Random Disclaimer: I do not own The Walking Dead or any profits to do with it, if I was getting money for this I would be writing way more often.
Chapter 22:
Run N' Gun
Lori marched back through the station as Cindy peeled off to take watch duty, her head was still spinning from the split decision made by the group to send some of their best off on some ridiculous gamble for supplies. She marched into the common area where Carol was sat with Sophia, Carl and Duane. As Lori retrieved a bottle of water to drink Carol rose and walked over, she spoke in a slightly hushed tone.
"Lori, could I talk to you for just a moment… about Carl?" She said, Lori felt her heart tense slightly at the thought, she knew she had been putting off talking to him, she had been slightly hoping that he would start to find his own feet…
"What about?" she asked taking another sip, however as she looked over to the kids she saw a tenseness between them, Sophia was scribbling in a notebook and Carl was playing a card game by himself, both not making eye contact or even speaking.
"That." Carol said simply as she followed Lori's eye-line to the children, Lori nodded and they walked into the hallway, over Carol's shoulder Lori saw Morgan and Hannah talking in one of the offices.
Lori and Carol both entered an adjacent office, Carol closed the door and spoke in a serious note.
"I would like to say before I speak that… I know it isn't my place to tell parents how to discipline their children but…" Carol began but she trailed off slightly looking nervous.
"But…" Lori egged her on, she knew the older woman didn't enjoy direct confrontation.
"But… I think you need to talk to Carl about how he is handling this whole… situation." She said slowly and cautiously, as though she was afraid that if she said the wrong thing Lori would pick up the office chair and throw it at her.
"What do you mean?" Lori questioned.
"Sophia told me about what Carl did the other day, I don't know if you've heard but apparently he yelled at her and it upset her a bit… it wasn't a lot but maybe you should maybe have a quick word with him about it or…?" Carol trailed off, Lori sighed and sat in the office chair before cradling her hand in her hands, as much as she loved Carl the last thing she needed was for him to start acting up…
"I'll talk to him… you have to understand though in the last three weeks he's been put through hell." Lori said and Carol nodded.
"I understand completely, Sophia's the same things… she even lost her father as well but a good talk really can settle things out." Carol reassured as Lori took her head out of her hands.
"Ok… thanks." Lori smiled half-heartedly, Carol smiled and placed a reassuring hand on her shoulder before leaving the office to go back to the children. Lori took a deep breath and finished off the bottle of water, she hadn't even realised she had been finishing it off until she was left with the empty bottle, she placed it in the bin before realising that no-one would probably empty the bin… nor would anyone collect the rubbish from it, it would just sit there for however long this thing went on for…
It was always the little things that got to her.
OOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO
Shane pulled the van neatly into the delivery space, three walkers were lumbering towards them, two rather close but one in the distance, the two ambling towards the van were both ironically dressed in Costco uniforms.
"Paula, you got the one on the left?" Shane asked as he handled the axe he chose back at the station, Paula held onto her smaller axe tightly as she nodded. She exited the vehicle and saw Shane slowly edge towards the advancing walker, he then took the axe and swung it over his head and down on onto their face, the walker collapsed as Paula turned her attention to the one advancing on her.
She held her axe tightly as it got closer, her heart was beating really fast, the rank smell of decay filled her nostrils as she copied what Shane did before, the smaller axe embedded itself in the walkers face. Paula cringed as blood ran from the wound and the monster keeled back over and rested on the tarmac.
Paula gagged slightly, still unable to control her gag reflex even if it had been nearly 3 weeks of the same old shit.
"You ok?" Fred asked from behind her, she turned to see him looking concerned.
"It's okay, just takes some getting used to doesn't it?" she joked as she instinctively wiped the face-matter on her trouser leg before cringing again. She then followed Fred to where Shane and Leon were standing, it wasn't until now she had realised that Shane had forgone the Pistol Only rule in favour of his shotgun… again.
"Okay, y'all know the plan, Paula you're with me, we're on canned foods, Leon and Fred I want you to keep your eyes out for anything else of use, but take anything you can." He ordered as Leon passed a camping backpack to Shane as Fred gave Paula one, she slid it over her arm and checked the ammo in her pistol, 15 shots like she left it.
"Got it." She said and Fred took the lead, they navigated the turned over crates of mismatched merchandise, a large male walker lumbered from behind a large section of plywood but Leon ran up and embedded a crowbar through its eye.
