A Regular Outbreak Chapter 16: Episode Sixteen: Slip of the Finger, a regular show fanfic

A Regular Outbreak

Season Three: Cutting Losses and Letting Go

Episode Five: Slip Of The Finger

13th of May, 2024, Late Afternoon

Day 299

The group had been travelling for ages along the road towards their destination; Fowler. A town that was 15 miles away from the rest stop they'd been to earlier, though to the group of survivors, it felt like much more than that. With Alpha at the front of the group with Sean, talking about life before the apocalypse, Vivian and Axel helping Margaret in the middle, making sure that she was still standing, and Mordecai, Rigby and Luke at the back.

The sun was close to setting and Alpha was beginning to worry. The town was still not in sight. He had to depend on good luck and quicker pacing to make sure that his group arrived at Fowler safely.

"Come on guys, we gotta get to town before sunset." Alpha turned back at the group, with Sean looking up at him with a worried look on his face. "It isn't a good idea to be out here after dark." Alpha added.

"It's not like we can go any faster. We can't rush Margaret any more than we already are." Vivian replied. "She can barely stand on her own." She wrapped her arm around Margaret's shoulder.

"I understand that. I just want to make sure we arrive safely. It's not safe out here in the dark, as I've already said." Alpha replied. "Can you see anything, Sean?" Alpha asked, glancing at the kid beside him.

"Nope. I can't see anything else." Sean answered, glancing down the road.

"We've been walking for forever. There has to be something." Rigby complained. "We're all exhausted." Rigby added.

Alpha just rolled his eyes and continued walking down the road. "Think we're-…" Alpha suddenly was interrupted by gunshots nearby. The gunshots came from down the road, in the direction the group was going.

"Was that a good sign or a bad sign?" Luke asked, running up to the front, standing beside Sean and Alpha.

"A bad sign." Alpha answered, as he continued walking. "We should pick up the pace." Alpha walked faster.

"We're heading in the direction of the shots?" Vivian asked, confused. "I mean, it isn't the best idea. Maybe we should consider a plan B." She added.

"This is the plan! It's the only plan we've got. Do you have a better one? If you do, go ahead and enlighten us!" Alpha shouted.

"There's no need to shout, it was just a suggestion. Damn, get your panties outta your ass." Vivian glared at him, before turning her attention to Margaret, who was getting worse by the second.

"Think she's caught pneumonia or something?" Axel asked, glancing at his companion. "It's just a guess." Axel shrugged.

"I doubt it." Vivian replied.

A few minutes later, the group had noticed that the road had begun to slope down and they noticed lights, lit up in a row along a stretch of road, surrounded by buildings.

"Think that's Fowler?" Rigby asked, hoping it was. "It has to be right? We would've stumbled upon it by now." He added, folding his arms.

"It must be. Come on guys, before it gets too dark." Alpha glanced at the sky. The sun had already set and the moon had risen. It was almost completely pitch black. The group followed Alpha down the road and towards the town.

Alpha suddenly stopped and turned around. "I've got a better idea." He announced. "I recommend that only some of us go in the town, and quickly secure us a place to camp for the night. So we don't risk everyone's lives going in." He suggested, glancing at Sean and Luke, who were standing beside a struggling Margaret.

"Mordecai, Rigby, come with me." Alpha beckoned. The blue jay and raccoon in question approached Alpha and glanced back at the kids. "Take care of them." Rigby glanced at Vivian and Axel. Vivian nodded and watched him turn back around.

Alpha, Mordecai and Rigby slowly approached the town, watching their step. One sudden noise, and they would be in deep trouble. The three men took cover behind a liquor store and Mordecai took a peek around the corner. He gasped and quickly hid back behind cover.

"What is it?" Rigby asked, beginning to get nervous.

"The whole street is covered in walkers. And there's someone in the liquor store." Mordecai tapped on the wall. "Don't raise your voice, it'll attract unwanted attention. Try to keep quiet." Mordecai ordered, peeking around the corner again.

The sound of bottles being thrown onto the ground and glass being smashed echoed through the town, attracting walkers to the liquor store. "You think the guy who is in the liquor store is trying to bring those thing on top of us?" Alpha asked, nervously.

