Fred Brings News

Jonah woke up, looking up to see Ellie had been gently shaking his shoulder. He sat up, stretching his arms over his head, rubbing the back of his neck. He was surprised that he had fallen asleep so easily, given that all he had was the floor and a rock for a pillow. "What's happening?" he asked, rubbing his eyes.

"Ryan says it's time to go," Ellie replied, Jonah standing up.

"What time is it?"

"I don't have a watch," Ellie replied.

"Oh…well, is the sun out?"

"Just coming over the horizon."

"Okay," Jonah said, walking towards the door, but Ellie grabbed his arm, Jonah wincing as she unintentionally scratched him.

"Sorry," Ellie said. "But Ryan's dealing with Fred right now."

"Who?"

"Ryan, if you don't let me in there right now, I'm going in my way," a voice said.

"Fred, wait!" came Ryan's voice, followed by a large infected breaking through the wall. One arm was massive, covered in what looked like rock, the thing's overalls undone on the large arm, while his other arm was almost nonexistent. This was another of the Special Infected, under the category of Charger. But most of the Special Infected he considered friends just called him by the name he used before being infected. Which was…well, Fred.

"A Survivor," Fred said in disbelief as Jonah now cowered on the other side of the wall. He turned to Ryan, who was shaking his head. "You're sheltering…a Survivor."

"Look, Fred," Ryan began, finding himself now pinned to the wall by Fred's arm.

"What the hell are you doing, helping one of them?" Fred demanded. "You know what they do!"

"Look, this kid is different," Ryan said. "He doesn't have any weapons, he doesn't even know what's going on. Ellie actually likes him, for Pete's sake!"

"Um…actually, I do have a weapon, but it's not much good for anything other than skinning," Jonah put in, pulling out a knife with a serrated edge on one side. He put it back in its sheath, which went back in his pocket. "I…don't know the first thing about fighting with knives, so…I can't really do much…"

"Fred, we're just giving him a little help until we can find some Survivors that can take him," Ellie said, though Jonah was a little surprised that she was hiding behind him, avoiding eye contact with Fred, who, by now, had put down Ryan and walked over to Jonah. Jonah looked up at Fred, who was a good foot and a half taller than the five foot, eleven inches teenager. Fred looked down at Jonah.

"Um…h-hi…I'm Jonah," Jonah said, putting out his hand. His father had once told him that one of the best ways to make a friend or at least start off on the right foot was to make the first introduction, followed by a gesture of peace, such as a handshake. Fred looked down at the hand in disbelief and then back up at Jonah's face.

"…Fred," he finally said, shaking the hand, being careful not to crush it. Inwardly, Jonah was crying with relief.

What is with this kid? Ryan thought. He could have been killed just now, yet he offered his hand to Fred and Fred actually shook it.

"So, you don't even know about the Green Flu epidemic, huh?" Fred asked, Ellie coming out from behind Jonah. Jonah shook his head. "Know anything about the Green Flu itself?"

"I know a little about it from biology, but the only thing I remember is that part of the virus does something to the brain," Jonah said.

"Biology, huh?" Fred asked, sighing. "Oh, how I miss my university job. But that's all shot to hell now. Fucking virus popped out of nowhere and when no one was looking, it decided to spread. Some of us got off lucky, being able to retain a couple memories and speech capabilities, but for the most part, we lost our natural appearances." Fred looked at Ryan, who was now sitting down, and at Ellie. "Those two are, for the most part, the same in their natural appearances. But me," Fred said, gesturing at himself with his large arm, "I'm stuck with this arm, and I can't even use my left arm anymore." Fred took a seat, causing the ground to shake, which in turn knocked Jonah down onto the floor.

"Um…so, you used to be a biology professor?" Jonah asked, crossing his legs. Fred nodded.

"But I can't even remember the most basic of the subject," Fred said. "I still know a little bit about the anatomy of a few different animals, as well as learned the anatomy of the different types of Special Infected, which is what the CEDA calls ones such as myself, Ellie, and Ryan. They even had the nerve to split us into sub categories of that. I'm what's known as a Charger to them, Ellie is a Witch, and Ryan is referred to as a Hunter."

"Oh, please, don't start that bullshit again," Ryan groaned. "Kid, I would suggest that you plug your ears for the next hour."

