III - Three Questions

Becky lied in her room in the lower section alone. Tabby and Ronnie Anne walked next room and peeked through the window, as Dana and Wavehead talked to each other.

"They're both here," said Tabby.

"What do you think they're talking about?" asked Ronnie Anne.

"Probably about Becky. Ronnie Anne, you do realize we have to tell them, right?"

"Why?"

"They gotta know how to comfort her! She's been giving everyone the silent treatment!"

Ronnie Anne nodded. Tabby knocked on the door, expecting an answer and receiving one. Both girls walked in as Dana closed the door while Wavehead sat on the bed.

"Hey. What do you girls need?" asked Dana.

"We need to tell you something," said Tabby. "Something about Becky."

"Really?" asked Wavehead. "This should be interesting."

"Yeah, especially since she's not telling us anything," said Dana.

"Did you guys know Becky and D were together?" revealed Ronnie Anne.

"Yeah, we were fighting along with them," said Wavehead. "That's 'till they told us to go save ourselves."

"I'm not talking about that."

"She means that they were together-together," said Tabby. "Like two people who like each other a lot. You know, kissin' and stuff."

"How do you two know that?" asked Dana. "We always suspected it, but…"

"We saw them making out behind the cabin near Boston," said Ronnie Anne. "We told them to tell you guys, but it looks like they never did."

"Well, that explains a lot," said Wavehead.

"Thank you, Tabby and Ronnie Anne," said Dana. "Very helpful. Let's go Wesley."

Both Dana and Wavehead walked out of the room. Tabby and Ronnie Anne looked at each other and smiled.

"Fist bump?" asked Tabby.

"Sure. Oh, look. Lori and the others are back."

David, Lori, George, Richard, Vonda, and Lisa walked back to the vehicles. Many of the group members chose their rooms and began to rest, to which Lori took notice of. Just as Tabby and Ronnie Anne prepared to leave Dana's room, Lincoln walked to the parking lot.

"Hey, guys! Did Bill say anything important?"

"No," replied Lori. "But he is going to decipher the tapes for us. I don't think he'll be finished by tonight. Looks like we just have to leave him alone for the night.

"So cute," smirked Tabby, looking at Lincoln then at Ronnie Anne.

Ronnie Anne puffed and stood up, walking away from the window as Lincoln and Lori walked by Dana's room.

"Remember, lock your doors!" shouted Lori.

As soon as Lori, Lincoln, Vonda, George, Richard, and David went inside their rooms, Tabby and Ronnie Anne exited Dana's room, heading to their separate rooms.

A roamer limped on the main road, hundreds of yards away from where the group walked. The direction it headed was towards the motel, where all the group members slept, all but Richard.

An arrow flew through the air as if it were a bullet moving towards a roamer's skull. The air drag has barely touched the arrow until a split second later, pulling it closer to the ground. The arrowhead pointed at a small critter in the ground. Wind has yet to act on the arrow as it was timed precisely to avoid additional drag. The arrow stuck itself on a squirrel, providing meat for the group. Vonda lowered her bow and still frowned.

She picked up the squirrel, removed the arrow, and placed it inside a bag she hung from her belt near her left pocket. The arrow barely dripped blood as she held it in her right hand.

The running water of the river muffled the footsteps and heavy breaths of the teenage girl. It also masked another pair of footsteps.

A deer sipped the water in the river, unaware of being stalked by a teenage huntress. Vonda took a few paces back from a bush she was hiding at, drew her bow, and aimed the bow at the deer. The deer lifted its head, looking around for any raptorial predators.

In a moment, another arrow flew through the air, striking the deer near its neck. The deer dashed away, leaving a trail of blood as the arrow remained stuck in its chest.

Vonda popped out of the bushes and followed the blood trail, running adjacent to the river. The deer was out of sight, but not out of hearing. Scrunching leaves and broken twigs meant a deer nearby. However, the noises of the deer died down as Vonda continued her pursuit on the deer, but she heard another noise.

Vonda turned around, lifted her bow, and aimed at the person responsible for the loud footsteps.

"Woah, Vonda, watch it!" gasped George.

