A Regular Outbreak
Season Four: Friendships Divided
Episode Three: The Snowstorm
15th of May, 2024, Late Afternoon
A/N; Well, it's been forever, but I'm back. I'm sorry for the long wait. Here's a chapter for all of you patient people! Peace.
The snow storm intensified, as the five remaining survivors trudged through the snow, looking for any type of shelter. The leader of the group was in not in a good emotional state. The man in question, was being comforted by the second-tallest one of the group; Alpha. Alpha and Mordecai had their arms wrapped around each other's necks, keeping each other from falling over.
The two kids of the group; Luke and Sean, were at the front of the group with Rigby, who was desperately searching for a place to camp. "God, I can't deal with this stress." Rigby muttered, folding his arms. "This is all too much for me." He added. Luke reached up for Rigby's paw and pulled it down. He squeezed Rigby's paw and looked up at him.
"You can do it." Luke assured him. The raccoon looked back down at the kid and smiled. "Thank you." Rigby pulled away his paw and folded his arms again. "See anything out there?" He asked.
"No. But it's hard to see through this storm anyway." Sean said, putting his paw on his forehead, covering his eyes from the incoming snow. The group slowly continued through the snow, unaware of their surroundings.
Suddenly, Rigby could see a light on his left. It was approaching extremely fast. "Down!" Rigby exclaimed, jumping onto the snow. The group quickly followed his orders and laid down on the snow. "Sounds like a car." Rigby looked back at Sean. The lights flew past them and continued further down.
The group quickly got back up and Rigby walked forward. He glanced down at the snow, he saw tire tracks. "We can just follow these." He said, pointed in the direction that the lights went.
"You sure?" Alpha asked, looking at Rigby's extended arm. "What if these people aren't friendly?" He asked.
"Then we improvise." Rigby answered, opening his backpack and pulling out his axe. "Let's get moving." Rigby added, walking through the snow.
"Look!" Sean shouted, pointing in the direction that they were heading. The lights were coming back. "What do we do?" Sean asked, looking over at the raccoon. "You guys get down." Rigby ordered.
The kids quickly obliged and dived onto the snow. "What are you doing?" Alpha asked, looking at Rigby with worried eyes.
"Just get down." Rigby ordered. Alpha sighed and pushed himself and Mordecai into the snow. The lights approached faster. The lights suddenly stopped, just ahead of the raccoon and switched off.
"Hey! What are you doing out here?" Rigby heard somebody shout. Rigby heard a door shut and he felt two hands on his shoulders. "It's freezing out here!" Rigby saw the face of an otter. He knew there was something familiar about this otter and decided to immediately inquire about it.
"Have I seen you before?" Rigby asked, removing the otter's hands off of his shoulders. "It doesn't matter. Get in the truck." The otter ran back over to the car and reached in. He turned the keys and the lights suddenly came on.
"And bring your friends." The otter said, pointing to the rest of the group, which were lying down close by
"Come on guys." Rigby said, watching them all stand up. Rigby walked to the right side of the truck and jumped in. "Think all five of us will fit in?" The raccoon asked, looking over the front seat.
"I'm sure." The otter assured him. The back left door of the truck opened and Luke and Sean entered, while Alpha and Mordecai entered using the right door.
"Now you tell me." Rigby said, watching the otter turn the keys again. The dash suddenly lit up and Rigby immediately glanced at the glowing dashboard. "Nice." Rigby commented, putting his seatbelt on.
"Thanks, I manage." The otter replied, pushing down on the accelerator and turned the steering wheel sharply to the right. The truck followed the driver's commands and quickly turned around. "Let's get somewhere warm." The otter said, pushing firmly down on the accelerator.
"We're gonna get some sleep." Alpha said, looking over the front seat.
"That's cool, go ahead and get comfortable. There a few pillows under the back seat." The otter said, his eyes still glued to the windscreen. The otter flicked a switch behind the steering wheel, and the windscreen wipes suddenly came on.
