The Dead World/Issue 115

4 days later

Walking through the woods heading towards the light of a cabin that could be seen in the dark, Eric ignored the rain dropping onto him as he kept his hands ready near the gun at his side.

Eric had come back from yet another failed run. He kept being sent by his boss to find the group that had killed John. That group with the crazy guy and Will? in it but every time he came back with no word on where the group was.

And the boss was running out of people to kill instead of him....

"come back empty handed again have you?" a guard at one of the posts scoffed but Eric just gave him a very harsh glare which made the guard back down completely as Eric walked past, not up for anyone's games.

He may keep failing on finding this group but he was still the boss's right hand man. Passing Jake on the way who was just crouching down on the ground with his crossbow, Eric noticed that he was grinning a little different than usual which made him raise an eyebrow.

"what's got you in a happy mood?" Eric asked but Jake just shook his head and grinned even more as he got up and slung his crossbow along his shoulder, obviously ready to head out of camp again.

"its a secret which will be revealed later" Jake told him before walking away, heading into the woods leaving Eric to be confused as he watched him go before shrugging off his confusion and continuing to head to the cabin where he was greeted by Brad standing guard in front of its door.

"no luck?" Brad asked calmly and Eric shook his head causing Brad to nod as he gave him a sad look before moving out of the way, knocking the door in the process causing it to soon open making Brad and Eric move back a little on instinct. Their boss wasn't the best woman to be near.

"no luck I take it?" a feminine asked from inside the darkness of the house which made it near impossible to see their boss, the only thing you could see was the sexy but dangerous curves of her body.

"no, not even getting close" Eric admitted and both men heard the woman loudly sigh as she wiped the hair from her face which gave the men a brief glance at her blood colored red hair before a lighter suddenly went off which she lifted her to face revealing her red lips had a cigarette in between them.

"a shame, oh well you can go now" their boss told him after she had took a drag from her cigarette and thinking she meant him, Eric began walking away thinking how lucky he was to have pissed her off without dying but she soon held up her hand to him.

"Not you" she stated and Brad quickly gathered she meant him and walked away, giving Eric a sad and pitiful pat on the shoulder as he went leaving Eric and their boss alone, the former quickly getting worried as he looked to where he assumed the boss's eyes were.

"come here" she whispered emotionlessly as she flicked her cigarette on the floor and quickly stamped on it to put it out while Eric coughed awkwardly, shifting on his feet as he tried to decide between doing as she said or running which resulted in her actually laughing.

"I'm not going to kill you" she assured as she leaned out slightly, some how still hidden in the darkness of the cabin as she did and grabbed him by his collar, gently and slowly pulling him towards her as he gulped and watched her as she did.

However just as he opened his mouth to speak, she surprisingly shoved her lips to his in a heated kiss which at first he stood still for but once her nails dug into the skin on the back of his neck a little he soon kissed her back.

He had no idea why she was kissing him, maybe she was kissing him to lure him into false security or maybe she just needed to settled some kind of urge. All he knew was if he didn't do everything she said....she would kill him.

Standing on the road while leaning against the RV, Anthony watched as Will, Bella, Angelica and Jamie were moving one of the cars on the road in front of them while Emily and Maria kept watch over there, leaving him and Annie to keep watch at the RV.

"can I say something?" Annie asked finally breaking their silence as she turned to look towards him while he just looked up to her and sighed, shrugging his shoulders a little as he pushed himself off from his leaning position.

"whatever, not like I can stop you anyway" Anthony stated a little coldly but Annie didn't take it to heart as she crossed her arms and looked at him sternly which reminded Anthony of a mom which was about to tell her child off.

"I know you don't want to hear the "I'm sorry" shit, I get it. I lost my brother remember? so I'm just going to say this..." Annie started as he looked up from the floor to her eyes when she mentioned her brother.

"you need to get over this and stop blaming yourself as well as others because KAREN wouldn't want it, I'm not asking you to be all happy but you need to stop this lone wolf bullshit and go back to normal" Annie stated bluntly and this time Anthony gave a "feeling bad" silence in response.

"Will blames himself you know, he feels bad about the situation as it is, really he needs some support from his right hand man" Annie told him which shocked him a little as he looked up to her again but truth be told he understood that Will would blame himself.

Will always did....

"before you were our moral compass, the guy that made sure we was feeling ok never mind what the situation was and if this all goes bad, if that safe zone doesn't turn out to be safe we're going to need that" Annie told him truthfully as she looked at him with a sad expression which made Anthony unable to hold her gaze with his own.

