Say Goodbye To America/ Issue 23

Uninvited Guests
Lawrence: So, is this, everyone? Like, no one else is coming, we’re not waiting? Just us?

Reagan: I’m afraid so

Lawrence: Well… at least not everyone’s dead

The group sit in awkward silence as tears fall on Lawrence’s lap

Rufus: C’mon y’all, let’s not be too down. We’ve got a meal to take care of

Vincent: Are you sure it’s them?

Austin: Positive. Right down to bleach blonde hair on Isaac’s daughter

Joe: What should we do?

Austin: They’re traitors. Possibly murderers, we don’t know who killed who. All we know is Scott’s dead, and they’re living. Looks to be, thriving

Ted: Let me see

Austin hands Ted the binoculars

Ted: There a lot more of them than there are of us

Austin: They’re bound to split eventually. Maybe tomorrow. Follow at a safe distance. Approach them armed, kill if necessary. Kill whomever seems to be the biggest threat

Ted: Should we tell the rest of them?

Austin: I’ll stretch the truth a bit

He walks to the rest of his group

Austin: Alright trainees, we found our murderers. Some of them appear to be some of our own. In a few days time, we might have to kill a couple of them. I will not join you, but I need four brave volunteers to follow not too close but not too far behind. Joe will lead you

After a few silent seconds, Nancy and Hallie pipe up, followed by Peter, Jax and David

Austin: Jax, I need you to stay

Jax: Why?

Austin: I said so. You’re too young, not trained well enough

Jax: Then give me some real targets

Austin: Roamers are real targets

Jax: I do fine against them

Austin: They’re predictable. People are not. You have no idea what a person is thinking when they are fearing for their lives, or someone else’s. Now they have a large group. When they split, those five will follow. The rest of us will stay here

Gina: Be safe

Arianna: We will! And Jack, watch Cujo for me?

Jack: Will do Mizz Davis

Arianna turns towards her group and realizes she needs to quicken her pace to catch up. She meets up with Rufus, who is keeping the rear

Rufus: Are you ready?

Arianna: I don’t know. Maybe… ?

Rufus: First time on a run?

Arianna: It’s been a while. The boys used to go on the runs. It made them feel important based on their ages

Rufus: Well here we have one rule: Always be on guard

Arianna: Smart rule

Back at the camp, Danielle is still mourning the death of her daughter. She hasn’t eaten a lot since her daughter’s death, and is looking sickly

Lisa: ¿Te sientes bien?

Danielle: Estoy cansado. Necesito dormir ahora

She opens the flap to her tent and closes her eyes, attempting to fall asleep

Griffith: Julió, are you sure you wanted to come?

Julió: Sí. My wife needs space. I figure I should… help the group and get supplies

Brett: ¿De donde eres, Julió?

Julió: España. ¿Hablas español?

Brett: Un poco en escuela secundaria. Por cuatros años. También, mi hermana tomó por seis años

Clea: Es cierto

Julió: ¿Qué escuela?

Brett: Una escuela en Boston, Massachusetts

Isaac: Okay, we’re here. Now keep your eyes peeled. I’ll take Rose and Griffith to this building here. Brett, you and Clea and Julió can take that building on the left. Rufus and Arianna, the building to the right. Johnno, Kelly and Savannah can take the one on the far right and Sophie, Snow and Sawyer can take the one on the far left. If we’re all set, we can go

Lisa: Reagan, this deer is wonderful. Where did you learn to cook venison?

Reagan: I used to live in Maine. Up near Caribou, city of 8000

Jack: Well, it’s very good

Reagan looks down at his feet for a solid six seconds and stands up

Lisa: Where are you going?

