Mᴜᴛᴀɴᴛ Aᴘᴏᴄᴀʟʏᴘsᴇ 6: Tʜᴇ Vᴀʟʟᴇʏ

32 || 𝐓𝐀𝐊𝐄𝐍

On Anzen's property, one of the wall guards could hear faint voices from the distance. As soon as he caught sight of the survivors on horseback, he recognized who they were. From the condition of one of the girls, he called out to his crew. "Open the gates!"

As soon as the announcement was made to open the gates, Leonardo ran outside into the snow to see what was happening. He watched Kharoma gallop into Anzen's area and he saw Honey slumped over in front of Celeste. She is unconscious and the blood seeping through her clothes is dripping onto Kharoma's bare winter coat. "What happened?!" Leo called out, running to Kharoma to help Honey off her back.

"Gun shot." Celeste said urgently, dismounting Kharoma and assisting Leo with Honey. "She lost a lot of blood. We need help."

Then, Duke came running out as well. He heard the calls and the frantic tones. "What's going on? Where's my wife and the others?"

The horse, Kharoma answered. "Back at the hotel. It seems that Donnie insisted they stay there to gather more supplies. They're okay."

Duke sighed in relief. "We'll get Honey inside. I'll call Tom to get over here."

Celeste follows Leo who is carrying Honey into the school, Duke also trailing behind. She hopes her friend will be alright. When Honey was laid down in a bed in a spare bedroom, Duke ran into the radio room.

"Who accidentally shot her?" Leo asked Celeste.

She was embarrassed to confess it. Celeste stared at her friend in the bed with Leo placing a ton of pressure on Honey's shoulder. "...M-Me..." Celeste stuttered at Leo. "Clickers attacked and my bullet missed." She said to him.

Leo doesn't react much to that. "You have nothing to worry about. Accidents are bound to happen..." He told her. They change friendly glances before putting their attention on Honey, the sweat drenching her hairline. Together, they wait for Duke to get in contact with Tom.

Finally, Lin and Tom arrived and got straight to work on Honey, stabilizing her the best they could. While they did their job in helping her gunshot wound, Leonardo radioed Donnie, Azi, and Vv. "You three need to get home right now. One possible fatality is bad enough. I don't want you guys to get stuck out there after dark." Leo spoke on the radio to his brother.

"So the girls got there safely?" Donnie asked, completely dodging Leo's request on his end.

"Yes, they did. We're working on Honey right now." Leo said to Donnie. "Now come home. That's an order."

Donnie is opposed to this. "We're okay, Leo. We'll be home--"

"If you want to be a leader then I suggest you listen to me first. Get back home now!" Leo ordered firmly, quitting the radio call.

****

Back at the hotel, Donnie rolled his eyes at Leo's demand. He looked at Vv and Azi who were also listening to the conversation that had just wrapped up over the radio. The tall mutant shook his head out of being stressed and feeling torn into two pieces. "A leader does what he thinks is best. That's what I'm doing."

"Leader, huh?" Vv says to him. Never did she think she would hear the day Donnie would possibly become a leader. 

"Yeah..." He said faintly. "It was a... private conversation we had recently."

"Leader of what, exactly?" Azi asked him. "A new community?"

"No," Donnie replied, looking at her with Vv leaning on the lobby counter. "If Leo stepped down as leader."

"Stepped down?" Vv asked with a pair of wide eyes. "Why would he step down?"

"Just to move on..." Donnie told them. "He thought about leaving with Jax when this is over. Or just getting a fat break."