CHAPTER NINE-TEEN

˚FIGHT OR FLIGHT˚

"Now I am a warrior, a shooting star. You know I got this far, I had a broken heart."

LOOKING OUT through the cracked window, dirtied by mould and speckles of blood did Reign have the slightest smirk on her face. Watching as walkers stormed the walkways of Terminus should bring fear, but to Reign this was the best thing she had seen in a long time.

If walkers were roaming freely through Terminus, then that meant there was a gap in their gates- a gap that only a human could make. Judging by the amount of walkers that flooded the compound, the entrance had to be huge, possibly caused by the giant explosion heard earlier.

As the men discussed how they would go about approaching the walkers, Reign was more focused on finding the container holding the vampires, and where the hell Gizmo had went. Last time Reign had seen the little pup, he was packed into her bag. But that had been over several days ago- four days to be exact. Reign feared deeply for his safety, as if anything were to happen to him she would never forgive herself. From where she saw it, there were two possibilities of where Gizmo could be. For one, he could still be in her backpack, unnoticed by the Termites or two, he could've been turned into bait. Although both were terrifying and brought a lump to her throat, Reign hoped that he had gone unnoticed. He was pretty good at staying quiet.

Gripping onto her knife, she watched as a group of walkers cleared, allowing the four of them to move. Rick went first, opening the door and finding immediate cover as the rest of them followed. They ducked behind an old rusted car, waiting as a group of Termites passed with fully operational guns in their hands, and by the looks of it they were high tech ones too. Rick saw it as a perfect opportunity, and took off running towards the group. As the rest of them followed however, Reign knew she could't stay as they would most likely leave the vampires behind.

Reign respected Rick, and looked up to him but she knew when it came down to it, he would most likely choose the ones closest to him to save rather than a bunch of vampires who had caused more bad then good. With her knife still in hand, she took off in the opposite direction from the rest of the group, running silently in hopes that no one would notice. It's not that she wanted to run away, but rather she didn't want anyone else to follow her. She knew her father would no doubt follow in her steps, and she didn't want to put him in any more danger. She refused to loose another family member too.

The last thing she heard as she rounded the corner was the sound of Daryl's voice, calling after his daughter who seemed to always get into trouble. Although, he knew Reign was more than capable of handling herself.

With her knife gripped tightly in her hand, Reign ran as fast as she could down the pathways that were clear of walkers, hoping she would miraculously find her way to the storage container holding the vampires. It was a long shot, seeing as the whole compound was composed of containers upon containers.

Just as Reign was about to pick one, the sound of vicious growls and snapping jaws alerted her attention, as a large herd of walkers rounded the corner. Their attention was immediately drawn to Reign who stood in the middle of the clearing. They all limped and dragged themselves towards Reign, forcing her inside the nearest building. Reign opened the door to the department, not even bothering to look at which building she had entered.

She quickly closed the door as soon as she slid her slim figure through the doorway, slumping her body against it as she thought to herself. She was overwhelmed, but she knew she had limited time to find what she needed. Without giving it much thought, she walked with her head held high throughout the empty building filled with nothing but lit candles and strange memorials. There was black writing written on the wall that Reign didn't even bother to read. It no doubt said some nonsense as all these people were lunatics.

She searched every available room and every closed door until she opened the right one. She gasped in surprise at the room she had discovered, it appearing more like a gold mine than a storage room. It was filled with tables upon tables of belongings, presumably from all the people who had wandered into Terminus looking for hope much like Reign had. Soon all the joy of finding these belongings drained, as Reign thought of all the people who had died here. She felt as if she were standing in a graveyard, as if she shouldn't be here. All these people had died, yet Reign was still alive. Some part of Reign deep down, a part of her that she always attempted to hide knew that she didn't deserve to be here. In a way she believed she was meant to die here like everyone else; that she didn't deserve to live.

Reign gripped the knife in hand so hard as she thought that her knuckles turned a dangerous white, the lack of circulation forcing her to move again. It was if her brain had kicked her body into motion for her, forcing her to the tables in search of her stuff. She approached the weapons and found her sword with ease as it was the first object on top. She then moved onto the bags and assorted goods in which she took. She found her bag but frowned in fear once she realized Gizmo wasn't in it. She felt a great pane of fright flash over her, feeling as if it was weighing her down like a tonne of bricks.

It was getting impossible to breathe, so she grabbed some more assorted knives, guns and cans of food before making her way out of the room where she could think more clearly. She placed everything in her bag and decided to keep moving, knowing all too well that if she stayed in a place for too long, she would be forced to think. In this world, thinking was dangerous. Now days you had to rely on your first instinct, and right now Reign knew she had to set the vampires free.

Making her way out of the building through the way she came, she stopped to glance at the set up of candles and shelves placed randomly around the giant room. It was lit like a memorial, but Reign failed to understand the meaning behind everything.

"Drop everything and turn around," a stern female voice ordered, coming from behind Reign.

Reign froze in her step, debating on whether or not she wanted to take action, or obey. It was just another example in which you had to be smart, yet rely on your instincts. However, her instincts told her to fight. Just as she went to grab her gun belted to her side, the voice spoke out again. "Don't try anything, or I won't hesitate to kill this pup," the voice said coldly.

Reign's breath caught in her throat, her whole body feeling helpless against this person who claimed to be holding her Gizmo. Frankly she didn't know whether she should be thankful they hadn't killed him yet or fearful for what was about to come. Knowing she was out of options, she turned around slowly and dropped everything to the ground for Gizmo's sake.

