Not my usual type of stories, I know. But I wanted to make a change, merging my favorite gaming series together into creating this story. A story of an outlaw who spent most of his life in the wilderness, most of his life on the hunt. A story of an outlaw wanting to get home to his timeline, to save his brother. But with the end of the world, where the dead rise to kill the living, our cowboy finds himself further pushed into this futuristic version of a country he once knew. Meeting other survivors along the way, and people he will grow to care for like family. What will Arthur Morgan do?
This story will mainly follow the events of Telltale's series The Walking Dead. With certain elements from the tv show here and there.
Chapter 1: New World.
"Come on Dutch! Come on!" The frustrated groaning voice of the oily turd rat of a human, Micha Bell echoed on the mountain. As he tried to appeal to Dutch Van Der Linde.
The man Arthur had once viewed as a father figure, a charismatic leader and mentor, turned his back on Arthur and Micha both. Walking away, as he heard the frustrated snarls of Micha who stormed off in the other direction.
Arthur between wheezes and coughs let out a light chuckle. In the end, Dutch had walked away, but at least he also walked away from Micha. Arthur started to crawl alongside the ridge of this mountain. His breath straining as he gasped for air, clinging onto what little life he had left.
Eventually collapsing onto a rock, his back leaned up against it as he stared out at the wilderness. Seeing the sun rising on the horizon, Arthur took a few straggled breaths as he felt at peace. He had helped his brother John escape to safety, he had done as the sister had asked of him. In the face of the rising sun, Arthur could swear he saw a deer. A proud and mighty stag starring right back at him.
The vision of the deer however, changed into that of a man who stepped out from the light. "Oh, deary me, you got yourself in quite the pickle alright ol' chum. Let's get you some help." The man helped Arthur stand up, supporting Arthur as he carried him into the light. Arthur's eyes grew heavy, barely clinging onto life as he closed his eyes.
In one moment, he felt near death, in the next his vision was hazy and blurry. He felt rather comfortable, as he rested against a soft seat made of leather. It was at least better than the rock he was laying on earlier. "Wh-Where am I…" Arthur mumbled, as he continued to gasp for air.
"Hang on ol' chap. I got everything sorted out for you. This is my thanks to you." The man's voice sounded familiar. It sounded rather chipper. Before Arthur could get a good look at the man's face, he was drifting in and out of consciousness.
Next time he woke up, he found himself laying on a bed. A series of flashing lights flying by over his head as men and women pushed his bed forward. "Hurry! We need to get this man antibiotics!" A man dressed in white wearing some kind of facemask shouted at the others pushing the bed.
"Man, I don't think I have ever seen someone with Tuberculosis this bad before…" Another man said as, he and several other people stood over Arthur. "He also looks like he has taken quite the beating. Hurry, we need some oxygen tanks!"
Looking to the side, Arthur saw the obscured form of the man that had taken him off the mountain. The whole room they were in was white, and the man was speaking to the man in the white coat. Arthur couldn't hear them clearly, and drifted back into unconsciousness. At least it felt easier to breathe now, so that was something.
Arthur felt himself wake up again, seeing no people standing over him anymore. Arthur looked down at himself, seeing he wore some kind of mask with a tube connected to a metallic cylinder. "What the hell is this?" Arthur groaned as he saw he laid in a bed, with several machines beeping for reasons he had no knowledge of. Maybe that crazy bastard of a professor who made that walking machine would have known what was going on. Arthur anyway didn't have a clue.
"Ah, good to see you are awake buddy!" There was that familiar voice again, looking to the side of his bed, Arthur saw a man he remembered very well. His distinctive birthmark around his eye was what had Arthur connect the dots.
"Francis?" Arthur groaned from pain, he felt weak as he collapsed onto the bed.
"Now, now chum. Rest up. They have you doped down real good there." Francis chuckled, but Arthur was more confused. Wondering what the hell this fool was saying.
"What?" Arthur wheezed out.
"Drugged." Francis corrected himself, as he sat back down. "Now, rest up buddy. That was a close one ol' chap! Real close! Lucky you, I got curious about your fate and read an ol' newspaper. Thanks to you, I got home after all."
"Y-Yeah… those rock carvings, right… Uh, so what happened with ya? I came back to check on you, but… you weren't there." Arthur felt it difficult to speak, yet he managed to talk somehow.
"Right, well, I was sort of there. As an infant anyway. Now that you are in the loop, let me reintroduce myself." Francis coughed, clearing his throat. "My name, is Francis Sinclair. And I am what you would call, a time traveler." At the revelation, Arthur looked at Francis like he was crazy. But he didn't say anything, after all, Francis was arguably one of the strangest encounters Arthur ever experienced. But with everything that had happened, Arthur had no other better explanation for it.
Francis continued with his story. "You see… those rock carvings are like a puzzle. They take me to certain, time periods and places. If, placed correctly. Anyway, I meant to reward you for your troubles… And when I found out you well… died. I decided to lend you a helping hand ol' chum. So, I traveled back to 1899, picked you up…. And brought you here, to the year 2010. Now, here Tuberculosis is rare in this country, here… it is treatable and curable."
Arthur could hardly believe the words coming out from Francis' mouth. He was in the year 2010? And TB was treatable and curable? Hardly able to mask the shock on his face, Francis let out a little chuckle. "Ah, yes. I hardly tell anyone about this, and whenever I do, they always have the same look on their faces. Anyway, when I went back to pick you up… I had used up what juice I had from the rock carvings you provided, so I couldn't take you to my timeline. But, lucky enough I had the carvings for this timeline where they are far more medical advanced, so I brought you here."
It turned out, Francis had handled everything for Arthur prior to their arrival in this timeline. Francis had created a new identity for Arthur in this timeline, as Francis's cousin. Francis's story, was that Arthur was an adventuress explorer going to foreign countries to document their ways of life. And that while in Africa, he had contracted TB. Francis also had to explain the bruises Arthur had suffered from his fight with Micha on the mountain. And Francis simply said that Arthur had been mugged in the streets.
