I don't own Total Drama and The Walking Dead.
Sorry if you find any grammar mistakes. I'm still learning English because it's not my first language.
Darth krayt1: I'll think about giving Abraham a fire axe :)
TheEndymam: I'm glad you liked the chapter! Scott definitely got the karma for all the stuff he did as a second in second of Terminus. I'm going to miss having Ezekiel in this story as well. We're nearing the Hospital Arc indeed which has one of the saddest conclusions to arc in the show. I'm planning to make a certain Total Drama character to appear in it :)
Dr Changer: I'm glad you liked the chapter and hre you go! :)
Brendan: You'll have to wait and see which character will appear in the Hospital arc. TD characters will ride horses once we will reach the point when TWD characters rode only them. Gwen and Trent might end up getting back together at some point :)
It had been a while since the group consisting of Glenn, Maggie, Tara, Noah, Izzy, Trent, Gwen, Chef, Abraham, Rosita and Eugene left Gabriel's church with the intention of getting Eugene to Washington where he was going to make a cure and get rid of the walkers. The group of eleven people was still in the bus that they had found after Gabriel led them to his church, using it to drive through the forested road.
Gwen glanced to the side to look at Trent who was sitting next to her and saw him glancing through the window with a grim look on his face. A questioning look formed on her face once she set her eyes on him as she asked him, "What's wrong?"
"It's nothing." Trent replied as he turned around to look at her, "I just have been thinking about Bob. I didn't know him for long. I started talking with him about we went to get the meds for you guys, but he was a neat dude. He didn't deserve what happened to him. Hell, Zeke didn't deserve to die like this as well."
Gwen let out a saddened sigh at the mention of Ezekiel and Bob, "I know. Neither of them deserved to die. What Scott and Gareth and all of those bastards from Terminus were doing was just messed up. At least their group made sure that they won't hurt more people."
"I didn't even felt bad for them when our group was massacring them before our eyes." Trent said, "I was disgusted by the view, of course. I mean a bunch of were getting slaughtered right in front of me but I felt nothing for the bastards who were the people getting slaughtered in front of me."
"You weren't the only one who felt like this, Trent." Gwen told him, "I felt completely nothing as I watched Gareth and Scott die as well. Unlike you, I wasn't even disgusted by the brutal display in front of me. I was just happy to see the people who were killing other people and eating them get what they deserve."
Trent nodded her head at his words and remained silent, not knowing what to say in response to her words.
"Have you been thinking about what you're doing to do after we'll have the cure?" Gwen asked Trent after noticing that he didn't know how to respond to her previous words.
"I don't know, I'll most likely continue my music career." Trent responded, his answer not suprising Gwen.
Gwen nodded her head in understanding. If she was honest with herself. This is exactly what she was excepting to hear from him, "Are you going to be sole or are you going to continue the Drama Brothers with Harold?"
Trent paused for a brief moment at the mention of the Drama Brothers, Cody and Justin who unfortunely weren't with them anymore being the cause of that. Gwen seemed tor realize it was as well and realized how foolish it was of her to ask such a thing, beginning to regret it as it only reminded that Cody died just the day after he saved her life during this entire fiasco with the flu back in prison.
"...I think I would do the solo thing." Trent responded to her question, breaking the awkward and grim atmosphere that formed between them, "I was planning to go on solo thing after we would be done with the third season. Harold has already been doing pretty well on his own after he left our band and I don't think we will work together a band again." He rubbed the back of his head when a thought flew through his mind, "To be honest, through, do you think it would be possible for when to continue my music carrer right after Eugene will create a cure?"
"I'm sure you will be able to do it." Gwen nodded her head, giving him a slight smile, "I'm not sure if you will be able to do it right away because it will surely take us a while to rebuild around Washington everything after we will get the cure, but I'm sure you will be able to continue to do music. After all, people who just like us survived to this point if us will need enjoy the music you will play for them."
"Thanks, Gwen." Trent smiled at Gwen, appreciating her words, "There one problem, though. My old guitar was lost in the prison. I will have to get myself a new one."
Chef smiled as he overheard their conversation, happy to hear how the kids were once again planning out their future without having to worry about getting eaten alive by the undead. His smile faded from his face and was replaced with a look of concern once he set his eyes on Izzy. The orange haired young woman was distanced from the rest of the group, sitting by all by herself at the other end of the bus.
Noah tried to sit down next to her once they entered the bus but she got up from her seat and moved to the other one the moment the bookworm took his seat next to her, making him sit next to Tara. She had a completely blank look on her face as she moved her hand along her Ruger American Ranch as if it was an animal, her eyes set on the seat in front of her as if she was in some sort of trance.
Rosita rubbed Abraham's head, sitting behind him, "It's getting a little messy for you. "
"Relaxin' the grooming standards." Abraham smiled slightly, "Thinkin' about becomin' a plumber, a sheepherder, or something."
"You ain't herdin' sheep now, Abraham." Rosita pointed out, "Eyes on the prize."
"Damn right." Abraham's smile widened as he admitted, "That's my girl." Rosita let out a chuckle, "Maybe I'll let you shave me down all over, dolphin-smooth. Kinda like Chef over there."
Rosita laughed and smacked his shoulder, "I'll cut it for you tonight."
Abraham nodded, "Yes, ma'am."
Tara titled her head to the side to look at Eugene, "Hey, maybe Rosita can give you a trim while she's at it. Party's getting a little long in the back. Or is it your source of power?"
"I ain't slayin' a lion anytime soon." Eugene replied, "I wouldn't be placing any wagers on seein' me dispatch a thousand Philistines with the jawbone of an ass."
"Oh, so you'll just settle on saving the world, right?" Tara asked. Out of the corner of her eye, she could have sworn how Noah rolled his eyes.