She laid eyes on a scruffy looking woman with frizzy hair and a dirtied face, but through all the dirt and mess she recognized this woman as Mary, the woman who first greeted her when she arrived to this hell hole.

"Look who we have here. The girl with the vampire friend," Mary smirked, her gun still raised at Reign as she held Gizmo in her other hand. "Or should I say did have a vampire friend," Mary laughed.

"Where are they?" Reign demanded, glaring at the woman in front of her. She kept her eyes off Gizmo, fearing that she would break down.

"Why should I tell you?" Mary asked, and although it was meant to sound threatening, it came off as a desperate question, as they both knew this place was a goner.

"Because I'm going to find them sooner or later, and if you just told me where they are right now, I will make sure they make your death less painful," Reign smirked slyly, standing her ground.

"You're in no position to be making threats!" Mary yelled angrily. Reign could tell by her stance that she was getting under the woman's nerves, but that was exactly what Reign wanted.

"Says the girl who's place is falling apart," Reign snickered. "I've been where you are Mary, and I think it's time you realize when to go. There's no going back after this," she said lowly, remembering the prison. It was a painful memory, one that she couldn't seem to shake.

"The signs were real, you know," Mary said quietly. "This place was a sanctuary until people took it over. They came, and stuffed us in those boxes. They raped, and they killed. But we got it back, and I'm not letting anyone take it away from me again. Not even you," Mary growled.

"People kill, and people die. I think that's something you should have engraved in your walnut of a brain by now," Reign growled lowly, curling her knuckles into fists at her side.

Mary let out a laugh, the gun waving around as she spoke. "You could've been one of us," she said. "You could've made it."

Reign's brows furrowed in confusion, her lips beginning to form the words that begged for clarification just as the sound of a gunshot radiated throughout the building. Reign jumped at the sudden sound, watching with wide eyes as Mary fell to the ground. Her head was stained with a single bullet wound, clean and precise. As her body fell to the ground, Carol stepped out with a gun in hand. Her face was painted with mud and her poncho splattered with walker guts. However, Reign was too in shock with Carol's presence to be bothered by her unusual attire.

"Oh my god," Reign gaped contently. She had only met Carol for a brief time at the prison when she suddenly disappeared. "You have no idea how happy I am to see you right now!" Reign smiled, walking in long strides to hug Carol, only to realize she was covered in walker guts. "Oh," Reign laughed, as did Carol.

"We can hug later," Carol laughed, slinging her gun back over her shoulder. Reign couldn't help but notice her father's famous cross bow strung across her shoulder, along with other various weapons. It was if Carol was a walking armoury.

"Did- did you do all this?" Reign questioned, her voice raising in a high pitch.

Carol smiled and pursed her lips, nodding her head ever so slightly. Reign opened her jaw wide in surprise, feeling a great amount of gratitude towards the woman in front of her. She felt a great force to hug Carol, and so she did despite the walker guts staining her clothes. "Fuck it," Reign said, before engulfing Carol in a tight hug.

"Thank you," she whispered into her shoulder. Carol returned the gesture, but didn't hold on too long noticing how uncomfortable Reign was. Now they were both covered in walker guts, but neither could care less.

They stood in front of one another, frozen in the moment when suddenly Gizmo's small bark broke them out of their shocked state. "I know buddy, I love you too," Reign smiled, picking the little Border Collie up and placing a kiss on the top of his bony head. He was skinny, and only weighted about ten pounds which concerned Reign.

Pursing her lips in aggravation, she placed him in the top of her backpack so his head was sticking out before turning back to Carol. "Do you know where they're holding the vampires?" she asked hopefully, her mind going back to her task at hand.

To much of her surprise, Carol nodded. "I have an idea," she said. "Follow me."

Reign smiled as she went to pick up the rest of her weapons, before following Carol out towards the exit and back into the narrow pathways around the outside of Terminus. It was still overrun with walkers, but thankfully they had all gone towards the sound of gunfire and out of sight from Reign and Carol- for now at least.

With Carol taking the lead, the two of them ran as quiet and as unannounced as they could to avoid any attention to themselves. Every corner they turned was filled with the danger of walkers, or worse Termites who were yet to be killed. They ran past smoking buildings and dead corpses without even blinking, the sight all too familiar to their eyes. They had seen far much worse which was really starting to kill them from the inside out- not that either one of them would care to admit it. In a way they had become numb to death, to the sight and feel of it.

"It's one of these," Carol said as they rounded the corner to an open space, filled with containers upon containers of train cars all locked up. As Reign eyed the containers, her eyes fell upon one that was locked up with chains, the door secured more tightly than any other one. "This one," Reign pointed before running over to it.

She pressed her hands against the cool metal of the container, reaching down to the chains that held it shut. She fumbled with them, trying to find a weak spot in the chains when suddenly Carol spoke up. "Step back," Carol said, holding her large gun in hand. Reign obeyed, setting her backpack down once she took several steps back.

Carol pulled the trigger, her aim on point as the bullet his right on the lock, snapping the metal in half instantly. Reign then ran up to it, pulling the chains from the door handles as if she were pulling a thread through a needle. Finally she reached the end, the chains falling to the ground allowing her to open the heavy metal doors. She pulled hard on both handles, sliding the door to the side allowing sunlight to enter the dark and humid box.

Her eyes immediately fell upon three familiar faces, her lips curling upwards in a smile. However, it appeared they weren't the only ones kept in containment, as suddenly she was thrown backwards from such a great force, she felt the breath get knocked from her lungs.

In all the panic, she let out a scream of anger before his teeth dug straight into her neck.

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[EDITED: 07/14/18]