(Anne Marshall belongs to AquaDestinysEmbrace!)
(Thanks to AquaDestinysEmbrace for helping with this chapter!)
(I DO NOT own The Walking Dead, Code Lyoko or any kind of names or brands that appear in this story. I do own all OCs unless specifically named as they appear above this message.)
Two days after the incident with the well, Hershel's farm had mostly returned to normal. The toxic well was sealed up pretty tight now and Hershel made a different well on the property available for Rick's group to use. So luckily the water problem just seemed to "evaporate" away, ironically enough.
Inside Hershel's home, Aelita's wounds were healing very well and she was now actively learning how to move around on one of the two old wheelchairs which Hershel had rediscovered in his attic. Originally the chairs used to be Maggie's after she broke her ankle during some middle school track practice about ten or eleven years ago or so, but they still worked pretty good despite its age and Anne had gotten the other one. Although she hit a corner of a wall or the leg of a chair every so often, Aelita was doing pretty good with the wheelchair and she was starting to get used to how to move around with it. It was certainly a thousand times better to move around in than that makeshift stretcher...
As he leaned against a wall, Jeremie was watching Aelita as she practiced moving around in the wheelchair. He was so proud of her for her strength during her recovery...
"Alright... maybe I could try it like... this?" Aelita quietly questioned herself as she attempted to carefully maneuver past an old grandfather clock in the living room.
Aelita's wheelchair almost immediately hit the side of the grandfather clock, causing it to slowly start tilting over. Despite her soreness and the need for her wounds to heal, Aelita was so panicked at the sight of the clock tipping that she had instinctively almost rushed to get out of the chair to stop it. Luckily, Jeremie had rushed over to the clock first and he actually managed to get his hands on it and save it from falling over, much to Aelita's surprise.
Through greeted teeth, Jeremie strained and he slowly but surely managed to lift the clock back upright with all of his strength. The damned thing must've weighed at least 200 or 250 pounds, but by God the usually-feeble boy somehow managed to lift it. After the clock was put back the way it was, an exhausted Jeremie leaned against it and wiped a bead of sweat off of his brow. "God, I really need to start working out..." he muttered to himself.
The pinkette couldn't help but giggle a bit at the sight of her tired boyfriend. "You're perfect in my eyes, Einstein. Thanks for doing that..." she said with a loving smile.
Jeremie smiled back at his princess and he went to lean against the wall again as Aelita resumed moving around in her wheelchair. She gradually was getting better and better at it and she bumped into less and less things. Her arms were getting a little tired but Aelita pressed on, and she did several back-and-forth trips from the living room to the kitchen to better her experience in moving with the chair. Eventually she parked it back in the living room and felt a bit breathless, but nevertheless she felt pretty proud of herself.
Hershel walked into the room with a stethoscope as a tired Aelita wiped off some sweat from her forehead. Both she and Jeremie noticed the elderly farmer as he walked in and they smiled at him, with Jeremie going to stand near Aelita so he could give Hershel his full attention just like Aelita.
"How's the patient doing today?" Hershel chuckled as he pulled up a chair.
"I'm doing really good... a bit tired, but I'm getting the hang of this chair." Aelita shrugged, locking the wheelchair's wheels so it wouldn't accidentally roll forward or back.
Hershel nodded and he put on his stethoscope, glancing over at Aelita. The pinkette herself correctly guessed that Hershel was there to check and see how her pulse and her breathing was doing, so she took a hold of Jeremie's hand as Hershel pressed the disc of the stethoscope to her chest. Luckily Hershel heard a strong pulse from her heart, much to his relief.
"Okay, Aelita, I need you to slowly take a deep breath for me and hold it until I say so." Hershel instructed the recovering teen.
Aelita slowly took in as deep of a breath as she could and she held it in her lungs for a moment like instructed. Again, it sounded like there wasn't any problem with her inhaling. Hershel was pleased with this as it was another sign that her recovery was continuing on with no problems.
"Alright, now slowly release it..." Hershel again instructed as he listened closely.
The pinkette slowly exhaled her breath and Hershel again listened closely. Like her inhale, there wasn't any noises which hinted at a problem. Aelita was getting better and it seemed like she was going to get back on her feet in no time. Until then, however, she'd have to simply make do with this wheelchair. Hershel took off his stethoscope and he set it around his neck once more, smiling at the couple.
"Her heart and lungs sound pretty strong again..." Hershel informed the couple. "I'd say we give it another week or two with the chair, let her stitches heal up, and then we'll try to get her back up on her feet again. As far as I can tell I think she's gonna be completely fine..."
Aelita couldn't help herself. To Hershel and Jeremie's surprise she managed to find the strength to lean forward and wrap her arms around her surgeon, pulling him in for a hug which he totally deserved. Hershel smiled at the teen's gesture and he hugged her back.
"Thank you, Hershel. For everything you and Carlos did. I owe you both so much for saving my life..." Aelita thanked him.
"You don't owe me anything, Aelita. Just pay it forward for someone who needs it one day, okay?" Hershel requested the teen.
The teenage super-genius nodded at Hershel's request as they kept hugging. The best way to repay him, Carlos, Otis and Shane for all they did was to repay the kindness to someone who really needed it in the future. Lord knows that there was more than enough people out there who needed all the help they could get...
Hershel and Aelita separated and then he stood up and went to the front door, leaving the farmhouse since he had some chores outside to do that day. As he shut the door behind him the pinkette looked back at her boyfriend who by then had sat down in a chair next to her. With a grin she leaned over and she gave him a quick kiss on the lips before she smiled at him.
"You hungry? I'd kill for something to eat..." Aelita stated as her stomach growled.
"Well, in that case, I think I can make you something. How's some macaroni and cheese sound to you?" Jeremie offered her.
Aelita's stomach growled even louder at the thought of eating macaroni and cheese for the first time in God only knew how long, so Jeremie took that as a 'yes' and he started wheeling the happy pink-haired teen out of the living room and towards Hershel's kitchen...
Later that day, Yumi, Ulrich and Nick were all doing their shifts of patrolling around the perimeter of Hershel's farm. They were about two or three miles from the farmhouse by that point and they were entering some of the lands which Hershel used for grazing cattle. Luckily they didn't see any walkers, and even more luckily they didn't see any sign of Carver or any of his men.