Francis had provided Arthur with basic medical insurance, documents and papers from his own company. It turns out, Francis owns a very prestigious company that was founded in the 1920's by Francis himself. And that Francis travels to various time periods in the future and the past, to gather material that could be used for his company. Now, Francis also revealed he didn't know much about this current time period. As he has never traveled further than to the year 2010. But that Francis had been able to make certain investments as he called it, and create identities for himself and Arthur in this time period. Francis had done this to mostly every timeline he visited, and owned several properties in the various time periods.
Francis curing Arthur of his TB, was his way of repaying Arthur for finding those rock carvings. The carvings Francis had used to bring them to the year 2010, had landed them in Atlanta Georgia. Arthur almost rolled his eyes at that. He was in the South again.
Weeks passed by, and Arthur continued to stay in the hospital to be monitored of his condition. It was the first time Arthur was forced to do nothing but rest. The food wasn't too terrible, it at least beat Pearson's cooking. Arthur was shocked, and somewhat appalled at how far technology had advanced. Arthur would spend a lot of his time, watching this box thing called a television he had in his room.
He mostly watched the news, and some history programs, and on the occasion a little wildlife show. And if there happened to be a western movie on, Arthur would have a good laugh at seeing how stupid some of it was. "Aw, come on… even the biggest fool in all of West Elizabeth would have shot you in the back by now." Arthur shook his head. These film makers had some vivid imagination.
The news program was honestly depressing to Arthur. Talking a lot of nonsense about politics, war in foreign countries, and rumors of some kind of new flue spreading in Europe. And how the doctors and professors were working on some kind of flu shot that everyone had to take.
Francis was also kind enough to bring Arthur some books to read, history books of events after 1899. Arthur didn't know what he had expected, but when Arthur read of the great depression, world wars and etc. Arthur had only one thing to say. "Hmm, well some things never change. Some folks are just plain foolish and evil. Big fights, politics… Ugh, take me back to the west already. I would rather hear Dutch ramble on about Evelyn Miller than this nonsense." Somethings that did interest Arthur a little, were these horseless carriages called cars. And these machines that could fly. Arthur shivered a little, remembering his hot air balloon experience. And personally, Arthur would still have a horse over one of these cars any day.
Months went by, and a doctor stopped by Arthur's room. "How are we feeling today, mister Morgan?"
"Aw, just peachy doctor. I feel like I can breathe again." Arthur had noticed incredible great progress in his recovery. He didn't cough as much anymore, and he didn't struggle to breathe anymore either.
"That's wonderful. Now, your cousin Francis will be by here to pick you up shortly. Just a few more treatments and you should be free of TB completely." The doctor revealed, it had been long grueling six months of treatment. And Arthur had also finally been allowed to exercise a little to get back into shape. He was almost back to his old self.
A pretty blond nurse walked in with some of Arthur's things. Although it wasn't much as he had given almost all to John. He still had his brown leather jacket and blue shirt. "Here you go mister Morgan. The girls and I look forward to your next charming visit." The nurse lightly giggled, and teased Arthur.
"Ah, don't you worry Susan. Soon you girls won't have to worry about seeing my ugly mug every again." Arthur had really enjoyed nurse Susan and the other nurse's company. And they seemed to enjoy Arthur's company as well. He especially liked Susan, who shared the same name as their gang's camp "mother" Grimshaw. He especially liked Susan, who was sweet unlike Grimshaw who always preferred her sour side of vinegar to approach folk in a ruthless fashion. Arthur sighed, as the mental image of Grimshaw getting gunned down by Micha played back in his mind. Sour old lady or not, he missed Susan Grimshaw.
"Aww, stop that mister Morgan. You are very handsome." The nurse Susan teased and lightly nudged him on the cheek.
"Hehe, I think you need your eyes checked ma'am." Arthur lightly chuckled.
Francis came and picked Arthur up in his car. Looking around at the scenery of the city, Arthur only lightly groaned. He never liked big cities, and in the future, it seemed like the wildlife in the open country was mostly a thing of the past. "Penny for your thoughts…" Francis began engaging in small talk.
"… Oh nothing, just starting to think my mentor was right about the industrialists after all. There isn't any wild open country left, is there? Civilization has fully taken over." Arthur sighed, he was grateful for the treatment and the help Francis had provided to him. But he really missed the open wild country of places like New Austin. Where one could feel closer to the sky, living wild and free.
"Hmm, well, such is the way of things." Francis awkwardly tapped his fingers on the steering wheel. "Hey, I know what might cheer you up. How about, we get you some firearms, huh? The guns of the future have come a long way you know…"
"I ain't shooting up some fools Francis." Arthur humorously chuckled a little, granted he was a little curious about today's guns.
"Oh heavens no. But I could take you to a gun range. Let us see if your six months of rest have made your gunslinging skills rusty." Francis drove Arthur to a gun store from the looks of it. It was a large white brick building. Arthur followed Francis into the store, and instantly they were greeted with a small shop filled with all kind of gear for hunting and such.
Getting to the desk clerk, Arthur saw various kinds of rifles and shotguns mounted on the wall. And a glass display case of various pistols and a few revolvers. In the corner of his eye, Arthur noticed a panic stricken looking young man, carrying out his newly bought gun. The man looked skittish as he trembled at the sight of Arthur and Francis entering the store. Arthur only looked with a raised brow, as he noticed traces of blood on the man's sleeve. From a bite by the looks of it. The skittish man left in a hurry, as Francis approached the clerk. "A lot of customers today?" Francis asked the clerk.
