Story 6: Chapter 1 (TWD Necromancer)

"Do notice how quiet it has become since the Cowboy left?" Guillermo asked his fellow Hispanic friend standing beside him while looking outside the nursing home's boarded-up windows. A slight chill ran down his spine as he reviewed every piece of information he gathered from his runners over the last few days.

A week before they found the duffle bag full of guns laid out in the open right at an overrun military blockade courtesy of one of the last police officers. The noise Officer Rick and his group of people had made caused waves upon waves of the dead prowling around searching eternally for anything breathing. Looking over at his longtime friend Guillermo who shook his head rubbing his face as he ponders the number of... Skeletons the runners had seen.

Over the last few weeks more and more had been spotted doing something he had not expected. The dead had been herded by them toward local Costco's right outside of Atlanta first it was in ones and two's. Over time the numbers ramped up drastically until the last report. As more walkers disappeared the number of skeletons increased.

Turning to look at Filipe dark bags under his eyes barely hidden by his dark skin. His eyes darted from Guillermo to the cracks in the windows. Filipe was rubbing his shaved head in frustration at the new type of death that had been running around lately. The folks in their care had not seen any of them both men hoped that would stay the same. The Vatos underneath both of the had a run-in with them the other day. They found them pulling military-grade trucks and tanks with chains wrapped around their chests. Hundreds of them moved the equipment.

After a few of the men freaked out taking a few potshots at the fleshless undead, they became swarmed with the skeletons raining out of broken windows and landing in massive piles. Guillermo shuddered at the thought of hundreds of the dead raining out of the windows chasing the Vatos. The dead didn't seem interested in them further than chasing them off.

Beyond the skeletons, they have only seen one other type of undead instead of skeletons they had the appearance of mummified archers. Tall, bigger than most men almost ten feet tall if the men were to be believed. They only caught a quick glimpse of them leaping from building to building. The men said they were laughing at them. From the description, it was the equivalent of nails down a chalkboard. A cold chilling soul rending sound that made more than one of them piss themselves.

"Well, boss those bone fuckers haven't attacked us... yet" Filipe paused taking a deep breath "I know this sounds crazy but we need to check their base out and see what equipment they have been taking and if they are willing to trade." Filipe paused looking at the inside window overlooking the hand full of men working on cars with Abuela and his cousin Miguel watching over them. Abuela is in her normal bathrobe relaxing in a plastic party chair. Miguel leaned against the wall behind her making her want for nothing like any good grandson would do.

"We are already down to a week's worth of meds for the old Folks if we can ge..." Everyone dropped to the floor scrambling as gunshots rang out. Glass shattered and wood splintered as Miguel dove on top of Abuela covering her with his body screams rang out as men outside of the buildings banged against the steel doors that have long been welded shut. Screams rang out as Guillermo clutched his bloodied arm scrambling for cover away from the windows. More bangs and holes appeared in the steel shuttered garage doors.

One of the men started locking down the pully system that would hopefully hold off whoever was attacking them. Guillermo sprawled out on the ground blinking a few times dazed wincing as they put pressure on his arm. Looking down he grabbed his bloodied shoulder. Kicking his feet he scooted back into the concrete hallway for better cover listening to his men down below yelling out in Spanish. Taking a few calming breaths he hobbled down the stairs as some of the men that had been in the supply room started bringing their few shotguns and pistols out for the rest of the unarmed men.

Down in the garage, the Vatos gang had already prepared a defense against most kinds of attacks from the dead. But none of them had prepared much in the way of defense against their fellow men. The shooting stopped outside, but the men outside were working on getting the door open and redoubled their efforts. Shouts and jeers sounded through the door as the Vatos spread out behind cover with the guns Rick had left behind all of them in different states of Panic. The older men looked calm on the outside as they knew the younger members all looked to them in moments of crisis.

Filipe ran downstairs and grabbed Miguel and Abuela roughly shoving them back behind cover hopefully leading away from the fighting. crouching behind a metal pillar he looked over at the bleeding Guillermo who was holding a pistol pointing at the garage doors from behind his cover.

He glanced over at Filipe taking stock of him and his family narrowing his eyes at the three. Waving his hand getting Filipe's attention and connecting their eyes Guillermo jerked his head twice to the doors at the back of the impromptu garage an unsaid message passed between the two long-time friends as Filipe swore a few times before giving Guillermo a sharp nod before turning away grabbing his family. As he barreled through the doors at the back of the shop dragging his last two family members into what he assumed was a safe area.

