Chapter 6: Good from Bad to Horrific.
Disclaimer: I do not own Telltales the Walking Dead.
The forest was actually quite pleasant today. I didn't see any walkers and the suspicions I had about the St. Johns were starting to go away as we talked about our past exploits. I convinced Ben to come with us. I didn't feel comfortable leaving him home with Lilly and Larry. He didn't care though, because the sad truth is he didn't have anywhere to go. Mark uplifted the gloom by talking to the St. John brothers.
"So, this dairy…you guys really have food?" Mark asked. Andy smiled and nodded.
"Sure do." He proudly stated. "We've lost most of the cattle, but we still have lots of milk, butter and cheese stocked up."
"And with the vegetables we grow, we've got plenty of food." Dan chipped in.
"That sounds like a hell of a set up you got. I can't wait to see it." I said while trying to sound optimistic, but I still had this feeling deep in my stomach. Maybe I was just anxious to get some real food in me.
"Yeah, but enough about us. What about you folks?" Andy asked. "How did you all meet?"
"Well, I am a police officer." I said. Andy looked surprised.
"A police officer, well that is someone I'd want to have in my group." He chuckled. "What were you, a detective?"
"No, just a beat cop. I got a call down at the hospital for an aggravated assault, but it turns out that aggravated assault was a reanimated corpse. I had to shoot my way out and from there I met a few people before setting up shop at the Inn."
"Damn, that all sounds hairy." Dan said. "What about you, Mark?"
"I was in the military, air force to be exact." Mark started. "That is where I met everyone. Devon, Lilly and Lee found me when I was looking for the food storage. I tried to sneak in and get in and get out, but I screwed up and got the attention of every walker in that base. I mean, thank God Lee showed up when he did. Right, Lee?"
"Yeah, why don't you tell us a little more about yourself, Lee?"
I looked behind to see Lee and Carley lingering behind us. I guess they were talking about Lee's criminal past. It's almost all they ever talked about when they are alone. I still think Lee should keep his mouth shut, but since Larry knows who he I it wouldn't really matter anymore. Dan asked where he was from.
"I grew up in Macon." Lee said.
"Right here in the heart if Georgia, that's what I like to hear!" He boasted. I guess he was a local boy after all. After that little detail he started to dig deeper, but into Lee's past, but into our setup in the Motor Inn.
"Ya'll seem pretty settled in that Motor Inn. Who's running things over there?"
"We work as a group, all of us looking out for each other." Lee explained.
"I hear that! There are so many dumbasses out there fighting each other these days…it's just stupid." Andy said in disappointment. He wasn't wrong about that. This world was filled with dumbasses trying to kill one another. The end of the world only made it worse.
"How many people ya got over there anyway?" Dan asked. I didn't like where this was going.
"Well, the kid here is our newest arrival, but we're all looking forward to some food. We really need it." Lee explained, not really answering Dan's question. Which was good, we didn't need to go into great details yet.
"Well, here's to helping each other out!" Andy quietly cheered. "Well, we'd love to get ya all out to the dairy. Like I said, we've got plenty of food, and quite frankly, we could always use an extra helping hand."
"In the summer, I use to help out on a goat farm." Ben said, getting in on the conversation. Dan nodded approvingly at that.
"Yeah, that's great." He said. "Everything helps!"
Andy started to tell us more about the dairy farm.
"Momma's been running the dairy for as long as I can remember, but now it's getting-"
"You think you're gonna cut me out of this?" A loud and angry voice shouted.
He was cut off by a loud argument taking place down the hill from where we were walking. The St. John brother both panicked and started to crouch down. Andy looked over at us.
"Get down!" He whispered loud enough for us to hear.
We all took cover in the dirt, bushes and behind a tree. We all looked down the small hill to see two men with masks and guns arguing about something.
"No one is trying to cut you out of anything!" The other man argued. I watched Dan glare at them before growling, 'Fucking bandits.' under his breath.
"Who?" Mark whispered, gripping his rifle to the point where his knuckle turned white.
"Those look like the people who raided my camp." Ben stated.
