Korrasami 88: The Zuul boys were never gone.
MrScourch: He was never in jail. He just stumbled upon Jill. As for Sawbones, he's not as "feral" as his minions, but he certainly doesn't enjoy 'Freakish' things like reading and playing games.
Al Drin Hoshizora: Get used to it. This won't be the last 'long' chapter (especially since we're nearly at the climax).
I am a burglar: It's not a crime if he's a zombie :)
The Batista: What do you mean? She's technically leading them.
Creamy Buttercap: That's kind of dark.
Antha1: They changed their mind because their parental instincts kicked in.
"Look Joe, I'm telling you that those Others are changing."
Bill had been telling this to Joe for at least two days now. After the 'Boss' had explained the cause of the whole infection, Bill had now been trying to instill hope in the current Boss, which was Joe.
And the biggest step was convincing him that there was nothing to fear.
"You saw it with my daughter, and even the Boss," Bill explained to Joe in his office. "They're capable of non-violence. They can communicate and reason, but you have to give them a chance-"
"I have a duty as leader here, Bill," Joe cut him off with a wave of his hand. "I have to protect what's left of this city, especially now that the former Boss is one of them."
"What do you mean, 'them'?" Bill asked, folding his arms. "I was out there with 'them' for over a year. I know them better than you do. My daughter, her friend, Margaret. . . there are smart Others here in this building, Joe. They're not zombies. They're people who need help."
"But what about the ones who aren't changing?" Joe pointed out. "Are you asking me to believe that all of those things are suddenly friendly? Don't you remember Patient Zero? That thing ran off with your daughter. She killed and injured a lot of people. Are you asking me to believe that she's friendly?"
"But-"
"She ran off with your daughter, Bill," Joe reminded. "Who knows what has become of them. For all we know, she tore your daughter to pieces."
Bill furrowed his eyebrows at the thought. For a moment, he considered it; then, he shoved the thought out of his head. He refused to except that anything had happened to his daughter.
Suddenly, the door behind the two swung open, and Bill spun around to see some man that he didn't know burst in. He looked out of breath and frantic.
"What is it?" Joe asked, noticing the man's terrified expression.
"It's the zombies," The man said, breathing to catch his breath. "They're heading to the building."
Bill saw Joe's expression change into horror. The man quickly asked, "How many?"
The man's answer made Bill and Joe's heart sink.
"All of them."
The streets were swarming with hundreds of thousands of Others. As if with one singular mind, the massive crowd swarmed in the direction of the Freak's building, led by Yellowjacket and Pale Girl.
The crowd had encountered several Freaks and more intelligent Others during the journey, but they had fled the moment they saw the massive number of Others coming in their direction. The Others were sure they were going off to warn the Boss, but it didn't matter.
There was no way the Freaks could beat back a mob of this size.
Yellowjacket gulped as she hesitantly navigated the crowd towards the building. By her side, Pale Girl strode confidently, a large grin on her face. Her clawed hands were clenched.
"Yellowjacket!" The girl heard Blackjacket's (or as she now knew him to be, Jordan) voice in the crowd, and she turned around to see the young boy squeeze his way through the older Others.
"So, uh, what's going to happen?" He asked Yellowjacket as the crowd marched on.
"We fight!" Pale Girl suddenly butted it, and flashed Blackjacket a fanged grin. Blackjacket shrunk down a bit, and his skin paled even more than usual.
Yellowjacket groaned. She picked out a few familiar faces in the crowd, and she called them out to her side. George, Mary, Rob and Shelley, and few members of Jill and Bill's former group were soon next to her.
"Yeah, Yellowjacket?" George asked.
"I want you to put yourselves as far away from the front-lines as possible," Yellowjacket instructed them. "You're less likely to get shot, then."
"Oh," Blackjacket said, frowning at the thought of abandoning his friend.
"Oh, thank goodness!" Bob said, and he and the other members of Bill and Jill's former group instantly took off to try and find places in the mob farthest away from the front-lines of the fight.
Yellowjacket rolled her eyes, then turned to the other five and said, "You guys as well."
"Yellowjacket," Blackjacket started.
