Like Fallen Leaves (working title?)

Dalton, GA:

Again, mild language, however there is much less than last time. I apologize for Smalls, he has quite the sailor's mouth. The picture, again is only to give the feel of where they are-ish..

"Anybody know where we are?" Smalls asked from the back seat as he stretched forward. The group had been on the road for days.

"We passed a few signs that said Dalton, so I assume..." Al stopped mid sentece. The van stuttered to a stop as the gauge read empty.

"Dammit!" Dan slammed his hand down on the dash. He threw the door open and practically flew out of the driver's seat. The metallic thud of his boot meeting the sliding door was louder than he had anticipated. The noise echoed of the surrounding buildings and attracted some unwanted visitors. They came out of alleys, from behind cars, and oddly enough through the toy store at the end of the street.

"Aw, shit. Dan what the hell?" Smalls whined from the back seat. There were a series of swears from Smalls and Al as they climbed out of the car, ready to bludgeon. "Kiddo, stay in the car." Smalls barked at Cal.

"No, Cal come to me." Al was at the front end of the car with her newly found crowbar hooked end in the air. She had good reason to force him out of the car. As soon as he had climbed out of the front seat Walkers broke through the rear window. Smalls glanced at the van and then to Al, who was paying no attention to him. They beat, bloodied, smashed, and split all the way to a different end of the street. Then everything went quiet. The walkers just left them alone, walked away. "You wait here, Dan and I are gonna check this place." Al whispered, mostly to Cal but Smalls heard it too.

They knocked on the door, lightly at first and then gave it one loud bang. Nothing. They opened the door. Al went in first, her eyes scanned every visible corner and crevice of the room. Dan followed on her flank rechecking. There was a small shuffle off to Dan's left. He put his hand on Al's leg, when she turned he nodded in the direction the sound had come from. They inched toward the sound.

"Oh god. What happened to him?" Dan had rounded to see what had made the noise. A walker had been split in half.

"Split by the book case I reckon." Al crouched down and thrust the crowbar's sharper edge down on his face. The squishy bubble sound that followed was sickening. The smell that came from the now open skull was a putrid, moist smell. Like the pus from a festering sore. Dan inhaled deeply and when Al looked back at him he just shrugged it off.

"What? You smell it too right? That's life. We are alive to smell this nastiness, he ain't." Dan finished by turning and clearing the rest of the room. "Go tell'em to get the hell in here." Dan called out from the far side of the room behind the bar. 'We cleared a bar? Great.' Al thought to herself as she walked back to the door and let the others in.

"Oh yeah." Smalls breathed as he closed the door behind himself. "We got a bar. Anything good back there?" Smalls was on the bar stool faster than Dan could answer. "Barkeep, a drink please." Smalls joked as Dan got out four cups. Cal walked up and struggled to climb up onto the stool. After watching him for a while Smalls got up and lifted him onto the seat.

"The hell'd you get out four cups for?" Al asked as she came up and sat on the other side of Cal. Dan pointed to the bottle of grape juice that he had found in the mini-fridge. Al smiled and gestured for him to pour everyone a drink. He pulled the bottle of whiskey out from under the bar counter and popped the cork out.

"Ew, that smells gross." Cal said his voice nasly because he was holding his nose. The three adults laughed which made him smile. They sat at the bar until it was black outside.

"Alright everyone, bar's closed. Get off my stools." Dan chuckled as they all hopped of the stools. They all went looking for a place to sleep.

"I call the counter." Smalls hollered as he pulled himself up onto the counter. When he shifted around he caught Al's glare. "There's enough room for both of us." He winked and patted the little cliff of space in front of him. She picked up Cal and put him on the counter, which earned her a look from Allec.