Dead Frontier/Issue 92

This is Issue #92 of Dead Frontier, titled Home. This is the second issue in Volume 16.

Issue 92 - Home
"Your friend. He's here," Logan reports after nearly sprinting to the table.

"Wait, who?" Billie asks.

"The Pruitt guy. He came with some chick and this little girl."

"Holy shit. Screw the search party, then," Adam says as everyone rushes from the table and to the lobby. Cole has barely just entered the hotel, and the first person to tackle him with a hug is Adam. Kendra and Ivy still stand near the lobby doors as a guard bombards them with questions.

"It's fucking good to see you, man," Adam says. "Wasn't the same without you."

"Good to see you, too. Good to be back," Cole says, patting Adam on the back and feeling himself choke up at the sight of everyone.

"What the hell happened? How'd you get back?"

"Long story."

Chloe hugs him next, saying, "Finally something good happens."

"Sounds like I missed a lot," he says.

"A ton. But at least you're here and you're okay, for the most part it looks like."

Billie is next to get her hug, but she obviously doesn't realize the extent of Cole's injuries, and he ends up wincing. "Jesus, this is a hug; you're not supposed to hurt me," he says.

"Suck it up," she responds, smiling.

"That's kind of hard when you hug like a man."

"Cole, I think you can manage to be annoying in any situation."

"Sorry, I should work on that. It's good to see you."

"Ditto. Good work coming back in one piece," she says, patting him on the shoulders, just to make sure he's real.

And then he sees Lienne and Alec, immediately realizing they escaped Roxie's ambush unscathed. "Holy shit, you guys made it back," Cole says, hugging them both simultaneously.

"Yeah, man. Luckily," Alec says.

"Did--did Lucy--" But then he stops himself when he spots Lucy lingering in the cafeteria doorway, standing in a sort of frozen shock, not sure if what she's seeing is actually true. She'd nearly lost all hope, but there he is in front of her. Alive.

In just seconds they reach each other and embrace. "It's been a while," he says, pulling her as close to him as he possibly can.

"Just a few days. Longest few days of my life," Lucy replies. "I thought you were dead, Cole, you don't know how terrible that was."

"No, I'm here, not dead, all in one piece. Mostly. You've gotta have more faith in me, really," he says, breaking their hug.

"I do, but the chances of you making it back here were so...forget it. Forget it. You're here, and that's all that matters." She stops and finally gives him the kiss he's been waiting for, disregarding everything and everyone around them, completely lost in the fact that the odds just happened to be in their favor this time.

"She actually fixed you up pretty good," Chloe says after she applies the last small bandage to Cole's cheek. All the hugs and smiles from before are gone and he looks to be on the brink of complete exhaustion. Instead of responding to her question, he stares off into space, seemingly lost in his thoughts. Chloe waves her hand in front of his face, instantly snapping him back to reality.

"Huh, what?" he says.

"I said she actually fixed you up pretty good. That Kendra woman."

"Yeah."

"Are you...are you feeling okay? Not phyiscally, obviously, but is your mind...in the right place?"

"I'm not crazy, Chloe."

"No, I didn't say you are, but I'm just thinking this might be a lot for you to handle. Just look at you; your hands are shaking like crazy."

He hadn't noticed it before, but when he looks down, sure enough, his hands shake uncontrollably. "I haven't slept that well in the past few days...I'm just out of it. Being here's got me...it's got me not feeling right."

"I wouldn't expect you to," Chloe says. "Being a prisoner isn't an experience many people prepare for."

"It's not even that, weirdly. It's being here. Being back and seeing everyone. It's fucking terrible."

Chloe is completely caught off guard by his words and assumed he would feel the complete opposite after finally returning. "I'm not sure what you mean. It's terrible...seeing everyone again? I thought you wanted that," she says.

"I did, and I'm glad everyone that's okay is okay, but I'm not stupid. I realize that, probably, somewhere along the road, all these people I love and me are gonna die some terrible death. Especially with all this Roxie crap going on. If anything else happens I'll be surprised, honestly."

"Cole, you know it doesn't have to be like that."

"No, I'm done kidding myself. You should too, and so should everyone else. But all any of you want to do is cling on to this stupid hope shit and not learn your lesson when you're let down in the end. That's pretty much the formula for how the world works now."

"So you're giving up on everything, is that what you're saying?" Chloe asks.

"I'm just thinking like everyone else should because I'm not a fucking idiot." On that sour note, he stands and heads to the door, but before he leaves he adds, "And tell anyone that's looking for me to stop looking for me." And he exits, not even bothering to thank her for the bandages.

Chloe sits at the cafeteria counter across from Joe, who leans forward on the countertop, tapping his fingers on the surface. "He isn't too bad, is he?" Joe asks, regarding Chloe's recent visit with Cole to get him properly patched up.

