UNITED IN BLOOD
CHAPTER EIGHTEEN  !

WHAT EXACTLY WERE YOU supposed to feel when people you have once considered friends only for them to leave you for dead end up dead themselves? Danielle Linden had no fucking clue. On one hand, she felt justified in being happy that they had paid for what they had done to both her and to Joel, but on the other hand, a sick, self loathing feeling twisted itself in her gut as the image of their dead bodies slowly draining of their blood was imprinted on her brain.

She felt horrid in how she didn't feel bad for them. Yeah, Mel had been pregnant and her death was sad but...she had gotten herself into that mess, right? By siding with Abby and aiding in the murder of Joel Miller, Mel had essentially signed her own death warrant. This was the very thing that had Danielle completely disgusted with herself.

What was wrong with her? Why didn't she feel sorry for them? They were dead. Gone, never to breathe in another breath of oxygen or to smile as the summer sun beamed down on them. Mel and Owen were gone and so was their unborn child. An entire family was wiped out in a matter of minutes and Danielle just felt numb.

She honestly just felt like a bitch. As the brunette sat with her legs crossed on the dust covered, grey couch near the front of the theatre, all she could think about was her apparent lack of a heart. Perhaps she was colder than she believed. That was the only thing that could explain her inability to feel remorse in having played a part in their deaths.

The unmistakable scuffing of shoes against the wooden floorboards broke the silence that had Danielle wondering who it was that was coming to see her or if they were coming to see her at all. Maybe they just wanted a break from everything and the only free place to go was the former foyer.

"How you doin', kiddo?"

And there it was. The Texas twang that perfectly matched how Tommy Miller presented himself. The southern drawl that graced his voice was interwoven with each word that gave life and personality to each one.

The brunette glanced up to see Tommy, clad in his dark boots, greyish-blue jeans and his zipped up, light brown jacket that looked as though he had been wearing it since outbreak day. Danielle could remember the first time she had met Tommy and Joel and how before she had even heard the two men speak, she just knew that were from the south. The way the two had carried themselves with such assurance that only a man from the Southern states could accomplish.

For anyone else, it would have seemed far too cocky and off putting but for Tommy and Joel, it just seemed to fit them. Like they weren't capable of being assholes. She was sure they could be if absolutely necessary but they didn't seem the type.

His question gave her pause, however. Because how was she doing? Like truly doing. Honestly, she felt like shit. Her clothes were still damp, the backs of her heels had been wrought with blisters that had been burst and reformed so many times, she smelled absolutely foul from all of the blood and guts that had blanketed her from enemies and infected alike and to top it all off, her hands were stained red with Mel's blood.

So in all honesty, Danielle was no doing well at all. In fact, she felt so completely exhausted and overwhelmed. All she wanted to do in that moment was close her eyes and forget it had all happened. Close her eyes and when she opened them, she'd be back in her room at the Stadium where all of the little trinkets she had collected over the years still sat, collecting dust. Everything she ever owned had been in that room and now she was back to square one and it fucking sucked.

All of the emotions she had been repressing up until this moment had began to rise, overwhelming her every sense and reducing Danielle to a numb mass of flesh and bone.

Not knowing how to reply to Tommys question without bursting into a fit of tears, the Linden girl just settled for a halfhearted shrug of the shoulders and a smile that just barely tugged at her lips.

The Miller man walked the distance between them and took a seat next to the brunette on the couch. It was reminiscent of the last time the pair had properly spoken, just the two of them. When Tommy had stitched up the gash on the back of her head and assured her that she wasn't to blame for Joel's death.

A deep inhale followed by an even deeper exhale filled the room as Tommy contemplated his words. "I was real close with your dad before he passed."

Danielle could only assume it was Jesse who had told him. Or perhaps it had been Ellie, who had managed to spill the secret of Dina's pregnancy in under a few hours. As if Ellie would be talking to Tommy about Danielle.

The redhead was probably glad that soon enough, she would be seeing the back of Danielle as they parted ways. Hell, Ellie had barely even looked in Danielle's direction since the aftermath of Ellie's interaction with Nora.

Okay, so Danielle may have been wallowing in self pity but after everything she had been through, she deserved to, right?

