FIC: Losing Ground
Series: No Day But Today
Title: Losing Ground
Pair: Kurt/Blaine, various canon/OC
Includes: zombies, past mpreg, character deaths, Blaine’s dumb brother
Word Count: ~9250
Summary: No time for a Honeymoon. The very night of Kurt and Blaine’s wedding, they begin making plans to deal with the news brought to them by Forest. Meanwhile, West and the Wastelanders are on their way.
Less than four hours ago, people had been dancing and laughing in this meeting hall. Now, cacophony. Terror. Everyone was talking at once, arguing over what to do. Burt sat with his hands on either side of his head. The newlyweds sat in the middle of the circle of people who had gathered to hear what Forest had found.
“These men are out of they damn fool minds,” Forest said, not for the first time. “We can’t be here when they get here.”
Tamara jerked his hand, pulling him into a seat. “Yell later. Let me check you for broken ribs. You’ll need to be patched up whether we stay or run.”
“We absolutely gotta get out of here,” Forest tried again.
“Why is this even a fuckin’ question?” Andre demanded. His volume, and the rising pitch of his voice, made his Northeastern accent all the more apparent, and comical. Though no one was laughing. “Weren’t all of you on Team ‘get the fuck outta here’ two days ago?”
“Yeah, except running around in a random direction when lunatics are after us seems like the stupidest thing ever,” Santana argued.
“Guys.” Kurt’s quiet voice stilled some of the unrest. He bit his thumbnail and looked pensively ahead of him. “Okay, Forest, how many are we expecting? If you had to make a guess?”
“Hm. Six, at most, from the group from the base. But they’re gettin’ help from people that they’re scared of. Could be a lot of ‘em.”
“Also the stupidest thing ever,” Santana said. “We’re fighting monkeys. Backwards, inbred monkeys. Why would you join up with people you didn’t trust?”
Forest touched the side of his head. “They’ve got a coupla good people there, but they’re pinned in. One kid, and one woman, but the rest are rotten to the core. If I’d been able to take those two, I would, but the woman wouldn’t leave. Probably attached to one of the men.”
“Why’s it gotta be a guy?” Santana asked.
“Because the other woman was such a soulless bitch, I couldn’t believe the lady who let me go would be with her.”
Santana raised a brow and rubbed her hand over Brittany’s knee. “Soulless bitch like me?”
“You got soul, girl.” Forest laughed bitterly and accepted an ice pack when Tina handed it to him. “You just got lip, too. This woman... she didn’t care. About anything anymore. I guarantee you, she’s not gonna wait for her folks to take that boat and go. It’s gone by now.”
“Then where are we supposed to go?” Deirdre asked. “We’re supposed to leave our walls, and just wander?”
“Well, we can’t stay here,” Andre said.
“I think we might have to.” Kurt looked back at Blaine, who had so far, said not a word. Just held his daughter, looking haunted.
“The enemy is on its way!” Andre exploded.
“Goddamnit.” Joseph got up and shook his head. “I feel like I got whiplash here. Do we stay? Do we go? What the hell, people?”
“Circumstances changed just a little,” Kurt said sharply.
“I’m not leaving this town,” Blaine said quietly. “And I’m not letting my family leave. I don’t think anyone else should, either.”
“You’re outta your mind-” Andre started.
“I am not out of my mind,” Blaine said, his voice raising in volume considerably. “You’ll all know when I’m out of my mind.”
Forest shrugged. “Maybe if we had a little of that guy, I’d be more confident in goin’ head to head with these assholes.”
“Okay, look.” Kurt clapped his hands, then let out a whistle between his fingers and stood. “I appreciate the irony of having to first convince you to leave, and now having to convince everyone who just complained about staying... to stay. However. Our intell has given us some serious stuff to think about. Out there? We’re vulnerable against a conscious, armed enemy in addition to the walkers that are waking up. Here, we have cover, we have arms, we have a sturdy wall-”
“We have a band of lunatics coming right for us,” Brittany said.
“And they think we’re what? An army? No.” Kurt put his hands on his hips. “They think we’re a little town full of women and children-”
“We are,” Rafe said flippantly.
“We have one baby,” Kurt shot back. “One baby, and a bunch of women who can really, really kick ass. Guns, knives, crossbows, hand to hand? I’d bet on our girls taking their men any day. They think that they can take us out because we’re not testosterone-driven monsters-- no offense to anyone who identifies that way--”
“None taken,” Andre joked.
Finally, the group laughed.
Kurt licked his lower lip and sucked it in thoughtfully. “They think they can take advantage of us.” He shook his head slowly. “I think we’re underestimating ourselves. But even more than that, I know they’re going to underestimate us.”
“Or they’re going to slaughter us,” Joseph said. “Stuff like this might work for the pep squad, but this is real life. We can’t just sit here and wait for something to save us.”
“Yeah, that was pretty much exactly the plan,” Kurt said dryly. He looked to David. “How long would it take you to rig the gate, like we talked about?”
David drew closer to the core group. “I dunno. I got the plans done while I was on watch yesterday. It might take a day or two. Do we want guns on the walls, or do we want the gate more?”
“Guns,” Andre said.
“No.” Kurt glared at Andre.
“Guns on the wall will keep them out and us alive.”
“I am simply not interested in putting people up on the wall as shooting practice for our enemies. These guys aren’t going to come without firepower of their own. If they have the brawn, we have to play this smarter than them.”
Burt lifted his head and looked around to everyone. “Seems to me we gotta do that no matter what, kiddos.”
“Yeah, kids,” Joseph said.
“I’m talkin’ to every one of you. Me and Forest are the oldest coots here.”
Forest nodded slowly. He touched Tamara’s hand, and she stilled and sat by his side.
Burt sighed. “We can’t just react. Can’t just bolt and run, prayin’ we find some kind of shelter from everything comin’ down on us. But I hope everyone did as we said before and started getting themselves ready in between this wedding business, because if we do fight, we’d better be ready to get the fuck outta Dodge. No one’s sayin’ we should bunker down and get cozy. We still have to get a move on before the weather gets too warm. And stay or go, we gotta use our brains. Lord knows we’ve got enough folks here with ‘em.”
The door opened, and Carol entered with a sleepy-eyed Saffire. She came in slowly, yawning and rubbing her face. She still had paper wedding flowers braided into her thick hair.
Forest didn’t wait for her to reach the group. He pulled away from Tamara and ran over to her. Her eyes widened, and her mouth opened. There was no time to speak before Forest’s arms enveloped her.
“Good, God, darlin’.” Forest rubbed her back and pressed her tightly to him. “I’m blessed. So blessed.” He kissed her cheek firmly.
“I th-thought you weren’t c-c-coming back,” she choked out finally. “I thought the walkers got you!”
“No, baby. I’m still here. Gotta do more than that to take down Forest Jackson.” He didn’t let her go for several minutes, and no one said a word. Finally, he sat back on his haunches to look at her. “You were brave while I was gone, huh?”
“Mostly.” Her fingers reached up to touch the mottled line of bruises and swelling on his face. “Wh-what happened?”
Her eyes were shining, but she blinked hard, trying not to cry.
“Some fools tried to knock me around a little.”
“P-people?” She seemed a little breathless at the thought.
“Yeah. People. But it was a person who let me go, too, hon. Don’t forget that part.” He pushed himself up and brought her over to the group, with his hand on her back. He looked right at Kurt, then stepped closer to him and lowered his voice, slightly. “You’re a father of a daughter. I’m tellin’ you this much. Whatever we do, I cain’t let these people get their hands on her.”
He looked to Burt, who was already nodding. “I cain’t. I just cain’t.”
***
West turned his head toward the back of the truck where Twink and Tea sat. Twink just stared out over the countryside. He’d practically gone mute since they’d been taken into the Wastelander compound. Tea hadn’t given West a civil word in days, either.
Tea’s unevenly shorn hair flipped up in the wind. Her arms were crossed over her chest, and a shotgun rested in her lap, in case stray walkers wandered their way. It had been about a week since he’d met with the Wastelanders to cut their deal. Only a few days since he’d made his sister cut her hair and wear Twink’s clothes... Well...
West came storming into Tea’s room, and before she could even speak, he grabbed one of her pigtails and cut it off.
“What the fuck is wrong with you?” she shouted.
He tossed the scissors on the bed. “Cut it off. We’re gonna have visitors in a few hours.”
Tea didn’t move. She just stared at her brother.
“Cut it off!” he bellowed. “And take off that stupid makeup. They think you’re a boy. I told them I had a gay little brother so their asshole of a leader wouldn’t read any tells from me.”
Tea’s nostrils flared, and she grabbed the scissors and went to her vanity in a huff. “You could have just told me that.”
“Yeah, and argued with you for way too long about 1) working with them, and 2) your dignity, or whatever. You’re a tiny little gay boy with an obsessive love for Pink and Beyoncé. Deal with it.” West crossed his arms and breathed heavily.
Tea cut her hair in silence. She kept looking back at him, but he refused to meet her gaze.
There was no leaving her at the base. It was too likely that something might happen to her while they were gone. But bringing her was frankly a good way to destroy any sympathy for him she had left. By the end of this, she would either leave him or kill him, probably.
But if that was the case, at least she’d be alive. The group would protect her, and her medical knowledge, even if he was out of favor or dead. He couldn’t guarantee that she’d be protected if she were alone or with a group of the untested living.
Tex slowed the car down as they approached what looked like a bunch of garbage trucks turned tank. Out spilled Angus’ men. It was surprising that they weren’t... bigger. West had no doubt that these men were ruthless, but only about half of them were really well-built. Not that it would matter, for anyone on the other end of an assault rifle.
In his mind, West started a quick count. If he could get Twink and Tea to work with them, they had five, and with the Wastelanders... looked like they had close to fifty altogether.
God help them. They were going to slaughter these people.
Oak pulled up behind them with his big hummer and hopped out to join the other men.
Angus strolled up to them with his hands in his pockets. “Good to see the whole group. Hey, there, Tea!”
She looked up with a frown, then turned towards Twink.
“Aw, am I breaking up the lovebirds?”
Laughter rippled up through the group of men. Tea raised a brow sharply.
West’s heart sank. Behave, Tea, please!
She took Twink’s hand. Twink’s watery green eyes bulged, and he folded himself into her side. Tex craned his head to the side as he watched the two of them, then looked to West in confusion. He’d probably already forgotten that Tea was supposed to be a boy.
“Cute,” Angus said after a long silence. He licked his lips. “Go on, fellas.”
Four men grabbed Tea and Twink.
“Hey!” West pulled his gun out.
“Put it away, pretty boy,” Angus said. “We just need some assurance from you that you’ll give us what we want in the end.”
“This was not part of the deal!” West roared. He dropped his arm as he looked around, hopelessly, for Tex or Oak to do something. They both crossed their arms and walked over to introduce themselves to the Wastelanders.
