Dead Frontier/Issue 107

This is Issue #107 of Dead Frontier by Walkerbait22. This is the fifth issue in '''Volume 18. '''

Issue 107 - Together
For the first time, Dean’s relieved to see the infected. In the parking lot, whoever these attackers are are more worried about taming the undead than anything else, thus taking the attention off of them for now. With Ivy’s hand clutched in his, he looks to Mae and Winston. Winston looks to the nearest car, which has an infected pounding on the driver’s side window. He notices someone inside, hurriedly shoving the keys into the ignition. He grabs the infected and smashes its face directly into the window; its body slumps to the ground afterward, and the man in the driver’s seat flinches. Winston throws the door open and grabs the man roughly by the shirt.

“Whoa, wh-what the fuck are you doing?” the man blurts out. Winston throws him to the asphalt without an answer. He tries to get up, but Winston’s boot connects with his face, and he’s knocked backward with a few less teeth. Ivy watches, horrified, but Dean ushers her into the backseat, where they pile in next to Mae.

Winston turns the keys, roaring life into the engine. The man, still lying at the asphalt, kicks at the door. Winston stomps on the pedal, leaving him behind and snaking through the bodies that either lie on the ground or fight for their lives.

Fearing any possible escapees, one of the assailants fires blindly at Winston’s car. Bullet holes pierce the window and he nearly veers out of control. They duck down, shielding themselves from flying glass, but Winston’s able to keep control of the vehicle. He makes a sharp turn, throwing Mae, Dean, and Ivy against the passenger side door. He doesn’t dare take his foot off the gas. He tries to dodge whoever and whatever he can, but in the chaos he finds that difficult; it’s one straight shot out of the lot and on the road, so he goes for it. One of the attackers blocks their way, expecting the car to stop, but he’s mowed down, screaming under the wheels. A few bullets bounce off the rear windshield, but they don’t penetrate the interior. Winston finally dares to lift his head and smiles at the clear road in front of him.

Cole watches the empty road pass by with a blank expression. He estimates they've been driving for around a half hour when he feels the car come to a slow stop.

"Low on gas," Dre explains. "And I thought we could maybe take a break and look for some food around here." There are a few small, modest shops scattered around the block, but their ruined outsides don't give them high hopes for what they might find inside.

"I'm gonna sit this one out, if you guys don't mind," Lienne says, and Dre brushes it off with a wave.

"Don't worry about it. We'll be back in a little bit." He, Jake, and Tora exit the cars, closing the doors carefully behind them.

Lienne and Cole, both sitting in the back seat, stay quiet for a while. "So...we made it," she says after a while, looking out the window at the slowing moving clouds. She turns and offers him a warm smile.

"Yeah," he mutters. Then, he thinks about everyone who didn't, and that fact isn't so pleasant anymore. He squeezes his eyes shut painfully and rolls down his window to feel the breeze from outside. "Do we have any medicine or anything?"

"What's wrong?"

"I'm really not feeling okay."

She puts the back of her hand to his forehead and nearly recoils at how much he's burning up. "You've got a fever. Yeah," she says, swallowing hard. "Uh...I don't--I wouldn't know what to give you. I don't think we have anything." She bites her lip nervously; she thought his condition was improving, but this is the worst she's seen him all day. "I'll go in and tell them you need something."

"Thanks."

"And...listen. You've made it this far already. You and me both. You'll be fine." She tries her best to sound optimistic, but her voice comes out shaky. Just from his look, she can tell he doesn't really believe her. But he nods in agreement anyway. She leaves the car quickly and jogs into the grocery Dre, Tora, and Jake entered moments earlier.

They've already scanned a good fourth of the store, the emptiness of the shelves taunting them. They search every corner and vent for anything at all, but they find nothing but dust. This only worsens Jake's mood. He's hungry, he's thirsty, the place he considered his home just a few hours ago has been destroyed. And now they can't even find a damn granola bar. He kicks a shelf in frustration and knocks it over. Tora nearly flinches at his sudden outburst, and Dre eyes him oddly.

"I barely heard you say anything all day, Jake, now you're kicking over shelves," Tora says. "Are you okay?"

"Stupid fucking question," he mutters, and he continies walking.

"Excuse me?" she asks, following him. Dre hesitates, but he matches her stride.

"Do you think I'm okay? How do you think I'm d-doing? Do you want m-me to tell you I d-don't want to talk to any of you or can you not t-take the fucking hint? Jesus..."

He storms away and they stop, unwilling the follow him. Dre and Tora glance at each other in confusion. "That was..." Tora starts. She just shakes her head.

"I don't know how many times I said that kid is one hundred percent fucking crazy," Dre says when he knows Jake can't hear. "Straight up. Creeps me the hell out."

