Until Dawn

Chapter Ten

"Hang in there, Pipes, we're almost there," Alex murmured, gripping the end of the makeshift stretcher as we made the torturous journey up the stairs. Nicky was in the lead, helping Janae with her footing, who held the end of the stretcher where my head was situated, while Alex was holding the blanket on either side of my feet. The stairs were too narrow for more than one person on either end, so we were taking it slow, in case anyone tripped, sending us all tumbling back down into the death pit that we'd left behind us. I was facing Alex, which gave me some comfort, and I tried to keep my grimaces of pain to a minimum every time I was jostled, sending spikes of agony throughout my body. I didn't want to upset Alex any further, who was already teetering on the edge of a complete mental breakdown after her mad rush down the stairs to my rescue.

My mind kept replaying the way she called my name as she battled zombie after zombie in her attempt to get to me. The sheer panic and fear in her voice had been the one thing keeping me conscious, and now the only thing keeping the darkness that was pushing at the edges of my vision away, was the paleness of her face as she kept her eyes trained solely on me. So many emotions shifted behind her thick rimmed glasses, fear and worry utmost, with a weird sort of contentment hidden in the shadows of her gray orbs. I gave her a small smile, which she returned before she exhaled suddenly and looked up at Nicky over my head.

"Here we go," Nicky's voice sounded from somewhere behind me and I grinned with pure relief as the ground flattened beneath us as we made it to the top of the stairs. I had to blink tears from my eyes at the sudden light shining down upon us but I was just so grateful to be out of that room that I easily could have burst into a sobbing mess.

Wait a second.

"Hey!" I spoke in surprise, shielding my eyes from the bright light hanging from the roof above us. "The lights are on!"

"Yeah," Alex chuckled as we finally came to a stop, giving us all a brief rest. "Red switched on the power downstairs before we hauled you up here. Looks like we got lucky, for once."

"Hey, boss!" Poussey was suddenly at my side, looking down at me with a shit eating grin. "Heard you kicking some serious ass down there!"

"Not me," I shook my head solemnly, despite the pain it caused me and gestured weakly to Alex. "It was the giant, this time. Saved my ass, in fact."

"Good job, albino," Poussey laughed, slapping Alex on the shoulder and ignoring her wary stare before turning back to me. "Look, we was waiting for you up here. We wanted to know what you wanted us to do with these guys."

I lifted my head to look over the edge of the stretcher, catching sight of a middle aged man slumped against the wall, obviously unconscious, with a bruise beginning to form on the left side of his face. A woman was next to him, an old t-shirt being used as a gag, and her hands and feet tied together. She was glaring at us all furiously, her eyes burning with rage as she tugged on the rope around her wrists. A bolt of fury flowed through me at the sight of them, knowing that these were the people that had locked us in that room.

The people that had left us to die.

I gazed at them for another few seconds, finally catching the young woman's angry eyes and returning her stare emotionlessly, before lying back down. "Untie her and then let's get out of here. It's going to be dark soon and I want to get the fuck out of this city. I'd had my fill of zombies for the day."

Poussey stared at me, stunned, before quickly nodding her head with a casual salute. "Will do, captain."

I waited until we were moving again before exhaling the breath I hadn't realized I'd been holding. I looked up at Alex who was just gazing back at me quietly, a thoughtful look on her face. "What?"

"Nothing," she responded with a quirk of her lips. "I just thought you might wanna bring them with us. We have another car now, after all."

"Alex," I hissed in anger and disbelief. "They locked the fucking door and left us there to die!"

"I know that," Alex shrugged in response, as much as she was able while still gripping the stretcher. When she didn't say anything else, I sighed in frustration. Out of all the people in our group, I thought Alex would be the last person I would have to explain this to.

She was the ruthless, pragmatic one, after all.

"Look," I began, licking my dry lips as I felt my headache intensify. "I know it's fucked up to just leave them here, but we don't know them and we obviously can't trust them. I don't want people like that with us, especially in the middle of all this shit. I won't lose someone because we took in some strays, who might decide to turn on us when it suits their purpose."

