Guts.

CHAPTER ONE , YOU'RE ON YOUR OWN, KID

a/n : reese is cold-hearted and I love that. hopefully you guys love it too 👀

*this chapter contains racism*

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Reese Evans didn't think her life could get any worse. Her mom died, and her dad put so much blame on her that it was to the point that he started beating her. Reese doesn't remember the first time her dad hit her, but she remembers when he started verbally abusing her. That's when she recognized the sign of her life turning for the worse. Isn't that weird? Her dad telling her she was a shitty daughter because she spilled her orange juice was what told her that her life was only going to get worse; not her mom dying. Her dad really fucked her up.

Reese slams her heel against the rotting corpse's skull, caving it in. The growling abruptly stops and Reese looks at her black van that was soaked in blood. She lifts her foot from the Walker's skull and sputters her lips. Reese looks around the highway that had abandoned cars littered across it. Her eyes land on the hundreds of buildings in the distance. She grabs the map from her back pocket and unfolds it. Her eyes skim across the black marker traced across the paper. There was a circle around the city of Atlanta.

Reese swipes her tongue across the deep cut of her lower lip. She looks down at her sneaker and scrapes it against the road. She stretches her legs, readying herself for the long walk she had ahead of her. Reese has grown to love walking. After all, that's the only way she could travel. Reese starts down the freeway and she tucks the map back into her pocket. She flicks her hood onto her head.

Reese didn't know if this was going to be a for sure lead or not. This wasn't even her map. She snagged off of a family after they gave her some food out of the kindness of their hearts.

It was kind of them, really. But Reese doesn't care about kind. She just wanted whatever could've been useful to her.

After a few hours of walking toward the hundreds of towers, it started getting dark. She knew what to do when the sun set. Reese pulls her machete from her waist holster. She cautiously makes her way over to one of the abandoned cars. Reese lightly taps the blade of her machete against one of the windows. The teenager waits for a few moments, she leans against the car and sputters her lips.

Reese receives no sound from the car. She hooks a finger under the door handle and slowly pulls on it, while quietly praying. The door opens with a click and Reese chuckles. Reese pulls open the door and peeks her head into the vehicle. She inspects the front seats and then the back seats. There was no sign of any rotting corpses. Active or dormant.

Reese slides the machete back into her holster. She crawls into the humid car and closes the door behind her. She takes her bag off and tosses it to the seat behind her. Reese leans her back against the coded car door and lays her legs across the middle console. She lays her head against the window and rubs her hands against her jeans. Reese opens her and closes her hands with her eyes on the passenger window.

Reese would do anything she had to do in order to survive. Even if that meant she had to stay awake all night to make sure she wasn't ambushed, that's what she would do. Reese grabs her machete. Even though it was still in its holster, she keeps it in her lap; so it was easy to access.

Reese felt her eyes grow heavy with each minute that passes. She tries her best to fight off her exhaustion, but the teenage girl couldn't help it. For Reese, she fell asleep for a while. But, to her it felt like a few seconds. The thing that woke her up was a bump against the car. Reese inhales a deep breath and jolts her head up. The newly risen sun burns her eyes. She rubs her eyes then pinches the bridge of her nose. Reese looks around the car and she sees a few straggling rotters, dragging their feet across the highway.

Hoping to find something new to add into her inventory; Reese opens the glove compartment and rummages through it. She finds an old first aid kit and greedily yanks it out of the compartment. Reese unzips the bag, but it was empty. All that there was left were empty bandaid wrappers.

"You fucking kidding me?" She tosses it to the side and scoffs. Reese looks in the back seat and her eyes land on a green bomber jacket. The teenager didn't need the jacket. She had two on already. Reese wouldn't call herself greedy. But other people would.

Reese gets back to the front seat and looks out the car. She saw a few totters still walking, not noticing her. So, she grabs her bag and slips it onto her shoulders. She opens the car door and her sneakers hit the pavement. Reese keeps her machete in hand while looking around the area.

Reese would rather not go out of her way to kill the rotters. But, she didn't want them surprising her as she continued her journey to Atlanta. Reese unsheathes her machete and turns on her heel. She looks at the two dead approaching her and tilts her neck. Reese stalks toward the walking corpses with her machete raised. One of the rotters stumble toward her. She kicks it's knee in, breaking it's leg. The rotter falls to a knee and Reese slams the blade of the machete into it's head.

The other rotter quickly approaches her. Reese uses her free arm to shove the corpse back. She presses her sneaker against the body and yanks her machete from the dead's skull. Reese looks at the rotter that she shoved. Before it could get back on it's feet, she slashes her machete across the rotter's head. The top of the corpse's head slides off to the ground. The body slams to the ground.

Reese clears all the other rotter's on the interstate and slides her machete back into the sheathe. The teenager finally got to the city after a few hours of walking. There wasn't anything eye-catching to Reese in the city. It seemed stranded. Reese looks at the map again and scoffs.

