Well ladies and gentlemen, we are back! Good God, the mid-season finale…FEELS. TOO MANY FEELS. I CAN'T EVEN! Ok, I'm trying to be rational and remind myself it's fiction, but holy cow. If you haven't seen it…you need to. That is all. Enjoy my offering to you guys, for now fanfiction is all we have left until February. HOW WILL I SURVIVE!?
"One last person left to talk to," Mal murmured as he and Luna made their way through the narrow halls of the CDC towards the armory. Simon was on guard and despite what Luna had done to Raoul in the ring last night, he was confident he could convince Simon to help them. Simon had a head on his shoulders, and it actually contained a functioning brain. He had to hope that family loyalty wasn't enough to cloud reason and good sense.
"You really think this is going to work?" Luna hissed as they rounded the last corner.
"You're gonna help me make it work," Mal gritted through his teeth. He approached the end of the hall that was outfitted with the cage that held the CDC's weapons. His own gun was still strapped to his thigh, but even he would need more firepower if they were going to make it through this hair brained mission alive.
"Up and at 'em already, man, you are a tough little bitch aren't ya?" Simon drawled as he got up from his chair, his thick fingers drumming over the rifle in his arms. "That was some impressive shit you did last night," he said with a nod in Luna's direction. She nodded back and grinned a bit.
"You don't seem to busted up about Raoul being hurt," Mal noted.
Simon shrugged. "Eh, it was good for him to get knocked down a couple pegs. Might not teach him any manners, but at least it'll teach him to be more careful about who he fucks with. Sides, he's not that messed up. He's already back at the heavy bag." He snickered a bit with a slight shrug. "What can I do you for?" he asked more towards Mal, but Mal turned towards Luna and arched his eyebrows, indicating for her to explain. She'd been trying to rehearse this but nothing sounded particularly good, so she just plunged ahead like taking a dive into dark water.
"You know that my sister and I were brought here against our will," she started, trying to gauge his reaction.
He nodded. "Yeah, everyone knows that. You two made a lot more of a fuss about it than Tau or Leland ever did though."
Luna nodded in agreement. "My sister and I have a plan to get us out of this place. But not just us, everyone, if they want to leave. But in order for it to work, we need your help."
Simon's eyes narrowed. He hit the code for the armory door which swung open and he beckoned them inside. "The visual feed from the cameras still works in here, but the audio at this distance isn't great. So what are you on about?" he asked quietly.
"My family is coming to get me and Judith. There's no question about it. If they're alive, and I know they are because they've seen so much worse before all of this." She paused, letting the effect sink in as much as it would. "They're coming here. Judith left them a message when we were held prisoner in Colorado telling my family where they were taking us. My family is from Atlanta, they know this place well, but what they don't know is that all the roads but one are impassible, and that the city is overwhelmed. They don't know about the tunnels, or that if they set foot inside the city they'll get torn to pieces. Judith and I need to warn them before they get killed. I know a way to warn them, but we need your help," she nodded to both Simon himself, and the store of weapons that he was guarding.
He clicked his teeth together for a moment, his finger caressing the trigger guard of his rifle. "And why the hell would you come back if I helped spring you in the first place? That seems counter productive don't you think?"
Luna inhaled and exhaled again before she answered. "This is why," she answered, pulling out the notebook that Mal had given her and flipping it to the page where Jenner had documented his attempted cures. She handed it to Simon who shifted his rifle to the side to read. Silence passed between them for several long moments and when he looked back up disgust was roiling all over his face.
"That bastard," he snarled. "He can't…there's no way…"
"He will, Simon. And he's gearing up for another run. All the signs are there. We don't have long to do something about this," Mal urged.
"I won't let that happen to you," Luna continued. "I hate Jenner and I hope he get's torn to bits by a biter, but us lab rats…for the most part…aren't evil." She cracked her knuckles as she eyed the weapons that surrounded her. "When we get back from this run, I will set all of you loose. I'll burn this place down to stop him if I have to. That man has destroyed enough. We should be free to choose our own fates."
Simon exhaled slowly and then eyed Mal. "I can see why you like her." He ran a hand through his dirty blonde hair and handed the notebook back to Luna. "You really gonna do this?" he asked her.
She nodded. "It's what my family would want. We haven't lost our minds like someone people. The world outside didn't turn us into monsters. People like us are all that stands between staying human and becoming just another biter."
That was a piece of advice that hadn't come from her parents, but it had actually come from Rick. She and Judith had been having a fight and though both parents had talked to their children, the two girls wouldn't reconcile, but then Rick had gone to Luna and talked to her himself, and reminded her the importance of how they chose to treat the living, and how when it came down to it, the bonds between people were the most important thing.