"Who are they?" Lee asked.
"Shh." Andy warned. "Fucking assholes is who they are."
I had the barrel of my shotgun aimed at one of them while Carley aimed her Glock at the other.
"There's only two of them." She whispered. She was ready to take them out. That was good, but I didn't want to risk alerting more their friends. I slowly reached my left hand over and lowered her handgun.
"We shouldn't, we don't know how many of them there are." I warned her. Dan nodded at what I said.
"He's right, there's a lot more of them." He whispered.
"Don't worry." Andy reassured us. "Danny and I have ya covered if something happens, but let's just wait this out and hope they move on." We spent months in these woods, why is it we are only hearing about these bastards today?
There is something else going on.
"FUCK YOU!"
I jumped when I heard those words shouted out. The man who started this conversation had kicked the other man in the center of his chest and knocked him back, before aiming his shotgun at his head and blowing it clean off. Everyone flinched when he fired it three more times at his headless, lifeless corpse.
The man stopped shooting and checked the corpse's pockets. He called him an asshole before storming off into the woods. I heard a disgruntled sigh next to me. I turned to see Andy shaking his head in disgust.
"The world out here has gone to shit." He muttered. He turned and looked at me. "Come on, let's get back to the dairy where it's safe."
I wasn't arguing with myself after that.
We followed the brothers for another ten minutes before stepping into a large plain field. It was beautiful. There was nothing but acres of grass going on for miles before ending at the tree line. The house was a white two story building with blue shudders on the side of each window and right on top of a hill and a few feet away was a large red barn. Then of course there was the fence covered in barbed wire and possibly running with electricity.
"Here it is. St. Johns Family Dairy." Andy said with pride. He was right to. I remember this place from when I was a kid. This was always a friendly family place, but it was led by a different St. John. "Ya'll can see how we've kept this place so safe."
"The fence keeps them out?" Mark asked.
"You betcha. They fry like bugs in a zapper." He stated. "We're pushing 4000 volts through that thing, with generators and amps."
"I'm going to assume that's a lot." Carley said with as much enthusiasm as she could. I let out a chuckle and pat Andy on the arm.
"Hell of a fine job you've done here." I complimented.
"Yeah, this is a really brilliant set up." Lee weighed in.
"Suits us just fine." Andy said.
"This place looks untouched!" Carley stated in awe. "You'd never know the rest of the world is in ruins."
"It's worth protecting, hence all the juice." Andy remarked as an older woman with red curly hair stepped down towards the gates, basket in hand.
"I thought I saw ya'll with company comin' down the drive!" The woman remarked as she walked down to greet us at the main gate.
"Guy's this is our mama." Andy stated, throwing an arm around the older woman. She smiled like a proud mother and politely waved at us.
"I'm Brenda St. John and welcome to the St. John Dairy!" She greeted us before Andy introduced us.
"This here's Lee and Devon. They are both from Macon."
"A couple of our old far hands were from Macon." She told us. "They grow 'em good there."
"They've got a few more friends staying at the old motel." Dan informed his mother. She let out a startled gasp as her face broke out in worriment.
"Oh my goodness that place is pretty vulnerable."
How the hell would she know?
"Have you got someone with survival experience to lead your group?"
"We all work together. Plus, we've got plenty of people with military experience." Lee said as he placed his hand on my shoulder. "Devon here was a police officer too, so he keeps an eye out for all of us."
"Oh, well, that is a relief." She smiled. "I feel safer now that we have a former law enforcer with us. Now that ya'll are here, we'll make sure you're safe and comfortable."
"We're awful hungry." Lee said. Brenda smiled and handed the basket to us.
"These are for ya'll. Baked fresh his morning." I looked down and my stomach roared when I saw them.
Fresh baked buttermilk rolls.
The sunlight made them shine like gold in the basket. These things had more value than gold these days. Without even asking or thinking, I reached in and grabbed one. I shoved the whole thing in my mouth and swooned in the buttery, fluffy taste.
