Chapter 14: Our Dark Pasts

A/N- This will be mostly a long Flashback Chapter for Rylan and a Mystery Character, this is just background for the two of them so sit back and be entertained. Hopefully :)

8 Months Earlier...

The quiet calm of the winter morning was tranquil; the sun's rays glittered against the new sheet of powdered snow in the forest. In their thickest coats they owned, a man and his son were out on the hunt, both lying on the ground prone on a rocky ledge overlooking a clearing where a mighty buck with prominent proud antlers was grazing on the sparse grass.

"You see him? Line up the shot."

The boy complied and he lined up the cross-hairs so that he could shoot the animal, "Now hold your breath... Steady..."

*BANG!*

The kick of the rifle shot back into his shoulder which caused the bullet's path to veer off to the left, and it hit the snow right next to the now alarmed deer. He then ran off, out of sight.

Rylan had missed…

"No! ...I didn't mean to! I-I-I thought I would get him! I'm sorry Dad!" Rylan panicked, he knew how much they needed the meat.

"It's okay son..." He frowned past his graying goatee and aged face. Rylan's father had salt and pepper hair and he wore a thick green wool coat. His brown eyes had a glance of disappointment in them but they also accompanied a sense of regret. "Perhaps you weren't ready for the rifle... we're low on ammo as it is, let's get back to town." He then stood up.

"Dad! Please I can do this just give me another chan-!"

"I can't afford to give you another chance Rylan!" His father bellowed. "Our town is starving! ...But this was my mistake... Maybe hunting is not your calling."

"Dad... I'm sorry..." Rylan sadly stood up to follow his father.

"Well, sorry isn't going to bring that buck back ain't it?" His Dad shot him down but then immediately regretted that as well. "...Let's get back to your mother, you hear? After we report to James."

"Yeah... right." Rylan nodded as his eyes were downcast.

The two of them left the forest with only the small game of a rabbit that Rylan's dad had shot with his crossbow at the beginning of their hunt. The snow was falling and the wind was blowing as they made it back through the outer perimeter and the guards of the old town they all resided in. The two of them walked down Main Street as each of their steps made a crunching sound beneath their feet as they made the next right and then a left, and they found themselves next to the butcher shop.

As they walked into the dingy store that was the butcher shop, James had already come out of the back room to meet them halfway at the front counter. "I see you're not dragging a deer in here... Thought you were getting some big game?"

Rylan's dad grimaced at him. "Just a rabbit from us, wanna put that in the ledger?" He held up the carcass of a small white bunny.

James scoffed at that. "Not much, maybe seven pounds if we're lucky." He took it from him. "David will be disappointed, I hope you realize how fucked you might be Kevin, more than most of us..."

Kevin looked at his son and he only avoided his glares, both his and James's. "I'll take my chances."

"Then get outta here." James growled at them both. "I've got work to do."

Kevin and his son Rylan left the butcher shop and made their next destination to their private apartment which was right next to this ratty game store. Kevin opened the front door and let them in. He closed the door behind them and sighed. "Put the rifle in the bedroom."

Rylan nodded and complied as he ran off with the gun down the hall. Kevin went to the living room and he found a note that was laid on the side table next to an old blue couch. He took the note and read it... of course it was from his wife... Wait a second, what the hell?! The apartment looked more messed up and knocked over than usual!

Kevin-

Please I've asked you several times before we need to leave this town! There's nothing here for us other than suffering. Even now for some reason I feel like our family is being watched. David has asked to talk to me so I should be home by di-

The letter had been violently cut off...

"Becky..." Kevin gasped at the worst possible scenario that might have happened. "Oh god... Rylan! Rylan!"

"Yeah? What's up Dad?" The boy came into the living room, but his heart sank when he recognized the distress on his father's face. "Where's mom?"

"She uh... went to see David, alright. I'm gonna head across town and meet up with them." Kevin ordered him as he pocketed the note and went back to the front door, crossbow in hand. "Stay here till we get back, got it?"

"Got it." Rylan nodded again.

"Good... and uh, son?" Kevin gripped the doorknob as he looked back at the brunette. "Don't worry about the deer... I'll be back."

"Okay..." Rylan turned his back on him, and yet still he felt a pang of shame. "See ya."

Kevin opened the door and let in a rush of cold air into the apartment, and he quickly closed it behind him, leaving Rylan alone at their home. What was going on that got Rylan's dad so riled up?

Hours had passed, and Rylan found himself fiddling with the family rifle, checking it, inspecting it, and seeing if there was something wrong with it. How could he have missed that shot?

Rylan then looked out the window and the sun was already at high noon. "It's getting late... maybe I should check up on them? They've both been gone for a while."

Rylan slung the rifle over his back and got his coat as he headed out into the freezing air. Each of his hot breathes were apparent with each exhale as the boy traveled across the town towards the office building David used as his headquarters. His dad worked with him often with his time on the council so he knew the man relatively well... at least he thought so.

