Hello readers. I bring you the final chapter in Finding Who Was Lost. In this chapter Lincoln and Richard finally set off on their journey to find Lincoln's family. I hope you all enjoy and be sure to leave a comment or review below.
disclaimer: I own nothing from the Loud House
Following The Trail
Present day.
It had been three days at the bunker before Lincoln and Richard started their long trek to search for Linc's family. Over the course of those three days, bonds were created over shared interests, secrets were revealed, and both had started the healing process for their respective emotional turmoils.
"So Lincoln. You ready? We probably won't be coming back here for a long time so we can search longer. The outposts out there should help us replenish supplies if we need them". Lincoln nodded in response. Ready to get out there and be reunited with his family. Both started gathering enough supplies for the both of them, Lincoln took his own rucksack, which was a bit smaller than Rich's so he could manage the weight.
Lincoln was hoping that they left him some kind of note like his mother left his father back home. Rich then said something that Lincoln hadn't even thought was a possibility in a long time. "Hey man we might even run into your dad out there. Oh better yet he could be with your family, that way we kill two birds with one stone".
Lincoln realized he hadn't even thought about seeing his dad or Lily again for a long time. After over six months of nothing he figured it was a lost cause and that as much as he would love to see his dad and baby sister again, it wasn't going to happen. But now it seemed like Richard's hopeful outlook might've been rubbing off on him, because some small amount of hope started finding it's way back into Lincoln's head.
"So I've given some thought on things since that chat we had the other night. And I realized that I need to change some things before we go back out there. Follow me".
Rich led Lincoln into his room and Rich opened his closet to pull out a couple things that made Lincoln look on in surprise. Rich had a bo staff in one hand and two Sai in his other. "yeah I took karate in late elementary school through middle school, got these bad boys while I was there".
Lincoln stared at the two weapons Rich had in his hands and asked if he could try them out. Rich handed him the sai and Lincoln started fooling around with them. "Why don't ya keep em, They aren't doing no good sitting in here, neither is my bo, which is why I'm taking it with us".
"Dude think about it, we're like half the ninja turtles!" Rich said, causing Lincoln and him to burst out in laughter.
Richard returned to the closet as he hung up his duster, deciding to retire his signature look in favor of something new. He changed his shirt to a simple white shirt with a faded red and black flannel over it. Lincoln noticed something on Rich's arm before he put the flannel on and asked what it was.
"Oh this?" Richard lifted up his sleeve to show Lincoln the tattoo on his arm. The tattoo looked like an army patch, it was a skull in a circle with "Outer Heaven" written above it and wings on the sides. "It's the logo for a fictional military group, from that game series Metal Gear. One of my top five series". And then showed him the tattoo on his chest. "Why a semi-colon?" Lincoln asked with a raised eyebrow. "It has a few different meanings but the one that made me get it deals with Suicide, and how I was pretty much at that point but chose to move past it and head forward".
Richard sniffled as he remembered how he even found out about the meaning himself. It was because of his sister, he felt like she was the one who worried the most about his mental issues and suicidal ideation when he filled his family in about his problems.
"Now instead of just outright killing the types of people I usually do, I'm going to try and knock them out using this". Lincoln looked at him with a face that had "really" written all over it. "yes I'm copying Morgan from walking dead, sue me haha". "nerd" Lincoln retorted. "right back at ya buddy".
After finishing their preparations, the two of them left the bunker and locked it before heading out to find the camp. It took them half the day but they eventually found it. There were still two tents that were set up and littered with tears and bullet holes. Lincoln shuttered at the sight.
"oh my god...". They found a few bodies around the camp site and hoped they were Jim's men. After looking over the bodies their assumptions were confirmed, causing Lincoln to sigh heavily in relief.
The two of them spread out to search the campsite for any information or clues. Lincoln walked over to the tent that he and Ronnie-Anne had shared. He looked inside to find that his backpack was still there and it had an envelope attached to the front. His eyes widened and filled with hope as he saw "Lincoln" written on the back.
Richard was on the other side of the camp and found something that caused him to worry. There was a fair amount of blood on a tree trunk and some pooled at the base of it. What cause him to worry was the fact that none of Jim's men were close to it, he hoped it wasn't any member of the Loud family and decided it was best to not tell Lincoln about it.
Lincoln opened the envelope and took the contents inside. There was a letter and a map with a location marked on it. "yes! hopefully they're still there".
He then turned his attention to the letter and began reading it.
Lincoln,
I hope you're alright and that you find this letter. We are going to try and find you but if we don't then I hope you escaped and found this. As you can see on that map we are going to the town, north of here. I'm hoping we find you out there but if you're reading this then that means we didn't. And I'm so sorry for that.
