Hunted (Aura x darkminathegone)

[Aura]

Nick was grateful that Ami had returned the kiss and a slight smile settled on his face before he pulled away. The smile contradicted with the cool look in his eyes, but despite the critical look he felt okay. Given that he had just buried Charlie... given that, he was feeling okay. The burial seemed to help him actually... there was a feeling of closure that he couldn't ignore. It was nice to finally give her a place to rest... it was surprisingly easy to acknowledge that she was at peace.


He would probably always feel a little guilt about her death, but at least he felt more than just guilt. He naturally felt responsible for the safety of others, but he knew that Ami felt the same weight on her shoulders. Mia could never understand how it felt like it had been all his fault, but it was nice to have that person in Ami. She could relate to his feeling of guilt and responsibility, but she challenged him to move past it. He could forgive her for pretending to be infected... because if he thought that it would help his siblings then he would have.


"We should get back before it gets dark. In the mean time... think about where you last saw your father. I've never tried to track one of the infected... but I'm going to help you find him. You deserve the same closure of burial that I just got with Charlie," he said and he reached forward and pushed a strand of hair out of Ami's face. The kiss had been meaningful for him, but he liked that it could just be a kiss since they were very similar to each other. It was something that had happened and something that would probably happen again, but this was not a world where you got married or had kids and Ami was the type who understood that fact so for now the kiss could just be a kiss.


---


"It's too bad we couldn't get any moving targets..." Mia murmured, "But at least you're starting to show some confidence and you've at least shot a gun. We can hope that you won't have to, but at least you can help save someone if it came down to it," she said and smiled.


"Do... do you think that they're on their way back yet?" Mia asked casting a glance at the window with a frown. The sun was beginning to hover low and if they weren't leaving to come back then they would need to right now.


@darkminathegone

 

[darkminathegone]

Ami smiled at Nick as he pulled away. She ignored the look he was giving her though. She was happy, just like he was, that they could just have a kiss even though back before the world went to zombie land she would have probably want to make them "official" and have a cutsie relationship for two weeks.


She sighed quietly when Nick spoke up. "Yeah...let's go. I don't think my Dad's last where about is going to help though," she answered, smiling as he pushed the strand of hair back. She turned to get on her motorcycle. "Let's hurry back."


-


Kenchi smiled as Mia complimented him. He was so excited to finally be able to help his sister, at least a little bit.


Kenchi hadn't realized how late or was until Mia said something. He gulped but smiled for Mia's sake. "They're not dumb, I'm sure they're almost here as we speak. I'll start food if that's the case. " Kenchi began making a small pasta dish the four could share easily.


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[Aura]

"We'll see what we can do," Nick smiled. He felt confident that they would be able to find Ami's father... he only hoped that Ami would be able to pull the trigger if she saw him. He had only shot Charlie because he knew that he wouldn't have been able to see her as one of them.


They arrived back at home just as Mia was beginning to worry despite Kenchi's faith. She was generally optimistic... but it only took one mistake, Charlie was proof of that. She hated being out at any time near darkness or when the clouds were out. Whenever the sun was setting and she was outside she could only picture one of those monsters attacking Charlie.


"It's nice to spend enough time in one place to actually be able to cook a meal," Mia said sniffing at the air before a sweet smile split her lips. She was never going to get used to the smell of something cooking and the pleasant heat that came with it... they had been on the road for so long that soups and chocolate bars had become the only thing that she ate. It had been a treat to get anything more. They drank powdered milk, but they never cooked with it save for one occasion when Charlie found an old science book and they had tried to make ice cream using some salt and some ice that they had scraped off of a building when they had been considerably more northern.


It was immediately after that comment that she heard Ami's motorcycle return and she bolted towards the door. Nick seemed to be in a good mood despite being in a sour one when he had left. She wasn't entirely convinced that Ami would be able to bring him back tonight... when he had stormed off, Mia had expected him to return tomorrow with a necklace made of zombie teeth strung together around his neck. Then again... she shouldn't have been all that surprised as Nick appeared to have a special connection to Ami. It didn't matter anyways as he was back.


"Don't do that again!" she scolded Nick though there was little conviction behind her voice. She was just happy that everyone was back inside and safe before darkness. They all deserved to be safe and it was a relief that they would be for once. It seemed like they were finally done running and that they would be able to create a home here...

Spoiler

"One more quick sweep tomorrow and then we'll continue to Castra," Jay said tossing a garbage bag into the M1161 Growler, a military vehicle that they had stolen from an abandoned military base that they had stayed at for several weeks before the supplies had run short. The garbage bag clinked noisily as she tossed it into the truck and she opened her mouth to say something when Callum lunged at her and slapped his hand over her mouth. She immediately struggled against him and bit at his hand.