"we need our friend back...." Annie whispered a little more sadly as she leaned up and put her hand on his shoulder biting her lip as a tear went down her cheek before she shook her head and walked past him now leaving him alone.

Now alone, Anthony turned slightly to watch her go out the corner of his eye before he turned back to watch as the rest of the group had started to come back while he continued to think about what Annie had said to him.

Now driving down the road in his truck, Will had his arm out his open window while Bella was smoking out of her side window, both of them peacefully listening to the music on one of Will's CDs that Bella had found.

"getting dark, might want to stop and get camp ready soon" Bella observed as she finally took her last drag of the cigarette before flicking it out of the window and turning to look to Will, smirking at how Will tried to not to look towards her due to the wind blowing through her hair and apparently making her look "gorgeous".

"your right" Will said as he looked out the front window slightly to see the darkening skies making him sigh as they both closed their windows just in case it started to get cold, although so far the group had been lucky due to the weather getting warmer.

"not looking forward to sleeping on the road again?" she teased as she stared at him but he just shrugged as he turned the truck around the next corner making her shrug herself as she sat back in her chair, looking out the front as they drove.

However as they turned the next corner they noticed something down the road a little more which soon made them grin as Will reached down to the walkie talkie they had near the radio to alert the others.

"hey guys, there's a cabin coming up at the side and we noticed it was getting dark, want to check out the house and make it safe to stay for the night?" Will asked whoever was on the other end of the radio while Bella kept look out for anything or anyone nearby.

"sure thing and it sounds like a good idea, being about half way between Hanahan and Goose greek we could rest in this cabin tonight and tomorrow we should be able to get to Charleston" Angelica answered on the other side and Will didn't have to be in the RV to tell everyone there was grinning like Will and Bella were about the fact they were so near Charleston.

"one last sleep on the road before safe zone and we get a cozy abandoned cabin, who would believe our luck?" Will asked jokingly and he could hear Angelica laugh on the other end as the two vehicles turned so they could enter the drive way of the cabin.

"nice looking cabin too, if that safe zone don't turn out right at least we'll have here to stay" Bella stated causing Will to nod in agreement as he put the walkie talkie back in its place, still grinning as he thought about the times they worked out to be lucky.

"you know you never told me about how you survived alone for about half a year in this....rust bucket" Bella stated gesturing to the truck they were in making him grumble as he turned to look at her.

"it isn't a "rust bucket" its more than capable of helping us survive and its saved our life a couple of times" he told her which made her smirk at his response to her calling the truck what it was before she asked her next question.

"so how did you survive alone then?" she asked curiously but soon she wished she hadn't as he suddenly went a little sad as he turned to look away from her, his hand gripping the steering wheel a little more as he pulling the truck to a stop outside the cabin, muttering his emotionless response.

"you don't want to know...."

Running through the panic of the little camp they had formed, Will carried as many supplies as he could as he ran towards his parked truck which thankfully he had the keys for although he was still dropping supplies he had no time to recollect as he went.

Finally reaching the truck, he quickly threw the supplies in the back and covered them up just in case anyone noticed them and tried to steal them but no one seemed to care or notice as they were to busy running from all the zombies that had swarmed the camp.

''Fiddling with his keys quickly Will kept having people run into him and had to dodge a couple of zombies which ignored him thankfully and continued chasing their targets. Eventually getting his key and getting into his truck, quickly closing the door before anyone of anything could follow him, Will let out a short sigh of relief.''

However his moment of relief was soon interrupted when he heard frantic knocking on the window of his drivers door and when he turned to see who it was he saw it was the leader of their camp with his pregnant wife and their son, all looking at him with scared and desperate expressions.

''"hey man, can you give us a lift, please?!!" the man begged as he stopped banging on the window and instead laid his hand on it as he looked Will in the eyes causing the man to sigh as he bowed his head thinking. He knew he had enough supplies to last him a long while but with a pregnant woman and kid as well as another guy, they wouldn't last that long.''

Eventually Will had his answer as zombies began to near....

"sorry man" Will said to him as he looked up to look the man in the face, making the man's eyes go wide as Will began to drive his truck away from the man and his family and down the empty path in front of him, many of the camp residents being devoured before his eyes while others were fortunate enough to make it to the woods.

''Looking in the rear view mirror, Will watched sadly as the man and his family were surrounded, with the man desperately firing his pistol in hopes of saving his family but there was no way they were making it out of that mini herd. They were dead whatever they done.''

This ain't no place for a hero....

Getting out of the truck followed quickly by Bella, Will aimed his crossbow around the dark area which resulted in him turning on his flashlight that was on the crossbow before he faced Angelica who was coming out of the RV.

