chapter 3: Defenseless

"Are we at last brought to such humiliating and debasing degradation, that we cannot be trusted with arms for our defense?" ~Patrick Henry

Note:This chapter contains a scene that may seem gory, if you would prefer not to read it skip over that part, I will mark it so you know where it is.

Walking along the street the survivors started to search through abandoned buildings and alleys to see if they could find anything of use, along the way shooting any infected that strayed too close for comfort. Watching from the rooftops Wren took notice of how the common infected seemed to only take aggression in the presence of a human, recalling that the only infected v infected fights he had seen were between two of the more... complex infected (ie: hunter/witch/smoker/tank/etc.) while making sure he could keep the survivors in sight he quickly jumped off a building close to a group of common infected noting that they didn't even pay him the slightest bit of attention. Giving a slight snarl he notice the commons perk up and look at him, almost expectantly, as if... waiting to be commanded. Climbing back up to the rooftops so he could see the survivors again he thought to himself *Might come in handy if I need assistance later... or if these humans get attacked..* With realizing that he may not be able to control the common infected if needed he decided to write a note, being glad that he had brought along some paper and a pen if the need arose.

Jaggedly scrawling his note down he peered it over to see if it could be easily legible by the humans *Don't move until this door opens* he just hoped that if it was needed there would be a door to close. The survivors entered what seemed to be like the town square, and quickly wanted into a mini mart to clear out what they could. Taking note of this Wren scurried off into a convenience store to see if he could find any non-perishable food items and other necessities they might need. Walking towards the food aisle Wren was surprised to see that the canned foods were almost untouched. Quickly he grabbed out two of his packs stuff them full of the cans, noting vegetables, fruits, and other things such as soups taking careful to leave room for water if he could find it in this store.

Walking along further Wren was delighted to see that there was at least SOME medicinal supplies left, taking note that this store had a pharmacy within it he looked to see if he could find penicillin, alcohol, gauze, or medical tape. To his dismay there was no penicillin or alcohol, but there was gauze and medical tape, and unfortunatley, only small time pain relievers, like Tylenol or acetaminophen, just generic kinds of pain relievers, although they may come in handy as to not have to waste the stronger stuff for minor things like a headache. Walking along just a few steps down Wren saw what appeared to be bottles of vitamins, pondering for a second whether or not they might be needed, concluding that since they were needed before the infection began, it might be smart to take some seeing as how sparse some things are nowadays.

Walking towards the drinks section of the store Wren was delighted to see that there was still some water left, although it looked like only about three cases one already ripped open, although totaling to about sixty bottles that would be plenty to stash in the packs. Wren was able to fit three bottles into each of his already refilled bags and two on the sides, totaling ten bottles between the two and grabbed his empty one out and was able to fit in another seven while leaving room in case he found something that might seem very important to grab. What he could not grab Wren dragged to the front of the store and tried to organize it in some way so if the survivors came in this store they would not have to go far to find supplies.

*If only they knew what I used to be...* quickly, Wren pushed these thoughts down to keep them from resurfacing. Apparently, Wren's loss of memory wasn't as thorough as he thought, knowing that if those thoughts were to ever resurface completely he didn't know what could happen.

Within a short amount of time Wren was able to get all the water he had found, the medicine, and a good amount of non-perishable foods close to the front of the store. He peered outside the window to see if any of the survivors had come out of any buildings yet, they hadn't so he decided to quickly take his packs back before anything might happen.

After a few minutes Wren was able to return his packs to his hideaway and start making the trek back. On his way there he could faintly here something, stopping for a second he strained his hearing trying to pick it up again. What he caught frightened him and made him pour on the speed, *They're in the square! Go! Now! Kill the humans!* Wren could only make that out as a hunter and heard shuffling feed of what must have been about a dozen of the common infected. Quickly getting back to where the survivors were Wren didn't know how much time there could be until the other infected arrived. Glancing around quickly Wren tried to locate the survivors and he heard them before he saw them, thankfully they were all in one building pouring on as much speed as he could and not caring about stealth Wren appeared at the door in a flash took out the note set it inside and slammed the door with such force some of the walls shook and was sure that the humans would come running to find out what had happened.