"He's had a tough time."

"And none of us haven't? I get it, today was a crazy fucking day, but this kid...let's just say the first day I met him he killed somebody. Like it was nothing. So I'm just gonna keep my distance, if that's cool with you."

Tora raises her hands defensively. "Fine with me."

Adam has taken the responsibility of driving as everyone else sleeps away the events and stresses of the day. He yawns and rubs his eyes, regretting his decision to control the wheel and wishing he could sleep himself. He begins to think of how great it would be to close his eyes until tomorrow, fall into a dream state to forget everything about today, even if just for a little while.

His eyes shoot open just as he dozes off, and he rubs them nervously. That's not a good sign. He plans to stop and take a much needed rest, but he's jolted into awareness by the honk of a horn. In the passanger seat, Lucy snaps awake. "What was that?" she asks, sitting up and looking behind her.

"There's a car following us," Adam says, looking at the truck through the rearview mirror. It looks familiar; he thinks he remembers passing it earlier, but it was parked at that time. He tries to make out the face of the driver, but he has to keep his eyes on the road. A hand waves out the driver's side window, but Adam doesn't risk slowing down. Instead, their pursuers speed up, until they're riding almost side by side.

The window rolls down, revealing the familiar face of the driver. His name slips from Adam's mind, but he remembers him as one of the residents at Lane Tech. He's Asian, with the beginnings of a beard and short dark hair.

"Hey!" Winston shouts. "Alex, right?"

"Adam!"

"We're from Lane! Pull over!"

Adam complies, just as Chloe and Duke begin to stir in the back. They yawn, and begin asking questions. "Why are we stopping?" "Who are they?" "Were they following us?"

"They're from Lane. I remember the driver," Adam explains.

"How'd they find us?" Lucy asks.

"Let's go find out." He exits the car, as does Winston. Adam notices the others piling out as well: a woman and another man, then a young, frightened looking girl.

"I knew I recognized you," Winston says.

"Okay, you're gonna have to back up and explain how you found us."

"You guys got attacked, too, right? We saw the hotel."

"They got you, too?"

"Yeah. We thought the hotel might've been safe to flee to, but it was completely fucked up. We stopped at a store a few miles back, and we saw you driving by. I could just make out you and...uh..." He gestures toward Lucy.

"Lucy," Lucy finishes for him.

"Yeah. It took a while to catch up and we got lost a couple of times...but yeah, I'm surprised you didn't notice us sooner."

"I'm pretty out of it right now. Might explain it," Adam says irritably.

They continue catching up, deciding to sit a nearby patch of grass. Lucy, Duke, Chloe, and Adam take turns explaining their situation. The attack was unprecedented; they mention the kidnappings and the lack of a full on slaughter. They were split up at first, but met up a little while ago. They're the only few out of the near hundreds at the Hyatt that they know made it out successfully.

Winston, Mae, and Dean take their turn, starting with the herd and then the odd cars that turned up afterwards. How they were forced to flee, how it was just a chaotic mix of infected and whoever the attackers were. Barely, they made it out. Ivy sits idly by, staring at the grass with her knees pulled up to her chest. She hasn't made a single sound until Dean finishes the last detail. A silence falls over them, but Ivy breaks it: "And Dean promised we'd go back to get my mom."

Winston and Mae turn their looks to him; Mae appears full of sympathy, but Winston looks at him as if he's the biggest idiot in the world. "What was I supposed to say?" Dean says defensively. "Tell her no?"

"Well, yeah. It's the truth," Winston says, and Ivy looks up at him, her lip quivering. She can believe her own gullibility. Of course it was a lie all along. She rises to her feet and stomps to the truck. No one bothers stopping her. She climbs into the backseat and slams the door. She pulls her knees to her chest, and finds that in her sorrow, she can't even cry.

After a few minutes of scouring the block and coaxing Ivy out of the truck, they spot an old cell phone shop. It stands out to them for the metal gates in front of the doors and windows; they can cover the glass, providing adequate defense for a little while if needed. The electricity is out as the moon provides their only light source. A few hours pass, and they naturally break off into groups; Duke, Dean, Winston, and Adam in one corner; Chloe, Mae, and Lucy in the other. Ivy sits alone, slumped against a wall and unwillingly to speak to anyone.

Mae and Chloe have been talking for a while. It’s their way of keeping their mind off things. Lucy takes another approach by staying mostly silent. They try to pull her into the conversation but give up after her repeated nods and one word responses. She only notices when their conversation fades away and Mae clears her throat.

