Bonnie was fuming and furious, she was ever since she had found out the truth about Damon belonging to the scum group that was known as the Militia. The Militia which she saw as the most callous, socio pathetic set of human beings on the face of the earth. As she could witness upfront how cruel that they could be and let Damon be well aware of her disdain for them.
So it pissed her off beyond words that he had kept the fact he was in the Militia from her. She was so high in her emotions, when after she stormed off from him all she could think about was how he had misled her. She thought about it so much that she couldn't catch an ounce of sleep during the night and she was still just as angry when morning time came around. She hadn't seen Damon since she had left him behind the day before, and had no wish to see him ever again after what he had pulled.
How dare he for a full month travel with her, while he hid such important information from her. Making her believe that he was someone that she could eventually trust, and the thing was that despite her being a highly guarded person she was actually really beginning to trust him as someone who would have her back and help her get their destination if Virginia. She was honestly starting to see him as someone she could rely on, on survival level.
Then when she discovered those dog tags in his bag, she felt like the biggest idiot for going along with his plan and allowing herself to believe that she could trust him. When he just re enforced the reason why she didn't have personal relationships in this world in the first place. She was pissed off because not only she felt betrayed, but she felt hurt as well. And was confused to why she felt hurt, because it wasn't like she cared about him on a personal level. Yet, him keeping something that was so key in her decision making on whether or not she would agree to go with him had troubled her.
Now her teaming up with him had caused her to leave what was a safe space back in Arizona or about as safe as it could get in this world. And she had shared her food with him, which had now fan out. At the moment she was furious with Damon for lying to her, plus it being now a few days since she last had something to eat, she was rather hungry. The empty stomach managed to have her cranky. And between the lack of food and the foul mood that she was in, she had the dull ache of a headache brooding at the temple of her head.
Thought ran through her mind on what she should do next. Should she turn and go back to the home she had in Arizona before Damon came along and convinced her to go with him. Then she realized that it would take her over a month to make the track back there. She didn't want to continue on to the settlement because that was where Damon was going, plus he had the map anyway so if she decided to go there, then she would have to guess the direction for the rest of the way.
The third option was for her to settle someplace new, find a place where there was a decent enough human population and using her smuggling skills like she had been using to survive alone for all of these years. The third option was better for her than the first two, so it was the one she would go with. She would find a new place with enough people and get back into her smuggling business. And trade supplies for food, water, and clothes like she had done before.
She figured that she needed to find the next closest area to her with populated humans. Towns and Cities with these populations were spread out all across the land. And there was often times where it was hundreds and hundreds of miles between one populated place to another. All in between there was either no humans around or just a handful who lived in certain areas.
Which left Bonnie with the complicated task of finding out exactly where to go. She mostly had done her smuggling business in California, Arizona, and a few times in Nevada. And she knew where to go in those states. However, she was unfamiliar with New Mexico and thoughts fan through her mind about which direction was best to go in for her.
She kept walking in hopes to find some food or at least a clue on if she was heading in the right direction of a populated area. She wandered into a abandoned suburb, which was lined with dilapidated houses and homes. Her thoughts were so clouded and she was still focused on her anger towards Damon that she didn't realize she was alone.
It took her a moment to see that someone was close to her. Bonnie looked around and soon spotted a man approaching her from in between a pair of houses. Instantly she was put on her guard.
"Hey there." The man said to her in a deep Southern accent.
"Who in the hell are you?" Bonnie asked on alert.
"I just saw you walkin' around, it looked like you were lost." The man replied.
"I'm perfectly fine." Bonnie returned in a guarded tone.
The man took a step closer to her. "You sure, cause I could help you."
Bonnie put her hand on the but of her pistol, which was in her holster. "How about helping yourself by remaining right where you are."
He held up his hands as if in surrender. "Hey, now there is no need to get aggressive I ain't done nothing to you."
She warned. "You need to go back the way that you came and not approach me."
"That ain't a nice way to greet me, when I came out in a polite way." The man spoke like he had been smoking cigarettes for a while.
"I couldn't give a shit about how polite you claim to be. Something is off about you." Bonnie said keeping her eyes trained on him.
This man gave her a creepy grin. "Why do you say that something is off with me?"
Bonnie's tone was suspicious. "Just a hunch."
Now this man gave her a creepy snicker. "I guess you would be right about that, give me everything that you own right now."
