VI - Angels of Fate

The sunrise lit the town up. Richard and Carol looked at the passing armored vehicles. Richard then grabbed a man whose mouth and hands were taped. Richard looked at Carol and she nodded hesitantly.

Richard lifted the man, who struggled to break free from his capture. The man tried to look back at his home, Houlton, but he could only see trees. Richard shushed him while he tied a noose around his neck. He removed the tape off his mouth and let him hang from the tree.

The man flailed his leg, and tried to remove the tape from his hands. His legs slowed and slowed until it completely stopped moving.

Richard and Carol left the woods and headed back to Medway, leaving the man to turn into a roamer.

Luan woke up and found herself, Leni, Lori, Lola, Lucy, and Hana surrounded by their clothes and weapons. Lori's hatchet, Hana's sword, Lucy's shovel, Lola's buck knife, Leni's jacket and beanie, and a bunch of other items. She found a walkie-talkie by Lori's face. She then found a dog cage with a Japanese chin dog inside.

Luan knelt by Lori and shook while she watched the bandage around her shoulder turn redder.

She grabbed the walkie-talkie and hesitated to speak into it. After looking around the woods, she noticed that this was the same area where she was kidnapped. She turned on the walkie-talkie.

"Can anyone hear me?"

George held the gate open as Bobby carried Lori inside Houlton. He rushed her to the infirmary, his girlfriend still unconscious.

Luan ran up to Benny and hugged him. She sobbed into his chest, unable to stop her tears from flowing onto his shirt. Lynn walked behind her and rubbed her back.

Leni knelt down and cried while Lincoln, Lana, and Lisa tried to comfort her.

Jason carried Lola as she cried in his chest while Lucy walked beside him, keeping her head down. Jason placed Lola on the ground, Lola saw Lana and ran over to her and hugged her tightly while crying into her shoulder. Lucy walked towards Lynn and placed her head on her sister's chest as her body trampled with anger and sadness, Lynn rubbed Lucy head started to calm her down.

Luna, holding Lily, looked around and found a stranger rubbing a dog's back as she looked around the town. Luna couldn't find her parents.

"Dudes," said Luna. "Where's Mom and Dad?"

Luan, Lola, and Leni couldn't stop crying. Lily's mouth quivered as a tear from Luna fell to her face. She held back her tears and walked to the infirmary.

-Ten Days Later-

George quickly dashed through the woods. He headed back to a car when more gunshots went off. George turned around and shot back. Richard then shot him in the back, though George was protected by his vest.

George fell down. Richard caught up to him. He aimed his gun at his head before Carol stopped him.

"Keep him alive," whispered Carol.

Richard stomped his foot on George's chest. He took a heavy beating before he ran back to the car. George coughed out blood and drove out of Medway with his car.

Lori held Bobby's hands as she got out of her bed in the infirmary. Lisa handed her an apple, to which she reluctantly ate.

"How is it?" asked Bobby.

Lori didn't reply.

"Let's give her some space," said Clyde. "She's been through a lot."

Lori's siblings, Bobby, Ronnie Anne, Darcy, and Clyde left the infirmary. For a couple hours, Lori remained in her bed with the apple, wiping her tears away. Suddenly, the candles in the infirmary flickered on and off.

Lola and Lucy walked into the infirmary wanting to talk to Lori but they saw something that shocked them both.

"Lori, you have to see this," whispered Lola.

"Open your eyes, I think if you look it could help you," said Lucy.

Lori kept her eyes closed.

"Can you not?" said Lori as she opened her eyes. "I really didn't want you guys to rub–"

Lynn Sr. and Rita stood next to each other. Lori gasped while looking at them. As Lucy and Lola just watched in silence.

"How are you feeling?" asked Lynn Sr.

"Not too well," replied Lori.

"Aw, honey, what's wrong?" asked Rita.

"I miss you guys. So, so much. This whole journey. I went through it so we could be together. But I failed. I failed!"

"You didn't fail, honey," said Rita. "You'll know what I mean later."

Lori held out her hands. However, that didn't stop her parents from disappearing. She lowered her hands and frowned. Lucy and Lola walked over to her and hugged her as she hugged them back.

Lori walked out of her room and exited the infirmary along with her sisters. The RV was driven out of Houlton. George and Dr. White bumped into her.

