A Regular Outbreak
Season Five: Dead Man Walking
Episode Four: Closing In
May 17th, 2024, Evening
Mordecai stared at the name-tag on the backpack. He glanced up at Jay, who had turned to face him. "What are you staring at?" Jay asked, a blank expression plastered over his face.
"I've seen that backpack before." Mordecai replied, attracting Jay's attention. "In fact…" Mordecai adjusted his position on the seat. "I remember someone who wore the exact same backpack." He continued.
Jay remained silent. He rubbed his shoulder and looked away for a moment. "How do you have her backpack?" He asked.
Jay sighed. "Jaime…she…" He began. "She…we…we were close." He stuttered. Mordecai gave him a sceptical look. "I saw you speak to her. Back on the road." He continued.
Mordecai gave him a surprised look. "After you guys left…she came back to me. We…we were going to rob you and take your things…" Jay continued to explain.
"But…when she returned. She said that she had changed her mind, because you had been generous enough to give her supplies." He continued.
Mordecai was having trouble taking all of this in as he continued. "Later that day…Jaime and I were scouting the nearby town. She was searching in one of the main stores, when a walker snuck up on her…" Jay finished.
"All…all I need to say. Is that I took her backpack." Jay winced. He rubbed some dust off the name-tag and looked at Mordecai one final time. "This is all I have left of her." He put his backpack in front of him.
"I'm sorry." The bird apologized. "I shouldn't have asked." He added.
"No…it's fine." Jay argued.
Alpha suddenly stopped the truck. "What's the-…" Mordecai peered over the front seat. Alpha shushed him and whispered for him to get down.
Sean and Luke were already under the front seat. Jay noticed all of them crouching down and laid down on the back seat.
Rigby remained quiet on the back seat. "What's going on?" Mordecai whispered in Alpha's ear. Alpha pointed out the front windscreen.
Mordecai looked out of it and noticed a car pulled up in front of a comic book store. He also spotted a man in front of it.
Jay reached for his backpack and pulled out an arrow. He loaded the crossbow quietly and silently opened the back door of the truck. "What should we do?" Mordecai whispered.
"Let's just keep quiet and allow him to pass." He whispered back. Alpha looked over to the right and noticed Jay's body silently approaching the car in front of them. "What is he doing?!" Alpha whispered loudly. Mordecai peered over the right side window and saw Jay approach the car.
He also noticed that Jay's gear wasn't in the truck anymore, he had it all on him. The two men watched Jay approach the car.
At the same time, the man had managed to open the door to the store. "There we go…" He whispered as he entered.
Jay reached the car. He opened the back right door and peered inside. The fox entered the back seat of the station wagon and peered over into the trunk. He noticed a massive blanket covering the whole trunk. He raised a brow.
He saw lots of bumps in the blanket and thought that there may be something of use in there.
He reached under the blanket with one of his paws. When he raised it, he was greeted with a horrifying sight. Covering the trunk, were decapitated heads, all of them had reanimated.
"Oh my god…" Jay covered his mouth. "What…who would do this?" Jay asked himself. He heard a bell ring and noticed the man had exited the store.
He noticed that the man was carrying a few more heads in his hands. Jay shook his head and quietly exited the car. He tried shutting the door slowly, but unfortunately the noise from the door shutting alerted the man.
He walked around the back of the car and saw Jay crouched behind the door. The man acted like Jay wasn't there and popped open the trunk.
He emptied the heads into the trunk and slowly shut it. He walked back towards Jay and shook his head. "What are you doing?" He asked, in a gravelly voice.
"I was just checking for supplies…" Jay replied.
"In my car?" He folded his arms.
"Yeah…I was just wondering about the heads…" Jay stood back up.
"It's a bet." The other man responded.
"A friend and I made a bet about how many walker heads we could find." He added. Jay just shrugged. He looked away for a moment, before turning back to him.
"Where's your friend?" Jay asked.