"I don't think so. We were very discreet so it's very unlikely he saw us." Mordecai whispered back. "Alright, stick close behind me you too. Not a fucking peep." Mordecai went into a 'sprinting position' and glanced at the other two men. "Let's go." Mordecai quickly ran across the street and dove behind a half-built brick wall on the other side.

Rigby and Alpha soon followed soon, diving behind the wall. "What are we supposed to do now?" Rigby asked, taking out his gun and holding it against his chest. "Are we going to survive this?" Rigby asked, stuttering as he spoke. Anxiety was going to get the better of him.

"Of course we are." Mordecai rubbed the raccoon's shoulder. "Just do what I say and we should be fine." Mordecai quickly vaulted over the brick wall and peeked back over. "Stay there, alright? And whatever you do, don't use the guns. It'll attract unwanted attention." Mordecai said, his head disappearing behind the other side of the brick wall.

Mordecai stayed in the cover of dark and glanced at the liquor store, which was swarming with the undead, trying to get in. The blue jay looked the side of the building he was hiding behind and looked up. The name of the store; Sam Douglas had a majority of its letters torn off, and only four letters remained.

"Doug." Mordecai read out, cocking an eyebrow. "Ha, that's weird." He said to nobody in particular. Mordecai backed off slightly, but he accidently backed into a car. Mordecai gasped, hoping that the sound didn't attract any walkers.

After a few seconds of standing still, he realised that the sound didn't cause any problems. Mordecai turned to the fuel tank. He got an idea. The blue jay took off his backpack and unzipped it. He pulled out a bottle of wine and opened it. He quickly drank the remaining contents of the bottle and glanced back at the car.

He looked into the driver's side window and noticed that there was some fuel left. He quietly made his way to the side of the car with the fuel compartment and quietly opened the lid.

A few minutes later, he returned and shut the lid of the wine bottle. He had a bottle of fuel, which was only half full.

He thought that if he threw the bottle of fuel at the walkers, he'd be able to light a match and set them on fire, hopefully burning them to death. Mordecai thought for a second. If he did that, the man in the liquor store would probably burn to death too.

Mordecai considered his options and after a few seconds of thinking, let out a sigh and threw the bottle at the liquor store. "What the?" He heard Rigby say, as the raccoon looked over at the liquor store.

Mordecai quickly pulled out his matchbox and lit a match. The blue jay threw the match with all the power he could muster, at the walkers, which were soaked with gasoline.

The match landed directly in the puddle of gasoline and it quickly set alight, causing the walkers to fall back, as the fire burnt their flesh. Not long later, due to the excessive amount of snow, the fire suddenly dispersed.

"Ha! Nice!" Mordecai exclaimed quietly. Mordecai quickly used this distraction to sneak into the Sam Douglas store that he was hiding behind. He opened the door and quickly pulled out a match. He lit the match and searched the place.

Rigby and Alpha glanced over the wall, at the liquor store. "I didn't know walkers could burn to death." Rigby commented, a small smirk appearing on his face.

"Neither did I." Alpha furrowed an eyebrow. The two men watched the walkers tumble down, one by one until all of them were dead. Rigby noticed his friend approach them, with a smile on his face. "Did you find anything?" Rigby asked, in a hopeful manner.

"Yep. Found us a camp." Mordecai pointed to the store. "You sure there's nobody in there?" Alpha asked, verifying.

"Yes, I'm sure." Mordecai answered, making his way to the store. "Rigby, go grab the rest, won't you?" Alpha said, vaulting over the wall. "Just bring them down to the store." Alpha added.

Rigby nodded and walked up the slope and back to the group. "It seems…we've found a place to stay." Rigby panted, as he climbed up the last part of the slope.

"Oh good, I was getting bored." Luke immediately perked up. The kid walked back over to the rest of the group, followed by Rigby. Vivian, Axel and Margaret were sitting together on the snow, while Sean was sitting on his own, a few feet away.

"Go get your friend, will you? I'll grab these guys." Rigby said, pointing to Sean. Luke nodded and ran over to the wolf. "Sean?" Luke tapped his friend on the shoulder.