"Did yall hear that?" yelled Ellis, "I think someone might have gotten in here!" All four of them began running to the front of the store to find the door shut but no sounds of infected or other humans present. Nick saw a piece of paper and picked it up, noting that it wasn't there when they came in and handed it over to Ellis who quickly had Rochelle peering over his shoulder, "This from your buddy Ellis?" Nick questioned him. "Yea I reckon so," Ellis replied. Rochelle quickly asked "What does the note say Ellis?" Ellis gave it a quick read over only noticing the hand writing before and let them all know what it said. "Don't move until this door opens." Coach looked at him dumbfounded, "What do you think that means?" Before anyone could answer their question was answered by the sound of the shrieks from two hunters and the sound of several common infected running into the square fast, they all stood their frozen in fear, hoping that one of those hunters was Wren.

Wren stood in front of the store ready for the onslaught of the infected, he knew these common infected wouldn't give him the slightest though knowing that the hunter commanding them was the biggest threat but he would have to take care of them quickly. The other hunter stood back from the rest of the common infected to watch his forces work. He stood their quizzically wondering why there was another hunter standing in their way. The only thing he got as an answer to his thoughts was the other hunter shrieking in the infected tongue, "Turn back now or die!" At this he wondered if the other hunter thought he had sent the infected in after him, but he stayed back to see what would come about.

~~~~~~~~~~~Fight scene starts here~~~~~~~~~~~

Preparing himself, Wren quickly eyed the forces that were coming at him. Noting ten common infected and the hunter lurking in the background. Wren brought up his knee and brought the first common's head down on his knee, cracking its skull and sending chunks of brain and blood flying all over the place. He quickly brought his claws up slashing the throats of the next two infected letting their blood spill forth like water from a fountain and sent them flying back tumbling and disorienting the next four. The remaining three that were incapacitated thought they were strong enough to take him down and kept running, uselessly they came in one at a time the first two falling easily to Wren using so much force to throw a punch that he sent their noses back up into their brains bringing them dead before they could even react. The third one was no bother, quickly having its throat slashed. Wren quickly pounced the four that were not yet dead making sure to bring them down quickly, upon killing the last one Wren picked him up and sent him crashing through the door to the store. As soon as the door flew open Wren noticed the survivors sitting there with shocked expressions on their faces and heard a slight growl trickle from the other hunter's mouth.

Eyeing him down Wren gave him a warning "Turn back now or die. Slowly." Fixing the hunter with a glare that would slow even a tank the other hunter seemed unfazed. "Heh heh heh... you've been practicing Wren." cackled the hunter. Wren felt visibly shaken that this hunter knew his name. Seeing that this hunter was trying to take him off his guard Wren took that as his chance to strike, pouncing the hunter and tearing back flesh and blood with his claws before leaping back to avoid a strike from the flailing hunter. Before Wren could recover the other hunter was on him driving his claws through Wren's left shoulder pulling back with it skin and a fair amount of blood with a yowl of plain Wren kicked the hunter off of himself and stumbled back, he knew his arm wouldn't be useful much longer, at least not without an excruciating amount of pain and the blood that was quickly seeping out of it. *I need to end this quickly... but how...*

Meanwhile the survivors sat there with complete shock on their faces. Not knowing what to do since that infected was sent crashing through the front door. Ellis was jolted from his shock when he saw Wren leap back and kneel down clutching his left shoulder. The only thing Ellis could think to do was grab a weapon and try to shoot the other hunter. Picking up a hunting rifle Ellis took careful aim but couldn't see much through Wren's body, the first chance he got he took a shot and it went right through the second hunter's leg. With a yowl of pain the other hunter glared at Ellis with such intense hatred he thought he was going to die right on the spot, but Wren, sensing the opening, leapt at the other hunter and was able to bring him down quickly, while the other hunter was flailing about but obviously crippled from his shout out leg Wren was able to bring up his good arm and brought his clawed hand down around the hunters neck. Fear and recognition dawned in the other hunter's eyes a split second before Wren was able to rip out his throat, letting the blood pool around them.

Wren wasn't sure what to do, he was losing blood fast but did not know if he could approach the survivors for help, he wasn't sure who shot the hunter and in that moment he couldn't think as he faintly heard the calls of common infected that would soon be rushing into the square. Wren took one quick look at the survivors, and they were able to recognize fear in his eyes. Hoarsely he was able to yell out the word "Rrrunnnn!" without another thought they grabbed their supplies and were off without another warning they were off running at full speed back towards the safe room. Wren lagged behind to make sure none of the infected were able to catch up to them, the first thing he was able to glance was that he only saw about thirty of them but he could hear more of them coming. "Turn back or die!"Wren screamed in the infected tongue but they just kept coming. He did not know how long he would be able to hold out to let the survivors get to safety.

Quickly running along the ground towards the survivors he saw the glint of a pistol and stooped to grab it with his good arm as he ran past it. Turning around he took aim at the encroaching infected and was able to take several of them down before he heard the click of the pistol running out of ammo, tossing it with all his might into the head of the closest infected, knocking it completely out and kept running. Every time one of the infected was gaining on him he slowed down to slash its throat open and let its blood pool along on the ground. Hearing a startled shout ahead Wren turned quickly to focus on what had caused the noise, Nick was lying on the ground and the other survivors were still rushing ahead.

Cursing his luck that he only had one good arm Wren rushed forward stooping down to grab Nick and took off, barely losing any speed. Wren poured it on and soon was able to catch up to the other survivors as they were entering the safe room and was able to set Nick down so they could usher him in. Wren turned around to face the encroaching infected and shrieked again "Draw your last breath!"

At that Wren launched himself at the nearest infected which thankfully was still a good distance away from the door to the safe room, though he doubted any of them would be able to open the door he was still determined to make sure none of them got so far as to even touch the door. Wren noticed now that there was only about twenty infected left, wondering what had happened to some of the other ones he was determined to bring them down, he faintly recognized the sounds of a rifle behind him and noted that some of the zombies were not dropping but some of the shots were few and far in between with the way he was moving.

As often as he could the second Wren killed one of the infected he sent it flying back to crash into the others to knock them down. After about six agonizing minutes Wren was able to relax with all of the infected being dead. He heard no more gunshots from the safe room so he knew that he wouldn't be shot if he approached them, at least not right away, anyway. Without turning to look behind him Wren's only though was to climb up to his little *campsite* grudgingly knowing he couldn't very well climb up quickly with the way his left arm was now. Quickly once he got to the top of the building he grabbed a package of gauze out of one of his packs along with some medical tape and started wrapping the wound. The blood loss had slowed and Wren put as much pressure on the wound as he could while cleaning it out and then eventually wrapping it up, soon after though, Wren passed out from the exhaustion of the fights and being light headed from his loss of blood.

