-TAYLOR'S P.O.V-
Today I've felt better. A lot better. Been cleared by Lisa. She's extremely surprised. I am too.
There's something special about Stevie. She's just special. I can't tell why but she makes me feel. I don't want to feel.
A trip today is in need. Though food is good and materials are okay, we need to find people. We need to search for life.
The last 2 weeks have got worse. Everywhere is down. No more traffic. No more cluttered alley ways with people.
Cluttered alley ways with zombies. But no love people. Stevie and I have searched block by block of her town.
"Can we check the police station?"
"Yeah. Of course." I agree.
She searched the car but stops at one. Sadness fills her eyes but she doesn't let tears shed.
"He was a friend, huh?"
"Damn you Jeff. You were suppose to ride this out. Not die in your fucking cop car." She says in anger. Breaking the glass window and giving her friend mercy.
"He didn't look bit a few days old."
"He would take me out shooting any spare second he could. Tried to get me out of the house. Out of Bree's hands." She laughs sadly. "Little did he know.."
I place my hand on her shoulder. "Hey.. It's okay. You have to let it go. You can't let it haunt you."
"Do you have anything that haunts you?" She asks and walks off.
I follow her lead. "I try not to have stuff that does. I do have a few things that would haunt me if I allowed them to."
"Name them?"
"You." I say plainly.
She turns around in question. "Why?"
"I walked in your life, ruined it and continue to be a reminder that your sadness is my fault."
"I don't know if I would call it that. You are weird, robotic and make me feel.. You give me strong feelings. It's just hard to place them. I want to hate you because you're a total bitch when you don't get your way. But I can also relate to you."
"Thanks?"
"Don't take it too personally, hun."
I quickly take out the zombie that turns the corner. Must have come up on us when we were in depth conversation. Stevie thanks me with her eyes but turns away.
"Any other reasons you would be haunted?"
"Does listening to my past bring ease to your current pain?"
"Sort of. Sorry."
"When I was traveling in a bad piece of Iraq.. I noticed a little girl on the side of the road. She wouldn't have known any better and I couldn't yell to stop her. The trash pile..." I sigh. "Her face was one of the hardest things to remove from my mind."
"I'm sorry.."
"War is unnecessary. It's not needed. Too many innocent die. That girl had to have been at least 6. And she would have had a full life if she didn't wander so close to the mine."
"It wasn't your fault though." Stevie says as she clears the last room of the police station.
"It might not have been my fault but I could have done something. If I wasn't American and it coming off as a possible threat to them, I could have saved her. I could have yelled to stop. Or if I even tried at all. Maybe she would have lived."
"You have an interesting back story."
"I've fought in 3 wars. All of which were unneeded. War brings money and money means a lot of things to people who believe it is a dire need."
"No family? No loved ones? You've been a lonely robot for your life?"
"Mother died at birth. Father ran out when I hit 4. I was in the streets for a while. When I hit about 14, Hobbs found me. He taught me weaponry. He taught me to be a soldier."
"General?"
"Yes."
She stops at a wall. A memorial for her parents. I can feel her sadness.
"What's.. their story?" I ask, though fearful of the answer.
"We don't get very much snow here. We do. Just not always much. Not since the weather started shifting patterns, anyway." She sighs. "One winter it was so bad. Ice covered the power lines outside our house. The fire spread from our tree to their room to most of the upstairs. There was nothing anyone could do..."
"I'm sorry.."
"I kept thinking.. if I would have gone upstairs sooner.. I was asleep. I had no idea. Then I wished for a long time that it took the whole house. Took me with them."
"You lived for a reason."
"I lived.. to be the cure in the apocalypse."
"I won't let you be a lab rat, Stevie. I won't allow that."
She takes the large urn and puts it in her backpack. "Sometimes you have to let people go, hun. But some you can't. If I'm going to be drained and bled until I can't anymore.. at least I can have my parents with me."
I zip her bag for her. "You'll have me. No matter what happens."
"Thanks for that."
Clearing the few buildings of this block is all sad. They're all dead. Now even dead from zombies.
"If we bring people home. We should figure out a few guideline questions. Don't want to save a brutal murderer and not know."
"Good idea."
The medical store is over ran with zombies. But she's fast and so am I. Clearing them all out within a good 5 minutes.
Out of breath and needing a break is bad luck. How can she move so fast? Is it cause she's short?
I'm military. I trained for this for hours daily. I still train daily. She's so special and strange.
"Drop your weapons, ladies." Someone yells from the back of the store.
"Show yourself." I demand.
2 men come out. Armed just as much as we are. There's no real threat.
"Drop your weapons." A woman speaks from behind Stevie.
The suddenness of Stevie being held in a choke is shocking. I slowly lower my weapon.
"Who are you?" The men question.
"I'm military. We are searching for living to join us at our safe zone."
"Safe.. zone?"
"Take their weapons." The female demands.
One of the men backs off. Shaking his head. "I want safety. I don't want to fight."
The other man steps forward. Stevie bites the females arm to struggle free. The man raises his weapon and I take him out instantly.
I don't want to kill... but I have to.
Stevie struggles to hold her weapon. Fumbling it. The woman who had her in hold makes a quick aim for Stevie. Barely missing the shot.
I take her out. 2 unnecessary deaths. The other man raises his arms in the air.
"I'm not going to fight."
"Taylor.."
My heart races quickly. Seeing blood seep from Stevie's shirt on the side. I didn't think.. I..
I quickly catch her as she falls.
"I can help. I can bandage her." The man yells and runs over.
I grab my walkie talkie. "Need helo at the drugstore. A few survivors went rebel and tried to take our guns instead of help. Stevie was stabbed."
"In route."
I carefully help mend Stevie. She looks like she's on the verge of passing out.
"Stay with me a little longer, Stevie? Just a little longer."
The look of no fear or sorrow in her eyes sends chills down my spine. She really doesn't care if she dies. She really doesn't fear death.
She.. blinks slowly. She's going to pass out for sure.
"Fight for me? If not for me, fight for yourself. Prove that you're strong enough to push forward."
She smiles.. as she passes out. I carry her to the helo. The man climbing in with us. Carefully checking her wound and keeping pressure.
I keep checking her heart rate. It remains stable. Which I'm grateful for. She's fighting.. She's.. She's fighting.
"I'm Henry, by the way. I was a doctor before all this."
I nod slowly. I can't focus on much other than Stevie. I don't want to lose her.
"I'm sorry about.. this. Could you forgive me? Could she?"
I look up to him. "Stevie would forgive you in a heartbeat."
"But what about you? You care for her very much."
"You didn't do anything to Stevie. It was that woman. Not you."
"She's going to need surgery. If I'm right, which I am, the blade cut into her kidney."
Ryan immediately radios into base. "Man down. Need surgeon in place for a stab wound."
"Who got stabbed? Are they stable?" Lisa speaks over the radio.
"Stevie. She's losing a lot of blood. And is.." Ryan looks to Henry. He nods for stable. "She is stable right now."
"I'll be ready."
I focus on her heart. The beats are.. different. I'm curious if she has heart problems or if her heart is beginning to fail.
I can't lose Stevie. Something in my gut makes me hate the idea. I can't lose Stevie. She's come too far to die from a stupid stab wound.
Lisa behind her work immediately. I'm forced out so that she can focus. Worry doesn't stop through this whole event.
