Login with:

Facebook

Twitter

Tumblr

Google

Yahoo

Aol.

Mibba

Your info will not be visible on the site. After logging in for the first time you'll be able to choose your display name.

Solace

Chapter 95

Pete stayed parallel to the coastline until he spotted the marina. There was no sign of any remaining docks. They had probably fallen into the ocean and been swept away long ago. Instead, he found a clear area along the shore and ran the boat aground just enough to keep it stationary. Rick and Abraham jumped down and then turned around to assist Michonne and Rosita.

When everyone had disembarked, Rick said to the New Canaan couple, “Stay here and keep watch. Only fire if you need to. This might take a while, but you need to stay sharp. Don’t drop your guard.”

“You got it,” the man said.

The six remaining survivors swept through the boatyard, checking every nook and cranny for walkers. Daryl took out an emaciated female cadaver, the bolt impaling itself in the center of her forehead. Rick followed the hunter and smashed the tail end of his rifle into the head of another walker, splattering blood and brain matter across the warm dirt.

Michonne went to dispatch two corpses at once, but her katana got stuck halfway through the second walker’s neck. She wrenched it free and then finished the job with a skilled jab.

“Gettin’ rusty, huh?” Daryl said quietly with a smirk.

Another walker staggered toward the dark woman and she removed the head with ease, sending it spinning across the ground.

“Not a chance,” she retorted, her eyes smiling.

Abraham and Rosita took out the final walkers and they all met back at the center building, which reminded Rick of an airplane hangar. The tall structure was made out of metal and had a gigantic sliding door on the front.

“I saw a decent boat on the east side,” Pete began. “This place looks pretty picked over...”

“I’m not surprised,” Rick said, gathering that same information as his attentive eyes scanned the abandoned yard. “Why don’t you and Daryl get started on that and we’ll cover for you. Just let us know if you need anything.”


Two hours later, Pete wiped his brow, leaving behind a dark smudge of grease on his tanned skin. “This engine is a fuckin’ mess.” He turned to Daryl and began spouting off a list of various parts and tools. “Think you can find those inside?”

As Daryl nodded, Rick pointed to the two women. “Michonne, Rosita – we’ll give him a hand. Abraham, holler if you need us out here in a hurry.”

“Will do,” the large man replied. He exchanged a smile with his girlfriend and then watched her follow the others to the nearest entrance.

Rick readied his weapon, securing it against his shoulder. He signaled to Daryl and the man forced open the sturdy door. Rick rushed inside, aiming his gun to the left as Rosita took the right. Daryl moved through the center and Michonne backed him up. The inside was exactly like a storage hangar with sections of thick iron rods forming over-sized cubbies for the most elite water vessels. They came across a heavy-duty forklift, but – like most machines now – it didn’t work. A musty smell hung in the air, indicating that no one had been inside for quite a while.

After clearing the enormous room, the foursome branched off to explore a series of offices and, finally, a workshop. Daryl picked up a pack of Marlboros from the top of a dusty tool chest, plucked one out and placed it between his lips. He flicked on his lighter, took three long draws and then exhaled a cloud of smoke.

“So what are we looking for?” Rosita asked, holstering her handgun to rummage through the messy work space.

Daryl listed a few easy items and explained what they would look like.

“It’s too bad we can’t get that forklift running. Those boats out there look like they’re in pristine condition,” Michonne said to him.

“I’m keepin’ it as an option, but we need to find these parts to fix the boat back at the island,” Daryl responded as he opened drawer after drawer in the tool chest.

Only a moment later, Rick found one of the necessary tools hanging from a peg board. He slipped it into his back pocket and continued to search for more supplies. On the wall next to him, a calendar with curling pages caught his eye. He smoothed out one corner to reveal a chesty, bikini-clad woman with bleach-blonde hair. She was leaning over a cherry red Mustang convertible, which happened to match her skimpy two-piece. He remembered how guys at the station would put up similar calendars, and while the girls were attractive, they never really did it for him. Maybe he was a prude, but he liked to think of himself as a tasteful guy. Lingerie could be fun – that was for sure – but sometimes all he would have to do is look at Lindsey while she took care of his children. He loved stopping by her classroom on the days she wore that blue dress from her first day. Just the thought of it made him twitch below the belt.