"Keep going." Shane said behind her, Paula passed Leon who withdrew the crowbar as the body fell. They reached a door next to the main open entry towards the store, Paula gagged again when she saw at least 10 bodies lying on top of each other.
"Oh God…" she muttered as she turned away, maybe that's why using the delivery entrance wasn't the best idea.
"If we use this entrance we go through where the generators are, through there is a door into the cold storage facility. That's the sneakiest way I can think of, walkers will probably be all over the main entrances after the riots me and Cindy lived through." He explained, Paula raised her head to see Fred and Leon opening the door and walking through, Paula stood up but Shane stopped her by the doorway.
"Are you sure you can do this?" he asked again, Paula pushed the hand off her shoulder, making sure she didn't brain him with the axe whilst doing so.
"I'm sure, Shane. How many times do I have to tell you?" she asked irritated. Shane shrugged and they walked through together, ahead they saw Fred and Leon walking ahead carefully.
"I hear ya… just never knew you to do anything wild." He said, Paula chuckled whilst keeping an eye out.
"Well, I know I'm not known for my adventurous nature. Truth is I crave adventure. When I left high school I wanted to climb mountains, hike though the wilderness and see exotic places… I'm even trained in first aid and I was a volunteer EMT before I met Tom… But then I got pregnant and Tom was so busy with work that I had to stay home with Freya…all of my dreams just never happened." She reflected sadly, she turned to see Shane shrugging sadly, actually sympathising with her story.
"Well… on the bright side. Now you get the adventure you always wanted." He joked but Paula missed the joke whilst lost in her thoughts.
"I guess, but it cost me my family." She said solemnly, she turned to see Fred open the door to cold storage and immediately they were greeted by a group of five frozen walkers all gnawing on a piece of large meat on the floor.
"My, my…" Leon muttered, all five of the walkers, all draped in Costco uniform, rose and stood up slowly, very slowly.
"Seems the cold slows them down." Paula stated readying her axe, she saw the three men all do the same as the walkers started to slowly move towards them.
"One each?" Shane asked moving ahead cautiously.
"I'll take the two fat ones." Leon said referring to the heavy-set men in the middle.
"I've got the princess." Paula said as she noticed that the skinniest female had long blonde hair.
"I'm taking the one on the far right." Fred stated.
"I don't mind leftovers." Shane said as he advanced first alongside Leon, wet thuds resounded around the room as Paula moved left slightly to draw her walker away from the others, the female walker tried diving for her but Paula knocked her over with the blunt side of the axe, when she hit the floor she brought the axe down on her skull being rewarded with another wet thud, however the axe didn't sink in and the walker rose again but a quick boot to the face stopped her short.
"Oh, that was not fun…" she muttered, another wet thud made her turn, she saw Leon smashing in the face of one of the larger walkers.
"Leon." Fred said simply, the cop stopped and looked at the mess of what used to be a face, he grumbled and wiped the crowbar on his uniform.
"Sorry." He said simply, Paula looked past him to see Shane examining the meat pile… however on second glance it wasn't a meat pile.
It was another pile of human bodies.
"Christ…" she muttered as she walked over to them, as she did Shane rose and turned to the other three.
"We may have a problem." He declared bluntly.
"What?" Paula asked dumbfounded, Shane pointed down to the bodies.
"These bodies were not walkers. They were human when they died, all of them have a single gunshot wound to the head." He said, Paula cringed as she looked at the closest body on the pile, the larger woman didn't look like she had been a walker… her skin seemed fresher and she also had a single gunshot to the head.
"The ones by the entrance?" Leon asked and Shane nodded.
"Same thing, these people weren't attacked by walkers."
"They were rounded up and shot." Paula seethed, it had only been about two or three weeks since the outbreak and people were acting like the old world was never coming back.
"Dear God…" Fred muttered looking around, Paula shared the worry, these bandits could still be here.
"I don't think we should chance it Shane." She stated, Shane looked at her with a mixture of concern and irritation.
"I feel it to Paula but… we can't just go home with nothing. Fred, check some of these meats and see if they are still good to use, Leon go back to the entrance and eye up some of that merchandise, also keep an eye out for the people who may have done this and let us know via walkie. Paula stay with me, we're gonna see what we can find." Shane ordered, Leon departed as Fred started checking the meat in the storage, Shane shouldered his shotgun and Paula withdrew her pistol, if there were armed people here killing others she didn't want to be pandering around with her little axe.