"Heh, yeah… lot of people stopped by lately. Not that I am complaining, more business you know." The clerk and Francis shared a laugh. "Yes, well, my friend here is interested in purchasing some new firearms. And maybe, test his skills at your gun range."
Francis picked off a few handguns and rifles for Arthur to test out, and the clerk brought them over to the gun range. "Alright boy, show us what you got." The clerk put a handgun on the table in front of Arthur, along with some strange glasses and earmuffs. "Well, go on… Don't want to blow out your eardrums here, do we?" The clerk said as he had Arthur put on the earmuffs.
Arthur picked up his first handgun, a Colt 1911. The mechanics weren't too different from what Arthur was used with. Loading up the gun, Arthur took a deep breath, and exhaled. The moment his lungs were empty, Arthur quickly pulled up his gun and unloaded all 9 rounds into his target.
The clerk was a little astonished, as Arthur was not only quick, but he did it all with such precision with only one hand. Pushing a button, that had the target brought closer to them the clerk was even more shocked. Each round had either hit the targets head, heart or lungs. Not one shot had missed. "Well, I'll be damned… you sure can shoot a gun sir."
"Yeah, reckon it is the only thing I am good at." Arthur stared down at one of the more, modern guns before him. An M4 Carbine. Now this rifle, Arthur had to study. Arthur after a few moments of studying it, feeling the heavy weight of its barrel, and unloading its magazine to check the number of rounds. Arthur whistled, as there had to be at least thirty rounds in the magazine alone. The clerk chuckled at hearing Arthur's whistle.
"Yeah, ain't she a beauty. You can have her be fully automatic, semi-automatic, or just fire off a three round burst if you want more accuracy." The clerk showed the functions on the gun to Arthur.
Deciding to try fully automatic first, Arthur was thrown for a loop. The recoil wasn't what he had expected, the guns of today certainly packed more of a punch. So many rounds, unloaded in less than a minute. Like a gatling gun you could carry around with you. "Now that's something…" Arthur noticing his accuracy wasn't the best with fully automatic. Arthur tried again, and this time eased on the trigger. Hitting targets from very far away with ease after a little practice.
The clerk was amused, Arthur seemed to pick up the workings of a fully automatic gun quite quickly. They tried various other types of firearms, and Arthur adapted quite quickly to each one. Arthur was a fool who never went to school, but he knew his way around a gun.
Back in the store, Francis was willing to buy two new guns for Arthur. He bought Arthur a handgun, a Glock 17. And, a type of gun Arthur was more comfortable with. A revolver, a Colt Python. Francis also seemed to have made sure Arthur had a license needed to carry a gun. "Remember to keep the safety on when you in public sir." The clerk reminded playfully.
At hearing that last bit, Arthur chuckled. "What? I look like a kid to you? Think I'm going to shoot some guy in the streets at random? Or play around with it?"
"This is no joke sir. It's the law." The clerk sounded firm in his decision.
"Fine, alright… no need to get so het up." Arthur didn't want to get in trouble with the local law, not in this timeline anyway. That life was over.
After such a hectic day, Arthur began on a strict exercise routine to regain what muscle mass he had lost from TB and during recovery. Arthur thought it was ridiculous. "These days people even need machines to stay in shape… my word. All I did was basic chores, and travel a lot. People have grown lazier, relying on all these machines for everything. My god, it is like everyone is turning into Uncle."
Francis laughed a little. "Well, yes, with modern civilization… life is easier for most people."
"Well, all things considered… the future isn't too bad." Arthur took a few deep breaths as he was lifting some weights, doing bench-presses with Francis spotting him. "Apart from all these big cities of course…" That was the one downside for Arthur when it came to the future. He missed seeing the open range of the country.
A few days later, Arthur was due for his last checkup at the hospital. Although the usual hospital in the city was overbooked for some reason. So, Francis drove Arthur a little further out to a hospital outside of the city. It was a quick checkup, with some good news as the doctor declared that Arthur was fully cured of TB.
"Thanks again doctor." Arthur offered his thanks, as he walked out into the hall. When suddenly he saw several nurses and doctors rushing by with a stroller.
"Move! Move! Move!" A Sherrif shouted as he escorted the nurses and doctors carrying the man on the stroller. "We got an injured officer here, out of the way!" The man was big and muscular, dressed in a Sherrif county uniform, he had dark short hair. And the officer on the stroller, most likely his partner looked pale, the sheets on the stroller already soaked in blood from a gunshot wound.
Arthur caught a glimpse of the shot officer's nametag. "Grimes." Shaking his head, as Arthur remembered how many lawmen he had shot in his day. "Poor bastard…"
On the car ride back to Francis' house, they were listening in on the radio. Various news outlets talking about a few strange stories of cannibalistic attacks on people. And how this strange new flu seemed to make people deranged. "Some things don't change, huh?" Arthur dismissed the news, as he was used to some sick bastards. The Murfree Brood for one.
"Well, this is rather strange for modern day… Hmm, anyway. Now that you are recovered. Ready to set out on our adventure to find those rock carvings, and send you back home?" The plan now, was to set out with Francis looking for the Rock Carvings Arthur needed to travel back to 1899.
"Oh, yes… How long you need time to prepare for anyhow?" Arthur was ready to go back home, possibly find some life for himself out in the open country of New Austin. Maybe even see if he could find John. Or maybe find and kill that rat bastard Micha. 'Nah, revenge is a fool's game…' Arthur dismissed the idea, as much as he would enjoy seeing that sniveling yellow bellied coward beg for his life.
"Well, I could use a few weeks to get the necessary supplies. We got quite a journey on us ol' chum." Francis checked his wristwatch. "Recon we better turn in for the night at my house."
"Hey, you never said… How do you keep track of all these rock carvings anyhow?" Arthur was curious, because there was no way the rock carvings Francis needed were the same ones Arthur found for him in 1899.
