A Regular Outbreak
Chapter Three: A Long Road Ahead
5th of August, 2023, Evening
Day 20, 4 Days after 'Bad Circumstances'
After crossing the border into West Virginia, the SUV, belonging to our protagonists stopped at a 7/11 gas station.
"Everyone stay in the car, I'll fill up." Micheal said, getting out.
"Should we check the gas station for supplies?" Rigby asked.
"Sounds like a plan." Felix nodded. Felix got out of the SUV. Rigby, who was lying beside Mordecai in the trunk, opened the trunk and walked over to the 7/11.
"What time is it?" Taylor asked, turning to Carly.
"5:43PM." Carly looked at her wristwatch. Chris yawned.
"I'm exhausted." Chris looked at his mom.
"I know honey." Taylor rubbed her son's hair.
"Is Uncle Mordecai still asleep?" Sean asked, looking over the back seat. Mordecai was sleep on a bedroll in the trunk of the SUV.
"Looks like it, hon." Carly looked at Mordecai.
"Can't blame him, we're all exhausted." Taylor shook her head.
Meanwhile, Micheal was filling up the car, "Why don't you check the gas station for any jerry cans, would ya? Would be useful for the road." Micheal asked.
"We will." Rigby said, walking over to the building, with Felix following him close behind.
"I'll check the gas station, you go ahead and check that restaurant out." Rigby ordered.
"Sure." Felix walked over to it. Rigby pushed open the glass doors of the 7/11 and looked around. Rigby gasped, there were zombies in the aisles of the 7/11.
"Damn…left my weapon in the car…" Rigby muttered. Rigby looked back at the car.
"Is it really worth going back?" Rigby asked himself.
"Nah." Rigby shrugged. Rigby scanned the counter's surroundings looking for some sort of weapon.
"Ah! A fire extinguisher." Rigby crouched and snuck over to the extinguisher and noticed it was in a glass case. Rigby held his shoulder and smashed open the glass cabinet and removed the extinguisher, only for it to hit the ground, alerting the zombies of his presence.
Rigby wiped off some glass from his shoulder and looked over at the aisles, the mutants and zombies were approaching.
"Now…use the extinguisher or smash the zombie's heads in with it?" Rigby thought. Rigby just shrugged. Rigby struggled to pick up the extinguisher off the ground.
"Oh shit! No!" Rigby cursed.
"Come on weak body…" Rigby muttered. There was no way he could pick it up.
"Damn it." Rigby cursed. Rigby backed into the wall. The zombies and mutants approaching at a slow rate.
"This is a 7/11, there's gotta be a weapon in here." Rigby said to himself, standing back up. Rigby pushed his way through the zombies and ran into one of the aisles.
Rigby scanned the aisle, suddenly he found a frying pan. "Urgh…do I really want to stoop that low?" Rigby asked himself. Rigby looked over at the zombies.
"Damn it." Rigby grabbed the frying pan and struck the first zombie in the face, knocking it into the zombie behind him. Rigby based the first zombie's brain in the frying pan, killing it instantly. There were still four more zombies he had to deal with, though since he'd taken care of the first one so easily, Rigby gained more confidence.
The second zombie approached, Rigby kicked the zombie in the leg, tripping it over and based its brains in.
"Three more." Rigby muttered. Rigby kicked the third zombie in the leg, knocking it into the aisle, knocking over one of the shelves. The shelf collapsed onto the zombie's head, killing it instantly.
"Now the other two." Rigby looked up at the other two zombies, who were approaching at a faster rate than they should.
Meanwhile, next door, Felix was looting the kitchen.
"All that's in here is raw meat and bread." Felix sighed, opening a cupboard.
"Ew, a rat, what kind of place was this?" Felix complained, looking inside the cupboard.
"It's a 7/11, dad, what do you expect?" Chris came up behind his father.
"Ah!" Felix exclaimed, hitting his head on a light above him.
