You felt it would be better to tell them about the group and not how you were forced to terrorize them by a maniac, everything was going to change before you were ready for it.
You all reached the base after what seemed like the shortest run of your life.
You sat down for the first meal you had those two days and begin chit-chat with the group. "So, Clarice, what exactly were you doing in the river when we found you?" Adrian regretted bringing it up but he had to know.
You thought of exactly what you were going to say before, even though it may have sounded better in your head. "There was this group, I wasn't a part of it. They didn't particularly like me because of the group I chose." You set your bowl down. "One day the leader of my group decided to try and go after their group."
Now the hard part, reliving the entire experience. "Both the people in charge were gone when the attack happened. The man in charge was so for killing a kid that eventually the kid was forced to leave, putting put in the way of death so many times."
You were getting ahead of yourself. "Before the attack happened he managed to get a shot on the doctor and some lady. It was crazy. When the woman leader got back she started fighting for her little boy, she saw one of us had him in a choke hold and shot."
You fight back the urge to cry. "The leader of my group considered her and the little boy traitors. After all the "traitors" were found, the original leader got in, helped out the traitors and got caught. The leader's stuck together, most use of team work I've ever seen."
The group looks on, attentive and not interrupting your story. "She took blame for letting him in and took a beating for him. The kid became a problem to the leader of my group and for some reason she really cared about the kid like they weren't even related."
Jessica seems the most enthusiastic about the story. "The leader of my group wanted this kid dead so he went to hunt him down and when he found him she beat him with a rock, the others encouraged her to run and so she took the kid and they ran."
Adrian probably wasn't ready for this. "Eventually all of the traitors got out, they had some meeting place set up and a girl told us where it was. When we got there we didn't plan on them being armed since we took their weapons before."
You take a deep breath. "When the woman saw the kid was outside with the other leader, some guy, and us she panicked and shot." You raise your sleeve to show the bullet wound. "She got me in the shoulder and him in the leg."
Now for the blurry part. "When we woke up we were in a room. The girl who told us where they were was in a different room. The two leaders started asking us questions and eventually decided to leave the place, they knocked us out, untied us, and left."
After a moment of silence Jessica pipes up with a serious question. "Do you believe their acts were justified? Do you forgive them for their acts on you?"
"Yes" or "No"
AC
[Persist]
You slowly continue towards the girl, occasionally looking back at Sylvester and James. "Stop! I don't want to hurt you like you tried to hurt me!" You hear the little girl call out and she backs away.
"If you will let me explain everything I promise I won't hurt you." You yell back. "Look, I'll drop my weapon." You throw your knife on the ground. "That's the only thing I have, I swear!"
You hear her yell to someone but you can't make out the name. Next thing you know a woman comes running up the kids. This girl doesn't look that much younger than yourself, that's only proof that they don't need anything but help.
"What do you want?" The woman yells to you, you stop walking to them. "I know every single one of you and I didn't forget how you tried to kill us. How do we know that pirate looking dude isn't around here? Oh that's right, we don't."
"You know because we left him. He didn't try to just kill you group but he found enjoyment in the death of others. We just came to apologize and see if you guys needed any help." You look back at James and Sylvester and motion them forward.
The woman talks to the children. "Fine. Come on. If you fuck up even once we'll see to it that you're dead." Sylvester and James come forward.
Sylvester goes forward but James waits for you to move. "What's wrong? You wanted so badly to find them and now that we did you don't want to go."
"I didn't know they were going to hold our actions against us. That makes me nervous, what if one of us does something and they kill us? I don't want to die, James." You feel your hands trembling.
He pulls you into a hug "I promise it will be fine. Neither of us would cause trouble and Sylvester wouldn't do anything that stupid." He lets go of you and the both of you start walking to the woman and the children.
"You feel like telling us what made you want to not kill us but to join us?" The woman didn't even introduce herself before asking questions.
"The guy with us was a complete dick, he wanted to kill you, we left the group. We've already said it." Not exactly the time to be sassy.
"Sorry. We're just really on edge since we've been left alone. When you guys found us my mom was out, one of them saw her but she didn't come the same way with us. Artie got super sick and we just don't think he's going to make it. It's been hard on all of us." The girl looks down. "The name's Kylie."
"I'm AC, this is James, and that is Sylvester." You smile at her and she fakes a smile back.
"I'm sorry about the kids, they tend to get a little out of hand and making threats is something they love to do." Kylie explains the children and their actions to you, you send off a nervous glare to James.
Katherine
"You"
You take a minute to think, leaving would just get her angry but ignoring her would only make her madder.
"Hello? Katherine?" Emery puts her hands on her hips.
"Hm? Oh um I'm just thinking about you, that's all." You look over the edge of the window sill.
"What about me?" Well if you weren't going to say leaving before, you had to now.
"Leaving you." The instant you say that Emery pins you against the wall.
"You are not going anywhere. If it wasn't for me you would be dead already, you're just a scared little girl but you don't realize that bad things will happen if you leave. Amario is out there looking for AC, Hodge, Sylvester, and James and when he finds them he will kill them. If you ever leave Amario will find you and kill you. Do you understand me?" She pushes you harder against the wall, limiting your breath.
You nod and she lets go of you, you fall to the ground gasping for air. "Get up." She looks over you, you stay on the ground. She grabs you by your shirt and pulls you up. "You will not leave until I am dead. Take any thought of you leaving and drop it." She gives you a cold stare and drops you back on the ground.
Maybe say anything to her was a bad idea.
Emery leaves the room and you remain sitting in the corner.
Matt
[Brian and Charlie]
Talking to the kids would only get the adults attention and bothering Lucy would just make Lana and Ethan mad.
From what Clementine and Willy told you, these two were the newest additions to the group.
You walk up to the two of them and wait for them to start conversation. "Um hello.." You were forced to start the talking since no one else would.
"Hi." The two obviously weren't that talkative. They must have high standards. You walk away, only exchanging two words.
You walk up to another new guy who Clementine said to be named Dylan. If you were going to get anywhere with this group you need to get through the leaders first and that meant being a complete suck up. "Hey, you know where I can find those two people?"
"Which two people? If you haven't noticed just about everyone here has a second person with them." What were their names? How could you forget already?
