World of Anarchy/Chapter 11

This is chapter 11 of World of Anarchy entitled: The Day After

Authors Note
Okay, this chapter is mostly a flashback explaining the reason why the pocket knife was at the hotel.

P.S. I added the offensive content temp because I wasn't sure if one scene counted or not, so...

Chapter 11 – The Day After
Present Day. September 2, 2014. 7:30 am. David stared at the pocket knife that was in his hands. He ran his thumb over the engraved initials S.J. and remembered where he had seen the knife. It was Jayden's. He wondered how it had gotten there, but as he thought about that a memory popped into his head. The memory of the last time he had seen the knife.

July 3, 2006. 11:00 am. David stepped out of the taxi and into the hot New Mexico sun. The day was especially hot because there was a heat wave on top of it being summer and New Mexico. The people all around were attempting to take shelter from the heat by making there way into the hotel. Jim and Jackie stepped out and stood beside him as they stared up at the hotel.

"Wow,"Jackie said,"This place is huge!"

"I bet the architect was trying to over compensate for something."Jim said with a smirk.

"Let's get inside before we all die of a heat stroke," Jim's mom said,"And after we get settled in you kids go explore the city or whatever."

"Do you know what time my parents will be getting here? I'm dying to see them." Jackie asked Jim's mom as they walked to the hotel entrance.

"Their plane should be here by tonight. And if you don't mind me asking, what kind of parents send their daughter to live with her grandparents anyways?"

"Mom..." Jim interrupted.

"What? I know your father and I wouldn't be able to live with you and David living somewhere else." She said as she opened door to the hotel.

"It's fine, Jim,"Jackie said as she and Jim's mom stepped in,''Back when I lived in New York I...I kind of got into some trouble. So they sent me to live down here to try and teach me a lesson or something."

David stepped in and felt the refreshing blast of the air conditioning hit him. It had only been a short walk from the taxi to the entrance, but he was already sweating.

"What's going over there?" Jim asked.

David looked over and saw a huge crowd huddled over by the reception area. The commotion seemed to be caused by something on the T.V. above the check in desk. They walked over to the crowd to see what was happening. A blonde female news reporter was on the T.V. at the scene of crime.

"The infamous Heat Wave killer has now claimed the lives of Rachel McDonnell and Ronald McAdam bringing his current kill count up to seven after a year since his last. Like all his past victims, they were found in an outdoor highly populated area tied to a chair with their throats cut. Police have now handed over control of the case to the F.B.I. who have released a profile of the killer: The killer is likely a male between the ages of 18 to 20. He likely is a very hot headed person who doesn't have many friends. The unsub may be involved in the arts at a local high school, college, or any other places where arts such as paintings or theater is done. He may also live out in a secluded place such as the desert or have family members that own land in an area like that. They also believe that the killer only strikes at noon, so no worry for all you night folk out there. This Beatrice Miller signing off, stay tuned to channel 5 for more on the story at nine."

David kept staring at the screen as everyone around him left. If the serial killer were in town that meant Jayden might have been too. As he turned away to go find Jim, his suspicions were confirmed. Jayden was at the entrance carrying luggage.

"Jayden?"

"David? What are you doing here?"

"On vacation. And let me guess, you're here because this guy?" David said pointing to the T.V.

"You know it. We F.B.I. profilers don't get vacations."

Jayden placed his bags down and walked over to hug David.

"How are you? What's it been? A year since we last talked." Jayden asked.

"I'm good. High school's alright."

"Good grades?"

"Strait A's like always."

"Good. You said that you were here on vacation right? Are you here with--"

"Special Agent Jayden? What are you doing here?" Jim's mom asked walking up to them, with Jim and Jackie behind her.

Jayden and Jim's mother talked while Jim and Jackie came over to talk to David.

"Who's that?" Jackie asked.

"That's the guy who brought David to live with us after...well...uh..." Jim said looking to David.

"Yeah..."