"He's back at my camp." He responded.
Jay paused for a moment. "There's something…eerily familiar about you. Have we met?" The fox inquired. He man paused for a moment. "What's your name?" Jay asked.
"Stan." He responded. "What's yours?" He asked.
"Jay…" The fox replied. "I know who you are…" Jay gasped. He pulled out his crossbow and pointed it at his head. "You fucker!" He suddenly shouted. He whacked Stan across the face with his crossbow, knocking him to the ground.
Alpha quickly jumped out of the truck, quickly followed by Mordecai and the two kids. "Jay, what's going on?" Alpha asked. As they approached, they quickly recognised the male. "You?" Alpha asked, letting out a small gasp.
"Long time no see." Stan said, getting back up. He leant against the station wagon. The six survivors surrounded him. "I was sure you'd perished out there." Stan chuckled. "Oh…and where's the other two?" He asked.
Stan noticed the sadness on Alpha's face after he said that. "Oh? So they didn't make it?" Stan chuckled. "That's great to hear." He added. Alpha kicked Stan in the knee, causing Stan to fall back onto the ground.
"I should fucking kill you, right now." Jay said, pointing the crossbow to Stan's head.
"Why don't you?" Stan asked, pulling himself back up. "There's nothing stopping you…all you gotta do is shoot me." He chuckled. "You wouldn't have the guts to do it anyway." He added.
"How do you know him?" Mordecai looked over at Jay.
"I killed some of his friends." Stan boasted. "I don't regret it." He added. The anger built up inside Jay. He attempted to push it away, but it did no good.
"There you go." Stan said, noticing his anger. Sean and Luke hid behind Alpha, watching the event unfold. "Go ahead. Do it." He said, his voice lowering slightly.
Jay pulled the trigger and the arrow pierced Stan's chest. The arrow went straight through his chest, and the end of the arrow could clearly be seen sticking out of his back.
"No!" Luke exclaimed. Alpha looked down at him and knelt down to his height. Jay saw Luke's horrified face and realised what he'd just done.
"Why did you do that!?" Luke shouted.
"He…I needed to…he killed…" Jay dropped the crossbow. "God…I don't even know." He collapsed beside Stan's body.
"Go back to the car, kids." Mordecai ordered. "Go check on Rigby, okay?" Mordecai asked, a little less demanding.
Sean nodded. He wrapped his arm around Luke's shoulder and led him to the truck. "I wish the kids hadn't seen that…" Jay sighed. He got back up and looked at Alpha and Mordecai.
"Those kids have seen more than you think." Alpha said.
"That doesn't mean that it didn't traumatize them." Jay frowned. "Come…come on." Jay sighed. "Let's just get out of here. It's gonna get dark soon." He said.
The sudden sound of moaning surprised the three men. Stan suddenly began to move. His eyes had been replaced with a white colour and his skin had turned pale.
"Walker!" Alpha shouted. But before anyone had time to act, Stan's reanimated body sunk its teeth into Jay's leg.
Mordecai quickly took his gun out of his pants and shot Stan in the head. He collapsed back onto the ground. "Well. Im fucked." Jay bluntly said.
"We can just cut the arm off…" Alpha suggested.
"No…I don't wanna go through that." Jay argued. "Just shoot me." He ordered.
"No, that isn't an option." Mordecai calmly declined.
"I've got nothin' to live for. I'm a dead man. Just shoot me, come on." Jay said. "Stop wasting all of our time." He calmly scolded him.
Mordecai just shook his head. "I'm not shooting you." Mordecai raised his voice. Jay shook his head and snatched the gun from Mordecai's hands. Mordecai quickly stood back, worried that he was going to get shot by him.
Jay didn't waste any time. He put the barrel of the gun right beside his head and pulled the trigger. The gun fell to the ground. Alpha quickly picked it up and moved back towards Mordecai.
"I could've done something…" Mordecai sighed.
