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Of Blood and Breath

Chapter 4: The City Within


Glenn continued forward towards the city. Soldiers outlined the city, armed to the teeth. Some were eliminating approaching geeks. A soldier pointed towards the van that Forrest and the others were in, then informed his fellow men. Glenn drove up beside the soldier and the soldier ordered him to role down the window.

"How many you got, son?" the soldier asked Glenn with a strong southern accent.

"Huh?"

"How many survivors?"

"Four."

"Anyone injured?"

"No."

"Follow Sergeant Stevens to Atlanta City Hall and we'll get you registered and settled in," the soldier said as he pointed to man in a soldier's uniform in his early 40's with brown hair.

The man named Sergeant Stevens got into a military Humvee and drove slowly towards alarge building with Forrest, Glenn, T-Dog, and Jacqui right behind him. He pulled into the parking lot, as did Glenn, then ejected himself from his vehicle. He gestured Forrest and the others to do the same. The four survivors exited the van and met with Sergeant Stevens.

"Follow me," Stevens commanded.

Forrest did as he was told with Glenn, T-Dog, and Jacqui. They walked up the long staircase, stains of blood still evident on it, as the sun blazed down upon their backs, hotter than usual. Two soldiers opened the double doors as if they were made to do that, with no expression on there faces at all.

"Can we have your first and last names?" a woman who was very business like asked.

"Glenn Rhee," Glenn spoke first.

The woman wrote something down upon a piece of paper. Jacqui and T-Dog spoke next and the woman wrote down something again.

"Forrest Dixon."

"Thanks, guys, Sergeant Stevens will escort you to your new homes."

"Wait," Forrest interrupted. "Do you know if a Merle Dixon or Daryl Dixon checked in?"

"I'd have to get back to you on that," the woman replied. "There'd be a lot of paper work to go through and I don't exactly have a computer database to check into."

"Thanks, ma'am," Forrest said then turned around, expecting to see Sergeant Stevens, but instead four military officials behind himself and his three accompanists.

The military official placed his hands on Forrest and searched his body. The soldier pulled Forrest's knife that T-Dog had given him out of his belt.

"Sorry, son," the soldier apologized. "No weapons for civilians."

"Next time, warn me before you frisk me," Forrest suggested.

"Hopefully there won't be a next time," the soldier responded.

Stevens nodded at Forrest and signaled him for him to follow him. Forrest and the others followed behind the Sergeant, exchanging nervous, but solemn glances. The walked through the military-littered streets, few civilians seemed to be outdoors. Then Forrest noticed the soldiers going through T-Dog's van.

"They have to search through your belongings," Stevens explained. "They'll return anything of sentimental value to you, but weapons will be stored in the armory and food will be stored and rationed out weekly."

"I hate livin' like this," Forrest complained.

"It's only until we get to the bottom of this," Sergeant Stevens offered. "We've got the best of scientists, the military, and government working on this. Then you can go back to whatever way you lived before."

"Who knows how long that'll be," Forrest commented.

Sergeant Stevens led them up a small flight of stairs to an apartment building. They continued through the building until they got to the sixth floor.

"Mr. Dixon, you're here," Stevens pointed to an apartment on the right side of the hall that read #24. "Mr. Rhee, you're across from him."

Sergeant Stevens told T-Dog that he was next to Forrest and Jacqui was across from T-Dog.

"The basement is a recreational room where you can go to socialize with other survivors," Stevens said. "If you need anything, there are soldiers right outside the building. Your rations will be delivered soon, just get comfortable while you're waiting."

Sergeant Stevens left down the stairs and left the four with each other.

"Well, let's check these rooms out!" Glenn broke the silence with his goofy cheeriness.

Forrest opened the door to his new apartment and sized it up. To his right was a small kitchen area with candles sitting on the counter along with flashlights. There was no electricity in the apartment building, so these things would prove to be useful. To his left was a small dining area and in front was the living area, which had two doors connected to it. There was also another door on the far right, beyond the kitchen. Forrest opened these three doors and found the first two to be bedrooms and the last door to be a bathroom. Forrest took off his shoes and tested out both king-sized beds. They were probably left here by the previous owner because Forrest doubted the military would bother providing such comfortable beds. Forrest wasn't used to beds like these. His mother and step-father never bothered to buy him nice things. The bed was beyond comfortable. It was the most comfortable bed Forrest had ever touched. He closed his eyes and lied down, but was interrupted just moments later by a knock on the door. He climbed out of bed and opened the door. A soldier stood in front of him.

