Disclaimer: I do not, nor will I ever own The Walking Dead or anything affiliated with said series.
It took Chelsea almost two weeks after she left Alexandria to finally reach her destination. Unfortunately most of the street signs had been battered beyond recognition by what had either been a very nasty storm or someone with some serious anger issues and it took nearly a whole day to find her brother's house.
It showed signs of vandalism and, as she'd expected, appeared to have been deserted for some time by the look of things. During her search she managed to find a picture of him and his family though, and after reacquainting herself with their faces she tucked the photo into her pocket and made her way back out to the road.
Unsure of where to look next, there'd been no sign that any harm had come to them so she had to go on the assumption that they were still alive, she was tempted to flip a coin and let it decide which way she'd go. A large group of walkers heading towards her from the south made the decision for her and she quickly took off down the street that led in the opposite direction.
Another three days passed with no sign of anyone, living or dead, and she was beginning to think that the whole area was a ghost town when she stumbled upon a small group of people living in an old abandoned food factory.
Usually she was incredibly thorough with her surveillance, sometimes spending days studying whoever she'd found, but she'd run out of food a day and a half ago and a growling stomach combined with the possibility that her brother might be in there had her rushing things. She'd hidden most of her belongings and gone out to introduce herself within hours of spotting them.
The man at the door had been friendly enough as he'd welcomed her inside, but the hairs on the back of her neck stood up when the door slammed ominously shut behind her and she heard multiple footsteps approaching.
She'd decided to take her gun with her, just in case, as well as her machetes and hunting knife which she'd hidden away in her left boot, but as soon as her eyes adjusted to the dimly lit room she knew that what she'd brought wasn't nearly enough.
During her reconnaissance she'd counted three or four guys and figured there were probably a couple more she couldn't see, making a total of around six or so. Nothing she couldn't handle if things turned ugly. Her calculations had been way off.
"Well that was just brilliant," she muttered under her breath as she moved her eyes around the room, taking in each of the twelve guys surrounding her with a critical eye. "Just walk right into the lion's den why don't you."
"Well looky here boys, seems we've got ourselves some entertainment for the evening," one of the men closest to her said as he raked his eyes over her body. "And a fine piece of ass she is."
"Got that right. Ain't seen nothin' that good looking in months," another added and several other men cheered in agreement.
"And she was nice enough to bring us some gifts too," the one who'd invited her in said from behind her as he reached his hand out to tap the gun at her side. "Those are some pretty dangerous toys ya got there girl, why don't ya hand 'em over before ya hurt yourself."
Snorting, Chelsea slipped one of her machetes free and spun it around a few times, grinning when the two men closest to her took a few steps back. "If you think these are dangerous you should see what I can do."
Okay so it definitely wasn't the smartest thing she'd ever done, closer to the stupidest actually, but she simply couldn't resist egging them on. It was obvious how this was going to end, there were far too many of them for her to take on by herself, but if she was going down she may as well have some fun with them right.
"Well boys, who wants to play?"
No one moved for some time and Chelsea was starting to wonder if perhaps they'd chickened out, then she saw the weapons come out and a shiver of fear went down her spine. She'd always thought that when death came for her she'd take it on without flinching, but with her impending doom staring her in the face she was finding it very hard to not curl into a ball and cry.
Taking a deep breath she pulled her gun out as well and made a mental note to save the last bullet for herself. Since there was no way she was getting out of this alive the least she could do was make sure they didn't get their hands on her while she was still breathing.
As she raised the gun and aimed it at one of the men across from her she wondered how many shots she'd be able to get off before their bullets tore holes through her. When she found herself looking down the barrel of one of their guns she changed her mind and decided she really didn't want to know. Hopefully the adrenaline would keep her from feeling too much of the pain she was about to receive.
Moments before she pulled the trigger the man who'd spoken up first called out, "Remember boys, try to keep her body in good enough shape that we can still use it afterwards," and she nearly threw up in her mouth. No matter what happened in the next few minutes, he was definitely going to die.