"Now," Yellowjacket said, more forceful. Blackjacket sighed, and he and the other four shoved their way backwards into the crowd.
Once they were gone, Yellowjacket turned to Pale Girl and said, "Look, I don't think those creatures back there were created by the Boss. See, there's a guy named Sawbones, and he lives in this, eh, building surrounded by these really creepy things. . ."
"Don't care," Pale Girl said, brushing Yellowjacket off. "We'll deal with them after we get to the Boss."
Yellowjacket narrowed her eyes. "What did he even do to you?" She asked her blood sister.
Pale Girl's smile vanished, and she simply turned to stare at Yellowjacket. She then turned back to the front, and recognized that they were entering the Freak's territory.
"Stop!" She shouted, and the crowd behind her slowly came to a stop. The ones that didn't hear her stopped as well when the Others in front ceased walking.
The large crowd all looked around as they recognized that this area of the city looked different. There was less wreckage, and there were tons of writings and graffiti on the walls.
"The Boss is near!" Pale Girl declared, and she was about to rush forward when Yellowjacket grabbed her by the hand.
"No," She said to her, loud enough so that the Others heard her as well. "We need a plan."
Pale Girl turned to glare at Yellowjacket, and shook off her hand. Yellowjacket turned to the crowd, and declared, "First things first, before we rush in there: no biting!"
The crowd stared at Yellowjacket in confusion, but the girl continued.
"Second of all, if we're going to take down the Boss, we're going to need a special something called strategy," She explained to the crowd. The Others looked miffed, but they mostly remained silent.
When she was sure they were listening, Yellowjacket said, "Okay, here's what we're going to do. . ."
(In Yellowjacket's Mind)
The five emotions stood at the console, driving Yellowjacket's actions. As they did, Star explained to the group, "Okay, so we have to get in there and take out the Boss first. Hopefully, that happens without anyone getting bitten."
Teardrop nudged Star, and pointed out, "But Star, what about Jill?"
Teardrop was somewhat startled to see a forlorn look on Star's face. "We have more important matters to deal with at the moment," The golden emotion said, looking away from Teardrop.
"Star, what do you mean?" Teardrop asked her.
Brick turned to Teardrop. "You know what she means," The red emotion said. "Jill's not important now."
"What?" Teardrop asked, shocked.
"They abandoned us!" This time Nerve was the one to speak. "They just left us in the forest to die. They were willing to do that to their own daughter."
"At least Ghoul and Noose took us in," Pixie pointed out.
"But they found us," Teardrop reminded the group. "They tried to help us remember."
"Yeah, but they weren't willing to tell us the whole story, now were they?" Brick said. "They didn't want us to know how they were considering just killing us right then and there. Or how they just abandoned us, alone and with nowhere to go."
"At least Meg's mom stayed with her throughout," Star mumbled. "She didn't let her turn into a vicious zombie. If Jill and Bill had only done that, we wouldn't have hurt all those people. Maybe, we could've cured ourselves sooner, and we wouldn't be stuck leading a war!"
Star stopped when she saw how much she had offended Teardrop. Softly, she said, "Look, I'm sorry. But right now, we have a city to deal with. Our mom, our memories. . . they're not vital now."
Teardrop turned away from the other emotions, and she now stared ahead, at the console. She felt her eyes begin to water, and she let a tear stream down her face.
Outside of the Headquarters, Yellowjacket did the same thing.
Jill couldn't believe her bad luck.
Not only had she just lost her daughter (again), but she had been separated from her husband, her group, and the entire city. And now, she was partnered up with the last two people she'd ever wanted to associate with to find her daughter.
She was right. Fate really was playing a cruel game on her.
The female Other, Ghoul, said, "I can't believe the whole city just took off and we weren't there."
Noose shrugged. "I can't believe our Yellowjacket was under our noses the whole time, and we didn't know."
"Now, we just have to find her," Ghoul said, optimistically. Turning to Jill, she said, "Can you believe it? We might actually be able to reunite with Yellowjacket."
Jill narrowed her eyes. "Hooray," She said, sarcasm blatant.
Ghoul didn't notice Jill's obvious contempt, and she said, "So, where do we go?"