Vonda lowered her bow.

"Ugh, have you been following me?"

George grabbed his knee and took a deep breath, nodding.

"For how long?" exclaimed Vonda.

"I was going hunting too then I found you."

"Bullshit. With that tiny gun you have?"

George sighed.

"I saw you outside in the parking lot through my window. By the time I went out, you went into the woods behind the motel. I looked around then I heard someone climbing trees. That's when I saw you."

Vonda continued to follow the blood trail. George walked behind her.

"Wh-Why would you follow me?"

"I have to make sure you're safe out here. You can't be alone. It's not safe!"

Vonda moved a branch out of her face. George ducked as he moved through the thick bushes.

"I know how to handle myself. I don't need anyone! Especially you, George! This is routine. You're just getting in the way!"

As Vonda uncovered a group of bushes, a roamer growled at her, dropping the deer meat to the ground. She yelped and thrusted her bow at the roamer, pushing it back. Vonda grabbed one of her arrows, however, the roamer lunged at her again, preventing her from drawing the bow. Both the girl and the roamer rolled in the ground, with Vonda smacking the roamer's face again and again. However, all it did was aggravate the roamer until it was ready to sink its teeth into the girl.

As Vonda held the bow at the roamer's neck, George grabbed the monster and lifted it away from the girl. Noticing an arrow in the ground, he pushed the roamer to a tree and picked up the arrow. He launched the arrow at the roamer's left eye, pushing the tip out of its skull and to the bark of the tree.

Vonda panted as she lied on the ground, her abdomen moving up and down. She moved the hair covering her face out of the way, and allowed herself to see the clouds in the air.

George held out his hand for Vonda. She grabbed his hand and stood up, looking at the roamer in the tree.

George removed the arrow from the tree, causing the roamer to drop to the ground. He then held it out for Vonda.

"Here you go."

Vonda grabbed the arrow and looked at the deer.

"Sorry. I guess you were right," muttered Vonda.

"No, I trusted you," said George. "I just… got worried a little."

"I would've probably done the same. I worry a lot about you."

"You do? Why?"

"It's the way you've been acting lately. You seem detached… like you're hiding something."

Vonda stood above the deer. The deer's eyes were slightly closed. She drew her bow and shot an arrow at the deer's head, ending its suffering.

"There goes our lunch," said Vonda.

George placed his hand on Vonda's shoulder.

"As a matter of fact, there is something that I was hiding. Remember back in Albany, when your mother took you away?"

Vonda didn't say word. Yet George understood her answer.

"We interrogated this Piranha," continued George. "Bruna was her name. We interrogated her in the old headquarters. When I went to retrieve a pen and paper for her, I found a note in Sherry's office. Like a personal note for herself."

Vonda sat on the grass. George took out a note from his pocket and handed it to her.

"Read it out loud, okay?" said George.

Vonda took the note and began reading it.

"Hey, Tim. Sorry for cancelling the honeymoon. Duty calls. Promise it will be over soon. And when it is, we'll enjoy our happy, married lives. We'll have a kid like we always wanted to. I didn't think of a name for our child if it's a boy, but if it's a girl, then I got the perfect name… Vonda. How does that sound… my love? I really hope you love that name. Love, your happily wedded wife, Sherry."

Vonda looked ahead at the fallen deer. George looked at Vonda.

"Lately, you seem to not get your mother out of your head. I feel somewhat responsible for that, and that's why I have been feeling distant this past month, and I'm sorry about that."

"But…" said Vonda, unable to finish.

"You say she deserves to die. But in your heart, you think otherwise. You cared about her. Not a lot… but you wanted her to live. That's a good heart there."

"How do I make her go away?" asked Vonda.

"Don't feel responsible. Don't try to convince yourself that she deserved death, whether she did or didn't. Convince yourself that you tried your best to save her. Convince yourself that she is responsible for her fate. You tried saving her Vee, and that's all that matters."

Vonda stood up. As George picked himself up, Vonda wrapped her arms around him. He smiled and hugged her back.

"Thanks, George."

Vonda wiped a tear from her eye.

