Ch. 3 Mission Objective: Survive!

As Michael, Shane and Otis get near the school they sit off the truck and move on foot to look over a hill and see the school parking lot.

As they reach the top it's not a good sight.

There's himdreds of zombies.

Otis explains they have to get to the mobile home. But there are tons of walkers.

And it's just getting darker.

Shane makes his way to a sheriffs cars and pops the trunk and grabbing some flare that they use to distract the horde.

The three make a run for it and they get inside the mobile home where the supplies are.

They start grabbing everything Otis tells them to put in their hiking bags.

As they exit they realize they are surrounded and have to take the long way around.

Michael buys some time by bashing some of their knees and making them fall and this behind them trample them or fall with them. But there is just too many and they have to retreat into the school.

They keep running and Michael is stuck behind Otis who is sucking air in like a turbine engine. Michael has to beat some zombie behind him and it's really draining his energy.

They climb a flight of stairs and almost get ambushed by another group of zombies but Shane turns back and takes a left instead.

With zombies on Michael's cheeks they eventually make it to a small entrance to the school and Shane has to use his shotgun to open the glass doors.

Why he had to shoot twice and waste a bullet? Michael didn't know and didn't have the luxury to think about. A zombie came a nearly pulled his pants down. He felt the slap on his cheeks and almost yelped. He may have been into weird things, but necrophilia was not one. He liked his women with pumping blood, warm, and consenting. Having some good curves and a beautiful voice was always appreciated. Ahem!

They get into the school and so do the zombies. Well, the zombie tried. Shane pulled a gate and blocked them from getting in. But now they are trapped. And only a flimsy lock a was keeping the zombies at bay. Michael was wishing he had been a distraction, but there were too many and he wasn't confident he would have gotten away Scott free. But anything was probably better than this scenario.

They find a window and jump through it and are now running down the halls. Zombies block their path going forward and behind them. They run into the gymnasium and are hauling it.

It's really dark outside and it's only the moon giving them light.

Michael's heart was pounding. He's faster than Shane but doesn't want to be near the crazy guy. He looked like he was willing to shoot Michael or Otis if it meant he lives.

They make it on top of the closed bleachers and the zombies can't limb up to them. Shane points out some windows across the gym that they could drop from. But it's a 20 ft drop with nothing but bushes to catch you. Michael does not like hearing that.

Otis says that Shane and Michael could probably squeeze through there but he is too big. Which unfortunately isn't wrong.

Otis plans on distracting the zombies below them for Michael and Shane to run to the other bleachers and get to the windows. He plans on making a run for the locker room. Michael doesn't think he will make it but doesn't have a better idea. Otis gives Shane his pack and fires while Shane and Michael run for it.

Then Otis jumps down but messes up his ankle and stumbles to the ground. But Shane gets a shot off and Otis limps to the locker room.

Michael and Shane get to the windows and Michael keeps the three zombies at bay with his staff as Shane gets ready to drop.

Michael looks down and has a little bit of vertigo. 20 ft looks like a much bigger jump when looking down. Shane gets down but ends up twisting his ankle and now it's Michael's turn.

He whacks the last zombie off the railing behind it and causes some noise attracting a few stragglers behind Otis.

Michael gets out the window and lowers himself down, he finds a smaller ledge and gets to it and the 20 ft drop becomes a 15 ft drop.

Michael dropped the staff and Shane is grabbing the packs of stuff and Michael's staff.

Michael drops and actually lands in the bushes with a groan. But he is relatively ok with all the adrenaline pumping through him. "I'll be feeling that one in the morning" he groans out and causes Shane to stare daggers at him as he lips a bit and hands Michael 2 packs and his staff.

Did he deserve that? Maybe. Was it worth it? Maybe not. But now they are both on the ground and only one was hurt. They were pretty quiet about it too but they hear Otis firing and decide to get their butts in gear and see if they can help.

It was cool, the weather that is. The grunts and groans of the zombies all around? Not so much. Michael was running and sweating buckets. Shane was limping as fast as he could. It was dark and Michael had his sunglasses in the back of the car. He could see but it wasn't that great. He had sweat dripping off his face. The two packs on his back weighing him down and the staff in his hands ready to defend himself.

Then Shane shoots his freaking shotgun just ringing the dinner bell.

They hopped a fence and then they almost got bit. But Otis comes and saves them. Otis is limping and Shane is as well. They say that they are out of bullets. Shane and Otis lean on eachother and keep moving. I knock a few zombies down behind us.

Otis is out of breath and a ton of zombie scare the eve living shi-….poop out of the three of them as the mini horde bang on the fence they had their back to.

They keep on moving. Trying to be quiet but all the medical equipment in their packs keep on banging against each other. And it's worse for Michael with two packs on his back.

Michael was thinking about his brother and sister and it seemed to light a fire within himself. He found his second wind.

