𝗦𝗛𝗘 𝗟𝗢𝗩𝗘𝗗 𝗧𝗛𝗘 𝗦𝗜𝗡𝗡𝗘𝗥𝗦
CHAPTER THIRTY THREE!

〔  season three, episode one 〕

𝑻𝑯𝑬𝒀 𝑴𝑨𝑵𝑨𝑮𝑬𝑫 𝑻𝑶 𝑭𝑰𝑵𝑫 𝑻𝑯𝑬𝑰𝑹 𝑾𝑨𝒀 𝑶𝑼𝑻𝑺𝑰𝑫𝑬, splitting up from Travis, Nick Carried Cassandra with her arm wrapped around her neck as they heard gunshots behind them. He needed to find some place to hide. Some place she would be safe. While Travis went to look for his mother and sister.

Steven had gone with them leading them to some underground tunnel, Cassandra grimaced at the smell off it knowing it must have been waste pipes or something

"Hey, not you, asshole, her!" Nick grabbed Steven as he tried to go down first, before reaching out and grabbing Cassandra

"Come on, come on, let's go"

Everyone was in such a panic and Cassandra could barely understand what was going on the only thing keeping her up was adrenaline because she knew they weren't safe, she cried out as Nick lowered her into the tunnel

"Hurry, hurry we're not gonna make it" Steven's worried voice, echoed through Cassandra's ears as she clung into the leaders lowering herself down, her feet hitting the bottom and she fell into the wall because of how weak she was

The black haired girl jumped when she heard two gunshots, looking up she saw Steven hunched over, blood gushing out of his chest — dead — Cassandra looked away, everyone kept dying.

Nick quickly dropped down grabbing ahold of Cassandra "come on" he quickly said as practically dragged her through the tunnels because she could hardly stand

The both of them were terrified and struggling, Cassandra was in pain and she knew he was slowing Nick down and Nick could feel the exhaustion creeping up on him from running and holding her but there was no other choice. He wasn't going back to his death and he wasn't leaving her.

He was determined to save her. To make up for bringing her here.

As they continued to move, Nick and Cassandra both heard a splash indicating that they had sent Steven down with them, with them to chase them when he turned. Which was bad because neither of them had a weapon and Cassandra was too injured to fight

"We just got to stay ahead" Nick breathed heavily as he kept a strong grip around her waist and on her arm that was draped around his shoulder
He glanced down at her from the side of his eye noticing all the blood dripping down her sleeve. How her eyes kept closing and reopening, she was fighting and he was proud of that"

"Stay with me, Cass"

♱

"Nick I need to stop" Cassandra cried she was in so much pain she could feel herself getting weaker and weaker, she was a liability to him.

Nick shook his head pulling her along as tried to look for a way out of the tunnels it was like a maze down there, especially with the undead following them — like a labyrinth

"We can't stop, not yet. I'm gonna get you safe" Nick replied without even looking at her, he was being stubborn. All he cared about was getting her safe that was his sole focus

Cassandra stopped pushing away from him as she leaned up against the wall, her eyes finding his. There brown orbs meeting with the same desperation they had on many occasions.

"There is nowhere safe and I'm gonna get you killed" Cassandra told him as she grabbed her shoulder hissing in pain "I'm slowing you down"

Nick didn't waste a second grabbing her hand and showing her the ring he gave her "I will not leave you. You never left me. Look at that, yeah the shiny rock on your finger. You're my wife I will not leave you"

He brought his hand over her heart, the same way they had done a thousand times, he rested his forehead against hers, there breathing and heartbeats syncing as Cassandra stared into the eyes of the boy she fell in love with when she was a child — the eyes of someone who made her feel safe and loved

"My pretty girl. I Will never leave you" Nick promised, kissing her softly before staring deeply in her eyes "never" he kissed the side of her mouth

Cassandra slowly nodded as she leaned closer to him, breathing heavily "It hurts like a bitch" she tried to lighten the mood, Nick laughed slightly

"I'm sorry" he laughed "but I'm not leaving, come we need to go" he grabbed her arm pulling her with him again as he set out to found the way out for the maze

Cassandra hoped that while they were stuck down here, Travis and Madison and Alicia where okay up there.

