Chapter 1: Stupid Jeremy.
Author's Note:
This writing has quite a lot of swearing and dark/mature themes. You have been warned.
(It will eventually tie in to meeting some of the canon characters as I'm sure Joel, Tess and maybe Ellie had other encounters prior to the events of the game and Joel mentioned being on 'both sides' in the factions war).
The compound, over the years, had become desolate from the rest of the world. Large canvas sheets making up the roofs to non-existent houses, huddles of men and women hiding away beneath them from the terrible rain that fell harder than it had ever done before.
"I can't believe they're sending us out in this weather" A man grumbled as he slapped down his set of cards in frustration.
"Better not let anyone hear you complaining, Will" A woman, observing the game but not wanting to bargain, pointed out.
"They already killed half of us. Better die being shot by the damn military than being strung up like Jeremy over there" The other, slightly younger in features, although no less aged than anyone else in similar circumstance, put his cards down on the table, indicating the weeks old corpse still hanging out in the central square.
Stupid Jeremy, as everyone referred to him, had thought it a good idea to voice his opinion about the way the leader operated things around the zone- claiming it was 'just politics, all politics'. Not taking kindly to that, Jeremy didn't make it through the night before being publicly lynched until he kicked his last bit of breath away and dangled there. Now he was just a rotting corpse, the flesh of his neck having been worn through by the wire used to hang him, and the head was barely attached to the body. Other people often made bets about how long it would take for it to fall apart, but no one seemed especially rattled by this event. After all, it was normal to everyone except outsiders, but those were often too terrified to say anything.
Lest they end up like Stupid Jeremy.
"Aw hell, Joe" Fillan cursed, scratching his head irately at having lost again.
The fourth member of the group, Manuel, offered him his lit cigarette, the stub making its way around to the woman known as Felicia who exhausted it before turning it out.
"That was my last" He pointed out, although he didn't sound too fussed since they always shared what they scavenged.
"Ah man, I'm starving" Kumi complained, his belly roaring in agreement.
"Weren't your rations enough?" Felicia asked.
"It was four biscuits and some raisins. I can't have dry outs, there's no water in the filter for that stuff" He countered.
"That's true" Manuel agreed.
"Joe. When are we getting dispatched?" William asked, combing his grimy fingers through his beard.
Joseph shuffled around, clearing the cards off the desk. "No idea, they're only sending four of us" He replied.
"Again?" The woman next to Manuel asked exasperatedly.
"Boss' orders" The dark-haired man shrugged.
"That's fine by me, I can stay back here and scout" William answered indifferently. He was obviously not eager to be in action when he was half starved, but neither were the rest of them in all honesty.
"Whatever, let's kill some time" Fillan grumbled.
"I'm in the sorting shed with Joe. Who's on scouts?" Manuel asked.
"Me and Will" Felicia answered.
"Fillan?" Kumi turned to the scrawny boy.
"I'm on patrol" He told him.
"Right, we'll probably meet back here at curfew" Felicia summarised, and each went on their way.
"Look at all of this stuff" Manuel muttered as he tossed aside an old shirt, followed by boots before coming across a bra which he spent a little longer observing before adding it to the trash pile. Noting the absence of his friend, he glanced around the sorting shed before retrieving his surgical mask and heading out into the yard. He was glad of his decision since the putrid stink of burning flesh filled the air.
It was still raining out, but the fall had decreased to a drizzle yet it was no less cold or unpleasant.
The man he was searching for was standing near the burning bodies, his bandana wrapped tight over his face as he watched the flames like the flesh from the very bones and hiss and crackle at the unwelcome drops of water that tried to calm its fury. He seemed immune to the sight, unlike Manuel who would gladly shoot a man down but could never bring himself to mutilating or burning the body.
Walking up beside him, he nudged him lightly with his shoulder, rubbing his arms in an effort to get warm. "You done here?" He asked hopefully, somehow unable to tear his gaze away from the macabre image despite wanting to go back inside.
"Yeah. Let's go, I'm dying for a cigarette" The man responded quietly, casting the bucket of dirty rain water over the human fire which went out with a sizzle and pp, the smoke quickly blown away by the wind and rain.
When they were inside, Manuel pushed the door shut and headed towards the old stove in the corner of the room, stirring up the dying embers to warm up the room before he pulled his shirt off and threw it over the back of a legless chair to let it dry, then made himself comfortable beside his friend on the pile of scavenged clothing. "I thought you didn't have any" He pointed out as he spotted the lit cigarette.
Joe let out a low chuckle, offering him a puff but the man declined. "I'm trying to cut down, so I convinced myself I don't have any… none to share anyway" He admitted with a shrug, lowering his bandana further to let it rest around his neck for when he needed it.
"Alright, yeah, let's cut down now" Manuel stole the cigarette from his hand and snuffed it out.
