Ok, I'm suuuuper nervous about this chapter, more nervous than about almost any other, because if I don't convince you about what's happening in this chapter, it messes up the entire story line; or at least, it won't make as much sense. So please, let me know what you thought after reading it and any complaints, advice or compliments or so you have. Thanks for the favourites and follows, as well as to celia azul and portalefiamme for reviewing!
Enjoy!
Chapter 7
As the sun went down, Anamika slowly crept closer to the outpost, the activity around the house having ceased as Negan had called everyone in for his big show he had to make of some poor man; not that she really cared, except as an opportunity for her to make use of. She breathed in deeply as she was crouched behind an abandoned car, her heart thudding in her ears and cursing at herself for being crazy enough to try this. She knew that to pull this off, to make Negan feel fear at the thought of her and to stop sending his men after her, she had to unlock some part of her mind she usually kept tightly sealed away in the dark recesses of her memories.
She couldn't be Anamika now, she had to become the monster that she sometimes pretended not to be and she had to be brutal. She had the feeling that nothing less would work on this man. She sneaked forward again, till she was about 100 yards from the house, crouched behind a car. She needed to get closer, since she had to kill the snipers first and then be close by to immediately kill the men on the ground, but the next car was about 50 yards away. She waited for a chance, a moment when the guards turned their backs on her, and that chance came when two dead ones stumbled around the opposite corner of the house. Though the snipers had them, all the guards were focused on the dead for a few moments and Anamika took her chance to sprint across the parking lot to the next car, sliding to a stop and crouching behind it. Ignoring the gravel embedded in her jeans, as it hadn't been torn through, she breathed deeply, calming her heart.
She peeked out and was relieved to see no outcries of alarm or weird behavior from the guards. The night had taken over completely by now, but luckily the moon was full tonight and afforded her enough light to use her scope. Bringing her rifle up, she aimed at the sniper furthest from her, knowing that as soon as she pulled the trigger, she was going to have to be in constant motion. She breathed in, her mind going quiet and the thudding of her heart drowning out her thoughts. She breathed out, her eyes intent on her target even as she made sure she knew the exact position of her next target. She breathed in, her finger curling around the trigger.
Not today
She breathed out and pulled the trigger, not even watching the man fall down in a spray of red, immediately moving on to the next sniper, who was just starting to realise something had happened, but he was already dead before he could fully turn around. Adjusting her scope, she saw one of the guards on the ground, oblivious to what happened on the roof, but she didn't want to shoot him before she saw where the other guard is. The chances of him being able to raise the alarm before she got to him was too big if she didn't have him in her sight. She waited, knowing that there would be a moment, a second where the two guards met at the far corner of the house, where she would have them both in sight and she would have to make the two shots within split seconds of each other. She breathed in, the guard walking to the corner of the house. Her heart thudded, her arms steady and her eyes focused. The guard reached he corner and she could see the other guard coming around the corner into her sightline.
She breathed out. Two soft thuds reached her ears as the two men fell to the ground, two perfect bullet wounds between their eyes. Once again she was grateful for the silencer she had, as none of this would have been possible without that. She jumped from behind the car, her eyes roving around as she made sure no one else was around, her rifle up and ready. When she reached the front of the house, she switched her rifle for her silenced handgun, running up to the front door. She had to be quick and thorough, the only reason this attack would work was because they weren't expecting anyone to attack them and they definitely weren't expecting them to have the toys she had.
Easing the door open, she was glad to see no one around and that apparently Negan was still busy with his tribunal. Sneaking through the corridors, she kept her ears open as she checked doors, mostly finding bedrooms and supply closets, but when she reached a door at the end of the corridor and picked the lock after hearing nothing behind it, she realised she had found the armory. A smile crept across her face as she saw the cache of weapons they had. She would make sure to avoid this part of the house, so she could maybe scavenge some of these weapons after. For now she had to make sure no one else could use it. Checking if it had a window, she made sure the window in the room next to the arsenal was open and then she dragged a chair with her into the weapons room.
Looking around, she grabbed a fork from one of the supply closets nearby and entered the room, thankful the door opened to the inside. Looking around to make sure she was still alone, she quickly inserted the fork prongs into the latchole, seeing how deep it went in, then she pressed the prongs of the fork against the floor and used brute force to bend the prongs , so that the part that went into the latchole was horisontal from the rest of the fork. Next she snapped the handle off the fork, glad it was a handle that tapered to a wide end and had grooves from designs along the way.
Inserting the bent prongs into the latchole, she closed the door and then pushed the handle of the fork through the two prongs in the middle, so that the door wouldn't be able to be opened. This wouldn't stop someone if they were really determined, but it would slow them down. She also placed the chair she had dragged in below the handle as double insurance. Climbing out the window, she climbed back into the window at the next room and continued on her way, the entire side mission having taken no longer than two minutes.