His head turned back to the truck. He saw his sister’s angry, frightened eyes as the door slid closed.
Angus stormed towards West and grabbed his arm. “Don’t you go soft on me. I can’t risk it. I bring all these men out here for a run, on the promise of ammo? You’d better bring your A game, cheekbones.”
Angus wasn’t the leader of the Wasteland. He was just the diplomat, or so West surmised. Apparently this matter wasn’t worthy of their real leader’s attention, but West could guess how bad it could get for this guy if he lost this many men.
“You can’t take my si-” West shoved a hand through his hair and turned to face Angus. “You can’t take my brother, my blood, and tell me that I have to play nice. You can’t do that!”
“He already did!” one of Angus’s men yelled. Another man laughed.
“Calm down, dude,” Tex said. “They’ll give ‘er back.”
Angus smirked. “So we can keep the other one?”
“They’re not lovers,” West said. “Tea’s just winding you guys up because... that’s just what he does, okay? He knows you guys don’t like it, and he’s winding you up. Please, just give me my brother back.”
Angus patted his cheek. “When we get our guns. When I know you’re not going to punk out on us and go soft on these people. You’re soft on this queer brother of yours? You’ll be tempted to be kind. Merciful. You can’t. Not in a fight for survival. You keep your head on you and your own, and that’s it.”
He leaned uncomfortably close and whispered, “I know that ‘brother’ of yours is a girl. And maybe some of my men are dumb as a bag of hammers, but I’m gonna give ‘em the credit that some will figure it out, too. Don’t you let her go home with our boys, just for some stranger bitches. Don’t you do it, West.”
West looked him in the eye, wishing he could just shoot this man where he stood. But he couldn’t shoot that truck open. And there were too many of them.
No matter what happened tomorrow, he would be a murderer.
***
“So. Rape any good innocents, lately?” Tea lifted her chin, feigning interest while doing her best impression of her baby brother’s snarky, adorable boyfriend. Twink cringed as he looked at her in disbelief.
“You don’t have to talk if you don’t wanna,” the driver said.
“Is that really a boy?” a tall, tall dark haired guy asked.
“Probably a trannie,” another said.
“I love me some lady-clothes,” Tea said.
“Stoppit!” Twink hissed.
“But it’s not so easy to hide the candy.” Tea winked. “It’s not true what they say about Asians, honey.”
Twink bumped her shoulder. He glared, terrified, at her through his floppy ginger-blond hair. A few of the guys laughed. Tea leaned over to Twink and kissed his cheek.
“It’ll be fine.”
“That’s a lie,” Twink wheezed.
God, did they have his inhaler? She reached for his hands, in spite of the handcuffs they’d clamped around their wrists, and squeezed his fingers.
“Twink, you’ll be fine. I’m a bigger target than you.”
“Please stop, Tea,” he begged.
“Don’t you worry, sweethearts,” another man said. “There are enough guys who like your type back at the compound. We can use you both!”
Twink pressed his forehead to Tea’s shoulder and struggled to breathe.
“You think you’re a big man, huh?” she spat. “Threatening a couple of kids? I know the deal. You can’t touch us until the job is over because we’re leverage against West and the others. And you know your weird 80s villain of a boss will shoot you dead if you mess that up.”
“Smart little guy,” the tall man said. “I know a man back home who’s gonna love you.”
“Oh, I bet. I bet I got everything he’s hopin’ for and more,” Tea replied. She rubbed Twink’s chest and touched his cheek. “Breathe. No use fighting all this time if you just die here.”
“I’d rather,” he muttered. “I’d rather. God, why did I join you people?”
“Same reason West and I did. Safety in numbers.”
“That’s hilarious.” Twink closed his eyes tight. “That’s what they said about Spokane.”
“Unfortunately, these days, there aren’t enough people out there to get picky about your numbers.”
Tea kept her eyes sharply on their captors. Even when the men seemed to have stopped noticing them and started talking amongst themselves, Tea listened very closely.
***
The trucks approached the town at a slow roll. It was early morning. Not yet light out, and the town was silent.
West felt as though he would be ill. The wall surrounding the town was taller than he’d expected, but it had uneven boards nailed all over the outside. Did they want to signal to people that they didn’t know how to defend themselves?
The walkie-talkies came to life, and Angus barked for them to stop. Then he stepped out of the truck with a bullhorn in his hand. West leaned forward.
“Is he kidding?” he asked. “That’s possibly the stupidest-”
Tex shrugged. “Let the man work. He’s probably done this before.”
West grimaced. He probably had. Angus seemed like he’d evolved from a child who cut the heads off of kittens. He’d probably kicked off the apocalypse by stealing food and clothes from defenseless kids and leaving them to die on the side of the road. West watched as Angus strode forward confidently. The trucks were loud enough that the people already knew they had company.
“Mornin’! Hello, ladies and gentlemen! This is your morning wake-up call!”
***
There had been very little sleep for anyone in the entire town for days. Everyone was working around the clock. When Forest entered the meeting hall, he could see Kurt scraping away at a piece of wood with a knife, replenishing their stockpile of arrows for their crossbows.
“Gate?” Kurt asked.
“We’ll see if it holds together.” Forest sat down and picked up a knife to work. “Your boy... He know something?”
“He had a dream.”
Forest nodded. “You be careful. Pretty much everyone here relies on you.”
“We rely on each other. I couldn’t be a proper parent to Pippa alone. I get a lot of help, maybe not with diapers, but with people who guard, who gather food-”
“I don’t think you really get what you mean to people around here.” Forest shrugged. “Saffire told me about Mikhail, and Juni.”
“It’s sad.” Kurt let the air out slowly, trying not to think on the topic too much. “We’re going to lose people. No matter what. I can’t stop that. I don’t even know where to start.”
“Don’t think anyone could ask it of you. But I’d prefer if Saff kept outta sight.”
“We’ll give her a gun and keep her tucked away. Someone’s gonna have to keep Pippa quiet.”
“Our girls, they’re gonna have to grow up fast.”
“We’ll give them what they need to survive.” Kurt sucked on one finger as he looked at the pile of arrows. “Just like always.”
Forest nodded. He looked around the hall. “Too bad I missed the party. Suppose we’ll have another?”
“Probably... in a number of months.”
“People gettin’ cozy with each other, huh?” Forest chuckled.
“Hm. I can relate. That’s how Blaine and I seem to react to stress.”
Forest chuckled. “My wife Acacia and I were sort of the same way. Not that we ever had anything like this pounding down our door.”
“Yeah?” Kurt smiled at him. How it must feel to lose your partner. It was one of his biggest fears. “Was it... the outbreak?”
“God, no. She had cancer.”
“Oh...” Kurt nodded and looked at his hands. “Um. My mom, too. When I was seven.”
Forest set his hand on Kurt’s shoulder and squeezed.
Van ducked her head into meeting hall. “Mike just got back. We have to go, right now.”
“Better load these up.” Kurt started stuffing the arrows into the bags at his side. “Did Mike see them?”
“Yeah. Close. They’ll be here in a hour, at most.”
“You okay?” Kurt looked up briefly.
“Never felt better.” Van grabbed some arrows and started on another bag. “I’ll run these to Santana.”
“Thanks, sweetie.” Kurt turned, put an arm around her, and kissed her cheek. “Be careful, okay? You look out for yourself, or I’m going to have one giant crying baby to deal with, huh?”
She kissed his cheek as well, held onto him for a moment, then hefted the bag over her shoulder and jogged out.
“Let’s get a move on, then.” Forest took a bag and shook his head. “Here’s hoping you trained my girl but good while I was gone.”
“As the father of a daughter... I couldn’t do anything else.” Kurt took his own bag and looked over the empty hall.
***
Inside the town, everyone listened as the cars drove up. Some of the noisiest cars on the planet. Hearts raced as a voice came booming out over the silence:
“Mornin’! Hello, ladies and gentlemen! This is your morning wake-up call!”
Blaine stood from the space where he’d been crouching. Mike tugged on his pants, but Blaine kept walking forward.
“Look, we’re not men of honor. We’d love to do all manner of vile things to your women and children-”
“I could take more than I have. Meat’s scarce, y’know.”
Blaine silently moved up the stairs by the wall.
“-But in the spirit of sportsmanship, we’ll give you a chance-”
“Do not spare the food or water for them. And take the weapons. And the coats. Aside from that, I don’t give a fuck.”
Breathing in and out slowly, calmly, Blaine took his place at the watchtower.
“Open up your gate, and we’ll treat you real nice as we take all of your valuables. It’s only stuff. Yeah, there’s not as much as there used to be, and necessities are harder to come by these days. But consider: Your things, or your lives? I think you value the flesh of your loved ones a bit more-”
“How can you leave a pregnant girl to die? Doesn’t it bother you that you’re not human anymore?”
“No! No, God, no! Don’t take him from me!”
Blaine’s heart threatened to choke him. The air was cool, but he was boiling, and when he spotted the man speaking, that man, it took everything in his entire body to put down the gun.
He swallowed and counted to himself. In his mind’s eye: Kurt holding Pippa. His precious family, who were, as they were what seemed like a lifetime ago, counting on him not to completely lose it. They needed him whole. In control. Completely logical, and lethal.
“I suggest you get your asses up! It’s not the morning to sleep in!” the man shouted. “Because this generous, oh so generous, offer will expire!”
Blaine slipped back down the staircase and made his way back to the side of the house.
“We have two hundred men out here!”
Blaine looked back, arched a brow, and then signaled with five fingers, then formed a zero. There were nods from their small crouching group, and Andre repeated the gesture to his group and for those not on the ground to see.
“At the count of ten, we bust down the gate.”
Blaine met Nick’s eye as he lowered himself again. Brittany was patting the ground with her fingertips in anticipation. The count began. He couldn’t see David’s face from here, but he could guess that it was determined and frightened both.
“...eight- You’re signing your own dead warrants, kids-- Okay! Nine! Whoo!” The man paused. “Last chance! Very last chance!”
Blaine closed his eyes. Kurt. Pippa. Their respite together in the woods. The day she was born. The way she reached for him when he came home. Their wedding day. He licked his lips.
“Ten!”
The gate creaked and began to open.
***
Standing with the other men, West gaped in disbelief as the gate slowly opened. No one appeared.
“We shouldn’t...” he murmured.
“Stupid people,” Angus said. “They still think they can stop bad things from happening.”
Angus motioned his men forward, then followed. West looked back at the truck that held his sister, holding his breath. One of the men grabbed his arm, and he followed with much hesitation.
As they entered, the town remained quiet. Replete of lights or life. West stayed close to the back.
“Are we playing hide and seek, now?” Angus called out with amusement.
The gate swung closed, and West and three other men jumped out of the way. Then men were going down. Little whips of sound filled the air. One man down, two, three.
West ducked behind them.
“Where are those arrows coming from?” a beefy man yelled.
