C H A P T E R  11

❛ the helicopter ❜

QUINN

    THE LIGHT WAS LIKE FIRE TO HER EYES. It burned and made her want to scream but all she could really do was lay completely still, shut the whole world out and pretend it was safe enough for her to close her eyes. If only for just a minute.

A hand landed on her shoulder and still she didn't open her eyes, her entire body shivering from the fever that had been playing with her for a week now.

'Quinn, you have to drink something,' Andrea spoke softly.

She didn't react, scared that even the tiniest of movements would set her whole body ablaze with a fire of never ending pain.

'Michonne went to find some medicine, she'll be back soon,' Andrea said.

She'd been with them ever since they saved her life in the forest and it turned out to be a great choice to let her stay. Andrea was great with a gun and picked up some survival skills from the group she used to be with. She'd told her two new companions a lot about them. So much that it drove Quinn insane at times but when she saw with how much respect and love Andrea talked about them she couldn't help but feel slightly jealous. She never had friends like that, people she could trust, except for her brother she had always been alone.

Andrea was very different compared to both Michonne and Quinn. Whereas the samurai and the drug addict were quiet and preferred to keep their secrets to themselves, Andrea was an open book, anxiously waiting to be read. Funny enough it worked. Andrea carried a spark within her that held their weird bond together. Quinn was never able to pinpoint exactly what it was about Andrea that made her warm up to her so easily, it had just...happened.

It was also because of Andrea that Quinn was now sick, or more like the walkers' fault. She had allowed the deep gash she'd suffered from being pushed against the ground by a corpse, go untreated for too long, thinking it would heal fine on its own. Instead it had started to fester and got infected. None of them knew much about wounds and infections but Quinn was pretty sure she had blood poisoning. Which meant that without the proper medicine she would probably die soon. In fact, it was a small miracle she was still alive at all. It seemed as though she was running on sheer willpower.

Though, every day, she knew she was closer to death. Sometimes she even dreamed about it. In her nightmares she was already one of the dead, stumbling around with nothing but insatiable hunger to keep her going.

It was becoming harder everyday for Quinn to tell the difference between reality and the messed up dreams in her mind. Sometimes she thought she saw her brother, and it felt so real she would almost start talking to him right before he would disappear in a cloud of smoke again. Leaving her with nothing but the pain of her broken body. It was slowly driving her insane and at times she caught herself wishing she was indeed dead.

The sound of a door opening and falling shut again was like a bomb in her head as a slight groan left her lips. Footsteps followed and soon Quinn could feel the presence of someone kneeling down by her side. Cautiously she opened her eyes, prepared to close them again as soon as the light would become too much.

Michonne kneeled down by her side, next to Andrea, with some aspirin in her hands. Andrea slipped her hands under Quinn's arms, pulling her up against the wall. Pain blazed through her fever-ridden body, making her tremble.

Michonne helped her swallow the pills since she barely had the strength to do it herself. The pills left a bitter taste on her lips and she let out a dry cough.

Andrea held a bottle of water to her mouth and slightly pushed back her head, so she barely had to swallow. The water took the bitter taste away and felt like a blessing to her dry lips. Michonne held the bottle to Quinn's forehead. The coldness of it vibrated through her, leaving a pleasant chill in her heated body.

'How is it out there?' Andrea asked, her hand still supporting Quinn's back.

'Same,' Michonne replied, moving the water bottle away from Quinn's face. Making her instantly want to reach out and take it back, only to find she had no strength to do so. 'It's quiet.'

Andrea looked to Michonne, her eyes scanning the face of the woman next to her. Then a slight smirk appeared on her lips. 'Liar.'

'We should go in a few days,' Michonne said, putting the water bottle in her bag.

A small sigh left Andrea's lips. 'They're coming. We should go now.'

Michonne's gaze flickered to Quinn before she could stop herself and shook her head then.

Quinn scoffed and finally let her lips form the words she'd been thinking all winter. 'You two should go, I'm only holding you back.'

'No,' Michonne immediately said, her voice stern, like that of a mother scolding her child.

A small chuckle left Quinn's lips, feeling so incredibly miserable that she didn't even care if it made her seem crazy. 'I won't have you two dying for me,' she groaned, her throat hurting with each word.

'You wouldn't last a day,' Andrea said. Then, trying to light the mood, she smiled mischievously. 'We saved your ass all winter.'

That was true in every way. When the fever came setting in, she could barely lift her arm to protect herself. She'd given her gun to Andrea. Who, unlike her, actually knew how to use it. Plus Michonne was awesome with her katana. Somewhere along the way she lost count of how many times they'd saved her.

'We'll go in a few days,' Michonne said and she stood up.

