Chapter 11: The Negotiation
They went inside the gas station their heads over their heads, like prisoners of war. The gang of thugs was behind them pointing their guns at their backs to keep them following their orders, otherwise they would shoot.
"Sit down, all of you," one of the bandits ordered.
They all sat down at the table in the coffee shop connected to the gas station. Sitting down they looked at the floor, trying to not look the bandits in the eyes.
"Now then, what is the reason that you came here," one of the thugs, who was probably the leader of them, asked.
"We just stopped here so that we could gather extra supplies, we've been on the road for three days now and we're trying to find a camp, but we needed extra gasoline and food," Hogarth told the bandits.
"This gas station is our hideout, anybody who tresspasses here and steals from us automatically suffers the consequences, and you might already know what that is" the bandit said as he drew his finger over his neck, giving the symbol of slitting someone's throat. "That honor alone is going to your friend here, on the other hand though you pipsqueaks will be fine."
"What if we gave back what Davey stole," Tut said, "maybe we could settle on it."
"Either way, he still tresspassed on our property, giving back anything doesn't change anything."
"Does it have to be me," Davey said, "why don't you do it to all of the boys."
"What?" Danny snapped, "you're not serious are you."
"What's your proposition," the bandit asked.
"Instead of killing me, why don't you just kill all of them, and I'll join your gang. We can bash their heads in and it'll feel good," Davey said in a sadistic tone as if he was sickly enjoying what he was saying.
"You're fucking kidding me, Davey," Arnold said in a serious tone.
"Do I look like I'm joking," Davey said turning to Arnold with a sick grin on his face.
"Maybe we could come to that conclusion," one of the bandits said.
"Yes, maybe we'll spare you and kill off these little squirts for the fun of it," the bandit said smiling.
"FUCK NO," Hogarth screamed.
Hogarth got up and picked up the stool he was sitting on and threw it at the bandit. The bandit fell to the floor and Hogarth made a quick dash for a baseball bat sitting on the floor. The other boys followed suit and began to attack the bandits. Danny shoved the bandit away and grabbed his gun and knife. Tut stabbed the bandit in the shoulder and kicked him away and Dexter shot one of the bandits in the leg. Davey just stood there and did nothing.
"You little son of a bitch," one of the thugs said as he took out a knife and was about to stab Hogarth. Instead, Hogarth whacked the bandit in the hand with the baseball bat and then knocked him out with it.
"LET'S GET OUT OF HERE," Dexter yelled.
They all took off running and went back to the van as fast as the could. The bandits followed behind them and began shooting at them. Danny got into the van last and shut the door.
"GO NOW," Arnold yelled. Davey hit the gas and drove the van out as fast as he could as the bandits kept firing at them from behind.
"WE'LL GET YOU FOR THIS, YOU HEAR US, WE'LL GET YOU" the leader screamed at the van as it drove down the road.
They kept driving until they got as far away from the bandits as they could. They tried to collect themselves from all the excitement that had happened, but also the anger that they all felt.
Davey had put their lives on the line and was literally going to sacrifice them in order to save himself from getting killed. They weren't going to let that go as easily as he thought.
"Stop the van Davey, we want to talk to you outside," Arnold told him.
"Just give me a minute, I wanna make sure we're far away from..."
"STOP THE GODDAMN VAN," he screamed at him.
"Okay fine," he said taken back by Arnold's outburst.
He stopped the van and stepped outside. Hogarth started speaking with anger noticeable in his voice.
"What the hell was that all about back there?"
"What're you talking about," he asked dumbly.
"Don't play dumb with us asshole," Dexter said, "why the fuck did you try to trade our lives in order to save your ass."
"I was just kidding around, I did it so you could get time to attack them so we could escape."
"Bullshit," Tut snapped, "you wanted us out of your hair so you decided to let them cut our throats."
"So what, we escaped didn't we," Davey said trying to make them forget about this whole thing.
"No fucking way," Danny said coldy, "those guys could be trying to find us now and you're just getting wasted every night."
"Shut up Danny I didn't ask you," he snapped at him, "let's just let it go and move on."
"No we're going on without you," Hogarth told him bluntly.
"No, NO FUCKING WAY, you're not leaving me out here on the road!" Davey yelled.
"Oh really watch us," Danny said, "I thought I could trust you Davey, but I was wrong you've gotten even worse now, and I hope that the walkers eat you or the bandits come by and cut your fucking head off."
"It doesn't matter what you do because I have the keys to the van and you can't stop me," he said like a kid in a mocking tone. Just then Davey was knocked to the ground with a baseball bat, wielded by none other than Dexter.
"Nice one," Hogarth told him with a thumbs up.
"Thanks, somebody had to beat the shit out of this guy."
"Come on let's get outta here," Tut said.
They started back into the van and started the keys. Just then there was a banging on the window.
"Come on guys don't leave me out here, I'll give you guys some of my beer, please." Davey whined as he banged on the window.
"Take off," Danny told Hogarth as he was behind the wheel. Hogarth nodded in response and hit the gas and the van took off like a speeding bullet.
Davey stood there in the road just watching dumbfounded as the van took off. He looked back and saw that some walkers were heading in his direction.
The boys in the van spent a couple hours in the van. It was already past noon, it was very wierd that it had only been morning and they've only been up for a couple hours but it felt like a whole day at this point in time.
Danny, Arnold, and Hogarth each took turns driving, despite the fact that they were only middle school students they surprisingly could drive pretty well.
Tut and Dexter sat in the back seat. Tut looked out the window at the scenery before him. He felt worried though, after abandoning Davey on the road he had fears that he might come back and try to kill them for what they did to him.
"Do you think we made the right choice," Tut asked with concern.
"What do you mean," Arnold asked.
"Leaving Davey on the road, what if he comes back to get revenge."
"Let's see what other choices we had Tut," Hogarth said, "it was either get that guy out of our asses and be free, or have him cause us hell for another couple of weeks."
"Don't worry about it now," Dexter told him, "he's far away from us now, he won't be able to find us."
"Guys look up here," Danny called from the front seat.
"What is it," Arnold asked.
Outside on the side where the woods were, there were tire tracks leading into it. It could've been a car that drove in there, but there could also be people there which meant a group was probably out here.
"Maybe there could be a group in the woods," Danny said.
"Good thinking ghost boy, let's check it out." Hogarth told him.
Danny drove the car into the woods and followed the tire tracks. They went on for a good stretch of length until they eventually came to a stop at a gated fence. They saw people there. They all felt excitement at the thought of finally finding a group.
"This is awesome," Dexter exclaimed happily, "we made it."
"WE MADE IT," Hogarth yelled happily, "come on let's get out and look." He rushed out to open the van and go outside.
"Woah hold on there buster, take your time." Arnold told him.
After Danny set the car in park they all got out of the van and looked over to the gated fence. They saw several people there keeping watch over the perimeter. Hogarth looked forward and all of a sudden he saw her. His mother was sitting there looking over the fence. In a minute they made eye contact and a huge smile came across Hogarth's face. He finally found her.
ALRIGHT THEY MADE IT. No I'm not ending the story here there's much more to go. The next part is going to be a recap. Something they do on AMC with every mid season finale. Let's look in next time and see what happens.