A whistle rang out, then another round of arrows came at them. The men scattered. Oak bolted for the gate Several short whistle blasts sounded, and only one arrow shot down, but it went straight through Oak’s back. West had lost count of how many men they’d lost in the short amount of time, but it was a good bet that they weren’t getting out of this one. Taken down by arrows.
Angus darted to the back of the group and grabbed West’s shirt. “You get into that house over there. You see it? Right over there. That fucker never misses. He’s shooting from that attic window.
“But-”
“I can see that body armor you guys have got on. Either hand it over so I can strangle that son of a bitch myself, or you run in there and take him out!”
West licked his lips. “Give me the keys.”
“Hurry up and do it!”
“I’ll kill him dead, just give me the keys for my sister’s chains.” West looked at him disparagingly. “Or all manner of nasty things are gonna happen when you take your cowardly ass back home. Assuming this little town doesn’t make raw meat out of you.”
Angus pulled the keys out of his pocket and pressed them into West’s hand. “Settlement my ass. Got a bunch of fuckin’ commandos here.”
West didn’t spare another moment. He heard the whistle and saw the arrows coming down. Then he bolted for the door while the enemy had to be reloading. He wasn’t the only one, either. When they saw him breaking for it, the men ran to other houses, though Angus was yelling and trying to restore order.
West kicked the door with all of his strength. The doorframe splintered and he darted inside before a bowman in another house decided to protect their sharp shooter.
That was when one of the men regained his wits. West could hear the sound of a rifle firing as he entered the house.
***
Three short whistle blasts rang out. The arrows stopped.
Nick held his hands out, and Brittany stepped up and flew into the air. It seemed they still had a few surprises in them. As she did a flip, every man froze, eyes on her.
She landed right in the middle of the group of men, slashing hard and wide, opening four throats and wounding another man badly enough that he stumbled back and crashed to the ground.
Nick, Blaine, and Mike sprung forward as the men began to fight back, drawing the attention away from her to give Brittany time to get out. But Brittany kept kicking and slashing like a cat on crack, and the men backed away on their own.
Until another round of shots rang out, and she fell to the ground. Blaine’s heart sank.
“Get out of the line of fire!” Mike yelled.
Blaine didn’t retreat with the others. But he waited no longer.
“Hey! Angus!” he screamed.
The man’s head turned, and Blaine emptied a bullet into his face. Angus’s body collided with the ground, glasses shattered.
“Blaine, get back!” David yelled.
Nick darted forward and grabbed Blaine around the waist, pulling him to the ground. Before the men could pursue them, another whistle blast rang out. The men scattered and tried to duck for cover.
***
“Dammit, dammit...” Tea dug her fingernail into her palm.
“What are you doing?” Twink asked.
“Creating lube.” She wiggled her hand, then pumped her fist a few times.
“Lube? Um, blood is never the best choice for that. Believe me.”
“I’m not having sex with anyone right now, obviously.”
“Yeah, I figured... But don’t girls make their own lube?” Twink raised a brow.
“Um, yes, we do, sweetie. Though it’s not a terrible idea for a girl to keep some on hand... of different varieties, depending on where you want to go.” Tea sucked in her lower lip in concentration. “Anyway, I just don’t want to take the skin off my thumb when I...” She breathed in and out and prepared herself for the next step.
Twink turned his head and let out a whimper deep in his chest. “Um. Tea? That sounds like a creeper outside.”
“Well, they’re not getting in here.”
“Yeah, but there’s the windshield, right? They could break through the glass?”
“They’re probably being attracted by the gunfire right now.”
Twink wiggled his hands against the cuffs. “God, Tea. I can’t... I can’t go back with those men. I can’t let anyone do that to me again...”
“You stick with me, sweetie, and this will all turn out fine.” She closed her eyes, then squeezed one hand with the other until she heard a crack.
“Ohh, my God!”
Tea jerked her hand hard, right out of the cuff.
“Girl, you are ten tons of awesome.” Twink looked down in horror at her bloody hand. “Um, are you wanting me to do that, too?”
“No, one paw down is enough.” She looked around the tank. “I’m not done doing things and liking things. I also have a pretty sweet chemical cocktail that I’ve been working on, and in the end, it might just get us out of this mess.” Tea climbed into the front and jerked on her other hand. “Hm. How do I hotwire this thing... Oh! Axe!”
She reached into the passenger seat and grabbed the axe, then climbed back into the back.
“Look. I can’t do this to myself without losing a hand, and my thumb is broken, so I need to release you to help me with this, okay?”
Twink looked over her shoulder. “Oh, okay. Um.”
Tea looked behind her. There was a creeper stumbling past the truck. She grabbed Twink and held him down until it had passed. Even if the glass was sturdy, she wasn’t looking forward to a swarm of those things pinning them in.
“Now. Break the crap out of this handle I’m attacked to, okay?”
“All right. Breaking.” Twink took the axe and held it up. He took a deep breath.
Ten minutes later, they were free, with cuffs dangling around their wrists, but more creepers were passing by the truck, and they couldn’t stay in there much longer. Twink pulled up his pant leg and pulled out a knife.
Tea looked at him in surprise.
“Yeah, I’m going to announce I have a weapon to the tank full of meatheads while we’re cuffed to the side of the truck and I can’t even reach it,” Twink said. “That would have done us a lot of good.”
Tea held onto her axe, and motioned for Twink to open the door.
She came out swinging. Together they made for the town. The door looked like it wasn’t bolted all the way shut, and by God, she was not going to let those creepers take her down.
***
Kurt turned from his window before the intruder had made it all the way upstairs. He blew his whistle five times, to signal to the others that he’d left his post, and then slipped behind a dusty old sofa.
As the man appeared, Kurt spied him with raised brows. He hadn’t expected any of these crazed weirdos to be vaguely human, let alone movie-star handsome. And this man was, even with a chin full of scruff and messy hair. There was something unhinged about him; in his wildness, the man reminded Kurt a little of Blaine, when he’d been at his worst, almost gone.
“They had you chained to a wall, and they were- They had been taking turns with you.”
Kurt stilled his shaking hands, and he forced himself not to breathe. If the worst happened, he would let himself be taken. Whatever he suffered at their hands, as long as he was alive, he still had a chance to get back to his husband and child.
But he wasn’t going to just give up. He would fight, and he would survive.
“Funny, I didn’t think you’d hide, when I came up here,” the man muttered, moving his gun around as he searched. “You’ve put down so many of our men, so easily. I thought I’d have the fight of my life up here... But you work from strategy, don’t you? And you knew we were coming. Hm.”
Kurt pushed a breath in and out of his lungs as silently as he could. His hands wouldn’t behave and persisted on shaking. It was one thing to put down men invading their homes from afar. This was another matter entirely. Not that it mattered, in the end. With another breath, he raised his crossbow and waited for his moment.
“I appreciate that you don’t want to die. And you’re fighting not just for yourself, but the people here, hm?”
Kurt bit his lip and leaned forward to aim his crossbow. Then, the floor beneath him creaked, and the man swung his arm around, and shot in Kurt’s direction before he could properly react.
“Omigod!” His crossbow clattered to the floor. He moved backward, slowly. The floor creaked again.
“Also, not the voice I expected to hear. I am sorry you’re so young. Genuinely.”
The man shot again twice, and the bullets flew through the old fabric of the sofa. One clipped Kurt’s leg. He leaned over, wincing and clenching his teeth hard, and then looked at the bullet. He decided not to pull it out. Who knew how much it would bleed before he had the chance to take care of it.
“Get up. Make this as easy as it can be. That’s my suggestion. Just get it over with. There are worse things than dying.” Kurt breathed out. Moving forward or backward would make the floor creak again. Stay where he was, and he would have to bank on this lunatic missing again and running out of bullets... and not having more ammo on him.
“Here I come,” Kurt said in a clear, loud voice.
He leaned on his good leg and pushed himself up. The gun was fixed right on him. His palms hit the back of the sofa, and he leapfrogged over it. Instinctively, the man stumbled back and shot, as Kurt rushed at him, unsteady wounded gait and all, with his knife gripped tightly in his hand.
This man wasn’t a walker, and he didn’t sound like the lunatic with the megaphone. But it wasn’t just Kurt’s own life that he had to protect. His knife plunged into the man’s side. Another bullet hit the ceiling, and Kurt landed on top of the man as he fell back.
“Shit. Shit, shit, shit, shit!” the man yelled.
Kurt shakily grabbed the gun and turned it on him. God, there was blood everywhere. Walkers never bled that much, unless they were pretty fresh, so he’d rarely had to confront what was essentially constantly taking lives for his own survival. Not that he hadn’t put down a few living folks in an act of mercy in his time. This was different.
“So are you g-gonna shoot me or... or what?” The man’s pretty face was twisted with pain, but also shock. He kept looking over Kurt in disbelief.
“Tell your men to stop,” Kurt advised. “I can’t let them take my daughter.”
“You c-can’t have a daughter. You’re tw-twelve.”
“I’m seventeen.” Kurt shook his head. “And I’m going to live to see her to seventeen.”
The man closed his eyes and let his head drop back. “I’m... I’m not their leader. Keys... are in my pocket. My sister’s outside... and a fifteen year old.”
“Oh... Oh my God. They’re blackmailing you?” Kurt looked out the window for a split second. He whipped his head back, realizing that this man could have killed him while he was distracted.. but he was too badly wounded to pay attention to that. “How many? Are they all being blackmailed?” “What? No. They’re assholes, kid. They’re here to eat or rape you. You go ahead and kill them. They deserve it a billion times over.” His head fell back against the floor. “I deserve it. But the kids in that truck don’t, they really don’t.”
Kurt shook his head. “Hold still. Just don’t move, okay?”
He grabbed his bag and went back to the window, wincing. One of those last shots had gotten him in the shoulder, but luckily, it looked like it had gone through. He could still shoot with the arm he had.
“Can I trust you? Let us clear these guys out, and we’ll get your sister away from them.”
The man was quietly staring at Kurt.
“Please, tell me I can trust you... We need to work together here, or just die.” Kurt pulled off his sweater and tied it around the man’s wound. He was wearing something under his shirt. Maybe that had blunted the force of the knife. “Hold onto this. Hold on tight, and just stay awake. Mama Chang’s a good surgeon.”
“Listen, kid,” the man said quietly.
“I’m busy. Just don’t move.” Kurt scurried back over to the window. “Don’t move, and we’ll take care of you when we’re done with these guys.”
“Treat her well? My sister, I mean. She didn’t want to work with these guys. Sm-Smarter than the rest of us.”
“I’m not giving up yet.” Kurt bound up his shoulder with a scrap of fabric from his shirt and went back to the window. He blew his whistle, long and hard.
He started aiming for whoever he could get a clean shot at. It didn’t make his heart any lighter to have confirmation that these were bad people. He was going to have nightmares for months of putting down herds of walkers and people.