"Yeah." Eugene nodded.
"What's up?" Tara leaned closer to him, "Last night?"
"Nope." Eugene replied but quickly changed his answer, "Yes, that and tomorrow. And I'm thinking about that preacher, what he did."
Maggie looked away from the window she was looking through and glanced at her husband, "Maybe they're just behind us." Glenn nodded his head to that as Maggie continued, "Maybe Daryl, Duncan and Carol came back. Maybe they took the map, found some cars, and they're just down the road."
Glenn gave her another nod of his head in response, "They'll catch up. We're clearing the way for 'em."
Maggie smiled at her husband and turned away from him to look at Eugene, "How long will it be? After you get on that terminal and do what you have to do?"
"Depends on a number of factors including density of the infected around target sites worldwide." Eugene responded.
Glenn turned around to look at Eugene, "Wait, target sites?"
"Are you talking about missiles?" Trent asked as he and Gwen become interested in the conversation as well.
"That's classified." Eugene replied, using his usual answer and needless to say, one person from the group was less than happy to hear it.
Noah rolled his eyes in irritation, growing even more tired how listening to the same answer from Eugene over and over again, "Of course. What other answer should we except from you."
"I thought we were over that." Glenn said, trying to cover Noah's words.
"What if we all live?" Eugene questioned him.
"The secrets will matter then?" Gwen asked him in return.
"They might." Eugene replied, "Anyway, the speed with which things normalize depend on a number of factors including worldwide weather patterns, which were modeled without the assumption that cars, planes, boats, and trains wouldn't be pouring hydrocarbons into the atmosphere this long. Changed the game quite a bit when it comes to air-transmissible pathogens."
The bus was engulfed in total silence for a brief moment, the people inside it now knowing how to respond to Eugene's words.
"...Why the air?" Glenn asked after a moment, trying to change the topic.
"Because I like it." Eugene responded
"Wonderful." Noah spoke from his seat, "An answer where you didn't have to use your typical "It's classified" thing. If only that were the answer related to the question that would let us know more about this entire thing."
"Anyway." Eugene pretended not to hear Noah's words, "No one is takin' scissor or clipper to it anytime soon. Do you hear me, Miss Espinosa?"
"Yes, loud and clear." Rosita replied as she and the people in the bus, excluding Noah and Izzy chuckled.
"Y'all can laugh all you want." Eugene told him, "My old boss, T. Brooks Ellis, the director of the Human Genome Project. He said my hair made me look like, and I quote, "a fun guy," which I am. I just ain't Samson."
The conversation regarding Eugene's hair was cut short when the smoke started coming out of the engine, blocking Abraham's view on the road. The red haired man clutched the steering wheel tightly, trying to avoid a crash, but unfortunely it was no use. He swerved into a damaged car that was in the middle of the road, which flipped the bus to the side. The undead slowly started to make their way towards the bus, slowly surrounding it as the noise made by the crash attracted them to it.
Abraham was somewhere in the middle of a grocery store. The red haired man was bringing an opened can down on the head of an unknown man. He didn't stop until there was nothing but a bloody mess left of the head of another man. The man was not dead, though as he was still breathing. Abraham put his boot on his neck and a snap echoed across the room as finished the unknown man off good, sending him one last glare as he did so.
He turned away from the man and began walking away from him and the bodies of the other men, "Ellen?!"
He started to walk throug the store, looking around it as he tried to spot the people he was searching for anywhere. It didn't took him long to find them. He saw his wife Ellen and his two kids, a boy and a girl hiding away under one of the cash register, the woman covering her kids. His family slowly left their shelter and turned around to look at him, offering him terrified looks on their faces, the two kids hiding behind their mom.
"Ellen. We're safe now. I stopped 'em." He attempted to assure his wife and kids that they didn't had to be scared anymore, but his wife and kids continued to stare at him in a stunned terrified shock.
Abraham took one step towards his family, holding his hands out to them, thinking that they will moved towards him, but unfortunely they didn't move an inch closer to him. His family only seemed to become more terrified of him once he started approaching them. His wife shaking in fear as she stood behind her kids as if it was trying to keep them safe from him.
"I stopped 'em. You don't have to be scared now. Hey..." Abraham's words died in his throat once he glanced down at his bloody hands, slowly realizing what he had just done.
Chef let out a painful grunt as he slowly sat up on the ground. He lifted his hand up and placed it against his forehead, wanting for the pain he was feeling in this part of his body to go away. He glanced around himself, watching how the people from his group were slowly getting themselves back on their feet, either by themselves or with someone's help.
"Eugene!" Tara called out for Eugene, "Are you okay?"
"The preacher..." Eugene muttered to himself, laying on his seat, "Didn't see another way out.
"You hold on, okay?" Abraham told him, slowly getting himself up from his seat, "Everyone else, you all right?"
"Yeah." Glenn answered.
Tara followed, "Yes."
"We'll be fine!" Trent gave his own answer as he brought Gwen back onto her feet.
"Just peachy." Noah responded as he rose up from his seat.
"Izzy?" Abraham called out for Izzy, "What about you?"
Izzy stayed silent, just gave Abraham a nod of his head.
"All right." Chef said, quickly comign up with a plan how to handle this situation as he glanced at Abraham, "You, I, Glenn and Trent go first, knock 'em back, clear the way for Maggie, Noah, Gwen and Rosita to get out, then we all start hitting them, okay?"
Abraham nodded, "Yeah, all right. We'll do it live."
"Let's move out!" Chef shouted as he, Glenn and Trent made their way to the back of the bus, the latter two preparing themselves to open it.
"Tara? Izzy?" Abraham called out for Tara and Izzy, beginning to make his way to the back door of the bus.