"Shit…that hurt…Chris? What the hell are you doing in here?" Felix asked, looking down at his son.
"I came to help." Chris answered.
"You can't be in here, what if there's any of those…things in here?" Felix said.
"Dad, didn't you read the sign on the door? This place was shut down by the health department." Chris chuckled.
"Oh Chris, you're too smart for your own good." Felix pat his son's back.
"Well…if you want to help, help me get these boxes of bread to the car." Felix handed over some bread to his son.
"But dad, if there was rats in here…shouldn't that be a good reason not to take this?" Chris asked.
"Just take it to the fucking car." Felix raised his voice. Chris sighed and walked out of the restaurant with the box. He walked over to the car and sat the box of bread in the trunk, beside Mordecai, accidentely knocking him in the head.
"Urgh…" Mordecai opened his eyes.
"Oh! Sorry Mr Mordecai Sir…" Chris apologized.
"It's fine kid…" Mordecai yawned. Chris walked back over to the back door of the car and got in.
Mordecai sat up, almost hitting his head on the roof.
"Where's Rigby?" Mordecai asked, noticing that his friend wasn't beside him.
"He's in the 7/11 grabbing supplies, Mr Mordecai." Chris answered.
"Oh. Does he need help in there?" Mordecai asked, glancing at the gas station.
"I don't think he does." Chris answered.
"Oh…alright then." Mordecai breathed a sigh of relief, knowing that his lover was safe.
On the contrary, in the 7/11, Rigby was struggling to take out the final two zombies.
"Okay…" Rigby held the frying pan tightly in his hands. One of the zombies approached him and knocked him over, knocking the frying pan out of his hands and out of his reach.
"Ahhh! Urgh!" Rigby exclaimed, trying to push the zombie off of him. Fortunately for him, he managed to push the zombie off of him and quickly grabbed the frying pan and stabbed the zombie in the head with the handle of the frying pan, killing it instantly, then he dropped the frying pan and unsheathed his claws.
He glanced at the final zombie, the raccoon mustered up his courage and lunged at the zombie, clawing it to death. The raccoon jumped off the zombie and backed off a little, watching the zombie plop down onto the ground.
"Nice." Rigby looked at his claws proudly.
"Now…to…get some help…to bring some stuff out to the car…" Rigby said to himself, wiping some sweat and blood off of his forehead.
A few seconds later, Rigby walked out of the gas station and out to the car.
"Rigby!" Mordecai exclaimed, getting out of the truck and walking over to his friend.
"There's blood all over you!" Felix exclaimed, who'd obviously finished looting the restaurant.
"Come…with me…" Rigby panted.
"Dad, when are we gonna leave?" Sean asked.
"Don't worry son, we'll be out of here soon." Micheal answered, getting back into the SUV.
An hour later, the eight friends were back on the road and Micheal was exhausted. Micheal was falling asleep at the wheel.
"Micheal?" Carly tried to keep him awake.
"Micheal!" She repeated.
"Ah, what?" Micheal glanced at his wife.
"Your exhausted honey…why not let me drive?" Carly asked.
"No…I'm fine…" Micheal argued.
"Micheal…you're tired…" Carly tried to convince her husband.
"No! I'm not!" Micheal shouted. Micheal closed his eyes.
"Micheal!" Carly shouted.
"Ah! What!?" Micheal exclaimed.
"Stop the car, Micheal. You're not driving." Carly ordered.
"Fine." Micheal sighed, and pulled over. "I'll drive." Rigby said, getting out of the trunk.
"You sure? I could drive." Carly said, watching her husband get out of the SUV.
"I'm fine." Rigby said, getting into the driver's seat.
"Alright, where are we going anyway, Micheal?" Rigby asked.
"I dunno." Micheal shrugged.
"WHAT?!" Everyone shouted.
"Um…I thought it wasn't important…" Micheal got into the back seat.
"Are you serious!? This whole time we've been going to somewhere we don't even…know…I'm confused." Taylor said.