They finally made it to the parking lot again. But they had a horde on their tail. Michael turned around and kept smashing in their knee caps but there were so many. He had to practically jog backwards to stay ahead of them. Then he hears Otis fall.

Shane also falls now and they are debating who is gonna make it to the truck and leave the other behind. Surprisingly, Shane wanted Otis to live. Michael is buying as much time as he can but his second wind is running out. And once it does he will be dead tired...pun fully intended.

Michael laughed at his joke of being dead tired and it seemed to help him stag focused and not lose too much energy yet. His arms burned, and his legs, well his legs felt like they were left behind in the bushes probably. He might also find his sanity there too.

Shane and Otis count their pistol bullets continuing to waste time and pissing Michael off. Now Michael can barely hold his bo staff and swing it even less so. But he keeps doing it because he doesn't want the others to die.

But he can't keep it up. He turns and starts running when Shane starts shooting into the horde praying that he doesn't get shot.

He runs past Otis and Shane. As he does so he turns around to see the horde getting closer and Shane aiming at Otis.

Michael is too tired to think and before he knows it he is on top of Shane.

He hears Otis screaming bloody murder. He holds his staff across Shane's throat and with a final jerk and all his body weight he hears a sickening crunch.

"Michael!....Take the guns and the pack and go!....I'm shot....and can't....Cant move no more!"

Michael turns to see Otis holding out Ricks pistol and his hunting rifle. He doesn't get a chance to think as he gathers everything up and starts shuffling towards where the car was parked.

He grabbed Shane's shotgun and pack as well.

Michael felt like collapsing but knew that that meant certain death for himself and for the boy...boy, Paul. Briana.

Michael shuffled his way to the car and tossed everything into the bed of the truck.

He was sucking in air and felt light headed like he was done working out for 6 hours without eating or drinking water for 3 days prior.

He got in the driver seat and could still hear the screaming of Otis as he got torn apart.

Why didn't he shoot Otis and mercy him?

"God fu&@%#! Son of a $^%+#! Stupid idiot! COWARD!"

Michael got the truck started and was punching the steering wheel. Then he stopped because he had to drive now and had to remember the way back.

He was like a bay out of hell and was speeding. He can't remember how fast he was going but he at least remembered to not ram through the gate of Hershels farm. He hopped out and swung it open. He was limping now and working on fumes at this point. But he drove through the gate and shut it behind the car.

He does to the house and shut the truck off right in front of the steps to the front door.

He got out and grabbed the packs and put them on his shoulders as people funneled out of the house. He couldn't say anything but handed the packs to Rick, a women hugging Rick, and Hershel.

"Where's Shane Michael?" "Otis?" Hershel asked after Rick.

Michael only shook his head slowly side to side as he dropped to his knees. The twins caning bursting out of the house and tackled Michael who couldn't resist if he wanted to as he fell backwards. The twins were crying as they grabbed him.

Hershel decides to not tell Patricia, Otis' wife, until after the procedure.

Michael just lays there but looks at Maggie who doesn't look so good.

Hershel takes two packs inside and Maggie takes the third.

Rick and his assumed wife stay outside holding eachother. "Thank you Michael, thank you"

Rick walks, actually more like limps and stumbles, to the three siblings. He shakily says his thanks and says thanks again as he puts his head on his wife's shoulder.

"Wa….t…er" Michael tries to say between his exhaustion and his siblings crushing him with their love.

Rick and Lori help Michael stand and the twins try and give support as well. Key word try.

They get him inside and set him down on a chair at the table in the dining room. Michael downs five full glasses of water and just sits there and tries to stay awake. His heart is still pounding in his ear drums.

"I'm ok. See? Told you I wouldn't go down so easily and so soon!" He does his strong man pose for the twins and this causes them to smile but doesn't stop their tears. Only slows them. "I'm sorry I took so long" He puts a hand on their heads.

"Rick. How well did you know Shane?"

"Like…like a brother"

"Alright. I wasn't sure who to tell but I guess it's better for you to hear" He looks at the twins.

"Lori, can you put these two to sleep? They shouldn't hear this". When Michael said this it caused Rick and Lori to from. Lori put on a fake smile and took the twins to a bedroom. She is great with kids.

Just then two people came from the hall Lori took the kids down.

"Glenn, Tdog. This is Michael. He was the guy that went with Shane and Otis to get the supplies"

Tdog and Glenn just gave a nod as a greeting. Glenn looked like he wanted to say something but decided to keep it to himself. Michael nodded back to them.

Lori came back a minute later saying that they are fast asleep, they apparently were worried about Michael and stayed up even though they were tired from the long journey.

"Thank you. Now, I'm going to keep this brief. Otis and Shane hurt their ankles….they handed me their packs and weapons...I…..I was so tired... I tried knocking over as many...as many as I could but…..there were too many. The school has hundreds"

Glenn left and went to the kitchen. Just so happened to be where Maggie was.