Her first shot nailed one of the guys in the chest and he fell to the ground almost immediately while the second took out the man next to Mr. Sicko as she spun the gun in his direction. The next two shots went wide as she found herself dodging three knife wielding men who seemed hell bent on taking either her weapons or her hands and she ended up with a nasty gash on her upper arm when she twisted out of the path of one of their blades.
And that was when things really started to get bad for her.
Of the ten remaining men only a few of them were actually attacking her, the rest were sitting back waiting for the best opportunity to jump in. They found it when she dropped one of the men that had been circling her and she felt the burning sensation in her side long before she realized what it meant.
A second bullet grazed her leg and she winced as it buckled beneath her, barely managing to remain on her feet as they just kept coming. She fired three more shots in quick succession and was pleased to see that all three had hit their targets even if two of the men were still more or less standing at the moment.
There were six of them left in fighting condition now, but she knew her end was near as her vision began to darken so she forced herself to ignore the men closest to her in favor of tracking down the one she'd promised herself she'd kill. She spotted him a short distance away watching things unfold and she turned the gun on him before the others could stop her. Out of the corner of her eye she watched as a knife came down on her arm and she pulled the trigger over and over, as fast as she could, before she was forced to release the gun.
With a satisfied smirk she watched as her target doubled over and collapsed and she finally allowed her eyes to slip closed. The last thing she saw was the man in front of her bringing a metal rod down on her head. Thankfully she blacked out before he connected.
ooooo
Miles had been out hunting for supplies when he'd heard the commotion at the nearby warehouse and had planned on simply ignoring it and moving on. It wasn't his responsibility to save whatever idiot had gone and gotten himself into trouble with the murderous thieves that called that place home. The thought that the person might have a family out there, however, had him running off in that direction a few seconds later.
When he'd snuck inside he'd been expecting to have to deal with a sentry or two and was a little surprised that they'd left the place unguarded in favor of dealing with the newcomer. The guy must be one tough SOB to warrant all that manpower.
He quietly made his way towards the back of the building where the sound was coming from, pausing when he heard several more gunshots. Pulling out his glock, he checked to make sure it was loaded before taking a calming breath and stepping out into the clearing.
What he saw made him see red and without hesitation he began popping off shots, taking down three men one right after the other including the one holding the rod. Realizing he was there the remaining two men turned their focus on him, but he made quick work of them as well thanks to their initial shock.
Once they were all down he slowly walked out into the middle of the room, kicking each body he passed to see if any of them were still alive. He managed to find two who were still breathing, but they were quickly dealt with when he put a bullet in each of their heads. In no time at all the only ones remaining were him and the woman currently bleeding all over the floor.
Rushing to her side he dropped to his knees and began to dig bandages out of the bag at his side. "If you survive this I'm going to kick your ass," he breathed out. "You hear me sis."
ooooo
The first thing Chelsea noticed was that she hurt all over which meant she obviously wasn't dead yet, the second thing was that she was most definitely not at that factory anymore as she doubted those men had anything quite this comfortable to sleep on. And if they did there was no way they'd allow her to use it anyway.
Her next clue that she was someplace new was the sound of giggling, childish giggling to be exact. Not something you'd hear in a place filled with thugs that's for sure. With a pained groan she forced her eyes open and winced as the light burned them.
When the giggling began to come closer she somehow managed to turn her head in the direction it was coming from and blinked several times to try and clear her vision. The sight before her was not at all what she'd expected.
"Oh, you're awake," the little blonde girl said with a toothy grin. "Does that mean you can play with me now auntie?"
Not believing what she was seeing Chelsea attempted to raise her hand up so she could rub at her eyes, but the movement was too painful and she quickly gave up. "Natalie, is that you?" she asked softly, afraid that if she spoke too loud the vision before her might vanish.
