Chapter 12 : Blood In The Water

In all of her life she never would have imagined this. True that in her past she had entertained ideas of being an actress, putting on shows for halls full of admiring fans but this was never how it was supposed to be. She had never once considered that her stage would smell like rot and decay. She wore no makeup to hide the scars that now marred her once perfect and creamy perfection. Her arms and face were covered in mud from the rain the night before. Anticipating this moment, she had run out just after the storm and covered herself in the slimy dirt before retreating indoors.

She grudgingly pushed her bangs over her sweaty brow and huffed, her muscles tensed, waiting to exert just a little more effort than what she was allowing them. She knew to stay still though; one wrong move and she would have bigger problems than her aching muscles. This was no game, honestly. The people in the stands may be cheering and applauding for her and Dax but this was horrible, nasty business. She wasn't reckless and she knew the stakes.

"You know t' be careful," Merle warned. "Don't lose yer head out there. Ya know the rules if ya get bit bad enough. I don't need that on my conscience."

"I know."

"Jus' remindin' you. C'mon, lil girl," his harsh, scratchy voice snarled, "git out there!" He squeezed her shoulder gruffly before nudging her towards the bright sunlight. She suddenly became very aware of the machete at her side. Merle was always the last one to speak to her before the Pit.

She nodded before pushing off on her eager legs. It was time to show them all once again what she could or could not do. True she could stand to be bitten but that didn't mean she couldn't be killed. She had to be careful. One bite in the wrong spot and she was surely done. She felt Dax pass her as they cleaned up his mess. They always threw more biters at him. Always.

She glanced around the stands, taking in as many faces as she could before the bell would sound for her. She knew she didn't have very long. There was Mr. Wesser, shouting away with his redneck wife and son. He had never been a big fan of her fighting in the Pit. The Pit; it was home to her now, the building behind was where during the winter she was trained and given the opportunity to fight. To do what she had to do. To be who she was meant to be. Just beside Mr. and Mrs. Wesser was an asthmatic boy named Jody. He seemed to fancy her a little, not that she was proud of that or anything. Up at the top was Martinez, baring his usual weapon across his chest, waiting for things to slip out of her control. Next to him was Andrea, the girl who she had thought to be dead; the only link she had to her past. And above all of this was the Governor. Above Jody, the Wessers, the men, women and children, Andrea and Martinez, the Governor sat in the pinnacle of the stands ready to give the signal; ready to decide her fate.

With a resounding groan the cage opened and they released two walkers. She could hardly stop the grin that crossed her lips. Two was easy, three was a challenge. With a resolved nod of her head, she charged, her machete unsheathed and ready to strike. The first walker was down in but a moment but the second one was a little fresher than the first. It turned to her and let out an eerie rattle before dashing towards her. With a quick dash she narrowly avoided the biter's teeth and gnarled fingers and swung her machete into the base of its skull, twisting up to penetrate the brain.

She looked up at the Governor again, daring him to push her more as she raised her weapon of choice in the air. He smiled at her and motioned for his men to release more biters into her Pit, changing the music that played overhead. She returned his smile with one grim, however prideful, scowl of her own. Governor She would know the tune anywhere, no matter how much time had passed. He must have taken her iPod from her room before the fight.

"Come out, come out, no use in hiding. Come out, come out, can you not see?"

She backed up towards the edge of the Pit, carefully inspecting what was tumbling blindly out of the cages. One was hardly able to stand, barely worthy of her efforts but she sliced through it anyways. Upon facing the second she gasped. The surprise made her want to sink into the ground, how in God's name had he found this gem of a body? She backed away, not willing to face the corpse that had now focused its efforts on her. No, it couldn't be! Why on earth would he be here?

"I'm sorry…" she murmured. "You were always my favorite."

The creature mashed his teeth in response as he ran towards her; she ducked out of the way. How could she possibly kill him? She took a hollow breath and poised her weapon, trying to block out the memories that were trying to emerge. She wasn't sure why she was so surprised, anyone could turn so he should be no exception. If she didn't kill him he would try to eat her. She skirted around him once more, trying to make eye contact. A small part of her hoped he knew and understood her words.

"I used to always listen to you on the drive to the beach," she confessed a little shyly. "You were my first concert."

She raised her weapon as he made another fearless and restless attempt for her. It was amazing to think that the words overheard on the speakers once came from this very body. All of the talent and passion that filled her with hope was now trying to devour her. The thought unnerved her as she raised her weapon.

"Now as I rest my feet by this fire. Those hands once wanted, but I have retired them."

With a determined sigh she allowed him to attack once more; not avoiding him this time as she crouched low, touching the top of her right boot. Her machete fell to the dirt. She could feel time slow, her heart thudding a song of its own. She could hear Dax and Merle shouting behind her, their boots colliding with the dirt as they raced to stop him.

"And I live with my justice. And I live with my greedy need. And I live with no mercy."

He was getting closer and closer to her. Any moment now…

"I live with the notion that I don't need anyone but me."

The moment she felt his touch, she deftly leapt from her crouched position, pulling her knife from her boot and jamming it right into his head. She could feel his dirty blood dribble down the hilt onto her skin; a thousand of brilliant words and chords, dreams and realities spilling out onto her hands.

"Don't drink the water. Don't drink the water."