"Yeah?" Out of the corner of her eye, as she stared intently down at her fingers that were covered in scabs just ripe for the picking, Danielle could see Tommy turn to glance her way. "What was he like?"

"I don't really remember him. For the longest time, in my memories he was just this...shape. Like his face was just like a blur, no features, just a blur." Her words were faint as they passed by her lips.

Until that photo had been given to her by a reluctant Ellie Williams, the face of dear old dad, her father Eugene Linden had been such a blur. As if her mind had begun fraying the tether between father and daughter, the very image of the man had become tainted.

"You weren't missing much."

"Oh yeah?" Danielle could see what Tommy was doing and she greatly appreciated it. A sarcastic grin pulled at her lips as she playfully replied,  "He an asshole or something?"

"The biggest asshole. Never shut up about this little girl. Maybe you know her?" Tinges of joy were present in Tommy's gaze as his elbow nudged the brunette in her side. "Dark curly hair, kinda short and a real pretty smile, when you saw it, of course."

Danielle's eyes tightened into a playful glare over at the blond-haired man. "I am not short."

Her words caught the Miller man totally off-guard causing a breathy chuckled to fill the air. "Yeah, you would focus on that part, huh?"

Soft laughter escaped from the two, both of whom had their fair share of loss that would send even the strongest of people into a tailspin of despair. From Tommy's loss of his brother and Danielle's of her parents and her life as she had known it, the man and young girl could understand one another in ways that others just couldn't.

"Thanks, Tommy." The brunettes voice cracked as she locked away her emotions, only letting out the briefest of sniffs while her eyes stung with unshed tears.

The aged man smiled down at her, the corners of his eyes and his forehead wrinkling up. "Ain't no thing, kid."

The large set of doors that led out into the front area squeaked open, revealing the figure of grime and dirt covered Ellie Williams, who held a brief look of surprise upon her face before it swiftly disappeared.

"Oh hey, Tommy." The auburn-haired girl muttered as she now hesitantly stepped into the room, her hunter green eyes bouncing back and forth between the two.

"Ellie." The Texan man nodded his head to the redhead as he stood. He gave Danielle a small, comforting pat on the shoulder before sauntering over in Ellie's direction. "I'll leave you two kids to talk."

The two girls watched as the blond man walked off, the door closing slowly behind him with a soft click of the latch.

Ellie's gaze turned to the "ready to break at any moment' Danielle, her feet carrying her forward, weight bouncing back and forth between them, until her knees hit the edge of the couch cushions. "You doing okay?"

The Williams girl sat down where Tommy had been sitting only moments ago, the spot still radiating warmth. Their knees were touching slightly as they sat side by side.

"Honestly..." A sigh of pure exhaustion filled the air as the brunettes shoulders fell. Her once straightened shoulders slumped down as if they carried the weight of the world upon them. "No, I'm not doing so good."

Out of the corner of her eyes, Danielle watched as the redhead nervously tugged at her fingers, wringing her hands as they lay in her lap. What she had to be nervous about, the Linden girl didn't know. Surely, Ellie didn't think that Danielle would hate her or something to that effect for what happened.

"Listen Danielle, about what happened back there—"

The constant twisting of Ellie's hands was beginning to bother her causing the brunette to reach out a hand and grip tightly to Ellie's, clasping their hands together and halting the movement altogether. With a brief squeeze, Danielle uttered, "Forget it, Ellie. You didn't know and really, we gave them so many opportunities to tell us where she was and they refused."

As the medic spoke, her breathing was haggard and though she tried hard to calm it down, she still sounded like she was ready to break into a fit of tears at any minute. Her hand rose to her chest, removing itself from Ellie's now clasped hands and pressed itself firmly above her heart, that was beating a mile a minute. "If not them, then it would have been us laying dead on that floor right now. You did the right thing."

Silence enveloped the room, leaving only the faint sounds of their breathing. Without much thought, Danielle relaxed her body and allowed herself to lean back and rest against the plump cushions of the couch. The tension that seemed to be all that held her together these days, just completely melted away as her body fell into the crease of the couch.

The faint light that illuminated the room disappeared as her eyes fell shut. Shuffling from beside her could be heard as Ellie moved about. After around maybe twenty seconds had passed, the brunette sneakily peaked open one of her eyes to see the Williams girl reclined against the back of the couch and her eyes closed, mirroring Danielle.