"I keep a journal here. With some general drawings and mathematical equations needed for the puzzle." Francis showed a small journal he kept in his back pocket. "Don't you worry ol' chum. As long as I got this, and my noggin. We should find your way back home."
They arrived in a small apartment complex in the city, where Francis had his apartment. It wasn't much, a small kitchen, living room, bathroom and two bedrooms. Arthur went into his room, looking at a mirror where he saw a man he hardly recognized. Arthur was cleanly shaved, and wore some modern clothing. A simple white shirt, some jeans and also a black leathery jacket. The jacket decorated on the back with a death skull and angel wings. He had some other clothes, his old outfit and a new blue shirt and a brown leather jacket. Laying with his old clothes, was his old hunting knife and lasso and his holsters.
The next morning, now that he was fully cured of TB. Arthur had one more favor of Franics to ask. "Francis… You said you read about my death in an old newspaper, right?" Arthur asked as they were seated at the breakfast table.
"Yes, why?" Francis asked.
"… Could you, maybe… give me some of those old newspapers? After my death I mean…" Arthur asked, at the end of the day he was wondering what had become of the Marston family.
"Well… alright I suppose." Francis brought forth a strange device, typing on some buttons with various letters Francis turned the device around.
"Uhh, is this a tv?" Arthur asked as he looked at the screen.
"No, a laptop computer. With this, you can pretty much look up… anything really. Anyway, here is some digital papers of the New Hanover gazette. And here, are issues that were printed after your death in 1899." Arthur once again, had no idea what Francis was talking about. But listened carefully, as Francis showed him how to scroll through this thing called a website. And how to click and zoom in on certain articles.
Arthur spent pretty much the whole day reading. And not long in, he stumbled upon an interesting article from 1907 that had Arthur scoff and smile. "Serves you right…" It was the article of Micha Bell's death. Shot dead up in Mt. Hagen. Not wanting to read more of that rat bastard's death. Arthur continued to read. Eventually coming across various articles covering a notorious dangerous gang, led by Bill Williamson. Bill and his new nasty gang of outlaws, were as bad as the O'Driscoll's, perhaps even worse. Arthur was sad, he had known Bill for a long time. To see that moron falling to madness like this, despite their differences in the end, it brought no joy to Arthur.
Arthur then stumbled upon two articles covering the deaths of Bill and another gang member, Javier. "Shit…" Both had died in 1911, the two fools lasted longer than Arthur had thought. But in the end, the law caught up to them.
The next article had Arthur feeling sad for different reasons. Although, Arthur shows no visible feeling on his face. As he only lets out a sigh and mumbles to himself. "I guess you got what you wanted in the end Dutch… you were an outlaw till your last breath." Even though his mentor had turned out crazy, or maybe just shown them who he really was. Arthur wasn't sure on that. But despite all that, he still cared for Dutch in a way. The man had practically raised Arthur after all.
But no article had Arthur as visibly shaken to his core as the article covering the death of John Marston. Gunned down by Edgar Ross of the Pinkerton Detective Agency. Arthur sat there in silence for the entire night, starring at the article like it had to be a lie. Arthur sat there, and connected the dots on what had happened. John must have gone after Micha for revenge. The law had caught up with John and found him. And they had gunned his brother down.
The sun was rising, and Arthur grunts, anger visible on his face. He remembered Edgar Ross, the Pinkerton that always hung around that bastard Milton. Closing the laptop shut, Arthur marched over to Francis' room, slamming the door open and waking Francis up in a panic. "Take me back to 1899, now." Arthur demanded, he was going to go back and kill Micha himself. The Pinkertons could chase him for as long as they liked. He was not going to let this be John and the Marston family's fate.
"Wah… b-but I need to find the rock carvings first." Francis stuttered as Arthur tossed a bag onto his bed.
"We leave in the morning." Arthur knew he didn't exactly have time limit to get to John, but he still couldn't stand the wait. As he marched to his own room to pack up his things for the trip, Arthur mumbled to himself. "You goddamn fool Marston… How many times…" Arthur had a mission, he had to save his brother and his family. He had to try. In his fury, Arthur ignored the news on the tv in living room. As it went off like an alarm with a message from the CDC. With big red texts on the screen reading "Wildfire" as the message played on in the background.
As Francis exited his room, he was immediately attentive to the television set. "Good God…" Francis' shocked mumble gained Arthur's attention.
"What?" Arthur walked out into the living room, seeing a news report of a local riot in Atlanta. Police on the streets holding off various protestors. The sudden sound of gunfire echoed in the distance, and Arthur moved to the nearest window. Seeing black smoke rising from somewhere in the city. The muffled screams of people were barely tuned out from all the gunfire. "The hell is going on here?" Arthur mumbled to himself. Something didn't feel right. He didn't like this at all. "Francis." Arthur looked to his time traveling companion.
Francis remained unmoving. His eyes glued to the television set. He saw one of the protesters from the looks of it, tackle down a woman and began gnawing at her neck. Francis was brought out from it, as Arthur shook his shoulder. "Francis! What the hell is going on here?!"
Francis looked shaken up, looking just as confused as Arthur was feeling he mumbled out a. "I don't know…" Arthur and Francis looked to the television set, as it suddenly rang out an alarm. The image on the screen having changed into a warning message from the CDC. Big red flashing letters reading a single word "Wildfire". Francis shut off the television, and coughed.
"We need to go." Francis began packing his bags, he had a bad feeling about all of this. All the latest news stories in this timeline, and what he had just seen on the news, Francis had a bad feeling. "We'll get yourself back to your time, and then back to my own. This time traveling business… is stressful."
After a few hours of packing their stuff, they exited the apartment complex and headed for Francis's car parked in the streets. Outside of the building, several people from the apartment complex were gathered outside. Mumbling and talking amongst themselves on what was going on. "My son is at the protest. He said the police gunned down a homeless man." A woman mumbled.