"Trust me, it's not hard following a crowd," Noose reassured the two women. "The real challenge will be locating Yellowjacket in that crowd. I mean, do you know how hard it is to find a 13 year old in a crowd?"
"Can we stay positive, here?" Ghoul pleaded to Noose.
Jill felt the need to add in her own comment. "So, why are you two even looking for this Yellowjacket," She asked, pretending not to know who she was.
"Oh, she's really important to me," Ghoul explained to Jill. "With her, I'm not just a creature that munches on Freaks. You see, all my life, I felt like something was missing in my life. She might be that thing I'm missing. She's almost like a. . ."
"Daughter?" Jill guessed, and she knew she was correct when she saw the look on Ghoul's face.
"Yeah," Ghoul said, and she frowned. "I hope nothing happens to her."
Jill scoffed, and she felt compelled to ask, "How did you even meet my daugh. . . Yellowjacket, anyways?"
"Your daughter?" Ghoul asked, and Jill nearly cursed. The three immediately stopped walking, and Ghoul and Noose turned to stare at Jill.
An awkward silence ensued, and Jill said, "How did you meet Yellowjacket?"
Ghoul turned to look up at the stars, and she let out a sigh.
"I don't remember a lot. But that's the thing I remember the most. . ."
One year ago
Ghoul and Noose walked through a damp, dark forest, half-blind by the clouds concealing the moon.
It had been a few weeks after Ghoul had been infected by some crazy man at the bar she worked at. After that, she had been left to wander the city, her memories of her previous life plunged into darkness.
Not too long ago she'd met Noose, and the two had simply traveled together, walking aimlessly.
Mainly through Noose's incompetence, the two had now found themselves lost in a forest.
"Dammit Noose," Ghoul grumbled as she got her foot stuck in the wet grass. "I thought you told me you knew where you were going?"
"I miscalculated, okay?" Noose defended himself, and dodged under a tree branch. "We just need to find ourselves out of this forest, and we'll be on our way."
Ghoul scoffed and rolled her eyes. As she tried to figure out any directions that led out of the forest, she vaguely noticed a few men wearing black and holding guns, trekking through the forest.
Realizing they were Freaks, Ghoul grabbed Noose and yanked him onto the ground, whispering, "Get down!"
The two flattened themselves on the ground behind a bush, and heard the crunching of leaves as the men walking through the forest, nearby.
"You find any of those walkers?" Ghoul and Noose heard one of the men call out. They held their breath, trying their best not to make a sound, lest the men hear them and discover them.
"No, haven't found any," Another man called out. Ghoul let out a sigh of relief. Hopefully, the men would leave, and they'd be on their way.
Suddenly, a voice far off called out, "Hey, I found one!"
Ghoul froze, and for a moment she wondered if they had been found. However, she soon heard the sound of footsteps moving away from her and Noose's location. Mustering up the courage to peek her head up from the bush, she saw the men rushing off towards a small hill. She watched on carefully to see what was happening.
"Hey, it's a little girl!"
Ghoul's ears perked up when she heard what one of the men said. Suddenly, out of her better judgement, she felt compelled to follow the men to get a better look at what was happening.
Seeing Ghoul leave their hiding spot, Noose whispered, "Hey, what are you doing? Come back here! Do you wanna get yourself killed?"
"Shut up," Ghoul whispered back, and continued to walk through the forest towards the men. Noose groaned, and got up and followed her.
The two slowly crept through the forest, careful to be as quiet as possible. They ducked behind trees whenever possible, all to try and remain hidden. Soon enough, they came across the hill to see what was happening.
They saw that there were four men in total, surrounding something. Ghoul looked closer, and saw that they were all leering over a young girl, lying unconscious on the soft grass.
"Is she dead?" One of the men asked, giving the young girl a soft pick.
Another man checked her pulse, and said, "Nope. She's breathing."
For some reason, Ghoul felt relieved. She continued to watch on, and heard one man say, "Hey, look at her skin. She's infected."
The men immediately backed away from the young girl, and Ghoul instantly dodged behind a tree to avoid being seen. Peering from behind the tree, she continued to watch on.
One of the men asked, "What do we do?"
"You know our orders," The other man said. "Shoot and kill."
