Chapter 3: Returning Home
{A/N: First off I want to say sorry for the late update.
Okay, now I've researched the kind of weapons that will make up both Jake's arsenal and the weapons he's gathered from dead soldiers, cops, and other survivors every time he and Glenn went into town on a run as well as from his own stash from his work as a Hitman. All in all it's quite a big amount (I think it was near 20+ last time I took count) and while I know some are gonna say that's overdoing it, I've watched some assassin movies (+ a couple shows that have Hitmen) and they have quite the armory of guns hidden in their homes plus he's been gathering over time.
Second, I know I've said some contradicting things in my author's notes and it might be confusing a few of you and for that I apologize. By this I mean saying people are going to be related then at the end of the chapter say they aren't and the continuous back and forth changes of people's ages which is honestly my bad.
Thirdly, I honestly didn't think I'd get any followers or even favorites for this fic and would have to delete it because of the whole no Glenn x Maggie pairing with it being replaced by Glenn x Amy (like I said I haven't seen very many of them) and Jake x Carol x Maggie (I know some may not like it but, hey OCs need love too and not many male OC fics out there, mostly female OC pairings with canon characters).
Fourth, if this fic isn't to your liking then, sorry, I guess, and hope you find a fic you like.
End of A/N}
_
In the mostly deserted, of the living, city of Atlanta one could hear that sound of two vehicles speeding through the streets and occasionally clashing with one another as the echoes bounced off the abandoned buildings allowing one to hear them for a couple miles. Located in the center of a four-way intersection is a walker that is currently using its rotten brain and ears to try and figure out where the sound was coming from so it could grab itself a meal. Coming around the corner while drifting to the left is a damaged from by both being smashed into by other vehicles and bullet holes happens to be a white Mustang which was currently the possession of one Jake O'Connell.
As the 28 year old former Hitman was concentrating on driving his young male companion, whose name is Jaime, in the passenger seat who has one hand placed on the dash while the other was pressed against the inside of his door with a scared shitless look on his face. The teen would've looked into the mirror located outside his door, but it had long been broken off by one of the vehicles that had been chasing them though no longer was.
Reason being the older male's superior driving skills which left one of the two cars pursuing them lodged in the back of a rundown delivery truck and the people inside, walker chow.
The single walker standing in the intersection turned to face the two vehicles in time to watch as the Mustangs back end collides with its body tearing it to shreds and having its rotten blood paint a portion of the car. Seconds later a red with white 1973 Chevrolet 4x4 Pickup containing three passengers with two in the cab and one holding on for dear life onto the light bar while standing in the flatbed is another. The man in the passenger seat is currently holding onto a Remington shotgun while the male in the flatbed has an M4 that is sliding around the bed forgotten due to it being out of ammunition.
As the Mustang finishes its turn its back left tire blows out causing Jake to lose control and the next thing he or his companion know the cars enters a spin and only makes it a ninety degrees before the Pickup speeds up then crashes into their side. This causes Jake and Jaime to feel their vehicle flip over not once, not twice, but thrice before skidding across the ground on its roof before coming to a stop.
Same say when your experience such an accident of this magnitude that you tend blackout until it's all over, but the 28 year old had been in more than a couple crashes with one being worse than this one and managed to stay 'awake' all the way through. The same couldn't be said for his young companion who was currently unconscious and hanging upside from his seat limply as his arms hung down.
Jake didn't need a mirror to know that that his face suffered some damage from whatever glass that hadn't been destroyed with Jaime being in the same boat though the elder of the two let out a groan due to the pain in his right shoulder from holding onto the steering wheel. He's had it popped out of the socket enough times while training with his father to know exactly what it felt like and while it still hurt like a bitch when it happened, it always hurt more when when putting it back into the socket.
The sound of tires skidding across the ground and coming to a stop a little over ten feet away from the Mustang brought the former Hitman back to the present and causing his brain to go into overdrive. Reaching the seat belt buckle he pushed down on the button which fortunately, still worked causing him to fall out of his seat and land on his upper back. To keep his attackers from hearing knowing that he was up to something he kept as quiet as he could and slowly reached down and drew his Hk P30L then hid it under him.
O'Connell then proceeded to lay on the floor and pretended to act as if he were just coming to as footsteps stopped outside of Jaime's door and it took a couple minutes and some wrenching before the door was finally opened. He acted disoriented as two men went about pulling the teen from the car and not once did the kid make a sound to show that he was aware of what was happening or that he'd be waking up anytime soon.
His thoughts were pulled away from the thirteen year old when his door with less wrenching than the passenger side door had been opened and a male in his thirties with a five o'clock shadow, light skin, brown eyes, and a slightly muscular physique kneeled down and went about tugging him out.
Once he was out and the unknown man turned away for just a second to see if there were any walkers approaching he took the opportunity to move his sidearm from under himself and placed the barrel under the man's chin and pulled back on the hammer causing him to still.
"Open your mouth" he whispered and for a couple seconds the man hesitated before finally doing what he'd been told causing Jake to move the gun into the guy's mouth. "You fucked with the wrong guy" the 28 year old lowly growled before shouting "walkers down the road" and pulling the trigger.
Jake then went about spun around on the ground while ignoring the pain in his shoulder and as quick as he could crawled back into the car until he could see the other two men from the passenger side. Conjuring up as much stillness as possible while ignoring the pain coming from his shoulder and the broken glass digging into his back he aimed at the shotgun armed of the last two pursuers and pulled the trigger. Seeing his companions brain matter being blown out left the last male shocked and before he could do anything a bullet ended his own life.