The winter wind began blowing harder and harsher as he eventually made it up a few steps and a white wooden door which was the entrance to two-story structure. He opened the door and let himself in, and he found the interior equally as cold if not colder than the outside. Rylan had gotten used to seeing steam coming out of his nostrils with each exhale as he traversed the foyer.

"Where are the guards at?" He wondered.

*BANG*

The gunshot echoed throughout...

"AHH!"

There was no mistaking it, that scream belonged to... "MOM!"

Rylan sprinted towards his mother's cry of horror, he immediately went upstairs and the boy found that there was a slightly ajar door filled with light. Rylan got his rifle ready and crept up to the side of the door, he was about to bust in but he suddenly could also hear David's voice from inside.

"...Look what you made me do!" David growled at someone else. "I try and try to protect you both... but you had to go and ruin it for yourselves..."

"No... I see you for who you really are!" Kevin coughed.

Dad...

Rylan busted through the door with his rifle in hand, only to be appalled and absolutely horrified of the scene before him. David was above his father with a gun in hand as Kevin clutched his chest tightly as his shirt began to steadily stain red with blood from his wound. Rylan then noticed his mother in the corner of the office room chained to the floor by her ankles and wrists, bloody, beaten, and sodden...

"Rylan! NO!" She screamed.

"Well..." David smirked at the boy who had frozen at the doorway. "It seems that everything does happen for a reason..."

"Dad... Mom..." Young Rylan cried. "What are you... doing to them?!"

"The good of the community is in my best interest, you may not yet understand, but your mother is a... valuable asset to my men..." David honestly informed to him. "Your father didn't really agree to it..."

"She is not your whore! Rylan, shoot him!" Kevin demanded of his son.

Rylan was about to wholeheartedly comply with his dad's final request when he felt the butt of another rifle bash him in the back of the head, which made him momentarily blackout.

"...What...?" The boy slowly muttered as he struggled to maintain consciousness.

"Kill the boy and the father..." David ordered to one of his minions as he left the office building. "I gotta go out for a hunt with James..."

The henchman clad in black winter clothes nodded as his boss exited the room by stepping over Rylan. The boy could only watch in horror as his father held out his hand to him with tears in his eyes, unable to reach him... as he was executed right there in front of his eyes... shot in the head by the goon.

His father was motionless, bloody and dead...

"You're next kid..." The man chuckled as he aimed his gun at him.

"NO!"

Rylan caught a second wind and found himself on his own two feet, ignoring the throbbing pain from his head. He tackled the minion's arm which held the gun. His aim went wild from the recoil of the boy's surprise attack, and the path of the bullet lined up with the women in chains in the corner of the room as he planned to fire...

*BANG*

"Rylan..."

Rylan didn't waste any time as he quickly grabbed the rifle that was lying next to him and he shot almost point-blank range at the goon in front of him, blowing nearing half of his head off...

*BANG*

Bastard was dead...

...But Rylan's tears would not stop when he saw that his mother was bleeding profusely from the side of her stomach... the bullet that was meant for him had instead found its way into her...

"Dad... Mom... I... I... I couldn't..." The boy fell to his knees next to his dead father and his dying mother... "Don't... oh my god... I gotta get you out!"

Voices rang from downstairs. "What was that?! Come, let's go!"

"Rylan... *splutter* they're coming..." Becky comforted. "It's... It's going to be okay... I promise... Please... you can't let them take advantage of me... I'm so sorry, it has to be this way... but you or your father would never want this..."

"Mom, no no no! I can get you out!" Rylan looked around to cut the chains around his mother but in the ensuing panic, he couldn't find anything useful. "Mom... I can't leave you..."

"You have to shoot me sweetheart, and then run... run my little boy... run and don't look back... Please..."

"No... This can't be... *sob* this can't be happening..." Rylan gulped as he choked back his grief and suffering. "...please..."

"You have to Rylan..."

The boy tossed the empty rifle and picked up his dad's crossbow which was laid on the table with a single arrow loaded on it. "I'm sorry... I'm so sorry mom..."

"...It's going to be okay..."

*SWOOSH!*

She slumped to the ground as well...

And then the boy just ran...

Back to the Present...

"Oh my god..." Ellie gasped with her hand over her mouth. "Oh my god..."

"Yeah... she... Ellie, I don't know if I... I don't know if I made the right decision or I could have done more." Rylan twiddled his thumbs as he told his story to her, fighting back the tears. "Just... fuck..."

Ellie did not waste another moment as she embraced him in her arms, consoling and empathizing with him. "...You have no idea... me too..."

"W-what do you mean?" His expression was shocked to say the least.

And Ellie released him as she decided to sit right next to him on the same cot. "Rylan... I knew him..."

"Knew who?"

"He tried to..."

And then the two teens went on with their darkest confessions and their guilt and grew even closer to one another, bonding in a way further than the bottle of wine. How close they might have been to actually meeting up in the winter was weird. But the two of them realized these past few days were just... awful in a way. But they were both glad they knew of each other and what they would do for one another. They were also glad that Joel, Tommy, and Maria hadn't come back inside until they were both asleep.

