DANGEROUS LOVE | twd au

Chapter 7:: Sanctuary

'Guns down, idiots!' the man commands to his group. His order is followed immediately, he must be their leader.

Rosita watches wearily. The men look rough but collected. Organized. They aren't carrying much baggage, so they must have a camp nearby. The leader has dark skin, a beard that makes his face look more mature than he probably is, his eyes showing light lines where he squints them as he smiles or smirks. He hands his gun to another man, his eyes locked with Rosita. Then he shows his empty hands, making sure she knows he means no harm. Slowly, he walks towards her.

There isn't much she can do now. She could shoot the dude, she could shoot any of them. She could take him as her hostage, threaten to kill him. But then where would she go? What if there are more of these people, even? How could this possibly end in any other outcome than her death? Fighting them is a big risk but it might be her only chance.

So the second he is within reach, she steps forward, hooks her arm around his neck, and pushes her gun against his temple. The guns around them all point back up again. 'I was afraid you might do that,' he mutters, holding tightly onto her arm. Rosita locks eyes with some of the men, debating on how she will threaten them. It is completely silent, only the shuffling of the man's feet in the leaves to be heard.

'I am not afraid to shoot him,' she announces lightly.

The man in her grip relaxes slightly, trying to compose himself. 'I don't think they care about me as much as you think they do.'

Rosita frowns. Her hostage and one of the men in the circle nod at each other, some kind of sign, and Rosita begins to aim at that man instead, but she's not fast enough to prevent their plan from playing out. A sharp pain pierces her right thigh and she cramps together, barely staying upright. She's been shot. 'You fucker! Cabrón!'

In boiling anger, she pulls the trigger and shoots the man who shot her down, instead of the man she held hostage. Fine, I'm fucked. At least revenge has been taken.

The leader man has freed himself of her grip, and Rosita is now pressing that hand onto her wound instead. She starts to wonder why she hasn't been killed yet, or why he hasn't taken her gun. 'I can do this all day,' she pants. They don't know the truth about her state, but she knows she's outnumbered.

'But you won't, you don't have to,' the leader smiles. He makes a gesture pointing from Rosita to his group as if it's a wonderful day and a wonderful connection is being made. 'See how we're getting along?'

Rosita keeps her gun loosely pointed at him, but her stance weakens. Drops of sweat form on her forehead and her army green pant leg gets stained dark with spreading blood. It's hard to keep a steady aim, to keep her arm up in the air.

The man's smile fades a little and makes place for a more serious look again. 'I'm gonna need you to cooperate right now.'

The options are running out. The longer she stays in this situation, the more blood she'll lose, and the deeper she digs herself. She focuses on controlling her breathing.

'I really, really, really wanted this to go down in a more civilized way, I swear, and I hope you don't take offense in this, but I know that gun of yours can't hold more bullets than I have men.'

She knows he's right. She was not prepared to encounter a group this large because she didn't even know they existed anymore. The extra ammo in her pockets seems so far out of reach now that she's in the middle of their attention, and on top of that her nearest machine gun is locked away safely in her backpack.

'I don't want you to get any more hurt. Negan wouldn't like that.'

Hurt, her leg hurts like hell. She can already feel it dragging her down. It is taking everything she has in her to stand upright, and even more effort to not shoot more people. But what would she do then? There are too many men, and they don't mind taking losses it seems. But for some reason, they didn't aim for her head. Does her own life count as leverage? Are these the first people to ever have wanted her only alive?