"Hey man, what the fuck?" Joe cursed, glaring at him since that had in fact been his last.
"I got something else in mind right now, just chill" The other tried to assure him.
"Don't tell me to fucking chill" The older man snapped, huffing as he ran a hand through his hair in a stressed manner, duly trying to contain his anger.
"Look, just relax, there ain't nobody here, just you and me, okay?" Manuel insisted, searching the other's pockets.
"What the hell do you think you're doing?" Joe demanded to know, not sure why he was being searched.
"Just making sure you haven't got anything else you convinced yourself you didn't have" He answered, satisfied when all he turned up with was a shiv, some bullets and a couple of firefly pendants which surprised him.
"Smartass" Joe snatched his things, stuffing them back into his pockets.
"What are you doing with those? I thought you burnt them" He asked.
"Nah, just keeping tabs… we killed a lot of people this month, Manuel, everything we scavenge is useless… but people are worth remembering," He shrugged, reaching into his back pocket to retrieve a small notepad. "Or something like that" The notepad had seen some years, the black cover was mostly faded and the pages were scraggy with bits and pieces hanging out of them.
Now intrigued, Manuel asked, "You keep names here?"
"Yeah, been a while since I realised how many tourists been down here" He passed him the notepad and Manuel opened it carefully to find names scribbled down in spidery handwriting. Some were just first names, others complete and the occasional initials. The writing looked desperate at times and some pages had bloody finger prints that had dried a long time ago.
"How many of these guys are tourists?" Manuel asked, flipping through the pages, only to realise that there was only two left.
"Not many… Most of them are Fireflies and Hunters. The occasional FEDRA soldier with a name tag. Most tourists didn't have anything to identify them by" Joe admitted.
"You've seen a lot of people die…" The younger realised, his gaze softening as he looked towards his friend.
The years had not been kind to him. His eyes were tired and cold, and he had somehow acquired a scar which cut across his lips to disappear below his collar and another slitting through his right brow. He was an athletically built man, who over the years had become slim with the lack of food but there was still muscle visible on his arms rather than the bones that could easily be identified on Fillan.
"You want to stay extra hours?" Joe asked, forcing Manuel to tear his gaze away when he realised he had been caught staring.
"Huh? Nah man, they don't pay good down here. We're better of going onto patrol" He pointed out, rubbing his neck idly.
"Only places open now would be the front gate" His companion pointed out as he stood up, ready to leave.
"Shit. I hate those damn Infected" He cursed.
"Yeah, well, any better ideas?" Joe inquired, throwing his half dry shirt back at him.
"Hmm… Yeah, if you don't mind covering for Felicia, we'll go scouts" Manuel implied, shivering as he pulled the partially damn garment back on. Wet clothes were not nice, but he would have to make do with what he had.
"Oh, man, you two are disgusting" Joe wrinkled his nose.
"Come on, it's not lie you've never had a girl before" He laughed, following him through the backyard and up the fire escape.
"It's not about the girls. How the hell can you even think about that in the middle of all this?" Joe argued, although now Manuel latched onto something else.
"Oh, so you have been with one of them. Who was it? Milly? Nah… she's not your type. Was it Lucrezia? I bet it was Lucrezia" The younger man insisted to know, agitating his friend more.
"Shut the fuck up, Manuel. It wasn't either of them" He declined, opening the gate and stepping through to the main yard.
"Well, I can tell it's been a while, why don't you join in?" Manuel offered jokingly, slapping his backside.
"And risk catching something? You've got to be kidding" Joe smacked his hand away, quite used to his perverse behaviour, but Kumi stepped in their way.
"Something you're not telling us, Manuel?" The eye patched Hunter asked, amusement clear in his expression.
"What, man? He's got a fine ass, I can't help it" The younger teased, shrugging in mock innocence.
"K, I think I'm bunking with you tonight" Joe called over his shoulder as he continued towards the scouting tower.
"That's fine and all, but I think he's right!" Kumi agreed when the other was at a far enough distance not to punch him, but all he got was a middle finger being directed at him in a less than polite manner. The two men laughed.
"Hey, Kumi, you seen Felicia?" Manuel inquired once Joe was definitely out of earshot.
Kumi shuffled his feet a little and for a moment just focused on looking over the clipboard in his hand, frowning lightly in concentration since his eye injury had affected his depth perception for quite some time. So far, he had managed to make it through heists, but shooting a gun had been incredibly hard in the first few months. He was lucky he was good enough with crafting and other things to not be considered a waste of food and cast out to the Infected.
After a short breath, he finally answered. "She's with Will" He stated shortly.
"Alright, I'll go find them—" Manuel was about to leave when the larger man grabbed his arm firmly, and brought him back.
Kumi shook his head. "No, I don't think you understand," He emphasised, staring hard into his eyes and seeing the look of confusion cross the Cuban man's face. "She's with Will" He tried to put it delicately, but his plan was thwarted when Joe returned.
