Who: Rick Grimes rick & Sidney Prescott hellosidney What: Arrival. Judith likes the lady in the bathrobe. When: Literally the day they arrived in Test City, Sunday, March 29th, noon Where: courtyard in front of Hope Springs Apartments Rating: Audience Discretion is Advised Warnings: Discussion of walking dead, general murdering, violence, and the usual for a Scream-Queen and a one man Ricktatorship. Oh. There's also a baby. Do people warn for babies? I did. Just there. BABY INCLUDED IN THIS THREAD. YE HAZ BEEN WARNED. Status: Closed/Completed GDoc
~*~
Blinded by the light...
Rick suddenly couldn't help but hear the old song pop into his head as he shaded his eyes from what was truly the brightest sunlight he'd not been expecting to see. Ever. It had been night. Moments ago. He'd been checking on Judith in the church, Father Gabriel was shaken, rightly so, Carl had been taking care of everyone like the best kind of son a man could ask for and his people had been mostly all accounted for and safe. Rick didn't hesitate as he lifted Judith from her makeshift bassinet.
She was a good baby all told. One hand went up to her mouth to soothe her as she sucked at her fingers, eyes darting curiously around while Rick moved with her to the window. He took care to shield her with his shoulder as he moved; if anyone had a gun out there, they'd have to go through him to hit Judith. Rick peeked out the window to see a sign declaring him to be in Hope Springs Apartments. There was plenty to laugh about in that name, but it'd been a long time since Rick Grimes had been able to laugh.
"Shh, shh," he murmured to Judith as he backed away from the window to look at what appeared to be a cell phone of all things. It had a message for him he wasn't too inclined to hear all of beyond it seemed someone thought he was a good candidate for a lab animal. Rick clenched his jaw as he realized they had him all set up for this Test City experiment, too. A new apartment, a handy communication device, even a laptop, and they hadn't forgotten to give him money to cover himself either.
"Two thousand dollars. Hell of a lot better'n I made working for the Sheriff's Department, Judith. Let Daddy tell you that."
He caught sight of movement outside the window. Curiosity won out over sense. Rick settled Judith next to the wall - She was old enough to sit up on her own now. Where had all that time gone?- before peering back out onto the courtyard where he saw a figure shuffling around in a bathrobe. It was familiar enough to have him reaching for his gun, but the figure looked around differently than any walker. There was obvious understanding in its movements.
It was only a woman, he realized.
Picking Judith up from the floor, Rick headed outside before he could stop himself or think longer, "Now you look familiar. Not you specifically, mind, but the look you're sporting? Yeah. Been there."
He thought he should hold a hand out in greeting, but Judith was squirming more than usual which changed his mind.
"Sorry about coming up on you all of a sudden. You're just the first person I seen here. Me and my daughter were brought here. No explanation. Look of you? I doubt you got one either, but I wanted to offer you a place inside if you didn't get one. I'm not sure how safe it is out here even if it does look deserted."
~*~
Pain, dull and aching, throbbed through Sidney’s mid-section. She lay in bed for a few more moments before gingerly pushing herself up to a sitting position. The slight movement caused the pain to sharpen, so she sat with her bare feet on the wooden floor, taking in deep breaths while she waited on it to pass.
Once the worst of it had subsided, Sidney stood and slipped on her robe, leaving it loose around her waist. At least she had pajamas on, it was better to be prepared than to not be, and considering how many times she’d nearly been killed? She was always fucking prepared these days.
Shuffling to the bathroom, Sidney grabbed her pills from the medicine cabinet, and filled up her glass of water before swallowing one down.
Dewey called from downstairs, and absently, Sidney stuck the pills down into the pocket of her robe instead of putting them back into the medicine cabinet. “I’m coming!” She yelled in return, taking just a second to comb her fingers through her hair. Dewey and Gale had insisted that she stay with them until she healed, and well, she had to wait until the investigation was over with. Not that there was going to be much of one, but still, the local police force and the FBI had to do what they had to do.
Sidney’s hand was on the doorknob to the bathroom when everything went blinding bright. She squinted her eyes against the offending light, and pain shot through her yet again as she was pulled backwards. The light subsided and Sidney opened her eyes.
“What the fuck?” She muttered to herself, staring up at the Hope Springs Apartments sign. This was -- what the hell was this? Sidney took a quick look around, trying to assess the situation she just found herself in. When she could come up with no clear answers, Sidney moved cautiously toward the sign.
There at the base sat a strange package, and the cell phone flashed to life with a greeting.
“Test City? Haven’t I been through fucking enough?” She groaned, clenching the stupid thing in her hand. She pocketed what she could, thankful that she’d also pocketed her vicodin before being pulled here since who the hell knew if she’d get anything anytime soon.