"Yeah?" Tara responded to her calling as Izzy just stared at Abraham in silence.
"You cover two Eugene, come out when it's clear." Abraham said as he made his way to the back door.
"Okay!" Tara nodded her head to show him that she understood his order, Izzy doing the same.
Abraham used his legs to break the back door of the bus open and he made to be the first one to leave the bus. Trent, Chef and Glenn followed him, with Maggie, Noah, Gwen and Rosita following them right after, leaving only Eugene, Izzy and Tara in the bus. The group of eight began taking out the walkers gathered around the bus, with the intentions of taking them out as soon as possible.
Izzy turned around once she heard the familiar sound of snarling behind her, Tara doing the same as she heard it too. They saw a walker that got caught in one of the buses busted windows. Wasting no time, Izzy quickly made her way to the walker and stabbed it in the head with her hunting knife, getting rid of the problem. Eugene looked down at the now dead walker, slightly starled by it.
"Come on." Tara said after Izzy said nothing to Eugene, "I know it sucks and it's scary, but it's time to be brave."
Eugene shifted his gaze from the body to Tara and Izzy, "It isn't voluntary."
"It is, when you're screwed either way." Tara pointed out as she held small knife out to Eugene, offering it to him. Izzy turned away from them and stopped in front of the back window, waiting for them to come closer to her, "So you cut through the choice that might help somebody." Eugene looked at the knife with an uncertain look on his face as he hesitantly walked past Tara, "Come on. I'm right behind you and Izzy is just up ahead of you."
Izzy climbed through the back window of the bus, getting herself out of the vehicle and was followed by a hesitant Eugene and Tara. Once he was outside, Eugene, who was completely nervous about having to be there, was allowed to get a good look at how everyone were taking care of the walkers. The world suddenly became quiet to him as he looked around himself, clutching the same knife in his grasp tightly.
He almost got a heart attack when glanced at the area where Tara and Izzy were supposed to be, because it was when he saw a single walker coming his way. Fortunely, it didn't manage to reach him, because Tara took it out with a quick stab to it's head. He glanced down at the dead walker in front of him as Tara moved away from him with the intention of killing another walker.
She put her hand on it's chest to block it from coming any closer to her and got rid of it, but unfortunely didn't spot another walker approaching her from behind. The walker was about to grab her but Eugene came in her aid and stabbed it in the back, keeping it away from Tara. It gave Tara enough time to notice the walkers presence behind her. She quickly stabbed it in the head, killing it
The walker collapsed on the ground as Eugene slowly pulled his knife out of it's back. He nervously looked around him to see if there were more walkers around him. There weren't. His group managed to get rid of all of them at this point. He slowly lowered his knife, not having the need to use it anymore.
"Is that all of them?" Trent looked around himself.
Gwen nodded her head, "I think so. I don't see more of them."
Abraham pointed his knife at Eugene, "Check Eugene, see if he's hurt."
"I'm fine." Eugene replied, "I'm fine. Just cuts and dings is all."
His words fell deaf on Abraham's ears who repeated his order, "Check him!"
"Abraham." Chef called out for Abraham, making the other man look at him as Tara went to check on Eugene, "What's wrong with your hand? Is that your blood?"
"Yeah." Abraham nodded in confirmation, looking down at his wound, "Damn thing opened again. I swear, the cuts are finer than frog's hair. They're just big bleeders."
"You should get yourself patched up." Trent said to Abraham.
"We ain't got time for that." Abraham brushed it off as nothing too severe.
Trent gave Abraham a concerned look after hearing him brush his wound off as nothing, "Don't be like this, man. Cut on your hand is nothing to brush off."
"There should be a first aid kit's in the bus." Maggie said as she turned around to the rolled over bus and began making her way to it, "I'll see what we have,"
She stopped dead in her tracks a second later as the bus lit itself up in fire, flames slowly engulfing the entire vehicle.
"Perfect." Noah commented dryly.
Gwen shook her head in frustation, "Things just can't just go our way for once, can't they?"
"It doesn't matter." Abraham said as he slouched his bag over his shoulder, readying himself to go further down the road on his foot, "We're not stopping. We're rolling on. We'll find another vehicle down the road. The mission hasn't changed."
"Devil's advocate, nothing more." Eugene said, making Abraham stop and look at him, "We smashed to a stop hard. We spent a lot of time rolling things out of the road. The church is just 15 miles back that way..."
"No." Abraham cut him off, "We don't stop. We don't go back. We're at war, and retreat means we lose. The road fights back, the plan gets jacked. You all know that. Now, we will get through this because we have to. Every direction is a question. We don't go back!"
With that being said, Abraham turned away from Eugene and pushed himself into walk again. He stopped after taking a few steps down the road because Glenn and Chef got themselves in his way, stopping him from going any further.
"You okay?" Glenn asked him as soon as he stopped him.
"I am fit as a damn fiddle." Abraham responded.
"We are going with you." Glenn began.
"Exactly." Chef nodded as he added, "You're the one leading us in this mission, Abraham and we will follow you. You are calling this thing. I just need to know you're good. You have to be in condition to travel if you want your mission to succeed."
"This is how things stop." Abraham shifted his gaze between Glenn and Chef, "I can't afford that right now. The world can't afford it. Listen, I took a pretty hard shot to the sack with that crash. I am stressed and depressed to see that ride die, but if you say we're rolling on, I'm good."
Chef and Glenn exchanged glances before the latter nodded his head at Abraham, "We're rolling on."
"That's all we wanted to hear from you." Chef added.
"I'm gonna rub some dirt on it and walk it off." Abraham said, referring to his wounded hand.
"Yeah." Glenn gave Abraham another nod of his head.
Chef gave Abraham an amused smile, "Learned this tricks it in the army?"