"So what's the plan?" she asked as they entered the actual store, it was a mess, everything was scattered like people had trashed the place, this was going to be a nightmare.
"Plan is to grab what we can and get back to the station, if these people are still here then it's trouble for us, I don't want the group split any more than it should be." Shane said, the store seemed barren so they started looking at the tinned foods, some had lost their labels but Paula was not being picky, she was picking up anything she could get her hands on, this weighed her down but she knew it was worth it.
"I got some water and juice, you got some food?" Shane asked rounding the corner, Paula nodded and tried standing up, the pack weighed her down but she got to her feet.
"You got it?" he asked, Paula nodded.
"Anything else?" she asked and he nodded, he turned and Paula followed him, slowly, to the preserves aisle, he took down some random jars and stuffed them in his backpack, Paula saw a few packs of potatoes that still looked like they had some life in them, she stuffed them in her backpack before hearing a faint pop.
A gunshot.
A few moments of silence passed as Paula stared as Shane before he picked up the walkie.
"Leon, what the hell was that?!" he seethed in the walkie, Leon panicked voice crackled back.
"You better hurry man, there's 20 of them and they're all coming for me, they are about a few minutes of stumblin' away man but you gotta hurry!" Leon's voice replied, another pop went off and Paula knew he was trying to shoot them down.
"Shit!" Shane shouted and he started to run towards where they came in, Paula tried following but the bag was wearing her down, she could only manage a light jog. She followed Shane into the refrigerated section to see Fred join them.
"That gunfire I hear?" he asked panicked.
"Yeah, we gotta go!" Shane replied, Fred picked up his backpack and followed, Paula continued after them withdrawing her pistol from her waistband again. As they ran through the generator area the popping became louder. However what came out of the walkie on Paula's waist, the one connected to the station's walkie, made her stop dead in her tracks.
"Shane! We need you guys back now!" Hannah's voice shrieked, Shane and Fred both turned at the sound with a look of horror, Shane grabbed the walkie and barked into the walkie.
"What is it?" he asked.
"People! With guns!"
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Earlier…
Hannah walked solemnly through the station, she had been put through her paces lately with the disaster, the death of her son and now Jamie's breakdown. She had just spent a few minutes speaking quickly to Morgan who offered a few words of comfort. She was coming to rely more on the man in the last few days, what with all of the events of late she had been very distraught but they had taken a watch shift the night before at the same time and had talked about everything.
Apparently Duane was just as shaken, he was a pretty bland kid but he had still been hit hard. Hannah couldn't help but admire Morgan, after all that had happened the kid looked up to him… Jamie couldn't even look at her…
Morgan had told her to give Jamie space, she needed to come to her own forgiveness of sorts, Hannah knew he was right but knowing she was that angry made her sad, what only added to the sadness was Leon. He and Hannah had been flirting on and off since she had arrived… nothing serious but still... he had stopped being cheerful now and was more solemn than most of the group, he had barely spoken to her since Billy and Rosie had passed and Hannah knew why.
He blamed her for Rosie's death, the sad truth was it was Hannah's fault… her neglect of her son's safety lead to Rosie's attempt to save him… and her failure.
"Hannah?" a small voice behind her said, Hannah turned to see Sophia standing there.
"Yes, honey?" Hannah asked.
"Have you seen Jamie?" she asked, Hannah thought hard but knew she didn't know her daughters whereabouts.
"No, sorry." Hannah said, Sophia looked slightly down.
"Oh, she must still be on the roof then." She said, Hannah's brain did a double take.
"On the roof?"
"Yeah, I saw her go up the stairs after breakfast." She said, she shrugged and walked away. Hannah sighed and wondered what her daughter was doing on the roof, she leant against the wall next to her, on the wall they had written small notes with arrows on them to show where things like the bathroom were. After Billy they weren't going to be careless.
Hannah decided to go up to the roof, she didn't like the idea of her daughter spending too much time up there nagging people, at least if Jamie was still having an attitude she would go back inside to avoid Hannah.
She walked up the stairwell and opened the door to the roof, she looked to see Lam, Cindy and Jamie all sat down looking out over the front of the station, they all turned and Jamie turned away quickly, choosing instead to ignore Hannah then give her attitude.
