I wasn't used to being out in the open, without my normal escape route in the trees. I was taken over by the deeply embedded instinct to run and find cover, but I fought through it. I had to. My group, no, my family, relied on Angel and I being able to make it through the Walkers.
So rather than run, I stood my ground and fought like no tomorrow, taking down Walker after Walker, even as the last ounces of strength left my body.
"Kate, run!" Angel screamed from where she stood by the fence. She was slashing and clawing at the Walkers closest to her. "C'mon!"
I made a break for her. I skidded and slumped, the loss of blood finally taking the last of the strength from my body. Just as I was about to give up, a well-placed arrow took down the Walker who was slowly making her way towards me, her jaw gnashing together. I turned around and saw the man Scottie had been talking about perched high in one of the towers. I nodded once before turning back to Angel, who was trying her hardest to clear a path for me.
"Stop!" someone shouted. I didn't listen. Instead, I came up beside one of my dearest friends and together, back to back, we did what could only be classified as a death dance around the Walkers, each pouring the last of their strength into the fight. A fight we'd done so many times before. A grueling, endless cycle of slashes and stabs.
Scottie used to make comments on how in sync Angel and I were when we went into something back to back. Our movements were fluid-like, our pace guarded, our goal set in sight. Together, we were a deadly pair.
"You're gonna have to get them to talk," she hissed as we turned slowly, stepping to the right then the left. "You're gonna have to convince them to let us in."
"Probably not the easiest thing in the world," I muttered. Another arrow whizzed past, giving us enough leverage to turn to the gate.
"Who are you?" the scruffy man we had seen several times asked as he looked at us through the gate.
"I'm Katie Anderson and this is Angel Robbins. We're from north a ways," I said as loudly as I dared. "We've been traveling with four others, my daughter Mackenzie, Angel's sister, Grace, and two men, Scottie Johnson and Victor Marks. We used to be more, but…" my voice hitched as Angel backed into me, immediately setting me back into the spinning, twisting dance.
We had to fight a little harder this time to gain leverage. The man watched us with curious eyes.
"Why are you here?" he finally asked.
"We're in need of shelter. Rest too," I said softly. My head was clouding, the loss of blood finally taking over. I felt Angel turn, her hand resting in the small of my back.
"Sir," she said, her tone guarded. "We've had a hard month. We're all weakening with every passing day," she continued. "We're good people. Good in a fight. Loyal. And we know how to go out and get supplies without bringing attention to ourselves." Her arm snaked around her waist, keeping me upright. I felt my heart pounding in my chest, my breathing coming in weak gasps.
"What happened to her?" the man asked, his eyes locking on mine.
"My sister missed the Walker and landed a blade in her arm," Angel said with a shrug. "She wasn't bit." She assured him.
I looked up and what I saw in his eyes was nothing but distrust. I felt my heart sink. This was exactly what we had feared.
"I have three questions for you," he said with a grim expression.
"Okay?" Angel said, her tone guarded.
"I'll have to ask the rest of your group as well…" he let it hang.
"Ask us first," I said softly. I leaned heavily on Angel, who was easily supporting my weight.
"How many Walkers have you killed?" he asked.
Angel and I exchanged a look.
"Over two hundred," we said in unison. "We've traveled on foot for the better leg of our journey. We've been left with no choice."
"How many people have you killed?" he asked.
Angel stiffened. She'd killed three people since the outbreak. The first being her father, the other two, men who had grabbed her sister and threatened the lives of those we traveled with. I, on the other hand, had killed five.
"Three," Angel said. I was surprised. She normally wasn't so willing to give up that kind of information.
"None," I lied.
"Why?" the man asked.
"The first was my father, and because he was struck with the fever. He didn't want to turn. He begged to be killed," Angel said, her voice emotionless. "The second and third were cruel, heartless men who wanted to do unthinkable things to my little sister," she said, her tone turning bitter. "It was them or us."
"Rick, for god's sake, let them in," a new voice growled. I was surprised to see the man wielding the crossbow coming up to the fence.
"Alright," the man, Rick, said dryly. "Where is the rest of your group?"
I turned carefully, glaring through the Walkers, searching for the bright red cloth Scottie always tied to his gun when we had to split up. I couldn't see it through the mass of Walkers. Instead, I did the only thing we ever took as a sure sign the threat wasn't as great as the profit. I pulled away from Angel, even though it meant staggering more than actually standing, pressed my lips together and let loose a high pitch, yet somehow soft whistle.
A moment later, my whistle was met by the sound of a gunshot. I would have jumped had I not seen the flash of red in the treeline. They were being attacked.
"Son of a…" I let the statement hang as Angel and I spun at the same time, our bodies again skin to skin as we weaved and slashed, not caring that we were proving our strengths all in one go. Even weakened by blood loss and exhaustion, our will to protect what little we had less outweighed any true feelings.
"Mackenzie, run!" I heard Scottie's familiar voice echo through the trees. "You have to get up and run!"