I'm sorry we couldn't save you before and after those men took you. I just hope that you got away before they could hurt you, I can't imagine another one of my babies being hurt. Before you worry everyone else is fine. We beat the rest of those bastards who attacked.
We are going to stay in this town for as long as we can and if we need to move on then we'll leave a note telling you where to go next. The thought of you alone out here worries me to no end but You're a tough kid and I know we'll see you soon. We Love you so much Lincoln.
Lincoln had started tearing up as he finished the letter. Folding it back up, Lincoln wiped his eyes and looked at the map to see where they went. The town was maybe a couple days away from the camp. And with the time it took him and Rich to get here they were probably best heading to the town Jim and them were at to rest for the night. Lincoln opened the backpack up to find all his stuff was still there, except for a couple of his comics and the mp3 player Luna found for him. He figured they took them for sentimental reasons.
Lincoln found the thing he was looking for the most though and found it back at the bottom of the pack. He might've been a little too old for it now but he had to admit that having bun-bun with him gave him a sense of comfort, and he could use that now.
Lincoln met up with Rich and showed him the map, telling him that they probably left already given the fact that its been three weeks but that they'd leave a note for him there as well. Rich didn't tell him about the blood he found and told him what Lincoln already figured, that they should head back to the town they met at.
Lincoln agreed even though he wanted to find them as soon as possible, he knew it'd be too dangerous to look for them in the dark.
They made it to the town while the sun was starting to set and decided to check some of the few buildings that hadn't been looted yet. They found a few walkers in each building and took them out, Lincoln was making good use out of the sai that Rich had given him. Rich had found a nice use for his bo as he would use it to sweep the legs of the walkers and stab them with his knife before they could get up.
After grabbing some more supplies they headed up to the outpost they made earlier in the week and rested up again.
They got up at the crack of dawn and got ready to head out again. As they walked through the town and searched a few more buildings they were stopped in their tracks by a group of four people. Two of them had their guns raised at the pair and they held up their hands.
"Listen here guys we don't want any trouble and I'm sure your kid there doesn't want to see any more violence in this world than he has to". Richard had assumed the group was a family, their was an older woman and some guy who both looked like they were in their early forties or late thirties. They had two kids, an older boy who looked like he could've been early twenties at least, and a younger one who looked to be around ten.
"Just hand over your stuff and there won't be any trouble". The father said as his wife held their youngest close. "Well how about we compromise? Me and the kid here can split half of the stuff in each of our rucksacks here, we need stuff too my friend and there's plenty to go around".
"Just listen to him John, there's no need to fight if we don't have to". His wife pleaded. The dad and oldest son slowly, and cautiously lowered their guns as Richard and Lincoln took their bags off. "Your kid looks a little sick, what's wrong?"
"He's caught a fever and has been coughing a lot today".
"Well then it's your lucky day I got the perfect thing for him". Richard pulled out a bottle of cough medicine and ibuprofen. He opened the Ibuprofen up and took out about half of what was in the bottle. "There ya go, take two of these and call us in the morning haha". The father put his gun away and thanked him as Rich and Lincoln took out a few more supplies such as food and drinks, they even spared a few more medical supplies.
"Now all of this doesn't come free you know..." Rich started. As he sounded like he was about to have some catch for the supplies, and Lincoln looked at him with confusion and concern. Rich put a smile on his face before continuing. "I simply ask that you pay it forward, help someone else down the line you know?" The father smiled back as he nodded.
"Oh before I forget, we made a little outpost further in the town, take a left a few streets down and it should be the third building on your right. On the rooftop". "Th-thank you! How can I repay you?" Rich just held up his hand as he repeated his earlier request.
The mother hugged Rich and Lincoln as she thanked them, their children did the same before they headed off further into town.
"See Lincoln. didn't that feel good?" "yeah but not everyone out here is going to be like that Rich, what about when we run into those people?" Richard thought back to all the times he came across people like that and how most of them didn't take his offer to leave peacefully. Richard shot them without a second thought, not giving them the chance to do anything after their initial decision.
"well we'll do our best not to kill them if they don't walk away". They continued down the main road outside of town and tried to find a good resting place since the meeting spot was still another day away at least. Once night had started to set in they found a few houses off to the side of the road they were on. They picked one of the two story houses and cleared out the walkers occupying it before getting their temporary home set up.