Simon smiled, the expression lighting up his handsome features like sunlight on water. "You can't talk like that and expect me not to help." He stepped to the side and gestured to the armory. "Anything you need."
Luna grinned and went straight for the shelf that had her weapons on it. This time she armed herself to the teeth with her daggers, her twin pistols, and her bow with it's quiver. As the familiar weight settled over her body she grabbed up extra clips as well, stowing them in her gun belt.
"Also, we had another favor to ask," Mal said as he selected his own weapons. "We were hoping you'd come with us on the run."
Simon's eyes narrowed again. "Where you headed?"
Mal turned to look at Luna. "Where exactly are we headed?"
"Up to the Georgia hills," she answered. "A good ways outside of the city. If all goes according to plan, it should take a week to get up there, and a week to come back."
Simon snorted and shook his head ruefully. "Man you are just asking to get killed." He rubbed the back of his neck and the underside of his jaw, tipping his head from side to side in consideration. "I've never been further than the chemical plant before. This should be fun." He clapped Mal's hand and fist bumped him lightly. "I'm in. When do we leave?"
"An hour. Get your stuff ready. Meet us down in the atrium. Anybody asks, tell them you're under orders from Jenner to go with me on a run. Tau's coming too, she'll take care of the rations."
"What about guard duty? Nobody else does this job but me and Raoul." Simon's voice went soft as he raised his concern.
Mal gave Simon a very careful, guarded look. "I need you to convince him to keep this secret. Please. Don't tell him anymore than you have to. After all of this is over you can explain everything." He put his hand on Simon's shoulder. "It's for his own safety as much as everyone else's."
Slowly Simon nodded in agreement. "I'll talk to him."
Mal turned to go but Luna lingered behind. "I'll go with you, if you think it would help."
Simon forced a thin smile and shook his head. "You're as brave as you are crazy, Luna. You would just piss him off. I'll get through to him, don't worry."
Luna nodded slowly. "You fought well last night," she acknowledged. "I'm glad you decided to come."
Simon tipped his head in acknowledgement and watched her walk away. He took a deep breath in and then set the rifle aside before buckling into a holster that would hold two forty five caliber pistols underneath his arms. In a duffle bag he also put all the automatic handguns that Martinez had left behind when he'd come to suit up for his own run, as well as the ammunition, in essence hand held machine guns that had been left behind by the military when they'd cleared out. When he had everything he thought he would need and that he could reasonably carry he locked the armory up and quickly stole down into the dorm room that he shared with his brother.
"You're off early," Raoul noted as he rolled his still bandaged shoulder. "Thought I wasn't on until five."
Simon shook his head. "There's something I gotta do. Something I need you to do for me."
Raoul's eyes narrowed. "If this is about Mal and his little pet I swear I'll break his neck," he snarled.
"Lay off of him alright!" Simon snapped. "When are you gonna grow the fuck up, huh? No one ever treats you with any respect because you act like you're fucking nine years old and had your candy cane snapped by the big bully. Just knock it off, alright?"
Raoul backed down a little from his older brother. Simon could be overbearing, but the tone was different this time, and he knew his brother enough to know that something had changed.
"What's going on?" he asked.
"I'm going on a run with Mal and a couple others. We're gonna be gone for a while. I need you to hold down the fort at the armory and not get into any trouble."
Now Raoul was on his feet, his knuckles clenching hard. "If you're going on a run, I'm going with you."
Simon shook his head. "Not this time little bro. This time, I need you to stay here."
"You said that last time too. What is it about him, huh? You his boyfriend now or something?" Raoul spat, clearly displeased.
Simon sighed heavily. How could he make his brother understand without giving everything away? His brow furrowed as he set his bag down on the floor and set his arm across his brother's good shoulder, his hand fisting into the back of his brother's dark hair. Even though he was the eldest they stood almost at the same height, Simon a scant inch or two taller, and far leaner than Raoul's muscled frame.
"Listen to me. Please, for once in your life, listen to me. Something bad is gonna happen if I don't help Mal do this. We could all get killed. And it isn't anything to do with Luna. It's Jenner. Jenner is on some crazy scheme and it's not going to end well for us. Luna is actually the one who wants to put a stop to it. That's why we're doing this. But I need you here. I need you to look after things." He squeezed his brother's hair and pulled him close so that their foreheads leaned against each other. "Dad made me swear to look after you, and I've done the best I know how, and this is all part of that. So please, please do this for me."
He let his brother go and watched his expression closely. Slowly, Raoul nodded and shrugged his uninjured shoulder. "Who all is going?"
"Me, Mal, Luna, Judith, Tau. Leland too I think." He didn't see any harm in telling his brother that, they'd all know who was missing soon enough.
"You're packing a lot of heat," Raoul noted, nudging the bag Simon had set down with his booted foot. "How far are you going?"