"Don't worry about it…we gotta go!" Alpha shouted.
Walkers began coming from all directions, obviously attracted to the gunshots that had ringed through the whole area.
"The whole town will be on top of us! Let's move!" Alpha grabbed Mordecai's shoulder and practically dragged him to the truck.
Alpha and Mordecai quickly entered the truck. Sean and Luke had been sitting in the back seat with Rigby.
"Drive!" Mordecai shouted. Alpha turned the key and started the truck back up again. He glanced at the fuel gage and noticed that they only had a quarter of a tank left.
He quickly turned his attention back to driving the truck. He put it in drive and the truck sped down the main street.
Alpha tightened his grip on the steering wheel and pushed his foot as hard as he could on the accelerator.
Alpha noticed a herd of walkers in front of them. "Hold on!" He shouted. There was no way around. He began ploughing into walkers as they exited the town.
One of the walkers that he had hit bounced off the front and into the front windscreen. It went right through and it was desperately trying to reach Alpha and Mordecai.
"Take it out!" Alpha shouted, trying to keep his distance from it. Mordecai grabbed his gun and aimed it at the walker. He pulled the trigger, but the only thing that came out was a clicking sound.
"There's no more bullets!" Mordecai exclaimed. He turned the gun around and smashed the walker's brains in with the gun.
Alpha suddenly swerved to the right, causing the walker to fall back outside. The truck went off the road and into the snow. Alpha tried to get back up onto the road, but to no avail.
"Damn it!" He shouted. He turned the wheel to the left, causing the truck to follow the action. Alpha reversed the truck a little, before crushing the accelerator panel with his foot.
Fortunately, the truck sped through the snow and back onto the road. He breathed a sigh of relief as the truck continued down the icy road.
He slowed the truck down a little bit and looked over the back seat. "Alpine was the last town before Swan Valley, so we should be there soon." Alpha said.
"That's great!" Sean exclaimed. A smile.
Alpha saw a smile on somebody's face. It felt like forever since he'd seen one, and he hoped that he could see more of them in the future.
"Imagine it kids…a place where you can feel safe!" Mordecai said, peering over the seat. "A place where you can play games with other children...and not have to worry about any bad things happening!" Mordecai said, cheerfully.
"And having real meals, instead of the crap you cook." Alpha chuckled.
"Hey, I cook better than you." Mordecai teased. But the happiness was suddenly interrupted by Rigby. Rigby began coughing.
Each time he did, blood would come out of his mouth. "Oh god…" Mordecai said, hopping over the front seat. Sean and Luke backed off a little.
"What's wrong?" Alpha asked, his smile turning into a frown.
"He's…he's still got a fever. His whole body…it's…" Mordecai looked up and down Rigby's body. The colour of it had faded to a light brown.
"It's completely pale..." Mordecai announced. He looked at Rigby's eyes and noticed dark circles under them.
"It didn't work." Mordecai plainly said.
"What?" Alpha asked. He slowly stopped the truck and directed his attention to the back seat. "What didn't work?" Alpha repeated.
"Cutting off the arm." Mordecai replied. "He's turning…" Mordecai winced as those words escaped his mouth.
"How do you know?" Luke asked.
"Look at him." Mordecai said. Luke looked over at Rigby and shook his head. "I've seen this happen too many times to not know." He added.
"Is there anything we can do?" Alpha asked.
"I hope so…let's just get to Swan Valley. We'll take him to the doctors at the haven and see what they can do." Mordecai said. "We can't waste any time." He added.
Alpha nodded and quickly turned back around. He put his foot on the accelerator and the truck began speeding down the road again.
"Here…take this." Luke handed Mordecai a small rag.
Mordecai had laid Rigby in his lap. He raised Rigby's head and wiped some of the blood off of his face. He caressed his smaller companion in his arms. He lowered his head and placed a small kiss on his forehead.