"Forrest Dixon," he stated. "Here are your rations for the week, make them last."

Forrest took the box of food from the soldier.

"I'd also like to inform you that we're working on getting a generator up and running, but in the meantime use candles for light."

Forrest nodded and the soldier left. He shut his door and set the box of food down on his counter. He immediately spotted a bag of beef jerky among the cans and bottles of cheap food. He pulled it out, much to his delight and began chewing on the hard meat. Forrest decided that he should check out the recreational room to see if his father or anyone he knew was there. He set his beef jerky down on the counter and exited the apartment.

"Hey," Glenn greeted as he too, exited his apartment. "Are you going to check out the recreational room?"

"There's nothin' else to do," Forrest responded.

"I'd have to agree with you on that," Glenn replied.

Forrest and Glenn walked down the many flights of stairs to the basement. Many candles were lit and there were pool tables and other activities set up among the large basement.

"You ever played pool, Glenn?" Forrest asked him.

"Once," Glenn answered. "I wasn't very good at it."

Forrest and Glenn joined a game of pool with a man with black hair and a woman with brown hair.

"Hey there," Forrest said. "I'm Forrest, this is Glenn."

"I'm Shane Walsh," the man introduced. "This is my partner's wife, Lori. I was a cop."

Forrest nodded towards Shane then Lori. He picked up the pool cue, as did Shane.

"Now, watch and learn, Glenn," Forrest bragged as he began playing pool with Shane.

"So, how do you two know each other?" Lori asked as the game of pool went on.

"Me and Glenn?" Forrest assumed. "We met on the road. I crashed my truck, was unconscious for a few days, and Glenn and his friends took me in."

"There you guys are," T-Dog said as he approached Glenn. "Jacqui and I have been lookin' all over for you. Guess you aren't much of a party animal, Glenn."

"This is T-Dog and Jacqui," Forrest said to Shane and Lori. "T-Dog and Jacqui meet Shane and Lori."

The four greeted each other.

"T-Dog and Jacqui were with Glenn when they saved me," I informed them.

"I knew T-Dog before all this," Glenn said. "We met Jacqui on the road. She was all alone and we couldn't just leave her."

"You're quite the little hero," Shane observed.

"I just do what feels right," Glenn shrugged.

Throughout the night, Forrest, Glenn, T-Dog, and Jacqui conversed with Lori and Shane. They found out that Lori had a son named Carl with her husband, Rick, who was in a comma when this started and could not be saved. Forrest also met a mechanic named Jim and his wife and two sons; The Peletiers, Ed, Carol, and their daughter Sophia; and a man named Morales along with his wife, Miranda, and two children, Louis and Eliza. After several hours of socializing, Forrest retreated back up to his apartment. As Forrest began to turn his door knob and enter his apartment, he was interrupted by a soldier.

"Forrest Dixon," the soldier began. "I've been sent from city hall to inform you that neither a Merle Dixon nor Daryl Dixon has checked in."

"Thank you," Forrest replied hesitantly.

He entered his apartment and lied upon his bed and shut his eyes. His family wasn't here. He knew what he had to do. He had to find them.

Notes

Comments

Hope to see this fic continue, its super good

Twitterpated Twitterpated
10/7/17

@thewalkerinme
I have some plans for the future. Thanks so much, your feedback means a lot to me. You'll have to wait and see :)

ForrestDixon ForrestDixon
4/17/16

@thewalkerinme
I have some plans for the future. Thanks so much, your feedback means a lot to me. You'll have to wait and see :)

ForrestDixon ForrestDixon
4/17/16

Ahhh! God, I freaking adore Forrest. He's such a great dude. The future of this story excites me to no end. How will you play out the zach thing, and her death, and just her whole story ark in general agh I'm so excited to find out! Beth and Forrest have the cutest scenes together, and he even fits so well with other characters like talking to Rick and Dale *sobs agh my heart*
Keep this up. I look forward to many many more updates!

thewalkerinme thewalkerinme
4/17/16

@thewalkerinme
Sorry for not seeing this until now. I'll do my best to get this story fully back in action. Thanks for commenting!

ForrestDixon ForrestDixon
4/10/16