'Oh, shit,' Jade gasped as we approached home.
'Oh my god,' Jensen cried. We parked up on the top of the hills that were right near our home, we could see that the battle was already well under way. Nathaniel's men were at the front gate, the gunfire blazed in the darkness. The loud bangs were drawing in a horde, I could see from here the bodies of our fallen friends.
'Oh god, this is it. This is what I saw,' I said almost crying.
'Fucking hell,' Jade muttered.
'How the hell are we going to save them?' Jensen asked fearfully.
'I-I don't know,' Jade replied.
Given what I'd seen, I didn't think there was any hope. We had to try, I felt the fury build within me. I wasn't going to let them take our, home, our friends and family without a fight. I got out one of the sniper rifles from the car and took my place crouching on the hill. I felt the fury build within me, I took aim as I began to take out Nathaniel's men. Let the war begin, I thought furiously.
Chapter 21
Jade
I couldn't believe my eyes, the blood stained the snow, the bodies piled high at the gates. Our friends were rising, I saw Vera with tears in her eyes as she killed her husband before he could come back. I heard the screams of the children inside, all our people dying or dead. I took one of the sniper rifles and crouched down next to Frankie, I wouldn't let these bastards live through this. I killed one, two, three of them before they realised we were here.
'Up there, take them out!' Nathaniel screamed. Five of his men raced towards us, Frankie and I killed three of them. Our people who were here with us grabbed the handguns and killed the other two. Their blood spilled down the hill as their bodies fell back, I had never felt so angry in all my life. I'd hadn't even hated them this much when I'd lived among them, but now they weren't just taking women, they were destroying our home, killing our people.
'Get those fucking people up there!' Nathaniel shouted angrily. We took cover as they open fired on us, I couldn't hear a damn thing through the gunfire. I didn't know his men were upon us until it was too late, I rolled out the way just in time as one of his men shot at me. I kicked him hard in the stomach, as he doubled over in pain I took the handgun out of my belt and shot him in the face. Frankie killed another one of his men, while Bridget was being held down by another. I raced over to her, the others were trying frantically to deal with the other ten men that had come up the hill. I didn't even think about it, I just shot him. I felt nothing for these men, I felt no remorse as I ended their lives.
'I'm going to find Maggie,' Jensen told us.
'No, don't be stupid. You'll be killed before you even get there,' I told him fiercely.
'I can't just let her die, or be taken,' he cried.
'I'll go, I'm dead anyway and I want to find my friends,' Zachary said strongly.
'I'm going with you,' Tamara said.
'You can't Tamara,' I tried to tell her.
'We don't have time to argue, I'm going. Just look after my girl,' she told us as she and Zachary raced down the hill.
'Let's make sure they get inside,' I said to the others. Having dealt with the men up here on the hill, we stood shooting anyone who got to close to her and Zachary.
We struggled to see through the smoke but I clocked a guy who was getting too close to Tamara, I didn't get a head shot but I did kill him. They must have gotten smart, shots were fired from the woods nearby. We ducked but not quick enough, Emmet got shot. I raced over to him, he was laying on ground bleeding out. I checked his wound, I hung my head sadly. I couldn't help him, he'd been shot in the chest.
'Don't let me turn,' he begged.
'I won't lad,' I said tearfully. He closed his eyes as I stuck my knife in his head, god damn bastards! They killed a kid, I rose off the floor keeping low enough to avoid the gunfire. A couple of walkers came shambling up, one almost got Delilah but Bridget was there to stop it. She shot it at close range, its blood spattering on Tessa who was stood not far behind it. Delilah grabbed the other walker throwing it on the ground before shooting it. I shot the other one before it could get near anyone.
'Thanks,' Delilah said to Bridget.
'No problem, we gotta get through this together,' she replied sternly.
'Damn right, I'm not letting these cunts win.'
The radio crackled, Jensen picked it up, it was Maggie. I put my knife back in my pocket, knowing I'd need it again for one of our friends.