"Hey, what's going on?" asked Lori.

"Richard just beat the shit outta me," said George. "And it's like what Sergei said. Carol is with him in Medway."

"Please go back inside," said Dr. White.

Lori ran off. Dr. White almost chased her, but George stopped him.

"Nah, let her go," said George. "She's gotta deal with Carol."

"That's what I'm worried about," said Dr. White. "She's not in her right mind."

The RV left. Lori entered Vanzilla and drove it out of the driveway. She went through the open gates as Sergei allowed her to go through, following George's request before Becky ran after her.

"Hey, stop!" shouted Becky. "Are you outta your mind? You can drive like this!"

"I'm fine," said Lori. "Just go!"

"No, I'm coming with you. Let me drive."

Becky climbed into the driver's seat of Vanzilla. Becky and Lori were many miles behind the RV. Vanzilla was just not fast enough to catch up to the RV.

Jason was in his house sitting on the couch while brushing Meli's hair. He's been trying to regain his memory on Richard's next move to know who's his next target was going to be. Dana walked into the living and saw the look on his face.

"You okay Jason," asked Dana.

"Yeah, just thinking," replied Jason.

"About what?"

"About Richard. I tried to help get past his grief, tried getting David to help him but he was only focused on the mission, he didn't even try to be there for him. Even after we saved the people in Houlton he still didn't try to talk to him about what happened to his wife–"

The moment Jason said that word, he dropped the brush in his hand. He placed Meli on the couch and got up.

"Shit! I got to go. I have to stop him"

"Go where? Stop who?"

"Richard."

Nighttime arrived, and the RV was parked outside of Medway Motel. David and Sandy searched each of the rooms, hoping that they would find Richard and Carol inside.

David opened the door for one of the rooms in the upper section of the motel. Sandy pointed a flashlight inside the room and searched inside it while holding her pistol. David went in after her.

The room had a mattress with unkempt blankets and cans in the floors, but no sign that it belonged to Richard or Carol.

Meanwhile, Richard aimed through the iron sights of his Ruger 10/20. Carol held her knife tightly and watched nervously.

"C'mon, Richard! You don't have to do this! Please!" exclaimed Carol.

"Shut up! I do have to do this!" yelled Richard. "This is exactly what my life led up to! Now take this and go!"

Carol grabbed Richard's Python. She clutched her purple tank top and left. She ran away from Richard and into the main road.

Richard wiped the sweat away from his face and grinned. He waited until David and Sandy popped out of the room.

"This room's clear!" said David.

David and Sandy headed out the room.

"My moonbeam's running outta power," said David. "I would really like to do this on the double."

"Oh, come on," said Sandy. "You're never gonna let that military talk go, right?"

"Not as long as you're here."

"Heh. Must feel good knowing someone understands–"

Richard pulled the trigger. The rifle shot crackled through the air. The bullet tore through Sandy's head and splattered her brains on the window of the motel room.

David flinched before Sandy's body fell down. Her body dragged along the motel wall until her body was completely stiff in the ground.

David looked to his right and found a man in the road with a rifle across his chest. It was Richard.

"No!" yelled David. "You monster!"

Carol kept her head forward. She whispered to herself, trying to calm herself down. But she couldn't. Carol felt guilty. She then ran ahead without stopping and without looking back.

David jumped down the stairs, unable to hold back his tears of grief and anger.

He ran out of the parking lot and into the main road. Richard stood still until David took out his pistol, to which he wanted to avoid. He fled to the woods in the direction towards Bill's cabin.

David ran into the woods and followed Richard. They sped past the cabin.

David then ran into the hanging roamer in the woods. He aimed his pistol at it and quickly shot it down. His pistol ran out of ammo.

David tossed his gun and continued to chase after Richard.

Richard arrived at the pond and found the moon high in the air. But something didn't feel right. It was too quiet. Richard didn't see any signs of life around, not even an owl.

David tackled Richard and intended to finish the fight he started almost a year ago.

Lori's red eyes sought Carol. Becky drove Vanzilla towards Medway when she finally found the girl Lori was looking for. Her headlights beamed on a frightened Carol, stopping her in her run.

"Becky! Lori!" exclaimed Carol. "Thank god! Can you please help me?"

Lori and Becky got out of Vanzilla. Becky laid her hands out, stopping Carol where she was.

