Sue stood there frozen as people swarmed into the fete talking about someone going rabid and someone getting shot. What worried her the most was that people was looking at her as they said this. They couldn't be talking about Kieren. Could they?
As Steve and Jemima approached her questions swam in her head.
"What happened?" Was the first one she blurted out to them. They shared an intense look and they must have come to an agreement.
"We don't know all the details," Steve started "but all we know is that Kieren somehow turned rabid."
"It was Blue Oblivian." Jem cut in, "Gary told me he had taken Blue Oblivian."
How the hell did Kieren get Blue Oblivian!?! Why would he take it?!
"It must have been that Simon lad he's been hanging around with." Sue reasoned "He must hav-" She couldn't finish her scentence because Jem cut her off.
"No, Simon saved him! He can't have given him the Blue Oblivian."
"Well when we entered the graveyard we saw Kier trying to fight off the effects of it." Steve continued "Pearl aimed her gun at him and then shot at him." He purposly missed out the part where Jemima also aimed at him.
"But Simon pushed him down, taking the bullet to his left shoulder." Jem carried on. "Next thing we know Kier has somehow fought off the effects of his Rabid state and Simon is supporting him out of the graveyard."
"What I don't understand is what that girl said to Simon 'What about the Second Rising?' What does that mean?" Steve said.
That question was answered when Maxime Martin stood up on the stage.
Later on that day the Walkers returned home to hear soft mutters accompanied with sobs coming from the dining room.
What they saw they would never forget. Kieren was curled up against the wall, tremers wracking his body as he sobbed into his hands. Simon had his arm around him muttering reassurances to him while rocking him back and forth in an attempt to calm him.
Simon must have heard them enter the room because he looked up at them. "Is he okay?" Sue asked worried about her child. He hadn't cried this much since Rick died.
"Define okay." Simon said back because it was the truth. He was okay about his whole turning rabid. But he was not okay with everything else.
"Get him on the sofa please Simon." Steve said.
Simon slowly unwrapped himself from around Kieren and stood up pulling Kieren with him as he did so. Once he was settled in the sofa Simon resumed the postion he did on while on the floor.
"Okay I know the basics but I still don't understand what happened today!" Sue exclaimed.
"I only know what Kier told me and what I saw for myself." Simon said yet he was willing to put a bet on it that he knew more than what his family did.
"Tell us what you know Simon." Jem demanded, she didn't really like Simon but he was the only one Kieren was allowing to comfort him so he must be decent.
"I saw Kieren and Gary fighting as Gary tried to force Kieren into the car. He got Kier into the car and drove off. I followed them until I saw the abandoned car and Kieren running through the fields that lead to the back of the graveyard." Simon explained "You obviously know the rest."
Kieren was still in shock after everything that had happened that day. He was forced against his will to turn rabid and his BDFF had died while he was holding onto her hand. He didn't want to face his family. The sofa dipped as someones weight was added to it. This someone started rubbing his back in a comforting touch that only a mother can have.
"What I don't understand is how he got Blue Oblivian." Sue pressed on looking to Simon for answers.
"I don't know." He replied simply. He did know but it was Kier's story to tell not his.
"Kieren. What happened today?" Jem asked in a soft tone that startled Simon.
Kieren looked up at his family expecting looks of disgust and mistrust but all he saw was looks of comfort and acceptance.
Slowly, he started "After you locked me in my room and you had all left, I tried to escape. I opened the door and Gary was there." His voice faltered there as he remembered the mess in in his room. His room. Full of drawings. Drawings that have Amy on. Oh Amy.
"He came in and pushed me onto my bed demanding where Si was. He tied my hands together and trashed my room while searching it. When he went through my drawers he found the bottle of Blue Oblivian I found at the Bungalow."
"Why was there Blue Oblivian at the Bungalow Simon?" Jem demanded.
"You've all heard of the ULA and the Undead Prophet right?" Simon started and at the Walkers nods he continued "I used to be one of his tweleve disciples."
"Used to?" Jem inquired, she really did not like this Simon character now.
"After saving Kieren I will be branded as a traitor." Simon simply replied. At the families confused looks Simon continued. "The first Undead to rise was in Roarton and I was tasked to find the first risen; the person who rose first during the rising."
"Who is the first risen?" Steve asked.
"Kieren."
Silence filled the house as this news settled in.
"What does that mean?" Sue asked curious as to what this could entail for her son.
"The first risen is the one that will be able to bring about the Second Rising." Simon answered.
"So when you found out that Kier was the first risen you went and told the Undead Prophet." Jem summarised
"Yes and I was told that I would have to kill the first risen on the 12th hour of the 12th day of the 12th month to start the Second Rising. But I couldn't do it. I saved him instead of killing him and for that I will be branded a traitor."
Jem looked at Simon in awe. He went against everything that he believed in to save her big/little brother. Sue and Steve looked at Simon in gratitude, he had the power to let the bullet kill Kieren but he didn't. He took it instead.
"Okay so we know where the Blue Oblivian came from. Why was it in your room Kier?" Sue asked lightly
"I took it in the hope that I could stop someone doing something stupid." He replied "And when Gary saw it, he assumed I was going to use it so he decided that if I wanted to turn rabid, he was going to force me to turn rabid." Jem was shocked. Gary forced her brother to turn rabid, something that she knew he had multiple nightmares about.
"You heard what Si saw about the car, and when we got to the field Gary and me struggled for a while, until he broke open the pill and poured it on my..." His hand felt the base of his neck where his medicine was injected everyday. Simon had cleared off the traces of Blue Oblivian left on his neck but that didn't mean the phantom feeling was gone.
The Walkers were in shock. They could have never imagine something like this happened. All of them knew that Kieren's worst nightmare was being rabid again. He was a pacifist and hated hurting people which is why he hated being in its rabid state.
"I tried to run it off when that didn't work, I ran to the graveyard and I t-tried to tie myself to the Vicors grate but it-it wouldn't work!" Kieren said while sobbing. He hated the thought that he could've hurt someone, what was worse was that the first person he could've hurt was his own father.
"You fought it though Kier! You fought it and you won." Steve exclaimed. "You recognised me and fought against your own instincts and for that I am so proud!"
Kieren looked at his father in shock. He turned to the rest of his family and saw the same look of pride on their faces. Tears streamed down his face.
"T-Thanks."