Day 970 – Midday

Vince

Vince was stunned by the six gunshots that resonated through the air. For a split second he thought he had been shot but as he calmed down he felt nothing – he couldn't feel what he had eight days ago when Becca had shot him.

At least the shots had snapped Hector out of his spell. Vince let go of the man, who had now loosened up, and got to his feet. Hector slowly pulled himself off of Tyler, who lay on the ground twitching and bleeding. As far as he could tell Tyler was still alive.

Vince turned around. Bonnie was standing with a shocked look on her face as Wyatt lay on the ground. Instantly Vince leapt into action, running over to the fallen man and rolling him onto his back. "Is he hit?" he asked, looking to Bonnie for support.

"No- I – I don't think so! The bullets went into the air!" she replied.

She was telling the truth. Wyatt wasn't bleeding, but it looked like he and Bonnie had been fighting over her weapon. "He tried to stop her shooting Hector!" Becca called, dashing over to them and checking Wyatt. Annie joined them as well as Hector looked over his shoulder and shot Bonnie a betrayed glance.

Wyatt groaned, stirring. "Hey, man," Vince muttered, "You okay?"

"Yeah, fine," Wyatt replied, sitting up and rubbing his forehead, "just a bit... dizzy. What were you thinking, Bonnie?"

"I had to stop 'em somehow. I didn't know what else to do!" Bonnie panicked. "Jesus Christ. I'm sorry, Hector."

"Not as sorry as me." The ex-guard grunted, staring at Tyler. The one-eyed man was being helped up by Lowell and Emily. He had apparently survived Hector's attacks.

Thunder rumbled over head and rain started dripping from the sky. Vince hoped that they would find shelter before the worst of it.

"That gunshot's gonna have rang out for miles..." Bonnie sighed, looking at the sky. "I tried to help, I did, but it went wrong, just like it always does."

Vince helped Wyatt to his feet and them placed his hands on Bonnie's shoulders. "You tried, okay? That's fine. At least you did something instead of just watching. Now, come on, we need to get out of here."

Becca gulped. "Yeah, about that..."

Walkers were emerging from the trees. Apparently they had been lurking in the foliage but had been attracted to Tyler's shouting or the shots Bonnie had fired. "Shit," he growled, "How many are there?"

Bonnie squinted. "Looks to be about twenty..." she raised her rifle but Vince pushed it so that it was pointed to the ground. "We don't want to attract attention," he warned her, "Get Wyatt, Becca and Annie away from here, I'll deal with this."

"I can't let you," Bonnie told him, "Not alone."

"I won't be alone." Vince said, shooting a glance at Hector. The man groaned and tilted his head backwards, but did not argue. Bonnie nodded and made sure the three she had been ordered to look after were with her before making a run for it.

Emily and Sully rushed past, Mitchell between them with one arm over each of their shoulders. "I can stay too." Em announced.

"No, you go - get Mitchell to safety." Vince ordered. Em nodded and continued walking with Mitchell and Sully as Tyler, Tessa and Lowell caught up to them.

Vince looked at Hector, then at the walkers. Retrieving his machete he took a few steps forward and slammed it into a revenant's head. Hector joined him and batted another member of the dead with his assault rifle.

Dead were pouring out of the trees; twenty-five or so of them. Some were slipping in the mud, falling down the sides of the hill. That would be a problem for the retreating members of the group as walkers would meet them as they ran to escape.

The dirt squished beneath Vince's feet as the rain became more intense. He pulled his hood up and threw his arm forwards to kill another walker, then slipped backwards slightly – the ground was bare, no grass covering it. He slaughtered another walker and noticed Hector struggling to stay upright. "Fuck," he growled, "The ground... this isn't gonna work, man."

Hector looked at him and nodded. They backed away from the walkers and headed back to the slope that followed the hill down. They may have been backtracking, but it was worth doing if it saved their lives

Vince turned his back on the dead and made sure the coast was clear as Hector backed down, eyes on the walkers. It was dangerous for Sanctum's traitor to be walking backwards but he needed to be sure that the walker's weren't going to slip on the mud and slide further down.

"Take care of that for a second!" Vince commanded. "I've got to see if anyone else is in trouble!"

Hector's head jerked around, displaying a fearful expression on his face. He wasn't comfortable with being left on his own to deal with fifteen walkers but he didn't have a chance to argue.

Dashing down the slope Vince rounded a corner, only stopping to slice at a walker that had fallen off of the hill and landed on the path leading down. He saw three figures taking cover under a large, wooden roof which formed a bridge over a dip in the terrain. The roof was held up by four wooden shafts and opened out onto a balcony with a few sets of chairs and tables. As he ran towards it he jerked to the left in shock as a walker fell down the hill and lunged for it.

Turning Vince stamped the walker's head into the mud, causing it's bottom jaw to collapse under the pressure of his attack as it was forced into the ground. Once the creature was disabled Vince dashed for cover on the bridge, recognising the three figures as Sully, Em and Mitchell.

"Where are they?" he panted. "Where are the others? Becca? Annie?"

Sully shrugged and ignored him, tending to his brother who was suffering a major coughing fit. Em, however, pointed further down the path, past the bridge where they were taking cover. "They kept going, I don't know if they stopped, but we can't get through because of the walkers. Where's Hector?"

Vince looked over his shoulder and saw Hector fending off walkers around ten metres behind them all. "He needs help," he looked at Emily. "I need to find the others, can you help him?"