"This was such a bust." Reese continues through the city on her own. The streets were silent, but as she continued deeper into the city, she started to hear voices. At first, she thought it was the wind. Oh, how wrong she was.

Reese feels her entire body run cold as she turns the corner and sees a hoard of the dead in the street. She slaps a hand over her mouth and hides behind the cement wall, her back presses against it. Reese squeezes her eyes shut and her breathing starts to pick up. In her mind, Reese wanted to say that this was karma due to her stealing the map in the first place. But, in Reese's mind, she did the right thing. For herself.

Reese looks around the wall and inspects the situation. The rotters were still distracted, eating something else. Reese turns around, going back the way she came. She quickly walks down the street and turns another corner. She was greeted by a newly formed group of rotters approaching her.

"Shit." Reese stops in her tracks and her hands starts to shake. Her eyes look around the streets, noticing the rotters surrounding her. Reese's breathing picks up and her stomach turns violently. She grabs her machete from her sheath and her eyes spot an opening to an alleyway. There was a slim opening between the dead. Slim was all Reese needed.

The teenager pushes herself into a sprint. Reese ducks down as she runs, dodging the arms of the dead. She rams her shoulder into the walking corpse in front of her and dives into the alley. Her arms scrape against the blacktop and her machete slides away from her hands. She army crawls down the alley and quickly stands up, stumbling towards her machete. She grabs the machete by it's dark brown handle. Reese sprints down the alley and turns her head, seeing the herd behind her. She gets to the gate and curses.

The teenager slides her machete into the sheath and climbs onto the gate. One of the rotters grasps onto her sneaker and she lets out a scream. She rams her heel into the rotter's head and continues over the gate. Reese gets to the other side of the gate and drops to the ground.

What dumbass lured all these rotters together anyway?

Reese sprints away from the gate that was between her and the herd. The second she gets out of the alley, two arms wrap around her. Before she could scream, someone slaps a hand over her mouth. The person drags her down the street and she screams through his hand.

A guy I'm a baseball cap appears in front of her. "Hey, we're not gonna hurt—"

Reese kicks the guy in the crotch. He lets out a high pitched squeal and falls to his knees. He rocks back and forth, trying to catch my breath.

"Calm dow—"

Reese headbutts the man behind her. The man's arms unwrap from her and she goes for her machete. The guy she kicked grabs her wrist, stopping her from unsheathing her machete.

"We're not trying to hurt you, okay?"

The other man grabs her other wrist and her breathing quickens.

"Get the fuck off of me—"

"They're coming!"

All three of them turn their heads to the herd of rotters approaching them.

"Shit..." Reese looks around the area. Her eyes land on the fire escape, between two buildings.

Reese shoves the two men away from her and sprints across the street, not worrying about the two men. "No way she just left like that..." Glenn sighs.

"Come on, let's go." Rick taps Glenn's arm. They both run after the girl. Reese gets to the fire escape and quickly climbs up the yellow ladders. She gets onto the catwalk connected to the ladders and falls to the side with a huff.

More scattered steps are heard going up the ladders. She snaps her head up and sees the two men climbing up the ladder and onto the catwalk. Reese quickly stands up with her hand on the handle of her machete.

The two men look over the catwalk. The man in the cap lets out a sigh of relief and closes his eyes. He turns and quickly stops in his tracks, seeing the girl in the hoodie.

"Uh...you're not gonna kick me in the nards again, are you?"

Reese lets out a harsh breath and takes her hood. "As long as you don't ambush me again, I'll keep my hands and feet to myself."

As soon as the two men saw her take the hood off, they had the same thought.

"Jesus..."

"She's just a kid."

Reese knits her brows together.

Rick looks back at the bruised girl. "Where are your parents?"

Reese huffs, "Not here." She folds her arms.

"You couldn't have survived all on your own."

Reese raises her brows and her upper lip curls. "Hey—fuck you, Pig!"

"The world has literally ended." The man in the cap states. "Why are you talking about him being a Pig?"

Reese huffs, "Simple. He's dressed like one. So, he's obviously still got that Pig mentality." She shakes her head.

The two men look at each other, already knowing this girl was going to be a handful. Reese bunches her shoulders. "So, are you guys going to take me somewhere safe or do I have to wait for some other 'strong men' to do it?"

"Well, I'm Rick. And this is Glenn." The officer introduced.

Reese slightly tilts her chin up. "Well, there's more ladders, so let's go."

"You're not gonna tell us your name?" Glenn asks.

"Well, if we die in a few minutes my name won't matter." Reese starts climbing up the ladders.

Glenn let's out a chuckle. "I don't think I like her."

Rick raises his brows in agreement.

☆

Reese follows Glenn across the buildings and looks around the skyline. "So, you come here often?"

Glen looks at the teen and she motions around the sky. "The city. You seem to know it well."

"Yeah, I'm usually the person that makes the runs in the group."

Reese chuckles, "A group?" She scratches her neck. "You share easily, you know that?"

Glenn slightly opens his mouth, not realizing he said anything about being in a group. "I...I'm not in a...g-group..."