It wasn't long before she started hearing voices and came upon a meeting hall, where it seemed the rest of the saviors where gathered. She could hear a deep voice speaking, everyone else silent as the dead and she breathed in deeply, knowing it was now or never. She had to do this and she had to do it right. There would be no time for hesitation once she threw the first bomb. Placing the gas mask over her face, she pulled out two smoke bombs, two flash bangs and made sure the tactical grenades were still clipped to her belt where she could easily reach them.
It was them or her.
Not today
Just as she heard someone start screaming behind the door, she pushed it open, having a split second to take in the man having his head bashed in by Negan. Then, it was chaos as she threw all four of the smoke bombs and flash bangs into the room, followed by one regular grenade. She slammed the door shut behind her, running to the end of the hall and crouching down, her AK-47 pointed at the door. In that split second, she had seen one other exit to the right and from where she was crouched at the T-section of the corridors, she was able to see both exits and still have an escape route if things went bad. Screams and yells had erupted from the room and it wasn't long before the doors burst open and saviors streamed out, some with their weapons up even as they coughed and their eyes watered, some stumbling around, their hands on their heads or holding their bodies.
However, they had no time to react before she threw another two smoke bombs towards the different exits and immediately started shooting into the smoke, hearing the screams start anew and the thuds of bodies falling to the ground as a hail of bullets descended on them. Somewhere through the smoke she could hear Negan's deep voice booming out in anger as he cussed up a storm, shouting orders. Before the saviors could regroup, she threw another grenade, ducking behind the wall as it went off with a loud boom, blasting the walls apart, as well as anyone unfortunate enough to stand close by.
Running around the corner, she gunned down more men and women who stumbled from the smoke and wreckage, her feet in constant movement as she continued her massacre. She was lucky they were so disorientated, or this would have been over before it started. Returning gunfire had her dropping to the floor, shooting from a lying position, before she was up and going once again.
She had to get to Negan.
WD
Negan didn't know what the fuckity fucking fuck was going on! He had been minding his own fucking business, managing his community and fucking up some fucker who fucking thought he could steal his, Negan's, fucking shit, when the entire fucking world erupted into flames. His people were screaming, his head was ringing as if some whore had slipped him some special pills and his body ached where some shrapnel from the fucking grenade had hit him. He didn't know what fucker was attacking him, but he was sure he was going to make the prick regret picking a fight with him.
"What the fuck is going on?! Find who did this, FUCK, let's go Simon!" Another two grenades went off outside the room and it was only then that the ringing in his ears cleared enough for him to hear the shitload of gunfire going on outside the room.
"GODDAMN, we're like fucking animals in the slaughterhouse here! Simon, we're going out the back!"
Negan turned, ignoring his men and women who were dropping like flies outside that room. He knew he couldn't exit using the door, as that would be certain death. Negan ran to the windows, for once glad there was so fucking many of them, and smashed the glass on one that was already partially blown open. Simon went through first, checking for any assailants on the outside, before motioning it was clear. The two saviors at his back had their guns pointed towards the two doors, ready in case someone came inside.
Negan was just about to climb through when he realised it was too goddamn quiet outside the room. He had just enough time to swear and try to jump out, when the metallic sound of something rolling along the floor filled his ears and heat seared at his back, as the grenade went off and blasted him through the window. Luckily for him, his men had been standing between him and the grenade, saving his life but not preventing his jacket from catching fire, nor his ribs from breaking as one of his men's bodies landed on top of him.
He slowly registered a searing pain in his back where the burnt body was covering him and flames licking at his jacket, as well as a piercing pain in his leg, when Simon was there, rolling the body off him. He pushed himself up, seeing a fucking wooden stake from the shrapnel of the blast driven through the flesh of his leg.
"FUCK! Fucking fuckity fuck FUCK!" He screamed, enraged at this group who had taken out one of his outposts and injured him to this degree. Three saviors came running out of the demolished part of the house, that had once been the meeting hall, their guns up and ready, but this didn't help when gunfire from behind caused the one in the back to drop. Negan turned to see a dark figure walking through the wreckage, seeming unconcerned with the fire that raged all around them. As they stalked closer, shooting more of his men, Negan, for the first time, saw who it was that was attacking them.
They were tall, wearing dark jeans and a dark red leather jacket, with black calf-high combat boots. Their features was obscured with a gas mask, but Negan could immediately make out the womanly curve to her body. She had a belt with grenades clipped to it around her waist, along with various knives and weaponry strapped all across her body. Her hands, clad in fingerless gloves, was holding an AK-47 up and he was almost in awe of the smooth movement she made when she detached the clip and reattached a new one, with no wasted movements and barely a second passing. As his men fired on her, the bullets seemed to magically avoid her, with her moving just enough to make it difficult to hit her; all the while she put down his men with well placed shots, not a single wasted bullet.
Fuck
One of his men came running up from behind her and without even turning fully, she glanced over her shoulder and the next moment grabbed the man's jacket and, using his own momentum against him, flung the man over her shoulders onto the ground in front of her and plunger her knife into his head. Standing, she stalked forward and Negan felt the first lick of fear fill him.
