28. supply run

QUINN

     LEANING AGAINST THE WINDOW OF THE CAR she stared at the landscape that passed them by. Michonne was behind the wheel with Rick next to her and Quinn in the back with Carl on her right.

She knew Rick had taken her and Michonne with him because he was testing them, trying to see if he could truly trust them. She didn't mind. There was enough tension in the air with the Governor and so she was more than willing to get rid of the tension between her and the rest of the prison's group.

The world passed them in colors of green and brown as the car drove down the road. A small frown appeared on her face however as orange flashed by her eyes. Turning around in her seat she saw a man running on the side of the road carrying a bright orange backpack around his shoulders. He was waving his arms around, desperately trying to get their attention. But Michonne didn't stop the car and Rick didn't tell her to stop either.

Inhaling sharply Quinn turned to look forwards again. It was weird how the world ending made most people turn into cold versions of themselves but when it came down to her, she only seemed to start caring more. People their problems had never bothered her. She only cared about herself and her brother but the end of the world had given her only more people to care about. And she didn't know if that made her happy, or worried.

Finally Rick told them to stop on an empty road, near the entrance of a town that seemed completely abandoned. Stepping out of the car she rubbed her sore shoulders before walking after Rick.

The first place they entered was the police station and Quinn couldn't help but feel like Rick knew the place as he walked towards the weapon room immediately. Sadly, it was empty. The man let out a frustrated sigh as he kicked against the wall.

'Got any other police stations in town?' Michonne asked.

'I was the police here,' Rick said. 'Me and a few other guys. It ain't a big town.'

Quinn nodded slowly, that actually made sense. She let her eyes wonder over the ground to see if she could find anything useful but even the smallest box had been cleared of bullets.

Rick sighed before rubbing his forehead. 'There's other places to check. May not have as many guns as there were in here but-'

'We need as many guns as were in here, ammo too,' Michonne finished.

'Yeah, we do, but right now I only got a line on a couple,' Rick said. 'There's a few places up on mainstreet, bars and a liquor store.'

'A liquor store?' Quinn questioned.

'The owner had a gun that most people didn't know about, I did, I sighed the papers,' Rick explained. 'They might still be there.'

Quinn nodded and looked at Michonne who was still scanning the ground for anything that might be useful.

'Do either of you have a problem with that approach?' Rick suddenly asked harshly making Michonne look up from the ground and sigh deeply.

'No, Rick, we don't have a problem,' Michonne replied, staring the man down with her heavy gaze. He was only able to look back at her for so long before he was forced to look away. Quinn had hoped he would've started to at least slightly trust them by now but it appeared they still had a long way to go.

Rick didn't say another word as he made his way outside, followed by Carl.

Quinn nudged Michonne, who was still staring at the place the man just stood. 'Come on,' she said and the two women made their way after them.

The streets were filled with rubbish and sometimes corpses, not walkers though, actual dead corpses. Quinn found herself looking away each time, keeping her gaze focused on the road before her.

Rick lead them through a few streets before walking around a corner somewhere and Quinn frowned at the sight of the street.

'What is it?' Michonne asked.

'I don't know,' Rick replied.

The street before them was covered in all kinds of obstacles. Barrels with spikes poking out of them, pallets forming walls and as they walked closer she could see banners draping the walls of the houses on each side of the street with threats written on them. When the high squeals of a mouse reached her ears, she saw a cage filled with them standing on a table not far away from her. Spikes were set up around it, almost like some sort of trap.

She definitely didn't feel like walking in there but Rick did so anyway. The bar he had mentioned was probably on the other side of the street.

'It looks like somebody already made this theirs,' Michonne said.

'Doesn't mean they found what we're looking for,' Rick responded while dodging a rope that hung over the street. 'A couple of the places are just up ahead, let's get in and get out of here.'

Quinn didn't reply as she was too busy trying not to loose her footing over the many traps that were placed on the street. It almost seemed like one big walker trap. They crawled under barbed wire and walked passed the spikes as Rick pointed at one of the buildings. 'There, Tyrell's, a shotgun and two handguns,' he said. 'License issued to Tyrell Debbs.'

Carl suddenly stopped walking, pointing at something behind them.

Quinn turned to look and saw a walker stumbling towards them, a woman in a blue dress, her nose was completely gone and made way for a red hole in her face. She growled as she stumbled forwards and Michonne reached for katana.

'Don't,' Rick stopped her, 'she'll get caught.'

