Chapter 1: World that I used to know (3/4)
"Are you ready?" The blond boy asked the red headed girl.
"Yeah." Bentley Jones and Sophie Juno were standing in front of the door that led to the corridor.
After a somewhat peaceful sleep, the two friends woke up as soon as the sun went up and prepared themselves to head out to search for the others.
Bentley decided to change his clothes, putting on similar but better quality clothes. Beige cargo pants, brown hiking boots,an white sleeveless T-shirt, an olive utility shirt OG107 that had his last name on it and a red bandana. But he kept the duster coat.
Sophie decided to put some clothes that she found. Light blue jeans that belonged to Violet, a red T-shirt that belonged to Bentley, white sneakers that belonged to Violet and Bentley's favorite hoodie that he gave to her.
"Let's go." Bentley had the hiking backpack on with the sword he took from Frederico strapped on the side of picked an old brown backpack that he had in his wardrobe and she filled it with stuff that they could need. "Stay close to me, and don't shoot unless it's absolutely necessary, got it?"
She pulled the hood up after nodding and holding her handgun tightly.
Bentley nodded as well as he held his knife on a reverse grip as he touched the door knob. Taking a deep breath, the blond boy opened the door of his home in order to reach the corridor. Signalling Sophie to follow him as they passed through the door frame. Once he stepped on the corridor, he moved his head to look at Frederico's apartment.
"How are you feeling?" He decided to ask Sophie, since what happened was definitely traumatic.
"Would have been much worse if you hadn't shown up when you did and right now, all I want is to find my sister and brother." Sophie responded to him, clearly focused on the task.
Bentley nodded and then signalled her to follow him. The two of them slowly walked down the corridor with their weapons at hand for any incoming undead coming their way. But thankfully, there wasn't any on sight. So the two had a clean way as they went downstairs to reach the entrance where Bentley left the car.
Unfortunately, as they reached the first floor of the building, they noticed something was happening. "That is not a monster." Sophie pointed out.
Right outside of the entrance, Bentley and Sophie saw someone sitting on the driver's seat of the car, trying to turn it on without the key. "Seriously?" Bentley asked in annoyance as he put the knife on the sheath and pulled his handgun out the holster on his belt. "
"Is that the "black belt" guy you told me about?" Sophie asked as she observed the guy.
"Yes," The one trying to steal the car was Vic, the guy that tried to rob him yesterday. "And we really don't have time to waste, so..." Bentley held his gun tightly before approaching the car.
But before Bentley could say anything to him. Vic moves his head to the side and sees him. He was wearing the gas mask and helmet for some reason, but BJ didn't have time to react to that, because the shotgun that he left in the car was on his lap. "Holy shit, get down!" Bentley yelled to Sophie before turning around and laughing at her as Vic sloppily aimed the shotgun at him and fired.
"Dah!" It was Sophie's grunt as Bentley pushed her into the floor to shield her.
Bentley, who fell on the floor with Sophie, immediately rolled around and aimed his handgun at him. Vic got out of the car and tried to shoot him again, but Bentley was quicker and fired at him first. "Hah!" The bullet landed on his arm, causing him to accidentally fire the shotgun with a single hand, but at one of the front doors of the building. The recoil causes the gun to fly off his hand and into the ground. "Dumbass." Bentley spoke as he stood up. "Are you okay?" He asked Sophie.
"Yeah." She stood up from the floor.
The blond boy then decided to approach the wannabe thug with his handgun at hand. "You fucking-" But as soon as he passed through the front door, he noticed two Walkers right besides him. "Shit!" Justifiably, he reacted by taking aim and shooting the two Walkers in the head. However, when he did that, Vic grabbed the shotgun that he dropped and ran in the opposite direction. "Hey!" Unfortunately, he noticed that there was an absurd amount of Walkers coming their way after he shot those two Walkers.
"We gotta move." Sophie approached the car and immediately entered. "Come on!" She called him as she sat on the passenger's seat.
Bentley heard her loud and clear. So he took off his backpack and entered the car, tossing the backpack on the backseat and closing the car door as he reached for the car keys on his coat's pockets. Wasting no time, he turned the car on and drove the car, turning it the opposite direction to get away from the horde of Walkers coming their way.
"Are those the ones you guys bumped into?" Bentley asked Sophie as they drove past Vic, who was entering another building with his shotgun at hand.
"Yes, and I think there's more of them now." Sophie answered his question as she looked back. But then she moved her head back towards the front. "Turn left." The redhead girl instructed him.