Simon swallowed hard. "I don't know exactly. Mal didn't say. Please, Raoul. Whatever happens…" he squeezed his uninjured shoulder tightly "do what you know is right. Protect people. Do what Dad would want you to do, ok? What I would want you to do."
"You're afraid you're gonna die." Raoul's voice was almost choked, realizing the desperation in his brother's tone. He yanked on his brother's arm and pulled him into a fierce embrace. "If you die out there, so help me God, I will kill those bastards."
Simon held onto his little brother as long as he could. All those years ago, when the biters were closing in and his father was desperately trying to hold them off, he'd made his oldest son promise to look after Raoul, to keep him safe, and bought them enough time to escape. The echoes of his father's dying screams would forever haunt him, and never made holding down Raoul's ferocious temper any easier. Christ, he'd only been fourteen years old at the time, Raoul had only been twelve, and when he'd met Jenner's supply runners while they were on a run, he'd decided to go back with them. He and Raoul were almost starved to death; the CDC was like paradise at first. He did it to keep his little brother alive, but now he knew that there was no going back. This was just one more thing he had to do to protect what was left of his family.
Simon let Raoul be the one to let go, and in some ways he was glad when Raoul moved, because Simon wasn't entirely sure that if he hadn't that he ever would. "I'm going down there to see you off," Raoul said firmly, the growl in his voice definite and unyielding.
Simon nodded and then slowly paced around the small dorm room, grabbing a couple changes of clothes, and his father's dog tags. He'd scrounged up another chain a long time ago and had split the two tags without telling Raoul. He handed one of the tags on its original chain to Raoul and the other he slid around his neck.
"You had them all along," Raoul murmured as he dazedly accepted Simon's silent gift. "I thought you said…"
"I know what I said," Simon breathed. "He told me to hang onto them until the right time. This is the right time."
Raoul nodded and slid the chain around his neck, letting the tag fall on the outside of his wife beater. Without another word he followed his older brother back through the halls of the CDC, all the way through the atrium. Leland was already there, as was Judith and Tau, and it only took a few minutes before Mal and Luna appeared.
"I wanna talk to you," Raoul growled with a nod towards the final pair.
"Words only," Simon muttered with a tight expression. Raoul nodded briefly and Luna and Mal followed him a few paces out of earshot.
"Look. I don't know what fucking scheme you've got going, but if you come back without my brother, you're fucking dead meat, you got that?" He made sure to crack his knuckles threateningly.
"Have a little faith," Mal said calmly. "Or did you not watch your brother's fight last night?"
"Yeah I did. And he lost. To you," Raoul snarled coldly, rounding on Mal viciously. "You fight dirty. If you let him die out there, I swear, Mal, I'll rip your head off your shoulders."
"Back off." Luna's growl was deep and rumbling in her throat. "I know this scene," she said, stepping between Raoul and Mal. "You're protecting your sibling." Her voice became softer and more calm. "I swear Raoul, I won't let anything happen to Simon."
"You think I trust you?" Raoul sneered towards her.
"No," Luna spoke softly. "But I beat you in the ring last night, fair and fucking square. If I can beat you, I keep your brother safe."
Raoul glanced the girl over, so undecided about her. He towered over her and out weighed her by at least a hundred pounds, and yet last night, she'd handed him his ass on a silver platter. The spot where she'd bitten him still burned when he moved it. Since she'd shown up, she'd done nothing but aggravate him down to his last fucking nerve. And yet, for some reason, his brother seemed to trust her, and Mal. Believe in whatever fucking scheme she had going. He stared her up and down, trying to figure out what it was about her that all of a sudden had people jumping up and down trying to change shit. She waited out his silence coolly, seeming content to take whatever he could dish out. He was pretty much done trying to scare her; it was obvious nothing could frighten her.
"I don't know what game you're fucking playing, all I want is to make sure Simon comes back alive. You make that happen, we'll call it even."
Luna smirked at him, all but purring with slick satisfaction when she finally did answer. "You don't understand yet, but your brother does, and that's good enough for now. You wanna play along, but you don't get it." She arched up on her toes to speak into his ear. "I'm not playing. This is for real. And that's why you all are so stir crazy." She slid back down to her flat feet and nodded to Raoul once. "I'll bring him back safe."
She stepped back from him and took her place with the group. Raoul nodded to Simon once more before he readjusted the pack on his shoulders and followed Mal's lead out the door.
"You sure we can trust him?" Judith asked as they took the steps down the CDC, the blasting sunlight hitting their faces, nearly blinding them all.
Mal readjusted the pack on his shoulders. He opened his mouth to speak, but it was Simon who answered.