Callum swore quietly under his breath and he motioned off into the distance, "Quiet Jay," he hissed, "Do you hear that?"


The air became silent as she strained to hear what Callum had heard. She thought that she could hear a distant buzzing and she immediately shoved Callum towards their vehicle as a motorcycle roared by. Jay drew a ragged breath as she watched it go by and a million thoughts passed through her head.


"We're not the only ones?" Callum asked sounding mystified.


"Get in the car and don't get soft. Remember that the people who have survived this long aren't the same people that they used to be. We're going to track them to where they live... it's too late tonight to cause any noise, but at dawn we'll ambush them and take what supplies they have and hopefully make it to Castra before dusk."


Callum frowned and he jumped into the vehicle, "What if Castra has been overtaken too?"


"We can't think like that," Jay said, "For now, we follow them. Set up a perimeter around where they're staying and prepare ourselves for the ambush at dawn." Callum stomped on the gas and the military vehicle lurched forward contradictorily stealthy to the violent stomp on the gas pedal.

 

[darkminathegone]

Ami was happy that Nick had so much faith in her. As the driving though, she thought she had seen something moved as they passed a military vehicle. She looked around but didn't see anything. She thought she was just getting paranoid since the sun was setting.


Kenchi nodded to Mia's statement. He couldn't imagine moving from place to place. He's always lived in the same house since he was born.


When Kenchi heard Ami's motorcycle drive up, he ran to meet her. As Mia was lecturing Nick, Kenchi hugged his sister tightly. "I was so worried..." he whispered to her. They held onto each other for a moment before Kenchi quickly changed the subject. "Okay! Dinner is almost ready guys."


Ami smiled at her brother and followed him to the kitchen. She wanted to give Nick and Mia a moment alone.


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[Aura]

"Things are fine," Nick said and the look that he gave her made Mia believe him for once. Apparently, everything that had happened had been dealt with and she was hopeful that maybe he was going to be her big brother again and not just obsessive. It would be a relief if his shield came down a little... this was the closest that Mia had seen him to being relaxed since before the outbreak. She decided not to nag him about running off or anything else as she was just relieved to see him in a good mood. It had been so long.


The two of them sat down at the table and Nick shoveled in mouthfuls of food greedily before groaning with pleasure and adding, "Kenchi... how on Earth did we ever survive without your cooking?" He wasn't kidding. He probably would have been enthusiastic for a warm bowl of the canned soup, but the fact that it wasn't even soup made every bite into something heavenly.


(Sorry if this is jumpy, but is a time skip to tomorrow okay? If not then disregard Callum/Jay's part until the other characters catch up. Just let me know)


---


"Smoke bomb or incendiary bomb?" Callum asked.


Jay's lips split into a smile, "Neither. There are four of them in there so smoke bombs could be dangerous if one of them is in the right spot and has visibility or if any of them are trigger happy. We need to strike fast but the whole point is getting supplies. Molotov. It won't torch the place immediately like the incendiary will, but it'll still give the spectacle we'll need to scare them and it'll still end with the home in ashes."


Callum passed her one of the oxygen masks and a bullet proof vest. The military base that they had stayed at for so long had done wonders for their weapon supply caches. When they made it to Castra then they would have enough supplies to hole up on some roof and blast away at the undead all night and still have stocks to spare. It was honestly a relief, not to be left wanting in that regard. Food however... was a different situation. The stores that they found along the way had long since been raided or were teeming with the infected to the point where potential gains were not worth the loss in bullets. They were usually eating from hand-to-mouth. It was tough to live that way and Jay had had enough. These people clearly had enough food... they had settled in this town.


Callum pocketed a small Beretta handgun while she opted for the Heckler and Koch... a submachine gun that she had learned to love rather quickly. She didn't have the accuracy that Callum did with guns and she had never needed to learn the finer mechanisms of shooting while wielding the submachine gun... missing was impossible when the gun sprayed forth bullets.


She fastened the oxygen mask around her head, Molotov cocktails didn't burn as fast as incendiary bombs... but they still burned and smoke would immediately be a problem for their poor... friends. Callum lit the edge of the rag and passed it off to her. She nodded and made a motion before she swung the bottle back and sent it arcing straight through the window. She heard a satisfying crunching noise as the bottle broke and Callum was charging in with his gun out and the oxygen mask on.