After making sure nothing could get through the two doors on the bottom floor they both headed upstairs to the two bedrooms. Richard laid in bed as he tried to fall asleep. He always had trouble falling asleep when it was dead silent so he turned a playlist on his phone that would last for an hour so he could sleep without draining the battery a lot.
"So Rich my guy...don't lie to me on this. You thought that kid back there was hot right?". Richard sighed as he rolled over to his side on the bed as he tried to think about something else. Trying to lose himself in the music. "come oooonnn Richard I know what you're thinkin about and I know how you're feeling right now, you haven't really felt like this in a while have you? like a month maybe".
Richard knew what that voice meant but he couldn't, for some reason doing "that" didn't feel right like it used to. In the early days when he found out about his attraction he tried to either just stick to "normal" porn or stop masturbating all together. Sometimes that worked and he went by without having one of those thought pop into his head, but they always came back and he realized this wasn't something that was going to go away.
He always flip flopped on whether he hated himself when he had the fantasies or just accepted it all. After a few years he stopped beating himself over every single fantasy and they didn't bother him as much, just every now and then. But now, now he started having those feelings. Those feelings of shame, anger, and sadness over what he wanted to do.
He knew he was just a man and that he couldn't change who and what he was, but he still needed some type of release or distraction to keep that beast at bay. That's never been an issue for him, he knew there was a part of him that wanted to do those things but his will and moral compass were too strong to ever let that happen.
But that didn't mean he still didn't hate that there was a part of him like that.
Richard just sighed in frustration as he pulled his night pants down, taking his cock in hand as his thoughts went to that kid. Imagining what it would feel like to have the boy beneath his own body. As he continued, his excitement started growing, he tried to keep his fantasies as if the kids were "consenting". Even though he knew there was no way a kid could ever consent to any of that even if they said they wanted it. Richard never once thought that age of consent should be lowered or anything like that to make it "legal". Contact like that should never happen.
Richard was beginning to lose himself as he inched ever closer to that climax he was wanting. He hadn't done this in so long that it wasn't taking him long to reach that point. As he was close and lost in the fantasy he didn't even hear the door slowly creak open.
Down the hall, Lincoln was trying to sleep himself but his thoughts wouldn't let him get off so easy. Every time he closed his eyes he saw Jim staring back at him, before leaning down and locking his lips with Lincoln's own. Lincoln tried to block the thoughts out but they kept assaulting him. The phantom feeling of Jim's hands violating every part of his body. Nearly everyday they used him in various ways, abused him and beat him when he refused or fought back. After the first week those beatings happened less and less as Lincoln's will to fight dissipated. Sometimes those "sessions" lasted hours, a couple times even stretching out for almost half the day as most of them joined in. His eyes welled up with tears as he remembered almost every painful day with them.
He tried to think positively, he wasn't there anymore and he'd never be back there, they were all dead. Richard's words crept into his head as those negative thoughts and memories began to fade away. "you're safe, they are all dead and no one is ever going to hurt you like that again". Lincoln sat up in bed as he wiped his eyes and brought his thoughts back to his family.
He found that doing this could bring him back from that pit of despair and calm his mind. He thought about all of them before this apocalypse and how things might be after he found them. Those thoughts now even included his dad and Lily as well as his best friend Clyde and his dads.
Lincoln chuckled to himself as he thought about times they might share together after this. He thought about the future, and his future with… Ronnie-Anne. He hoped that she was doing alright and that she was happy with his crazy family. He could still remember that night before he was taken, laying in the tent he shared with her. They looked into each others eyes as they talked about their future and the possibilities of their lives. When Ronnie brought up the subject of kids Lincoln blushed a bit.
"Ronnie we're twelve! We shouldn't even be thinking about having kids till we're like twenty or something". "Oh calm down Lame-o. hehe, I'm not saying we should start trying now dummy, I'm just thinking about the future ya know. A girl can dream, these days more than ever".
He thought about that conversation as they talked more about how things might turn out. And how they'd find somewhere they could live out the rest of their lives without worry of walkers or killers. Their conversation was cut short when Jim's group attacked and took Lincoln, Jim told him they tried to take some of the others but none of his men made it back. Lincoln was glad that his family was able to fight off the rest of them.
Lincoln figured he could use a conversation to distract the bad memories from creeping back up and hoping that maybe it would tire him out. He got up and walked to Richard's room to see if he was up. If he wasn't then he'd feel bad about waking Rich up for some idle chat, especially since small talk wasn't one of Richard's strong suits.
He didn't want to knock and wake him up so he slowly opened the door to see if Rich was up. He wished he would've knocked.