In two different cots though that night, much to Joel's relief and for fear of Rylan's life...

(?) POV:

"Where am I...? Not here again..."

I let myself into the apartment complex... had to clear it on her orders... but the damn place was filled with spores, good thing I had my gas-mask on.

My mind was in a daze, I already walked this hall many times before, in every one of my nightmares... of course I knew what was coming, but that didn't make it any easier.

As soon as I was at 'that' door, my body shuddered, my blood ran cold and the world I knew outside faded away and it was just me, right here right now, that's all I was aware of.

I raised my gun at eye level, expecting Infected as I opened the door and stepped into what used to be a nursery. The old colorful walls and sparsely toy-littered carpet adorned the room, along with two white cribs...

"No..."

I heard the growling and the whimpering from across the room, actually it sounded more like...

*click* *click...*

"Please no..."

My gun was still in hand as I loomed over the crib to see its occupant.

I stopped looking around; I could hardly comprehend what I was seeing, I don't think I ever will. And I don't know what to do, I feel like I don't know anything anymore. I feel like there's absolutely no goddamn fucking hope! And I'm scared. I'm so fucking scared...

*click* *click...* groah...*

The Baby Clicker writhed around in its crib with its tiny body, the abandoned infant already smeared with that of a deep crimson blood. Its head twisted and corrupted by the Cordyceps fungus, which had rotted the never to be developed brain for perhaps months...

I picked up the former innocent child in my hands and held it over its crib, my fingers more than far enough away from its weak and repeated attempts of biting me.

"Why... why did this happen to you?"

And then I turned around with the kid still in my hands away from the crib and now he was about five feet above the section of concrete floor in the apartment that served as a daycare...

I then stared into the Baby Clicker's eyes, wait what? ...They weren't there... of course they were covered...

No...

The baby tried to no avail to claw my sleeves with his pudgy hands and stained fingers, its echolocation switching back to that of a dying gurgling... I had to...

"Where is your soul...? Trapped by the parasite..." I mumbled under my breath. "Your eyes cannot release them, so I must..."

And then I let the baby go... and I let him fall...

Its skull smashed against the concrete with a crack which may have rattled its brain. So if that was not enough, I took my boot and slowly squished its head under my foot. Almost like a tube of toothpaste, and the fact that a baby skull was softer, the plates of the flaccid fungi and grey matter spluttered out from the broken crevices of the bone... and the dying cry was cut short...

...and all was silent again...

...

No POV:

"Another dream about that thing..." Devlin rubbed his eyes as he came out of his slumber. "Argh!"

The Commander clutched his sides as he felt his back shoot up and down with splitting pain while he bit down on his tongue as he sat up from his linen-sheet bed. Wait... a bed?

"Where the fuck am I?!" Devlin bellowed as he examined his surroundings. He was in what looked like a hospital infirmary. Beds lined up with his on both sides in a large enough room, but they had their white curtains drawn around them for privacy.

Devlin however found his torso exposed and wrapped in bandages around his midriff and especially his back. He swung his legs around the side of his bed and attempted to stand, only to yelp in more pain again and sit his ass back down on the mattress.

"You're awake... that's good."

Devlin looked up and saw Grant pull the curtain back even more to find that the patient was conscious. He smirked as he reached for a walkie-talkie radio and spoke into it. "Devlin's up, return to base. That's an order. Grant out."

"What the hell happened?" Devlin asked as he looked downcast and stared at his Firefly dog-tags. "There were Infected and..."

Grant finished. "You were fighting with the old man when you got shot in the back with a rifle round." He crossed his arms as he grinned. "Damn lucky you were wearing that body armor to protect ya. Bullet tore it to pieces, broke a few of your ribs, and left you a hell of a bruise, but you lived... I got you outta there before Runners could beat ya to death."

"I got careless..." Devlin winced as he shifted his position to lean on his knees with his elbows. "This was my fucking fault and I got too impatient."

"No matter what you think Commander, this ain't over. A few of my men spotted them leaving out the back door before they blew up the damn cabin. We lost their trail though..."

"We need to wait then... if they think I'm dead... then we have all the time in the world now." Devlin whispered more to himself than to both of them. "Joel and Ellie need to feel safe again... however long that may be."

"We can comb the forest, look for them again-!"

"No... I've let my emotions drive me this far, and look where it has gotten us..." Devlin informed him. "We Fireflies are the light, we are the beacon of hope with an answer! And I will not allow any more mistakes to happen under my watch."

Grant then nodded in compliance. "What's our next move then sir?"

"...They say an eye for an eye leaves everyone blind, so with that in mind... let's inform the surgeon."

A/N- And so our enemies will lie in wait until the right moment to strike. Will our heroes be prepared for what will come next and their time back into Jackson? Will Devlin and Grant have their revenge and their cure? Stay tune!