"He's the one who worked your family's case?" Jackie said.

David nodded.

"Oh..."

"So why's he here?" Jim asked trying to change the topic.

"To catch that serial killer guy in town." David said.

"That's so bad-ass, man." Jim said.

"Kids, let's go unpack so we can finally start this vacation right," Jim's mom said as she walked back over to them and handed each of them their room keys.

David looked over to see Jayden near the check-in area and on the phone with someone. Judging by Jayden's body language, the phone call was not going great.

"Sweet," Jim whispered so only Jackie, and inadvertently, David could hear,"I've been waiting all day so that we can finally--"

"You better stop right there mister before I beat the dirty thoughts out of you, Jim's mom said,There wont be any that going on while we're here. David, can I trust you two keep these two off of each other this weekend?"

"I guess--"

"Good—Oh, Agent Jayden want's to talk to you."

David nodded and walked over to Jayden, who was still on the phone. He didn't mean to overhear the call, but Jayden was talking kind of loud.

"You can't do that--Natalie, she's my daughter too. You can't keep her from her father—Natalie?"

Jayden cursed under his breath and turned to see David standing behind him. He looked embarrassed as he quickly put his phone back in his pocket.

"Umm, you wanted to talk to me?"

"Yeah—Yeah, I got something important to tell you, but I still got some work to do. How about you go hang out with your friends right now and I'll find you later."

David nodded and left to go find his room. Along the way, he thought about Jayden's phone call. It didn't sound like things were going well with things in Jayden's life right now. He also wondered what the important thing Jayden wanted to tell him was.

Present Day. September 2, 2014. "Hey, are you alright?" Keith asked David, eying the pocket knife.

"Yeah, I'm fine." David said as he stuffed the pocket knife back in his pocket and grabbed his shovel.

He was extremely exhausted having not getting any sleep last night. After they had lured the infected out, he and Keith had recovered Lucas body and what was left of Jerry to bury out back. Leo was getting the bus ready so they could leave. Everyone else was packing everything they might need on the road.

"You don't look fine," Keith said as he threw more dirt over Jerry's grave,"In fact, you look about five seconds from passing out. Maybe you should take a break so you can sleep, let someone else work."

"Nah, we're almost done. And besides, we're about to leave this death trap once Leo finishes working on the bus. I can sleep on the road."

"So what's with the knife?" Keith asked as he patted down the soil of the grave.

"It's not important." David said as he dug up more soil and threw it onto Lucas' grave.

"Come on man, it's pretty obvious that it's important. You don't just stare at something 'not important' for five minutes."

"Its something that belonged to someone I knew. Last time I saw this was when I went on vacation here fourth of July weekend back in '06."

"06'? Wasn't that when they finally caught that Heat Wave Killer guy up here?"

"Yep."

"Wow. What was it like here with all that going on?"

"It was, well, not great." David said as he forced the shovel into the ground.

July 3, 2006. 4:30 pm. "So, it's kind of weird that you got the case. I mean, what are the odds that the bureau would send you?" David said as Jim did a cannon ball in the pool a few feet away.

"I actually requested the case." Jayden said as he looked down at his phone.

"Why would you do that?"

"Things...things aren't exactly going good at home," He said taking a flask out of his pocket and taking a swig,"Natalie took Emily and went to her parents the next city over. But that's not what I wanted to tell you. David, I'm getting close to catching him."

"Who? The Heat Wave Killer guy?"

"No. You know who." Jayden said as he took another swig from the flask.

David knew who he was talking about. The man who ruined David's life. The man who killed his mother and brother.

"What do you mean you're getting close?"

"We got word of a couple murders up in Connecticut. Same M.O. and everything. Other families wiped out. Other kids left without a families. Bastard always leaves one alive." Jayden said taking another much larger swig out of the flask.

David's mind was reeling. The man who destroyed his life was going around destroying even more lives. He looked back to Jayden, who was busy drinking from his flask.