They continued to travel through the tunnels looking for anyway out, spotting a light shining down Nick thought it may have been a way out, helping Cassandra through the tunnel the only sounds being the scuffling of there feet and the dripping water untill they got to the drain, staring up they could both hear a helicopter blades like back in los Angeles

Nick was struggling to hold Cassandra as they continued to move, he could feel her slipping she was getting weaker and weaker less able to hold herself when the both of them stumbled across what looked like a gate of some sort the light shining through the top of it

Nick helped her lean against the wall before he started to push on it — but when it fell they both wished they had kept walking, hundreds of the undead stood outside and with how loud of a bang the gate was when it fell they were all heading in there direction now

"Nick!" Cassandra shouted trying to snap him back as he was just standing there almost frozen facing the horde

Nick quickly snapped back into reality running to Cassandra and pulling her along with him, she winced at how fast they had to go but she knew they had no choice, she only hoped she wouldn't pass out because that meant signing both of their lives away now that they were trapped inside the tunnels with all of the undead

Cassandra could hear the dead following their groans and scuffling feat. She was afraid. She didn't want to die. Not like this.
She always thought she would be okay dying, that she wasn't meant for this world — but she didn't want to die, she wanted to fight. She wanted to survive. She wanted to live.

They continued to move at a fast pace both of them exhausted the only thing keeping them going was adrenaline, the rats running across there shoes squeaking — she knew she was gonna probably end with a big infection if she made it though this

"I can't" Cassandra cried, falling onto the floor, Nick hovered above her his hand still on her waist
"No we can't stop." Nick said, his voice showing fear and worry. He knew how much pain she was in and he wished he could stop. He was pushing her too much

"we can't stop."

"I can't! Nick" Cassandra cried, as she groaned in pain, the two of them could hear the dead catching up as Nick stood up, the dead man who saved them Steven, caught up to them attacking Nick

Cassandra gasped in fear as she watched Nick go down the undead on top of him, she watched as he struggled to push it off him, he screamed

"Nick!" Cassandra shouted, trying to pull herself up off the floor but even if she could she wasn't strong enough to pull the zombie off of him, Nick continued to scream and struggling with the undead while Cassandra watched helpless

"Nick? Nick!" Cassandra's head shot up at hearing Alicia's voice looking up at the drain, she saw Alicia after all this time, Cassandra let out a sigh of relief

"Alicia help us!" Cassandra yelled up, making the Clark girl switch her eyes towards her sister in law, Alicia tried to pull the grate off but she couldn't, she  grabbed ahold of her knife and dropped it down

Cassandra used the last of her strength, using Nick's screams to push her up, she grabbed the knife flipping it open before moving as quickly as she could towards Nick, gripping the knife she drove it into the undeads head throwing it off of Nick before collapsing beside him

"Are you okay? Are you bit?" Cassandra asked reaching out towards him, Nick frantically shook his head bringing Cassandra into his arms cradling her head as he looked up at Alicia
"Nick!" She called but then the youngest Clark was grabbed

"Alicia!" Nick shouted seeing his sister being taken, as he quickly stood up helping Cassandra to her feet, Nick heard the grate being open, his head shooting back up to see some of the soldiers climbing down

Nick pushed Cassandra behind him backing them both up against the wall using his body as a shield

"Don't hurt her" he told the men as they got closer feeling Cassandra grip the back of his t-shirt weakly holding him close, the men grabbed them and pushed them towards the leader making them climb it

It was their only way out unless they wanted to go through the undead but they had no idea what was about to happen to them, they had no idea that Madison had taken the whole compound in search of them

♱

They dragged the two of them towards what looked like piles of dirt, Nick was fighting them the whole way but Cassandra didn't have any energy left in her

Once they rounded the corner Cassandra let out a cry of relief, seeing Alicia and Madison for the first time in a long time, she saw they were okay all of them, Travis stood behind them as she watched Madison and Alicia hug

She also saw Troy next to Travis, a bloody eye and a bruised face — Madison and Travis did a number on him. She was always right about Madison when it came to protecting them.

Madison glanced over at Cassandra noticing the blood dripping down her shoulder and how pale she was, she stared at her with worried eyes, when Nick stepped forward wrapping his arms around his mom holding her close

Cassandra smiled at the interaction, they were finally safe, they were finally with their family.

Madison pulled away from Nick and turned towards Cassandra pulling her into a hug and I'm that moment all the adrenaline left Cassandra's body because she felt safe, she collapsed into Madison

"Did they do this to you?" Madison asked, anger and worry lacing her voice and Cassandra nodded

"Thank you for finding us. You always do" she whispered, before the two of them broke away from the hug, the blonde resting her palm against Cassandra's face, staring at her, memorising everything

Nick and Alicia walked over to them, Alicia pulled Cassandra into a hug. Cassandra smiled at feeling the warmth of Alicia's hug, the love she felt for the girl she considered her sister

"I'm sorry for leaving" Cass whispered and then she felt Nick and Madison join the hug, this was her family, always was and always will be. She was glad they were all back together.

Nick held all three of them in his arms and he couldn't be more grateful that they were all alive — if he had failed to protect them he wouldn't have known what to do.