"Who you talking about sweetheart? Me, or my little bro?" He spun on his heel and grinned a bit, and for some reason Luna couldn't stop the snicker that worked its way from between her teeth.
"Both of you now," Judith commented with a roll of her eyes.
"Heads up!" Leland called. "We got biters on the Gauntlet."
Luna's blood roared through her veins, reminding her of the few times she'd heard thunder snarling or wind howling during severe winter storms on the mountains. She unsheathed her twin daggers and spun them in her fingers and flashed Mal another smirk.
"Ya wanna see a real fight with biters?" She didn't wait for his response, she kicked it into overdrive and plunged into the fray, splicing skulls with deadly precision, black acrid blood spraying through the air. Luna spun with a snarled cry and used both hands to take out two biters at the same time, yanking her knives back and spinning them in her fingers as the rest of the group caught up, Mal and Simon bringing up the rear as they began to make their way through the Gauntlet.
"You weren't kidding, it's hot when she does that," Simon commented as the two of them watched the way Luna and now Judith as well laid waste to the slavering undead in their way.
"In a very weird way," Leland agreed.
"You fucks gonna give us a hand or what?" Tau called as she smashed another rotted skull with a machete, yanking the blade back with a sickening crunch sound.
They formed a loose circle and made their way up the Gauntlet, using cars and buildings for cover as they smashed and slashed the corpses that staggered too close. They were about halfway through but penned in from all sides. Luna broke from the group and began to dance through the horde, spinning and stabbing at lightening speed. Power spilled through and a fierce cry of almost evil delight tore itself from her throat. Her hair flared in a wide circle as she twisted around, splicing a biter's face in two. She was pinned up against a building and was forced to drop into a crouch, bouncing on the balls of her feet to avoid being bitten from both sides. She slashed both ankles and kicked off from the wall as the bodies fell, beginning to crawl on their bellies towards her. Gasping for breath she plunged a blade through the back of a skull that was reaching for Simon that he hadn't seen because he was busy cracking another head open against the ajar door of a wrecked car.
"Move!" Luna huffed, shoving him in the shoulder blades, Walker blood smearing against his shirt from where it had spattered on her hands, the skin of which had been almost completely stained reddish black. She kicked off of a curb and used the forward momentum to
"Shit, we gotta run!" Leland barked. At the intersection where they would have swung a right to get into the tunnel, two groups of Walkers were headed straight for them to cut them off, at least two dozen strong, maybe more.
"How much ammo we got?" Luna demanded as she sheathed her knives and withdrew her pistols.
"Two hundred rounds or so," Simon panted as he pulled his knife out of a fresh skull.
Luna grinned. "I shoot, you run, ready, set, go!" She squeezed the trigger, her enhanced eyesight and making for straight shots every single time, clearing them a path. They all bolted, their booted feet scraping the bloodstained concrete as they ran for the entrance to the tunnels, Judith tag teaming with Luna with her long knife on any biter that got a shade too close for comfort. Luna was the last one inside and as soon as she was clear, Mal stabbed his knife forward and speared another biter that was halfway inside the tunnel, it's long rotting arms flailing madly towards them. When he withdrew his knife a torrent of blood came spilling straight down which they all jumped back from wildly to avoid being splashed.
"Nasty," Tau commented with a wrinkled nose. "Smells down here too."
"Come on, we need to go, as fast as we can. Visibility is shitty down here and we know that there's at least three or four breaches to the tunnels."
"You didn't patch them up? What the hell you been doing down here all this time?" Simon hissed. "I thought that was your job!"
Leland twisted around and glared at him, an impressive feat considering the difference in their height and weight. "There used to be over a dozen," was the growled response.
"Oh. Well, in that case, nice job." Simon shrugged sheepishly.
"So that's what you do for your job?" Luna asked as Leland began to lead them through the twisting, turning, gritty walkways. She had an advantage down here in that because she was the shortest of the group, she didn't have to bend her spine to avoid hitting her head, while the rest of them were at least a little hunched over, or in Simon's case, almost bent at the waist to avoid scraping his head on the ceiling.
"Yeah. Me and some other guys come down here and patch things up where we can. I been doing it the longest though," Leland explained.
"How come? I figured that'd be a top priority sort of thing?" Judith commented. She'd put away her long knife in favor for a thinner hand held blade that had much more maneuverability down in these close quarters. She couldn't hear any sounds except the grit of their footsteps and slightly labored breathing, but she always had both ears open for any sounds of biters.
"It was easier to make the CDC self-sufficient than to deal with this. These tunnels were a back up route to escape the city just in case everything went to hell in a hand basket. We expanded them for a while but more labor was needed elsewhere. Now it's just upkeep on what we already have." Leland paused at a three-junction turn, considering the route before taking them to the left. Thin shafts of sunlight from grates in the street peeked through every so often, but otherwise the darkness was thick, even on Luna's eyes.
