Through The Scope [Rewrite]

2. || CLAIMERS

"We have a problem; the claimers are back. They have the archer." - Alex Martin

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THROUGH THE SCOPE

CHAPTER TWO

CLAIMERS

"Help! Help!"

The screams surrounded her, people were dying, people were suffering, and there wasn't a damn thing Teddy could do about it.

She was stuck on the highway, her weapons locked away in her truck, but she hadn't dared take them out for fear of scaring people even more.

"Mommy!" A child's scream alarmed her as she looked around in search of where it came from.

She saw a lone boy, no older than three or four running with a man chasing close behind. The man was covered in blood, his eyes empty, he was one of them - the dead. His jaw was jittering, he was snarling and stretching his arms ready to reach for the innocent child who was so scared that he began to wet his pale blue trousers.

Teddy didn't think twice as she unlocked the metal box in the back of her truck and took out a pistol. She hoped it would be less alarming as she ran through the crowds. She took aim just before the biter lunged at the boy and shot him in the head.

Everyone around her stopped dead in their tracks; everyone was looking at her. The silence was thick and her eyes were fixated on the man...creature she had just shot. Bloody began too pool from his head. She had shot her guns so many times, but this time felt strange.

The young boy ran into his mother's arms crying.

"Thank you, thank you so much," the mother cried approached Teddy, carrying the boy in her arms. Along with her was a man, that man was Alex Martin.

****

Alex Martin and his group kept their distance as they watched the archer run down the darkened road in desperate need to chase down the car that had taken one of his own. The took a note of the make, model and description of the car.

The group had wanted to help, but they needed to see the strength the prison group had. Unfortunately, that had meant allowing the blonde girl -who they believed was called Beth- to be taken away. It was a difficult scene to watch, many admitted they hated it, some had tried to go against the rules, but it didn't take long for them to learn the hard way that Teddy had rules for a reason and sticking to them was the only way to keep themselves and their family safe.

"Let's follow on," Alex radioed through. "Don't make a move unless I say so," was his final order on the matter. He swiftly twisted the strap of his gun to make it rest on his back as they moved with the trees and stepped with the wind. The stealthy group followed the archer, keeping their distance in the dark woods.

The way the wind whistled through the woods was a tune they had all become accustomed to. It ran through the woods, dancing in the trees before reaching their ears. Their most heightened sense in their rotting world. A world where the dead walk freely amongst them and the living had fallen apart and have raged war against each other.

That's why they did what they did. They were protectors, not monsters.

Everyone lives their lives in danger without a second of safety. Laying awake at night listening for those animalistic growls of the unguided creatures who harbor the faces of people they once knew, strangers they barely noticed. Their lives had changed. They were retreating back in time. Living without technology to guide their way. They forage; they fight, they share, they survive.