Sean turned around and glanced at Luke. "Time to go?" Sean asked, standing up. "I guess." Luke shrugged, looking back at the group. Rigby was helping Vivian and Axel to get Margaret up.

She continued to stumble and had to have loads of assistance to get to her feet. "I'm worried about her." Sean glanced at Margaret, with a worried look on his face. "She's getting worse." He stretched for a moment and glanced at Luke, who was giving him a supportive smile.

"I'm sure she's fine. She could just have the flu or something." The kid shrugged. "She's strong." He added, walking back over to the group with Sean.

"Let's make a move guys, Alpha and Mordecai are waiting for us." Rigby said, walking down the slope, with everyone else following him slowly behind. "We're really lucky we found a place." Rigby added, as they made their way down.

The group approached the town, hoping that it was finally empty of walkers. Rigby clung on to that impossible fact and led the group into Fowler. The sound of gunshots startled the group and began to move faster, hoping that the shots weren't directed at them.

They approached the store where Alpha and Mordecai were and stopped. "Kids, stay behind the adults. We'll go in first." Axel said pushing the door open. Suddenly, Axel stumbled over something, he quickly picked himself up and glanced at the floor.

He continued to walk further into the store, with the rest of group. But suddenly stumbled over again. Suddenly, the sound of a gun being loaded startled Axel and a bullet pierced his neck.

"Holy shit!" Vivian shouted, dropping Margaret onto the ground. Axel held his hands on his neck and fell over. Vivian quickly ran to her friend's aid. "What the fuck!?" Mordecai's voice was heard. A light began to move through the store and over to the body. "What the hell happened!?" Mordecai exclaimed, putting the match onto the ground.

"Someone shot him!" Vivian's voice shouted, hysterically. "Did you shoot him?" She suddenly glared at the blue jay. "Why would I do that? And I don't even have a gun!" Mordecai quickly defended himself.

"Yeah you do, where is it?" Vivian asked, accusing Mordecai.

"I gave it to Alpha. He was just shooting a few zombies that had stumbled into the store." Mordecai answered. "That's why there are bodies near the door." Mordecai added.

Luke quickly felt up the wall for a light switch. Eventually he prevailed and the lights of the store came on. "Man! It's been a long time since we've had electricity!" He exclaimed.

"Holy shit." Sean looked at the end of the room. Alpha was standing there. He dropped the gun and held his head. "Alpha?" Sean exclaimed.

"I shot him! Oh my god…I thought he was one of them…" Alpha glanced at Axel, who was still clinging to life.

Mordecai stood up and walked over to Alpha, who was in a state of panic. "Calm down…" Mordecai tried to calm his friend down. "It's alright…" He quickly grabbed the gun from the ground and holstered it. Vivian was too busy saving Axel to understand what Alpha just said. His confession on shooting Axel.

Rigby quickly ran over to Axel and put both of his paws on the wound on his neck, putting pressure on it. Axel's cries died down and he breathed his last breath. "No…" Vivian held Axel's head. "Axel…? Come on…wake up…wake up…" She cried. Rigby stood up and backed off. He looked at his hands, they were drenched with blood, blood from how now-departed friend.

Vivian stood up and stumbled over. Mordecai and Rigby ran over to her, to try to keep her upright. "He's…he's dead." She cried. "Who…who did this?" She asked, glaring at the two men.

"Me…" Alpha confessed again. "I thought he was one of them…he came through the door! I thought I locked it…and he was…sorta limping! Which gave me the idea that it was another zombie…" Alpha explained, as the panic continued to set in.

Vivian's sadness suddenly dispersed and anger kicked in. She sprinted over to the wolf and pinned him against the wall, her hands around the wolf's neck, choking him to death. "No!" Mordecai shouted, running over to Vivian. He tried to pry her hands away from the wolf's neck. "Vivian let him go!" He shouted, pushing her back.

"Rigby, help me here!" Mordecai exclaimed, almost shouting. Rigby jumped up to Vivian and pulled her back, throwing both Rigby and Vivian onto the cold hard ground below them.

