The Dead World/Issue 87

Sitting beside Will's bed in the med tent, Bella smiled to herself as she watched him sleep. Annie who was currently laying in her own tent reading some book had told her that Will would be waking up soon which was why she was smiling. However Bella still couldn't help but keep thinking to what Karen had said to her earlier.

"we shouldn't have come here....we done better on our own"

In a way Karen was right. They had done well on their own, having to only look out for each other and they only lost people when they had run ins with Riley and his group but they still had the problem of food which they didn't have here.

Not to mention how cold it was, thankfully they had the warmness from the tents and the RV to keep them away from the cold, although it still seemed like that when ether things got good they just lost more people.

Maybe she was completely right, they were better on the road....

However her thoughts were interrupted when Will suddenly let out a groan and she turned her attention back to him, smiling even more as she saw him get up rubbing his head, obviously having a headache.

Turning around, Bella was about to call Annie and tell her Will was awake but found her fast asleep which made her stifle a laugh before she turned back to Will and gently rubbed his head to let him know she was there.

"good to see your finally awake" Bella commented but all she got from him was a sigh as he finally looked up to her once all his dizziness had gone.

"how long was I out of it?" Will asked and Bella shrugged in thought for a moment before answering.

"couple of hours, nearly a day I suppose" Bella answered biting her lip as she wasn't sure which caused Will to groan as he put his head back down on the pillow, they both knew he remembered what he had done.

He couldn't believe it, he knew he held so much anger inside of him but what he did was brutal and he knew the people were probably wary of him now. He had probably screwed it all up for his group now.

"don't worry, most of the residents understand what you did and the whole Frank/Bradley situation is all resolved now, its back to normal" Bella commented as if she had been reading his thoughts causing him to look up surprised at her.

"its all sorted?" Will asked and Bella nodded smiling at him causing him to smile in turn now knowing that the situation had been resolved before he started getting up much to her protests that he wasn't well enough yet but he felt fine now.

After a few moments of silence where Bella helped Will up and he took a quick pace around the tent to test that he was alright to walk which he was he turned to her with a huge grin on his face.

"well since everything is fine now, wanna take a walk into the woods?" Will suggested making her raise an eyebrow playfully as she looked at him.

"William Hayes, are you asking me out on a date?" she asked in return in a fake playful voice causing him to stick out his tongue as he walked back to his bed and grabbed his jacket, slipping it on.

"come on, we could do with a good old talk with each other" Will stated and after they shared a look she pretended to sigh as she wrapped her arm In his, smiling inwardly as she knew she had her friend back.

"if I have to" she finally commented and sharing a laugh they exited the tent to go get their weapons first.

A little while later the two of them were walking through the woods, Will with his crossbow and Bella with her machete and at first they walked in silence, a comfortable silence though. It was how they liked to be sometimes.

"you know I thought you'd be giving me questions by now to see if I still have my humanity or something" Will asked turning to give her his childish smile while she just shook her head and turned to face away from him, he needed no encouragement.

However when she turned her face away she noticed that down a ditch was a massive mud like lake but this wasn't what caught her attention, she knew it had been raining heavily lately probably due to the cold and this must've formed during that heavy rain.

What DID catch her attention was that a zombie was currently trapped in the mud desperately trying to reach at nothing for food and she could tell that it wouldn't ever be able to get free any time soon.

Smiling as she turned to look at Will she could tell he had saw the same thing and she had gotten an idea which made him raise an eyebrow but before he could ask she answered the question.

"you want me to get you to prove your humanity is still there? put that zombie down" she stated making him close one eye in thought as he looked at her then the zombie confused.

"and how am I meant to do that, if I go down there i'll get stuck in the mud and I haven't brought my pistol" Will stated but when he turned back to look at her he saw her gesture to his arrows making him sigh.

"you do know how hard it is to get these and I just cant make them out of thin air" Will stated but she just shrugged before giving him the "puppy eyes" making him growl as he faced away from her and herself to smirk. She had him just where she wanted him.

"alright but if I miss I aint using another arrow, ok?" Will asked her and she nodded taking a step back as he took his crossbow off his shoulder and loaded an arrow into it muttering at how it was a waste of an arrow.

Eventually he finished loading it in and crouched down as he took aim at the zombie, carefully lining it up in position before he had it directly lined up to the zombies head and fired.

The two then watched as the arrow went flying through the air and eventually got stuck into the zombies skull, putting an end to its miserable existence and ending its "pain". After seeing this Bella gave him a thankful smile and rubbed his shoulder to show it meant a lot to her but he just shrugged and continued walking.

Secretly he didn't mind doing what she asked as long as he didn't completely run out of arrows. He rarely used them all anyway, he was just happy to know she fully trusted him now.

Now returning to walking, the two were lost in a funny conversation about this time Bella had completely scared her superior officer back at the air force base which was making them both laugh loudly.

"so yeh I was just working on the plane but it just wouldn't start and he kept going on and on at me, you know how you sergeants usually do" Bella commented and Will nodded laughing slightly more so she continued.

"well finally I just snapped and turned around to look at him with a full glare and shouted "just shut up and let me do my work or i'll have your hand cut off by the damn choppers"" she stated in a fake angry tone which made them both burst out laughing even more.

However Will soon noticed something on the ground and raised his hand to silence her which she quickly did looking around to see why he was so serious all of a sudden but she couldn't see anything.

"what is it?" Bella asked as Will crouched down to examine whatever It was but he didn't answer so she sighed and kneeled down next to him, seeing that he was looking at a animal trap in front of him.

"its just an animal trap, what's so special?" Bella asked but all he did was examine some markings on the side, running his fingers along it since it was safe due to the trap already being sprung on a poor squirrel.

"its not just an animal trap, you remember them traps in the woods back in GeorgeTown?" Will asked and she nodded slowing not liking the way this was going, they all knew them traps were Riley's bandits....

"well, this one has the exact same markings...." Will told her causing her to sigh and put her head in her hands, thinking for a few minutes before she finally looked up to him again with a sad expression.

"let me guess you think its Riley?" Bella asked but he shook his head, getting up as he grabbed is crossbow off his shoulder again and loading it, getting ready for trouble.

"I know its him" Will finally responded as the two of them looked around the woods keeping an eye out for their enemy while Bella took the squirrel out of the trap smiling a little at how they managed to get food but not a lot due to their situation.

"lets go back to camp then" Bella commented and Will nodded in agreement before the two walked back down the path to camp, not really wanting to have another run in with Riley the bandit just yet.

However the two of them failed to notice that the whole thing had been set up as a trap and that hiding in the bushes was a Mohawk haired man who was currently grinning as he watched them go, now he knew for sure that he could have his revenge. Finally he spoke up with an cold voice.

"looks like I'm moving in...."