"Jayden, why are you drinking so much?" David asked just now realizing how much Jayden was drinking.

"Helps me focus. Anyways, I guess I should be getting back on the current case," Jayden said getting up from the table they were sitting at,"It was good seeing you again. Stay safe, David."

David watched as his old guardian stumbled back into the hotel and began to put the pieces together. Natalie taking Emily and leaving him, the alcohol, and the obsession over the five year-old case. He figured Jayden had become obsessed with his case and turned to the alcohol, which caused Natalie to leave him.

"You just gonna sit there all day?" Jim asked him from the pool.

David was about to get up to join him and Jackie, but noticed that Jayden had left something behind. David picked up the object only to find that it was a pocket knife.

Present Day. September 2, 2014. "I think we're done here," Keith said wiping the sweat from his face and walking away,"I'm gon' go see if Leo is finished with the bus."

"You're not going to pack up the hotel with everyone else?"

"Hell no. Faster Leo's done, the faster we get the hell out of this death trap." Keith said as he left.

David then looked back to the Jerry and Lucas' graves. They had made crosses out of some two-by-four they found lying around and put them next to each of their graves. To David, he still hadn't felt like they had finished though. He pulled out Jayden's knife and crouched down beside their graves and carved each of their names onto their crosses. As he sat there, his mind began to drift back to that crazy fourth of July weekend.

July 4, 2006. 10:30 pm, "Oh come on David, live a little." Jim told David as he took a drink of his coke.

Jim and Jackie had dragged him to a fourth of July party that was being thrown at a local park. Jim had taken upon the responsibility to try and get David to hook up with someone at the party. Even though the F.B.I. had caught the Heat Wave Killer earlier that day, he still couldn't believe Jim's mom had just let them go out that night.

"Thanks for the thought, but I don't want meet anyone here."

"Why?"

"Well for one we don't even live here, so anyone I meet would be a one night only thing."

"Your point?"

"My point is that I don't want that."

"But look at those girls over there! The blonde one in the middle is totally checking you out." Jim said nodding to a group of girls a few tables away.

The blonde Jim was referring to was eying David and talking to her friends. He did think she was attractive, but still didn't want to go over and talk to her. He had to think of a way to change the subject.

"Jackie's been in the bathroom a long time."

She had left them to go find the restroom seventeen minutes ago and even though he used that to change the subject, he had been questioning what had been keeping her.

"You're right. Let's go see if she got lost. And when we get back, you are gonna go talk to that hot girl back there."

They got up and began there search for Jackie. The closest restroom to them was across the park away from all of the noise of the party. Once they reached they reached it, Jim called out to her but got no response.

"Where is she?" Jim asked worried.

David was worried too. If she had already left, they would have run into her on the way there. It was getting late now and Jim's mom and Jackie's parents had told them to be back before eleven-thirty.

"Maybe there's another restroom around here." David told him.

"Did you see another one on the way here? 'Cuz I didn't. Maybe we just missed her on the way up here." Jim said as he began to walk back.

David began to follow, but heard a noise behind him as he stepped away. He turned back just in time to see a figure behind him and feel something hard hit him on the side of the head.

Later that day. 11:27pm. David woke and found himself tied to a chair in a dark room. The side of his head ached and he felt blood rolling of the side of his head.

"David?" A voice to his right said in the darkness.

"Jackie? Wha—what happened?"

"I don't know...all I remember was heading to the bathroom...and nothing after that."

A million thoughts rushed through his head, but he pushed them away and tried moving his hands but he couldn't move them because his hands were bound by rope. Then he remembered the pocket knife Jayden had left behind the day before. He tried reaching in his back pocket but was only able to pull it out part way.

He then heard a door open and close off somewhere near. He tried thinking of a way to get them out of there when he realized who had taken them. Without a doubt he knew it was the Heat Wave Killer. The F.B.I. must have arrested the wrong person earlier that day. He then shook away the thought and went back to thinking of a way to escape when finally he thought of one.