***
Walkers were so much easier to kill than men. Santana knew that was one of the reasons they were hiding in these houses and sneak shooting at them. She’d kind of freaked out a little when she heard the five blasts from Kurt’s whistle, though.
That meant he had been compromised, and they needed to fall to their second plan. For a few terrible minutes, she was in charge of their defense, and all she could think was how inconsolable Blaine would be, if one of those fucks had taken Kurt out.
She moved to the window, blew on her whistle four times, and whipped out the guns. Men were getting into the houses now, and some of the stray gunfire would mean there were wounded. She targeted the men heading into the houses. The other shooters positioned around town followed suit, leaving a pile of men on the porches where they’d tried to invade.
She could see Blaine leading the boys on the ground to pick off the men on the fringes when they had their backs turned. There was no honor in a battle like this, and she wholeheartedly appreciated seeing Nick shoot a big man in the back of the head and then scamper behind one of the bushes.
Santana’s head lifted, and she scanned the area for Brittany. It was just as well that she couldn’t see her. It was better that they stay out of sight. There were now a decent number of corpses on the ground. She looked away from the battle again to reload.
A rumble downstairs caught her attention. She blew her whistle five times, reloaded her gun quickly and grabbed a knife as well. It was Van’s turn to lead. Santana wasn’t about letting those assholes into the house where they could get their hands on Saff and Pippa.
She only caught a glimpse of the men before she started firing on them. Two went down in the doorway and the third shot back at her. She launched herself over the railing and out of their line of fire, then put a bullet in the brain of the third. Another man peeked his head in the doorway, and she fired on him, too.
He didn’t go down, but he fled the house.
Santana swallowed, checked how many bullets she had on her, and waited.
***
“Kurt’s okay,” Van said after the long whistle blow. Relief washed over her, and she sat back on her heels, waiting for the next call for attack.
“You don’t know,” Finn muttered. He stared at the door, tapping his foot and looking like he was going to be sick. “Could be Santana, she... she had to leave her post, too.”
“It came from the house where Kurt was positioned. Directional hearing, babe.” Van kept her head out of the view of the window. The few men left down there were well aware that their death was coming from above, now, and kept firing at random at the houses.
She took a deep, deep breath. At the sound of another whistle, she raised her crossbow to shoot.
Her arrow shot off in a random direction and she fell back, confused and more than a little scared. Only a minute after she’d hit the wall, when Finn was by her side firing relentlessly at the remaining men below, did she feel the pain blooming in her right arm.
“Ahh! Oh, God!” she cried in surprise.
Finn scooped her up, abandoning the window, and ran deeper into the house, away from the windows.
“Oh, no, no, no,” he chanted. His eyes were already overflowing as he laid her down. They were in one of the bedrooms, she thought. He brushed her hair back and kissed her forehead firmly.
“It’s... It’s um... Finn, get some cloth, or something...” She closed her eyes, because the room was spinning. Luckily, she was already on her back.
Finn’s heavy footsteps stomped away, then returned, and she opened her eyes slightly when he touched her cheek.
“Say something!” he yelled.
“You need to... tie it up. Stop the bleeding, or... slow it.” Van looked down at herself. “Oh...”
She winced at the sight of her blood-soaked arm and closed her eyes again.
“Van... C’mon, Van, talk to me. I don’t know what to do!”
“You know what to do,” she assured him.
“The bullet’s still there-”
“Bind it up. Leave the bullet. They just got my arm, right? I don’t feel it anywhere else...”
She felt Finn’s big hand over her hair again, and a tugging around the tender part of her her arm. An involuntary shriek left her lips.
“I’m sorry!” Finn tied the cloth over her arm quickly. “Yeah, it’s just your arm. Nowhere else. Are you okay? How do you feel?”
“...Woozy. That’s all. They could probably still use you at my post-”
Finn’s warm arms surrounded her, and he kissed over her face. “God, Van!”
“I know. But it’ll be okay. We will, if I don’t bleed too much, or get infected... I-I think...”
Her eyes opened suddenly, and she realized that at some point, Finn had tucked a blanket around her, and put a gun and bullets beside her on the bed.
“Finn?” She looked around for him frantically.
“Hey!” Finn darted in from the other room. “You went out for a minute. I tried to retie your arm...”
He knelt in front of her and pushed a glass of water to her lips. “Look, we got most of ‘em with Kurt’s plan. It’s gonna be okay, if we can hold down the fort in here...”
Van licked her lips. “What about the rest of them?”
“Walkers.” Finn shook his head and shrugged one shoulder. “I dunno where they came from, but they started spilling into the gate like crazy. I had to secure the doors. I think if the walkers take out those guys, we can get to the windows and pick off the walkers. At least they won’t shoot back.”
Van nodded. Her head dropped back again, and Finn petted over her face.
“Don’t you leave me,” Finn begged. “I can’t. Van, I can’t. Please?”
“It’s just a flesh wound, Finn,” she joked weakly. She reached up with her other arm and brought him close to her.
“Just... Just take it easy. Don’t move, okay? I’ll... I’ll take care of you.”
“I know. I know, babe. Thank you.”
Finn looked behind him and frowned deeply. “I’ll be back.”
“What? Wait!” Van tried to push herself up with her good arm.
“I have to make sure we’re safe here. The windows on the first level are boarded, like every other house, but I have to check the doors anyway, okay?” Finn kissed her lips then touched their heads together for a moment. “You gotta step back, Van. Rest, and take care of our kid. I’ll take care of you both.”
Finn picked up his spare gun, leaving her one to defend herself with, and headed out of the room. Van took the gun, loaded it, and waited.
***
It was all over before Tea made it into the town, but she shoved that gate closed with all of her might. Creepers were spilling in, and if the Wastelanders hadn’t killed these people, the dead surely would.
Unless they could get this fucking gate closed.
“Help me, dammit!” she screamed at Twink who was characteristically shrinking back away from the approaching creepers.
Suddenly, Twink swung his leg around and roundhouse kicked the hell out of that gate. It slammed shut, breaking off a few creeper fingers and hands, but shut nonetheless.
“Yes!” Tea grabbed the sliding bolt and started jerking it closed. Her head turned as a young, slim black man ran to her side and helped her slide it into place, securing the door.
“C’mon, c’mon!” he yelled, grabbing her hand. As they ran, he shot the creepers that came at them. Out of the corner of her eye, she saw the Wastelander’s leader sprawled on the ground, his glasses smashed and face a bloody pulp, but he was screaming as creepers tore his belly open. He wasn’t dead yet... but soon would be.
She flinched at the sound of the automatic blasting around them. Twink dropped to the ground.
“Oh! Oh God!” she shrieked.
The young man shoved her inside a house and locked the door.
“No, oh, God no! I can help him!” She lunged for the door, but the young man grabbed her around the waist.
“You’ll die if you go out there!” a girl with streaked hair said behind her.
“I’m dead already!” Tea pressed her bloody and broken hands to her face and stumbled to the ground. “God, dammit.”
The young man knelt beside her and rubbed her back. “It’ll be okay. We just need to get our shooters on the walkers out there. The dead people? They can take them out. Hey, I’m David.”
Tea looked him in the eye. Her arm throbbed where the creeper had taken a chunk out of her. “My name is... Tianna. I’m so sorry.”
David looked her up and down.
“Do you know these people?” the girl sat beside her. Her attention shifted as someone moaned. “Hey, I’m Tina. I have to go look after our wounded. We have a lot right now, and our main doctor hasn’t gotten over here. I hope our antibiotics supply holds out.”
“You got this?” David asked.
Tina nodded and went into the other room. Tianna lifted her head, and she rose, slowly. How long? How long before her wounds killed her? Or would she succumb to the fever, first? Was her brother still alive? Would she get to see that idiot one last time?
“You’re bleeding,” David said. “A lot. Let’s get you patched up, huh? Did you say ‘Tianna’?”
“Don’t waste your supplies on me,” she muttered, drifting into the room where Tina had gone.
On the floor were laid out a dozen people. Bleeding and wounded, but mostly from gunshot wounds.
“I am so sorry,” she whispered again. Her eyes gravitated to a tall, graying black man she had seen before. Forest, was it? “Oh, God! You made it!”
She went to his side.
“Oh! It’s you!” he said with a big smile. “I wondered if you were okay.”
“Hardly. I’m glad you got back safe, though. I told them I’d feed you, so no one knew you were missing before we all left the base. Are you okay?”
“Just a little tattered. As soon as I get the go-ahead, I’m gonna start pickin’ off those walkers.” He touched her hair. “What’s goin’ on here?”
“My brother made me cut it. He was afraid of what the men would do with me...” She sighed heavily. “I’m sorry! I can’t say that enough. This was so stupid. People have gotten so stupid! And now Twink is dead-” She pressed her left hand against her eyes and sobbed.
“Hey.” Forest put his arm around her and rubbed her shoulder. “This isn’t your doing.”
Tianna jerked her head up as she heard someone moaning loudly. Tina was hovering over a man’s body. He shook and then went still. Tina turned away from him, tears streaming down her cheeks as she went to her next patient.
“Where the hell is Tamara?” she demanded.
“I can go get her,” David offered.
“And then I’ll be down someone else.”
“I can help,” Tianna offered. “I’m, um, I’m not going to be of much use, soon, but I can help for now.”
“What to you mean?” Tina turned to her, wiping her eyes.
Tianna almost smiled. The girl’s eyes were faucets, but she was still working so hard. “I have some medical knowledge. But I got bitten. So I don’t know how long I have...”
Tina swooped to her side and started searching over her for bites. “Where? I have to clean out the wound, give you the serum-”
“She won’t be much help with the sounded if you do that,” David said.
“Did you hit your head? It can’t wait!” Tina snapped. She looked into Tianna’s eyes. “When did it happen?”
“A few minutes ago. As we were running into the gate. Does it matter?”
“Yes. Our friend got treated minutes after he was infected, and that was in his eye, right to the bloodstream.” Tina held out her hand, and David started handing her materials. “I’m gonna clean this, and then we’ll have to tie you up.”
“Wh-what? Tie me up?” Tianna pulled away.
“It’s the cure. It’s gonna mess with your head a little,” Forest warned.
“A little,” Tina repeated incredulously.
Tianna stared dumbly at her arm as Tina moved her hands over the torn flesh. “Wait. There really is a cure?”
“It’s not fun. And not everyone survives it.” Tina placed gauze over her arm and taped it down. “But if you do? The walkers can’t infect you anymore. We basically stole a bunch before we left the refugee housing.”
Tianna felt herself go weak. All the adrenaline that had been keeping her going since the moment the Wastelanders threw her in that tank seemed to give out on her, and she slumped back into Forest. She wasn’t sure she deserved to be saved. These people’s homes, such as they were in a horrible world where nothing was secure, had been compromised, and their loved ones injured and killed. There were at least a couple dozen creepers (walkers?) pounding down their doors.
They’d brought hell down on this little community’s heads. All she’d managed to do was give them a few days notice.
