Sewers And Walker Guts, Here I Come!

"Now, I ain't the best with memory," I started before smiling and pointing down, "But if I remember right, most old buildings have access to the sewers below. Drainage pipes for potential floods. Am I remembering that right?" I asked the group who were in front of me in a semi-circle.

After calming everyone down and knocking that racist bastard Merle out, Rick handcuffed the latter to a pipe while I gathered the group and we started brainstorming ways outta here.

Most of it was talking about how many walkers were down on the streets and that it'd cut off all our options. Which is when I brought up looking downward to the sewers instead of being so obsessed with just going through the streets.

I remember Rick bringing up the same thing in the show but I hadn't watched 'The Walking Dead' for a decade even before I died and had to train for fifteen years with Batman and Lady Shiva. So, understandably, my memories were a bit foggy on the subject at best. I can't remember exactly whether or not the sewers were a viable way of escape or not.

Jacqui, the only other woman a part of Glenn's group apart from Andrea (the feisty blonde who'd put a gun in my face), spoke up at this point, snapping her fingers as if she remembered something.

"Yeah...Yeah! Buildings in the 20s usually had drainage pipes that connected to the sewers...How do you know that?" she asked, turning to me with obvious surprise on her face. No doubt because she thought I was some dumb brute. Which by my appearance alone, she'd be forgiven if she did think that.

Shrugging, I kept it vague, "Must've liked trivia, I guess," I said and while she looked at me, suspicious of my truthfulness, she didn't say anything and all of us left the roof, heading back down the stairs and continuing downward passed the storefront floor.

Once in the basement, we found what we were looking for.

"This is it," Glenn said, gesturing to it and Morales looked at him with a quirked brow.

"You sure?" he asked, peering down the railed off drop. Glenn gave a solid nod and began explaining how he'd done a lot of scouting through this building when they'd first got here and that this was the only place that went any further down.

Shaking his head, he gave a wry smile as he fearfully looked down the drop into the sewers, "Though I've never gone down it. Who'd want to, right?" he asked and I couldn't restrain my grin as everyone in the group looked to him in sync. His face dropped, paling slightly as he gulped, "Oh. Great," he said in a lamenting tone. Seeing him so down, I clapped him on the back.

"Sucks, huh?" I said before pulling one of my Berettas, spinning it on my palm until the handle was facing Glenn, I gave him a reassuring grin, "I assume you know how to use one of these? Think of it as protection for whatever's down there."

With an unsteady hand, Glenn took the pistol with a sigh.

"Don't worry, Glenn, we'll be right behind you," Andrea gave him what she probably thought was a reassuring smile but with the tear stains on her cheeks and her puffy eyes from her earlier crying, it wasn't all that comforting for the young Asian man who just rapidly shook his head.

"No, you won't. Not you," he said before hurriedly continuing, "Not all of us are going down there. It's a tight fit down there and if I run into anything, I need to be able to run out fast, not get jammed up by you guys being behind me," he said and the bristling Andrea soon realized what he meant and gave a nod. Along with everyone else nodding as well. "If we do this, we do it my way, okay?" he asked and once we nodded, he went on, "Two of us go down there--and not you," he pointed to Rick and shook his head before turning to me, "Not you either. As much as I want a cop or the military's secret super soldier watching my back, I need you two up here guarding our backs," he trailed off before taking a look at me and smirking despite the situation, "And besides, I don't think a guy of your size would fit too well down in these sewers."

"Fair point," I nodded and so did Rick, but I continued nonetheless, "Then I suppose you want me and Rick in the storefront watching over the walkers trying to get in, right?"

He nodded, "Yeah, I've seen you two shoot and we need that talent in case they get through the doors. Andrea, you should go with them as well seeing as you're the only other person with a gun here," he said toward the blonde who took an uneasy look at me and then nodded. Glenn turned to Morales and Jacqui, "Morales, you come down with me. Jacqui, you'll be watching over us. If anything goes wrong, you shout down to us and we'll come back as soon as possible."

Rick pat him on the shoulder, in support of the roles that'd been handed out, obviously.

"Alright, everyone knows their jobs, Glenn," he said with a smile and turned away, gesturing for me to follow him. I did so, just as Glenn put his flashlight in his mouth and tucked the Beretta I gave him into his pant's waistband. Then he was off down the ladder with Morales soon following him.

I, Rick and Andrea walked out of the subbasement and up the stairs toward the storefront. It was silent as we did so, Andrea seemingly searching for the right words when it came to the both of us.

No doubt because she realized she'd overreacted by putting a gun in my face.

