[b]Daniel, Shannon & Amelia - Clearview Mall[/b]

Amelia followed as Daniel took point, keeping an eye for any unseen walkers as they closed towards the mall. Surprisingly the entrance they took appeared to be vacant, the sounds of one or two nearby being the only indication that they weren’t entirely safe. Amelia turned to look in the direction Daniel motioned to, giving a simple nod. “Sure, just keep your eyes peeled and your ears open, first sign of anything more than we can handle we should get out straight away” she clarified with a serious tone. She took a few steps forward, standing beside Daniel before turning to look at him, “How do you want to do this?” she asked, referring to what strategy they would use to safely progress towards the other side of the mall. 

Daniel took a moment to observe the area again. “Just tread lightly and stick to knives and such, only use your gun if you have to.” He nodded to confirm to himself. He kept an eye on the right and left as they paraded through the cross-section. 

It was as if she was seeing an action movie in person, as Shannon watched Amelia and Daniel suddenly become tense in their demeanor. They were unlike anyone else Shannon had ever traveled with. These two instantly understood each other in a way Shannon didn’t think she would ever relate to. She decided to can the jokes and the inane comments for the time being; She didn’t desire to become like Lexi. “Got it,” she said, following the pair obediently.

Amelia nodded before she took her knife from it’s sheath, holding it so her thumb rested on the hilt, the blade pointing the same direction as the barrel of her pistol which rested upon her wrist. She kept her aim pointed to the floor as she began her advance, moving slow and steady in sync with Daniel. Every time he’d move up and come to a stop, she’d move up a little further and do the same, simple standard covering technique as they soon came upon the store. Amelia looked to Shannon, waving her over before pointing towards Daniel, then at her eyes, then back to him. Signaling that she was going to cover him during their entrance to the store. 

Daniel reached back with his right hand and slid his tomahawk from the strap on his rucksack. He gripped the middle of the hilt and held it with his right hand under his shooting arm. As they approached the large opening to the store, Daniel peered around quickly. He took a quick step in and help his pistol to the right and then to the left. “Do you want to stick together or should we branch out to cover space?” 

With every step Shannon took, she felt more at ease. There weren’t very many walkers, even fewer than she expected. It was still not enough to let their guard down, but it was clear that the mall was far from overrun like they had feared. “I’m probably the least capable here, so Amy and I should look out for medicine while you try to find some food.”

Amelia moved in behind Daniel as he gave the all clear, motioning for Shannon to follow up behind her. She gave a quick glance around before nodding, “That’s probably a good idea, you’ve got the radios I gave you earlier, if you see or hear anything just give the button a press” she said before taking her own radio and attaching it to her ear, clicking the ‘on’ switch. She looked to Shannon again, “Ready to go?” she asked. 

“Yeah.” She inched forward, attempting to stay very close to Amelia. It was nice to have someone like Amelia to rely on; Shannon knew she had never been the strongest of people, and that was especially true nowadays. It was an irritating thought she might actually be bringing her companions down, but she had accepted that possibility. All she could do was try her best to live and support those she cared about. “Amy, do you think that--” Shannon paused as her shoes [i] squelched[/i] in a puddle of blood and brain matter. She looked down the aisle to find more dead monsters further down.

Before Shannon could say anything else, a man decked out in camo grabbed her roughly from behind. She cried out as she felt her body be flung to the ground, and a weight suddenly pressing down on her stomach. Out of the corner of her eye, she saw another man attack Amelia with a knife.

Amelia spun around as she heard the commotion from behind, a momentary look of shock staining her expression before she focused in on what was happening. She raised her pistol to shoot the man attacking Shannon before the other man arrived, swinging a knife towards her arm which she only just managed to avoid as it glanced off the barrel of her pistol, knocking it from her hand. She ducked as he swung for her again, charging forwards into him and tackling him against a wall before giving him a hard knee to the stomach. The man grunted, growling “Bitch!” before he grabbed her roughly by her hair and threw her across the floor. She hit the floor hard, feeling the wind pushed from her lungs causing her to cough as she pressed a finger to her ear. “Trouble!” she managed to get out before the second attacker was on her again aiming to kick her in the head. She deflected the kick, rolling to her feet before she once again re-engaged the man. 

He aimed another punch towards her head which she once again blocked, slamming her fist hard into his exposed jaw before kicking him against the wall again. In doing so she hadn’t seen the third attacker who blindsided her with a tackle, taking her back to the floor as he tried to pin her. She struggled, but the other soon joined him and she found herself unable to fight against the weight of both of them upon her. 

