Chapter Twenty-Two: Big Strong Men
It was more than a little nervewracking to wait for the rest of their group to come back with their missing members. Alicia and Chris were still staring at the door their parents had disappeared through ten minutes ago, as if they could mentally will for them to come back. Martina sighed before deciding to address the younger teenagers.
"I think we should wait in the cars until your parents get back." she stated, "We'll be safer that way. The dead can't open cars."
"Are you sure?" Chris asked.
"Yeah," Alicia added, "Mr. Dawson was able to open the back door of the house remember?"
"I know." Martina responded tiredly, "But the first time I encountered one of those things it started banging on my window uselessly, it didn't know how to get in. I say we get in the SUV's and lock the doors."
"Alright." Alicia sighed warily.
"You two can join me and Lukas in the red SUV, if you'd like." Martina offered, "That way we're all together."
"Nah," Chris denied although he looked like he wanted to take her up on the offer, "My dad said that we should take both of the SUV's to the campground if things go to shit, so Alicia and I may as well stay in the other car."
Alicia nodded in agreement as the two teens got into the brown SUV Daniel had commandeered, "We'll be alright, Marty."
The nineteen-year-old sighed before nodding and getting into her own car. Lukas and Pingu both looked up at her expectantly when she shut the door, "Hey, squirt. The others went to get Nicky, Griselda, and Liza back. We'll head off to the campgrounds as soon as they get here."
"Kay, Marty." Lukas chirruped, "Can I please watch Iron Man?"
"Yeah," Martina sighed before rummaging through the saddlebag in the front seat and grabbing the portable DVD player and headphones, "but you have to wear the headphones alright. We need to be quiet in case there's danger alright?"
Lukas nodded seriously, "I'll be quiet, I promise Marty." the little boy stated before grabbing the offered items. Martina had already placed the movie inside and plugged the headphones in, so all her brother had to do was put the headphones on and press play. Pingu simply laid down on the seat beside Lukas and dozed off.
A brief flash of jealousy ran through her at how carefree both Lukas and the german shepherd were. Martina wouldn't be able to mentally check out by watching a film or taking a nap, she didn't think sleep would come to her even if she tried. This whole situation had her feeling very antsy and out of control. One of the dead bastards was nothing, but Daniel had led a considerable group to distract the guard, what if a part of that group splintered and headed towards the garage they were hiding in? Martina only had an aluminum baseball bat to protect herself, according to Nick traumatic brain injury is the only way to put the walking dead down... but if she was surrounded by a group of those things a baseball bat would certainly not suffice as protection.
She was not comfortable with the idea of splintering off from the group and heading to the campgrounds with only two teenagers. Martina had this sinking feeling in her stomach that if they split up, the chances of seeing the rest of their group would be a million to one. A quick peek at the backseat let her know that Lukas was beginning to doze off in his booster seat despite his favorite movie playing on his lap and Pingu was also lazily snoring as the dog stretched out comfortably by her brother's side.
Her wristwatch let Martina know that their wayward members had been gone for over forty minutes now and that it was just a little quarter past three in the morning. Everyone was definitely going to crash when they got to a safe place, Martina could feel the exhaustion pulsing through her veins. Her head was aching something awful as well, but Martina attributed it to the bad sleep she'd been getting the last few days. Even the nap she and Lukas had after packing everything up wasn't enough to balance out all the hours Martina had without sleep.
Movement caught Martina's eye from the rearview mirror. It looked like Chris and Alicia were getting more than a little antsy as well since they'd gotten out of their SUV and were now leaning against the vehicle instead. The younger teenagers looked tired and worried. The pregnant teen sighed, shutting her eyes in mild annoyance before quietly stepping out of her vehicle as well. She may as well check on them and see if something was wrong.
"I don't want anyone to die." Chris retorted to Alicia, "I don't want that."
"You sound like your dad." the female Clark stated.