No words were exchanged between the survivors while they closed in on Swan Valley. An hour passed before Alpha broke the silence.
"We're 20 miles out." He announced. "Be prepared for when we get there." He added.
"We will." Mordecai replied. A snow storm had begun during the hour period and the windscreen was almost completely covered with snow.
It was so cold that the windscreen wipers had become frozen. Alpha rolled down the window and grabbed a rag from the glove-box.
He reached onto the windscreen and began wiping the snow off of it. A few seconds later, he moved back into the car and wiped the snow off his face. He threw the rag out of the window and rolled the window back up.
Alpha looked over the seat and glanced at Rigby. He had hoped that cutting off the arm would've saved Rigby, but he was wrong.
He turned back to the front and sighed.
"We're almost there…" He said to himself.
Meanwhile
"Due to the snowstorm that has recently begun, we've shut down access to the gate. Curfew begins early tonight, so everyone can get to bed earlier, and so the soldiers that protect us can get more time to check out the surroundings. Once the snowstorm is over, the soldiers will be taking over Swan Valley." A lady over an intercom spoke.
Eileen rested against a wall while she continued to speak. "And due to recent attacks, we've had to tighten security around the haven, and we're sure all of you will understand. Thank you for listening and have a wonderful day." She finished.
Eileen shook her head. "'Have a wonderful day'." Eileen scoffed. "As if that would be possible." She frowned. The mole noticed a soldier approaching her.
"Hey Eileen. Do you mind doing me a favour?" The soldier asked.
"Sure Ben, what do you need?" She asked.
"I just needed some advice." Ben replied.
"What about?" Eileen asked, folding her arms. She adjusted her glasses and waited for an answer.
"We've only got two beds left. And that means we only have two more spaces for people." Ben began.
"And each time we have to send people away, it becomes harder and harder. I'm not sure if we can do it anymore." Ben continued.
"What I'm askin' is…what can we do with the expansion?" He asked.
"What do you mean?" Eileen asked, confused by the question.
"I mean, when the expansion is completed, should we allow more people to come in? I mean, food is already a pretty big issue." Ben shrugged.
"We could use the expansion as just a storage area until we've gathered enough food for more people." Eileen suggested. "Then we could invite more people inside." She added.
"That's a good idea…I'll have to speak to Will about it." Ben replied. "Thanks Eileen." He smiled at her.
"No problem." She smiled back.
"You should probably get back to your tent before curfew begins." Ben suggested. Eileen nodded. "Goodnight Eileen." Ben said as he walked off.
Eileen slowly trudged to her tent and saw HFG on the bottom bunk. "Hey." She greeted.
"I was wondering where you were." HFG turned over to face her. "What time is it?" He asked.
"It's just after four. But curfew begins early due to the snow-storm." Eileen replied.
"Snow-storm? Wasn't it clear like an hour ago?" HFG asked.
"You've been in here for four hours." Eileen said. "The snow-storm began sometime in the previous hour." Eileen added. "Not sure when though." She shrugged.
"We should get some sleep." HFG said, looking over at her. Eileen nodded and walked over to the bed. She slowly climbed up the bed and she threw herself onto the top bunk.
"I haven't had a good night's sleep in a while." She muttered. "Let's hope tonight's a quiet night." She said, in a louder voice.
"It better be, I'm freakin' exhausted." HFG sighed.
"Alright, goodnight." Eileen said, covering herself with the covers and turning over.
"'Night." HFG replied, closing his eyes.
Eileen closed her eyes aswell. She turned back over and looked up at the roof of the tent. She yawned and closed her eyes.
A few seconds later, she fell into deep sleep.
Sorry for the crappy chapter, but I thought I would do another one really quickly so you guys can enjoy it. Please Review! There's only one chapter to go, and after that, it's over. I will let some time pass before I type the final chapter up.
Thanks so much for all the support guys, I won't forget it anytime soon. I love all of you so much!
~RSM