The Ones Who Remain/Issue 11

This is issue 11 of The Ones Who Remain, entitled: Blinded By The Light.

Issue 11; Blinded By The Light
Outside of a large warehouse in the outskirts of a dark-skied Jacksonville, a large amount of biters are piled up against the building, one thing on their minds: Food.

One biter stands out from the rest though, it looks like death itself. It's face was all charred up, it's eyes popping out of it's face, and it's arms a dark red. This thing was hideous. It positioned itself next to the window of the warehouse, beating the window repeatedly until it broke. Almost immediately after the window is broken, a bullet simultaneously flew through it's forehead.

"Back it up!" a feminine voice calls from inside the warehouse.

"Sky, they're getting in!" a deeper voice yelled.

Inside the warehouse, a group of four people stood clustered together in a circle. Two young blondes, mid twenties, a man and a female, a red-headed man in his late twenties, a black-haired girl. They were all evenly spaced out, weapons readied as the biters started to breach the door.

The blonde man looked over his shoulders at the blonde woman, who does the same. They both smiled at each other.

"Like old times, sis?" he asked.

"Like old times." she responded, before lodging her spear into the eye of the nearest biter.

The black-haired woman, the only one with a gun, a Colt Python, quickly shot off the five bullets she had in her chamber before dropping it to the ground, before picking a crowbar off the ground in front of her.

The red-headed man, machete in hand, quickly stepped forward and sliced a biter's head in two, before falling back into position in between the two girls.

"Hey Rick," the blonde girl said, sizing up the red-head, before turning her attention back to the incoming biters.

"What?" he asked, stabbing the closest biter in the head with his machete.

"This is why I lead the supply runs."

"Not the time, Amy." the blonde man said, his voice heavy.

"What's the matter, Lucas?" the black-haired woman asked. "Getting tired? City life will do that to ya."

"Don't make me come over there and beat you senseless with this here bat." he replied, looking over at her with a smirk, watching her dispose of another biter.

"Not the best time for flirting, assholes." Rick quickly said, motioning to the exits all around them, now being flooded with biters. "We're starting to get surrounded."

"Shit." Sky muttered. As the other three continued fighting, she desperately looked for...something. That's when, out of the corner of her eye, she spotted a staircase located on the back wall. "Come on, upstairs everybody, let's get the fuck out of here." she yelled.

"Yes ma'am." Rick whispered, before instantly taking off, Amy close behind him.

Lucas however, doesn't hear Sky. He's in this state of adrenaline, as the biters get closer or closer, he just drowns everyone else out, readying his bat. As a biter, dark skin, dark yellow eyes rush after him, it only takes Lucas a second to bash it's head in, sending the biter tumbling to the ground.

As another one approaches him, Lucas again readies his baseball bat, but his arm is soon tugged on, and instinctively, he turns around and swings. He feels the end of his bat hit the target, and hears a loud squeal before finally coming out of his state of mind. He looks down at his target, and quickly realized his mistake.

Sky lies on the ground, her nose crooked and her eye swollen. Lucas quickly turns away from her, disgusted with himself, before seeing the large amount of biters making their way toward them. He quickly looked back down at Sky, before making the quick decision to lift Sky up by the waist, throwing her over his shoulders.

Lucas then ran as fast as he could toward the staircase, although Sky's weight made it increasingly difficult for him to continue on. As he reached the staircase, both Amy and Rick were on their way back down. Upon seeing Luther and Sky, Rick immediately turns the way he came, sprinting back up the stairs. On the other hand, Amy stays behind, letting Lucas pass her before following the two up.

Mike lies on a couch, staring at the ceiling, as a wet rag goes over his face. He's too tired to resist, and although the cuts and scrapes burn, he refused to wince or flinch. It isn't long before Emma leans over Mike's body, and the two are face-to-face.

"You're an idiot you know?" she silently asked, before placing the rag back over his face.

"I know..." he muttered.

"What the hell were you thinking? Do you have any idea what could've happened to you?"

"I don't know,"

"You don't know?" she spat back, her voice still silent. "You could've died out there. You are so lucky I got there when I did."

"I'm sorry..."

"You shouldn't be. You made a mistake, a stupid one in fact, but it's not your fault.  These assholes have no idea how to take care of you, do they?" she spat out. It was like interrogation, except for Mike, worse. He's staring into the eyes of the person who killed his mom.

