The Dead World/Issue 25

Lewis stood over Tyral's grave silent as he had his head bowed in respect. Lewis didnt really hate Tyral or find him annoying, he actually enjoyed him always cracking jokes and everyone else had realised that to. But it was too late for them to admit that to the man now, he was gone.

A few people were gone now.....

Looking to the graves of Connor, Faith and Josh, Lewis sighed to himself bowing his head again in memory. Two days before Will had come back from looking for the teenagers with Connor to tell the group that Connor had tried to kill him and take back the leadership of the group, they believed Will as they all knew they should have seen it coming.

Logan had also come back from his walk and also had brought back Aiden who revealed they had childishly gone out to have some fun in the woods where Faith had ended up being eaten by zombies but no one was annoyed with the kid, infact they felt sorry for him, losing his girlfriend only because they wanted alone time...

Will had taken over leadership after the whole group admited they wanted him to be leader, they'd gave him a choice but Will wanted to do what the group wanted and they wanted him as leader. They had made graves for the lost but Connor's was the only one with an actual body in it.

And now the group had finally got back into business of running the motel and felt like a group again.

Looking up to Tyral's grave again, Lewis finally spoke to it.

"I'll look after Bella, I promise" Lewis told the grave before stepping back and looking to all of the graves "rest in peace guys" Lewis told them before walking away heading back to the motel...

Sitting on the hood of Will's truck, Natasha sat looking at him as he leaned over looking at a map which he'd layed on the the hood next to Bella.

"i'm thinking we should try and go around the shop to avoid that herd we saw the last time" Will finally spoke up and Natasha couldnt help but smile before pointing out yet another flaw in his plan.

"what if its moved and you walk into it again?" Natasha responded and Will sighed before looking up at her and seeing her smile.

"i'm trying my best here" he said and Natasha laughed a little playfully bumping him with her leg.

"I know, here" Natasha said before sliding off the hood and standing next to him so she could point to the map "why dont you try a different approach...like on the rooftops?" Natasha said and Will narrowed his eyes at the map before looking to her again.

"do you want to be leader?" Will asked to which she laughed and pushed him lightly before seeing Lewis approach.

"oh look, your gonna be ok now, Lewis the right hand man is here to save the day" Natasha said in a fake swooning voice causing both of the men to laugh before she patted them both on the shoulders "right I believe its my gun lesson with Bella, wish me luck" she joked before waving as she jogged off to Bella's room.

Once she had gone Lewis turned to Will with a joking smile "so what did she come up with this time?" Lewis asked and Will chuckled before showing him the map.

"she suggested we take the roofs and then find our way into the buildings" Will said and Lewis nodded studying the map.

"so where do we go across the rooftops too?" Lewis asked and Will thought for a second before seeing a route they could take.

"what if, we go along these buildings here to the big shopping mall there" Will said pointing to each building "the buildings look close enough together so we could get to the shop" Will continued and Lewis agreed.

"so who should we take?" Lewis asked and Will looked up to the group "well apart from us the only one who is free and would be able to make a jump across buildings is Karen" Will said and Lewis nodded.

"i'll go and ask her" Lewis said before walking off leaving Will to look over the map in thought.

Standing in the woods, Natasha aimed her Colt Detective Special at a empty tin can that had been set up a little way forward. Biting her lip in concentration, Natasha got her gun steady before finally firing, nearly falling back at the force of the gun and watching as the bullet completely missed the can and hit a nearby tree.

"well at least you hit the tree behind it" Bella tried to supportively say but Natasha just sighed and put down her gun.

"I cant do this, i'm suprised I even managed to hit a target before" Natasha spoke and Bella thought for a moment before standing in front of her.

"let me guess, those were times when it was live or die yeh?" Bella asked her and Natasha nodded so Bella gave a smile before walking over to the can leaving a confused Natasha to stand there watching her.

"well then i'll tell you what i'm going to do" Bella said standing right next to the can "you are going to shoot the can but this time i'm gonna stand right next to it" she said shocking Natasha.

"what?!!! NO!!!" Natasha shouted at her and Bella laughed.