"The two people of higher standing. I don't know their names." You cross your arms and wait for Dylan to answer you
"By higher standing you mean leaders, right? Because even if you didn't Fox and Kara are on the roof so I'm guessing they would be considered the tallest right now." Fox and Kara, that's it.
You leave Dylan without saying a word and go to what you can only hope is the roof.
You climb up to the roof and see them, he has his arm wrapped around her shoulder and she is leaning her head on his shoulder. "Am I interrupting something?"
The two pull away from each other and jump up quickly. "No, you're not." Fox throws his hands in his pockets.
Now for the best part of your job. "Now listen, I'm not here to insult your leadership but from what the kids told me you are both bad leaders and I can see why, you're both still young but you're not mature enough to keep all twenty- seven of these people alive. How many people have you lost so far?"
"As if you care." You could see why these two got along, the attitude was there. Fox throws her a glare as if to tell her to stop.
"We've lost a few people but not enough to drag us down." Now it was just a test over masculinity.
"And how many have the people in this group killed? Who's killed the most?" You try to stop yourself from grinning.
"Four." Kara looks up at you. "Devyn, Spark, KingJuiceBox, and Leroy."
"And who killed those people?" The question strikes her as if you had punched her.
"I killed Devyn, she killed Spark and KingJuiceBox, and Willy killed Leroy. You happy now?" Just the information you wanted.
"Willy, the kid right? Man, that's sad that you got him killin' at such a young age." You think of something before they can say anything "And the blind man, Santiago? How is he being taken care of?"
"He's not blind, he's mute and Willy is none of your concern. He only killed because he was put in a stressful situation and it was at the cost of one life for another." You seemed to be cracking her with mention of Willy.
"And Fox, what about this Devyn character?" All you needed to do was bring up the deaths of the previous members of the group and eventually they would step down. "And what about Clementine? She told me her dad was dead? Who's taking care of her?"
"Listen, if you want to know then ask her. Leave us alone and stay out of everyone else's business." You back up and go back into the barn, leaving them alone.
Clarice
[Tell them about the group]
You felt it would be better to tell them about the group and not how you were forced to terrorize … morethem by a maniac, everything was going to change before you were ready for it.
You all reached the base after what seemed like the shortest run of your life.
You sat down for the first meal you had those two days and begin chit-chat with the group. "So, Clarice, what exactly were you doing in the river when we found you?" Adrian regretted bringing it up but he had to know.
You thought of exactly what you were going to say before, even though it may have sounded better in your head. "There was this group, I wasn't a part of it. They didn't particularly like me because of the group I chose." You set your bowl down. "One day the leader of my group decided to try and go after their group."
Now the hard part, reliving the entire experience. "Both the people in charge were gone when the attack happe… [view original content]
Clarice
[Tell them about the group]
You felt it would be better to tell them about the group and not how you were forced to terrorize … morethem by a maniac, everything was going to change before you were ready for it.
You all reached the base after what seemed like the shortest run of your life.
You sat down for the first meal you had those two days and begin chit-chat with the group. "So, Clarice, what exactly were you doing in the river when we found you?" Adrian regretted bringing it up but he had to know.
You thought of exactly what you were going to say before, even though it may have sounded better in your head. "There was this group, I wasn't a part of it. They didn't particularly like me because of the group I chose." You set your bowl down. "One day the leader of my group decided to try and go after their group."
Now the hard part, reliving the entire experience. "Both the people in charge were gone when the attack happe… [view original content]
Clarice
[Tell them about the group]
You felt it would be better to tell them about the group and not how you were forced to terrorize … morethem by a maniac, everything was going to change before you were ready for it.
You all reached the base after what seemed like the shortest run of your life.
You sat down for the first meal you had those two days and begin chit-chat with the group. "So, Clarice, what exactly were you doing in the river when we found you?" Adrian regretted bringing it up but he had to know.
You thought of exactly what you were going to say before, even though it may have sounded better in your head. "There was this group, I wasn't a part of it. They didn't particularly like me because of the group I chose." You set your bowl down. "One day the leader of my group decided to try and go after their group."
Now the hard part, reliving the entire experience. "Both the people in charge were gone when the attack happe… [view original content]
Clarice
[Tell them about the group]
You felt it would be better to tell them about the group and not how you were forced to terrorize … morethem by a maniac, everything was going to change before you were ready for it.
You all reached the base after what seemed like the shortest run of your life.
You sat down for the first meal you had those two days and begin chit-chat with the group. "So, Clarice, what exactly were you doing in the river when we found you?" Adrian regretted bringing it up but he had to know.
You thought of exactly what you were going to say before, even though it may have sounded better in your head. "There was this group, I wasn't a part of it. They didn't particularly like me because of the group I chose." You set your bowl down. "One day the leader of my group decided to try and go after their group."
Now the hard part, reliving the entire experience. "Both the people in charge were gone when the attack happe… [view original content]
"Of course I would forgive them if I had the chance, I could only hope that they would forgive me for all the trouble, the pain, and the stress I caused them." You go back deep into thought.
"I'm sure they would forgive you. Now is no time to hold bitter grudges." Jessica may not have seemed that bright when you first met her but now you were seeing a complete different side of her.
"Well it's been a long day. Why don't we all just go to sleep and I'll keep watch." Emma stands up and stretches.
"Are you sure you want to keep watch? You've been keeping watch for the past three days, why don't you let me do it?" If you had to keep watch for three days then you would gladly accept her offer.
"Nah, I'm fine." Emma smiles and everyone gets up "Clarice, a word?" You follow Emma to the outside of the building where the group resided. "What happened to the leader of your group after the meeting place?" Emma sits down in a lawn chair and pats her hand on the seat next to her.
You sit down. "After the science center, we found the body of the girl who helped us find the group. We went back to storage facility where we first ran into the group and met up with a fucking psycho named Spark."
You take a drink from your water bottle. "Spark tried to contain these people but ended up getting bitten by one of the women. They wanted me to go along with them and try to find these people again but I started running and ended up in the river. Now here I am."
"She bit him? Was she bitten?" Emma sits up straight and put her hands on her knees.
