David cursed softly as he felt the guard behind him push him with some force toward the middle of the area they were using as an arena.

Beside him, Duck and Luke were also pushed forward, where the three of them stood in a row next to each other.

David looked at the surrounding bleachers, almost unable to believe how many people he saw there. And what was worse, was that many of these people he had either seen walking around Richmond, or had even saved them.

And now they were there, screaming and rooting for him to die in that place, eager to see him fight for his life, to see him suffer.

He felt betrayed, he didn't expect anything in return for saving some of those people in the bleachers, but he certainly didn't expect things to end that way.

Having saved them was a mistake, apparently. So he was willing to make amends and kill as many as he could there.

On the other side of the arena, five people in total were walking down the corridor towards the trio, while in the next corridor, zombies were approaching as well.

David watched this, and cursed once more. He hoped that Duck was exaggerating when he said that the fights were usually quite difficult, at least a little. The men walking towards them had sticks and pieces of iron as weapons.

They didn't want to put him out of his misery so soon, which is probably why they chose weapons like those.

He looked at the boy next to him, who looked back at him. And they both nodded at the same time, each knowing what to do.

David had to admit that the plan was quite risky. They could have surrendered the guards if it had only been two who picked them up, but four armed men showed up to take them away, probably because they knew he was a soldier. And that made it impossible for them to try to take his weapons.

But he couldn't stay there. Kate, Gabe, Javi, Mariana, everyone was in danger and he needed to get back to Richmond as soon as possible.

Or at least try.

Duck and David ran towards the zombies quickly, while Luke just watched them while standing still.

However, in his inner self, he was still in doubt whether he should help or not. Everything seemed the same to him, nothing changed. If he died in that hellish place, or in a green flowered field, it would make no difference.

Death is Death, no matter the reason, cause or place of death.

David grabbed the first zombie while kicking another one further back, pushing it back.

He then forced the zombie to stand in front of him and held him by the back of the neck, ignoring that uncomfortable feeling he felt holding that cold rubbery skin.

He ran towards the armed men with the zombie as a shield. The men separated, and David threw the zombie on top of one of them while advancing towards the other one right next to him, punching him in the face and kicking him in the stomach.

The men further back tried to run towards David, but Duck appeared holding a zombie in the same way as David, and like him, threw his body on top of the first two men who tried to advance against David.

Duck dodged backwards by pure reflex as he was attacked from the side. A bald man, and in a good physique for someone living in the apocalypse, looked at Duck with a sickly smile on his face, as if he were his prey, and that he was willing to make him suffer.

The boy was not intimidated by that look, and in fact, was the first to attack. Duck advanced towards him, crouching down when the man tried to attack him from the side with the iron bar. The boy kicked one of his legs, making the man kneel down, and in one swift movement, Duck kicked him hard in the face, making the man fall backwards.

Rushing footsteps approached, and Duck turned away quickly.

The man who had been knocked down by the zombie David threw was running towards him with a baseball bat in hand. Duck could even try to dodge it, but he would be hit anyway.

All he could do was put his arms in front of his body in an attempt to protect himself from at least some of the impact.

However, Luke appeared quickly, throwing a zombie again at the man, who was slightly startled and put his hands in front of his body, canceling the attack.

Duck looked at Luke, who was looking at him somewhat determinedly, and they nodded to each other.

Duck dodged backwards, narrowly escaping an attack coming from the man he had just knocked down.

Luke advanced against the two men further ahead, punching the first one in the nose and receiving a baseball bat to the face, strong enough to leave him stunned for a while and falling backwards, as well as feeling a strong taste of blood in his mouth.

David was fighting further back against the two remaining men. His military training was proving to be far superior to two men with no training whatsoever, even though he had a wide cut on his face and blood dripping from his mouth.

It doesn't take many blows with a baseball bat or an iron bar to completely defeat someone, and David had already received some pretty good blows.

He ducked and rolled to the side, dodging a blow from the man with the piece of iron, and soon, David stood up and grabbed the arm of the one holding the baseball bat, head-butting him in the nose, followed by a simple but quick movement where David broke his arm.

The man screamed and dropped the baseball bat. David held him by the shoulders and spun him to the side, using his body as a shield from the iron bar attack that the man behind him had tried to strike.

David takes a few steps to the side and stomps hard on the side of the man's leg. A high-pitched scream escapes his throat, almost at the same time as the sound of breaking bone, and part of the bone in the man's leg slips out, becoming visible.