"How far from the last place that you saw Tenn and James?" Bentley asked as he followed her instruction and turned left on the road.
"Two blocks from here, turn left and then right." She told him as she watched the road.
Bentley drove slowly in order to avoid the abandoned cars in the street. Several corpses could be seen in the street and they had to drive over some and the sound that it made was cringe worthy. So Sophie covered her and closed her eyes. He wished that he could do the same but he had to keep his eyes on the road. Thankfully, they arrived at the curve so Bentley turned left. Luckily, the street was cleaner so he could drive faster.
"After checking for James and Tenn, we're gonna go to the spot where you guys crashed and try to search for the others from there." Bentley informed Sophie as he gently touched her shoulder after she uncovered her ears and opened her eyes.
"Okay," Sophie agreed with him. "The supplies and weapons that we got are probably still there."
"Oh shit, I didn't even think about that." Bentley actually forgot about them. "If we're lucky, there aren't many of them around the van."
Eventually, Bentley arrived at another curve and turned right. But was forced to stop when he saw that the road was blocked. "Fuck..." The blond boy cursed as he saw what was blocking the road.
There was a truck tumbled right at the start of the road, making it impossible to pass it through. With a car at least.
Sophie then pointed at the alleyway that was located right past the truck. "That's where we got separated." She informed him.
Bentley sighed before turning the car off. "Alright..." He put the car keys inside his coat's pocket once again. Before reaching the back seat to grab something. The hatchet that he was using as a weapon. "Here," He decided to hand it to Sophie. "Just aim for the head." That was his only advice.
She nodded before grabbing the hatchet. So Bentley picked his backpack up. "Why are you taking the backpack?" Sophie asked him.
"Because a wannabe gangster just stole my shotgun, gas mask and helmet." He pointed out what just happened, and the backpack was filled with stuff that he might need and there was more helpful stuff that they could find.
"Why did you have a gas mask anyway?" She asked him while following his example and also taking her backpack with her.
"You know how fussy I am when it comes to strong smells." He pointed out as he pulled out his knife from his sheath. "Especially since we're talking about the smell of walking corpses."
"Yeah..." Sophie clearly had the same opinion about the awful smell.
"Are you ready?" He asked her as he held the knife on a reverse grip with his right hand, ready to open the car door with his left hand.
Sophie held the hatchet with her left hand, ready to open the car door as well. She nodded in response.
With that, the two friends got out of the car and slowly made their way forward after closing the car doors. They moved quietly without saying a word, since they didn't know if there was any Walker there. Shit, what the hell was the driver doing? Bentley thought as the two of them approached the tumbled truck, that apparently was a delivery truck or something like that. Managing to pass through a small gap on the side, the two made their way to the other side. Where they saw three Walkers wearing suits, eating an overweight man that he assumes to be the truck driver. He signalled Sophie to stay back before he went to get rid of the Walkers.
Approaching them slowly while they were distracted with the corpse that they were eating. As soon as he was close enough, he stabbed the first Walker in the back of the hand, then the second Walker by delivering an horizontal stab on the side of it's head as it stood up. The third and last Walker stood up, standing in front of Bentley, who simply grabbed it by the throat and shoved his knife into it's forehead. "Shit." He cursed in a low voice as he scanned the area for more of them. "Clear." The street was thankfully empty, so he signalled Sophie to follow him.
"How do you do it so easily?" Sophie asked him as she got behind him. "I constantly hesitated because I keep remembering that they used to be people."
"You think I don't think about that?" Bentley replied as the two slowly moved towards the alleyway. "But it's them or us, I can't hesitate, especially since I already got bit by one of them."
"Yeah, you're right." Sophie agreed with him.
After a few more steps forward, the two of them arrived at the entrance of the alleyway, it was empty, but letting their guards down was not an option. Entering the alley slowly, they saw a Fire Escape on the building on the right, sadly, Bentley had no idea what the building was, but he didn't think that they were apartments.
"Are those the stairs that they climb on?" Bentley asked while pointing at the fire escape. It was obvious but it was better to be certain.
Sophie nodded in response once he moved his head to look at her.
"It's actually a ladder." He pointed out as he noticed that it was actually a long ladder that leads to the roof of the building.
"Whatever, the important thing is that they climbed on it." Sophie clarified.
Once they reached the ladder, Bentley noticed that it was actually broken, with basically one third of the stairs being missing. This is way too rusty to be safe to climb. He also noticed that there were a few steps on the ground. "Is this why you fell?"
