Chapter 22 - Left For Dead

Hatlin's Bar

Splatters of warm blood trailed down Tess' face from the explosion of Dave's skull. Glenn and Hershel gawked at her with pale, stunned faces. Things had been tense, there was no doubting that, but neither of them had expected things to escalate so suddenly.

Tess felt disconcertingly calm. She didn't feel upset or even moderately guilty. If anything, she felt more at ease now than she had five minutes ago. It was our only option, she told herself, I had to kill him. And she had no remorse. Guys like Dave and Tony, and whoever else they associated themselves with, they were only out for themselves. There was no way in hell that they were ever going to be coming back to the farm with them. And she sure as shit wouldn't lose sleep over them, either.

"Maybe I quit drinking too soon…" Hershel mumbled to himself quietly, still trying to wrap his head around what had just unfolded. Glenn appeared to release the breath he was holding and Tess holstered both her guns as she walked around the bar. Tony's body was splayed out in the booth seat, a bullet wound in his chest and Tess stepped over Dave's body as she made her way to him.

"Better safe than sorry…" She told them. While she and Rick both knew that it was a definite possibility that Tony would come back as a walker, even though he didn't appear to be bitten, she knew Glenn and Hershel were still in the dark about it. "You might want to look away, Glenn. You look like you're gonna be sick." She called over her shoulder and stooped down to pull the knife out of her boot. She didn't know whether he listened to her advice or not but she didn't stop to check as she drove the knife through Tony's ear and into his brain.

The sound of Glenn throwing up in the corner made her think he hadn't listened.

"Remind me not to piss you off." Rick mused quietly from behind her as Tess wiped her blade on her pant leg before sheathing it again.

"Can't say I didn't warn him." She replied, "Time to go?"

"Yeah, let's get out of here." Rick nodded and ushered for the others to come over.

They didn't even have the chance to make it out the front door when the low rumble of an engine rolled up to the building.

"Car!" Rick shouted with a desperate whisper and they all ducked down out of sight. The engine idled for a few seconds and then shut off. A series of car doors creaked open and slammed shut and Tess grimaced, hoping these people weren't part of Dave and Tony's aforementioned crew.

"Dave? Tony?" A man's voice called out from beyond the walls of the bar and Tess threw her head back against the wall, cursing to herself.

"You said over here?" Another voice asked, more uncertainty.

"Yeah. I'm telling you, man, I heard shots." The first man determinedly replied.

"I saw roamers two streets over." A younger, male voice piped up anxiously. "Might be more around here."

"Man, it's hot." The second man groaned, completely ignoring the kid's concern. "We gotta get outta here."

"Dave! Tony!" Man number one called out loudly.

Tess looked over at Rick nervously as the voices grew closer. He was doing his best to watch them through a crack in the door but was having trouble keeping track of them as they moved around. Tess slowly shuffled across the floor to sit in front of the doors in case any of them thought to check inside and Rick quickly joined her.

"We need to get out of here." She whispered to him as the men continued to argue with one another.

"We don't know how many of them there are." Rick argued, quietly.

"Exactly. We're sitting ducks here. We can't just hope to wait them out."

"You still have Dave's blood on your face. I don't think we're going to be able to talk our way out of this one." He told her and Tess tried to wipe her face clean.

"That wasn't what I was suggesting." She sighed and then all four of them jumped as the men outside began to shout and let off a round of bullets.

She found herself bracing against the door for impact but it never came and instead the men began to complain about the roamers that had been drawn into town.

"Behind the bar, there's a back entrance. Probably leads into an alley or something right?" She whispered frantically to them all and looked over at Hershel for confirmation but he was too distracted to notice. "Hershel!" She whispered and the old man turned to face her. "Alleyway? Behind the bar?" Hershel nodded finally, confirming her suspicion and Tess quickly tried to come up with a plan.

Her first priority was to get Hershel and Glenn out. Her and Rick would be more capable of getting themselves out of a sticky situation if need be. Tess removed the handgun from her waistband, leaned forward and slid it across the floor to Hershel. He glanced between her and the gun apprehensively, not entirely convinced it was necessary. Tess hoped it wouldn't be but she knew that was likely wishful thinking. Hershel tentatively grabbed it and held it close, praying he wouldn't have to use it.

Tess turned to face Rick, who was still trying to keep watch through the slim cracks in the wood.

"One of us needs to check the alley, I doubt they've gone off the road-"

"Hey, you guys get this one?" One of them men from earlier called out from the street and Tess froze. A series on 'no's' echoed from multiple other men. "Seriously? We're looking for Dave and Tony and no one looks in the damn bar?" The first man continued and Tess cussed under her breath. They were out of time.

Multiple footsteps started to approach the door and as the faux batwing that Tess had been leaning on began to slowly open, she slammed her back against it and drove her feet into the ground.

"What the hell? Someone pushed that shut." The man continued to push against the door but Tess sat firmly against, not budging. Rick shuffled over to give her a hand.

"Is someone in there?" A voice called from the other side of the door. Tess' jaw was clenched tightly, painfully so, as if it were preventing all of them from saying anything.

