Ch. 15
'Stand together Part two'
[Monroe settlement, morning]
Genevieve sat alone, she guessed it was about six o'clock and the sun had not fully risen yet.
Genevieve was doing some homemade schoolwork using a flashlight since the power went out late last night.
Genevieve set her pencil down and walked to the front door, stepping outside and sitting on the porch it was a Dewey morning but fairly warm, the bored little girl wondered what her guardian was doing at this very moment.
[Livingston, morning]
Summer and Amanda walked side by side on horseback, keeping their wits sharp as they entered the town now in ruins.
"How was Genevieve this morning?" Amanda asked, scanning the tops of the buildings and its windows.
"Fine. I could tell she didn't wanna do her homework in the dark but she's a little behind since that incident at the park." Summer answered, her eyes watching for any potential threat on the road ahead of them.
"Ya... How's she doing at it though?" Amanda inquired.
"Really good." Summer answered back, matter of factly. "I take away the phone for math and conversion so she won't cheat but she still does good." Summer explained.
"Smart girl..." Amanda murmured to herself.
"Ya, she is." Summer concurred with Amanda.
"Heard Ian's working on your generator in like an hour." Amanda declared as she got off her horse and led it inside a garage in an alleyway that had a water trough with a hose taped up to a sink and a small hay bale.
Summer followed suit. "Too bad we don't have the means to bring an A.C. unit home, gonna get hot." Summer lamented.
The two shut the overhead door together as quietly as possible, before moving in towards the center of town.
As they neared an intersection there was a handful of walkers roaming around.
"You would make less of a ruckus." Amanda said, leaning up against the building next to them.
Summer smirked and drew her bow and notching an arrow she counted her arrows before engaging she came up with ten arrows.
Summer pulled the string back to her cheek and let go, the arrow flew through the air embedding itself in the head of a walker.
She pulled another arrow out quickly and followed up with another shot hitting another one in the skull.
"I wanna save the arrows..." Summer confessed, looking at Amanda.
"Alright... Got your knife with you?" Amanda asked hiding a smirk.
"I always do." Summer responded, setting her bow up and pulling her knife out gifted to her years ago.
"Psh. 'Always'." Amanda snickered, as she took the lead.
"Oh c'mon Mandy that was one time two and a half years ago!" Summer groaned.
"Still happened." Amanda said, with a chuckle.
Amanda trekked forward when the first walker came at her she let it lunge, she tripped it as she moved out of the way.
The teen stabbed the walker in the temple before moving forward.
[Monroe settlement]
Genevieve decided they were probably just looking through old buildings for supplies with nothing fun happening.
Genevieve returned inside and finished her homework quickly.
When Genevieve finished the lights came back on meaning Ian had fixed the generator, the little girl quickly got up from the floor leaving her work and jumped down the porch steps, and ran to the back where Ian was picking up the tools he had used.
"Hi." Genevieve greeted, cheerfully.
"What's up G?" Ian said, standing up straight.
"Nothing, I just got done with my homework." Genevieve proclaimed.
"Already?" Ian asked, in genuine disbelief.
"Mhm!" Genevieve confirmed.
"Decent." Ian applauded, before gesturing to what tools were left on the ground. "Wanna help me pick up this stuff?" Ian asked the little girl.
"Yes." Genevieve answered, promptly as she quickly picked up the remaining tools. "What was wrong with it?" Genevieve inquired, as she walked beside Ian with the tools in her arms.
"Wires were disconnected linking your house to the generator... Pretty clean cut." Ian told the little girl as he walked them to another house with a power outage.
"Do you think it was done on purpose?" Genevieve asked.
"It was done pretty clean." Ian said, confirming her suspicion.
"Shouldn't we say something?" Genevieve asked, concerned.
"I wanna get to this next one first, that way I can see if it matches your place. Ian replied as he rounded a house.
" makes sense." Genevieve concurred, with worry now evident in her voice as she followed
[Livingston]
Summer was thrown against a wall by a bandit, her head was ringing from the impact with the brick skyscraper.
The woman then saw a fist flying towards her, Summer bobbed her head to the left.
The man punched the wall with all his might hearing the crunch of bone he withdrew holding his hand.
Summer followed up with a left hook to his ribs than cocked back and threw a left hook to the man's face, landing both hits, losing balance the man stumbled to the side.
Summer kicked him in the shin then shoved him down before diving to the ground aiming for her knife that she had lost earlier in the scuffle.