"Of course." Abraham smiled back at Chef, "Where else would I learn it?"
"We'll find what we need like we always have." Rosita said, "On the way."
"I'm not rubbing dirt on anything." Maggie added.
"So am I." Gwen nodded in agreement, she, Maggie, Glenn and Trent smilling.
"Maybe we can find some bikes." Tara said, "Bikes don't burn."
"Bikes? Prepare to be slowed down by me, then." Noah said, "Sports aren't my forte."
"We know. At least some of us do." Trent answered as he turned to Noah with a playful smile on his face, "How well did that worked out for you last time?"
Noah rolled his eyes and crossed his arms, "I have no comment."
Abraham shifted his gaze between each member of his group and nodded, "All right. Right."
He turned away from his group to look at the road ahead of him and pushed himself into walk. His group quickly followed him. All of them began making their way along the road, hoping to stumble upon a working vehicle that could fit all of them on the road.
It was now night and fortunely for the group, they didn't have to spend their night somewhere on the road because they managed to stumble upon a place that they could use as a shelter for the night. This place happened to be an abandoned book store. They broke into the store without making much noise and made sure to check if it was safe for them to stay for the night.
After making sure it was, they made sure to set up the place. They got the water from the toilet, built barricade with bookshelves and tore out book pages to use in a fire. They split up around the place to take care of their own thing shorty after. Izzy almost immediately volunteered to stay on watch for the night. Chef offered to go with her, but Izzy insisted on being all by herself. Chef tried to convince her to let him go with her, but
Chef sighed internally as he walked through the store, remembering the conversation he had with Izzy a few moments earlier. He was worried about her. She was distancing herself from the rest, including Noah, ever since they buried Ezekiel back at Gabriel's church. He wished he could do something to help her, but everytime when he tried to say something to her, she just ignored him. The conversation he had with her a few moments ago was the first conversation he had with her since they left the church.
He stopped dead in his tracks when he noticed a familiar figure out of the corner of his eyes when he passed by a window. It was Abraham. His fellow army man was standing in front of the window, watching the walkers outside the window. He slowly approached Abraham and stopped next to him. Abraham gave him a brief look, before turning to look at the walkers again.
"...Thank you." Abraham broke the silence between them.
Chef titled his head towards him, "Huh? For what?"
"For showing up." Abraham replied, "For deciding to go with us. It took me a while to convince some of your friends to go with us, but you agreed to go with us almost as soon as you were told about Eugene from me."
"There's no need to thank me about it." Chef said, seeing no need to in being thanked about it, "I had my reasons."
"What reasons?" Abraham asked out of curiosity.
"Those kids." Chef saw no point in lying as he referred to the younger members of his group, including the contestants, Carl and Judith, "They deserve to live in a normal world after everything they've been through in the recent year. No kids should have experience such things. Back in the bus when I heard Trent and Gwen talking about what they will do once Eugene will create cure, If felt happy for them. Happy to hear them plan out their future without having to worry about everything we have to worry these days."
"You're thinking about the younger ones" Abraham gave him a respectful nod, "I respect that. I can only imagine the things you've been through in the recent year. I'm sure they will get to experience normal life again after we will bring Eugene to Washington. "
Chef nodded his head to Abraham's words. He glanced down at his hand and gestured to it, "You gonna wrap that up?"
"No." Abraham shook his head, "I'm gonna let it get some air. Got cut up pretty ugly last night back at the church."
"Yeah." Chef nodded.
"Gotten to the point where everyone alive is strong now." Abraham stated, "We have to be. You're either strong and they can help you so you help them or you're strong and they can kill ya. So you gotta kill them. You gotta kill them and..." He sighed, "I want to say it's never easy. That's not the truth. It's the easiest thing in the world now."
Chef sighed in agreement, "Yeah. I never thought killing will become easy to to me after I left the army. The first time was toughest days of my life for me, but after that, it just became easier for me. It was one of the reasons why I left the army. I just wanted to get away from it."
Abraham nodded his head in understanding, "If you will ever have the need to talk about your army days, then I am here. Who will understand it more than your fellow army man?"
"Thank you. I'm grateful for it." Chef responded, "I will always be willing to hear you out as well if you will ever have the need to talk about it with someone."
"I'll make sure to keep it in mind." Abraham nodded, turning away from him, "I should get going. I really need some ass."
Glenn eyes his surrounding once he entered the area of the book store that was filled with all kinds of books, looking for a certain person. He found them after a few seconds. Noah was sitting on the floor, reading a Stephen Hawking book. This choice of an author didn't suprise him. Stephen King was one of Noah's favourite writers. Noah's bag was laying next to him and his UMP-45.
"Hey." He said as he approached Noah, making the bookworm look up at him.
"Glenn?" Noah said as soon as he looked up from his book.
"I was kind of excepting to see you here." Glenn said, "It's a book store, after all and everyone from our group knows how much you love to read." He gestured to Noah's bag. It was filled with all kinds of books Noah had put in here after searching through the choices in this store, "
"My old books were lost in the prison." Noah explained as Glenn sat down next to him, "Why wouldn't I look for the new ones in the next book store I found myself in? I would be an idiot if I did so and I am anything but one."
"Yeah." Glenn laughed at his friend being himself.
"A shame I couldn't find a chess set anywhere." Noah sighed, "My old one was lost in Terminus. It was in my bag and those bastards took it from me shorty before those locked us up in the train car." He paused for a moment to let out a sigh, "Dammit...It was the only thing I and Izzy had left of Cody."
Glenn gave Noah a look of understanding, "You miss him?"
"What do you think? I already miss our games of chess we had back at the prison." Noah responded, "If you're thinking about asking me the same question as you did back on the farm about Sophia, then don't even try."