"Jackie, can you reach my back pocket?"

"Umm...I think so. Let me try." She said reaching for his back pocket.

A few seconds later she pulled out the pocket knife.

"Got it."

"Good. Now do you think you can cut the rope around my hands?"

Present Day. September 2, 2014. "David?"

David turned to see Chris standing a few feet behind him.

"Yeah?" David said standing up from the graves.

"Teresa sent me to find you. She's still up in your guy's room packing."

David nodded and began to head back with Chris. A headache began to form in David's head from all the stress. The infected, Jerry and Lucas' death, getting no sleep. It all was beginning to take it's toll on him. David could not wait to get out on the road. To get to the safe-zone Jerry mentioned. Then he remembered the envelope Jerry had given him to give to some guy named Orlando and reached to make sure it was still in his pocket.

"David?" Chris asked.

"What?"

"I just wanted to say that I'm sorry about yesterday. Me and Penny running off like that...it was pretty stupid wasn't it?"

"Very stupid," David said as they reached the back entrance,"But don't be sorry, just don't do anything like that again. Anyways, it's actually good you did."

"What do you mean?"

"Well, if you hadn't run off then I wouldn't have searched for you and we would have never found out about the fire escape being open."

"Oh." Chris said as they entered the hotel.

They passed by everyone who was in the lobby. Anna and Sam were the only ones awake as it looked like everyone had fallen asleep packing. He and Chris continued and ascended the stair case.

"So what do you think about the safe-zone Jerry mentioned?" David asked as they ascended the stairs.

"Sounds safe."

"Well yeah with the word 'safe' in it and all. But how do you feel about it?"

"I don't know. I just hope we can go back to living how we used to before all the stuff happened. Do you think everything will go back to normal one day?"

"Some day it will. It has to. But I think things are going to get a lot worse before it gets any better," David said as they reached Chris' room,"Are you all packed up?"

"Yeah, my stuff is with all the other stuff down stairs."

"Good. How about you play with Penny while we wait."

Chris nodded and left back town the stair case. David then continued down the hall until he came to stop at he and Teresa's room and entered.

Teresa was near their bed putting the clothes they had looted a few weeks back into some suit cases they had found when they all had first arrived at the hotel. Upon noticing that he had entered the room, she ran over and hugged him.

"Whoa, what's with the hug?" David asked.

"Nothing—just missed you."

"Missed me? I've only been outside...holy shit, I've been outside for five hours." David said checking the time on his watch.

"Exactly." She said kissing him.

"How much we got left to pack?" David said looking over to the suit cases.

"I just finished packing what was left."

"Oh...alright well, then let's go wait down stairs with the others." He said moving toward the door.

"Or," Teresa said stopping him and locking the door,"We can wait up here."

"What do you mean?" David asked confused.

"You really don't know what I mean?" She said raising one eyebrow.

David shook his head. For the life of him he had know idea what she was getting at, although he felt like it was staring him right in the face.

"Maybe this will give you an idea." She said leaning in and kissing him.

He felt like an idiot for not realizing sooner as they fell to the bed together.

July 4, 2006. 11: 32 pm. David reached into his pocket and pulled out his cell. He quickly dialed Jayden's number and raised the phone to his head as he and Jackie sat in the darkness. Jackie had been able to cut him loose and now they were free. The room they were in was cluttered with different piles of junk.

"Hurry!" Jackie whispered loudly.

"I can't make the call go any faster."

The phone rang once. Then twice. Then a third time. Then Jayden finally answered.

"David?"

"Jayden, you have to come help us." David whispered into the phone.

"Help you?"

"Yeah that guy you arrested earlier today, I don't think he was the Heat Wave Killer. Some guy abducted Jackie and I. And we woke up tied to chairs in what I think is the Heat Wave Killer's house."

"Okay, I'm going to need you to find a place to hide while I trace your call. Think you can do that?"