She was making her way toward her apparent assigned apartment when a voice shook her out of her thoughts. Eyes wide, Sidney glanced over at the man. He looked like he’d been through hell and back, and Sidney could definitely understand that.
Sidney didn’t feel like the man was any threat, he was just being nice, and yet that did still set off some alarm bells in her head. His daughter squirming in his arms made her brows draw low over her eyes. Too many years of running made her think that maybe that wasn’t his kid, but she knew that she shouldn’t jump to any conclusions.
She realized she hadn’t spoken in quite some time after his initial greeting and Sidney shook her head, “No, no you’re fine. I -- I’m a little dazed obviously.” She let out a light laugh and shook her head, “I have no idea what the fu--” she stopped herself but only barely from cursing in front of his child, “heck is going on here. I was upstairs getting ready to go down for breakfast when, bam. Here.” She shifted slightly on her feet, grimacing as her wound pulled slightly. “I have a room, but I wouldn’t mind a place to sit and breath for a little bit. I will warn you, I do bite if I’m provoked.” Sidney wasn’t a victim, she would never see herself as that again. She was a survivor, pure and simple. This guy? He appeared to be a survivor as well, but from what she wasn’t sure.
~*~
Biting wasn't something anyone Rick knew could find funny. His expression hardened, his eyes flashing dangerously as he assessed her once more. He had the overwhelming urge to question her as he himself had once been questioned by Morgan -'What's your wound? Mister? You tell me right now what your wound is or so help me I will kill you.'- but he pushed it aside as he turned Judith to face the woman, the baby instantly becoming pacified once her feet could swing free and she could look around at the world. She hated having her face pushed into someone.
Judith liked to keep her eyes on the world. Rick and Carl both thought that meant she was smart already. Their little survivor…
"We don't joke about biting where I'm from," he cautioned, "It's the kind of thing will get someone killed right quick and in a hurry. The first time you see someone bit and then watch them turn into a walking nightmare right before your eyes? That's the last time that'll ever be funny to you, too."
This woman didn't seem to mean any harm by it. She wasn't infected. Rick could tell. She also didn't come from a world similar to his own though he'd thought she must have from the looks of her. It could be she'd recently been injured in a regular old accident---or even had a baby. Some women needed medication, time, healing after childbirth. His wife had needed all of that seeing as she'd required a C-section to birth Carl.
If she'd lived through Judith's birth, she'd have needed time to recuperate from her, too.
Nodding to the picnic tables, Rick suggested, "We can sit there. Picnic tables. It's nice and out in the open enough we can see what's coming before it gets to us. You can start getting used to the weather here. It's hot. I figure most people need to sit a spell to get used to hot weather. May I ask what happened to you before you got here? You look like you were laid up. You have surgery? A baby?"
She had been looking at Judith in a peculiar way. It'd explain a lot if she'd just given birth.
Rick hoped the answer to that last question was no for the simple reason he couldn't imagine a place separating a mother from her child so soon after birth. His world was cruel enough taking Judith's mother from her at her birth; taking a mother from her baby? That was tantamount to the worst evil a world could offer. Rick would rather get himself bit by a walker than have that happen to anyone.
~*~
Something shifted in the man’s demeanor, and it caused all sorts of warning bells to go off in Sidney’s mind. She stood there for a few moments, fingers tightening around the key she held in her hand until the end was sticking through her knuckles. Anything could be used as a weapon, and in her current state she knew that she’d have to fight as best she could since running? It was not an option.
“And I’m not joking either.” She stated, “I don’t know what you’ve been through, and God knows I probably can’t imagine it, but where I’m from? The difference between life and death sometimes is a good chomp if need be.” Sidney relaxed a degree, though she didn’t let her guard completely down as she made her way over to the picnic table.
Carefully she sat her electronics down on the table, though they were within easy reach if needed. The key was still in her hand. Sidney wasn’t taking any chances.
With a grimace of pain, Sidney sat down on one end, far enough away from the man to give her time to react should she need to. Sidney knew that part of her was being very irrational, but after years of bullshit she was tired of crazy killers getting in any punches.
Children had been nothing more than a passing thought in Sidney’s life. At one point she’d wanted a house full, but now? Not so much. There was too much crazy in her life to justify bringing another person into it, especially since said person could be used against her. It was why she’d stopped dating, and instead she’d focused on herself, and one night stands if she felt the need for the feeling of another person against her.