Summer made it to her blade but before she could regain her footing the man flipped her over with one hand before straddling her and grabbing her throat.
The man failed to see Summer reclaim her weapon and was immediately struck in the gut.
The bandit's grip loosened allowing Summer to turn the tables, once on top Summer plunged the knife into the man's head.
Now finished with her adversary Summer looked up to notice Amanda fighting off two men.
Amanda had fallen to the ground, one of the men followed her to the ground attempting to knock her unconscious landing one solid hit to Amanda's jaw before she dodged the second blow, the teenager grabbed his wrist then scissored her legs around his arm pulling him to the ground, trapping his arm.
The second man tried to stomp on Amanda's head but missed, he reeled up to try again but was stopped short when a gunshot echoed out and he was met with a bullet in the back of the head.
Amanda took the chance to pull back on the arm she had trapped, breaking it.
The man had only a second to scream before Summer shot him in the head.
"Good shot sis..." Amanda said, accepting the hand Summer offered.
"You ok?" Summer asked lifting the teenager up from the ground.
"Nothing that won't heal." Amanda said, raggedly.
The sound of walkers closing in on the sound of the gunshot filled the area.
The duo looked at both ends of the alleyway and saw walkers pouring in.
Amanda ran for a back door to the pharmacy they were planning to raid anyway.
"Quick! Inside!" Amanda exclaimed, pulling the door open with haste.
Summer stepped in quickly followed by Amanda who slammed the door shut.
"Grab what ya can fast!" Summer cried, quickly pulling off her backpack and stuff whatever items of use she could find.
The duo cleaned out the place in a matter of minutes, only then did they spot rotting fingers reaching through the broken glass windows and heard pounding on both entrances.
Amanda looked around hastily, discovering a ventilation shaft they could potentially escape with.
"Up there!" Amanda yelled, over the roaring of the dead trying to get in.
Summer followed Amanda's finger to the air vent before nodding and following.
Amanda cupped her hands together forming a step for Summer. "C'mon! Up you go!" Amanda yelled awaiting Summer's foot.
Summer quickly scrambled up in the vent and quickly realized she couldn't turn around to assist Amanda.
"I can't give you a hand!" Summer yelled, worried about her friend's safety.
"Keep goin'! I'll catch up!" Amanda ordered.
Summer reluctantly crawled forward.
Back on the floor, Amanda stepped away from the vent entrance before running towards it and leaping up the wall kicking off of it to gain more height and grabbed the vent, and heaved herself up and in.
The partners made their way up to the roof kicking out an old rusted fan.
Out in the daylight, the two made their way across the rooftops to their horses.
The two riders were approximately halfway back when they could see black smoke and hear gunfire coming from where Monroe should be.
"Oh shit." Amanda said, horror overtaking her voice.
Summer looked up from counting her bullets she had looted from a bandit earlier in the day, her eyes grew wide with fear. "Genevieve!" Summer exclaimed in horror as she spurred her horse into a sprint followed closely by Amanda.
[Monroe settlement]
Genevieve hadn't realized how fast everything had transpired: Ian found that the wires matched the generator at her house and the next one was the same.
Genevieve and Ian had started towards Joe to let him know someone was sabotaging the power supply but were stopped short as they ran into a well-coordinated militia force that was rampaging through the settlement.
Ian had grabbed Genevieve's hand since she couldn't keep up with him.
"We have to get Melissa!" Genevieve yelled, over the ensuing battle as she saw the infirmary.
Ian redirected his route towards the infirmary, upon arrival, Ian led Genevieve in.
"What is happening out there!?" Melissa asked while she was trying to stop the bleeding on the neck of a wounded patrolman.
"I think it's the Saviors!" Ian replied, checking himself and Genevieve for bullet wounds.
"Who are they!?" Melissa asked.
"A group outta Virginia." Ian explained, giving Genevieve the all-clear.
"Ian! We're in Tennessee, what makes you think it's that specific group?" Melissa inquired.
"They all wear the same patch, a bird with razor wire baseball bat in its talons!" Ian told her as he prepared to leave again.
"Where are you going!?" Genevieve shouted.
"Stay here G! I gotta get my kid and my ol' lady!" Ian instructed as he left the building.
Summer and Amanda had just arrived at the gates to the settlement.
"They've gotta be here!" Summer cried while she pulled on the battered gate.
The duo rode into town being met with bullets flying through the air.