"Yeah, give me a sec," David said as he turned back to Jackie,"We need to find a place to hide and wait for him to come find us."

They hid in a closet big enough for the both of them to fit in the hall. There was a crack big enough for David to peer through and it gave a great view of the living room.

"How long is it going to take for that F.B.I. guy to get here?" Jackie asked impatiently.

"It's only been ten minutes, Jackie. I think it's probably going to take awhile for him to trace the--"

The front door opening cut his sentence short. They froze as they heard soft foot steps moving across the floor. David looked through the crack and saw Jayden moving through the living room. Relief came over David. He reached for the door knob but stopped when he heard another set of footsteps coming toward them. He looked through the crack just in time to see the killer sneaking up on Jayden. The killer raised a bat that he was holding, and connected it with Jayden causing the latter to scream out in pain and drop his gun. David watched as the Heat Wave Killer kept swinging the Bat at Jayden, who was now on the ground.

If he didn't act fast Jayden would be beaten to death. David shook away all his fear and opened the door. He quickly took off his shoe and pulled out the pocket knife. He threw the shoe against the wall opposite the killer, distracting him long enough for David to run over and plunge the knife into his side. The killer screamed loud and knocked David into the wall. The killer pulled the knife out and turned to face David.

"Wrong move kid." He said as began to move toward David.

"Jayden!" David called out.

Jayden picked up his gun beside him at raised it up at the killer and unloaded the entire clip into him. The Heat Wave Killer collapsed to the floor with a loud thud.

David then sat down on the floor shocked as Jackie came out of the closet and the red and blue lights of cop cars pulled up.

July 6, 2006. David was in his hotel room packing up his stuff and tried not to think about the two days before. Jayden had already left to go on his next case which was to catch The Woman Taxidermist. Jim's mom and Jackie's parents had decided to end the vacation early, and were now waiting down in the lobby for him. He zipped up his luggage and began to move toward the door. Before he exited, he stopped and pulled out the pocket knife. The knife that he had stabbed into somebody who was now dead. He hesitated for a moment the turned and tossed the knife on the bed as he left.

Present Day. David and Teresa were in a good mood as they walked down the stairs to lobby. Their time "waiting" up in their room had cured David's headache. He tried to remember the last time he felt this good. Things were looking up for not just him but everyone. They were about to set out on the road and head to somewhere where they might actually be safe for once.

"God dammit!" Leo yelled from outside.

Everyone in the lobby looked at each other then went to go see why Leo was yelling. David got the feeling that the good mood he was in wasn't going to last.

Outside, Leo was standing beside the bus cursing.

"Leo, what's the matter?" David asked.

"Someone's fucking with us is what's the matter! I'm willin' to bet the same person who fucked with us last night did this."

"Did what?" Amber asked.

Leo walked over to the hood and popped it open.

"Some asshole removed the alternator, starter, and the spark plug. It ain't gonna be able to run."

"So someone doesn't want us to leave." Amber said.

"No shit." Oliver interjected.

"If we can find the parts, do you think you can fix it?" Sam asked.

"Sure, but until then we ain't goin' anywhere. I swear if I ever find the person who--"

"Guy's," Keith said staring up at the roof,"Are you seeing this?"

David looked up to the roof and immediately saw what Keith was talking about. Up on the roof stood a figure, but David could quite make out who they were.

"Think you can fuck with us?" Leo said angrily as ran back inside.

David looked back up to the figure, then took off right behind Leo.

Credits

 * David Andrews
 * Teresa Burch
 * Chris Collins
 * Leo
 * Anna
 * Penny
 * Amber
 * Sid
 * Samantha
 * Riley Mercer
 * Keith
 * Oliver
 * Michelle
 * Jim
 * Jackie
 * Spencer Jayden
 * The Heat Wave Killer

Deaths

 * The Heat Wave Kller

Trivia

 * 4189 words @_@
 * This issue revealed how the pocket knife ended up at the hotel.
 * This issue showed the first death pre-apocalypse.