"Who else would it be silly?" the girl giggled cutely.
"Nat, what did I tell you about bothering your aunt Chelsea?" an all too familiar voice said from the doorway and Chelsea couldn't stop the tears from falling down her face as she caught sight of her brother leaning against the doorframe with a tray of food in his hands.
"Miles?"
"Hey sis, glad to see you're finally awake," he said seriously as he walked over to the bed and set the tray down on the table next to it. "How you feeling?"
"Like I just got my a-. . . butt kicked," she replied, managing to stop herself from swearing at the last second.
"Daddy said you got hurt fighting bad men, is that true?" Natalie asked as she climbed up on the bed to sit next to Chelsea. Seeing her nod, Natalie pursed her lips in thought. "Is that why you never got married auntie, because men are bad?"
Chelsea couldn't help it, she laughed. Of course the pain in her side made her instantly regret it and she sobered up immediately.
"That's right sweetie, men are bad . . . unless they're your family," Miles said with a nod and Chelsea rolled her eyes at him. The girl was just shy five years old and already he was trying to make sure she never got a boyfriend.
"Don't listen to your father Natalie, he's only joking. Not all men are bad, some are even . . . sweet."
The small smile that accompanied her last word had Miles raising an eyebrow in question, but he figured now was probably not the time to question her about whom she'd been referring to. Instead he reached out and slid his arm under her shoulders to help her sit up. "You've been out for three days so I'm sure you're pretty hungry," he said as he reached for the bowl he'd brought in with him. "We made you some soup."
"Yep, I was in charge of stirring it," Natalie said looking very proud of herself.
"I'm sure it's delicious."
"Nat, why don't you go downstairs and eat your dinner, your aunt and I need to discuss a few things." Watching his daughter bob her head up and down, Miles smiled as she skipped out of the room. Once she was gone he held out the spoon and gave Chelsea a bite which she swallowed slowly, then offered her another as he tried to figure out where to start.
"What the hell were you thinking?" he demanded finally, setting the bowl down so he wouldn't spill it. "Were you trying to get yourself killed?"
Chelsea shrank back at the tone in his voice, unused to hearing such a serious sound coming out of his mouth. "Of course not," she replied shortly. "When I got to your house and found it empty I started searching around but came up empty. Figuring you hadn't gone too far I began to wander around, that's when I ran out of food. After nearly two days without finding any I ran into those numbskulls and decided to take my chances."
"Are you serious?" Running a hand over his short brown hair he released an exasperated sigh. "Look, we both know what you did was stupid, but since you're alive I'm going to overlook it for now. But if you even so much as think about pulling a stunt like that again I'll kill you myself."
"Love you too bro."
Shaking his head he leaned over and kissed her on the forehead while mumbling, "Get some sleep, you need to heal."
Blinking sleepily, Chelsea watched him walk away and called out to him before he reached the door. "Where's Annabeth?" The look on his face told her everything she needed to know and she gave him an apologetic look. "I'm sorry."
"Don't be, she made the decision herself," he replied stiffly. After a brief pause he asked, "Mom and dad?"
"Likely dead."
"They decide to hole up in that house of theirs?" When she nodded he swallowed thickly. "Can't say I'm all that surprised, but I would've liked to have seen them one last time before . . . you know." Clearing his throat he pointed his finger at her and his voice became stern. "Sleep. If I come up here to find you wandering around I'll tie your ass to the bed until you're completely better. Is that clear?"
"Yeah, yeah. Now get lost, it's impossible to get any rest with your incessant talking."
He grinned at that. "It's really good to see you again sis."
"Good to see you too."
With a wave he disappeared out the door and Chelsea shifted to make herself more comfortable before closing her eyes. When she'd gotten into that building she'd truly thought she'd been about to die, but here she was alive and reunited with her brother and niece. Despite all the pain she was in she found herself smiling.
Sometimes it was good to be alive.