"The ladder was partially broken when we arrived, so we all had to help each other climb." Sophie explained to him as he analyzed a way to reach what was left of the stairs. "Tenn went first since he was the lightest by standing on James's shoulders." Nice one, James. "James then managed to reach the stairs by jumping really high and grabbing onto Tenn's bag, that he tied into the ladder's cage." Nice one, Tenn. "But when I tried to do the same, the ladder broke when I stepped on it." Epic fail, Sophie. "The horde that we were running away from heard me falling, and James told me to run because there was no way for him to help me."
"Only if he jumped down and ran with you, but leaving Tenn alone was out of question." Bentley immediately agreed that there was no way for James to help her in that situation.
"Without a shadow of doubt." Sophie agreed with him. "How are we going to get up there with the ladder broken?"
Bentley responded by putting his knife back on the sheath and placing his backpack down and opening. Sophie looked at him with a confused expression, until he pulled out a grappling hook and some synthetic rope. He asked her to stand back as he tied the rope to the hook, before he stood up and prepared to throw the grappling hook. "And...Here...We...Go..." The blond boy said as he tossed the grappling hook into the ladder, aiming towards one of the ladder cages. Thankfully, the hook landed and stucking on the third ladder cage.
"Holy shit," Sophie commented as she touched the rope. "Are you sure it's steady?"
"Only way to find out," He responded as he pulled the rope down just to make sure that it was well placed.. "Can you climb it?"
"With difficulty, but yes." She confirmed it to him, since she isn't exactly athletic. "I'm lighter, so I'll go first."
"Are you sure?" He asked as he put his backpack back on his back. "The rope can handle, but I'm not exactly certain about this rusty ladder."
"I'm sure." She was clearly eager to go, mostly because she wanted to find her little brother.
"Okay, if you fall, I'll catch you." Bentley gave her a kiss on the part of her face that was bruised by Frederico for luck.
"I know you will, Cinderella Boy." His friends have a tendency of calling these names that are male equivalents of Fairy Tail heroines. Mostly to fit his girlfriend's nickname of Princess Charming.
"That's my second least favorite nickname, Sophie." He decided to comment on her.
She made a confused face and asked. "Which one is your least favorite?"
"Goldilocks." Bentley really dislikes that one, but Sophie giggled in amusement since it actually fits Bentley because he has blond curly hair that qualifies as golden locks.
"Wait?" Sophie giggled a little more. "Who calls you Goldilocks?" Because none of them ever did.
"Remember the Gym Teacher from Virginia?" Bentley asked her since he told everyone about him.
"The one you played Ping-Pong with?" Sophie asked him and he nodded. "Isn't that kind of creepy?"
"Nah, the guy worshipped his wife." She is pretty awesome, so I can totally understand. "We had a Mentor and Pupil type of relationship if that makes any sense."
"If you say so." Sophie replied before she decided to start climbing the rope. "Mmmmm!" She grunted as she climbs up with Gym class technique, basically squeezing the rope between her feet, reaching for a higher grip, one hand at a time, and pulling herself up, then loosen her grip with her feet to allow the extra rope to pass through, then squeeze the rope again with her feet and reach her next hand grip. "Ahhh..." She kept grunting as it was clearly difficult for her since Sophie was never very active to begin with, preferring to focus on her artistic talents like painting and drawing. Eventually, Sophie reached the ladder's cage and used it to climb the rest of the way. "Alright, I'm good." The redhead girl spoke as she reached the roof.
"Here I come." Bentley spoke as well as he prepared to climb up the ladder as well. The boy wearing a red bandana then started to climb the rope in a S-Wrap technique, by allowing the rope to pass around his right leg and then wrap around the outside of his right foot and under the arch, then pinching the rope against his right foot with his left foot, until he was able to stand on the rope with minimal hand grip. Pulling himself up on the rope with his hands and holding his position and then unwrapping his feet and raising his legs before reestablishing his foot grip and standing up on the rope again. Unlike Sophie, Bentley had no difficulty whatsoever with it due to him being in top physical shape, so it took him much less time to reach the ladder's cage and climb it to reach the roof. Taking the hook and the rope with him as he did.
"Okay, okay..." Sophie immediately searched for a door or somewhere that they could have gone to, while Bentley wrapped the rope up in order to put it back on his backpack alongside the grappling hook. "There's the door." She pointed at the rooftop entrance.
Bentley placed the hook and rope inside his backpack, before drawing his knife once again. "Let's go, and don't make any noise." He instructed her, before asking her something. "Did James have a weapon or something when you guys were running away?"
