Disclaimer: I do not own the rights to Twilight and TWD. Those rights are reserved for Stephanie Myer and Robert Kirkman. I do own the rights to the original characters created for this storyline. Please support the official release.
Writer's Notes: Salutations everyone! I wanted to do a quick thanks to everyone that is leaving reviews! I love to hear everyone's thoughts on the story. We have a lot of exciting things coming up and I want to give special thanks to Des for your thought process and be a sounding board as I write this story. I couldn't do this without you sometimes so thank you so much! I want to shout out to my editor and beta, Roxie. I really definitely couldn't do this without you. Thank you for all that you do. Sometimes my fingers move faster than my brain, so thank you for catching my silly mistakes all the time. I also want to thank everyone that supports me as a writer. All of you have such kind words and it really inspires me to do the best I can, all the time! I also want to thank everyone their patience in between updates. I try to stay on top of getting updates out to everyone but as everyone knows by now, I have a lot going on in life, but writing is my biggest stress relief and outlet. I am still not taking new requests for crossover stories. I have a backlog still. We will see a few new stories soon. A Walker Tale has a good stretch more to go and if you are following Borderline Betrayal, we have some more to go on that one. Some one shots will be coming out for the holiday seasons. Just some fun, light hearted stories that don't have a huge plot, just some really cool things spun together. So keep an eye out for some of those coming out this Fall. As always, I appreciate all of you! Don't forget to follow, favorite, and review!
[Six Months Later]
Alexandria was prospering. It was safe to say that this was the sanctuary they all needed. Things were going smoothly. The expansion of the wall was finished and they were able to get two greenhouses up before winter blew in. Now it was cold, the snow on the ground hiding some of the animals that Bella and Daryl were used to hunting. The deer were becoming more scarce as well, which was odd. This was a good season for deer and it was like the wildlife were thinning out more. Bella was concerned about the lack of game, but they would depend on whatever they could find. Fishing was still an option, but since the lake had froze over, they would have to go ice fishing and no one was experienced at that, so it was something they put off.
T Dogg was still alive. The bite didn't turn him. Despite his many worries of waking up a walker one morning, Bella and Jasper deemed him safe to be around the others and he was released from his spot in the armory. T Dogg was the first ever, to their knowledge, that was immune to the virus. Bella saw this as a double edge sword. It was good that T Dogg had a natural immunity to the virus. But she was worried that if word got out, that people would want to use T Dogg. She had no way of knowing who all was alive in the world. She didn't want to lose what they had established here and put anyone in danger, especially T Dogg. Bella and Jasper weren't biomedical engineers. They had no idea how to even begin making an antidote. It didn't make sense and while they were both surgeons by trade and army medics, the science behind the medicine was not something that they studied too much, even when they went to medschool. T Dogg wanted to save the world. He was a phenomenon, but Bella wanted to play it safe. It caused some distention between T Dogg and Bella because they didn't agree, but eventually T Dogg listened to Bella.
"OPEN THE GATE!"
Bella heard Glenn yell and so Bella ran from the food pantry, sprinting towards the gate right when Spencer was sliding the gate back. They didn't have any people outside the walls right now, so he was confused and so was Bella. But she ran towards the gate to see what was going on.
"Please help us!" A man said. His ebony skin was dirty from obvious time spent out there with the walkers. He was wearing a dark beanie cap hiding his hair and he was dressed in dark layers. With him was a woman, her thin frame bundled up the best she could. Her hair was braided back but her mocha skin matched the other man and the third man with them was hurt and the two of them were carrying him. He looked severely hurt and it was clear he was in pain.
"The clinic. Spencer shut the gate." Bella commanded and turned seeing Jasper sprinting up with Jake right behind him and Rick wasn't far off from them. "Jasper, Jake, get him inside." She ordered as Jasper and Jake relieved the other two, helping the other man inside the clinic. Maggie was rushing over, Beth with her along with Denise since it was such a large commotion.
Bella looked to Maggie. "Maggie, get statements." She said pointing to the two that brought the injured man inside. "Denise, keep Pete out of the clinic." She said and then she was running inside, Rick right behind her.
"What do we have?"
