Chapter Text
Sometimes it takes drastic circumstances to force people to reach out for help. In this case, it took the end of the world to force the Gallaghers and Milkoviches to come back together.
The animosity between the two families was long-standing; first between their parents and then passed down to the kids. With exceptions, of course. For a while it even seemed that the two families could eventually unify, but with Mickey in prison and Mandy in the wind, things crept back to the way they had been. The older Gallaghers thumbed their noses at the Milkoviches. They were unscrupled, abrasive, rough around the edges. The irony of their judgment was never lost on the Milkoviches. They knew that the only real difference between the families was that they didn’t pretend to themselves that they were any better or worse than they were. For the way they were judged in their neighborhood, the Milkovich family was very self aware, while the Gallaghers often thought more highly of themselves.
It had all started like something out of a movie or TV show. A mysterious illness, mass panic and hysteria, people dying and then… not. Some would call them zombies, or walkers, or any other name. The Gallaghers didn’t concern themselves with what to call them, but how they were going to keep them and every other threat away from their door. Even before the power disappeared, they kept the lights off at night, hoping that no one would try to loot their home. They made quick runs to neighboring homes, crossing their fingers that they would find any sort of supplies or food, scavenging whatever they could use, checking in with Kev and Vee. Things were getting desperate as their stash dwindled down more and more.
“We gotta do something!” Fiona yelled. Her frustration was growing as they all argued back and forth around the living room.
It was a packed house. All of the Gallagher kids, Frank, Kev and Vee and the girls. Even Svetlana and Yevgeny were there, as they were pretty much a part of the package by then. It was Lip who would chime in to argue with her, as it usually was.
“Where the fuck are we gonna go Fiona?” He yelled just as loudly back. “We don’t know what it’s like out there, what we could get into. We don’t have a fucking clue! I think we should just stay here, ride it out.”
“It’s all gone to hell,” Vee sighed. “This place is overrun, there’s just too many people. Maybe Fiona is right, we could get out of the city, maybe find an abandoned farm or something, set ourselves up. Maybe it would better our chances.”
The rest of the group shifted their attention around the room as arguments and ideas were tossed around. No one could seem to agree on what to do. Even Frank was at a loss, and he always had two cents to spare to whoever would feign interest. None of the ideas seemed very good anyway. Before they could go much further, there was frantic knocking on the door.
“Hey! Gallaghers! You in there? Please, let us in!” It was a female voice, a familiar one, but no one could place it right away since they hadn’t heard it for some time. Carl was closest to the door and he peeked out the window before opening it. Iggy and Mandy barreled in and slammed the door behind them.
Ian jumped up and rushed over to Mandy, checking her over. “Shit, are you guys alright?!”
She nodded, clearly a bit disoriented. “It’s getting worse out there. We snuck out on a run looking for shit, came back and our yard was crawling with those things. Had to outrun them, didn’t know where else to go.”
Ian put his arm around Mandy’s shoulder and pulled her in to soothe her. “I didn’t even know you were back in Chicago.”
Mandy nodded. “I left Indiana when things started really going downhill. Kenyatta got sick early on, he didn’t make it. I didn’t want to stay out there alone, I managed to get home before I was stuck.”
“Shit,” Ian whispered. He hated Kenyatta, but that was also the first time he heard about someone he knew dying from the outbreak. It really drove the point home for him, that they couldn’t just stay in their house and wait for something to happen. If they were going to get through this, they had to take action. “Maybe Fiona’s right, maybe we should try to get out there on the move and look for a more secure place to relocate and settle.”
Lip threw his arms up in frustration, the argument practically bursting out of him. “This is a terrible fuckin’ idea.”
Kev, ever the peacemaker, tried to reason with him. “Look, if we’re in this together, we should take a vote. Majority rules. At least it’s fair that way.”
Lip scowled for a long moment before shrugging.
“Alright, who’s in favor of giving it a go?” Kevin asked. Slowly, hands started to go up around the room and it was pretty clear which way the vote was heading. “Who doesn’t want to leave?”
Lip and Frank were the only ones who raised their hands that time. The frown on Lip’s face deepened when he realized who his only ally was in the debate, but he kept silent. The tension in the room was pretty thick when a voice broke the silence.
“Hey uh, do you think we could team up with you guys?” Iggy asked. “Y’know, safety in numbers and all that.”
Everyone looked around at each other. They had kind of forgotten that Iggy and Mandy were there watching everything unfold.The silence was uncomfortably long before Lip bit the bullet and responded in the asshole way everyone relied on.
“We’ve got our own people to look out for, we can’t be responsible for everyone.”
Iggy snorted at that. “Fuck you, man. We can pull our own weight. You think because you’re supposed to be so smart you got all the answers, huh? You might know tons of things college boy, but we Milkoviches get shit done. And we got access to plenty of weapons. How you gonna kill these things, bore them to death with your college talk? Read them a textbook?”
