Walking Dead: Dark Burdens

Chapter 23 of my Walking Dead story, enjoy.

Reviews

Boris Yeltsin: Of course not, do remember there are still a number of problems to be overcome after all.
Wolfgirl2013: Thanks :)

Now onto the story.

Disclaimer: I don't own Walking Dead or its characters.


Chapter 23: Revelations

Violet gasped, choking, trying to breath, her hands desperately clawing at his, closed around her throat. Markus' face was red as he continued to strangle the girl who was trying frantically to find some way to get him off her, struggling.

"You will meet your fate, devil spawn!" He raved. "Afflicting my friend Graham, ruining his life, ruining me. You will get what you deserve!"

Violet couldn't believe what she was hearing, the man was clearly insane. But her struggles were weakening, her vision fading, it was no good, the struggle was too much, she couldn't breathe. Violet however was saved by pure chance for at that moment the door opened and Clementine and Amy entered, seeing the murder attempt unfolding before their eyes. It was difficult to say exactly who reacted first but they were both on Markus before the man even seemed to register their appearance. Trying to restrain and pull him back; Markus roared and fought back against them, in the struggle Violet fell from her bed onto the floor with a yelp, coughing and gasping as she could breathe again. Amy cried out too as she was knocked back, hitting the nearby wall. Yet despite being the shortest of the three, Clementine proved deceptively strong, it was impossible for Markus to knock her back and, to make things worse for him, Clementine had, by instinct or design, managed to lock in a genuine sleeper hold on him.

"What the hell?!"

Clementine gasped out. "Finally...here's your...missing perp."

Recognising Markus Daniels right away, Molly, who had just entered, hurried forwards along with Shawn and Andre and Clem finally released Markus, allowing the police to arrest him.

Markus grunted and struggled, clearly still enraged, but Shawn and Andre led him out in cuffs. Meanwhile Amy and Clementine hurried to Violet who was still on the floor, trying to regain her equilibrium.

"M-mom, Clem?" She gasped.

Amy gently helped Violet up. "It's okay, he's gone. We've got you."

Clem nodded and helped Amy return Violet to bed.

"You'll be alright. It's over now." She added reassuringly. "We should probably call in the nurse, make sure-"

Violet replied at once. "Yeah, good idea. But...God, that was crazy, he was crazy."

"Yeah, tell me about it. "Clem muttered. "Strange, everything we've heard about him. Never thought he'd try something so, drastic and risky as outright murder, in a public place no less."

Musing on that for a moment, Molly then spoke up.

"Maybe it's like Violet said. Crazy. He was simply so enraged by all that's happened to him and his cult that he was just, not thinking clearly." She paused and then added. "Well, hopefully things will change soon and we'll get answers. Whatever the case, Miss Adlon, please just focus on your recovery."

With that she left and a nurse came in. Finally, after checking to make sure Violet was okay and would recover from the attack, permission was granted for Clem to stay in the hospital with her overnight. Meanwhile Amy had to leave to finish making arrangements for Violet to joined her in the sheltered accommodation where they would now be living. With a quick call to her family who confirmed they were okay with it, Clementine went to rejoin Violet, just glad that they finally caught Markus, now the nightmare could finally settle down.

XXXXX

The family home hadn't changed at all in three years, Sam couldn't help but note. It had been a relief to get home and from there she focused mainly on settling in, reconnecting with her family and Paige, working to try and put the past, the horror of the last three years, behind her. Finally out of her mother's oppressive control, she hadn't even looked in her or Greg's direction when they left the station, the two of them having joined the Delta protest. It was now night time and things were settling down, she had already changed for bed, relieved to wear normal clothes again, currently in a pair of pink button up pyjama pants and a matching top along with black slippers.

'Urgh, damn, I forgot how soft these things could be…' She thought to herself.

She then readied herself, her father had come up with the idea, a sort of celebration of her return, that they'd fetch an extra large blanket, big enough for the five of them, and all sit together on the sofa, covered by it, and watch a movie together. Of course there was the chance they'd fall asleep there, but they didn't mind that in the slightest.

"Sam."

She turned to see her father standing there, clad in dark green camo pyjama pants and a white T-shirt, looking worried.