"My husband thinks this might be related to the flue that's been going around… He said it might be some form of biological terrorist attack." Another woman mumbled, as she held her young infant child in her arms.
Arthur paused for a moment, looking at the infant child. He for some reason felt like something bad was going to happen to these poor folks. With such a feeling, Arthur couldn't help but think of his own dead son Isaac. Francis grabbed Arthur by his wrist. "Come on ol' chap. We need to go. I think I know where the first rock carving might be."
Arthur then remembered his goal, he needed to go back to 1899 and save the Marston family from their fate. He took one last look at the gathered crowd of people looking at the rising black smoke from somewhere in the city, and got into Francis' car. With a sigh, Arthur sat down as Francis started the engine of the car.
Arthur sighed and thought to himself. Something was going down alright, but maybe it wasn't as serious as he thought. This was the modern world, with their weapons, police and military, modern medicine and science they should be alright. What could he do anyway? If this problem was related to some type of flue, what could he do? He can't win against a sickness. Not with a gun anyway.
As they drove out of Atlanta onto the highway out of the city. Arthur noticed several police cars driving into the city, their sirens blaring on full alarm. "Jesus… you think these people will be, okay?" Arthur asked Francis who seemed more focused on driving. Ignoring even the sound of helicopters flying into the city. "The hell…" Arthur quietly mumbled to himself as he glanced out the back window.
"We can't worry about that. We can't help everyone." Francis sighed, although the thought seemed to be weighing on him a little. Maybe Francis was a little greedy, weak and maybe a little bit of a coward, but he wasn't without heart. He had gone through the trouble of helping Arthur after all.
"Okay…" Arthur knew there wasn't much they could do. So, he decided to stay focused on the task at hand. "So, hey eh… Where exactly can we find these rock carvings?" Arthur asked as he double checked his backpack next to him. It had some clothes, and a few water bottles and some ammunition.
"Well, to go back to 1899, they need to be related to that time period. If you see any rock carving that is cowboy themed… or wild west themed. That is probably it. And well, last time I traveled to 1899, it should be somewhere around the state of Georgia… Virginia… And if I remember some were also in Ohio, I think. Ugh, all this time traveling sometimes scrambles my brain a little. Anyway, I will know once I see them."
Arthur quietly nodded his head. Arthur had no choice but to trust Francis on this. He was the expert after all, he was just the idiot with the gun. Looking up ahead on the road, Arthur noticed a cop car driving in front of them. Seeing anything law related had Arthur a little on edge, on instinct he had reached for the gun on his holster. His Colt Python in his primary holster at the hip, and his Glock 17 in his secondary holster. Taking a breather, Arthur removed his hand from his gun.
Suddenly, the police car ahead of them seemed to hit a man and drive off road. "Holy shit." Arthur mumbles while Francis hits the brakes. As their car swirled on the road, they see the cop car roll down a hill to a wooded area. The moment their car came to a stop, Arthur grabbed his backpack and grunted. "Shit…" On instinct, Arthur got out of the car and rushed to see the result of the crash.
"Arthur, get back here. We have to go." Francis froze as he looked at the man the cop car had hit laying a few feet away from him. Francis shakingly approached the man's body, taking a quick peek at his face, Francis nearly gagged and backed up in horror. The man's face had been torn apart, with his lips missing showing visible teeth, and his skin seemed pale. His eyes looked bloodshot. "Dear God…" The back of the man's head had also been bashed in against a railway. The sudden sounds of light moans, and snarling came from the wooded area. "Uh, Arthur… ol' chum we should-" Francis turned to Arthur, who had already began climbing down hill to help the people in the wreck. "Crud…" Francis didn't want to be left alone on the road, and decided to follow Arthur down the hill.
Arthur got down to the cop car that was flipped onto the side. "You folks okay in there?" Arthur asked, hearing the sudden groan of a man, seeing the police officer struggle to climb out of the car.
"Ah shit, my leg…" The cop groaned, and Arthur hesitated for a moment. He might be a lawman, but Arthur at the moment wasn't an outlaw, not in this time period anyway.
"I got you." Arthur went to help pull the cop out from the wreck.
"Thank you, son. Ah, shit… I can hardly stand up straight." The cop had a shotgun in hand as he fell onto the ground, resting his back up against his wrecked car. "Is the… is the prisoner, okay?" The balding old cop asked with genuine concern for the convict.
Arthur was a little amazed at first, he hadn't encountered any sympathetic lawmen before. Taking a peek into the backseat of the car, Arthur saw an unconscious black man wearing a blue shirt. Arthur focused on the man's chest, seeing it was going up and down as a sign that he was still breathing. "He's knocked out, but he's breathing so that's something." Arthur commented, and the officer breathed out a sigh of relief.
"That's good… Any chance you got a phone? Or could maybe offer us a ride?" Arthur found this question to be a little odd, why wouldn't the officer just call for backup to pick him up?
"I ain't got no phone… sorry. But, no offence, but can't you just call for backup or something?" Arthur replied, as Francis carefully scurried down the hill behind him.
"Arthur, we need to get a move on…" Francis was rather anxious to leave.
"Francis, we could at least help these folks. Maybe take them somewhere." Arthur Morgan deep down, was a good man, even though he himself would never admit it. After having lived a whole life of killing many people, for a whole lot of dumb reasons, he couldn't consciously leave people that needed help behind to fend for themselves.
"Are you nuts? One of them, is a convict." Francis awkwardly stopped himself from saying another word, remembering that Arthur Morgan used to be an outlaw of the old wild west.
"Please, he won't be any trouble. He's in handcuffs." The officer said as he pointed at his car with said unconscious convict in it. "And I can't walk far with this leg injury… And well… the station is pretty backed up from all the riots. No backup is coming for us."
