Survivors: A Walking Dead Story

Chapter 42: Journey through the Snow

Connor and Morgan walked through the snow, their footprints leaving a trail behind them as they walked. Connor looked around as they walked, their surroundings were safe for now, not a walker in sight.

Connor looked back at Morgan who was trying to keep up with him, he rubbed his injured shoulder as he moved. They both felt the bitter frost digging at them, but they kept on going.

"How much further for today?" asked Morgan.

Connor looked up ahead and saw a small abandoned building in the distance.

"there we'll stop there" said Connor pointing towards the building.

Morgan looked to where Connor was pointing.

"okay" said Morgan.

The two of them continued forwards battling the frost. Neither one spoke as they moved. Connor saw the building getting closer, he longed to get out of this snow. Connor approached the building and tried the door handle. The handle was cold and slippery from the snow, but he managed to push it down and opened the door. The pair of them entered the dry building. Connor shoved the door closed and immediately felt the temperature increase a little. Morgan took a look around the building, it seemed to be abandoned, but they knew to check every corner first. As they looked around, they realised they were in an old warehouse.

The pair headed off in separate directions.

"be careful" said Connor.

"will do" replied Morgan.

Connor passed a door that had the words.

Supervisor's Office, written on it.

Connor slowly pushed the door open keeping his rifle at the ready. He entered the office to see a walker stumbling about, it must have been the Supervisor, the person was dressed in a suit which was now all torn up from over two years of wear and tear. The walker luckily enough wasn't facing Connor, he crept up behind it and swung his rifle cracking the walker in the head and knocking it to the office floor. Connor swiftly followed up with a stomp to its head crushing it's skull in. After dealing with the walker Connor searched the office and only found a bottle of Rum.

"guess I could use this to clean Morgan's shoulder" said Connor putting the bottle in his bag.

Connor exited the office to hear a gunshot ring out somewhere in the warehouse.

Connor heart leaped and he took to a sprint, he ran towards the source of the sound and found Morgan standing over a downed walker.

"you okay?" asked Connor.

"yeah the damn thing crept up on me, didn't have a second to think just fired" said Morgan.

"alright, I found some Rum, could use it to clean your shoulder" said Connor.

"good, we'll do that after we finish off clearing this place" said Morgan.

"sounds like a plan" said Connor.

The two continued to examine the warehouse over the next half an hour. They searched every nook and cranny and were satisfied there was no walkers in the building. As Morgan sat down on the floor and checked on his shoulder, Connor was busy checking any old boxes that littered the place for supplies.

"find anything good?" asked Morgan.

"no such luck, the place seems mostly scavenged" said Connor.

"damn it" said Morgan.

Connor abandoned the boxes and returned to Morgan who was removing the bandages, wincing every few seconds from the pain.

"here let me do it" said Connor.

"fine" said Morgan.

Connor slowly began to unwrap the bandages, taking great care to not hurt Morgan. He finished taking the bandages off to see Morgan's injury, the wound was healing well but it still needed to be taken care off. Connor pulled the half bottle of Rum out of his bag and used an old shirt he kept in the bag for extra warmth and poured a small bit of Rum on it.

"this is gonna suck" said Morgan.

Connor placed the shirt against the wound and began to clean it. Morgan let out a grunt of pain as the shirt touched his wound. Slowly Connor began to clean the injury when behind them the sound of a door opening was heard.

"well holy shit" said a deep voice.

Connor turned to see a middle-aged man with a young boy by his side. They both had rifles in their hands.

The man shut the door as him and the boy entered the warehouse.

"we don't want any trouble" said Connor.

"don't worry, you weren't gonna get any" said the man as he grabbed a box and sat down on it, the boy doing the same.

"so, what's your name" asked the man.

"Connor this here is Morgan" said Connor.

"I'm Jack this here's my boy Alex" said Jack.

"hello" said Alex he had a light voice, almost like he hadn't finished puberty yet.

"that looks nasty" said Jack pointing at Morgan's shoulder.

"yeah he's lucky to be alive" said Connor.

"well its good he pulled through" said Jack.

"so, where you guys heading?" asked Connor.

"no idea yet, we're just heading from place to place right now, trying to survive" said Jack.

Connor got a good look at Jack as he spoke, he was a stocky man who wore heavy black boots and trousers, he also had on a large puffy brown jacket with a fluffy hood. He had on thick black gloves that were still clutching his rifle. He looked about 5"10 give or take an inch. The boy Alex was the opposite he was skinny and thin, barely looked 14, he looked like if he tried to fire his rifle it would knock him on his ass.

"you guys know how to take of yourselves?" asked Connor.

"I know how to knock a few heads if the need arises" said Jack.

"I can handle myself" said Alex trying to sound tough.

"good, you should be able to handle danger" said Connor.

"what about you two?" asked Jack.

"we're heading up North, heading towards a place called Wellington" said Connor.