Bonnie didn't move an inch. "You must be missing a few brain cells if you think that I'm going to give you anything that I own."
"I'm telling you to turn over your bagpack and whatever you have of value." This man demanded.
"No." Bonnie refused.
"You just told me No." This man hacked.
Bonnie emphasized. "That would be hell no."
This man laughed like a hyena. "I ain't giving you a choice, give me all of your stuff or else you'll be sorry."
"I would like to see you try to take my stuff from me." Bonnie stated in a dangerous way.
"Don't play a tough guy and get yourself hurt." This man eyed her with googly eyes as he took a step even closer.
She wrapped her fingers around on of the guns in her holster.
Pulling out a big butcher name, the man advancing on her. "Give me what I want or I'll gut you like a fish."
Having enough Bonnie took out her pistol and aimed it at him. "Try it, your body will be filled with so many holes faster than you can blink."
The man froze in his tracks upon seeing her gun. "You ain't going to get a chance to do that."
Bonnie put her finger on the trigger to show she wasn't bluffing.
"You shoot me and my buddies will kill ya." The man wildly put in.
Before she could responded Bonnie felt the presence of more people around her. Company in which she knew wasn't good for her side. She felt a person step up behind her and soon felt the end up a weapon pressed against the back of her shoulder. Although she couldn't see what the weapon was she guessed that it was a knife.
"I would like to introduce you to my fellow backup." This man swung his butcher knife back and forth.
Bonnie cursed under her breath, she had been distracted by the man in front of her and didn't realize that he had company until it was too late. Out of nowhere she was suddenly surrounded by four other men, one behind her pressing a weapon to her back and the original one that was in front of her. Which meant that she had five opposing men around her.
"I'm Billy Bob in case you would like to know." The man drawled. "And me and my boys run this territory around here. And you stepping into it makes you fair game."
She eyed Billy Bob with a deadly glare.
Billy Bob went on. "Our rules around here is that anybody coming through has to give us all of their stuff. We take everything and split up the profits among us. It been months since a person last came through though, so you comin' through is perfect timing for us."
Her eyes scanned the men around her, as she was judging on how to get herself out of the situation. The odds were outside her as if was one to five, but they all had knives and not guns as far as she could tell. If she was quick enough with her trigger finger then perhaps she could take them all down.
"Since you are out numbered how about you give up your stuff like a proper woman." Billy Bob commanded.
"How about you go fuck yourself." Bonnie spat out with venom.
"You can either give up your stuff and get going, or not give it up and get dead." Billy Bob said to her.
Bonnie sneered unfazed. "I'm not giving you shit."
Billy Bob huffed. "Then I'll guess you'll have to go down putting up a fight."
"I don't mind putting up a fight at all." Bonnie quickly pulled her gun out of her holster and shot off a bullet faster than any of the men could react around her.
The bullet hit Billy Bob square in his forearm. Causing him to fall backwards on the ground clutching at his arm. "Dang, I got hit."
Quick as a ninja she whipped around and smashed the man who was behind her with the butt of her pistol up against his face. Startled by her quick movements, that man staggered back as the knife that he was holding clattered to the ground. Blood gushed out of his nose from where her pistol had made contact. Before he could regain himself she shot a bullet out, which punched through his heart and hand him crumbling to the ground instantly dead.
She prepared to whirl around and shoot the men that were remaining. But, before she could one of the others tackled her hard to the ground from her side. Bonnie temporarily lost her breath as the weight of the other man landed on top of her. This caused her to lose her grip on her pistol, as the man who hand tackled her began to physically assault her. She struggled to get him off of her which caused her gun to be trapped underneath her body out of reach.
So she went to grab for her other handgun. But, her arms were pinned to her side as the man used his strength over her to pin her down. As Billy Bob wobbled around with the bullet wound in his arm. His other buddies went up towards her where she was being pinned down on the ground. Letting out a string of curses, she kneed the man on top of her in the groin with as much force as she could.
The man let out a verbal wheeze and grabbed at his crotch. Rolling over on the ground next to her as the sharp pain to his balls made his body jerk. She tried to scramble back to her feet, but was outnumbered still. The three other men were on her knocking her back to the ground.
Billy Bob got to his feet, holding his bleeding arm. "Hold that bitch down boys."
The others teamed up to restrain her.
