Ch 5

New Leaf

Shaking himself awake once more, Arnold decided to try napping after talking with Charlie. He could not feel any motion behind him, he assumed Charlie was asleep as well. He looked straight ahead, where he could barely see Sid's trailer, partially covered by another RV in front of it. Looking to his left, and then to his right, seeing no signs of life, Arnold again tried loosening the rope that tied him to the spigot, but to no avail.

"Charlie." He uttered. He tapped Charlie's hand and said his name once more.

Charlie slowly started to stir awake.

"Charlie," Arnold started, "Did you see or hear anything about Gerald when I was asleep?" He asked.

"No." Charlie grunted, still groggy, "I just remember you saying he was going into Sid's trailer and that was it."

Just then, they heard a door open. Shortly after, they saw Gerald walking towards them with Sid and Brig following him.

Arnold could see Gerald's clothes, less raggedy and his face was more cleaned up. All he could think about was what Sid did to him.

"What's going on Gerald?" Arnold asked as Gerald stood over him. Gerald just turned back and looked at Brig.

"You gonna cut them loose?" Gerald asked. Brig then drew out his switchblade and sliced the rope that tied both Charlie and Arnold down. Arnold rubbed his wrists with irritation and gritted teeth. He looked up, Gerald had his hand held out. Arnold grabbed it and was lifted to his feet.

His legs almost gave way from laying on the ground for so long, but Gerald helped him stay straight.

"There you go bud." Gerald said.

"Gerald, what's going on?" He asked.

Gerald responded, optimistically yet somber, "We're going home dude." He turned towards Sid, "Where's Helga?" He asked.

Sid pointed his thumb over his shoulder, "On the other side of my trailer."

"Go get her and we'll load these guys in your truck." Gerald said.

Sid nodded and walked away.

"Helga?" Arnold asked.

"Don't get too excited okay? Sid's not the one we need to worry about." Gerald uttered.

Arnold looked up at him in confusion, his legs started to regain strength, "What do you mean? What happened to Helga?"

Gerald just stood there in silence, not saying a word, fearing for the safety of his friends.

"Look Arnold, we made a deal. Sid's gonna let all of us go back to the house. Sid and his gang are gonna take what they want and leave us all there."

"So he's gonna take what he wants and leave us to die."

"Beats killing us right here on the spot if you ask me." Gerald responded. Arnold just stood there, in confusion and worry.

"Look bro, he's not going to take everything, Sid promised he'd leave us two days worth of supplies and one vehicle. I promised him Stinky's truck, and we keep the military humvee."

"There's hardly enough room for everybody in there. We have ten people living in that house." Arnold said.

Gerald shrugged, but reluctantly said, "Guess drawing straws can come in handy at some point…"

Arnold looked at him in disappointment. Just then, they saw Sid turn the corner of his trailer, dragging someone behind him by the arm. The person had their wrists tied together, legs hardly standing and feet dragging on the dirt. Her tattered blonde hair was fluttering in the wind, and draping over her face. Holding down the top of her scalp was a black beanie cap. Arnold recognized it as his Christmas present to Helga two years ago.

For a second, the wind picked up speed and power, waving through the prisoner's hair, lifting it up and Arnold could barely see Helga's overbite lips and eyes hardly open.

"Helga!" He hollered, about to run to her to wrap her in a reuniting embrace, but Gerald stopped him.

"Arnold, she's in no condition to be excited." Gerald said very melancholy.

Sid continued to gently lead Helga towards them. He stopped, "Helga, Gerald and Arnold are here.

Arnold and Gerald just looked at her, her head still drooping downward. Then slowly, she started to stretch her neck, lifting her head up. Her eyes glimmered, and upon seeing Arnold's face, gave no reaction. Not a smile, in fact, Arnold saw as her eyebrows only drooped lower and her frown grew stronger.

Everyone halted as she started to grunt, and could only utter one word, "Bastard."

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(Future Tech Station Kappa, West wing)

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Miles pulled the eraser away from the paper after clearing his mistake. It was a chore to plan out traveling routes, even with it being ten years since he's stepped foot on San Lorenzo. It was still hard to believe he was going back, then again, he felt melancholy that he didn't really have a choice. Richtofen was getting what he wanted, but he and Miles made a deal…

Just then, a guard came in and walked up to Miles' cell, "How's that table helping Colonel?" he asked.

"Doing fine Lieutenant, thank you," Miles replied, just then he turned around in his chair and looked at the soldier, standing stout behind the bars, "You've been looking after me for three days now, what's your name?"

"Johansson. Lieutenant Johansson sir." Miles perked up in curiosity.

"Your full name soldier, what were you born with?" He asked.

"Jamie sir, Jamie Othello Johannsson." Miles leaned back in his chair in comfort. He knew who this man was.

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(Meanwhile in the East wing)

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Bob laid against one of the cell walls, throwing a pebble at the wall, catching it as it bounced back to him. Suzie fiddled with her nails, picking the dirt out from under them and flicking it to the ground. Phil, on the other hand, was more active, somehow he was able to grip the cell bars at their highest point and use them as a lifting bar. He was booking it with exercise, lifting himself maybe once every second.