As Richard was about to climax the door opened and Lincoln could see the bed lit up by the moonlight shining through the window. He saw Richard and his cheeks flushed as he gasped. Richard was snapped out of his thoughts as he heard Lincoln and immediately threw the blanket over himself, screaming as Lincoln turned to get out. Lincoln quickly ran out of the room, shouting out "sorry!" before shutting the door on the way out and heading back to his room.
Richard just laid there as he pinched the bridge of his nose in frustration. His cheeks were now flushed for two reasons and he pondered if he should try and talk to him or not. "Oh this is just hysterical. Hahahaha why didn't you lock the door you dumbass? Did you forget you weren't alone again?" Richard groaned in response as he covered his face in embarrassment. This was going to be awkward tomorrow.
The mood was killed after that and Richard managed to fall asleep about an hour after that horrible experience, he could only imagine how Lincoln felt right now.
"Oh. my. god" "I know right? Did you see that thing? I bet he was imagining your head wrapped around it hehehe". "shut up! God you can be annoying sometimes, correction, most of the time". Lincoln hoped that Rich wouldn't want to talk about this tomorrow. he'd rather forget it and he was sure Richard wanted to as well. Lincoln hoped that Richard wouldn't make this mistake again.
At least that moment made all his previous negative thoughts disappear, and he managed to get to sleep not too long after that.
The next morning Richard woke up first and crept down the staircase with his bag in tow. He went into the kitchen to see if the former occupants had anything he could make for food, otherwise he'd just have one of the cereals he packed. After finding nothing he sighed and set his backpack down on the counter, opening it to pull out a box of Apple Jacks.
His heart started beating as he heard a door close and footsteps upstairs. He just hoped that Lincoln wanted to forget about last night like he did and things wouldn't be as awkward as possible. The footsteps got closer as Richard began eating his cereal and staring out the window, not wanting to look at him out of shame.
Lincoln walked into the kitchen and stopped in the doorway as he saw Richard eating by the window. He saw Rich was trying to keep his gaze off of him as he looked at Rich's reflection in the window. Lincoln scratched the back of his head as he took out some breakfast of his own and walked into the living room.
Richard walked to the door frame as he looked over at Lincoln. "sooo I'm gonna guess you'd like to forget last night happened right? Well obviously I do too so we are NOT talking about it". Lincoln didn't turn to him as he kept eating his cereal but gave him a thumbs up in response. "Good. Now finish eating, I want to leave here as soon as possible to keep searching".
They rested at the house for another half hour before gathering their stuff up and started following the main road further north. Their walk was quiet for the longest time as Lincoln and Richard kept stealing quick glances at each other, not wanting to talk about last night but still feeling like they should say something at least.
"Ok look". They said at the same time. "You first dude" Richard said. "um look Rich I, I know that sometimes people uh, geez. I know that sometimes people… well get that urge, or have like pent up stress or something but you should've locked the door man. I really didn't need to see that".
Richard nodded as he told Lincoln he'd handle it better now, he doesn't want that to happen again either.
"Um not really a question I should be asking here but have you ever… you know". Lincoln's face turned red as a tomato and he shook his head. "I shouldn't really talk about something like that with you Richard. But no I… I never have". Lincoln lied but didn't want to think about the reason why. And definitely didn't want Richard to know about that.
Needless to say the rest of their day was kinda awkward as both of them didn't really talk much and any conversation the other had tried to start, quickly fizzled out. "Well this is about as awkward as I thought it'd be. So how much further do you think we are from this place?" Rich asked.
Lincoln saw a road sign a little ways ahead of them and ran up to look at it. The town was still miles away but they were closer than he thought they were. They should make it there by noon tomorrow depending how much more progress they make today and how early they move tomorrow.
"Sweet. And by the way dude I wanted to ask you about something the other day. Was that a stuffed rabbit you had back there?" "Here we go. I swear if he makes fun of me for this I'm going to punch him". Lincoln hesitantly nodded. "I get it". "wait what?"
"Yeah I understand why you'd carry that thing around. It reminds you of days before all this, better times and is still a memory of the childhood that was taken from you by this apocalypse. So I get why you still have it with you. Hell I might've done the same thing If I was your age, I can be very sentimental".
"w-well thanks Rich. I actually didn't think about it that way. I just knew that the little guy still gave me comfort in this world". "I'm guessing he has a name? Care to share it?" Lincoln thought about it for a minute, with the type of guy Rich is he doubted that he would make fun of the name but still decided against it. "maybe another time Rich". He nodded in response as they kept walking.