"Bites to the leg." Jasper said as he ripped the man's pant leg to expose the leg. "Two bites below the knee." He relayed.
Bella nodded and turned and Jake was dumping alcohol on her hands. "Pin him down, Jasper give him something to bite down on." She said and she looked at Rick. "Saline, the extra blood, tubing." She was focused on the man laying on her table now. "My name is Bella. I know this is confusing and you're in a lot of pain. I have to take the leg off. We can't wait to put you under. It will hurt a lot and then you will pass out. I am a surgeon and combat medic. I will make sure you wake up. Nod if you understand."
The man nodded. His dark skin was scruffy like the other man, but not as bad. His dark eyes were filled with pain. "I'm Bob." He managed to get out.
"Alright Bob. Bite down on this." Jasper said and handed him a wooden spoon and Bob bit down on the spoon.
Jake grabbed the machete off the wall and handed it to Bella. She didn't hesitate, she swung with a lot of force and hit Bob's leg right below the knee. Bob screamed as he bit down, the pain was overwhelming. He screamed again as Bella swung the machete again and got a deeper cut, taking the leg off with the third swing and then Bob passed out. Bella moved fast, applying a tourniquet and she went to her combat medic training. This was the same principle as helping soldiers with blown off limbs. She immediately grabbed the blow torch and she started cauterizing the wound. "Jasper, run the line. Fluids, blood." She said when Rick came back with the saline and blood they were storing. "Two units." She said and she started cleaning up the stump so infection wouldn't set in. "Jake, grab the antibiotics. We'll run it with the saline." She ordered and Jake disappeared to the storage to get the antibiotics.
Maggie walked in with the other two that were with the man. "This is Sasha and Tyrese. This just happened nearby." She relayed. "Their friend is Bob."
Bella nodded. "Bob introduced himself before… well. Before I cut his leg off." She was still focused on Bob's leg, cleaning it up and making sure there was no bleeding that would cause Bob to lose his life.
Tyrese was watching Bella intently, he was tired and hungry and cold. "Thank you."
"Not a problem." Bella said and started bandaging the leg. "Let's see, he weighs probably… 70 kilos…"She murmured. "Jasper, morphine. Get the IV machine. Let's get a morphine drip started for him. 180. Should cut it. Don't want to overdose him. Set it for the twenty four hours. I'll see what other pain medicine we have. We may have to go get more." She said and then leaned up and walked over to the sink and started washing her hands.
"On it. Jake roll him into the other room." Jasper said and Jake hit the stops on the table. It was a hospital table bed and so he carted him into the other room.
"Is he going to be okay?" Sasha asked.
Bella dried her hands and looked at her. She studied them both. "Well, we will see. He'll be out for a while. Pain and trauma like this will keep him pretty groggy. We're transfusing him and giving him fluids. We're going to run a bag of antibiotics and then have him on a morphine drip for the first twenty-four hours. That pain is going to be nearly unbearable. I don't have a lot of opioids here. I was planning on a run soon. But we will give him what we have. For now, the best thing you both can do, is get cleaned up, get some food."
"Who are you?" Tyrese asked.
"Bella. I'm the main doctor here. Jasper is also a surgeon and combat medic. Hershel Greene, he's not in the clinic right now, but he is also a doctor. We have a community here. Our mayor is Deanna Monroe. She'll want to talk to you. We have been surviving here for many months. Stay as long as you would like. There is a food pantry. Denise and Olivia will be happy to help you set up with some food, but for now, Maggie is going to take you back to my house. We'll have clothes ready for you to change into as well as some hot food."
Tyrese shook his head. "People don't do things for others anymore."
"Well, I'm sorry for that. The world is a cruel place. But I promise this place isn't a dream… this is real and we are kind people. We only wish to help." Bella said with a nod. The dream here at Alexandria was grow as a community and expand. It was Deanna's dream and one that Bella did come to terms with. She was always wary of new people, but right now it was clear that the three that rolled in were weak, starved and cold. They weren't a threat and from a first glance, it was clear that they weren't a big threat.
Sasha put a hand on Tyrese's arm and looked at him. "We've been searching for something like this Ty."
Tyrese nodded. "We have. We've been… moving since our camp got overrun by bandits four months ago." He explained. "How can we ever repay you people for your kindness?"
