crying out in pain as black spots littered his vision. Lewis laughed and kicked Hedley in the stomach when the boy tried to get back up. Hedley's whole body jolted upwards before collapsing into the dirt. Judith wailed, arms and legs kicking up in the air.

Hedley took his knife and pounced, stabbing Lewis in the thigh.

Lewis kicked him away, cursing in pain. The knife was still in his leg when he took Hedley by the hair and pulled him up. Hedley grabbed Lewis' wrist to stop the tugging of his hair, letting out a whimper.

"Ya know, it's said that there's nothing more precious than a child's smile." Lewis said, looking down at Hedley's bruised beaten face, "Give me a smile. Go on, kid. Smile."

Hedley cried out, legs kicking the dirt, desperate to escape the grasp.

"That's not a smile. Come on, you can do it. Smile for me."

Hedley whined, blood drooling from his nostrils.

Lewis sighed, as if disappointed, and took out his knife, "Looks like I'm going to have to make you smile."

Hedley let out a scream.

Lewis took his knife and placed it in the corner of Hedley's lips and started to carve. Pain and blood were all that was known. Hedley squirmed, sobbing and screaming. He felt the stitches in his cheek already give way, adding more pain and blood to the mix.

Lewis carved until mid-cheek and then went to the other side to start carving. He didn't get to finish the smile completely as the groans of a walker was heard, and Lewis started to scream out.

Jake had reanimated and was chewing on Lewis' ankle.

Using the distraction, Hedley saw his knife still in Lewis' thigh and reached for it. He took it out then stabbed upwards, into Lewis' neck. Lewis dropped Hedley, holding onto his bleeding throat while trying to kick walker Jake off of him.

Hedley held his dangling cheeks, feeling his teeth poke through the flesh. He rushed to collect Judith, his blood-soaked hands staining her dress as he cradled her. The boy stumbled as he took Lewis' gun up off the floor and shot both walker Jake and Lewis before slumping down.

He wanted Daryl. He wanted his dad.

He was dying. That was what he felt. He cried silently, looking down at Judith. He then placed her back on the tractor's seat, closed the door to secure her inside. He didn't want to turn then attack the girl. He then fell to the ground, back slumped against the tractor wheels. 

With his remaining strength, he took out his flipbook and turned to blank pages. Blood smeared on the paper, but he wrote two notes.

One said, 'Judith. Help her.'

The other said, 'Don't forget me.'

He ripped the pages out and put them on the tractor's steps for someone to find.

He then closed his eyes and waited for death.