"What even happened?" he finally asked, attempting to sit up, but he was still light-headed, so he just plopped back down on the couch. Emma still stood over him, dropping the blood-soaked rag to the floor, before kneeling beside him.

"You were delusion, to say it best. I found you being attacked by those lurkers, and I thought you were done for, kid.  You were dehydrated, you started seeing things that weren't even there."

"Do I wanna know what I was seeing?" he muttered.

"Nikki." she said, looking into his eyes. "You thought I was Nikki."

Mike painfully looked away from Emma. Her...why her? "She's not dead." he finally hears Emma say.

He quickly looked back at Emma, who could only bear to keep eye-contact with Mike for half a second before she looked down at the floor. Mike couldn't believe his ears. She's alive? "But--"

"I lied to you." Emma said. "I figured it would be best for you, so you wouldn't try anything stupid and get yourself killed to be with her...looks like that was gonna happen anyways."

Mike didn't respond. How could he? He didn't know what he was supposed to say to her. 'Oh, thanks for that, you let them torture me and then told me Nikki was dead'.

"I know you're confused," she continued. "but all you really need to know is that she's safe, and so are you, okay?"

"I need to see her." he said, grunting as he sat up.

"Lie down, rest." she said, turning her attention back to him.

"I need to see her." he repeated, this time more forcefully.

Emma sighed. She didn't want to have to tell him she went off to Jacksonville. She didn't wanna have to hurt him again. But, staring into this young man's eyes--his hurt eyes--what other choice did she have?

"She's gone." she said, quickly wiping away a stray tear thinking of her baby being gone. "Up to Jacksonville with Jared and Cal."

"Is this another lie?" he quickly said, not bothering to think about it.

"As much as I'd love to say yes, and man, would I love to...I'm not. She's gone, went looking for help to save you."

"What?" he asked, almost completely dumbfounded. Then it started to sink in, she can die. He felt his chest get heavier, his eyes get moist, and with that, he started feeling the anxiety and panic pouring out of him. "What do you mean Jacksonville? Don't you know how dangerous the journey is?  We have to get her--she can die!  How long ago did she leave?  We can still catch her...God, we have to try."

Mike feels himself goes numb, and it doesn't take long for Emma to wrap her arms around Mike. He hasn't realized it cause he's so caught up in the moment, but in his state of panic, he started to lose his breath, and with that he started gasping for air--slipping into a larger sense of panic.

"Breathe Mike, just breathe." Emma said, rubbing his head, her arms still wrapped around him, who closed his eyes, his mind going somewhere else.

As Mike started to calm down, and his breathing patterns returned to normal, Emma gave a smile of relief, before looking back up at the doorway, where Cameron and another man stood, watching the two.

"This kid is useless." Cameron said, who sat in the kitchen of her mansion with Ally and Emma, the former which fiddled with a knife, and the latter who had her arms crossed, infuriated with Cameron at this point, watching her. "Seriously, why wasn't I warned about this earlier? Asthma, anxiety disorder, it's probably going to take weeks to recover from his injuries as they are...why did I sign up for this shit?"

"He's your son." Emma quickly spat back. "He's a great kid, he's probably got the biggest heart I've ever seen--he does not deserve to sit in an Echo prison for the rest of his life."

"Whatever," she muttered, sitting back in her seat. "You could've told me he's useless back then, couldn't you?"

Emma quickly shot up from her seat, taking the knife right from Ally's hands, and putting it toward Cameron's throat. "You listen to me, he'll be helpful around here, you can count on that. But if you dare--and I mean, dare--get him killed, I'll be here with the rest of Echo faster than you can prepare."

Cameron just stares into Emma, and even smiles a little as Ally watches intently. "Why don't you take him and go crawl into whatever hole you two came from?"

"We have nowhere else to go. I can't take him back to Livingston, not while there's no one to watch him, and I can't take him back to Echo with me..." "We'll take care of him, you don't have to worry about anything." Ally said, slowly rising from her seat.

"Look," Emma continued, handing Ally the knife. "I'm inside of Echo, I earned their trust. Whatever you need, I can get it."