"I don't know. He's got lots of bruises, scratches, a graze...that's all easy to deal with, you know that. He was being so different, though. I mean, I can understand why. Being taking prisoner and all that isn't fun, but he wouldn't even tell me what happened. It's like he's completely jaded."

"He may need time to get himself together or something or other."

"Maybe. I know him and know he's not someone that's just going to right out vent about this type of stuff, but I've never seen him like that."

"The way you're saying it's got me worried. What was he doing?" Joe asks.

"Okay, you saw when he came back and there were happy reunions and all that? He was smiling, happy, whatever? It was like...a switch turned off as soon as he got to the infirmary. No more smiles or anything." She explains to Joe as best as she can Cole's odd behavior: the shaking, the ranting, the vacant look. "I talked to Lucy, and she told me that as soon as he left the infirmary, she tried to talk to him, but he completely shut her down. Billie and Adam, too."

Joe frowns. "Now that's really not right," he says. "What if I take a crack at it, what do you think?"

Chloe shrugs and says, "Go for it. No harm done, I guess. I think he's in his room. But Joe, if he gets really weird or hostile or anything, don't prod him. Do you know what I mean?"

"Yeah, I won't push it, you don't have to worry."

Joe gives a timid knock on Cole's door, but it's enough to cause some movement inside the room. He hears a chair being pushed in, then the shuffling of feet as Cole approaches the door.

"What?" Cole asks from inside.

"It's--uh--it's me. Joe. You pretty much ran off as soon as you got here, and I wanted to see how you're doing. If that's okay with you, of course," Joe says, and Cole sighs as he reluctantly opens the door. To Joe, Cole looks absolutely dreadful, as if all the energy he has has been completely drained from his body. He leans against the doorframe, looking at Joe stoically.

"I would be doing a lot better if I could get some rest," Cole says.

Joe nods. "I know, I can take a hint. I'm just...I'm not even a hundred percent sure what my purpose is for being here honestly, 'cause I know my chances of--of cheering you up are probably slim to zero, but frankly Cole, your friends are so happy to see you. Ecstatic. And after thinking you were dead somewhere for two days, they wanna spend some time with you. Not talk about whatever the hell happened but celebrate that, ya know, you're here and alive. No serious injuries. And let me remind you, your lady lost her father just a few days ago; let me tell you, you are one of the only people she really wants some kind of support from. And...and you want to rest, I get that, but after what Chloe told me I don't want you to become some...moody jerk. Like that Jake kid. God forgive me but that kid is a jerk if I've ever seen one. I get it, his mother--"

"Okay, Joe. Whatever you say," Cole says calmly and he begins to close the door. But he's taken aback when Joe forcibly stops it from closing with his hand.

"Okay, I'll let you go, stop bugging you, once I know you really heard what I said," Joe declares.

"I was fucking standing right here. I heard you."

"No, you're not understanding me. I don't want another good person doing a 180 because of everything this world did to them. I've seen it too much, and it's the worst. And you've got so much to live for, I don't want it to happen to you, too. So before I go, I need to know that you really heard and understand what I said to you."

"I heard you, and I understand what you said," Cole says, struggling to keep his voice as calm as possible. Because he can see that Joe cares, and yelling at the old man is the last thing he wants to do. "But can you spread the message that I don't want anyone else knocking on my door? Thank you." And he closes the door on Joe's face, not giving him even a second to respond.

"Well, alright then," Joe mutters to himself and, having no other choice, he sighs and proceeds down the corridor.

Kendra and Ivy sit across from Griffin in what was formerly Alexander's office, both of them exhausted and a bit shaken from the situation with those two strangers begging for food.

"Okay, so, you live at a school, you took your daughter outside the walls for a quick little supply run, you got ambushed by bandits, you escaped, you found Mr. Pruitt, and now you're here. Is this the story?" Griffin says.

"Yes, that's the story," Kendra says.

"Alright. But I have a question for you."

"What?"

"If this girl is eleven, and you have--how many people did you say you have at that school?"

"Around 75. 80."

"And you have 75 to 80 people there, why is she the one going out?" Griffin asks.

"Because everyone at the school is learning how to defend themselves, some way. We're having hard times over there. Really hard times. The more hands we have capable of doing something the better."

"What, are you low on food? What's the problem?"

"Some crazy lady is trying to take all of our stuff," Ivy blurts out, but Kendra doesn't chastise her.

"That's the simplest explanation," Kendra adds.

At the mention of a 'crazy lady' the gears begin turning in Griffin's head, and he shoots up straight in his seat, slightly startling Ivy and Kendra. "Crazy lady? You're serious?" he asks.

"Yeah..." Kendra replies.

"Does she have a name, this crazy lady?"