Em nodded. "On it." She opened her backpack and withdrew her hammer. She threw her pack over her shoulder and then charged to Hector's aid. Vince turned to find the others but Sully called out to him. "You're just gonna leave us here?"

Vince turned back to face him. "Yeah, I need to find the others. Just wait here, I'll be back."

"You can't go down there, there's too many of them. Even if you do get past what happens if they start coming this way?"

"Look..." Vince stuttered, realising he couldn't leave Sully alone to defend his brother. "...Fuck." He crouched in front of Mitchell. "Mitchell, can you walk?"

Mitchell looked at him with a vague expression on his face. It looked as if he was drugged or tired, but the teenager managed to listen. He stood up uneasily and wobbled, losing his balance. Sully put his arm around his younger brother's shoulders and supported him, looking over his shoulder. "What about Em?" he asked, "I'm not leaving her on her own."

Vince groaned, then called out to the duo who were fending off walkers. "EM! HECTOR!" He yelled, cupping his hands around his mouth. "Fall back!"

Hector turned on a dime and started sprinting in Vince's direction, with Emily close behind. Vince, Sully and Mitchell began walking across the bridge as the other two attempted to catch up with walkers close behind. As the three men shuffled across, Vince heard a worrying creak beneath his feet. "Come on," he warned them, "We need to keep moving."

They almost reached the edge of the bridge as Emily and Hector caught up, but the walkers were there with them. Hector swiveled round and batted one of them away, but they were too tightly packed to force back.

The creaking came again, louder this time. The bridge had not been maintained for three years and the wood was presumably rotting away. "Come on," Vince ordered, "Keep moving."

The five of them all turned to run as the creaking became louder and lower. Vince crossed the threshold and made it out into the rain as the bridge snapped behind them, but lost his footing as it cracked and disappeared, forcing him onto the other side. Sully and Mitchell hit the ground next to him, but the other two were not so lucky.

"EMILY!" Sully screamed, turning and running back to the portion of the bridge that was still standing. As Mitchell righted himself in a feverish haze, Vince followed him, worried that the bridge might break.

Sully dropped to his knees and Vince assumed the man had spotted Emily's and Hector's corpses at the bottom of the ditch but he was surprised to witness Sully lie on his chest and thrust his arm downward. As he looked over the edge Vince saw Emily holding on for dear life as walkers reached for her feet. Hector was standing on the fallen portion of the bridge at the bottom of the trench.

"Hold on, Em!" Sully cried, "I'm gonna get you up, okay? Just reach for my hand!" He thrust his hand downwards, trying to reach Em, but as the woman tried to get a grip her fingertips only managed to brush against his. Attempting to push herself up with only one hand caused her to drop and swing quite dramatically as Sully gasped and tried to push himself further down, gasping "N-No!"

No matter how hard he tried, Sully could not reach his friend. In a last ditch attempt, he turned around and put one of his legs over the edge. Vince ran over and dragged him back onto the platform by the shoulders, screaming "What are you doing? Are you insane?!"

Sully scowled at him. "I'm not giving up. If I can't lift her, I'm going down to help."

"Think this through!" Vince growled, looking over the edge. Maybe Hector would be able to reach her. "Hector!" Vince called, "can you push Em up?"

Hector looked up from where he was standing. The debris he was standing on was keeping him away from the walkers but he'd have to sacrifice his own safety to ensure Em's. As he made his way to the edge of his platform Vince noticed that the man was limping and had no weapon. Looking down Hector's face fell as he saw ten walkers reaching for him. He sighed and looked at Emily as she hung from the bridge.

Hector's cheeks inflated as he hastily forced breath from his lungs. Reaching down he grabbed a wooden shaft and rolled it in his palms before looking up at Vince and gulping. In one swift movement he leapt from his safe place and landed in the midst of the walkers, batting at them without making a sound. One or two of the dead collapsed, dead, and the rest were forced away. In the few seconds that it took the walkers to get back to their feet Hector dropped his weapon and reached up. His arms were still bent as he caught Emily's shoe, giving him some leverage which he used to push her up. Sully jolted forwards, grabbing Emily's hands and pulling her up. Once the woman's chest was flat on the bridge, Hector let go and allowed Sully to do the rest of the work.

Vince looked down and saw Hector spinning around and watching the walkers that were climbing back to their feet to attempt to attack him again. There was no way up for the man. "Hector!" Vince called, struggling to tear his backpack open as Emily and Sully fled the bridge. "Here!" he withdrew his pistol, but the man shook his head and reached for the wooden shaft he had used earlier.

"I think... I think I can outrun them." Hector replied, refusing the aid. "Don't shoot, the noise will attract more."

Vince cursed under his breath. "If you can get out of there, try. We'll meet you back in the town somewhere, okay?"

Hector was no longer listening. He growled fiercely and swung at a walker before breaking into a sprint, stunted by his injured leg. He limped down the ditch as the group of walkers staggered after him, ducking beneath some foliage and disappearing into the wilderness.

Vince sighed, and then turned to face the other members of the group. Em's face was buried in Sully's neck as the two were enveloped in a tight embrace. Mitchell watched on with a sickly look on his face, clearly nearing the end of his life. Sully finally let go of Em and then ran over to Mitchell to help his brother keep his balance.

"What... do we do now?" Em muttered, still recuperating from the stress of her near-death experience.

Vince grimaced. "Seven of our people are still unaccounted for." He looked down the path that led away from the broken wooden bridge and stared at the cluster of walkers ahead. "Now we have to deal with that."