"Information." Cameron quickly said. "Give me information on whatever you can. Who their top dogs are, their structural weaknesses, strengths.  How many men they have inside of their base..."

"Are you planning an attack?" Emma interrupted.

Cameron looked at Ally, who just returned a blank stare. "No--but information is crucial, on enemies and allies alike."

"I can get you that then." Emma said. "I can easily help you with it--just keep the boy safe."

"Of course," Cameron sighed. "We'll take care of him."

"You can trust us." Ally quickly said, offering a smile to Emma who still stood infuriated with Cameron.

"And you can trust me." Emma replied, before turning away from the two women, and walking away.

Making their way to the top floor of the construction site, the group of four never stop moving. Rick led the way, followed by Luther who carried Sky, and last but not least, Amy, who made sure that no biter got too close to the group.

Running to the next room over, they don't stop until the sound of bullets cut through the air. Amy immediately spins around, more alert than before, while the other two continue to run. She watches as the crowd of biters that were previously chasing her split, and only a few kept their pursuit on her.

She smiled and readied her wooden spear. She knew she could take these assholes on, and as the closest biter got within arm distance, she quickly lodged the spear through the closest biter's eye. As Amy removed the spear from it's eye and the biter dropped to the ground, she quickly lodged it into the next biter's eye with ease.

It doesn't take long for Rick to rejoin her, taking a spot next to Amy, getting his machete ready.

"Hear the shots?" Amy asked, as Rick stabs an approaching biter in it's head.

"Yeah," he said, wiping a beat of sweat from his forehead. "Think it's Del?"

"Maybe. What's the chance they would've heard us though?"

"Maybe they heard the gunshots."

"Right...either way, they distracted the lurkers. We can easily fight our way to them."

"Let's make this quick then--I'm getting exhausted."

"Lead the way." Amy replied, lodging her spear into a biter's forehead.

In a bedroom of the mansion--the same one Mike was brought to before--Mike lied on the bed. No matter how much he needed the sleep, his mind was clouded with thoughts. From Nikki, to the situation he was in with this Cameron chick--his mind couldn't stop racing.

What if Nikki and Cal were killed on their way? He'd never know they even died.

What if these people were going to torture him--just like Echo? He needed to get the hell out of here...but, then again, what if Emma was right? What if these people were good and only wanted to help? Emma was always there for him, ever since he was a kid, but it was her fault Brenda--his mom--was dead. How can he trust her now?

"Kid, you need to get some rest." he can hear the faint, feminine voice of Cameron say from the doorway. He didn't pay any attention to her though, he's just waiting for her to leave. "You might not believe me, but we're good people, and we--I--only want the best for you."

Mike lifted his head, staring at her, she was wrapped in a pink bathrobe, her skin was pale...she was definitely exhausted. "Were you close with her?" Mike asked.

"Who?"

"Brenda? I know you said you knew her, but were you close?"

Cameron nodded, a smile coming across her face as she remembered Brenda. "We were close, very close." she said. "She protected me, cared for me when no one else would. Hell, we dated for a little bit."

"Really?" Mike asked, letting out a small smile.

"Yeah, back when we were teens, around your age--maybe a bit younger."

"Was she nice?"

"She was a bitch." Mike's grin grew. "Some things never change."

"What about Emma? How was she?"

"Bitchier."

Mike let out a small laugh, before finally resting again, lying his head back on the soft pillow. He doesn't know why, but that made him feel a lot better.

Cameron knew she got to the boy, and she couldn't control her smile. "We got a long day ahead of us, kid. You're gonna need the rest."

Mike continued to stare at the ceiling. "Yeah, I know." he quietly said.

"And by the way, that move you pulled was so stupid."

Mike shrugged. "I already got the speech."

"Yeah, I know." she said, still smiling. "Good night, Mike."

As Cameron left the room, shutting the door behind her, Mike, still smiling, let out a small "Thank you." under his breath.

Amy and Rick sat together, blood-soaked, in front of the warehouse. They watched as the last of the biters are disposed of by a group of seven, one familiar, Cole Townley.

"These ugly sons of bitches ain't got shit on us." one of them yelled in excitement, stomping the head in of a biter.

"Chill out, bro." Townley said, rolling his eyes, before making his way over to Amy and Rick, assault rifle by his side. "You guys alright?"