And he was right, the walker stumbled right into the barbed wire, her hands still outstretched as she tried to grab them. A sudden gunshot echoed over the street, the bullet hitting the corpse in the head, making her fall down.

'Hands!' A voice screamed.

Her eyes searched for the source of the voice, finding a man on one of the rooftops with a gun pointed right at them. His face was covered with some kind of mask, making it impossible to see who he was. But she didn't need to, the gun was more than enough to make her raise her hands. The others doing the same next to her.

'Now, you drop what you've got and you go!' The man screamed at them. 'Your guns, your shoes, those daggers and that sword! All of it, ten seconds!'

'Run for the car now,' Rick whispered.

'Dad!' Carl quietly protested.

'We need that riffle,' Michonne whispered sharply while the man had started counting. 'I think I can get up there.'

'Quinn, take him,' Rick ordered, nodding towards his son as he leaned on one knee and started firing his gun.

Quinn reached for Carl his shoulder and carefully pushed him into the direction of the nearest car, both of them kneeling behind it. She looked over it as the gunfire echoed over the street. She saw Michonne was able to slip through and was now heading towards the building the man was standing on.

Rick had kneeled down behind a car for cover, every once in a while jumping up to shoot towards the man.

Reaching for her own gun she frowned when the gunfire suddenly stopped. Looking around the car once again she saw Michonne standing on the roof looking around her but the man was nowhere in sight. Gunshots suddenly came out of the dooropening of the building the man had just been standing on, he had made his way down. Rick quickly ran towards another car to kneel behind and Quinn raised her gun, resting her hands on the car to find balance she pulled the trigger, her bullet shattering a window right behind the man.

It didn't stop him from walking forwards, driving Rick further and further back.

'Shit,' Quinn mumbled as she raised her gun again, firing at the man. He jumped behind one of the barrels making it impossible for her to aim. She turned to look over her shoulder, her eyes widening when she saw Carl was gone. She scanned the street but he was nowhere in sight. Quickly she ran towards another car, kneeling down behind it as she was still frantically looking around.

The kid disappeared from her mind however when she saw the man had reached Rick his hiding place, he was about to fire at the man when suddenly Carl jumped out of nowhere and shot the man in his stomach.

He fell down, just as Michonne came running out of the building, her katana raised.

Quinn let out a shaky breath before standing up and walking towards the others, her eyes focused on the body on the ground.

'Are you okay?' Rick asked, making Quinn look up and see his gaze was focused on his son. His blue eyes held worry but a hint of pride in them as well.

Carl nodded. 'Yeah.'

'I told you to run to the car,' Rick said, 'I didn't want you to have to do that.'

'I had to,' Carl replied.

Rick didn't say another word as he knelt down beside the man, knocking on his chest. 'He's wearing body armour,' he said, opening the man his blouse to reveal black body armor with Carl's bullet was stuck in it.

Rick removed the armor, lifting the man his shirt to reveal a big blue bruise where the bullet had hit. 'He's alive,' the cop said.

'Do we care?' Michonne asked.

Rick glared at her before removing the man his mask, revealing a black male with the beginnings of a beard on his chin. Quinn frowned at Rick, who looked startled. He took a second to gather his thoughts before mumbling a quiet: 'Yeah.'

'Look out for booby traps,' Rick called out while walking towards the building he had earlier told them the guns would be in. 'Looks like he's gotten pretty creative so far.'

'I thought we were just gonna get in and get the hell out of here,' Michonne told him.

'I'm not leaving him on the street,' Rick replied.

'How do you know him anyway?' Quinn couldn't help but ask.

'He saved my life,' Rick snapped at her making her raise her eyebrows by his aggresive tone. He seemed to realise he had gone a bit too far as he took a shaky breath before adding: 'He wasn't like this then.'

'Okay,' Quinn said, she understood Rick not wanting to leave the man out here. She only worried he could be a danger when he woke up.

'He has a son,' Rick suddenly said.

'Do you think he's in there?' Michonne asked, nodding towards the building.

Rick didn't reply, which counted just as much as an answer. He threw a look at his own son who was guarding the man with a gun pointed right at his face, before walking towards the enterence of the building. He had to duck to avoid a wire and was about to step inside when Michonne whispered. 'Stop!' And pointed at the welcome mat that lay before the door. 'You said booby traps,' she explained.

Rick reached down and lifted the mat, revealing a hole with pointy spikes in it. 'Thank you,' he said, placing the mat back in place.

'Let's just get him inside and go,' Michonne told Rick.