Next Part: Wrecked
This entry was originally posted at Dreamwidth.
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Title: Losing Ground
Pair: Kurt/Blaine, various canon/OC
Includes: zombies, past mpreg, character deaths, Blaine’s dumb brother
Word Count: ~9250
Summary: No time for a Honeymoon. The very night of Kurt and Blaine’s wedding, they begin making plans to deal with the news brought to them by Forest. Meanwhile, West and the Wastelanders are on their way.
Less than four hours ago, people had been dancing and laughing in this meeting hall. Now, cacophony. Terror. Everyone was talking at once, arguing over what to do. Burt sat with his hands on either side of his head. The newlyweds sat in the middle of the circle of people who had gathered to hear what Forest had found.
“These men are out of they damn fool minds,” Forest said, not for the first time. “We can’t be here when they get here.”
Tamara jerked his hand, pulling him into a seat. “Yell later. Let me check you for broken ribs. You’ll need to be patched up whether we stay or run.”
“We absolutely gotta get out of here,” Forest tried again.
“Why is this even a fuckin’ question?” Andre demanded. His volume, and the rising pitch of his voice, made his Northeastern accent all the more apparent, and comical. Though no one was laughing. “Weren’t all of you on Team ‘get the fuck outta here’ two days ago?”
“Yeah, except running around in a random direction when lunatics are after us seems like the stupidest thing ever,” Santana argued.
“Guys.” Kurt’s quiet voice stilled some of the unrest. He bit his thumbnail and looked pensively ahead of him. “Okay, Forest, how many are we expecting? If you had to make a guess?”
“Hm. Six, at most, from the group from the base. But they’re gettin’ help from people that they’re scared of. Could be a lot of ‘em.”
“Also the stupidest thing ever,” Santana said. “We’re fighting monkeys. Backwards, inbred monkeys. Why would you join up with people you didn’t trust?”
Forest touched the side of his head. “They’ve got a coupla good people there, but they’re pinned in. One kid, and one woman, but the rest are rotten to the core. If I’d been able to take those two, I would, but the woman wouldn’t leave. Probably attached to one of the men.”
“Why’s it gotta be a guy?” Santana asked.
“Because the other woman was such a soulless bitch, I couldn’t believe the lady who let me go would be with her.”
Santana raised a brow and rubbed her hand over Brittany’s knee. “Soulless bitch like me?”
“You got soul, girl.” Forest laughed bitterly and accepted an ice pack when Tina handed it to him. “You just got lip, too. This woman... she didn’t care. About anything anymore. I guarantee you, she’s not gonna wait for her folks to take that boat and go. It’s gone by now.”
“Then where are we supposed to go?” Deirdre asked. “We’re supposed to leave our walls, and just wander?”
“Well, we can’t stay here,” Andre said.
“I think we might have to.” Kurt looked back at Blaine, who had so far, said not a word. Just held his daughter, looking haunted.
“The enemy is on its way!” Andre exploded.
“Goddamnit.” Joseph got up and shook his head. “I feel like I got whiplash here. Do we stay? Do we go? What the hell, people?”
“Circumstances changed just a little,” Kurt said sharply.
“I’m not leaving this town,” Blaine said quietly. “And I’m not letting my family leave. I don’t think anyone else should, either.”
“You’re outta your mind-” Andre started.
“I am not out of my mind,” Blaine said, his voice raising in volume considerably. “You’ll all know when I’m out of my mind.”
Forest shrugged. “Maybe if we had a little of that guy, I’d be more confident in goin’ head to head with these assholes.”
“Okay, look.” Kurt clapped his hands, then let out a whistle between his fingers and stood. “I appreciate the irony of having to first convince you to leave, and now having to convince everyone who just complained about staying... to stay. However. Our intell has given us some serious stuff to think about. Out there? We’re vulnerable against a conscious, armed enemy in addition to the walkers that are waking up. Here, we have cover, we have arms, we have a sturdy wall-”
“We have a band of lunatics coming right for us,” Brittany said.
“And they think we’re what? An army? No.” Kurt put his hands on his hips. “They think we’re a little town full of women and children-”
“We are,” Rafe said flippantly.
“We have one baby,” Kurt shot back. “One baby, and a bunch of women who can really, really kick ass. Guns, knives, crossbows, hand to hand? I’d bet on our girls taking their men any day. They think that they can take us out because we’re not testosterone-driven monsters-- no offense to anyone who identifies that way--”
“None taken,” Andre joked.
Finally, the group laughed.
Kurt licked his lower lip and sucked it in thoughtfully. “They think they can take advantage of us.” He shook his head slowly. “I think we’re underestimating ourselves. But even more than that, I know they’re going to underestimate us.”
“Or they’re going to slaughter us,” Joseph said. “Stuff like this might work for the pep squad, but this is real life. We can’t just sit here and wait for something to save us.”
“Yeah, that was pretty much exactly the plan,” Kurt said dryly. He looked to David. “How long would it take you to rig the gate, like we talked about?”
David drew closer to the core group. “I dunno. I got the plans done while I was on watch yesterday. It might take a day or two. Do we want guns on the walls, or do we want the gate more?”
“Guns,” Andre said.
“No.” Kurt glared at Andre.
“Guns on the wall will keep them out and us alive.”
“I am simply not interested in putting people up on the wall as shooting practice for our enemies. These guys aren’t going to come without firepower of their own. If they have the brawn, we have to play this smarter than them.”
Burt lifted his head and looked around to everyone. “Seems to me we gotta do that no matter what, kiddos.”
“Yeah, kids,” Joseph said.
“I’m talkin’ to every one of you. Me and Forest are the oldest coots here.”
Forest nodded slowly. He touched Tamara’s hand, and she stilled and sat by his side.
Burt sighed. “We can’t just react. Can’t just bolt and run, prayin’ we find some kind of shelter from everything comin’ down on us. But I hope everyone did as we said before and started getting themselves ready in between this wedding business, because if we do fight, we’d better be ready to get the fuck outta Dodge. No one’s sayin’ we should bunker down and get cozy. We still have to get a move on before the weather gets too warm. And stay or go, we gotta use our brains. Lord knows we’ve got enough folks here with ‘em.”
The door opened, and Carol entered with a sleepy-eyed Saffire. She came in slowly, yawning and rubbing her face. She still had paper wedding flowers braided into her thick hair.
Forest didn’t wait for her to reach the group. He pulled away from Tamara and ran over to her. Her eyes widened, and her mouth opened. There was no time to speak before Forest’s arms enveloped her.
“Good, God, darlin’.” Forest rubbed her back and pressed her tightly to him. “I’m blessed. So blessed.” He kissed her cheek firmly.
“I th-thought you weren’t c-c-coming back,” she choked out finally. “I thought the walkers got you!”
“No, baby. I’m still here. Gotta do more than that to take down Forest Jackson.” He didn’t let her go for several minutes, and no one said a word. Finally, he sat back on his haunches to look at her. “You were brave while I was gone, huh?”
“Mostly.” Her fingers reached up to touch the mottled line of bruises and swelling on his face. “Wh-what happened?”
Her eyes were shining, but she blinked hard, trying not to cry.
“Some fools tried to knock me around a little.”
“P-people?” She seemed a little breathless at the thought.
“Yeah. People. But it was a person who let me go, too, hon. Don’t forget that part.” He pushed himself up and brought her over to the group, with his hand on her back. He looked right at Kurt, then stepped closer to him and lowered his voice, slightly. “You’re a father of a daughter. I’m tellin’ you this much. Whatever we do, I cain’t let these people get their hands on her.”
He looked to Burt, who was already nodding. “I cain’t. I just cain’t.”
***
West turned his head toward the back of the truck where Twink and Tea sat. Twink just stared out over the countryside. He’d practically gone mute since they’d been taken into the Wastelander compound. Tea hadn’t given West a civil word in days, either.
Tea’s unevenly shorn hair flipped up in the wind. Her arms were crossed over her chest, and a shotgun rested in her lap, in case stray walkers wandered their way. It had been about a week since he’d met with the Wastelanders to cut their deal. Only a few days since he’d made his sister cut her hair and wear Twink’s clothes... Well...
West came storming into Tea’s room, and before she could even speak, he grabbed one of her pigtails and cut it off.
“What the fuck is wrong with you?” she shouted.
He tossed the scissors on the bed. “Cut it off. We’re gonna have visitors in a few hours.”
Tea didn’t move. She just stared at her brother.
“Cut it off!” he bellowed. “And take off that stupid makeup. They think you’re a boy. I told them I had a gay little brother so their asshole of a leader wouldn’t read any tells from me.”
Tea’s nostrils flared, and she grabbed the scissors and went to her vanity in a huff. “You could have just told me that.”
“Yeah, and argued with you for way too long about 1) working with them, and 2) your dignity, or whatever. You’re a tiny little gay boy with an obsessive love for Pink and Beyoncé. Deal with it.” West crossed his arms and breathed heavily.
Tea cut her hair in silence. She kept looking back at him, but he refused to meet her gaze.
There was no leaving her at the base. It was too likely that something might happen to her while they were gone. But bringing her was frankly a good way to destroy any sympathy for him she had left. By the end of this, she would either leave him or kill him, probably.
But if that was the case, at least she’d be alive. The group would protect her, and her medical knowledge, even if he was out of favor or dead. He couldn’t guarantee that she’d be protected if she were alone or with a group of the untested living.
Tex slowed the car down as they approached what looked like a bunch of garbage trucks turned tank. Out spilled Angus’ men. It was surprising that they weren’t... bigger. West had no doubt that these men were ruthless, but only about half of them were really well-built. Not that it would matter, for anyone on the other end of an assault rifle.
In his mind, West started a quick count. If he could get Twink and Tea to work with them, they had five, and with the Wastelanders... looked like they had close to fifty altogether.
God help them. They were going to slaughter these people.
Oak pulled up behind them with his big hummer and hopped out to join the other men.
Angus strolled up to them with his hands in his pockets. “Good to see the whole group. Hey, there, Tea!”
She looked up with a frown, then turned towards Twink.
“Aw, am I breaking up the lovebirds?”
Laughter rippled up through the group of men. Tea raised a brow sharply.
West’s heart sank. Behave, Tea, please!
She took Twink’s hand. Twink’s watery green eyes bulged, and he folded himself into her side. Tex craned his head to the side as he watched the two of them, then looked to West in confusion. He’d probably already forgotten that Tea was supposed to be a boy.
“Cute,” Angus said after a long silence. He licked his lips. “Go on, fellas.”
Four men grabbed Tea and Twink.
“Hey!” West pulled his gun out.
“Put it away, pretty boy,” Angus said. “We just need some assurance from you that you’ll give us what we want in the end.”
“This was not part of the deal!” West roared. He dropped his arm as he looked around, hopelessly, for Tex or Oak to do something. They both crossed their arms and walked over to introduce themselves to the Wastelanders.