"There was this Revolver that looks like the one you got, he found it on the place we stayed after we left you." Sophie informed him.
"I mean something that doesn't make noise." He clarified.
"No..." She answered.
"Shit," He prepared his knife. "Come on." Sophie followed him without question with the hatchet at hand.
Bentley and Sophie moved slowly towards the door. It might rain today. The sky was relatively cloudy and there were some dark clouds, indicating that it might rain later. I hope it's when it gets dark, so we may have at least found some of our friends and we can be in a shelter. He thought as the two of them reached the door and slowly entered the place. It was dark inside, so Bentley reached inside his backpack for the flashlight that was in the side pocket. Holding the flashlight with his left hand in a forward grip and his knife with his right hand in a reverse grip as he moved forward. Sophie noticed a small box on the wall on the right and smartly picked it up and put it on the door in order to keep it open. Wordlessly, the two friends descended the stairs carefully, keeping a watchful eye for any more Walkers.
What is this place supposed to be? Bentley had no idea what exactly the building was supposed to be. Taking each step carefully, he illuminated the area in order to search for any Walker or any sign of Tenn and James. But as they reached the door that probably led to the second floor of the building. Slowly, he opened the door, only a little gap to check what was on the other side. As he peeked inside, he noticed that there was light inside, indicating that there were windows. But as he opened the door enough, he noticed some Walkers on the other side, a considerable number of them.
Shit... He cursed internally as he turned off his flashlight.
Sophie also looked through the small gap.
The two of them observed as a considerable number bashed into one of the doors. Like they were trying to get inside.
"They're inside that room." Sophie whispered to him.
"They probably entered the second floor and had to run inside that room to escape them." Bentley theorized.
"What are you going to do?" Sophie asked him.
One,two,three,four,five,six,seven, eight,nine,ten,eleven, twelve. He counted how many of them there were before putting the knife back on the sheath. Twelve... I can take it... Bentley thought confidently as he took a deep breath, and reached for the scabbard that was strapped on the side of his backpack. Pushing the bottom of the scabbard up with his right hand and then pulling the sword out with his left hand.
"Are you serious?" Sophie asked in clear disagreement with his idea.
"Yes." Bentley put the backpack on the floor, then he handed her the flashlight. "Wait here."
"What are-" Before she could ask him what that was supposed to mean, Bentley opened the door. "BJ?!" Sophie asked in shock, before Bentley actually closed the door behind him. "Hey!"
"Alright." The blond boy wearing a Duster coat called out the Walkers while twirling the sword. "Your commitment for your jobs is very inspiring," He joked as he noticed that the place was actually an office. "But working beyond the grave is kind of an exaggeration." He got into a stance with the sword. "So, allow me to grant you all an eternal leave from work."
Every Walker that was inside the office heard him and started to move towards him. They were all wearing formal outfits, which indicated that they were all employers. The ones that were trying to smash the door open were the first ones to notice him.
That's right, come at me . The first Walker that got close, Bentley chopped it's head in half by swinging the sword vertically on its head. Like a hot knife cutting through butter. Bentley thought as the blade easily chopped the Walker. The second Walker was right behind the first one. And he responded by delivering a horizontal slash that chopped the head in half. The third, fourth and fifth Walker, all tried to corner him, but he simply moved to the left and jumped over a desk that had a computer on top of it. Once he reached the other side of the desk, a sixth Walker tried to bite him, but BJ simply punched the Walker in the face with a left hook, before swinging the sword and slicing it's head off with it. Then the seventh Walker came at him from behind, but Bentley acted quickly and smashed it's head with his elbow, before grabbing a lamp that was on top of the desk and smashing it head with it, before tossing at the fourth Walker, that managed to get past the desk. The lamp landed on it's head and it fell to the floor. However, the eighth Walker managed to grab a hold of Bentley and caused him to drop his sword, but he reacted quickly and pushed the Walker off of him before delivering a push kick at it. As the eighth Walker stumbled back, the fifth Walker moved past the fourth Walker and Bentley responded by grabbing the Computer screen and smashing it's head with it before recovering his sword from the floor and moving to stab the eighth Walker's head before it stood up.
Six down, more six to go. He thought as he climbed on the desk once again and kicked the face of the third Walker, who was standing on the other side. Before jumping down and stomping it's head until it dies.
Then the fourth Walker stands up again and Bentley ends it by chopping it's head off.
The rest of the Walkers who apparently didn't care about the door approached him. Four more to go. He ended all four with horizontal slashes, left, right, left,right. All aimed towards the head.
