World of Anarchy/Chapter 30

This is the 30th and final chapter of Part One of World of Anarchy entitled: The King And I.

Chapter 30 - The King And I
“Are you okay?” Teresa asked Chris as they ducked out of sight behind a car.

“Yeah--fine. Where are the others?” He asked catching his breath.

She looked over the car and searched for any sign of their friends but saw only infected wandering around. They didn't make it two blocks after leaving Leo before a large group of infected swarmed them. And now she and Chris were separated from everyone else. No sign of Omid, Emily and Claire, and Penny anywhere. There was no chance of looking for them either, not with all of the undead walking around.

“There gone.” She said before grabbing his hand and leading him further from the infected. “We...have to keep going.”

“...Everyone’s gone. All of our friends.” He said as they walked down the street that was becoming increasingly darker due to the sun setting.

“Yeah.” She sighed. “But you never really know. Maybe...Maybe Omid and the girls got away. Maybe Leo killed those bandits and maybe Jane survived the fall. Maybe Riley and Abby got away safely. Maybe we’ll see them again when we get to Rapid City.” She said even though she didn't believe it herself.

“That’s a whole lot of maybes.”

“Yeah. A whole lot.”

They continued down the street another three blocks before they came across a sniper rifle. Teresa picked it up and some ammo next to it. She looked over at the bell tower. It was only about a five or six minute walk away now. That’s when she noticed something moving at the top. She raised her rifle and peered through the scope to get a better look. It took her a few seconds to realize what she was seeing.

“Get back!” She yelled as she moved Chis an herself behind a brick column in front of a building to their left as a bullet whizzed passed them.

“What was that?!” Chris asked her.

“There’s someone up there.” She said trying to peek around the column to get a better look only to get another bullet that narrowly missed her head. Her mind was running a million miles a minute as she tried to think of a plan to get them to safety. The only thing that came to mind was using the rifle to try and get the person back but she was at a huge disadvantage. Whoever it was up there had higher ground and cover. If only they had some sort of distraction. Then an idea came to her, although she didn't like it very much. But it was the only thing she could of.

“Take this.” She said handing the rifle to Chris.

“Why? What are you going to do?”

“I’m going to make a run for it.” She said taking a deep breath. “And I need you to cover me. The second I run out there they’re going to start firing at me. That’s when you fire back at them. But the second you do make sure you get back behind this.” She finished tapping on the brick beside them.

“Teresa, I’m not sure I can do this.”

“Yes--Yes you can. You have to. Unless, you know, you want to try and run over there while avoiding getting shot.”

“I think I’ll stay here.”

“Good.” She said with a small smile. “You ready?”

“I guess so.”

Teresa nodded. “That’ll have to do.”

She took another deep breath and took off in a full sprint. Another bullet whizzed passed her as she ran by a few parked cars. She heard Chris fire and a few seconds later a faint yelp from the top of the bell tower that signaled Chris had hit his mark. Before she knew it she had made it to the entrance of the tower. Looking back she saw that Chris was still safe, but he wouldn't be much longer if she didn't hurry to the top.

Teresa quickly stepped up and out onto the roof of the tower. It was sunset now and it was so dark now she could barely see a few feet in front of her. She then felt something hard hit her in the back of her head knocking her into the wooded floor she was standing on. Before she could help it the sniper, who was female, was on top of her.

She managed to kick her off though and knock her into one of the columns that held up the bell. The Sniper raised her gun toward her, but Teresa was just fast enough to knock it out of her hands and off the tower completely. Then it was nothing but a flurry of punching, slapping, biting, and hair pulling until Chris fired off his gun again. Luckily, the bullet hit The Sniper in the leg giving Teresa enough time to get one good push in.

The Sniper stumbled back toward the edge of the tower. Then she was gone. Teresa heard the girl scream as she fell until she finally stopped after the loud thump sound of her colliding with concrete.

Teresa wiped the the blood off of her busted lip as she leaned against one of the columns. She glanced over and was relived when she saw the small silhouette of Chris walking to the tower. She then turned to look out over the city skyline. Straining her eyes to see in the darkness, she looked over the city searching for the place where David was being kept. Her eyes finally rested on a place not to far away that had the words The Continental in darkened words across it right next to the hospital.

“How is it?” Ben asked his sister as he pulled the rag from his nose as they walked down the deserted street.

“Better.” She said with a smile. “Looks like the bleeding stopped.”

“Yeah it does.” He said letting the rag fall to the ground.