"Emily stay with Maria in the RV until its safe" Angelica ordered lightly and Emily nodded in agreement as she began taking Maria back into the RV while the little girl herself pouted as if she had been told to go to her room.

"alright the cabin isn't that big so I think me, Bella, Anthony and Angelica can take care of checking the inside so I want Jamie and Annie to stand guard out here" Will said to everyone as he quickly took in the details of the outside.

It was nice enough cabin, easily defendable and had trees around it they could use. They had enough room out front to park their vehicles as well as set up a nice area outside to do stuff and he could hear a river behind it where they could get water. Before the apocalypse this place would've been perfect to live....

"sounds like a plan, I'll take upstairs with Anthony and you two can take the downstairs, good?" Angelica asked and they all nodded as they walked to the cabin, weapons ready in case anything came running out of the woods.

Reaching the front, the four of them looked inside but couldn't see anything but a load of furniture which made them grin as Will tested the door but it didn't open and without the crowbar anymore, Will was forced to kick down the door which meant they'd might have to fix it later.

Nodding to Bella who was on the other side of the door, Will mouthed one, two and three before he dived into the room military style aiming his crossbow around, followed by Bella who quickly spotted a zombie and went over to It before shoving her machete into its head.

Soon the four of them discovered the bottom floor was clear of zombies so Angelica and Bella dragged the zombie body out of the cabin while Anthony and Will started going up the stairs, Anthony going first.

However when Anthony reached the top of the stairs a zombie suddenly came out and attack him causing him and the zombie to go tumbling down the stairs and Will having to get out of the way quickly before he went tumbling with them.

Ending up in a crouching position on the floor, Will aimed his crossbow around until he came to the sight of Anthony on the floor desperately trying to keep a zombie off him and even before he could process what was going on Will fired his crossbow, sending an arrow straight through the zombie's head.

"t-thanks" Anthony said shakily as he tried to get his breath back but Will just gave him a silent nod as he walked over and retrieved his arrow before heading up the stairs leaving Anthony to get rid of the body.

A little while later most of the group were asleep in beds leaving Will and Bella alone on watch, the former keeping watch as he sat on a sofa rearranged to be facing out the window and the later being in the kitchen pouring herself a drink that she had found in a cooler.

There had been no more zombies upstairs and the place was easily changed so that if they were attacked during the night they would easily be able to defend it and Will had decided to stay up the whole night so everyone can get some sleep but Bella wasn't yet tired.

"it feels weird doesn't it, being this close to starting a new life?" Bella asked making him raise an eyebrow as he turned to her, not quite getting what she meant by a new life so she laughed a little before walking over to him, two wine glasses in hand.

"I mean if there is a safe zone, we'd be able to start fresh wouldn't we? me and you?" she suggested smiling as she sat on the sofa next to him offering one of the glasses to him but he shook his head knowing he had to stay awake so she shrugged and put one glass down before taking a sip out of the other.

"yeah we would, I just hope we all get there, we both get there" Will stated which Bella agreed to as she turned to watch him carefully as she continued sipping her drink. She could tell as he said his words he was obviously thinking about all the people that they had lost.

"you know I cant help but keep thinking back to the original lot of us, you know like when we were at the motel or when we spent that night drinking in that house at GeorgeTown" Bella said to him softly as she put down her now empty glass before moving close to him while he silently nodded.

He too couldn't help but think about those times. The time he taught Aidan how to shoot. Joked with Bella when he first met her about them both being military. All of Tyral's funny and sometimes annoying comments. When Maria scolded someone when they swore. The time he Tied Natasha to a bed with a pair of handcuffs as well as all the other times he had spent with Natasha....

"you shouldn't blame yourself you know, they didn't die because of them" Bella whispered as she leaned her head on his shoulder looking up to his eyes while he nodded a little bit before leaning his head on his hands for a brief moment.

"I know....I know but when Karen got bit....when I heard that she had passed away...." Will trailed off slightly as he looked up to stare outside at the woods as it began to pour down in rain, which seemed to trigger something inside him as he turned to look at Bella, a tear going down his face.

"it makes me think about all the people we've lost, this whole time we've been losing people and we're going to continue to lose people. I'm their leader, I was the leader of all the people that died and they were under my care....but they died" Will said as he suddenly burst into tears causing Bella to instantly draw him into a hug while he cried greatly into her chest.

She couldn't believe it and was in total shock. She had never seen Will cry at all, never mind cry this much but she knew it was understandable. They'd lost loads of people and only her, him and Anthony were left from the original group....

They HAD to make it to the safe zone for them, the ones they had lost during their journey. They deserved it, they all did.....