Francis groaned, a little hesitant. "I…" Before Francis can get a word out, his face turns pale as the sound of groaning comes from the woods around them. Arthur is on alert, and reaches for his holstered Colt Python.
"The hell is going on?" Arthur looked around, seeing limping people emerge out from the forest. "They don't look too friendly." Arthur noted, noting that some had pieces of their flesh torn out. One was even missing an arm and had a broken ankle.
"Uh, stay back! You hear?! Stay back!" Francis fumbled and tripped as he crawled backwards.
"Stay back, or I will shoot!" The cop warned as he aimed his shotgun on one of the limping walking people. They weren't rushing them, but the creepy way they were walking closer, reaching for them while gnarling and snarling with that wild look in their eyes. Some with pieces of flesh stuck between their teeth.
Arthur quickly drew out his gun, and without hesitation he fired off a couple of shots into two of the limping snarling people. Hitting them square in the hearts, Arthur watched as they fell over, but just as quickly pick themselves up.
"The hell?!" The cop looked confused as he saw Arthur's shots hit them square in the heart, yet they were still alive and going for them. Crawling away, the cop aimed his shotgun at one of the people and fired off in a loud crackle. The slug of the shotgun blowing a man's head clean off causing him to fall numb to the ground.
Arthur quickly shot two shots into the two he had shot earlier, this time hitting both right between their eyes and they fell over dead. Pulling out his Glock as he saw more advance on them, Arthur began aiming for the head on his targets. Gunning all the snarling animalistic people down.
"Ah! Arthur! Arthur! Help!" Francis cried out, as one of those things crawled up on Francis and yanked him down by the pants. The thing crawled onto Francis and sunk his teeth into Francis' neck. Francis cried out in pain as this creature tore off some flesh from Francis' neck
"Shit!" Arthur rushed over to Francis, and pulled the guy off Francis. Seeing a good chunk of Francis' neck had been ripped out. Arthur unloaded a final shot into the crawler's head, and went to check on Francis. "Francis? Franics?" Arthur put his hands onto Francis' bleeding neck, dark blood leaking out. Arthur watched desperately, as he saw Francis trying to gurgle out some words but was choking on his own blood. Arthur turned Francis over to the side, so that Francis could get the blood out from his throat. "Shit, hang in there. Don't die on me now! Francis!"
"Shit! More coming!" The cop screamed, as he fired his shotgun at more of those… creatures. They continued to snarl as they pushed the cop into a corner.
Arthur cussed, and quickly reloaded his Glock and began unloading rounds into the creatures. These weren't people, they were little more than animals Arthur told himself. His gunslinging skills really shining as he didn't miss a bullet. Each shot hit their mark. But there was too many, the cop cried out as one of them bit into his arm, three of them pinned him down and started tearing out his insides. "Fucking hell…" Arthur was disturbed at seeing this, he had seen some messed up stuff in his life. This was up there with the Murfree's and their sick acts on innocent travels they came across on their hills.
Arthur finished off the last of those creatures, but the cop was beyond saving. His guts had been ripped out. He was already dead. But the other death hurt more, Francis, Arthur's ticket home had bled out and died. "Son of a bitch!" Arthur shouted and kicked one of these dead creatures. "Fuck! Fuck! Fuck!"
Arthur's rant was interrupted as he heard a groaning sound coming from the car. The convict was awake, Arthur had his gun out, for all he knew this man was like those creatures. This flue, or whatever it was, was fucked up. Arthur had never seen anything like it. The window of the car was kicked open, the sound of shattering glass, Arthur watched as the convict crawled his way out from the car.
"Argh! Fuck!" He cussed as his leg was also injured from the crash. But not nearly as bad as the officer's had been. The man looked flabbergasted, looking around with a shocked expression at all the bodies. "What the hell happened here?"
The man froze, as his eyes fell on Arthur who had a gun pointed at him. "Whoa! Don't shoot!" He quickly backed up against the car in fright.
Arthur looked with a raised brow, and holstered his gun. "You don't seem to be one of them…" Arthur mumbled as he carefully approached the convict. Wasn't much he could do anyway, being handcuffed and with a busted leg like that.
"Did… Did you do all this?" The convict asked. And Arthur supposed he couldn't blame the man being scared. It looked like Arthur had just finished massacring about fifteen people with all these bodies.
"Sort of… But it ain't what you think." Arthur held his hands up, showing he wasn't reaching for his guns and as a sign of not being a threat. "Look, I am confused too… Me and my… cousin Francis." Arthur looked to the dead time traveler, and sighed. "Saw you and the cop here crash. We… I went to try and help you. When suddenly, these… things came out from the woods. They tore out my cousin's throat… and tore open that cop over there. Eating them." Arthur pointed out, and the man seemed to be in a state of shock, but he seemed to believe in Arthur's words. After all, the cop had three of those things dead around him, their hands and mouths drenched in the cop's blood. And Francis had the dead crawled next to him.
Arthur cursed himself in the meantime, if he hadn't gotten out to help the cop and this convict, Francis would still be alive. How was he supposed to get home now? That is when Arthur remembered, Francis carried around a journal. Before Arthur could go to loot Francis' body for that journal, the convict spoke up.
"Umm, you wouldn't happen to know where the keys for these are?" The man showed his handcuffs.
Arthur sighed, he supposed there wasn't much this guy could do. Besides, he didn't look like a bad guy. In fact, he kind of reminded Arthur a little of himself. "… Alright… the cop probably has them." Arthur walked towards the dead officer. "Shit… he got really torn up." Arthur mumbled, the convict limped up behind him, barely able to walk.
"Holy shit…" He sounded disturbed at the sight.