Reese and Rick look at each other. Glenn rolls his eyes, "Whatever."

"You the one that barricaded the alley?" Rick inquires.

"Somebody did—I guess when the city got overrun." Glenn states. "Whoever did it was thinking not many Geeks would get through it."

They stop at a hatch. Glenn pulls it open and Rick holds it up.

"Back at the tank, why'd you stick your neck out for me?" Rick asks.

"There's a tank around here?" Reese cranes her neck forward.

"Call it foolish, naive hope that if I'm ever that far up shit creek, somebody might do the same for me." Glenn drops his bag down the hatch and Reese does the same. Glenn goes to climb down the ladder, but he looks back at Rick.

"Guess I'm an even bigger dumbass than you."

Reese giggles, "I think you're all three." She scoffs. "Helping someone, hoping that someone else'll do the same for you in the future is stupid."

Glenn huffs, "Gee, thanks." He looks at Rick. "Really staring to like her."

Reese rolls her eyes and climbs down the ladder after Glenn with Rick above her. She drops to the ground and snatches her bag off the ground. Reese slips her bag back on and follows after Glenn.
Hey, I've got a question...why'd you guys get all grabby with me on the street?"

"Okay, don't say 'grabby'. It wasn't even like that." Glenn looks at her.

Reese bunches her shoulders. "Well, that's how it felt."

"The way you were going? There was a pile of those things coming from that way. And if you would've gone there then—"

"I would've been rotter meat right now." Reese huffs. She looks at Rick then Glenn. These two had no idea who she was. And from the way Glenn kept taking to her, she wasn't well liked either. But they saved her.

"Uh, my name's Reese." She holds her hand out to Rick.

Rick chuckles. It was a step in the right direction that's for sure. He shook Reese's hand. "Finally glad to know you're name, Reese."

Reese turns to Glenn and notices his hand out. "What? You already heard me introduce myself."

"Yeah, but—"

"We should keep moving. Yeah?"

Glenn's mouth hangs open, "She didn't shake my hand."

"Yeah, maybe some other time." Rick pats him on his back and walks through the building.

The three make their way through the abandoned office and open the door to the back of another alley way.

Glenn grabs his walkie and starts talking into it. "I'm back. Got two guests plus four geeks in the alley."

They hurry down the steps and get to the ground. As soon as Reese's feet connected with the pavement, two rotters came into their view. Glenn and Rick stop in their tracks, no weapons on them.

Reese unsheathes her machete and walks toward one of the walking dead. The door in front of her swings open and she slams the blade of her machete into the rotter's skull. She kicks the corpse off her machete and takes two huge steps back. Two people wrapped in black armor run towards the last standing rotter and beat it with bats.

Reese brushes past the two strangers and sprints through the door they just opened. The teenager turns her head, checking to see if anyone was behind her. She saw no one. Even though Rick and Glenn saved her life, in the end, Reese was only looking out for herself. So, she looks ahead and walks through another entry way, only to have someone grip her by the shirt and pin her against the wall. Reese's machete slips from her hand and she lets out a grunt.

Before Reese could snap at the blonde in front of her, the lady points a gun between Reese's eyes.

"What the fuck...?" Reese exhales a shaky breath.

"My question exactly, bitch." The blonde snaps.

Reese's eyes shift to each person that was standing behind the blonde.

"Andrea, don't." The dark-skinned lady orders, her tone sharp.

"Just chill out, okay?" One of the men in armor speaks.

"You're kidding me, right? We're dead because of this stupid asshole." Andrea seethes.

"Look, I think you've got the wrong person..." Reese talks in a soft yet shaky tone. She didn't want to say anything to get Andrea to pull the trigger.

"No way in—"

"Andrea, she's just a kid." Glenn quickly says.

Andrea's stern expression drops and she's left with a shocked one. She lowers her gun and releases her iron grip on Reese's shirt. Reese lets out the breath she was holding and closes her eyes.

"I-I—"

"I'm not the one you want to shoot, okay, trigger happy?" Reese straightens out her shirt with a scoff. The teenager looks at the Rick. "Officer Dumbass, here was the one with the gun."

"Thanks." Rick's tone was heavy with sarcasm.

Reese looks at Rick, "I'm not dying for you."

"We're dead—all of us." Andrea's eyes fill with tears.

Reese wrinkles her nose and walks away from the blonde.

"Because of you."

Rick looks around, "I don't understand..."

"Are you new to this?" Reese asks.

"Actually, yeah." Rick nods.

Reese's smug expression drops and she raises her brows. "Where the hell have you been? Dead?"

Rick frowns, "A coma, actually."

Reese runs a hand down her face. "Of course, cause why not..."

"Look..." Morales roughly guides Rick through the other part of the store. "...we came into the city to scavenge supplies. You know what the key to scavenging is? Surviving?"

"You know the key to surviving? Sneaking in and out, tiptoeing." Morales snaps. "Not shooting uo the streets like it's the O.K. Corral."

Reese looks at the hundreds of rotters that were at the display glass.