Running down a long corridor between sealed rooms and windows looking out into the deep early morning fog hiding his panic behind a calm face making sure to have a strong arm around his grandmother. His cousin ran behind them glancing back from where they came from. Reaching the common area one of the more secure areas they kept the old folks at. His job as a nurse led him to check up on his patients and secure his family. Reaching the common room doors he took one last look behind the before Filipe reached the doors.

Shoving open the living area the gang had set up for the old folks. Behind the door, he came face to face with a gun. Waving the barrel the owner of the gun brought his finger up to his lips in a silencing motion. Waving his gun to the side Filipe looked around the room spying on some of his charges all in varying states of distress.

The few elderly men in the early stages of dementia recognized these men as threats so they glared at the men only stopped by them pointing a few handguns at them. The confused and bedridden elderly had already been stabbed in their chests and heads. Filipe felt his soul leave his body as Mr. Gilbert the kind old man who he took care of for the last few years. now reduced to nothing but a cooling corpse.

Miguel came through the door behind Filipe his eyes widening as he spied the dead patients laying on their beds. He turned his eyes on the men responsible for killing the people he had come to see as his own family. Tears prickled at the corners of his eyes as his face became blank letting his eyes talk for him. A fire reflected in his eyes as he turned to the men holding the guns pointing at their group. The area became silent just as Miguel clenched his leg muscles to attack the man smirking down at them, but the gunmen along with everyone else heard something.

It was faint but was becoming louder. The man looked around spotting what could only be assumed to be their leader. The leader jerked his head in the direction they heard the noise coming from. The gunman looked back at his hostages before he backed away from them still pointing his gun at Filipe, Miguel, and Abuela as the man came to a window. Using his free hand he pulled back the curtains. Outside the window was nothing but a morning fog. Narrowing his eyes he glared at the fog as if willing it away would work. The sound was almost like the rattling of a can on pavement.

"So what is the sound Shumpert?" The tall black man Shumpert glanced at the one who called out to him before looking back out the window. Ignoring his calls he turned back out the window. "What do you see?"

"I don't see fuck all Martinez. There is nothing out there that I can see." Martinez started cursing pacing back and forth looking at the eight other men all looking around and glancing at their prisoners.

As Martinez started to talk the screaming started followed by laughter... deep bone-chilling laughter that set their teeth on edge. The feeling reminded them of standing over a cliff as a tingling feeling shot up their legs. Glancing around the men started to form a loose circle still keeping an eye on their hostages.

Everyone jumped as something or someone was banging on the window by Shumpert. The tall black man looked over at his compatriot who jerked his chin at the window. Shumpert swore before taking small shaky steps toward the window before three more bangs worked on the window with a squelching sound. As Shumpert pulled back the curtains he swore before dropping them.

Turning back to Martinez "Someone killed the team outside" Shumpert harshly whispered at Martinez who froze before gulping down his saliva while he looked over at the rest of the men who started to shuffle around nervously. Shaking his head he walked past Shumpert peeking out of the window and looking over at the arrow-ridden bodies of his fellow survivors.

"Fuck me, this ain't from this group...p" He trailed off as massive figures with glowing pale green eyes appeared out of the dense fog and started to reach down grabbing the arrows out of the bodies. One of them threw back its head letting loose a bowl-emptying laughter as it kicked and prodded its prize. Watching these things comparing their kills almost reminded Martinez of a big game hunter who was bragging about the prize buck he killed to his buddies... Fighting down his bile that threatened to come up.

As one all six figures turned and looked right at Martinez with almost a playful look on their faces. To call them faces would be generous at beast it was as if a child tried to draw a human face and a blind man tried to recreate the faces with misshapen pieces of rotted leather. It only appeared to be playful as Martinez let loose a half scream half yelp as he fell back scooting across the floor waving his men down.

"Get the fuck down!" Martinez hissed at the men too slow to react. Shumpert the ever-follower dropped to the ground followed by six of his men.