They stopped at some abandoned church when it was too dark out. The church was painted in an off white color that has faded in the absence of care, it wasn't really big by any means. It looked like some church a small community built, simple but effective. They were about to make a small camp in the woods and take a shift looking watch but walked a bit further to find this place. "Alright while we might be safe here if we block the doors I'm still going to keep guard, you can never be too careful".
"Alright man, just wake me up after four hours so I can take over, don't want you to do it all night". "Yeah sure thing, now go to bed".
Richard stayed on guard the entire night, if Lincoln woke up himself than he'd let him take over but the kid slept through the night so he stayed up. Throughout the night Richard thought about his own life and some of the choices he's made up to this point.
He thought back to the months before he found Lincoln and how many people he had killed. He still remembered the first time he killed someone.
It was about a month into the apocalypse when he was walking around a small town, one that didn't have much to look at. Family owned shops and businesses lined the few amount of roads the town had. It was the kinda place where everyone knew each other and hardly any crimes took place except maybe the occasional ones committed by the towns usual drunks.
The place was deserted, there were hardly any walkers around the place either. Richard was almost done looting the town when he heard a scream in the distance. Running towards the sound of the screams, Richard began zeroing in the noise and turned the corner into an alleyway, finding the source of the cries.
Halfway into the alley there was a twitchy middle-aged man holding a knife to some blonde woman's throat. The man had her pinned against the wall, and that's when Richard noticed the man on the ground holding his side in both hands as blood was oozing out of a wound in his gut. There was a little girl next to the man on the ground who was kneeling next to him, her whole body was shaking in panic, with tears in her eyes. Based on this evidence it looked like this asshole was trying to take the families supplies when the man on the ground tried to stop him.
Richard gripped his knife from its sheath and started creeping up to the assailant who had the woman pinned to the wall. There was a bag of supplies next to the two and Richard was wondering why the guy was still here if he could just take it. "stop it!" the little girl shouted as she ran from her father on the ground to the man holding her mother and threatening her with the knife.
She grabbed onto the man's arm as she tried to pull him away from her mom, but the man simply switched his grip from the mom to the kid. He backed away from the mother with her child in his grasp, holding the knife flushed against her neck. "no! Not her please, just take our stuff and leave". The woman shouted.
"nonono I think that since I've had to go through all this extra trouble here I need something a little more. And I think I know just what, or better, who that is".
The man grinned as he pressed the blade closer to the young girl's throat. "Now then lady why don't you start strippin' or I start slittin' you follow me?" The woman hesitantly, shakily, brought her hands to the hem of her shirt.
Richard was close to the group now, he was crouched just behind a pair of dumpsters waiting for the moment to strike. The man on the ground had noticed him and they nodded to each other. The man had a rock in his hand and motioned to Rich that he was going to throw it to the opposite end of the alley to distract the attacker for a few seconds.
The guy threw the rock to the left of the attacker causing him to look in that direction while Richard got right next to him for attack. Richard used his right hand to hold the man's arm away from the girl giving her the window to escape and then he used his left hand to slide the knife to the front of the assailant's neck. Once the mom and daughter were back with the man on the ground, Richard shoved the guy against the wall and held the knife in his direction.
"wh-who the he-" Richard punched the man across the face, interrupting his question before holing a finger to his lips. "You're gonna stand perfectly still and not make one more sound until these kind folks are gone, you hear me?" The man nodded in response as he held his nose, which was probably broken by the looks of it.
Richard slowly removed his backpack and set it on the ground. "Here ma'am, there's a small box of medical supplies towards the top. Take it and meet me by that small butcher shop close to the edge of town". The woman walked up and grabbed the box out before closing the pack and helping her husband to his feet. After they were out of the alley Richard lunged towards the would be thief and slammed the knife into the man's left shoulder.
Richard cringed as the man screamed out in pain. Richard never liked seeing anyone in pain, physical or emotional, but not now. This was different, it was the first time he had intentionally dealt out physical pain on another. And something about it felt… good. He thought it might've felt like this because the guy deserves it. He was going to kill these people, and by the looks of the way things were escalating, it could've been worse.
Richard's grimace turned into a small smile as he took the knife out and plunged it deep into the man's side, causing him to scream out again. Richard repeatedly stabbed the man in multiple parts of his body, a few times taking the instance to twist the knife. After a couple minutes Rich stabbed the guy in the head and quietly left the alley, looking for the family he saved.
