Bad Blood (Gabentine Fic)

David and Kate

"WE HAVE TO GO BACK, DAVID!"

Kate struggled against David as he ran through the woods, tugging her by the arm in attempt to get away from the stray walkers that were gaining on them by the second.

"KATE, WE HAVE TO GO! NOW, RUN!"

David shoved Kate forward and left no room for argument as he kept shoving her ahead of him. The two former husband and wife ran through the humid and damp Virginia woods, neither looking back as they kept running. Kate was the first to crumble to the ground from the lack of oxygen in her lungs and gasped out for David to stop.

"David, stop!"

David paused his running to turn and yell at Kate to get up and keep going, but immediately rushed to her side upon seeing her struggle for air. David grasped her hand within his and leaned her back so that Kate would catch her breath back and calm down before she went into a panic attack.

"Shhh, Kate, I'm here. Calm down, breathe."

Kate closed her eyes and leaned into David as she felt sweet air come back into her body and gave David a thumbs up before trying to stand up. That failed to actually happen because Kate was still lightheaded and felt herself fall back into David, who caught her easily and settled back on the ground. David laughed lightly at Kate's breathlessness and gave her a small smile.

"Guess this means you're still smoking them blunts?"

"You fucking know it."

They both chuckled at their banter between each other before Kate remembered that abandoned her and the kids with his brother. Kate pushed away from David and stood on shaky legs, starting to walk wobbly into the woods more in search of something other than her ex-husband. David realizes that he should've expected this sort of attitude from Kate because he just left his family for dead, even though he couldn't get back into Baltimore he should've tried harder to look for them.

"Kate, wait up. I want to talk to you about something and want you to hear me out."

Kate ignores David and keeps walking forward through the woods, now actually looking for some sort of shelter because of the sight of dark clouds rolling in and because they probably didn't lose of the walkers chasing them. David silently fumes as Kate ignores him, getting a strong urge to hit her or something to make her listen to him, but he took a deep breath in and helped Kate look for shelter as well. The two walked silently together, neither wanting to break the silence by speaking. David was about to say something, but Kate cut him off by pointing to their left.

They both jogged over to scope out the cabin and looked inside for any walkers or people. The only thing inside the cabin was a rocking chair and an old, worn out mattress with blood stains all over it. The duo made themselves at home and David flipped over the mattress so that Kate could rest for a bit while he was on guard duty.

The rest of the day was spent in silence as Kate slept into the night and David watched for any signs of walkers or his family, but everything seemed calm. The moon was well into the sky when Kate finally awoke and her eyes opened to see David rocking in his chair and staring into the woods. The woman gazed at her kinda ex-husband and wondered what had made him change from a hot headed idiot to a sympathetic and caring person.

"It happened around a year ago."

Kate realized a moment too late that she had asked the question aloud and David was now looking at her with a small sad smile. David stood from his seat and started pacing as began to tell Kate about what made him change.

(Flashback)

"DAVID! WE GOT TWO LIVE ONES AT THE GATE!"

David sighed as he heard Badger yelling, the man was always being a dumbass and yelling for no fucking reason. Him and Badger were on gate duty and they were given orders to be strict on who they let in.

"Badger, quit fucking yelling unless you want every goddamn muerto on us within seconds!"

"Now, you're yelling."

David groaned and slapped his hand before dragging it down his face. He pushed Badger out of the way and walked out of the gate to see a an older man in a yellow jacket walking with a young lady with a black jacket and pants to match. David raised his weapon and pointed it at the two.

"Stop! Put any weapons you have on the ground, now!"

The man laid his gun down as the girl did the same and stepped forward towards David.

"My name is Chuck Greene and this is my daughter, Katey. We were just wanting to pass through and possibly get some food if it isn't too much to ask!"

David was about to respond, but the girl fell to the ground and grasped her left arm in pain. The man rushed to her side and attempted to help her up but David quickly locked his gun on them again.

"GET AWAY FROM HER! SHE'S BITTEN!"

The man frantically tried waving David off, but David flipped the safety off of his gun.

"PLEASE, WAIT! SHE JUST NEEDS HER MEDICINE!"

As the man reached into his coat pocket, David fired his gun and shot the man in the chest. He fell dead to the ground and grasped a broken needle that leaked medicine through his fingers. David felt remorse flood over him and confusion before the girl rose from the ground, eyes now clouded over and her arms outstretched for David. A shot rang out and she dropped dead to the ground beside her father. Badger came up behind David and clapped his hand on his back.

"Man, she almost got you. Can't believe he actually believed medicine would fix her, tsk."

(End Flashback)

David was now staring once more out the window as he told Kate about what happened. How he shot a father who was trying to save his daughter with medicine that was in his jacket. David looked back at Kate with sad eyes and could even feel some tears start to come up.

"I have nightmares that that could've been Javi and Mariana and they would've been shot like that. Kate, I'm so sorry I wasn't there for Mariana."

Kate was now crying and pulled David into a hug. They spent the rest of the night mourning and thinking about their sweet little daughter and if she was finally at peace.