"Hey, I'm not saying that I don't agree with you, kid," Alex gave me a reassuring smile as we walked through the building's lobby and towards the exit. "I agree with you completely, and I'm sure that everyone else does too. You don't need to explain yourself."

I groaned, covering my eyes as we left the building, shaking my head in dismay. "How did I get this job anyway? Since when is it my decision to choose who stays or who goes?"

"We all took a silent vote when we first saw you shank that guy back at Litch," Janae spoke up for the first time, amusement heavily lacing her voice. "You seemed like the best woman for the position and you've been doing a pretty good job of it so far."

"Great," I muttered, eyeing the sun which was beginning to set. "That's just fucking great."

"Okay, people," Janae called everyone over and I forced a smile as my stretcher was surrounding with friends, who all gave me small, but still painful, pats on my shoulder and sympathetic smiles. "We've got two cars now, so we're going to split up. Chapman, Vause, Jones and me will take the new car, and the rest of you will get in the Jeep. Morello, you're driving."

I leant over the side to catch a glimpse of our new ride, and grinned in pure reflex at the sight that greeted me. A massive, eight seater army camouflage colored Hummer was now parked beside our trusty Jeep, but it looked as if its previous owners had been well prepared for the apocalypse. It had a big steel bummer bar, shiny silver spiked rims and a machine gun attached to the roof. The windows were barred, but far enough apart that we could still fit the barrel of a shotgun through and I could already see the provisions and weapons packed into it.

"Wow," I grinned widely, looking up when Poussey once again appeared at my side.

"You like it?" She asked, with an excited smile as she looked at the Hummer. "Jones and I found it, just down the road. The back seat is loaded with ammunition! We'll be kicking zombie ass all the way to Miami!"

"It's awesome," I agreed, patting Poussey on her leg before lying back down. "You guys did a good job. Which reminds me, were we able to make any calls?"

I took my answer from the disappointed faces surrounding me and sighed, before gently tapping Janae on the back. "It's almost sundown and we gotta move, Watson. Plus, I'm sure yours and Alex's arms are about to drop off, and I'm not really big on hitting the ground right now."

I listened as the group scrambled around us, with everyone getting into the cars as Janae and Alex carried me over to the Hummer. Jones opened the door for us and they managed to slide me gently into the back seat, while Jones took the passenger seat and Watson jumped happily into the driver's seat. The door opened by my head and I looked up to find Alex smiling down at me. With infinitely gentle movements, she lifted my head and shoulders and slid into the seat next to the window, before cradling my head in her lap.

"Hey Vause," Watson turned around in her seat to face us. "Red said that she threw all the medical supplies we got into the back, so you can fix up Humpty Dumpty here and her cracked skull."

"Well," Alex murmured in response as she reached into the back seat and pulled back with a plastic bag full of supplies. "She hasn't started throwing up yet and I don't see any bone fragments, so I don't think she cracked it. But she is definitely going to need some stitches."

"W-what?" My voice cracked on the word as I stared up at Alex, completely terrified. As soon as the car doors had closed behind us, my badass facade had been dropped like red hot metal, as the pain finally begun to overwhelm me. I didn't feel like I needed to pretend in front of these three people, Janae, Jones and especially Alex, like I did with the rest of the group. While I had changed since I entered prison, that scared girl from Connecticut was still buried underneath. "Like, a needle, sewing through my skin... Without anesthetic?"

"Pipes," Alex sighed, putting the bag down and gently cupping my cheeks as the Watson started the car. "That blanket you're lying on is completely covered with blood, as are my clothes. That split starts from almost your hairline, to the base of your skull and you've lost a fuck load of blood. I've got to stitch it up. Plus, I've had a lot of practice in laundry, so I'll make sure you only get a really small scar."

I could feel my breathing start to come faster and my vision begin to tunnel as I looked up into Alex's smiling face, until finally the blood loss got to me and I blacked out. The last thing I heard was Alex's sigh of relief, and her softly spoken words.

"Oh, thank fuck, she's out."