"How come you only come down here at night then?" Judith pressed.
"The heat," Luna murmured softly.
Leland paused again. "She's right. It gets too hot to work all day down here. We're all drenched already and it hasn't even been half an hour. If any of you feel like you're going to pass out, tell me, and we'll head back to the street for some air if it's clear."
"I hate being down here," Mal commented as he wiped the sweat off his brow, only to have it start beading there again immediately, soaking through his shaggy bangs, causing them to stick to his forehead. Luna reached up and brushed them out of his face and smirked.
"Get used to it, city slicker. You're gonna get filthy these next two weeks. And hungry. And tired. And so sore you might not even be able to lift your head for the next month." She jerked his bangs just a little and then smacked him on the shoulder. "Welcome to hell."
Simon smirked which just made Mal roll his eyes so hard he almost gave himself a headache. "I like her even more now."
"Back off. I saw her first," Mal growled playfully, making sure to stand behind Luna so she couldn't read their lips.
"Easy killer," Simon joked. "Crazy girl's all yours."
"How much further?" Tau panted after at least an hour of the twisting, never ending labyrinth of the tunnels.
"Not far," Leland hissed. "But this is where most of the cracks are. Shh!" He put his finger to his lips and then motioned for them to stay crouched down near the floor. They were huddling behind a corner. Luna couldn't hear, but Judith gave her the sign for biters and so she understood the tension flooding the group all of a sudden.
"How many?" Luna signed to her sister.
Judith dared to very slowly peak out from around Leland's shoulder and try to judge the situation. There was a long tunnel that formed a T-junction to the corner they were crouching behind, and towards the next bend on their left, the direction they had intended to go, was a large group of biters, shuffling slowly, their heads twisting aimlessly as they bumped into each other as they rambled back and forth.
"At least a dozen," Judith signed. "Probably more."
"Can't we take them?" Mal hissed from his position near the center of their cluster.
"No," Leland whispered. "Not without room to maneuver. They're blocking the exit, we have no idea how many more there are in our way."
"So what do we do?" Simon hissed.
"Shit, they're coming!" Tau gasped. They all scrambled back, pressing further behind the corner. They all waited for the inevitable moment when the corpses would stagger down the hall and turn towards them. Biters, no matter how long they'd been dead, knew where the food was. But as the group held their breath, nobody moving a single inch, the corpses shuffled passed without incident. One turned randomly down their corner but they all held perfectly still, nobody so much as even inhaling. The creature cocked its head at them, egg rot running eyes and slack jaw gaping at them blankly. Its skin was hanging off its rib cage in sheets, exposing most of the bones and the lack of internal organs. Luna was pretty sure she could see the creature's spine through what remained of its guts. The urge to kill and put it out of it's misery rushed through her veins but she held back, knowing a single sound could bring the whole herd towards them.
The creature continued to wander past them, moving aimlessly until it turned down the next hall and disappeared. They all exhaled finally, gasping for the breaths that they'd had to hold.
"That…has never happened…" Leland panted as he leaned up against the gritty wall of the tunnel. "They've always attacked before."
"I've never seen biters do that," Mal agreed.
Luna paused for a moment, thinking it over. She went over to Mal and tugged on his arm, pressing her nose into his neck and breathing deeply.
"Uh…Luna…what are you doing?" he demanded when she let him go.
"The smell," she said with a pointed look at all of them. When they all stared at her blankly she rolled her eyes. "We smell dead!"
"This helps us how?" Tau asked with a cocked eyebrow.
"Walkers don't eat their own kind," Judith murmured, a sudden burst of understanding hitting her eyes. "It ignored us because we don't smell alive. The heat in the tunnels is making us smell like them."
Luna nodded pointedly. "Exactly." She crouched down to the floor and scooped up some of the gritty water and mud into her palm and rubbed it against her neck and chest, getting a good smear of it all over her arms and even her cheeks too.
"Go on!" She gestured to the floor.
"Please can I die now?" Mal whined after Luna made sure most of his exposed skin was thoroughly smeared with grit. He shuddered in his own skin and tried not to feel like vomiting.
"Even if there is a herd, this will hopefully get us through." Luna spoke softly. "Move slowly, don't react if they touch you."
"And if it doesn't work?" Simon hissed as very slowly the group began to make their way around the corner towards the exit.
Luna didn't answer. She tried not to breathe too deeply as she led the group through the tunnel, all of them shuffling slowly, keeping the pace a Walker would. They couldn't see them yet, the ladder to the end of the tunnel was around the next corner about a hundred yards ahead, but they could hear them. Everyone but Luna could hear the raspy growls, the air rattling through dead, torn open throats. She wasn't sure if she should be grateful that she couldn't hear that awful sound that always meant death was never far away, or if she should be afraid she didn't have the warning. Someone lightly brushed against the back of her arm and at first she thought it was Judith, but when she darted her eyes to the side, she saw Mal.
