SNEAK PEEK #2 (Chapter 6: Guts: Part Two) *because I realized both excerpts have been from chapter four only!
December 10, 2020.

"GOD," JACQUI SIGHS. "Give it a rest."

"They're drawn by sound, right?" Rick completely ignores Merle, and Mike has to give him props for that. Ignoring someone as infuriating as Merle Dixon was the mark of a patient man. Patience was attractive on anyone except Mike.

Aside from having no live bait, they had no explosives or noisemakers of any kind to help them. Mike had the idea of a bundle of firecrackers to get survivors out of pinches like this, though he didn't have the resources to start experimenting.

"Right, like dogs." Glenn nods. "They hear a sound, they come."

"What else?" Rick asks.

"Aside from they hear you?" Morales gives a little shrug. "They see you, smell you, and if they catch you, they eat you."

Rick pauses. "They can tell us by smell?"

"Can't you?" Glenn is surprised.

"They smell dead, we don't." Andrea points out. "It's pretty distinct."

And that was the beginning of Rick's insane, absolutely off-the-walls idea. Back in the department store, Rick is busy grabbing several pairs of rubber gloves and other necessary supplies for their future venture. He moves quickly with a sense of urgency Mike understands all too well, and he dodges through the store despite Mike's attempts to convince him of how horrible this idea was.

"Rick!" Mike follows him doggedly. "You know this is fucking insane, right?"

"Have you got a better idea?" Rick isn't looking at him.

"No, but what if it doesn't work?"

"Then I'll think of something else."

"You can't think of something else if it fails and you get eaten alive," Mike snaps, exhaustion coloring his tone. He really needed some rest as soon as they got back to camp, he was beginning to get impatient with things.

And people.

People he didn't want to be impatient with.

Rick's silence as he picks out more rubber gloves makes Mike feel guilty.

"Look," Mike sighs and stops Rick, putting a hand on his arm. Their eyes meet for a moment, some unexplainable feeling passing between them. "I just don't want us to lose anyone if we can avoid it. The amount of loss in this world is too great, we can't contribute to it any more than needed, Rick. Now I'm sorry I snapped with you, I just don't want to deal with another loss."

"I understand," Rick nods. "People say things when they're scared. You don't have to be. This'll work, I know it will."

"How?"

"I just have faith."

—

This is from the Alpha draft, as are the other excerpts I've posted! I have it labeled (v.A) in Google docs and that's how I determine which version is which, lmao.

Like stated at the top, I only wanted to post this sneak peek because I realized the previously posted excerpts have both been from chapter four and I wanted to show you guys something else this time.

Since I only have two more finals to go, I'll be writing for this book a lot more starting next week! So hopefully I can try to get most of it done before I go to basic training? That's in March of next year.

So hopefully! (:

If not, well, we'll deal with that when we get there haha.

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