Seeing one of his buddies dead, Billy Bob became anger. "You killed our friend, you're going to pay for that."
Even as she tried to fight out of the grasp of the others Bonnie smirked. "You're more than welcome to join him."
Billy Bob walked up and saw one of his other team mates rolling on the ground, grabbing at his balls and groaning in pain.
"For goodness sakes, Peter get up." Billy Bob ordered.
"I can't she crushed my nuts." Peter wheezed out.
"She shot me in the arm and you see that I'm up." Billy Bob returned.
Peter still holding his sore balls moved to his knees. But, the blow that he received still had pain radiating all through his midsection limiting him.
"Keep her down, I'm going to slice her up." Billy Bob inched towards her with his butcher knife.
She fought like hell to get free, even though she was still being restrained by two other men. The knife was getting closer to stabbing her by the second.
Just as things were looking dire for the Bennett woman, a shot rang out in the air crashing through the silence. Before anyone knew it, a bullet pierced viciously through Billy Bob's skull, causing his blood to spatter. In an instant, the butcher knife slipped from his fingers and having no chance at living, he fell to the ground, his eyes wide open and lifeless as he lay dead.
All of them were guard off guard and looked towards the area where the gunshot from. The source of the gunshot was Damon, and he had fired it from his rifle with was aimed towards Billy Bob. Damon then came charging in their direction with his rifle still aimed. He shot one of the other men who was holding her down in the head and he too fell dead just like Billy Bob.
The remaining man who had been holding her down, grabbed for his knife out of panic and tried to maneuver to face towards a charging Damon. However, the distraction caused Bonnie to regain her bearings. And because she was no longer outnumbered, she was able to reach for her other pistol. She shot the remaining man at point blank range in his throat.
He made a gurgling noise as blood gushed out on his wound, like water pouring from a faucet. He collapsed the to ground, rolling around as blood pooled beneath him. Finally free Bonnie got to her feet and got her other pistol which had been trapped beneath her. And now she had both of her handguns.
"Are you alright?" Damon asked as he stepped next to her. "Are you hurt."
Bonnie didn't answer him, instead she went over to Peter who had been resting on his knees. But, seeing the sudden turn in the situation and that all of his buddies were dead except for him. Peter saw that he was in a shitload of trouble and tried to crawl away.
"Where do you think you're going." Bonnie questioned Peter with a cold, fury.
Peter kept trying to crawl away, but was stopped when Damon kicked him in his stomach with such force that it caused Peter to be flipped over to his back.
"Wait, don't shoot me." Peter pleaded towards Bonnie, with one of his hands held up.
"Screw it." Bonnie simply said, then proceeded to upload about three bullets into Peter's body killing him.
Placing his rifle in it's holder which was connected to his dufflebag now, Damon let out a breath. "Whew, I'm glad that I decided to come and find you."
On the day before in the hours after Bonnie had stormed off and left him alone. He was very irritated towards her and how the situation of her discovering that he had been a member of the Militia played out. Sure she had every right to be upset that he had kept such a secret from her. And he admitted to himself he was wrong for that. Still her reaction and some of the things she had said to him hit it's mark and his feelings and ego had been impacted.
Especially when she told him how she never wished she would see him, adding on how he could drop dead and she wouldn't care. He know that he made a mistake in hiding what he did from her, but he still find those words over the top and harsh. And thought to himself that if it was how she felt then he wanted nothing to do with her either. And said good riddance and that he was better off without her.
But, as the night went on and his feelings cleared up some, he found himself really bothered by how the confrontation had ended between them. Something in his heart was nagging at him that he couldn't just let this end this way, it had been nagging at him all throughout the night. This feeling that he just couldn't let her go or walk away. That he couldn't just settle with never seeing her again. Maybe it was the weeks he spent traveling with her, but he knew that it would only stop nagging at him when he saw her again. That was why be time morning came around he had decided to go and find her.
In that morning he had taken off to find her, going in the direction where he guessed she would go. Eventually he came near, then he heard the gunshots which had him sprinting off in the direction of them. When he spotted the scene of a couple of men holding her down on the ground, another man approaching her with a large knife as she struggled. His heart lumped in his throat as she was a short time away from being stabbed.
That was when he grabbed his hunting rifle, aimed it unloading it into the head of the man that was coming at her with a knife. Then he shot the either man. He felt fortunate that he had found her just in time, otherwise he might have walked up on her dead from a stab wound if he was a few minutes later. Then he would have really felt guilty if his last words to her were what they were in she had ended up dead.