"No. I'm not planning to do that." Glenn assured him, "I've known you long enough to know your kind of way of showing that you care about other people."
"Thank you." Noah gave his friend a slight smile, but it faded from his lips shorty after, "I was starting to think If I should knock you in the head with my book for saying such a bullshit. Luckily for you, I'm not a person that gets their feelings hurt easily."
"This is something I know about as well." Glenn smiled back, but his smile quickly disappeared from his face, just like Noah's, "We need to talk about something."
"About what?" Noah wanted to know, "If this is about my approach to Eugene..."
"No. It's about Izzy." Glenn revealed to Noah why he came here to talk with him, "She's been distant to our group ever since we buried Zeke."
"I know." Noah replied, "I experienced it firsthand when I tried to sit next to her on the bus and she changed her seat the moment she saw me walking towards her."
"I think you should talk with her." Glenn told him, "Chef tried to talk with her before she went on her watch, but she pushed him away. Perharps she will listen to you, because you're the person she is closest with here."
"What am I supposed to say to her to make her feel better?" Noah asked in response, "I'm sorry about all of our close friends dying within a dozen days, but look at the bright side! I am supposed to cheer her up with Eugene's cure? You know my words will mean nothing in the terms of this. Everyone in this group knows that I won't believe Eugene until I will see him do his work with my own eyes!"
"I don't know." Glenn gave him a honest answer, "I still think you should give it a try. She needs her friend right now. I wish I could have been there for Maggie after Hershel died, but I was unable to, because of our situation. Unlike me, you have a chance to talk with her about the people you have recently lost. You shouldn't waste it, man. I feel like this talk is something the two of you need."
Noah sighed after a few seconds of staying unresponsive, putting his book in his bag, "Fine. I'll try to talk with her. If anything bad happens during our little talk, then I'm blaming you for it."
"Fair enough." Glenn nodded his head, "Should I take your stuff to your room?"
"Yes." Noah nodded his head at his friend as he got up from the floor, "It's not like I will read anything for any longer tonight."
It wasn't long before the familiar figure of Izzy appeared in Noah's view because the bookworm knew where to find her. The orange haired woman was standing in front of the window. Her back was turned to him as she watched the darkened streets in front of her, a completely blank emotionless look on her face.
"Izzy." He called out for her, but she ignored him, pretending as if she didn't hear him, "Izzy. I know you can hear me. Don't give me the silent treatment you've been giving everyone ever since we left the prison."
Izzy looked over her shoulder, "I'm not in the mood to talk with you, right now."
"Don't give the same thing you same treatment you gave to Chef." Noah pointed out, "You've been distancing yourself from all of us ever since we left the prison. Each time someone tried to talk with you, you ignored them and pretended not to hear them. Everyone in this group is done with it. Don't you understand it only makes everyone worry about you? Why are you trying to distance yourself from us?"
Izzy clenched her hand into a fist, fighting off various emotions she was boiling inside herself for the last few days, "Because everyone in this group will be better off if they will stay away from me."
"What?" Noah asked as he took one step towards her, "What made you think so?
"You don't get it?I thought you were the smartest person here." Izzy answered as she turned around to look at him, revealing the shaky expression on her face, "I can't protect anyone. It's like I am cursed."
"Izzy." Noah took another step towards her, "What do you mean you can't protect anyone? You've been on the strongest people in our group since Atlanta. When I was sitting on my ass in the camp, catching some fishes after Owen and Zeke..."
"Don't." Izzy cut him off, "Don't say those names in front of me. Don't you even think about them when you're around me."
Noah sighed, "Izzy..."
"In about several days..." Izzy cut him off once again, her voice becoming shakier. She sounded like she was on the verge of tears at this point as she couldn't keep all those negative emotions in her anymore, "Three people who were close with me died! Cody was just behind my back when he was gunned down by the Governor and Jose's people and Ezekiel died because I asked him to bring another bottle of wine to us! He wouldn't be outside if I didn't ask him to go out! He wouldn't be stabbed by Scott if it wasn't for me!"
"Izzy." Noah tried to get through to her, "You couldn't have predicted..."
"I can't protect anyone!" Izzy screamed, all the negative emotions in her exploading her and causing her to burst into tears, "Owen was torn apart right in front of me and the day before it happened, I was talking with him about our life! I promised to keep him alive for as long as possible and he died the next night and I couldn't do jack shit to save his life!"
"Izzy..." Noah tried to say something to him, genuine concern in his voice which was something pretty rare for him, but was cut off by his friend for another time.
"I'm cursed." Izzy was a sobbing mess at this point as her rifle fell out of her grasp. It collided with the floor as she continued to cry, "That's right! That must be it! I'm really cursed. You should stay away from me. Because you will end up dead just like they did! Anyone who gets too close to with ends up dead either by the walkers or by other people!"
Knowing that he won't be able to get through to her with his words, Noah did the only thing he could think of. He embraced his friend in a comforting hug, silencing Izzy. The orange haired woman stiffened where she stood as if she didn't knew how she should react to this. She reacted to it a moment later. She slowly wrapped her hands around Noah, hugging him back. She placed her hand against his shoulder, sobbing into it.
"Izzy." Noah began, knowing that Izzy won't cut him off anymore, "Do you really think that? Because none of it, none of it is true. You're not cursed. I know the two of us are after some tough days, but don't have such stupid thoughts go through your head. What happened to Owen, Cody, Eva and Ezekiel was not your fault. You can't blame yourself for their deaths."
Izzy said nothing. She just continued to cry into Noah's shoulder, soaking it in her tears. Noah put his right hand on the back of his head, letting her cry into his shoulder for as long as she will need to.
