Perfect Storm || Daryl Dixon

4: strays are all around me

"I ain't got time, to change your mind, how can I move you when you're stuck in your ways?" - What You Need, Bring Me The Horizon

--)->

"Whoa, brother...? What brother? You never mentioned a brother...?"

"I did. Just now," he replied, not looking around as they reached the lower floor and kept going downwards to the main entrance, "Did'n you hear me?"

"We never agreed on that. I thought we were heading to my camp?" Despite his less than optimum physique, Merle certainly walked fast enough and she found herself struggling to keep up with his fast strides as the solid concrete of the ground floor met the soles of their boots in sharp succession.

"Never agreed on that either," he pointed out, stopping suddenly and grabbing her shoulder as they came close to the reception desk, "Keep quiet..." As she followed his gaze, she saw what he meant.

Ahead of them, through the locked glass doors, they could see a pretty mean mob of strays gathering, bloody flesh slapping against the cracking glass with a sickening sound. They weren't fast, but they weren't weak in numbers and Erin could see that two against thirty plus was not a calculation that would work out well.

The strays hadn't seen them yet so she was thankful that Merle had forced her to duck behind the desk when he had. There seemed to be another five or more approaching in every direction she looked, and she knew they'd have no chance getting out of the building that way.

"What do we do?" Her voice was barely a whisper, but Merle was close enough to her to hear every word, "They've got us surrounded..."

Merle was busy searching the rest of the entrance, his eyes flicking back and forth from one side of the room to the other, scanning for any other means of escape. "No way we'll get past 'em all without makin' a noise... We ain't fast enough to outrun 'em if they work up some sorta feedin' frenzy..."

"Can't we distract them? Draw them away from the building while I grab my truck?" She flinched back slightly as she spoke, the groaning from the other side of the glass unnerving her - that glass was all that was between them and carnage and it wasn't going to hold for long.

Merle turned to look at her like she was crazy, leading her to think she'd done something bad, "Ya got a truck?"

"Yeah... Didn't I mention that?" The look on his face told her that obviously she didn't.

"Ya did'n think to tell me before that ya had it? The hell is it?" He asked, eyes wide with a mixture of disbelief and annoyance.

"Uh..." she struggled, trying to work out where it was parked in correspondence to their current location while Merle looked at her impatiently, "...Round the other side of the building to where I came in," as she figured it out, her face fell, "That way..."

She pointed with her finger, but they both already knew where it would be; where it would have to be. Not only was their single shot at freedom beyond that wall of strays, but now their only way to distract said strays was over there, too.

"Great." The tone of Merle's voice said he thought it was anything but.

"We need to get past them somehow..." Erin muttered as he sighed. She poked her head up over the desk again, seeing another four or so strays join the ever-growing crowd, "It'll have to be quick. Those windows won't stop them for much longer."

As she said it, they heard yet more cracks, just audible over the constant groans and grunts from the dead. "Well, whaddya' suppose we do, then? We're outnumbered."

She remained in thought for a moment, trying to think of the safest way, "I've got an idea but you're not gonna like it..." He hummed for her to continue as though happy to hear any way out of this, though she felt he wouldn't be so happy once she'd told him, "I'll need you to distract them in here-"

"Why me?" Erin blew out an exasperated breath, her suspicions about his disapproval being proved within seconds of her offering the plan to him. Merle was looking at her expectantly and demandingly, making her feel like a tiny bug or some insect under his intense gaze.

"Because it's my truck," she reasoned, knowing it was probably hopeless due to his very immovable mindset, "I know where I parked it, so I can get to it and bring it back quicker while you hold them off." The look on his face said she wasn't convincing him so she resorted to the one thing she knew worked with this guy - bribery. "You can have my bat and I have more weapons in the bed of the truck. If you distract them, you can have your choice of one of the bigger guns or something..."

He seemed to consider it for a minute, testing her patience as more cracks appeared in the glass and the groaning became more ravenous. Finally, he looked up and nodded in agreement, "Alright. Gimme the bat, then."

Without any argument, she handed the weapon over, pleased that he'd chosen to go along with it even if it did mean giving up an important part of her armoury back at the truck. "Okay, so I'll head that way," she gestured towards the fire exit furthest left which was currently being bombarded with fists the same as the windows, "You draw them this way, keep back from the windows and don't use the gun unless it's really necessary. They're-"

"Attracted to sound, I know. I ain't stupid, I know how to fight off a few creepers if they get too close," Merle finished her sentence, making her feel slightly guiltily for underestimating him, but he hadn't really shown any signs of great intelligence in the short time she'd known him so she figured she could be forgiven for her assumption.

"You sure you can keep them distracted for a long enough?"

"Just go already!" He shooed her away with the bat firmly poised in his grasp, "Get the truck and get back 'ere."

Erin nodded quickly, not needing to be told twice as she turned to head towards the door. As soon as she got up, the strays outside got more and more feverish, hitting the windows as they stumbled to follow her but their attentions were soon pulled away from her as Merle started to whack the top of the desk with the baseball bat, hollering loudly and unintelligibly.

She reached the door only seconds later as he stopped his yelling to call after her, "Oh, and Eleanor? Jus' so you know... you leave me here and don't come back, I'll hunt ya down and kill you before you have the chance to hide..."

And so, with his warning fresh and ringing clear in her head, she pushed open the fire escape and took off running...