“I’m gonna go to sleep. Long day,” Mae says. Chloe and Lucy say their polite goodnight’s as Mae transfers to another section of the room, using one of their packs as a pillow. Chloe scoots against the wall, a few feet away from Lucy, and leans her head against it. She’s rested well enough from the car ride that she knows sleep won’t come for a few more hours.

“Is it wrong to say I thought this would happen?” Chloe says. “Not this, specifically. Not the kidnapping and the murder. I just knew something would happen, eventually.” There’s a short pause. “Griffin told me about supplies being low. So it was only a matter of time, right?” She blinks the tears away and ignores the lump in her throat.

“Were you with him?” Lucy asks.

Chloe shakes her head. “I saw him, though, when I was trying to find a way out with Adam. We...left him.” She says the last part flatly, trying to hide the guilt that threatens to break her down. “Some guys had him. But it was either me or him. That’s what it always comes down to.”

Dean sits by awkwardly as Winston, Adam, and Duke talk. He can’t really say they’re the type of people he’s used to spending time with, so he keeps quiet. His gaze can’t help but unconsciously drift to Ivy, her head held down dejectedly and the occasional tear falling down her cheek. He tells them he’ll be back and sits down next to her warily.

“Go away,” she mumbles, sniffling afterward.

“Ivy, I’m sorry,” he says. He searches for the right words, powering through the shame that racks his brain. He forces himself to believe lying to her was the right thing. “I wanna go back to, but we can’t. There are just some things we can’t do. It’s too dangerous, and...and I know if I told you we really couldn’t, you wouldn’t come with us. Do you understand?”

“Shut up.”

He sighs. “It was to protect you, okay? I’d never lie to you like that, unless I really had to. And I really had to this time.”

“Go away. I don’t care.”

He’s going to spew out another apology, but he realizes it’s worthless. She’s just a kid. She’ll come to her senses and realize he made the right choice, one day. At least, he hopes she will.

After the day that they can all agree has been the longest of their lives, night finally falls. Lienne, Cole, Tora, Dre, and Jake are forced to spend the night in the truck, cramped together, but it'a better than sleeping outside on the ground. A fresh breeze flows through the open windows, bringing along with it the faint sounds of insects and animals that hide in the woods nearby. The night goes by without a hitch, though not everyone slept through it.

They weren’t lucky enough to find any medicine, so Cole’s fever is at its worst. He has a pounding headache, which isn’t helped by the lingering details of his nightmares from last night. He wonders when anyone else will awaken so he can find out their next course of action, but minutes pass and neither of them move at all.

But they’re all jolted awake by a gunshot from a distance. Cole winces at the sound of it, but everyone else mutters sleepy, confused questions. “Nice fucking alarm,” Dre says sleepily, and he rubs his eyes quickly. They take a few minutes to compose themselves before deciding this is a decent time to go. It’s early morning, and if they leave now, maybe they can find somewhere good enough to stay before nightfall. Not to mention the fact someone with a gun is close by.

Dre drives for a few minutes, until he notices the increasing flow of infected down each street they pass. Dre assumes it’s from the gunshot, and he swerves carefully around them, until he turns a corner and is faced with a wall of infected, stomping down the street in unison. He smashes on the breaks with a yell and spins the car in a complete 180.

“Where the fuck did that come from? Shit,” he says, his words followed by another trio of gunshots, louder this time than the single one from before.

Duke fires the pistol Winston provided him three times at the infected surrounding the shop. The sheer number of infected threaten to bust down the gates and the windows. Instead of trapping themselves inside, they dealt with the ones concentrated against the door and now turn their focus on the ones outside, approaching closer and closer. They must’ve gathered throughout the night without them noticing.

Adam sees three infected drop near him at the sound of Duke’s shots. He wasn’t aware of how close they were, and gives Duke a curt nod of thanks. Chloe has retreated into one of the trucks to keep watch over Ivy; Mae and Lucy handle the area with the least amount of infected; and Winston and Dean deal with those blocking the path of the cars.

They’re steadily getting overwhelmed, and their ammo dwindles with each wasted shot. But it’s necessary: with this amount of infected, getting up close and personal and trying to clear them all just isn’t practical.

Lucy pretty much lets Mae take over. Mae uses a crowbar found in one of the trunks to work on their area, bashing heads anywhere in her proximity. Lucy’s awed by how she hasn’t passed out from exhaustion at this point, but she doesn’t complain. She obviously knows what she’s doing.

“Don’t tell me that ‘cause you’ve been trapped in that hotel for a year you don’t know how to kill a few of these,” Mae says with a smile.

Ivy watches from the truck with her hands clenched tightly together in her lap. She can’t believe they're brave enough to do that, to just kill them like that. She watches in fear, and a little bit of awe, until something catches her eye out the windshield. It’s another vehicle, speeding down the row with a good amount of infected trailing it. “Oh, no…” Chloe mutters. She knew they’d made too much noise.