"Eat." Rick said when he returned from the other room with Jake. "Rest. Get cleaned up. We'll make sure Bob is okay." He said with a nod.
Tyrese nodded and looked at Sasha before he looked back at Bella. "Thank you."
"Of course." Bella said with a nod and motioned to Maggie and she nodded to Bella before leading Tyrese and Sasha out of the clinic.
"Bandits." Rick said, crossing his arms. "I think we should be cautious."
"Always." Bella agreed. She looked at her watch. "Okay. Have Denise sit with Bob. I'm going to-" She cut off when she heard more commotion. "What the hell?" She said and she rushed outside to find Glenn struggling with someone at the gate. Somehow someone or something got over the gate and they were causing mayhem. Deanna and Reg came out of the house and suddenly an arrow sailed through the air and hit Reg in the chest and it made Deanna scream.
Bella reacted fast, pulling her sidearm from her holster and she aimed up, spying the intruder on the top of the wall and shot them, nailing them in the head and they fell down on this side of the wall, dead. Glenn pushed back with the other intruder and he brought his knife up and stabbed the guy in the head. "Spencer, I want eyes on top!" She yelled and Rick pulled his weapon and went into defense mode too.
Deanna was crying over Reg's body on the porch and Jasper came out of the clinic to go assist Reg to see if Reg could be saved. Jake was with Rick and Bella now, falling into step with them while they moved towards the body that lay on the ground. Bella kicked at the body to roll it. The face was pale, but dirty. The letter 'W' carved into the forehead. "What the fuck?" She murmured and then she saw movement, one of the bandits had slipped inside the wall and Bella took chase, chasing him down. He swung wide at her with a knife in his hand.
"You missed the call for the lord." He rambled off, his eyes crazed as he spoke. "The rapture has come. You need guidance into the light."
Bella disarmed the man and then she twisted around, hopping a little as she swung her leg around in wide arc and her foot connected with his jaw and he was now unconscious on the ground. She looked at Rick, who was immediately going to cuff the man. "How did they scale the wall?" She asked and then she left Rick there with the captive and walked back towards the gate with Jake right behind her. "Glenn, did he say anything?" She asked as she came to a stop, looking down at the body.
"Uh, just something about the rapture." Glenn said and looked up at Spencer. "Anything?"
Spencer shook his head. "No. I don't know how they managed to get up the wall." He called down.
Bella perched her hands on her hips. "The three we just brought in. They weren't branded. They genuinely looked weak and hungry. These guys look fed. They have a camp somewhere. We captured one alive. I'll have Rick and Jasper interrogate him. See if we can get answers out of him." She said and then she moved her attention to Deanna who was sobbing even more when Jasper had to plunge his knife into Reg's temple. She felt angry. Angry that there was an ambush. Who would dare attack a community like this? There were three of them. Were they scouts? Would there be more. So many questions ran through her head, but she knew one thing was certain. She needed to come up with a better plan for something like this and she needed to figure out how they got in. "Okay. Take the bodies outside the wall. Burn them." She said and then she walked back towards Deanna and Reg. She went up the stairs then she crouched down and put a hand on Deanna's shoulder. "Deanna…"
"They shot him. He was just alive and now." Deanna sobbed.
Bella rubbed her hand over her back. She hated this as much as the next person. "We'll figure out why they did this and who these people are. I promise you; I will not let Reg's death go. I will protect Alexandria, Deanna." She said, her voice soft.
Deanna just nodded; her voice too choked up with emotion.
"Jazz." Bella said and Jasper nodded. She stood and looked back at Jake and nodded for him to help Jasper with Reg's body. She walked back down off the porch and Spencer was walking up. "Spence…"
"Dad…" Spencer was in shock. He hadn't realized something bad had happened to his dad. He was so caught up with what was happening at the gate.
"Spencer… your mom needs you to be strong. Can you be strong… for her?" Bella asked, her voice soft.
Spencer teared up, but he nodded, moving past Bella to go to his mom to comfort her. To comfort each other.
Bella ran her hands over her face. So much happened in such a small amount of time. She was worried about the safety of the town now more than ever. She had to get to the bottom of this and fast.