"Run to mama, Kenzie, c'mon!" I screamed. The Walkers nearest us whipped around, their course now set on us as we stopped dead center. Behind us was the safety of the prison, to our left and right, Walkers, in front, the only family we had left.
"Split up?" Angel suggested, taking a moment to catch her breath.
"Yeah," I nodded. "Fan out and take out who we can. First one to reach Scottie grabs the kid and makes for the fence."
"Sounds good. What about the supplies?" she nodded.
"Carry what you can," I ordered. Though Scottie was our leader, my insight and ability to think on my feet, a skill you have to master when you're a single mother, even before the world went to shit, made the rest of the group trust my instincts – sometimes even more than their own.
"Can you manage on your lonesome?" Angel asked, giving me a troubled look. "You're bleeding like a stuck pig."
"She'll manage," a new voice said. I spun around, my knife pressed against the throat of the man speaking.
"Easy tiger," the gruff, scrappy man said with a tight smile. "Ain't gon' do you do good to kill me."
"Sorry," I breathed moving away from Angel.
"Aim high, go far," I instructed her. She nodded once and took off, her speed, size and agility working in her advantage.
"If we reach the trees, I can get off the ground," I said as I watched Angel go, giving her a head start.
"Then what'cha waiting for?" the man asked.
"This," I said before wheeling away from him. I aimed my small handgun in the air, took a deep breath, and shot. The loud shot rang clear through the field, echoing off the nearby trees.
I could almost feel Scottie curse my name. I took off towards the trees away from the prison and my group, my lungs throbbing as I ran. I let loose another round, not caring that I was wasting precious ammo. In that moment, my only thought was on my daughter and how I wanted…no, how I needed her to survive this nightmare.
I reached above my head as I neared the trees, my fingers catching a low branch. I kept my injured arm away from the bark as I pulled myself up, my lungs aching, my head spinning. I saw Angel reach the group, her arms scooping Mackenzie off the ground in a moment's time.
I looked behind me and saw the older man struggling with a group of Walkers. He was trying to reload his crossbow, but time wasn't on his side.
Torn between showing loyalty to someone I owe nothing to and saving my family, I pulled out my slingshot and took aim, easily sending a few of the Walkers back to their graves. I didn't have many metal pellets left, but I knew I could melt down some old cans to make more later. We always saved our cans for that very reason.
"C'mon!" I shouted, not daring to move from my spot in the tree. He looked up and gave me a nod before running towards the tree I was in. I leapt from my perch, landing gingerly on another branch. It was an old skill – one I'd acquired when I was around Mackenzie's age. My father took me out hunting and always told me that my sheer size was enough to make me a good hunter, even more than my careful aim and reckless pace.
Once the man was out of harm's way and the Walkers were tripping over each other to get at a fallen bird, I took the time to assess the situation.
"You, follow me," I decided. I stayed in the tree long enough to give him time to reload his crossbow before taking off, my fingers barely supporting my weight as I flew from branch to branch overhead until I was perched carefully above Scottie.
"Scottie, talk to me, bro," I said as I shot my little metal balls at the Walkers he was fighting.
"I can't find Victor," he shouted. "Angel's got Kenzie and Grace though."
"Victor's not too far away," I reassured him. "I saw him a few trees back."
"Got a plan?" Scottie asked.
"Yeah," I nodded. "See the guy with the bow? Follow him, get the girls and go. I'll lead the Walkers back to the wooded area near where Woodbury was set up, you know, where we looted the last of the guns?"
"Alright, be safe," he nodded. Scottie rarely argued when someone had a good plan.
"You too. Remember, keep my kid safe," I shouted.
"Always," he nodded. "Kate?"
"Yeah?"
"Don't play hero. You'll be lucky to make it half a mile, much less the six or seven it's going to take. If you can't keep going, set off the firecrackers and hightail it back to us," he ordered.
"Is that a direct order, Sir?" I joked. Scottie was an ex-Marine.
"Yes ma'am, 'fraid it is," he smiled despite himself.
"Be ready to let my sorry ass through that fence," I snickered before taking off, moving loudly through the trees. The pack of Walkers followed after me, their moans and groans and shuffles making the forest sound so much louder than before.
It didn't take me long to realize that I had overestimated my strength. As Scottie predicted, half a mile into the trek, my body grew weaker than I'd hoped. I couldn't muster up enough strength to propel myself the small distance between the two trees. I leaned against the trunk of the tree I was in, gasping for air, my vision blurring as my arms went limp at my side.
I was all but sure I was going to become Walker chow afterall.
A/n - I realize Katie seems a bit, Mary-Sue like right now, but I assure you, that is not the case. Take a moment to imagine a mother, who had fought so hard to keep her daughter alive, stuck in the same situation. I can promise you one thing, and one thing only. Katie is anything but perfect. ;)
I love hearing back from my readers, so the more feedback, the quicker I will update. The next chapter will be a little less eventful, but more in-tune to what is going to set the stage for the rest of the story. :)
Review my lovelies! It keeps me going!