"Oh come on, its natural reflex you have, you can shoot, you just dont feel comfortable shooting when its not a life or death situation and thats why you miss" Bella explained but Natasha just sighed.

"come on, I trust you" Bella said before standing there with her eyes closed "anyway what kind of life is it without a little danger?" she asked rhetorically.

"a safe one....." Natasha mumbled to herself before taking in a deep breath and aiming her gun towards the can trying not to think about shooting Bella accidently. Clearing her mind as much as she can, Natasha slowly aimed at the can and swallowed hard before shooting.

Not even flinching when she heard the shot Bella waited until she heard the sound and soon enough she heard the tin can making a clinging noise once the bullet had hit it and also heard the can hit the ground before Natasha's little shout of joy went through the forest causing Bella to smile.

"see I told you you could do it" Bella said smiling as she opened her eyes and walked over to Natasha but her smile was nothing compared to the one Natasha had.

"I know! I feel so great now i've done it" Natasha said before laughing at herself at how she sounded like a child who had got the best chrismas present ever and Bella couldnt help but laugh with her, for once forgetting about how bad the world was.

Jumping from one roof to another, Will quickly looked around as he made sure his crossbow was tightly strapped to his back before grabbing his crowbar, he turned around and signalled to Karen and Lewis that it was ok for them to jump across too before beginning to walk around the roof looking for any signs of danger.

However the further he walked across the building, the only thing he saw was a small camp set up complete with a tent, sleeping bag and a back back which with further investigation, Will found full with different cans of food, a book and a Browning High Power pistol fully loaded.

"what you found?" Lewis said and Will turned to him and handed him the gun.

"this, fully loaded" Will told him before looking through the bag to see what kinds of food was in there, quickly joined by Karen who smiled at all the different flavors.

"what if the guy comes back for his food?" Lewis asked the pair who looked up at him before Will answered.

"the roof's empty, the door down is locked and I dont see any where else he could go and still be alive, do you?" Will asked Lewis who looked down a little sadly and shook his head while Will just sighed and closed the bag.

While the two guys talked about the former owner of the supplies, Karen looked around the tent to see how good it would be before she noticed a little note stuck to its side and picked it up curiously before reading it.

"a warning to all those who dare enter our territory" Karen read out loud and when Will looked towards her he noticed something hanging of the side of the building so he walked over to it.

When all three of them gathered around the edge of they building they looked over and Karen actually gagged turning away from the sight nearly walking away from that side of the building why Will and Lewis shared a look.

At the side of the building they were on was a rotting corpse with an arrow sticking out of its head, left naked and exposed to the cold weather after being hanged off the roof.

"what the hell?" Lewis asked out loud before a sudden load of gunshots from across the streets caused them to turn to look at the racket.

Bursting through a door, Riley gripped his baseball bat and quickly smashed a nearby zombie straight in the head before running towards the front of the shop and looking outside to see a herd had gathered to the shop due to their gun shots so he turned back to look at the two remaining bandits following him.

"Tyrone" Riley said pointing to the large looking black guy "get ready to shoot that shotgun of yours" Riley told him and the man nodded and pumped his shotgun before getting ready to kick the door open.

"what about me?" the other bandit asked Riley and he turned to look at the young teen who was looking at him with a face that told Riley he would do anything to help. Sighing Riley lifted up his bat.

"you just stand there and look pretty" Riley told him and when the teen looked confused Riley slammed the baseball bat into his face knocking him out slightly but he was still consious. Grabbing the teen by his hair, Riley dragged him to the door and Tyrone kicked it open so the three of them could exit.

"no, no!!!, NOOOOO!!!!!!" the teen screamed and tried to get free but all Riley done was chuck him into the nearby zombies who all instantly climbed over eachother trying to get their next meal.

"lets go" Riley told Tyrone who just nodded showing no signs of remorse for the lost bandit before the two of them quickly ran away only having to shoot and hit a couple of zombies now most of the herd was distracted.

However they were unaware of the fact, Will, Karen and Lewis had seen the whole thing from the roof they were on and Karen along with Lewis stared in shock as the teen was ripped apart alive while Will just bowed his head in respect until finally speaking to break the silence.

"lets grap this stuff and go........"