"Hey, what can I do for you?" Lam asked, Hannah liked him, she felt safe in his presence.
"Hey, I just wanted to know when my shift was." She lied.
"You can join us if you want, but we're changing over when the others come back." He said, Hannah looked sideways at her daughter who was still not looking at her, she saw Cindy bite her lip and knew she had her sympathy.
"Nah, I'm gonna go inside, I'm gonna help Carol with chores anyway." She said, however as she turned to leave she heard something faint, very quiet but loud enough to get her attention. She stopped dead in her tracks and saw Lam look at her with a concerned face.
"What is it?" he asked, Cindy and Jamie turned to look at her as she strained her ears.
"You hear that?" she said, Lam stopped and listened as did Cindy and Jamie. It sounded rough…
Like an engine.
"Is that them?" Cindy asked, Lam stood up and look around. Hannah saw it first, two large armoured vans drove out from a side street and along the stations street.
"Oh my God…" Lam muttered, the vans drove up towards the car park in front of the station.
"Who are they?" Cindy asked, Hannah wanted to answer but she was hesitant until they stepped out. It was an all-male brigade, all of them looked like your standard white-trash, Hannah wasn't a stereotype-ist but that's how to best describe them. There were a few moments of silence as the rednecks walked in front of their vehicle and looked up to where the four of them were.
They were all armed.
"Jamie, go inside and tell Morgan to bring up some guns." Hannah ordered, her daughter forgot about her vendetta against her and ran inside. The tallest redneck, armed with a large rifle stepped forward and spoke loudly.
"Hey! How y'all doin'?!" he shouted, Lam handed the walkie off to Cindy who took a step back and talked firmly into it, the walkie was on a station that was on a CB in the common area and on a walkie that Lori had.
"Guys we have people outside, Lori get the kids together in the common area and get Morgan to get some weapons up here, these guys are armed." She spoke into the walkie as Lam responded to the men.
"We're doin' fine thanks! What can we do for you?!" Lam asked maintaining the southern hospitality King County was renowned for.
"Yeah! We're looking for a place to stay! See we've been sleeping in these vans and we're mighty sore." He yelled back up, Hannah was scared that he wanted something like this, the staircase door opened behind her and she saw Morgan run through with a satchel of what looked like shotguns, Hannah ran to him to stop the rednecks from seeing him.
"What the hell is goin' on here?" he asked as he dropped the satchel, inside were not only shotguns but pistols, Hannah saw hers in there and she took it out, loaded it and switched off the safety before stuffing it into her waistband and concealing it with her shirt.
"Rednecks, with shotguns. They want to stay here." She explained, his eyes widened as Cindy walked back over to Lam.
"Well we can't just let you in, you've got guns!" Lam yelled back holding his own shotgun. Hannah walked over to join them to see the men growing irate.
"So you're just sending us away?! Not very hospitable! What if we don't want to go?!" the lead redneck said, he wore a tacky denim overall complete with the dirty white shirt.
"There are 13 of us and 5 of you and we are all trained in firearms! You do the math!" Cindy yelled in a fearful voice, she left out the fact that 4 were kids and their best shooters were all missing.
"Well I like a challenge!" an even filthier redneck in a bad tank top and combat trousers shouted before raising his shotgun and firing.
The bang jolted Hannah who acted on instinct alone, she withdrew her gun and fired 5 shots at random as she dived backwards with Cindy.
"Shit! You okay?!" Hannah asked a collapsed Cindy as Lam rapidly fired his shotgun, loud bangs filled the air as Hannah received no answer.
"Cindy?" she asked fearfully as she pulled on the woman's shoulder, Cindy rolled over and Hannah screamed when she saw the massive hole in her chest. She saw the walkie in Cindy's fallen hand as Morgan ran forward and joined the fray with a shotgun of his own, she picked up the walkie and saw the setting change, she changed it to the channel that Shane's group were using, they needed them now.
"Shane! We need you guys now!"
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Shane was running hard with his shotgun aloft, his job was to protect Paula who was carrying all the weight since she wasn't the best shot. Hannah hadn't gone into detail saying she was in the fire fight but said they needed to rush back.