"We're here for your food!" he shouted and her voice joined his as she echoed his words, "Quickly! We've lit this house on fire... quickly!" Jay aimed her gun at the wall and fired several shots in succession as warning. Black smoke wafted out behind them to emphasize the urgency of the situation. The Molotov was burning faster than expected... it would probably make coercing these people into giving supplies a little easier.


"Nobody do anything stupid and we'll all be fine," she shouted and Callum squeezed out a bullet. She could practically taste the acrid smell of the smoke fanning out behind them. She hoped that nobody would do anything stupid.

 

[darkminathegone]

(I hope you don't hate me for this post, but you didn't specify what time they attacked, especially since Ami and Kenchi were up usually pretty early....)


Ami acted quickly as soon as she saw the Molotov flying through the window. They always had a for blanket on the couch, she quickly grabbed it and covered the Molotov as the two ran in. Since Ami was behind them she thought it might be best not to act too quickly but as soon as the gun shot went off, Ami's gun was in her hand and she aimed at the one that fired. Then she heard Kenchi yell out.


Kenchi felt like everything happened in show motion. His sister running for the blanket, the Molotov landing in the living room, the two people with gas masks running in, and then he felt an extreme pain go through his shoulder. He had been shot and yelled through the pain.


"Kenchi!" Ami yelled as she fired again. The last thing she needed was her brother dying.


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[Aura]

(I thought that I responded! :/ KENCHI!)


It happened so quickly. Callum was firing at the wall to try to scare the inhabitants of this house into submission so robbing them would be simple and painless when a woman returned their fire angrily. The smoke that had been lit by the Molotov wafted into the room behind them, but it didn't seem as thick or dark as it should have by this point... had Jay thrown it incorrectly? By now, they should be scrambling to claim supplies to reach outside before the flames became too much. He swallowed heavily and crouched lower to make himself a smaller target for the woman to hit and squeezed out another bullet... he heard thundering noises that sounded like elephants trampling down stairs but that noise sounded distant underneath the yell of a small boy who had stepped in front of a bullet. Callum swallowed heavily and lowered his gun not knowing what to do now that he had actually shot someone...


"Give us your food!" Jay shrieked angrily beside him and his stomach knotted up when he realized that Jay was prepared to kill anyone in the house and he had only just realized that he actually cared about that. There were too few humans still around in this cruel world to recklessly kill each other... and these people had done nothing to him that was worth all of their deaths.


Unfortunately, the source of the thundering noise presented itself to him as a male appeared at the doorway with a tight angry face and his gun out. A young woman slipped out from behind the male as he squeezed the trigger and Callum felt an excruciating pain stab through his left shoulder. Jay shrieked out beside him as a bullet from Ami landed in her upper thigh.


Mia crouched near the fallen boy and pressed Kenchi into her arms as she probed the wound that Callum's gun had left, "If I can find an exit wound I might be able to save him... I was starting up my nursing degree before this all happened."


Callum grabbed at his shoulder and the male fired again so close to his head that he was certain that he had shot off a piece of his hair. Callum raised his gun and swallowed heavily. He only had one option that might guarantee both his survival and his happiness with his decisions... he fired the gun and Jay's body collapsed to the floor in a bloody pile and he immediately tossed his gun into the middle of the room.


"Don't shoot!" he said pathetically hoping that his act of killing Jay might grant him some mercy. The two of them had been greatly outnumbered, but the male seemed to be the only one actively firing as the woman were focused on the dying boy and he knew that he could have probably shot the male and with Jay's help they likely could have overpowered the group and escaped despite their gunshot wounds. But... he realized that Jay was right... in this world people weren't the same as they were before the outbreak. Before the outbreak Jay would never have thought that coldly murdering four people was an option.


"Why shouldn't I?!" the other male roared with anger approaching him and immediately the gun was pushed aside as Nick slammed his head into the nearest wall with a sharp crack.


"Don't!" Mia shouted and she lifted her hands off of Kenchi and raised a gun to face Nick, "You kill him and I don't try to save Kenchi. He killed his partner so we don't know where he stands and I think this is Ami's decision." she said though she didn't lower her gun. Nick scowled and tossed Callum aside, his hands were slick with the blood that was pouring from Callum's shoulder.

 

[darkminathegone]

Ami was pissed when the girl yelled for their food. There was no way she was going to give up her home or food so easily.


When Nick came down with Mia, Ami felt much better. Especially when Mia kneeled down to help Kenchi.


As the man raised his gun, Ami could already see what he was doing before he shot the woman with him. She stood up shocked as the woman's body feel to the ground.