Bonnie placed both pistols in their separate holsters and then turned to face Damon. "Why did you follow me? I thought that you got the hint yesterday that I never wanted to see you again."
His mouth dropped open at her cold reception for what he had just done. "Well, you're glad I didn't listen to you right."
"Wrong." Bonnie denied.
This wasn't the response thought that he was going to get. He expected more of a 'Thank you, Damon for saving my ass.' type of response from her. "Really, how about expressing appreciation to me for saving your life."
"I was handling myself just fine before you came along." Bonnie shook her head.
"Handling yourself? You were about to get stabbed." Damon was taken aback.
"I managed to fight off them off without you interfering." Bonnie returned.
"I have no doubts that you put up a fire fight." Damon grumbled. "But, the odds were still against you, and you were about to lose out before I came and balanced the score. So, you could at least show some gratefulness for me saving your ass."
Bonnie eyed him coolly. "So what, you expect me to fall at your feet in gratefulness, like you helping is suppose to make up for the fact that you lied to me and mislead me about where you were from."
He threw out his arms in frustration. "Wow, you're going to let the mistake that I made with keeping a secret from you stop you from being thankful I am the reason why you are still alive."
She made a verbal sound of exasperation. "Mistake. It's that what you call it. You kept something huge and major from me, knowing what me finding out the truth would mean. Never once for the month we have known each other have you thought about telling me the truth. You betrayed me, Damon."
"Fine, I admit that I should have told you the truth about how I used to belong to the Mitila, Bonnie. On that I was wrong." Damon told her seriously.
"You're correct about that one." Bonnie went in a condescending way.
"As wrong as I was from keeping the truth from you, I still saved you." Damon pointed out.
She folded her arms over her chest. "If that's what you want to believe, you can still go now and leave me the hell alone."
He made a dramatic gesture. "After a month of us teaming up, you're going to decide not to see me ever again and go about your own way."
Bonnie snarled. "I prefer not to have someone who belongs to the gutless, heartless, cowardly group known as the Mitla."
Damon defended. "As I said, I'm different from them."
"You confessed to killing innocent people just like they did." Bonnie retorted.
"And my actions against those innocent people eat me alive every damn day. I feel remorse and guilt for my past." Damon's voice went up an octave. "I'm trying my best to put my past behind me so that I will never commit those actions again. You don't know me well enough to understand why I did, what I did."
Despite how furious she was with him, she believed him when he expressed regret and guilt for his actions. "Still whatever you claim, doesn't mean that I need or want you around me."
He let out a humorless chuckle. "Of course not, because as fucked up as I am you have your flaws too."
"Excuse me." She narrowed her eyes.
"You saying that you don't want or need me around has more to do with me keeping the truth from you." Damon hinted. "You being closed off and unwilling to form friendships or a personal relationship with someone. Because for some reason you're afraid to open yourself up. You figure that it's better to built this steel wall around yourself and spend your life alone."
"But, as fucked up as this world is, that is not the way to go. Personal relationships are one of the few things that humanity has to hold onto in today's world. And you prefer not to have them, which is very sad. You'll isolate yourself, which may not seem bad now because you are still young. Then if you go on about isolating yourself for the rest of your life, you'll grow into an old, bitter lonely person and I would truly hate to see that happen to you, Bonnie." Damon finished.
She gritted her teeth, wanted to say something back but knew that he had a point about her being closed off.
"You can be pissed off at me all you want to, but I'm not going anywhere." Damon added firmly. "You need me whether you want to admit it or not, we need each other. You're stuck with me, I shouldn't have held the truth from you. But, you owe me a second chance, so give me that chance to prove myself to you."
"Just because you want a second chance doesn't mean I have to like giving you one." Bonnie resisted.
"Of course not, however you still have a chance to get to Virginia and get to that settlement for the best life any person can possibly have at the moment. Just because I screwed up doesn't mean you have to throw that chance away." Damon returned.
Considering his words for a few long minutes, Bonnie recently came to the view that he had a point, "Okay, I'll go with you to the settlement in Virginia. Only because I'm in this for myself, after we get there I can choose to go by separate way if I want to."
Running his hand over his wool hat he agreed. "Great, now can we get going on the path where we are headed to."