"She goes by Roxie."

"Excuse my language young lady, but holy shit. We've got the same problem. Same woman, same goal is to take our supplies as far as we know."

"Is she the reason behind that ambush Cole was talking about?"

"Yeah, that was her. Has she ever attacked your school or anything?"

"No," Kendra says. "We've pretty much met all of her demands up to this point. Now that we know what she does, I'm not really sure if we should stop doing that."

"Maybe you can," Griffin says. "What about this: tomorrow, let me talk to whoever leads you guys. You can stay here for the night, and we'll head out in the morning with some other people."

"We can stay here?" Ivy asks.

"Yeah," Griffin replies with a grin. "You'll get a bed, food, your own room. You did help one of our own, you know."

"That's so cool. We should bring everyone from Lane here, mom. We have to sleep on air mattresses over there, it sucks."

"It's only for a day, remember that," Kendra says, and she looks to Griffin: "Thank you. We really appreciate it."

Having agreed to give Roxie anything she asks for, Hiro has since been transferred from the room bordered with infected. He's well aware it's just his brain playing tricks on him, but it's still as if he can hear them groaning.

The room he resides in now is completely empty, silent, and boring, and he sits in a cold corner. He can't gauge how long he's been here, but eventually the door opens and Roxie is in his presence once again; however, this time she's brought along a friend in the form of an infected...on some type of chained leash. Hiro backs into the corner as far as he can at the sight of it, but Roxie inches it a little closer to him. "So, Kamura," she says over the infected's growls, "this should go smoothly, right? Since you did promise me you'll tell me whatever I want."

A promise he doesn't plan on keeping, but he had to say something to get out of that room.

"Okay, whatever!" he shouts.

"Alright. What do you have up your sleeve?"

"What?"

"The hotel. I'm not dumb; what are you planning to do? Are you gonna...get back at me? Planning an attack? What is it?"

"N-nothing, there's nothing," Hiro says. "As far as I know, we haven't planned anything. Or I haven't been told anything, I don't know."

"Then why did Hector tell me something different a few weeks ago?"

Hector hesitates and he hopes it wasn't conpletely noticable, but he continues: "We're not--we don't have anything planned against you."

"Yet I was told there were some of you that really wanted to take me down. How's that going?" And, just to tease him, she walks a few inches forward with the leashed infected, and it reaches out to Hiro, only a few feet from being able to scratch him.

"It's not going because I don't know what you're talking about!" he shouts, looking to his right to avoid staring the infected in the face.

Very doubtful that Hector lied to her, she realizes Hiro probably wasn't a participant in whatever ideas there were to get rid of her. But that doesn't mean she can't use him. "Okay, then. I believe you," she says, and he's actually surprised. "But I have an offer for you."

"Just fucking let me go. I don't want to hear about any offers.."

"You listen to my offer, and you accept it, or I feed you to this thing," she threatens. "Don't know if you noticed, but this is the same one that ate Hector. And he's still hungry." Almost as if to support that fact, the infected growls at him, bits of dirt and blood from its disgusting mouth landing on Hiro's jacket. "Is that clear?"

Hiro takes a few long seconds to respond but eventually replies, "Yeah."

"Okay, good." Roxie yanks on the infected's leash and Hiro breathes a sigh of relief now that the thing is out of his face. "Alright, Hiro, with Hector gone, I need a replacement."

"What? No, fuck that," he says immediately.

"Excuse me?"

"You want me to be your little lap dog and report to you? No. No way."

Roxie nearly chuckles at his response. "You're honestly not necessary, Hiro. Having you on my side would just make things easier for me. But I think I can work around not having a rat."

Hiro finally makes the bold decision to turn and look at her for the first time since she's entered, trying his best to ignore the infected. "So I'm disposable now?" he asks. "You're gonna kill me, is that it?"

"Pretty much. Unless you want to change your mind."

"Fuck you. You've done enough--more than enough--and no one at the Hyatt's gonna let you off easy. Remember that."

"Harsh words. And it's a shame you had to lie to me," she says with a small shrug. "Another to add to my collection, then." And she releases her grip on the leash, allowing the infected to lunge at Hiro.

After a ride that lasted much too long, Stephanie and Mae make their return to Lane Tech with their new friend, Duke, in the backseat. Through the darkness, Duke can see the brick building loom over the parking lot, its size a little intimidating. Mae drives around a gate that's currently in construction, and parks her Trans Am next to a selection of other vehicles in the lot.

"Come on. We've gotta sneak you in," Stephanie says to Duke.

"Sneak me in? Why?" he asks.

"Nico isn't a big fan of letting people in anymore," Mae explains.

"And you two don't agree with that."

"Exactly. So let's go."