Still, they could never be too careful. All three of them kept an eye on their surroundings and they all kept a bullet in the chambers of their rifles just in case. Thankfully they only had another two or three miles to go before it was time to turn around, and once they get back to camp they can let Robert, Jennifer and Carol go on their shift.
Unfortunately, that's when the three saw the first walker on their patrol. The undead creature snarled at the three as it came out of a nearby treeline, desperately hungry for some fresh meat. With a frown, Yumi simply unsheathed her knife and went over to the walking corpse, and after a nice kick to its knee she managed to get a clean stab right at its head. That was that. Yumi pulled the blade out of the creature's skull and kicked the corpse back so it'd land on the ground. After that, she used her foot to edge it off of the trail and back over to the treeline where it came from.
Yumi sighed with annoyance as she walked back onto the trail and used a rag to clean the blood from her knife. "Dammit, I was really hoping that we wouldn't see any walkers today..."
"Look on the bright side: it was only one walker, Yumi..." Nick stated with a relaxed shrug.
The Japanese girl couldn't disagree with that. With a nod she had already sheathed her knife and the three continued to walk for their patrol, hoping that the walker which was just killed didn't have any friends in the area. The three resumed their walk down the dirt path on Hershel's property, and like before they kept a very close eye out for anything which could be a walker or a human.
The three continued their patrol for the next hour or so and eventually they made it to the halfway mark: a clean well which the Greene Family had for some cattle whenever they took them out for grazing. Ulrich wasn't thirsty but Yumi and Nick both set their rifles against the well and they went to its water pump to fill up the plastic bottles of water they were carrying around as makeshift canteens.
Nick pumped the lever of the water pump so that Yumi could fill up her bottle. Ulrich watched the bottle filling up with crystal clear clean water, but he couldn't help but cringe a bit at the thought of what happened back at the other well a couple of days ago.
"So did Charles tell you about what happened with one of the wells?" Ulrich asked the pair.
"God, don't remind me..." Yumi shuddered as she remembered the descriptions that her friend had given her.
"Yeah, didn't Kyra hurt her hands pretty bad? And a walker split in half and fucked up the water, right?" Nick asked the German teen before he dunk his head down and drank directly from the pump's water stream.
Ulrich grimaced a bit at the memory of what they had been told and seeing Kyra's bandaged hands. "Yeah... well, needless to say, the farm's down one well of drinking water... Lee said he was gonna put a warning sign over by it once it was sealed up. Guess he did by now."
"At least there's a few more wells around the farm..." Yumi stated as she put the cap back on her refilled bottle. "With the huge number of people in the camp now, water's a huge priority. It'd be a bad situation if they didn't have those other wells around Hershel's farm..."
"Yeah, no shit..." Nick agreed as he picked up his rifle again.
Yumi nodded and she went to pick up her rifle too. Ulrich and Nick resumed their walk on the trail and Yumi began to do so as well, but she noticed something out of the corner of her eye. Stopping in her tracks for a moment, Yumi turned to see that that the sun was hitting a bush in the treeline: causing something maroon-colored on it to glisten and be easily seen. Yumi blinked at the sight, and just for the sake of curiosity she went to go see what the thing in the bush was. Both Ulrich and Nick stopped once they noticed that she wasn't following them anymore.
"Yumes? What's up?" Ulrich asked as he saw his girlfriend carefully approach the treeline.
To Ulrich's growing worry she didn't respond to him. Nick and Ulrich carefully started to make their way back over to Yumi as she approached the bush. The teen picked up the thing that was glistening in the sunlight, and it turned out that it was the maroon and green beads that helped make up someone's necklace. The Japanese teen's eyes slowly began to widen with shock, as she gradually started to realize that she had seen this necklace many times before over the years. Not only that, she knew exactly who it had belonged to.
"............Tamiya's necklace..........?"
Nick had absolutely no idea as to whom Yumi was speaking about, but Ulrich was so shocked that his gun almost fell out of his hands. A million questions and thoughts raced though his mind. Tamiya? Tamiya Diop from Kadic Academy? The journalist? Milly's best friend? He couldn't believe that Yumi had just found the necklace of one of their missing classmates! Could that mean that she was around her somewhere?!
"Tamiya's necklace?! What the-?! What's that doing out here?!" Ulrich asked with astonishment.
"Who the hell's Tamiya?" Nick blinked.
"One of our classmates from Kadic Academy! One of the other students who our friends got separated from when Atlanta was being bombed by the military!" Yumi answered, staring down at the necklace as if she couldn't believe it was in her hands. "This is definitely her necklace, Ulrich! I'd recognize this thing anywhere!" she exclaimed.
Yumi's heart was beating wildly with both excitement and concern. Tamiya's necklace was here on Hershel's property, so that meant Tamiya herself had to be somewhere close by! And if Tamiya was close by, then chances were that the other Kadic students and teachers had to be close as well! And if they were close, then... then maybe her brother Hiroki was still with them!
She had to find them...
Shakily putting the necklace in her pocket for now, Yumi looked around the treeline for any other sign of Tamiya or any of the other people from Kadic. She even threw down her rifle and started to look through the bushes and the grasses and the trees, desperate for anything which could indicate her little brother was still alive. Unfortunately, Yumi found nothing. Yumi picked up her rifle again and she only had one option left.
"TAMIYA?!" Yumi yelled out to the trees at the top of her lungs. "MILLY?! HIROKI?! PRINCIPAL DELMAS?! IS THERE ANYONE ALIVE OUT T-"
Yumi couldn't finish that sentence since Ulrich had rushed over and firmly covered her mouth with his hand. Didn't she know that there could be walkers out there in those trees?! Yumi struggled against Ulrich's hand but Ulrich struggled back, and soon it became a fight between the two over whether Yumi could scream or not. Finally, Yumi had become so enraged that she bit down on Ulrich's hand as hard as she could, causing him to hiss and yank it away. But suddenly some noises came from the treeline before the couple could start screaming at each other.