"Don't cross me again, Damon or there won't be a third chance for you." Was her response.
"Noted." Damon said with a slight smirk.
BREAK BREAK BREAK BREAK
Just because she agreed to go with him again, didn't ease up her anger that she felt towards him for holding the truth from her. And through the rest of that day as they walked from one through the suburbs Damon could feel the tension coming off of her strong.
They still had yet to find any food and Bonnie was still in a foul mood. On top of that her the dull ache in her temples, had now grown to a full raging headache which was pounding in her head like a hammer, on the verge of a severe migraine.
Reaching into his pockets Damon pulled out a bottle of extra strength pain killer he had found on a recent salvage. "Here."
Bonnie glanced over at him then at the pill bottle in his hand. "What?"
"Take them for the pain you are in." Damon suggested.
"Who says I am in pain." Bonnie directed back.
"You have a headache pounding in your skull at this moment." Damon arched a brow.
How did could he see through her to know she had a headache, Bonnie wondered. She hadn't told him and didn't show outwardly that she was in pain. "I'm fine, I don't need your pills."
He frowned. "You won't get rid of the headache until you take some."
She mumbled. "You can keep them, I don't need relief if it's coming from you."
Damon insisted. "There are plenty in the bottle, so take a couple."
Bonnie refused. "I don't have to take orders from you."
"Damn it, stop being so stubborn and prideful and take the fucking pills." He snapped out flabbergasted.
"I'm being prideful?" Bonnie lurched back. "You have the audacity to speak to me in that way, with my foul mood towards you at the moment."
"That's just the thing, you're so pissed at me at this moment, you don't want to accept anything from me including pills that will help you." Damon pointed out.
She just sighed.
Damon stated in a tone more gentle. "Look you should really take these painkillers. Your headache is going to kept bothering you if you don't. And it's going to be difficult for you to concentrate on doing anything else if your pain gets to debilitating. Take them for yourself please."
Bonnie saw that he actually seemed worried about the headache she was having. And it was throbbing in her head to the point where she almost couldn't stand it. She wouldn't be able to focus on doing anything else if it got much worse. And she did want to relieve her headache. So, she gave in. "Alright, I'll take them."
"Good." He reached out the pill bottle to her.
She grabbed it from him, opening it up and put three pills into her hand. Then used the water in her bottle to swallow them down. She gave the pill bottle back to Damon.
Damon put the bottle back in his pocket. "I hope that they make you feel better soon."
"I hope so too." Bonnie mumbled.
BREAK BREAK BREAK BREAK
Over the following two and a half days, they moved from one abandoned suburb to the next one which was a couple of miles away. Her anger had eased towards him slightly however, Damon could still tell that she was very displeased with him over the secret he had kept from her. Again he couldn't blame her and knew she wouldn't be getting over what he did overnight. But, he hope over the next coming days that he could prove himself to her and hoped that she would forgive him.
They had searched through the houses in the suburbs where they had killed Billy Bob, Peter and the others but still hadn't found much luck in finding food. They couldn't even find an animal around to hunt, kill and eat. Which left them both starving at this point.
They searched through the second suburbs that they reached all through that day, going by empty house by empty house. Now it was an hour before nightfall, with the sun just setting in the sky. They came upon a two story house at the end up the street. Bonnie searched through the house, as Damon searched the foot, backyard. She searched the downstairs first then the upstairs. Annoyed at finding nothing interesting so far.
Then she heard the sound of Damon's voice, muffled by the walls of the house, calling out from the outside. Bonnie went over to a window which overlooked the backyard and opened it to hear him better.
"Hey, out here" He echoed up to her from where he stood in the back yard.
"What is it, Damon." She leaned out of the window, looking down at him.
"Come on down, I think I might have found something." Damon returned.
With those words she turned and rushed out of the house. Going around to the backyard where he was. "Tell me what you found."
Damon waved a hand. "Over here."
She followed him to the edge of the woods, which lined the backyard. He lead her a few feet into the woods and then turned left.
"I may have discovered something interesting." Damon spoke.
All Bonnie could see before them was a bunch of bushes and medium sized trees. "Am I missing this something?"
"Camouflaged." Damon explained. Then he pushed aside some bushes with his hand to reveal a small white building, just coming out of the ground.
"A bunker." Bonnie recognized.