Taking a deep breath, he cleared his mind of Lindsey and got back to the task. He was just picking up a set of keys when a cry came from behind him. He spun around to see Rosita in a closet doorway, her slender arms attempting to hold off an enormous walker. The fiend was well over six feet tall and weighed at least 250 pounds. The young woman struggled for her weapon, but the walker knocked her backward, wrestling her into a row of metal canisters. Piercing clangs reverberated in the small space as the containers toppled over. Daryl threw out his cigarette and advanced with his crossbow raised. A single bolt snapped into the top of the walker’s cranium, leaving the beast motionless.

Rosita, gasping for breath, pushed off the dead weight and accepted Michonne’s outstretched hand.

“Holy shit,” she whispered, summing it up in only two words.

“Are you okay?” Michonne asked as she checked the other woman for bites or scratches.

“I’m good now.” Rosita looked to Daryl. “Thanks.”

The hunter gave her a nod and shouldered his crossbow.

Rosita inhaled deeply and frowned. She sniffed at the air and wondered aloud, “What’s that smell?”

Rick couldn’t smell anything, but as he took a step toward her, his nose was assaulted by an unpleasant odor. Instantly, his face changed to an expression of shock.

“It’s gas! Get out, get out now!

A few seconds later, the building exploded.

Lindsey dug her feet into the sand, soaking in the warmth of the sun’s rays. She adjusted the floppy hat on her head and glanced at the infant beside her. Judith, who was fascinated by the soft, white grains covering the entire beach, repeatedly dug her plastic cup into the uneven ground and sprinkled the fine sand over her wiggling toes. Lindsey smiled and pinched the girl’s big toe, drawing out a squeal of amusement.

Carl was busy reading his comic book on a black and blue Ron Jon towel next to the two ladies.

“How many times have you read those things?” Lindsey asked him with a smirk.

“Probably too many…I almost know ‘em by heart now.”

The blonde let out a quiet laugh. “Do you mind if I read one?”

Carl raised his eyebrows in surprise. “Sure! Which one do you want?” he asked, referring to the pile holding down one corner of his towel.

“You pick. Something with a lot of action.” Something that will take my mind off your dad being gone.

“Okay.” He shuffled through his pile and pulled one out. “’The Astounding Wolf-Man’ #4. Gary, the Wolf-Man, fights a bunch of other werewolves to protect his friend, Zechariah. It’s pretty awesome.”

“Sounds exciting enough. Thanks,” Lindsey said as she accepted the visibly worn piece of reading material.

Sometime later, while Lindsey was wrapped up in the heated battle, an odd noise perked up her ears. It sounded like a very faint thud, followed by another and another – almost like a faraway gunshot, but deeper. She lifted her head, wondering if maybe it had been just her imagination.

When she caught Carl looking around, she said, “You heard that, too?”

“Yeah, but I thought it was just me…”

The boy stood up and walked down the beach toward the water. His head swiveled from side to side and then stopped.

“Lindsey!” he called out.

The woman frowned as she got to her feet and leaned over to pick up Judith. Meeting him where the sand became flat and wet from the receding tide, she looked to where he was pointing and froze. Swells of black, curling smoke rose into the cloudless sky. She did a quick assessment of direction in relation to geography, and it didn’t take her long to conclude the location of the fire. Her eyes plummeted to the ground – as did her stomach.

“That’s at the boatyard, isn’t it?” Carl asked, anxiety spiking his young voice.

Lindsey met his searching gaze and had no use for words – her nervous expression said it all.

“We should get to the dock, ya know, just in case they come back and need our help?”

She couldn’t have agreed with him more. “Let’s get our stuff together.”

Abraham rolled over in the dirt, his body aching from the sudden blast that had knocked him off his feet. He groaned and pushed himself upright. He spotted Pete by the boat they’d been repairing and the man was also struggling to get vertical.

“WHAT IN THE HELL HAPPENED?” Abraham couldn’t hear the words even as they escaped from his mouth – his ears were ringing too loudly.

“I DON’T KNOW!” Pete answered, but the only way Abraham knew it was from reading the man’s lips.

They both looked at the smoldering building and the trail of smoke that billowed into the air. Abraham grasped his head with both hands, his fingers threading through the short, red hairs.

“ROSE!” he shouted. “ROSITA, CAN YOU HEAR ME? RICK? ANYBODY?”

Abraham circled the outside of the burning structure, searching for any way in. Flames impeded every entrance and a nauseating dizziness began to take hold of his body. He tried one of the doors and scalded his hand on the red-hot knob.

