35. danger from above

QUINN

     'ARMY CAME IN AND PUT THESE FENCES UP. Made it a place for the people to go,' Daryl explained, pointing at what looked to have been a camp behind a few fences.

Quinn narrowed against the sunlight as she looked inside. Tents were scattered around a building that looked to be some grocery store and there wasn't a single walker insight. This place could be a gold mine.

'Alright, let's make a sweep,' Daryl said, stepping through a hole in the fence. 'Make sure it's safe, grab what you can, we'll come back tomorrow with more people.'

Quinn held her daggers tightly in her hands as they entered the camp, spreading out between the tents to search for any sign of walkers. But the only dead bodies she saw were truly dead. Some of the tents were torn up while others were covered in blood. She felt a shiver crawl down her spine as she looked around. She didn't even wanted to start thinking about what could have happened here.

She walked up to the huge store that stood at the center of the camp and watched as Daryl knocked against the windows before sitting down. 'Just give it a sec,' he told Zach. She focused her gaze on the windows to see if the noise had attrached any walkers but she couldn't see anything.

'Okay I think I got it,' Zach suddenly said making Quinn let out a tired sigh before sitting down on the ground, playing with her dagger as she looked at the kid, wondering what he had come up with this time.

'Got what?' Michonne asked, walking up to them.

'I've been trying to guess what Daryl did before the turn,' Zach explained.

'Yeah, some of his guesses have been quite memorable,' Quinn said, trying her hardest to hold back a smile.

'You've been trying to guess for like six weeks,' Daryl mumbled.

'Yeah, I'm pacing myself,' the kid defended. 'One shot a day.'

'Alright, shoot,' Daryl told him, turning to look at Zach.

The kid took a deep breath, throwing Quinn a look who simply shrugged at him, before looking back at Daryl. 'Well, the way you are at the prison,' he started, 'you being on the council, you're able to track. You're helping people but you're still being kind of eh...' He seemed to be searching for the right word before finally settling with, 'surely.'

Quinn bit her tongue, trying her hardest not to laugh. She couldn't help but being curious as to what it was Daryl did before all this but whatever Zach was thinking, probably wasn't it.

'Big swing here,' Zach said, looking between Quinn and Michonne as he built up the moment and finally said: 'Homicide cop.'

A laugh broke free from her lips as she shook her head, hearing Michonne chuckle from next to her as well.

'What's so funny?' Daryl countered, but the corner of his lips was curled up in a small smile.

'Nothing,' Michonne said, biting back her laugh.

'Yeah, makes perfect sense,' Quinn added, feeling her jaw hurt from trying to stop laughing.

Daryl looked away from the two before saying. 'Actually the man's right. Undercover.'

She raised her eyebrows at Daryl, watching as Zach tried to figure out whether to believe him or not. 'Come on, really?'

'Yep,' Daryl told him, his face perfectly straight. 'I don't like to talk about it 'cause it was a lot of heavy shit, you know?' His blue eyes were focused on Zach as if daring him to believe it.

'Dude, come on, really?' The kid asked.

Daryl simply kept staring at him while adjusting the hold on his crossbow, making the kid shake his head and look away. 'I'll just keep guessing, I guess.'

'Yeah, you keep doing that,' Daryl said.

'Mmhmm,' Zach mumbled and Quinn couldn't help letting another chuckle of laughter escape her lips but it quickly died away when a walker threw himself against the glass on the inside of the store.

'We gonna do this, detective?' Michonne stated mockingly.

'Do it,' Daryl replied, standing up and walking to the door.

Quinn let out a small sigh before pushing herself up and heading after them to the entrance of the store. The simple moment of happiness had died out as soon as it came. It was time to start doing what they came to do.

She walked inside the store with her gun raised in one hand and a dagger held tightly in the other. Walking along the many lines of shelves she scanned them for anything useful. Upon spotting a box with oatmeal, she stood on her toes and reached out for it, placing it in the backpack she was carrying.

Walking on her eyes fell on a shelf filled with candy bars. A small smile appeared on her lips as she reached out and took a few in her hands. She took a bite of the candy while putting the rest in her backpack. The sweetness of the candy filled her mouth. The taste was completely foreign to her now which only made it more delicious.

A sudden loud crash echoed through the store making her jump, letting out a startled yelp as she turned into the direction it had come from. Running along the shelves her eyes widened when she saw a shelf where once bottles of wine had been standing on, had fallen down, with Bob burried under it.