David punches him two more powerful times in the face, and throws him back in disgust. He bends down and picks up the baseball bat that was on the ground, walking towards the man with a murderous look on his face.

Glancing over, David could see the zombies approaching, he had to get this over with. Advancing against the man, David dodges a side attack with the iron bar, and counters with a punch to the man's stomach, causing him to bend over while widening his eyes as he felt all the air escape from his lungs.

David grabs him by the neck and walks towards the zombies, unmercifully throwing him to the dead, and not bothering with the man's cries of despair.

David delivers a powerful blow to the head of the nearest zombie and grabs the one further back, holding him by the back of the head while running towards the two men Luke was fighting.

He threw the zombie over one of the men, and landed a blow with the baseball bat on the head of the other, turning to Luke soon after.

His condition was not very good, he had bruises all over his face, cuts on his cheeks, and blood trickling down his forehead.

But, considering that the condition of the other men was not much different, David would say that he had fought well.

His eyes focused on Duck further ahead, who was struggling to free himself from the man's grip on his neck.

David ran to help, but stopped and looked with an arched eyebrow at Duck as he saw the boy stick his two fingers in the man's eyes.

A high-pitched scream escaped his throat, and the man's grip weakened. Duck took advantage of the moment and picked up the iron bar that was lying beside him, striking a blow to the man's head, knocking him down.

The boy placed one of his knees on the man's chest, and began hitting him multiple times on the head with the iron bar, until there was nothing left of his face but smashed meat.

Duck turned around panting and looked at David with a slight smile, before looking at the two men who were getting up further ahead.

Luke advanced against the first, dodging a punch and countering with a kick to the groin, bringing the man to his knees. Taking advantage, Luke grabbed the back of the man's head and began viciously punching him in the face, not caring about the pain in his hand or the blood splashing on his body.

David turned to the other man and blocked his attack with the baseball bat, landing a kick to his stomach with the opening.

He remembered when he had taught Javi how to play baseball, stood in front of the man, swinging the bat gently in his hands, and then landed a hard blow to the man's face, who fell backwards with a bloody nose.

David turned to Duck, who was killing some zombies that were approaching from further ahead. He called out to him and the boy turned, running toward him.

Luke and David grabbed the men by their feet and dragged them toward the zombies.

The corpses knelt in front of them and began to eat, and soon, the screams of despair and pain, mixed with the cheering of the audience, were heard throughout the arena.

The three men nodded to each other, and quickly, they grabbed some zombies and started running towards the guards at the foot of the bleachers.

The guards' eyes widened and they fired in their direction, but the zombies' bodies served as shields... not the best shields in the world, so they just prayed that no shots would get through those rotting bodies.

The guards jumped to the side.

David and Luke threw the zombies into the audience and jumped towards the guards, trying to take their guns while Duck made the zombie he was holding bite a man from the audience who had been caught in the process.

The boy saw him try to grab the gun, and quickly kicked him in the face, grabbing the pistol from the man's waistband and firing at the guards who were running toward the three of them.

David headbutted the guard and grabbed his rifle, shooting him in the head, and then starting shooting all the guards he saw in front of him.

Luke punched the guard in the stomach, followed by a punch to the face and a kick to the leg. The man falls to the ground and Luke manages to grab his gun. And just like David, he started shooting all the guards he saw, and even some people from the audience who were caught in the crossfire.

Not that it mattered, everyone there deserved to die.

- Let's go!

Duck shouted, running back to the arena and grabbing another zombie by the back of the head, using it as a shield and leading the way.

David and Luke followed him, climbing the stairs as they shot around them.

Just as Duck had said, it didn't take long for chaos to spread around the place, people started shooting at each other, at first it was accidental, but, the more accidents happened, the more people were shooting at each other.

Duck aimed his pistol through the gap between the zombie's arm and torso, shooting at the guards while they were still running towards him.

The guards took cover from the shots. Duck shot the zombie in the head and threw its body to the side, shooting at the guards as soon as they stood up again.

Luke shot back, while David practically shot everything that moved.

When they arrived where the guards hit by Duck were, David threw his rifle on the ground and took the rifle the man had, shooting him in the head and taking the only magazine the guard had in his pocket.

Luke, further behind him, did the same while Duck, who was a few steps ahead, looked towards the exit, smiling relieved to see that there were no guards up to there.

Luke stood up and looked away after hearing some footsteps approaching quickly. His eyes widened as he saw a man aiming a rifle in Duck's direction.

The boy was too far away for Luke to push him aside.