His head turned back to the truck. He saw his sister’s angry, frightened eyes as the door slid closed.
Angus stormed towards West and grabbed his arm. “Don’t you go soft on me. I can’t risk it. I bring all these men out here for a run, on the promise of ammo? You’d better bring your A game, cheekbones.”
Angus wasn’t the leader of the Wasteland. He was just the diplomat, or so West surmised. Apparently this matter wasn’t worthy of their real leader’s attention, but West could guess how bad it could get for this guy if he lost this many men.
“You can’t take my si-” West shoved a hand through his hair and turned to face Angus. “You can’t take my brother, my blood, and tell me that I have to play nice. You can’t do that!”
“He already did!” one of Angus’s men yelled. Another man laughed.
“Calm down, dude,” Tex said. “They’ll give ‘er back.”
Angus smirked. “So we can keep the other one?”
“They’re not lovers,” West said. “Tea’s just winding you guys up because... that’s just what he does, okay? He knows you guys don’t like it, and he’s winding you up. Please, just give me my brother back.”
Angus patted his cheek. “When we get our guns. When I know you’re not going to punk out on us and go soft on these people. You’re soft on this queer brother of yours? You’ll be tempted to be kind. Merciful. You can’t. Not in a fight for survival. You keep your head on you and your own, and that’s it.”
He leaned uncomfortably close and whispered, “I know that ‘brother’ of yours is a girl. And maybe some of my men are dumb as a bag of hammers, but I’m gonna give ‘em the credit that some will figure it out, too. Don’t you let her go home with our boys, just for some stranger bitches. Don’t you do it, West.”
West looked him in the eye, wishing he could just shoot this man where he stood. But he couldn’t shoot that truck open. And there were too many of them.
No matter what happened tomorrow, he would be a murderer.
***
“So. Rape any good innocents, lately?” Tea lifted her chin, feigning interest while doing her best impression of her baby brother’s snarky, adorable boyfriend. Twink cringed as he looked at her in disbelief.
“You don’t have to talk if you don’t wanna,” the driver said.
“Is that really a boy?” a tall, tall dark haired guy asked.
“Probably a trannie,” another said.
“I love me some lady-clothes,” Tea said.
“Stoppit!” Twink hissed.
“But it’s not so easy to hide the candy.” Tea winked. “It’s not true what they say about Asians, honey.”
Twink bumped her shoulder. He glared, terrified, at her through his floppy ginger-blond hair. A few of the guys laughed. Tea leaned over to Twink and kissed his cheek.
“It’ll be fine.”
“That’s a lie,” Twink wheezed.
God, did they have his inhaler? She reached for his hands, in spite of the handcuffs they’d clamped around their wrists, and squeezed his fingers.
“Twink, you’ll be fine. I’m a bigger target than you.”
“Please stop, Tea,” he begged.
“Don’t you worry, sweethearts,” another man said. “There are enough guys who like your type back at the compound. We can use you both!”
Twink pressed his forehead to Tea’s shoulder and struggled to breathe.
“You think you’re a big man, huh?” she spat. “Threatening a couple of kids? I know the deal. You can’t touch us until the job is over because we’re leverage against West and the others. And you know your weird 80s villain of a boss will shoot you dead if you mess that up.”
“Smart little guy,” the tall man said. “I know a man back home who’s gonna love you.”
“Oh, I bet. I bet I got everything he’s hopin’ for and more,” Tea replied. She rubbed Twink’s chest and touched his cheek. “Breathe. No use fighting all this time if you just die here.”
“I’d rather,” he muttered. “I’d rather. God, why did I join you people?”
“Same reason West and I did. Safety in numbers.”
“That’s hilarious.” Twink closed his eyes tight. “That’s what they said about Spokane.”
“Unfortunately, these days, there aren’t enough people out there to get picky about your numbers.”
Tea kept her eyes sharply on their captors. Even when the men seemed to have stopped noticing them and started talking amongst themselves, Tea listened very closely.
***
The trucks approached the town at a slow roll. It was early morning. Not yet light out, and the town was silent.
West felt as though he would be ill. The wall surrounding the town was taller than he’d expected, but it had uneven boards nailed all over the outside. Did they want to signal to people that they didn’t know how to defend themselves?
The walkie-talkies came to life, and Angus barked for them to stop. Then he stepped out of the truck with a bullhorn in his hand. West leaned forward.
“Is he kidding?” he asked. “That’s possibly the stupidest-”
Tex shrugged. “Let the man work. He’s probably done this before.”
West grimaced. He probably had. Angus seemed like he’d evolved from a child who cut the heads off of kittens. He’d probably kicked off the apocalypse by stealing food and clothes from defenseless kids and leaving them to die on the side of the road. West watched as Angus strode forward confidently. The trucks were loud enough that the people already knew they had company.
“Mornin’! Hello, ladies and gentlemen! This is your morning wake-up call!”
***
There had been very little sleep for anyone in the entire town for days. Everyone was working around the clock. When Forest entered the meeting hall, he could see Kurt scraping away at a piece of wood with a knife, replenishing their stockpile of arrows for their crossbows.
“Gate?” Kurt asked.
“We’ll see if it holds together.” Forest sat down and picked up a knife to work. “Your boy... He know something?”
“He had a dream.”
Forest nodded. “You be careful. Pretty much everyone here relies on you.”
“We rely on each other. I couldn’t be a proper parent to Pippa alone. I get a lot of help, maybe not with diapers, but with people who guard, who gather food-”
“I don’t think you really get what you mean to people around here.” Forest shrugged. “Saffire told me about Mikhail, and Juni.”
“It’s sad.” Kurt let the air out slowly, trying not to think on the topic too much. “We’re going to lose people. No matter what. I can’t stop that. I don’t even know where to start.”
“Don’t think anyone could ask it of you. But I’d prefer if Saff kept outta sight.”
“We’ll give her a gun and keep her tucked away. Someone’s gonna have to keep Pippa quiet.”
“Our girls, they’re gonna have to grow up fast.”
“We’ll give them what they need to survive.” Kurt sucked on one finger as he looked at the pile of arrows. “Just like always.”
Forest nodded. He looked around the hall. “Too bad I missed the party. Suppose we’ll have another?”
“Probably... in a number of months.”
“People gettin’ cozy with each other, huh?” Forest chuckled.
“Hm. I can relate. That’s how Blaine and I seem to react to stress.”
Forest chuckled. “My wife Acacia and I were sort of the same way. Not that we ever had anything like this pounding down our door.”
“Yeah?” Kurt smiled at him. How it must feel to lose your partner. It was one of his biggest fears. “Was it... the outbreak?”
“God, no. She had cancer.”
“Oh...” Kurt nodded and looked at his hands. “Um. My mom, too. When I was seven.”
Forest set his hand on Kurt’s shoulder and squeezed.
Van ducked her head into meeting hall. “Mike just got back. We have to go, right now.”
“Better load these up.” Kurt started stuffing the arrows into the bags at his side. “Did Mike see them?”
“Yeah. Close. They’ll be here in a hour, at most.”
“You okay?” Kurt looked up briefly.
“Never felt better.” Van grabbed some arrows and started on another bag. “I’ll run these to Santana.”
“Thanks, sweetie.” Kurt turned, put an arm around her, and kissed her cheek. “Be careful, okay? You look out for yourself, or I’m going to have one giant crying baby to deal with, huh?”
She kissed his cheek as well, held onto him for a moment, then hefted the bag over her shoulder and jogged out.
“Let’s get a move on, then.” Forest took a bag and shook his head. “Here’s hoping you trained my girl but good while I was gone.”
“As the father of a daughter... I couldn’t do anything else.” Kurt took his own bag and looked over the empty hall.
***
Inside the town, everyone listened as the cars drove up. Some of the noisiest cars on the planet. Hearts raced as a voice came booming out over the silence:
“Mornin’! Hello, ladies and gentlemen! This is your morning wake-up call!”
Blaine stood from the space where he’d been crouching. Mike tugged on his pants, but Blaine kept walking forward.
“Look, we’re not men of honor. We’d love to do all manner of vile things to your women and children-”
“I could take more than I have. Meat’s scarce, y’know.”
Blaine silently moved up the stairs by the wall.
“-But in the spirit of sportsmanship, we’ll give you a chance-”
“Do not spare the food or water for them. And take the weapons. And the coats. Aside from that, I don’t give a fuck.”
Breathing in and out slowly, calmly, Blaine took his place at the watchtower.
“Open up your gate, and we’ll treat you real nice as we take all of your valuables. It’s only stuff. Yeah, there’s not as much as there used to be, and necessities are harder to come by these days. But consider: Your things, or your lives? I think you value the flesh of your loved ones a bit more-”
“How can you leave a pregnant girl to die? Doesn’t it bother you that you’re not human anymore?”
“No! No, God, no! Don’t take him from me!”
Blaine’s heart threatened to choke him. The air was cool, but he was boiling, and when he spotted the man speaking, that man, it took everything in his entire body to put down the gun.
He swallowed and counted to himself. In his mind’s eye: Kurt holding Pippa. His precious family, who were, as they were what seemed like a lifetime ago, counting on him not to completely lose it. They needed him whole. In control. Completely logical, and lethal.
“I suggest you get your asses up! It’s not the morning to sleep in!” the man shouted. “Because this generous, oh so generous, offer will expire!”
Blaine slipped back down the staircase and made his way back to the side of the house.
“We have two hundred men out here!”
Blaine looked back, arched a brow, and then signaled with five fingers, then formed a zero. There were nods from their small crouching group, and Andre repeated the gesture to his group and for those not on the ground to see.
“At the count of ten, we bust down the gate.”
Blaine met Nick’s eye as he lowered himself again. Brittany was patting the ground with her fingertips in anticipation. The count began. He couldn’t see David’s face from here, but he could guess that it was determined and frightened both.
“...eight- You’re signing your own dead warrants, kids-- Okay! Nine! Whoo!” The man paused. “Last chance! Very last chance!”
Blaine closed his eyes. Kurt. Pippa. Their respite together in the woods. The day she was born. The way she reached for him when he came home. Their wedding day. He licked his lips.
“Ten!”
The gate creaked and began to open.
***
Standing with the other men, West gaped in disbelief as the gate slowly opened. No one appeared.
“We shouldn’t...” he murmured.
“Stupid people,” Angus said. “They still think they can stop bad things from happening.”
Angus motioned his men forward, then followed. West looked back at the truck that held his sister, holding his breath. One of the men grabbed his arm, and he followed with much hesitation.
As they entered, the town remained quiet. Replete of lights or life. West stayed close to the back.
“Are we playing hide and seek, now?” Angus called out with amusement.
The gate swung closed, and West and three other men jumped out of the way. Then men were going down. Little whips of sound filled the air. One man down, two, three.
West ducked behind them.
“Where are those arrows coming from?” a beefy man yelled.
