Chapter Twenty Eight
Nothing but the defining sound of the gunshots filled the dusty bar. Rick seemed to notice his niece's state almost instantly as he moved towards where she stood, her head in one hand and a shot glass dangling loosely in the other.
"Lee?" his voice was muffled to her ears. All she could hear was the sound of gunshots and bodies dropping to the floor. Over and over again.
"Holy shit" Glenn breathed as he looked over the bodies of the two men.
"You alright?" Rick asked his three companions. Kylie simply nodded and downed the shot in her hand.
"Yea" Glenn answered. "Hershel?" he asked the old man, who nodded after a moment.
"Let's head back" Hershel announced, causing Kylie to finally look at him.
"I can...I can come back with you?" she asked quietly, at this Rick looked to Hershel.
"Of course you can" the farmer told her. "You've been away from your people for far too long."
"I need to..." Kyle paused and tried to stop her wavering voice. "I need to get to my car, I have supplies" she told them. Rick simply nodded to her as he searched the fallen bodies.
Slowly the four of them made their way to the door, only to be met with headlights.
"Car. Car, get down!" Rick whispered, urging the three others to say low. They listened and dropped to the ground, backs against the wall. Kylie kept her gun in one hand and her cross bow in the other. When she heard the sound of car doors opening and closing in the dark street, Kylie's heart pounded in her ears.
"Dave? Tony?" They heard a man call out. "They said over here?"
"Yea" a second voice answered.
"I'm telling you, man, I heard shots" a third man spoke.
"I saw roamers" the second voice spoke again "two streets over, maybe more around here. It's hot, we gotta get outta here."
Kylie barely heard the rest of the new-comers conversation as she tried to calm her erratic heartbeat. If something were to happen, she need to keep a cool head. Quietly, she shifted so that her crossbow was slung across her back and her gun was steadied between both of her hands, the safety off.
The four of them were silent as the men outside left to search for their dead friends. Rick stood and peaked out the window, trying to see if it was safe for them to move.
"Why won't they leave?" Glenn whispered.
"Would you?" Kylie scoffed.
"We can't sit here any longer" Rick told them quietly "We head out the back, run to the car" he told them before turning to look at his niece. "Lee, where's your car?" he asked her.
"Not to far from here" she answered with a sigh. "I should be able to get to it without drawing any attention. Where should we meet if we get separated?" she asked.
"My farms a couple miles from here" Hershel told her. "Mailbox says 'Green', you shouldn't miss it." Kylie simply nodded with understanding. She went to say something more as the four of them stood, only to be interrupted by gunshots. A minute later they heard the men outside say that walkers were in the area.
"We're looking for Dave and Tony and no one checks the damn bar?" one of the men asked a minute later when his companions say they hadn't been there yet. Kylie's blood ran cold as she heard them approach. Rick's gun was instantly cocked and aimed at the door, Kylie following his lead and aimed her own pistol at the target.
As the door was pushed open, Glenn instantly jumped in front of it, pushing it closed with his back. Kylie saw this as both a good thing and a bad thing. Sure it was good that the men hadn't entered, but now they knew that people were in the bar.
"Someone pushed it shut" she heard from outside. "There's someone in there"
"Yo, someone in there?" a man asked. "Yo, if someone's in there, we don't want to trouble. We're just looking for our friends." Kylie heard men on the other side of the door whispering to themselves, trying to formulate a plan. "We don't want any trouble" he called to them, "We're just looking for our friends, if something happened, tell us. This place is crawling with corpses. If you could help us not get killed I'd appreciate it."
There was silence as one of the men stayed guarding the door and the others moved to go around to the back door. Kylie watched as her uncle struggled with what to do.
"They drew on us!" he finally called out, causing Kylie to curse.
"Dave and Tony in there?" one of the men asked. "They alive?"
"No" Rick answered a moment later. "You're friend drew on us!" he shouted after hearing the conversation between the other men. "They gave us no choice! I'm sure we've all lost enough people, done things we wish we didn't have to. But it's like that now, you know that! So let's just chalk it up to what it was...wrong place, wrong..." But before Rick could continue, shots were fired through the glass of the door.
