Dead Frontier/Issue 51

This is Issue #51 of Dead Frontier by Walkerbait22, titled Bad Boys. This is the third issue in Volume 9.

Issue 51 - Bad Boys
Devon stands in her father's office, staring him down, disbelieving. "You're seriously not going to let them stay, Dad?" she asks.

Abe sits on his desk, his hands folded in his lap. "No."

"What the fuck is wrong with you?"

Abe crinkles his eyebrows together. He almost laughs at her remark. "Excuse me?"

"I said 'What the fuck is wrong with you?'" She crosses her arms in defiance.

"First of all, watch your mouth. Second of all, are you aware that you're talking to your father?"

"I'm aware that I'm talking to some stubborn asshole."

Faster than she can comprehend, he stands and slaps her hard across the face. She gasps and holds her rapidly reddening cheek. Her eyes sting fiercely, but she manages to hold her tears back. "You're not an adult. Remember that."

Devon stares at him for a few long seconds, then hurries out the door. The burning dislike that's been building inside her about her father seems to be reaching its height.

Finn, Chloe, and Jen stand around in the medical room, with Billie lying unconscious on the bed next to them. There's a slightly cheerful, hopeful feeling in the room; much different than what it was just a few moments ago. Finn has a goofy smile on his face as Jen assures him: "She'll be fine, Finn. She needed some blood, but right now, I'm almost certain she'll be back on her feet pretty soon."

"Thank you," Finn says. "Thank you."

"Thank Chloe, too. If it wasn't for her, I'm not sure we'd be having this conversation."

Chloe leans in the door frame, blushing slightly. Finn smiles at her and pulls her into a hug. Her hands just hang limply at her sides for a few moment as he embraces her, but then she pats him on the back. "Thanks. I can't say it enough," Finn says.

Dylan stabs an infected in he face as he and Dex stumble through the woods. Dex trips on a large rock and falls on his face. Dylan laughs, and Dex responds by kicking him in the shin.

Dylan jumps up and grabs his aching shin. "Fucking asshole..."

Dex stands and wipes the dirt off of his pants. He points ahead, and Dylan follows his gaze. They've reached the edge of the forest, and a road is visible about 100 meters in front of them. As fast as their tired bodies will take them, they head to the road.

There's an assortment of cars to choose from. They peek inside some, looking at the gas meter, and decide on a red sedan. There's a dead woman strapped in her seat belt in the front seat.

Dex and Dylan glance at each other. "Well. Go ahead," Dex says, gesturing to the car.

Dylan points to his own chest. "I have to do it?"

"I'm not gonna do it. That's gross."

"I know you never liked women, but you're scared of dead bitches now? Alright, I'll do it." Dylan grips the handle and apprehensively opens the door. The corpse falls out of the car a little, but the seat belt keeps it strapped in. "Fuck."

Dylan reaches over, gagging, and tries to unbuckle the seat belt. It takes a few tries, but it finally unlocks, and he carefully takes it off of the woman. She falls out of the car, her head hitting the pavement with a smack and some blood spatter. Dylan jumps back, not wanting to get any of her on his already dirty clothes.

"You can drive then," Dylan says, smirking.

"Suck a fat one," Dex says, hopping into the driver's seat.

"I'm sure you'd like to."

Dex glares at him as the engine roars to life. He has no idea how long that woman's been in there, but it's been a while. The car smells like death; he covers his nose with his shirt and keeps the windows down the entire drive to the airport.

Robbie takes a seat next to Adam in the waiting area. He holds two beers and offers one to Adam. Adam shakes his head, so he cracks his open and takes a swig. "Some crazy shit today, man," Robbie says.

"You could say that," says Adam.

"I felt like I was in some Call of Duty type shit, you know?"

"That wasn't a fucking video game." His voice is hostile and irritated.

Robbie places a hand to his chest. "Believe me, I know. Killing a real dude ain't like killing a pixelated dude. And I killed many a pixelated dudes."

"Too bad there's no more XBoxes for you to waste your fucking time on." Adam sighs, he himself being irritated by his bitter and harsh tone. "I'm sorry. It's been a stressful few days. I'm kind of on edge."

"I get it. Everyone is."

"You are? You look as happy as ever," Adam observes.

"'Cause I got these bad boys," he says, and raises his beer. He takes another swig, and Adam notices for the first time Robbie's moist, bloodshot eyes. Robbie offers the beer again, and this time Adam grabs it, taking a long drink.

Hours later, the airport is shrouded in darkness, and almost everyone is in a tent. Abe was 'nice' enough to provide those that went on the trip with a tent, besides Billie, who still lies in the medical room, even though he plans on exiling them as soon as possible. Almost everyone sleeps, except for a select few. Hannah is practically wide awake in her tent; she stares up at the ceiling, Cole's arm draped across her chest and his snoring in her ear.

Cole stirs, and his snoring stops. He realizes Hannah's awake and mutters a "Hi" into her neck.

"Did your own snoring wake you up?" she asks.

He snickers and smiles, gives her a kiss on her jawline. "Probably. Sleep at all?"

"A little," she lies.

"Good. I'm glad."

"Cole?"

"Mhm?"

"You know I love you, right?"

He props up onto his elbow, a little confused. For some reason, the way she asked that question makes him feel uneasy. The knots in his stomach begin tying up again. "Yeah. Of course. What's the matter?"

"You can't get mad. Promise me you won't."

He crinkles his eyebrows together. "I won't. What's going on?"

She takes a deep breath, thinking about how she should phrase this. "I've just had these thoughts, and I don't want them. I wish they'd just--" She can't finish her sentence because there's a loud explosion from somewhere outside the airport.

After stopping the car a few hundred meters from the airport, Dex and Dylan sneak into the parking lot. They see a dark haired man, Mulligan, picking his nose and standing guard. Dex pulls out a grenade and throws it over the fence. It rolls towards the airport windows. Mulligan makes the fatal mistake of jogging over to check it out. Before he even realizes what it is, the grenade explodes in his face and shatters the windows of terminal one.

Dex and Dylan aid each other is hopping over the fence and walk over the crunching glass into the terminal. There's screaming and mass confusion; Dylan responds by holding the trigger on his rifle and pointing towards the tents. The shouting continues, and in the darkness, no one knows what's happening.