“So...why did that chick punch you, Ben?”

“She was mad at me. I--” He paused. “I had to do somethings to get you back.”

“Some very bad things from what I've heard Mr. Dover.” A mesmerizing voice from in front of them said. They both turned to see an older looking man and a guy wearing a dark hood standing a few feet away.

“Who are you?” Ben asked.

“Old friends of David and Teresa’s. We heard that you know where to find them.”

“Do you know who I am?” The bandit leader asked.

“No.” David replied. “I don’t.”

The bandit leader nodded and reached up to his bandages. Slowly he began to unravel the gauze that covered his face, and when he was finished it revealed a pinkish-red colored face that was horribly burned. Still there was something familiar about it to him.

“What? Still don’t recognize me yet do you?”

“Nope. Should I?”

“Not with my face like this, no. Besides, it’s been awhile since we last saw each other.”

David sighed, already tired of all this. “Can you just get to the point already?”

The bandit leader chuckled for a good minute or two before responding. “You wanna know something I've noticed about most people? They never take a good long look at the choices they make. They never consider, that, by doing one thing, some very small thing that they do might change their lives completely. Make their lives a little easier or a little harder. In your case much, much, much harder. They never consider who else they might be hurting. They never consider the consequences.”

“Look, I don’t know why I’m here. Why you want me and my friends so badly or whatever I did to piss you off so--”

“WHAT YOU DID!” The Bandit Leader screamed as he lost his cool and knocked everything off the desk between them. “You want to know what you did, David?! You fucking let me down when we needed you! All of this,” He said pointing to his face. “All of this happened to me because of you! You left us to fucking die! She died because of you!”

Slowly David was starting to realize who he was. But it couldn't be. This monster in front of him couldn't be who he thought it was. He was dead. He had to be dead. It couldn't be him.

“You...It can’t…” David fumbled his words, at a complete loss.

“Oh.” The guy in front of him said quickly regaining his composure. “You’re starting to get it aren't you...brother?”

“Jim.” David said as he lost his breath.

“Bingo!” Jim screamed a little too loudly. “And the thousand dollar prize goes to one, David Andrews!”

“Jim--Why? How did you--”

“I already told you why.” Jim said as his damaged voice got unnaturally calm. “But as for how...it all started that night. The night the world ended. The night my world ended.” He said taking a deep breath. “That night I went out with Jackie--If you recall--and we had fun. If you remember I said I was going to propose. I did. She said yes. And then...then she told me the most wonderful thing that I ever heard.” He said as tears rolled down his scabbed face. “She was pregnant. She was pregnant. We were going to be parents. Then...everything...everything went to fucking shit. These corpses attacked the party. Killed a lot of people. But we escaped. I no idea what to do so I called the only person I thought would. You.”

“Jim--” David said desperately wanting to explain himself.

“But you didn't come.” Jim continued. “We tried to get out of the city after it was obvious you weren't going to show but between the dead walking around and the military--Not to mention the hordes of panicking people--it was very difficult. We...we made the mistake of standing too close to a truck that was hulling gasoline. I woke up a few days later like this.” He said motioning to his face again. “I wandered around a bit with people here or there until we finally ended up in New Mexico. We met a group of unruly people there. Savages that let this world consume them. They needed someone to lead them. A couple months went by of us robbing people and scavenging what we could until one day we ran into Ben and that guy Sid. At first we were just going to rob them and then off them but Ben started talking. He’s pretty good at talking himself out of a situation isn't he? Turns out his sis was one of the girls we kept and, well, after he noticed her he was just spilling with information. He told us about his group...that’s when you came up. After a little incentive he told us how you, Teresa, and that little brat got out of Denton and got there. That’s when I decided...I decided to make you suffer like I had because, after all, it was your fault. But my men kept fucking up one attempt after another. First at that grocery store, then the raid on your hotel, and then the mall. Finally though...finally we caught up to you. And here we are. Good story, wasn't it? I certainly thought so. I was going to have Terry, the brat, and that F.B.I. guy’s daughter here so I could personally execute them in front of you--After of course letting my men have the rest of your group--Before finally killing you.” Jim said as he pulled out a gun. “But things don’t always work out. Terry and your pals all seemed to have gotten free. So...I guess this will have to do.” Jim finished as he pointed the gun at David’s face.

“I--” David said as he struggled to form words. “I don’t even know...what to say, Jim.”

“I’ll help you out then. How about...I ditched you and got your fiance killed all for some kid and some tail.”