"I got your back," he mouthed, not actually speaking the words, but it was enough for her.
She turned her head and faced forward again. The turn was coming up and she longed to reach for her weapons, but she knew better. It would startle the others, and if one single thing went around, they were all going to end up shooting or stabbing themselves to death. There wasn't enough room down here for a battle. They had to at least make it into the street.
The smell of death rolled over in thick, noxious waves. She struggled to think around it as the haggard, mutilated bodies of the Walkers began to get closer and closer. A few of them turned towards the group shuffling towards them. They lifted their heads, clicking their ashen jaws, but otherwise made no motion towards them. Brittle strands of mud caked hair brushed against the group as they began to slide past, shuffling very slowly towards the single shaft of light that marked their exit. When a dead limb scraped against their skin as they passed, Luna had to do her best not to shudder with the sickening feeling. Her heart was slamming in her chest, the blood roaring through her veins, careening between her ears like a violent storm.
One bite. One scratch. That's all it takes, and then no one can help you. Her father's voice, soft and warning, teaching her about the biters when she was three or four years old, one of her earliest memories. He had taught her not to be afraid of them, only of her own carelessness that could result in a bite or a scratch. She and her sister hadn't been raised to run from them, only to know the best way to destroy them. Remaining so passive as she slid past their rotting bodies, picking their way through the small crowd that was shuffling aimlessly near the shaft of light, it went against everything in her nature.
Cautiously, almost carelessly, she shifted her hand to her hip and flipped the clasp on her holster so that way if the time came, it wouldn't take but half a second to withdraw her gun. She brushed her sister's arm with her own and began to loosely draw into her arm, quick fingers not wasting any time.
"Get them out. I'll guard the entrance just in case."
Judith took the message to heart. While Luna stood in front of the ladder that would lead them into the street, holding her knife, still loose and doing her best not to give anything away to the mob of biters, many of them less than a foot away, she nudged her friends towards the ladder. Tau and Simon went up first, then Leland, but his foot scraped one of the metal rungs. Immediately every Walker head swiveled to the sound. There was a beat where nothing moved, but then as everyone remained frozen, the egg rot eyes seemed to have some sort of awakening. A realization, a mad instinctual urge to hunt, kill, destroy, consume the flesh that was right in front of them.
"Move!" Luna snarled. Simultaneously she whipped her gun forward and shot, the cool steady flow of energy through her arms as she took aim and squeezed the trigger terribly familiar and satisfying.
Control the gun, it doesn't control you, her father had told her. Feel the weight; use it to your advantage. Don't fight its power, that's what makes your mom's shots go wide.
Her dad had told her fleeting hints at why her mother was so resistant to a gun, and Daryl had made sure that regardless of Fox's silent protests, that Luna was more than capable of wielding one with deadly accuracy.
"Luna!" Judith howled when she was halfway up the ladder, calling for her sister as more Walkers poured in from the two ends of the tunnel that they could see even as the pile of bodies around her sister's feet grew with every exploding gunshot. With a snarling cry as she smashed one more head with the butt of her now empty gun, Luna spun and launched herself up the ladder, skipping the first three rungs with her leap, gathering up her legs and scrambling madly to avoid the thrashing, clawing hands reaching for her. Her shins banged against the metal rungs, a terrified scream wrenching from her throat as her fingers missed the bars and she began to feel herself fall.
Dead, clasping fingers snagged her ankles just as living hands grabbed her arms. She howled with fear as she felt the bony fingers ripping at her jeans and boots, desperate for a piece of her flesh, to rip her open and consume her life so they could fuel theirs. She thrashed her legs madly, banging and bruising her legs as she tried her best to dislodge their grip. A sickening crunching, tearing sound that she could not hear spilled over the humid air as her friends managed to finally pull back on her hard enough that she came flying out of the tunnel and spilled onto Mal's chest. She kicked her leg out wildly, dislodging the hand that still had a hold of her, the hand that had ripped free of one of the biters that had a hold of her. The hand went tumbling down the asphalt where after a few lonely twitches, remained still.
Luna scrambled for a second before relaxing, recognizing that it was Mal who had a hold of her. Slowly the shakes stopped as she leaned against him, breathing in his scent. Through the grit and grime and salty tang of sweat and filth was the clean smell of icy winter air and crushed pine.
"Thank you," she whispered against his lips.
"That's a first," he breathed against the bridge of her nose, combing his fingers through her hair.