"How can you still not be even a little suspicious?" Fred asked. "Don't you think it's weird that the CEDA was able to react so quickly to the sudden outbreak. I mean, within one hour of the first call, they had evacs all over the country, safe rooms suddenly appeared, and then…I…I'm sorry, but I can't say the last part…anyways, Jonah, what Ryan is referring to is that I believe the CEDA are responsible for this epidemic. There are just too many coincidences for my liking is all." Fred then turned to Ryan, as if remembering something important. "Shit, I knew there was something that I had been forgetting. When you said that you're going to find some Survivors to dump the kid on, I forgot to tell you that I had found a group. There's an old man in a military uniform, a girl with brown hair in a ponytail and wearing a pink sweatshirt with running pants, a guy that looks like a biker punk with tattoos and no hair with a leather jacket, jeans, and fingerless gloves, and a black guy who looks like he might have been an office boy. I just saw a fellow Charger gunned down by them, a Witch killed, and a Hunter almost got one of them. And then Frank the Tank showed."

"Well, there go my hopes," Ryan said.

"Uh, actually…Frank is dead," Fred said. "He fell off a four story building, crushed under the fire escape. The Survivors are okay. They made it onto the roof and…well, I came here after watching, so I don't know where they are now. I was just coming to warn you two. They aren't very big fans of Witches."

"Do you know which way they might be headed?" Ellie asked.

"Well, last I saw, they were actually coming this way before they stopped to figure out what to do. From my understanding of it, they had been trying to get to a hospital of some kind, for a supposed CEDA evac. Just as they showed up, the helicopter left. After that, they came back to street level, trying to figure out what to do…at that time, the old man stuck his fingers into some slime, noting that the Common Infected aren't alone. He knows we exist," Fred finished. "And they met up with some of the dumber Special Infected. Frank was the only one there I think who was capable of actual speech. He attacked them after seeing the Charger, Witch, and Hunter killed one after the other. Oh, wait, I think there might have been a Smoker as well. Maybe…possibly…no, wait, definitely."

"So, we need to track them," Ryan said. "Fred, would you mind coming with us. Having some extra protection would be nice for once."

"Sure, Ryan. I'll help you guys out, until we get the kid out of here," Fred replied. "To think, I actually considered crushing you, Jonah. But you seem like a nice kid."

"Uh, thanks," Jonah said, gulping.

"Oh, uh, I forgot to mention, there's a Smoker waiting just outside," Fred said.

"Oh, that guy again," Ryan sighed. "Just ignore him, alright?" He stood up, walking over to Ellie, helping her up before putting her on his back. "Alright, let's go ahead and get moving. We'll have to find food on the way." They walked out of the door, passing by a man with black hair, large bumps all over his face, while his tongue hung out of his mouth. This was the Smoker Fred had been referring to. When he saw Jonah, his tongue whipped out, wrapping around Jonah's torso and neck, and would have dragged him back, had Fred not grabbed the tongue, pulling forward. The Smoker came with the tongue, falling flat on his face, when Ryan rolled him over with his foot, putting his foot on his neck. "The kid's with us. I want you to send a message to the others ahead of us and let them know. This kid," he said, nodding towards Jonah, "is not to be messed with at all. I don't care if he's in a group of twenty people who weren't infected, you let them know that if he's hurt, there will be hell to pay. You don't have to tell the commons. They won't get it." Ryan lifted his foot, grabbing the tongue at a different point, nodding to Fred, who yanked away from Ryan, the tongue snapping like string. "Oh. And if you try that again, your tongue won't be the only thing to go," Ryan said, hefting Ellie to allow her to get a better grip and for him to make it easier on himself to carry her. Fred had helped Jonah get untangled from the tongue, while Jonah looked ready to puke.

"Don't worry," Fred said, gently patting Jonah's shoulder. "It could have been worse. It could have been a Spitter." Fred and Ryan shuddered.

"Please, don't mention those," Ryan said.

"Sorry," Fred replied.

"What's a Spitter?" Jonah asked, the two shuddering again.

"Without a doubt, the ugliest of the Special Infected," Fred replied.

Okay, shorter chapter, but I think I'll try to continue the story. Fred is also an OC of mine. Let me know how this going please.