“It wasn't like that--”

“The hell it wasn't! You would think that you of all people wouldn't leave family behind.”

David paused as he stared his old friend in the eye. “I’m sorry, Jim.”

“You’re what?”

“I’m sorry. So, so, so very sorry. If I could go back I would do things differently. If I had known Jackie would...she was like a sister to me man. And you were like a brother. But things went so wrong after you called. Teresa and I left to find you but...you saw how crazy everything was that night. And we had no idea where the hell you two were. So I made a choice. A decision A decision to get a friend and a small boy out of that hell.”

“And don’t forget fucking my life up in the process.” Jim said cocking the gun.

“You don’t have to do this. Do you think Jackie would want this? What do you think she’d say if she saw you right now?”

“Well, we’ll never know will we?” He said standing up.

David’s mind lurched. “There’s a safe-zone. In Rapid City--That’s where we were heading. You can--”

“I can what? Come with you and group to the city, pretend like none of this ever happened, and live happily ever after? Not a chance. This...this is how it has to be, David. This is how it has to be.”

David’s mind couldn't handle everything that was going on. Finding out Jim had survived and had been the guy that was terrorizing him for the better part of a year. He just couldn't believe it. He thought about how he just felt regret. He felt it was his fault for getting Jackie killed. But not for Jim. The guy standing before him wasn't Jim anymore. Not really. Jim had made made decisions that made him what he was. A monster. He couldn't blame himself for that even though a small part of him did. But mostly he thought back to everyone in his group. To Teresa and Chris.

Before anything else could happen the door to their behind them and to the left opened. They both turned to see Teresa and Chris enter the room. But before they realized what was going on Jim had them at gun point.

“Well, looks like it’s my lucky day.” Jim gloated as he motioned for Teresa to toss the rifle over to him. “Still one short but this works. This works just nicely.”

“Jim, don’t do this.” David pleaded.

“Jim?!” Teresa exclaimed full of shock.

“Nice to see you again too, Terry.” Jim said as a smile washed over his face. “And I’m sorry for what’s about to happen. Well, no, that’s a lie. Truth is I’m not sorry. I’m fucking ecstatic. Nothing personal though.”

Something snapped in David in that moment. A hidden anger that he had no idea he had. All his life he had lost family. First when his dad killed himself after killing David’s mom and brother. Then when the dead started walking he lost Jackie and Jim. And now he was about lose Teresa and Chris. He wouldn't let it happen again. Not ever again.

“Any final words before I--” Jim started to say before David jumped over the desk, fighting through the pain in his leg and head, and tackled Jim.

They fell to the ground after crashing into the bookcase. Jim dropped his gun when they collided with the ground and it slid just a few feet away. They both made for it but Jim pulled out a knife and slammed it into David’s hand as he reached for the it. After a yelp from David, Jim pulled it back out and quickly got on top of David, attempting to get another stab in.

“I don’t need a fucking gun to kill you!” He yelled as he tried to pierce David’s gut.

David struggled to hold him back. The gun was right beside him but he couldn't grab it. Not while he held back the knife. He looked up at Teresa and Chris and was about to call out to them when his hand slipped. He didn't even feel it when the blade entered him, but he did feel a cold feeling wash over his body. It was like it was draining his energy.

“David!” Teresa screamed as she attempted to run over and help only to stop when Jim picked the gun back up.

“Stay right there! This is between me and him!” Jim yelled.

David looked back up at Teresa and Chris. He saw how scared they were. He didn't want that to be his last memory. He couldn't let it. Instead he pulled the knife out and thrust it into Jim’s wrist causing him to drop the gun. He then knocked Jim to the ground and quickly grabbed a large, heavy paper weight that used to be on the desk. The next few moments were a blur to him. The next thing he knew Teresa was behind him pulling him off Jim.

“It’s over! It’s over, David! He’s dead!” She screamed to him.

“Wha...what…” He said through gulps of air.

He looked down at Jim and was shocked by what he saw. There was barely anything left of Jim’s head except for a large mound of flesh and blood. He dropped the paper weight and stood up beside Teresa and Chris.

“It’s over, David.” She said to him again. “We’re safe.”

“What happened to everyone else?” He said weakly as he stumbled outside with them.

“We got separated from them.” She said helping him along. “Most of them anyway.”

They walked down the street toward the hospital in hopes of following the street out of the city. But they didn't get more than a few yards before David collapsed. He coughed up blood as he tried to get up.

“Tere..Teresa…” He struggled to say.