The sight of Ellie inadvertently copying her caused a small smile to pull at the brunettes lips before she closed her eye once again and leaned her head back, just allowing herself and Ellie to be at peace in the silence, if only for a moment.

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DANIELLE WAS FREAKING THE fuck out! Every nerve in her body was going haywire and her brain wasn't doing it's thing and helping her in this absolutely insane situation. Everything had gone to shit in under ten minutes and the young girl honestly believed she had lost the ability to walk.

Her feet remained stuck to the ground, as if they had been glued down to the rotting, wooden floorboards as she watched on in horror as Jesse was gunned down in cold blood. The raven haired man didn't even get the chance to defend himself before he was shot as he ran through the door which his gun raised in the air.

His body had collapsed to the floor as the blood from his wound began to flow freely, staining the wood beneath him. The sight was enough to make her hold back the urge to vomit.

There had been a struggle.

Tommy had jumped up from the ground, his hands had reached out for the gun that Abby had aimed in Ellie's direction. The man attempted to wrestle the weapon from her grasp though his efforts proved to be futile as the young boy that was quick with a bow and arrow, fired the arrow right into Tommys leg. Tommy had collapsed to the floor with a scream of pain before a gunshot rang out and the floor beneath Tommy's face became blanketed with thick, crimson blood as the Miller man lay unconscious.

Danielle was powerless as she watched Ellie shoot in Abby's direction before dashing away through the doors behind her. The muscular Anderson girl was quick to follow, jumping over Jesse's body as she chased after the redhead, yelling out in anger that Ellie shouldn't even bother running.

Gunshots could be heard in the distance as the sight of Tommy and Jesse's blood pooled along the floorboards. She felt utterly useless. Ellie was off defending herself from Abby who was on the warpath, Dina was probably terrified in that dressing room, woken by the deafening sound of bullets firing and here she stood, hidden in the shadows and unable to move.

She had to do something, anything. Tommy wasn't dead, she knew this. He had been shot in the head but the bullet had merely grazed him, his still rising chest though was the only real indicator of his continued existence on the mortal coil.

That kid, the bow and arrow wielder, he still hadn't noticed her. For whatever reason, he had stayed behind instead of following Abby on her pursuit of the auburn-haired Ellie. Perhaps, with whatever luck the earth was willing to bestow upon her, she could convince him to let her help Tommy before it was too late.

Without a second thought, the medic pulled her gun, that had quickly begun to weigh less and less as her ammo dwindled down, from her waistband and slowly emerged from the shadows, aiming the weapon at the kid as she stared down the barrel of the gun at him. "I don't want to hurt you."

Her voice had clearly scared him as he spun around on his heel to face her in an instant, aiming his weapon directly at her head.

"Back up!" The kid cried out, his grip on his bow and arrow tightening considerably. His pupils shook as he stared over at the brunette.

The deep scars that ran across this young boys mouth looked all too familiar to the Linden girl. She knew those scars. Had seen them plastered across the faces of the enemy, a sign of mankind's imperfections or whatever the fuck their prophet had brainwashed them with. "You're a Seraphite?"

"Was."

"Well, I was a wolf." Danielle explained, her voice remaining in the low register. She needed this kid to trust her and yelling at him would just end up scaring him.

"I know Abby. We used to be friends." Her weapon lowered slowly as she spoke, as she explained her past relationship with the Anderson girl. Danielle hoped that her honesty and willingness to remove her gun from the equation would allow the boy to see that she meant no harm. "I don't know the relationship you have with her and honestly, I don't care. But these people don't deserve be killed."

"They killed her friends!"

The Linden girl couldn't believe what she was hearing. Had Abby been masquerading around as someone who was innocent? Her eyes were wild, her pupils shaking crazily as she replied, "And Abby killed theirs!"

Her eyes began to sting from tears had threatened to fall. "None of us are innocent! We have all done things, horrible things. But that doesn't mean we don't deserve the chance to live. If you stop me from helping them, then you'll be denying them that chance and I don't think you're capable of that."

The bow and arrow shook as the young boys sharp gaze began to falter. A deep sadness appeared to set in as he weakly muttered the words, "She's my people."

