Solidcal's note:Thanks to ttobba for his edits.
"NO MORE CHUCK!" Frank shouted. "I WON'T FIGHT YOU ANYMORE! WOULD KATEY HAVE WANTED THIS?".
"Katey...?" Chuck's eyes widened. He suddenly pulled hard on the handbreak of his slicecycle, trying to halt his charge. He soon came to a stop about an inch away from the photographer, who breathed a sigh of relief. This relief didn't last long though as Chuck dismounted from his bike, approached the photojournalist and slugged him in the face. Hard. Frank fell to the floor again, Chuck standing over him.
"HOW DARE YOU TRY TO TELL ME WHAT KATEY WOULD HAVE WANTED! WHAT DO YOU KNOW!". He tried to deliver a curb-stomp to the photographer, who quickly rolled sideways and got to his feet. "I somehow don't think that your daughter would have wanted her father to become a zombie-slaying psycho!" he told the biker.
"I'm avenging her!" Chuck began to grit his teeth. First Frank failed to die and now he's trying to tell him what his own daughter wants? "I think i would know what Katey wants. I'm her father!"
"Katey's dead, Chuck!" Frank returned. "What can she want now? Other than for you to keep hold of her memory?" He stared at the insane man. "Maybe she wouldn't have wanted you to 'avenge' her!"
"She would have wanted justice!"
"SHE WAS A KID, CHUCK!" Frank now yelled to the blonde biker. "O.K. THEN! SO YOU'RE HER FATHER! TELL ME THEN! WHAT WOULD KATEY WANT!".
Chuck went silent.
"ANSWER ME GODDAMNIT!" Frank roared, "WHAT WOULD KATEY WANT! WHAT WOULD SHE WANT, CHUCK? TELL ME!
"NOT THIS!"
Frank suddenly went silent himself after Chuck's sudden yell. He fell to his knees. "Not this..." the blonde went on "not this... not any of it!". A few tears began to fall from the biker's eyes. "Not the outbreaks, not the zombies.. not Vegas... not Still Creek...". Chuck was crying now, for his loss, and for what he had become. Frank comforted him, and the blonde accepted the photographer's help.
"It's alright, Chuck. It's all gonna be alright" Frank told the biker.
"No... no it isn't... The zombies are still here.. and Katey's gone!". More hot tears flowed from Chuck's eyes. Frank could even feel a tear or two coming to his own eyes.
"Katey's in a better place now" the photojournalist assured the biker. Chuck's tears slowly began to cease as Frank helped him to his feet. "I didn't want to shoot her, believe me i didn't" he paused "If it means anything right now.. i'm sorry".
Chuck wiped away one last tear and nodded. "Yeah, i know".
Frank smiled, then remembered the current crisis. "Alright, there's a safe place i know. The emergency bunker. You can get to it through a vent i've opened in the maintinence area of Royal Flush Plaza" he told the blonde. "Do you wanna come with, or can you get there on your own?"
Chuck himself smiled. "I think i'll go alone. I can hold my own against those zombies". Frank nodded. He was about to walk away when Chuck grabbed his arm. "What now? Changed your mind?"
"No. It's just..." Chuck began "i wanna help you. You're hear for a story right?" he asked. Frank nodded as the biker went on. "Well i wanna help. I wanna make sure that Katey didn't die for nothing. I want to find her true killers: the ones who started this outbreak!"
Frank smirked. "Ya won't have to look hard" he said as he showed the ex-psycho an image in his camera. One of the TIR host dealing with a dreadlocked C.U.R.E. member.
"Is that.. TK?" Chuck asked.
"Yep! Apparently someone paid him to start this outbreak. He himself then paid the other guy, Brandon i think his name was, to supply him with bombs to rig the cages".
"Well what are we waiting for? we've got to get this info out!" Chuck exclaimed.
"Almost taken care of that too! I've met up with Rebbeca Chang, heard of her? She's invited me to meet with her source tonight". Frank's smile now seemed permanant. "Of course i don't think she'll mind if i bring a friend to the party..."
Chuck smiled. "Count me in! We're gonna take these bastards down!"
"The Shoal nightclub! Tommorow at 11!" Frank took off. "Don't be late, rook!"
"I'll be there, old-timer!" Chuck called. Before he went his own way, he saw a figure in the distance. A small blonde girl in a pink jacket, denim skirt and pink boots. The girl smiled and waved to Chuck before she vanished. Chuck smiled.
"Say hi to mommy for me, Katey".
ttobba's note: If anyone didn't get that last bit, Chuck briefly saw a vision of Katey congratulating him on his return to sanity.