~~~END OF FIGHT SCENE~~~

Ten minutes had passed and the survivors had seen no more signs of any infected coming towards the safe room. They soon began unpacking everything, Ellis went over and set his things down by the others and without another thought said "I'm going out to find our friend. I won't get m'self killed, promise." Rochelle looked at him as he was leaving and yelled after him "Ellis! Get ba-" Ellis didn't listen to another sound as he went out determined to make sure there friend was okay. Ellis made his way up to where he had met the hunter before and was dumbfounded at the sight he saw. Blood was in a shallow and small pool under Wren and he wasn't moving. Ellis rushed up to him and knelt down to try and check for a pulse, *Don't be dead! Don't be dead! C'mon don't be dead!* he thought frantically, afraid to lose the friend that has been helping them for a while now.

Ellis found a pulse, weak but steady, and could hear Wren taking short and shallow breaths. Ellis decided he would stay up here for a little longer to see if their friend woke up and needed anything. After about five minutes Ellis was getting up to head back to the safe room and heard a mumbled groan coming from Wren. Ellis kneeled down next to him and waited for him to come around, when Wren was finally coherent enough to see around him he was confused and shocked to see Ellis sitting next to him. "I saw what y' did and watched y' stumble away after the fighting was done. Wanted to check and make sure y' were ok." At that Wren winced and grabbed his shoulder, Ellis looked at him, not sure what to do. Wren saw the concern etched into his face and motioned towards his packs and mumbled "Tttwwoooo..." Ellis understood what he meant and hurried over and grabbed the second pack and brought it over to Wren. Wren quickly unzipped it with his good hand and brought out a bottle of water and a bottle of morphine pills. Wren quickly poured two pills into his hand and swallowed them down along with a full bottle of water.