"Every geek for miles around heard you popping off rounds."

"You just rang the dinner bell." Andrea says.

"How long did it take you to come up with that one?" Reese rolls her eyes.

The glass on the window case starts to crack, causing everyone to get away from it.

"What the hell were you doing out there anyway?" Andrea asks.

"Trying to flag the helicopter." Rick states.

Reese chuckles and pinches the bridge of her nose.

"Helicopter? Man, that's crap." T-Dog says. "Ain't No Damn helicopter."

"You were chasing a hallucination, imagining things. It happens—"

"I saw it."

Reese looks at Rick. "I'm sorry, but whatever you saw wasn't a helicopter. Maybe it was a...a goose!"

"A goose?" Glenn looks at the teenager.

Reese shifts her gaze to Glenn. "I'm just trying to give him some reasonable explanations for his hallucinations."

"And you thought a goose was reasonable?" Glenn shakes his head.

"Hey, man—I'm just trying to help." Reese holds her hands up.

"Hey, T-Dog, try that C.B. can you contact the others?"

"Others? The refugee center?"

"Yeah, the refugee center." Jacqui scoffs. "They've got biscuits waiting at the oven for us."

"Got no signal. Maybe the roof." T-Dog suggests.

A gunshot goes off, causing everyone to flinch.

"Oh no. Is that Dixon?" Andrea scoffs.

"What is that maniac doing?"

"Come on, let's go."

Everyone starts to run up the stairs. Reese throws her arms up, "Wait, so we're running towards the gunshots?"

"Hey, you can go up with us or stay down here with them." T-Dog points behind her. Reese looks back at the cracking glass that was between her and the pile of dead.

Reese's jaw clenches. "Shit—hey, wait up!" She runs after the group.

Everyone gets to the roof of the building.

"Hey, Dixon are you crazy?!" Morales barks.

Reese stands near the door way as everyone makes there way over to the man on the edge of the roof.

"Hey! Y'all be more polite to a man with a gun!" He hops back onto the base level of the roof. "Only common sense."

"Man, you wasting bullets we ain't even got!" T-Dog snaps. "And you're bringing even more of them down on our ass! Man, just chill."

"Hey, bad enough I've got this Taco-Bender in my ass all day. Now, I'm gonna take orders from you?"

Reese scratches the inner corner of her eye and lets out a breath of disbelief. "Of course, the guy with the gun is racist...my life can't get anymore fucked."

"I don't think so, bro. That'll be the day." Merle seethes.

"That'll be the day? You got something you want to tell me?"

"Hey, T-Dog man, just leave it."

"No!"

"It ain't worth it." Morales says. "Now Merle, just relax, okay? We've got enough trouble."

"You want to know the day?" Merle asks, hatred practically steaming off of him.

"Yeah."

"I'll tell you the day, Mr. "Yo". It's the day I take order from a ****

T-Dog's eyes widen and he lunges forward. Merle rams the butt of his rifle against T-Dog's face. Reese's eyes blow wide. Merle pinches T-Dog in the face. Rick grabs Merle's arm, but Merle punches Rick, causing the Officer to fall down.

Everyone tries to scream for Merle to stop, but he continues to beat T-Dog up. He points a gun into T-Dog's face. Everyone freezes, they softly beg Merle not to pull the trigger. Merle spits on T-Dog.

"All right! We're gonna have ourselves a little Powwow, huh?!" Merle stands up. "Talk about who's in charge."

"I vote me. Anybody else?" Merle looks at the others helping T-Dog. "Democracy time, y'all. Show of hands, huh?"

"All in favor? Huh? Come on, let's see."

Morales raises his hand and everyone follows suit. Reese would do whatever it takes to survive, that's was already known. But she would never in a million years allow someone like Merle Dixon be in charge of her.

"Now that means, I'm the boss, right?" Merle chuckles.

Out of the corner of her eye, Reese sees Rick stand up from the gravel.

"Anybody else? Hmm? Anybody?"

"Yeah."

Merle turns around, only to be greeted with a hit with the butt of the gun, which causes a satisfied smirk to form on Reese's lips. Rick presses his knee against Merle's face and he handcuffs Merle to a pipe. Rick grips Merle by his shirt and sits him up.

"Who the hall are you, man?!"

"Officer Friendly."

Rick grabs the gun from the table. "Look here, Merle. Things are different now."

"There are no **** anymore. No dumb-as-shit, inbred white trash fools either." Rick states. "Only dark meat and white meat. There's us and the dead. We survive this by pulling together, not apart—"

"Screw you, man"

Rick lets out a chuckle, but he wasn't amused by any of this. "I can see you make a habit of missing the point."

"Yeah? Well, screw you twice."

Rick cocks his gun back and presses it against Merle's temple will try out a second to waste and Reese raises her brows with a smile on her lips.

"You ought to be polite to a man with a gun." Rick repeats Merle's earlier words. "Only common sense."

"You wouldn't. You're a cop."

