Turned (A Chandler Riggs Fanfic)

Chapter 11

I couldn't stop sobbing. He was gone. He was eaten. He was dead. I loved him, and I just heard him die. I indirectly witnessed Drake's death.

After about 20 minutes, I sighed and recollected myself, wiping my face on a dish towel and returning upstairs. I sat back down on the bed next to Chandler. I realized he had fallen asleep, so I just placed my head on his chest and drifted off into a sound sleep almost immediately.

***

My eyes snapped open to the sound of gunshots, and I sat up almost immediately, and saw Chandler alarmed next to me as well. We simultaneously went over to the window and checked outside. Five men were standing outside, gunning down all of the walkers surrounding the property. They all looked like they were in there forties. They had graying hair on their head, and were all wearing worn out sweatshirts and pants. They began to walk towards the door and began shaking the knob, and were shocked when they saw they couldn't open it. Kyle began wailing in the other room and I commanded, "Chandler, go get the guns downstairs and load them into the duffle bag, I'll get Kyle incase we need to run out of here." He nodded and ran downstairs, trying not to make noise inside. I darted into the bathroom and began calming down Kyle as I picked him up and held up so his head was over my shoulder and my hands were supporting his back and legs. I packed up all of the stuff I needed in my room into a small bag and ran down into the kitchen to where Chandler was zipping up the bag. There was banging on the front door, and it eventually snapped and flew open. The men stormed inside and immediately saw us.
"Who the fuck are you?" one of the guys asked.
Chandler spoke up and confronted him, "you barge into my shelter and start asking who I am? Get the fuck away from my family, jackass." He sounded cold and heartless.
The man, who I assumed was the leader, opened his big mouth again, "this is about survival now, kid. And we can't have a bunch of prissy kids running around getting us killed. Now you should probably leave here so my boys here can unload."
"Excuse you? This territory is claimed. If anyone is leaving, it's you guys," I chimed in.
The leader's eyes went from Chandler to me. He chuckled and stated, "so what do we have here? I guess it's a boyfriend and a girlfriend. Parents got eaten. Decided to run out to a hotel and live together? Guess the guy then got the girl knocked up and they've been hiding out here with the little baby?" Both him and his partners started laughing and I heard Chandler almost growl at them. "Well guess what kids, fun's over. You can pack up your stuff and go. This is our territory now."
"It never was your home, isn't now, and it never will be. I advise you to get out before this turns into a problem," Chandler warned. I saw him slowly slip a handgun out of his back pocket and held it behind himself.
"Maybe I need to make myself a little more clear to myself, I didn't realize you kids were this stupid. Leave," he sternly said.
"Well ok, I gave you a chance," Chandler spoke as he pulled the gun out from behind his back. Before they had a chance to react, Chandler fired his gun and the bullet flew right into the leader's leg.
I couldn't help but laugh a little, and we immediately saw the whole group run over to assist the leader as we darted towards the door.
We ran outside to the foul scent of the walkers. I noticed about 30 dead ones scattered across the property. We dashed towards the woods and finally crossed the tree line. I was thankful that we were finally hidden, and I noticed that Kyle was stilm and handed it to me.
"Packed a few things from the house before we left. Give it to Kyle, he needs it," Chandler offered.
"Thank you." I grabbed the bottle and held it up to Kyle as he took it and took two sips before handing it back to me.
I set Kyle down for a second and stretched out my shoulder. He got up on his own and began to walk towards a tall oak tree. I grabbed his hand and led him back towards us. I didn't want him getting hurt by whatever might be in these woods.
"We should probably try and find an open clearing to build some kind of shelter while were out here," Chandler suggested while scanning the trees.
I heard the shouts of the five men from the motel somewhere in the distance.
I scan the surroundings. "Chan, why don't we just get in one of these trees? The branches look sturdy and we could get by the night with them."
"I guess so, but how is Kyle gonna stay up there?" Chandler pointed out.
"We'll manage."

I hoisted myself up on the first branch as Chandler handed Kyle to me, and I let Kyle cling onto my shoulders as I supported him with one arm. I climbed a bit higher, about 15 feet off the ground, and perched onto a sturdy branch. Chandler joined us at the top and hung the duffle bag on a branch next to us. He pulled out a rope from the bag and tied us both to the tree, preventing fall.
We sat next to each other on parallel branches with our backs resting on the trunk and our shoulders touching. I set Kyle down on my lap and let Chandler tie him there gently around his legs and back.

It was nighttime again, this day went by surprisingly fast. The stars dotted the sky in the patterns that I carefully examined do to lack of things to do. The scent of dead grass and moss were the primary scents along with a few others my senses failed to recognize. I looked over at Chandler, who sat in an upright position against the tree, already asleep. I was relieved to hear the sound of birds singing in the night, but then again, isn't it unusual for them to be chirping at night? Whatever. I was too tired and upset to care anyway. I slowly drifted off to a sound sleep.

***

"Alex, wake up," I heard the soft whisper as I felt a nudge on my shoulder. I just moaned and shrugged it off. "Alex," it repeating, shaking me slightly harder.
My eyes were still closed as I groggily started talking, "Mom go awayy." I slapped the hand away and then felt a soft pair of lips on mine and my eyes snapped open.
I then realized it was Chandler as the lips pulled away, and I smiled. I saw his concerned look, and then looked down to where he was looking. "It was the only way to wake you up..." he whispered.
I saw about 50 walkers down below us walking around in the clearing around us. I gasped and immediately felt Chandler's hand clasp over my mouth.
He carefully slipped a gun out from the duffle bag and zipped it up. "Take this," he quietly spoke, shoving the gun into my arm. I took it in my hands and began untying us from the tree. I hoisted Kyle onto the usual positivism over my shoulder and handed the rope back to Chandler. He swung the duffle bag over his shoulder and whispered, "get to the ground and as soon as you hit, run. I'll be with you, don't worry."
I nodded slightly, kinda hoping for a bit more instruction since he knew the town a bit better, but I just made my way down the tree onto the dead brush scattered over the clearing. Chandler silently landed on the ground right beside me, and we slowly began walking through the woods, away from the walkers. After a few feet, we started picking up the pace and began running.
Unfortunately, Kyle didn't like the feeling of constantly being jerked around as I ran and began screaming. I tried to hush him for a second, and that's when I heard the walkers converging on us. The slight click of a gun being released from safety sounded and I already saw Chandler gunning the walkers down. 10 dropped dead into the debris and more began closing in on us.

I set Kyle on the ground and kept him steady between my legs as I pulled out my gun and launched a few bullets at some of the walkers. I felt an arm over my shoulder and spun around to see a set of walker teeth almost two inches from my shoulder about to clamp down on my flesh.
I violently threw my shoulder around trying to break free as I felt its teeth pierce my shoulder, when all of a sudden it stopped. The body sunk to the ground and saw Chandler. His gun was pointed directly above my shoulder, and I smiled. That was stupid of me, wasting time and all. The walkers came closer. I shot some more down and watched their bodies immediately sink to the ground.
I pulled the trigger again. Nothing. I pulled it rapidly over and over again. It was empty.
Great, absolutely screwed.