A whistle rang out, then another round of arrows came at them. The men scattered. Oak bolted for the gate Several short whistle blasts sounded, and only one arrow shot down, but it went straight through Oak’s back. West had lost count of how many men they’d lost in the short amount of time, but it was a good bet that they weren’t getting out of this one. Taken down by arrows.
Angus darted to the back of the group and grabbed West’s shirt. “You get into that house over there. You see it? Right over there. That fucker never misses. He’s shooting from that attic window.
“But-”
“I can see that body armor you guys have got on. Either hand it over so I can strangle that son of a bitch myself, or you run in there and take him out!”
West licked his lips. “Give me the keys.”
“Hurry up and do it!”
“I’ll kill him dead, just give me the keys for my sister’s chains.” West looked at him disparagingly. “Or all manner of nasty things are gonna happen when you take your cowardly ass back home. Assuming this little town doesn’t make raw meat out of you.”
Angus pulled the keys out of his pocket and pressed them into West’s hand. “Settlement my ass. Got a bunch of fuckin’ commandos here.”
West didn’t spare another moment. He heard the whistle and saw the arrows coming down. Then he bolted for the door while the enemy had to be reloading. He wasn’t the only one, either. When they saw him breaking for it, the men ran to other houses, though Angus was yelling and trying to restore order.
West kicked the door with all of his strength. The doorframe splintered and he darted inside before a bowman in another house decided to protect their sharp shooter.
That was when one of the men regained his wits. West could hear the sound of a rifle firing as he entered the house.
***
Three short whistle blasts rang out. The arrows stopped.
Nick held his hands out, and Brittany stepped up and flew into the air. It seemed they still had a few surprises in them. As she did a flip, every man froze, eyes on her.
She landed right in the middle of the group of men, slashing hard and wide, opening four throats and wounding another man badly enough that he stumbled back and crashed to the ground.
Nick, Blaine, and Mike sprung forward as the men began to fight back, drawing the attention away from her to give Brittany time to get out. But Brittany kept kicking and slashing like a cat on crack, and the men backed away on their own.
Until another round of shots rang out, and she fell to the ground. Blaine’s heart sank.
“Get out of the line of fire!” Mike yelled.
Blaine didn’t retreat with the others. But he waited no longer.
“Hey! Angus!” he screamed.
The man’s head turned, and Blaine emptied a bullet into his face. Angus’s body collided with the ground, glasses shattered.
“Blaine, get back!” David yelled.
Nick darted forward and grabbed Blaine around the waist, pulling him to the ground. Before the men could pursue them, another whistle blast rang out. The men scattered and tried to duck for cover.
***
“Dammit, dammit...” Tea dug her fingernail into her palm.
“What are you doing?” Twink asked.
“Creating lube.” She wiggled her hand, then pumped her fist a few times.
“Lube? Um, blood is never the best choice for that. Believe me.”
“I’m not having sex with anyone right now, obviously.”
“Yeah, I figured... But don’t girls make their own lube?” Twink raised a brow.
“Um, yes, we do, sweetie. Though it’s not a terrible idea for a girl to keep some on hand... of different varieties, depending on where you want to go.” Tea sucked in her lower lip in concentration. “Anyway, I just don’t want to take the skin off my thumb when I...” She breathed in and out and prepared herself for the next step.
Twink turned his head and let out a whimper deep in his chest. “Um. Tea? That sounds like a creeper outside.”
“Well, they’re not getting in here.”
“Yeah, but there’s the windshield, right? They could break through the glass?”
“They’re probably being attracted by the gunfire right now.”
Twink wiggled his hands against the cuffs. “God, Tea. I can’t... I can’t go back with those men. I can’t let anyone do that to me again...”
“You stick with me, sweetie, and this will all turn out fine.” She closed her eyes, then squeezed one hand with the other until she heard a crack.
“Ohh, my God!”
Tea jerked her hand hard, right out of the cuff.
“Girl, you are ten tons of awesome.” Twink looked down in horror at her bloody hand. “Um, are you wanting me to do that, too?”
“No, one paw down is enough.” She looked around the tank. “I’m not done doing things and liking things. I also have a pretty sweet chemical cocktail that I’ve been working on, and in the end, it might just get us out of this mess.” Tea climbed into the front and jerked on her other hand. “Hm. How do I hotwire this thing... Oh! Axe!”
She reached into the passenger seat and grabbed the axe, then climbed back into the back.
“Look. I can’t do this to myself without losing a hand, and my thumb is broken, so I need to release you to help me with this, okay?”
Twink looked over her shoulder. “Oh, okay. Um.”
Tea looked behind her. There was a creeper stumbling past the truck. She grabbed Twink and held him down until it had passed. Even if the glass was sturdy, she wasn’t looking forward to a swarm of those things pinning them in.
“Now. Break the crap out of this handle I’m attacked to, okay?”
“All right. Breaking.” Twink took the axe and held it up. He took a deep breath.
Ten minutes later, they were free, with cuffs dangling around their wrists, but more creepers were passing by the truck, and they couldn’t stay in there much longer. Twink pulled up his pant leg and pulled out a knife.
Tea looked at him in surprise.
“Yeah, I’m going to announce I have a weapon to the tank full of meatheads while we’re cuffed to the side of the truck and I can’t even reach it,” Twink said. “That would have done us a lot of good.”
Tea held onto her axe, and motioned for Twink to open the door.
She came out swinging. Together they made for the town. The door looked like it wasn’t bolted all the way shut, and by God, she was not going to let those creepers take her down.
***
Kurt turned from his window before the intruder had made it all the way upstairs. He blew his whistle five times, to signal to the others that he’d left his post, and then slipped behind a dusty old sofa.
As the man appeared, Kurt spied him with raised brows. He hadn’t expected any of these crazed weirdos to be vaguely human, let alone movie-star handsome. And this man was, even with a chin full of scruff and messy hair. There was something unhinged about him; in his wildness, the man reminded Kurt a little of Blaine, when he’d been at his worst, almost gone.
“They had you chained to a wall, and they were- They had been taking turns with you.”
Kurt stilled his shaking hands, and he forced himself not to breathe. If the worst happened, he would let himself be taken. Whatever he suffered at their hands, as long as he was alive, he still had a chance to get back to his husband and child.
But he wasn’t going to just give up. He would fight, and he would survive.
“Funny, I didn’t think you’d hide, when I came up here,” the man muttered, moving his gun around as he searched. “You’ve put down so many of our men, so easily. I thought I’d have the fight of my life up here... But you work from strategy, don’t you? And you knew we were coming. Hm.”
Kurt pushed a breath in and out of his lungs as silently as he could. His hands wouldn’t behave and persisted on shaking. It was one thing to put down men invading their homes from afar. This was another matter entirely. Not that it mattered, in the end. With another breath, he raised his crossbow and waited for his moment.
“I appreciate that you don’t want to die. And you’re fighting not just for yourself, but the people here, hm?”
Kurt bit his lip and leaned forward to aim his crossbow. Then, the floor beneath him creaked, and the man swung his arm around, and shot in Kurt’s direction before he could properly react.
“Omigod!” His crossbow clattered to the floor. He moved backward, slowly. The floor creaked again.
“Also, not the voice I expected to hear. I am sorry you’re so young. Genuinely.”
The man shot again twice, and the bullets flew through the old fabric of the sofa. One clipped Kurt’s leg. He leaned over, wincing and clenching his teeth hard, and then looked at the bullet. He decided not to pull it out. Who knew how much it would bleed before he had the chance to take care of it.
“Get up. Make this as easy as it can be. That’s my suggestion. Just get it over with. There are worse things than dying.” Kurt breathed out. Moving forward or backward would make the floor creak again. Stay where he was, and he would have to bank on this lunatic missing again and running out of bullets... and not having more ammo on him.
“Here I come,” Kurt said in a clear, loud voice.
He leaned on his good leg and pushed himself up. The gun was fixed right on him. His palms hit the back of the sofa, and he leapfrogged over it. Instinctively, the man stumbled back and shot, as Kurt rushed at him, unsteady wounded gait and all, with his knife gripped tightly in his hand.
This man wasn’t a walker, and he didn’t sound like the lunatic with the megaphone. But it wasn’t just Kurt’s own life that he had to protect. His knife plunged into the man’s side. Another bullet hit the ceiling, and Kurt landed on top of the man as he fell back.
“Shit. Shit, shit, shit, shit!” the man yelled.
Kurt shakily grabbed the gun and turned it on him. God, there was blood everywhere. Walkers never bled that much, unless they were pretty fresh, so he’d rarely had to confront what was essentially constantly taking lives for his own survival. Not that he hadn’t put down a few living folks in an act of mercy in his time. This was different.
“So are you g-gonna shoot me or... or what?” The man’s pretty face was twisted with pain, but also shock. He kept looking over Kurt in disbelief.
“Tell your men to stop,” Kurt advised. “I can’t let them take my daughter.”
“You c-can’t have a daughter. You’re tw-twelve.”
“I’m seventeen.” Kurt shook his head. “And I’m going to live to see her to seventeen.”
The man closed his eyes and let his head drop back. “I’m... I’m not their leader. Keys... are in my pocket. My sister’s outside... and a fifteen year old.”
“Oh... Oh my God. They’re blackmailing you?” Kurt looked out the window for a split second. He whipped his head back, realizing that this man could have killed him while he was distracted.. but he was too badly wounded to pay attention to that. “How many? Are they all being blackmailed?” “What? No. They’re assholes, kid. They’re here to eat or rape you. You go ahead and kill them. They deserve it a billion times over.” His head fell back against the floor. “I deserve it. But the kids in that truck don’t, they really don’t.”
Kurt shook his head. “Hold still. Just don’t move, okay?”
He grabbed his bag and went back to the window, wincing. One of those last shots had gotten him in the shoulder, but luckily, it looked like it had gone through. He could still shoot with the arm he had.
“Can I trust you? Let us clear these guys out, and we’ll get your sister away from them.”
The man was quietly staring at Kurt.
“Please, tell me I can trust you... We need to work together here, or just die.” Kurt pulled off his sweater and tied it around the man’s wound. He was wearing something under his shirt. Maybe that had blunted the force of the knife. “Hold onto this. Hold on tight, and just stay awake. Mama Chang’s a good surgeon.”
“Listen, kid,” the man said quietly.
“I’m busy. Just don’t move.” Kurt scurried back over to the window. “Don’t move, and we’ll take care of you when we’re done with these guys.”
“Treat her well? My sister, I mean. She didn’t want to work with these guys. Sm-Smarter than the rest of us.”
“I’m not giving up yet.” Kurt bound up his shoulder with a scrap of fabric from his shirt and went back to the window. He blew his whistle, long and hard.
He started aiming for whoever he could get a clean shot at. It didn’t make his heart any lighter to have confirmation that these were bad people. He was going to have nightmares for months of putting down herds of walkers and people.
***
Walkers were so much easier to kill than men. Santana knew that was one of the reasons they were hiding in these houses and sneak shooting at them. She’d kind of freaked out a little when she heard the five blasts from Kurt’s whistle, though.
