Discernment

Chapter 6

I did eventually fall alseep, only to wake up a few hours later. Jess had woken me up. "Thomas, we're going to look for Craig, he still hasn't come back." She says to me. "I knew he wouldn't.. Alright, someone should stay back here in case Craig comes back." Jess continued. Denise then calls out to us, "I'll stay here, don't worry. You three go look for him."

We started heading down the stairs of the building, and I look to make sure the other two had some type of weapon. Washington had his gun that he had aimed at Jess and I, and Jess had the pipe we had found at that cabin. When we reached the bottom of the stairs, I put on my hood and rolled up my sleeves. Then the three of us proceeded outside.

"He never leaves the area we stay in, so we'll mainly check this little town." Washington says. "I'll head out that way, you two go towards those buildings over there." He commands quietly. Jess and I nod and part ways with him. Jess and I start heading for those buildings we hadn't checked, since we encountered Washington. "Okay, let's check the outside first.." I mention to Jess. Jess nods and she goes aound the one side and I start looking through the windows on the bottomw floor.

"The outside is secure, Thomas." She says with a voice that sounds like she was imitating a man. I laugh softly and then kick the door open, after I had noticed it was locked. This place was disgusting. There was the smell of mold, the paint was peeling from the walls, and there were piles of rubble every glance of the eye.  "I'll check out the upstairs, Jess." I mention to her. I see her nod and I start walking up, step by step.

Once I reached the top of the stairs, I make my way down the hall and kick doors open and look in them as I passed by. The top floor was clear, no sign of Craig. I sighed and start going down the stairs again. That's when I noticed a body falling to the floor. I then begin to run down, worried that I could lose Jess. Jess was fighting off two other biters. "You could have called for me?!" I say to her and run up, knocking one to the ground and putting my gun against it's arms so it couldn't grab me.

"Get this fucker right here, Jess!" I yell again to her. Once she finally got done bashing the pipe against the one she was fighting off, she ran over to me and crushed it's head with her foot. "Thomas, there's more out there!" She says to me, worriedly. I stand up with the corpse under my feet then look at Jess. "Follow me.." I say to her and head out the exit behind us. "Into this next building, hurry!" I say, then move towards the door. "This is door won't budge.. Go through the window!" I say and break the closest window with the stock of my gun.

As Jess was climbing through, I saw three more biters heading for us. I then swung my gun around, hitting the closest one to me into the side of the building. While the one that I knocked down was occupied with trying to get up again, I pull my gun up to the one's mouth and pull the trigger, making the blood splatter all over the last one that was coming for us. I kick the last one down and make my way through the window after Jess was done. "There will be more, since I fired that gun." I mention to her.

"Let's head upstairs and scout the area from there." Jess says. She then runs up the stairs into the large open room with windows all over. Jess runs up to one of the windows and looks out, seeing the horde coming from behind the building where we stayed at. I go to a window facing the building next to the one we were in. There were walkers storming the place. I then look down to see someone standing on a car, fending off the horde, looking like they were protecting someone that was in the car.

"Jess! We need to get down there, there's someone out there and they need our help!"  I call out to her. She turned to me but didn't do anything else, I think she's just in shock. "I'm going down there.. If you feel like joining me, then go ahead." I mutter to her then run down the stairs, running out to the stranger, knocking down any biters in my way. I watched as the stranger took their arrows and stabbed the biters' heads, twirling around not letting even one touch the car more than 5 seconds. They then see me and pull their bow from their back and loads an arrow, aiming it at me.

"Don't shoot!" I call out and flinch, just as the arrow skimmed passed my head, hitting a biter that got too close behind me. "Watch yourself, man." She says, after grunting from stabbing another biter's head with an arrow. I could tell that it was female because of her voice, though before since she was wearing a hood, I couldn't tell. The car started getting swarmed even more now. She couldn't keep up. I had to jump in.