"I like that name," giggled Vonda. "Vee."

"Alright, Vee. Let's get back to the motel."

Vonda pulled the arrow out of the deer's head and placed it back in her quiver. George led her out of the woods leaving the deer and the roamer in the ground.

Outside the motel in the main road near the parking lot, Bill walked with his rifle. He wore his helmet and bulletproof vest again and held a pair of binoculars around his neck. He paused and looked ahead in the road, employing his binoculars. After identifying the two survivors ahead of him, he removed his binoculars and waited for them to come closer.

"What's going on?" asked George.

"Wake up your group," said Bill. "We're going back to my cabin."

"Why, what happened?" Vonda asked, holding George's arms tighter.

"I tinkered with two of your tapes. They're back in the cabin."

"It's going to take a while before they all get ready to head somewhere," said George. "If you're staying here, you better get settled in."

"No, it's alright. I'll just be back in the cabin, taking a small nap."

Vonda grumbled as Bill refused to reveal any information from the tapes. He walked back to his cabin, with George and Vonda walking to the motel, knocking on the doors.

Some nearby animals were disturbed by Bill's snoring. The door handle of the front door of the cabin joggled, waking up its resident.

The door opened with David standing outside.

"That was faster than I expected," commented Bill.

"You said you were done with two of the tapes?" asked David.

Bill rubbed his eyes and nodded. He stood by the door as everyone entered.

Bill looked at Lynn as she passed by, both making eye contact for a second. He then shifted his eyes towards Richard who glared at Lynn. Richard then looked at Bill for two seconds with angry eyes.

"I can play these now?" asked Vonda while she held a tape.

"Yeah. Which one is that?" asked Bill.

"Who is General Black. Question mark."

"Go ahead. I'll be in the table. Gonna try to get this piece of junk to stop playing static."

The group gathered around Vonda as she popped in the cassette tape into the player. She pressed the play button and increased the volume.

"Hello. Tim Crowley here. I've got more than ten thousand of you hearing me right now, and this'll probably be the only time you'll be hearing about this. I'm going to talk about General Quentin Black once more. I know I talked about him in previous episodes of Tim Tells The Truth, but now I go into full detail about who he is and what his intentions are. Born on April 21st, 1961, in Detroit, Michigan…"

Bill turned the tuning knob but did not get the results he wanted.

"...he selected people based on their desires or sometimes against their will in order to strengthen his own rogue army. At the moment, he remains the most powerful military officer employed by the K.H.A.N…."

Bill headed in his room. He walked out of his room and out of the cabin with his tool box.

"...why is he doing this you ask? Well it's not money that motivates him. He's got no family to protect. And power is not going to mean anything in a world of the undead. He's got a messiah complex and believes in an ideology that the world should be saved by a new world order. He wants to save the rogues and their families and spare us the 'wrath' of our own actions…"

Bill climbed on top of the cabin and removed one of the three antennas.

"...I think I just signed my own death warrant with this tape. But if it saved the life of one person, then that's all that matters. Thank you for your time."

David crossed his arms.

"Play the other tape."

Vonda removed the tape and inserted the other tinkered tape into the cassette player.

"Hello. Tim here. I'm going to delve into a very, very risky topic. I don't have much time so I'm going to explain it as quickly and as detailed as possible. The K.H.A.N. The Krissen Heikkinen Associated Nation. Though, my buddies and I call it the Krissen Heikkinen Apocalyptic Nation. First things first. The leader's name is Krissen Heikkinen, a Finnish-Russian revolutionary leader– which is quite an understatement. Her right-hand man goes by the name Ivanovich, or The Son as I believe some people call him. She's got some big players as well. People like Benito Quirino…"

Lily cooed as Bobby held her.

"...Salah al-Din Mossad…"

Lynn leaned closer to Lincoln and Clyde.

"...and of course the one and only– General Black."

Luan and Luna looked at Lori and Leni. They both shifted awkwardly.

"They created the necrosis influenza or the IOTD, Infection of the Dead that is, and they'll use it pretty soon. I won't be surprised if they use it in this decade. Let's see… today is December 3, 2012…"

Bill walked back into the cabin and headed to his table.