She hadn't heard the soft words and from her angle hadn't been able to see his lips move. She knew he'd said something, and judging from the huff of laughter that escaped his chest, it had been sarcastic and cheeky. She rolled off of him and he helped her to her feet.
"Don't get cocky," she chided.
"Wouldn't dream of it, sweetheart." He narrowed his eyes at her but it was playfully as he began to beat the grit and grime off of his skin.
"Come on, we're not far from the edge of the city, we have to move," Leland urged. Judith nodded and he took off to scout ahead. Mal made to catch up and Judith flung her arm around her sister's shoulders, tugging her close for a fast embrace.
"Thought I lost you," she signed.
Luna managed to a shaky sort of grin, the kind that comes when there's too much fear mixed with too much relief. "I ain't that easy to kill," she signed back when she pulled away.
"Eventually Fate is gonna put that shit-talk to the test," Tau remarked with a grin and an eye roll.
Judith nodded in fervent agreement. "Do not make me be the one to explain to your parents exactly how you got eaten," she added.
"If I get eaten, make Mal be the one to tell them. They're gonna kill him anyway," Luna snickered. She may have been laughing, but the fingers that made her signs were trembling, both with the wash of anxiety and relief that was flooding over her. She did her best to grit her teeth and calm down. As she and the others jogged to catch back up to Leland and Mal, leaving those cursed tunnels behind, she was able to take in her surroundings a little more. In the distance behind her there were skyscrapers, massive towering structures with shattered glass reflecting like the light on the diamond that Glenn had stolen for Maggie. She'd asked her mother why her father had never given her a ring, despite the fact it was clear they were a couple and would never be with anybody else.
"I don't need a rock to tell the world who I love, Luna. Diamonds and jewels and pretty things like that were rituals in the Before, trophies used to win affection. None of that means anything now. Now the only thing that matters is what someone is willing to do for you, how much they understand you. How much they know who you really are. Your father knows me more than any other man ever has, or ever will. It's easy for the world to know that we belong to each other."
"How would someone know?" She'd only been eight or nine years old when she'd asked, ever curious and always asking how and why. Her mother had dropped down into a crouch to be at eye level with her, stroking her fingers through her daughter's hair as she had answered, the scars on her face gleaming in the mountain sunshine.
"If you're lucky enough to find someone that you love, and they love you back, it's easy for the world to see. You move in time with them. You fight for them, they fight for you. You don't have to ask. You'll never have to question." She had smiled then, very softly. The expression was so rare Luna had only seen it a few times in her life and it always made her take her mother very seriously. "You wear each other's skin."
She'd reached her child's hand forward and touched the scars on her mother's face. Her mother had sighed quietly and gathered Luna up into her arms, holding her tight and Luna had smiled into her mother's neck, breathing in that comforting smell she always associated with protection and strength.
"It's never as simple or as easy as it looks on someone else. But the love is always worth it."
"Whatcha thinking about?" Mal asked, noting the way Luna's eyes were continually fixed on her surroundings, and yet a little bit vacant, as though she could see something no one else could.
She lowered her head and came back down fully into the present moment. "Something my mother told me."
"Oh yeah? What's that?" he asked. She couldn't tell if he was genuinely curious or just needed to make small talk.
She was about to answer when another pack of Walkers emerged from a street corner and immediately began to make their way towards them. Luna holstered her gun and this time pulled out her bow and notched an arrow but didn't pull the string tight yet.
"How killin' always seems to come before lovin'" Tau remarked with a cheeky grin as she took her own stance at Luna's shoulder. She hefted her own crossbow up to chest level, a different make and model than the one her father used, but she recognized the stance immediately.
"Cozy fire side talks later. We gotta get you two out of the city." Simon pulled out his ax and spun it in his fingers, waiting for the word as he watched the incoming mob.
"Behind us!" Leland called as more Walkers began to crawl out from the allies and side streets at their backs.
"Ladies first," Mal said, his voice dripping with anticipation as he took out his long knife.
"Guess that should mean you," Luna teased just as she pulled the bowstring back and let the arrow fly. She felt the wealth of her bloodline's instincts spill through her veins and the arrow slammed home in the skull of an approaching Walker, the satisfaction of a wolf that's made a kill howled inside her mind, filling her with purpose and utter resolve.
"But don't mind me, I like to lead."
Street by street, block by block, they fought their way through the edges of the city. Their limbs were shaking by the time Leland jabbed his bloodstained hand forward. "There!" he gasped, his dark hair thick with spatters of debris. "Down that road, follow it, you'll find the rail station. Follow the tracks, it'll take you all the way out of the city and up into the hills. We'll meet you at the quarry."
Luna nodded sharply and glanced at Mal and he just threw her a shit eating grin, his teeth gleaming and his eyes bright. It sparked something in her she didn't understand but didn't have the willpower to question now. She grabbed him and kissed him firmly, the taste of blood and smoke lingering on his lips. She shivered with it and he seemed to be of the same mind.
