Chapter 27:
"You better find shelter before nightfall. It's going to get cold."She barely listened to Sergeant Harrison Yates has he gave the orders to open the gate.
"I'm not going."Liane hadn't even packed her bags. While she spent time packing Liane had put her stuff away in the closet provided for them. "I-I can't go back out there. I just can't"
"You got to be fucking kidding me right?" She saved Liane's life in the woods. She'd been dragging Liane along the ride ever since. She saved her ass countless times and this was how she repaid her for it. The betrayal stung. She felt the hot rage swelling inside her. "After all that time you're just going to ditch me so you can bang the big bad?"
"That isn't a life Classi. I don't want to be cold, tired and hungry anymore. I don't want to be outside during winter. I've made up my mind."Liane could not be swayed. No matter what she couldn't talk her out of her foolish decision.
"Are you going or staying?"Yates asked with urgency as the men on the wall looked nervous. "I'm closing the gate so you better make up your mind now."
"Fine."She slung her backpack over her shoulder and stormed out of Westwood without looking back. She hoped Liane could hear her. "You'll probably just hold me back anyway."
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PC Principal trained against the cops. He didn't have much time to train and they were holding Randy's trial that evening. Even after her nap she still wasn't refreshed. The baby's paternity weighed heavily on her mind even though both her husband and Sharon Marsh had confirmed that Randy Marsh is sterile and it just wasn't possible. She still wondered how Barbrady even put up with her after all she'd done. To her surprise he still supported her and he had his arm around her shoulder as they supervised the last minute training.
PC Principal knocked Peterson out cold with one blow. He might be strong and Randy might be chained in the barn without the advantage of added training, but she still worried her side could lose.
"I think he'll win. He is strong enough if he can beat up my men."Barbrady seemed confident. He asked again that morning if he could take Peter's place and drag Randy through the mud. She refused to let him. It was bad enough there was a chance they could lose PC Principal during the fight.
"It looks like he'll win."Katherine was going through a red leather bound occult book like she was looking for something. Her young daughter and the other kids gathered around to watch the training.
She realised that even though she didn't like the idea they would have to learn combat and survival skills in order to survive the new would. It was supposed to be part of their new school curriculum but she'd been so preoccupied with Randy and his stupid trial she hadn't had the time to implement it.
"You'll help train the children won't you Peter?"She asked after Mitch and Murphy lost a round of fighting against him.
"Sure thing Mayor."He chugged two bottles of water and a Gatorade. "Anyone else? Any other challengers?"
"Save it for tonight Peter. You need energy for that fight."She didn't want him worn out for his fight. She even made sure he'd had a proper meal beforehand while Randy Marsh would be lucky to get breadcrumbs.
"What makes you think he won't lose?"Alexander asked Katherine as Keisha told McDaniels she'd volunteer to watch the little kids back at the cabin while the trial took place.
"Pc Principal's name isn't in here."She'd been through the book dozens of times. "It doesn't look like Mr. Marsh's name is in here either, but he could still lose."
"Let me know as soon as his name turns up in that book kid."She took her husband back to the cabin with her. She wanted some time alone before she started preparing dinner. After the evening meal she would know the fates of both Randy Marsh and Peter Charles Principal.
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She wished she had more clothes. Liane was right about one thing. Westwood was warm. It was about the only thing she did like about it. She just couldn't trust the Big Bad Government Guy and his leadership. Westwood looked nice. It drew people in because it reminded them of what it was like before the apocalypse started. They lived under the illusion that they were safe. She quickly realised that despite the cold she would rather be where she was. She recalled a conversation with her goddaughter Katherine McDaniels Barbrady – formally Katherine Holloway before Mayor McDaniels and Officer Barbrady adopted her – about a Big Bad Government Guy. The same one in charge of Westwood fit Kat's description of Government Guy who tried to blow up South Park and made a cover story about a Taco Bell coming to South Park. They were determined no one outside South Park knew about the Nazi zombies that plagued South Park at the time.
Katherine and even Randy Marsh had suspected something was up from the beginning. The other thing that unnerved her was the mention of experiments and how Towelie denied knowledge of it and brushed her off.
She wasn't as far enough away from the town of Westwood as she'd like to be. Since Liane Cartman had chosen a man over a friend she decided to go looking for Katherine or anyone else she might know. She knew Mary McDaniels had a cabin in the mountains and that's exactly where she was planning on going. She'd been once before just after Katherine's adoption was made official. Mayor McDaniels asked her to be Katherine's Godmother and since she couldn't decide between them both Big Gay Al and Mr. Slave were asked to be Katherine's godfathers.
It was going to be a hike just to get to the cabin. She didn't care. If Katherine and her family were there she knew she could trust them. She just wished she'd thought to take extra food and warmer clothes for her trip. At the very least she had her sword back to protect her from the dead and in this cold they moved much slower. She pulled her fluffy leopard print jacket around her and trudged up the hill. Anywhere was better than Westwood.
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He wondered if maybe Classi could lead him to Barbrady. He had a feeling his former superior was still alive. Even though they were best friends in the past he felt nothing but searing hatred for Police Chief George Barbrady. Because they left him behind on the roof he had no choice but to amputate his own hand.