"Get out of here!" he shouted to Kylie, Glenn and Hershel as he began firing through the hole in the window.
Glenn took the lead as they ran to the back of the bar with Kylie at the rear, three of them dodging bullets as they flew past. Taking cover near Hershel, Kylie slid a nearby shotgun to Glenn, who took the weapon with shaking hands.
"Hey!" Rick called out as he emptied the chamber of his Python, policing the brass and reloading. "We all know this isn't going to end well! There's nothing in it for any of us! You guys just... just back off, no one else gets hurt!" There was silence after that. Meeting Glenn's gaze, Rick nodded for the younger man to make a break for the back door.
After taking a steadying breath, Glenn stood and began moving quietly to the back. Looking up at Hershel, Kylie silently asked the old man if he would be okay, when he nodded Kylie took off after her friend.
"Got your back, Mushu" she whispered as he slowly opened the door, his shotgun poised in front of his body. Silently the two of them moved through the dark storeroom, when they heard the sound of bottled clanking together, they instantly cocked their weapons. Before the back door could even open, Glenn fired a round through the glass.
"Glenn!? Lee!?" Rick's voice called from the front room of the bar.
"We're alright!" Kylie called back as she and Glenn moved to stand on either side of the door. Glenn cocked the shotgun once more and met Kylie's gaze. A few seconds later, they heard footsteps coming up behind them. With his weapon raised, Glenn was met with Hershel.
"Sorry" he breathed as Hershel pushed the barrel away from his torso gently.
"Rick wants you two to try for the cars" Hershel informed them.
"I can do it" Kylie nodded. "My bronco isn't too far from here and I'm good on my feet."
"Try?" Glenn asked.
"Glenn, you're the quickest person I know" Kylie told him. "You can do this."
"You'll try and succeed" Hershel continued calmly, showing her had faith in the young man. "I'll cover you" he added.
"Just cover Glenn" Kylie told Hershel, causing both men to look at her curiously. " I can handle myself" she added with a shrug.
"That's a great plan" Glenn said sarcastically.
"Head in the game, Mushu" Kylie told him, checking her clip to make she she had enough rounds before needing to reload "I'll head out first" she added "My cars on the other side of the alley." Nodding, Glenn moved back to the door and pushed it open. The old hinges squeaked loudly, but Kylie ignored it as she slowly moved through the door, her gun raised for attack.
She was almost home free when two shots were fired, one hitting her shoulder from behind.
"Fuck" she cursed. Glancing behind her, she saw that Glenn was down but otherwise unscathed. After firing back at their assailant, Hershel looked to Kylie for a moment, who shook her head. "Check Glenn, we need to get the fuck out of here" she told him. Nodding, the old man did as she said and Kylie continued on to her car.
She barely recognized the pain in her shoulder as she started the engine and quickly took off to where Rick had said the truck was. As soon as she pulled up, she cut the engine and ducked down in the seat, hiding from people and walkers alike. She was thankful that the men hadn't noticed her pull up.
From where she hid she could barely heard the conversation between the men. However she did hear the sound of someone falling from somewhere high-up and screaming in pain as he came down hard. Holding her breath as she heard an engine rev, Kylie ducked down further in her seat, hoping that they didn't notice her as they drove passed her.
Seconds later, Kylie heard gunshots. Sitting up she looked towards Rick and the others. "Shit, shit, shit" she whispered when she saw walkers approaching. Instantly she threw her open and ran to help. When she saw her uncle running towards her, Kylie paused and waited for him.
"Are you alright?" Rick asked his niece as soon as he approached her, his gaze falling to her shoulder.
"I'm fine," she told him "it went clean through. I'm fine." Rick seemed to accept her answer as he nodded and looked around them for more walkers.
"Where's it coming from?" he asked her when he processed the screaming. Sighing Kylie jerked her head in the direction of the fallen man and followed her uncle as he ran over to the alley.
The man who had fallen was barely that. He looked to be around 19 or twenty, with the spiked fence sticking through his thigh. Turning away from the site, Kylie saw Glenn and Hershel approach.
"We have to go now" Hershel's voice told them over the sound of the kids screaming.
