CHAPTER TWENTY ONE » KILLER
"I'm badass. Period."

♔

"Keep going straight ahead and then take the next exit on your right." Olivia was looking down at the map, her raven hair shielding her face. "We'll stop and walk from there."

I glanced out of the window, watching to see if Daryl was still a little behind us on his motorbike. So far, it had been a smooth journey. We hadn't had a run in with neither walker nor human.

"So who was that cute guy you were kissing back at the farm?"

I kept my head turned away from her, hiding the stupid grin on my face. "That's Glenn."

"And are you and Glenn together?"

"Um," I mumbled, knowing we hadn't even begun to have a conversation about that yet. "Not really. I- uh, it's complicated."

Olivia nodded, pursing her lips. "I get it," she paused. "So when did you meet?"

I smiled, remembering the very moment Glenn Rhee knocked on my door with a large pizza in his hand. "The day the outbreak started," I answered. "He was a pizza delivery guy and I'd just ordered in," I shook my head, laughing at the memory. "He came in and he– he was rambling about dead people. And I didn't believe him at first but he looked so terrified. Turns out he was right though. After Atlanta fell, we pretty much ended up in the wilderness, which was when we stumbled across the rest of the group."

"That's sweet," she commented, smiling to herself. I wondered if she was thinking about her girlfriend.

"You mentioned a girlfriend," I said, turning to look at her briefly before directing my eyes back to the road. "How did you two end up together?"

"Well," Olivia bit her lip, pulling a face, but she was smiling. "I almost ran over her dog."

My mouth formed an 'o' shape as I looked over at her again, trying to hold back my laughter. "You almost ran over her dog?"

"It was fine, by the way," she confirmed, causing me to chuckle. "Not that Jade was too happy about it. But now we joke about me almost splattering her dog being the best thing that happened to us."

"How long have you two been together?"

"Must be about eight months by now," Olivia answered, letting out a long sigh. "I just hope she's okay."

I nodded, understanding the pain of having to hope and pray that the person you love will make it through. "I'm sure she's fine."

~

I pushed the car door shut, watching as Daryl climbed off his bike. Olivia still held the map in her hands, furrowing her eyebrows as she looked at it from different angles.

"Are you waiting here?" I asked Daryl, indicating to the vehicles. It was probably safe to leave them, but it would be a disaster if someone came along and took them. I wasn't having a repeat of the time we lost the truck in Atlanta.

"You're the boss," Daryl said, then nodding towards Olivia. "Sure you'll both be alright?"

"Will you?" I teased, giving him a lop sided smile. He grunted in response, pulling his crossbow off his shoulder. "Anyway, I thought you were done being everyone's errand boy?"

"I offered, it's different."

I nodded, not entirely sure whether there was more behind it than that. I certainly didn't see Daryl as an errand boy, which is why I didn't treat him like one. I cared about him and I hoped him caring about me was one of the reasons that brought him on this trip. Or maybe he was just feeling guilty about Sophia and needed a distraction. Who knew, it was Daryl Dixon after all.

"There's stuff in the trunk, about making bombs and bullets. It's where Olivia got her knowledge from," I said, smiling. "I think you might like it."

"Alright."

"But if you do end up going after us, don't leave that stuff behind," I said. "Don't want it falling into the wrong hands."

"I can go instead if-"

"It's okay, we'll just scream if we need you or something."

"And get every nearby geek's attention," he pointed out, causing me to roll my eyes.

"Nah you're right, we'll just die instead."

Daryl scoffed as I headed over to Olivia. She glanced up at me, holding out the map again. "It's not far from here."

I nodded, shifting my rucksack to a more comfortable position. I'd tried to keep my supplies limited, leaving anything that wasn't desperately important with the car. "Let's get going."

As we walked through the woods, Olivia barely said two words to me as she was busy looking around at her surroundings to find the place she'd been staying at. I could practically feel the nerves hanging over her, which only made me feel more and more on edge.

Olivia pushed through some overgrown leaves, which I inevitably got pretty tangled in. We came to a more open space where a sudden burning smell hit me. I felt it in my stomach and I placed my hand against a tree, trying not to vomit.

It smelled like the dead were burning.

"No," Olivia audibly breathed out from a couple of metres away from me. She dashed forwards and I pulled myself together, running after her.

A small cabin could be seen slightly, absolutely swarmed with walkers. Olivia stopped a safe distance away, letting out screams and shouts of pain. The sound of the broken girl in front of me hit me hard and I paused next to her, finding it hard to breathe all of a sudden. It was like listening to her heart breaking.

"Olivia-" I started, but she ignored me, her jaw clenching as she pulled out her knife. "No, Olivia don't. You won't make it-" she started to move towards the walkers at the cabin but I tugged her back. "You won't make it!"

