The Ruins Part 2 (Sequel to The Ruins)

Chapter 71

Charlie Pink-Eye loomed in front of Mal and Negan. Six feet inches of him. One eye was a milky pink, the other one- once as blue as his father's- was black and dead. His skin, once the tan white, had turned the color of a mushroom; grey-white and blotches with fungus and decay. Flies buzzed around him, and maggots wriggled through flaps of his dead flesh. He snarled and took a lumbering step forward. And now Mal understood what she had seen out in the field by Fairview. It hasn't been Charlie leading an attack of Infected... Charlie had been a Runner himself, part of a swarm led there by Preacher Jack. Led there... and led away before Mal could ever seen him again. When Mal had seen Charlie smile, it wasn't a smile at all but the snarl of a hungry Runner.

It was grotesque. It was bad enough that Charlie had not fallen a thousand few to smash himself to ruin at the base of the mountain. It was worse still that he was still alive before Infected consumed him and become one of the monsters. What was far, far worse was that Charlie's own father and brother had kept him alive as a Runner, armoured him like a gladiator, and put him down here in the shadows to be their pet monster. Their Angel of Death for a new and corrupt Eden. Even though Mal understood few of the mysteries of any religion, she knew with perfect clarity that this was a sin that could never be forgiven.

"Mal," whisper Mal, "run!"

But she did not run. She couldn't. She was rooted to the spot, staring at horror at the nightmare monster version of the thing that had abused her, torture her, and raped her.

"Charlie," Mal murmured again. This was what she feared. Charlie, alive or dead, but still moving through her world. Still hunting her. She knew the moment he saw him, he'll hunt her down and it would happen. This very thing.

When Negan had struck Charlie on the ridge and sent him tumbling into the darkness, Mal had not been a part of it. Charlie had overpowered her; and it was combination of luck and revenge that guided Negan's hand as he swung Ellie. Charlie had fallen, but they hasn't found his body. He was hit on the head and by the jaw, not a kill hit.

Charlie Pink-Eye took a lumbering step toward them. Negan snarled and pushed Mal back.

"Don't you fuckin' get closer, you rapist ugly son of a bitch." Negan swung the hatchet on his other hand, trying for a killing shot through the eye socket. Instead the glass blade dug into the front of Charlie's cheek, punching through the sinus. The Infecteds in the dead-end tunnel moaned with raw hunger and shuffled forward, but Charlie's massive body blocked the way. With a feral growl Charlie lashed out and knocked Negan sideways into the wall. The glass blade of the hatchet snapped, and the handle feel from Negan's fingers. The blow was so fast and strong. The Charlie Runner was too fast. And so powerful!

Negan slid to the floor. Charlie bent down, grabbed Negan's shirt, and pulled him off the floor. Razor teeth gleamed like daggers in the torchlight. As Charlie pulled him close, Negan could see the gleaming tips of the nails covered the monster's body like a porcupine. Negan raised a knee and managed to get the flat of his boot against the lower stomach- the only area not covered by the nail vest. He kicked out, trying to squirm out of the grip with leverage, aiming blows to dislocate the jaw or break the neck. He tried every trick of combat and swung his bat but nothing. The nail heads scratched him, and soon Negan was bleeding from a dozen shallow cuts. Then two dozen. Blood flew from the injuries, and though none of them were serious, the smell of fresh blood in the air seemed to drive Charlie and the other Infecteds wild. They snarled and moaned and bit the air.

Charlie's head darted forward, and his razor teeth bit down with devastating force- but not on Negan's flesh.

Suddenly Mal was there, squeezing in between Negan and Charlie, and she rammed her hatchet up into its mouth. The rows of files teeth chomped down on the weapon and crunched on glass and wood. Nail tips pressed into Mal's hands. The nails didn't punctured her, but made the hurt and are feeling to become broken.

Charlie flung Negan away and grabbed Mal instead. Negan crashed to the ground again. Pain exploded in his shoulder, numbing him all the way to his fingertips. The other Infected tried to reach past Charlie to get to Mal. Wax-white hands poked through the crooks of Charlie's elbows and reached over his shoulders and around his side, clawing at Mal's shirt and hair. In their attempts to grab her, they were also pulling her into the nail vest.

Negan hauled himself to his feet. He rushed to Mal and pounded his bat at the white hands and clobbering its head after. She sagged forward, but Charlie still had her.

Negan rammed the round end with the sharp mending up under Charlie's chin. He dove it with such force that it punched through into the Runner's and mouth and pinned his jaws shut. At least for the moment. Immediately, Mal brought her knees up and aimed her feet just below the nail best, then kicked out with all her force. They burst free from Charlie's grasp and fell backward as the Infecteds pushed forward to get pash him.

"Dust!" Negan croaked, and Mal tore a pouch of plaster dust from her pocket and flung it at them. The dust exploded into a white cloud that swirled thickly around the Infected.

Mal didn't know if the powder would do anything more than distract them for a moment. They had thought to use it against the Calvary Boys, but for now it gave them a slender doorway of time. Negan grabbed Mal's wrists and hauled her forward, keeping his hands on her back as stumbled away from the Infected.

"Mal- are you okay?"

She gave him a wild-eyes stare. "I-I need to... kill him," she answered in a whisper.

"I know, baby girl," he said, though they both knew that it was virtually impossible, and it was suicide to try. "Come on, let's go."

During this brief but awful fight they had been only dimly aware of the shouts and laughter from above. There were plenty of boos now. Defeating Charlie, however briefly, seemed to have turned the crowd against them. That or maybe the sheep were too afraid of Preacher Jack and White Bear to show any other reaction.

White Bear bent down into one of the pit openings, grinning like a ghoul. "Run as fast as you want, but there's no way out."

Mal pivoted and flung one of the punches at him. White Bear got his hands up to block it, but the pouch flapped open and he was showered with white plaster dust. He reeled back, coughing and gagging and cursing. There was a quick ripple of surprised laughter, but it died down immediately as White Bear wheeled on Mal and Negan with a murderous glare.

They ran from under the pit opening, vanishing into the shadows. They headed Infected ahead of them, and they realised they were running back toward the main pit. They scrambled into a turn. Behind them Charlie Pink-Eye was shambling toward them, his jaw slacked open.

That left the dark side tunnel. "No lights," Mal said.

Negan looked up and down the corridor. "We have no choice. Stay close to me."

They ran into the darkness. Above them the crowd became suddenly silent.

"Jesus H. Christ," Negan panted. "What the fuck now?!"