Rick takes the gun from Merle's temple. "All I am anymore is a man looking for his wife and kids." His tone was low. "Anybody that gets in the way of that is gonna lose."

"I'll give you a moment to think about that." Rick searches Merle's pockets and grabs the bag of drugs. "You've got some on your nose there." He flicks Merle's nose.

"What are you gonna do, arrest me?" Merle cackles. His laughter quickly stops when Rick tosses the drugs off the building. "Hey, what are you doing—that's my stuff?"

"If I get loose, you're better pray—yeah, you hear me, you pig?!"

Reese wrinkles her nose. Now she hated that she called Rick a pig earlier. She wanted nothing to do with Merle for as long as she lived. Rick walks over to the edge of the roof to catch his breath. Reese makes her way over to the officer and looks over the edge.

"Guess, I'm gonna be taking 'Pig' out of my vocabulary now."

Rick looks at the teenager and she presses her lips into an uneven smile. "You did good back there." Reese says. Rick chuckles softly, "Thanks."
A lump forms in his throat, thinking about his own teenage daughter.

"You're not Atlanta P.D." Morales says, making his way over to Rick as Reese. "Where you from?"

"Up the road a ways."

"Well, Officer Friendly from up the road a ways, welcome to the big city."

Reese looks at the rotter infested streets and scoffs. "I am so fucked..."

"No, we're getting out of here." Rick says, walking back over to T-Dog.

Reese pulls her brows together. She totally forgot that Morales and Rick were anywhere near her.

"How's that signal?"

"Like Dixon's brain—weak." T-Dog quips.

Merle flips T-Dog off.

"Keep trying."

"Why? There's nothing they can do." Andrea says. "Not a damn thing."

"Got some people outside the city is all." Morales states. "There's no refugee center. That's a pipe dream."

"Then she's right. We're on our own." Rick speaks. "It's up to us to find a way out."

"Good luck with that." Merle says. "These streets ain't safe in this part of town from what I hear." He looks at Andrea. "Ain't that right, sugar tits?"

Reese takes her machete from her sheath and sits on the ground. She presses the blade against the gravel and spins it around, waiting for someone to make a plan to get her out of this shit.

"Hey, Glenn. Check the alley. Any manhole covers?" Morales asks.

Glenn jogs over to the other side of the building and looks over it. A few seconds later, he comes back over to the group. "No, must be all out on the street where the Geeks are."

"Maybe not." Jacqui speaks. "Old bullying like this built in the '20s—big structures often had drainage tunnels into the sewers in case of flossing down in the Subbasements."

"How do you know that?" Glenn asks.

"It's my job—was." Jacqui states. "I worked in the city zoning office."

Reese raises her brows and stands up. She sheathes her machete and huffs, "Then what are we waiting for? Let's go!"

☆

"This is it? Are you sure?"

"I really scopes this place out the other times I was here." Glenn states. "It's the only thing in the building that goes down."

"But I've never gone down it. Who'd want to, right?"

Everyone simultaneously looks at Glenn. Glenn looks at everyone, catching their drift. "Oh. Great..."

"Hey, I'm sure they'll be right behind you." Reese says with a sputter of her lips.

"No, not Andrea." Glenn says.

"Why not me?" Andrea asks.

"Yeah, why not her?" Reese asks.

"Think I can't?" Andrea raises her brows.

Glenn's mouth opens, "I wasn't..."

"Speak your mind." Rick says to Glenn.

Glenn inhales a breath, "Look, until now I always came here by myself—in and out, grab a few things—no problem." He explains. "The first time I bring a group—everything goes to Hell."

"No offense." Glenn quickly adds, not wanting to hurt feelings.

"If you want me to go down this gnarly hole, fine—but only if we down it my way."

Reese smirks, "All right, look at you, taking charge." She lightly nudges Glenn with her elbow.

Glenn chuckles, but he rubs his arm. "Well, I'm glad you think that's cool. Because you're going with me."

Reese's smirk drops. "Uh—I beg your pardon?" She cranes her neck forward. "N-No, I'm not. I'm a kid, 16! I can't—"

"Look, I saw you run to the fire escape when you didn't give a shit about leaving Rick and I behind." Glenn explains. "You're fast. Maybe even faster than me. I need your help."

Reese remains unconvinced. She looks at everyone else and rolls her eyes. "What do I get out of this?"

"You stay alive." Rick says.

Reese grinds her teeth together, thinking. "Yeah...you know the closet way to my heart, Officer Dumbass." She pinches the bridge of her nose and squeezes her eyes shut. "Fuck—all right, let's do it." She looks at Glenn. "Me and you. In and out."

Reese holds her hand out to Glenn. Glenn softly chuckles and shakes her hand. "All right, it's tight down there. If I run into something and have to get out quick, I don't want you all jammed up behind me getting me killed." Glenn looks at Rick.

"You've got Merle's gun and I've seen you shoot. I'd feel better if you were out in that store watching those doors, covering our ass." Glenn explains. He then points to Andrea. "And you've got the only other gun, so you should go with him."