Reagan: Just… stepping out for a second

He walks out into the woods where the others will not see him, pulls a cigarette and lighter out of his pocket and slumps down next to a tree. He puts the cigarette in his mouth and contemplates lighting it. He decides against it and takes the cigarette out of his mouth and buries it in the dirt. He pulls out a piece of paper entitled “Bucket List” and uses a pen to cross off the first thing on the list: Shoot and cook 10 deer. Most of his list is crossed out, except two at the bottom. The one circled and in all caps says “FALL IN LOVE AND MARRY”. He sits back against the tree and begins to draw on the the back of the paper

Alex: Well, I am stuffed. That was the best meal I’ve had in ages. Since a few months anyway

Gina: Oh yea, we never asked. Where did you all stay before this?

Geoffrey: We were in this beautiful community, Brett and Clea and I, as well as many others. We had well over 50 men, women and children, pushing maybe 80. But… as always… something comes and ruins it. Be it biters, people, or both. In our case, it was both. Some crazy fuck named Abraham, well his real name was Gabe, believed in salvation being the only way to take away the biters. And the scary part was, he had over 30 followers. The first thing they did was get rid of all sinners. They killed a whorish girl and a “bastard” child. Our leader did nothing, he sat in his house and stayed away from it all. But then, good old Abraham preached Jesus was still inside us all, even the dead ones. When he tried to open the gates, our leader stood in the way. So Abraham’s muscular second-in-command Tristan shot our leader point blank in the stomach, and opened the gate. The sane ones, us, fired on the herd, but Abraham’s group fired back. Most died in the firefight, but Abraham was bitten. I fired on both, and I was the one that took out Tristan. Brett saw us and brought us out, Clea and me, and this guy named Andrew. We were surrounded near the fences, none outside, all inside. Andrew gave his life so Clea could escape. We walked forever, found some good people, some bad people, eventually met Alex’s group

Alex: I was with my family for the first several weeks, my parents, my sister, Jenny, and our three neighbors. But as Geoffrey said, it always goes to shit. A group of five wanted what we had, and my sister and I made it out. She split one night, said she was headed for her college, see if her friends were there. Then I came across a two men, Dave and Cole, and Cole’s wife Hannah. We were vagabonds. Eventually, Dave was bit, and I put him down. Cole and Hannah, they died soon after I met Brett and Clea and Geoffrey

Gina: How about you, Lawrence?

Lawrence: Well, I was with this man named Scott

“And you killed him, didn’t you?”

Lawrence spins around before he hears the sound of the safety being clicked off. He reaches for his gun beside him, but a foot comes out of the shadows and kicks the gun away. Five figures slowly walk out. Joe keeps his gun pointed at Lawrence’s head

Joe: You killed him, didn’t you… Lawrence?

Lawrence stares angrily at Joe, then turns his attention towards Hallie and Nancy, then Peter and David

Joe: Never you mind them, They’ll keep your friends busy. You still haven’t answered my question. Did you kill Scott? Or any of the others for that matter? You see, we went back not too long ago, and Austin’s pretty upset

Lawrence: I did not kill Scott

Peter: How about your friends here? The boy? You don’t tell us, you die

Peter aims his shotgun at Jack’s head

Lawrence: We met Jack and Gina after Scott’s death. None of us killed Scott

David: But did you kill any others?

Lisa: No. None of us

David: Did I ask you, Lisa?

David turns his attention towards Lisa.

David: I’m the one holding the gun. You talk when I tell you to talk

He walks up to her and slaps her in the face. Jack kicks David in the leg and he falls down. Peter smacks Jack with the butt of his gun

Nancy: None of this is necessary people. If you know who killed Scott, we will leave you alone

Lawrence: Scott was a bad man. Killed innocents. He kept prisoners, I saw them. I… kept them there. There were children. Those children died. Whoever did kill Scott, they’re one of the best people who ever lived

Hallie begins to lower her gun. From her tent, Danielle peers through the flap and sees Joe standing near her. Reagan, hearing the commotion, grabs his gun and looks through the trees

Hallie: He’s right, Joe. I… can’t hurt them if he’s right

Lawrence looks towards Hallie and smiles

Joe: Mmm, yeah. You still haven’t answered my question. I’m afraid time’s up, too

He puts his gun at the back of Lawrence’s head. Suddenly, Danielle comes out of the tent and bites Joe in the wrist

Joe: Aaugh! Fucking bitch!