"She wasn't bitten. Spark got a hold of the medical journal and start hurting the people where they were already hurt and she didn't want him to do that so she bit him. So why were you at the river?" Your curiosity always had a way of getting the better of you.
"It's uh. It's where my little sister is buried. She died when all this started, I promised her I would protect her but I couldn't and she got bitten and I can't help but to blame myself" Emma puts her face in her hands. "But maybe it's for the best. I don't want her to endure this because I hardly can myself."
You put you hand on her back without saying a word.
"Sometimes I think that she's still here, that she's still running around, asking me to play with her," Emma's breathing gets heavier "That she's still screaming for help." She stands up. "Maybe I should let Christa take watch."
Emma goes inside, asks Christa to take over watch, shows you where you would be sleeping, and goes to bed herself.
AC
"Threatening? That's not a very good pass time." Kylie looks up at you.
"Ever since my mom left the kids have been a little too much to handle. Especially with the condition that I'm in..." Condition? Hm that might spark a conversation sometime later on. "But the kids did recognize you and remember what you tried to do and so they probably won't be very open with you guys."
"I get it, I was with the guy and was all for killing you guys but those two stopped us so if you're going to hate any of let it be me." You and James look over at Sylvester. "Being nice isn't going to help you two live."
"But neither is ratting yourself out." You hear the little girl from before, you turn and she is sitting right next to you. "There's always someone next to you, huh, AC?"
"Most of the time it's James but yes usually. How do you know?" Wonderful conversation topic.
"Normally people would just shoo me away for being too close but you didn't, even Kylie still pushes me away." You look over at Kylie who simply shrugs.
"Well I won't push you away. Kylie, you seem tired, how long has it been since you got any sleep?" You look at the girl with concern.
"How long has it been since you guys looted us? Take that and add a day. Now that my mom is gone and we have no structured shelter there usually is no sleep for anyone except Crystal." Kylie holds onto her stomach.
"We could help you find your mom and a place to stay!" You jump up in the excitement that only you felt. "James and I could probably pull it off alone, the more people the more danger." You look over at James. "Come on, please, you have to!"
"Fine, I'll go." He stands up "What's your mom's name?"
"Thank you!" You run over and hug him.
"Her name is Vanessa. She's got long brown hair and brown eyes and she has glasses. Please find her." Kylie stands up and holds onto Crystal.
Sylvester looks over at James "You keep yourself safe too, don't put yourself in harm's way for her." James nods, you release him from the hug and think of the best place to look for her.
"Well we looted the motel and that's when the falling out happened, that's when the kids last saw her so we should check there." You grab James' wrist and pull him towards the motel.
Katherine
It had been a few hours after your last encounter with Emery. You stayed in the room for a good three hours now.
You hear Emery storm into the room. "Katherine, get up. Amario found the people again." You don't respond to her. "Katherine, get up now." She grabs you by the arm and pulls you up.
"Don't touch me!" You pull away from her. "I should never have let you in my life." Emery slaps you and pulls on your arm, forcing you out of the room.
"Wow, the princess has awoken from her deep slumber." You hear Amario's sarcastic tone the second you leave the room.
"Amario, where do we go?" Emery lets go of you but makes you walk faster than she does, to make sure you don't leave. Emery was set on something but you couldn't understand what she was thinking of.
"They were surprisingly close, I'm shocked that we just now found them. That tree did a number on me so I might be wrong." Yeah, sure. Blame it all on the tree and not your psychotic motives.
"You better hope your right because if you aren't we'll see where you end up." Emery always tried threatening people even though she wasn't a very scary person.
"Why did you feel the need to bring me along?" You feel the chill of the air that only Autumn could bring around, you cross your arms tight.
"You nearly got one of them and I want you to finish the job." Emery shows you her rifle. "You're going to look through the scope, take the shot and run. Show them not to mess with us."
"There is no us, just you and Amario. I never wanted to have anything to do with you and you know that." You give her an ice cold stare.
"Well there's an us now." She send off a stuck up grin.
After what seemed like an hour of walking you end up at a farm. You see about eleven people outside. Three women, two little girls, a little boy, and five men. "Take aim now." You hear Emery's whispers as she forces the gun into your hands.
You follow her order and take aim at the first person you see, one of the women. "Get ready. Fire on your mark." Emery backs away from you.
You freeze up and look down at the gun. "Katherine, shoot!" Amario raises his voice but not enough for the people to hear him.
You hear Emery's pistol click and look behind you to see her gun aimed at you. "Katherine, shoot or I'll shoot your gun and mine."
[Shoot] or [Don't Shoot]
Mike
After you leave Fox and Kara you go back down to the first floor where you see a young girl, a little baby, and two men sitting together.
You go over and sit next to them. "Hiya, name's Mike. How about all of you?"
"Pia, Richard, Paul, and Samantha." They didn't seem to care about talking to you but you made no progress with the leaders it's about time you try with the actual group members.
"So, how did you all end up with this group?" You lean against the wall.
"Richard and I got kidnapped and taken to the place where their group was and they felt that we would be a good addition to the group so they told us to stay. Richard saved Pia's life and she stuck around with him because she's only a kid, and Samantha was born into the group along with Madilyn." Wait so those two kidnapped people in their group?
"So they kidnapped you two? Why didn't you kill them?" You knew you would kill them if they tried to touch you.
"Thing is, Fox and Kara didn't take us, some asshole who used to be in their group did. They kept us locked in a pantry with ATR, Gia, and Clementine until Lucy, Lana, and Kara found out, one of the men shot her so she shot him and killed him." Shot and killed him? That could be Spark or KingJuiceBox.
"What was his name?" You didn't feel the least bit guilty for prying into this group's business because soon it would be your group.
Richard answers your question "KingJuiceBox. He caught us and brought us there in the middle of the night. ATR, Gia, and Clementine got beaten until they got knocked out and then taken to the pantry."
"Who beats a kid?" The oldest of the three seemed to be Gia but she didn't look to be in her twenty's.
Fox and Kara come down and call a few people out with them. Richard and Pia go out, Paul gives Samantha to ATR and goes out. Some girl named Katie, Willy, Clementine, a man named Cole, and Nina go with them. You stand at the door and listen to the conversation.
"What do you guys think of him?" You can remember a voice that you heard no more than ten minutes ago, Fox.
