Old Friends, Old Problems 4/?

Armadillo was now a ghost town. Just like the other small settlements that have been taken over by the flesh-eating demons. While scavenging the town, John found a pair of gloves to cover his hand and new clothes to replace the bloodied ones he was wearing. He walked around, Jack was still looking for something for a souvenir. He walked near the wanted poster to see who was wanted before the crisis started. Thinking he saw himself on the paper, John took a closer look and saw...Jack. John wanted to scream, yell, run, but most of all, he wanted to know why his son was a criminal. Jack had broken a promise very important to him. He looked at the paper again, "ASSAULTING LAWMEN AND THEFT OF BANKS. $1000 DEAD OR ALIVE." If John was human, he'd sure as hell be crying now.

To think about it, John never cried before, besides by birth. He was over thrilled was his dad finally kicked the damned bucket, but not a single tear was shed when his family was taken from him or when the day his daughter died. If people called him a heartless monster, most of the time, he took it as a complement.

Without thinking, John ripped the paper in pieces. The torn up paper soon flew into the wind bringing the scent of death and regret. Jack was finally done and joined his father as he jumped on their horses. "Hey pa, looked what I found. I don't know what it it but I'll find out later." Jack showed John a weird looking thing and put it in his pocket. John looked at his son. How can someone so naive looking be a gun-slinging-bank-robbing criminal?

xxxx

After making it to Macfarlane's Ranch, and after a very long silence between the two men, they were at least glad the town wasn't being attacked by the brainless brain-eating monsters. Besides going to Bonnie's house, John went after his old house he used to own. John and Jack hitched their horses and went inside the abandon shack. Walking down memory lane, John remembered hiding a Evan's Repeater somewhere near the back. Jack just sat on the bed. After a while he lay down on the old mattress, staring blankly at the ceiling.

Great. There he goes again. Jack started thinking. He thought hard about something. Or someone for that matter. After the heat with the law enforcement got really bad, Jack eventually ran down to Mexico. Learned Spanish and lived there for about a year and a half. And when things got heated with the law enforcement there, he laid low for a few months before the plague started again. Nobody really cared about money, government, or just about anything but survival.

But he met a lady around his age. He thought he was falling for her but Jack thought that only happened in the books. It was something about her that made Jack fall head over heels. Maybe it was that she was a criminal too, laying low so people would forget about her. Sophia, Sophia, Sophia, oh how that name rang through Jack's head like coyotes yapping in the night.

The happiness was cut short when they heard a scream out near the barn. John and Jack grabbed their guns, reloaded it, and went out to kill some more ghouls. They saw lots of them chasing a couple women near the barn. Some people we're shooting but that didn't really make a difference. Only John knew how to get rid quick and easy. John aimed, took a deep, meaningful breath, and shot their heads. Two of them down. The townsfolk saw his method and used it. After seeing the results, they starting dropping like flies. Blood splattered everywhere, but it got the job done. After the ghouls were all dead, one woman opened the barn doors and let out some trapped people waiting for salvation to come. John recognized the woman, he remembered spending time with her, almost falling in love. "Hey Bonnie! Don't forget about the food in the house." A man called out to her.

"What kind of person would I be if I forgot." She replied. Bonnie walked fast, nearly running. She opened her front door and grabbed a couple boxes near the sofa inside. She stumbled along the way. Bonnie tripped over herself, dropping the boxes. Nobody bothered to help, so Jack pitched in and helped pick up and it's off the homemade bread, still warm and it smelled delicious. "Don't get any ideas on eating the food, mister. I'd rec... Do I know you?"

"No ma'am. I don't think we've ever met, though I think you've met my father." Jack said, still picking up the fallen bread.

"I've met a lot of men in my time, who's your pa?"

"John Marston."

The name both caught the attention of Bonnie and John who was dragging the dead bodies to the side of the road. Bonnie studied Jack's facial features and saw the resemblance. She remembered reading a newspaper saying that he died in a gun fight. Disbelieving the papers, always knowing the press told lies to get it more "juicy," she knew John wouldn't give up that easily.

"Your father was a good man. He may've been a criminal, he was a good man." She said, trying to control the lump in her throat.

"He's still alive, ma'am."

Bonnie looked at the young man across from her with cold dead eyes, and said, "don't be tellin' any lies up in my town, mister. I don't appreciate people tellin' fibs 'bout people, specially about those who've died."

Jack didn't respond but called for John instead. "Hey, pa! Come over here."

John walked awkwardly towards the two. "Yes?"

"Is that...really you...John?" Bonnie stood up and looked John in his eyes, at least what she could see from the shadow created by his hat.

"He's got a really bad skin infection, so he wears gloves and a bandana to cover himself. It also messed up his speech skills." Jack tried to cover for him. John just nodded.

"Meet me at my house, six o'clock. We'll talk there if ya don't want to startle anyone." She whispered

xxxx

Bonnie closely observed John's hand. She swore she's never seen anything like it. John refusing to take his bandana off said, "I...don't know where...I...got this...infection from...but...it doesn't really...effect me..."

"I know you John. Are you vomiting, or do you have aches anywhere?"

"Like I...said...it doesn't...effect me...that much..."

Bonnie thought he was lying. She listened to his heavy breathing and checked for his pulse: nothing. How is this possible, she asked herself. Bonnie turned to Jack and said, "tell me about John's disease."

"I think...it's time...to tell her..."

"Tell me what?"Jack looked out the window, then at Bonnie. "If you're not gonna tell me anything, I'm just gonna kick you out of my house."

Taking a deep breath, Jack started, "pa's an undead. I found him near where we used to live and I was convinced, 'cause he talked to me: somethin' undead don't do. It's somethin' spiritual that made like he is now. It's like he's...half human, or somethin' like that."

Bonnie didn't believe Jack. She pointed to the door. John finally took off his bandana, revealing his face to the woman next to him. Jack looked away. He didn't want to see his father like this. Bonnie was about to panic but saw the man she met a long time age in his one eye. She saw a pleading man, desperately crying for help somewhere inside him.

"John..."

A/N: I am so sorry, I'm such an ass to be this late for an update. Well, this is what I got, and I hope you've enjoyed!