**This is a companion piece to The Lady Claimers. It takes place in Woodbury during season 2. Rated M for sexual content and violence. As always read, enjoy and review, I own nothing from TWD only my own original characters.**
Katie stayed quiet behind the bush where she was hiding, one hand over her mouth and the other clinging tightly to the long machete she used to make the dead stay dead. The end of it was covered in walker blood, and the blood was sprinkled across the neckline and shoulder of her shirt and her cleavage. The hair on the back of her neck was sticking to her, and little drips of sweat were trailing down her neck and pooling up in the cleft between her breasts, but she made no move to wipe them away. Her only thought was how she wished she was somewhere else. Anywhere but where she was. She didn't want to see what was about to happen, but she felt powerless when it came to looking away. No matter how much she wanted to cover her eyes, she had to see who these people really were.
The girls had left their bus hidden a few miles out behind an old warehouse. Roberta had a few strategic hoses from the engine in her bag to keep anyone from getting any ideas about stealing it. Then they had spent the day watching these people. Normally, Katie would approach another group openly. But this group was so large, it had scared her and the rest of her team. They were almost out of bullets. If these people wanted to try anything tricky with them, they would have no way to stop them.
Shortly after the girls arrived, a smaller group had approached the front gate of what the girls had decided was not really a camp but more of a town. The group looked like a married couple and two daughters. It was hard to tell from how far away they were, but the family looked hispanic and they were driving a yellowish fifties station wagon with a white top. The girls hid quietly and watched what would happen. Addy used a long range listening device so they could hear as well as see a lot of what was going on. At first Katie was relieved at what she witnessed. The small group was let into the town and they were treated kindly. They were invited to stay at the town for as long as they liked. A man talked about taking them to some rooms that they could stay in. From what Addy said she could hear, the family did not want to stay in the town, but was travelling through trying to find some extended family that was out of state. A tall man talked with the family and generously provided them with food and provisions for the road. Another man opened the hood of the family's car and checked out something that the father was pointing out to him.
"If he is giving them shit for free," Addy whispered, "I'm sure we can get him to trade with us for some of that medication we got from that big pharmacy we cleaned out."
"Let's wait and watch a little longer," Katie told her. Everything seemed alright. But it seemed a little too alright. She couldn't explain it, but something about the place just smelled wrong to her. When that tall man had touched the hispanic man's shoulder like they were old friends, it had made Katie's skin crawl. No one gave something for nothing these days. Not even her.
The gate was opened to let the family out. But the girls kept watching. As soon as the station wagon was out of sight, the tall man got a few other men together and they headed quickly away where Katie and the girls couldn't see them. Everything was quiet for a moment until a large truck pulled through and was quickly let out through the gate. The way the road curved around, the girls knew they could shortcut through the woods and see where the truck was going.
"Think that guy did something to that wagon," Roberta said. "Saw him stick something in his back pocket after he got done checking out that engine."
"Lets go find out what," Katie said.
"You all stay here and keep watching them," Roberta told the other women, "we meet back near the bus in an hour." Addy nodded.
"Be safe," Maria told them, reaching up to grasp Katie's hand in hers and give it one quick squeeze. Then Katie followed Roberta quickly through the woods, silently and quickly killing the few walkers that dared to get in their way.
The women got lucky, or really unlucky, depending on how one chose to view the present situation. The station wagon had stalled out right on the other side of the woods. Katie and Roberta snuck as close as they dared to where the family was now broken down. The father was poking around under the hood and swearing under his breath. Katie knew it was hard for Roberta to stay hidden and not help these people. Roberta was a mechanic, and could likely fix whatever minor problem the car was having that was keeping the family from getting on their way. But the truck from that town came pulling up slowly next to them.
The mother was smiling and the father looked relieved. Driving the truck was the tall man that had just been so kind as to give them supplies for their journey. The truck stopped and several men got out. They all had guns, but that in itself was not threatening. Everyone carried guns if they had them. Katie had a sinking feeling in the pit of her stomach. The tall man had another man with him that was wearing a strange looking device on his arm. Katie couldn't tell if it was some kind of weapon for killing the dead or if maybe there was something wrong with his hand underneath it. She watched him closely, holding her breath. Something about him made her heart beat harder in her chest.
The father spoke to the men from the town and gestured towards his car. The man with the arm sleeve spoke the father. The way they were talking, it was like they already knew each other. Then the man with the metal on his arm pointed to something behind the hispanic man in the woods. When the man turned to look in that direction he was shot point blank through the head. The gun the other man was using had a silencer on it and so the man's wife and children, still inside the car, had no idea that their husband and father had just been murdered. Katie covered her mouth to keep from screaming out. She could hear Roberta breathing hard and fast beside her.
Katie wasn't sure if there was still a god out there listening to her prayers, but she prayed harder in that moment than she had prayed in a long time. Please please please don't hurt those kids, dear god don't let them hurt those kids. I cannot watch this. The tall man was leaning into the car. There was no warning before he fired. Three quick shots in sucession. Each one was like a shot straight to Katie's chest. Katie felt Roberta's hand on her knee, as the woman tried to steady herself. They had seen a lot of terrible things since the dead started walking the earth, but this one wouldn't leave their thoughts for a long time to come. They stayed glued in place, listening and watching. One large black man seemed upset with what had just taken place. The tall man was attempting to calm him down.
"They were going back to get the rest of their people," the tall man said, "they would have come back and killed all of us if we didn't kill them first." The black man seemed to be trying to force himself to believe this lie, but he still looked uncertain. Katie watched the man with the metal piece on his arm. He said nothing, just walked around the back of the car and light up a cigar. Katie saw he made an effort not to look inside the station wagon as he walked by it. He leaned against the trunk, closing his eyes as he pulled the smoke into his lungs, holding it in for a moment before he blew it out in a swirling cloud. Despite what he had just done, Katie felt her nipples go hard. She didn't know why, but she felt irresistibly drawn to the man. She felt it in her bones, the same way she had felt it with David. Back when they had been young and wildly in love, before the world went bad and everything went horribly wrong between them. But her common sense was telling her to back down. This man was not David. In fact, he was nothing like the man she had loved for all of her adult life until now. This man was dangerous. And he was not to be trusted.