On his way to the butcher shop he thought about what he just did. "What the hell did I just do? Did I really just enjoy all of that? I should've just killed him and been done with it". "But you wanted him to suffer, we both did. You wanted him to pay for what he was doing before leaving this mortal coil". "No that's not… I'm not like that. I was going to kill him sure, but I didn't need to take my time like I did though. I never like seeing others in pain like that, so why did I just become the cause of that pain and why did I enjoy it!?" "Maybe it's because he was hurting that family? Who cares? You let this "dark passenger" out in the open and onto someone else for once. Didn't it feel great? don't lie".
Richard didn't answer himself back, he shook his head and continued onward, finding the family by the butcher shop he told them about. He helped the wife stitch her husband's wound up and left them some supplies before heading back out on his cross country road trip. "Alright it looks like the next stop is Royal Woods, Michigan. Hmmm nice name".
"If only I knew back then how that first kill would change things". "Come on Rich we both know it changed you for the better. Well maybe not that much better but… how much worse could you get? Hehehehe". "Look we've talked back and forth for how many years now? Over six. We both know that you're always going to be a part of me but we also know that I'm a lot better than you try to convince me I am".
"Well look who's finally got some sense back. So does this mean that I'm going back in that cage you lock me away in?" "Really? you're never locked in a cage, you're a continual presence. A part of me. You only come out when I need that "other half" to talk to".
Richard shuffled a sleep playlist he had and rested his eyes. He planned on getting a few hours of sleep before sunrise and made sure to set an alarm on the door in case someone or something tried to get in. Richard had hoped that they would find Lincoln's family soon, he knew the little guy still feels uncomfortable around him, for understandable reasons. He needed to start finding ways to help in that regard and also start looking into ways to help Lincoln with his mental and emotional issues from the trauma he suffered at the hands of Jim's men. Richard could still see it below Lincoln's face, the hurt behind his eyes, no matter how big that smile seemed.
Richard was by no means a psychiatrist but it was the profession he was beginning to pursue before everything turned to shit. He was always fascinated by the human psyche, and always wanted to help people. When he realized that being a cop wasn't really going to be up his alley, Richard started looking into alternatives. He was always a great listener, but never really knew the right things to say to help with the problems he was hearing. Granted he had his own mental health to try and repair. He figured that being a therapist was a good way to sort of kill two birds with one stone.
Before closing his eyes to get to sleep, Richard looked over to Lincoln's sleeping form. He was wondering what was going through his head right now, if the kid was having another nightmare, peaceful dream, or maybe even no dream at all. "One day at a time Richard, help him find his family and then worry about his mind after the fact, if he even wants you there afterwards".
Both of the boys woke up around the same time, Richard's watch informed him it was almost nine in the morning. "Damn. Slept in more than I would've liked but oh well. Hey Lincoln! Be ready to leave in the next half hour! I want to be on the road soon". Lincoln groaned in response as he rolled over in his sleeping bag. "Hm. Sounds like me when I had to get to work heheh".
After eating a small breakfast, they packed up their belongings and headed back along the road. They didn't really talk much but it wasn't because of some awkward night beforehand, they just didn't really have much to talk about. They reached the town that Rita marked on the map after a few hours and started looking around for any type of sign or camp.
"So I'm guessing that with a family of nine, but hopefully more, they would've needed a decent sized area for a camp. Be on the lookout for big buildings or easily defensible locations". After twenty minutes of searching they saw a street sign that had "Linc" spray painted in red on it. "Richard look!".
They ran in the direction the sign pointed them and found a couple more like it that led them down a few more roads. After running down a couple more streets they came across a two story, brick building. The two story building had an automotive repair shop connected to the left side of it.
They decided to look around the garage first but didn't find any clues or information on where the Loud family could've gone, so they moved into the two story building next. The place itself was one-third business and two-thirds home. It must've been some family owned mechanic's place. Richard and Lincoln found some discarded food and candy wrappers, as well as a few empty water bottles. "Well it looks like someone was here at least".
They searched around the first and second floor, not finding a note or anything to help the two on their search. "I, I don't get it Rich! The signs led us here and she said they would leave a note on where they were heading off to next. I don't see anything here do you!?" Lincoln asked as his voice started to raise and he threw his hands up in frustration and anger.
"Hey easy there Lincoln. I'm sure they wouldn't just leave you high and dry here. They must've left something somewhere so let's just keep looking". They searched for a few more minutes until Richard found a piece of paper that had fallen behind the TV.
"Lincoln! I found something". Richard handed the paper over to Lincoln and he started reading it out loud.
Dear Lincoln,
I'm sorry honey, not just because we had to move again but because we didn't find you. We searched for any nearby camps and found nothing, we found a town and had started looking through it until we were attacked by those same people. We all have a feeling that you are in there and, and I don't know if that's true or not but we couldn't stay. They almost killed Lori and Lynn when they fought back and it pains me to say it but everyone decided it was best to leave there for everyone's safety.