"Peachy," Rick muttered sarcastically.

"Aye, fuck you too. Next time I won't try and save your asses." he smiled, sitting next to Amy.

"How'd you find us?" she asked, wiping some sweat and blood from her forehead.

"We can hear Sky screamin' from the zone, man." he said. "Bitch is loud."

"Fuck--my face is killing me." Sky's voice can be hard behind them. She soon passes them, using another woman for support, Luther close behind them.

"We'll get you fixed up in a bit." a bald woman, who wore a medical sticker on her arm said.

"I'm so sorry, Sky." Luther pleaded, moving past Amy and Rick, following them.

"I do not want to hear it." she muttered.

"You're in some deep shit man." Rick said, attracting Luther's attention.

"I'm very aware, thank you for the insight." he said, before sitting in front of the group of three.

"Where's Del?" Amy asked, looking back at Townley.

"Kid's pukin' his guts out back at Jacksonville. Fuckin' dumbass was dared to eat raw meat by one of the guys--and he fuckin' did it.  Kid doesn't know when to not let his ego get in the way." Townley said, looking ahead at his squad of seven and Sky, who were loading the two trucks up with supplies that Rick's group collected.

"Are you serious?" Amy asked, looking down at her shoes. Townley could see her face getting redder and redder. "God, kid is stupid. He makes it so hard to care about him."

"Don't do anything rash--"

"I'll just have a small talk with Del." she said under her breath, before getting up, and walking towards the trucks.

"Was she always like this?" Townley asked, looking between Rick and Luther.

"Nah," Luther said. "She used to be sweet and innocent--but shit happens. She changed, I changed, we all changed.  I can't really blame her."

"Of course not." he replied, shrugging his shoulders. "Shit happens, I get it."

Luther nodded, before looking back at his sister, who hopped into one of the trucks, right next to Sky.

The following morning, when Nikki awoke, she's met by the smell of meat. Tired, she hesitantly stood up, not bothering to change, and not realizing that Cal was gone.

She left the room, holding her head--she had a long night. Another nightmare, in fact, the same one she had in the woods, with Mike. He came to her--beaten, destroyed--wondering why Nikki couldn't save him. It scared her, she had no idea what to do or how to stop them; or how to get Mike back in general. Even if Nichols' lends his support, how are they supposed to take out Echo's entire base without help?

The sound of Jared's voice quickly takes Nikki out of her thoughts. "Mornin', sweetheart." he said, standing by the stove, to which Nikki smiled, sitting at the kitchen counter in front of him.

"Hi," she quietly said, resting her head on the counter.

"Heard you had another nightmare last night." he said, not taking his eyes off of her. "Anything you wanna talk about?"

"Was I that loud?" she asked, avoiding the question.

"Pretty loud. Cal and Adrianna couldn't take it so they went out to talk to Nichols.  I couldn't just leave you though."

"Thanks," she mumbled, to which Jared smiled. He put down the spatula which was in his hand, and walked over to Nikki, beginning to rub her shoulders.

"You look tense." he said.

"Can you blame me?" she asked, not taking her head off the counter.

"Of course not," he said, still trying to keep up his smile, although it was getting harder and harder by the moment.

"Did you get an answer from Nichols?"

"He didn't give me an answer, but he said he'd have one by tonight."

"Perfect..." she mumbled, closing her eyes.

In the local Jacksonville clinic, Sky sat on one of the beds, her nose bandaged, an ice-pack covering her eye, the other one on Luther. Luther sat in a chair next to her, trying to avoid the deadly stare he was getting from her--he knows looks can kill.

"C'mon Sky, it was an acciden--"

"Don't. Say.  Anything." she muttered, to which he sat back in his chair, rolling his eyes.

"I should probably just leave then..." he said, starting to get up, but he's quickly pushed back down into the chair by Sky's free hand.

"No." she spat out. "You're staying until Liam gets here."

Luther shrugged. "Fine," he said, before finally making eye contact with her. "If it means anything, I'm sorry."

"It doesn't mean shit." she quickly spat back.

Roaming the streets of Jacksonville, Cal and Adrianna found themselves standing in front of a restaurant called, "Endangered".

"Sounds charming..." Cal mumbled, to which Adrianna wrapped her arm around him.