"He seems a little nosy, asking us how we got here, who Kara killed, who brought us here." You look through the crack of the door, Paul tells the group of what you said.
"I knew he was going to be a problem from the first minute I laid eyes on him." You could only assume that this was Katie or Nina since you knew everyone else who went out.
Willy comes towards the door, you rush back to your seat. Willy calls you out to the rest of the group. "What's the big fucking idea?" Pia spoke her mind.
"Pia, hush!" Richard glares at her until she sits down on the ground.
"Listen, we know your family is a lie. Why are you really here?" You knew that this was Cole even though you hadn't really talked to him.
"I look at you people right now and I see family. From what Clementine told me Richard and Paul are brothers and Kara and Nina are sisters. Is that true?"
Clementine pipes up. "Hey! I never said that you big liar!"
Fox shushes the group, everything is dead silent for the moment.
Clarice
"Yes"
"Of course I would forgive them if I had the chance, I could only hope that they would forgive me for all the trouble, t… morehe pain, and the stress I caused them." You go back deep into thought.
"I'm sure they would forgive you. Now is no time to hold bitter grudges." Jessica may not have seemed that bright when you first met her but now you were seeing a complete different side of her.
"Well it's been a long day. Why don't we all just go to sleep and I'll keep watch." Emma stands up and stretches.
"Are you sure you want to keep watch? You've been keeping watch for the past three days, why don't you let me do it?" If you had to keep watch for three days then you would gladly accept her offer.
"Nah, I'm fine." Emma smiles and everyone gets up "Clarice, a word?" You follow Emma to the outside of the building where the group resided. "What happened to the leader of your group after the meeting place?" Emma sits down i… [view original content]
Clarice
"Yes"
"Of course I would forgive them if I had the chance, I could only hope that they would forgive me for all the trouble, t… morehe pain, and the stress I caused them." You go back deep into thought.
"I'm sure they would forgive you. Now is no time to hold bitter grudges." Jessica may not have seemed that bright when you first met her but now you were seeing a complete different side of her.
"Well it's been a long day. Why don't we all just go to sleep and I'll keep watch." Emma stands up and stretches.
"Are you sure you want to keep watch? You've been keeping watch for the past three days, why don't you let me do it?" If you had to keep watch for three days then you would gladly accept her offer.
"Nah, I'm fine." Emma smiles and everyone gets up "Clarice, a word?" You follow Emma to the outside of the building where the group resided. "What happened to the leader of your group after the meeting place?" Emma sits down i… [view original content]
I believe that eleven people went outside with Fox's group and Katherine is looking at a group of eleven people. Tricky decision, tricky decision indeed.
I believe that eleven people went outside with Fox's group and Katherine is looking at a group of eleven people. Tricky decision, tricky decision indeed.
Clarice
"Yes"
"Of course I would forgive them if I had the chance, I could only hope that they would forgive me for all the trouble, t… morehe pain, and the stress I caused them." You go back deep into thought.
"I'm sure they would forgive you. Now is no time to hold bitter grudges." Jessica may not have seemed that bright when you first met her but now you were seeing a complete different side of her.
"Well it's been a long day. Why don't we all just go to sleep and I'll keep watch." Emma stands up and stretches.
"Are you sure you want to keep watch? You've been keeping watch for the past three days, why don't you let me do it?" If you had to keep watch for three days then you would gladly accept her offer.
"Nah, I'm fine." Emma smiles and everyone gets up "Clarice, a word?" You follow Emma to the outside of the building where the group resided. "What happened to the leader of your group after the meeting place?" Emma sits down i… [view original content]
Clarice
"Yes"
"Of course I would forgive them if I had the chance, I could only hope that they would forgive me for all the trouble, t… morehe pain, and the stress I caused them." You go back deep into thought.
"I'm sure they would forgive you. Now is no time to hold bitter grudges." Jessica may not have seemed that bright when you first met her but now you were seeing a complete different side of her.
"Well it's been a long day. Why don't we all just go to sleep and I'll keep watch." Emma stands up and stretches.
"Are you sure you want to keep watch? You've been keeping watch for the past three days, why don't you let me do it?" If you had to keep watch for three days then you would gladly accept her offer.
"Nah, I'm fine." Emma smiles and everyone gets up "Clarice, a word?" You follow Emma to the outside of the building where the group resided. "What happened to the leader of your group after the meeting place?" Emma sits down i… [view original content]
"I'm not doing it. Go ahead and shoot me but I'm not shooting any of them." You throw the gun at Emery's feet.
She pockets her pistol and picks up the gun. "Katherine, you're useless and so weak. The only reason you are here right now is because of me."
Amario chimes in "I would think you would want to finish at least one of the two girls for what they did to you."
"That's the point! They didn't do anything to me! They slammed your face against a fucking tree because you tried to kill them and now you're wanting revenge for something that barely hurt you." Did that really come out of your mouth?
"If you won't shoot then I will." Amario takes the gun from Emery's hand, looks through the scope, and shoots. "Got one. One that Katherine couldn't bare to hurt." You hear a scream that could only come from a little girl.
"Which one did you get?" Emery was having a blast now that things were going her way. "Amario, two of the people just disappeared, where did they go?"
"How should I know?" Amario throws the gun on the ground. You woud look but knowing that you caused someone's death would just pull you towards the end.
Some lurkers stumble toward the three of you, Amario walks to them with his knife out. Another shot rings out and takes down a lurker.
You and Emery jump up and look for who shot. Emery begins running, she grabs you and Amario. A second and final shot is fired, you hear Amario grunt as he is pulled along. "Emery, you forgot the gun." That's the only thing you notice before Emery takes the two of you to the road.
"Fuck the gun. I would rather leave the gun behind instead of a limb. Those people are maniacs." Now she realizes that people are going to fight back.
"They're not the maniacs, Emery. You wanted someone to kill for you and you knew that I couldn't do it without a reason." You knew exactly what she was going to say.
"You want a reason? They took Brian and Charlie, they encouraged AC to leave with everyone else." Those people had done nothing and Emery wanted revenge for it.
"They only took Brian and Charlie because you scared those two off and if you don't remember what they said when you "ran" into them, they believe in safety in numbers." Emery looks offended. "AC and the others didn't leave because of them, they left because of you."