She let out a furious cry as she threw the body off of her. She had done it; she had ended a legacy greater than hers could ever hope to be.

"There's blood in the water."

She looked up at Dax and Merle, who hovered over her inspecting the shallow bite mark on her left thigh, with an unstable grin on her face. "Call me a crazed fan girl, but I just got bit by Dave Matthews!"

"Yer an idiot!" Merle growled as Dax lifted her up, hiding her wound in the process. "Yah ain't gonna be able to wear shorts anymore."

She was unable to hide the smirk that spread across her face. "Worth it."

o-o

She skulked around Woodberry with a rotten scowl on her face. Ever since her "incident" in the Pit the Governor decided that she needed a little break from her precious fights. To top it all off, Merle was pissed with her and Dax thought she had lost her marbles. Just fan-flipping-tastic. Sourly, she pulled a cigarette out of her pocket and lit it in the middle of the road trying unsuccessfully to ignore the fact that everyone on the street was staring at her. She wasn't going to humor them today, however. She was on a mission to find Merle. She hadn't seen him in a couple of days which only meant that they had either found somebody new or he was on a supply run.

"Kailey?" a familiar voice called out behind her.

"Andrea," she responded dully, allowing her to catch up with her. She had never been really close to her, even after all the time they had spent with each other.

She looked the same but cleaner and bonier. Kailey reckoned that she looked different to Andrea too. What was once starved and weak had filled out and toned into decent amount of muscle. She was different now, she knew.

"I saw you fight in there… Are you… alright?"

Kailey smiled, gently brushing her souvenir from the fight with her musical hero. She was better than alright, she was powerful. This was her calling, her destiny. She didn't have to be afraid of the same things everyone else was. Something about training with Merle and fighting in the Pit had instilled a deep rooted confidence within herself. It was something that she couldn't have learned from anyone else but herself; something that could only come from being immune.

She smiled at Andrea. "I'm totally fine."

Andrea narrowed her eyes. "Can we talk about something?"

"Something like what?"

The woman before took a worried breath, like she had been rehearsing this. "You were bit."

"That's impossible. If I had been bit in the Pit the Governor would have me executed. Don't you know the rules of our game?"

Andrea looked aghast. "Game? How could you call something like that a game? And I'm not talking about that."

"Then what are you talking about?" Kailey demanded, sucking on her cigarette.

"That night… at the barn…"

Kailey remembered and wished more than anything she could take the words from Andrea and swallow them whole. She didn't want to remember. She didn't want the reminder of that time. Andrea wasn't supposed to remember this.

"You saved me. I watched you get bit. I saw you bleed."

Kailey shook her head, adamantly. "We saw a lot of things that night. I'm pretty sure that wasn't one of them."

Andrea paused, staring at Kailey's side intensely as if it could confirm the truth. The scary part was that it could.

"I'm fine, Andrea," Kailey confirmed. "Thanks for asking."

She turned and walked away from her then, heading for the Pit to find Dax. Andrea was a smart girl and she would soon figure out that Dax and Kailey spent all of their time away from the citizens of Woodberry and only really came out for their fights. Her visit to the town had been an obvious blunder on her part, another in a long line of mistakes. She raced through the streets and across the Pit frantically.

"Dax?!" she called when she pushed open the doors but it wasn't Dax sitting at the table.

"Hey, kid," Merle called out. "How's yer bite?"

Kailey placed her hands on her knees and let out a huge breath of air before taking in Merle's appearance. He had bruised knuckles and fresh blood on his undershirt. She knew that look from his version of the fights; he had just beaten the hell out of somebody. She glared at him.

"Who've you been fighting?" she demanded with her hands on her hips like an irritated mother would to a petulant child.

"Don' worry 'bout it," he grumbled, "lemme see yer bite."

"It's fine," she responded, not willing to press either argument further. "That girl hanging around the Governor knows."

"She don't know shit." Merle removed his bloody shirt with his good hand and pointed his knife at her. "Just ignore her."

Kailey scoffed and pulled her curls back. "Where've you been, by the way?"

"Huh?"

"You heard me, dipshit."

Merle let out a snort and headed towards the bathroom. "Been around town doing stuff for the Gov. Nothin' big."

"Which means it is something big and you and Dax won't tell me."

Merle laughed as he shut the bathroom door. "Yup."

Kailey growled in frustration as she left their kitchen and into her room. It was nothing special, just a bed, a dresser and a long mirror. Of course they would have something big going on and leave her out of it. She hadn't been with them long enough, she reasoned. No grounds to trust her despite the fact that she trusted them. She wondered how much they would trust her when Andrea told them that they had once been in a group together.

What if she decided anyone else about her blood? Would they understand? Would they be angry that she could live and others couldn't?

She frowned as she peeled off her clothes, layer by layer until she wore nothing but her bra and panties. She could see them now.

One by her neck: her father.

The one on her side: saving Andrea.

Finally, the newest on her thigh: Dave Matthews.

Her body told a story that only she would know; a story of survival unrivaled by anyone else.


Gack! That took me so much longer than I wanted it to! In my defense, my trusted laptop shit the bed so I had to buy a new one. I had a rough couple of months but all is well and this story is heading in a good direction! Let me know what you think!

-kimmy