“Oh God…” She said as she helped him to her feet.

David felt strange. He thought that he should be in pain but he wasn't. No pain in his leg, hand, stomach, or head. He was just tired. Very, very, very tired.

“Guys!” Chris called to them.

They looked back at him and saw what had him worried. All around infected were moving toward them. They seemed to appear from nowhere. Like they knew that they were the most vulnerable at that moment. There were way to many to take on. With no way forward or back, they headed into the hospital.

They moved as quickly as they could through the littered halls but it wasn't quick enough. David took a quick look behind and saw that the infected were beginning to pour in. He knew it was only a matter of time before they caught up with them. He, Teresa, and Chris were moving to slow because of him. Because of his injuries. He was going to get them killed.

“Stop.” He said as they passed through double doors that visitors weren't allowed passed.

“What is it?” Teresa as looking down at his wounds.

“You have to go.” He said through labored breathing. “You have to leave me.”

“Don’t say that--We just need to go a little bit further and--” She said trying to move him along.

“Teresa.” He said stopping her again. “You have to go. It’s only a matter of time. A matter of time before they get us. I’m slowing you two down.”

“No. We’re not. We’re not leaving you to die.” She said as tears fell from her face.

“Look at me, Teresa.” He said trying his best to remain standing. “I...I’m not going to make it out of this one.”

“But…” She said as she looked behind him and to the infected. She then embraced him. “I love, David.”

“I love you too.” He said after they shared one more kiss. “I’m sorry. So sorry. About everything. About Amber. About avoiding you since then. I’m sorry.”

“It wasn't your fault.” She told him. “I...I’m the one that should be sorry. I pushed you away. I wish I didn't push you away.”

He then looked got down so he was eye level with Chris. “I’m sorry to you too. Back in Denton I--”

“It’s okay, David.” Chris interrupted, also crying, before he hugged him.

David broke the hug realizing they were running out of time. “...Take care of her.” He told him. “Alright?” Chris nodded as David slowly rose again. “It’s time.” He said as he listened to the sound of the infected drawing nearer. “I can get them away from here. Buy you both a little more time to get out.”

Teresa wiped away her tears and took Chris’ hand. He watched them walk down the hall before disappearing behind more doors. He then turned back to face the horde.

“Let’s get this over with.” He said to himself as he limped as best he could down a hall to his left, calling after the undead to make sure they followed. It worked and soon they were all following close behind. Eventually he couldn't walk anymore no matter hard he tried to. He collapse, completely void of any energy and rolled over onto his back.

He stared up at the ceiling. It had a large skylight above that showed the stars. He lay there and thought back to everything that happened in his life both good and bad. He thought back to all the decisions he had made and thought about how, like Jim said, all of them led him there. Lying on the ground, bleeding out, completely broken. But Teresa and Chris were alive. That’s why, even though he regretted some of his choices, he was okay with the consequences.

He could see the silhouettes of the infected just beside him now. Any second they would be on him. So he closed his eyes because he didn't want to see it. As he waited for death any moment he thought he could hear something very faint. A song. Not just any song though. It was the same that he had heard in that store a few weeks earlier.

Sing, sing a song

Sing out loud

Sing out strong

Sing of good things not bad

Sing of happy not sad.

Sing, sing a song

Make it simple to last

Your whole life long

Don’t worry that it’s not

Good enough for anyone

Else to hear

Just sing, sing a song

Sing, sing a song

Let the world sing along

Sing of love there could be

Sing for you and for me.

As he listened to it he slowly let his mind drift into unconsciousness. The last thing he thought about was his family as two hands grabbed him and lifted him. Not his old family however. His new one.

Credits
Of Monsters And Men - Sinking Man


 * David Andrews
 * Teresa Burch
 * Chris Collins
 * Jim
 * Ben Dover
 * Sarah Dover
 * Garland
 * The Hooded Man
 * The Sniper

Deaths

 * The Sniper
 * Jackie (Confirmed fate)
 * Jim

After Credit Scene
“There they are.” Garland said as they watched David, Teresa, and Chis walking into the hospital as infected trailed behind him from the top of a building across the street. “You should go do what you do best before either of them die at the hands of the Purified. We still need them if you recall or this would have all been for nothing.” He told The Hooded Man.

“Yes, master.” The Hooded Man spoke in a booming deep voice before jumping off the building and walking through the herd to get inside the hospital.

“Poor, poor, David.” Garland said to himself. “Still no idea what lies ahead for them.”