Just as a precaution, they check Duke again for any possible weapons and order him to walk ahead, leading him verbally to the back doors. They enter the school through the back and traverse the dark hallways to the room that acts as the infirmary. It's the middle of the night, so they don't see a soul along the way.

"Should I get Nico?" Mae asks as Duke sits on one of the infirmary beds.

Stephanie thinks for a little, then responds, "No, not yet. He'll be pissed enough if we wake him up. We'll talk to him when he's in a good mood."

"Alright, whatever you say. I'm going to bed." Mae waves to both of them and heads to her room.

"Okay, I have no medical experience whatsoever, and our doctor is probably sleeping so...here you go," Stephanie says, and she throws Duke a first aid kit. Even in his condition, he manages to catch it.

"Thanks. Real nice to know I'm in good hands," he responds sarcastically.

"So you would rather be out there in the snow?"

"I would rather be back at the Hyatt, but this is good, too."

"Is that place really as good as you say?" she asks, and she takes a seat on the nearby countertop.

"Pretty damn good. Besides all the Roxie bullshit. Is this place really as bad as you say?"

"Okay, it's not bad. It could be better, that's all. It's definitely not a five star hotel."

"Doesn't look like it, either. No offense to you. This Nico dude, how's he?"

"Good guy, mostly. Now he's got a stick up his ass after some guy we took in almost killed a few people. Including his daughter. Doesn't want to let people join anymore, but you're like, the third person this month I've brought here. It takes a little arguing but he usually ends up letting them in."

"That's nice of you."

"Guess so. But you can't let one asshole automatically make everyone an asshole."

"You should stitch that on a pillow. Real profound," he jokes, and she chuckles.

"You've got a lot of jokes for someone who's apparently hurt. So how about you fix yourself up and I go to sleep."

"So you're just gonna leave me here by myself? That's a lot of trust you're puttin' in a stranger."

"Oh, I'm actually locking you in here," she says. "Still, you're a good guy, I can tell. See you tomorrow."

She starts to walk to the door, but he calls out, "What if I get hungry? Or thirsty? "

"Then...I would suggest not thinking about pizza, or a nice juicy burger and fries and a Coke."

"Damn, that's cruel. The lowest of the low, for real," he says, shaking his head.

She smiles and says, "Good night, Duke." She leaves the infirmary, closes the door, and grabs the chain that lies through the handles of the double doors. She connects the two ends, effectively locking Duke inside, and tugs on the chain once, just to make sure it's sturdy.

In her newly assigned room at the Hyatt, Kendra collapses onto the couch, relishing in its comfort. Ivy sits cross legged on the nearby coffee table, nearly as exhausted as her mother is. "So, how's the couch?" Ivy asks.

"Amazing," Kendra mumbles, and she sits up straight, patting the cushion to her right. "Try it."

Ivy plops down next to her. "Woah. So soft."

Kendra notcies the unusual dullness in Ivy's tone, so she puts an arm around her shoulders. "What's the matter with you? You okay?" Kendra asks. Ivy suddenly wriggles from Kendra's embrace and turns her body on the couch, so she's facing her mother.

"How come you killed those two people?" Ivy asks.

Kendra sighs, not surprised by her usual bluntness. "Because they were going to steal our stuff and our car," Kendra explains.

"Well, we technically stole that stuff and the car, too," Ivy counters.

"But we...Ivy, they were threatening. And we needed that car if we wanted to get anywhere safe. We would've been stranded in the cold."

"But you didn't have to shoot them in the face."

"Ivy," Kendra says in a warning tone.

"We could've found another car, or walked, Mom," Ivy says, her voice rising against her will. "What if they were just really desperate? What if they were trying to get to somewhere safe, too?! You can't just kill people! And then you act like it's not even a big deal when it is!"

"It was freezing, and the chances of finding another car..." Kendra begins, but then she sighs. "I'm not arguing with you, and you're not raising your voice at me again, do you hear me? We're not talking about it anymore." The way she says it, Ivy knows the issue is put to rest.

"Whatever," Ivy mumbles, and she stomps off to the other room, wiping a few tears from her face.

"Ivy, you better stop walking away. Listen to me one last time."

Ivy reluctantly stops in the doorway and turns to Kendra, impatiently waiting for her to continue. "I don't want to think about what would've happened if we were stranded out there without food, or a car," Kendra says. "And sometimes, you just have to do things to protect yourself. But I did that to protect you. I wish I didn't have to but I did, and I'm sorry you had to see. Please don't think I'm the bad guy for this, Ivy." She finds herself tearing up at the possibility of her own daughter viewing her as some sort of monster. That's the last thing she wants, and the thought of it coming true is almost unbearable.

"You're not the bad guy. But what you did wasn't right and you know it, too," Ivy says, and Kendra doesn't have a response. "I'm going to bed. Night, Mom. Love you."