Lip puffed out his chest, ready to show Iggy exactly what he could do, but was stopped by Ian’s hand on his chest. “Igg has a point, man. We’re scrappy, but we don’t have shit in the way of defending ourselves. They’ve got a gun cabinet for fuck’s sake.”
“Look man, I’m not trying to take from nobody,” Iggy said. “If we’re a group, we all share. Food, guns, everyone plays their part huh?”
Lip mulled it over, looking around the room at all of the eyes considering the options. He hated to admit that it actually seemed to make the idea of leaving Chicago behind a little more doable. “Since we’re such a fucking democracy now, might as well vote on this too. All in favor?”
This time it was unanimous, and the tension in the room lightened considerably. It was nearly lunchtime and Fiona scraped together some sandwiches for everyone, trying to ignore how little food was left in the house. They all discussed ideas for how they were going to prepare to travel, how to get more supplies, debates about what possessions they should bother to bring.
“There’s only two things we need to do before we can go,” Iggy said.
“Yea, what’s the first one?” Lip asked.
Iggy took a bite of his sandwich and chewed as he spoke. “Gotta get back into the house to get our stockpile, also got some other safe houses that are stocked up that we can hit.”
“And the second?” Ian chimed in.
“Gotta get Mickey outta prison.”
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Mickey was dying.
The idea had scared him at first. It had scared the shit out of him. This wasn’t how his life was supposed to end, still in prison, alone, in the middle of the fucking apocalypse. He was supposed to serve his 15 years, 8 with overcrowding, and then get out. Maybe he would have lived a full life, been a productive member of society. Maybe he would have gotten back into a life of crime and paid the consequences. But he certainly shouldn’t have been trapped in a cell with a guy who had died twice.
Getting any sort of information in prison had been difficult. It was mostly rumors and outright lies being circulated. The guards wouldn’t tell them shit, the news in the entertainment room was heavy on theatrics and light on facts. People starting getting sick, guards and prisoners alike, dropping like flies. And then they came back, but they weren’t really there. Mickey could see it in the cellies across from him. Growling and rumbling around their cells. The guards were gone by then, the ones who had still been well enough to leave at least. A few lay dead, really dead, around the hallways, taken care of by their healthier coworkers. They had left the prisoners there to die, not even giving them a chance by letting them free.
Mickey waited and waited for it to happen to him, but time ticked along and he felt fine. Then his cellmate fell ill and he thought that was the end of him. Bruno, or Bruiser as everyone called him, coughed and choked until he finally fell silent. Mickey thought maybe they didn’t all come back, that maybe some of them just stayed dead. But he watched, and he waited, and eventually he heard terrible noises coming from Bruno and knew he wasn’t getting that lucky. Mickey knew if he had any chance, he had to act quickly, and he attacked before he could be attacked.
He couldn’t even think about how he killed Bruno. Even though he knew Bruno was really gone by then, it haunted him, having to get so violent with him and so up close, with no weapon. He had taken care of it and hidden Bruno’s body under the bed, taking the mattress down and blocking the view from his own bed.
Days went by, Mickey lost track of how many it had been. The noise in the prison was unspeakable. Those things were constantly making noise. At first, Mickey’s stomach clenched with hunger pains, but eventually it stopped hurting. If he wasn’t going to die from whatever illness was going around, it was only a matter of time before he would starve. But at least it didn’t hurt anymore. He was so tired. He just wanted to get on with it. Mickey laid down on his bed facing the wall and closed his eyes.
It would all be over soon.
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“This is a terrible idea,” Lip said, his voice deadpanned. He was done really arguing about it, but he needed to make sure his objections were noted one final time before they walked into what he assumed would be their death trap.
He, Ian, Kev and Iggy were all in the prison parking lot looking at the facility. Lip wasn’t sure what he had expected, but at least on the outside, it was much more desolate than made sense. He saw some of those things off in the distance, but it didn’t seem their arrival had garnered any attention.
“How do we even know where to find him?” Kev asked.
“I’ve been in the joint before,” Iggy told him. “I know my way around here. He’s in C-Block.”
Ian’s face was a blank slate, but Lip knew that was what he did to hide his innermost thoughts and feelings. “What if Mickey’s… If he’s…” Ian couldn’t finish the question.
Lip clapped him gently on the shoulder. “Best not to assume anything one way or another, yea?”
There was an intake of breath and a nod. Lip didn’t like how shaky Ian’s breath was, but he could hardly blame him. He didn’t even care much for Mickey but he was worried about how they would find him too. Lip really thought it was a lost cause, had tried to argue it, but he thought about what he would do if it was one of his siblings and for once he stood down with minimal argument.