"Yeah, well, he tries." Chris snapped before large thumping and snarling from upstairs made all of them look up at the ceiling warily. Martina did not like this at all.
Alicia sighed, "You can't save everyone."
"Why the hell would you say that?"
"Because you can't."
"Is something wrong?" Martina asked, not moving away from her red SUV. The other two teens startled at her voice before looking at Martina almost sheepishly.
"No." Alicia sighed, "Sorry, we just needed to stretch our legs-"
"Shut up." Chris interrupted as he stared at something behind Alicia. Martina tensed before poking her head around her car to stare at the other end of the lot. Shadows in the shape of humans were dancing across the wall. Fuck.
"What?" Alicia asked in an offended tone before turning around to look at what Chris and Martina were staring at.
"Get in the car." Martina and Chris commanded at the same time.
"Get in the SUV and lock your doors." Martina whispered before quickly getting into her car and locking all of the doors. Pingu lazily lifted his head up at her entrance but closed his eyes once more when he noticed it was just her. Lukas had predictably fallen asleep. A quick peek through the rearview mirror showed that Chris and Alicia were back in their SUV and where probably bending down so that she could spot them through their window.
Martina breathed shakily in fear before gripping the bat and subtly looking through the mirror to catch a glimpse of whatever was making their way through the garage. Three camouflaged figures were cautiously making their way towards the SUV Chris and Alicia were hiding in.
Shit.
That was pretty much just as bad as the dead roaming around outside. Martina eyed the intimidating guns on their person. One of the men seemed to have spotted the younger teenagers in the car and walked up to the driver's seat before messing with the door, not a second later the same man broke the window open with the butt of his rifle. She could hear Alicia shriek as Pingu jumped up on his seat and began to growl menacingly at the direction of the noise.
"Shhh! Pingu, quiet!" Martina hissed and pleaded all at once as the soldiers dragged the younger teens out of the SUV they'd been hiding in before surrounding them. Pingu thankfully stopped growling at her command but was now simply staring intensely through the window where the struggle was occurring. She could see Alicia try to subtly eye at where Martina was hiding with her brother before one of the men blocked her from view.
Martina couldn't hear what they were talking about but she stiffened with anger when one of the men tried to touch Alicia before Chris shoved him away earning the ire of the other two men who forcibly pushed Chris against the hood of their SUV.
"Stop it! Stop it! I have the keys!" Alicia shouted loud enough for Martina to hear. Pingu had started growling again. Martina shushed him harshly as she watched Alicia reach into her pockets to grab the keys for the SUV.
When the same man from earlier tried to put his arm around Alicia once more, Martina snapped roughly opening her car door and gripping her baseball bat before slamming the door behind her making the men and teenagers startle and stare before Chris shoved the offending soldier away.
"Don't touch her man!" Chris shouted angrily. The sleazy guard shoved Chris away roughly from him.
"What do we have here, another pretty little thing. What about you baby, you wanna come with us?" said the same goddamn pig.
Martina glared at him venomously, "I'd rather be eaten alive. Leave the kids alone."
The man chuckled ominously, "That could be arranged."
Before the dark-skinned soldier intervened, "We just want transport."
Martina scoffed, "Big strong men would steal from a couple of kids and pregnant woman." she spat out angrily.
"Everyone for themselves these days baby girl." the pig grinned in a malicious manner. "Besides this pretty little thing over here is too much of a woman to be a child." the guard leered disgustingly.
"Shut up!" Chris shouted angrily and stepped in front of her when Alicia flinched and moved backwards. The soldier laughed before pushing Chris away and into another uniformed man, they started pushing Chris back and forth in a taunting manner. Chris snapped and managed to punch one the men in the face earning himself the butt of profile to his face before crumbling onto the floor.
Martina resisted the urge to lunge forward before gritting out, "Alicia give these pedazos de mierda the keys. Ojalá se mueran como los cobardes que son." she cursed them out in Spanish.
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