'Where are you?' She asked worryingly.
'We're outside, up on the hill. Are you okay?' Jensen said fearfully.
'I'm alright, I'm in the war room with a few of the others,' she replied.
'Tamara's coming to get you, stay there,' he told her sternly.
The gunfire raged on, we kept ducking and dodging but sadly it wasn't enough.
'No!' I screamed as a bullet pierce Bridget's heart. I couldn't get over to her, the gunfire was too heavy, we were all keeping low to avoid it. I felt the tears in my eyes as more of our friends were killed, I could hear the screams. I peeked over the hill to find that most of the men had gotten inside, shit, I thought, we have to do something.
'We need to get inside,' I told them.
'How, there's too much gunfire,' Troy said angrily.
'We can use one of the cars,' I replied.
'I'm going in,' Jensen was determined.
'No, your not going damn it. I won't lose you too,' Frankie hissed at him. 'I won't leave my sister in there to die!' He shouted.
'God damn it, just listen to me. I will not see you dead, Tamara is in there, she will get Maggie out,' Frankie protested.
'I'll go, I'm old, beat down and I'll not survive this war anyway,' Frank piped up.
'No Frank, you barely know us. We can't let you die for us,' I told him.
'It's alright, I want to help. If I can save even one child, its enough for me,' he smiled. We let him go, I smiled tearfully not knowing quite how to feel. We kept the men at bay while Frank drove the car through the broken gates, I tried to keep an eye on the car but I lost sight of as I was distracted by Bridget's rising corpse. I shoved Frankie out the way as she hadn't seen her, I flung myself on Bridget, pinning her down. I couldn't reach for my knife as I was holding her down, Frankie came running over and plunged her knife into Bridget's head.
'I'm sorry,' I said to her corpse. I couldn't keep the tears from falling, we were losing this battle and I felt powerless to stop all this pointless death. For a split second I actually thought maybe it would have been better to let them take Maggie, I shook my head knowing that they wouldn't have stopped with just her. I peeked over the hill trying to see Frank in the car, but I couldn't.
'What the hell do we do now, they're inside our home?' Delilah growled as she shot another man.
'I don't know, we just need to keep us all alive,' I told him tearfully. The dead had been drawn by all the gunfire, Nathaniel's men were now dealing with them as well as us. I took some comfort when I saw a few of be bitten, I hated feeling like this, like I wanted people to die. I couldn't help it though, they deserved it. The radio crackled once more, it was Maggie again, even with the static I could hear the pain and sorrow in her voice.
'There's no hope, this place is lost,' she said crying.
'You need to get out, now!' Jensen shouted, tears filling his eyes.
'I can't, there's too many of them. We can't fight the dead as well these men, I'm going to follow Vera's emergency plan,' she struggled through the tears to speak.
Whatever this emergency plan was, I knew it wasn't good.
'What plan?' Jensen asked fearfully. 'Vera had a bomb inside the armoury, she only told me as Nathaniel and his men came today. She hoped we could be beat them, but just in case she wanted to make sure they didn't get our home,' she cried.
'No, please no. Just get out of there,' he begged her. Oh god, Frankie's vision, she'd seen the flames. It wasn't Nathaniel's men using the rocket launcher like we'd feared, it was Vera's own bomb that would destroy our ho
me. Not one of us could contain the tears, even Tessa and Troy couldn't hold them back. We all knew, this was it. Everything we'd worked for, lived for, would be gone. Our friends, our families. It was all gone, we couldn't lose Maggie, we couldn't lose Tamara but there was nothing we could to stop it.
'I wish you could understand big brother, I'm not that little girl any more. I changed, into something monstrous. I didn't want to come back, because I didn't want you to see the person I've become,' she tried to keep her voice strong, but it broke under the weight of the words.