"Come on!" he shouted at Paula, she could only walk briskly since it weighed so much, Fred kicked through the door to the delivery entrance and saw Leon being assaulted by a group of walkers, he was firing into the crowd using a pistol and every shot was landing.
With the noise already being absolute Shane and Fred joined the fray, the walkers fell fast but it was a big group, just like the one at the gas station back when Ed was still alive.
"Paula! Get those in the truck and start it up!" he ordered handing her the keys, she ran in front of him and he covered her, she showed no fear against them as they fell around her, she threw the bags into the back as Leon and Fred ran towards the rear still shooting. She runs around the other side as Shane makes his way to the passenger seat.
Click click click
"Shit." He cursed, a small female walker lunged for him but he beat it back long enough to crawl into the passenger seat, however as they set off there were yells from the back then a thud but Paula didn't stop as they broke through the locked gates on the other side.
"Shit, we forgot the gas." Paula cursed as she floored it, they had lost the group of walkers now as they hit the suburban streets.
"Guys." Leon's dim voice came over the walkie.
"Yeah?" Shane replied, his heart stood still expecting the worst.
"They got Fred." He announced, Paula and Shane's eyes locked in a dismal glance.
"Fuck!" Shane yelled as he punched the dashboard, if this wasn't a failed trip he didn't know what was.
"Dragged him out before I could close the door… Didn't stand a chance." Leon explained dimly from the back, Shane was full of guilt… He was so full of guilt, first for being such a bad leader then for the things with Lori, they had grown closer not only emotionally but physically...
But he didn't have time to wallow, he needed to get back to the station immediately to save everyone else from the bandits… they were probably the same people who had hit the Costco.
Which means they were taking no prisoners.
OOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO
Hannah had dragged Cindy's body back to a safe place but it was too late, she was dead, blood had gushed from her mouth and she had choked on it before dying. Hannah was torn between going inside and hugging her child or defending the station but she couldn't get a shot in and Lam and Morgan were firing wildly.
"Hannah! They're firing into the lower levels! Get everyone down!" Lam yelled, Hannah's heart stopped for a second but she nodded, she picked up a shotgun and cocked it.
It was loaded.
She flew down the stairs nearly running into Jamie on the way down.
"What's happening?!" she asked hugging Hannah.
"Honey, stay close and stay low!" she yelled, she ran into the station towards the entrance to see Lori huddling over Carl protecting him from the hail of gunfire propelling in through the windows, she and him were pressed up against a reception desk but the gunfire was pinning them down, Carl was crying and Lori was cringing, on the floor a smear of blood stood out on the white tile.
"Whose hurt?!" Hannah shouted in fear, Lori held up her hand and Hannah saw the huge cut spanning the length, Lori had her pistol out but couldn't get a shot in.
"Get ready to run!" she shouted at Lori who nodded. Hannah looked at Jamie and nodded towards Lori, Jamie nodded with tears in her eyes and Hannah hugged her again before breathing in and ducking out from her cover, she heard Carl yell 'Run!' as he and Lori made their move.
The shotgun bolted wildly every time she fired, the boards over the big windows blocked out where she was firing but the cover was enough as Lori took Carl and Jamie deeper into the station, after six shots Hannah was out but the cover had been enough as the fire on the front seemed to stop. Through a gap she saw at least 3 bodies, one of which being the man who had started the 'negotiations'.
"Hannah!" a young voice yelled, across the hall she saw Duane running towards her.
It almost happened in slow motion, before Hannah could raise her hands and tell him to stop bullets flew through the window and struck the wall around Duane as he was in the clearing.
One pierced his stomach.
"Duane!" She shouted in panic as he hit the floor, on instinct Hannah took out her pistol and fired where she saw the shots come in as she moved over to where Duane was, she heard a yell on the other side but kept firing, with one hand she grabbed Duane's shirt and pulled him to her cover, much to his protest. Once her clip emptied and she was safe she began to inspect Duane.
The bullet had hit his abdomen and he was bleeding badly.
"Shit!" she yelled, without thinking she tore off her over-shirt and placed it on his wound, applying pressure. His cries turned to screams but Hannah kept up the pressure.
"Sorry Duane but I need to do this!" she shouted in tears, she had just seen Cindy die. No-one else would die today.
Not if she had anything to do with it.
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Paula was shocked by the sight before them, it was two of the roughest looking rednecks firing towards the roof of the station, she saw the shape of maybe Morgan or Lam firing with a shotgun but not scoring any hits.