"Be safe," he whispered as his fingers threaded into her hair. "I'll be back for you."
"Be careful," she warned, her low rasp of a voice even thicker with emotion. "If you're not back within two days from the time we get there, we're leaving."
He nodded and stroked his hand over her hair, kissing her softly once more before he let go. Next to him, he saw Leland holding Judith close as well. Her hands were in his hair and her mouth on his as they held their bodies close together, oblivious to the rest of the world.
"Seems like we're the only ones not gettin' any," Simon remarked to Tau with a cocked eyebrow.
Tau could only snicker. "I pegged it from day one." She laughed and the sound of it helped to split the couples apart.
"Twenty-twenty hindsight vision," Simon shrugged. He glanced over his shoulder and then back at the two girls who now stood next to each other, their fingers securely clutched around their weapons.
"Be safe," Luna called to them as they retreated, spinning on their heels and taking off at a run for the railway tracks, cutting their way through the Walkers that had begun to stagger from allies, shuffling and straining their ruined bodies forward as the first living flesh they might have seen in years raced passed, a blur of ferocity and gleaming steel, running into the unknown abyss. Mal watched them go until they dove around a corner and vanished from his sight. He pulled his long knife out and for a split second stared up at the sky and felt the last vestiges of spurning heat from the sun's fading rays, letting it drive him on. He didn't know where the strength to keep moving came from and he didn't care. All he had to focus on was what was right in front of him, fighting through the streets, running for his life right next to his friends as they raced back to the safety of the tunnels, every step back towards the CDC tasting sharp with anticipation and desire to turn and go back the other way and never look back again.
DarylDixon'sLover: Love it and love how Daryl is.
Hehe, I do my best to write the characters true to how they were created, I hope I'm keeping up =)
Emberka-2012: Once again can be seen how close Fox and Daryl. They were meant for each other.
Yes they were indeed. Daryl's moral qualms are far different than Rick's sort, and I think that's what really separates them as men, and their choice in female companions.
Brittney: Close call for everyone with the fire then the stream. I would like to see more interactions with Michonne, she's one of my favorites in the show. Hurry up with the family reunion! :)
Very close indeed. I love Michonne too, she's such a badass character in so many ways. She's so hard to write though because she's such a chameleon. On the one hand she's closed off and ferocious and on the other hand she's very perceptive and intuitive and can be gentle, so striking that balance is hard, but I love the way they do it in the show =)
mrskaz453: Awesome... The last 2 chapters have been great... Can't wait for Luna/Judith to meet Merle...LOL. I loved the convo between Daryl/Fox... It's one I think they should have had about Rick, but I would love for Daryl/Rick to have a conversation... even though Daryl understands, it still has to piss him off everytime Rick crosses a line...and he does cross lines... I'm glad Fox said what she did and that Daryl understands...I think that even though he understands it was good to hear it from her...The fire scared the crap out of me...LOL. Loved Rick telling Michonne that she's one of them...Can't wait to see what happens next... Luna/Judith finding Merle? Mal/Leland meeting Daryl/Rick... Oh, that is going to be soooooo good...LOl Update soon.
Oh I know, I have the whole scene where Luna/Judith meet Merle planned out in my head. It's awesome, or at least, I hope it will be. It's gone through many alterations and has been in the works since the beginning of the story. Oh and don't worry, Daryl and Rick will be having a talk eventually. They can only keep the tension between them quiet for so long. It does aggravate Daryl that Rick crosses lines, and the two of them know he does. Daryl stands by him because at heart Rick's a good man, but that doesn't mean Daryl won't defend what's his if he feels threatened. It was definitely good for Fox to say what she did to Daryl, he needed it, and she knew that. She knows that the more they fight and the more they struggle the more he needs her and the more he needs to be able to count on her.
lunasky99: Wow that almost went really badly. Aw... Richonne all the way!... maybe in later chapters... you wouldn't want them moving to quickly I mean it might not even happen but that is a couple I ship, I also ship Muna, Ledith, Richonne, Glennie, Darox, Daria, Dixia, Foxin the last four were all the same ship just different ship names xD I love that they all consider Michonne family :D
Heh, it did almost go really bad didn't it? But that's the kind of thing that could happen in an apocalypse. It's not just Walkers, it's food and water and weather and day to day survival. I know, I love the Richonne, although (and maybe this is just my super skewed perception) I think maybe they might be trying to very softly hint at Daryl/Michonne in the Tv show. Is anybody else seeing that? Anyway. Hehe, I love how you name the ships 3 Of course Michonne's family, she's fought beside them and earned her place, even if she doesn't see it herself yet.