NEGAN'S DAUGHTER

Suns Up Guns Up

It's cold. A cold that made every bone shake and every muscle tighten painfully. A cold that had you gasping for the air that disappeared within every drop of temperature. The cold that froze your fingers and turned your lips blue. A cold that made it unbearable to move because your frozen limbs might break.

But, it wasn't the cold that woke me up, it was the sound of a thundering growl. A growl that was only made when danger is about to strike.

Bear bares his teeth and barks loudly. I spring up, gripping my empty rifle. Adrenaline shot through my body, making me numb to my icy body temperature. It takes a moment for my vision to focus and when it does my heart races as I encounter something that I haven't seen in a long time; something more dangerous than the dead. I️ aim my weapon at the threat that stood cautiously in the distance from Bear being able to attack. My arm feels sore from the leash wrapped around it tightly. It's strain becomes stronger every pounce Bear attempts to make towards the intruder.

"Whoa whoa there, sweetheart! Let's not doing anything rash." Two hands lazily raise in the air.

I try to keep my aim strong and steady. Bear keeps jerking the leash, getting more unsettled every second the strange man stands there. He isn't fond of strangers ever since the world went to shit. Who could blame him? Evil came in many forms. Always has.

"Well you bet-"

Bear pulls my aim down and barks louder.

"Bear, enough!" I yank the leash hard, asserting myself as alpha. Reluctantly, he obeys, but doesn't dismiss his defensive growl. I steady my weapon

"You better turn around and head back to where you came from or else you can expect rash decisions to be made!"

The man doesn't heed my warning. He drops his hands carefully and observes me up and down. The shadows and his dangly, dirty hair hides one side of his face.

"What you doin' out here alone?"

"I️ could ask you the same thing." I️ snap.

The man chuckles. "Oh but I️m not." He says, slowly and tauntingly. He raises his fingers to his lips and let's out an echoing whistle.

I️ hear footsteps coming out from behind the trees and bushes, twigs breaking and leaves crunching from the boots of four other men with bigger guns than mine. Some had stern looks on their faces, others were smirking. The hair on the back of Bear's neck stands up as he starts to get aggressive again. I lean back on my right leg as Bear begins to pull forward, allowing no slack with the leash.

"How about you put the gun down." The man points at my weapon.

"How about you and your boy band fuck off before I shoot!"

The man begins to say something, but stops and brings his gaze to something behind me. He frowns and puts his hands on his hips.

"You like baseball?"

"What?" I️ ask, confused.

"The bat." He tilts his chin up in my direction, gesturing at the handle of my bat that stuck out from my backpack.

"Not really. I use it to play a good ol' game of whack-a-prick. Interested?"

He smiles and rubs at his prickly facial hair. "You're cute. I know someone that would love to meet you."

"No thanks. I'm an introvert." My attention is brought to this tall, muscular, blonde guy with tattoos covering every visible view of skin except his face. He's starring at Bear and Bear at him, unlike the other men who had their full focus on me.

"Come no, let's not make this any harder than it has to be."

My frown deepens. Who the hell does this guy think he is? I️ lower my aim toward his balls, because if I️ shoot something, it's going to be those worthless things. He notices and laughs.

"Got to give it to you kid, you've got spunk." He winks.

When tattoos lowers a hand and takes a curious step forward, Bear leaps at him, snapping the leash in two and making my ass fall flat onto my back. Gun shots are let out.

"NO!" I️ scream.

I️ shoot up, and fire my weapon at tattoos. He drops to the ground. Luckily, Bear is untouched. My dog stood over the guy he just chewed out. Tattoos wailed loudly and holds his blood covered arm. The bastard that spoke to me before raises his gun at Bear. Bear acts quickly and lunges.

Time seems to stop and everything went quiet as the last thing I️ hear is a shot fired. I️ look upon my friend who now lays still on the ground. I️ raise my gun at the piece of shit who just killed my friend. I️ squeeze the trigger.

Click.

Nothing.

....I️t's empty.

I turn and reach for my bat, but the man is on me before I could wield my weapon. We fall to the ground and wrestle as he tries to restrain me. We come face to face. If you could even call it a face. Because half of his looks like it's been melted off. I quickly knee him in the groin and he goes down. The other henchmen grab both of my arms and pin me down. Two face gets up and takes a deep breath as he picks up my gun.

"Sorry, kid." He says before knocking me out with the stock of my rifle.

.