"You want to leave then go ahead, I don't need you, Katherine. You're just dead weight." Emery turns away from you.
"Just because you're pissed off doesn't mean you need to send her away." The first and probably only time Amario would stick up for you. "Let her make the choice."
[Leave] or [Stay]
ClariceTwo months, two days. September
Ever since your talk last night with Emma she seemed to be a little more quiet than she was the night before.
Maybe it wasn't in her best interest to talk about such a sensitive topic, it wouldn't be right up your alley either.
Jessica pulls you to the side. "Hey, what happened when you talked to her last night? She's just different, y'know?"
"Yeah, I know. I've only been here for the day and from what you guys have said, she usually wouldn't act like this. She told me about... a thing... a thing that really affected her last night and after she told me she wanted Christa to take watch so she did." You were going off what you remembered. It was way too early for questioning.
"What did she tell you and what did you tell her?" Jessica seemed to really care about Emma, the reason unknown.
"Well uh she told me about her family and she wanted me to tell her what happened to that leader from my old group." This entire time you had not even said his name once.
"What did happen to him? Did he die?" It's always fun to go off topic but not when it's about him.
"I'm not sure if he died but he went after those people again and they did say that if he messed with them again that they would kill him so if he found them then he's dead. They had at least twenty-four people and when I left it was just him and another man." You may not know of his fate but you hope the worst.
"Things could have changed though. People die by lurkers, people die by the elements, people die by others, and people die by their own hands." Jessica looks up. "That group of twenty-four could have easily become a group of twenty or less."
"That was deep. A little too deep if you ask me. The group seemed to hold onto their sanity and had a good standing for a fairly large group." You just didn't want to deal with the thought of death at the moment.
AC
You and James run down the road near the motel. The kids didn't say she was at or in the motel but on the road near it.
"So what exactly are you thinking? Just walking up to her and saying "Hey, Vanessa, we found your daughter and now we found you." might make the wrong impression, especially from two complete strangers." You actually hadn't thought about what you were going to say if you found her.
"We'll worry about it when we find her." When. Such a confident word. "We need to look everywhere, any little place a human could hide."
After what seemed like hours of searching you end up at the final place someone would consider a hiding place and it was actually a pretty good one. Under the bridge.
"James, this has to be it, she has to be here!" Again with the excitement that only you felt.
"She could have just simply left. It's been a few days since Vanessa was last seen by anyone and dead things might have gotten in the way of her returning." Did he really just say that?
You punch James' arm. "At least try and stop being so negative. For my sake."
The two of you go down the the area under the bridge. Someone had been set up recently but they were gone now, not dead gone but just missing.
"We've got a whole lot of nothing to come back with." You sit on the ground and put your chin on your hand.
"If I can recall something you told me just half an hour ago at least try and stop being so negative. For my sake." James grins and pulls you up. "We've still got the whole walk back to run into her."
"As much as I hate to admit it but you're kind of maybe right." You chuckle and start walking back up to the top of the bridge.
You and James walk back, hand in hand, talking about mindless things and jumping from topic to topic.
Time seemed to fly by so slow now but so long as you were with him you didn't care, you wanted all the time in the world.
Mike
"So, why are we so quiet?" You wait for Fox to give you an explanation which he doesn't.
You remain quiet for a few more seconds, right as you are about to speak a shot rings out, Clementine screams at the noise of the nearby gun. Fox and Kara bolt inside and up to the roof, maybe being in such a large group wasn't as safe as it seemed.
Instead of running inside Clementine, Pia, and Willy run to the other side of the barn with Katie. "Where are they going? Shouldn't they go inside?"
"If you want to stand there for five minutes and try to pull those doors open then be my guest, we go to the other side." You follow Cole, Richard, and Paul to the other side where you meet up with the kids and Katie again.
"Okay. Richard, Paul, Mike, Pia, Clementine, Willy, Cole, Myself, Fox, and Kara are accounted for." Katie takes a moment to think. "Where is Nina?"
No one responds, knowing the ultimate fate of Nina.
Two shots from on top of the barn ring out and the dead silence from before returns. "Willy, you think of something to keep Kara distracted while we think of a way to tell her."
"Why would you think of a way to tell her?" And why would you put a child to do a man's work?
"You don't know her and her... reactions.. like we do. She can be a little over the edge and the only one who can bring her back is Fox. We still don't know how he does it." They may not but you do.
Willy, Clementine, Pia, and Paul go back inside, you follow them. They split up, Willy lets Fox out but stops Kara. "Can we talk? What do I do if someone is pressuring me to do something and the situation starts to look bad but I don't feel it's the right thing to do?"
She takes a moment before answering him. "If things start looking bad you need to listen to your heart, not what someone else has to say."
She begins to walk back to the door but he cuts her off again. The kid is obviously stumped. You go over to them and say what was meant to be said. "Nina's dead." She looks away from Willy and turns her attention towards you. "You heard me, they shot Nina."
"Mhm. They." Her voice cracks "I wonder who they were working with or maybe it was just a coincidence that you show up and these people do too." She pulls out a knife and charges at you, pinning you against the wall, putting the knife up to your throat. "Do you wanna tell me who shot her? Do you wanna tell me who sent you here?" Tears start welling up in her eyes.
Maybe a more subtle approach would have been better.
(I was debating if I should have put this group in today. I chose to do it and it broke my heart because I go from AliveJames happy to this sad)
Katherine
[Don't shoot]
"I'm not doing it. Go ahead and shoot me but I'm not shooting any of them." You throw the gun at Emery's feet.… more
She pockets her pistol and picks up the gun. "Katherine, you're useless and so weak. The only reason you are here right now is because of me."
Amario chimes in "I would think you would want to finish at least one of the two girls for what they did to you."
"That's the point! They didn't do anything to me! They slammed your face against a fucking tree because you tried to kill them and now you're wanting revenge for something that barely hurt you." Did that really come out of your mouth?
"If you won't shoot then I will." Amario takes the gun from Emery's hand, looks through the scope, and shoots. "Got one. One that Katherine couldn't bare to hurt." You hear a scream that could only come from a little girl.