Two of them looked around in confusion for half a second before their bodies sailed back as if pulled by a string. The last sight the two men saw was four-foot-long arrows sticking out of their throats followed by giggles coming from the new holes in the windows. The arrows buried a foot into the cinderblock walls as the two men started to thrash as their nerves fired for the last time.

Martinez looked over at Shumpert and hissed "This was supposed to be an easy in and out. Where the fuck is the governor?!" Shumpert's eyes darted around looking for an escape as he backed away from the three windows he was by. Shaking his head while his eyes darted around.

"I don't know!?" Shumpert's voice began to raise to a half shout. Peeking out the window again not see any bodies nor any of the freaky undead that seemed to be hunting them down. Slumping against the wall looking down at his shaking hands fear seeping into him as he peeked at the rest of the men on the back door team. Martinez was hiding underneath Mr. Gilbert's bed hoping it would hide him from whatever it was attacking them.

Miguel watches the men who attacked and killed his family. A small part of his was happy as all of them all go into a frenzy some of them being hunted like the animals they were. With a quick look around Miguel knew this was his one chance as he grabbed a nearby spilled can of soup. Gripping the can he looked back a Filipe holding Abuela close as he pulled her into the closest corner shielding her away from the blood and bodies scattered across the room. Abuela had fainted and was going into shock at the display of violence.

Nodding to himself he leaned back tossing the half-empty can of soup into the farthest corner getting onto his hands and feet crawling toward what he assumed was their leader Martinez he heard them call the man. Holding him responsible for the deaths of his family.

Pulling out his buck knife he used the distraction of the can to sneak behind the man shoving his knife deep into the back of his neck. The sound leaving Martinez's lips reminded him of someone getting hit in the solar plexus and being short of breath.

Ripping the buck knife out of his neck Miguel pulled back his arm dropping it again and again as sprays of blood splashed across the floor and his face. Martinez turned and saw the teenager he was just holding grinning down at him as the light at the edges of his visions started to darken. He tried to aim his gun at the teen but his limbs refused to work. It was then he realized that he couldn't feel below his neck all he could do is glare at the teen who would be another one of his group's victims as darkness consumed him.

Shumpert not realizing that his leader was dead watched as another four arrows impaled his running mates all he could do was clutch his pistol as if it was a safety blanket. He could still hear the crackling of those... things outside. His mind refused to believe that any of this was real. Turning to look at his leader for guidance he paused as his mind refused to elaborate on the scene before him.

The kid from earlier was now punching? Martinez... no not punching he was hitting him with something like a knife his mind supplies... Shakely he pulled up his gun to save his leader quickly lining up his shot on the kid. Getting a clear shot as he goes to pull the trigger, but before he does the doors the Mexicans had come through burst open as five men came in varying degrees of panic flashing across their faces. Shumpert doesn't have time to react as another arrow killed him pinning his head to the wall followed by chuckling coming from outside.

Miguel slumped onto the floor as laughter bubbled out of him uncontrollably "That was for you, Mr. Gilbert.." He muttered to himself but the Guillermo heard him spying on the dead elderly man on top of the bed now soaked through with blood from Martinez and its elderly occupant. He rubbed his eyes before barking out orders knowing this might not be the last they hear from the group.

Abuela had passed out as Filipe started to wrap her in blankets knowing as her Nurse he couldn't do much else for he besides what he already did. Looking around at the dead men who attacked me turned to Guillermo who had his head in his hands muttering a silent prayer. The rest of the elderly who were cognitive enough to know something big had happened were silent a lifetime of experience had taught them enough to know when to be silent.

While everyone was silently grieving Guillermo was planning his next move. The noise would surely draw the dead to them soon if anything. They needed to move, but where? Looking over at the arrows sticking out of the attackers he came up with an idea... a stupid idea, but it was better than anything else he could think of. These new types of undead had saved them from death. They were smart if anything so maybe they were not evil. Removing the attackers, and hoards of undead being removed to God knows where.

Looking over at the mess he let out a pained sigh holding his dangling arm which was now almost useless. "Alright gather up. We have work to do." He called out to the few living men in the area. Closing his eyes he came up with a game plan Janitor Guillermo was on cleanup duty... again.

A/N: Another one came to mind in the little free time I have so hope you enjoy it. If you are still confused this is the Vatos from S1E6 or E5 can't remember, but these are the Mexican 'gang' that was taking care of the Old folks that took glen hostage.