"what's that?" asked Alex.

"supposed to be a community, heard them broadcasting on a radio for people to come join them, wanted to head up there earlier but Morgan's injury made us hunker down for a while" said Connor.

"sounds nice, maybe we should head their son" said Jack looking at Alex.

"I'd like that" said Alex.

"don't suppose you mind having two more people on this trip?" asked Jack.

"um sure I guess, strength in numbers and all that" said Connor.

Alex nodded.

"well I don't know about you guys but I'm starving" said Morgan.

Connor picked up his bag and fished out the last tin of food they had. Connor used his knife and peeled it open, he handed the tin over to Morgan, they knew they had to share it as it was the last scrap of food they had.

"c'mon Alex, you don't mind us settling into a room here do ya?" asked Jack.

"go ahead man there's plenty of room" said Connor.

The two-left leaving Connor and Morgan alone to themselves.

"what do you think of them?" asked Connor quietly.

"they seem okay" said Morgan as he ate.

"I hope they're not gonna bring us trouble" said Connor.

"I'll keep an eye on the boy" said Morgan.

"and I'll watch Jack" said Connor.

Outside the sun began to set and the night rolled in, the temperature decreased, the cold bit at their skin as they tried to keep warm. Connor broke apart a few of the wooden boxes and used them to create a small and easy to control fire to give them warmth. Connor rubbed his hands. As he got warm Jack came out of the Supervisor's office and sat down with them.

"I need to take a leak" said Morgan.

"then go dude, don't need to announce that shit" said Connor.

Morgan stood up and walked off to find a place to pee.

As they were left alone the two entered an awkward silence. Connor noticed Jack was still holding his rifle.

"you know me, and Alex used to be part of a community" said Jack.

"did you now" said Connor.

"yeah, we joined them over a year ago, they helped me, and my boy survive, I'd do anything for him, it wasn't the best place, but it was survival" said Jack.

Connor's suspicion grew, was this guy from the smilers.

"what happened to the community you were with?" asked Connor.

"it got overrun by walkers" said Jack.

"I'm sorry" said Connor.

"I survived, dragged my boy out of that mess and into the wilderness again, I don't know what would happen to me if I lost him" said Jack.

"no parent would ever want to go through that" said Connor.

"yeah, our worst nightmare, but the thing is, it wasn't just walkers that caused our community to collapse, there was discord between some of our people over leadership, then a battle erupted" said Jack.

Connor knew now without a doubt, this was a smiler. The room was quite dark, the only light coming from the fire, Connor slowly reached out for a piece of wood that was near him.

"I know you're the ones who caused it and killed several of them" said Jack.

"I'm sorry it happened, but you must know we didn't want any of that to happen, we never wanted to be in your community, they kidnapped us" said Connor.

"I know, but I had friends there, I almost died there, my son was almost taken from me" said Jack rubbing his rifle his voice growing louder.

"and I apologise for that, but they shouldn't have kidnapped us, they cut me up, killed a good friend of mine just to prove a point and wouldn't let us leave, we had no choice" said Connor gripping a piece of wood in his hand.

"I know, I know, you know when I was travelling I hoped I would find you guys, I didn't know exactly what I would do, but I was angry about what you did, but I don't know anymore" said Jack.

"me and my friend, we don't want any trouble, let us leave" said Connor.

"and how do I know you won't get us killed, like you got all the smilers killed, you think you were the only innocent people there" said Jack.

"no" said Connor.

"and they died because of you, maybe you should be punished" said Jack.

"don't do this Jack, think this through" said Connor.

"I am, I need to think of everyone else, are you a threat, maybe" said Jack aiming his rifle towards Connor.

"aren't we all a threat, in our own ways" said Connor.

"I don't" said Jack.

Before he could finish his sentence, Connor swung the plank of wood and hit Jack round the head. Jack fell sideways clutching his head. Connor jumped on top of Jack and pushed the rifle away from him. Jack grabbed Connor by the throat and tried to choke him out. Connor reached for the wood and swung it again, Jack's face was bleeding from the strike. The plank broke at the end becoming jagged and sharp.

"damn you for making me do this" said Connor.

He plunged the plank into Jack's left eye killing him instantly. The plank sunk right down through his brain. Connor felt his grip loosen on his throat.

Connor climbed off Jack and stood up.

"what the fuck" shouted a voice from behind him.

Connor spun round to see Alex staring straight at him.

"you son a bitch" said Alex loading his rifle.

He aimed the gun at Connor but before he could pull the trigger a gunshot rang out, a bullet fired straight through Alex's head and into the wall, blood spurting out into the wall nearby. Alex's body went limp instantly and crumpled to the floor. Connor turned to see Morgan aiming his pistol.

"holy shit, I just killed a kid" said Morgan.

Connor had nothing to say, just shocked silence as he stared at Alex's dead body.

End of Chapter 42