"Which one did you get?" Emery was having a blast now that things were going her way.… [view original content]
Katherine
[Don't shoot]
"I'm not doing it. Go ahead and shoot me but I'm not shooting any of them." You throw the gun at Emery's feet.… more
She pockets her pistol and picks up the gun. "Katherine, you're useless and so weak. The only reason you are here right now is because of me."
Amario chimes in "I would think you would want to finish at least one of the two girls for what they did to you."
"That's the point! They didn't do anything to me! They slammed your face against a fucking tree because you tried to kill them and now you're wanting revenge for something that barely hurt you." Did that really come out of your mouth?
"If you won't shoot then I will." Amario takes the gun from Emery's hand, looks through the scope, and shoots. "Got one. One that Katherine couldn't bare to hurt." You hear a scream that could only come from a little girl.
"Which one did you get?" Emery was having a blast now that things were going her way.… [view original content]
Katherine
[Don't shoot]
"I'm not doing it. Go ahead and shoot me but I'm not shooting any of them." You throw the gun at Emery's feet.… more
She pockets her pistol and picks up the gun. "Katherine, you're useless and so weak. The only reason you are here right now is because of me."
Amario chimes in "I would think you would want to finish at least one of the two girls for what they did to you."
"That's the point! They didn't do anything to me! They slammed your face against a fucking tree because you tried to kill them and now you're wanting revenge for something that barely hurt you." Did that really come out of your mouth?
"If you won't shoot then I will." Amario takes the gun from Emery's hand, looks through the scope, and shoots. "Got one. One that Katherine couldn't bare to hurt." You hear a scream that could only come from a little girl.
"Which one did you get?" Emery was having a blast now that things were going her way.… [view original content]
[Leave]
Time seemed to fly by so slow now but so long as you were with him you didn't care, you wanted all the time in the world.
OH MY! ALIVEJAMES INTENSIFIES!!!!
"Thank you for at least trying to respect my personal opinion and regard of my own life but if she wants to cast me out like some stowaway then let her. I think it would be best if I left before she gets me into anymore trouble." You turn away from the two of them and begin on your way.
You turn back and an angry Emery is following you. She just couldn't let you go.
"Katherine, you really aren't going to leave. You're weak, you'd come running back to me in a heartbeat." She was right. You were weak but leaving her only made you stronger.
"You might want to think of seeing who Amario killed, give the boy a trophy and a blue ribbon." You had never been so rude to anyone.
"I was sticking up for you, Katherine!" Amario seemed to take offense to that. You couldn't help it, you were trusting but anyone who abused your trust should probably stay out of your way.
"If she wants to be such a stuck up little bitch and leave only to get herself killed then let her, she's not our problem anymore." Emery gives you a snotty look and turns away.
Amario looks at you and back to Emery, back to you and finally follows Emery. You and them go your separate ways. You take a minute to think of where you could go and actually have a chance at survival.
You think back to when Amario shot the woman. He dropped the gun and left it, you could run back and grab it without a hitch or you could go on without it, with no defense from people or lurkers.
[Get the gun] or [Go on]
AC
You and James walk back to the camp site of Kylie and the kids, without Vanessa. You hated to show up without her but there was nothing you could do about it.
"I thought you said we had the whole walk back to find her?" You look up at James who was 6'4 when you weren't even 5'4.
"I thought we did but she must have left the area for good." James frowns a little.
"But does that really mean Ky-" You are cut off by the sound of a gun cocking behind you and James.
You turn to see a woman fitting the perfect description of Vanessa, based on what Kylie had told you. "You two look smart, why don't you answer what I said?"
Wait, she said something? You didn't catch it but James did. "My name is James and this is AC. We came looking for a woman named Vanessa, her daughter is looking for her. Would you happen to know where she is by any chance?"
The woman and the man next to her drop their guns. "You're talking to her. Where is Kylie?" Vanessa stands there in awe as the man does the talking for her.
"We were actually just going back to find her. I'm sure you would love to tag along." Vanessa runs up to you and James, the man following her slowly.
"Lead the way, fast please!" Nice to meet you too, Vanessa, I'm waiting for this man's name. Of course you wouldn't say that out loud but it would be nice to have his name.
You lead the way, breaking into a sprint which turns into a run, eventually leading you to where Kylie and the children were.
You return to the location deep in the woods Kylie jumps up at the sight of you. "Did you find her? Where is she?"
"She's back there with James, none of them could keep up with me." You smirk.
"Keep up with you? What do you mean by that?" Crystal begins to question you.
You let out a laugh. "Well it started out as a simple run back here but then it became a competitive run back here and I found out that I am the fastest out of the four of us."
"I bet you're not faster than me!" Crystal jumps up from the ground.
"You're on, kiddo!" Once a challenge arose, your confidence did as well.
"Ladies, can we act like women and not go racing through dead land?" Kylie sends a glare to the two of you.
"This isn't over, AC." Crystal squints her eyes and sits back down.
"Hardly." You get out of your running position and turn back as James, Vanessa, and the man approach you.
Kylie faces her mother and runs at her, pulling her into a deep hug.
You, James, and the man look at each other. "We'd actually been looking for Kylie for a while. We thought we would never find her."
Sylvester smiles slightly. "You did good, kid."
You lean on James and grab his hand. "We did good. I didn't do everything on my own."
James looks at Sylvester and back to you. "Sylvester, can we talk real fast?" Sylvester nods and you stop leaning on James.
They walk a few feet away and speak to each other in whispers. James walks away from Sylvester and back to you, Vanessa and Kylie turn their attention to the two of you.
"AC," You don't know if you should be upset or happy. "Over the course of these two months we have spent together and the two months I have spent getting to know you," You look up, very attentive. "I just now realized that I love you." Before you can even respond he leans down and pulls you into a kiss.
You close your eyes and he pulls away.
Matt
ATR jumps up from her spot and runs to help you, pulling Kara off of you, she drops the knife and looks down at her own hands. "Why don't we just go for a walk or something?" ATR places a hand on her shoulder.
"What the fuck is a walk going to do?" She gives you a glare that tells you that you probably shouldn't sleep tonight or else you were going to die. "Actually, let's go, ATR." She picks up the knife and turns away from you. The two leave the area and go somewhere only they know.
