Dead Frontier/Issue 74

This is a preview for Issue #74 of Dead Frontier by Walkerbait22, titled ''Animus. This is the second issue of 'Volume 13. '''The entire issue is planned to be posted the week of May 13, 2013.

Issue 74 - Animus (Preview)
Alexander impatiently rises from his couch when he hears rapid knocking on his door. When he opens it, he’s surprised to see Cole standing in the corridor, hands and clothing caked with blood, his face fixed into a pleading expression.

“What happ--” Alexander begins.

“I need you to forget any of the issues we had before,” Cole says. “Everything. Whatever opinions I had about you, I don’t care about any of that. In a week, Marsh has fucked up everything, everything you started here and anything you dreamed of building. I know we had some problems and disagreements or whatever, but you’re not a psychopath. Not like him.”

“....Okay. Calm down. Come inside.” Alexander coaxes him into his room and leads him to a seat at the dining table.

“I’m sorry for--for poking around where I didn’t belong and whatever else you’re pissed at me about. I don’t care. But you’re the person that founded this place; you need to lead it again. Because under Marsh, it’s not gonna last. I’ll support whatever you do, I’ll try to not to give you trouble, I’ll--I just need my friends to be safe. We’ll have no other choice but to leave and try the road again, as long as Marsh is here. I don’t want that.”

“So...” Alexander says, and he retrieves a water bottle from a cabinet under the sink, “you think Marsh is no good, too.”

“I’m pretty sure he just tried to assassinate me and five other people, one of which is dying as we speak. And you’ve figured out he killed...almost half of the people living here by letting the infected loose? Of course he’s no fucking good.”

“Assassinate you? Wait--you know about...about the infected?”

“That’s why we think he tried to take us out. To take out anyone that knew. So we’re dealing with him soon. Really soon. But once he’s gone, we need someone to take his place,” Cole says.

“And you’re asking me? Cole, these people here don’t even tolerate me anymore. I’m a Goddamn hermit in this room now. I--I can’t even leave without someone muttering insults under their breath, or...or looking at me like I’m the scum of the earth.”

“And you’re going to let that stop you? You’re going to let Marsh ruin all of this?”

Alexander sighs, and takes a seat across from Cole. He taps his fingers on the surface of the table. “So what are you suggesting we do?”

“We’re killing him. Tonight," Cole says.

“Bold.”

“There’s no other choice, as far as I’m concerned.”

“Maybe not,” Alexander says. “You’ve been a bit of an...annoyance since you’ve been here, but I never thought of you as the murderer type. Who’s doing the deed, then?”

“I am.”

“You?”

“Me.”