When we finally did make it to the main part of the shop, with the banging of glass, growls and groans in the background, she turned to me and spoke up, "...Sorry about the gun in your face before," she said guiltily, averting eye contact with me. But to her surprise, I waved her off with a nonchalant expression.

"Don't mind it. You were scared and afraid you were gonna die," I shrugged, continuing on after a bit of thought, "People usually take drastic actions when they're like that. Just feel lucky I didn't have to take that gun off ya," I winked at her and she gave a humored smile before pulling her gun and showing it to me.

"Glenn said you were pretty good with that carbine of yours...any chance you could teach me how to shoot this?" she looked embarrassed for a second before a determined look came over her face as she stuck to her decision and looked hopefully up at me.

"Sure thing," I nodded and went about giving her a quick run down on how to hold a gun, how to fire a gun, how to stand while you do it--all that type of stuff. Especially on how to take the safety off. Don't need a repeat of the embarrassing display she showed earlier. It was fine then because I hadn't meant them any harm...but if it came down to it and she was up against someone who was gunning for her life, she best take the safety off her pistol.

All the while, I kept an eye on the walkers banging on the glass doors alongside Rick. I had a feeling Andrea was gonna get some live target practice soon enough.

. . .

"See something you like?" Rick asked, looking over at Andrea who was browsing the jewelry of the store. Andrea, who looked up like a kid who'd been caught with their hand in the cookie jar, gave a wry smile with a hint of fondness before shaking her head.

"Not me," she answered before looking back to the necklace she was holding between her fingers, "My sister. She's still such a kid in some ways--Unicorns, dragons...she really into that type of stuff. But mermaids?" she rhetorically asked, holding the necklace up a little for Rick to see, "They rule in her opinion. She loves them."

Rick gave a fond smile, probably thinking about his own family before he gave a reply, "Why don't you take it?" he asked.

Andrea looked at him, seemingly thinking he was an idiot for asking, but still replying, "Because there's a cop staring at me?"

"Hey Rick, why don't you turn around for a moment?" I chimed in from my own perched spot where I was guarding the door, "I'm sure you can sneak it into your pocket while he ain't lucking, Andrea," I winked at her and the blonde gave a laugh before shaking her head. Rick chuckled as well before making a show of turning around and whistling like he didn't have a care in the world causing me to smile, "Go ahead, Andrea, now's your chance."

She smiled and just shook her head but she still took the necklace and put it into her pocket.

Just as she seemed like she was about to speak or thank us, the sound of crashing glass interrupted her and I spun to look at the door, pulling my fully-loaded M4A1 up to gun down anything I needed to.

The walkers had made it through the outer glass doors and they soon filed in like it was Black Friday or something. Definitely don't feel anything other than hunger - they're squishing each other up against the doors and broken glass, slicing up their decaying flesh even more than it already was from the rot that spread across their undead bodies.

"God-fucking-dammit," I whispered to myself - if only that God had told me in preparation that I'd end up here I would've remembered this. I would've made an effort all those years ago to plan for what to do. I would've done my best to remember every detail I could.

Luckily the walkers were stopped by the second doors in and I saw Glenn and Morales rushing through the door to the side of the storefront.

They stopped and looked in horror at the ever-closer hoard of corpses and I heard Rick ask what they'd found. They hadn't found anything. Shit.

...What else can we do? Can't go out the front because the walkers would eat me alive. Can't go through the sewers for whatever reason. It all boils down to how can we get out if the walkers surround us and can sense us--

Suddenly it hit me. The walkers hear and smell you. That's how they find you.

Moving as quiet as possible is easy. But changing how you smell? It's naturally impossible.

"I think I have an idea," I said aloud to the people surrounding us, "What if we could camouflage ourselves from the walkers? Make it so they could recognize us even if we stood right in the middle of a herd of them?"

That got everyone's attention and I explained my plan, getting looks of horror and disgust when I mentioned what we'd be using for camouflage.

Still, it was a better idea than no idea. So, off I went out into the alley we'd came in through.

Off to go get a walker corpse.

Once I'd brought it inside, I went up onto the roof with Rick and we scouted out possible things I could get to. We settled on a construction truck being the best bet because they always keep spare keys on hand.

. . .

"I'm not letting you do this on your own, Harry," Rick adamantly said, shaking his head as he spoke, "You want me to just stand by while you walk into a horde of flesh-eating corpses? No. I'm not doing it," he continued but I stopped him from going any further with a raised hand.

Smiling, I replied, "I'm grateful you'd put yourself on the line like that, Rick. I really do. But I can't in good conscience take you or anyone else with me on what could be a bad idea."

"But--" he tried to refute me but I gave him a hard stare and shook my head.

