State of destruction- The Walking Dead [Alden x Maggie][2/2]

7- Persuit

A couple of days ago Adam had experienced the worst night of his life. He and Hershel had been forcefully taken away from home. He remembered every second of that horrible night vividly. In his dreams it was happening over and over again.

He'd been so scared that night, that was why he'd stuck close to Hershel. He was older and always knew what to do; he could keep him safe. At first Hershel had been reassuring and hid with him and Bear behind the secret panel in the cellar. There his behavior had shifted as soon as an attacker came down the cellar steps. He'd opened up the panel and climbed out of their safe hiding spot. Adam watched his brother shoot the man dead. That was the first time he'd witnessed someone killing another human. It didn't look that much different from killing a walker, but he still couldn't suppress his yelp.

"Adam, stay there and close the panel," Hershel had said.

Adam couldn't move; he was paralyzed with fear. When the next two attackers made it down the steps, Bear shot forward to protect the people he cared about. He growled and snapped his jaws at the attackers. He paid for his protectiveness with a bullet to the chest.

Bear's pitiful whining pulled Adam from his trance and he shot forward. Hershel told him to go back, distracting him from the approaching attackers long enough for his gun to be knocked from his hands. Adam fell to his knees besides his best friend and frantically tried to stop the bleeding.

"No," he cried. "No!"

On that horrible night a couple of days ago Bear had died, but Adam couldn't accept it. Bear was still breathing when a rough hand grabbed him and dragged him out of the cellar and that was what he chose to believe. That his best friend was faithfully waiting for him to come back home.

Adam remembered how he had kicked and screamed, trying to break free, when he was dragged out of the cellar. But he was too small, too weak, and he couldn't break free.

When he saw his parents he realized there was one thing he hadn't tried to break free yet, something his father had told him to resort to in emergencies. He bit down on the man's hand, hard. He hated how it felt, but he managed to slip free. Once he was loose he tried to run to his parents. He would be safe with them, but he never reached their safety.

Instead he was grabbed again and thrown into the back of a car. He wasn't alone, Hershel was there with him. Adam had clamped onto his older brother with his weak and trembling limbs. He'd cried and cried as Hershel tried to comfort him, trying not to let on how scared he himself was. The care drove for hours without stopping and once it stopped the brothers were split up.

Hershel had fought tooth and nail to stay at his younger brother's side. Once he realized it was a fight he couldn't win, he'd tried to plead instead. It didn't work. The boys were forced onto two separate boats and hadn't seen each other since.

Adam knew he'd been brought to some building that was higher than any building he'd ever seen. He didn't know how high he was, but he had gone up a lot of stories. Ever since his arrival they had locked him into a small, boring, brown room since his arrival. The room was bigger than his bedroom back at home, but also a lot uglier. At night he struggled to sleep without Bear at his side. The room was too big for him alone. Last night he decided to bring all of the blankets and pillows into the bathroom and made himself a little nest in the bathtub. That was the first night he'd slept a little bit since being taken from his home.

He had already decided he would sleep there again tonight. He could tell it was daytime now because of the light that filtered in through the foil covered windows. The foil was too cloudy to see through. It was peeling around the edges and Adam knew he could peel it off if he wanted too, but he was too scared to do so.