Willy storms your way. "What was that?!" Richard comes in and grabs a shovel, rushing back out. Paul follows him out.
"You obviously weren't going to tell her so the big man might as well." You grin and look down at the young boy.
"Don't patronize me! I didn't tell her because those people who are now burying her sister were going to find a way to break it to her easily but now because of you and you're ignorant ways they might as well start digging because she's not going to be any help for a while." Willy crosses his arms. "Fox told me that every action has a consequence and so now I'm telling you because we have rules here to keep our group functioning and if you don't like that then you can just leave."
Willy goes out with Dylan, AWESOMEO, Lucy, Lana, Ethan, Brian, Charlie, Gia, and Adam. Leaving you with the kids and a few other people you didn't care to know the names of.
Now would be the best time of any to start some trouble.
You run to the upper level of the barn where all the hay was stored by whoever owned it before the group moved in.
You pull out a lighter, roll your thumb on the spin wheel, and hit the stone. Once the flame shows up you drop the lighter and bail. Flawless plan, no one would suspect you but Kara would be the perfect suspect.
The only problem would be ATR since she was with her when the fire was started. You run out the barn and towards the woods. "Matt, where are you going in such a rush?" Cole turns his attention towards you.
"I gotta take a leak." Cole looks as if he regrets asking and turns away, you continue running until you reach the tree line.
(People from other groups might actually meet each other I'm amazed but until then I'm going to sleep and since I didn't post much I'm going to post a teaser later tonight.)
Katherine
[Leave]
"Thank you for at least trying to respect my personal opinion and regard of my own life but if she wants to cast me … moreout like some stowaway then let her. I think it would be best if I left before she gets me into anymore trouble." You turn away from the two of them and begin on your way.
You turn back and an angry Emery is following you. She just couldn't let you go.
"Katherine, you really aren't going to leave. You're weak, you'd come running back to me in a heartbeat." She was right. You were weak but leaving her only made you stronger.
"You might want to think of seeing who Amario killed, give the boy a trophy and a blue ribbon." You had never been so rude to anyone.
"I was sticking up for you, Katherine!" Amario seemed to take offense to that. You couldn't help it, you were trusting but anyone who abused your trust should probably stay out of your way.
"If she wants to be such a stuck up little bitch … [view original content]
Katherine
[Leave]
"Thank you for at least trying to respect my personal opinion and regard of my own life but if she wants to cast me … moreout like some stowaway then let her. I think it would be best if I left before she gets me into anymore trouble." You turn away from the two of them and begin on your way.
You turn back and an angry Emery is following you. She just couldn't let you go.
"Katherine, you really aren't going to leave. You're weak, you'd come running back to me in a heartbeat." She was right. You were weak but leaving her only made you stronger.
"You might want to think of seeing who Amario killed, give the boy a trophy and a blue ribbon." You had never been so rude to anyone.
"I was sticking up for you, Katherine!" Amario seemed to take offense to that. You couldn't help it, you were trusting but anyone who abused your trust should probably stay out of your way.
"If she wants to be such a stuck up little bitch … [view original content]
Katherine
[Leave]
"Thank you for at least trying to respect my personal opinion and regard of my own life but if she wants to cast me … moreout like some stowaway then let her. I think it would be best if I left before she gets me into anymore trouble." You turn away from the two of them and begin on your way.
You turn back and an angry Emery is following you. She just couldn't let you go.
"Katherine, you really aren't going to leave. You're weak, you'd come running back to me in a heartbeat." She was right. You were weak but leaving her only made you stronger.
"You might want to think of seeing who Amario killed, give the boy a trophy and a blue ribbon." You had never been so rude to anyone.
"I was sticking up for you, Katherine!" Amario seemed to take offense to that. You couldn't help it, you were trusting but anyone who abused your trust should probably stay out of your way.
"If she wants to be such a stuck up little bitch … [view original content]
"You're a pretty girl but you're also pretty dim-witted."
You get struck by a blunt object and fade out.
"I can't really say the same for you. You caught me but you didn't know when to tell anyone."
The boy runs into the trees, too fast for you to even think about catching up to him.
"You're one of the best fighters that I've seen and I couldn't let you go because of that."
You drop your weapon, shocked by the ruins that the flames had left.
"This is how it's going to be now. You all made the mistake of trusting me and I plan to make you people think about the mistakes you have all made. One by one you will all slip away until the last person stands."
It was all over now. There was no hope left.
The sound of the door slamming wakes you up.
"What does he expect from us? Why are we here?" You look down to the girl and frown.
"We can't just fight him. That'd be stupid." She stands up. "He has weapons but we have each other."
"I may not be with you but you need to stay strong." The spectral voice seems to fade away.
"I need you to tell me where he is!" He raises his voice and hits the wall.
Just look over your shoulder
(Most of those will be covered next weekend, maybe tonight)
Katherine
[Leave]
"Thank you for at least trying to respect my personal opinion and regard of my own life but if she wants to cast me … moreout like some stowaway then let her. I think it would be best if I left before she gets me into anymore trouble." You turn away from the two of them and begin on your way.
You turn back and an angry Emery is following you. She just couldn't let you go.
"Katherine, you really aren't going to leave. You're weak, you'd come running back to me in a heartbeat." She was right. You were weak but leaving her only made you stronger.
"You might want to think of seeing who Amario killed, give the boy a trophy and a blue ribbon." You had never been so rude to anyone.
"I was sticking up for you, Katherine!" Amario seemed to take offense to that. You couldn't help it, you were trusting but anyone who abused your trust should probably stay out of your way.
"If she wants to be such a stuck up little bitch … [view original content]
Comments
Clarice
[Tell them about the group]
You felt it would be better to tell them about the group and not how you were forced to terrorize them by a maniac, everything was going to change before you were ready for it.
You all reached the base after what seemed like the shortest run of your life.
You sat down for the first meal you had those two days and begin chit-chat with the group. "So, Clarice, what exactly were you doing in the river when we found you?" Adrian regretted bringing it up but he had to know.
You thought of exactly what you were going to say before, even though it may have sounded better in your head. "There was this group, I wasn't a part of it. They didn't particularly like me because of the group I chose." You set your bowl down. "One day the leader of my group decided to try and go after their group."