It was the next day and the group of eleven people was now gathered in the main lobby of the book store they were staying at, discussing what they should do next in their mission.
"This town isn't in bad shape." Maggie said, "This store wasn't even touched. We could make a good base here."
"We could spend one last day doing a sweep for supplies." Gwen suggested.
"We'll sweep as we go." Rosita replied to Gwen's suggestion, "We've done it since Houston. We're not stopping now."
"You heard the lady." Abraham nodded his head, "We're taking it north."
"We tapped out the toilet." Tara spoke next, "Broad River is five miles west. At the very least, we stock up there before we find wheels."
"Yeah." Trent nodded in agreement, "It would be the best for our mission to stop here for a day and gather all the supplies we need for the road."
"I'm just sick of drinking dog water." Noah said. The taste may have not been so bad, but the thought of for what this water was used was making him sick in his stomach everytime he took a sip of it.
Gwen shrugged, "It ain't the worst thing I ever drank."
"Yeah..." Chef said, knowing to what Gwen was referring to.
"We got a vehicle." Abraham got up from his seat and moved a piece of cardboard away from the window, revealing a firetruch just on the other side of the street, "And it just so happens... it's got 500 gallons of water on it."
It wasn't long before the group headed out of their current shelter and made their way to the other side of the street where the fire truck was located. Abraham and Eugene got themselves into the truck, Abraham sitting in the driver's seat and Eugene sitting next to him as the rest of the group checked if the fire truck was in a good condition for the road. After making sure that it was, Chef and Glenn walked over to Abraham.
"The truck?" Abraham asked Chef and Glenn as soon as he set his eye son him, "Is it good to go?
"Yeah." Chef nodded, "It should be good."
Abraham nodded his head and twisted the key, trying to start to start up the vehicle. He exchanged a smile with Glenn and Chef once he heard how the engine started working. He was about to drive out of the parking lot, but unfortunely, the truck stopped a few seconds later. He let out a frustated sigh and got himself out of the truck, Rosita, Glenn and Chef approaching him.
"Come on. Just once. One damn time." He said in frustation, looking at the unmoving vehicle.
"We'll find another ride." Glenn told him.
"If there was a ride worth a shit in this town, we'd have seen it." Abraham pointed out, "This thing's done some crowd clearing. Right up into the intake. Which means we've got an air filter filled with damn human remains." He picked up a random cloth from the ground and began to clean a part of the firetruck with it, "And there is no damned corner on this damned Earth that has not been dicked hard beyond all damned recognition."
"Abraham?" Rosita called out for him, she and Chef noticing the one thing he was doing wrong.
Abraham turned to her in frustation, "What?"
"That feeds the radiator." Rosita pointed out.
"The intake for the engine is actually on the roof." Chef added.
Abraham paused what he was doing and stared at them in silence, with a hint of a sheepish look on his face. It was when all of them turned away from the firetruck to look behind them. A tire went rolling by out of the building next to them and rolled right past them. It was when a group of walkers walked out of the building. The undead immediately noticed them and began making their way towards them.
The group wasted no time and quickly prepared themselves for the fight, with Maggie, Tara, Trent, Gwen, Izzy and Noah getting themselves out of the firetruck to help them fight the undead off. However, even with their help, the situation was not getting any better for the group, because there was simply no end for the undead. The situation only got worse when more walkers approached them from behind.
Unfortunely the group effort at taking out the undead wasn't doing much as the group was getting overrun by the undead. It was when something came in their aid. Eugene who was on the top of the firetruck turned the fire hose on the walkers and took all of the walkers out with the water pouring out of it. It was just a matter of seconds before all of the walkers laid on the ground, dead, painting the watery ground underneath them with their blood.
"I been to eight county fairs and one goat rodeo." Abraham said as he shifted his gaze from the ground at Eugene who smiled proudly at him, "I never seen anything like that."
"Okay." For the first time Noah had something positive to say about Eugene, "Color me impressed."
"There was a Goodwill over there by the bookstore." Trent said as Eugene climbed down from the top of the firetruck, "It's pretty blown up, but there might be some supplies, some dry clothes, maybe?"
"Not necessary." Abraham replied as he made his way to the back of the firetruck, beginning to climb to the top of the said vehicle, "I can clear that intake in two shakes. Then the engine will get some wind and so will we. You'll air-dry. We roll on."
He made his way to the top of the firetruck and glanced down at the people below him. From there, he quickly spotted a large message on the ground written in red saying, "SICK INSIDE! LET THEM DIE!".
He started laughing as soon as he set his eyes on it, making everyone look at him like he had just grown a second head, "What? This shit is screwed up!"
It's been a while since the group left the town where they spent last night. The group was forced to take a break from the road because the fire truck had stopped working again, this time in the middle of a forested road. Abraham and Chef were in the firetruck, trying to get it running again as the rest of the group was out of the vehicle, doing their own thing to kill the time, at the same time making sure to look around them just in case if the undead walked out from the forest.
Glenn glanced to his side once he saw Izzy and Noah talking with each other. He smiled. Whatever Noah said to Izzy last night, it worked, because the orange haired woman had opened up and started talking to to them again. His smile faded from his lips once he smelled something in the air. He wasn't the only one who smelled it. Trent did too. The musican covered his nose in disgust.
"Whoa, what the hell is that?" Glenn asked, making everyone look at him.
Trent looked at him, "You smelled that too?"
"Yeah." Glenn nodded in confirmation.
"What?" Maggie asked her husband, she and everyone else gathering around him.
"Wind's picking up." Glenn answered, "You're about to smell it."
Everyone waited for a brief moment and eventually smelled whatever Trent and Glenn had smelled a moment earlier as well. Needless to say, the smell was so made that it made all of them groan in disgust.
"What is that?" Gwen asked in disgust.