"I can't just stand here!"

"Maybe they made it out," I said, feeling her relax slightly in my arms. "Maybe they got out before it got bad!"

"The burning smell," she said in realisation, her eyes widening as she turned to me, grabbing my arm. "My grenades. They must have used one."

There were a lot of walkers beginning to head in our direction and I glanced around frantically, my eyes landing on a tree nearby with something tied around it. "Hey, look over there."

Olivia turned to look at it, her eyes lighting up as if she recognised what it was. She took off running and I started follow, pausing when I heard someone calling out my name.

"Blaire!"

Daryl broke through the trees, his crossbow held up in front of him. He caught sight of me, rushing over when he noticed the walkers. "The hell you doin'?! I heard screaming, where's Olivia?"

"This way," I grabbed his wrist, the two of us rushing in the direction Olivia had gone. I saw her by the tree, untying what appeared to be a red sweater.

"It's hers," she stated once we arrived. Her eyes were red with tears, and her hands were shaking as she held the material in her hands. "It's Jade's. She must have got out."

Daryl looked behind his shoulder, his body going rigid. "We gotta get out of here-"

"Hey, can you see any tracks," I gestured to the ground, which only looked like dirt to me, but I was hoping Daryl would be able to notice something.

He peered down, crouching as he ran his hands over the soil. "There's prints, fairly new."

"We need to follow them," Olivia said quickly, rushing her words out. "We have to find them!"

"This place is crawling with walkers," I said. "We've got a whole herd on our backs."

Just as I spoke, Daryl fired an arrow behind him. I spun around, watching a walker fall down. Another one stepped through, tripping over the geek Daryl had just killed. I pulled out my knife, bending down to drive it into it's skull.

"We can't keep 'em away," Daryl said and I nodded in agreement.

"There's too many. We have to find a way back to the car."

Olivia shook her head firmly. "No. No, I have to find them."

"Olivia-"

Two more geeks stumbled through and Daryl and knocked them both down. I felt my pulse quicken, turning back to Olivia, feeling slightly panicked. "We have to go, now."

"I think I have an idea," she said, sliding her backpack off her shoulders. Daryl shot me an agitated look and I shrugged, giving Olivia a chance. She rummaged through her bag, eventually pulling out something. A hand grenade. "If one of us can go out there and draw them as far away as possible and use this, we'll have a chance to follow the tracks and get back safely."

"I ain't risking-" Daryl started but I cut him off, holding my hand out to take the weapon. I knew how much it meant to Olivia to find her girlfriend. If that was Glenn and there was a way to find him, I wouldn't let that opportunity go either.

"I'll do it."

"No," Daryl said firmly, holding his arm out in front of me like a barrier. I pushed him away, taking the grenade in my hand.

"Once you pull the pin, throw it as far as you can," Olivia instructed. "As soon as it hits the ground, there should be a couple seconds delay before it explodes."

"How'd you know it's even gonna work?" Daryl argued as I carefully placed it in my pocket.

"Trust me," Olivia tilted her head to the side, determination on her face. "It will work."

"Blaire-"

"I'll be fine," I assured him. "I'll make my way back to the car and meet you there."

He seemed to be about to protest again but more walkers started heading our way. I gripped the knife tighter, watching as two started tripping over to reach me. I moved round to the side to grabbing their attention.

"Come on, this way," once they were close enough, I slammed my knife through the first one's head, using my elbow to push the other one back. I pulled the knife out, with a little difficulty, before plummeting it into the second ones skull.

I glanced back, giving Olivia and Daryl a small nod before rushing over to where a smaller group had gathered. "Hey! Hey!" I clapped my hands together, moving backwards as their heads turned towards me. "This way! Over here!"

One of them snarled, it's boney arms reaching out to me as I plunged my knife into it's weak spot, letting it fall to the ground to trip some of the others up.

"That's it, come on, come and get me!"

A small group soon became a much larger group as I continued to move through the open field, checking over my shoulder quickly to make sure one wasn't going to come up and surprise me. They began to come closer and closer, and I was starting to struggle holding them off, even with my gun.

My fingers found their way to the grenade in my pocket and I quickly slid my knife back into my belt loop. I hooked my finger around the metal pin of the grenade, pulling it out and launching it to my far left. The spot was far away enough in the opposite direction of Olivia and Daryl. Plus, there were also still a lot of walkers gathering near there.

"Oh, shit." I rushed backwards, barely counting three seconds before an incredibly large, orange glow flashed in my vision, the blast sending a couple of the walkers flying backwards. My ears began ringing, disorientating me for a moment.

The stragglers at the back seemed to follow that sound, leaving a few remaining ones for me to deal with. I continued moving backwards, stopping occasionally to take down any of the geeks getting too close.