"No, No don't leave me. Please" the kid begged.
"Sorry kid" Kylie said with an almost harsh voice and a shrug of her bloody shoulder.
"We can't" Rick told them.
"He was just shooting at us!" Glenn said loudly.
"He's a kid!" Rick responded.
"Rick, this brat just fucking shot me!"
"This place crawling with walkers!" Glenn added, glancing at his friend's shoulder quickly before turning his gaze back to Rick.
"We can't leave him" was all Rick responded with.
Looking over her shoulder, Kylie saw Hershel looking at the kids leg. From where she stood, Kylie knew that this kid wouldn't have a leg for much longer. If he was lucky.
"Shut up," Rick told him when he screamed "or I will shot you."
"That may be the answer" Hershel said, turning Rick away from the sight. "We're not gunna get that leg off without tearing the muscle to shreds. And we certainly can't, run or he may bleed out."
"We should put him down Rick" Kylie added.
"I don't want to see anymore killing" Hershel put in "But this is cruel."
"Can't we just take the leg off?" Glenn asked. There was a moment of silence as the four of them exchanged glances. It was possible.
"I have a hatchet and a few towels in my car" Kylie said, only to cause the injured kid to whimper.
"Please don't cut my leg off. Please" he pleaded.
"Will this cut through the bone?" Rick asked Hershel, not wanting to chance his niece running back to her car.
"I'll have to sever the ligaments below the kneecap, cut above the tibia. He's gunna lose his lower leg." As he spoke, Hershel began taking off his white button up off.
"Once it's done we're gunna need to cauterize the wound" Kylie said, "I may not have a doctorate, but I read" she shrugged, holstering her gun. Taking the shirt from Hershel, Kylie went over to the kid to tie off his leg with a stick to keep the appendage straight for Hershel. "I'll cover" and with that, Kylie's crossbow was in her hands and ready to fire as Glenn went to stand next to her.
"Guys, walkers!" Glenn called out "Hurry up!" he added, firing off shot after shot.
"Oh god, they're everywhere" Kylie heard Rick groan before she heard him start shooting.
"Hershel, how ya doin' over there?" Kylie called out, shooting down a walker who had wandered too close.
"I need more hands" was the old man's response.
"I'm almost outta arrows! We need to get outta here!" Kylie yelled over the gunshots, screaming and growling walkers.
"Lee, run for your car" Rick ordered "Bring it around." Meeting her uncle's eyes, Kylie saw what he wanted to do and instantly took of running.
Her heart pounded in her ears as she dodged walkers. Kylie let out a short sigh of relief when she jumped into the driver's seat and started the engine. As soon pulled up to them, Rick yanked the kids leg from the fence.
AN: WOOOOOO CHAPTER TWENTY EIGHT! So that was kinda crazy huh? Bullets and arrows flyin' everywhere. AND KYLIE GOT SHOT! WTF! lol Well, I couldn't let her not get hurt at all, ever, right? so I figured, why not let her get shot. But of course they are do not have the time for surgery or anything, so of course the bullet went clean through and all Hershel needs to do is clean the wound and stitch it up. Then our girl is right as rain! Lol.
So as I was going back through this chapter, doing the edits and stuff, I realized that I sorta slipped a Disney quote in there. It wasn't meant to be a Disney quote, but here we are.
"Head in the game Mushu"= "Wildcats! Get your Head in the game!"
Yea apparently I went there lol.
Aaaaaanyways, what did you guys think of this chapter? What do YOU think is going through Rick and Glenn's heads when they, first off, see Kylie again after so long. And then see her not only shoot down her opponent without blinking, but almost have a mental break afterwards? To see her eerily calm during a firefight (though we know that she was freaking out internally lol)? I'm curious to know what you guys think!
Another question (cuz I love asking 'em lol) Who do you think shot Kylie? I'll give ya a hint, we see a lot of him in coming chapters...sorta. ;)
Coming Up Next On 'In The End': Kylie is lucky, she finally learned about everything that had happened to the group, conversations and the reunion we've all been waiting for. So come back Sunday to see what happens next!
As Always, Leave Love
)0( Iris RainbowWolf )0(