"Where are we anyway?" Mordecai asked.
"West Virginia." Sean replied.
"How did you know that?" Micheal asked.
"We drove past a sign forty minutes ago." Sean answered.
"Oh." Micheal drooped his head.
"How about we set a destination?" Rigby asked.
"Good idea." Mordecai agreed.
"Okay…where?" Rigby turned to the back seat.
"Is there any place that hasn't been overrun?" Taylor asked.
"Um…some place in California…but that's thousands of miles away…and it's night time." Mordecai made an observation.
"Um…well…do we have a map or something?" Rigby asked.
"Um…not really." Mordecai answered.
"Damn." Rigby sighed.
"Let's just drive for a while and see if we can find anything." Micheal suggested.
"Alright." Rigby said, restarting the car and getting back on the road.
4 Hours Later, 9:34PM
"Urgh…there's…got to be something somewhere…there should be like…um…what're they called?" Rigby asked.
"They've got them in Australia…um…Stop, Revise, Thrive?" Mordecai tried to answer.
"Stop, Revive, Survive." Sean corrected.
"Thanks Sean." Mordecai rolled his eyes.
"Wait, what's that?" Chris pointed.
They were getting closer to a motel.
"It's a motel!" Chris exclaimed.
"Let's rest there…I'm exhausted…" Rigby said, driving off the road and into the parking lot of the motel.
"Should we check the rooms?" Mordecai asked.
"I'm too exhausted to care." Rigby got out of the car.
"Okay…well…I'll crash with my wife and Sean." Micheal said, looking at his family.
"Same here." Felix said, getting out of the car with his family.
"We'll crash together." Mordecai looked at his exhausted friend.
"Alright, pick your rooms." Rigby said, looking at the motel.
"Wait, how long are we staying here?" Felix asked, stopping, while his family was walking up the stairs to their room.
"Dunno, let's just see how this turns out." Rigby answered.
"Alright, Night." Felix walked up the stairs with his family.
"See you tomorrow, Micheal." Mordecai watched Micheal and his family go upstairs.
"I didn't even get a thank you." Rigby sighed.
"Don't take it too hard." Mordecai pat his friend on the back.
"Let's go." Rigby locked the car and walked upstairs with his mate. A few seconds later, Rigby opened the door to their room, while Mordecai followed him inside.
"It's um…old." Rigby commented on the state of the room.
"Well…it is a two-star." Mordecai shrugged.
"Oh, I didn't notice." Rigby said, walking into the bathroom.
"There's not even a shower in here." Rigby said.
"Damn, that sucks man. God…what I'd do for a shower." Mordecai jumped on the double bed.
"Not as uncomfortable as I thought it would be." Mordecai muttered.
"At least the sink works!" Rigby exclaimed, from the bathroom.
"That's good. Wait, is it good water or bad water?" Mordecai asked.
"Well…it doesn't taste good, but at least we can wash our hands." Rigby answered.
"We should've got that vending machine to work, at the 7/11." Mordecai said.
"We probably should've, but it was locked anyway." Rigby said, turning on the faucet on the sink.
"Think there's any drinks at the reception?" Rigby asked, washing his face.
"Probably, but I'm not goin' down to check, I'm too tired." Mordecai yawned.
"I hear ya." Rigby walked back into the main room and slipped under the covers on their bed.
"Thanks for driving us here. Must've been tiring." Mordecai thanked him.
"No problem, at least now we can rest." Rigby closed his eyes and turned away from his mate.
"Well…thanks for getting that stuff for us from that gas station." Mordecai turned away, aswell.
"No problem, anything for the group." Rigby yawned, falling asleep.
"Such a selfless bastard." Mordecai grinned, falling asleep shortly after.
Several Hours Later, 1:41AM
A few miles away, a red hatchback was driving along the highway, near the motel.
"We're so lost…" One of them said.