"Yo, if someone's in there, we don't want no trouble. We're just looking for our friends." The man called out again, "We don't want any trouble. We just need to find our friends. If something happened, tell us..."

Tess could tell that Rick was conflicted and starting to feel guilty. He seemed to hesitate in his silence and she worried that he'd make their presence known. She shook her head at him and mouthed a stern 'no' but he just gulped, the guilt consuming him.

"This place is crawling with corpses. If you can help us not get killed, I'd appreciate it." The man behind the door pleaded one last time, preying on their good nature. The way Tess saw it, if these men had any wits about them, they'd clear out before anything got too hairy. And if they didn't… well that was on them.

"Dude, you're bugging. I'm telling you nobody's in there." Another man piped up, sounding disinterested and Tess hoped they'd all agree with him and move on but luck never really seemed to be on their side.

"Nah. Someone grab the door. If they're in there, they might know where Dave and Tony are."

They could hear them moving around outside, planning on a way to bust the door down and Rick couldn't keep quiet any longer.

"They drew on us!" He shouted through the door gruffly and Tess sighed defeatedly. It was quiet from both parties for a moment as the men outside took in what had just been said and as they waited for their reaction.

"Dave and Tony in there? They alive?" Tess thought about lying but really, it would only delay the inevitable and they had already been gone for too long as it was.

"No." Rick answered, on the same page as her. Glenn and Hershel looked afraid but did their best to remain strong and focussed. If they were gonna get out of here now, it would take all of them to do so.

"Come on man, let's just go." Begged the same man from earlier who clearly didn't care too much for Dave and Tony that lay dead in the bar.

"No, I'm not leaving. I'm not telling Jane. I'm not gonna go back and tell them that Dave and Tony got shot by some assholes in a bar."

"Your friends drew on us!" Cried Rick in defense. "They gave us no choice! I'm sure we've all lost enough people, done things we wish we didn't have to. But it's like that now. You know that! So let's just chalk this up to what it was… wrong place, wrong-" Rick was cut short as a spray of bullets thundered into the doors and walls of the bar. They all ducked for cover, covering their heads in a moment of shock.

Tess couldn't help but think that this all could have been avoided had they just stayed quiet. She may have had no issue with them killing Dave and Tony but they were bad, dangerous men. Yet, that didn't make all those outside bad, dangerous men too. There was no point dwelling on it now though and so she pushed herself away from the door and fired back.

"Hershel! Glenn! Get to the back door!" She demanded over the noise. Splinters of wood rained down on her as she lay as flat as she possibly could to avoid being shot.

"We're not leaving you here!" Glenn shouted back frantically.

"No time to argue, Glenn, just go! We'll be right behind you!" She screamed at him. Rick had taken position behind one of the windows and was nodding vigorously in agreement.

"Try to bring the car around and watch each other's backs!" Rick told them and Glenn and Hershel finally started crawling to the back of the room.

The gunfire from the other side of the door slowly petered to a stop and there was a brief still moment as everyone reloaded.

"Rick, you gotta go with them." Tess whispered sharply as she loaded her only spare magazine into her handgun.

"Like hell I'm leaving you here!" Rick hissed back at her as he kept an eye on the road through the window.

"We need to get the others to the car and so we need to keep these assholes distracted."

"So we'll stay-"

"Rick. You have a son and a damn baby on the way. We are not using you as bait." She growled at him and his face dropped, realizing she was right; he couldn't risk it.

"We're not leaving you behind." Rick told her firmly and she tried to smile encouragingly.

"I bloody hope not. Or I'm coming back to haunt you first." She chuckled and Rick shook his head incredulously, still surprised by her unwavering sense of humor. "Now go. I'll meet you outside."

"Be safe."

"You too."

With a final nod to one another, Rick scurried to the back of the room and into the alley to join Hershel and Glenn. Tess steeled herself with a deep breath and cracked open the front door. The men outside immediately began shooting again at the sight of movement but she kept herself low. An old newspaper stand stood along the sidewalk and Tess quickly threw herself behind it, bullets trailing behind her. She counted projectiles coming in from three different angles, all of them hitting the front and sides of the square metal box she sheltered behind.

"You ladies wanna learn how to shoot? I'll give you lessons." She shouted in their direction and was met with a flurry of angry bullets that pelted metal and glass, sending shards into her hair. "I'll take that as a no!" She called out again and laughed to herself even when one shot got dangerously close. The shooting began to slow again and she took the opportunity to fire back, leaning to the side of the metal unit and aiming at two men that hid behind an old Toyota Camry. The shorter of the two was quicker to duck down behind cover but the larger man was slower and Tess fired off two rounds. The first one hit him shoulder, causing him to stumble in shock and the second one hit him in the neck, killing him where he stood. Tess heard the other man scream in fear as his friend fell beside him and she quickly hid behind the newspaper stand again.

"Fuck this! Fuck this, I'm not dying for this!" He cried out from behind the Camry and Tess found herself feeling sorry for him. He clearly didn't want to be a part of this and if he just put his gun down and walked away, she'd let him.

"I don't want to kill any more of you but I will if you don't walk away! Put your guns down and leave!" She yelled as loud as she could and she saw the shorter man flee in the reflection of a store window. The other men continued to fire at her however and she sighed sadly. Rick was right. There was no talking their way out of this.

