Wanderer's Sacrifice

By Hime Jigoku

One- Shot

Wanda, Melanie, Kyle, and Jared ran through the halls of the old abandon building trying to escape. Jared held Melanie's hand with his left hand to make sure he wouldn't lose her and his other hand held tightly to a gun with his finger on the trigger. Kyle ran with a knocked out Ian over his shoulder and Wanda ran along side of them. They all had panicked looks on their faces as the pounding of the seekers footsteps slowly started to close in on them.

Wanda wasn't sure how everything got so messed up in just a short amount of time. This morning started out just like any other day, she woke up in the arms of the man she loved more than life itself. She would do anything for Ian, just like he would do anything for her. They had spent the whole day together up until night fall when it was time to leave for the raid. She couldn't have had a more perfect day and no one had been worried about the raid, maybe that was where they went wrong. The past ten year the raids have been getting super easy and that got their confidence up which caused them to get sloppy.

Melanie, Jared, Kyle, and she were all in the back of the van joking around while Ian was driving. Now that she thought back on it she should have been the one driving, but of course no one thought of the consequences of this choice could be. They were on their way to the first stop on their raid but they never got even half way there before a seeker pulled them over. There was no time for Ian and her to switch seats, and one look at Ian and the seeker would know that he was human. They had to run.

Ian wasted no time in driving off as soon as the seeker reached for his gun knowing it was only a matter of time before they had more seekers on their trail. They ended up making it a little ways before all hell broke loss, one of the tires to the van blew out causing Ian to lose control and ended up going straight into a pole. Everyone in the back, luckily, got away with just some cuts and bruises, but due to the air bag Ian was knocked unconscious so the extent of his injures was unknown.

Luckily, at least they thought at the time, they crashed by an old abandon building. They thought they had enough time to make it to the building before the seekers showed up, but that kind of hope was short lived. The group only made it half way to the building when they saw and heard the sirens of the seekers' cars, there was no time for hiding just running. That lead them to where they were now, running to stay out of the seekers clutches until they could think of a plan. They thought shooting their way out but there were not enough bullets for all the seekers that were now chasing them.

They were just starting to round a corner when Wanda heard the sound of a gun firing and it wasn't until she got around the corner when pain shot through her left leg causing her to fall to the ground and scream. Everyone stopped and turned to her to look at her with looks of horror on their faces.

"Those fuckers actually shot her," Wanda heard Mel growl out. Mel let go of Jared's hand and ran to the side of her sister. "Jared you are going to make to carry her."

"No! I will only slow you down," Wanda replied to her sister. "You have to leave me."

"Don't be stupid Wanda," Jared said. He didn't know what was going through her head but he did not like the idea of leaving her behind. They needed her and on top of it all leaving her there would only shatter Melanie's heart.

"Look they were closing in when I was running on my own and with someone having to carry more weight it will only slow that person down more!" Wanda had already made up her mind to protect the people she loved years ago, even if that meant she would no longer be in the picture.

"Jared give me your gun and take Ian. Mel you will have to carry Wanda on your back. I'll hold them off for as long as I can, that should be enough time for you guys to get out," Kyle chimed in. He wasn't going to say he was Wanda's number one fan but she was his brother's girlfriend and she made him happy.

"Like hell you will!" Wanda yelled causing everyone to look at her in shock. "You are Ian's brother and his last relative! I'll be damned if you sacrificed yourself. Kyle, I'm just a girl and he will find someone new someday, but he can't find another brother. Listen, we don't have time to debate this. The more we do the closer the seekers get."

A look of sadness crossed everyone's face as her words sank in and they knew she was right. Mel was fight back tears as she leaned over and gave Wanda a tight hug, but she was unable to say anything as sobs wracked through her body. She couldn't bring herself to say a final goodbye to one of the people that meant the world to her, the one person she viewed as a sister. After just a few seconds Mel reluctantly let go of her and went back over to Jared unable to stop the tears from covering her face.

Jared was the next to step forward and he placed the gun he held in her hands. "I know you don't like weapons but I don't like the idea of leaving you here empty handed." If he was truly honest with himself he would have told her he didn't like this idea on bit, he actually hated it, but he left those words unspoken. He just went back to Mel and took her hand once again trying to ignore the burning in his eyes from the tears that threatened to fall.