"Shit..." Bentley cursed as he stopped for a second to recover his breath. As he does, he hears the door opening, and he sees Sophie coming out of it with his backpack at hand.
"Are you insane?" Sophie was visibly angry at Bentley's reckless action.
"Just a little." He answered with a smile.
Sophie closed her eyes as she handed him the backpack. He grabbed before moving towards the desk that he used to evade the Walkers. Placing the sword on top of it, before putting the backpack on his back and moving on to grab the tie of the Walker that he smashed the head with the computer screen. He used the tie to wipe the blood off his sword. All clean. After he wiped the blood off the blade, Bentley grabbed the top of the scabbard with his right hand, pulled over his shoulder and placed the sword back on it.
Sophie then moved towards the door that the Walkers were trying to break it down. She knocked on the door and called. "Tenn?!" While knocking on the door. "James?!" She called their friend as well. "Are you two in there?!"
"Soph?!" Tenn's voice came from the other side of the door.
"Yes, open the door." She immediately replied in a happy voice.
Bentley waited for his other friends to open the door. But then he noticed another Walker in the room. Shit, didn't see that one there. In the corner of the room, there was one last Walker, it was on the floor with a shelf on top of it. Better take it down, before Tenn opens the door. With that, he approached the last Walker.
"Hey..." He heard Sophie speaking.
"Sister!" He heard Tenn's voice.
Bentley stomped on the last Walker's head a few times until it died.
"Hey!" Suddenly, he heard James's voice. "Who are you!?"
"James, don't!" Sophie immediately spoke against it.
With that, Bentley turned around with a confused face. Noticing that James was pointing a Nickel-plated Colt SAA at him. James, justifiably widened his eyes when he saw Bentley's face. He was wearing dark gray jeans, a white sweater and desert style work boots.
Bentley just made a goofy face and put his hands up. "Don't shoot me, bud." But he put his hands down a second after.
"W-wha-" James was about to question how the hell was still alive.
But.
"BJ!" Tenn immediately rushed towards him and hugged him. He was wearing a blue T-shirt over a long sleeve white shirt, dark green jeans and brown sneakers.
"Hey, little man." Bentley hugged Tenn back happily.
"I thought you died!" Tenn told him in a very happy voice while hugging him tightly.
"Yeah, I thought so too..." He replied while hugging his little friend tightly.
"Are you hurt?!" Sophie approached the two and immediately inspected Tenn to see if he had any injury.
"Am I hurt?!" It wasn't a question. "What happened to your face!?" He asked about the bruise on her face.
As the two step-siblings talked to one another. The blond boy approached his Asian friend. "Where's my hug?" He asked the still shocked James.
James got over his shock as soon as he asked him that. And immediately enveloped Bentley into a crushing hug. "It's really you..." He sounded really sad when he said that.
"Of course, there's only one, Bentley Jones." The boy wearing a red bandana replied as he returned the hug. "Sophie told me that you guys were here,." He decided to ask him in curiosity. "How did you get stuck there?"
"We... Tried to get to Sophie after we got separated, but when we got to the second floor, we got ambushed and had to lock ourselves inside to get away from the Walkers." James explained while they were hugging each other tightly. "What happened to the Walkers?"
Bentley separated from the hug and pointed at the sword. "Basically, I went medieval on their asses."
James made a confused face. "You killed all of them... With a sword?"
"Woah... Seriously?" Tenn asked him in clear disbelief.
"Ummm..., Boys?" Sophie called their attention. "I don't like ruining this beautiful reunion, but can we please do that in the car." That place clearly spooked her.
"You got a car?" James asked him.
"Are you guys sure this is the place?"
After getting out of that office. Bentley Jones, James Kim, Sophie Juno and Tennessee Earle, all made their way to the car, and BJ drove towards the destination that they said they had crashed on. However, as soon as they arrived there after some pretty difficult way due to a considerable amount of cars on the way, they found nothing.
"This is the spot we crashed." Sophie, who was sitting on the backseat with Tenn, told him.
"But, the van is gone." Tenn added.
"This is good, right?" James asked them. "It means that they came back for the van." He pointed out.
The spot that they crashed was on the main street, which was a relatively open area that seemed to have been considerably affected by the bombing. There were some building that were somewhat destroyed, several craters on the street and cars that seemed to have been blown up.
"Maybe, but where could they have gone to?" Bentley asked as he searched for signs on the street.
Unfortunately for them, their situation just got more difficult. Because rain started to fall on the windshield of the car.