A sudden, strangled scream belted out across the road as the man that ran away, ran straight into the arms of a walker who was tearing into the flesh of his neck and chest. A dozen, if not more, walkers began to round the corner towards the commotion in the center of town and the line of fire was quickly drawn in their direction. Tess saw her chance and made a run for the alley but she hadn't been entirely forgotten about like she assumed she had been. One of the men from Dave and Tony's group tackled her to the ground and they both skidded across the pavement.

"You're dead!" The dark haired man with tattoos on his hands growled at her and she rolled away as he brought both fists down where her head had just been. She scrambled to get away from him and kicked him in the face with the heel of her boot. His nose crunched under the force and he howled in pain, collapsing backwards.

Desperately, Tess dove for her gun that had flown out of her hands and ignored the way her nails scraped against the concrete as she snatched it. Her shoulder was aching something bad, having taken the brunt of the fall on her side but she was just grateful it hadn't been her head. She felt a tug at her leg as the same man grabbed at her again and she whirled around, firing two, three, four bullets into his chest. The man coughed and spluttered, crimson blood dripping from his lips as he died on the roadside.

Tess was back on her feet and beginning to hear cars starting up. She hoped to high heaven one of them was theirs and continued on to the alleyway, keeping a sharp eye out for walkers or any of the other men. Thankfully both seemed mostly distracted by one another and she sneaked past unnoticed.

"Tess!" Glenn called out when he spotted her and she jogged over to him and Hershel.

"Hey! You guys okay?" She panted and looked them over. They both nodded yes and she breathed a sigh of relief. Out of the blue, Hershel whacked her on the back of the head, as if scolding her.

"Ow! What was that for?" She winced and rubbed her head, stunned.

"For playin' hero." He frowned at her in disappointment, "Don't do that again."

"Jeez, dad, alright. Cool it with kung-fu, would ya'?" She moaned, playing up how much it had hurt and Hershel just rolled his eyes. "Where's Rick?" She asked, looking past them to see if he was in the alley. Glenn pointed behind her and to their car that Rick was pulling up as close as he could. "Good timing, let's get out of here." She said and they all made a break for the car.

A sickening thud and blood curdling scream followed by a series of shouts made them all fall short. Atop a wrought iron, arrowhead fence, one of the men, a boy really, had fallen from a roof and trapped himself. His leg was punctured by one of the fence posts and he was screaming in agony, begging his friends to help him.

He looked around the same age as Glenn, perhaps younger, and as his friends all turned tail and ran, leaving him to bleed out, Tess knew they couldn't leave him there to die.

"Shit." She cursed under her breath and ran back to the sidewalk where the young man was screaming his head off. "It's alright, calm down." She tried to assure him but it came out lame and unconvincing.

"Calm down? Calm down?!" He yelled, tears running down his cheeks as he thrashed against the fence. "Look at my goddamn leg!"

"Guys! A hand over here please!" She called back to her group, knowing there was no way she'd be able to lift him off on her own. "What's your name, kid?"

"R-R-Randall." He stammered through sobs and Tess looked between him and the slew of walkers that were heading their way.

"Alright, Randall. Time to play the quiet game. Y'know the one where ya' parents tricked you to shut up? I think that's a thing." She mumbled quickly and ripped her belt off to use it as a tourniquet for Randall's leg. She secured it tightly around his upper thigh, her hands now slick with his blood and he groaned in pain.

Rick, Hershel and Glenn joined her at the fence and started to try to pry Randall off but the more they moved him, the more Randall's moans turned into fully fledged screams. Tess stepped into the road and shot down the walkers that were heading their way, each of them flopping limply to the ground. But there were too many and she very quickly ran out of bullets. She could hear Hershel arguing with Rick, telling him that there was no way to get him off the fence with his leg intact and the more humane thing to do would be to just kill him.

"Rip him off the bloody fence, we're out of time!" She yelled at them and whipped out her knife as she fended off another walker before plunging the blade into its skull. It's jaw immediately stopped gnashing at her hungrily and hung open as though in shock. Tess tore the knife from its head and pushed the dead body into another walker that was lumbering towards her. Both went down like a succession of dominos.

Randall let out a desperate, guttural scream as Rick lifted him from the fence and then passed out, finally silent. They all raced back to the car. Tess jumped into the backseat, adrenaline pumping through her, and helped Rick to haul Randall in. Glenn joined her in the back, allowing Hershel to sit up front but he kept his distance from Randall, unsure how to help. There really wasn't much they could do, not right now anyway. They'd have to wait until they got back to the farm and that was at least a twenty minute drive away. Tess just hoped Randall would survive that long.

Blood continued to gush out of the wound on his leg despite the tourniquet and the color was quickly draining from his face. Without a second thought to anyone else or even herself, she awkwardly shrugged her shirt off and sliced it in half into one long strip of fabric, leaving her in her sports bra. For her, it didn't feel like a weird thing to do and she focused instead on making sure Randall's leg was securely bandaged and ignoring the way her hands shook as she did so.

Hurry up and drive, Rick.