That turned out to be easier said than done. Carrying the man while trying to avoid any possible booby traps took them much longer than Quinn would've liked.

Michonne and Rick had each an arm of the man slung around their shoulder as they made their way upstairs. Quinn walked right behind them, ready to take over if they should get tired. Carl came last, his gun still tightly in his hand.

Finally they reached the top of the stairs were an old sheet was hung up with red words painting on it, saying: 'I'm not shitting you.' They only had to take one more step when Rick called out. 'Stop!' Then he threw a look over his shoulder at Quinn. 'Get his legs, there's a trip wire here.'

She reached down, lifting the man his legs as they carefully stepped over the wire and made their way passed the sheet into a room. Her eyes widened upon seen the axe attached to the wire, had they touched it, that thing would now be burried into one of their heads.

'Carl, look out for the wire,' Rick called out to his kid as he walked further into the room.

Quinn dropped the man's leg as she looked around, finding herself smiling by what she saw. Countless of guns were placed against the wall, a whole box with explosives, a crossbow and a few machetes.

'I showed him that weapon's locker last year,' Rick said, smiling at all the stuff.

'And it had all of this in it?' Michonne said in awe.

'No, not even half. He's been busy,' Rick explained. 'Put him on the cot.' And they walked over to it, putting the man down on it. Then Michonne walked back to the weapons and took a bag, starting to load them up. Carl sat down on his knees and started helping her. Quinn walked over to them, picking up another bag and started filling it with weapons as well. There was so much right here for the taking, with this they actually start thinking about fighting the Governer.

'No,' Rick suddenly said, making Quinn put down the gun she had in her hands and turn to look at him. 'We're gonna wait for him to wake up.'

'He tried to kill us,' Michonne interjected.

'He told us to go, he didn't know who we were.'

'He tried to kill us and we didn't leave him for the walkers. He's had a good day,' Michonne said. 'He doesn't need half of the these guns, we do.'

'We're waiting for him to wake up and that's it,' Rick told her.

'Have you taken a look around this place?' Michonne told the man. 'The spikes, the axe, the walls?'

'You think he's crazy?' Rick asked.

She seemed to force herself not to sigh. 'No, I think he's dangerous,' she managed to speak calmly.

'I know him,' Rick said.

'He wasn't like this then.'

'We're gonna wait for him to wake up,' Rick said again before walking over to the bed, picking up a robe along the way to bind him to the bed. While he was working on that Quinn noticed Carl walking towards a map that was drawn with chalk on the green walls. He studied it intensely, as if he was seeing something from long ago.

Rick noticed it too because when he was done tying the man up, he stood and walked towards his son. 'What do you see?'

'It's our neighbourhood,' Carl replied. 'It's gone.'

'Is that why you wanted to come?' Rick asked. 'To see the house?'

'I-I just wanted to come,' the kid mumbled.

The silence that followed was interrupted by Michonne chewing on some crackers. Quinn turned to her, holding out her hand. Michonne handed her some of them and Quinn sat down next to her, putting them in her mouth. They weren't tasty but after the crappy breakfast she had this morning she couldn't care less.

'We're eating his food now?' Rick asked annoyed.

Michonne shrugged. 'The mat said welcome.'

A soft chuckle escaped Quinn her lips before she could stop herself, earning a glare from Rick which she choose to ignore.

Carl suddenly turned around and walked up to his dad who had started to collect some more guns. 'I'm going on a run,' he told him.

'Where?' Rick asked.

'Well, I thought maybe the one thing people didn't take was crib*. And there's that baby place that mom's friend Sara ran. It's just around the corner.'

'Carl-' Rick started but his son interrupted him. 'Dad it's just around the corner and there's all those walker traps.'

'You're gonna need some help carrying the box,' Michonne said.

'What?' Carl asked, turning to her.

'If you're gonna get a crip you're gonna have to take the box. It's big and heavy. You're gonna need help carrying the box,' Michonne explained, making Quinn frown at her. She hadn't pictured her friend as the type who knew anything about baby stuff.

'You're gonna get the crib, right?'

'That's what I said,' Carl replied.

'Then I'll go with him,' Michonne said, throwing a look over her shoulder at Rick.

Rick seemed to doubt it for a second but then nodded and stood up. 'Right then, that's the deal. Quinn you stay here with me.'

Quinn nodded while putting another cracker in her mouth.

'If you get into trouble you shout,' Rick said, looking at his son. 'I'll hear it from here.'

'Okay,' Carl said before turning and walking out of the building, followed by Michonne.