Walking Dead: Building Your Own Hope
Chapter 11 of my Walking Dead story, enjoy.
Reviews:
Wolfgirl2013: Huh, makes no sense, they're saved.
Boris Yeltsin: Yes indeed :)
Parent12D: Yes, very shocking, but nevertheless how fitting that he's been taken care of, by his own hand no less. Yes, things are luckily looking up now, we just need to let things wind down first and have a few other special things noted.
Now onto the story.
Disclaimer: I don't own Walking Dead or its characters.
Season 2: Episode 11
The presence of Carol and Mikey by Sophia's bed and Maggie, Glenn and Alden by Enid's bed, was enough to calm them. Despite this they were still shaky but they were thankfully not physically hurt nor had they suffered any ill effects from the fire. But the terror they had endured was still heavy on them. Nevertheless they were being well taken care of and there was good hope for them to recover soon. Rick entered the room and offered them all a reassuring smile.
"How are you doing?" He asked gently.
Maggie spoke up. "The doctors said they'd need some time, but they'll recover."
Carol nodded. "Yeah. It still doesn't make sense to us though, why...why Philip Blake would do this, after all he did to help the victims by setting up the gala. His own victims."
"He was just covering his ass, trying to deflect suspicion." Enid whispered.
Rick nodded slowly. "I think you may be right Enid, that makes perfect sense."
There was a pause before Rick nodded and turned towards the door.
"I better go inform the others that you are all making a steady recovery." He said. "Listen, when you're better and out of here. If you want, you can join the others as we have to explain what we've found. We've gathered quite a bit of evidence despite Blake's efforts."
They nodded in understanding, knowing what he meant. The barn and Dark Room had been destroyed, but the binders and several other tools of his actions and a few other useful items had been removed and stashed in the truck where Rick and Michonne had retrieved them.
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So it was that, with the evidence all examined and put together, the police had gathered everything needed and now had decided, before making a public announcement, to reveal what had been discovered to the victims, especially the Samuels family, Mika and her father were seated in the middle of the front row of chairs in the room while Rick and Michonne stood before everyone with a projector set up to help them better explain and demonstrate their evidence and what they had put together. The other victims were present, along with people to support them. Beth and Enid sat next to each other, while Maggie, Glenn and Beth's father Hershel sat with them. Sophia and Mikey, both victims, sat holding each other's hands while their respective parents sat with them. Finally Laurel sat with her parents and sisters. A bitter looking Shane stood by the back of the room, unable to believe what had happened and, worst of all, being proven wrong as Michonne had indeed helped them out, even her profile of the criminal had been spot on, right down to his shoe size.
"Alright, I must warn you now, this will be overwhelming and even harrowing." Michonne announced. "But we need to let you understand just what happened and we need to try and help you understand what happened and to offer you some reassurances."
Rick nodded. "Most importantly, the very fact that we're certain that Philip Blake is gone and can't hurt anyone else."
That sent a ripple through the room.
Hope sprung in a number of them, Rick continued.
"While we were unable to recover his body, we personally witnessed him catching on fire as he burned the barn down. It seems in his desperate state he got a little too excitable and missed exactly where the accelerant was going." Rick explained.
Laurel's mother suddenly spoke up. "Wait so...he destroyed everything he had worked on, save what he wanted to take as trophies. Why would he stop with this...sick behaviour."
"He wasn't stopping." Michonne explained bluntly. "He was aware that he was backed into a corner and we were closing in. He was going scorched earth and was planning to flee before setting up somewhere else."
"So, he would've kept doing this somewhere else. The same way he did it here no doubt, setting everything up in secret and then acting?" Nicholas, Mikey's dad, queried.
Rick nodded. "We believe so."
They then began displaying the evidence they had and detailing what they had put together.
"So, as we've more or less figured out, he had picked out his targets...all of them, probably a short time after he arrived and got things set up and then would wait for a chance to act." Michonne explained. "He used the drugs that he managed to get his hands on to achieve a combination effect of sedative and affecting the memory of those affected. He would use that to carry out his actions while ensuring the victim couldn't really remember what was going on."
"By doing this he intended to carry out his plans, building up this collection of photographs which he kept in the binders he had stored there. All while ensuring nobody could remember exactly what happened to them so he could continue to carry out his actions." Rick added. "Being the photography teacher he had a real chance to get some typical photographs you'd expect while making sure to get pictures of his eventual victims."
That was when Hershel interrupted. "But if he had these pictures, why go to the trouble of all this. Was he really so twisted that he felt the need to attack people, instead of just sneaking pictures of them like a typical pervert."
Michonne sighed. "That's just the thing, based on his own writings, it's different with him. He felt the need to have such...vulnerable subjects to highlight what he wanted from these pictures. In his words, the slightly conscious subject shows its true emotions more than any other. Thus allowing him to capture 'the very essence of purity'. He was a clinical psychopath but by all accounts, his motives were not in fact sexual, nor did he intend anything worse than what happened to Mikey, Laurel and Beth to his victims."
There was another pause at that.
Finally, as they finished explaining a few more things, it all came together and for the Samuels family, the fact that Blake was now dead, they could take some closure in the fact he was brought to justice. The fact that Lizzie's death had been an accident did not lessen the pain any, but knowing that her killer had paid the ultimate price did, somewhat. For the others, it meant they could now pull their lives together and try to move forwards. It was a sign of things improving when, at school following the case details officially being announced and confirmed as being closed and the fear no longer being prevalent in town, Andrew and Marissa could be heard talking about going on an official date, finally feeling safe enough to do so.
End of chapter, hope you enjoyed it, read and review please.