Survivors: A Walking Dead Story
Chapter 11: Return
Connor awoke on Jim's couch. He looked down at his thigh to see that the knife had been removed and the wound cleaned and stitched up. His leg was still causing his great pain whenever he tried to move his leg. A noise could be heard from what Connor thought was the kitchen.
"Jim is that you" said Connor.
"yeah it's me hang on I'll be there in a minute" said Jim.
Connor laid there in silence as he waited for Jim to enter the room. After a few minutes Jim entered carrying a tray. On the tray it had a bottle of water and some tablets. There was also a tin of soup freshly made. He set the tray down on the table in front of the couch.
"here I got you some food and some painkillers with some water" said Jim.
"thank you" replied Connor.
Connor grabbed the bottle of water and twisted off the lid, he opened the pack of painkillers and took out a couple of tablets. He gulped them down with some water. Connor was ravenous and soon began to eat from the soup tin. Jim had even placed a little spoon in the tin for him to eat with.
"how long was I out?" asked Connor.
"about a day" said Jim.
"god everyone at the school must think I'm dead by now" said Connor.
"what happened you turn up on my doorstep bleeding like a stuck pig and a knife sticking out of your thigh?" asked Jim.
"Darren happened, we were out on a scavenging mission trying to get supplies from a store, then the fool fires off his gun bringing a horde of Walkers on top of us, then me and him got separated from everyone and had to fend for ourselves, we hid behind a car to get away from them, and to wait them out, he took my gun, told me some lie so I'd give it to him, then he stabbed me and left me for dead" said Connor.
"the holy fuck, what did he do that for" said Jim.
"he thinks he's saving everyone because they all follow me and not him, he wants to leave and head south, but I disagreed, so by getting rid of me he hopes that the school will back him up and leave to head south" said Connor.
"that is unfathomably stupid" said Jim.
"yep, but for all I know it could have worked, I need to get back there and find out" said Connor, he tried to stand up from the couch.
"you're not going anywhere not on that leg, you need to rest" said Jim standing up to push Connor back down.
"I'm sorry Jim but I need to get going before something bad really happens, besides you can't stop me" said Connor.
"well I'm healthy and not injured and you are, so I think I could stop you pretty easily" said Jim.
"whatever, I need to go now" said Connor.
"no god damn it you'll just make yourself worse" said Jim.
"then come with me" said Connor.
"w w what" said Jim.
"come with me, you can help me if your so worried" said Connor.
"no, no I can't do that it's too risky" said Jim.
"if what I suspect is true Jim, you won't have much choice, if the school leaves and follows Darren then you won't have any way to get supplies" said Connor.
Jim started to think about what he was saying.
"we need to go now" said Connor, he moved closer to Jim and winced from the pain.
"your right about that Connor, but I have enough supplies to last a couple of weeks, so we're staying here" said Jim.
"what can I say to convince you" said Connor.
"nothing Connor, there's nothing thing you can say to convince me to take you back to the school right now" said Jim.
"Okay Jim, my family is at that school, I can't leave them there with Darren, he just tried to kill a person and now he wants to march them up south, I can't lose them again" said Connor.
"you seriously are not gonna let this go are you" said Jim.
"nope now please help me" said Connor.
"alright" I'll help you, we'll leave soon, god I can't believe I'm about to do this" said Jim.
Jim stood up and left the room taking the tray with him. Connor attempted to stand up on his feet. Connor wobbled a little but was able to stay on his feet. Connor limped forward and looked at a set of drawers, on top of the drawers was a family picture. Connor looked closer, it was Jim his wife and little girl.
"I'm sorry Jim" whispered Connor.
Connor turned away and limped into the kitchen to see Jim. Jim was busy putting some tins of soup and beans into a backpack.
"oh, you're up walking, good I was afraid you'd need assistance" said Jim.
"I can walk just fine" said Connor.
"okay I'm gonna pack some food then grab some weapons and we'll head off" said Jim.
"how are we getting there" said Connor.
"I have a car downstairs, it hasn't been touched" said Jim.
"great, least we'll get there quick" said Connor.
"do you have anything to protect yourself?" asked Jim.
"just my knife" replied Connor.
"I can give you some guns, wait here" said Jim.
Jim headed downstairs to grab some guns, after a few long minutes Jim returned with a medium sized duffel bag.
"you guys can take some more weapons to help, I've thrown in some ammo, also here you go" said Jim.
Jim handed Connor a holster with a revolver in it.
"not like your last one, but it's just as good" said Jim.
"thanks Jim now let's go" said Connor.