Sighing with a huge amount of annoyance at the possible walker coming in, Nick kept his cool as best as he could and he aimed his rifle towards the treeline. Whatever it was that was approaching, it was going to come through those trees any second. Ulrich and Yumi both readied their rifles and they joined Nick in aiming straight at the trees. Odds were that this was just another lone walker which would come though, but they still needed to be safe in case it was Carver or his men...
Eventually, the three could make out a figure approaching. The figure stumbled, but they saw that it wasn't stumbling like a walker normally would. The leaves crackled on the ground before the figure suddenly stopped, as if it noticed the three just beyond the trees. After a few silent moments of panic and fear from the figure, the three finally heard a voice come from the trees.
".........h- hello........?"
There was a person in there?! Yumi, Nick and Ulrich all kept their rifles at the ready in case it was one of Carver's men, but as the figure came through the trees they saw it was an unarmed teenage boy. The teen was wearing ragged, dirty clothes and he was a complete mess, as his blonde hair was very messy and there was bags under his blue eyes as if he has gone at least three or four days without any sleep. He had definitely been through a lot since the outbreak began...
Deciding to take a chance, Yumi lowered her AR-15 and she cautiously walked over and offered the teen a hand to help him the rest of the way through the treeline. Nick and Ulrich kept a good hold on their rifles just so they could ensure Yumi's safety as well as their own, but after seeing the teen's condition a bit more closely they found it acceptable to lower their guard a little. He definitely couldn't put up any sort of fight in the condition he was in.
"It's alright, you're safe now..." Yumi assured as she helped the starving teen through the trees. "My name is Yumi. What's your name...?" she asked him.
The starving boy looked a bit frightened at the sight of people with rifles. It had been a while since he had seen anyone alive, let alone anyone with weapons. He had no idea who these people were...
".........Josh." the boy finally said his name after a few hesitant moments.
"Nice to meet you..." Yumi politely said to him, eyeing how he looked. "You look like you've been through a lot..." she stated.
Josh glanced down at his dirty body and his ragged clothes. He couldn't remember the last time he had eaten a hot meal, slept in a real bed, bathed himself, wore clothes that weren't falling apart... The end of the world was a bad place to be. He was barely surviving out there in the wilds. He hoped these people would be able to help him.
"Its crazy out there..." Josh muttered as a reply.
"No shit..." Nick deadpanned, still keeping a tight hold on his rifle even though he lowered it.
The starving teen's stomach suddenly started to growl really loud, causing Josh to cringe and put both of his hands on his stomach. He was so hungry that it was literally starting to hurt his insides. "Do you guys have any food...?"
"Yeah, we've got food back at our camp... do you want some?" Yumi offered the teen.
Josh quietly nodded at the offer, his stomach almost feeling like it was on fire. Yumi saw how hungry the teen was and she took out a granola bar she had in her pocket and she offered it to him as something to hold him over until they got back to the farm. Josh immediately snatched it, and since he was so hungry he practically inhaled the granola bar down his throat. The three were astonished at how fast he ate it since even Odd didn't eat food that quickly.
Yumi pitied the sight of this ragged and starving teenage boy, so with a sigh she turned and got the attention of both Nick and Ulrich. She knew that Shane would raise hell about this since the camp already had enough people and maybe Rick and Carlos would be pissed too, but she had to get this poor guy something to eat and somewhere to sleep, at least for now. Her better nature told her that she just couldn't leave this poor guy out in the wild.
"How about you two finish up the patrol while I take him back to the farm?" Yumi muttered to the two men.
"Are you sure?" Ulrich asked with a bit of concern, as his girlfriend would be escorting the teen completely alone.
"Ulrich..." Yumi began. "If he tries anything, I'll just knock him on his ass. Trust me..." she quietly assured him.
Ulrich appeared to be very hesitant to let Yumi go off by herself with this teen, but he knew deep down that she could handle herself if this guy tried anything. After all, if Yumi could handle fighting a Megatank or a swarm of Hornets on Lyoko then she'd definitely be able to handle a half-starved teenage boy like it was nothing.
As Nick patiently waited for all of this to be done so he could resume the patrol, Ulrich and Yumi met in a hug to say goodbye to each other for now. Both of them felt pretty bad about what had happened just a few minutes earlier...
"Sorry for biting your hand, Ulrich..." Yumi apologized as she hugged her boyfriend.
"It's alright, Yumes..." Ulrich forgave her, giving her a smile. "We'll find your brother, Yumi. I swear we will..." he promised her.
Yumi lovingly smiled at her boyfriend and she gave him a kiss on the lips before they finally broke their hug. Ulrich readied his rifle again and then he went over to Nick so that they could prepare to resume their patrol without Yumi. The Japanese teen watched her boyfriend and Nick continue their patrol before she turned her attention back to Josh. She readied her AR-15 and then she gestured back at the dirt path which she, Ulrich and Nick had walked on since they left the farm.
"Alright, just follow me and I'll lead you back to my camp." Yumi told the newcomer. "And for your sake I wouldn't try anything... I'm the one with the gun and I swear I know how to use it." she warned him.
Suddenly nervous by what Yumi had told him, Josh silently nodded and Yumi began to lead him back towards Hershel's farm. Yumi wasn't sure how it would work out once she got Josh there and introduced him to Rick, Carlos or Hershel...
An hour later dusk had hit and the sun was beginning to set. At the camp, the Lyoko Warriors were gathered around one of the campfires and they were trying to stay warm as they ate and tried to relax after a really long day of working around the farm, patrolling the borders, or just doing chores around the camp.
Her wounds also healing as well as Aelita's were, Anne got permission from Carlos and Hershel to leave her bed for a bit and she decided to join the group by the fire. Jennifer helped her into that other wheelchair Hershel rediscovered, and after helping her down the steps of the front porch the Texan wheeled Anne over to the camp.
As she sat down next to Chase, Jennifer unscrewed the cap to a bottle of root beer which Verity had given her from one of the containers in the camp. It was very warm thanks to the hot Georgia weather but Jennifer was too thirsty to really give a shit, so she started to gulp it down without a second thought. Anne had her guitar with her and she was strumming a few notes just to practice and regain some of her ability to play after the shooting.