He turns his gun in Danielle’s direction and shoots her point blank in the chest. The bullet goes straight through her and pierces her tent. Reagan takes aim with his AR and shoots Joe in the chest. Peter looks puzzled as Nancy is then swept down by Gina. Cujo, awakened by the gunshot, runs straight into Peter’s leg. Before Cujo can bite Peter, however, Peter shoots the animal in the face. Reagan shoots the frightened Peter in the head. David grabs Lisa and holds his gun to her face

David: Come out now, or I’ll kill the bitch!

Reagan slowly walks out of the woods, and put his gun on the grass. David smiles an evil smile. His smile turns to shock. Lisa can feel her lower back soon becoming warmer and wetter than before. David loosens his grip and turns to see Jack behind him, Jack’s knife entering David’s skin, but no tip in sight. Jack pulls the knife out and lets David drop to his knees. Jack stabs David again, sideways into the man’s side, then into his neck. As he pulls the knife out of David’s neck, he pushes the knife in front of him, so to tear half of David’s neck out. Nancy stands up and puts her hand in the air, still clasping her puny glock

Nancy: Please, don’t kill me! Please!

Gina walks up to Nancy, takes the gun from her hand, and presses the gun to the tall woman’s temple. She shoots the woman, the body dropping quicker than the sound of the gun. Lawrence looks to Hallie

Lawrence: Don’t worry. I will not let her kill you. I know you didn’t agree with Scott’s motives

Hallie: I don’t agree with Austin’s now, either

Lawrence walks over to Joe’s body. He coughs up his blood and motions towards Lawrence

Joe: I am not going to beg. You’re not going to make me beg. Fucking old piece of shit

Lawrence looks away and instead walks to David’s corpse and shoots it in the head

Lawrence: Reagan, I believe your bullets hit Joe. He’s your call. You have dibs

Reagan chuckles and walks over to Joe and presses his gun to Joe’s head. Joe screams in fear as Reagan pulls the trigger. CLICK. Reagan took the clip out of his gun. He laughs at Joe, and Joe begins to cry in fear. While laughing, Reagan takes out his pistol and shoots Joe in the head

Reagan: Shut up

Lisa crawls over to Danielle’s body

Lisa: Danielle! Danielle! ¿Como te sientes? ¿Estás bien?

Danielle holds her stomach and touches Lisa’s facing, wiping her blood on Lisa’s cheek

Danielle: Estoy casado. Necesito dormir ahora

 

Credits:
Reagan Timm

Lisa Anderson

Rufus Stewartson

Isaac Ames

Julió Lopez

Brett Lars

Griffith Ward

Lawrence Brown

Geoffrey Johnson

Alex Harris

Austin

Joe Wang

Jack Thompson

Arianna Davis

Gina Torrens

Danielle Lopez

Jax Henderson

Clea Lars

Hallie

Nancy

Vincent

Ted O’Neil

Peter

David

Sophie Seamus (No Lines)

Rose Harrison (No Lines)

Savannah Brooks (No Lines)

Snow Ames (No Lines)

Johnno Topsy (No Lines)

Kelly Blake (No Lines)

Sawyer Brown  (No Lines)

Abraham (Mentioned)

Tristan (Mentioned)

Andrew (Mentioned)

Dave (Mentioned)

Cole (Mentioned)

Hannah (Mentioned)

Jenny (Mentioned)

Scott (Mentioned)

 

Deaths:
Joe Wang

Danielle Lopez

David

Nancy

Peter

Cujo

Abraham (Mentioned)

Tristan (Mentioned)

Dave (Mentioned)

Andrew (Mentioned)

Cole (Mentioned)

Hannah (Mentioned)