"This is good." I said with a mouthful. I swallowed the whole thing in one gulp and I had to stop myself from grabbing another one. I needed to think of the group after all.
"Can't get stuff like that anymore, not without a cow for milk and butter, that's for sure." Dan explained. I guess they didn't lose all of the cattle. Brenda joined their son.
"That's right. Hopefully Maybelle will make it through this bout of whatever she's got and be with us for a good long while." She was a little optimistic, but luckily for her we have a vet in our group. Lee went to tell her, but Mark beat him too it.
"We have a vet! We could bring her here!" He eagerly suggested. "We can help you folks out."
"A vet!" Brenda exclaimed. "Oh, my! Our prayers have been answered!"
"Maybe our whole group could come…for the day…" Mark was hesitant, but I knew he wanted to move in the second we arrived. I couldn't blame him. This place was incredible. Brenda gave Mark a gentle smile and came up with an idea.
"Well how about this. Ya'll go get your veterinary friend, and I prepare some dinner. A big feast for all you hungry souls."
"That sounds great. I mean if it wouldn't be too much trouble." I said as politely as I could.
"No, it'll be nice to have some folks to help around here again." She turned to the youngest of her boys. "Danny, why don't you come help me out in the kitchen."
Dan nodded and headed inside with his mother. Carley, who had a roll in her mouth, tugged on my shirt.
"Why don't I head back with the food and round up everyone for the trip back here." She suggested. It wasn't a bad idea. I didn't feel comfortable leaving them all behind.
"I'll stay here with Lee, take Ben with you. I don't want to risk anything happening to you out there." I warned her before looking at Ben. "And you," I handed him my shot gun. "You know how to use this?"
"Y-Yeah…" He said in a shaky voice as he took my shotgun.
"Safety is off, keep your finger off the trigger and the barrel pointed away from the people you don't want to shoot." I explained. "You have seven shots, plus one in the pipe. Make them count."
"You got it." His face broke out in a halfhearted smile before he and Carley turned away. Mark handed Carley his rifle as well and we said our farewells before we turned to talk to Andy.
"Why don't ya take a look around?" He suggested. "Once ya get settled in, I could use some help securing the perimeter."
"Is there a problem?" Lee asked.
"Sometimes, the dead get tangled up in the fence before they fry and end up knocking over a post." He explained to us. "It'd be a big help if you three could walk the perimeter. You can learn a lil somethin' about our fence."
"We can do that." I offered to him. Andy smiled and nodded before grabbing the gas cans.
"I'm gonna go top off the generators before they run dry. Come get me when you're ready." And with that he was off to refill his precious generators. I looked over at Mark who was still freaking out about the fence.
"This place is incredible!" He said, practically jumping with joy. "It's got food! And that fence…oh man that fence! If we play our cards right, this place might turn out to be a place we can stay." He looked at me and his happy expression turned serious in an instant. "So how do you want to play this?"
"Slow and steady, that's how." I told him. "These people seem decent enough, especially when they're so willing to invite us into their home, but something just feels off. But we do have kids and we can't have them playing around the electrical fence. Right, Lee?"
"Yeah, we need to figure out if this place is as safe as they say." Lee stated.
"Right. Obviously they think it's safe, but is it safe enough for the kids?" I watched his gaze move over to a large tree with a broken swing hanging off a branch. "I noticed a broken swing over there. Not a big deal, but maybe there's other things that we can't see yet."
"Then we will just have to go and find them." I insisted. He nodded.
"And checking the fence perimeter sounds like a decent way to get a good look at their defenses." Lee suggested.
"Okay, keep your eye open, and find out what you can from Andy." I said before we all lingered away from each other and wandered around the farm.
Mark goes to investigate the fence while Lee goes and makes repairs on the swing. It was nothing major, but the effort would prove that we can pull our weight and we are happy to help.
After Lee had fixed the swing, Brenda was happy to see it fixed and she started to reminisce about how her boys and the kids loved to swing all day and night. She almost started to break down before returning back inside the house.
While Lee and Andy talked I started to make my way towards the barn, but before I could even make it to the gate leaving the house, Andy called out to me.