Shaking her head, Sidney turned her head to look over at Rick. “Surgery technically. I was bleeding internally pretty bad from being stabbed.” She shrugged, shifting slightly on the hard wooden bench in order to get more comfortable. It wasn’t the first time someone had jabbed a knife her way, she had plenty of scars on her body that would attest to that fact. Looking straight ahead, Sidney recalled the events that had led up to the stabbing. Jill had been one crazy bitch. “My cousin was tired of living in my shadow, apparently, and decided that she wanted to be the new Sidney Prescott. The survivor.” She laughed, the sound bitter. “That was her motive. Would you like to hear the motives of the other, oh, five people that tried to kill me for one bullshit reason or another?” Sidney turned to look back over at Rick, a light smile playing on the corners of her lips as she looked down at Judith.
She was a well behaved child, but that probably had something to do with the life they were leading back wherever they were from.
“So, now if you don’t mind me asking, what’s your story? Sounds like a hell of a time if people are turning into monsters.”
~*~
A whole host of people had tried to kill this woman across from him? Rick could hardly believe it. She didn't come from a world of monsters yet she had seen the worst humanity had to offer from the sound of things. There was nothing anyone could have done to deserve something such as that. He didn't particularly need to know the specifics of her life. Prying could get a man killed as much as anything else where Rick was from now. He did feel she deserved an explanation.
Sitting Judith on her bottom in front of him, Rick sighed as his daughter leaned back against his chest, waving her chubby arms at the woman. Judith liked women. She'd never had a mother. Rick tried not to think the reason she liked other women was on account of her missing Lori. He and Carl missed Lori enough for ten men, couldn't Judith get a break from mourning? She was only a baby.
"I was a sheriff's deputy. One day I was on patrol with my partner Shane. Things went sideways in a high-speed pursuit. I got shot. Bad. Didn't remember anything once I was loaded onto the ambulance. Woke up---alone in the hospital. IV dried up. Thirsting to death. Aching from lack of pain meds. Still bandaged, but none of the machines were on. Nothing was on except the water in the tap and some lights. I remember drinking until my belly ached. Forced my way out of my room. Someone'd put a gurney in front of my door. I reckon that's the only reason I survived. I got shot, didn't die, woke up in Hell anyway."
He shrugged. How was he supposed to explain the way it had felt to realize there were things behind a door, chained in a hospital? The damn doors had been painted with what might have even been blood. 'Don't Open. Dead Inside.' Those fingers, those hands, all pushing through the cracks, fighting the chains, desperately clawing for a way out to get at the living. So many dead too. They littered the halls, literally were lined up in mass graves outside the hospital. It had been clear the Army had been there or the National Guard one.
"I had no idea how long had passed. I walked. Out of there. I fought out. I walked out. I made it back to where I'd lived and no one was there. My wife, my son. They were gone. Everything, everyone was gone. I didn't know what was happening. I wandered out making one Hell of a racket. A man threatened to kill me dead if I didn't tell him my wound. He was a good man. I think about him a lot. He told me how there'd been a sickness. Come up out of nowhere. Government had done everything they could, but it'd spread and spread and spread. Everyone was infected. If a person died? They rose back up. Mindlessly looking for food. Zombies is what the movies called them. We just called 'em walkers."
They'd killed so many of the ones Rick loved. He couldn't list them all. He couldn't think about them all. It would make him crazy again. Judith didn't need a crazy man. She needed a father. Rick could be a father for her in this place or any other. They could send him back to the Hell he'd been rescued from right that second, Rick Grimes would protect his daughter or die trying. He'd certainly take a few with him on his way out, too.
"Now? There's nothing but walkers and survivors. We're all monsters. We do what we have to in order to survive. There's no room for weakness. No time for tears. Survival? It means doing what's necessary. No complaints. I've got pretty good at it. Sounds like you've got pretty good at all that yourself even if you ain't got monsters where you're from, Sidney Prescott."
~*~
She couldn’t help but smile at Judith and the way she moved her arms. If she’d known either one of them better, and hadn’t just had her guts sewn up she might’ve reached over to pick her up. As it was, however, she knew better than to attempt anything of the sort. For one she wasn’t keen on invading people’s personal space and two she’d tear her stitches.
It didn’t take a rocket scientist to figure any of that out. Honestly Sidney was surprised that the trip here and everything after hadn’t pulled something loose. She couldn’t feel anything oozing, but she’d check once she was in her space.
Curiously she tilted her head to the side, eyes looking directly at Rick’s face while he talked. Sidney knew better than to think she could pick up a lie or not. People she’d trusted, cared for, and called family had told lies directly to her face and she had believed them. Each time, Sidney swore it would be the last, but it never was.