"Whatever's making that stench, it ain't nothin' nice." Abraham stated as he and Chef climbed out of the firetruck to check out what was causing this unpleasant smell, "We're not stoppin'."
"Uh, we're stopped." Tara pointed out.
The group of eleven pushed themselves into walk towards the source of the smell. They found out what was causing this smell shorty after. They were greeted by the view of a huge horde of the undead once they reached the end of the road. They noticed a huge farm ahead of them, equally infested by the walkers at both sides.
"Let's go." Glenn said, turning away from the herd, knowing that it was a dead end for them.
"Yeah." Gwen agreed as she turned away from the herd as well, knowing one thing. Going through this horde was nothing but a suicide.
The rest of the group followed their example as they have the same mind as they did on this matter and turned away from the herd, beginning to walk away from it back to the firetruck. Abraham was the only exception. He remained where he stood, staring at the undead in front of him.
"I will not lie down." He whispered to himself as his group noticed that he was not following them, "I will not abase."
"Abraham." Rosita called out for him, she and the others turning around to look at red haired man, "Let's get out of here."
"I will not give up the ship." Abraham whispered to himself, looking over his shoulder at his group, "Hold up."
"We gotta go." Maggie told him.
"We have to change the route, man." Trent pointed out.
"No." Abraham shook his head as he shifted his gaze back to the horde, watching it from the distance, "No, we don't."
"Are you stupid or just pretending to be?" Noah asked him, "Going through this will get you killed!"
"They can't hear us and they can't see us. Not from here." Abraham pointed out, "We're fine."
"Yeah, this is the definition of fine." Tara said, sarcasm evident in her voice.
"We need the map." Glenn stated, "There's gotta be a detour."
"I'm not doing it." Abraham voiced his opinion on detouring, "We detoured and detoured and detoured from Houston to Georgia. I'm not playing that game anymore. "
"We are not going through this, okay?" Glenn said, pointing at the horde ahead of them as he and Chef approached Abraham.
"Abraham, are you out of your mind?" Chef voiced his mind about this situation, "This will do nothing good for your mission. Leading your soldiers and more importantly your target through something like this will bring nothing but dead to them, to you, and to your mission. We have to turn back and find some other way."
"You got a shitstorm behind door A and a storm of shit behind door B." Abraham pointed out as he turned away from the horde to look at Glenn and Chef, "If you're lucky, it's walkers or a shot-up truck. But sooner or later you get cornered. You wind up stayin' and you wind up killin'. We don't go back. We can't go back."
"I and Chef are not talking about going back." Glenn pointed out, "Just south a few miles..."
"No." Abraham cut him off.
"We already hit a full stop 'cause of an air filter compromised by innards." Eugene pointed out, "That will happen again."
"Then we'll hit 'em with the hose." Abraham suggested.
"The tank is empty." Gwen pointed out.
"If we floor it..." Abraham began but was interrupted by Noah.
"We still hit them, they still slow us down, and then they stop us." Noah cut him off, glaring at Abraham, "You really can't change the route? We won't last a minute out there! You really are that stubborn even if you see a clear life threatening danger in front of you?!"
"Can't you just shut the hell up for a second?" Abraham was done with Noah at this point.
"Wow." Noah was unimpressed, "You can't find a counter argument so you tell me to shut up."
"Abraham." Izzy spoke next, "Whatever you want to do is insane."
"We can get through!" Abraham snapped, sticking to his point no matter what, "The red I know it! And that means we are not going south, going around, or going back!"
"No." Rosita agreed with the rest as Abraham looked at her in suprise, "They're right"
Abraham let out a frustated sigh, getting pissed off by this situation as made his way to Eugene and grabbed him his arm, beginning to drag him back to the firetruck. He was going to get him through this horde and nothing was going to stop, even if it meant going all by himself. The group immediately followed Abraham, trying to stop him from doing something this reckless.
"What are you doing!?" Gwen shouted, going after Abraham.
"Stop!" Trent shouted to Abraham.
"Let go of him." Rosita said, trying to convince Abraham to not do this, "I'm not gonna let you do this."
Abraham ignored her pleads, "Yes, you are."
"Do not do this!" Chef shouted as he put his hands on Abraham in an attempt to stop him, but Abraham pushed him off, glaring at his fellow army man, "Don't do something this reckless!"
"Do not touch me!" Abraham shouted to Chef right after pushing him away from him, "You do not touch me!"
It was when Eugene broke free from Abraham's grasp and screamed out, "I'm not a scientist!" His declaration made everyone stop dead in their tracks. Everyone stared at him like he had just grown a second head, "I lied. I'm not a scientist. I don't know how to stop it. I'm not a scientist."
Everyone stared at Eugene in utter disbelief, their minds trying to process what they had just heard from him, silence overcoming their group. Noah was the only exception. The bookworm let out a sigh and lowered his head. He might have been skeptical about Eugene being a scientist from the start, but he didn't feel smug or smarter than everyone else after turning out to be right.
In fact, he was very saddened by this revelation. He wasn't sad for himself. He was sad for his group. His group had truly believed his lie and began to believe that they would live in a normal world again where they don't have to worry about walkers. Now this hope was gone. It was extinguished like a match the moment Eugene revealed himself to be liar.
"You are a scientist." Rosita broke the silence, "I've seen the things that you can do."
"I just know things." Eugene responded.
Glenn glared at Eugene, "You just... "know things"?"
"I know I'm smarter than most people, I know I'm a very good liar, and I know I needed to get to DC." Eugene said, trying to ignore the angry glares he was receiving from everyone.
"Why?" Chef asked, glaring at Eugene. Eugene flinched at the amount of rage he saw in this man's eyes.
