𝐇𝐈𝐒 𝐂𝐀𝐏𝐓𝐈𝐕𝐄 ➳ 𝐂𝐚𝐫𝐥 𝐆𝐫𝐢𝐦𝐞𝐬

Chapter 22 ~ Not What We Planned

Note: The end is nigh, dear readers...

We slipped through the gate and hunched down behind the railing. Walkers were everywhere - there must have been hundreds of them. Their growls and moans filled the air, making a big buzz that blocked out all other sounds. Panic coursed through me. There was no way we could sneak out, not now. There were just too many of them. Owen surveyed the area, his dark eyes scanning for a way out.

"How things turn," he smirked as he watched the walkers move across the streets.

I took in a deep breath as I watched them - one massive herd of dead bodies.

"When there's an opening, we'll make a break for that tower," Owen said, his voice soft so as not to attract undue attention to ourselves.

"Hmm? No, I'll just slow you down," Denise murmured in response.

"No, we need you. You're coming with us," I told her sternly.

She shook her head frantically.

"No, no, I'm not," she mumbled.

"Denise," Owen said, trying to get her attention, "Denise, you're here with me. I need you,"

She just shook her head again, her breathing shallow.

"Maybe I want you to stay 'cause I'm enjoying your company so much," Owen continued and shot her a grin.

I rolled my eyes playfully at his sense of humor and peered through the rails. All that could be seen was the walking corpses, their rotting bodies giving off a foul stench. As the smell hit my nose, I felt my stomach churn. Bile rose in my throat and I rushed over to a bush before vomiting out the contents of my stomach. I retched quietly as I bent over. Suddenly, I felt a gentle hand touch my back.

I glanced up to see Owen standing over me with a concerned expression etched on his face.

"I'm okay," I told him weakly.

He nodded, rubbing his hand up and down my back in a soothing manner.

"You sure?" he asked as I stood up.

He brushed a strand of hair away from my face and I gave him a small smile.

"I'm fine. I guess it's the smell," I said, laughing it off.

He smiled slightly before turning back to stand beside Denise, his gun still pointed at her.

"I like what you said before. That I wasn't born this way. You're right. I changed. And now I want to help you change," he told her, his voice calm and persuading, "You've been given a gift, Denise. You'll see that one day. Or maybe you won't,"

The rest of the hours passed by in mostly the same fashion - Owen trying to convince Denise to go with us to become a wolf and her refusing his offers. I sat there beside the two of them, my head resting against the red brick wall. Night had fallen now and we were enveloped in darkness. My eyes had adjusted though and I could clearly see the walkers still moving around above us. From somewhere nearby, I swore I could hear a child screaming and someone cry out. But it didn't last long before the sound was drowned out by the growls of the walking dead all around.

"They're moving towards the gunfire. That shout, I assume someone thought they could put up a fight. I'm guessing you all did," he said to her, the gun still held tightly in his hand.

"We did put up a fight. That's why your friends are dead," she shot back.

"Yeah. We should've waited and watched a little longer. I was selfish. But maybe if I wasn't so selfish, I wouldn't have got that IV...and I wouldn't have met Angel," he said, glancing at me for the last part.

I blushed crimson in the darkness at the declaration.

"We're gonna find a gap and go. Up that guard tower and over the wall... You don't need to be afraid," he continued, coaxing Denise.

"What if we don't make it, Owen?" I asked him suddenly, fear creeping into my voice, "This is just like the first time we did this. Back at the firehouse the day we met,"

"You need to know it's safer out there than it is in here. Besides, we made it out of that, didn't we?" he said softly, quickly placing a chaste kiss on my forehead.

I nodded my head, a worried expression still on my face. He pressed the gun into Denise's back then and we began to climb the stairs.

"Start moving. Start moving. Now, straight up that guard post and do not stop. Go!" he told the both of us.

Denise hurriedly leapt up the remaining steps and out into the crowded street. I swallowed the lump that had formed in my throat and clutched my gun tightly in my hand as I ran after her. Owen followed closely behind me as we zigzagged through the walking corpses, their moans deafening in the night air. One of them reached out at us but he immediately grabbed it by the neck and stabbed his knife into its soft skull. It fell limply to the ground just as another latched onto me, its cold dead fingers digging into my t-shirt. My gun was knocked to the ground with a loud clatter.

I pushed at the walker with all my might but I couldn't shake him. Its jaws snapped in anticipation of sinking its rotting teeth into my flesh, growls emitting from its mouth. I groaned and wriggled in its grasp, trying desperately to get away. Suddenly, Owen rushed over and jabbed his knife into its head with a loud squelching sound. Then the unthinkable happened. Unbeknownst to us, a walker had come up behind him.

It latched onto him and sunk its teeth down onto his arm. Owen let out a gruesome painful groan as it pulled out a chunk of bloody flesh. A frightened scream emanated from my mouth and I felt my stomach sink. He instantly stabbed his knife into its skull and it fell to the ground. Putting a hand over his profusely bleeding arm, he turned to me. Shock coursed through me.

This can't be happening. This can't possibly be happening. Denise glanced down at his arm, an unreadable expression on her face and then turned to me.

"Let's go. Come with me, now. You get me to the infirmary, I save your boyfriend's life," she told me, her voice barely audible amid the snarls of the walkers,"I'll save his life."

I nodded vigorously and grabbed onto Owen's hand as Denise led the way through the maze of streets. We had to save him.