If you were in that town somewhere then I'm so sorry we left you behind, but I couldn't lose anyone else, we couldn't. I hope you're reading this and that you're still trying to find us. We are going to keep heading east to try and find someplace that is not only safe but can sustain our family.
I don't have a map to mark for you this time but considering you must have the one I left earlier then you can mark that one. We are going to stop in the next town east of here and I'll keep leaving notes anytime we leave for another location, I'm just hoping that you'll be able to catch up with us.
With love, your family.
"We… we need to keep heading east". Richard nodded as he gathered his stuff back up and got ready to walk out of the home. Lincoln took one quick glance around the room, imagining his family sleeping soundly in their sleeping bags while he was being raped and beaten. He squeezed his eyes shut, he didn't want to think like that. He would've rather his family be safe than any of them to die trying to rescue him, as much as he would've loved to see them, it was for the best.
Richard and Lincoln walked along the main road that led out of the east side of town. They didn't even bother looting any of the buildings as Lincoln wanted to cover as much ground as they could to reach his family sooner. He doubted they would stay in any one place too long, and who knows how long they were even at this place.
The two had to make camp in the woods once it started getting dark out and only made it a few miles outside of town before Richard told him they needed to stop. Lincoln offered to take watch this time but Richard refused and told him to go to sleep. Lincoln tried to fight him on it but Richard was being too stubborn and didn't give an inch. "Ugh fine. But tomorrow I'm taking first watch, it's not fair that you stay on guard duty every time, especially since you didn't let me take over last night. Wait, did you even get any sleep?"
"yes I did Lincoln, I just set an alert system on the door so I'd wake up if anything got in so I'm good. Now go to bed".
Lincoln didn't rest as easy as he did the other night however and once again had a nightmare that was influenced by his suffering from the hotel.
Lincoln was locked in the closet of Jim's room, his "bedroom" for the past few days. He had managed to get a few hours of sleep after his last horror with Jim, when he was suddenly woken by the door swinging open and shouting coming from the living area. Jim grabbed the chain that connected the handcuffs on Lincoln's wrists and led him out of the closet, taking him to a group of people Jim's men had captured. There was three of them lined up in front of the red couch and their wrists were bound and heads covered.
Lincoln was thrown to his knees in front of the three people that had black hoods covering their heads. After getting a closer look at them, he could tell that all three of them were girls and even though he couldn't see their faces, they seemed familiar to him.
"Linc my boy! Sorry to wake you up like this, I know it must be hard for you to get some sleep after the way things have been for you. But I just couldn't wait to show you the surprise my men found for you".
Jim swiftly removed the bags from the three girls and Lincoln's eyes widened in horror, but also a small amount of joy. The three people that got captured were Lori, Lynn, and Lucy, all three had gags around their mouths. Their eyes lit up when they saw their brother but that light quickly extinguished when they saw the state he was in and realized the situation the four of them were in now. No one spoke for a solid minute before Jim ruined the Loud's reunion.
"So… I was thinking what better way to celebrate a reunion than with a game! And I have a feeling you haven't played this one before but don't worry I'll fill ya in on the details". Jim began as he walked over to Lori and threw one arm around her shoulder. "the game I was hoping we could play is marry, screw, kill. Now the game is self explanatory, I just need you to choose a title for each of these beauties".
"Wha-what!? I'm not picking any of them for any of those! Please just let them go". "Let them go!? But dude they just got here. I'm sure they've missed you these past few days and I doubt they would want to leave now that they found you". Lynn glared at Jim as he started playing head games with her brother, Lincoln just kept looking to Jim with pleading eyes.
"If you don't start picking then I'm going to pick for you. And I have a feeling you might not like the ones I pick". Jim said with a devil's grin as he started eyeing Lucy in a way Lincoln was all too familiar with now. "No! Not her, not, not any of them please". As he looked into Jim's eyes Lincoln knew that his pleas were falling on deaf ears. "If, if I pick. Then what happens exactly? I know you'll kill whoever I say but… the other two. How, how do-does that go down?"
"Good question. Well obviously whoever you pick to screw can either be for you or me. That's a separate choice for you, and Marry is well, who you want me to take as my wife".
Lincoln's eyes burned with tears as Jim finished his explanation. "This is crap, I bet if I got Lynn unbound then maybe we could take these guys. But then what about the other two? Is he going to immediately kill whoever I say?"