Poor Jensen was going out of his mind, he just couldn't understand what she meant, but I knew. She hadn't done all those awful things because she had to, no she enjoyed it. She knew it would it break our hearts to see it, that why she had Emily killed, she hoped we'd give up. At that moment I didn't care, none of us did. We just wanted our family to be whole again.
'I don't care, please just come back,' he pleaded, screaming. 'I can't, I can't live like this. I don't want to be this person, but I have no choice. This world made me cold, it made me hate everything that was good. Please just let me go, let me do one thing right. Let me save you,' she cried pleadingly.
'No, please, no.' Even in the midst of battle, he crumpled on the floor like a baby. I was reminded that despite how grown up, how wise and loving he was, he was still just a child. I wished to god I could've swapped places with Maggie, I'd give anything for him not to lose her. I tried to focus on the men still outside, I let my anger and my anguish fuel the fight. I killed them, not bothering to shoot them in the head. I cried, not for them but for everything we were losing.
'God damn bastards,' I screamed, tears pouring down my face.
I was supposed to be the strong one, but how could I? Tamara and Maggie weren't my blood, but they were my children, they were dying and I couldn't do anything.
'I love you, big brother. Tell the others, I love them please,' Maggie cried through the radio.
Jensen screamed and wailed, but the radio went dead.
'No, I can't lose her. Please let me go,' he cried as Frankie held him back.
Frankie shook him, hard.
'Don't you dare die on me god damn it, I love you too much to lose you now! I hate this, but she's saving us, we need to go!' She screamed angrily at him. She was right, we had to go but I couldn't bring myself to move. I kept shooting, kept killing them. I had to get them all, maybe it would stop Maggie from blowing the place up if I got enough of them. I felt the blast before I heard it, it shook the ground like an earthquake making us stumble and fall. No, I thought, it can't be, they can't be gone.
We all looked at each other with panic and fear on our tear stained faces. 'No,' cried Delilah, 'I have to get to my friends.'
She tried to rush off but luckily Tessa was there to stop her.
'They're gone, I'm so sorry but they're gone,' she told her.
'Not my little sister,' Jensen said pleadingly. We watched as our home caught fire, it spread through the compound taking no prisoners, we saw some of our people trying to flee, but the fire caught them. None of us could move, we just stood frozen as everything we loved was torn from us. I'd already lost my three blood children, but today I lost two more. Before I knew what I was doing, I fled towards my home. I had to find them, I had to know if they were gone. I couldn't let it end this way, I killed any man I didn't know on my way. Not caring if they came back, I raced through the smoke, jumping over the dead. I stabbed a walker as I entered the gates, I refused to admit that my kids were gone, I didn't have it in me to lose them. I just knew, I wouldn't survive their loss.
'Jade no!' Frankie shouted from behind. I still didn't stop, I couldn't, I wouldn't not until I knew for sure. I ran to the war room, or what was left of it. I couldn't get inside, the flames were too high. I shouted into the house, calling for anyone to come out. No one replied, I ran our house, it was still standing. I fled inside, searching frantically for Maggie or Tamara. No one was there.
'Jade, we need to go, now! There's too many dead here for us to handle, we don't have enough ammo left,' Frankie yelled.
'No, I have to find them, I need to know if their really gone,' I told her.
'God damn it Jade, not you too. We need to go, now,' she grabbed my arm and pulled me out the house. How I hadn't seen her before, I'll never know but as we turned to the corner heading back to the front gate, I saw her laying there, pale, bloody and lifeless. Tamara, oh god no. I pulled away from Frankie, and knelt down beside her, I checked for a pulse I put my head to her chest, but I heard nothing. Tamara was gone, she was dead. I could see the blood on her head, she wouldn't come back at least.
'Oh Goddess,' Frankie gasped in shock. I tried running to the armoury, but when I got there, there was nothing, nothing left but smouldering fires. There was no body to be found, I wasn't going to find any remains of Maggie. I let Frankie pull me back to the gate, I'd seen all I could. My mind just stopped working, I lost the ability to think, to feel. I was just another body, being dragged away.