"What about my people? Don't they deserve to live? To survive?" Danielle was desperate. She needed to help Tommy who was losing more and more blood by the minute. "Kid, I am begging you. Let me help them."

Her desperation filled words seemed to resonate deeply with the boy, who lowered his weapon until it fell to his side. A deep sigh escaped Danielle's lip as she nodded at him in appreciation. "Thank you."

"Tommy, hey Tommy." All of her thoughts were focused on one thing, helping Tommy before he bled out. Whatever emotions she had that had been overwhelming her faded as the brunette fell to her knees beside the injured man, her fingers already becoming coated in his blood as she attempted to assess his injuries. "Hand me that bag please."

The young boy raced over to the backpack, gripping it tightly by the strap before bringing it over to the medic who accepted it gratefully. "You're gonna be okay. I promise, you're gonna be fine."

Her hands rummaged through the backpack, pulling out every single bandage, bottle of alcohol and needle and thread, determined to save the Miller man. She couldn't let someone else die because of her incompetence, because of her weakness and cowardice. One Miller brother had died at the hands of the Anderson girl and Danielle wasn't about to let that happen again.

The sound of gunshots, broken glass and screams of pain echoed throughout the quiet theatre as Ellie and Abby fought each other. Suddenly, a roaring crash filled the air causing Danielle's busy hands to tremble slightly as she did her best to stitch up the wound across the side of Tommy's head.

Once the stitching was complete, Danielle began to wrap a bandage around the blond man's head, pressing it firmly against his bullet wound, layering bandage after bandage to aid in stopping blood from leaking through. "This should help slow the bleeding."

"E-Ellie..." the Miller man weakly mumbled, the name just barely passing his lips.

Danielle refused to meet the man's eyes as she spoke, "I know. I know. I'm gonna try, I swear." All she could do was try. For all she knew Abby had the upper hand and was currently beating Ellie to death similarly to how Joel perished.

Before she could utter another word, the faintest sound of wheezing could be heard from behind her. Both she and the young boy flipped their bodies around, their backs up and hands reaching for their respective weapons in case of a sudden attack of infected, when she noticed something she had assumed was impossible.

Blood was spurting out of Jesse's mouth as the man tried his hardest to breathe. The Jeon man was still alive. Danielle couldn't believe her eyes as she ran from Tommy's side, the girl having done everything she could for him, and collapsed on the floor beside Jesse.

"Oh my god, Jesse!" She exclaimed in complete shock, helping to turn the man over onto his side before he choked on his own blood. The liquid began to drain from his mouth, allowing him the ability to take short gasps of breath. "How the fuck are you still alive? Oh my god!"

"That's a lot of blood." The kid pointed out as he watched the blood intensely pour from Jesse's wound. The bullet had torn straight through the flesh on the side of his head, ripping apart the skin until all that was left was torn pieces of flesh.

Danielle nimble fingers worked at a fast pace, wiping away as much blood as possible to properly see how much damage to his head had been done. "Too much, he's losing blood way too fast."

With only a few resources left at her disposal, Danielle prayed for a miracle. She needed to pull herself together if she was going to help Jesse, whose chance at survival was severely limited at that moment.

Her hands trembled as the needle pierced through the raven-haired man's flesh, bandages soaked through with blood and his breathing fluctuated between steady and shallow. With no other option to stop the bleeding, Danielle pulled out her spare sweatshirt from her backpack and wrapped the fabric tightly around Jesse's head.

The bleeding had slowed down for both Jesse and Tommy, which Danielle couldn't have been more thankful for when the sound of harsh screams of pain followed by loud thumps reverberated off the theatre walls. After doing all she could to help the two men, the Linden girl jumped to her feet and began running in the direction that Abby had chased Ellie, the young boy close behind.

The pair came upon a horrific sight. The auburn-haired Ellie lay defenceless upon the floorboards, blood running from her nose and the numerous cuts across her face and her arms twisted in such a way that it was definitely broken.

Dina, who Danielle had hoped had been hidden away in the dressing room, was being attacked by Abby who had chosen to bash Dina's face against the ground. Loud crunches filled the air as the dark haired girls face was slammed over and over again.

That feeling of uselessness started to sneak back in for the Linden girl when she made a decision that she never though she would have made.