"Hey…what are you fixing to do around the barn?" Andy asked in a suspicious tone. I remember back in the day I investigated a barn that was a meth lab and the owner asked me the exact same question in the exact same tone. I relaxed my composure and put on my 'Officer Friendly' charm.
"Just trying to find a way to help out." I explained.
"Well, I appreciate that." He said, putting on his charm. "Tell ya what, we'll find ya something to do over there after we get back from securing the perimeter."
"Okay." I would not investigate the barn, yet.
So, the three of us work the perimeter. Andy turned off the northwest generators so we can pick off the husks that got tangled up in the wire. Lee had told me that he and Andy had got to talking.
"He wanted to know what kind of weapons we were carrying." He explained. I gave him a look.
"Did he ask for specifics?" I asked.
"No, and I didn't give him any." Lee said. "I just told him that you and Lilly keep us trained and prepared." When Lilly and I started to get some rifles and handguns, we began training exercises. Nothing major, just target practice.
"What about these farmhands they keep bringing up?" I asked while Lee cuts through the wrists of the dead walker hanging on the wire. I lift my boot up and kick the corpse off.
"He said that they stuck around for a while before leaving to find their families." We approached another walker with an arrow stuck through his head. I narrowed my eyes at it as Lee ripped it out of its skull.
That arrow wasn't one from those sets you buy at a sporting goods store it was hand crafted. Just like the one from that one bandit's crossbow. Lee pushed it off with his ax before we came across our last one. This one had tumbled over and knocked over the post.
"He's tangled up there pretty good." Mark stated as we looked over the mess before us. "Come on, help me get this thing back in place so we can get Mr. Crispy off of there."
"I think we can get better leverage from the other side." Lee said before hopping over the fence. Mark and I did the same. The two lifted up the fence posts while I removed the body from the fence. Things were starting to get situated, until the fences turned on and nearly killed the three of us.
"What the fuck?" Mark shouted as we all leaped back.
"The fences are on!" Lee shouted.
"Why the hell would he turn the fences on?! He knows we're out here!" Mark shouted. Just then, an arrow flew past my head and struck Mark in his right shoulder.
He stumbled onto the ground and soon enough the three of us were being shot at from the forest. I pulled out my handgun and aimed it into the forest as voices started calling out to us.
"I told you what would happen, you son of a bitch!"
"Get to the gate!" Lee shouted. I nodded and grabbed Mark by his left shoulder and dragged him to the gate, but that proved futile as we were cut off by a flurry of arrows. I carried Mark over to the tractor as Lee followed and we took cover from the bandits.
"We had an agreement. Now you're fucked!" Another voice called out.
After he had said that I started to get more suspicious of the St. Johns. That would explain how they knew so much about them back in the woods. Another arrow bounced off the tractor near my head, so my suspicions would have to wait.
Right now I had to get Lee and Mark to safety.
"With the fence on, that gate is our only way out!" Lee shouted.
"We use the tractor for cover," I explained. "I'll keep you covered, but I can't get a clean shot at them from here!"
Lee nodded and we started to push on the tractor, after pulling the blades out from the dirt and removing the chock from the front wheels. The tractor started moving slowly, but it provided us all the cover we needed. I would occasionally look up from our cover and see figures moving from tree to tree. I fired off a couple of rounds into the woods and slow down their rate of fire.
Lee got caught on a walker and he tried to move it, but the damn thing was still moving. I popped off a few more rounds and quickly helped him remove it from the front of the wheel. Its legs got stuck under the wheels so we had to rip it out, severing its legs from its body.
I put a bullet in its head and we continued on to the silo. From there I changed a new clip in my gun and told Lee to take Mark and get the hell out of here.
I looked up from cover and I spotted another figure moving to cover. I raised my gun and started shooting blindly. I managed to hit one, but I don't know if I killed him.
"You shot, Timmy!" A voice shouted. I didn't care though, I followed Lee out of the gate and closed it before taking off towards the house.
"You lucky sons of bitches! Go ahead and run! We ain't goin' nowhere!"