Dead Frontier/Issue 11

This is Issue #11 of Dead Frontier by Walkerbait22, titled The Terrible.

Issue 11 - The Terrible
"Well, hey there!" one of men says to Billie as she jumps off the top of the truck. He reeks of alcohol. "I'm Ivan."

"Yeah, Mr. Ivan the Terrible!” one of the other men says, laughing obnoxiously at his unfunny joke.

“Riley, just shut up. Jesus Christ...” Ivan says. He holds a baseball bat over his shoulder; it’s bloodied from hitting the infected in the head. Ivan towers over Billie, and stares at her with piercing blue eyes; his gaze makes her feel uneasy. He takes a step towards her, the three men behind him doing the same.

"What's ya name?" Riley asks. Riley has long blonde hair and is considerably shorter than Ivan, but that doesn't mean his reckless demeanor doesn't make her nervous.

"I'm Billie."

"What you doin' out here all alone? Ain't you get the memo? The fucking world ended. It's dangerous out here, girl."

"I can handle myself. Why are you guys out here anyway?"

A Latino man speaks from behind Ivan. "Bashing in heads!" He proudly lifts up a bloody bat and shakes it in the air.

"You been doing any head bashing lately?" Ivan asks her.

"I've had some experience."

"Really now? If you had to estimate, how many infected you think you killed?"

"Look, I'm not here to share statistics with you. I have people to get back to, and you have vehicles."

Ivan raises his eyebrows. "People? How many?"

"That's not the point--" Billie starts.

"I asked you a question, and I want you to answer it," Ivan says firmly.

Billie swallows hard. "About 10."

"Y'all got guns and shit?" Riley blurts out.

"Not much," she lies. "Please. I really need a ride."

"And you think we're just gonna let you hop in and cruise with us?" Ivan scoffs. "We could use that gas for better things than being a taxi service for some little ass girl."

Billie clenches her fists. "Please, just give me a ride. You don't even have to take me the whole way."

Ivan looks at her for a moment then turns and huddles up with his guys. They murmur for a few moments, then Ivan turns back around. "I would absolutely love to give you a ride, Billie. But it comes with a price."

"And what would that be?"

"I can tell you're not a stupid girl. You know what I want." He grins at her and takes a step forward.

She pulls a pistol from her waistband and points it at Ivan. "Fuck you. Get away from me."

Ivan raises his hands in defense. "Oh, come on. We don't have to do this the hard way. Okay, how about this? Just one blowjob for each of us. How's that sound?"

Billie just stares at him in disgust, not removing her aim from the middle of his forehead. "You're sick." She slowly backs away from Ivan, but he lunges for her as Riley and the two other men stand behind him with their bats. Ivan throws his bat the ground and grabs Billie by the wrist, making her drop the gun before she can fire it.

Ivan puts his hand over her mouth and pushes her against a nearby car, pressing his body against her. She tries to scream, but it comes out muffled.

Cole watches terrified as this all unfolds. He painfully scrambles for his gun on the top of truck, wincing whenever he moves his leg. He finally grabs his gun and aims it at one of the men.

Ivan is undoing his belt when he hears a gunshot and sees Riley fall to the ground. He receives a knee to the crotch from Billie while he's distracted, and falls to the ground in pain. Cole fires another shot, this time at the Latino man, and hits him in the side of the face. The fourth man stands petrified and stares at Cole. Cole looks the man in the eyes and hesitantly pulls the trigger. He falls to the ground with a bullet in his head.

Ivan groans as Billie delivers kicks to his abdomen and head. She grabs her pistol from the ground and presses it against his head. "Don't...don't be like that..." Ivan says and spits out blood.

"Rot in hell." Blood spatters all over her face after she pulls the trigger. Billie stands over Ivan's dead body for few moments then slumps to the ground. She buries her head in her hands and bursts into tears instantly.

Cole feels a lump in his throat and has knots in his stomach as he sits on top of truck while Billie cries down below. Killing the living isn't like taking out infected. When you look in the eyes of the infected, you don't see anything, just hate and death. It's not like that with a person. You see a living soul, someone that could have gone through as much as you had, maybe even more. Someone who could have had loved ones to go back to. Cole tries to shake these thoughts from his head, justifying his actions by convincing himself he had to do it for Billie. But he still feels that same sickness in his stomach.

Billie finishes sobbing and wipes her eyes and nose. She looks up at Cole still sitting on the truck. "We should probably leave. Never know if the shots attracted any infected. Is there any way you can get down from there?"

"I don't know," Cole calls out. He scoots forward until his feet dangle in front of the windshield. "I could try." He takes a deep breath and slides down the windshield. His leg contorts at an odd angle and he yells, tumbling down the rest of the truck. He hits the ground with a thud and groans in pain. Billie runs over to him.

"Oh my God, are you okay?"

"I don't even know anymore," Cole replies. He looks to his left and sees a few infected walking towards the street. "Oh, no."

"Come on, we need to go," Billie demands.

Cole tries to get up, but pain shoots up his calf. "I can't."

"I know it hurts, but you need to stand!" She sees more infected emerge from a wooded area across the road and starts to panic.

Cole tries one last time to stand, and Billie assists him by pulling him up. He grunts and leans against Billie for supports as they lumber slowly towards one of Ivan's vehicle.

Each step is excruciating for Cole, and it's hard for Billie to help the much larger man walk. When they reach one of the cars, Billie opens the passenger car door for Cole and shoves him in and runs to the driver's side. The keys are still in the ignition. She turns the engine on and speeds away, hoping that she can find another way to the motel.

"Go, go, go!" Mercer yells as he, Adam, Dommy, Hannah, and Dwight scramble over the cars, trying to get away from the rapidly approaching infected. These infected are unusually fast; they even climb over some of the cars and are able to keep a decent pace with the survivors.

Mercer jumps from an SUV to a blue sedan, and cracks the sedan's windshield in the process. His foot falls through the glass windshield, cutting up his ankle. He screams as he sees the blood and begins trying to pull his leg out.

"Just go!" Mercer shouts as he stares in horror at the oncoming infected and comes to terms with his imminent death. "Adam, what are you doing?!" Adam vaults over one of the car's onto the roof of the blue sedan Mercer is stuck in. Everyone else, fearing for their lives, continues running over the tops of the cars.

"I'm not leaving you here," says Adam. Adam grabs Mercer's shoulders and tugs, but his leg isn't budging.

"Go!" Mercer repeats. But Adam gives one last pull and Mercer's foot is free. Adam grabs him and assists him in fleeing the infected.

Previous/Next Issues
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