Daryl came standing by her side, kneeling down and shining his flashlight under the wood. 'You all right? You cut or something?'

'No man, but eh, my foot is caught,' Bob replied, panic on the edge of his voice.

Footsteps to her right made her turn, Zach and Tyreese came running towards them. 'He's just caught,' Daryl told them. 'Come on help me up.'

'What happened?' Glenn shouted through the store.

'Everyone's all right. We're over in wine and beer,' Zach yelled back as the four of them kneeled down and lifted the first shelft and putting it back in place.

'I was moving fast man,' Bob said, 'I drove right into the drinks.'

Tyreese knelt down next to him, ready to lift the second fallen shelf. 'Man, you lucked out. If this thing had come down on you the wrong way...'

Another loud crash echoed through the store as suddenly a beam of light cut through the darkness. She jumped up and looked above her, her heart was racing fast in her chest, her breathing becoming slightly paniced as her eyes fell on the walker. It dangled from the ceiling, caught in the wires that ran through the roof. Thick lood rained down on the floor as the stomach of the walker was ripped open, still it moaned and groaned, stretching its hands out to them as it clawed in the air, desperate for warm human flesh.

Just then Glenn, Michonne and Sasha came running around the corner but stopped abruptly upon noticing the walker. They stared up at it in disgust, all slowly reaching for their weapons.

'Yeah, uh, we should probably go now,' Glenn said, tighting his grip on his machine gun.

'Bob's still stuck. Get him out of there!' Daryl yelled, kneeling down next to the shelf, but his voice was drowned in the noise of more walkers falling through the ceiling.

Panic flared through her as she looked around, watching the corpses crash right through the roof, falling on the ground, snarling at them. Only a few feet away from her one fell down on its head, its skull splitting open like an egg making brains fly around and cover the surrounding shelves, blood rained down on the ground and some landed on her jeans but she didn't have time to be disgusted by it.

'Hey!' Bob screamed in panic.

Biting her tongue Quinn through the glass of shattered wine bottles towards him and started pulling at the shelf but she alone wasn't strong enough to move it.

'Behind you!' Bob suddenly yelled.

Quickly she spun around, reaching for her dagger in her belt. With a scream she raised it, pushing it through the walkers skull but as soon as she pulled it out another one was already coming for her. Running towards it she raised her leg and kicked the thing down before bending over the corpse and pushing her dagger through his eye. Breathing heavily she pulled it back out, quickly cleaning the dagger with the walker its shirt before turning back to Bob but three walkers had come up behind her, cutting off her way towards Bob. 

'Hold on, Bob!' She screamed, taking out her gun as she stumbled backwards, away from the walkers. Raising her arm she took a deep breath and aimed, shooting the first walker in the head but by then the second one had already reached her. Panic flared through her stomach when its cold hands closed around her arm, pulling it towards its mouth when suddenly an arrow pierced through the walker its head. The corpse fell down on the ground, she bend down and pulled the arrow out before taking a step forwards and plunging it in the third walker its eye.

Trying to catch her breath she turned around to look at Daryl, who was standing on a bunch of boxes while kicking walkers away. He had used his last arrow to safe her.

'Daryl!' She yelled, gaining his attention. Raising her arm she threw the arrow towards him, for just a second it flew through the air before reaching him and he easily caught it, quickly putting it on his crossbow while Quinn shot one of the walkers surrounding him, down.

Gunshots echoed through the store, along with the awful sounds of snarling and groaning walkers but something else reached her ears which made the little hairs in her neck stand up straight. Glancing up at the ceiling her eyes widened upon noticing a helicopter through the holes the walkers had left. The chopper had landed on the roof, probably a long time ago seeing the state it was in but with the many holes in the ceiling, its weight had finally become too much for the roof to bear. The ceiling began to break, loud cracking noises filling the air as dust rained down on them.

Suddenly someone pushed her out of the way, throwing her against a shelf, just out of reach for a walker its teeth. Gunshots rang from behind her, leaving a hole in the walker its head, making the corpse fall down.

Wiping away the sweat from her forehead she turned around, seeing Glenn standing there with his gun still up. Nodding at him she took her own gun firmly in her hand. 'What do we do?' She screamed over the awfully loud noise of the collapsing ceiling.

'We have to go!' He screamed back, shooting down another walker.

