Lincoln
4:30 AM
In the next two weeks, lots of people began to move into Royal Woods.
The first group consisted of three people. They had made contact through the radio, and, thanks to Lisa, who had been listening out for survivors, they were able to meet the Loud family. They introduced themselves as Patrick, Dixie, and Elmer. The three of them each picked a house near the same street as the Loud residence.
That day, Lincoln asked Elmer why he decided to move in to town.
"You guys are the biggest group of survivors I've seen since the flu struck. I don't want to wander around my entire life… I might as well settle down, and why not here where there's lots of other people?"
There was something… off about Elmer. He didn't always make full eye contact with Lincoln, and when he did look at him, it was as if he was suspicious of him. Lincoln simply chalked this up as Elmer still being shaken up from Captain Trips. He must have lost his entire family, friends, and community. Most people did. It was then that Lincoln remembered just how lucky he was to have a sister like Lisa. Without her… he'd be dead. If not, he'd be alone, and have been forced to watched his family die. He didn't want that.
Lisa continued to man the radio, sometimes trading off with one of the older sisters when she needed a break. More and more survivors trickled into the town. It was now the middle of October, and Lincoln was surprised at just how many people were living in Royal Woods. He eventually stopped being able to recognize everyone. There must have been at least thirty, maybe forty.
The Royal Woods mall was pretty close to the Loud residence; only three blocks away. It became the main hub of activity for Royal Woods. Supplies that were scattered around the town, such as batteries, food, water, clothing and even weapons (you never know who could lumber into the town) were all moved there. Everything was free, of course. In fact, paper money became worthless.
The new community worked hard. Volunteers began to remove bodies from the homes and streets and either burn or bury them. Broken street lights and windows were repaired (Lana, even though she was only six, was a big help with that task). Abandoned cars were driven out of the streets and sidewalks.
Progress was being made, and fast. Still, though… the Loud parents were missing. Hope began to diminish among the Loud siblings that they'd ever be found. Presently, a sibling meeting was being held in Lori's room about that very topic.
"They have to be out there somewhere!" cried Leni.
Luna closed her eyes and shook her head. "I… I don't think so. It's been almost three weeks since they went missing."
"What if they're just in a different town?" asked Lucy.
"That's certainly a possibility," said Lisa, "but what motive would they have for that?"
"Yeah," agreed Lola, "There were going to Lynn's school for some reason. Why would they leave Royal Woods?"
Lincoln stole a glance at Lynn. He, like most of the Loud siblings, wondered why his mother and father were going to her school. Lincoln had asked them when they told him, but they refused to give a reason. Lynn, too, swore she didn't know, but Lincoln was beginning to wonder if that was really true or not. Right now, she looked really shaken. Everyone was (after all, most of the world had just died not too long ago) but Lynn, in particular, was the worst.
She was hiding something. Lincoln wanted to know what.
When the meeting ended, Lincoln asked Lori permission to head on down to the arcade, half expecting her to deny his request. To his surprise, though, she actually said yes. Smiling, Lincoln made his way to the garage and hopped on his bike. He put on his helmet (a good habit that he had picked up because of nagging from his father… his father that was now missing). The strap made a satisfying click! when Lincoln connected it.
The arcade had always been Lincoln's favorite place to be. Now that money was worthless, he could round up a bunch of quarters and use them to play as many games as he wanted in a row. As it turned out, there were some advantages to the world ending.
Before he made it to his destination, however, he came to a grinding halt; Lincoln spotted a corpse. It was propped up, it's back resting on the trunk of a tree. Normally, this would have greatly disturbed Lincoln. Now, though, after seeing so many bodies… it was nothing out of the ordinary. Just another day at the office. Even then, though, it wasn't exactly easy for Lincoln to look at a dead person.
Strange, he thought. There were no other corpses on the street, so people must have already cleaned this area. I guess they missed one.
He looked at it for awhile, unsure what to do. Eventually, Lincoln decided to bury it. It could be awhile before anyone else did it. He wanted to pitch in to the new community, and, as an 11-year-old, there weren't few many ways to do this. He didn't exactly like the idea of burying a dead body… but the idea of him being useless haunted him even more.
Luckily, there was a shovel in a nearby garage. He wasn't the strongest boy, so it was a bit heavy in his hands, but it would suffice. Lincoln made his way back to the tree and began to dig. He thought it would be a quick and easy task, taking twenty minutes at most, but as it turned out, digging was hard. Not even five minutes in, and the poor boy was covered in sweat. There were rocks in the way that made it difficult to make progress, and if he took too big of a load at a time, he would accidentally falter and lose his grip on the shovel.
He'd been at it for half an hour (although he thought at least an hour had passed), and he wasn't even a foot deep yet. From what he heard from Lisa, Lincoln needed a hole at least six feet deep to properly bury the corpse. He'd be here all day! The thought of giving up went through his mind, but Lincoln didn't want to fill it back in. All of his hard work would have been for nothing. He couldn't just leave it, either. It was close to the sidewalk, and somebody could break their leg if they stepped into it while they weren't looking. Call Lincoln paranoid, but it wasn't like there were any doctors in Royal Woods anymore. Something as minor as a cold or a broken leg could easily result in death.
"Need a hand?"
Lincoln turned. A man with dark hair, probably around forty years old, stood in front of him.
"Y-Yeah, this is harder than I thought."