Alpha – struggling to breath – fell down the wall and sat on the ground, breathing big and sharp breathes. "I-I'm…s-sorry…" He said, in-between breathes.

Vivian slowly sat up and crouched on her knees, allowing for Rigby to stand up. "They're coming!" Luke announced, looking at the door. Walker's had heard the gunshot and were converging on the front door of the store. "Help me!" Luke shouted, using his full weight to push against the door with Sean.

Rigby ran over and assisted them. "Put something in front of the door!" Sean shouted. Rigby quickly ran back into the middle of the store, past Mordecai and grabbed a table. "Mordecai, help me with this!" Rigby shouted, struggling to lift the table.

Mordecai quickly took his eyes off Vivian and Alpha and helped his friend grab the table. "Move, kids!" Rigby shouted, as they approached the door. Sean and Luke quickly backed off, letting them pass through.

Rigby and Mordecai put the table upright and against the door. "That isn't going to hold for long…" Mordecai looked at the table, which was already looking like it was going to collapse. "We have to find a way out of here." Mordecai glanced at Alpha, who had stood up.

Vivian had crawled over to Margaret and sat beside her. Margaret looked at Vivian, noticing her distraught face, she put her wing around her, and comforted her. "You gotta…let him go…" Margaret said, holding all of her pain in.

"Alpha…I know this is a bad time. But we have to find another way out of here. Otherwise we're all going to die." Mordecai looked at Alpha. "If you aren't gonna do it for me, or for Rigby. Do it for the kids." Mordecai looked over at Luke and Sean, who was hugging each other for comfort. "They're scared, Alpha." Mordecai added.

"I can't…I just murdered somebody…I can't go anywhere." Alpha pushed Mordecai's face away. "Please Alpha! We're all going to-…" The glass of the door suddenly smashed and the table began to move slightly.

Alpha noticed the faces of Sean and Luke, who thought they were going to die. Alpha looked at Vivian, who was still grieving. "Let's find a way out of here." He sighed.

Alpha looked around the newly-lit store. He noticed that there was a display case at the back. "I guess this place was a jewellery store." He said, walking over to the display case. "That doesn't matter, just help me find a way out!" Mordecai exclaimed.

"Fine! Jesus." Alpha frowned. After a few minutes of searching, Alpha returned to Mordecai. "There's no other windows. And no back door." Alpha said.

"Then we'll have to go out the front doors." Mordecai glanced at the table. "But we can't…" Mordecai argued with himself.

"We'll have to wait until the walkers leave. Or we could just go ahead and run through them." Rigby suggested, approaching Mordecai and Alpha.

"We can't run through them, we have two kids, a grieving woman, and a sick girl." Mordecai looked over at the four people in question, who were comforting each other. "So…I guess we'll have to wait this out." Mordecai sighed.

Mordecai walked over to the survivors with Rigby and Alpha and sat beside Vivian with Rigby. Alpha glanced at the six survivors, sitting together and walked over to them. Alpha sat beside the door.

Sean shuffled over to Alpha and tapped his shoulder. "It wasn't your fault." Sean reassured the wolf. "It was an accident, don't get yourself worked up over it." Sean frowned.

Alpha brushed Sean's paw away and shuffled closer to the door. Rigby glanced at Sean and shook his head. "Sean, just leave him…he just needs some time." Rigby said.

Sean sighed and leant against the wall of the jewellery store. The wolf closed his eyes and turned around, lying on the cold, hard floor under him. Luke glanced at Sean, and crawled over to him. The other kid leant against the wall and looked down at his friend. Luke ran his hand through Sean's hair awkwardly. He suddenly retracted his hand when he noticed that Sean had turned back over and was facing him. Rigby glanced at Luke and cocked an eyebrow, after seeing the interesting act.

Luke looked away and laid down beside his friend. He closed his eyes and eventually, the darkness took over and he finally fell asleep.

Next Time, on A Regular Outbreak

"I found this in the jewellery store…I thought it'd look nice on you." Luke smiled, glancing at Sean. He handed over a necklace to his friend. "Thanks." Sean smiled back at him.