With their weapons raised they turned around, seeing Zach and Daryl push away the last bit of the shelves and finally free Bob.

Knowing they'd be fine, Quinn turned to the door, stepping to the right to avoid a piece of the ceiling falling down when a pained scream rose above the noise of the crumpling ceiling. With her eyes wide she turned back around, her eyes searching for the source of the sound and her heart tightening painfully when seeing Zach fall down as a walker chewed on his leg. The corpse crawled over the kids body in longing for more, biting him in his neck, a fountain of blood raining down on the floor. Zach screamed in agony and the sound cut through her very bones.

Glenn desperately called out the kid's name but they all knew it was too late.

His pained screams froze her to the spot but Daryl roughly pushed her forwards, forcing her to move. She began running towards the door, dust raining down on her as a large portion of the ceiling collapsed behind them. Just as they jumped outside an all consuming crash came from inside, glass shattered, stone crushed and the ground shook as the helicopter fell through the roof, completely destroying the store and all its supplies.

Throwing some cold water in her face she exhaled slowly, trying to stop her hands from shaking by tightening her grip on the barrel. A groan left her lips when they didn't stop and she hit the wood in frustration. Sighing deeply she tried to let it go and turned around, a startled gasp leaving her lips when she saw her brother standing behind her.

His expression told her he had already heard about what happened and he only had to open his arms for her to stumble forwards and let herself be embraced by him. He stroke her hair and she buried her face in his shoulder.

'I barely knew him,' she mumbled, her voice muffled by his shirt. 'But it hurts.'

'I know,' Milo replied softly.

For a few minutes they just kept standing there, until she suddenly felt how tired she actually was. Slowly she pushed herself out of his arms, taking a deep breath. Offering him a small smile they made their way out of the bathroom and towards their cells.

They had cleared most of the cell blocks to make room for sleeping spots and private rooms but Quinn and Milo had never left C. It was where everything had started and staying in that block had seemed like the only logical thing to do. Even though she hated the dark halls and cramped up spaces, the prison felt more like a home to her than the house she'd grown up in ever had.

The siblings stopped in front of the cell Quinn shared with Michonne. Looking inside Quinn could see the woman sitting on the bed, her eyes focused on the map that lay spread out in front of her, holding up flashlight to study the many roads. Upon hearing their footsteps, Michonne looked up, nodded at them.

Quinn nodded back before turning back to face Milo. 'I'm okay,' she told him, knowing he wouldn't believe it but hoping he'd take the sign and give her some time to talk to Michonne.

Her brother nodded, seeming to understand. 'Alright, goodnight then.'

Offering him a small smile she gave him another quick hug. 'Night,' she said before turning around and entering the cell. Climbing up to the top bed she lay down on her side, staring at the shadows that formed on the wall because of Michonne's flashlight beam. The silence stretched for minutes until finally broke it. 'Alright if you're not gonna say anything, I will,' she said, knowing Michonne could hear her.

The rustle of the paper map was the only response she got.

'How long before you're gonna stop looking for him?' Quinn whispered.

She frowned into the darkness, awaiting an answer that would explain everything to her but the one she got hurted her instead.

'Why did you stop looking?'

Sighing Quinn sat up on her matress, looking down on Michonne who had started folding up her map. 'You know I wanted to find him just as much as you do.'

Standing up from her bed, Michonne turned around to look up at Quinn, her arms folded over her chest and her eyebrows raised.

'He killed Andrea and Merle and who knows how many others,' Quinn said, trying to keep her voice steady but it never did when saying those names, 'He's insane and I want to make him pay for everything he's done but...' She cut herself off, fumbling with her blanket while she searched for the right words. 'You saw what happened today,' she finally said. 'The world is too dangerous to risk your life finding someone who doesn't even deserve to be found.'

Michonne took a deep breath, staring at the ground as she seemed to consider Quinn's words.

'Listen, I'm not gonna stop you from going out there, I just want you to know that I don't think your life is worth all of this. I don't wanna lose you like we lost-' the name got stuck in her throat and she swallowed. But she didn't have to say it for Michonne to understand.

Nodding slowly her friend looked back up at her. 'I'll come back,' Michonne promised softly.

Smiling sadly Quinn lay back down on her matress, turning to face the wall and closed her eyes. Those words were empty and Michonne knew it, promises like that were impossible to make in this world, still Quinn felt slightly better by hearing them. She couldn't lose another friend, she wouldn't.