Rick still decided to handcuff Merle to the metal pipe for everyone's safety. That's good because I didn't want to be the one to do it. And he didn't protest much. Don't know if it's the drugs calming him down right now or having a blade that almost slit his throat that calmed him down.
T-dog was trying to reach the camp while everyone else was thinking about how to get out of this mess. Then Glenn turned to me.
" Hey, ninja kid, you said about knowing how to get out of here? "
All of them gave me weird looks except Rick, so I just ignored them for now.
" Yeah, I was thinking we could use the sewers, but we wouldn't get far enough before we hit a dead-end "
They all turned to me, a bit confused.
" What do you mean a dead? " - Rick asks me.
" In every sewer, there are cages to prevent debris from clogging stormwater or wastewater systems " - I tried to explain to them why it wouldn't work. Honestly, I just wanted to go to the camp and take a dip in the lake. I haven't showered in a while, and I'm covered in blood.
Jacqui chimes in
"He's right, there should be cages every 98 to 492 feet "
T-dog walks up closer to the group, putting the radio back.
" Any luck contacting the others ? " - Andrea asks with a hopeful tone.
T-dog shakes his head negatively.
" No " - He says while sliding against the wall to the ground.
" There is another way " - I say slowly.
When I can see that everyone is listening, I continue.
" Walker detects us using all their senses just like a human, that includes smell, we can cover ourselves with their guts and mimic their movements, we should be able to walk right past them "
Rick takes binoculars and looks around the street.
" That construction site, those trucks, they always keep trucks on hand " - Rick says before giving me binoculars so I could see.
Morales to everyone
"What? You can't be seriously considering it? "
Rick looks back at Morales.
" We don't have much time, those doors won't hold much longer, this might be our only way out "
Everyone heads down to the clothing store, ignoring Merle as he shouts at everyone to let him go.
When we enter the store, we can see that the first set of doors are already broken.
Rick goes to grab some gloves and clothes.
" If bad ideas were an Olympic event, this would take the gold " - Says Glenn, holding the gloves Rick gave him.
" I'm coming with you " - I say, looking Rick in the eyes.
He shakes his head.
" No, you're just a kid, you shouldn't be risking your life like that " - Says Rick, then gesturing to Glenn.
"Glenn and I will go when we make it back, be ready " - to that, I just nodded. I didn't have any reason to protest, not getting covered in body parts sounded good as well.
We go back to the alleyway and drag two dead walkers inside. Rick tries to open the walker's stomach but stops mid-swing. He kneeled next to the corpse, took out the walker's wallet, and told about everything he found inside. Then Glenn looks at the wallet as well.
" He's an organ donor " - He says, and I barely manage to contain my smile while looking at him.
Everyone started looking at Gleen weirdly, but you gotta appreciate him trying to calm everyone down.
After a pause, Rick takes a swing at the stomach, spilling blood everywhere, and everyone tries to look away, and this even manages to get a reaction from me. Guess knowing that he was actually alive and maybe had a family didn't make it any easier.
When Rick was done, we started covering him and Glenn with the walker's blood and guts, or should I call him Wayne now that I know his name? I shake my head, getting rid of the depressing thoughts, and focus on the job.
" This is really bad " - Glenn comments with closed eyes, trying not to look as he's being covered.
" Think about something else, puppies and kittens " - Ricks says, trying to distract Glenn.
" Dead puppies and kittens " - Says T-dog in a deadpan voice.
Then Glenn started puking immediately. Was it because he couldn't hold it in anymore? Or was it because of the puppies and kittens?
After we cover them, T-dog asks Rick.
" What do we do about Merle? " - Rick takes out the keys and hands them to T-dog.
Rick takes the axe and walks out with Glenn. And we go to the rooftop to observe the situation.
On the rooftop, T-dog tries to contact the camp while still arguing with Merle.
Andrea, Morales, and Jacqui are looking at the street, trying to spot Rick and Glenn.
I look at the sky, trying to figure out if they will make it on time before it starts raining. Then I look back at the street, I can see that they are near the fence, and there's plenty of time left.
I slowly exhale, calming myself down. I was waiting to see if, with me saving them a bunch of time with Merle and avoiding the sewers, it would still rain ahead of schedule.
When they finally get in the car and turn the engine on, all the walkers start coming straight at them.
Andrea starts freaking out as she sees the driving away from them.
"They're leaving us " - She says without taking her eyes off the car.
" What, what! " - Merele asks, not being able to see anything still chained to the pipe.
I look down at the street before speaking.
" No, they are not, if they drove straight here, they would lead all the walkers straight to us, we would have no chance getting out from here " - I try to calm them down.
Andrea turns to me.
" So they will just leave us here to save themselves? " - She asks, clearly not fully listening, and shaken up by the situation.
" No, if I had to guess, they will try to make a distraction so that the truck could get here safely " - I looked back at her, speaking calmly, trying to calm her down.
Then Glenn's voice came from T-dogs walkie-talkie.
" Guys! Go down to the store and get ready! "
We grab all our bags and run to the first floor. I can hear Merle begging to be released, but I decide to leave it up to fate. If T-Dog does release him and they have no reason to come back here, we wouldn't get the duffle bag full of guns, but we could always get more guns near the CDC.
We get down to the first floor, and we hear Ricks banging and telling us to open up. Moving quickly, we lift the gate just as T-dog gets to us. When all got in and Rick started driving away.
While everyone was trying to calm down and catch their breath, T-dog spoke up.
" I dropped the damned key "
Does it make me a bad person that I'm happy about it? I could have saved him and gotten him on our side; he would be a major asset to survival, together with Deryl. But I didn't, mainly because I just didn't like him that much.
No, I'm overthinking it again. Going from just a normal seventeen-year-old to someone who can take a person's life with just a flick of his wrist doesn't help much.
I can see Andrea looking around the truck before asking.
" Where is Glenn? "