Walk Again

Almost Done

Mia's POV:

"He's not back yet." I stated into the air.

"He'll be okay." Sam tried to reassure me, but to no avail.

I looked out the window again and saw a truck swerving all over the road.

"Sam! Go get the gate! I'll be right behind you!"

Sam ran to open the gate and I grabbed a gun just in case my favorite person was a Riser or on the way to becoming one. I didn't wanna get close enough to stab him in the head if it had to be done, so the gun was the better option. I didn't know if I could even do it at all.

When Sam pulled him out of the truck and spoke to him for a second, I realized he was hurt, not dead. Tears were pouring out of my eyes and I ran to Jasper. I grabbed the other side of him and hauled him to the house. He was drenched in blood and it seemed like the only reason he even made it back was because he smelled half dead. He had cuts all over him and his hand seemed to be injured. He was losing blood rapidly.

We got inside and used all of my adrenaline and strength to pull him up the stairs. I drug him into the bathroom attached to the bedroom I'd chosen for us.

"I'm in one piece." He gave me an exhausted smile.

I heard a meow and Captain Mew came into the bathroom and rubbed against my leg to comfort me.

"Heh. Hi, Mew."

"You hear me? I'm in one piece."

"I know, I know."

I helped him strip and took of my pants to sit behind him the tub and help him get clean. I turned on the water and he sighed when the warmth hit his skin.

I got him cleaned up and put his sweats on him. I couldn't get anything else on him because he was a whole 10 inches taller than me and had 30 extra pounds of muscle. My adrenaline had worn off and it was harder to maneuver him. I laid him down on the bed and ran downstairs to grab him some food and water.

"Is he okay? I have medical training, I can help." Alicia seemed worried but I couldn't ask her to help when she'd been in pain all day.

"He's fine. I've got it. Tyler, Sam, can you..."

I gestured to the chair with the shotgun next to it by the door.

"We've got it. Go help him." Sam said with understanding.

"Thanks, I'll do watch tomorrow."

He nodded and I made my way upstairs. Jasper was trying to sit up when I got up there.

"Here. Eat and get a drink, you've lost a lot of blood from the cuts and your hand. I'll fix you up."

I grabbed the bandages, antibiotics, needle, thread, and pain pills from my bag.

I patched him up and cried silently the whole time. His hand looked broken and I knew I'd have to muffle his screams when I reset the bones, so I came up with something quickly.

I grabbed the first piece of clothing from my bag and stuffed it in his mouth.

"This is gonna hurt."

*crack* *pop* *crunch*

(muffled) "Aaahhhhh!!!"

After setting the bones, I stitched up the gash made from the thumb bone puncturing the skin. I wrapped his hand and gave him some Amoxicillin and Hydrocodone. I assessed the long gash on his torso and stitched it as well. He was breathing pretty hard.

"Mama, told me to bring this up here."

"Emily, you don't have to help, I've got it."

I turned to look at the little girl in the doorway and she had a hand brace. I felt relieved that I'd saved them that night.

"Oh, thank you!" I strapped it to his hand and helped him get comfortable in bed.

As I was about to leave the room and clean myself up, he grabbed my hand.

"Don't leave me."

"I need to shower. I'm covered in your blood and in sweat from the day's work. I didn't shower while you were gone."

"Just...come back."

I kissed his forehead and left the room.

Jasper's POV:

I watched Mia leave the room and couldn't find the words to tell her what I saw out there as my vision blurred. The medicine took effect and I passed out.

I woke up when I felt the bed dip in. I wasn't fully awake, but it was enough when I saw her curl up against me ever so carefully.

"Mm. You keep me warm when it's this cold. You're a human heater."

She spoke into my chest and drew shapes on my stomach. Her foot rubbed against mine and we were in our own little bubble of comfort.

"Glad I could be of service."

She nuzzled her head against my chin and kissed my n****e. I fell asleep again and was awoke by Emily patting my shoulder.

"Wake up! There's something going on!"

I got up from the bed and Mia grabbed me as I fell right back down.

"Stay here."

She took her katana and slipped on shoes before going downstairs.

Mia's POV:

I got down the stairs and found our little group in fear because of the people at the locked gate. There were three women, two men and a dog. The people were in shambles and seemed to be running from the dead.

"We'll let them in."

Tyler whipped his head in my direction.

"What?! They could be playing us! They could've seen us building up the fence and decided to take this place."

"Nah, they woulda waited until we were done."

Sam grabbed a nearby sniper rifle and nodded at me.

"I'll wait here and snipe them if need be. I'm better with long distance anyway. Tyler, you go with Mia. Take the pickaxe."

We made our way to the gate and let them in. Then, we held our weapons on them. The gate was locked, they were safe, but we needed to make sure they knew who was in charge. I stood with my katana outstretched and Tyler had his pickaxe raised and ready to swing.

"Who are you? Why are you here?"

They looked to the man with the dog and expected him to answer. I guess the skinny jeans wearing, man bun having 20 something year old was their leader.

"I'm Nick." He gestured to the dog.

"This is Chewy."

"Okay, who are they?" Tyler moved his pickaxe towards the others and I moved my sword on Nick.

"The lady with purple hair is Wilhemina. We call her Amina for short. The other lady is Beth. They're best friends, from before. The gentleman to my right is my brother, Asher. The gentleman next to Beth is Tommy. Asher and I met the others on the road and we had a nice array of vehicles we were traveling in, but we went inside a*****e and someone drove off with them. That's why we're bloody, tired, and running from Slowpokes."

"Slowpokes?" Tyler said in a judgemental tone.

"That's what we call the dead."

I nodded and stepped closer to Nick.

"Are you their leader?"

He seemed confused.

"Leader?"

"Yeah, the one they look to for answers and plans and hope."

"Yeah, I guess I am. Are the leader here?"

"It's more of a co-leadership."

"You two?"

"No. That's Tyler. He's not the plan maker, but we do accept his insight. If you want someone to call your bullshit and have your back against Risers, he's the man for the job."

"Okay, where's the other person in charge?"

"Healin'"

"From what?"

"Not your concern right now. See, if I lay all our cards on the table, you'll know our weaknesses. Don't want someone else in the home we're building. What a waste of hard work."

"Well, what's your name?"

"Mia."

"Well, Mia, we don't wanna take this place, but we'll help you build it and you and this mysterious partner of yours can still be in charge."

"Jasper, his name's Jasper. Give me a minute to have my friend here give me his opinion. Don't try nothin', I've gotten pretty good with this sword."

He raised his hands in the air and I spoke with Tyler. I checked my watch for the time. I turned back around to face them and gave them my answer.

"We'll feed you, house you, and keep you safe if you agree to be separated for the night. Just in separate rooms, for our safety. You'll so have to pull your own weight around here. If you pick any fights or hurt any of us, you're out. That's that. Got it?"

They nodded their heads and I led them to the house while Tyler walked behind them.

We got inside and put the women in one room, Nick and Asher in another room and Tommy alone in a smaller room. Chewy stayed with me. She didn't seem to be a very mean dog. She was a huge Rottweiler, but she was sweet as could be. The night went well and the next day, we all put in effort to get the fence built up.

It went a lot faster with more materials and more people. By the end of the day, we were close to being done. The next two days and nights went the same. By the fourth day, we were almost done. We only had the gate to reinforce.