"You and Jacqui stay here." Glenn tells Morales and Jacqui. "Something happens, yell down to us, get us back up here in a hurry."

With each word that Glenn orders, Reese grows more nervous.

"Okay, everybody knows their jobs." Rick pats Glenn's shoulder then he pats Reese's shoulder and she looks at him with an incredulous expression.

"I don't need your comfort—thanks." She pulls her shoulder away from him and exhales a sharp breath. "Just...hand me a flashlight."

Rick lets out a breath and hands her a flash light. Reese flicks it on and stretches her neck. "Fuck my life, I can't believe this..."

Glenn climbs down the ladder first and Reese follows. "Hey, if I die. I'm going to kill you." Reese says.

Glenn pulls his brows together as he gets to the level floor. Reese does the same and hops to the base floor. Glenn looks at Reese, "But if you're dead then—"

"I regretted it as soon as it came out of my mouth." Reese waves a dismissive hand. She looks down the tunnel and sighs. Reese looks at Glenn and motions her hand down the tunnel, "After you."

"What a gentleman." Glenn murmurs. "Or...gentlelady..."

Reese shrugs, "I don't have a preference."

Glenn presses his lips together, "So, how'd you get here by yourself anyway?"

Reese purses her lips. "I snagged a map off a family." She answers. "Guess it was for that fake ass refugee center."

Glenn raises his brows, "Huh, so do you think that was your karma?"

Reese rolls her eyes, "Definitely not. I would say, I helped them out; stealing their map." She looks at Glenn. "I mean, what if that family came here instead of me? They're entire family would be hunks of meat right now."

"So, you have a hero complex?"

Reese quietly laughs, "No complex here. I know I'm not a hero." She holds a hand up. "And I'm cool with that."

Glenn pulls his brows together. "You don't have any one looking after you at all?"

Reese bites the inside of her cheek. "Nah, I've been on my own even before the world fell. What about you?"

Glenn looks at the ground for a moment, thinking about his family. "Uh, I lost my family not long after..."

Reese slowly nods her head. "That seems to be the case for most people." She looks at him. "Sorry."

"Uh, thanks."

"Also, sorry for kicking your balls earlier." Reese bunches her shoulders.

Glenn chuckles, "We scared you, so it is completely forgiven."

The two make it to the end of the tunnel and find a door beside them. Glenn forced the door open with a rickety squeak. Reese shines her light into the room and she walks down the stairs to the large gated tunnel.

"Sewer tunnel." Reese moves her light around the tunnel. As they get closer to the tunnel the smell of it became more rancid. Reese's eyes start to water and she covers her nose. "Your friend was right."

Glenn tilts his head, "You think we can cut through it?"

Reese bunches her shoulders. "I don't know, you got a blowtorch and half a day we can borrow?"

"We've got a hacksaw." Glenn states.

Reese chuckles, "If a hacksaw would work. I would've said hacksaw."

A crunch is heard below them and both Glenn and Reese point their lights down. The lights reveal a rotter eating a rat. Reese's eyes widen as the dead lunges it's arms out of the gate. The rotter grabs onto Reese's shirt and she gasps. Glenn grabs the back of Reese's shirt and pulls her back. Reese grabs ow of the rotter's arms and forces it to the side, snapping the arm in half. The bone pops out of the rotter's arm and it's arm weakens.

Reese and Glenn stumble back away from the undead. Glenn dry heaves, "Oh! His bone is showing—his bone is showing!"

"Yeah, well, you can puke about it later." Reese sprints back up the stairs with Glenn following behind her. They both run down the tunnel and back up the ladders.

Morales and Jacqui help the two onto their feet.

"So, what's the verdict?" Morales asks.

Reese and Glenn look at each other. "Nothing." She answers. "No way out."

The sound of glass shattering rings through the building. They all get to the front of the store and see the dead group closer than before. This time it was one sheet of plastic keeping them out of the store.

"What'd you find down there?" Rick asks, his gun pointed at the window.

"Not a way out." Glenn answers.

"We need to find a way...and soon."

"Let's get back to the roof." Rick says, heading towards the steps. Everyone else follows him.

"That construction site, those trucks—they always keep keys on hand." Rick says, pointing down to the truck.

"You'll never make it last the walkers." Morales states.

Rick looks at Glenn, "You got me out that tank."

"Yeah, but they were feeding." Glenn states. "They were distracted."

"Can we distract them again?" Rick asks.

"Right. Listen to him. He's onto something." Merle speaks up. "A diversion, like on 'Hogan's Heroes'."

"God. Give it a rest." Jacqui sighs.

"They're drawn by sound." Reese states. "Why not use that?"

Glenn slowly nods his head and points at the teenager. "Right, like dogs. They hear a sound, they come."

"What else?" Rick asks.

"Aside from they hear you? They see you, smell you and if they catch you, they eat you." Morales explains.

"So, all around, it's just a shit show." Reese crosses her arms.

Rick pulls his brows together. "They can tell us by smell?"

"Can't you?" Glenn questions.