Quinn, however, didn't want to stay in this awful abandoned meatlocker one day longer. And even though she could barely move and her head felt as if a thousand horses were kicking it, she'd rather walk than stay here one more minute.

'I can't take this anymore,' she mumbled, 'let's just go.'

When both of the women didn't even do as much as blink, she let out an annoyed sign.

'Please, I just want...' she shivered and pulled the awful smelling blanket closer around her feverish limbs, 'some fresh air.'

Andrea turned to look at Michonne, her eyes seeming to plead to just go.

Michonne rolled her eyes in annoyance, then finally nodded. She turned on her heels, disappearing back into the other room to return with her dead pets. Their bags and belongings were tied to their backs. It turned out they were good for more than just masking their smells.

Andrea kneeled down beside Quinn, taking her arms and helping her stand.

A small gasp left her lips as she tried to stand on her trembling legs. Putting one foot in front of the other, her entire body screamed in protest but she refused to listen.

Michonne opened the garage door. She scanned their surroundings with her ever watchful eyes and when it seemed safe enough, she stepped outside, pulling her corpses along.

Slowly Andrea and Quinn followed. She was still holding on tightly to Andrea's arm, afraid she'd slip and fall to the ground. The sun was bright in her eyes and she almost screamed for them to stop and go back, but the thought of spending one more day in that horrible meat locker with visions of her brother plaguing her was the only thing that stopped her from doing so.

And instead, she put one foot in front of the other, trying to ignore the awful pain that demanded to be felt.

She had no idea how long they walked before they saw it. To her it felt like years, though it was probably only a few hours. Far in the distance, smoke rose up above the trees. It seemed like a huge fire had been ignited somewhere. And where there was fire, there were usually people too.

Andrea seemed to have come to that very same conclusion and started heading into the direction of the smoke.

'Do you really think that's a good idea?' Quinn asked.

Andrea looked over her shoulder. 'We need medicine or a doctor. If you want to live, I'd say we at least check it out. If we don't like what we see, we leave again. Simple.'

It sounded simple enough when she put it like that, but it rarely ever was. However, she did have a point. If they could find someone or something that might help her live a few more days, she was willing to take the risk.

Quinn turned to look at Michonne, who didn't seem all too happy at the idea of going to check out whatever it was. But splitting up wasn't an option either. It might have been once but they had become too entangled in each other's lives. And so Michonne pulled at the chains that held her walkers and they headed towards the smoke.

It took them about half an hour to reach the source of the smoke. And it was a strange sight to behold. It was a helicopter, forced to make a crash landing in a clearing in the woods. It was damaged beyond repair, judging by the smoke rising from several places.

The smell of fuel and death was too much for her weakened body. She bent over and threw up the little food she'd managed to eat in the past few days. It wasn't much, but it was enough to drain the little bit of energy she had left. With an exhausted sigh she sat down on the ground, shivering from the ever lingering fever.

Andrea knelt down beside her, checking if she was okay. Quinn couldn't even nod to show her that she was, every movement her head made was like torture.

'Don't push yourself,' Michonne said softly. She headed over to a tree to tie up her walkers. 'I'll check it out,' she muttered before stepping out of the bushes into the field, her hand tightly on the handle of her sword.

Andrea squeezed Quinn's shoulder reassuringly and then headed after Michonne.

In some pathetic attempt to feel at least the tiniest bit of safety, Quinn held her dagger in her hand. Her view was blurry and her body was trembling nonstop. It was only getting worse and with only a few aspirins every now and then...She wasn't going to make it. And right now, that seemed like a totally fine option to her. What was it worth to live in a world like this when she couldn't even defend herself?

Suddenly Andrea and Michonne knelt down next to her, pulling her back to the crash site. Andrea held her finger to her lips when Quinn was about to ask why they'd hurried back.

'Any survivors?' She whispered.

'Two dead, not sure about the other,' Michonne replied. She stared forward, her body tense and her hand holding her sword. She looked ready to fight.

Quinn followed her line of sight and finally saw what had her friends so worried. Two cars had entered the clearing, coming to a halt just beside the wreckage of the helicopter. Her heart beat nervously in her chest as she watched a couple of heavily armed men exit the vehicles.

'Spread out,' one of them ordered.

They immediately did so, spreading out across the meadow, checking every inch of it. The loud roar of their cars must have attracted some of the dead ones because a corpse came stumbling out of the treeline. One of the men took aim but was stopped by another.

'Save those rounds until you need 'em,' he said.

Quinn watched as they neared the wreckage. Out of the corner of her eyes she noticed one guy killing a walker with his bow and arrow, while another one hit one down with a baseball bat.

The man who'd shouted orders before had reached the helicopter first and was now looking inside. 'Got a breather,' he called.