"Can't be that bad--probably better than Jared's cooking." she said, her head up.

"Do you think they'll give us food for free? Like, we got nothing A."

"I'm sure we'll think of something, c'mom." she said, before releasing her grip on Cal, and walking inside the restaurant, Cal reluctantly following.

Making their way inside of the restaurant, it didn't take long for Adrianna to quickly turn pale, staring at one of the patrons of the restaurant, Rick. He sat alone, eating what looked like a burger; but Adrianna could care less.

"A, you okay?" Cal asked, standing beside her. "You look like you've seen a ghost."

"I think I have." she quietly said, not taking her eyes off of Rick.

Cal looked toward where Adrianna was staring, and watched Rick. "You know him?"

"Knew him." she corrected him.

Cal smiled. "Let's go talk to him then..." he said, before quickly walked away from Adrianna toward Rick.

"Cal--wait!" she quickly called after him, following him.

Rick, who was sitting in his booth enjoying himself, instantly recognizes the loud voice. "No..." he mumbled to himself, before looking up, now face-to-face with a grinning Cal, and beside him, Adrianna.

"Hello, sir." Cal said.

"You've got to be shitting me..." Rick muttered, before rising to his feet. "Adrianna?"

"Ri--Rick." she stuttered, very wary of him.

He almost instantly wraps Adrianna in a hug, kissing her on the cheek. "Fuckin' bitch goes missing and doesn't call, what the fuck's up with that?"

"Yeah, nice to see you too, I guess." Adrianna said, as Rick released his grip on her. "It's been a while."

"A while? I thought you were dead!" he said, his smile still there.

"I could say the same to you." Adrianna mumbled.

"What's wrong with you? You nervous?" he asked happily.

"I don't know, I guess." she said, looking over at Cal who stood there, still smiling.

"You gotta come with me." he said, grabbing Adrianna's hand, to which she immediately yanks it out of his grip.

"Where?" she asked, staring blankly at him.

"I got to introduce you to a couple of friends."

Amy stood in the living room of her apartment, cross-armed, standing across from a teenager, who was drinking out of a bottle of rum. He sat back against the couch, his head up, smiling. His name was Deléno.

"You look like shit." he said, scratching his head. "What happened last night?"

"Besides worrying about you." she muttered, inching her way toward him. "The supply run was--less than successful."

"That's cause you had that retard Rick leadin' you. Mother fucker stupider than your brother." he said, smiling.

"So what? You're gonna comment on how you had me worried sick?"

"I'm safe--you're safe, we're good." he said, giving her a thumbs up. Amy sighed, before taking a seat next to him no the couch.

"You're missing the point, Del." she said, shrugging her shoulders.

"Trust me, Amy, I got the point." he said, before setting the bottle down in front of him.

"I just don't understand your reasoning..." Amy started, before being cut off by the sound of someone knocking on the door. "Are you expecting someone?"

"Yeah, Bee and Jack were comin' over." he said, standing up. "Takin' them out to see the real world."

"Again? Remember last time?  I had to bust your asses out of there."

Deléno smiled, before bowing to Amy. "I learn from the best." he said, before slowly walking to the door. He quickly opened it, and, there stood Rick, Luther, Adrianna, and Cal. Deléno sighed, looking back over at Amy. "Your assholes are here." he called to her.

"Charming," Adrianna mumbled, to which Luther chuckled.

"Who is it?" Amy asked, quickly walking to the door.

"Your brother and some other other guys." Deléno said.

As Amy got to the door, she almost immediately froze. Luther chuckled some more, seeing Amy's face, and Adrianna just shrugged her shoulders. "Amy..." she said, almost jokingly.

"Is this some kind of joke?" she asked, a smile forming across her face. "Rick told me you were dead."

"Technically, I was." she said, as Amy wrapped Adrianna in a hug.

"Well, come on in." Amy said, leading the group into her apartment, aside from Cal, past Deléno.

"I think it's best if I go." Cal said, scratching the back of his neck. "Don't think this is really my place."

"You sure?" Luther asked, taking a seat on the couch.

"Yeah," he said, looking at Adrianna, who looked at him, nodding in approval. "I'm gonna head back to Nikki."

"You sure you don't want me to go then?" Rick asked, taking the spot next to Luther. "The people here ain't too nice to new guys."

