The Battles End (#wattys2016)

Chapter 20

Chapter 20: Loose.
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"Welcome to Bentford."  Luca said as he closed the door behind them. There were families left and right, it looked like a safe haven. The father and daughter walked ahead, and Daryl followed with River next to him. The two jumped from subject to subject. They said a little about the woman named Sierra, as the father seemed to feel even more guilt as they talked. He kept apologizing, but Sunny kept forgiving him.
Daryl still felt a little uneasy about some things, but knew he shouldn't. Then the two in front of him stopped.
     "Luke!" Luca called. A moment later there was a nineteen year old boy jogging up to the three of them. "Aahana, this is your step brother Luke." The two looked at each other for a second, before their father shooed them forward, shortly followed by River.

As the two walked away from their father and Daryl,  -Sunny not knowing at the time her brother- she looked at Luke.  She looked at him with those silver streaked, Amber rimmed, blue eyes of hers. She looked at him, knowing he was her brother, related by a once had been marriage or not. They were brother and sister. The nineteen year old Luke looked at his younger sibling out of the corner of his eyes, with a mischievous smile. And Sunny, smiled back.
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She's going to get herself killed.

Most certainly, she was. Anybody would be convinced that Aahana Dixon had a death wish. The way she gripped her bow, her free hand a fist. Thunder rumbled in the early hour. The horizon was a lightened grey surrounded by black clouds, as the sun was hardly even a sliver yet. The funny thing, she looked and walked as if she had a plan, when in reality she hadn't the slightest clue what hell she would raise. The town's streets were vacant. Anyone who claimed to be a savior was elsewhere. Sunny didn't even know where she was going, but she had found herself back onto the main road toward town. Swollen in her own world, she stormed past Keira's front porch.
     "Hope?" A voice called out. "Hope!" John skipped going down the porch steps, and jogged to catch up to the taller, younger woman. But in this moment, she seemed much older than what she was. She had paused, the area overlapped in silence. It had seemed that the click of her boots had echoed through the mostly empty streets. Finally John caught up, but he kept his distance. John didn't know what it was, but something radiated off of Sunny that made her even more intimidating than normal.
"Those shots.." He trailed off as she didn't quite meet his eye. "Is it true?"
     "She's gone." Sunny confirmed, staring at the siding on Keira's house. It had been a full day since she had to put her own daughter in the ground. But what she didn't notice, was the red headed stranger and his ex-girlfriend watching the two from the porch. John looked down, rubbing the back of his neck. Without moving his head, he looked up at Sunny.
     "Um.. I got two from that prisoner group. Well, I uh, had three. But the other one is at Med. she's pregnant and something-" John cut himself off as Sunny squeezed her eyes shut. After a while of silence, surprisingly it was Sunny who spoke.
     "Be ready." She warned, glaring at the siding of her friends house.
     "For what?" John asked confused.
Now, Sunny met his eye as she answered. She took an arrow from her quiver, notching it before walking away. She had spotted a savior, and was ready to prove that the group was screwing with the wrong people. They, had awaken a monster.

She followed him toward the fence and by some houses that were finished after the wall was. Sunny was pissed. And this was going to end soon. This small war. The declaration was signed with the savior's blood smeared hands when Angel died. This was going to end, one way or another.

     Sunny stopped, pulling the string back. "I'd drop that gun a' yours nice an' slow."
     The man paused. "Or what? You'll shoot me?" Her fingers purposely slipped off the string. The arrow landed through the man's elbow. Her lurched forward with a cry in pain. By the time he sun to look bewilderedly at the woman, she had another arrow aimed between his eyes. He froze, but his cry had attracted the attention of more of them. Then there was a shot and a painful grunt. That was when everything snapped. Suddenly Preston was at Sunny's side helping her take out the pack of saviors. It was all happening so fast. It almost seemed like there were too many of them. Another shot was fired. The situation had escalated so quickly. Blood splattered Sunny's already dirty face. A bad feeling hit the bottom of her stomach when she was unable to find Preston. Then the next moment, everything was still. Bodies with arrows sticking out of them lay everywhere. Preston was missing, not apart of the dead, at least as far as Sunny knew. That was when she saw the man, a friend, laying on the ground. He had been shot twice shielding his sister.