Immediately reacting to this she hurried towards him.
"Dad, what's wrong?"

John sighed. "I...I don't know if you noticed, but James has been acting strangely, I'm worried."

Sam bit her lip. "Yeah...I, I did notice that. Mom seemed pretty concerned with getting him to join us at the homestead, even more than Alex."

"Yes, and he's been so scared ever since then. I'm worried he's hiding something but...I can't think what." John replied. "I was hoping you might-?"

"I have no idea dad, and I don't even know what to say or do…" Sam replied truthfully.

But, the worries about her brother wouldn't go away. So, shortly after her father headed to another room, Sam made her way upstairs, heading for James and Alex's room. She knocked on the door, receiving no answer she opened it and stepped in, nobody was there.

'Well, so much for the simple and direct approach.' She mused to herself.

She was about to leave when she accidentally bumped a shelf by the door, luckily only one item, a black notebook it seemed, was knocked down. Sam picked it up and paused, it wasn't a notebook but, as the gold lettering on the cover indicated, a diary. The space for the owner's name said 'James' in his own, typically neat, handwriting.

'James' diary. I didn't even know he kept one.' She noted to herself. 'Should I…?'

She wrestled with her conscience for a while but knew, since directly approaching James was proving too difficult, this would likely be her only chance. She opened the diary and began to read.

It made for sobering, even shocking, reading. Sam had always regarded James as the quietest of her siblings, a shyness that made her, as the eldest, feel protective of him. But what she read in the diary was a whole new level. The one thing that James feared most of all, the one thing she seemed unable to protect him from, was himself.

'James, you were hurting so much...you'd seen what mom was doing to me and feared she'd do it to you.' She reflected. 'But no, surely you don't believe that, feel that way.'

The more recent entries filled her with horror. With James disclosing the truth about himself to the pages of his diary, his bisexuality. Worse, their mother knew, that had been why she was so adamant on at least getting James into the cult as well.

Sam glared. 'You were gonna have them do to James what they did to me, weren't you mom. You were gonna put a thirteen year old, scared out of his mind, boy in that fucking chair.'

But what truly horrified her was the way James seemed to view himself, the fear and negativity, the words he used to describe himself that made Sam's stomach churn, twisted and, a mistake.

"Sam!?"

She turned and there, clad in his usual sleepwear of a navy blue T-shirt and black shorts, eyes wide with horror, trembling, was James.

For James it was his worst nightmare come true, his secret was now known. But before he could turn away, to try and flee, he found himself being hugged by his sister.

"S-Sam?"

She held him tight, speaking quietly. "Oh James, it's...don't. Everything's alright, everything is going to be alright."

"But it can't, you...you know now...how I'm, I'm…" He choked out, tears blurring his vision.

"James…"

"No Sam, I'm, twisted, a mistake, I…" He protested.

"You like men and women, that's not twisted or a mistake, James." Sam told him softly. "You're bisexual, you know the acronym James, LGBTQIA...that's what the B stands for, Bisexual. It's just as normal a sexuality as mine is."

James let out a shaky breath at that, before shaking his head.

"But, but dad, if he found out...mom already knows and she…"

"It doesn't matter what mom thinks, remember." She told him. "And as for dad, he supports me, he supports my relationship with Paige."

"But that's different." James protested.

"Not as different as you seem to think, James." John said, entering the room.

James balked, his father had heard. But then, just like with Sam, James found himself being surprised. John hugged him and spoke softly.

"It doesn't matter to me if you like men, women, both, you are my son and I love you." John explained gently.

Finally, hearing those words, James felt relief flood him. The pain and fear of trying to hide who he was had lessened and, while not fully appeased, he was glad to find some solace from his fears.

With James much calmer now, they made it back downstairs to the living where Paige, clad in black pyjama shorts and a matching tank-top, and Alex, wearing red and black plaid pyjama pants with a dark red T-shirt, were waiting.

"Hey, we're all ready." Paige explained.

The others nodded and soon got settled in on the sofa. John in the middle, Sam and Paige on one side of him, James and Alex on the other. The movie was turned on and they were all covered by the blanket and sat together, enjoying the movie, as well as finally being all together again at last.


End of chapter, hope you enjoyed it, read and review please.