Zombies did seem a bit out there. They were movie monsters, made famous by George Romero and Night of the Living Dead. Of course, if someone had told Sidney she was going to be teleported from Dewey and Gale’s house in Woodsboro a day ago she would’ve called bullshit.
Here anything felt like a possibility and the man before her appeared to have gone through Hell and back.
“I’ll never be a victim.” She stated with a nod, “And it doesn’t sound like you will be either regardless of where you are.” It was comforting, and a bit concerning if Sidney was being honest to know that someone else here knew exactly what she was talking about. It didn’t matter that their monsters differed vastly, it held true all the same.
“I don’t think it makes you a monster to want to survive. I think that makes you human.” Sidney gave a small shrug of her shoulders, wincing at the pull before letting out a long breath through her nose. “We all have that drive. It’s stronger in others than it is in some. I haven’t killed anyone that didn’t deserve it, though I might’ve thought seriously about it since --” Sidney trailed off and shook her head, “So you know my name, what’s yours?”
~*~
"Rick Grimes," he smiled, realizing in all their talking he'd not even managed to remember to say his name, "This is Judith, my daughter. She's mine since my wife birthed her. I don't know if she's---really mine. I was in that hospital a long time. My wife wasn't. She had to go on living. Thought I was dead. I see Judith the same as I see my son Carl: my children. They were born in my marriage. That's enough."
Some people wouldn't have shared something of that nature with a stranger. Rick told Sidney to let her know family didn't necessarily mean blood to him. He'd die, kill, torture or maim for his family. Whatever it took to keep his group alive? Rick Grimes would do it. There were no bridges he wasn't prepared to burn nor were there lines he couldn't see himself crossing. The world was too far gone for him to put up some moral fight now. It was fight to survive or die. There was no middle ground.
Sidney kept making faces which made him wonder about the status of her injury. He looked around the area quickly, but no one was coming. They were still alone. She'd said it was surgery. One more attempt on her life as if someone was always trying to get one in on her. That wasn't the kind of life he imagined a woman who looked like her deserved. She had a kind face, wise eyes, and carried herself as if she knew what she was capable of if the situation demanded it.
In some ways, she reminded him of Michonne.
"Sorry, it's been awhile since I've had to remember my manners. Swear I've got 'em though. I was raised a good Southern boy. A long time ago. In another life. You keep looking like you're in pain. You want I should help you into your place or see if we can find a doctor, a clinic maybe? We got a little of everything around here if you believe this cell phone thing. I've never been too good with these. I can yell at it though and it seems to understand that fine."
Most everyone and everything understood Rick Grimes fine when he got to yelling orders. The one exception was, of course, walkers. They didn't understand anything except their need to eat, to feed, to infect.
~*~
Family that wasn’t related by blood was something Sidney understood all too well. Tatum had been her best friend, but Billy decided to end her life. She and Dewey both were affected by the loss, and because of that loss they’d gotten close. Sidney would consider Dewey to be her brother, even if they didn’t share the same last name.
Waving her hand dismissively, Sidney shook her head. “Don’t sweat it. I just like having names to go with faces.” Sidney offered Rick a soft smile and then looked toward the apartment complex. They were the only people there so far huh? Would there be others arriving? Sidney didn’t know, but she did know one thing.
She was tired of having to watch her back at every single turn, and maybe, just maybe if she was here that would change. Sidney wasn’t about to let her guard down though, not now, probably not ever, but she wouldn’t mind being able to sleep through the night without having to get up every few hours to make sure her doors and windows were still locked.
“I took a Vicodin before I was brought here. It hasn’t exactly kicked in yet.” She laughed softly, and cast a look over to Rick. Finding a hospital though was high on her priority list. She would need a doctor to look at her stitches, to make sure she hadn’t pulled anything and to prescribe her more pills if she needed them. They’d told her it’d take a while for her to heal, and that she needed to take it easy.
Well, this was her taking it as easy as she could manage. “I do think it’s time to make my way to my apartment though.” She needed to eat a little something, and rest before attempting to do much of anything else. Standing, Sidney turned her entire body to pick up her things, and she got a good look at her key.
“I can manage. It’s just one floor up, but thank you. I’m in 108B if you get concerned.” Rick seemed to be the kind of guy that would get concerned, so she extended that small bit of trust because if she didn’t? Where would she be if shit went south? Sidney could fight alone, she’d done it many times, but it always helped to know you had someone watching your back.
“It was nice talking to you, Rick. Judith.” She looked down at the baby girl with a smile, “I’ll see you two around. Stay safe, okay?” She turned, moving slowly towards the side of the building where she thought she’d seen an elevator, and she hoped that if more people were brought here, that they were good people like Rick.