When Nick attacked the man, Ami didn't try to stop him like Mia. Instead Ami opened the door and a few windows to get the smoke out before looking back at the man now on her floor. "Nick, help Mia take Kenchi upstairs. There's a first aid kit in the bathroom." Ami then took the dead girl on her floor and began dragging her out of the house. Once she was done, she walked back into the house and looked at the guy. "So, what's your name and what's your plan now?" Ami asked him finally. She wanted to know if he was going to attack them again or leave or whatever he was going to do.


Kenchi was holding his shoulder until Mia came to help him, but after that he pasted out from the pain. He didn't wake up until he was picked up, gasping from the pain. Kenchi stayed calm though, sort of.


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[Aura]

Nick made a slight snarling noise but he acquiesced to Mia's demand. His sister had left it to Ami and Ami seemed oddly calm about all that had happened while all he wanted to do was a plant one last bullet in their intruder's body. He had been the one to shoot Kenchi... but Mia was the closest thing that they had to a medical professional despite her reasonable lack of skill... she knew how to keep a wound clean and uninfected and that was the most important thing at this point. If Mia left it up to Ami and Ami wanted him to leave Callum alone... then he would. As much as he would have loved to choke the life out of this piece of scum, he cared more about Kenchi's health.


He walked over to Kenchi and offered the boy a small but sincere smile before he scooped the boy into his large arms. Mia trotted behind him as he carried Kenchi away. Ami was dragging off the woman's body and Callum watched it with a grim expression and his hand firmly clutched to his bleeding shoulder. It was hard to tell from his gentle brushes on either side of the wound, but the fabric on the back of his jacket appeared to be torn and he decided to interpret that as a sign that the bullet had exited his body. He could only be so lucky... the woman with them seemed to have some medical knowledge, but removing a bullet from the body without leaving fragments was difficult and especially so with little medical supplies.


He stood like that until the one he knew as Ami from the other woman's words came back in. He felt a little guilty as she returned without Jay's body because he honestly couldn't feel bad for Jay's death. They had been allies and traveling companions... but little more. They had shared a few nights together, but he had watched her get progressively crueler and colder with each week that passed. She had been drawing the line in the sand for some time but she had finally crossed it when she was willing to murder everyone in a house to get what she wanted. He had been just as guilty... but he had always intended to scare with the flames of the Molotov and a few bullets that were never meant to hit anyone and to leave. Maybe the household would lose supplies and their home... but they would still have their lives. This was a world that was tough for everyone.


He glanced up from his bloody shoulder when she addressed him. His gun was still lying on the floor where he had kicked it too. He was now at a disadvantage, but he had been given mercy and he had no intentions of hurting these people any more than he had already done. He would never forgive himself if the boy, Kenchi... if he had heard right, died. He was prepared to hurt these people... but never to kill.


"My name is Callum. There's.... we've been following a map scrawled across the country... there's a place called Castra. Apparently, it's the last human place left," he said with a smile, "So that's the plan... we... I guess me now, weird... I'm on my way to Castra."


"Can you imagine?" he said in a wistful tone, "A place where humans could be safe? A place where we could... all be human again."

 

[darkminathegone]

Kenchi hissed in pain as Nick picked him up, but he held onto Nick's shirt tightly to call himself down until they could set him down. Kenchi couldn't help but watch Ami over Nick's shoulder though. Kenchi didn't want them to leave his sister alone with some guy that just shot him. "Hey Nick, go downstairs to help Ami as soon as you put me in my room, okay?"


Ami listened to Callum, but she honestly didn't care about him at all. She pulled out her gun, flipping the safety. "That would be nice, but you may not get the chance to see it. Despite my crazy father we don't have many medical supplies, so your going to come with Nick and I to get some for my little brother. Got it?" Ami looked down at Callum with cold eyes as she waited for his answer, though, she wasn't going to take no as an answer.


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[Aura]

Callum's lips pursed together tightly after Ami's demand. He felt a thousand protests rise to his lips though he resisted the urge to voice each and every one. He wanted to explain that he had just been shot through the shoulder and he couldn't even confirm whether or not he had bullet fragments in his shoulder that needed to be dealt with, but that thought was silenced with the realization that these people needed supplies and even if they cared about his own injury that without this trip they couldn't treat him properly.


"The nearest facility has been cleared out," Callum finally said in a weak voice, "Jay and I stopped by. This town is dry on supplies... we didn't have a bandage or a can of soup between us or we wouldn't have bothered you," he didn't know if this was the truth. Jay might have still tried to attack these people... she had grown continually more violent as time passed and he had only come to realize within the last few hours that she was not only violent but unpredictable.