"I can handle myself," Cal remarked, rather coldly.

"Fair enough," Rick responded, and with that, Cal left.

Closing the door behind him, Deléno stood against the door, watching Amy, Luther, Rick, and Adrianna, who all sat together on the couch.

"So, what happened?" Amy asked, looking at Adrianna. "I mean, Rick filled me in on a lot, but how did you survive alone?"

"That's a story for another day...not really interested in telling it right now." she said, wiping sweat from her forehead. "What about you two?"

Luther looked at Amy, both of their expressions dropped rather quickly. Even Deléno looked to the ground, feeling rather awkward. Adrianna looked around at the three. "What?" Adrianna asked, getting tenser and tenser as time rolled on.

"Home come you're so harsh to other people?" Nikki asked Jared, who currently sat on the couch of the apartment they were staying at beside her.

"What do you mean?" he asked, looking at her.

"I mean, you're so nice to me--yet to Cal, Adrianna, you're a complete dick."

Jared forced a smile. "That's cause you haven't done anything to piss me off yet."

"That's a lie." she said, shrugging her shoulders. "My mom killed your best friend; you have every right to be mad at me."

Jared immediately tenses up at just the thought of that. "That wouldn't be fair to pin that on you."

"You sure about that?" she asked, rising to her feet, running her fingers through her hair. "Everything is my fault. My mom did what she did for me.  Mike got taken--" she paused, tears rushing to her eyes. "--he got taken for me. We're in this fucking situation cause of me."

"Don't do that." Jared said, rising to his feet as well. "None of this is your fault--don't blame yourself."

"But it--" Nikki started, but was almost immediately cut off by the knock on the door. Jared sighed, rushing to the door, before pulling it open. In the doorway Cole Townley stood, among a group of seven others--the same people who rescued Amy's supply group before.

"Townley?" Jared asked, staring almost in shock at the large force.

"Yeah, it's me." he said, smiling. "I got you your wish."

"Nichols is gonna help us?" Jared asked, a smile growing on his face, before looking back at Nikki who rushed to Jared, smiling upon hearing they were getting help. "Seriously?"

"No." Townley quickly said. "He wouldn't commit his army--but I--I have a heart. I'd like to introduce you to my team."

"And they are...?" Nikki quickly asked.

"These are the people who will help you get your friend back." Townley said, staring into Nikki's eyes, smiling.

Outside of Cameron's mansion, Mike sat alone on the front porch, watching the residents work, and in particular Kai, who worked on the crops with a couple of women. Mike didn't know what to do, or if he should even try introducing himself. He wished Freddy was there. Just so he can get a head-start on knowing these people, if they were gonna be the people protecting him for a while.

"You enjoyin' yourself?" Ally asked, taking a seat beside him.

"As much as I can." he silently said, looking at her.

Ally smiled. "I know what you think about us." she said, shrugging her shoulders. "And me, I know what you think of me--that I abandoned you and Nikki--but I want you to know that's not the case."

"Whatever," he mumbled, looking back at the group.

"God--someone's a sour grape."

"Look, I'm sorry." he suddenly snapped back. "But I just lost my mom--my best friend can be dead and I most likely will never know. So, just, excuse-fucking-me if I come off as rude."

Ally sighed. "Sorry," she said under her breath. "And if it means anything your mom's not really dead."

Mike looked back at her, almost disbelievingly. "What do you mean she's not dead? She got shot...right in front of me.  I saw her go down."

"She meant me, Mike." Cameron shakily said from the doorway. Mike immediately turned to her, her eyes filled to the brim with tears; her hands shaking nervously. Mike quickly looked back toward Ally who just nodded her head.

"What?" he asked, before shaking his head. "No, that's not possible--Brenda said my mom died."

"And she had every right to believe that." Ally said. "But just hear Cameron--or as you know her, Sherry--out."

"I know how hard this must be, and trust me, I know how awkward this conversation would be...so if you have any questions--just ask away."

"How?" Mike spat out quickly. "How is this possible--how did this happen then? How come you were never fucking around?"

Cameron quickly took a seat next to him, wiping a tear or two away from her eye. "I'll tell you everything. It was about--I don't know--a while ago.  All those years ago..."