"A small one but yeah, a bunker." Damon confirmed.
"I would have missed if because of all of the foliage around it." Bonnie eyed it.
"Meaning a person wanted to keep it hidden on purpose. Why do that unless there was a reason for it." Damon expressed.
"Perhaps there is stuff of value or importance inside." Bonnie returned.
Damon gave her a nod. "Exactly."
She shrugged. "Couldn't hurt to see what is inside."
Agreeing with her he approached the door which went down to the bunker. He tested the handle, surprised to see it was unlocked. Opening it he stepped inside. The inside was dark, except for the dimming dusk light that filtered in through the entrance.
He turned on his flashlight to investigate the inside. The bunker was small, but still long enough and wide enough to support about four people being in it at one time. He scanned the place with his flashlight beam. On the right wall was a shelf which held some unlit candles and a few empty cups, coffee mugs.
On the left wall was two bunk beds. He guessed whoever built this bunker had done it sometime during or in the years after the apocalypse happened. As a shelter from the rest of the world. However his instinct told them that the person had left a while ago. Either by death or some other circumstance, leaving the bunker behind.
His light went over to the wall at the back of the bunker and what he saw instantly perked his mood up. "Oh, hell yeah!"
"Hell yeah? You saw some stuff?" Bonnie joined him in the bunker turning her flashlight on.
"Not just stuff food!" Damon pointed towards the back wall.
"Seriously?" Bonnie thought that it was too good to be true, wall at the same time getting her hopes up.
Damon grinned. "Very serious. MREs. You are MREs are."
Bonnie calmly finished. "I'm familiar with what MREs are."
Damon went on. "The kind that the military…...well the old United States military had back in the day."
She scanned her flashlight over the wall, where she saw a stack of boxes marked MRE. Did a happy dance inside at the discovery of food. While at the same time trying to keep herself contained. "How do you figure they ended up here?"
He guessed. "Most likely someone who was in the old military or had a old connection to it."
Bonnie added as her beam of light scanned over the items. "Whoever the person was left behind a case of water as well." She read that the water was a full twenty four pack of sixteen ounce bottles. And was just as glad about that discovery as she was with the food. They only had a couple of bottles of water left between them.
"Right, food, water. We've hit the jackpot." Damon let out a whoop of celebration.
"So, we have." Her lips curved in a near smile.
"There are a least thirty boxes of individual MRE meals from what I can tell. Enough to feed us for a few weeks. " Damon licked his lips in appreciation. "Let's not waste one more minute, we'll settle down here for the night and finally eat."
"Yeah, I'm all for doing that but…" Bonnie paused.
Damon glanced over at her, noticed her hesitation. "But? Are you not hungry."
Bonnie replied. "Obviously, I'm famished. However, what if this food and water belongs to someone, we should just take it."
"Are you kidding me, Bon-Bon. We gone days without food and you are worried about the morals of stealing." Damon snorted.
"Not that I'm worried about morals or stealing. It's just that with how I reacted towards you when you took my food, I don't want to come off as a hypocrite." Bonnie mentioned.
"You're an interesting character, Bonnie." Damon said as a compliment.
"It's a principle thing." Bonnie shrugged.
Damon rubbed at his loudly growling stomach. "I'm so starved that I could eat a horse, whoever left this here, left it unattended and doesn't seem to be anywhere around. You know that this is a brutal world."
Bonnie directed. "This is a brutal world, I'm well aware of that in how I have to fight to live everyday."
Damon said. "Right, and you need food to survive. Food which will give you the enegry to kickass like you do."
Bonnie couldn't help but chuckle at his statement.
"Besides, my gut feeling tells me we are the only people around here for miles. I doubt there is anyone else close by. Not the person who built this bunker and stacked it with the food. They honestly seem long gun." Damon commented.
"My instinct tells me that the person is long gun as well now that I think about it. I mean we would have ran into the person if they were still around. Like I did back in the other suburbs with those men who jumped me." Bonnie muttered.
"Hmmm, I wouldn't be shocked if the person who used to me here might have ran into those jerks, the two areas are close enough. They would have killed anyone else in the areas or ran them off, since that group seems to control it." Damon mentioned.
She shifted on her feet. "One of them named Billy Bob did say that he and his boys ran this area. Robbing any person which came through. That is why we whoever owned this bunker disappeared because Billy Bob's group might have killed them." Bonnie connected the dots.