Ghoul's eyes widened in shock, and she almost left her hiding spot. She stared down at the young girl laying unconscious, then up at the men.
One of them looked hesitant. "I don't know, man," He said, shaking his head. "It's just a kid."
"It's dangerous," The first man pointed out, aiming his gun at the girl. Ghoul stared down at the young girl, and studied her. She didn't look dangerous at all. She just looked like a little girl.
The first man had a stony look in his eyes. "If none of you will do it, I will," He declared, and he cocked his gun.
Ghoul narrowed her eyes at the man. She was well aware of the danger she was putting herself in with what she would do next, but she would not stand by and let a young child be shot to death while defenseless.
As the man raised his gun and prepared to fire at the young girl, Ghoul let out a scream and suddenly flung herself from behind the tree towards the man. The other men in black all let out shocked screams as the woman dove towards the man.
The armed man heard Ghoul before he saw her. He whipped around quickly just as Ghoul struck the gun out of his hand. Quickly, before the man could react, she lashed out, slashing his face with her nails. The man let out a shout, and crashed onto the ground.
As Ghoul whirled on the other men, Noose suddenly rushed out, carrying a large rock. He smashed the rock into one man's head, knocking him out cold. With surprising agility, he whirled around and struck the other man in the face, and he went down as well.
Seeing his three comrades unconscious, the final man instantly dropped his gun and took off through the woods, screaming. Ghoul and Noose then saw several feral men and women come out of the darkness and pursue the man.
Noose was about to follow them, but Ghoul grabbed him by the shoulder, and he stayed. Slowly, the two turned to the young girl. Cautiously, Ghoul approached the unconscious girl.
Kneeling down over the girl, Noose lay a hand on the girl's forehead. Her skin was turning cold. She also noticed that her shoulder had dried blood on it. Quickly, she grabbed a few leaves and pressed them against the girl's wound to try and stop the bleeding.
"What do we do now?" Noose asked as he, too, sat down next to Ghoul. The two stared down at the girl, and Ghoul felt her pulse. She was breathing.
Ghoul thought to herself. She knew they couldn't abandon the girl. If they did, she would likely be killed by another Freak.
Without thinking twice, Ghoul blurted out, "We'll protect her."
"What?" Noose asked as Ghoul took the girl in her arms and lifted her up. The young woman carried the young blonde girl in the direction of the nearest neighborhood, Noose following close behind.
"Ghoul, are you crazy?" Noose asked her. "We can't look after a child."
"Who says we can't?" Ghoul retorted, cradling the girl's head in her arms. "We'll take her back to the neighborhood, and come up to check on her every now and then."
Noose was about to argue, but he realized that she had made up her mind. With a sigh, he asked, "What are we going to call her?"
Ghoul thought to herself, letting her gaze drift. It was then that she noticed that the girl was wearing a bright yellow jacket.
Yellow jacket.
"I know," Ghoul said, brightening up. "We'll call her Yellowjacket."
". . . Then, not so long afterwards, we met Sawbones and then we became a group," Ghoul finished her story to Jill. "But now we've just lost both of them, and we're down to two."
The three had stopped walking, and were now sitting on a bench. Ghoul was hugging her legs on the seat.
"I miss her so much," Ghoul confessed, and she let a tear slip down her cheek. "If only I could see her again." She hung her head low in sadness.
Jill stared at Ghoul, feeling pity for the younger woman. She had listened to Ghoul's story, and her contempt for the woman had quickly been replaced for empathy.
This woman had saved her daughter from death. She'd stayed with her instead of abandoning her.
Jill's heart sank when she realized that Ghoul had done something she and her husband hadn't: they'd remained with her. As she let that thought mend itself into her mind, she wondered if she was really a better mother than Ghoul, a zombie.
As she remembered all the Others she had met in recent days who had changed her perspective of a supposedly dead world, she wondered if she should really make an exception with these two.
Slowly, Jill stood up. "Let's go," She said softly to the two.
"What?" Ghoul asked, looking up at Jill.
"You heard me," Jill said, turning to stare down at Ghoul, and she noticed a small smile on Jill's lips.
"Let's go find our daughter."
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