VATOS PART 1

The Seventh Gate of Hell reared its ugly head in the shape of the burning Georgia sun. The rays scalded their eyes and skin the moment after leaving the darkness of the stairwell. It took only a fraction of a second to adjust to the light, but no sooner had hope filled their hearts it all crashed down and faded away, despair and shock suddenly ripping through their very essence. Daryl came to a halt, his feet rooted to the ground as well as everyone behind him, staring in absolute disbelief.

Merle was gone..but in his place was a short-statured person standing only a few feet away from them, staring at them in silence. He wore what looked to be an army-like coat that went down to his knees. Heavy, thick, and a dark shade of green with many buckles and pockets on it. A hood was over his face and a thick gray scarf covered the nose and mouth.

It took Daryl a good five seconds to process what he was looking at when his eyes fell to the floor, only now noticing a puddle of blood at his feet along with the severed hand of his once older brother. The skin was starting to turn an ugly shade of gray from decomposition. He bit down on his lips to stop them from quivering before snapping his head up at the hooded person. "The hell did you do to my brother?" Daryl aimed his crossbow and didn't even wait to hear a response, firing at the stranger.

The hooded stranger's visible eyes grew wide with alarm. He instinctively took a step back and ended up tripping over his own boot, falling back as the arrow soared right over his head, barely missing as it sailed over the edge of the building.

"Son of a bitch!" Daryl pulled out his large hunting knife and held it in front of him.

The stranger pushed to his feet as fast as he could just when the knife got inches from his face. He made a quick maneuver and linked his arm with Daryl's, yanking him ahead of him and tripping his legs. The moment he dropped to the ground the stranger made a running start across the roof. Across from him was another office building with a rooftop in jumping distance, like he was going to make the grand leap across the gap to try and escape from them.

"Stop him!" Rick yelled. He tried to run after him but the guy was at least five times faster than him, seemingly crossing half the length of the roof in just two strides. "He's trying to jump!"

T-Dog came in from the side and managed to intercept him when he was at the edge of the building. He went in low and with all his might and football achievements, tackled the man to the floor. The stranger went down hard and had all the air knocked from his lungs.

"Glenn, help me with this dude!' T-Dog yanked the stranger up by the arm while Glenn grabbed the other one. The guy was quite thin so it wasn't hard to keep him down.

Daryl pushed himself off the ground and his face contorted up into an awful scowl. "You son of a-" He would have ended that man's sorry life if Rick didn't push him back. "What did you do to my brother? Did you kill him?" He shouted at him, veins popping up in his neck.

"Daryl, back off." Rick kept his arm up to stop him from taking another step. "We just got here. We don't know what happened." He looked back at the stranger that ceased to struggle anymore. He lifted his hand to the front of the hood and yanked it back to see who this person actually was. At first, they were taken back, but then it made sense...only because it was a woman.

Her gray, gun-metal eyes peeked up at them from under her lashes, calm and as steady as water. The girl was quite short and young-looking. Maybe only 5'3 and in her mid-30's. Her hair was brown but also had a reddish tint to it that made it shimmer in the light. It was a bit messy-looking and held back in a loose ponytail. Her face was withered though and thin from hunger. Her full red lips were also cracked from the lack of hydration too.

The woman was relaxed but silent while they removed all her weapons and supplies. Under her thick green coat was a shoulder holster that carried two guns, knives on both her sides and a hidden one under her right sleeve, attached to her wrist. She also carried a small satchel with her that had extra magazines, a simple first-aid kit, half a bottle of water, and some granola bars. She didn't carry much but it was enough just for her.

"We'll start with the basics," Rick began while moving in her line of sight. He made sure to speak gently to not startle her but this woman was already oddly calm. She was probably the calmest one on this roof right now, and she's the one tied up. "What are you doing here and what's your name?"

The woman hasn't said a word to anyone since her capture and kept her eyes forward on the horizon, watching the sun as it fell very slowly. She was most likely judging how much day-light she had left before the sun made its final descent behind the buildings of Atlanta.

She blinked a couple of times before looking up at Rick, staring into his eyes like she was debating to even speak or not. "I thought I was going crazy." the woman finally said, a voice a bit rough from dehydration but still quite soft and warm. "I was hearing a voice echoing off the buildings...so I went to check it out."

Everyone seemed to listen in more urgently when she said that, even Daryl was starting to look concerned.

"A voice? What was it saying?" Rick asked.

She shook her head. "I'm not sure. I couldn't make out much. There was a lot of complaining and a lot of..choice words. It also had a southern drawl, like yours." The woman gestured to both Rick and Daryl.

Glenn frowned and thought it over for a moment. "So she was just here at the wrong time?" he said because that is how it was starting to sound.