Crawling out from the Mustang the former Hitman got to his feet then faced the car prior to using all the strength he could muster to shove his shoulder into the car's body in order to pop the bone back into its socket which caused him to let out a loud pain filled cry. He fell to his knees followed by dropping the pistol then moving to rub his shoulder a few times before finally attempting to move it which had been successful though a sting could still be felt.
After a few minutes O'Connell grabbed the gun and got back to his feet before moving over towards the trunk while slightly limping and began trying to pry it open with his knife which after ten minutes he managed to do then went about gathering up his pack and the Tac-50, he'd lost the HK416 about fifteen minutes back, before carrying it over towards the truck where Jaime lay in the flatbed. Knowing the kid couldn't be left there he began to gather up the teens light body as best he could and carried him towards the passenger seat where the young male was placed and buckled up.
Once that was done he looted the dead corpses of their pursuers which didn't have much, but a few shotgun shells, some jerky, and wallets with the only useful things being money that nowadays could only be used as toilet paper, napkins, or used to start fires. After that Jake made his way towards the driver's seat and climbed in before starting the engine which he threw in drive then gave the Mustang one last glance prior to driving off and heading for home, he just hoped his body had enough strength to make it back to camp before collapsing.
Two hours, it had been two slow agonizing hours since Glenn, Morales, T-Dog, Jacqui, Andrea, and the newest member of their group had made it to camp, but there still hadn't been any sign of or from Jake which had the camp feeling a bit antsy. While Merle had been left behind, by accident, those of the group hadn't exactly been big fans of his and while he did pitch in every now and then, nobody was going to shed a tear for him, well except maybe his brother Daryl though they'd worry about that tomorrow. The 28 year old though had been a friend to a portion of them and risked his life on a weekly, sometimes sooner than that, basis along with Glenn to go out into the city and bring back whatever supplies they could for the camp.
Though the ones most affected by his absence were Carol for secret reasons, Glenn because they were basically best friends, as well as Carl and Sophia who both looked up to the former Hitman though nobody other than the Peletier matriarch knew about his occupation before the Outbreak. Even though they weren't as worried, the others were also still on edge and only continued to feel more so the longer it go with no sight of O'Connell.
The grey short haired woman looked over towards her daughter who continued to look towards the dirt road every five minutes in hopes of seeing Jake, but only got more sad the longer he didn't appear. Just as she was about to call out to Sophia, Carol and the everyone else's attention was caught by Dale Horvath who quickly went about raising his rifle and looking down its scope.
"What is it, Dale?" Shane, their resident former deputy questioned the eldest member of their group as he walked over towards the R.V. with Rick by his side. "Dale?" The shaggy haired male called out to the older man a bit louder this time after not getting an answer and hoping to get a reply this time around.
"Well, my scope only lets me see so far, but it looks to me like a red with white truck is heading in our direction" Dale replied loud enough for the two men and anyone who was close enough, which Carol was one of, causing those people to get up and make their way over towards the dirt road. They'd be able to catch somewhat of a glance from there of the approaching vehicle though just barely.
"Momma, is it Jake?" Sophia asked her mother with a hopeful tone and sporting a look to match as she gazed up at her mom.
"I don't know sweetie, but I'm sure everyone hopes it is" the Peletier matriarch replies as she looks down at her daughter briefly before lifting her gaze back up towards the barely visible approaching truck.
The group waited in anticipation to see who it was and a few even held their breaths when the described vehicle began making its way up the final stretch and that when they could see it sported a few bullet holes with a good amount of damage done to the body as well as if it were involved in a fight. This caused Shane to raise his shotgun up in case the person was someone who came only to start trouble and cocked his weapon to load a shell into the chamber.
Ultimately, his and their fear had been for not when the truck came to a stop about fifteen feet away before being shifted into park and the engine was cut. One could vaguely see into the cab from the cracked windshield, but it appeared they didn't have to because the door was thrown open and a person stepped out though held onto to the door to keep them on their feet and upright.
"Jake!" Carol shouted and without a care to who was watching, including Ed, she made her way through the crowd and rushed over to help the obviously injured 28 year old male with Glenn right on her tail. "Baby, what happened?" She asked softly while using a nickname she'd never used before and moving to wrap one of his arms over her shoulders and fortunately for her only the Korean male had heard her and while he wanted to be shocked, his friend needed help and therefore, pushed what he heard aside.
"Long story" was all the former Hitman told in her a rather exhausted voice and expression.
"Come on buddy, let's get you to your tent" Speedy told his friend who looked towards him and only gave him what looked to be a tired and slightly blood filled smile before allowing himself to be carried/dragged off.
"Wait..." he groaned out loud enough causing the two carrying him to stop after only a couple steps and look towards him to see what he was going to say. "The kid" were the male's last words before his head fell limp signalling he was unconscious though he left his two helpers confused as to what he meant.
"The fuck?" A surprised Shane said loud enough to catch everyone's attention and the two turned around only to have their eyes open wide in shock to see a young male possibly around Carl and Sophia's age, maybe a year or two older seated in the passenger seat completely unconscious and looking only a little bit better than Jake did.
A/N: Sorry if this chapter isn't what some of you hoped it would be when I finally updated the fix, but this is what I got. The story leading up to the events of this chapter will be in the next chapter. Also, I apologize if it's confusing or anything of the sort.
One last thing, regarding what I said about rewriting this fic, I've decided not to as you can see, but also decided that whenever I finish this fic or my other one I'll start on the one I propositioned to turn this one into.
Well, that's it for now. Until next time.
Oh, and DJDragon21 thanks for the support on keeping it this way. (Sorry for adding this last, came to me at the last moment and I'm not use to replying to comments. Hope you liked the chap).