Suzie, being the only cell who could visibly see Phil, glanced at him every now and then.

"Phil." She called.

Phil stopped for a second, dropping to the floor and cracking his 90 year old back, "What's on your mind Suzie."

"Arnold, actually. Do you ever think about him? If he's okay?" Suzie asked.

After straightening his back out, Phil went back over to his bed and wiped the sweat from his wrinkly forehead on his cot mattress.

"About time you asked. I think about him every minute of every day. He's the only way I'm gonna get out of here."

"I won't burst your bubble gramps, but have you ever thought these guys won't be done with us for a while?" Bob chimed in.

"Says you Pataki. Maybe you've forgotten the fatal flaw here." Phil replied.

"What would that be?" Suzie said.

"They're men. Most fallible creatures on the planet. They've all got something to hide, some reason to let us out. You know why they don't do it? Fear." Phil said.

"Yeah, because soldiers are always afraid." Bob said sarcastically.

"Fear is how I survived 'Nam Pataki. You would know, except oh that's right, you weren't there."

"I've seen enough Phil. Being in the states isn't exactly a walk in the park either. Owning a business, knowing you could be a target for espionage, all that bullshit…" Bob said.

Phil just scoffed and mumbled, "White collar garbage can."

"What'd you say?!" Bob erupted. Phil went to the corner of his cell where he was most audible to Bob.

"WHITE. COLLAR. GARBAGE. CAN!" Bob popped up from his sitting spot and ran to the corner where he could barely reach through the bars towards Phil's cell. There they were, two grown matured men with life experience, flailing their arms around through cell bars trying to get at eachother's throats, but a concrete wall is the only thing keeping them separate.

The guard heard their struggle and ran into the room, he walked over to Phil and Bob's cell.

"Hey! Break it up you two!" He hollered. Bob was too furious to let a scrawny sergeant stop his anger.

As Bob continued to flail his arms, the guard pulled out his nightstick and got in close, trying to find Bob's sweet spot to get him to stop. But this soldier had completely forgotten the other party.

Phil, who was in reach of the soldier's shoulder strap, grabbed for it, getting a good grip. He then tugged the soldier in. The soldier, completely taken aback struggled to reach for his pistol, but Phil was too quick, grabbing the soldier's other arm before it could grip the pistol from its holster. Instead, Phil took his first arm, and wrapped it around the soldier's neck through the bar, pulling hard against the bars. The struggle was audible but very quiet. Suzie just stood there, gripping her cell bars out of nervousness. Eventually the soldier stopped kicking and collapsed to the ground, unconscious.

Phil pulled the body in close till it was laying sideways against the cell door. Phil rummaged through the numerous pockets of the soldier's pants until he heard jangling metal. He reached into the pocket and pulled out a small ring of keys. Several of a large size, and three of a smaller size. He tucked the keys into his overalls pocket and looked in Bob's direction.

"Thanks for the help Pataki." Phil said very condescended.

Bob just stood there, rubbing the arm he had been flailing about, "Don't mention it gramps, still gonna get you back though."

Phil then stood up and walked over to his cot, a flimsy little frame made of wood, more like a tabletop then an actual sleeping spot. He reached for one of the legs, holding it with one hand, and gripping the actual cot piece with his other hand. He pulled very hard and eventually the leg snapped off. He then walked over to his cell door and kneeled down.

Suzie watched him from diagonally across the room.

"Phil what're you doing?" She asked.

"Setting the scene my darling." Phil responded as he took the cot leg and put it through the cell, pushing the soldier's body away from the cell door till it was closer to the middle of the floor. With some struggle, Phil was able to push the soldier till he was laying on his stomach side.

Even though Bob couldn't see Phil in his cell, he could see the body being pushed out and positioned, "They ain't gonna fall for that gramps."

"Just watch Pataki…" Phil muttered. Just then another soldier came in, he glanced over at Suzie's cell but then noticed the guard on the floor. He immediately ran to the man's side.

"What happened!" He proclaimed. Phil just stood up, shrugged his shoulder.

"Fella took a couple whiffs in the air and then just crashed. Beats me." He said. Suzie and Bob looked in awe as the guard simply acknowledged Phil's comment and dragged the unconscious soldier out of the cell room.

Bob just stared at the guard walking out, while Suzie looked at Phil in complete awe. Phil in return looked at Suzie and just raised his hands like it was nothing, big smile on his face. In one of his hands, hanging by his index finger, was a small ring of keys.

"You were saying Bob?"

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To Be continued

Audience, it is with heavy heart that I include this author's note at the end here. IN NO WAY AM I CANCELLING HEY ZOMBIES. That is not the case here. To explain things further, I have posted a video on my youtube channel that explains my situation.

To access it, copy this /watch?v=qSraxmLLe7o& and paste it after youtube . com