-Quentin's POV-
Upon arriving back at Rock Hill, I was met with a very unexpected surprise, as I felt something collide with me and nearly take me off my feet. Seconds later, I looked how to see a familiar wave of blonde hair hugging me tightly. "Quentin, thank you!"
The hair moved and I saw Amy looking at me with a massive smile, her eyes teary as she hugged me tightly. Not being able to help myself, I hugged her back, and I noticed Brock walk over to me, a smile on his face. "Quentin, I don't know how I can thank you." Brock said as he hugged me as well. "Think you can find me an airhead?" I asked, remembering that was the only candy I would willingly eat before the apocalypse. "You got it, I'll head into town as soon as I can and see if I can find it."
It was then that Amy raised her stump and moved it up and down. "Well, at least I can still shoot." Amy said with a smile. It was then that I noticed the lack of Gabriel. "Where's Gabriel?" I asked. "Gabriel said he had a surprise for Amy, and wanted to go get it." Brock replied.
"Hey, sorry to interrupt, but can we talk?" I heard Andrew ask. Leaving Brock and Amy behind, I followed Andrew over to the familiar gazebo where Colby told me about Amanda. "What's up Andrew?" I asked.
"I've been thinking, we should invite the leaders here to hash out terms, you know?" Andrew spoke. "If we want this alliance to get off the ground, we need to prove that we're serious about this."
"I see your point, but we can't exactly start now, especially since the Revivalists know what we're up to." Once I said that, I was instantly reminded of the trucks that came to the hotel, and a thought came into my mind. If there were trucks there, there'd likely be outposts as well. "Andrew, can we hold off on this?" I asked. "I just thought of something."
Andrew shrugged and left, and I went over to where Evan was being held, and noticed one of the residents, Drew standing guard. "Let me in." I requested. Drew stepped aside and I walked inside and down the stairs, where Evan was idly whistling a tune that I didn't recognize. "What's that?" I asked.
"Some old song, doesn't really matter." Evan replied. "So, you need anything?" I sat down in front of him. "How many outposts are there?" I asked. Evan hesitated, but a small glare from me shook him up. "There's about five, twenty-five of them at stationed at each one." Well, at least Garrison was close in determining how many Revivalists there were.
"Where are they?" I asked. Again, Evan hesitated, but I didn't have to glare at him this time for him to crack. "There's one at an old hardware store, Moe's or something, it's in Filbert." As I was about to ask him where the other outposts where, but suddenly, Andrew threw the door open.
"Quentin, get up here right now!"
At Andrew's urgent tone, I ran up the stairs, and Andrew led me to the entrance of the base, where, to my horror, a large group of Revivalists were standing there, Seth at the front. "I would like to speak to the leader." Seth spoke, and I slowly made my way over to Seth. "Hello?" I asked. "Ah, you're the leader." Seth said, a grin on his face. "It's nice to meet you." To my surprise, Seth outstretched his hand and, not wanting to annoy Seth, I shook his hand, much to his delight.
"Smart choice." Seth spoke. "What do you want?" I asked. "I'm aware that you have one of my followers in your home, keeping him hostage and using him to gain information on us." Seth replied. "I know that Evan is in there, and all I want is him back."
"Hell no!" I heard a voice say. Turning to my left, I noticed Lionel standing there with a rifle aiming at Seth, prompting a number of other Revivalists to aim at Lionel. "Lionel, stand down." I spoke in a calm voice. "Fuck you, we're not letting go of our only chance of winning!" Seth chuckled in response. "I had a feeling you were going to say that." Seth looked back at two of the Revivalists, a black man with a bandana and a bald man, and nodded.
Two of the revivalists moved aside to show a bound and gagged Gabriel, who I could tell was panicking despite the gag. "Now, we have one your people, and unless you don't want him to be killed, we'll be taking Evan." I looked back at where Evan was being held, and then at Amy, who was pleading with me to accept Seth's offer. Evan for Gabriel. I was about to open my mouth to reply, when Brock cut me off.
"Wait." Brock said, and stepped in front. "Take me instead." Amy looked at Brock astonished, whilst Seth gave Brock an amused stare. "Why should I?" Seth asked. "I'm a member of the council, I work on repairs and defenses, so I'm more valuable than him." Brock replied. Seth pursed his lips at Brock's response, as if pondering his offer.
"You're a brave man." Seth spoke with a smile, and gestured at the Revivalists to release Gabriel. "Don't worry Amy, I'll be fine." Brock said to a horrified Amy. He then looked at me and gave me a nod as a teenage boy began to bind him. "Alright, now we'll take-"
A gunshot rang out as the teenage boy's head shot back violently, then fell to the ground along with his body, a nice bullet hole right between his eyes. Looking around, I noticed Lionel aiming his rifle, the barrel smoking a bit, and Lionel himself was glaring daggers at Seth. Seth stood there for a while as he glanced down at the deceased Revivalists next to him. In response, Seth grabbed Gabriel as he was trying to walk away.
"This is compensation." Seth spoke in a menacing voice, and marched both Brock and Gabriel out of Rock Hill, as their prisoners.
And it was all Lionel's fault.
Next time...on the Hell that Runs
"You're goddamn useless!"
"How do we sneak in?"
"We're going to fight."
"I'd like to have a chat with you."
"Brother or Lover?"
EPISODE 4: THE FIRST SHOT