"Eileen, I thought you knew how to read a map?" The driver of the car asked.
"Come on Margaret, cut her some slack, she's exhausted." One of the passengers scolded.
"We're all exhausted." The driver; 'Margaret' commented.
"Ugh…Kane, do you see any signs that will tell us where we are?" 'Eileen' asked.
"Um…no…but I see a motel." Kane pointed, to the side of the road.
"Oh! I see it on the map…it's the Black Lodge Motor Inn." Eileen read.
"Should we pull over?" Kane asked.
"Yeah…I'm tired." Margaret yawned. The red hatchback pulled into the parking lot of the motel.
"There's another car here." Margaret noted.
"Are there people here?" Eileen asked.
"It looks that way." Kane said, watching Margaret and Eileen get out of the car. Shane crawled into the front seat and out the front passenger door. Margaret walked over to the car.
"It's an SUV." She said.
"No shit." Kane walked over with Eileen.
"Has it been used recently?" Kane asked.
"Can't tell. Looks brand new but it could've been there for a while." Eileen shrugged.
"Let's just sleep here for the night, then we'll get out of here in the morning." Margaret yawned and walked upstairs. Eileen rolled her eyes.
"Hey Eileen, let's go upstairs." Kane rubbed Eileen's hand.
"Oh…okay." Eileen blushed and walked upstairs with Kane.
Margaret yawned and opened a door and walked into a random room. She looked at the bed and gasped, she noticed two people in there.
"Are they dead?" Margaret asked herself. She walked over to the bed and noticed who it was.
"Mordecai? Rigby?" She gasped.
"Urgh…what was…woah!" Rigby exclaimed, noticing Margaret.
"Margaret…?" Rigby got out of the bed.
"You…you two are alive?" Margaret asked, shocked.
"You…how are…what?" Rigby stuttered.
"Uh…Rigby…?" Mordecai yawned, waking up.
"Who's that?" Mordecai asked, half asleep.
"Dude! It's Margaret!" Rigby exclaimed.
"Mmhmm…" Mordecai fell back asleep.
"What the hell are you doing here?" Rigby asked, starting to get annoyed.
"I…I didn't know you guys were here…we were just getting out of Twin Peaks." Margaret answered.
"And we/you didn't know where we/you were going." Margaret and Rigby said at the same time.
"Well…it's…good to see you, I guess." Margaret muttered. "Yeah." Rigby sighed.
"I see you and Mordecai are together." Margaret glanced over at the blue jay, who was in deep sleep.
"Yeah." Rigby said, beginning to feel uncomfortable.
"What's that?" Margaret asked, pointing to Rigby's paw.
"It's a ring." Rigby glanced at his paw.
"Where did you get it?" Margaret questioned.
"Mordecai gave it to me, before the wedding." Rigby said.
"Oh." Margaret gasped, taken aback by this answer.
"Margaret…forgive me for not wanting to see you, but I don't exactly care for you." Rigby said, glaring at Margaret.
Margaret crossed her arms.
"Did you come alone?" Rigby asked, glancing at the door.
"No, I came with a couple of friends." Margaret answered.
"Oh…who?" Rigby asked, curious.
"Eileen and her boyfriend." Margaret grinned, confidently.
"Eileen? She's alive? Where is she?" Rigby asked.
"Dunno, in one of these rooms." Margaret answered.
"How about you? Did you and Mordecai come alone?" She asked.
"No we came with some old friends." Rigby answered.
"Oh…" Margaret sighed.
"Well…I'm going back to sleep…you should probably leave the room now." Rigby said, pointing to the door.
"Okay, bye." She walked out, angered by the encounter. Rigby rolled her eyes and crawled under the covers, beside his friend and fell asleep.
The Next Morning, 7:51AM
"Hey, get up." Kane was standing beside Rigby and Mordecai's bed.
"Urgh…who are you?" Rigby yawned.
"Get up." Kane said. "No…just a bit longer." Rigby closed his eyes again.