"Yeah, shit indeed." Arthur saw the keys on the officer's belt and reached for them. Yanking the keys, he turned to the convict, but before he freed him from his chains, Arthur gave him a threatening look. "Now, if you try anything. Just know, I will put a bullet in you. I can guarantee I hit harder than you, and that I am faster than you. We clear?" Arthur's glare intimidated the convict, but he seemed to keep a cool leveled head as he gave Arthur a solid nod.
"Yeah man, we clear. I won't be any trouble." Arthur glanced into the convict's eyes, and gave a firm nod. As he used the keys to unlock the convict from his handcuffs.
Before anything else could be said, two groans interrupted them. Looking down at the officer, Arthur raised a brow. "Officer?" Suddenly the dead cop came back from the dead, and like a feral animal charged at Arthur. "Shit!" Arthur cussed as he wrestled around with the cop that was weighing down on him. Snapping its teeth at him, trying to get a bite.
"Fuck!" The convict went for the cop's shotgun. Although as he did, Francis also came back from the dead. "Don't make me do this!" The convict said as he pointed the gun at the officer trying to attack Arthur. The officer didn't respond, and tried to reach his hands to scratch at Arthur. A shot rang out, as the convict shot a window into the cop's skull, the slug tearing off a good portion of the cop's head.
"Argh!" Arthur groaned, as some blood and brains poured onto his face. Arthur pushed off the cop's dead body, and looked up to the convict who stretched out a helping hand. Arthur quickly pulled out his gun and aimed at the convict, and fired off a shot aimed at the dead Francis coming up behind the convict.
The convict looked spooked for a moment, but taking a quick look at the dead Francis understood and calmed down. "Thanks." The convict thanked, as Arthur took his hand and was pulled up.
"Sure… And, thank you." Arthur and the convict shared a look, and Arthur held his hand out for a handshake. "Arthur Morgan." Arthur introduced himself, and the convict smiled and accepted his handshake.
"Lee Everett." The convict, named Lee smiled at Arthur. Standing maybe just two centimeters taller than Arthur. They were both roughly around 6,2 in height.
Arthur slowly walks up to the dead Francis. He knew for sure Francis was dead earlier. He had his throat ripped out and bled out, and the cop was definitely dead earlier. "The hell is going on here?" Arthur found himself asking that a lot in this future timeline.
"They were dead, right?" Lee asked as he limped over to Arthur.
"No doubt… yet they came back. As one of those strange folks." Arthur didn't know what was happening, but for now he knew one thing. "Best not to let these strange folk bite us I suppose." Arthur knelt down next to Francis' body, and began looting him.
"What are you doing?" Lee asked, a little disturbed that Arthur resulted to looting a dead body.
"… Francis had a journal. It was… very important to us." Arthur said as he found the journal in Francis' pocket. With Francis dead, this journal was Arthur's last hope of getting back home.
"Help!" Lee suddenly called out. Arthur looked to Lee who was looking at someone in the distance. "There's… There's been a shooting!" The figure looked like a little girl, and she wasn't one of those strange man-eating folks as she didn't come towards them. Instead, she ran the other direction.
The sound of groaning reaches their ears, looking up Arthur saw more of those strange man-eating folks come down from the highway. "Shit, they must have heard the gunshots…" Arthur took a wild guess, they couldn't return for Francis' car, there was too many of them. That car had all their food supplies, Arthur had his backpack that carried some clothes, and some water bottles and ammo but that was it. Arthur also had ammo in his bun belts, but there wasn't enough to take out these bastards.
Pulling out his hunting knife, Arthur ran it through one of the man-eating people's head. "Run!" Arthur shouted as Lee dropped the shotgun, and ran in the direction he had seen the little girl. Arthur followed, but picked up the shotgun as they ran. It didn't have many slugs left, but it was still something.
Since Lee was limping, Arthur made sure not to run too fast and stayed behind him. On their way, more of these man-eating folks came out from the woods. "Shit! Shit! The fence! Go for the fence!" They saw a tall wooden fence in front of them, and quickly moved towards it. "Here! Climb you bastard!" Arthur offered support to Lee, by giving him a boost over the fence. Arthur quickly followed, narrowly dodging one of the strange man-eating people trying to grab his leg as he went over the fence.
Lee crawled on the ground away from the fence, and Arthur had the shotgun pointed at the fence in case one of those things came over. Although, these strange creatures didn't seem to be able to climb the fence. As they just kept banging against it while growling like wild animals. Suddenly, distant gunfire echoed, probably from the highway. And it seemed to draw the attention of these man-eating people.
"They are attracted to sound…" Arthur mumbled in a whisper tone, not wanting to risk them coming back this way.
Taking a look around, Arthur and Lee were in the backyard of a house. Arthur looked at a tree in the center of the backyard, with a treehouse on it. "Maybe these people can help us?" Lee suggested as he made his way towards the house.
"Maybe… Maybe not." Arthur remained cautious.
Lee slides open the sliding door to the house, and walks in. "Hello? We're not burglars! We just need some help!" Arthur wonders if he should hang back, seeing as he has a shotgun in hand. Lee suddenly said while inside. "These people may need more help than we do." Arthur then walked in to see for himself. A pool of blood by the kitchen.
"You might be right there…" Taking a look around, Arthur found some photographs of a family. A photo of the family, a married couple and their daughter. "Shit, poor folks." Arthur looked at a few framed pictures of child's handprints, and a few drawings signed with "Clementine".
"Found anything?" Arthur not wanting to think what might have happened to this family, asks Lee who is standing over an answering machine. Pressing the button the machine began playing messages.
Arthur had no idea what several of these machines were, but he didn't bother asking what they were as it wouldn't matter to him in the long run anyway. Once Lee was safe, Arthur would try to make his way back to the highway, take Francis' car and continue his journey to find the rock carvings to go back to 1899. Hopefully Francis journal had notes that would help Arthur on his journey.