With his heart exploding inside of his chest, he yelled again, “ROSE!”

“We need to go!” Pete said, urgency of the essence as he tugged on the large man’s shoulder.

“NO!” Abraham roared. “I’M NOT LEAVING WITHOUT HER!”

Pete’s face screwed up with grief. “They’re gone, man. The biters are coming! We need to go, now!

As if on cue, a scream rose above the roar of the fire and the two men whipped their heads around. The couple from New Canaan were overwhelmed by walkers, with the woman fully under attack. She continued to scream as the undead sunk their teeth into her arms and neck. Her companion tried to help, but there were too many for him to handle. He, too, became incapacitated before Abraham and Pete could get over to them.

Pete raised the barrel of his twelve-gauge shotgun and blasted a path to the boat. Abraham followed in a fog, firing off his assault rifle on auto-pilot. He felt nothing, his brain thought of nothing, there was nothing without Rosita in his life.

Lindsey and Carl completed yet another game of peek-a-boo with Judith and started in on a casual version of patty cake as they waited at the dock. Maggie and Glenn joined them not too long after once they’d been alerted of the mysterious explosion. Other than Eugene and Zoey, their entire group was on that run – their hearts and lives were hanging in the balance.

“Hey, guys, look,” Glenn said suddenly, pointing out to sea.

They all raised their heads and saw a distant object coming toward them. It was hard to tell who, but it was clearly a boat from the way it moved across the water.

At the same time Lindsey recognized Abraham’s flaming hair, Maggie said, “It’s them!”

The blonde balanced Judith on her hip, which was actually getting to be rather difficult because of her disappearing waistline. Nonetheless, she cradled the child and held her breath. The boat sped toward the dock, slowing down at the last second. Lindsey squinted in hopes of seeing a little better – for some reason she could only see two people. That can’t be right.

“Why do they only have one boat?” she asked the others.

“Maybe they couldn’t get another one,” Carl replied, his voice matching her apprehension.

Lindsey had a sinking feeling, but managed to say, “Maybe…”

Pete pulled the boat alongside the floating surface and jumped down, mooring the vessel with skilled haste. Abraham trailed behind, his movements uncharacteristically slow. As the older man walked toward them with purpose, Lindsey attempted to see past him into the boat. Her eyes searched frantically for any sign of the six other survivors – first and foremost, Rick.

Lindsey’s breathing hastened as Pete stopped in front of her. His eyes were sad, hesitant.

“Don’t…” she muttered, shaking her head. “Don’t say it.”

“I’m sorry…” he whispered with a grimace, as if it actually pained him to speak the words.

Lindsey didn’t blink as she gaped at him. Everything in that moment froze – her brain simply could not comprehend the idea of a world without Rick Grimes, or Daryl Dixon for that matter.

“All of them…?” Maggie asked in disbelief. Rick, Daryl, Michonne, Rosita, the other couple…

Pete nodded and hung his head.

Most likely sensing the impending meltdown, Glenn lifted Judith from Lindsey’s arms, and she didn’t even notice. Her entire body had gone numb – everything except for her heart.

“Are you sure?” she mumbled, and then surged forward. “Are you sure?”

Pete was having a hard time meeting her desperate gaze, but said quietly, “They’re gone.”

It literally felt as if someone had plunged their hand through Lindsey’s chest and ripped out her still-beating heart. Tears flooded her eyes and her lips pulled back in a show of raw emotion. A choked wail tore from her throat as she doubled over and then collapsed onto her hands and knees in a fit of sobs.

Notes

Comments

@Corall
Aw thank you so much!! :D

bluecrush611 bluecrush611
5/18/16

I just finished reading this story :) and its the most amazing story ever :D

Corall Corall
5/17/16

@Kandy
No worries. I actually used Paint, haha. I just figured out what size the banner needed to be (by trial and error) and then cut the image down until it fit.

bluecrush611 bluecrush611
4/13/16

@bluecrush611

Also, Another Annoying Question. Where did you make that Banner of Lauren And Andrew? I need to get a good Banner place thingy and i need advice xD

Mother Dick Mother Dick
4/12/16

@Walker Witch
Thank you so much for the kind words and for following along!

@eventualprocrastination
Thanks for all of your comments! I actually just published a book, so that's the direction I'm taking for now, but who knows. Maybe I'll post something here and there. :)

bluecrush611 bluecrush611
4/10/16