"We'll have to push further," he added and pulled his arm away from his shoulder and smeared the blood onto the thigh of his jeans. Once his hand was relatively clean he withdrew a small worn square of paper from his pocket. Using his wounded arm gingerly, he opened the square fold by fold until a map was unfolded. He laid it on the table between him and Ami and glanced up at her, "I've crossed off towns where we've been. We were heading westward so I can confirm that most nearby major towns have been cleared and the next major hospital center which might have supplies is here," he pointed and glanced up at her with a slight frown forming on his lips. He was no savant with maps but he knew that the trip couldn't be completed in one day. They could make it there in several hours but if they tried to do it all in one day that they would still be on the road by the time night fell. They would have to find shelter and spend the night or risk the hordes at night.


The man who was probably seconds from bashing his brains in using the wall, whom Ami called Nick, entered the room looking just as surly and venomous as he had left it. Callum suspected that Nick wouldn't hesitate to kill him if he was given even a fraction of a second's grace to do so. He hoped that Nick wasn't given the clearance to actually kill him... and if that meant cooperating with Ami and finding medicine then that was what he planned to do. Besides, he needed medicine for his shoulder too and running to Castra wouldn't be a wise idea if he died of infection on the way there.


"I could go," Nick said to Ami, "If you wanted to stay with Kenchi. If I left now then I could be there right before nightfall and I'd be back by tomorrow afternoon. Even if there are bullet fragments in him then we should still have enough time to stop it from becoming infected... but Ami... what type of blood does Kenchi have? I won't be able to find any usable blood packages left unless this hospital has a really good emergency generator... but I can bring back the supplies for it and hopefully one of us will be a match... just in case he needs a blood transfusion..."

 

[darkminathegone]

As Callum showed Ami the map, she tried to think of any of the hospitals in her city. 'He's probably right that they're already cleaned out, especially since I think we only have two hospitals....' she thought uneasily. She realized if they had to go to a different city then they couldn't get back before dark. She didn't know if she could leave Kenchi for so long.


When Nick came down, Ami looked up at him. She was hoping he'd be able to help her, maybe. She didn't like his suggestion any better though and only answered one of his questions. "Kenchi is the same as my Dad so he has B positive."


Ami pulled Nick away from Callum though, of course she could still see him though. "I don't want you to go with this guy alone. We don't know him and just now he killed his companion to save his ass. Who knows what he'll do to you." Ami sighed and ran a hand through her hair in thought. She didn't like either of her choices regarding how dangerous they both are.


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[Aura]

Nick avoided her gaze as she said that. Was he excessively cruel for the real motivation for why he wanted to go alone? As soon as the two of them got out of town, he had planned to trick Callum out of the vehicle and shoot him cold and leave the body on the side of the road. When he got back without Callum, he had planned on telling a story about how Callum had died to one of those monsters. He didn't like the idea that Ami had on keeping Callum around... especially given her point about how the other man had shot his partner.


"He..." Nick said and quickly he scanned through his options. As much as he wanted revenge for Kenchi's blood that Callum had spilt, he had realized that his original plan to kill and dump Callum's body would make him no better than Callum or Jay and he quickly decided against it and on telling Ami about his original intent, "Mia and I are A negative..." he said flatly feeling a spike of misery go through him as he realized that Kenchi wouldn't be able to take his blood or Mia's.


"Are... you sure that you would want to come with us? I was always more interested in cars and trucks so I don't know anything about medicine... at least check with Mia about Kenchi's health before you leave... I can't make you come with me if it doesn't look like Kenchi will..." he trailed off unable to say the last words.


Instead, he decided to focus his attention on Callum, "You?" he asked whirling around to face the other man. Callum was taller than Nick and yet he noticed the man flinch from his sudden movement. He didn't trust this man in any way, shape, or form but he might actually need to keep this man around.


"You can't be serious... I'm still bleeding. I need my blood right now too." Callum grimaced and then he added, "Not that it matters anyways... I'm AB positive. My blood is literally the least valuable blood for donating anyways... although, if I'm not wrong... Jay had O positive blood..."

 

[darkminathegone]

Ami wondered why Nick paused for so long but let it go as he brought up checking Kenchi's condition. As Nick focused his attention Callum, Ami decided to take her chance to see her little brother.


She could feel her heart beating a mile a minute as her chest tightened as she walked up the stairs and down the hall to Kenchi's room. "How is he doing?" she asked silently as she reached the door.


Kenchi was breathing lightly but thankfully it looked as if the bullet had went clean out of his shoulder. Though he had lost a lot of blood and was looking very pale.


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