Damon directed. "Which is bad luck for that person, but good luck for us. We managed to kill Billy Bob's group where they are no longer a threat , and these bunker was well hidden that they didn't find it. Thus leaving food behind for us."
Bonnie agreed. "Correct, I'm more than happy to take advantage of whatever good luck I can get."
"We wouldn't want this food to go to waste just sitting around now would we." Damon waited for her response.
"Hell no, we're not letting that food go to waste." Bonnie said and her empty stomach rumbled in agreement.
"Then let's settle in." Damon signaled.
"Let's get the eating!" Bonnie exclaimed.
So, the two of them settled down in the bunker, lighting the candles to light the bunker since it was getting darker and darker outside. Then they shut the bunker door, just to be extra safe in case there was any other unwanted company around. They kicked off their shoes, getting real comfortable and settled in for the night.
Searching through the boxes of MRE's, they saw that there was quite a variety of meals available them. Pasta with meatballs,chicken and rice,cheeseburger mac,sausage gumbo. Among a number of other different meals.
Getting creative, Damon filled the mugs with water, then used the flames from the largest candles to heat up the water just enough. Then used that water to heat the MRE meals they had chosen to eat as the instructions on the packets had told him to. Finally after days without food the two of them settled down to eat.
She had picked a salisbury steak, with mashed potatoes meal to eat and he had picked a beef stroganoff type of dished, which was served with noodles. And for a while they just ate and drink their meals in silence.
Then after a while Damon decided to start off a conversation. "How is that headache going, do you still have it."
"No, the painkillers got rid of it after I took a couple of doses." Bonnie let him know.
"Glad that you're feeling better then." Damon spoke.
She swallowed some mashed potatoes and nodded.
He ate a mouthful of food, followed it down with some water before he went on. "Why don't we stay here and relax for two or three days. We have food and water here, and beds to sleep in. How do you feel about that before we move on again?"
Bonnie thought about his suggestion. Saw that the bunker not only provided food, but a cozy, safe place to stay. Which a relief after she had ran into Billy Bob and his group trying to kill her. She figured that it could hurt to stay for a handful of days, it would take them a while to get to where they were going.
"Sure, we can rest here for a little bit, before we travel again." Bonnie went along with him.
"Then that is what we will do." Damon returned.
Maybe it was the fact that she was grateful to finally get some food into her stomach, after being hungry for days. Or maybe it was the days which had passed between her argument with him over belonging to the Militia, and maybe it was how he was currently being so friendly and gentle with her.
Perhaps it was a combination of all of those things. Whatever the reason, she found her feelings now softened and lightened towards him. Enough to where she wasn't as angry with him as she was before, even though she still wasn't pleased that he had basically lied to her. Her mood was lightened towards him enough where she could show him appreciation after all.
"You were right, you know." Bonnie stated.
"About?" Damon questioned.
"About saving my life back there." She gestured with her thumb. "You were correct about how I probably would have been dead from a stab wound if you hadn't came along."
Damon said in return. "You were correct too, you fought off those assholes long enough to save yourself."
Bonnie admitted. "Very true. Still they outnumbered me, overpowered me because of it. I think those jerks might have succeeded in killing me, if you didn't assist me in taking them out with your rifle. You completely saved my ass."
Damon looked at her with a serious expression. "Well, as I said I promised to have your back. Just as I promised to replace the food I took from you back in Arizona."
"And I'm happy you followed through with that promise." She ate a piece of salisbury steak to prove this.
"There's more of to come, trust me." Damon told her.
"Thank you for saving my ass, Damon" Bonnie looked him in his eyes as she said this.
This warmed him up on the inside. "You're more than welcome and for what it is worth, I'm really glad in my decision to follow you. I would have felt awful in more ways than one if you would have been killed."
"So, why did you decide to follow me?" Bonnie cocked her head to the side.
"You really want to know." Damon wondered.
"I really want to know. You seemed fine with just letting me go when we parted ways, I'm curious to know what changed your mind." Bonnie pressed.
He let out a breath. "I was so irritated by our confrontation that I was going to let you go. Then the right feelings and common sense thoughts took over me. I guess I didn't want to leave off our partnership in that way. I knew how angry you were with me, and didn't want to leave you with that lasting impression of me, I just decided to go and find you in order to make things right."