The two left the apartment, Connor wore the backpack while Jim carried the duffel bag of guns and ammo. They slowly descended the stairs, Jim had to wait for Connor who was trying to walk down without hurting himself too much. The area around the building was clear not a walker in sight.
"they cleared out pretty quickly they were drawn away by a car alarm that triggered" said Jim as they approached his blue car.
They climbed in putting the bags in the backseat. Connor sat in the passenger seat as Jim put the car into Drive.
Elsewhere
On an abandoned road several vehicles were driving south. One vehicle was a van inside the van was Morgan, Alannah, Achilles, Gail and Ali. Tina was upfront driving with Bo in the passenger seat.
"man, how the fuck did that all go to shit" said Morgan.
"the fence collapsed again, we should have made more precautions" said Achilles.
"all those people gone, and now we don't even know where we're going" said Morgan.
"Darren knows" said Gail.
"we can't trust that asshole" said Morgan.
"yeah we know you two don't get along" said Ali.
"if you guys hadn't have separated us, I would have beaten the truth out of him" said Morgan.
"Morgan, things happen, people make mistakes, we can't hold onto things that bring trouble like that, right now we need to focus on what's important, and right now that's finding a new home" said Ali.
"whatever, I'm just saying he's hiding something" said Morgan.
The group fell silent as they continued to drive south.
Back at the school
Jim and Connor pulled up outside the school. There wasn't anyone on the gate.
"strange where's the guard" said Connor.
"maybe on a break" said Jim.
"no there's always someone on" said Connor.
"let's drive around and see if there's anyone around" said Jim.
The two of them slowly drove around the outside of the school looking for anyone. Eventually they came to the fence that collapsed when the horde attacked. The fence had fallen again.
"no, no, no" said Connor.
"that does not look good" said Jim.
Connor hoped out of the car, and quickly limped towards the fence.
"this can't be happening" said Connor. Connor stepped onto the fence and entered the school.
The school looked abandoned, no-one was around. Connor knew what had happened. The walkers got in and everyone fled. Connor looked at the fence and noticed something. The ropes binding the fence didn't become untied or snapped, they were cut, the rope clearly looked like it had been slashed. Anger rose in Connor's stomach. He knew what happened.
"that motherfucker" shouted Connor.
"what's going on" said Jim.
"Darren, he slashed these ropes let the fence fall, he must have, just to prove a god damned point" said Connor.
"surely there's an explanation" said Jim.
"no, he did this I know it deep down" said Connor.
The two decided to check out the school. As they turned a corner, they could see the destruction. Dead bodies littered the ground, blood caked everywhere. Connor recognised some of the bodies, someone had made sure they were all put down with gun shots to the head. There was Trish, Amy Jake's mother, Timothy a young man in his mid-twenties, he wore big glasses ahead of brown eyes. One body made Connor drop to his knees. He looked at one of the fallen survivors. It was his little sister Chey, with several bite marks all over her body. Tears flowed from his eyes. His hands shook from anger and sadness.
"Darren your gonna die" said Connor lightly.
Connor looked towards the field.
"we have to bury them" said Connor.
"okay" said Jim, he didn't want to speak much he was afraid of upsetting Connor even further.
A few hours later
The two of them managed to bury all the dead community members. Connor built a little shrine highlighting his sister's grave.
"I'm gonna find Mom and she will okay" said Connor tearfully. Connor kissed his hand and lightly touched the shrine.
"let's go" said Connor.
The two returned to the car.
"I'm going to find them, they're heading south" said Connor.
"how are you going to do that, you're in no condition for long walking" said Jim.
"I'll be fine, there's some cars in a parking lot, I'll take one of them" said Connor.
"I'm sorry but I can't go with you, I just can't" said Jim.
"don't worry about Jim, just promise me you'll stay safe" said Connor.
"I will here take the backpack and the duffel bag of weapons to help you" said Jim.
"thanks Jim, for everything, without your help I may not be here today, you're a great man" said Connor.
"you two Connor just promise me when you find them, you won't give in to anger and do something you'll regret" said Jim.
"I will Jim" said Connor.
The two shook hands Jim got into his vehicle and soon he was gone. Connor sighed and grabbed the bags, he limped towards the parking lot to see a vehicle sitting in the middle of it. He Opened the back-car door and placed the two bags onto the seats. Connor climbed into the front seat. He found the keys, Connor put them in the ignition and switched the car on. He carefully pressed down on the accelerator luckily it didn't cause him any real pain. The car slowly left the school and Connor was off heading south to find the remains of his group, behind him he took one last look at the school before leaving it forever.
End of Chapter 11