I ended up quite far into the woods, where there was a large drop leading to a light stream. I waited until the first two came close enough to me before stepping to the side, watching as they tumbled down. One strayed away and I drove the knife into its weak spot quickly, pushing it off the side with the others.

A couple more headed my way and I managed to hold them off until one caught me off guard, lunging for me. The impact made me lose my footing and I slipped to the ground, the walker tumbling on top of me. My knife ended up on the ground a few metres away, and I tried to reach for it, stretching my fingers as much as I could whilst trying to push back the geek.

It smashed it's teeth together, coming closer and closer to me. I groaned, still trying to reach for my knife. I tried pushing it away with both of my hands but I couldn't move it. It's hands reached for me, getting caught on my jacket.

Flashbacks of the pharmacy with Glenn played through my mind and I let out a whimper, remembering how close that moment was. But I wasn't going to let that happen again. I was going to make it back. I was going to make it back because I just got Glenn, and there was no way in hell that I was losing him. I was going to survive, because I damn well wanted to.

I glanced to the side, noticing a rock near enough for me to grab. Quickly, I reached out, wrapping my hand around it and bringing it up, hitting it against the side of the walker's head, knocking it away from me.

I rolled over, grabbing my knife and putting the geek out of its misery. I lifted my head up, blowing the hair out of my face before shoving the weapon back through my belt loop. My stomach lurched and I squeezed my eyes shut, taking deep breaths.

The ringing in my ears still hadn't subsided and I could feel bile rising in my throat. An acidy feeling suddenly filled my mouth, burning as I leant against a tree, heaving. Groaning, I moved backwards, sitting down to open up my bag. Despite feeling a little better, my throat felt like sandpaper and there was a bitter taste in my mouth.

I took a huge gulp of water, swirling it around in my mouth before spitting it out. I set the water bottle down, rifling through my bag to see if I'd brought anything minty to get rid of the disgusting taste. I felt my elbow accidentally knock against it, making the contents of the bottle spill onto the ground.

"Shit," I muttered, quickly picking it up again. Almost all of what I had left was gone. I took another sip, the dry feeling in my throat still not subsiding. Sighing, I shoved the bottle back into my bag and swung it over my shoulder again, trying to find my bearings. I presumed I'd have to walk straight forwards and it would hopefully lead me out to the road where we'd left the vehicles. Hopefully. So I started walking, keeping on high alert. I didn't want a run in with anything else.

The sun had started to set and I began to wonder how long i'd been out there. I wasn't sure how I'd managed to get myself a little lost, but I knew I had to get out before it started getting dark.

I picked up the pace, pushing through some overgrown bushes. I felt my foot connect with something and I began to fall, my face planting against the ground. I felt a pain shoot through my leg as I pushed myself up, looking to see what I'd tripped over.

I stood up, noticing a leg stuck out. Carefully, I peered over. There was a blonde haired man lay on the ground, I presumed dead. He had, what appeared to be, a stab wound in his neck and his eyes were wide with shock. The blood looked fresh.

That meant there were other people here. Dangerous people.

Out of respect, I reached over to shut the mans eyes, when a hand unexpectedly reached out, wrapping it's fingers around my wrist. My heart jumped in shock and I glanced down at the man, now a walker, in confusion. His eyes had turned a dull grey colour and there was a low growling sound coming from his mouth.

Shrugging him off, I pulled out my knife, whilst he started to sit up, and quickly dug it into his skull, dusting my hands off on my jeans. Baffled, I started to check over the man's body, looking for a bite or scratch mark I'd missed. The mark on his neck was definitely a stab wound, not a bite. So how had he turned?

There was a sound behind me, like a branch snapping. Dread filled me as I stood up, my eyes scanning around the area. I couldn't see anyone and besides a very faint ringing sound, courtesy of the grenade, the only other thing I could hear was the blood pounding in my ears.

I had just convinced myself that it was nothing, but I heard another rustling noise. I had hoped it was Daryl and Olivia, or maybe even another walker. But I knew there were other people out here, other survivors. And by the looks of it, they weren't letting anybody get in their way.

Instinctively, I reached for my gun, holding it out as I turned around, looking for a sign of anyone. I heard a sound behind me and whipped around to see a dark haired, tall, well-built, older man stood with a strange grin on his face. He held up his hands defensively.

"Now, now, no need to get dramatic here darlin'."

I kept the gun aimed, my chest heaving as I breathed heavily. "Who are you?"

"Drop the gun, sweetheart."

"I said, who are you?" I snapped, tightening my grip on the weapon. "What do you want?"

"Was it you who set off the grenade?" He asked, stepping closer. I backed up. "That's rather badass for a girl."

I tilted my head to the side, irritated by the man's words. "Yeah, well I am badass. Period."