"...some ideology that overpopulation will consume the Earth. I'll actually talk about that later in another episode. However, the most important thing is that you have to watch out for certain places like Cuba…"

The radio turned on, but static noise still played. Bill grumbled as he turned the tuning knob.

"...just remember that name. K.H.A.N. Remember that name."

The cassette tape finished playing. Everyone in the room were unable to say a word. Some group members felt uncomfortable while others were puzzled.

The static noise in the radio crackled and an indistinguishable voice spoke. Bill's eyes opened as he gasped. The group turned around and looked at Bill, who sat in the table with his notebook out.

"The radio's workin'?" asked Wavehead.

Bill responded affirmatively. He raised the volume in the radio and watched as the group gathered around the corner of the room. The voice in the radio spoke again, with static interrupting every few seconds.

"...TS-88 is deceased. I repeat… is deceased. No reanimation. Results… inconclusive. Take it to the Wasteland."

Lynn scratched her head. Lisa rubbed her chin. Bill turned the tuning knob slightly. Another voice in the radio spoke.

"Bring TS-89 to Unit B. Insert it in the chambers."

Another voice spoke. The group leaned closer to the radio.

"Hey! Please! Don't take me back there again! Hey! I beg you! Don't!"

Bill looked at the group. Almost everyone in the group couldn't identify the voice.

Rusty's jaw opened.

"That– was that my dad?"

"Yeah, that kinda does sound like him," said Zach.

Leni trembled as she held Lori's right hand. Lincoln and Ronnie Anne stood close to each other, finding comfort in each other's arms. Jeffrey closed his eyes and prayed silently.

There were multiple voices in the radio. They all cried for help or screamed in agony.

"Bill!" exclaimed Lori. "What are they doing to Rusty's dad and the others?"

"Like I told you. Experiments."

"But what! What experiments?" cried Luna.

Bill didn't respond. He stared at his radio, then stood up and turned around. Trembling, he walked to the front door of the cabin. With the help of her crutches, Luna limped towards him.

"Bill?"

"Don't ask questions you don't want the answer to."

Bill walked out of the cabin. David looked around.

"Excuse me. Excuse me guys," said David.

"Stay," said Richard. "I'll talk to him. You stay here and listen to the radio."

Richard dashed out of the cabin. David stayed next to George, listening to the radio. Lynn, Lincoln, and Carol looked at Richard as he jogged towards Bill. They both disappeared into the woods.

"Hey! Bill!" shouted Richard.

"What is it, umm, Richard?"

"You know what's going on with the people in Houlton, right?"

Bill continued to walk deeper into the woods. Richard followed him to a small pond.

"Bill! Bill!"

Richard tugged Bill's shoulders and faced him.

"Bill, I asked you a question. In fact, Luna also asked you a fucking question!"

"Do you have any loved ones in Houlton?" asked Bill.

Richard clenched his teeth and felt his heart sink.

"No. That doesn't matter asshole. Answer the damn question!"

"Fine! Fine…"

Bill paced back and forth near the pond. Then, he came to a stop.

"The rogue soldiers… and some scientists… they're doing all sorts of tests from medical to weaponry. Just by listening to the radio, I can tell they're doing horrible, horrible things to their captives. Injecting them with diseases, conducting surgery without anesthesia, forcing then to get bit by roamers, that's just some of the things I can remember."

"Why didn't you tell us sooner?" asked Richard. "They need to hear about this."

"No! They can't! There are children in there. You can't tell them these kinds of things!"

"You can and you will!"

Bill cleared his throat as he looked at Richard's revolver.

"How many roamers have you killed?" asked Bill.

"Why are you asking me?" questioned Richard.

"Matter of trust. How many roamers have you killed?"

"I don't know. Fifty? A hundred?"

"How many people have you killed? And I don't mean the ones from your time in service."

"You're asking me the same questions that you asked David."

"Yes. Answer it," said Bill.

"Not a lot."

"Give me an estima–"

"15 people."

Bill swallowed hard before asking his next question.

"Why?"