Rick could agree to that. "And your name?" He then saw her hesitate and shy away from the question. "Look, we're not here to hurt you. We were in the wrong when we first attacked. We won't do anything like that anymore. We just want to know what to call you." He then pointed to himself. "Hey. I'm Rick Grimes. That's Daryl, Glenn, and T-Dog."

The woman looked between everyone before she took in a deep breath. "Natasha Creed," she introduced. "You see...I use to live in Atlanta when...the outbreak happened, and I was here when they dropped a bomb on it. I saw the whole thing from my window and was out the door in an hour. I was barely able to escape back then."

"Why did you come back?"

"I was low on supplies." It was a simple answer that now made a lot of sense, now that they knew she had very little on her. "I'd figured people would have left a lot of things behind when Atlanta was abandoned. I actually use the roofs to travel, staying off the streets as much as I can...for obvious reasons," her voice was grim with those last words.

Rick slowly nodded his head. "You got a group?"

An emotionless void shifted into her eyes and her words were flat. "No. I've been on my own for a while."

Rick raised a brow but then noticed something around Natasha's neck, something glimmering under the sun. A silver ring with a diamond head that dangled loosely from a white piece of cloth. He felt his heart sink. "You're married?"

Natasha looked down at her ring and lifted it up into her hand, fiddling with it for a bit. "No, but I was engaged...for a time," her voice dropped. "Like a lot of people...he didn't make it." Her eyes moved up to Rick and saw a wedding band on his finger as well. "What about you? Do you still have your family?"

Rick looked down at his ring. "Luckily I still do."

A weak but genuine smile crept to Natasha's red and cracked lips. "That's good to hear," she said honestly.

Daryl seemed to be the only one who didn't care and cut into the conversation. "Are we really believing this horseshit?" he shouted loudly, still angry since his brother's still missing.

Natasha was quick to defend herself, speaking as calmly as she could to try and defuse the tension this man was creating. "I don't even know your brother. I'm sorry but...the roof was empty when I arrived."

"Like hell I'd believe that!"

Rick could understand Daryl's frustration but he could see that Natasha really had nothing to do with it. "Listen, if she really had sawed your brother's hand off than there would be blood on her hands. She's clean. And secondly, why would she even do that in the first place? If she had wanted to kill him than she could have easily shot him." There was no indication of a gunshot at all. He could only come to the conclusion that Merle was gone when Natasha arrived.

"He's right." Natasha cut in. "If your brother was still handcuffed when I got here than I could've easily gotten him out, but the point is though...that he was already gone when I got here." She gestured her head to the puddle of blood. "My guess...I think he might've used a tourniquet to stop the bleeding because there would've been a lot more blood if he hadn't. There's a trail of blood leading back inside. I was going to follow it, see where it went, but you guys showed up before I could do anything." Natasha lifted her hands in a defensive manner to show them that she truly meant no harm. "Look...If you still want to keep an eye on me, then that's fine. I just ask that you don't shoot me all because you're feeling a bit jumpy."

Daryl scoffed and looked between everyone, seeing no one disagree with her suggestion. "Fine. But you're going first."

Natasha took a deep breath and thinned her lips. She got up, careful not to do it fast in case these guys still didn't trust her. She didn't blame them though for feeling jumpy. The situation everyone was in, including her, was pretty bad. Walkers crowded the streets of Atlanta and the chances of getting out alive were very slim. When she first entered the city she had to use every back entrance and alleyway known to man to get inside. If Natasha didn't already have a good layout of everything than it would've been a lot harder. Luckily, she was light on her feet and was good at moving around in places undetected.

"Can I have my stuff back?" she asked.

Glenn was the one who looked through her bag and was currently holding onto it. He glanced toward Rick to make sure it was all right before handing Natasha back her supplies and weapons.

Daryl cased a glare towards T-Dog since he was the one responsible for dropping the key to the handcuffs down the drain. "You got a do-rag or something?" T-Dog handed one over and Daryl got down on one knee to get a better look at Merle's severed hand. It was an ashy gray color, already in the process of decay. "I guess the saw blade was too dull for the handcuffs. Ain't that a bitch." He wrapped the hand up in the rag and put it in the back of Glenn's backpack.

Natasha pulled her hood back over her head and wrapped her mouth and nose up with the gray scarf. She did this to be on the safes side since she didn't want to catch any kind of illness from the rotting Walker flesh, not to mention it was good to keep a low profile whenever she had to sneak around someplace.

"Whenever you're ready," Rick said and waited by with everyone.

She slid her knives back into their sheaths and glanced at the group from the corner of her eye. "Fine. Let's go."

They walked over to one of the doors that the trail of blood led and headed inside with Natasha leading the way. The lighting immediately got darker the moment the door was closed behind them.