"Get the hell up!" Kane put a gun to Rigby's head.
"Woah!" Rigby exclaimed. Rigby turned to where his friend was sleeping, he wasn't there.
"Okay…I'm getting up." Rigby got off of his bed, cautiously.
"Who are you?" Rigby asked, standing up.
"Just keep moving." Kane pushed the pistol against his back. Rigby sighed and walked out of the motel room.
Rigby looked over the balcony and noticed that they had almost everyone that was in the motel lined up in the parking lot, including the kids. But Rigby noticed something; two people were missing.
"Where's Mordecai and Sean?" Rigby thought.
"Keep moving." Kane pushed the pistol up against Rigby's back. Rigby sighed and walked down the stairs of the motel and down into the parking lot.
Four men were holding everyone hostage, at gunpoint. All of the people who were at the motel were tied up and in a line, with people holding guns to their heads. Rigby was thrown onto the ground in-between Eileen and Felix.
"Who are these guys?" Rigby asked.
"I don't know." Felix glanced at the raccoon.
"Now, where's the rest of your group?" Kane asked, holding Felix at gunpoint.
"I don't know…" Felix looked down at the ground.
"Okay…how about you, dog?" Kane pointed the pistol to Micheal's head.
"I don't know! Only Rigby knows!" Micheal ratted Rigby out.
"What the fuck man!?" Rigby exclaimed.
Kane chuckled and walked back over to Rigby.
"Well, looks like your friend just called you out. Now where's the rest of your group?" Kane held the gun to Rigby's head.
Meanwhile, Mordecai and Sean were hiding in one of the motel rooms.
"Where's dad?" Sean asked.
"Don't worry, kid. He's fine." Mordecai comforted the wolf.
"I'm scared." Sean whimpered.
"Same here." Mordecai sighed.
"Stay here kid." Mordecai ordered. Mordecai snuck over to one of the motel windows, facing the parking lot and pulled away one of the curtains slightly.
Mordecai watched the events unfolding outside, wondering what he could do to help. Suddenly, he noticed a car coming down the road.
At the same time, outside Kane was continuing to threaten to kill Rigby, until suddenly they heard a car approach.
"Will, what do we do?" Kane asked.
"We stop them and rob them." 'Will' answered. The car continued to approach. Rigby noticed the four men were stupidly turned away so they couldn't control the hostages.
"What do we do?" Felix asked.
"We take them down." Rigby answered, trying to untie himself.
"Okay…we'll help." Micheal whispered.
"I'll take the guy with the pistol." Rigby glanced at Kane.
"You guys take the other three." Rigby ordered.
"Okay…let me just get these bindings off…" Felix groaned.
"Felix, why don't you just use your…um power thing?" Rigby asked.
"After not using it for some time, it deteriorated." Felix explained.
"Damn." Rigby cursed.
"Okay, I got the bindings off." Micheal whispered.
"Untie us." Felix said. Micheal nodded and untied Rigby, and Felix.
"Okay, let's stop the car." Will said, glancing at the car that was approaching. Rigby suddenly pounced on Kane and took his pistol.
"What the!?" Will exclaimed. Micheal pounced on two of the men and pushed one of them in front of the oncoming car. The car suddenly ran over the man, killing him instantly. Rigby watched the car disappear down the road.
"Wow, didn't even stop." Rigby commented. Felix tackled the final one and held him down.
"We got them." Felix said, holding the man still.
Mordecai and Sean ran out of the motel room and down the stairs.
"Mordecai! You're okay!" Rigby exclaimed. Suddenly, the man Felix had tackled pushed Felix off and grabbed Rigby's pistol and shot Felix in the back.
"Oh, crap!" Micheal exclaimed, taking the pistol off of the man and shooting him in the face.
"Phew, close one, eh Felix?" Micheal looked at Felix. Suddenly, there was silence.
