UFSW Survivor/Issue 4

This is the fourth issue of UFSW Survivor. It is written by Maxwestt.

Issue 4
Three days had passed since the council. The mood in the Green Team was still good. Joel was out hunting with Jay. The two of them seemed to get along, even though they had a huge age difference.

Jay was asking questions about Joel’s life. “So, gramps, were you a….. salesman?” Jay grinned at Joel, who only peered back at him. “I mean, I can totally picture you with a suit and a case..”

Joel shook his head. “Not gonna tell son, doesn’t matter now anyway. I mean I could ask you about stuff but it won’t make a difference.” Jay’s face turned form a grin to a serious look in an instant. “Ok, then not. Fine by me.” He looked through a space between two trees. He then spotted a small rabbit. “Holy shit!”

Joel slapped him on the head. He had too seen the rabbit. “Shut your mouth boy and grab a gun. We’ll circle around it, you go left I go right.” Jay nodded. He knew when to give in to the orders of the old man. He took a few steps to the left, trying to stay as quiet as possible. But as he took another step, he stepped on a small twig. The rabbit jumped away at the sound. Joel sighed. “Well, better luck next time.” Both his face and his eyes spoke otherwise. They spoke of hunger.

The mood in the Red Team was a lot worse. Even though they were almost unanimous in voting on Keith, some of the members got some regrets. Gwen got over it really fast, but Bobby and Ken were still struggling with it.

“I mean, I know he was a dick and all, but we basically killed him back there by voting for him, you know. It just doesn’t feel right.” Bobby sighed. They’d had this conversation countless times, but they still felt bad.

Ken put a hand on his shoulder. “You know, I’ve thought about it a lot, and I’m just gonna say it. I think we did the best thing. I mean, it could’ve been anyone, y’know? It could’ve been me, or even more you. We’re still alive right now, and that’s what counts.” Ken stared at Bobby. “And besides, I think you’ve got it better than Peter. The poor guy couldn’t even decide who to vote on.”

Peter was sitting a small corner playing with some old toy. Ever since the council he had been detached from all the others. He wasn’t sure how to feel about all this survival. He didn’t want anyone to die, that’s why he didn’t vote. But that also worked against him; he now had a black vote.

Peter lifted his head to look around the warehouse. Gwen and Yuri were playing a small game and Ken and Bobby were chatting. Somehow, Peter felt left out. Untill Ken shouted for them. “Yo, guys, news, another letter."

Maria had also found the letter and was busy reading it to all of her teammates.

“I know it’s a little sooner than excpected, but please meet me at the ‘Sunshine Meadow’ area. I’ve got something fun for you.

Sincirely, The Host”

Liza grunted. “Something fun, huh? Like last time, when I almost broke my fucking ankle? That was fun.”

A little laugh went around the group. These sort of jokes helpt them deal with everything coming at them. It helped them move on.

Lienne was the first to speak again “Well, let’s get ready. It can’t be good, if it’s from Host. Just remember, it’s us versus them.”

Everyone nodded while looking at each other. They then went around grabbing their gear and their personal belongings, how few there were.

Red Team was the first to arrive at the housing complex. The gate was opened for them when they arrived.

They walked through the main street of the walled neighbourhood. They were suprised to see not a single walker around them. Before long, they heard more footsteps, and, as they turned around, they spotted the Green Team.

The members of the green team halted before the red team. After a quick look, they noticed something off. Jay was the first to speak.

“Hey, you’re…. only with 5. Where’s the loud guy.. Keith was it?” Jay checked again to see if he was right. He indeed was, there only were 5 people on the red team. Red team stayed silent, untill Gwen spoke up. “We had to go to council, and choose one person to die. We chose him.”

There went almost a collective gasp through the green team. “He.. died?” Lienne put her hand in front of her mouth to cover up her astounishment. “Did you see him die?”

Peter looked up with a grim look on his face. “We saw him get stabbed by Host.” Joel’s hands were balled into fists. “I knew that guy was trouble. The way he just threw that blondie in that pit, without any remorse, and now this? This can’t go on any longer, we have to stop it soon.”

Yuri stepped up. “Whoa whoa, what’re you saying? That we should kill him? He’s also a person!” She looked around the two groups of people for bystanders, but found nothing.

Bobby was the next to speak up. “It’s kill or be killed, just like with these infected. He’s no different, he’s even worse.” Yuri wanted to rebuttal again, but they heard a slow clap forming behind them. In the distance, The Host could be seen clapping and waving for them. They proceeded to walk to him.

“Thank you for coming here on such short notice. Today we’re going to do something a bit different. Look around you, there are over 100 houses in this area. You’re each going to pick one, go in, and retrieve as many tokens as you can find. The person with the most tokens, wins! Simple, no?”

He looked around to the group in front of him. One spoke up. “So, whoever loses goes to council?”

Host shook his head. “No, today’s not about council. Today’s winner,” He said as he dug into his pocket and retrieved three small silver bullets, “ will get these.” A collective gasp went through the contestants. They didn’t know what the silver bullets did, but they knew they were important. Jay spoke up. “So, what do those even mean? I mean we saw them before.”

Host raised an eyebrow. “Didn’t I explain? Bad Host, bad. Well, allow me. These silver bullets, I like to call ‘jokers’. With jokers, you can neglect one vote cast on you in a council. They are the opposite of black votes, which Peter can tell you all about. Everyone understood?”

Everyone nodded here and there. Host smiled again. “Good. Now, pick out a house, and let’s begin!”

Jay waited impatiently for the bullhorn to ring. He wanted to start as soon as possible. He wanted those bullets. He allready had two, but three more would make him almost invincible.