Tossing another log into the fire, Rebecca shivered a little as she sat back down next to Dylan. The hazel and blue eyed boy saw his girlfriend was cold, so without a second thought he took off his jacket and he wrapped it around her shoulders before she could stop him.
"Dyl, c'mon..." Rebecca blushed a bit from shyness as he put the jacket around her.
"I'll live, 'Becca." Dylan assured her with a smile.
Reluctantly, Rebecca decided to hang onto the jacket for a while since it was starting to warm her up a bit nicely. Dylan was fine with this since the cold wasn't bothering him too much, and the warmth of the campfire was enough for him anyway.
Sitting close to the couple was was Odd, who was gorging himself on a plateful of biscuits and gravy which Carol and Maggie made for everyone. Being from Italy and living the majority of his life in France, the foodaholic had for the most part never encountered many of the well-loved meals from the American South. But since he arrived in the U.S. weeks earlier he didn't hesitate to try out anything and everything American which was in his reach, and neither the walkers nor the end of the world was going to get in his way. So far he had lost count of all of the delicious things he got to try during the time they went from New York City to Georgia, and he was utterly convinced that his stomach was very, very happy with everything he ate.
"Guys..." Odd said, his voice muffled by the sheer amount of food in his mouth. "If we ever get back to France one day we're picking up some southern cookbooks before we leave..." he stated to the group.
"Dude, you seriously ought to slow down on those..." Alexandr warned as he saw how much his friend was shoving food in his mouth.
Odd was about to say something in reply to Alex, but alas some of the chewed up biscuits and gravy lodged in his throat and he began to choke. Odd gasped for air and put his hands on his throat, but since he had no idea how to do the Heimlich he desperately tried to get the attention of anyone else around the campfire.
Without any hesitation Miranda sprung into action. As the others watched with shock, Miranda hurried behind Odd and she wrapped her arms around him and she linked her hands as tightly as she could. Then she pulled as hard as her strength allowed her to, sending the mushy food out of Odd's throat and onto the ground in front of him. Miranda was pleased at saving Odd's life and she patted him on the back, although the poor boy felt like his ribs were crushed and he was struggling pretty hard to get air back into his lungs.
"You okay, Odd? Should we get Carlos?" Kyra asked with a bit of concern.
Odd wheezed but he shook his head at the question. Miranda's Heimlich maneuver hurt but he didn't think he needed any medical attention over it. Reluctantly the others decided to abide by what Odd wanted and they went back to whatever it was they were doing before he started to choke. Alexandr went back to sharpening his knife, and Odd ironically enough went straight back to eating, although he made sure to eat it a bit slower. Rebecca snuggled up to Dylan for extra warmth and Charles went back to listening to some music on his MP3 player.
Jennifer, however, glanced over at Anne and saw that she was strumming some notes on her guitar again. The Texan was intrigued as she listened to whatever tune Anne was strumming even though she didn't recognize it by heart. Ages ago her grandfather had shown her how to play the guitar, although Jennifer hadn't had any practice for the last several years. Perhaps she could brush up on it a little...?
"What's up, Jennifer?" Anne asked after she noticed her staring at her guitar.
"Nothin', just... I used to play the guitar, years ago. My grandpa taught me when I was a kid." Jennifer answered with a shrug.
"Really?" Anne asked with some interest.
"Yep." Jennifer said. "Just haven't played it in quite a while... I think I stopped around a year or two before I got sent to Kadic Academy. With all of the classes there and the fight against XANA and his plans I just never really found the time to pick it up again." she explained.
Anne nodded as Jennifer reached into a bag of marshmallows, pulling one out so she could put it on the end of a stick and roast it over the fire. Anne glanced down at her guitar for a moment and looked back at Jennifer as if she was thinking about something. The Texan used what little she had left of a Hershey's bar and a pair of half-staled graham crackers to make a s'more, one of her favorite treats. As she ate, Anne smiled at her guitar as she finally decided to offer her friend an opportunity.
Jennifer finished up her s'more in time to see Anne holding out her guitar to her, causing her to blink with surprise.
"Something wrong, Anne?" Jennifer asked.
"You wanna try it out?" Anne offered her friend.
Jennifer's eyes widened as she looked at Anne's guitar, and then they widened even more when she saw that the others around the fire were looking straight at her. The Lyoko Warriors and especially Chase were all genuinely interested in hearing Jennifer play the guitar, but the teen herself seemed to be very reluctant to do so.
"Nah, I don't think so..." Jennifer passed, glancing back towards the fire.
"C'mon, Jennifer... I'm sure you're great at playing the guitar." Aelita encouraged her a bit.
"Yeah." Chase agreed as he smiled at his girlfriend. "C'mon Jenny, just one song? For me? I don't think I've ever heard you play a guitar before..."
Still appearing reluctant, Jennifer glanced back over towards Anne and her precious guitar. Finally she sighed and scooted her chair over to Anne's wheelchair so the injured teen wouldn't have to move too much while handing the guitar over to her. Jennifer could feel several eyes staring at her and she was a little uncomfortable with it, but as soon as she got through this song the sooner they'd go back to whatever it was they were doing, right?
Experimentally Jennifer strummed a few of the guitar strings to try it out. Although the years had gone by and she didn't remember all of the songs she used to practice with her grandfather, she still knew three or four of them by heart thanks to the sheer number of times she played them with him and by herself. She strummed the guitar another two or three times before she finally decided on a song to play. Taking a deep breath, Jennifer began to play the tune as the others listened.
Aelita immediately recognized the tune of "Oh, Susanna!" and so did Jeremie and Chase and some of the others, although Alexandr was one of those around the campfire who had absolutely no idea what the Texan was playing on Anne's guitar. Jennifer played the tune to the song and she was doing pretty well at it, and she was gradually growing more and more relaxed and less and less hesitant with every minute she played. It wasn't long before Jennifer actually began to sing the song too.
"Oh I come from Alabama
With my banjo on my knee
I'm going to Louisiana
My true love for to see..."
The others were surprised to hear Jennifer start singing but none of them complained. She had a really beautiful singing voice...
"It rained all night the day I left
The weather it was dry
The sun so hot I froze to death
Susanna, don't you cry..."
