[Chapter 8] Off We Go
'We will.' Thomas said eventually, answering Mack's final words before he passed away as a result of blood loss. He promised to look after the girl and make sure she wouldn't get hurt. She was old enough to take care of herself, but Mack had always been there to protect her. Now that he was gone, someone else had to pick up the vacant job.
Mason got up from the ground after staring to the pattern of the wooden floor for a few minutes and walked towards the balcony. Barbie followed him and put his left hand on his naked, right shoulder.
'You promised me he was going to be alright.' Mason cried, pushing his hand away. Why was he crying about a man he barely knew? Was he crying about Mack or was it just because they lost someone?
'I did. And I failed to keep my promise to you. I'm sorry.' Barbie spoke truthfully.
'What if I didn't run into that man? Would Rais have shot Mack anyway?' Mason asked, blaming himself for what happened.
'We'll never know. But don't even think it's your fault. I promised to you that we would get him out of there safe… and I failed to keep my promise.'
Mason nodded, but barely saved the words in his head. His brain was working overtime to process any kind of new information. Barbie patted him on the back and walked back. He was going to carry the body of Mack back home. Addison had the right to see him one final time before they gave him a proper funeral.
Before leaving the building, Mason picked up a purple T-shirt from the found objects stash and put it on to cover his upper body again.
After a long walk, they finally arrived at the place only Mason had not seen before. Thomas knocked on the front door three times and a female voice asked for a password. The kid spoke three Latin words. A pretty, small woman with dark brown hair, wearing a police uniform opened the door with her gun ready. It was an action out of precaution in case someone of their group had given the password to a stranger. Once she saw Thomas and Barbie she opened the door much further and let them in. Mason looked at her with a made up smile to thank her, but his red eyes made the action look weak. The woman led them through a small hallway to a small room where a few people were working hard on all kinds of things. Some were cleaning and repairing weapons, others were discussing possible options for the safety of their hideout.
Addison was sitting in the corner, still recovering from her torture, reading a book about a kid going to a school for witchcraft and wizardry. When she saw Thomas she got up a little too excited. Her happy face turned into a pale mess when she saw Mack being laid on the ground by Barbie. She immediately realized that he wasn't going to respond to her. She dropped the book and fell on the ground grasping his hair and shirt, drowning his face with her tears of pain.
Mason couldn't bear seeing Addison like this and walked back to the hallway and sat down once again. It was the moment he realized why he was crying earlier and why he had so much trouble seeing the girl in such a pain. The last time he had someone close to him pass away was when his grandfather died. The death of Mack and the girl crying about his passing reminded him of that moment four years ago. All the grief, all the emotions of that certain moment years ago, took him right back to that place.
'Who's the boy you brought in?' the woman asked Barbie.
'His name is Mason. He's a… friend of Thomas and the girl. And Mack.' Barbie said to the woman.
'I need to interrogate him like everyone else. Anything I need to know about him before I do that?'
'Linda, give him a moment for pity's sake. They just lost someone dear to them.'
'I understand the situation, but we can't take any chances these days. I'll go easy on him, trust me.'
'Fine. He's in the hallway.' Barbie sighed, frustrated about his plan going south.
Linda found Mason, but instead of taking him to her usual interrogation spot in a side room, she sat down on the floor in front of him and looked him in the eyes with her knees pulled up to her chin, crossing her arms around them.
'I know this is a horrible timing for you, but I have to ask you a few questions.' Linda tried to smile at him. He nodded as an agreement. He understood the need for it.
First of all she asked him a few simple questions about the number of walkers and humans he had killed, what he did before the world went to hell and what his importance could be for the group in the future. The first two were easy to answer, but he had to think a long time about the third question. He wasn't good at anything. He couldn't even kill someone without hesitating, even if they were a threat to him and his friends.
'The only thing I've ever been good at is working with computers. But since the electricity is dead in this world and no need to use computers, I don't see how that can come in handy.'
'We'll figure it out for you. Welcome to our community.' she smiled and offered to help him back up on his feet, but he didn't move from the ground. He was glad she was gone sooner than expected.
'Figure it out? Yeah, right. I've never been good at anything. Most certainly not in this world.' Mason thought as Linda walked back to the group.
Meanwhile Barbie took Linda aside for an important conversation about the current status of the city.
'Rais may be dead, but his gang is still in control of the city. I really think we should broaden or horizons and look for options outside Atlanta.' Barbie suggested.