"Hey pretty, how about you drop the gun and come with us," another voice said and I spun around, facing another guy. He had a shaved head and was quite slender, but he definitely looked strong. However, his most definable feature was his large nose that stuck out the most out of everything.

"How about you tell me who you are and what the hell you want from me?"

"She's a feisty one, isn't she," the second man said to the first, grinning quite maliciously. "I like it when they're feisty. It makes it all the more fun."

"What, when I kick your asses to hell and back?" I retorted, trying not to show how much their words set me on edge. I'd been trained to deal with difficult situations, but I wasn't fearless. I felt sick.

The first man nodded to the second and I didn't have chance to move before he grabbed me, the gun dropping from my hands to the ground. Big nose grabbed my arms, pulling them behind my back as he started to check me for other weapons. He tossed my knife to the side and placed his own underneath my chin.

The first man stepped towards me, smirking as his finger caressed my cheek. I scrunched my nose up, trying to move away from his grubby fingers.

"Why don't you start by telling us where you got your weapons from," he said, as nose man held the knife closer to my throat. I felt myself tense, my body and mind both becoming fearful about the outcome of this. "Grenades are pretty hard to come across, I've heard."

"Well, sorry to disappoint, but my story is pretty boring. I just stumbled across it the other day."

The knife was pressed harder against my skin and I felt it cut into it. Not deeply, more like a scratch, but I knew I was bleeding.

The dark haired man narrowed his eyes, lowering his voice. "I don't appreciate liars."

I gritted my teeth. "And I don't appreciate assholes." I slammed my elbows against big nose's ribs, winding him. He dropped the knife and I caught it, slamming it into his foot to stop him from moving anywhere. He howled in pain, falling backwards onto the ground, clutching his foot in agony.

The other man went to reach for my weapons but I lunged just in time, knocking him to the floor. His fist swung at me but I dodged. However, I wasn't as fortunate the second time and I felt a sharp pain on my cheekbone. My vision darkened for a moment but I managed to pull myself out of it, swinging my first underneath his nose. He yelped, immediately reaching to clutch it and stop the blood flow. I pulled myself up, sliding my knife back into my belt loop. I was about to reach for my gun when I realised it had gone.

The man I had stabbed in the foot held it up, the weapon shaking in his hands. "Bitch-"

I swung for him but he dodged, firing the gun instead. The bullet flew past, hitting the tree beside me instead. I lunged forwards, grabbing him around the middle and knocking him down. The gun fired up in the air again and I grabbed it, prying his fingers away from the trigger. I pushed it back, slamming the butt of the gun underneath his jaw. He released his grip and I took the gun. Stupidly though, I was so focused on that, that I didn't see him grab his knife, about to slice it through me. He cut through my shirt and fairly deeply into the skin on my stomach. I cried out, the pain burning through me. He went to deliver a fatal blow and plummet the knife in, until I grabbed his hand, turning it back around.

Whether it was the adrenaline that made me stronger, I didn't know, but I managed to overpower him, the knife inching closer and closer to him. He cried out as I pushed it further and further, knowing I'd have to go to dark lengths to get away from these men. I couldn't think about that now; I had to focus on surviving.

"I'll kill you! I'll kill you and then I'll-"

I didn't let him finish, my strength startling me as I pushed the knife into his chest, causing his body to jolt slightly before going limp. I pulled the knife out swiftly, as if I'd just killed a walker, and went to stand up.

Unexpectedly, I felt hands wrap tightly around my neck and, presuming it was the dark haired man, I threw my head back, connecting it with his face again. He let me go, his blood soaked hand covering his equally bloody and dirty face. He held up his machete, baring his teeth. Blood and spit tangled between his yellow, rotten teeth and dribbled down his chin.

"I'll kill you, just like the man you found back there," his words cut through me sharply, as if the machete itself had just sliced through me.

He charged forwards like a wild animal, the knife threateningly held up the way maniac serial killers did in the movies. My hand was sweaty, making it difficult to keep a good grip on the gun. Slowly, my slippery fingers found their way to the trigger on the gun, just as he reached me. I took a deep breath. It all happened so fast.

I heard the gunshot before I even realised I'd fired it. The sound startled me, making me flinch, the bang suddenly louder than I had ever heard before.

The man froze, the machete only inches from me. A bullet hole burned through his head, the blood, brain matter and fluids spraying out, covering me. My breath hitched in my throat as I watched him fall to the ground with a thud, his eyes lifeless.

I was immediately retching, not being able to bring anything up as I collapsed to my knees on the ground. My hands shook viciously and I wanted nothing more than to grab the gun and throw it as far away from me as possible.

With tears in my eyes, I looked around at the scene around me.

I was a killer.

❃

Words: 4108
Published: 16th September 2016

Drama drama so much drama