Fuck
Slowly, she reached up and pulled the gas mask off, throwing it to the side as she stalked closer. Her hair tumbled down her back, curly and flaming red in the glow of the fire and two piercing blue eyes seemed to spear through him. Negan scrambled back and Simon raised his gun, but before he could even pull the trigger, she had her gun up and fired in a movement so fast Negan couldn't follow it. Negan watched, eyes wide as Simon's fingers were blown off, the gun falling to the ground. She never paused in her movements, walking closer, her gun pointed right at him. It was then that he saw the jagged A stitched into the front of her leather jacket and something clicked in his mind.
FUCK
This was the fucking one Arat had warned him about, the one he hadn't taken seriously and now she was here to finish him off. He knew she was doing this to show him not to mess with her, to leave her alone and he hated to admit that it was working. She had only ever killed his men when they went after her, so this entire attack must be a demonstration of her skill, a big Don't fucking mess with me!
Negan was never a man to feel fear except one time, but this was an entirely different type of fear. Adrenaline coursed through him, but this time it told him to run. That split second of fear, utter mind-numbing fear and urge to run in the face of a predator was his undoing. He saw the light in her eyes flare with satisfaction, knowing she had seen the fear in his and her eyes took on a glint of demonic light, seeming to burn into him and rip his heart through his throat.
FuckfuckfuckfuckFUCK!
She had sensed his momentary weakness and that gave her an advantage. He could see himself in her eyes, he knew how her mind worked and he now realised he had made a grievous mistake in underestimating her. She had destroyed his outpost and killed his men single handedly. She had injured him enough to bring him to the ground and now she was going to kill him. His hand clenched around Lucille, but he knew it wouldn't be enough. Her dark gaze was filled with an unholy light, shadows moving behind them that he saw in the mirror everyday and he knew, he fucking knew, he was looking at a cold-blooded monster that thrived in killing, at the sight of blood and despair, just as he did.
And that thought frightened him the most of all.
Because how do you defeat yourself?
WD
She stepped from the flames, her hair having come loose and curling wildly down her back. Her prey was in her sight, his guard dog down and she knew, she knew, she had him now. He could not escape from her. Somewhere, deep in her mind, she knew this wasn't the plan. But the monster that came forward couldn't care less. It saw prey and prey was meant to be hunted. Especially when her mind identified this as prey that had the potential to become a dangerous predator if not taken care of. For this moment, she had the advantage because she surprised him, but that could change at any moment.
A yell from the side drew her attention and she saw a man come running towards her, carrying a semi-automatic that was the most heavy duty gun she had seen during her assault yet. It was a good thing, as it meant that no one really stood a chance against her with their subpar guns. As he started wildly firing, she dove and rolled away, coming up running. The man was so startled that she ran straight towards him that his amateur shots went all over the place, which she easily avoided. Running up to a piece of concrete lying on the ground, she used it as a stepping stone, launching herself at the man and plunging her knife into his head.
She was crouched over his body when the sound of a car starting had her head snapping around and she saw Simon had gotten Negan into the car, despite his injured hand, and, tires squealing, they raced out of the parking lot, over the curb and onto the street. Jumping up, she fired at them, seeing the men inside the car ducking down and firing out the windshield, but, unfortunately, she hadn't managed to hit Negan. The haze covering her thoughts urged her to run after the car, to pursue them and to finish this, but the logical part of her brain told her that she had accomplished her goal, she needn't go further tonight.
Her body twitched and jerked, fighting against itself as it tried to go in two different directions. Closing her eyes, she breathed in deeply, slowly relaxing her stance, her legs, which had been tensed and ready to run, uncoiling. She dropped her centre of gravity, slouching slightly as the wave of calm washed over her. Her fingers and arms slowly released the tension they held, before her head dropped forward and she exhaled, mentally expelling the white haze from her mind.
Huffing slightly, she watched as the rear lights disappeared into the night, the building behind her burning and littered with the dead. She knew the undead would be showing up soon, so she rolled her shoulders, releasing the last of the tension, before she walked around the building, hotwiring one of the savior's trucks. Backing it up towards the arsenal's window, right against the wall, she climbed through to the back and through the window and started to load up all the weapons. One can never have too many weapons and she didn't want to leave it here for the saviors to use. She also gathered any food and other supplies she could find in parts of the house that wasn't on fire, though it wasn't long before she had to leave, the groaning of the dead filling her ears and the house burning down around her.
Jumping in the truck, she drove away, leaving chaos and destruction behind her.
WD
Ok, so what did you think? I hope it didn't sound unrealistic or too crazy and I hope I managed to keep you guys interested. I have to admit, writing action scenes is not my strong point, (and here I am, writing a walking dead fic, good lordy) so I hope it sounded good. Just to make sure everyone is on the same page, normally one wouldn't be able to overthrow an outpost on your lonesome self, but she just had luck and skill on her side. The fact that they weren't expecting her, that she had crazy good weapons and that they were preoccupied with Negan's demonstration and all in one place was the only reason she managed to pull this off. It's suicide otherwise. Let me know what you thought!