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

Reese could tell Rick had an idea in mind and she wasn't going to like it.

☆

Everyone watches in a heavy silence as Rick raises the axe. You can feel everyone tense as he brings the axe down. But Rick stops the axe from a few inches away from the body. He takes his mask off and tosses the axe to the ground. Reese knits her brows together. Rick crouches down and searches the man's pockets. He grabs the wallet from the corpse's pocket.

"Wayne Dunlap. Georgie license."

Reese rolls her eyes.

"Born in 1979. He had $28 in his pocket when he died...and a picture of a pretty girl."

"With love, from Rachel." Rick reads. "He used to be like us—worrying about bills or the rent or the Super Bowl. If I ever find my family, I'm gonna tell them about Wayne."

"But you're not."

Everyone looks at the teenager. "You're never going to meet Wayne and his family because the world isn't like that anymore. Driven by hope."

Everyone watches as the girl grows more passionate about her words, a hint of anger lacing them.

"The more you talk about who he was before, the more you'll hesitate to do this." Reese states, she stalks over to the axe and grabs it. The teenager looks at everyone else. "You can't hesitate in a world like this. Especially with me around. I'm not dying." She pulls the mask over her face and raises the axe.

"You guys are not getting me killed."

Reese tightly grips the axe and raises it above her head. She slams the axe against the corpse's stomach and everyone flinches. Reese ignores everyone's gagging and groans of disgust. She dismembers each limb of the rotting corpse. Blood splatters across the white lab coat she was wearing and her nose starts to burn from the rancid smell of the decaying corpse.

"I am so gonna hurl." Glenn says with his hands on his knees.

Reese's arms starts to get tired and she pulls the axe away from the body. "Anybody else want to take a swing?" She holds the axe out to the group.

Nobody moves for it. Reese moves the axe around. "It's therapeutic." She softly sings.

Morales reluctantly grabs the axe and groans. He starts to chop at the body until the guts are practically mush. Reese pulls the mask off her face and lets out a sharp breath.

"Everybody got gloves?" Rick asks. "Don't get any on your skin or in your eyes."

Everyone takes a pile of the guts into their gloves hands and spreads it across their lab costs. Reese wrinkles her nose as she rubs the guts all across Rick's coat.

"Oh jeez. Oh, this is bad." Glenn softly cries. "This is really bad."

"Think about something else—puppies and kittens." Rick speaks.

"Dead puppies and kittens."

Reese raises her brows at T-Dog's comment. Glenn looks away from the body and vomits.

"That is just evil. What is wrong with you?" Andrea whispers.

"Next time let the cracker best his ass." Jacqui voices.

"I'm sorry, yo." T-Dog apologizes.

"You suck." Glenn exhales.

"Do we smell like them?" Rick asks.

"Yeah." Reese groans. The teenager looks at Rick, "Uh, here." She holds her machete out to him. "It might be better to use something a lot quieter than a gun."

Rick nods his head and grabs the machete. "Thank you. I'll be sure to bring this back.

Reese huffs, "You better."

"When we make it back, be ready." Rick says.

"What about Merle Dixon?" T-Dog asks.

Reese furrows her brows and looks at T-Dog. "Seriously?"

Rick hands T-Dog the key and Reese's eyes widen. "Seriously?"

"Look, Merle isn't the best person, but—"

"But nothing." Reese chuckles. "That guy is a ticking time bomb. And I'm guessing that today was just one of those dumbass explosions of his." She cocks her head to the side. "I say we leave him."

"He's got a brother waiting for him." Glenn informs the teen.

Reese blinks. "I don't care."

"Well, you don't get in a say on who lives and who dies." Rick voices.

"I don't know you, Rick. So, don't tell me what I have a say in." Reese scoffs. "You all are unbelievable—he's not just gonna let us escape together after we locked him up there."

Just by the way everyone started to disperse from the group, you could tell they were tired of hearing Reese's constant worrying. Reese throws her head back and groans. Rick and Glenn quickly leave the building while everyone else runs up to the roof. Reese reluctantly follows after them while muttering about them all being "fucking idiots".

"Hey, what's happening, man?!" Merle calls out.

"Hey, T-Dog, try that C.B." Morley orders.

"Hey, come on. Talk to me, y'all." Merle urges.

Morales looks through the binoculars, hoping to spot Glenn and Rick.

"Base camp, this is T-Dog. Anybody hear me? Can anybody out there hear me?"

Morales' eyes widen and he points down at the street. "There!"

Thunder begins to rumble through out the sky.

"That asshole is out on the street with the handcuff keys?" Merle asks.

T-Dog smirks and holds the key up, he waves it back and forth in a smug manner. Reese looks at the sky, "Now since we've got that out of the way. Can you keep calling your group, or are you too busy right now?"

T-Dog scoffs at the teenager and she gives him a cheeky smile.

"Base camp, this is T-Dog. Do you copy?"

T-Dog continues to try and contact the camp with no luck. A few moments later, the radio clicks.