"Is there anything you want me to tell him when he wakes up?" Kyle asked in a soft voice. He wasn't sure what to say to her or even how he was supposed to say goodbye. He could not stop the guilt that was starting to wash over him. Even after she had helped them so much he still kept his distance from her because of what she was and now he regretted not taking that time to get to know the woman that his brother had fallen in love with.

"Everything I could say to him he already knows," was all she said with a small smile. "Kyle, make sure he finds happiness again."

"My brother is a lucky man to have you," was the last thing Kyle said. With those final words Wanda watched as the three humans took off running, Ian still hanging over his brother's shoulder. Wanda turned her attention to the gun in her hand. Jared was right, she hated weapons but she knew what she had to so to protect those she loved, to protect Ian. Wanda crawled to the corner corner of the hall way and she heard how close the seekers where. She looked around the corner to see them about ten yards away. Wanda carefully lifted the gun and fired at them. Of course she didn't hit anyone, but it was enough to cause the seekers to fall back and take shelter.

A few shots were fired back and Wanda ducked back behind the wall. She was breathing heavy and was having a hard time believe what she had just done. Wanderer, a peaceful soul had just shot a gun for the first time ever, and at people no less. Guilt started to fill her but was quickly washed away as images of her friends and family filled her mind. All she had to do was keep reminding herself that she was doing this for them, to protect them.

"Come out human and maybe we can come to an understanding," came a seekers voice.

Those words caused Wanda to laugh, her laughter bouncing off the walls and echoing for everyone to hear. She didn't know why she laughed really; there was no humor in the situation. Maybe it was the fact that she knew there would be no understanding, or that they thought she was human because a soul would never work with a human, or it could have just been that she was finally losing it from spending too much time in the desert. "I don't know whether I should feel honored that you think I'm human or insulted that you think I'm that dumb to actually come out," Wanda said back when her laughter finally subsided.

At her comment she could hear gasps of shock and growls of anger reach her ears. "So you are one of us then?" came another voice but Wanda didn't bother to answer. After a short while of silence the voice spoke again, "If you turn the humans in we can overlook this."

"I won't let you touch them!" Wanda felt her anger rise to new heights causing her to stick her hand around the corner and fire another bullet. In all her life she had never felt this angry before. She knew the bullet wouldn't hit anyone but she felt her anger die down a little once she felt her finger pull the trigger. Wanda fired another bullet once more as the seekers started to fire back and she quickly pulled her hand back.

"This is getting us nowhere! Everyone move in," she heard the first seeker that spoke to her say. For Wanda, once those words were spoken time seemed to stand still. Her mind went through all the memories that her family and her had made over the years. The thought that she would never actually be able to tell Ian goodbye face to face was tearing her to pieces and tears started to fall from her eyes. They were supposed to be together forever, that is what they promised one another, and now it seemed like they hardly got to spend any time together at all. She always heard the saying that life wasn't fare but she didn't really realize how messed up it was until now. Don't get her wrong she still loved her life; she just wished she had more time to say the things that she wanted to. The fact remained though that she didn't, the seekers were closing in and she could not let them get a hold of her body.

Wanda looked down at the gun in her hand as the tears started to fall harder. She could hear the seekers getting closer and knew that her time down memory lane was up. She refused to let them get the body that held the memories on how to reach her loved ones. That only left her with one choice.

"I love you Ian, more than anything," Wanderer whispered to herself as she put the gun to her head and pulled the trigger.

…

Ian slowly opened his eyes but immediately shut them as he lifted his left hand to grab his head. His head was pounding like someone was slamming a hammer into it over and over again, and it was making it hard for him to think clearly. He let out a painful groan as he forced his eyes to open once more, making the pain in his head intensify. The ceiling above him looked familiar but it took him a couple of minutes to place it as the cave's infirmary. When he tried to remember what had caused him to be sent to the medical room it only made his headache worse and made him feel dizzy. He couldn't remember anything besides waking up with Wanda in his arms this morning, everything after that was a blank.