She said quietly. "A choice which ended up saving me."
He went on. "I really screwed it up, when I kept from you that I was a member of the Militia. I made the excuse that I didn't lie to you outright, however it doesn't change how I lied to you my omission. I should have revealed to you a lot sooner about where I was from, I apologize for betraying you and whatever trust you had in me. I'm sorry for not telling you the truth."
"I can accept your apology, even though I won't be pleased for a while that it was kept from me." Bonnie leaned forward slightly.
"I'll always be sorry for it, and it won't happen again." Damon meant this.
"It better not." Bonnie commented, although with a lighthearted tone.
Damon chuckled. "I won't keep anymore key secrets or important information from you. From now on I'll be open with you of anything of importance."
Bonnie wiped her mouth with a napkin. "I'll hold you to that."
He paused before he gathered his next words. "And being open with you, I'll tell you that I kept being a Militia from you, because I was ashamed of the awful things that I did, the terrible people that the Militia is overall. Especially after you let your rightful loathing towards them be known. I was already ashamed of by past before I even ran into you."
"And I hated what I had done to innocent people, I wanted to get away from it, start on a new path in my life. Then you were the first person with actual compassion and a heart that I ran into. So, I kept the truth from you because I was afraid of being rejected and turned away."
"I believe you regret your past actions…..I judge everyone who belonged to the Militia under one umbrella, see them all as cruel, vicious and heartless people. Not just because of how they murdered by Father right in front of my eyes. It's also because personally it wasn't my last run in with one of them where I was hurt, without going into details I was again witnessed to the monsters that they are."
Bonnie went on with sincerity. "Plus I've witnessed the violence, slaughters that they have done to other people. So, my experience with the Militia has been all negative, which was why I reacted to you the way I did, when I found those dog tags. But, I'm willing to give you a chance to prove how you're different than the most of them."
Damon gave her a nod. "I appreciate it, you giving me a chance despite my past. It says a lot about the person that you are."
Her eyes scanned over the bunker, as the candles made their shadows bounce across the wall. "I figure you also had a point about me being a closed off person. It maybe a flaw, but it's also how I protect myself in this world. It's not something that I do with the intention of being mean or malicious towards a person."
"Most of the people who I ran into during my life, were in it for themselves and would stab me in the back to get the upperhand. I had a smuggling partner a few years ago, who double crossed me and took everything for herself, leaving me high and dry. From then on, I've decided that it was best if I keep everyone at a distance to avoid getting hurt or worse."
He whispered. "When you explain it like that, I can understand why you built a wall around you. Perhaps I judged you too harshly on being closed off."
Bonnie shook her head. "No, you had a point in a way. I still think the smart thing is to keep most people at a distance, but perhaps I could make an exception just for you. Just for you I can get with the concept of being friends."
"Exactly where I wanted this to lead to." Damon perked up. "Since we are going to be around each other for a while, making an attempt at friendship is the best."
"I could try, I don't know how good I will be at it though. I haven't really been close to a person, so I'm not familiar with how to be a friend." Bonnie rubbed at her arm.
"I'm more than willing to work with you on that. We could start with getting to know each other on more of a personal level. It doesn't have to be anything deep at first, just begin with the small stuff." Damon suggested.
"I can live with that." Bonnie gave a genuine half smile.
Damon offered his hand. "Then we have a deal in making a attempt at friendship."
Bonnie gave him a quick handshake. "We have a deal, Damon."
He smiled widely. "Then we will start with the small stuff and work our way from there. Actually I know that you found out my last name was Salvatore, but I've been with you slightly over a month now and I don't know your last name."
"Bennett." Bonnie let him know.
"Bennett?" Damon questioned to make sure.
"Bennett." She repeated. "Is my last name."
Damon returned. "Bonnie Bennett, what a lovely name."
She exclaimed. "Damn straight!"
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Thank you for the support and the reviews on my last update. And thanks to the reviewer who gave me the advice. I went with Damon saving Bonnie's life, while at the same time not having Bonnie be completely helpless. Showing that she is tough and won't go down without a fight.
I'm trying to build a relationship with these two where they have reliance on each other to survive, while each also has the skill to take care of themselves. But, them being strongest when they work together as a team. And will try to balance out this part as a way to develop their relationship as a whole.
I hoped that you enjoyed this update. I apologize for any spelling or grammar errors I missed.