"Drop it!" yelled Becky.

Carol looked at the revolver in her hands. She let the gun slide down her hands and fall to the pavement.

"Listen!" cried out Carol.

Lori walked up to Carol and punched her in the face. She fell to the ground while Lori continued hitting her. Lori stomped and kicked and pulled her hair.

Carol shrieked while Becky stood where she was, surprised at Lori's rage. Carol tried to shove Lori, but she refused to budge. She continued beating Carol, until Becky told her to stop.

Lori grabbed Carol's tank top and exhaled a breath of anger onto her.

"You… were in bed with him!" growled Lori. "I knew it! I should've never trusted you! I can't believe you fooled me all this time!"

"Lori… please…" gasped Carol.

Lori shoved Carol down. She wiped the blood from her knuckles on Carol's tank top before crawling to the gun in the road.

Lori grabbed the Python, stood up, and went behind Carol.

"Nothing hurts worse than betrayal," said Lori. "Life will be better without your bullshit!"

Becky walked up to Lori.

"Lori, this isn't you," she whispered.

"Leave me alone!" yelled Lori. "We can't let her live!"

Carol lifted herself up, wiped the blood off her face, and sat on her knees. Lori lifted the revolver and lined it up with her nose. Carol began crying as she felt the barrel of the gun touch the back of her head.

"Lori, I'm so sorry! I know how much of a monster Richard is! I see it now! It's a little late but–"

"A little late?" growled Lori as she cocked the revolver.

"He's a very manipulative person!" cried Carol. "I fell in love with him because I was lonely! I was too blind to see what he was really up to! But by the time I did, he had already killed innocent people! I wanted to leave, but it was really hard to!"

"Why now?" yelled Lori. "What was it that it drilled into your fucking head that he was evil?"

"I always knew… Lori. But he won me over when I was emotionally destroyed! When my parents died, I felt angry at the world! I didn't care what he did! But I started thinking… and I knew this is not what my parents would've wanted!"

Lori began tearing up. Becky shivered softly.

"I don't think you would understand, Lori. But please try to. I lost the only people I truly loved my whole life… and they were a part of me. Losing them meant I lost a part of myself. They were my support, my guide, and I lost them! Lori, please try to understand!"

Lori fell to her knees and dropped the revolver. She trembled and moved her hands over her teary eyes.

"I'm sorry…" whispered Lori. "I do understand."

Meanwhile, in the pond in the woods, David and Richard continued fighting.

Richard tried hitting David with his rifle, but he kept missing him. David backed up and waited for him to strike him as hard as he could. He eventually did make a hard swing, but David shoved the rifle away and gut-punched him.

David grabbed the rifle and tossed it away. Richard then tackled him against a tree.

Richard tried to choke David, but was kicked away. He backed up and took out his knife.

"You feel it now, right?" yelled Richard. "The pain, the sorrow, THE RAGE! It's building up every second! All you're thinking about is ending me! Think how I felt about Missy when she was shot by Sherry!"

David coughed blood.

"I never got to kill the woman who murdered my wife!" continued Richard. "Now, you'll never get to kill the man who murdered YOUR wife!"

"Why'd you have to kill her!" hissed David. "So you can prove your motherfuckin' point? You're a psycho!"

"You turned me into one!" yelled Richard. "It's all your fault! You're a terrible person! I was your best friend, and you flat-out fucking ignored me! Maybe now you'll listen!"

Richard grabbed the tip of his knife.

"You should've listened to me! The whole point of the mission was to turn the group into soldiers to fight the rogues! But no! You got comfortable with them! You began… trusting them. And as a result, we lost people we shouldn't have. All because you wanted to put your nose in businesses that didn't belong to you!"

"So what now?" huffed David. "After you kill me, what then? You made it clear that you're lost!"

"I don't want to live in this world anymore, David. And it's all your fault."

Jason tackled Richard and pulled out a small pocketknife and stabbed Richard in his hip. Richard screamed and back fist Jason's face, he pulled knife out of his hip and glared at Jason.

"Richard, you fucking psycho!" yelled Jason. "What would Missy think if she could see what you become, she would have never wanted this. For her husband to kill innocent people!"

"How many times do I have to tell you to stop talking about my wife?" yelled Richard. "You have no right to talk about her."