Michael explained a bit more on how things went down, leaving out the part where he murdered Shane and left Otis to get eaten alive.

After a while, a long while. Hershel walked up to Rick and Lori and told them that their boy was stabilized. Whatever that meant. Pretty sure it meant he was ok for now.

Rick got up and gave Hershel a big hug. Rick backed away from Hershel shakily and sat back down. Apparently he had been giving Carl blood and was close to his limit at the moment. Lori was smiling and crying. She tried to talk but all she got out was that she doesn't have words.

Hershel says he doesn't have any either. He asks how he should tell Patricia about Otis.

Rick tells Lori to go to Carl while he goes with Hershel.

"I also want to go. I should be there. If she gets mad it's better for her to be mad at me"

No words were said as the group split up.

Tdog was already asleep on the couch holding his freshly bandaged right arm.

Michael felt like he was walking in a haze. He remembered Otis screaming and…..

When Michael came out of his daze he was in front of Patricia who was crying and sitting down. Hershel was rubbing her back and Rick was standing there with his head down.

Michael felt like falling but his body didn't let him. He stood there slouched wearing his jacket and after a few long minutes he moved out of the room. He leaned against a wall with his forearms and looked at the wooden floor.

He got his thoughts together and collected himself.

He stood up and took his jacket off. He looked at it to see if it was damaged or if it got bits marks on it.

Luckily it was only scratched. He checked his arms and torso until he heard someone walk in. He looked over and saw Maggie holding a bundle of clothes. And she handed them to him. "The bathrooms upstairs. Brought you some clothes"

Michael was still wearing his bloody and sweaty shirt that he's been wearing all day. It still clung tightly to his torso leaving nothing to anyone's imagination about the muscles underneath.

He took the clothes and whispered a thank you.

"They won't fit well. They were Otis'" Maggie gave a forced smile that disappeared as quickly as it appeared and walked away.

Michael stood there staring at the clothes. He wanted to fall to his knees and cry. He wanted to let everything out. He survived this far by being strong for his brother and sister and never let them down. He finally got them somewhere safe. He finally registered that he is now with the main group of the walking dead show. He can't believe that he killed a person. Sure Shane deserved it, but he took his life all the same. He can still hear Shane trying to breath as his windpipe was crushed. Michael remembers the feeling of the bo staff crushing the throat. He can even see Shane staring at him and they way the throat looked when it was crushed. Michael just stood there frozen reliving their final moments over and over.

After the fifth time his body moved like a robot. His legs slowly carried him up the stairs.

He took off his shirt. It was hard because it was like a symbiote from marvel not wanting to leave its host. He was weak and tired which added to the difficulty. But he eventually got it off. Then he got his pants off. Luckily after taking the belt off the just dropped.

As they dropped he remembered getting slapped and grabbed his right butt cheek and frowned. That was not pleasant. Maybe if it was Maggie or someone alive he wouldn't mind. But he would rather do the smacking and groping.

He had already kicked his shoes off at some point and doesn't know where they are. But he took his smelly socks off and vowed to burn them.

He dropped his underwear after turning the water of the shower on.

He felt so free. He looked in the mirror and tried to get the experience out of his head by flexing and admiring his body in the mirror. It just didn't work. He got into the shower and tried to wash the memories away. He couldn't stay standing as he remembered the zombies eating Otis. Tearing his flesh from the bone as Otis screamed and wailed in pain. The worst part is, he never cursed Michael as he got away. And that made it hurt even more.

His legs finally let him drop down and he just sat there. Eyes closed looking up at the shower head as the water hit his face. His arms wrapped around himself.

He wanted to scream and cry but nothing came out.

8 minutes later the water stopped, but Michael didn't exit for another 15.

He stayed in the shower for an extra 5 minutes until he got up. He dried himself in 4. But what took the longest was working up the nerve to put on the clothes of the man he left behind to get eaten. But he eventually did.

He exited the bathroom with a blank look. He had his old clothes in his hands. He descended the stairs and walked through the front door. He tossed his clothes to the side almost off the porch and just sat down looking into the distance.

He sat back in a chair and turned his hands palms up and saw how raw and shredded they are. It looked painful but it only stung to him. He brought his gaze up to the moon and just got lost in his mind.

Maggie and Glenn were outside on the opposite side of the porch talking before Michael came out. They stopped and watched him, they saw his hands and Glenn tried talking to Michael. But Michael was gone, lost in his mind.

Maggie went inside the house and came back out with a first aid kit.

When she touched Michael's hand she realized that he had fallen asleep in the chair.

They couldn't see his eyes before but now they realize they are closed and he has a neutral face that almost seemed pained.

Glenn watched as Maggie bandaged Michael's hands. After she was done she went inside. Glenn stayed outside unable to sleep for some reason, probably to keep watch but maybe not.

Michael was too tired to have a dream or a nightmare that night.