Peter's Journey/Issue 32

Mark is now staring blankly at the statue of Jesus, Ben is looking at Mark and Rhys is also looking at Mark “I won’t let that happen” said Ben “what?” asked Mark “I won’t let you kill your own flesh and blood” said Ben “who said I’ll be killing him?” asked Mark “well I ain’t doing it” said Ben “me either” added Rhys “cowards” said Mark as he looked around at them “no, not cowards, but I know where to draw the line” said Ben “meaning?” asked Mark “let me spell this out to you, you are going to be killing your own cousin, do you know how messed up that sounds?” asked Ben “I hope you aren’t backing out on us now Ben” said Mark as he raised his eyebrow to him “no, but I’m not getting involved in this maddening idea” said Ben as he stood up and walked out of the room, Mark looked over to Rhys, but Rhys just stood up and shook his head in disgust and walked out of the room.

Next Morning Peter and Laura arrive into the church after having been up on watch in the bell tower, they walk over to the rest of the group who are now getting breakfast ready, which was canned fruit “yum, fruit, just what we need” laughed Peter as he got his plate from his bag and had his knife and fork ready for Sarah to dish it out the him, when Peter came Sarah lent over to him “we need to talk after breakfast” “alright” replied Peter, he then walked over to Jess and Gareth who were having their food “everything okay?” asked Peter “yeah, but Gareth Laura and I were talking last night before you two went way on watch early on about leaving” said Jess “okay, Scott Sarah and I’ll talk after breakfast about our next move” replied Peter, he then kissed Jess on the forehead as he stood up. Mark then came into the room, he looked around, then he saw Henry, Ben saw this happening, he slowly walked over to him “don’t” said Ben and he walked off towards Scott, Garry and Anna. Peter walked over to Mark “morning” said Peter “morning, everything alright?” asked Mark “yeah, Scott and Sarah and I are going to go on watch for most of the morning, we’ve got a lot to talk about, if that’s okay” said Peter “sure, I think from what happened last night we’ll just be staying inside the church grounds” said Mark “I think that’s wise” said Ben as he joined them “well we’ll go on watch on the bell tower now” said Peter as he stood up, and walked over to Scott and Sarah, “ready?” asked Sarah “yeah” replied Peter.

Soon Peter, Sarah and Scott where up in the bell tower, “what’s all this about?” asked Peter “about our group leaving” said Scott “so you feel the same way as I do then?” asked Peter “yeah, and I think so others do as well” added Sarah “well I know Jamie does, Jess, Gareth and Laura both want to leave” said Peter “well what about the ones that don’t want to leave?” asked Sarah “like Susan?” asked Sarah “Yeah” replied Sarah “well they have a choice” added Scott “and who all do we bring?” asked Sarah “well I’ve been thinking about that last night, I think the people who were with us during the winter months, they know how we act, Henry and Laura will also join, that I know of “If Michael doesn’t leave, then Shannon wont, leading to Jamie to stay because of Shannon staying” said Peter, Just then Ben appeared up in the Bell Tower “oh, is everything alright?” asked Peter, “em...no, it’s not alright” replied Ben “well, what’s wrong?” asked Scott, “your group needs to leave today, now, if possible, take Henry and Laura with you as well” said Ben “well we were just talking about leaving, why do you say for us to bring Laura and Henry?” asked Sarah, Ben paused, he looked at Peter, then at Henry who was outside with Gareth and Laura “he’ll kill me if I told anyone, mostly you” said a worried Ben “who will kill you?” asked Peter “Mark” replied Ben “oh for God sake, this is folly” said Scott “it’s not...you need to leave, or he’ll strike again” said Ben “just like what happened to Eve?” asked Sarah “yeah, but this time...it’s Henry” said Ben, Peter looked straight at Ben “what..what did you say?” stuttered Peter “Mark wants to kill Henry, just like Rhys did to Eve” said Ben “and how the hell do you know all of this?” asked Scott “because I’ve been with them, helping them, just the three of us” replied Ben “you bastard” said Peter “I’m sorry, but last night, when Mark said about killing Henry, I tried to make him change his mind, but he wouldn’t head me, nor would he listen to Rhys” said Ben “oh, well then, that makes it alright then?” asked a sarcastic Scott “why?” asked Peter “why what?” said Ben “why does he want to kill Henry, and why did Rhys kill Eve?” asked Peter, “Mark thinks that the weakest people need to be dealt with, after Mark kills Henry, if you haven’t left by then he’ll want to get rid of Gareth, then Laura, Kitty after that” said Ben “but Gareth’s a good member of the group” said Sarah “I know, but Mark’s not the same, ever since we left the boat club he changed” said Ben “we need to get outta here now” said Peter. “and go where?” asked Sarah “I know a good place” said Scott, “where?” asked Peter “I’m not saying, I’m sorry Ben, we do trust you, kind of, but anyone could be listening, Peter, Sarah you’ve got to trust me on this one” replied Scott “we do” said Peter, just then the four of them left the bell tower.