"I'm sorry about this." The brunette quietly muttered to the young boy, her words just barely registering with him before she yanked her knife from its holster on her thigh, grabbed him in a grip so tightly her nails created indents on his skin and pressed the blade directly along his throat. "Stop!"

Abby's aggressive banging of Dina's face on the solid ground seized, her piercing blue gaze snapping up to land on Danielle Linden, someone the blonde had assumed was dead, holding her young companion hostage, knife on the verge of breaking past his skin.

Danielles hands shook dangerously. She didn't want to do this. She didn't want to use this kid as bait but what other choice did she have? "I swear to god Abby, I will kill him. You let her go now."

"You're alive." Abby muttered in complete shock. Though the blonde hadn't shown it during the entire time she had been running around Seattle, the loss of Danielle had affected her.

Seeing Danielle stood before her now, shook the girl to her core. Though the brunettes last words to her had been, 'You're all a bunch of fucking animals!' Abby found herself feeling joyful that Danielle hadn't been killed by the people from Jackson. But at the sight of Danielle holding Lev hostage, proved to her that the girl who had once been her friend had changed. Had become more reckless.

Had come to Seattle to help kill her.

"He's just a kid." Abby's voice wavered as it fought past the lump that had formed in her throat. Though she didn't realise it, her grip on the dark haired girl had loosened slightly.

When Danielle didn't remove the blade from Lev's throat, Abby threw aside all of her pride and pleaded, "Dani, please."

She couldn't lose him too. Everyone in her life was gone and Lev was all she had left. Loosing him just wasn't an option that Abby Anderson was willing to take. Even if she had to let them all go, she would. He meant that much to her.

"Drop the knife, Abby. Do it and he lives." Danielle was begging the blonde at this point. Her hands were stained crimson from the blood of people she'd call her friends and all she wanted to do was to just stop fighting. "We can all walk away from here. Enough blood had been spilt. Don't make me kill him."

"Okay." Abby muttered after a few seconds, slowly lowering the unconscious Dina's head to rest on the ground.

Danielle slowly released the blade from the young boys neck. She didn't even know his name and she had pressed the serrated weapon against his throat without so much as a second thought. The thought of senseless killing had always scared her and yet, in that moment she had been prepared to murder him to save her friends.

Danielle Linden had come along way from the medic who wanted to save everyone. Now, she was willing to kill an innocent kid, all to help the ones around her. If her parents could see her now, would they be disappointed in the person their daughter had become?

The brunette slowly stepped away from the boy and in the direction of her injured friends, her hand still gripping the handle of the knife. Danielle watched as Abby backed up from Ellie and Dina, heading more towards her and the young boy. The former friends looked at one another for the briefest moment before the situation very quickly became out of hand once again.

The young boy, who must have assumed based on her tight grip on the knife that Danielle had been planning on causing Abby harm, within an instant pulled the string of his bow back and fired the arrow, sending it straight in Danielle's direction. The metal tip upon the arrow tore through her thigh, breaking past the barrier of flesh and muscle and coming out the other side.

The arrow remained lodged in her leg as the brunette collapsed to the ground. Through a series of unfortunate circumstances, her knife had been aimed upward and away from others, which lead to the blade piercing through the skin of her abdomen, slamming into her gut with such force that it knocked the wind out of the young girl as she hit the floor.

Her blood very quickly began to pour from her stomach as Danielle whimpered out in agony. Her face was pressed against the floor, the surface scratching her skin every time she moved.

Ellie Williams lay unable to move and unwilling to even try. The figure of Abby stepped up before her, the blondes gaze burning deep into Ellie as she stared down at her. "Don't ever let me see you again."

The sound of footsteps against the wooden floor slowly but surely became faint until the only noise that was left to fill the silence was the groans of pain from the three girls, all of which lay completely defeated in a battle neither side had any chance of truly winning.

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jamielee's thoughts.
lads this is the final chapter of act two! this wasn't proofread. i'm honestly so shocked I made it this far without giving up. but I'm really glad people have been enjoying the fic as much as I have while writing it. thank you for sticking with me as my update schedule has just been all over the place. :) act three will be much shorter as anyone who had seen my edits on tiktok know, danielle will not be going to santa barbara with ellie. anyway hope you enjoyed the chapter :)