Next to Jay Peter was checking the front door of his own house. He could hear no infected, which calmed him down a little. He never was very good with those. Maria, Hope and Ken had picked three joining houses a little down the street. They too were nervous and avoided each other’s gazes.

Yuri, Liza, Bobby and Gwen picked houses near the northern wall of the neighbourhood. They could all see each other.

Lienne and Joel were more scattered around the remaining of the neighbourhood. All were waiting for the bullhorn to sound.

They could all hear the screams of The Host. “ALRIGHT PEOPLE, WE’RE STARTING IN 3..”

Maria took her stand for sprinting. Peter grabbed the door’s handle.

“2…”

Bobby took a few deep breaths before looking at the door. Lienne was turning around to look for any weapons.

“1…”

Hope took the door handle as she held her pipe up high. Jay moved his hand.

The bullhorn horned.

The game had started.

Liza almost kicked in the front door when it wouldn’t open the first time she tried. However, she took a depp breath and tried again. This time it opened. The door gave way to a small hallway with stairs to her right and a door to her left. She tried the door. There she found a living room, with a maimed infected’s hand on the coffee table.

Liza almost puked as she took the hand from the table, but she was sure this was what she was looking for. Making her way to the close kitchen, she found another on the handle of the fridge. This one was missing two fingers.

Maria stormed up the stairs to the second floor of the big house. At the top, she found two hand joined in a handshake laying on the blood-covered ground. She scooped them up as she opened the first door to meet her. Inside was a small bathroom, with a hand laying in both the sink and the toilet. Maria held her breath and plunged her arm into the toilet bowl.

As Peter turned a corner with three hands in his pockets, not including his own, she spotted another hand on the door to a bedroom. As he tried to take its fungers off the knob, he could hear growling from the other side of the door.

“Gwaaarg!”

As Peter tried to jump back, he hit the wall with his head and slumped to the floor. The growling grew louder and became mixed with the sound of a door opening. The infected stumbled out of the room and reached for Peter’s foot.

As Peter tried to run away his foot got caught in a hole in the carpet. He fell to the floor again and this time the infected grabbed his foot.

Peter desperately looked for a weapon, before he remembered the kitchen knife he had picked up earlier. He crouched forward a little bating the infected to his shoed foot. As it tried to bite in his foot, Peter stabbed the infected in the head with the knife.

He stood back up again. He’d lost a lot of valuable time. But looking down at the infected, he realised he had also found two more hands.

Bobby almost let his hand fall out of his arms, he couldn’t even carry them anymore. He was sure he had at least ten, though he hadn’t counted. He saw one more lying on a lone bed covered in blood. He reched down for it, but suddenly felt a tug on his leg. The tug made him lose his balance and fall to the floor. He got up quick however and collected his hands, not even bothering to look where the tug was coming from.

Yuri picked up her ninth hand disgusted. She hadn’t got used to this, but she had to press on. If she wanted to win, she had to pursue. She spotted her tenth hand out of the corner of her eye, hanging from the celing fan. She quickly shoved a chair under the fan and stepped on it, reaching for the hand.

The bullhorn sounded again.

As she touched the hand, Yuri felt the chair slip from the floor, and before she knew is, she lay face-first in on the floor of the house, which was now being speckled by tiny drops of blood. Yuri felt at her nose and could feel the blood coming from it. She cursed a little inside before regaining her hands and walking out the door, head bent low.

“That 7… 8… 9… and 10. Ten hands for Jay. Good work. You’re shared in the lead.” Jay smiled. He’d have a shot. However, there were 6 more people to go. Lienne, Gwen, Peter, Bobby, Liza and Hope all still waited on their results. Hope walked up with a small smug face, showing off her 10 hands to everyone. That put her in the lead together with Jay, Maria, Yuri and Ken. Joel was only 1 hand behind at 9.

Next came Peter. He laid down his 11 hands. The five others suddenly looked a little bit crestfallen.

Liza came around with only 7 hands. She hadn’t done as good as the rest. The Host noticed that. “Well, Liza, not so good this time around. You’re lucky there aren’t any consequences.” Liza merely nodded shyly.

Gwen also laid out 11 hands, putting her in the lead with Peter. The two exchanged smiles, but those vanished as quickly as they came when Bobby counted his hands out loud. He had gotten 12.Host smiled brightly. “Very good, very good Bobby. Please, come stand here next to me. Let’s look at our last competitor together.”

Bobby hesitated, but eventually walked up to The Host slowly. In his hand, his pocket blade glistered. Joel could see the blad but kept silent.

Host continued. “So, only one person left. Lienne, please, show us your hands.” He chuckled about his own little joke. Nobody dared to move.

Lienne walked up, her tiny arms full of rotten hands. She dropped them all in front of Host, who counted out loud. “10.. 11.. 12, and, looks like we have a winner, with thirteen hands! Good job Lienne.”

Lienne was smiling, even though her situation was hardly smilable. But she had won, she’d get the bullets.

Bobby looked very disappointed, but when Host spoke up again, he lifted his head nontheless and congratulated Lienne with all the others. “Now, let’s not forget our runner-up, Bobby. Here, catch.” And like a miracle Bobby had also recieved a silver bullet. He stared at it with passion.

Host chuckled He liked to see that, that slimmer of hope. For now. “And, our winner, Lienne! Well done girl. Here, catch.” He threw her the remaining two bullets.

“Now, everyone get some rest, and I’ll see you again in two days. You’ll get a map with instructions. Now, have a good night’s rest. See you in two days. And with that, he vanished again.