"Thanks." Alpha sat back on the seat. The inhabitants of the back seat made themselves comfortable, and eventually they all fell asleep.
"What's your name?" Rigby asked, folding his arms.
"Cody." The otter answered. He took one paw off the wheel and shook the raccoon's paw. "What's yours?" Cody asked.
"Rigby." He answered, shaking the otter's paw. "Sorry man, I thought you were someone else." Rigby pulled his paw away and glanced at the otter. "You look like an old enemy of mine." The raccoon quickly explained.
"He was in prison before the outbreak." Rigby added, scratching under his neck.
"Do I look like I'm wearing an orange jumpsuit?" The otter chuckled. "I've never been to prison." Cody added.
"That makes one of us I guess." Rigby smirked.
"You've been in prison?" The otter asked, a little taken aback. "It wasn't for killing someone, right?" He asked.
"No, no, no." The raccoon quickly defended himself. "Petty theft, public indecency…and um…I think I was in prison for a couple of days for fraud." Rigby explained.
"What was your biggest sentence?" The otter asked, intrigued.
"Four days." Rigby answered. "You don't really get that much time in prison for stealing a comic book." Rigby chuckled. "And they don't usually convict kids, either." He added.
The otter just shrugged. "Public indecency, eh?" He chuckled. "What's that all about?" He added.
"I don't usually wear clothes." Rigby replied. "One day, when I wasn't wearing clothes. I didn't groom my fur properly. And well…it just hang out. I got fined a buttload of money for that." Rigby laughed.
Cody chuckled and looked over at Rigby. "You're the leader?" He asked.
"No, he is." Rigby pointed to Mordecai, who was leaning up against the window. "An extremely close friend of ours was just murdered today." Rigby sighed.
"That's rough. Bandits get 'im?" Cody asked.
"No, one of us." Rigby sighed. "How do I start…?" Rigby folded his arms.
"We were camped in a jewellery store, one of our guys came in and he was shot by Alpha." Rigby pointed to the wolf in question, who was sleeping soundly on the back seat. "It was an accident, but a really close friend of him thought Alpha had murdered him on purpose. She had tried to kill Alpha on multiple occasions." Rigby explained.
"Earlier today, she confronted Alpha in the car-park of a hotel we camped at overnight and she drew a gun. She fired the gun…and the bullet hit the wrong person." Rigby sighed. "Our group is falling apart." He added.
"There were so many of us before…" Rigby frowned. Cody noticed a few tears appear under the raccoon's eyes and reached over to him. He wiped his tears away and retracted his arm.
Rigby sighed. "There were…so many of us…" Rigby said, much quieter. "There's no need for you to continue." Cody readjusted his position on his seat. "Just try and get some sleep, we'll arrive at my camp soon enough." Cody suggested.
"I will, thanks." Rigby smiled at him, before turning over and facing the window. The raccoon put his head onto the window pane and closed his eyes.
Cody glanced over at him, before glancing at the dashboard. He looked at the temperature gage on the dash and frowned. "The engines gonna freeze." Cody sighed. "Let's just hope this piece of crap makes it back." Cody talked to himself.
He glanced at the back seat, then back to Rigby. He noticed a blue ring on his finger. He was going to inquire about it, but decided to let the raccoon sleep. God only knows how much he needed it.
Rigby's head fell down the pane and onto the door. He had fallen asleep. Cody opened a glove box, which was beside him and pulled out a cassette tape. "Better than nothing." He said to himself, interesting the tape into the stereo. A few seconds later, some classical music emitted from the speakers on either side of the stereo.
Cody smirked and tightened his grip on the steering wheel. The truck continued through the rough terrain, the tires gripping onto the snow beneath them, and the windscreen wipers pushing all of the snow off of the windscreen. Cody lost himself in the song playing on the stereo, and he couldn't help but smile.
Meanwhile
Two states away, in the state of Idaho. Two figures approached a massive wall, which was four times as tall as an average one. One of the figures, dressed in a black jacket and blue jeans approached the wall, followed by a ghost, which floated slowly behind the other one.