He began to help Lincoln. Together, they made significant progress. While they worked, they talked. At first, the topic of their past lives did not come up in their conversation. Only recently had Captain Trips struck… it was still a touchy subject for most. They spoke of Royal Woods, and the society that was beginning to develop. Lincoln learned that a meeting was going to be held at the mall in two days. That was a relief to hear. After all, there were nearly forty people in town, now. Sooner or later, they needed to organize if they wanted to get things efficiently running. There was a lot that needed to be done, after all. Most importantly, they needed to get the water running (Lincoln was getting sick of pooping in the woods), they needed to get the electricity back online, they needed to finish removing the corpses from the town, they needed to set up a health clinic, they needed to organize the available resources, and they needed some sort of government. What if a murder occurred? Right now, there was no one to uphold the law. Hell, there was no law at the moment.
Of course, all of this was easier said than done. Right now, Royal Woods had no plumbers, electricians, doctors, or policemen. That needed to change before somebody broke their arm or before somebody got drunk and accidentally backed their car into a pedestrian.
After what seemed like an eternity, the hole was finished. Together, Lincoln and Gary respectfully lowered the corpse into the ground. Picking back up their shovels, they buried it before wiping the sweat off of their foreheads.
"Not bad, kid," Gary said, smiling. "You did good. Maybe I should take you out for ice cream."
Lincoln chuckled at the joke. Obviously, all of the ice cream in Royal Woods had melted by this point. No power means no refrigeration. The only food Lincoln had for the past couple of weeks had come out of a can.
Gary held out his hand for a shake. Normally, Lincoln would be nervous and timid around somebody he had just met, especially an adult like Gary… but, after Captain Trips had struck, things were different. People were friendlier to one another. There was no reason to cheat or steal when resources were limited, after all. In a way… the superflu had actually done some good for society.
Lincoln shook Gary's hand, and then went to the arcade.
Lynn Sr.
2:42 PM
"She's always been competitive," Rita was saying, "but this is ridiculous. She needs to learn."
Lynn stared ahead at the road, waiting for the traffic light to change to green. He gripped the steering wheel a bit tighter than normal. "What are you suggesting?"
"We need to ground her, obviously. I was thinking a week or two. This is serious."
"That seems a bit… extensive."
"If we don't nip this in the bud, it's going to happen again. What if she gave that kid a concussion? We'd be footing the medical bill, you know."
Lynn sighed in a way that resembled a deflating tire. "I'll think about it."
The light changed, and the van lurched forward. The Loud father was nearing the middle school, where he had been called to discuss his daughter's recent incident. Apparently, she was too aggressive during a gym class soccer game. It was so bad, she'd broken somebody's nose.
He frowned. His daughter had always given 110% of her effort while playing sports, and he was proud of her for that… but sometimes, she just took it too far. Kids make mistakes. She'd learn for this, and hopefully her lesson would make her think twice next time before going all out in a gym class soccer match.
As he drove, Lynn noticed that there was surprisingly little traffic. Sure, it was a lazy Sunday afternoon, but where was everyone? During the entire ride so far, he had only seen about ten other cars. Right now, he was driving on top of Colby Cliff. The road was thin and immediately to the left, behind a guardrail, was a very steep drop off. For such a small road, Colby Cliff usually had lots of cars on it due to the fact that it was the only way to get to the Northern part of Royal Woods, where the middle school was. One of the mayor's biggest campaign promises was to expand the road to help traffic. Of course, he never did that. Corrupt bastard.
Interrupting his thoughts, Lynn and Rita's eyes grew wide as a man ran right onto the road! Fear quickly filled Lynn as he slammed down on the brakes while turning the steering wheel as fast as he could. The van spun around on the road, almost about to tip over on its side.
Rita let out a loud scream.
Luckily, Lynn was able to avoid hitting the guardrail. The van came to a screeching halt. It was now sideways on the road, it's length blocking the entire narrow street. It bobbled back and forth for a short while before finally stabilizing.
"Holy shit!"
For a moment, all was silent. That could have ended badly. Lynn and his wife could have just died.
Overcome with rage, Lynn flung open the door and started to storm over to the man.
"You idiot! You could have just killed us!"
As Lynn neared, the man did not move. "We're already dead!" he bellowed. "Go out and enjoy the rest of your life while you can, you stupid bastard! I sure am!" Before the Loud father could get closer, the man reached behind his back and grabbed a shotgun that he had strapped to his body.
Lynn froze, once again, in fear.
The man aimed upward and began to aimlessly fire shots into the air, crying out with laughter. The shotgun was loud. Its reports made Lynn's ears ring. Shortly after, something like rage flashed through the man's eyes. He took aim at Lynn.
His paralysis broke; the Loud father turned around before bolting back to the car. Quickly, he made it to the driver door, and grabbed it for support. He was going too fast to stop normally, so, holding the door, he used his momentum to fling himself into the driver's seat.
The man walked slowly forward, holding the sight of his shotgun up to his eye. He fired quick bursts; the shots echoed out, and the bullets hit the van with a horrible clatter. The sound of brass on metal was overwhelming.
Rita screamed, and Lynn frantically turned the steering wheel to the right while slamming down on the gas. The van hitched forward. Lynn turned it around, driving away from the man, and quickly so.
On one last attempt, the man took special effort to aim. He pointed his weapon at the van wheel, and, after steadying the shotgun, squeezed the trigger. Multiple bullets hit the back left wheel of Vanzilla, popping it. He fired again, this time hitting the back right wheel.
In the car, Lynn expended all of his efforts attempting to steady the vehicle. The steering wheel spun wildly, however, and he was powerless to take hold. Out of Lynn's control, Vanzilla made a sharp right turn and, because of it's great speed and weight, crashed through the cliff's guardrail with little resistance.
Both Louds screaming, the van tumbled down the side of the cliff, throwing up dust and rock in its wake. When it hit the ground, all windows were broken. The roof was caved in. The hood of the car had popped off, and smoke arose from the now broken engine.
Lynn's vision went blurry. He looked up.
The beautiful, orange sky was the last thing he saw before passing out from the pain.