"Oh great." Sophie spoke sarcastically.
"What are you going to do?" Tenn asked the three of them.
Taking a deep breath, Bentley analyzed the area to try to come up with a plan. Looking back, there was no way that a big van passed through the same complicated path that they just did to get there, so Bentley thinks that they only could have gone forward.
"The only way that the van could have gone is forward." Bentley informed everyone.
"Let's try to search for them, at least until it gets dark." Sophie proposed to them.
"And what do we do when it gets dark?" Tenn asked her in visible concern.
"We will go back to my apartment, spend the night there and search again tomorrow." Bentley responded to him.
"If they got back to the van, that means that they got the guns and supplies, so they'll be alright." James told Tenn to reassure him.
Yeah, but I'm actually afraid that only one or two managed to get back to the van. That was Bentley's concern as he prepared to drive forward. "Everyone with the seatbelts?" He asked since the chances of having an accident just increased.
Everyone nodded in response, so Bentley drove forward in search of the trail left by Mitch's van. Carefully, he drove by the damaged street with a few Walkers around.
"So... Why didn't the bite kill you?" Tenn asked Bentley.
"Tenn." Sophie called him apprehensively.
"No idea, after you guys left, I just waited for something to happen and nothing did." Bentley explained as he pulled the glove off his hand with his teeth to show them the bite mark.
James grabbed his hand in order to look closely. "Are you sure it was one of those things that bit you?" He asked him and he touched the mark.
"Positive, I thought about it as well but there was no way that guy was human." Bentley replied and he pulled his hand to put it back on the steering wheel since he needed both hands to maneuver the messy street.
"Maybe the bite doesn't affect certain people?" Sophie proposed to them.
"What certain people then?" James asked her. "Everyone we saw getting bitten got sick and then died later, and later became another one of those things."
"I don't know, but there has to be an explanation to how Bentley is still alive." Sophie replied.
As the two spoke, Bentley drove by the damaged street slowly, doing his best to avoid the damage caused by the bombing but it was quite complicated. The sight was unbelievably unpleasant to see, especially since the friends had passed through that street on a daily basis and it was simply dreadful to see it like this now. Moving his head to look at the stores, Bentley noticed something. "Check." He told his friends as he stopped the car.
"A general store ?" Sophie asked him.
Right on their right there was a place with the logo of the Save-Lots, which is basically the same one as the boxes on the backseat. For what he knows, it's a line of general stores, typically located in small towns, selling a wide variety of goods.
"I came here a few times, there was a lot of stuff in a single place." James pointed out. "Shall we go in and maybe take some supplies?"
"That is precisely what I was thinking." Bentley pointed out that the store could have tools, supplies and other things that they might need later.
"Guys, are you sure about this?" Sophie asked them. "We should be searching for the others?" She was clearly determined.
"We are searching for them, but honestly, I really don't know what we are going to do after we find them and I would be more comfortable if we had all of the supplies we needed while we figure it out." Bentley explained to Sophie, since their current plan is simply to find the other but they would have to get the hell out of the city afterwards and it's better that they had all the supplies they needed when they did.
"Yeah, I agree with BJ," James immediately agreed with him. "There are some tools, camping gear, clothes and maybe clean water." He pointed out.
"I'm really thirsty, Soph." Tenn decided to speak up in favor of the plan. He and James were able to survive inside that room because they found some bottled water and cookies inside but nothing else.
Sophie sighed and said. "Okay, but we are all entering together, I don't want to stay or leave Tenn alone in the car."
"Yeah..." Bentley doesn't feel comfortable in leaving them alone in the street either.
The blond boy drove the car a bit more in order to park in a spot where they could drive away quickly just in case. He observed the entrance of the store and noticed that there were four Walkers inside. Great... Only four on sight, that wasn't so bad but there could be more inside and he was worried about that. Okay... He prepared his knife once again.
"Everyone is ready?" He asked all of his friends. The three of them nodded in response as they prepared to exit the car. James was holding the hatchet now and Sophie had the handgun at one hand and was holding Tenn's hand with the other. "Alright... Here we... Go."
With that, the four of them exited the car and made their way to the entrance as the cold rain fell on them.. Bentley and James went first, with the two opening the door and preparing to end the Walkers miserable existence.
The first Walker that came at them, James shoved the hatchet into it's skull with ease.
The second Walker, Bentley kicked it's kneecap, causing it to fall on the floor and he stabbed the back of it's head afterwards.
The third Walker, Bentley, simply stabbed it in the eye with the knife.