Daniel was moving the second he heard the scream. He absent mindedly switched off the safety. [i]Trouble![/i] He heard Amelia call into the headset. Daniel turned the corner and saw Amelia pinned against the wall, and Shannon against the floor. It took two men to hold Amy back, but Shannon stood no chance against the man. Daniel took three heavy steps away from Shannon before launching himself into the man on top of her. The rolled twice before Daniel slashed into the man’s arm with his axe. He held the man on the floor, put his pistol to his head and pulling the trigger. 

The man had been pinning Shannon to the ground, one hand over her mouth in an attempt to shut her up. She had tried to yell, but all she got were a bunch of dirty fingers on her mouth for her efforts. She had bit down on his hand, so the man instead held her jaw. His other hand pressed down on her face, so hard that she believed her nose was breaking. Then, finally, she was freed by Daniel, who wrestled the man away from her. She managed to sit up to see Daniel execute the man. The shot rang out, though muffled slightly, and blood splattered across the floor. The two men on Amelia hesitated, one of them deciding to pull away and shoulder his rifle. “Tyler’s going to be so fucking pissed!” he exclaimed, aiming the gun at Daniel. The other man shoved against Amelia so she couldn’t interfere. Shannon was closer to the man than Daniel, so she attempted jump off the ground and slam into the man’s legs. She slipped in the copious amounts of blood and only managed to get the man’s attention. He fired now, his shot puncturing Shannon’s arm. She screamed and collapsed fully to the ground.

Amelia felt the weight ease off as one of the men holding her left to confront Daniel. She attempted to use the opportunity to fight off the other, but a firm blow to her stomach caused her legs to wobble a little. She gritted her teeth, coughing as she continued to push against him. While the two men had held her they’d weakened her with repetitive punches to her stomach, causing her to struggle to keep herself standing. She turned her head as the second shot went off, hearing Shannon scream which brought back the horrifying memory of Naomi. In desperation she gave one last push of energy, moving his body just a little in front of her before she head-butted him hard, causing him to stagger backwards. As quick as she could she pulled her carbine from her back and leveled it to her arm, firing at the man who stood above Shannon reducing his head to pulp as more blood spattered across the room. 

The man who had been holding her had recomposed himself and charged her again as she turned to finish him off too, but as she fired he’d got in close and pushed the rifle up causing the bullets to pepper one of the stores lights causing sparks to rain over them. They remained locked in a grapple, Amelia looking to be too weak and outmatched in strength to keep it up as he slowly gained ground over her, forcing her arms down as he pushed her onto her knees. 

As the final raider had Amy on her knees, Daniel quickly stood, placed both hands on the man’s shoulders and gripped his shirt. He forcibly threw him to the ground and let him slide against one of the aisle shelves. “Help Shannon!” He shouted to Amelia. The man staggered to his feet and attempted to throw a punch, but Daniel sidestepped the blow, brought himself around the man and pulled him into a choke hold. Daniel forced the man’s throat against his forearm and bicep, roughly applying pressure until the fighting man went limp. 

Amelia slowly rose to her feet once Daniel had taken care of the last Raider, holding a hand to her stomach which had been punched multiple times. She threw the carbine onto her back before staggering to Shannon where she sank to her knees, pulling out bandages as well as some medical tweezers. She wasted no time as she dug into the wound and pulled the bullet, holding the arm tightly to stop her moving before pressing down on it as she looked to Shannon, “It’s gonna be alright” she reassured, knowing this had to be painful as she hadn’t even been given any morphine. She needed to stop the bleeding, so she tied a rag around the arm tightly while she took a needle and suture thread from her backpack, taking the rag off again as she began to quickly stitch the wound. It was going to scar there was no getting away from that. But at least she’d be alive and that was the main thing. When she was finished she re-bandaged the arm firmly. Pouring some bottled water over it to keep it relatively clean. She sat back and finally caught her breath. 

The pain was incredible. Shannon could not discern what happened after she was shot. All she could think about was the pain, how it felt like a hot knife was plunged into her arm. She cried and moaned on the ground, trying to focus on her friends. Eventually, she realized Amelia was kneeling over her. Shannon tried to sit up, tried to reach out for Amelia, but she couldn’t bring herself to do it. She coughed, realizing it was not just her arm that felt like it was on fire now. As Amelia pulled the bullet out, her reassurances fell on deaf ears as Shannon screamed. It wasn’t long before she was passed out.

Daniel lowered the man to the ground, turning him over and pulling both his arms behind his back. He looked around for a moment. Rope; he needed rope. He reached down and untied the man’s boots and pulled out his shoelaces. He tied the man’s hands together and stood up.