Welcome to Chapter 16! I dished this out in less than a week because I was feeling creative, school's starting next week so don't expect many like this ;) This actually would've been up a day earlier but the website was down! So I also put the story on Archive Of Our Own, go check that out if you want!

I looked down to see blood coming out of my side, it doesn't feel like the bullet hit anything important but it still hurt like hell. I looked around to see who else got hit, Troy and Carlos. Shit, where was Sarah? I couldn't go see if they were okay because of all the bullets flying about. Shit, the baby! I crawled over, grabbing him and running to the cover Luke and Clementine were behind.

"Oh, shit. I didn't even see him out there! Nice work, James." Luke tried crossing over the stone barriers to me, only to be shot and retreat back to his.

I flinched at his groaning, it sounded like it hurt bad, "Where'd you get hit?!".

"Well, he got me in the leg, but... I think it went straight through... shit, I don't know." Luke groaned as he held his leg.

"Here, take AJ." I handed over the baby to Clem, "I have to see if Troy is... y'know! Fuck!". I could see the blood pooling under Troy as I ran over, "Dammit, are you okay?!".

Troy grunted, an aggressive frown overcoming his face,"Just fucking great!". I had to duck at the bullets being shot at me. It was the big one, Buricko. He did this.

That bastard, he got Troy good. I could feel the pressure building up in me, the raw anger. I don't think I've felt this in a long time. I saw Troy's pistol on the ground, I picked it up before I could have second thoughts, unloading onto Buricko. Once I came to my senses I had hit him, right in the neck. That's when I heard that horrible noise, the gurgling. I dropped the gun as fast as I could, trying not to think about it. Helping Troy up I got a small, "I could've got that asshole.". It was his way of saying thanks, I knew this by now.

"Kenny what're you doing?!" Clementine yelled out, turning around I saw Kenny had Arvo with a gun to his head.

"I'm ending this. Get out here! Right fuckin' now!", Kenny was speaking to the last guy. I got the vibe the guy didn't care if Arvo got hurt.

"He's just a kid, Ken! He was put up to it!" I grabbed Kenny's arm, only to be shoved back. I grabbed my side as I stumbled back.

Another gunshot rang out, looking behind me I saw the woman from before. She was dead, inches way from Clementine. This caused Arvo to break out of Kenny's grip, running over to the woman. "Natasha, Natasha! Nooo, please!" he whimpered holding the woman, now known as Natasha, in his arms. They must've been close. Perhaps they were family?

The last attacker rose, ready to shoot Kenny, but suddenly the last attacker fell to the ground, blood pouring from his mouth. There was a knife in the back of his neck, no, not just any knife. Jane. She just stood there, staring at what she just did. Until Kenny shot the man in the head, doing the same to Buricko's corpse.

"Jane!" Clementine ran over, giving her a one armed hug, holding AJ in the other. Jane hugged her back, giving a relieved smile. It was a touching picture, a reunion between friends and all.

The touching moment ended when Sarah started yelling "Dad! Daddy!". Looking over I saw Carlos... there was blood everywhere, a bullet wound where his heart is. Yet he was still moving, not because he was alive but because he had turned. We all got him off of Sarah before he bit her, shooting him in the head. I went to grab Sarah but she wasn't there, looking up I saw her running away.

"No, Sarah!" I started running, I didn't know how long she'd be running for but all I know is that I won't stop running. I heard footsteps behind me, it was Troy. I turned my head, yelling back at him, "You're hurt! You shouldn't be running!".

"Do your ever shut the fuck up?!" even while he's bleeding out he has time to be his stubborn self. He was pretty fast for being shot, I guess I was too, it was the adrenaline and pain. She was dodging through the trees but did she now where she was going? After a while we were in a small shopping outlet, must be close to a town.

Sarah ran into a small building, a bakery, 'The Vanilla Bean'. "Sar-", I covered my mouth when I saw the walkers in the building. It was too late, two noticed me, I kicked one down on the ground and started backing up as the other cornered me. I charged, stabbing it in the head with my knife. I put my foot on the already down walker, stabbing it in the head too. Where was Sarah? I saw Sarah's feet behind the counter, a bakery rack is the only thing separating the last walker from her. I stabbed it, but missed, only hitting its neck. It turned around, grabbing my arm, I couldn't reach my knife since it was hanging in the back of it's neck now. I pushed it off, stomping in it's head, trying my hardest not to cry at the pain in my side.

I moved the rack to the side, crouching to be face to face with Sarah, "Are you alright?". She wasn't answering, only blankly staring at me. "Troy and I are here to get you, hon. We're all here for you, but we need to leave, now.".

I held out my hand, only for Sarah to turn her head away from me. "I.. I can't."

"There's lurkers outside! The shootin' brought 'em here, dammit we're fucked!", Troy bumped my arm, "Gimme your knife, I'll hold them off.". I handed over my knife, kneeling back down to Sarah.

"Sarah, we need to go now!" I didn't want to yell, but if we don't leave soon we can all die here.

"I cant, I can't, I can't. Daddy, I'm..." Sarah shook her head, I might have to force her up at this point.

"Can you two hurry the fuck up?!" Troy was starting to get overwhelmed with all the walkers, stumbling around as he stabbed them in the head.

"I know how you feel, I've done the same. My... closest friend left me so I could survive, you have to do the same. It's what we have to do, Sarah." I held my hand out, Sarah gulped, grabbing it and helping herself up. Good, we can get out of here now.

"Come on, Sarah. We've gotta get back to the group. All three of us." I gave Sarah a tight hug, thats when Troy stumbled over to us, "Let's get outta here, there's a stairway to the roof over here!".

"Wait." Troy grabbed my arm, looking him in the eyes I could tell something was wrong.

HOTBEESNEST18431 – I'm glad!

Guest – I don't hate Kenny, it's just out of character for James to get up close to stop a moment that is making him have a panic attack.

HumphreytheMan – A tense situation indeed, though it wasn't much how you predicted it I hope you still enjoyed this chapter!

AirbenderKarkat – Some of the reason I wrote this was because of the flawless Luke x OC stories hehe, glad you like it!

statusasthmatic – I'm glad you like this so much, it means a lot! I hope you liked 16! ^ - ^

lllooneytoonbro- I never liked Arvo's group either, they didn't really have purpose it almost felt like they were a random last idea? In the end Arvo and Ben are just kids, and Arvo is probably being used by the others (maybe not Natasha, but Vitali and Buricko seem mean). You gotta keep your hopes up for Devin ;)