The fourth Walker, James chopped it's head off with a clean slice into the throat.
"Anyone else?" Bentley spoke out loud in order to try to draw more Walkers that could be inside the store when none showed up, he put the knife back on the sheath. "Put something on the door to keep it open.." He instructed Sophie since they might need to hurry back to the car.
Sophie obeyed Bentley and placed a plant vase that was next to the door to keep it open.
The store was of relative size and had a lot of things inside, and they decided to make it count.
"James, see if you find a tool kit and maybe some camping gear." Bentley instructed his friend and he nodded in response before starting to search. "Sophie, see if you can find some water bottles, even empty ones will do." We can fill them with tap water if needed.
"We should also take some more food just in case." She tenderly touched her brother's shoulder before moving forward to search.
"Tenn, you stay right here." He gently pulled his kid friend several steps away from the door. "You're our lookout, if you see any of the monsters coming, warn us."
"Okay, BJ." Tenn was up to the task.
Bentley playfully messed up his hair. "I'm gonna go check for medical supplies in case of any of us getting hurt or something." He informed him.
Tenn just nodded as BJ moved to check the store for supplies. "BJ?" The blond boy moved his head to look at his little friend. Only for him to hug him again. "I'm so glad you're not dead." He said the exact same thing that Sophie did as he hugged him tightly.
"Me too." He hugged Tenn back tightly.
The two friends hugged for almost a minute, until they separated and Tenn moved back to the spot that Bentley placed him. "Hang in there, okay?" Tenn nodded in response.
Okay, let's see... Bentley thought as he scanned the store, thankfully, he saw the area with the first aid kit on the corner. Jackpot. Immediately, he approached the first aid display and started to fill his backpack with it.
"Guys." Suddenly, however, he heard Tenn calling them.
Moving his head back, he noticed that there was a Walker walking towards the store. "Good job, Tenn." He praised his little friend as he prepared to go dispatch the Walker. But before he could pull the knife out, Sophie appeared instead.
"I got this." She told him.
"What the fuck?" Bentley asked.
Sophie then stood in front of them, while holding something in her hands. Is that a... bow? It was a compound bow to be more precise. Compound bows are the modern version used by most hunters. They use pulleys to maximize power while minimizing draw weight. This also makes it easier to hold a draw for extended periods, such as when you've drawn but are waiting for the precise moment to strike. Compound bows are incredibly powerful, but they're also complicated and delicate — there's no problem if you already have one or get one for normal-life use, but they're considered too complicated to be appropriate for most preppers.
However, that was clearly not the case for Sophie as she landed a perfect headshot on the Walker's forehead from a considerable distance.
"Holy shit..." Bentley spoke in deep surprise.
"That was awesome, Soph." Tenn also praised him.
"Thank you." She accepted their compliments with a smile.
"Where did you get that?" Bentley asked her as he looked at the high quality bow up close.
"There was a box on the other side of the counter that was packed to deliver, I guess this was a gift or something." Sophie explained to him.
"But, where did you learn to use a bow?" Bentley asked, since Archery is actually a very complicated art that takes years to learn.
"BJ, my dad was a target archery champion." She reminded him. The dad that walked out on you and Minnie? Yeah, I remember him. "He taught me a bit when I was little."
"If that's the case, hold on to it, because it will definitely be useful." Bentley immediately changed the subject because mentioning her father is a sure way to make Sophie upset, and she seemed to be distracted enough with her achievement to not think about it.
"Ummm... Guys..." Tenn spoke to them. "The rain got stronger." He informed them.
Bentley heard him and moved his head to look outside and he saw that there was some heavy rain going on there. It might not be safe to drive around in such heavy rain. It was already hard enough as it was but now it just got worse.
"Guys, help me out here, please." James called them as he was having difficulty moving something.
"Hold up." Bentley spoke. I think we better go back to my apartment after getting what we need from here and wait until the rain stops. He really didn't like the idea of stopping searching for his friends, but he highly doubts that they'll be able to search properly with this rain. Let's just get what we need, then I'll ask the others what they think.
With that, the four friends continue to gather what they needed from the Save-Lots Store.
Thanks everyone of reading this chapter, your support means everything to me.
Q AND A:
Bentley reminds me of the character Alvin Murphy from z nation. They have the same immunity but Alvin Murphy has the power to control zombies
-Now that you've killed Rick Grimes, what will happen to Rick's group?
-Assuming Bentley was reunited with Clementine and Clementine was with her girlfriend, the situation would be very awkward.
