Breathing through the smoke is difficult, the sock I have pressed over my mouth and nose doing little to filter anything.
The tree I'm stuck in doesn't really protect from the heat either, it's too close to my former home to really do anything except release heavy black smog as the flames lick higher and higher, scorching the leaves. I can only hope that the tree doesn't become engulfed as well but it looks like it might.
Blinking the stinging from my eyes, I scan the ground, trying to scout out any Alexandrians that might still be there. Hopefully they've left already but I don't really see anything which doesn't really mean much due to the fact that the smoke is seriously obscuring my view.
After several more minutes and a quick glance at my watch, confirming it's unfortunate death, I decide to risk it. If I stay any longer I'm bound to be pinned in by the Dead and if that happens the smoke will kill me.
I chuckle, covering the need to cry with grim amusement.
Death surrounds me on four sides: the Alexandrians, the smoke and flames, the Dead, and the fact that literally all of the things I need for basic survival either got stolen or burned with the house. If I make it out of this alive, chances are pretty strong that I'll die due to my lack of supplies.
"Come on, Claudia. Stop worrying about what you don't have and look at what you do."
Hooking my legs around the branch I sat on to better secure myself, I began to do inventory.
I don't have shoes but I do have socks, I'm wearing sweats and a sweater with a cami on beneath it, no bra (damn), a broken watch (double damn), and a purse that I had been looking through when they broke through my private gate.
Inside the purse were a pair of shades, some chapstick, a single cough drop, three Tylenol, two tampons, and... a small pocket knife, the blade about the size of my pointer finger.
"Thank fuck." I sigh, testing the blade. Still sharp, but could stand to be run over a wet-stone some more.
After carefully packing everything back up I slid my sock back on and scanned the ground one more time before making my way down, silently thanking my need to stay in shape. No one takes an unhealthy doctor seriously and I vividly remember my teenage self being so weak she sprained her wrist lifting a gallon of milk.
She would not have made it up this tree.
On the last branch I glanced around again, making absolutely sure that nothing in the immediate area that would attack me before letting myself drop the rest of the way down.
Quickly pressing my back to the tree in an effort to keep from being ambushed I dug back in the purse for the pocket knife, opening it and reverse gripping the handle for better maneuverability as I began to make my way across the land. Trying to get out through the front was a no go, if the Alexandrians weren't still here the Dead would already be bottlenecking it.
At the back of my property and hidden by the flowers I had planted was a grate that could be opened from this side. It was used for landscaping purposes, I had planned to have a small creek running along the edges of the yard, and should be big enough for me to wiggle my way out of.
Ducking and weaving through the artfully placed shrubbery, I carefully made my way to the back of the property. I was half-way there and my heart began pounding with perceived success.
The exhilaration lasted until I was on the final stretch and heard shouting.
"There she is! Get her!" Followed by the rapid pop of collective gunfire.
Unfortunately I was on fairly open land right now and had no cover, so when the first shot exploded the dirt I had been moving to step on I panicked, causing me to over-step and trip.
From the sound my fall saved me from actually getting shot and I chanced a glance over my shoulder, spotting three gunmen approaching me at a run.
"What are you doing?! Don't kill her, we need her alive!" At this I shoved off the ground and really took off in earnest. I knew who their leader was and fuck-all if I become one of his wives.
Negan had already began making a name for himself by the third week and word travelled back to me that he was looking for a doctor and seemed to have his sights set on me. Truthfully I should have known to move them but I couldn't bring myself to let go yet.
Now look at what it cost me, I thought bitterly.
Reaching my destination at last I dive into the garden, destroying my lilies in the process, and begin trying to lift the bar that keeps the gate closed. It's heavy and catches on the stonemason around it, but with one desperate heave I pull it out, scraping my knuckles badly while pushing the damn thing open.
I can finally hear the thudding of approaching footsteps over the sound of my harsh breathing and begin crawling my way out quickly. It's hard, I have to twist my shoulders to get them to fit, winding up on my back. My hips, however, get stuck and as I squirm I can feel hands latch onto my calves.
"Pull her back!" It's the same guy from before.
I yelp, dropping my knife in order to brace my hands on either side of the opening to keep from being dragged back in. Kicking my legs does little to help and when my arms finally begin to give and I can feel myself being pulled back to them, my resolve not to cry starts to break.
"Stop," I beg, kicking feebly, "Stop, please, let me go. Let me go."
My voice cracks and I'm left to stare up at the clouded sky as my arms keep giving and I'm pulled further and further into hell. My eyes begin to burn with tears and the sky wavers like the ocean.
Suddenly I'm cut off by groaning and when I turn my head I'm confronted with one of those things. It's several yards off yet but closing in quickly and I can feel myself really starting to panic.
"Oh God," I croak, "oh God, oh God, oh God."
I begin kicking with renewed vigor, fear giving me strength and helping me gain back the ground I had lost.
"Shit! Pull her through, damnit, or Negan will have our heads!"
I can only assume that the man who had a hold of me foolishly bent down to get a better grip because my foot connected with something solid and the hands on my legs let go.
"Tim, get this cunt!"
With one final twist and push, I pulled through with a pained cry, feeling the skin on my hips scrape off. But I was free and managed to slip out of the loose grip I'm assuming Tim had on me, unfortunately at the cost of my sweatpants which were yanked off in the fray.
"FUCK!"
The thing was finally close enough by that point to fall on me as I was trying to lift up, snapping it's jaws as it lunged for my neck. Before it could latch on (it was a close call, I could feel the hair of his goatee brush over my skin) I shoved the thing far enough back to bring my arm up and brace it across his throat to keep him from gettimg any closer as I looked for anything to kill him with.
My knife was too far away when I reached for it, but after scrambling around in the dirt with one hand I managed to reach a broken-off piece of slate rock roughly the size of a fist and started bashing it into the side of the thing's head. The smell of it's rotting flesh was almost enough to make me gag but the imposing fear of it's black blood splashing into my mouth was enough for my to tighten my lips into a hard line.
One- Two- Three- Four- Five good hits later it finally went down and after some struggle I finally managed to shove it off.
I took a moment to lay there, dropping my arms back to my side and heaving great sobs. It was too much. Too damn much for one day and I sure as hell deserved my moment to deal with it.
However, time waits for no one, especially not at the end of the world and I refuse to be caught sleeping, or in this case crying, on the job.
"Okay. Okay, okay, okay." I sniffle, swiping the tears and snot and I-don't-even-want-to-know off my face and sat up. "This is not the time for this. Get shit done, then cry about how unfair it all is."
As I reached over to pick up my pocket knife from where I dropped it, I noticed that my purse was nowhere in sight. It must have fallen off on their side in my fight to get out.
At least I still have the knife, I thought before turning in the direction of town. It's dangerous, but the fire should lure the dead this way so it's no worse than where I'm at now. In fact, with the living running around here, I'd say town is the safer of the two.
I had mostly avoided it as I was able to raid the houses around me for what I needed but that's no longer an option and I need some supplies now. I can only hope that I'll run into a first aid kit to tend my wounds, otherwise the risk of infection is extremely high and something I'd like not to think about.
Who knew becoming a doctor would make me even more skittish about open wounds, no matter how minor.
But that's something to worry about for when I actually get there, right now I need to make my way through the forest. The forest that suddenly seems so much bigger than it's ever been before.
"Well," I sighed, "hell."