Kate was passed on out the cot, with her abdomen bandaged. Eleanor took the bloody gloves off and tossed them into a gray trashcan nearby, a frustrated look on her face.
"What's the status, doc?" Kenny asked from his seat.
"She's stable, for now... She's still bleeding inside though, and i'm worried that she might become septic."
Javier's heart sank at that. He shook his head, standing up. "I'm... Gonna go talk to Gabe and Mari." He said quietly. Eleanor sighed and nodded while Kenny slumped forward, hanging his head.
Javier turned, looking towards the gate of Prescott. Near the plane, he saw Clementine sitting with her face hidden and her knees against her chest. In front of the bar that they went to yesterday, Javier saw that Hannah, and Gabriel were looking up at Mariana with broad smiles. Mariana was riding on Shade, a huge grin on her face.
For a moment, Javier's heart stopped, but when he saw how calm Shade and Hannah were, he relaxed. He couldn't help but to feel grateful towards Hannah for taking Gabriel and Mariana out of that situation- no kid should see their step-mother in such pain.
Javier walked over to the kids, a light smile on his face. "Hey, kids. You having fun with the horse?" Javier asked. Shade turned his head towards Javier, his ears up, and then snorted a bit. Javier smiled and scratched his nose gently.
"Yeah. Hannah's teaching us how to ride!" Mariana said excitedly.
"You be sure to tell her thank you." Javier said. Mariana nodded and looked at Hannah.
"Thanks for teaching me how to ride!" She said cheerfully. Hanna blinked in surprise and her cheeks became dusted lightly with pink.
"Yeah, sure. No problem." She said with a bashful smile. Gabriel turned, looking up at Javier with a worried look.
"How's Kate?" He asked. Almost immediately, Javier had the attention of the three kids. Javier sighed, looking down and shaking his head.
"She's stable, but Eleanor says she's still got some internal bleeding. She thinks Kate might get an infection."
Mariana's face fell at that and she looked down. "How do we fix that?" She asked.
"Well, first, we would need medicine, but something tells me that this place doesn't have much of that." Javier said. He looked at Hannah. "Do you know?"
"Sorry, they ran out just a few days ago." Hannah said, a sympathetic look on her face. "I... Could go find some?"
Javier shook his head at that. "I couldn't ask a kid to do that for us. And besides, you're injured, too."
"It's fine, really," Hannah said. "It stopped bleeding not that long ago."
"That's... Not good. Come on, Hannah, you should go see Eleanor." Javier insisted. Hannah sighed in defeat and pulled her hood over her shoulders, revealing a red long-sleeved shirt with a patch of darker red over her shoulder.
"Fine. Sorry, squirt, party's over." Hannah said to Mariana. Mariana groaned in protest, but obeyed, and slid off of Shade's back carefully. Hannah took Shade's leads and led him away, heading over to Eleanor. Javier watched her for a moment, and then looked at the sky. The sun was now setting, casting a pink glow over the sky above them. The air was beginning to grow chilly once again.
"I'll ask Tripp where we can sleep tonight." Javier said.
"What should we do?" Mariana asked.
"Make friends!" Javier replied gleefully. Mariana's eyes darted over to Clementine, and then back to Javier.
"She scares me." Mariana said quietly.
Javier scoffed. "Hey, she's nice to other kids, at least. Come on, it'll be fine. If you don't wanna talk to other people, you could always just play your card games."
Mariana looked at Gabriel expectantly, who reached into his back pocket and pulled out a deck of cards. Javier turned away and looked back up at the sky as he headed towards the gates. The sun was setting fast; it would be nighttime soon.
To the right of the gates were a set of black metal stairs that led to the top, where Tripp and Conrad stood, keeping watch. Javier tested the stairs, raising an eyebrow and scrunching his face up a bit. They didn't seem very stable, but it was the only way to get to the top of the gate.
Javier wasted no time in going up the stairs, sidling up beside Tripp. The night had come much sooner than he'd expected, and by now, the sun had gone down entirely. Javier was about to open his mouth to speak, when in front of the gates, a pair of headlights turned on, and in the distance, the low rumble of a truck could be heard.
"What's going on?" Javier asked. Beside Javier, Clementine went up the stairs and to the top of the gate, peering out. She frowned when she saw an eighteen wheeler pulling up to the gates.
"It's the freaks that brand themselves. They call themselves 'The New Frontier.'" Tripp replied, scowling down at the truck. The doors opened, and a few men stepped out. Javier recognized them immediately and he felt anger boil up inside of him. Those were the men who'd attacked him!
"You have something that belongs to us!" The man with a beanie said, nodding at a bald man with a black beard. He had what Javier could only describe as crazed eyes. "Badger here says you attacked his men!"
Tripp's eyes narrowed while Javier bristled dangerous. "You shot my sister and an innocent girl!" He retorted.
"How many of my friends died because of you, huh?!" Badger snapped, stepping forward with a deadly glare. "What I want is for my dead friends to come back... But that ain't gonna happen."
"This doesn't have to turn nasty, now," The man with the beanie said. "He needs to come down and accept his punishment. Men have gotta have laws; otherwise, we're no better than the animals."
"You're crazy if you think i'm going anywhere with you." Javier spat. Badger and the other man exchanged a glance and Badger nodded at the other man.
