I'll Keep You Safe If You Let Me

Chapter 7 - Lost

Clint didn't know what hit him. The last thing he remembered was lining up to shoot the diesel tanks.

The air was filled with smoke, making it hard to breathe. Most of D Block was on fire.

"Did we do it? Nat, you okay?" He moaned, holding his head. "Where's my bow?"

Barney got on all fours, groaning.

"Natasha?"

Clint was disoriented. The blast hit from the wrong direction.

Woodbury soldiers shouted in the distance. Steve and Sam knelt beside them.

"Nat?" He tried again, louder.

She had pushed him, yelling something.

"Natasha!" Fear threatened to overwhelm him.

Broken bricks and fencing were strewn about along with the tables and pallets but no signs of blood or Nat.

Please, he prayed, please be alright.

Walkers moaned and lumbered towards them. Several more followed.

"This way." Steve motioned.

Clint rubbed his eyes, blurry and stinging from the smoke. Fires glowed from the blast area.

"Where's Nat?"

Sam tossed pieces of fencing and wood to the side, looking under rubble piles.

"Where the fuck is she? Natasha!"

Maybe she was thrown the other way. Clint started for the partially demolished building.

"Nat!"

Gunshots ricocheted off of the bricks above his head. Barney and Clint dropped but Sam got clipped in the shoulder.

They scrambled around the corner.

"How bad?" Barney asked.

"I'm alright." He grunted, clamping his hand over the bullet wound. Barney tied his bandana up and around Sam's shoulder.

"Can you see any of them?"

Clint shook his head.

The Governor called out to them through the smog.

"I know you're there! There's still time, Sam." Fury's voice echoed, making it difficult to determine his location. "Hell, I'll sweeten the deal, tell the archer I have a better girl for him, younger and sweeter."

Clint growled. Barney held his hand up and mouthed. "Don't."

A gate rattled. Metal scraped against the cement.

The basketball courts.

Fury was releasing the hoard. They would be overrun.

"Your choice." He said casually then called for his two henchmen.

"Yes, Governor." Thor boomed.

"I'm tired of playing hide and seek. Find the blonde and the baby. Do what you want with the rest."

"Aye."

The four shared a tense look.

"Shoulda gave me what I wanted." Fury's voice faded.

They heard nothing more.

"We gotta get to the cars." Steve said.

"I'm not leaving without Nat. What if she's hurt or trapped?" Or worse.