"I, I think I've made my choice". Lincoln said as he wiped the tears from his eyes. "If I tell you who to kill then can you hold off on killing them until tomorrow? I just got back with them and I would really appreciate it if I can have the time to properly say goodbye". "I'll allow it" Jim responded.
"o-o-okay I say...kill Lucy, sc-screw Lynn and marry Lori." Lincoln said as he pointed to each of his sisters, since Jim didn't know their names. "well that was predictable..." Jim disappointedly said before pulling out his gun and shooting Lori and Lynn in the back of the head. Lincoln's eyes went wide with shock and his mouth fell to the floor as he could do nothing but stare at the nightmare that just unfolded before him. He couldn't give voice to the screams that were pounding in his head, Lucy looked on in horror as her sisters were murdered in cold-blood next to her, she screamed through her gag.
"Now. I knew you'd pick them but I was hoping you'd surprise me. That pig-tailed bitch took out three of my men before they subdued her and I figured you would pick her to screw so that you two could fight back and maybe get away… well good luck with that now. hehehehe".
"I was going to screw little miss doom and gloom here anyway but the mood is ruined and all I want to do now is sleep so..." Jim raised his gun to fire and all Lincoln heard was the bang before everything faded to black.
Lincoln shot up in his sleeping bag, covered in sweat and breathing uneven. He looked around and saw that he wasn't there anymore and he was in camp with Rich. Richard was too busy taking out a walker that had just wandered too close to camp to notice Lincoln's frightened state. He started walking back to the perimeter of their site before looking over to Lincoln.
"Lemme guess, another nightmare?" Lincoln said nothing in response as he tried to get his breathing under control, holding a hand to his chest. Lincoln told Richard about the nightmare and Richard offered what little comfort he could with his words, trying to get Lincoln back to sleep but he wasn't having any of it.
"L-Let me just take over on guard duty okay Rich? I'll be fine. I just… need some peace and quiet, but not asleep and trapped in my own head". Richard relented and let Lincoln take over while Rich tried to catch some sleep himself.
Once morning hit the pair continued east as they made their way to the next town on the map. "So did she say how long they'd be staying in this next location?" Richard asked as they trekked along the lengthy stretch of road. "No. she just said that they'd keep moving east until they found a place that could keep them all safe and supplied for longer than a week".
They had to break off of the road when they spotted a herd roaming in their direction. After finding another way into the town the pair started searching for any signs or locations that could hold the Loud family. They found street signs that were similar to the ones in the previous town and started following them as they were led to an abandoned cathedral.
After a few minutes of searching Lincoln found the note that his mother had left for him and he started reading it's contents. However after a minute into the letter Lincoln's eyes widened and this didn't go unnoticed by Richard. Lincoln let go of the letter, as it fell to the ground and he stared blankly at the floor. Tears were forming in his eyes and he turned and ran out of the cathedral. "Lincoln!? Hey! Where are you going?"
Richard picked up the letter before following after him, reading it as he chased after Lincoln.
Dear Lincoln,
There's a small part of me that hopes you aren't out there any longer, because at least it means that you'd be free of the coldness this world has fallen under. That part is outweighed by the one that desperately wants you back in my arms however and I hope that you are still following our trail.
I don't know if you already saw the grave in the front of town or not. It all happened so fast. One minute we were just wandering around like normal, well normal by today's standards. When these men came out of the woods and held us at gunpoint. If it wasn't for her then Lola would be. She died protecting her and I hate for you to find out this way. I don't know what to do anymore sweetie, our family keeps falling away one member at a time and I can't take anymore of you leaving me. Please Lincoln, my special boy find us. I need you here with us, your sisters need you with us, and I can see it in her eyes. Ronnie-Anne is still deeply affected by you're missing presence, we all need you baby, now more than ever.
Like I said in the previous note, we're going to keep moving east, hopefully we'll find a place we can stay at for longer than a week soon.
With love, your family.
By he time Richard finished the letter he and Lincoln had made it close to the front of town. Richard saw Lincoln on his knees by a small wooden cross on the side of the road. The cross was planted into a disturbed patch of earth, the grave looks like it wasn't made recently. Maybe a couple weeks. There was a name carved into the horizontal board on the cross.
Here lies Lana Loud. Beloved sister and daughter. The one who could fix it all.
And another one bites the dust. How did it happen? When did it happen? Will Lincoln ever find his family? These questions and more will be answered in the sequel "Returning Who Was Lost". Be on the lookout for it in the future, I might try my hand at some one-shots or smaller stories before posting it however, we'll see. Anyways see you all next time, I hope you've all enjoyed my first story.