Before anyone could say anything further, Iggy started making his way towards the prison entrance, leaving the others to catch up. They each had a gun and a knife with them, though Lip wasn’t sure if he could use his and was confident that Kev couldn’t. Iggy tried the main door and it opened right away. They all glanced around at each other for a moment before they entered, not wanting to get too hopeful about how easy this would be. Once they were all inside, Iggy tried the door that led to the cell blocks but it didn’t budge. Next he moved to the door which led into the administrative area and that one opened.
“Check all the doors, stay as quiet as possible, look for any key rings.” Iggy instructed.
“Take any food, medicine and medical supplies, or weapons too,” Lip added. “No matter how little. Every bit helps.”
Everyone nodded at each other and made their way to different rooms. With four of them spreading out, it didn’t take long before they had made their way through the wing. They rejoined and pooled their findings. There wasn’t much, but Kev did find the warden’s office with a large key ring and a couple of guns. Iggy took the key ring and they made their way back to the entrance area to see if they could get further inside.
There were a lot of keys to test. Coupled with Iggy’s nerves at being so close to finding out what happened to Mickey and he became quickly frustrated. He felt like he was losing track of which keys he tested and he started trying to force them into the keyhole to make them work. He felt a hand over his, taking the keys from him and gently easing him away from the door.
“Let me give it a go,” Lip insisted.
It took him a minute to stand down, but Iggy relented and Lip took his place. He was much more thorough, taking his time, and it wasn’t too long before they heard the tumblr click over. This time, when Lip tested the door, it swung open with a squeak.
“Holy shit, we’re in!” Kev exclaimed.
Iggy surged forward, the rest of the guys hot on his heels, leading them through the corridor until it branched off in five separate directions, one for each of the four cell blocks and the fifth for the common areas. Iggy motioned to the right and they followed him until they reached another door.
“He’s in one of these cells.” Iggy whispered.
Lip stepped forward with the keys again, but stopped to address everyone before he did anything. “Listen, we stay close in there, no separating, okay? We don’t know what is going on in there, who’s out or not, dead or not. We stay close, a set of eyes in each direction.”
Everyone nodded and he started out with the keys again. It took longer this time, but soon enough there was the sound of the lock relenting and they were in. They moved into C-Block and were immediately overwhelmed by the noise and the smell . They had experienced both in small doses, but not so much in closed quarters at once. Lip’s sensitive stomach betrayed him and he doubled over, heaving and throwing up right on the floor.
“Jesus, that’s fuckin’ brutal.” Kev muttered, his shirt over his face. “Let’s get on with this.”
The block was two levels, two long rows of cells on each side running parallel the entire length of the area. They moved to the left and started peering into the cells one by one. Each door had an open window of sorts, no glass or plastic but with bars across it. Some of the cells were still, their occupants seeming to be really dead. Others had those creatures, watching and growling at them. With every cell they passed, their frustration was growing. Mickey was nowhere to be found.
“Igg, are you sure he was in C-Block?” Ian asked anxiously. “Could they have moved him?”
“I’m positive,” Iggy assured. “He got on one guard’s good side, the guy kept him away from my dad and his nazi buddies, they’re spread around the other three blocks.”
“Shit, I forgot Terry was in here,” Kev said. “Are we gonna spring him too?”
“Fuck him, he deserves whatever’s comin’ to him.” Iggy said curtly.
They were quiet after that, continuing through the block. They were on the second level, nearly at the end of their third row when Ian stopped them.
“Holy shit, I think that’s him!”
They all peered through the little window at the figure on the bed. He was facing the wall, curled nearly into fetal position, jet black hair stark against the white pillow. He didn’t seem to be moving. Lip felt the keys snatched out of his hand and watched as Ian fumbled through them frantically.
“Fuck fuck fuck, Mick oh please Mick, be alright.” Ian was becoming more upset with each passing moment but when Lip reached for the keys he nudged him away. One final lock gave way and Ian flung the door open, the group of them fumbling their way inside. Ian rushed over to the bed and reached out, rolling the prisoner onto his back.
It was Mickey.
He didn’t look well at all. He was gaunt, the life drained from him. His skin looked sickly. Lip thought he was dead and was reaching for Ian to comfort him when he heard words he couldn’t believe.
“He’s alive. He’s got a pulse but it’s faint. We need to get him help.” Ian was frantic.
Kev grabbed Ian by the shoulders and pulled him back. “We’ll get him to Vee, let me take him.” He reached down and slid one hand under Mickey’s knees and the other under his back, scooping Mickey into his arms. Mickey’s head lolled lifelessly to the side and they all stopped for a moment to just look at him.
“This motherfucker’s either the luckiest or unluckiest S.O.B. in the new world.” Kev observed.
No one responded. They weren’t quite sure which one it was.
They all hurried out the way that they came in, Lip stopping at each point to lock up tight and pocketing the key ring. He knew they had to come back here at some point to check the supplies more extensively and see what they could take.
But for now, they had to keep Mickey alive.