"What do I do?!" Paula asked scared, she really shouldn't be driving a vehicle like this.
"Drive up the back, I want a shot at these bastards!" Shane yelled, Paula floored it and circled the men, one turned and fired the shotgun at the van, the bullet hit the windshield and Paula screamed but kept course, Shane began firing wildly as Paula drove up the side of the station, she dodged another car and turned round the back door.
"Somebody let us in the back!" Shane bellowed into the walkie, she didn't know who had the walkie with a connection to theirs but hoped someone was listening. Paula turned off the vehicle and climbed out the doors, Leon went out the back and Shane motioned to him to follow him.
"Paula! Leave the food in there, we'll get that later! Get inside now!" he yelled, he and Leon ran towards the edge of the building and went down the side, hopefully to finish off the last two guys. Paula ran towards the back door and banged on it.
"Come on, someone open up!" Paula shouted banging it, the door opened and Carol stood there, Paula ran in and she closed it behind her.
"Where are the others?" Carol asked in a panicked voice.
"They went round the side to get these assholes." Paula seethed "Is everyone okay?" she asked but Carol just shook her head as she lead Paula to the common area, there she found Carl and Sophia hugging under the cover of Lori up the corner of the kitchen area, Lori herself having a blanket wrapped around her hand. Jamie was on Lori's other side rewrapping the blanket, acting way older than her age.
"I don't know, we haven't heard from anyone since the gunfire began." She said.
"Hannah got me and Carl away from the front when we were pinned down but she hasn't come back yet." Lori chipped in.
"And we can't find Duane, we'd go and look but neither of us are armed and Lori is injured." Carol stressed.
"You're injured?" Paula asked Lori but she shook her head.
"I just cut my hand when I fell, it's nothing." She explained, beside her Sophia was crying into Carl's shoulder, he himself also being very teary, Carol was too busy fussing over Lori's wound and checking outside the room.
"I'll go and find Duane, he can't be…" Paula started but was cut off by Hannah barrelling into the room, in her arms was Duane, she gently put him on the couch.
"He's been shot, I can't stop the bleeding." She said through heavy tears. Paula swore as Carol moved to take the kids out of the room. Hannah took back the shirt over the wound and Paula saw the gunshot in the abdomen, Duane was passed out.
Not only that but the gunfire had ceased.
"Oh God. He's gonna bleed out, we need to get him to a hospit…" Paula trailed off as she realised there were no hospitals, the pale look on Hannah's face said it all, she looked to left and saw Lori still holding her cut hand with the slowly bloodying blanket.
They needed stitches and surgical equipment.
"If we go to the hospital I can try and stitch him up. But it depends on if the bullets went cleanly through or not." Paula explained, Lori looked slightly sceptical, Paula rolled Duane onto his side and checked his back, another bullet hole was symmetrical to the one on the front meaning the bullet went clean through.
"Are you sure?" Lori asked and Paula nodded.
"I did a course on first aid before we met. I know what I'm doing, trust me." She said, she still remembered how to stitch and Duane didn't have long left, the only niggle in her head coming from the fact that she had never put these skills into practice in a dire situation.
"Morgan." Hannah said, Paula turned to see Morgan standing in the doorway, his eyes rested on Duane crumpled on the couch, he got on his knees and crawled towards him.
"Duane… Duane…" he repeated feebly upon seeing him, he stared in shock as he slowly approached his son. Duane remaining unconscious as Shane and Leon ran through the back having been let in by Carol.
"We got them." Shane announced but fell silent upon seeing the crumpled form of Morgan over Duane. A few moments of collective silence held between everyone, however it was broken as Lam limped in.
"Ah!" he exclaimed as he fell into the doorframe, he was supported by Leon as he nearly fell.
"What is it?" Leon asked, Lam moved his hand from his thigh to reveal a gunshot wound.
"Took one in the leg. Hurts like shit." He said through clenched teeth, Carol walked over with another tear of cloth and pressed it to his wound.
"What are we going to do?" Morgan asked as he raised his head from his son, Hannah was knelt next to him also crying slightly, Paula felt a rogue tear run down her cheek but she wiped it off.