Ellis glanced at his wound and noticed it hadn't been thoroughly cleaned out. He grabbed some alcohol and gauzed out of the pack noticing the medical tape and wrap that was sitting next to Wren. When Wren looked at him confused Ellis said to him "Gonna clean out yer wound, so it doesn't get infected." Wren gave a slight nod and let Ellis go to work, noting that where the hunter had gone into his shoulder he now had a wide rip in his hoodie where there was no longer any fabric left, leaving most of his shoulder exposed. Ellis got to work and slowly unwrapped his shoulder and removed the gauze Wren had left under there. He wet some of the gauze with alcohol and gently cleaned out the wound, pulling back every time he heard Wren wince or give a slight whimper at the pain. After about two minutes of washing it out Ellis was satisfied with his cleanup job and wrapped Wren's wound back up and asked Wren if he could move him to sit somewhere else. Wren nodded weakly in agreement and Ellis moved him a couple feet away from the pool of blood and then sat down next to him and put his arm around Wren's good shoulder.

"Thanks for what y' did today buddy. I don't know what might of happened if you hadn't been there t' help us out." Wren purred slightly at the thankfulness he was receiving from Ellis. Ellis gave a slight chuckle at this and they sat in silence for a little bit. After a while Wren pointed towards his packs and said "Thrreeee." It took Ellis a second to completely process what he had said, almost thinking he had said *tree*. He walked over and grabbed the pack then brought it back over to Wren. Wren, with his good arm, slowly unzipped it and showed the supplies to Ellis. Ellis took in a breath of air when he noticed what Wren had him get, the pack was full of food and water! He couldn't believe it, he looked at Wren with such a look of confusion on his face that Wren gave a slight smirk at him. Wren then closed up the pack and pointed down and said "Ootherssss" Ellis took that to mean that he had stocked that pack for all of them, but then again almost everything Wren had was for them, feeling a bit surprised that he had even used any of this on himself. Ellis nodded and just stayed next to Wren for a little while longer.

After about half an hour Wren had dozed off to sleep and Ellis gently set him down, whispered the words "thank you" as he left with the pack to go back to the safe room. When he got back to the safe room and stepped inside Rochelle tackled him with a hug "God Ellis don't scare us like that! You've been gone for almost two HOURS!" Ellis looked at her and chuckled, "Sorry Ro, our friend had a bad wound and I was helping him to clean it out and he gave me a pack to bring back, though I waited fer 'im to fall asleep first."

"Oh, that's good to know that he's alright" Ellis noticed her grab her locket, probably remembering the item Wren had managed to get for her, he could see the relief washing over her face, *So she IS worried about him too, heh heh* Ellis thought to himself. Ellis set down the pack and opened it up to show them what was inside, they all had such a surprised look on their face Ellis couldn't help but laugh at them. "Ellis, he really got ALL this?!" Nick asked him, amazed. "Sure did Nick, he also had some other stuff with him, which is how I was able to help 'im." "Well, your buddy sure does known what to get then, Ellis." Said Coach, grabbing a can of corn and some water. At this they all sat around and talked, relaxing since this was the first bit of food they have had in a while, especially nice after their scare today with the horde of infected showing up out of nowhere.

When Wren woke up it was night time, late evening from the looks of it because he could still see the sun setting in the distance, although barely. His first thought was that his arm felt immeasurably better than it had earlier before he fell asleep and was now able to move it quite a bit, though too much at once and he could feel a sting of pain coming into his arm. Before he got up to do anything he grabbed two more morphine pills and swallowed them down with some more water. Then he remembered the supplies he had taken to the front of one of the buildings, he faintly remembered that the survivors had not been in that building when the fight occurred earlier. He made his way back over on ground level, noticing a few linger commons and took them out with slashes across the throat so they wouldn't be in his way on the walk back over. Once he got over to the store he started dragging stuff back to the safe room bit by bit. He was able to get the remaining two cases of water to the safe room no problem and then the empty case he was able to load the rest of the stuff inside and begin dragging it back over.

After about five minutes dragging the last case over Wren finally got it stacked on top of the water. Doing that much had exhausted him and he was still in pain from his fight earlier, noting the pain that was now flaring up in his arm. With his breath slowing and sleepiness overtaking him Wren promptly collapsed next to the cases in front of the safe room.

Heh heh! Was fun to type this one up last night. Very much enjoyed it, although some of you might not find the scene as gory as i PROBABLY made it out to be, i marked it anyway, even though I know i could imagine it much better than what i can write out sadly =( Definitely do NOT expect Chapter 4 as quickly as these have come, im going to be pretty dang busy this weekend heh heh. Hope you enjoyed it! Ill try to type out a teaser for it eventually (Note: These may be things i type out and evolve the chapter around it) Also, ideas if you have any! Would love to evolve chapter(s) around your guys' ideas!