"Eileen, is this it?" The ghost asked, looking at the wall in awe. "I've only heard about this in rumours, are you sure this is the right place?" The ghost added.
"HFG, I'm sure it is. Who would just build a massive wall in the middle of Idaho?" Eileen looked back at the ghost.
"Well…let's go then." HFG floated over to the wall. "There's a door here." The ghost said, pointing to a small opening in the wall. "I'll knock." He said, knocking on the door. The mole approached him and glanced at the door.
The door suddenly opened, and a guy dressed in military-grade clothing was standing behind it. "State your business." He said, in a bored tone.
"We've travelled very far…looking for this place. Somewhere where we can just…live without the fear of becoming one of…them…" Eileen emphasised the last word.
"Do you have any weapons on you?" The man asked, studying their appearances. "No guns. Just a bow and an axe." HFG replied, glancing at the mole.
"Give me a second." The man shut the door and footsteps could be heard.
After a few minutes of waiting, the door reopened and the man ushered them inside. "Welcome to 'Paradise'." He rolled his eyes and began walking.
The two survivors followed him into a courtyard. They saw tons of kids playing handball, hopscotch and four-square on the tarmac. "We have four spare beds left, you guys are lucky. It seems nobody wants to leave this place." He explained, leading them into a tent with two bunk beds.
"This is your bed." He pointed to one of the beds. "Curfew is eleven at night." He said. "There are no set rules. No limitations on what you can do. Except the obvious things, don't leave without telling one of us, so we know that your not endangering the community." He explained.
"Don't hurt anyone in the community, don't lead the undead in here. You know, all the things only a dumbass wouldn't know." He added. He turned to leave the tent.
"Um…quick question." Eileen tapped his shoulder. The man turned back around and folded his arms.
"Yes?" He asked.
"When do we get to eat?" Eileen asked, rubbing her stomach. "We haven't eaten in forever." She moaned.
The man rolled his arms and checked his watch. "Dinner will be prepared at seven. Get yourself unpacked." He said, exiting the tent.
Eileen jumped on her bed and put her arms behind her head. "We're finally here." She breathed a sigh of relief. HFG hovered beside the bed and smiled at her. "There's no more…well, danger." Eileen added. "We can remain here and be safe. And maybe even have a meal that doesn't taste like crap." She chuckled.
"Hey! I don't cook that bad." HFG smirked.
"Denial." Eileen chuckled. "Anyway, let's get ourselves unpacked. I'm starved." Eileen said, jumping off her bed and reaching for her backpack.
"We're finally safe." HFG said, opening his bag. "Yeah, finally." Eileen breathed a sigh of relief.
"Think the other guys will get here?" HFG asked, looking at Eileen with an intent look, plastered on his face.
"I hope so. Though the chances seem extremely slim." Eileen shrugged. "Don't worry though, I'm sure they're fine."
At the same time
"We're here." Cody said, stopping the truck. Rigby opened his eyes and glanced ahead of him. The snowstorm had finished and sky was almost completely clear. "Come on guys." Rigby looked over the back of the seat and pat Alpha on the shoulder.
Alpha opened his eyes and glanced at Rigby. "Wake everyone else up, we're here." Rigby ordered.
Alpha nodded and began shaking awake the other survivors. The otter opened his door and jumped out of the truck. He shut his door slowly and watched Rigby jump out of the truck.
Rigby breathed in the air. It was fresh, and the atmosphere was much cleaner. "Ah, that's good." Rigby muttered to himself, as he walked in front of the truck and approached the otter. "There." Cody pointed ahead of him.
Rigby looked at where the otter was pointed and stared in awe. They'd stopped in front of a farm. All the windows of the farm-house were boarded up, and the entrance to the barn was covered with barbed wire.
"You did this yourself?" Rigby asked, looking over at the otter. The otter smiled confidently and gave a nod of approval.
"Dude! Nice!" Rigby exclaimed. "Let's get inside." Rigby said, looking over at Cody. Cody nodded at him and began approaching the farm-house. Cody pushed the door open and the group passed through. "Go ahead and chill in the living room." Cody said, shutting the door and switching the light on.