"If you can get me to the hospital I can find some materials to stitch him up, look at his back, the bullet went clean through, if it didn't knick anything serious I can transfuse some blood and stitch him up… but there's no guarantee." Paula explained, she had only been taught how to stitch skin together and knew the theory to the human body… but she had never had treated a gunshot wound victim.
"You can do it?" Morgan asked.
"I might be able to. But only if we get our hands on the supplies." She said, however she was cut off by Lori.
"Where's Fred? Didn't he come back with you guys?" she asked, Paula's heart clenched as she thought of Cindy.
"No, he was pulled into a crowd." Leon explained.
"Oh God…" Lori said in shock, next to her Carl had stopped crying but was still sticking to his mother, it had also seemed that Jamie had forgiven Hannah since she was sitting right next to her.
"Well we won't have to worry about telling Cindy. She was hit on the roof, she didn't make it." Lam said solemnly, Paula closed her eyes momentarily to stop the tears… to many people were dying today.
"That's it. We are getting Duane to a hospital, I can also stitch up Lori and Lam but we gotta get there fast, he's already lost so much blood." Paula said and next to her Shane nodded.
"She's right. But we all have to go, nobody left behind." He ordered but he was quickly answered by Carol.
"Why do we all need to go? Only a few are injured." She asked in a stronger voice than usual, Shane turned and pointed outside.
"Those gunshots were loud, Carol. Walkers are gonna be all over this place in a matter of minutes. We all need to grab whatever we can and flee, Lam and Leon I need you to grab as many weapons as you can get your hands on, kids I want you to grab all of our tinned food and put it in those satchels by the mini-fridge, parents you can take of all the clothes and belongings. Morgan, stay here with Duane and makes sure he stays alive and get prepared to move him. Everybody go!" he ordered quickly, there was scrambling as everyone moved everywhere, Paula saw the kids diving for the satchels and then diving for the fridge, Lori, Hannah and Carol all made their way to the room as Paula spoke to Morgan.
"Morgan, I'll get your and Duane's things. Don't worry." She said, Morgan nodded as Paula ran after the mothers.
She found the men's room and grabbed the bags off the floor and shovelled whatever she could get her hands on in the bags, she tried to distinguish between Morgan and Duane's clothes but she didn't have the time. In minutes she had the bags packed before Lori ran in.
"Shane's bag." She said simply, Paula knew Lam and Leon also needed help so she threw all of the clothes she could find into any bag. They could sort later.
"Ah!" Lori exclaimed, Paula knew her hand must be giving her grief, she didn't know about the seriousness of the cut but next to gunshot wounds it wasn't serious.
"Come on!" Paula shouted, she grabbed all of the bags and grunted with the effort, she threw them into the hallway as Carol came out with her and Sophia's things, the pile in the middle would be difficult to transport. Paula ran across the hall for her things and packed them into her bag, she didn't have a lot so it didn't take long. Underneath the bed she had stashed Rick's Python, she hadn't even taken it out of the box but she had kept it anyway. She forced the box into her bag and turned and ran out to see the other women picking up the bags.
"Come on Paula, we gotta go!" Lori said lifting her and Carl's bags whilst letting out another cry of pain, Paula grabbed the few that were left and hauled the alongside the other women. They got to the common area where the kids were waiting with their bags full of the food.
"You got the food?" Hannah asked and the kids nodded, also in the room Morgan was holding Duane the best he could.
"He's still breathing! We gotta hurry!" he was shouting, Shane ran into the room and holding several sets of keys.
"Paula, those keys still in the truck?" he asked.
"Yeah."
"Good, when we go outside everyone throw your bags in the truck near the RV, kids you all go to the RV, Lori can you manage it?" he asked the woman, she shook her head and raised her blanket coated hand, the white fabric was now growing red and Lori's face was rather pale.
"I'll drive." Carol said, Shane gave her a small set of keys which she held on to, Hannah was giving a bag to Sophia and Jamie to carry as Paula heard Leon run in with Lam hobbling after him, both carrying large satchels.
"We got the guns." He announced.
"We're all set then. Now I'm gonna go first, any walkers and I'll clear them. Everyone dumps your bags in the truck then get in the RV. Morgan and Duane need to go in the RV and use the bed in the back. Leon, you and Lam take the cruiser. Paula you can take the van with me, nobody panic if there are walkers just get in a vehicle. Let's go." Shane ordered as everyone started moving to the rear of the station.