Chase smiled as he watched his girlfriend play the guitar, loving every second of it. Jennifer's playing was also drawing some attention from some of the other campfires nearby, and soon everyone in the camp was listening too.
"Oh, Susanna!
Oh, don't you cry for me!
For I come from Alabama
With my banjo on my knee!"
A few people from the other campfires got up and went over to the Lyoko Warriors so they could hear Jennifer a bit better. Clementine practically pulled Lee straight out of his chair so they could go and listen to her together.
"I had a dream the other night
When everything was still
I thought I saw Susanna
Coming down the hill..."
With Josh still in tow, Yumi made it back to the farm and she could hear someone singing by the time she made it to Hershel's farmhouse. A bit surprised, Yumi led Josh closer towards the camp so she could see who it was.
"A buckwheat cake was in her mouth
The tear was in her eye
I said, 'I come from Dixieland
Susanna, don't you cry!'"
Gradually most of the people around the fire began to learn the chorus, so they began to sing that with her as well. Yumi and Josh got close enough to the camp to see that it was Jennifer singing. Yumi was surprised by this, and despite how much she wanted to show the others Josh and Tamiya's necklace she decided to wait until the Texan was done singing, as she wanted to let the group enjoy the moment.
"Oh, Susanna!
Oh, don't you cry for me!
For I come from Alabama
With my banjo on my knee!"
Jennifer finally noticed the growing crowd of survivors gathering around the fire. She was far less hesitant and no longer reluctant to play the guitar, so with a new enthusiasm she tapped her foot to the tune and continued to play it for all to hear.
"Oh soon I'll be in New Orleans and then I'll look around
And when I find my Susanna, I'll fall upon the ground
But if I do not find her, then I think I'll surely die
And when I'm dead and buried, Susanna don't you cry!"
Charles wrapped an arm around Kyra and she allowed him to pull her closer to him as the two listened to Jennifer sing. Aelita nuzzled herself against Jeremie and Verity went to sit on Patrick's lap, surprising him with a kiss as several of the others joined Jennifer in singing the chorus again.
"Oh, Susanna!
Oh, don't you cry for me!
For I come from Alabama
With my banjo on my knee!"
Jennifer laughed a bit as she heard the others singing alongside her. The song was about to end, but she was happy she got to share a moment with the others and she was happy she was able to play on Anne's guitar. Yumi finally walked over to the camp and to announce she was back she joined the group in singing the final verse, surprising them all.
"Oh, Susanna!
Oh, don't you cry for me!
For I come from Alabama
With my banjo on my knee..."
Everyone began to applaud Jennifer after she finished the song, and some even cheered for her. Jennifer couldn't help but feel a bit proud of herself as she handed her guitar back over to Anne, and she blushed a deep crimson when Chase rewarded her with a kiss on her cheek. Everyone from the other campfires gradually went back to them as the Lyoko Warriors turned their attention over to Yumi.
"How'd your patrol go? Where's Ulrich and Nick?" Patrick inquired to his friend.
"They're still out there, but I came back early." Yumi explained as she reached into her pocket. "Guys, I've got something I have to show you, and you might freak out a lot when you see it..." she warned them all.
The Lyoko Warriors were confused by what Yumi meant, but they weren't left wondering for too long. Yumi pulled Tamiya's necklace out from her pocket and she held it out to the group so she could show them it. They looked upon it, and one by one they began to recognize the necklace and remember the friend they knew it belonged to. Naturally, they all began to freak the fuck out.
Rebecca was so shocked that she did a spit-take of the water she was drinking. "T- TAMIYA?! YOU- YOU F- FOUND H... HER?!" she struggled to say in between coughs.
"No, just her necklace! But this means that she's around here somewhere! Or at least that she came this way!" Yumi stated in reply.
"Then... everyone from Kadic could be close by!" Aelita gasped with realization.
The Lyoko Warriors went dead silent when Aelita said this. The last time anyone had seen the students and teachers from Kadic was back in Atlanta several weeks earlier, back when the military desperately napalmed the streets and separated the first arrival Lyoko Warriors from their fellow students, friends and teachers. Some of the first arrival Lyoko Warriors weren't sure whether to give them up for dead or pray that they were still alive, but Tamiya's necklace was irrefutable proof that the others from Kadic Academy at least made it out of the city and got away from the bombings that day.
If the people from Kadic made it out of the city then there was still a chance that they were still alive out there somewhere. The Lyoko Warriors had to find them. They had to find them no matter what.
It was then that Verity finally noticed a stranger lurking behind her friend. "Uh... Hey, Yumi? Quick question: Who's that half-starved guy behind you?" she asked.
Yumi's eyes widened as she realized that she hadn't shown Josh to the group yet. The Japanese teen had turned to gesture Josh to come on over and introduce himself, but to her surprise he was already walking over to them. This put her on edge a little since she had asked him to stay where he was until she asked him to come over.
As he got closer, Yumi noticed that something was different about this boy now. Gone was his look of fear. Gone was his shivering caused by sheer starvation. Gone was his look of utter exhaustion and misery. Everything was replaced with a very sinister-looking smirk and an evil look in his eye, immediately raising Yumi's concern as he continued to walk towards her.
"Hey, you were supposed to stay put back there." Yumi reminded the newcomer.
"What can I say? I got bored..." Josh replied, elbowing past her so he could get to the fire and warm himself.
Rudely being elbowed aside like that took Yumi completely by surprise and of course it really pissed her off. She kept a tighter hold on her rifle since she was very concerned by Josh's sudden change of attitude. As he got to the fire, Josh sat down in front of it and he put his hands pretty close to the flames. He let out a dark chuckle for everyone to hear as he felt a layer of skin be singed by the fire, causing everyone to feel extremely uncomfortable and crept out.
"Dude, you're kinda creeping me out... and that's saying something." Miranda stated, standing up and going to join Yumi to back her up.
"I'm creeping you out, huh...?" Josh suddenly snapped to her without even glancing in her direction. "Y'know what? Maybe I should just shove my cock down your throat and rape your mouth to shut you up... you ever get to see what cum tastes like? You'll find out with me whether you want to or not..."