"No," I said before poking a finger against Rick's sheriff uniform's breast pocket where he kept his family picture safely tucked away, "I'm not gonna be the reason your wife loses her husband or your son loses his father. You're sticking here and protecting the rest of the group while I head out there. You're also looking after those duffel bags and making sure nobody sneakily takes anything out of them. I need you here and doing that, Rick, not risking your life with me while we're both covered in walker guts."

He still didn't look all that okay with the situation but after looking me in the eyes and seeing my seriousness, he sighed and gave a reluctant nod. Smiling thankfully at him, I clapped him on the shoulder and pulled on the face shield before hoisting my trusty axe up onto my shoulder.

Walking passed him and toward the main group who were standing around with long coats on - ones that easily reached the floor - and rubber gloves pulled all the way up, I spoke up.

"This is gonna be gory. Honest to god slasher-type shit," I warned them before pointing my free hand toward the door that led to the storefront, "If you don't have the stomach for this, put your pride aside and go back into the storefront. I only need a few people to lather me up in this crap, okay? What I don't need is people throwing up on me," I tried to lighten up the mood among the group but it didn't do too much.

Instead, Jacqui and Glenn gave me an apologetic look before walking off. I could understand - not everyone is so desensitized to gore like I or some other people are. I gave the rest a few more seconds to decide to leave before I nodded and got to work.

I cut into the midsection of the walker, the smell of rot instantly getting worse and causing me to feel like retching up the spam I'd had earlier today. But I tightened the reins on my body and forced the feeling of nausea down, continuing with the chopping and cutting of the corpse in front of him. Others weren't so controlled, lurching back in disgust and covering their mouths in horror - or to stop themselves from throwing up. Could be either one, honestly.

Before long the corpse was basically mush and chopped up bits, so I put the axe down to the side and lifted up my arms after taking off the face shield thingy.

Then everyone reluctantly got to work, covering me in walker gore.

A less controlled man would've thrown up from the smell but I kept it in and once they were done, I made my way over to door to the alley before stopping and turning back to look at the group, "I was hearin' some thunder earlier. Might be a storm coming in. If it starts raining, this'll all come off...if that happens, I'm gonna make a break for those trucks. If I don't make it, wait until the rain stops and then try again. Okay?" I said and despite the blanched faces and looks of fear, they nodded in reply.

Why would I be risking it if I knew it might rain? Because I have confidence in myself that I can make it to those construction trucks and not get bit or overrun. Even then, I know confidence doesn't automatically equal victory and even with my training and physiology, going up against hundreds of walkers would be hard.

But still, I have confidence it'll go well. Especially seeing as I'm on my own and don't have to babysit other people. As bad as it sounds, I'm much stronger when I can focus on my own well-being and not have to consider other people's.

Turning back to the door that led to the alley, I opened it and walked through, armed with nothing but two pistols, an axe and a dream. Let's get this done then.

I made my way down the alley toward the bus blockade someone had put there. Neither of the two walkers in the alley really reacted to me all that much, apart from a little sniff before they continued their roaming. I got to the bus and climbed under it, being careful not to rub off too much of the gunk on the overcoat I was wearing.

Once on the street, I continued with my limping routine, trying to at least act like a walker so as to avoid drawing attention to myself.

Though with my height and subsequent leg length, my strides even while limping were quite long, so I was making quick progress down the street. I made my steps carefully, not wanting to touch or stumble into any of the surrounding walkers, and I kept my eye out for any of them that got too close so I could course correct my steps a little to avoid them. Last thing I needed was to be stuck in between a sizable herd and then have to push my way through.

The thundering above me was quite unnerving but I kept myself focused on the task at hand.

Despite the risk of rain, it was incredibly hot on the ground - so hot I could see the heat pillowing off the tarmac pillow, distorting the air above it in waves. It made the smell all the worse, honestly.

It wasn't until I was pretty far out that the worst situation happened. It started raining.

Rolling my eyes, I guessed I was too right for my own good. But I kept my calm and instead reached deep within myself - it was time to finally activate my Hyperadrenal ability for the first time in this new world.

A quick rundown on that ability is that it allows me to consciously release adrenaline into my bloodstream. But it isn't just that. No, it's an ability that effects my entire body and allows my body to more efficiently process the adrenaline and to greater effect than an average human. Which means I get an incredible boost to my already tremendous physical prowess. Something I could use right now, in fact.

It was like flipping a switch in my mind. And then I was filled with nigh-endless energy. I took off in a sprint and I was like a blur, moving faster than what was possible for even the fastest of humans.

I had to make it to those construction trucks.