"Manuel," The dark-haired Hunter cut in. "Felicia and William aren't on the rota" He told him, stopping half way down the stairs as he caught the last snippet of conversation. "She's with Will? Since when?" He repeated, a slit brow rising in question at the implication of the statement since he was uncertain of whether to take it literally or otherwise.
"That-! Ugh, wait until I get my hands on him!" Manuel's face turned red with fury and he immediately turned to run where he suspected the pair would be.
Joe made to dash after him, but Kumi grabbed him before he could leave. "Manuel! Hey—What the hell, man? Let me go!" He demanded.
"Just stop for a moment, now think about this, Joe. You know Manuel and Felicia were just messing around anyway, maybe she decided to get someone more serious" The tall man pointed out.
Wrenching his arm free, Joe took a moment and let out a huff. "Fine, fine, but… you just don't screw people over like that. I'm going to make sure he's okay" He sighed and just disappeared into the heavy drizzle, leaving Kumi uncertain of what to do.
"Hey, kid, I heard you were looking for me" William announced, stepping through the crowds of busy Hunters towards the dingy little shed reserved as a mechanic's workspace. "Oi, Joe, I'm talking to you" A hand was slowly placed on the other's shoulder.
Joseph tossed the spanner he had been working with aside, turning to face him slowly as he wiped his hands on a rag. "Do I look like a kid to you?" He responded in an unamused fashion. Joe was over thirty, he was second youngest only to William himself in their little group. "What the hell is going on with you and her anyway?" He asked, directing his gaze in Felicia's general direction briefly as he slapped his hand off.
"What? Felicia?" Will turned his gaze to the woman before dragging her closer by the waist.
"Will!" She snapped angrily, clearly not wanting to be seen with him in public. Joe was starting to get a faint idea of why or rather how they ended up together. He knew her to be materialistic.
"She's my bitch. Got a problem? What is she yours too?" He told him, with a smug grin that indicated he knew Joe was trying to sort things out between him and Manuel, but he also knew that Joe had a short fuse.
It blew.
"Oh, I am going to slap the bitch right out of you, you fucking bastard!" Slamming the oil rag down, he suddenly punched him hard, knocking him back into some barrels.
The crowd moving around outside suddenly silenced and several curious glances turned their way.
Felicia gasped. "Oh my God! Joe! What the hell?!" She yelled, but stopped and effort to help William the moment he turned a finger towards her.
"Don't. Don't you even dare!" He warned her, making her step back.
"Dude! What the fuck is wrong with you?!" William held his rapidly bruising cheek, being pulled up by some other people, eager to see a fight.
"Go get him, man!" Someone encouraged, and several other people join in.
"What the fuck is wrong with me? You knew Manuel was with her!" Joe replied.
"Who the fuck cares?! If Manuel had a pair, he wouldn't be sending you after me, it's obvious you're just his bitch though" Will huffed, managing to stand his ground even though his busted lip was bleeding profusely. His comment had elicited a few laughs from the crowd.
"He couldn't make it, unfortunately, too busy screwing your dead mother" Joe retorted haughtily.
William lunged at him. "I'll fucking teach you a lesson!" He snatched up the nearby spanner and managed to hit him right in the face.
Joe retaliated by slamming his shoulder into him, knocking him back down before furiously kicking him in the side repeatedly. A worried murmur rose from the onlookers, although the majority knew not to get involved when someone was the angry. The noise amplified when Kumi came shoving his way through and quickly snatched Joe away by grabbing him around the waist and directing him towards the wall, in hopes that he would calm down.
"Joe, breathe" Kumi tried, but the dark-haired man was furious and cursed and struggled harder.
"Can someone get a doctor?" A person was saying as they stood over the battered William.
"Yo, dude, I think he killed him" Another said.
"Nah man, he ain't dead… Everybody knows he deserved it" A third joined in, several others muttering their agreement, but Kumi just continued to pull Joe away, constantly telling him to calm down.
"Fucking, bastard, broke my nose!" Joe cursed, wincing as he tenderly touched the bruised bridge, just about having cleaned the blood and was now testing to see how bad the damage was.
"You did a good number on him too, I'd hated to be on the opposite side of your fist" Fillan pointed out from where he sat on top of an empty water barrel, kicking his legs about in a carefree manner.
"Don't encourage him, Fillan" Kumi warned as he walked inside and out of the raining, removing his hood as he closed the door. Fillan understood that this was his cue to leave and just left the room in silence. The Jamaican man slowly dragged a wooden crate over from the side so that he could sit opposite Joseph, taking the cold compress from him and carefully trying to help him out.
"Ow" Joe sucked in a deep breath through his teeth.