That did it. Miranda was completely consumed by shock and rage over what she heard and she jumped towards Josh in an attempt to gouge his eyes out with her bare hands, although Robert and Verity hurriedly restrained her so she wouldn't kill this guy in the middle of the camp: which, knowing Miranda Lamberse, was a very real possibility. If that happened then Hershel might end up kicking out the entire group from his farm...
Miranda thrashed in the grip of the two girls and as they dragged her away she struggled very hard to escape so she could tear Josh's spine out of his fucking body.
"LET ME AT THAT PIECE OF SHIT!!! I'M GONNA FUCK HIM UP!!! I'M GONNA FUCK YOU THE FUCK UP YOU MOTHERFUCKING FUCK!!!" Miranda snarled at Josh.
"Ooooooh, so scared of the mean lady~! Someone save little 'ol me~!" Josh sarcastically recoiled in fear before he broke out laughing.
Yumi was completely horrified by what was happening in front of her. Josh seemed completely feeble and helpless just a few hours ago, and now he was threatening to do that to one of her closest friends? The shouting was drawing eyes from all of the other campfires and several people came over to investigate what was happening. Lee made sure to lead Clementine away from the scene since he didn't want to risk her getting in any sort of danger from this psycho.
As the others approached, Anne finally got a good look at Josh's face. Her eyes slowly began to widen as she immediately recognized this... this monster from her childhood. At the same time Josh finally noticed Anne sitting at the fire and he seemed to be just as surprised to see her as she was to see him. Slowly Josh began to let out another dark chuckle as he stood up, crossing his arms as he stared down the wheelchair-bound girl.
"Well, well, well... the freak's still alive, huh? I thought for sure you'd be walker food by now..." Josh evilly smirked at her.
Anne was so frightened that she couldn't find the will even to speak. The others were shocked at how scared this girl seemed to be around this guy, but Chase and Dylan both recognized this man too. Both stood up and immediately went to stand between Anne and Josh as they glared at him, their shock dying down to be replaced by pure anger at this boy's existence for the years of torment he gave to Anne.
"Oh, shit, you two are still breathing too?! Holy fuck! It's my lucky day!" Josh broke out laughing.
"Back off, Josh..." Dylan warned the maniac.
"And you lost a hand, Chase?!" Josh laughed after he saw the boy's lack of a right hand. "Jesus Christ, I knew that you were dumb as fucking nails, but this?! It's a new record! How'd you lose it?"
"None of your fucking business..." Chase replied with a very deep frown.
Everyone was looking at Josh now and all of them were on their guard. Since Anne was out of his reach for the moment, Josh turned his attention to the other wheelchair-bound girl at the fire: Aelita. The pinkette's eyes widened as Josh began to walk over towards her, but Jeremie went to stand in front of Aelita and protect her. Chase hurried over so he could do the same thing.
Josh noticed Aelita in her wheelchair and he laughed at the sight. "Who's that freak with the pink hair? Is she a cripple? I love fucking with the cripples..." he said, smirking.
"Shut up. Shut the fuck up and walk away from my sister..." Chase narrowed his eyes with a serious look on his face.
"SISTER?!" Josh gasped before he began to laugh once more. "You mean to tell me that all these years you've had a sister?! Oh fuck, this is precious! God, are you two fucking or something?! Little bit of Georgia-style hillbilly shit going on between you two?! Man, your inbred parents must be so proud of you for continuing the family tradition! When's the retarded pink-haired baby coming along?"
"Shut your fucking mouth about my sister right now, Josh! RIGHT NOW!!!" Chase growled, rage dripping in his voice.
Aelita was visibly shocked and disgusted by what Josh was saying about her and Chase, and after hearing all of it Jeremie was seething in rage just as much as Chase was. By now it was clear to everyone that the Enhearts, Anne and Josh all had some sort of a bad history together, although everyone could guess that it was probably Josh who began it in a pretty bad way. This was turning into a mess real fast...
Josh turned his attention back over to Anne, ignoring the looks of pure fury and disgust coming from both Chase and Jeremie. "Thought you'd never see me again, huh freak?" Josh evilly smirked before he tried to walk over to her.
Anne found herself trembling as she wheeled her chair back a bit, her visible eye widening in horror. But before Josh could get to her, Yumi went to stand in front of him and to block his path. Yumi was joined seconds later by Dylan and Chase, both of whom were just as pissed as she was. How dare this bastard take advantage of her kindness?! How dare he lie and cheat his way onto the farm?! How dare he treat her friends like this?! Yumi was the one responsible for this guy getting here and she was not just going to stand by and watch him say all of these terrible things...
"Leave. Her. Alone." Dylan warned the sociopath as his fists balled up from rage.
"Oh, defending this freak still, are you? You're so pathetic, Enheart..." Josh taunted as he crossed his arms.
"I should've just left you to starve out there in those trees, you son of a bitch..." Yumi frowned, completely regretting her decision to help him.
"Oh, but then I wouldn't have anything to do..." Josh just smirked at her.
Rebecca alternated between looking at Josh and the three teens. She was deeply confused since it was obvious they knew each other, but from where? In all their years at Kadic together Dylan never mentioned this psycho and neither did Chase. Not once. Although just by what she had seen she started to understand exactly why they never mentioned this guy.
"Guys, how exactly do you know this person?" Rebecca asked her boyfriend, Chase and Anne with confusion.
"Oi! Shut it ya bloody wanker 'else I'll sick da Queen on ya! Ya got that ya cunty twat?" Josh retorted to Rebecca, mocking her perfect Londoner accent by using an intentionally bad one of his own. Honestly it was so bad that sounded much more Scottish than anything.
This mockery earned him a very offended and pissed off look from the British teen who honestly could not believe that this much of an asshole could even exist. Dylan looked just as pissed off as Rebecca if not more so. He felt as if he was getting pretty damn close to finishing what Miranda was prevented from doing.
"Hey, don't you dare talk to her like that!" Dylan hissed at him.
"Or what? You'll hurt me?" Josh laughed before he started to evilly grin again. "Oh, I've got an idea, Enheart... what'll happen if I do this...?" he grinned.