Alpha was taken aback by this. "Electricity?" He said, looking over at the otter. "Fortunately, there was a generator in the basement." Cody smiled confidently. "And there's a windmill behind the house." He added.
The group walked into the living room. Mordecai and Alpha sat on the couch, while Luke and Sean sat on the floor. Rigby stood beside Cody and followed him into the kitchen. "Want a drink?" Cody asked, opening the fridge.
"Um, yeah." Rigby answered, leaning on the counter. "Here you go." Cody grabbed a can of soda and threw it to the raccoon. "Thanks." He smiled at him and pulled the pin of the can.
Rigby took a sip and glanced at Cody. "It's been forever since I've had a cold soda. It makes me remember the good old days." Rigby sighed.
"You said it." Cody mirrored the raccoon's actions. Cody glanced at Rigby's right paw again and saw the ring for a second time. "Hey, dude." Cody said.
"Yeah?" Rigby replied, taking another sip from the can. "Your married?" Cody asked.
"Yeah." Rigby smiled at his ring. It had been a long time since he'd actually paid any attention to it. "It's a nice ring." Cody said.
"Thanks." Rigby smiled at him. "Mordecai chose the perfect ring for me." Rigby smiled.
Cody was taken aback by this and cleared his throat. "Oh, I'm sorry. I didn't think it was an issue." Rigby finished his can and threw the can into a nearby bin.
"It isn't an issue, I was just going onto the subject of you losing your wife." Cody chuckled and threw his can out.
"It's cool." Rigby looked at him. A few seconds of awkward silence filled the air, until Rigby cleared his throat. "Ahem…let's go into the living room?" He said, looking away.
Cody nodded and followed the raccoon into the living room. Cody gasped, all of his tapes were spread out all over the floor and Sean and Luke were going through them.
"Those are my tapes!" Cody exclaimed.
"'Saturday Night Live?'" Luke read the words written on one of the tapes. "The hell is this?" He asked.
"This," Cody snatched the tape from Luke's hand. "Is before your time." He added, switching on the television.
"I used to watch this all the time when I was younger." Cody said, jumping on the couch, in between Mordecai and Alpha.
"Back in the prehistoric times?" Luke asked, hi-fiving Sean.
Cody cocked an eyebrow and looked down at the two kids. "Back when cellphones were bricks and televisions had big boxes behind them." Sean laughed.
"What was it like meeting the dinosaurs?" The two friends hi-fived each other and laughed. The otter smiled and rolled his eyes.
"Typical kids." He said, in a happier tone. "Here." He said, handing the tape to Rigby. Rigby walked over to the television and put the tape inside the VCR player below it.
"Let's watch some then." Cody grinned evilly. "No! I don't want to become a fossil!" Luke shrieked. Luke ran out of the living room and into the foyer. Sean ran after him and the two kids ran up the stairs.
"Wait! Come…" "Don't worry about them, their fine." Cody interrupted him, and glanced at the television. "Let's become fossils." Cody chuckled, turning up the volume.
Luke and Sean ran up the stairs and onto the second floor. The two kids laughed and looked around. They were in a hallway. "Look at this." Luke said, opening a nearby door. They passed through the doorway and into a room. It was a bedroom. "This must be Cody's room." Luke said, jumping on the bed.
Sean remained quiet and sat at the end of the bed. "What's up with you?" Luke asked. Sean looked away and rubbed his shoulder. "Um…" He stuttered. "Whatever is up, you can tell me." Luke placed a hand on his friend's shoulder and looked intently at him. Sean balled up his fists and looked his friend straight in the eyes and bluntly asked;
"Do you like me?"
Okay, lots of 'what the fucks' in this chapter. Mordecai doesn't get a single line, Eileen and HFG return, and Sean asks the million dollar question. Sorry for taking so long to update! I will update as soon as I can!
PM me if you have any questions or if you just want to talk. Peace!