That meant he had been compromised, and they needed to fall to their second plan. For a few terrible minutes, she was in charge of their defense, and all she could think was how inconsolable Blaine would be, if one of those fucks had taken Kurt out.
She moved to the window, blew on her whistle four times, and whipped out the guns. Men were getting into the houses now, and some of the stray gunfire would mean there were wounded. She targeted the men heading into the houses. The other shooters positioned around town followed suit, leaving a pile of men on the porches where they’d tried to invade.
She could see Blaine leading the boys on the ground to pick off the men on the fringes when they had their backs turned. There was no honor in a battle like this, and she wholeheartedly appreciated seeing Nick shoot a big man in the back of the head and then scamper behind one of the bushes.
Santana’s head lifted, and she scanned the area for Brittany. It was just as well that she couldn’t see her. It was better that they stay out of sight. There were now a decent number of corpses on the ground. She looked away from the battle again to reload.
A rumble downstairs caught her attention. She blew her whistle five times, reloaded her gun quickly and grabbed a knife as well. It was Van’s turn to lead. Santana wasn’t about letting those assholes into the house where they could get their hands on Saff and Pippa.
She only caught a glimpse of the men before she started firing on them. Two went down in the doorway and the third shot back at her. She launched herself over the railing and out of their line of fire, then put a bullet in the brain of the third. Another man peeked his head in the doorway, and she fired on him, too.
He didn’t go down, but he fled the house.
Santana swallowed, checked how many bullets she had on her, and waited.
***
“Kurt’s okay,” Van said after the long whistle blow. Relief washed over her, and she sat back on her heels, waiting for the next call for attack.
“You don’t know,” Finn muttered. He stared at the door, tapping his foot and looking like he was going to be sick. “Could be Santana, she... she had to leave her post, too.”
“It came from the house where Kurt was positioned. Directional hearing, babe.” Van kept her head out of the view of the window. The few men left down there were well aware that their death was coming from above, now, and kept firing at random at the houses.
She took a deep, deep breath. At the sound of another whistle, she raised her crossbow to shoot.
Her arrow shot off in a random direction and she fell back, confused and more than a little scared. Only a minute after she’d hit the wall, when Finn was by her side firing relentlessly at the remaining men below, did she feel the pain blooming in her right arm.
“Ahh! Oh, God!” she cried in surprise.
Finn scooped her up, abandoning the window, and ran deeper into the house, away from the windows.
“Oh, no, no, no,” he chanted. His eyes were already overflowing as he laid her down. They were in one of the bedrooms, she thought. He brushed her hair back and kissed her forehead firmly.
“It’s... It’s um... Finn, get some cloth, or something...” She closed her eyes, because the room was spinning. Luckily, she was already on her back.
Finn’s heavy footsteps stomped away, then returned, and she opened her eyes slightly when he touched her cheek.
“Say something!” he yelled.
“You need to... tie it up. Stop the bleeding, or... slow it.” Van looked down at herself. “Oh...”
She winced at the sight of her blood-soaked arm and closed her eyes again.
“Van... C’mon, Van, talk to me. I don’t know what to do!”
“You know what to do,” she assured him.
“The bullet’s still there-”
“Bind it up. Leave the bullet. They just got my arm, right? I don’t feel it anywhere else...”
She felt Finn’s big hand over her hair again, and a tugging around the tender part of her her arm. An involuntary shriek left her lips.
“I’m sorry!” Finn tied the cloth over her arm quickly. “Yeah, it’s just your arm. Nowhere else. Are you okay? How do you feel?”
“...Woozy. That’s all. They could probably still use you at my post-”
Finn’s warm arms surrounded her, and he kissed over her face. “God, Van!”
“I know. But it’ll be okay. We will, if I don’t bleed too much, or get infected... I-I think...”
Her eyes opened suddenly, and she realized that at some point, Finn had tucked a blanket around her, and put a gun and bullets beside her on the bed.
“Finn?” She looked around for him frantically.
“Hey!” Finn darted in from the other room. “You went out for a minute. I tried to retie your arm...”
He knelt in front of her and pushed a glass of water to her lips. “Look, we got most of ‘em with Kurt’s plan. It’s gonna be okay, if we can hold down the fort in here...”
Van licked her lips. “What about the rest of them?”
“Walkers.” Finn shook his head and shrugged one shoulder. “I dunno where they came from, but they started spilling into the gate like crazy. I had to secure the doors. I think if the walkers take out those guys, we can get to the windows and pick off the walkers. At least they won’t shoot back.”
Van nodded. Her head dropped back again, and Finn petted over her face.
“Don’t you leave me,” Finn begged. “I can’t. Van, I can’t. Please?”
“It’s just a flesh wound, Finn,” she joked weakly. She reached up with her other arm and brought him close to her.
“Just... Just take it easy. Don’t move, okay? I’ll... I’ll take care of you.”
“I know. I know, babe. Thank you.”
Finn looked behind him and frowned deeply. “I’ll be back.”
“What? Wait!” Van tried to push herself up with her good arm.
“I have to make sure we’re safe here. The windows on the first level are boarded, like every other house, but I have to check the doors anyway, okay?” Finn kissed her lips then touched their heads together for a moment. “You gotta step back, Van. Rest, and take care of our kid. I’ll take care of you both.”
Finn picked up his spare gun, leaving her one to defend herself with, and headed out of the room. Van took the gun, loaded it, and waited.
***
It was all over before Tea made it into the town, but she shoved that gate closed with all of her might. Creepers were spilling in, and if the Wastelanders hadn’t killed these people, the dead surely would.
Unless they could get this fucking gate closed.
“Help me, dammit!” she screamed at Twink who was characteristically shrinking back away from the approaching creepers.
Suddenly, Twink swung his leg around and roundhouse kicked the hell out of that gate. It slammed shut, breaking off a few creeper fingers and hands, but shut nonetheless.
“Yes!” Tea grabbed the sliding bolt and started jerking it closed. Her head turned as a young, slim black man ran to her side and helped her slide it into place, securing the door.
“C’mon, c’mon!” he yelled, grabbing her hand. As they ran, he shot the creepers that came at them. Out of the corner of her eye, she saw the Wastelander’s leader sprawled on the ground, his glasses smashed and face a bloody pulp, but he was screaming as creepers tore his belly open. He wasn’t dead yet... but soon would be.
She flinched at the sound of the automatic blasting around them. Twink dropped to the ground.
“Oh! Oh God!” she shrieked.
The young man shoved her inside a house and locked the door.
“No, oh, God no! I can help him!” She lunged for the door, but the young man grabbed her around the waist.
“You’ll die if you go out there!” a girl with streaked hair said behind her.
“I’m dead already!” Tea pressed her bloody and broken hands to her face and stumbled to the ground. “God, dammit.”
The young man knelt beside her and rubbed her back. “It’ll be okay. We just need to get our shooters on the walkers out there. The dead people? They can take them out. Hey, I’m David.”
Tea looked him in the eye. Her arm throbbed where the creeper had taken a chunk out of her. “My name is... Tianna. I’m so sorry.”
David looked her up and down.
“Do you know these people?” the girl sat beside her. Her attention shifted as someone moaned. “Hey, I’m Tina. I have to go look after our wounded. We have a lot right now, and our main doctor hasn’t gotten over here. I hope our antibiotics supply holds out.”
“You got this?” David asked.
Tina nodded and went into the other room. Tianna lifted her head, and she rose, slowly. How long? How long before her wounds killed her? Or would she succumb to the fever, first? Was her brother still alive? Would she get to see that idiot one last time?
“You’re bleeding,” David said. “A lot. Let’s get you patched up, huh? Did you say ‘Tianna’?”
“Don’t waste your supplies on me,” she muttered, drifting into the room where Tina had gone.
On the floor were laid out a dozen people. Bleeding and wounded, but mostly from gunshot wounds.
“I am so sorry,” she whispered again. Her eyes gravitated to a tall, graying black man she had seen before. Forest, was it? “Oh, God! You made it!”
She went to his side.
“Oh! It’s you!” he said with a big smile. “I wondered if you were okay.”
“Hardly. I’m glad you got back safe, though. I told them I’d feed you, so no one knew you were missing before we all left the base. Are you okay?”
“Just a little tattered. As soon as I get the go-ahead, I’m gonna start pickin’ off those walkers.” He touched her hair. “What’s goin’ on here?”
“My brother made me cut it. He was afraid of what the men would do with me...” She sighed heavily. “I’m sorry! I can’t say that enough. This was so stupid. People have gotten so stupid! And now Twink is dead-” She pressed her left hand against her eyes and sobbed.
“Hey.” Forest put his arm around her and rubbed her shoulder. “This isn’t your doing.”
Tianna jerked her head up as she heard someone moaning loudly. Tina was hovering over a man’s body. He shook and then went still. Tina turned away from him, tears streaming down her cheeks as she went to her next patient.
“Where the hell is Tamara?” she demanded.
“I can go get her,” David offered.
“And then I’ll be down someone else.”
“I can help,” Tianna offered. “I’m, um, I’m not going to be of much use, soon, but I can help for now.”
“What to you mean?” Tina turned to her, wiping her eyes.
Tianna almost smiled. The girl’s eyes were faucets, but she was still working so hard. “I have some medical knowledge. But I got bitten. So I don’t know how long I have...”
Tina swooped to her side and started searching over her for bites. “Where? I have to clean out the wound, give you the serum-”
“She won’t be much help with the sounded if you do that,” David said.
“Did you hit your head? It can’t wait!” Tina snapped. She looked into Tianna’s eyes. “When did it happen?”
“A few minutes ago. As we were running into the gate. Does it matter?”
“Yes. Our friend got treated minutes after he was infected, and that was in his eye, right to the bloodstream.” Tina held out her hand, and David started handing her materials. “I’m gonna clean this, and then we’ll have to tie you up.”
“Wh-what? Tie me up?” Tianna pulled away.
“It’s the cure. It’s gonna mess with your head a little,” Forest warned.
“A little,” Tina repeated incredulously.
Tianna stared dumbly at her arm as Tina moved her hands over the torn flesh. “Wait. There really is a cure?”
“It’s not fun. And not everyone survives it.” Tina placed gauze over her arm and taped it down. “But if you do? The walkers can’t infect you anymore. We basically stole a bunch before we left the refugee housing.”
Tianna felt herself go weak. All the adrenaline that had been keeping her going since the moment the Wastelanders threw her in that tank seemed to give out on her, and she slumped back into Forest. She wasn’t sure she deserved to be saved. These people’s homes, such as they were in a horrible world where nothing was secure, had been compromised, and their loved ones injured and killed. There were at least a couple dozen creepers (walkers?) pounding down their doors.
They’d brought hell down on this little community’s heads. All she’d managed to do was give them a few days notice.
Next Part: Wrecked
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