Before Dylan or Rebecca or anyone else could ask what he meant by that, Josh had already reached around Rebecca's body and he roughly grabbed her ass through her jeans before she realized what was happening. Rebecca's eyes widened with pure shock before she suddenly slapped him as hard as she could across his face, sending him flying back into Dylan's oncoming fist.
Josh fell straight to the ground due to Dylan's punch and he clutched his now-bloody nose, but instead of groaning in pain he seemed to be laughing wildly at what had just happened to him. Even Rebecca and Dylan themselves seemed to be very unnerved by this. What kind of psychopath is this guy?!
"Awwww, this your whore, Dylan? She hits like a girl and so do you..." Josh taunted the couple with a chuckle.
"Shut your fucking mouth!" Dylan growled with rage. "If you ever touch my girl again then I'll fucking kill you, Josh! You hear me?! I'll fucking kill you!" he threatened before he spat in the sadist's face while he was down.
Josh just smirked as he wiped Dylan's spit off of his face. He seemed completely unfazed by Dylan's threats despite how serious the Enheart teen clearly was. He then glanced over towards Anne and he lifted up the hand he used to grab Rebecca's ass, showing it to her as if to make a point. Anne knew exactly what he meant by this and her horror and fear only grew.
"You're next, freak." Josh smirked. "And trust me, I'm gonna be touching far more of you than Enheart's bitch..."
Anne trembled even harder when she heard that threat, but before Josh could do anything else Alexandr had walked over to him and he kicked him as hard as he could right in the face with a steel-toed boot. Josh's head hit one of the rocks surrounding the campfire with a loud thud which sounded like it hurt really, really bad, although it was pretty clear that the kick and the impact had knocked the teen out. A couple of his teeth were even laying on the ground.
"Zatknis' i derzhis' podal'she ot moyego druga, ty ukol! (Shut the fuck up and stay away from my friend, you prick!)" Alexandr spoke in his native Russian at the unconscious teen, a deep frown on his face as he spoke.
Rick, Hershel, Shane and Carlos finally hurried over to the scene and it was very clear that they were shocked and confused. Shane had brought his shotgun since from all of the shouting he thought that walkers may have been attacking.
"What the hell is going on here?!" Hershel demanded to know.
Anne seemed to snap out of it as she saw Josh's unconscious body. So much rage was built up within her, not just from this but from the last decade of his torment. She couldn't hold her fury back any longer, so a moment later she let out a yell and rushed out of her wheelchair despite her injuries. Anne rushed forward to Josh and started kicking him in the gut as hard as she could as fast as she could, not caring about how much this hurt her shoulder wounds
"Anne?!" Aelita gasped with surprise at her actions.
Dylan and Chase ran over to try and pull Anne away from Josh, but she pushed them aside and just kept kicking the psychopath as hard as she could. Everyone who was watching the scene was stunned, but before anyone could intervene Anne had stopped kicking the psycho and she fell to her knees, trembling as she finally started to break down in wails.
"What the fuck is going on here, guys?! Who the hell is that?!" Shane demanded to know as he pointed at the unconscious Josh.
Anne finally turned to look back at the others. Tears dripped down from her uncovered eye and it was obvious that Anne had so much pain inside of her because of the countless things that this monster had done to her. She was still so distraught that she couldn't get a word out...
finally the teen collected herself a little better so she could speak, although she was still a completely broken down mess.
"H- He... He's a monster!!!" Anne finally exclaimed in-between sobs. "H- He tormented me, bullied me, h... h-hurt me... I had to de- deal with it for so many fucking years! SO MANY FUCKING YEARS!!!"
The others watched as Anne frantically rolled up the sleeve of her right arm. Everyone's eyes widened as they saw a long, jagged scar which ran the length of her limb. They all could tell the scar was made intentionally with some sort of a knife...
"JOSH DID THIS TO ME!!!" Anne said with the beginnings of a hoarse voice. "After Chase and Dylan left, he kept getting worse and worse and worse and WORSE!!! EVERY GODDAMN DAY THEY WOULD GO AFTER ME!!!"
Anne got back up onto her feet as her emotional breakdown worsened. All of the horrible memories of Josh and his friends and everything they did to her came flooding into her mind and she couldn't stop any of it from happening. She suddenly yanked off the bandana she had tied over one of her eyes, revealing to everyone that her green eye was paired with a crimson red one: the source of all her troubles.
The worst memory of all, however, finally hit her. Anne literally began to tremble from fear as she thought back to what happened to her on that terrible day, years ago.
"A- About a year or two after Chase and Dylan left, I was heading home from school..." Anne struggled to contain herself as she began. "I- It was raining, and I was just trying to avoid Josh and his friends, but... they decided to follow me..."
Chase and Dylan were already horrified by all they had heard Anne say, but now their horror was growing ever larger. Everyone else listened too and they were all very disturbed.
"T- They followed me into town, and..." Anne trailed off for a moment. "T- They pushed me into a dark alleyway. They beat me up until I couldn't resist anymore, and... And Josh, he... h- he..." she said, stopping in mid-sentence.
"Anne... what happened to you...? W- What did he do to you...?" Dylan asked, his eyes slowly widening with everything he heard.
Tears began to roll down the sides of Anne's face once more as she remembered the worst things Josh and his friends had ever done to her. It was so hard for her to relive that day in her head and it almost felt as if it was happening all over again... Taking a deep breath to gather up a little bit of resolve, Anne pressed on in telling the group what had happened between her and Josh.
"H- His fri... friends pinned me down while he cut my arm with his k- knife... B- But that wasn't enough for him... he wanted more from me..." Anne tried her hardest to get through her story. "H- He undid his belt... H- His friends worked on mine..."
Aelita gasped in sheer horror as she realized where Anne was getting at. Everyone else was stunned into silence and both Chase and Dylan's faces turned pale white from shock. Even Miranda seemed to be horrified by the things she was hearing from her friend.
"...his pants came off, a- and mine came off..." Anne began to break down once more. "H- He got on top of me, a- a... and h- he... he s- started pulling my underwear off... His friends... t- they laughed so much..."
The traumatized girl sunk down to her knees as her face suddenly whitened and her expressions went completely blank. She couldn't hold back the tears anymore...