"Why the hell would you lie to us about this!?" Izzy asked, giving him the glare that could burn an entire forest to the ground
"Because I do believe that locale holds the strongest possibility for survival, and I wanted to survive. If I could cheat some people into taking me there, well, I just reasoned that I'd be doin' them a solid, too, considering the perilous state of the city of Houston, the state of everything." Eugene explained his reasons for lying, "I understand if you're upset."
"Upset? You're fucking crazy." Eugene flinched when Gwen spoke to him, her voice filled with nothing but anger. She couldn't remember the last time when she felt so cheated in her life. She was ready to risk her life for Eugene and the reason for why she was ready to do such a thing was nothing but a big lie, "How could you even think about pulling out something like that? Do you realize how many of us were willing to risk their lives for you?"
"Exactly. Do you realize how many people died because you made them believe that you can bring the world back to the way it was?" Trent asked, glaring at Eugene with pure anger in his eyes as Abraham crouched down in utter shock.
"I'm aware of that." Eugene admitted, "Stephanie, Warren, Pam, Rex, Roger, Josiah, Dirk, and Josephine..." He paused for a again, "Bob..." He once again paused for a second and looked at Izzy, "...Ezekiel."
Izzy's breathing became heavier once Eugene mentioned Ezekiel's name. Noticing something wrong with his friend, Noah quickly came over to her side and placed his hand on her shoulder, trying to help her calm down. He glared at Eugene, just like everyone else in the group as Izzy attempted to steady her breathing.
"You see, I lost my nerve as we grew closer." Eugene's voice started to break, "For I am a coward... and the reality of getting to our destination and disclosing e truth of the matter became some truly frightening shit. I took it upon myself to slow our roll. Find time to finesse things so then when we got there... But at this moment, I fully realize there are no longer any agreeable options. I was screwed either way. I also lied about T. Brooks Ellis liking my hair. I do not know T. Brooks Ellis. But I did read one of his books, and he seemed like the type of guy that wouldn't blink twice at a Tennessee Top Hat."
"Are you serious about this right now?!" Gwen couldn't believe her ears. He was really talking about his hair now?
"Again..." Eugene looked down at Abraham, "I am smarter than you. Now, you may want to leave me here..."
It was when Abraham couldn't take it anymore. He shot up from his crouching position and punched Eugene straight in the face, causing him to back up to the firetruck. He let out a scream of pure rage as he punched him again. Chef quickly grabbed Abraham, trying to hold him back as Abraham punched Eugene one last time, knocking him unconscious. Eugene fell down to the ground with a loud thud.
Abraham glared at Eugene as he stepped towards him, not intenting to stop his beating but Rosita got in his way with her hand on her holstered gun, warning him to back off. Abraham looked down at his stitched up hand and saw that it had started bleeding again. He turned away from Rosita and began walking away from her and the rest, distancing himself from them.
He fell on his knees a few moments later, once he was in a safe distance from the group as the words he had from Noah right after he had encountered him and his group flew through his head.
"Excuse me for being skeptic about something that I've been told by the people that I just met, especially when it is about something like that. Any person can pretend to be a scientist just to have the protection of the other people these days. I'm suprised that you didn't realize that, yet."
Abraham could fell tears forming in his eyes once those words flew through his mind.
Noah.
This kid.
This kid who did nothing but annoy him ever since he had met him on the road saw through Eugene's lie the moment he and Rosita had told him about Eugene being a scientist capable of creating a cure. A freaking kid saw this lie coming a mile away and he didn't. He didn't even consider it for a second, even though he was around Eugene for so long.
Abraham woke up in the grocery store he was staying at with his family, immediately noticing one thing. His wife, daughter and son, simply his entire family was nowhere to be seen. He quickly looked around himself, hoping to spot them anywhere in the store, but all he found of them was a note saying to not try to look for them. Realizing that his wife and children had left him, Abraham shot up to his feet and ran out of the store.
He ran as fast as he could to try to find them, but unfortunely it was already too late to do anything. He found his wife and children a few moments later. Or rather what was left of them. They were torn apart by the walkers, leaving nothing but barely recognizable remains of them. Upon seeing this, Abraham fell on his knees, watching what had remained of his family in despair.
It was when he reached for his holstered pistol. He took it out and opened his mouth. He placed the barrel in his mouth, with the intention of taking his own life, but a cry for help in the distance stopped him in the last second.
"Help me!" He turned to the source of the voice and saw Eugene who was trying to get away from the walkers, "Help! Help me! Help me, please!"
Abraham got himself back on his feet and walked past Eugene with his knife in ready. He made his way to the walkers that were chasing Eugene and took them out without any problem.
"Thank you. Thank you." Eugene thanked Abraham for saving his life. Abraham turned towards him and began walking towards him, "I think, I think they're gettin' faster." Abraham ignored him and walked past him, going his own way, "Wait! Wait up! Stop! You can't leave!"
Abraham stopped dead in his tracks and turned around to look at him, "Why?"
"...I have a very important mission." Eugene responded after a moment of silence.
You know, it's actually kind of strange to see Eugene like this again after watching his character in season 11...
I'm sorry for this long few month hiatus, but I felt like I needed to take a longer break from this story after updating it frequently for over a year and what would be the best time to end this hiatus than the day of the second year anniversary of this story and the day where The Walking Dead had officialy finished it's filming?
The next chapter will be about Daryl, Carol and Duncan in Atlanta and it should come out sooner than this one did. I don't know what the update schedule for this is going to be, because I have other stories I want to work on, but I'll try to do at least one or two chapters a month.
Let's end this author's note with a quick question: Would any of you be interested in reading a crossover between Ed Edd n Eddy and Attack on Titan, because I have one in mind?
Hope it wasn't that bad. See you in another chapter.