"Message, left at 5:43 PM." A robotic voice came from the answering machine. "Hey, Sandra, this is Diana. We're still in Savannah. Ed had a little incident with some crazy guy near the hotel, so we had to get him back to the ER and have it checked out. Anyway, he's not feeling well enough to drive back tonight, so we're staying an extra day. Thanks so much for looking after Clementine, and I promise we'll be back in time before your spring break!"
At hearing the message, Lee looked a little saddened at the situation as most likely these people ran into those man-eating things. Arthur however, silently continued to look around for anything useful.
"Message, left at 11:19 PM." The answering machine continued to play the next message. "Oh, my God, finally! I don't know if you tried to reach us; all the calls are getting dropped. They're not letting us leave and aren't telling us anything about Atlanta. Please, please, just leave the city and take Clementine with you back to Marietta. I've got to get back to the hospital. Please let me know that you're safe." The woman sounded distressed, and the sound of her frightened voice had Arthur and Lee both pause.
"Message, left at 6:51 AM." The machine began playing its final message. "Clementine? Baby, if you can hear this, call the police. That's 9-1-1. We love you… we love you… we love y—" The message suddenly cut, as the woman was sobbing with the sound of distant familiar groans and moans coming from the background.
Arthur sighed, as this confirmed pretty much that the parents of the little girl who lived here were dead. "Daddy?" The static voice of a little girl suddenly startled both Arthur and Lee. Going to the kitchen, Lee found a walkie-talkie in one of the cabinets. Of course, Arthur had no idea what it was.
Lee limped towards the sliding door, looking out in the backyard. "Hello?"
"You need to be quiet." The girl's voice responded from the walkie. Arthur cautiously walked up next to Lee.
"What's going on?" Arthur asked.
"The little girl who lives here… I think, she can see us from somewhere." Lee responded trying to look around outside. Lee spoke into the walkie to reassure the girl of one important thing. "We're not monsters."
"Good."
"What's your name?" Lee talked into the walkie.
"I'm Clementine. This is my house." With that, Arthur and Lee had at least confirmed it was the little girl who lived here.
"Hi, Clementine. I'm Lee. This is Arthur." Lee then continued with his questions. "Where are your parents?"
"They took a trip and left me with Sandra. They are in Savannah, I think. Where the boats are."
"Are you safe?" Lee continued to look around.
"I'm outside in my treehouse. They can't get in." Clementine said, Arthur and Lee looked towards the treehouse.
"That's smart." Lee complimented.
"See? Can you see me? I can see you two through the window." Looking up at the treehouse, they saw a young little girl with long curly hair wearing a baseball hat wave at them carefully. Lee responded with a wave back, and Arthur feeling a bit awkward in this situation gave a simple nod. "Ahhh!" Suddenly Clementine screamed in fright, and backed into her treehouse. Turning around quickly, Arthur and Lee came face to face with a dead girl.
"Shit!" Arthur grabbed the girl by the wrists, as she tried to grab onto them. With his overwhelming strength Arthur pushed her to the floor. Arthur quickly pulled out his hunting knife and stabbed it directly through her skull causing her to fall limb.
"Damn! You okay?" Lee asked looking near panic that the dead girl had managed to sneak up on them like that.
"Yeah, fine… Damn monster, snuck up on me." Arthur wiped away some blood splatter from his face. Turning around, they found the shaking Clementine standing by the sliding door with a hammer in hand. She had rushed down here to try and help them.
"Hi there…" Lee greeted her.
"Thanks, little lady, you saved us there." Arthur tried to seem as less scary as possible.
"Really?" Clementine asked as she slowly opened the sliding door.
"Yeah, had you not seen her. She might have taken a chunk out of me." Arthur's praise seemed to make Clementine happy that she was helpful to them.
"Did you kill it?" Clementine carefully asked as she approached her reanimated babysitter, laying there in a pool of blood with a knife sticking through her skull. "Yes." Arthur pulled the knife back, and cleaned it while Lee tended to Clementine.
"It's okay. I think she was a monster." Maybe Clementine said it to ease Arthur's mind, because killing a monster was genuinely a good thing, at least to a kid.
"Animal is more like it. A real monster… is something different entirely." Arthur sighed; he had seen a lot of men devolve into monsters. In some way, Arthur might view himself as more of a monster than these man-eating things.
"You've been all by yourself through this?" Lee asked the frightened little Clementine.
"Yeah. I want my parents to come home now." Arthur's heart nearly sank at hearing that, especially as Clementine's parents were most likely dead by now.
Lee didn't seem to have the heart to tell her either. "I think that might be a little while, you know?"
"Oh…" Clementine sounded saddened as she looked down.
"Look, I don't know what happened. But we'll look after you until then." At hearing this Arthur nearly spoke up about not getting him involved in all of this. But Arthur couldn't bring himself to say it.
Arthur took one look at Clementine, this little kid, this little girl who had lost everything. All alone, in this world with those things. With Francis now dead, Arthur had little to no idea how to get back home. He did have Francis' journal, but for all he knew he might not know how to work the time travel thing like Francis did. Seeing the plea of this little girl, who just wanted her parents to come home, and with Lee's leg being too injured to even run fast. Arthur couldn't do it. He couldn't bring himself to leave Clementine and Lee. At least, not right now. "Fuck…" Arthur groaned to himself.
That's the end for now!
Just a quick little authors note here, now I know that in the game verse of Telltale's TWD. That the apocalypse takes place in the year 2003 same as the comics. But for this story, I am possibly planning on including some elements from the tv show as well. So, for that I decided to basically have the apocalypse start in the year 2010, same as the tv show. I will also base the plot of this story around some choices I made while playing the game. And what I believe would have changed with someone like Arthur Morgan around. And in case some people can't tell, we start off with a high honor Arthur Morgan. But due to the nature of this apocalypse, Arthur's mentality will change as the story goes on.