"Sorry. Big hands" The dark skinned male apologised, placing it aside. There was now a prominent scar on the bridge of his nose and a small but deep cut just beneath his eye, very purple and sore looking. "Hey… what you did out there was stupid" Kumi put forward honestly.
"I know" Joe agreed with a sigh. Any other man would have probably taken offence to the brutal honesty.
"But I respect you for it… You were always… A little old fashioned, but man… Fuck knows, Will deserved that" He added.
Joe shrugged. "Yeah, but Manuel didn't" He looked down at his hands somewhat guiltily.
"I don't think Manuel would care, sure he'll be upset for a while, but seriously? The girl knows she's got bidders. She goes for the highest price" Kumi assured him.
"Aw, hell. I swear, sometimes I think about putting a goddamn bullet in everyone's head. What's wrong with these people?" He huffed, scratching his slit brow in frustration.
Kumi just laughed. "There are corpses walking around, we kill and rob people, we scavenge food from each other… it can't get any worse than this, trust me" Came the answer.
Joe just shook his head and shrugged. "Yeah, thanks for that, I feel amazing about like now… better in here than out there, I guess" He sighed.
"We're gonna have to be out there soon. Those supplies ain't gonna last forever and reports said there's a military stash up near the dam" Kumi pointed out.
"Yeah, if the Fireflies haven't got to it first… besides, half that stuff is spoilt and useless, unless we're gonna survive on supplements and bullets for guns we don't even have" Joe countered.
"We've been doing this for a long time, Joe. I don't think it's time to quite yet" His friend reminded him, placing his hand out.
Joseph clasped it tightly. "Not until I die first, or God makes it so that I become one of those darned things" He assured him.
"Just like old Bill used to say, eh?" Kumi agreed with a grin.
"Wonder where he ran off to… It's been… what? Seven? Eight years? Maybe he stayed true to his word and locked himself up in that rotten old town" Joe mused.
"Bill? Probably, he got some serious issues, we should probably drop by- check on him" The other suggested.
"I'd rather keep my internal organs right where they are, thanks. He'd probably blow my brains out, never liked me much" He declined.
"I think we all found you very intimidating. You weren't scrawny man, hell when you got angry, everyone wanted to keep their balls intact so they stayed away" Kumi laughed at the memory, gripping him by shoulders and moving closer to observe how the years had changed them both.
Joe had become much more built, his skin tanned and his wavy hair longer, although he didn't have much facial hair growth other than the few wisps on his chin and the light whiskers but the scars and bruises only added to his rugged charm.
Kumi, on the other hand was buff, and stood a head taller, being notably larger than most of his comrades despite the lack of food. He had a slight beard and moustache that didn't extend to his jawline, and had acquired many scars on his dark skin, including one which had stolen his right eye, now sealed away behind a patch.
"Joseph. Remember how we met?" Kumi asked suddenly, gently squeezing the man's shoulder.
"No. Can't say I do. It was all so long ago" He confessed, his light grey-blue eyes looking up at the taller man searchingly.
"You don't remember much of anything at all these days" The larger man noted, holding his gaze for a moment before moving closer still. Joe tensed, Kumi could feel the muscle beneath his palms flex and he wondered for a moment just how much the other truly trusted him. "I want to tell you something. But you gotta promise you'll help me out" He admitted gingerly.
"… What's going on, K?" Joe was a little concerned about how serious the other seemed, and for a moment he feared the worst.
"Um… Me and Dom… have been together for a while and yeah. Kinda got carried away… She thinks she's pregnant" He confessed slowly.
Joe's eyes widened in surprise, a moment of panic seeming to flicker across his expression before he comprehended the situation.
"I don't know what to do when it starts showing" Kumi admitted solemnly, hoping that his friend would have a good idea to keep her out of the way of prying eyes.
"They won't show her mercy, K. Neither her nor your child… The only thing we can do is try to keep her safe when we're out of the reserve. Let everyone else you trust know, we'll put something together" He tried to reassure him, clapping him on the shoulder and prompting him to meet his gaze.
"No force in the world should separate a child from their parents" Kumi muttered, leaning his head onto the man's shoulder.
"I know, K, I know… We're not letting them do that" Joe patted his back in a silent gesture to be strong though he felt like knocking some sense into him. "Why the fuck would you even do that?!"
Author's Notes:
Wow, you made it all the way to the bottom? You actually read it?
Anyway, this is my take of Hunter society- you don't really see many women or children around and that's probably because they have a 'survival of the fittest' policy, even though there are female Hunters in Survival mode which partially sparked my inspiration for this story. Therefore, I can imagine that they don't want to waste resources on a woman who would probably die during childbirth (I mean they're not the cleanliest of people and supplies), and a child who needs someone to look after them. In short, the soon-to-be mother would probably be abandoned and left to fend for herself.
Please R&R.
Yours Truly,
XShay.