Gunshots whizzed past Summer's head, paying them no mind other than flinching Summer spurred her horse on until the animal let out a cry of pain and toppled forward throwing Summer off.
Summer tumbled forward from the momentum being narrowly missed by her fallen steed as it rolled past her a few feet.
Summer got up slowly sore from her fall, hazy vision apparent.
"Here grab on." Amanda called, offering a hand.
Summer reached to take the hand but a stray round hit the fuel tank on a generator.
The explosion caused the horse Amanda was on to rear up, dumping her off in the process before it bolted.
"Ow..." Amanda said, getting up off the dirt.
[The infirmary]
Genevieve sat in the corner of the bathroom hidden as Melissa instructed her to do when an armed man was trying to break in.
It had been quiet up until now, there was the sound of a struggle just outside the door.
Genevieve stood up and walked slowly to the door, someone was thrown against the other side of the door causing Genevieve to jump but she heard a distressed Melissa and knew she needed to act.
Grabbing the knob Genevieve pulled the door open and saw Melissa struggling with the militia soldier and losing ground.
Genevieve was afraid but swallowed hard. "Leave her alone!" Genevieve shrieked, getting the man's attention.
The gun he had was now trained on Genevieve, Melissa took the chance to grab a loose board off the floor and quickly bring it down on the man's head causing him to crumble.
"Are you ok?!" Melissa asked rushing to Genevieve's side and checking her for any injuries.
"A-are you?" Genevieve asked allowing Melissa to check her.
"Yes! We have to leave now!" Melissa declared, taking Genevieve's hand.
"What about Summer, Amanda, and everyone else?!" Genevieve asked, pulling her hand away.
"We can look for them but they would want us safe." Melissa reasoned.
"We have to look for them..." Genevieve said under her breath, as she followed Melissa.
The woman and child burst out of the building through the door hanging only by its bottom hinge.
Corrine was across the path from them behind cover taking potshots at passing militia members.
"Corrine!" Melissa shouted over the raging battle.
Corrine dropped back behind cover and gave a single nod to indicate she heard Melissa.
After a few more gunshots passed overhead Corrine joined them.
"We should leave." Corrine said, checking her pistol for damage.
"We have to find the rest first." Melissa shouted.
"So be it..." Corrine concurred.
On the other end of the settlement Summer and Amanda, were just finishing helping Ian get his family on a horse.
"You know where to go, you've got the map and all our food." Ian coached his wife.
"You should come with us, Ian." Jessie said, a hint of worry in her voice.
"I gotta make sure the rest of these guys are good!" Ian said placing a kiss on their baby's head than on his partner's lips.
"No bullshittin' your mama!" Ian said to the infant.
After their goodbyes, Jessie and the baby fled.
"Ok. Let's save G!" Ian said, pulling two, finger pistols.
The trio braved through the bloody skirmish unfolding until they saw a familiar trio running to cover to avoid the spray of bullets in their direction.
"We gotta get to them!" Summer yelled over the sounds of gunfire.
"Right." Ian said, looking for a way to clear the way he spotted a savior soldier bleeding out, the large man grabbed the assault rifle the soldier had wielded.
Ian raised the gun, aimed it at the enemy had squeezed the trigger, a spray of bullets as well as a goofy scream filled the air.
The gunfire suppressed the militia long enough for Genevieve, Melissa, and Corrine to make their move.
Upon their reunion, the group quickly decided it was time to move on.
The group made to the entrance but it had been caved in since Summer and Amanda arrived.
"Let's try the north gate!" Summer said, ushering the group to follow her.
On their way there the group ran into a group of walkers that had been attracted by the noise of the fighting.
"Shit. We're almost out!" Amanda growls in frustration.
More gunfire behind the walkers blades through the air. "Take cover!" Melissa cried, ducking behind an overturned car frame.
The group scattered quickly but a stray round hit Corrine between the eyes who had pushed Genevieve ahead of her, laying her out and disfiguring her face.
Genevieve looked in horror at what once was a friend of hers, laying lifeless because she didn't move fast enough.
"I'm sorry Genevieve but we gotta go." Amanda deadpanned.
Being pulled from her thoughts by Amanda's words, Genevieve compartmentalized her pain and continued to follow the group.
The group ran towards the opening where the old gate once stood when another hail of gunfire was directed at them, there was no cover, the only option was to run.
Bullets flew past their heads and some bounced near their feet, one bullet hit one of the group members in the back.
Amanda.