"Same reason as David's. To protect my group. Except one of 'em. He was being devoured by roamers. Make that two of 'em."

Bill walked back to the cabin with Richard behind him. He tugged his vest and wiped the sweat off his face.

"Can you hear anything?" asked Lynn.

"No one is saying anything," said Lori. "Why don't we switch the channels?"

David sat on the chair and turned the tuning knob clockwise. The audio in the radio crackled and then another voice was heard.

"...move towards Town Road. You'll find two infected ones before you get to Main Street. Private Lukeman. You copy?"

"I copy, sir!"

"Good. I want you to patrol Church Street and School Street. Keep your eyes in the corner for any infected ones."

"Roger that."

Then another voice came out from the radio.

"I'll take it from here, Lieutenant Lead."

Lynn covered her mouth as Lori's eyes widened. David took off his shades and looked back at the group.

"That's–"

"Black," said Lori.

Some of the group members were confused. They never met a rogue soldier before, and therefore they never heard Black's voice. Vonda was an exception. Although, she never encountered a rogue soldier, she did hear Black's voice many times.

"Alright, General. Is there anything you want me to do, sir?"

"Yes, Lieutenant. I want you to patrol the gates near I-95."

"Roger that."

The radio went silent. Bill came back into the cabin with Richard. David stood up from the chair and the group allowed Bill to pass through them so he could sit in his chair. Lori pointed at the radio.

"We heard Black!" exclaimed Lori.

Bill paused before sitting in his chair. Richard walked close to Lori.

"You did?" responded Bill. "What did he say?"

"Nothing too important," replied Lori. "He ordered his lieutenant to secure the gates near I-95."

"Oh yes. I forgot to tell you about that. From what I heard in the radio, that is always secured by a group of rogue soldiers. That's gonna be a tough gate to get past by."

The radio remained silent. Bill grabbed a box of cereal and sat down in his chair.

"You all need to leave tomorrow," said Bill. "I can't have you guys stay here much longer."

"Why not?" asked Richard. "This place is secure. No roamers. No enemies."

"Yet," said Bill. "Food is going to go by fast with you guys here. Talkin' about you, Vonda. You hunt pretty well."

Vonda smiled and shrugged her shoulders. Bill continued talking.

"Thing is, I like being alone. I don't like the feeling of having to look over my shoulders for the rest of my life."

"Well, that's fine. You know about our mission," said David.

"That's good. Now, unless you have an antenna, try not to return after tomorrow. Vonda, I'll work on these last two tapes. They should be done by tonight. You all can leave now."

Preston and Jeffrey were the first ones to leave the cabin. Many of the small kids left first. The cabin got cooler with every person that left.

"Hey, David. Stay for a moment," said Bill.

"What is it?"

Lori and George stayed by the door of the cabin. David waved his hands at them, ordering them to leave. Bill closed the door and let out a pained sigh.

"Did you know why I asked you those three questions?" asked Bill.

"I guess it was to see if you can trust me. But I mean, there are better ways to find out if–"

"It's the easiest way to find out if you can let them inside your home. Or your group in your case."

"I see," said David.

"First question, how many roamers have you killed? You want to see how useful someone is. If they haven't killed a single roamer, then what use are they?"

David nodded.

"Second question, how many people have you killed? Now, I understand that your group is an exception since you had to face off against rogue soldiers and the Piranhas. You're bound to rack up kills, but not everyone else faces off against big groups. Not this early. A couple kills is fine but that's why you gotta ask–"

"Why."

"Yes. Killing someone out of mercy or to protect your family is something that you need to do to survive this world with your loved ones. If the kills can't be justified, then the person can't be trusted."

David nodded again.

"Now, their responses don't mean a damn thing if they're not honest. But that's why you gotta see how someone responds to the questions. If they lie, you can't trust them. And I bet you can tell when someone lies."

"That's pretty clever and very helpful. How'd you come up with these questions?" asked David.

"Oh, I didn't come up with them. Tim Crowley did. Thank him most of all. Good luck. See you tonight."

David put his shades back on and gave Bill a handshake. He left the cabin, leaving Bill alone for the next couple hours.