-Will Alicia Clark have a role in the future?
I don't see ya, good afternoon, good evening, and good night!
Sadly, Bentley has no such power.
Basically Shane is going to drag them to a different location.
Bentley is Clementine's boyfriend, just not officially.
More or less...
Good afternoon, evening and night, my friend.
Glad to see that other than a bruise in the eye, Sophie is fine and with Bentley no less. The others are still missing. Its been four days since Sophie last saw them, maybe less. With any luck James and Tenn might have regrouped with the others. Tenn and Minerva aren't going to give up on Sophie, they love her. Clementine might stick around, after all as far as she and the others know, Bentley practically gave his life to save her's.
Not sure if killing Rick Grimes off is such a good idea, give how big of an impact his character was. If leadership is why, Bentley can take leadership from Rick, after he went missing destroying that bridge to save his family friends. When the time comes to fight against the Saviors, Bentley's personal history with Negan might have a bad effect on his judgement, surely Negan has taught Bentley some things that helped him survive so far. Personally I think Rick/Michonne pairing is pretty cool, and having a kid no less. They're even making a tv show on the two and gave Michonne the Grimes name on walking dead wiki, which suggest she and Rick might be married.
So I guess Shane Walsh will be taking Rick's place, although he is mentally unstable, still leave Otis to die and he might still tend to have a... bad effect on the group, the jealousy of Lori will not be there but still. In the comics, Rick also has a brother Jeffrey Grimes construction worker, Carl might need a father-figure in his life. As I said, Shane is unstable... and Jeffrey has no leadership traits unlike his brother, so it won't effect much of Bentley's leadership if it ever comes.
Did Negan teach Bentley how to fight? Also did Bentley know Negan's wife Lucille before she died?
I hope sparing Federico and Vic don't come back to bite Bentley later on.
Bentley and her are one hundred percent relieved that she wasn't raped. The horde that is roaming on the street made it impossible for them to regroup, but James is tough and can protect Tenn. Minerva isn't giving up on any of the two. Clementine has a desire to go to Macon to see if the rest of her family is okay, but she ain't leaving her friends.
It's because the direction that I'm planning to take woudn't work if Rick was stll alive.
Actually, they will never end up in the farm. (At least, not the Atlanta group.)
No, Bentley learned from someone else. Yes, she actually adored Bentley.
Frederico just got his face busted by a guy wearing hard knuckle glove. he ain't getting up any time soon. Vic on the other hand...
Yeah wasn't expecting this to be updated again so soon
Anyway liked what we got from the chapter and how Bentley got separated from his group and then in turn how they all got separated from each other
Bet everyone is going to be thinking with the benefit of hindsight fucking hell we should have all stayed with Bentley as he turned only for nothing to happen to him haha
Shocked it was a Walker Rick that bit him to
So yeah hope Bentley can get his group back together soon I also like how clear it is how they are all good friends
Want to add with James hope while still having the lingering feelings for Bentley he's not angry or overly upset about the rejection bit bummed by it of course but overall he handled it well and still sees Bentley as a good friend and he sees Clementine the same way
Glad Sophie didn't endure the worse possible scenario to
Speaking of friends I adore the fact that Negan was the only positive thing about Virginia for Bentley and that the two played games online together to
So yeah kinda hoping after Bentley gets his group together they eventually run into Negan and the Saviours who welcome them in with open arms
Fair enough on not having the time to watch things like Hazbin Hotel or Helluva Boss man
I had some left over stuff and I decided to work on it.
He got left behind at his own request so his friends woudn't have to watch him die or had to kill him.
Yes, but Bentley would actually said that it was a good thing because only god knows what would have happened to Sophie if he didn't got there when he did.
Actually, it's pretty appropriate.
Bentley was kind of responsible for all of them not ending up at Ericson's Boarding School for Troubled Youth.
Oh, no, no,no. James understands, it wasn't anything personal but Bentley is 100% Straight. He still cares a lot about Bentley though.
Yup... Frederico kind had this delusion that she would eventually give in and "reward him" for all the good things that he was doing for her, which was why he didn't force himself on to her.
BJ was kind of the ace when it came to sports, so he kind of stood out from the other students easily.
Let's just say... That... Negan kind of turns Bentley into his Darth Vader in a sense. (Negan knows that Bentley has a uncanny ability of getting things done and he puts it to good use, by basically tasking him with helping him take over the other communities.)
I'll take a look when I finally have time, because the show peeked my interest.
I'm sorry I like your stories got to excited.
It's okay...