"Felix?" Mordecai gasped. Felix gripped his chest, blood was spurting out of a new wound in his chest.
"No…" Taylor gasped.
"Dad!" Chris screamed. Felix fell to his knees and collapsed.
"NO!" Rigby grabbed the pistol off of Micheal and shot the remaining three men, to make sure they didn't hurt anyone else.
"Dad…?" Chris looked at his father. Mordecai walked over to the hostages and untied Taylor and Chris. While Micheal and Rigby were knelt beside Felix's body, which was still moving.
"Urgh…my chest…" Felix groaned.
"Don't worry, Felix…you'll be alright." Micheal said, softly. Chris and Taylor ran over to Felix, who was still bleeding.
"Honey?" Taylor knelt beside Felix.
"Dad?" Chris stood in front of Felix.
Suddenly, everything went silent. "Dad…?" Chris noticed his father wasn't responding.
"Oh Jesus." Rigby gasped.
"Dad?!" Chris exclaimed.
"Dad!" Chris shook Felix's body.
"Dad!" He screamed.
"Chris…Chris…calm down…" Taylor attempted to calm him down. Margaret and Eileen walked over to the group, who were mourning.
"He's dead." Rigby said bluntly.
"He…" Mordecai sighed.
"Wait…if he's dead…" Mordecai backed off.
"Everyone! Back away!" Rigby shouted. Taylor tried to get her son away from her newly-deceased husband's body. Suddenly, Felix began to move.
"Daddy! You're alive!" Chris exclaimed, trying to get to his father. Everyone turned to Rigby and Mordecai who were glancing at Felix.
Felix had turned into one of the zombies.
"Put him down…" Rigby said, handing Mordecai the gun. Mordecai watched his friend walk over to everyone else who was watching Felix attempting to get up.
It was Mordecai's decision, kill his former friend, even though he wasn't alive anymore, or leave. Mordecai glanced at the crowd of people behind him, who were watching in horror, as Felix's body continued to approach the blue jay.
"Let's get out of here…" Mordecai lowered the gun.
"Mordecai…?" Rigby walked up to his friend.
"Let's get out of here." Mordecai repeated. Rigby nodded, he understood.
"To the cars, everyone." Rigby said. Micheal took his family over to the car and got into the back with them. Margaret and Eileen glanced at the two friends and walked back to their hatchback. A few seconds later, Margaret and Eileen drove away, knowing they might never see their friends again. Taylor; the now widowed mother, walked with her son to the car and got in. Mordecai watched Chris cry his eyes out in the car.
"Mordecai…we should probably go." Rigby said, glancing at Felix, who was still crawling towards them.
"Yeah…we should." Rigby grabbed his friend's wing and walked with him back to the car.
"I can't drive…Taylor said, glancing at the two friends.
"I'll drive." Rigby sighed, getting into the driver's seat, while Mordecai got into the front passenger seat, beside him.
"Mordecai." Rigby glanced at his friend.
"Yeah…Rigby?" Mordecai asked.
"What happens now?" Rigby looked worried.
"We…we try to survive, if we can…" Mordecai leant against the window. Chris looked out the window, and saw his father, who was still crawling towards the car.
"Bye dad." Chris wiped some tears away.
"Where are we going?" Carly asked, in a quiet tone.
"Away." Rigby answered, bluntly, turning on the car. There was silence, nothing else was said. Rigby backed out of the parking lot, stopped on the road for a second. He looked at Felix, wiped a tear away, and then drove away. Mordecai leant on Rigby's shoulder. In a way, Rigby knew why Mordecai didn't shoot Felix, it was too much of a burden, but Rigby wished that they could've prevented Felix's death.
Taylor is now a widow, and Chris hasn't got a father. Rigby knew they wouldn't last long, though he pushed those thoughts out of his head and remembered, Taylor is a strong woman and Chris is a smart kid. He smiled to himself, knowing these things and paid attention to the road ahead of him.
A long road ahead.