He looked up at the sky, maybe there was a god afterall or maybe Elijah Parker finally took pity on him either way he was grateful

♱

Nick ran his fingers through Cassandras hair as the medic took the bullet out, Alicia held her hand trying to distract her from the pain

"So how did he do it?" Alicia asked as she looked down at Cassandra trying to distract her from the bullet extraction "he better have made it special asking you to marry him"

"He-" Cassandra hissed In pain turning her head to look but Nick stopped her holding her head in place

"Don't look pretty girl" he crouched down beside her head, kissing her forehead as he kept her still

"—he lit up this trailer we were staying in with candles, he got down on one knee and asked me to marry him" Cassandra told Alicia before crying out in pain as she felt the bullet being pulled put

"That was the easy part" the medic said, tossing the bullet onto the side before grabbing the stitches,

Alicia squeezed her hand bringing her back to the conversation "I can't believe how romantic you we're Nick" she teased her brother,

"Oh I'll have you know I'm plenty romantic" Nick wiggled his eyebrows the two Clark siblings trying to distract Cassandra from the pain as she felt the stitches ripping through her skin

"He cried" Cassandra told Alicia but then she cried out squeezing Alicia's hand and Nick had to look away at seeing her in so much pain but he never let his hand drop from her,

"Thank you" Nick told Charlene as she finished stitching Cassandra up

"She's lost a lot of blood so she may still lose consciousness especially if pushed too hard" she advised before leaving them be,

Alicia saw Madison leave so she went to help Travis as Nick moved to help Cassandra sit up, she leant against him as he held her face in his hands kissing her head softly

"We gotta go!" Madison ran back into the building, making the two of them look up, they heard the groans of the undead

"Nick behind you" Madison said, making Alicia run over and help Cassandra she could walk slightly so Nick and Travis both grabbed a weapon as they rushed to help Madison since she was surrounded by the undead

"Hey over here!" Jake shouted and both Alicia and Cassandra tried to make it but Cassandra vision started to fade and before she knew she collapsed smashing her head against the hard floor, her head instantly started to bleed which was something she did not need especially with the amount of blood she had already lost

"Help!" Alicia screamed as she dropped beside Cassandra trying to lift her up but It was no use she wasn't strong enough

"No, no, no. Your not doing this to me" Alicia said panicked as she looked around noticing the dead closing in, she tried to shake the brunette awake

Madison, Travis and Nick all turned to Alicia's at her shouting and Nick's heart dropped

"No!" He yelled, killing more of the dead that surrounded them in a panic drifting further away from Madison and Travis as he tried to reach Cassandra but he knew he would never make it the dead were closing in on them

All of a sudden gunshots fired around Alicia and Cassandra, every single shot being a kill shot, it was Troy even with one good eye he still managed it

He jumped off the back of the trunk running towards Alicia and Cassandra, scooping her up in his arms and holding her against his chest

"Run to helicopter, my men will cover you" Troy told Alicia as he stared down at Cassandra something close to guilt flickering in his eyes as he held her against his chest making his way back to the truck, he could hear footsteps behind him from where his men were clearing paths but he didn't turn around to see who

He was more focused on getting himself and Cassandra back to the truck alive. Once he reached the truck his men took Cassandra from his arms laying her down on the back of the truck as he climbed back in — without thinking as he saw the blood he grabbed a cloth holding it against the side of her head, his other hand coming up to brush away her hair

Cassandra's eyes flickered open for a moment, landing on Troy's bright blue one, she couldn't believe Madison had almost taken his eye — it was a shame really. They were pretty.

She knew she should have been afraid, she didn't know if he felt guilty or if he actually cared

"Alicia?" She crooked out and Troy didn't know why but the moment she asked his eyes flicked to the helicopter to see if she made it

"She's alive, she's with my brother" he told her softly, Cassandra nodded before she fell unconscious again. Troy kept the towel against her head trying to minimilise the bleeding.

Nick and Madison made it to the truck jumping into the back, Nick took his place beside Cassandra as Madison stared at Troy, Nick's hand replaced Troy at holding the towel,

Troy stood back taking his rifle back in his hands as he cleared a path for the truck before switching his gaze init the helicopter as the dead dangled off of it,  he fired three shots for three of the undead every single one of them hitting there target

Before sitting back down in the truck, noticing that Nick had pulled Cassandra up so she was leaning on his shoulder as he held the towel over her head, he knew she had lost too much blood.

"All right, let's go, let's go,"

Madison kept her eyes on the helicopter only being torn away by Troy's voice

"We'll meet them there! We're all going to the same place now"

They all stared up at the helicopter as they drove out of the hell hole that had caused them all nothing but pain but at least they were all gonna be together again but they now had to put their lives in the hands of the one who tried to kill them