I start tripping the biters and pushing them into each other, knocking them down and making a clearer path for me. Once I had reached the car, I climbed up there with her, noticing that Craig was the one that was in the car. Looked as if he was unconscious, laying in the seat. I then kick a few down and aim my gun at one, but the aim was interrupted when the girl raised my gun. "No, it'll only attract more over here. Take this.." She says and hands me her machete that she had holstered.

I nod and take it, and bring my hand up, only to bring it back down to slash through the biter's head, and I continue to slash through their heads. The girl moves to the other end of the car to clear that side. When I watched her move over there, a biter grabbed my leg and pulling me, causing me to fall. I try to fight it off me until I felt the hand slide off me. I look up to see Jess and Washington also fighting them off, which made me smile to know that they were okay.

We started clearing out the biters in this area, finally. Once they were thinned out enough, Washington open the car door and grabs Craig, holding him. "I'm going to take him back to the building." He says and takes of with Craig without consulting us first. The girl then jumps down from the car and goes to pick up any arrows she lost. I walk up to her and offer her machete back to her. Once she saw me, she takes down her hood and grabs it from me. "Thanks.." She mutters.

"I'm Thomas, by the way." I say to her as I backed away. She looks at me and cleans off her machete and arrows. "I'm Sandra." She says with a stern voice then offers her hand. I nod and shake her hand. "Thank you.. For saving the boy.. Lending me your weapon. You know you're swift when it comes to these things." I say to her with a smirk. "Yeah, well, you kinda have to be these days." She says and leans against the car. "So, are you guys staying anywhere?" She asks. I nod and point to the building. "Y-You mean that building that's getting overrun?!" She asks worriedly. I tilt my head and look back. My eyes widen, I had forgotten about the horde. "Oh shit! Let's go!" I yell and grab my rifle, running and loading it at the same time.

I heard gunshots and run even faster, then look back to see Sandra running close behind me. I see the horde going nowhere but the building, which infuriated me. I shot a few of the biters that were climbing the stairs to slow the rest down. That's when I dived through one of the windows, and run up, ramming one of the biters into the wall. I then proceed to grab one of the biter's hair and toss it down, Sandra was still close behind me and she dodged it barely. "Watch where you're throwing these fuckers, why don't ya'?" She says. I shake my head, "Sorry, I'm in a hurry!" I reply to her.

We reached the top of the stairs and I saw Jess, Craig, and Denise on the roof, looking the  large, gaping hole and trying to push up Washington as well. I run up and give Washington a boost, as well as Sandra. "Now help me up!" I call out to them. Washington was busy with Craig, yelling at him for running off, Sandra was shooting Washington's gun, and saving her arrows, at the biters that got too close to me. That leaves Denise to only help me. Denise grabs my arm with both of hers while I put my other arm to support me. Her and I were both trying to pull me up with all our might.

I finally got up there. Denise stands there, catching her breath while I go over to Washington to get him to stop yelling and help me think of a plan. "Washington, is it? We have to think of a plan now! We don't have much left to do, stop yelling at your son and help us out!" Sandra jumps in. Washington then looks up and backs away from Craig.

"I'm sorry.. Okay.. Let's just.. Jump from the building and run out of here." Washington says. Sandra shakes her head. "How the hell do you expect us to run from jumping from the roof of a second-story building?!" Sandra complains. "It's just a suggestion, I don't need your sass." Washington replies. I look back at Denise, who's now sitting on the ledge of the hole. That's when I start seeing the tiles sliding and cracking. I didn't know what to do at first, then I just ran over there to grab Denise.

It was too late. I watched Denise fall as long as the debris into the horde. Washington then runs over and was about to jump in before I grabbed him and held him back. "Denise!! No!!" He cries. He then stopped forcing against me and simply fell to his knees, looking over the savages ripping his wife apart. He then couldn't bare to see anymore. I then realize that this part of the roof wasn't stable enough, especially with two people. So I convince Washington to move to the other side with Craig, Jess, and Sandra, where we begin to start planning of what to do next.