Even though the good people of Westwood found him and patched him up even fitting him with what he thought was a pretty sweet prosthetic he still yearned for revenge.
He even managed to convince Government Guy – who was preoccupied with seducing Liane Cartman to his bed – that Classi was a threat to Westwood and she would – if she found other people – bring them back to their town and wage war on them. There were plenty of people living in the wilderness with the dead would want to take a place such as Westwood for themselves. The minute he said that he smirked. He had Big Bad Government Guy by the balls. He knew the one thing he feared most was losing the town, the respect from the people and his leadership. He smirked and used this to his advantage.
"You can leave on your mission tomorrow morning."Government Guy said just has he handpicked his team to accompany him. "Too much snow tonight and you may as well stay for the party and tonight's entertainment. You are part of it after all."
"I just need to organise a few things first sir."He introduced the team he'd handpicked and Government Guy gave them approval to leave with him at dawn. "I'll need supplies for the trip as well. My team needs to eat."
"I'll have Mackey pack bags for all of you."Government Guy assured him everything would be taken care of . "Just relax and enjoy the show for now."
He intended to. At least he had something to focus on while he waited for daybreak.
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She was able to pick up her pace and she knew she wasn't too much further from her destination. She just hoped she hadn't trudged all this way in the freezing cold for nothing. Bitter cold blew through her clothes. She wasn't going to make it before nightfall and looking at the sky she knew it was going to rain. Up ahead she noticed a small shack and then an abandoned farmhouse. It would have to do for now as she'd fallen over twice trudging through the snow. She wished she had a horse because at least it would get her there quicker. She quickly searched the property when she got to it. The shack was warm enough on its own and had plenty of dry hay bales that would make suitable bedding. She decided to check the farmhouse as well since it could have extra supplies she might need inside. Peering through the windows she couldn't see any movement inside but that didn't mean the house was empty. Other people may have made it theirs or a few dead fucks were trapped inside, which usually turned out to be the case in most properties she checked when she roamed the wilderness with Liane.
As soon as she broke the lock on the door she made a whistling sound hoping to attract any zombies roaming inside. She whistled again and proceeded to knock loudly just to be sure. She jumped out of her skin when she heard a dog whining behind her. She was shocked to see a full grown wolf staring at her and she realised her whistling must've alerted it. He was tall and if the grey and white beast lunged it would easily overpower her. She withdrew her sword from its sheath. If the animal was a threat she could always make a warmer coat from its pelt and make a meal with the meat from the animal. She didn't come this far to become a wolf's dinner. The wolf lowered his head in submission and whined. All it wanted was to come inside. He was just as wet, cold, tired and hungry as she was. She was stunned, but figured she could use the company. At the very least she could use him against good old Sergeant Yates when he finally came from her. If he hadn't started yet she knew he was going to pursue her.
"Come on homie."The wolf followed her inside and merely watched as she barricaded the house preparing to spend the night. "Maybe they got dog food you can have."
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She hadn't seen all of Westwood yet. The arena was massive and people started piling in and took their seats. The party had just begun according to Government Guy.
"That was just a barbeque picnic so the kids didn't miss out on the fun." Government Guy told her.
He had his arm around her as he led her inside and they took their seats. She was starting to like him and didn't mind him holding her hand.
"What's going on?" She still didn't know what to expect from the festivities they had planned for the people of Westwood. She looked around and noticed she was the only one clueless and therefore not over excited as they were. She sat quietly next to Mr. Mackey with Towelie seated nearby. At least there were people she knew in Westwood. She wondered what Eric would have thought of this place.
"I'm betting on Yates, the undefeated champion." Towelie put some of his weed stash into the betting pool. There was a bookie going around in case anyone wanted to place a bet.
"Is this a fight?" She asked as the crowd's excitement peaked her interest.
"If you thought cage fighting was good before you should see it now." Towelie said as Yates and another man were circling each other in the arena.
"Come on Government Guy let em' loose!" Yates shouted as four tethered zombies surrounded Yates and his opponent with each one trying and failing to grab at the pieces of meat that taunted them in the arena.
"T-this is entertainment?" She was in two minds about what she saw. The people cheering in the crowd didn't see the threat in the arena. Yates was doing a good job pissing one rotting bag of flesh off and if that one was let loose he'd lunge. The male zombie who'd been dead for quite some time lunged at Yates who remained just out of reach.
Yates threw his head back and laughed. "Come and get me pussy!"
The oblivious crowd cheered for him. She suddenly recognised the man he was fighting and he stood no chance against Harrison Yates who used to be Police Chief Barbrady's right hand man on the South Park Police Force. It was one of the Star Trek dorks that used to live across the street from her during the outbreak.
"This isn't a fight to the death is it?" She asked suddenly feeling like she'd faint. The idea repulsed her. It was absolutely barbaric.
Yates let one of the zombies off its chain and pushed the snarling dead man towards his defenceless opponent. "Go get him!"
Harrison didn't even have to fight. The zombie chased his meal around the arena until he ran out of breath and lunged at its exhausted target. When the beast was distracted and eating Yates drove the blade fitted to his prosthetic into the zombie and the dead man's skulls respectively.
"We don't ever let our own turn." Government Guy told her as he handed her a drink.
She drained it in disbelief. There were still three more rounds and three more challengers to go. It was going to be a long night.