"Looks like our friend needs a little encouragement," He said, turning to nod at some of the other people with them. A woman with long black hair and sunglasses nodded and went around the truck, then came back, pushing Francine in front of her. Conrad cried out his wife's name in horror, his eyes wide. Meanwhile, Francine looked terrified as another person wearing a gray bandana and sunglasses drew out a redclipper. The woman grabbed Francine's hand, and jerked it forward, allowing the man easy access to her fingers.
The man didn't hesitate; he was quick to close the clippers around Francine's ring fingers. Javier's heart skipped a beat as blood spurted out of the wound and as the finger fell to the ground. Francine screamed in pain, grimacing and shutting her eyes tightly.
"Javi, man, you gotta go down there. You gotta save my Francine," Conrad pleaded, going around Tripp to stand next to Javier. He gripped a black rifle firmly, ready to shoot if he needed to. Tripp appeared to wield the same type of rifle.
"No one's going down there!" Tripp said firmly.
"Come on, man, they'll kill her!" Conrad shot back. "Please, Javi, just go."
"We should start shooting." Clementine said with a nod.
Would Javier surrender, abandoning his family to save Conrad's wife, or would he stay and shoot, potentially getting everyone else killed at the same time? The answer was painfully clear to Javier.
"Wait, stop! I'm coming down!" Javier said. Badger smirked at this while Clementine and Tripp gave Javier shocked looks. Javier turned and hurried down the stairs, and then went through the gates, his hands up in surrender.
"Glad we could settle this peacefully." The man in the beanie said. "Now-"
Before he could finish his sentence however, a gunshot rang out and hit one Badger's comrades square in the forehead. Badger cursed loudly while Javier lunged forward, punching someone, while another gunshot rang out above him, gunning down another member of the New Frontier.
"JAVI, GET INSIDE! NOW!" Javier heard Clementine bark out. He didn't need to be told twice- they were still caught off guard. He turned, bolting through the gates. Francine tried to run away, only to be shot through the head.
"FRANCINE!" Conrad cried out. Javier slammed the gates shut and spotted Gabriel and Mariana with wide eyes.
"Gabriel! Mariana! Go get Kate and Eleanor, and tell them to get ready to leave just in case!" Javier said, rushing away from the gates.
"Ram the fucking gates!" Badger ordered to the driver of the truck. Javier felt his blood run cold at this command.
"We don't have the go ahead!" Someone protested.
"No. Fuck that. Fuck the go-ahead. Ram the fucking gate!" Badger snapped. The truck began to back up. Tripp cursed and began shooting at the men frantically. The engine of the truck roared angrily and the truck lunged forward, bursting through the gates. Javier cursed and jumped out of the way. He fell to the ground as the truck swerved and tipped over, falling onto its side. the top of the cage it was carrying opened, and Javier's heart sank when muertos crawled out, growling hungrily. A silver tear gas grenade was tossed over the wall and landed near him.
Just then, a rotting muerto crawled on top of him, causing Javier to curse. He reacted quickly, grabbing its shoulders and pushing it away from him. A gunshot went off and the bullet entered the muerto's head, killing it. Javier pushed it off of him and got to his feet quickly, coughing as the chemicals from the grenade entered his lungs.
Through the fog of chemicals, Javier could see Tripp approaching him, coughing. "Fuckin' tear gas!" Tripp exclaimed.
"My family-" Javier began, only to break off into a fit of coughing.
"Go! I'll hold these assholes off!" Tripp said. Javier nodded once, grateful, and turned, coughing. He drew his gun out, his eyes beginning to sting. There was a combination of both smoke and deadly chemicals in the air, and if they didn't get out of there soon, there was no telling what would happen.
As Javier walked deeper into Prescott, he heard the sound of a loud whinny. He looked over and saw Shade, panicking and stamping his hooves furiously. Javier whistled, catching the horse's attention.
"Shade! Can you find Gabe?" Javier asked.
Please understand what i'm asking...
The horse snorted and jerked his head right and turned, running into Prescott. To Javier's left, a woman was struggling with a muerto. Javier took aim and shot it in the head.
A few moments later, Shade came trotting back and went behind Javier, nudging him forward. Javier coughed and looked up, seeing a muerto limping towards him. He shot it down, revealing Gabriel, Mariana, Kate and Eleanor.
"This way!" Eleanor called. Eleanor and Gabriel were supporting Kate as they trudged through the chaos.
"Where are we heading?!"
"To the cars!" Eleanor replied. Javier looked up, and he saw it- two large black cars. Shade snorted and neighed loudly, then trotted off into the chaos.
Good luck.
When they got to the car, Eleanor swung the door open and helped Kate lie down inside. Mariana and Gabriel climbed into the backseat while Javier climbed in beside Kate, slamming the car door shut. In the car in front of them, Tripp, Kenny and Conrad suddenly appeared, with Tripp taking the driver's seat. Conrad slipped into the passenger seat, slamming his door shut. Kenny eyed the land nervously, presumably searching for Clementine.
"YEEE HAW!" Javier heard a familiar voice cry through the car. He looked the window and saw Hannah, Shade and Clementine zoom past and through the now broken gates of Prescott. Clementine had a terrified look on her face, with one hand on her hat and the other wrapped tightly around Hannah, holding on for dear life. Javier heard the sound of a car door closing, and he assumed that Kenny had gotten into the car. The engines revved, and Javier felt the car jerk forward.
Just like that, they were all speeding out of Prescott and onto the road.
(A/N)- Thanks to everyone who's read this far. Reviews and constructive criticism is welcomed and appreciated!