"Glade to see you're awake," came a male's voice from across the room. Ian looked toward the voice to see Doc smiling at him, but the younger male noticed that the smile did not reach his eyes. Instead Doc's eyes were red and puffy like he had been crying for days. It gave Ian an uneasy feeling when he noticed the small amount of pity in the older man's eyes as he looked at him.

Ian looked around the room and noticed that Doc was not the only one who showed such sorrow. Not far from the doctor Kyle sat in a chair looking at the ground and his fists clenched like he wanted to hit something but couldn't. For some reason his older brother seemed to be unwilling to make eye contact. Mel sat in a chair beside his bed holding one of his hands like it was her lifeline. The young woman was looking toward the ground but he could still make out the tears that were flowing down her cheeks. Jared stood off into a corner looking like someone had just killed his dog and he was fighting back tears that were threatening to fall. Everyone's face held such heartbreak and the young man could not figure out why until he realized that someone was missing.

"Where is Wanda? What happened?!" asked Ian. Panic started to rise up in him when he noticed that everyone seemed to flinch when he said Wanda's name. Doc no longer had the face smile on his face and he looked like he was ready to cry all over again. Mel now had her hands over her face and was sobbing uncontrollably. Ian felt his heartbreak when he finally understood that whatever was causing them so much pain had to do with the woman he loved and it was not good. "What happened to Wanderer?!"

"From what I was told was that there was many seekers, Wanda got hurt and was unable to get away," said another male voice that had just entered the room. Ian looked over to see Jeb looking just as torn as the rest of them. He froze in fear, afraid to ask his next question after what Jeb had just told him.

"I guess I'll explain everything that happened," Kyle voice said in a soft, sad tone. Ian could tell even though it would not seem like it to those who did not know him, but his brother's voice was quivering like he was trying to stop himself from crying.

"Please Ian I need to know. All I remember is waking up this morning," Ian said pleadingly. He was scared to death at what his brother was going to tell him, but he needed to know. He wanted to know what happened to his wife, the person that meant more to him than life itself. Ian saw Kyle lift his head up and he saw the tears that his older brother was trying so hard not to let out.

"Ian it has been three days since the accident," Doc said in a shaky voice. Ian froze once more as his mind processed what he was just told. He laid back on the bed and looked at the ceiling as more of the hope of getting his Wanda back faded away. He had been out for three days, three days the love of his life had been missing.

"I'll tell you what happened, just try and stay calm," Kyle's voice reached him. Ian never looked at his older brother, but he listened to every word he said about what happened and everything his love said to the group. He was fighting back the tears by the time Kyle finished talking. He knew that Wanda would not let herself get caught because then that would lead the seekers to them. Wanda would never let her family be put in danger.

"Everyone out! Let's give him a moment to himself," he heard Jebs voice eco around the room. He felt Mel let go of his hand and everyone shuffle out of the room. It was not until the last person was out and the door was closed that he let out his heart breaking sobs.

The only thing that he could think about was Wanda and all the memories he shared. All he could think about was that the love of his life was gone so what was left to live for? He would never be able to see her smile, heard her laugh, or even wake up with her in his arms. Everything was gone now and his world was shattering around him.

Ian didn't notice or hear anyone enter the room until he heard a small male voice speak. "Daddy, why are you crying?"

Ian looked up at the four year old that looked exactly like him and felt his heart break. The boy did not have a single feature of his mother, everything the small child had seemed to come from his father. Ian wiped the tears from his face. "Come here little man." The boy made his way over to the infirmary bed and his father lifted him onto his lap and held him close.

"Dad, where is mommy? I have not seen her for and I miss her a whole bunch." Ian held back the tears that wanted to fall, but he had to stay strong for his little boy.

"Your mommy had to go away."

"When will she be back?"

"She is not coming back."

"Why not? Does she not love us anymore?"

Ian moved his son around so that he could look him the face while he talked. "Leon, your mother loves us both very much and she would be here if she could. She had to go away so that she could keep you safe for the mean people. You are your mother's world so don't ever question her love for you ok?"

"Alright… Will I ever see her again?"

"You will but it won't be anytime soon."

Leon threw himself into his father's chest and began to cry over his lost mother. Ian just held Leon tight as his sobs wrecked his small body. All the pain Ian was feeling was pushed aside a one thought entered his mind. His life was not over; he still had his little man.