Instead of continuing on, the car screeches to a stop and a figure hops out of the passenger seat. It’s Dre, and he’s reloaded the pistol that Tora used to help in their escape yesterday. A wide smile forms on Chloe’s face as he fires a few careful shots into the crowd. He can barely see Duke fighting behind the circle of infected, but it’s him, without a doubt.

His shots have begun to drop enough infected to create a small hole. Duke meets his eyes, and Dre waves him forward, urging him to try to find a way through.

“Come on, this way!” Duke shouts to everyone else. They turn his direction and see that he’s begun to flee in the other direction, using the butt of his gun to smash the head of any infected in his way. Chloe climbs into the driver’s seat and starts the engine. She hears a burst of gunfire as Mae has resorted to her pistol, and infected collapse one by one near the car, until she and Lucy come into view. They slide into the back next to Ivy, out of breath. Chloe’s not sure if she should risk just driving through the small group in front of her, but she’s nearly surrounded on both sides. She cringes and presses onto the gas; the car shakes violently as the bodies crunch under the tires, and the bumper nearly rips off entirely. But she’s out onto the open road, and drives until she stops near Dre’s car. Duke reaches them soon, followed by Adam.

Winston and Dean are the only ones still caught in the hysteria. Dean is reduced to a small hatchet, but he swings around him wildly, feeling a small pang of success at each infected that falls. Winston has resorted to firearms, with a much more powerful rifle. But his weapon is adequate enough, and he decides to go through with his last idea. With no regard for anything around him, he opens fire, swinging his aim in a wide arc. He sees his bullets ricochet off of their cars, but the potential damage is worth it, because he clears out enough undead to make a wide path. He nods toward it, and Dean follows.

A few small clusters still pursue them as they drive, but soon enough, they’re out of sight. Wide, beautiful countryside overtakes the landscape, no infected to be seen wherever they are. Chloe gives a small honk in the car she drives after about five minutes, and they decide to stop. They all file out hurriedly, desperate hugs being shared.

"Where'd they come from?" Lienne asks Duke, pointing to Mae, Dean, Winston, and Ivy, who wait for the reunions to be over.

"Lane got attacked, too," he explains, and Lienne holds back her gasp. "We ran into them on the road. Only four of them." She wonders if it's the same situation at the school as at the hotel. Then, her eyes fall onto the little girl, Ivy, with her curly hair and shaking hands, and knots form in her stomach. She holds tightly onto Mae's hand this time, her gaze still fixated to the floor.

Chloe breaks her embrace from Tora, smiles on both their faces for the first time in hours. Chloe looks around, and decides to do a quick headcount. “12,” she says, and she can’t hide the disappointment from her voice.

“Naw, we’ve got one more,” Dre says. “Lucy! Your man’s in the car.”

Lucy gives him a suspicious expression. “What are you talking about?” she says.

“Uh...Cole is, like, right there. He just can’t get out the car with another grown man carrying him.”

The car door opens, letting in a fresh gust of air. Cole's aware of his rapidly worsening condition: he can barely keep his eyes open, moving even the smallest inch makes his body ache. When he hears a familiar face say his name, though, he knows it really must be bad. He didn't think his mind would resort to hallucinations; but, there's no other way Lucy could be peeking through the door right now, his name forming on her lips in disbelief. There's no other way she could be crawling next in next to him, not wasting a second to wrap her arms around his neck. There's no other way...until he realizes this isn't any evil trick his mind so terribly wanted to play on him. But it takes awhile for it all to settle in. He sits there in stunned petrification. He can feel the wetness of her tears on his shoulder, the rapid beating of her heart, the tightening of her hold on him. Something odd happens where he forgets the events of the day, the pain in his knee disappears until it's nearly nonexistent. That doesn't even compare to the other relief he feels right now: the washing away of a weight he thought he'd be burdened with for the rest of his life.

He finally composes himself enough to return her embrace, prompting an even tighter squeeze from her. He can feel her body shaking just the slightest bit, from her sobs and the complete barrage of emotions thrown at her just at the sight of him, as terrible as he might look. But he's alive.

"I'm okay," he mutters against her hair. At the sound of his voice, she pulls away reluctantly, creating a gap between them that she desperately wants to fill again. He wipes a few tears from her cheeks. "I told you I would. Didn't believe me, did you?"

She's speechless, still struggling to find the right words. "I don't know...I--I didn't know if..." she trails off, and he chuckles at her flustered state.

"I'll take an answer later, okay?" He pulls her close again. He can feel the tears coming on, but he forces down a deep breath to push them away.