the beginning is the end is the beginning
Disclaimer: I don't own anything.
Chapter 05 - Superstition
Tate has never been superstitious in any way. In his opinion it's a silly obsession of stupid people and nothing more than that.
So when he sees a black cat on the sidewalk, walking away from him - a considerably bad luck symbol in some cultures - he pays no mind to it. Instead he just simply wonders how cat meat would taste because these days, food can never be enough.
Desperate times, desperate measures, he thinks but lets the cat walk away - for now.
On the 19th day, they finally meet a small group of survivors.
Three men and a woman.
It's at least encouraging. Not everyone is dead after all.
They stop to exchange stories and experiences, and warn each other of possible dangers laying ahead on the road.
"You should probably avoid big cities if you can, there's more of them there," one of the men shakes his head, his eyes lost in a dark memory. "We made the mistake of crossing through Detroit. We lost Melissa there." He eyes the blonde woman to his right who starts weeping quietly at the mention of that, trying to stifle her sobs with her hand. The man sighs, the haunted look on his face returning. "And we barely made it through Boston in the first place."
Tate's head snaps up. He hasn't been paying much attention before but now he's looking at him anxiously, choking out only one word. "Boston?"
"Yeah," he nods, slightly confused at the young boy's reaction. "That's where we came from."
For a moment he's too caught up in his emotions to speak. He doesn't even know what he's really feeling – hope, excitement, fear? After all, what are the chances they know Violet or saw her ever since this whole thing started, even if they're from Boston?
But what if they did and she's dead?, a voice whispers in his ear.
And what if she's not and they can finally confirm it?, he retorts back.
Nora throws him a worried look, laying a hand on his shoulder, silently asking him if he's okay. Tate registers none of it.
"Do you, by any chance, know a girl named Violet Harmon? Or…" he trails off, trying to remember Vivien's maiden name because even if they don't know Violet maybe they know her grandparents but he can't recall it. It starts with a 'G', he thinks. Or was it an 'R'?
Goddammit.
The man shakes his head slowly and there's no recognition on the others' faces either. "Not familiar."
"And you haven't met any survivors?" His eyes are wide and hopeful and it makes the man uncomfortable to let him down again.
"The only survivors we met were an old lady and her son, and that was in a little town close to Detroit."
Tate buries his face in his hand and bites his lip to keep from screaming. He should have known better than to get his hopes up but he did anyway and now he's paying for it. These poor bastards know nothing about Violet or how she is. She's just as unattainable for him as she was before.
Nora starts rubbing his shoulder in a comforting manner, trying to soothe him. "Don't worry, Tate, that doesn't mean anything. I'm sure she's fine."
He nods but right now he feels very unconvinced of that. It's been so long. So many days. Who knows where she is, what she's doing, how she is?
Does she think about him? Does she worry about his safety too?
He hopes she knows he's okay and looking for her.
The man clears his throat to get Tate's attention, giving him one last advice before they get up to leave. "If you're heading to Boston, I suggest you think twice. A woman is not worth all that mess and blood."
Tate gives him a humorless smile and shakes his head. "You're wrong. She's worth it."
She's worth it and more.
After that incident he's distracted the whole day.
They find a house to stay in before it gets dark and he offers to make a quick stop to a store because they need food no matter what, but Nora is having none of it.
"Don't be ridiculous, Tate. With the state you're in, you would only get yourself killed. Charles will go, won't you, Charles?"
He would object but she's right and he's not in the mood to die today. So he lets Charles go.
But he never does come back.
The baby is crying, Nora keeps murmuring curses under her breath, and her attempts to calm her son are futile. Charles is still gone.
After it became obvious that he wasn't coming back, it was too late to go after him - in the darkness outside Tate wouldn't have stood a chance against the zombies. So he waited until morning and with that he practically assured that they wouldn't be finding Charles alive, if he wasn't dead he would have come back.
He'd say he's sorry but he's not.
One less person to worry about.
Granted, he would have been happier if it was the baby who left them, he thinks as he throws Thaddeus an angry look. He's been crying nonstop for hours now and not only it's getting on his nerves, but he's worried one of the undeads outside will hear. He'll be happy as soon as he can leave this fucking house to go hunt down Charles.
"Mrs. Montgomery… Nora." He approaches the woman while she rocks her baby in her arms back and forth, shushing him with an annoyed look on her face. He still has to remind himself to call her Nora like she had insisted many times before. "I'm going to go to look for your husband."
"Yes, yes," she nods, not taking her eyes off her son. He can see that she doesn't really give a damn about the fate of her husband and her next words confirm his theory. It's ironic, how she couldn't care less, and here he is, dedicating all his time and energy to find Violet. He would give anything just to have her right beside him but she's not here. And Nora, who up until now had her husband by her side, never even appreciated it. "That stupid bastard, I bet all my money he's dead. Can you believe that? The apocalypse is here and he has the nerve to leave me alone with this… this thing," she snarls, motioning to the wailing baby in her arms with her head. Tate watches her cautiously, frowning. This is a side of Nora he's never seen before and he doesn't like it. "Why won't you just stop crying?" she shrieks, shaking Thaddeus forcefully. If he didn't hope so much that he would die, he might have taken the child away from her. Suddenly she looks back at him, a half smile playing on her face and she looks downright crazy in that moment. "But what do I expect? When his father is such a pussy himself. You are twice the man he is." She lets out a maniac little laugh. "Find him, will you? And give his corpse a good kick in the guts for me."
Tate has no idea how to react to that so he doesn't. Instead he places a spare gun on the table right in front of Nora, giving her some instructions. "Just in case. And don't leave the house."
Then he's off.
He finds the Montgomerys' truck parked in front of the shop, Charles nowhere to be seen.
Since he took the minivan yesterday, Tate had to hotwire an abandoned car and he's never been more grateful that he learned how to do that thanks to Constance who was always a cunt and didn't want to give him the keys to her Audi. Who knew she would be helpful to him in any way one day?
He inspects the car and then the shop but he can't find any traces of the man anywhere. Wherever he is, he isn't here.
He sighs and after a moment of hesitation he decides that after loading himself up with some stocked up food, he'll be heading back to Nora. Charles is simply not worth the hassle – he doesn't care about what happened to him and neither does his wife. He's probably dead anyway.
When he leaves the store and puts the food in the back of the minivan, getting ready to drive away, something catches his eyes.
A black cat on the side of the road, with its head tilted to the side, almost like it was watching him curiously.
He furrows his eyebrows and stares back for a moment, before writing it off as a mere coincidence. There is no way it's the same cat from before. Then he gets in the van and drives back to the house.
But what he finds is far from what he expected.
Just a warning that this may be the last chapter for a while since I'm abroad, visiting grandparents and stuff. But maybe I'm wrong and I'll be able to update. I guess we'll see.
Kathy