"Ah fuck!"

He thought as he stood in front of the shots

Three bullets pierced Luke's chest and abdomen, who groaned in pain and knelt on the ground.

David looked at him immediately and stood up shooting. He didn't even see exactly where the shot had come from, he just stood up, put his finger on the trigger and squeezed before his brain could even process any information.

The man fell to the ground after having his body pierced by several bullets. David and Duck grabbed Luke by the arm and dragged him to cover.

- Ah shit... ah shit...

Duck said in a half whisper, looking at Luke wide-eyed and not knowing what to do.

David put the rifle to the side and ripped Luke's shirt open, pressing with the torn shirt over the bullet wounds.

- Don't even... don't even try to do that shit...

Luke said in a low voice, getting extremely weaker after saying those words. It was hard to breathe, the bullet probably hit him in the lung. The sharp pain he felt made him unable to even think about his situation properly.

He had used an incredible amount of energy just to say those words, and it was amazing how quickly he became weak. He had been shot literally a few tens of seconds ago.

- The bullet had pierced his lung... probably his stomach... and certainly his guts. He needs a hospital, and even if he could find one, he would still risk dying from his injuries.

David said in a heavy tone, but still pressing his wounds as best he could.

Luke didn't even seem to mind that, he just gave a small smile and looked painfully at Duck.

- I bet...I bet you're thinking...this is your fault.

He said slowly, not knowing whether to be surprised or frightened at how difficult he was finding it to speak.

- Those bullets were for me... and I was distracted, looking at the exit.

He said, lowering his head and looking at the huge amount of blood that was dripping from Luke's torso and spreading across the floor.

- No... don't start with that shit... I had the chance... to let you get shot...

He said with difficulty, moving his body to the side, ignoring the scolding voices of the two men ahead.

Luke took the rifle and raised his body slightly, trying to ignore the excruciating pain and weakness he felt.

- Go... go quickly...

He said, watching over the railing as a few guards ran towards him, and who would arrive quickly, if not caught in the general chaos in the middle of the way.

- Are you out of your fucking mind?! We can't leave you here to die! Not in this shitty place!

Duck said, putting his hand on Luke's shoulder as he heard the footsteps of the guards approaching.

- That's... my choice... you don't need... a dead man... to put you at risk.

He said slowly, becoming increasingly difficult to keep his eyes open.

David looked at him and sighed faintly, placing his hand gently on Luke's shoulder, who continued to stare at the situation ahead.

- It was... nice to meet you... I'd like to bury you as a soldier, but...

David said in a gentle manner, he didn't know Luke well enough to say if he would be a good soldier or not, but from what little he saw, he would be good enough.

David began to walk crouched toward the exit, using what little cover he had along the way while waiting for Duck.

The boy looked guiltily at Luke, who had his back to himself.

-I'm sorry... for treating you like that...

He apologized, looking back, slightly hesitant to go.

- No... don't worry... I was... wrong... anyway. You... you were just trying to get me to open my eyes.

He said with difficulty, using what little adrenaline he still had in his body and leaning to the side, pointing his rifle towards the guards and firing.

Due to his weakness, he missed most of the shots, but he hit enough to kill the two men. And soon, he was back in cover, feeling as weak as before.

- Go away... Duck... my death... is not meant to be sad... I will... I' ll find the ones I lost...

Luke said, throwing the rifle aside and lying down, resting his head on the small metal plate that covered them, in the middle of the railing.

Duck looked at him for a few moments, and nodded to Luke, putting his hand one last time on his shoulder, before turning and running towards David, who looked at Luke for a few moments, before turning and running towards the exit.

Luke stared at his own blood on the ground, even though his vision was blurred. He could no longer feel anything, perhaps it was the loss of blood that inhibited his sensations.

He thought about everything he had been through to get to that moment, from his childhood, to his death. And as he had told Duck, he hoped to meet again the people he had lost.

His mind then focused on the events that recurred after the apocalypse. From the moment he lost his parents, to the moment he found the others, to the moment he found Clementine, to that moment.

A wry smile appeared on his lips, and he whispered a few words into the wind.

- Survive... escape... avoid people... until you get captured... and someone dies trying to escape... just a fucking cycle...

He laughed humorlessly, feeling his body going numb, and his eyes being forced shut.

First came the cold, the fear, the despair of knowing he is dying.

Then came the warmth, the pleasant sensation that spread through his body, the same sensation he always felt when his mother hugged him.

And then, he felt nothing more...