"M- My grandpa he happened to be walking by when Josh was about t- to... to... r..." Anne couldn't even say the word. "Grandpa saw what was happening... H- He saw Josh on top of me... H- His friends all pinning me to the ground... He ran in and he saved me from them just in time... b- but if he showed up even a second later, then..." she trailed off.
Chase and Dylan cautiously approached their friend again, both so shocked and horrified by what they had heard that they were unable to speak. They knew that Anne did bad after they were forced to leave her, but all of this? Nearly getting raped by that piece of shit Josh...? Both of them were sick to their stomachs. Hell, Chase literally felt like he was about to pass out.
The two cautiously went down onto their knees in front of Anne and opened their arms, inviting her into a group hug. Hesitantly the traumatized young girl leaned closer to them, and she quietly resumed to sob as they pulled her in for a really tight hug. She certainly needed one after letting all of that out...
As the teens hugged Anne, Rick glanced over at the unconscious boy laying next to the campfire. That kick to the face by Alexandr really seemed to fuck him up but now there was the question of what to do with this guy? Do they release him back into the wilds? Hershel seemed to realize what Rick was thinking, so with a sigh he went over to the unconscious teen and examined him himself.
"What do we do with this guy? It's your property, your decision, Hershel..." Rick said, leaving the decision up to the elderly farmer.
"A bullet to the head oughta do it..." Dylan frowned, stating his view on what should be done with Josh.
"Out of the question. There'll be no killing anyone on my farm and we're not casting any souls out there to get infected by the sickness..." Hershel sternly told the teen and everyone else who was listening.
Dylan was angered at what Hershel said, but he relented. Every fiber of his being just wanted to shoot Josh in his fucking face for what he had done to Anne all these years since he and Chase left her. He had only killed walkers so far and never a living, breathing human being before in his entire life, but he felt like he could gather his resolve enough to do it to Josh. But then again that might've just been the sheer anger talking, and besides even if Josh deserved to be shot then Hershel would kick the group out if he actually did it.
Okay, so killing Josh was (unfortunately) not an option. And he certainly wasn't going to be allowed to be anywhere near the camp nor be cast back out into whatever fate awaited him in the Georgia countryside. Besides, even if they did cast him out then there into the walker-infested world then there still wasn't a guarantee that he wouldn't come back...
Slowly beginning to grin as a light bulb went off in her head, Miranda walked over to Josh and she grabbed him by the arms. She looked at all of the others who were watching her and she pointed at Josh's legs, needing some help to lift this bastard up and move him somewhere.
"Someone come and grab his legs for me, please." Miranda asked to anyone who could help her. "I've got a damn good idea on what to do with this guy..."
Both Odd and Alexandr hurried over to help Miranda move Josh to wherever she wanted to put him. Chase and Dylan kept tending to Anne as best as they could although it was obvious that they weren't getting through to her very much. Yumi watched everything that was happening before she glanced back down at Tamiya's necklace, which she still had in one of her hands. She was determined. The group finally had a lead as to where all of their friends and teachers were, and they were going to try and look for them as soon as possible even no matter the threat poised from Carver and his people.
She'll find her little brother soon... she was sure of it.
Everyone all heard a twig suddenly break and they turned to see that both Ulrich and Nick had finally arrived back at the camp. However, the two were stunned to see that Miranda, Odd and Alexandr were carrying the unconscious guy whom they found out on patrol earlier. It looked like... wait, did someone kick him in the face?! Naturally, both of the men couldn't help but stare incredulously as Nick asked a question to the entire group:
"What the fuck did we miss?!"
About two or three hours later Josh finally started to regain consciousness after having his face kicked in by Alex. He had a very nasty headache and he was sure that one of his eyes was blackened since he couldn't see well out of it, and he was definitely a bit dazed. Despite how awful he felt Josh tried to stand up so he could go and find some miserable little bitch to torment, but as he stood up he was yanked backwards and he fell onto his ass.
Josh looked behind him to see that he was leaning against a large oak tree about 500 feet or so from the group's campsite and the farmhouse. To his utter surprise he realized that both of his hands were tightly chained behind the tree so he couldn't escape from it.
Who the fuck locked him up onto a tree?!
"What the-?!" Josh frowned as he tried to pull his arms apart, only to fail.
"Well, well, well... look who finally decided to wake up..." a voice darkly chuckled.
Josh looked around to try and see who was talking, but since it was dark outside he couldn't see anything around him. Finally he saw an oil lamp be lit in front of him, revealing the face of the person who had tied him up. Josh's eyes slowly started to widen in surprise and worry when he saw the person approach him...
Miranda set the oil lamp down on the ground for some light before she smirked at the tied-up boy. She cracked her neck and then her knuckles, chuckling darkly as she approached the completely helpless psychopath. He was entirely at her mercy and she had all the time in the world that night.
"'Maybe I should just shove my cock down your throat and rape your mouth to shut you up...'" Miranda quoted Josh's first horrific words to her. "'You ever get to see what cum tastes like? You'll find out with me whether you want to or not...'" she again quoted the rage-inducing threats made to her.
The terrified psychopath again tried to break out of his chains but alas for him they were very solid and strong. Miranda was very thorough in her choosing of the chains and the lock holding it all shut, and based on personal experience kicking the shit out of people she knew that he wouldn't be able to slip out of these. Nuh uh. Not solid steel, not a titanium lock holding it all together. The fucking Hulk wouldn't be able to break it apart.
Miranda chuckled again as she roughly grabbed Josh's hair and yanked it back so his head would hit the rough bark of the tree. Now he wasn't able to look away from her, and Miranda couldn't help but smirk at this sadist's ever-growing terror of her. To make matters worse for him she used her free hand to pull a dirty rag out from her pocket and stuff it tightly into his mouth, effectively gagging him.
As she frowned and her rage again started to trickle back into her, Josh realized that he was gonna be in for an extremely painful night. Pissed off once more by the memory of what was said to her, Miranda looked Josh dead in the eye and her next words seemed to burn into his very soul:
"Oh, I guarantee you're REALLY gonna regret all of that shit you said to me, bitch..."