Quinn squinted against the sun as her head throbbed painfully, trying to make sense of what was happening.

Suddenly Michonne sat up straight, reaching for her katana. Frowning, Quinn turned around to see what had caught her attention, only to notice a walker heading their way.

Andrea, however, placed her hand on Michonne's arm, stopping her from taking any action. She pointed at the two walkers in chains, silently telling her their smell would mask their presence.

Holding her breath Quinn watched the dead one stumble right by them, heading into the open field instead, taking the attention of the men.

She leaned down closer to the ground as the same man as before raised his bow and shot the creature in the head.

'He's saving them,' Andrea whispered, pointing at the guy who seemed like the leader as he pulled a body from the helicopter, 'we should show ourselves.'

'Not yet,' Michonne replied.

Quinn watched the man as he knelt down. The grass was too high to see what was going on but his knife shone brightly in the sunlight, telling her enough. Terror swirled inside of her as he brought the blade down into the head of an already dead man.

Next to her Michonne shifted uncomfortably while Andrea inhaled sharply. Whoever these men were, Quinn could only pray they would move along quickly.

The chained up corpses behind them suddenly started moving. Their chains rattled as they moved around, their silent groans slowly becoming louder. It was almost scary how they could still make such a noise when their mouths had been removed.

Quinn looked nervously at their dead companions and watched with a frown as Michonne stood up, pulled out her sword and cut off their heads in one swift movement. Quickly she turned back to look at the men in the clearing, waiting to see if they would notice them.

They were staring at the treeline and she held her breath as they slowly raised their weapons. The silence seemed to last for hours as her exhausted body tried to keep itself breathing through the growing tension.

'Let's roll out,' the leader suddenly called through the silence, making the men lower their weapons and turn back to their vehicles.

A small breath of relief escaped Andrea's lips as she slowly lowered the gun she had been tightly holding. Even Michonne's shoulders seemed to relax a little.

But her heart leaped in her chest as the sudden sound of the safety of a gun being removed came from behind them.

Immediately Michonne reached for her sword but a voice stopped her from moving.

'Ah, ah, ah, easy does it.'

It was a man's voice, low, raspy and teasing.

'Mine's a whole lot bigger than yours,' the voice continued, 'now put down yer weapons.'

She frowned at Andrea, who had a sudden look of anger on her face. Slowly she turned, almost as if she already knew who was behind them and was not eager to see him again.

Quinn turned around as well, her entire body protesting as she did.

'That's it, nice and easy,' the voice continued.

When Andrea had fully turned the man suddenly chuckled. 'Oh holy shit, blondie!'

When she'd turned around she found herself looking at the strangest man she'd ever seen. His blue eyes were staring at them with some strange sort of amusement, a small smirk tugging at his lips. His hair was short and blond, but already turning a little grey by his ears. The beginnings of a beard were on his chin and cheeks and in his left hand he held a gun, pointed right at them but that wasn't what made him so strange.

It was his hand.

Or rather, his lack thereof.

In the place where his right hand should be, there was a knife, placed in some sort of wooden brace that was held together by small belts.

His eyes scanned Andrea, like looking at someone he knew from long ago. 'Damn, never thought to see ya again.' Then he suddenly turned in a swift movement and planted the knife attached to his arm in a walker that had approached behind him.

Quinn hadn't even noticed the thing coming, too busy holding herself together as a sudden sharp sting went through her stomach.

The man threw the corpse aside, like it didn't bother him, then he stood up. 'Now, how 'bout a hug for your old pal, Merle,' he said, his voice raspy and filled with some kind of unexplainable joy.

Andrea opened her mouth, probably to reply with a witty remark but Quinn would never find out what she had planned to say. Her body suddenly decided it was enough, her head was spinning and she felt herself falling. The world went black around her. She thought she could hear a worried shout before she was embraced by the darkness completely.

A U T H O R 'S  N O T E

I've been so excited to publish this chapter! I'm so proud of it and I loved introducing Merle. He's such a fun character to write and let me tell you this; he'll play a big role in this book. 

I know in the series it was Andrea who got sick but in the first version of this book I'd changed it to Quinn because she was still suffering from withdrawal symptoms. But after it was pointed out to me by a reader that it wasn't realistic that she'd still be suffering from this after ten months, since the symptoms usually only last three months, I decided to do some research and realised that was correct. I should have done a little more research before writing because I know it's a sensitive subject. For that I apologise. But, since I still wanted it to be Quinn who get sick, I did some more research and decided to go with this storyline instead.

As always, thanks so much for reading guys. This story has already 100 votes and we're only eleven chapters in! I've never gotten so many votes this early on! Thank you all so much, I love you all to bits.

xXx

UYM

edited: ✔