Natasha made extra sure to keep her ears peeled for any kind of noise that Walkers would make. Gurgling, growling, and shuffling feet. Things like that, but not too soon had that thought crossed her mind her stomach plunged to the floor. There were shuffling footsteps with wheezing and moaning sounds. Natasha was sure it wasn't Daryl's brother because the putrid smell of rotting flesh penetrated the fabric of her scarf and burned her nose. She reached down to the handle of her knife and slowly slid it out of its sheath, peaking around the corner to see if she could get a layout of what was around her.

There was a single slouched figure a few feet away from where she was. Its clothes were rippled dirty. The skin also had a dark and grisly shade of brown and ash.

Natasha waited for the Walker to turn away before she quickly snuck up behind it. She snatched its shirt and roughly yanked it back, thrusting her knife straight through the back of its head. It's growling and thrashing ceased in an instant and it slumped down at her feet, her knife dripping with what looked to be brain matter and rotting flesh. It was like a bomb of nasty smells exploded the moment she penetrated the skin. The blood smelled of spoiled milk mixed with rotten eggs that were left out in the sun for a week. It probably would've been worse if Natasha wasn't wearing a scarf already.

"Coast is clear," Natasha called out and tried to fling the blood off her knife before putting it away.

"Not bad," Rick said and came out from behind cover, also spotting two other Walker bodies on the floor. They were still pretty freshly killed so it could only mean Merle who did it.

Daryl walked over the corpses. "Had enough to take out these two sumbitches. One-handed. Toughest asshole I ever met, my brother. Feed him a hammer, he'd crap out nails."

"Any man can pass out from blood loss, no matter how tough he is." Rick reminded and followed after Natasha as she carried on. "Where does the trail go?"

"Kitchen." she pushed open the double doors leading inside. "Smart. It's where I would go if I lost my hand." Natasha pulled her scarf down a bit when she started to smell gas, soon spotting a stove that was still lit. "Over here," she gestured with her head

The stove was covered in splattered blood with Merle's belt laying against it, and burnt substance hanging off the edge.

"What's that burned stuff?" Daryl eyed it with a face twisted in disgust.

Rick got a better look and narrowed his eyes. "Skin. He cauterized the stump."

Natasha bit down on her lip and adjusted her scarf so she wouldn't have to smell it. "You do what you can to survive. I can get where he's coming from." She frowned to herself since something was still itching in the back of her head. She turned around and wandered off to look around.

"Told you he was tough. Nobody can kill Merle but Merle." Daryl said.

"Don't take that on faith. He's lost a lot of blood." Rick looked around when he noticed that Natasha walked off. "Natasha?"

"Over here," she called, stepping out from behind a corner and waving them over. "He broke a window and left."

They walked over to where she was standing and saw a shattered window leading to a stairwell outside. There was even a blood-soaked rag on the ledge. Merle was gone though. Long gone.

"He left the building? Why the hell would he do that?" Glenn stuck his head outside but saw nothing, as expected.

"Why wouldn't he? He's out there alone as far as he knows, doing what he's got to do. Surviving," Daryl said.

"You call that surviving?" T-Dog looked at him like he was insane. "Just wandering out in the streets, maybe passing out? What are his odds out there?"

"No worse than being handcuffed and left to rot by you sorry pricks. You couldn't kill him. Ain't so worried about some dumb dead bastards."

Rick clenched his jaw. "What about 1,000 dead dumb bastards? Different story?"

"Why don't you take a tally? Do what you want. I'm gonna go get him." He made a motion to leave before Natasha placed a hand on his chest to stop him.

"Hold on for a minute," she said calmly but Daryl roughly slapped her hand away.

"Get your hands off me! You can't stop me!"

Natasha felt her hand sting a bit but held it up in front of her. "Just hear me out. I understand why you're frustrated. He's family. I know he can't get far with his injuries, but going out there on the streets? That's hard to do with all the Walkers out there, even for me, and I know these streets better than anyone else. I grew up here so I can help you out." She glanced at Rick to make sure that was all right. "Is that fine?"

Rick nodded his head. "We'll appreciate the help," he said. "We can check a few blocks around but only if we keep a level head."

Daryl pondered on it for a bit. "I can do that."

T-Dog, on the other hand, looked somewhat reluctant. "Only if we get those guns first. I'm not strolling the streets of Atlanta with just my good intentions, okay?"

Author's Note:

Bet you weren't expecting this. A new story with a new character to follow. Truth be told, I rewatched the Walking Dead recently and it reignited this old character of mine that I had tucked away. So I watched the show, took down some notes and fine-tuned Natasha. I changed a few things from my original idea of her but she's still the same. (She was originally called Maira Creed but I thought that sounded too weird, so I changed it.) We'll get more background on Natasha and her fiance as the story goes on, mainly in season 1 and 2.

Let's be honest with each other. Everyone who watches this show had a crush on Daryl, right? It's not helping it that he's the biggest badass next to Rick. I always wanted to make a story for our guy and I'm so happy I got around to do it. So I truly hope you'll like Natasha.

This is going to be a random update story.