"I think I have every right too," hissed Jason. "She was like a second mother to me, hell she was family same as everyone else in the group same as you until you started killing innocent people."

"Yeah, and I had a right to know my wife was going to die. But kept you're fucking mouth shut and didn't say anything, I don't care if neither you nor Missy didn't want me to know I had a right too."

"Yeah your right, you had a right to know. But right now I'm giving you a chance, walk away continue living and never come back to the community."

Richard lunged at Jason and swung his knife cutting Jason's right side, he swung again a faw more times but Jason dodged and delivered a right hook to Richard's face and kicked him in the chest.

Richard stumbled back a little and went to stab Jason. As he did Jason grabbed his arm with his left hand and pushed it upward, he turned around grabbed Richard's arm with his right hand and pulled his arm down and stabbed Richard upward into his stomach while they both stumbled back into the pond. Blood flew out of Richard's mouth and into his beard as he lowered his eyes.

"David!"

Richard pulled the knife out of his stomach as David ran over to them and grabbed his neck. David pushed Richard's head into the pond water as he kept his grip on the knife. He gasped for air and slowly lifted the knife while David and Jason held his head in the water.

David looked at his arms and kept his own hands wrapped around Richard's neck. As Richard continued flailing his head, David and Jason noticed that he lowered his arms and released the knife. Jason grabbed the knife and stabbed him in his stomach again and twisted the blade.

Richard raised his head and struggled to make one last gasp before bubbles burst out his mouth. He then stopped flailing and began twitching, until he remained stiff. The bubbles popped and Richard's lifeless eyes remained open, staring at the night sky.

David released his grip on Richard's neck. Richard's arms extended outwards and his body lied on the ground while his head remained in the water.

David gasped and closed his wet hands. He sat with his closed fists on his mouth. His eyes stared at the moon. He heard an owl hoot while his vision became blurry.

David was crying.

He stood up and walked over to Jason, who had picked up the rifle.

Jason turned around and smack David across the face with the rifle, he fell to the ground as Jason put his foot on his chest and aimed the rifle at his head.

"You fucking asshole, why didn't you listen to me when I told you to talk to Richard when he needed you," screamed Jason. "He was your friend and you didn't even try to help him or talk to him about his pain, even after we got to Houlton."

"Jason, I'm sorry, I really am. I should have listened to you," said David in a cracked voice.

"Yeah, you should've but you didn't. I'm not going to lie I should have told you what he would become, but you would have never believed me if I did. Zach was supposed to die that night with Bill not those rogues I already told you that, but you wanted to believe your friend wasn't a murderer and look what happened. Your wife's dead because you let your friendship blind you."

Jason vision became blurry as he took his foot off David and toss the rifle to the ground and sat near the pond quietly crying. David stared at Jason feeling sad and angry at himself and wanted to saw something to him but went against it.

He stood up and picked up the rifle before walking away.

Becky parked Vanzilla outside of the cabin. She and Lori followed Carol to the pond in the woods. They hanging roamer was killed. Footprints were all over the place. Lori's flashlight then revealed David's M9 in the ground.

They arrived at the pond. Lori and Becky clenched their teeth as they saw the body outside of the pond along with some setting near the pond. As they walked closer, they realized that the body belonged to Richard. And person setting near the pond was Jason.

Jason saw the girls and walked over to them, Lori and Jason looked at each other see they both have red eye and then gave each other a hug.

Carol teared up as she saw what used to be Richard looking around in the pond.

"Are you going to cry?" asked Becky. "I thought you didn't like him anymore."

"It's not that. It's… I'm pregnant. With his child…."

Becky gasped. She walked close to Carol and hugged her.

Lori looked at Richard and knew what she had to do. She cocked the Python and aimed it at the pond. Roamer Richard looked at Lori and was unable to growl at her. It raised its arms at her, then his head. He then raised his head above the water.

Lori aimed at the head and pulled the trigger. The roamer fell in one quick shot, with its blood contaminating the once beautiful pond.

Carol sobbed into Becky's chest.

"It's alright," reassured Becky. "It's alright…"

Lori looked out into the pond. Her mother and father stood above the water. They smiled and waved goodbye.

Lori looked at the Colt Python she held. She then looked back at Jason, Becky, and Carol. A voice repeated inside her head.

"Be the leader," said her late mother.