When they got inside the church Peter called a meeting, everyone was present at the meeting, Peter, Scott, Ben and Mark stood at the choir stands as they always did when a meeting was in place. “okay, so I’ve gathered everyone here this morning to tell you all something...we’re leaving” said Peter “what?” said Mark “the group that we were with are leaving, and you can’t do anything to stop us...now, Henry and Laura will be coming with us, anyone else that was with us over the winter months that doesn’t want to leave...then that is their choice” said Peter “why?” said Mark “because this place isn’t safe, or at least it is from the walkers, but we don’t need that, we need to be on the run, keep on moving from house to house, the last time we settled down somewhere a lot of us got killed, Jean, Kerry, William, and a few others, Danny, Sophie and Zara, they died because we stopped moving, now I’ve said my say in this, if you want to leave, then you will join Scott, Garry, Henry Sarah, Andy and I up at the altar” said Peter, just then he turned away and walked up to the altar.

Moments later Henry, Gareth, Laura, Andy, Scott, Garry, Sarah, Jack, Kitty, Jess arrived up “I don’t think Shannon and Jamie will be going with us” said Jess “I’ll talk to them” replied Peter. Just then Shannon and Jamie walked around the corner “Can Michael go with us?” asked Shannon as she looked to her brother “yes” replied Peter, just then Peter, Jamie, Michael and Shannon went up to the Alter. “okay, we’ll be leaving this place, for good, now we aren’t coming back, we’ll take the Bike, the Lexis, the Nissan and the Hyundai, and the truck, we’ll sort everyone into a car each, Jamie, Jess, Scott, Jack and myself will drive, does anyone have a problem with that?” asked Peter “where are we going?” asked Jamie “Scott’s taking us somewhere, I can’t say, I don’t even know myself, but I trust Scott with my life, now we have fourteen people, for Michael, Laura and Henry we look out for our own while we’re out on the road we care for each other, okay?” said Peter “sure” replied Henry “good, now get our stuff, meet back here in half an hour” said Scott, just then the group dispatched, Scott, Peter, Sarah, Jack and Jess remained there to sort out the vehicles, eventually they came to an agreement;

Bike: Peter (driver). Lexis: Jess (driver), Gareth and Laura Nissan: Sarah (Driver), Andy, Shannon Hyundai: Scott (driver), Garry, Jamie Truck: Jack (driver), Kitty, Michael

When they sorted it out they went to get ready themselves. Peter got out his Magnum and loaded it up with bullets, he then took the two bags of guns that they had with them, he put his bow and arrows into the bag and packed up his sleeping gear, he then went back to the alter where some of them where standing, he then told them who going in what vehicle, Mark walked over to Peter “TI can’t change your mind then?” asked Mark “no, I’m sorry, but we have to move onwards, thanks for what you did, your safety” said Peter “no, thank you, you helped give us some space, with the new housing, we might just move some of our group into them” said Mark “you have a strong group Mark” added Peter, Mark nodded at him and walked away “right, let’s get going” said Scott, just then they all walked outside, Peter shook Ben’s hand, as they got outside they loaded their gear into the cars Peter put on his warm jacket and put the two gun bags into the boot of the Hyundai, he also out his gear into the boot and walked over to the bike, he got onto it and started up the engine, he then drove down the main drive, followed by the rest of them, Rhys opened the main gate for them and Mark and Susan where standing at the fence and they opened it as they came, Peter nodded at Mark, when they all left Mark and Susan shut the fence.