'We've finally settled down here and now you want us to leave again?' Linda asked.
'I want us to be safe. Rais' men will do everything to take revenge for what happened to their leader. They will do to us what Rais would've have done, and we don't have the numbers nor the firepower to fight them. It's the only option if we want to keep these people safe.' Barbie said. Linda knew he was right, but she didn't want to leave the city where she grew up as a kid and let it be taken down by the remainders of Rais' regime.
'Give me the rest of the day to think about it.' Linda said, walking away into a separated room where she could be alone with her thoughts.
Mason walked back to the entrance of the building and looked through the windows onto the streets. Should he just walk out, find Rais' men and walk into a hailstorm of gunfire? Probably not, but it seemed like the only justice for letting Mack die. As he put his hand on the doorknob, Addison asked him where he thought he was going. Mason didn't have the guts to respond to her.
'I asked you a question.' she said stern. Her tears had cleared her face from all the dirt that was on it. Her eyes were stained with a deep, red color. But her voice wasn't showing any signs of her grief. Mack's death made her stronger, it seemed.
'Out.' Mason responded eventually, but Addison didn't accept that for an answer.
'To risk your own life again?' she said. Mason put his head against the door and sighed. Addison pushed him away from the door so he couldn't get out of the building.
'Barbie told me everything. How he promised you to take full responsibility, because you knew he wasn't going to survive this. And how you blame yourself for Mack's death.'
'If I didn't throw myself at Rais' guy, Mack could've still been alive.' Mason growled.
'He wouldn't. I know Mack. He would've gone to a dark place in an attempt to take Rais down. Even if you got him back here.' Addison cried.
'You really want to know why I want to leave?' Mason asked eventually. Addison nodded.
', People die when I'm around. People lose their loved ones when I get close to them. You lost Mack, but he wasn't the first one. That's why I want to leave. Live this world on my own terms, in an attempt to keep the good people alive by staying away from them.'
Addison felt sorry for the way Mason felt. She felt sorry that he saw himself as a bad person surrounded by good people.
'What if you were just in the wrong place at the wrong time?' Addison tried.
'If that's what it is then I'm an attractor of trouble. And that's why I have to leave.' Mason answered. He didn't want to leave these people, but he didn't want them to die either. It was a hard call to make. Addison could be right about being in the wrong place at the wrong time.
'Fine. You can leave. But I'm coming with you. And so is Thomas.' Addison said dedicated. She and Thomas trusted Mason and weren't going to leave him alone. Meanwhile Barbie and Linda were having the same conversation about leaving Atlanta again, even though Linda said she needed the rest of the day to think about the options.
'Rais' men have the streets on lockdown. All the food and water is controlled by them and as far as I know you can only receive bits by trading for medicine and bullets. High prices. And after what went down, they certainly won't trade with us. We don't have enough strong people to get rid of them either. Our only option for survival on the long term is if we find another place far from Atlanta. There's no time to think about it for the rest of the day. You have to make this call… as our leader.'
'Are we the only group of survivors left in the city? Can't we just connect with others to fight the enemy together.'
'Even if there are others, Rais' men will outnumber us. What you see on the streets is only half of his group. He may be dead, but that only inspires his men to fight harder and make his plans work. We don't stand a chance, with or without help from the outside.'
'Where do you want to go then?' Linda asked him, convinced that they weren't going to stay alive if they stayed in the city.
'South. Towards Columbus.' Barbie said.
'Fine. Tell everyone to get ready to leave. We leave the city with what we have and try to find a few more vehicles and supplies along the way.' Linda said. She understood the importance of leaving, but wasn't happy about it. Atlanta was her home.
They found out leaving Atlanta actually was a struggle. Some of Rais' men had to be killed in order to get out. No one got badly hurt, but Barbie ended up with a few cuts from letting one get too close.
Mack's body was taken into the forest. Mason and Thomas dug a hole with a shovel and their hands. After Addison said her goodbyes, kissed him on the head one last time and took off her necklace to go with Mack into the grave, combined with a lot of tears, they covered his body with dirt and sand again. There were no supplies to create a cross, so one of the unknown survivors Mason and Thomas had saved from the basement got a few rocks and put them down as a horizontal cross, marking Mack's final resting place. Burying Mack's body was the beginning of a new chapter in Addison's life. And while she missed him deeply, she was ready to fight for her life in the memory of her boyfriend. So they took off once again. The journey towards Columbus had begun.