"Hello, hello. Reception's bad on this end." A voice is heard. "Repeat. Repeat."

Reese's back straightens and she looks at the walkie with wide eyes.

"Shane, is that you?" T-Dog inquires. "We're in some deep shit. We're trapped in the department store."

"There are geeks all over the place. Hundreds of 'em. We're surrounded."

T-Dog doesn't hear anything coming from the radio. "They're gone." He leans his head against the wall.

Reese pulls her brows together. "Do you think they heard you?"

T-Dog looks at Reese, "We gotta hope."

☆

"Shit..."

The adults look at the teenager. Reese keeps her eyes on the sky and points at the dark grey cloud looming over the city. "I hate to be the bearer of bad news, but...that's a fucking rain cloud." She huffs.

"Oh, man."

The rain starts to fall on the roof and the streets of Atlanta. The rain starts to get heavier by the second.

"Wait, it's just a cloudburst." Morales states. "We get 'em all the time. It'll pass real quick."

Reese runs a hand over her loose braid. She walks over to Morales and grabs the binoculars from him. She looks through the binoculars and sees Rick and Glenn. "No...they're clothes are already starting to get clean." She hands the binoculars back to Morales.

Everyone watches as Rick and Glenn now sprint towards the gate. The rain soon stops and the two men soon leave everyone's line of sight. "I don't see them anymore—"

A truck slams through the gate and speeds down the street. Away from the building everyone was at. Reese's heart drops.

"No fucking way..."

"They're leaving us." Andrea gasps.

"What? What? What do you mean?" Merle asks.

"No, no come back."

"Where are they going?"

Reese shakes her head. "You're friends are full of shit, you know that?!" She snaps at the group.

"Rick isn't our friend." Andrea runs a hand down her face.

Reese runs her tongue across her teeth. "But Glenn is, right?" She sets her elbow on the edge of the roof and squints her eyes at Andrea. "Has he always been someone who runs away or is this new?"

"Look, kid, Glenn isn't like that." Morales says. "They've got a plan."

Reese steps away from the edge of the roof and runs a hand through her wet hair. She closes her eyes to keep herself from panicking any further. She couldn't let anyone see her desperation for survival. Then they could use that against her. And Reese wasn't going to let that happen.

Soon, the radio clicks.

"Those roll-up doors at the front of the store facing the street—meet us there and be ready."

Reese's eyes fly open. Morales looks at Reese with a smirk, "Told ya."

She doesn't even hear what he said, her ears were rushing with blood. Reese quickly snatched her bag off the ground and slips it on. Everyone starts to get their stuff together and they hurry toward the stairs, ignoring Merle Dixon's cries.

Reese stops at the stairwell and sees T-Dog hesitating. "You either let him out or you don't. Whatever happens is your fault."

T-Dog digs into his pockets and pulls out the. He runs over to Merle. Reese watches as T-Dog goes to free Merle, but T-Dog trips; the key slips from his hand and it drops into a drain. Reese's mouth hangs open, "Oh, shit."

"Son of a bitch! You did that on purpose!" Merle spits.

"I didn't mean to!—"

"You lie! You did it on purpose!"

"There's nothing you can do for him now!" Reese calls out.

"You shut the fuck up!" Merle snaps at the girl.

"Hey, man, I'm the one getting out of here." Reese shrugs. She looks at T-Dog. "Look, if I leave without you, everyone's going to think I left you on purpose. And I want to." She chuckles and her eyes close. "Believe me, I want to leave you right now. But I need you and your people to help me live. So, let's go."

"But he—"

"You dropped it by accident!" Reese snaps. "We can't help him—"

"Don't listen to her, man. Don't leave me please!" Merle begs.

Reese shakes her head, "This is what he deserves. You don't have to feel bad about it."

Reese sure as hell didn't. And Merle could see that from the menacing look in girl's eyes. You can see the turmoil within T-Dog, it got him wondering how this teenage girl could look at a living person and not care about their feelings. T-Dog follows after Reese while apologizing to Merle profusely. Reese runs down the steps, she turns and sees T-Dog locking the door behind them. The girl scoffs, but she continues down the steps.

"I'm not slowing down!" Reese calls out.

"Yeah, I figured as much!" T-Dog follows after her after finishing locking the door.

Reese and T-Dog finally catch up with the other three. "They're here! We've gotta fucking go!"

A bang is heard in the metal garage door and everyone pulls on the chain. The door rises up, revealing Rick with a large moving truck. Everyone piles into the truck. Reese falls onto her back as they speed away from the building. Rotters quickly follow after the truck and Morales closes the door.

Reese inhales a deep breath, trying to catch her breath. Everyone looks at T-Dog and Reese, wondering where Merle was.

"I dropped the damn key." T-Dog states.

A small smile forms across Reese's lips. She softly laughs and covers her face. Everyone looks at the giggling girl, wondering if she was okay. The teenager takes her hand off her face and continues to laugh.

Reese Evans had survived another day.

━━━━━━━━━━

author's note.

You're either going to love or hate Reese these first few seasons.

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