I couldn't remember even getting into the car, I didn't know how we got away. The next thing I knew, we were parked in some woods, it was pitch black outside and everyone was just sat, silent with tears down their faces.
'Where are we?' I asked breaking the silence. 'I-I don't know, we just stopped here because we needed to rest,' Frankie told me. Jensen was sat next to me, Delilah was in the drivers seat and Frankie was on Jensen's other side. Jensen was crumpled up like a baby, just staring out the window. Delilah just looked ahead, keeping an eye on the other car.
'Oh I should tell you, we found Brooke on the way out,' Frankie said.
'H-how did she get out of there?' I asked confused. 'Stupidest thing, she was looking for that damn cat of hers. She on the other side of the woods when it happened, she stayed there until she saw it was safe to come out. Lucky for her she shouted us as we got in the car, we only just saved her in time,' Frankie replied.
'All those people and only seven survived,' I said sadly.
'I know, my friends, those kids all gone,' Delilah stammered.
'What do we do now?' Frankie asked.
That was a good question, everything we knew was gone. Our lives destroyed in a single night, we sat there letting her question hang in the air. None of us knew the answer, none of knew what to say.
Chapter 22
Finn
We left Sanctuary on the 24th December, Christmas eve. I hoped to be back with my family for Christmas day, given that it was only an eight hour journey. We only got as far as Settle before the car packed in, to my frustration we couldn't find any more fuel. All the cars here had either been burned or stripped of parts, if people had known at the beginning just how long this outbreak was going to last, they might have thought twice about destroying things. We cleared out a house before settling down for the night.
'Morning,' I said sleepily as I got up.
'It's still pretty dark out, you sure you want to set off this early?' She asked.
'Yeah, I don't want dally here longer than we have to,' I replied. We got up and took anything of use in the house that we could find, we'd been given a handful of stuff from Vera before we left, but we could always use more. We found some mild painkillers, a hammer, and some warmer clothes. I put on a thick dark red jumper, and a long black coat. Ellen wore a grey jumper and a knee length cardigan. We also found some hats and scarf's, we were nice and toasty when we left. As we stepped outside, the wind was howling and light rain was falling.
'Which way does the map say to go?' I asked.
'Straight down this road for a couple of miles.'
We walked along the outskirts of the town, choosing to take the longer way round instead of going through it.
'I have to ask, why did you decide to come with me?' I wondered.
'Aside from wanting to make sure you got back alright, I'm hoping to get down to Leicester. I've got two daughter's down there,' she replied softly.
'How long has it been, since yo
u saw them?'
'Six months before all this started. I tried to get down to Leicester before I was caught by Dave's group,' she told me sadly.
'I never did thank you, for looking out for my sister in that place,' I said graciously.
'No need to thank me, I was glad to help,' she smiled. 'I know, but I'm still glad she had someone looking out for her. She still won't tell me, what happened in there,' I replied.
'It's not my place to say, but what I will say is that your sister, is far stronger than you give her credit for. I'd seen older women break down in that place, but not Faye. She kept strong the whole way through, she kept telling me you were coming for her. She never gave up hope,' Ellen told me happily.
'I guess to me, she'll always be my baby sister.'
'My girls were like that, always looking out for each other,' her voice was soft and light, but I could tell talking about her girls helped her.
'It hurts doesn't it, talking about them?'
'It does a little, but I keep hoping their alive.'
'If your girls are as strong as you are, I'll bet their alright,' I told her cheerfully.
'Thanks,' she said smiling. I kept thinking about everyone back at Sanctuary, I hated to leave them especially when I knew they were facing trouble. They had all reassured me that it was alright, I'd only gone there to find out if it was a safe enough place to take my mum and sister. Assuming they won the battle with Nathaniel's group, I would get my family there. It couldn't have been easy for my mum and dad, being stuck underground in a lab all these years.
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