Now the hard part, reliving the entire experience. "Both the people in charge were gone when the attack happened. The man in charge was so for killing a kid that eventually the kid was forced to leave, putting put in the way of death so many times."
You were getting ahead of yourself. "Before the attack happened he managed to get a shot on the doctor and some lady. It was crazy. When the woman leader got back she started fighting for her little boy, she saw one of us had him in a choke hold and shot."
You fight back the urge to cry. "The leader of my group considered her and the little boy traitors. After all the "traitors" were found, the original leader got in, helped out the traitors and got caught. The leader's stuck together, most use of team work I've ever seen."
The group looks on, attentive and not interrupting your story. "She took blame for letting him in and took a beating for him. The kid became a problem to the leader of my group and for some reason she really cared about the kid like they weren't even related."
Jessica seems the most enthusiastic about the story. "The leader of my group wanted this kid dead so he went to hunt him down and when he found him she beat him with a rock, the others encouraged her to run and so she took the kid and they ran."
Adrian probably wasn't ready for this. "Eventually all of the traitors got out, they had some meeting place set up and a girl told us where it was. When we got there we didn't plan on them being armed since we took their weapons before."
You take a deep breath. "When the woman saw the kid was outside with the other leader, some guy, and us she panicked and shot." You raise your sleeve to show the bullet wound. "She got me in the shoulder and him in the leg."
Now for the blurry part. "When we woke up we were in a room. The girl who told us where they were was in a different room. The two leaders started asking us questions and eventually decided to leave the place, they knocked us out, untied us, and left."
After a moment of silence Jessica pipes up with a serious question. "Do you believe their acts were justified? Do you forgive them for their acts on you?"
"Yes" or "No"
AC
[Persist]
You slowly continue towards the girl, occasionally looking back at Sylvester and James. "Stop! I don't want to hurt you like you tried to hurt me!" You hear the little girl call out and she backs away.
"If you will let me explain everything I promise I won't hurt you." You yell back. "Look, I'll drop my weapon." You throw your knife on the ground. "That's the only thing I have, I swear!"
You hear her yell to someone but you can't make out the name. Next thing you know a woman comes running up the kids. This girl doesn't look that much younger than yourself, that's only proof that they don't need anything but help.
"What do you want?" The woman yells to you, you stop walking to them. "I know every single one of you and I didn't forget how you tried to kill us. How do we know that pirate looking dude isn't around here? Oh that's right, we don't."
"You know because we left him. He didn't try to just kill you group but he found enjoyment in the death of others. We just came to apologize and see if you guys needed any help." You look back at James and Sylvester and motion them forward.
The woman talks to the children. "Fine. Come on. If you fuck up even once we'll see to it that you're dead." Sylvester and James come forward.
Sylvester goes forward but James waits for you to move. "What's wrong? You wanted so badly to find them and now that we did you don't want to go."
"I didn't know they were going to hold our actions against us. That makes me nervous, what if one of us does something and they kill us? I don't want to die, James." You feel your hands trembling.
He pulls you into a hug "I promise it will be fine. Neither of us would cause trouble and Sylvester wouldn't do anything that stupid." He lets go of you and the both of you start walking to the woman and the children.
"You feel like telling us what made you want to not kill us but to join us?" The woman didn't even introduce herself before asking questions.
"The guy with us was a complete dick, he wanted to kill you, we left the group. We've already said it." Not exactly the time to be sassy.
"Sorry. We're just really on edge since we've been left alone. When you guys found us my mom was out, one of them saw her but she didn't come the same way with us. Artie got super sick and we just don't think he's going to make it. It's been hard on all of us." The girl looks down. "The name's Kylie."
"I'm AC, this is James, and that is Sylvester." You smile at her and she fakes a smile back.
"I'm sorry about the kids, they tend to get a little out of hand and making threats is something they love to do." Kylie explains the children and their actions to you, you send off a nervous glare to James.
Katherine
"You"
You take a minute to think, leaving would just get her angry but ignoring her would only make her madder.
"Hello? Katherine?" Emery puts her hands on her hips.
"Hm? Oh um I'm just thinking about you, that's all." You look over the edge of the window sill.
"What about me?" Well if you weren't going to say leaving before, you had to now.
"Leaving you." The instant you say that Emery pins you against the wall.
"You are not going anywhere. If it wasn't for me you would be dead already, you're just a scared little girl but you don't realize that bad things will happen if you leave. Amario is out there looking for AC, Hodge, Sylvester, and James and when he finds them he will kill them. If you ever leave Amario will find you and kill you. Do you understand me?" She pushes you harder against the wall, limiting your breath.
You nod and she lets go of you, you fall to the ground gasping for air. "Get up." She looks over you, you stay on the ground. She grabs you by your shirt and pulls you up. "You will not leave until I am dead. Take any thought of you leaving and drop it." She gives you a cold stare and drops you back on the ground.
Maybe say anything to her was a bad idea.
Emery leaves the room and you remain sitting in the corner.
Matt
[Brian and Charlie]
Talking to the kids would only get the adults attention and bothering Lucy would just make Lana and Ethan mad.
From what Clementine and Willy told you, these two were the newest additions to the group.
You walk up to the two of them and wait for them to start conversation. "Um hello.." You were forced to start the talking since no one else would.
"Hi." The two obviously weren't that talkative. They must have high standards. You walk away, only exchanging two words.
You walk up to another new guy who Clementine said to be named Dylan. If you were going to get anywhere with this group you need to get through the leaders first and that meant being a complete suck up. "Hey, you know where I can find those two people?"
"Which two people? If you haven't noticed just about everyone here has a second person with them." What were their names? How could you forget already?
"The two people of higher standing. I don't know their names." You cross your arms and wait for Dylan to answer you
"By higher standing you mean leaders, right? Because even if you didn't Fox and Kara are on the roof so I'm guessing they would be considered the tallest right now." Fox and Kara, that's it.
You leave Dylan without saying a word and go to what you can only hope is the roof.
You climb up to the roof and see them, he has his arm wrapped around her shoulder and she is leaning her head on his shoulder. "Am I interrupting something?"
The two pull away from each other and jump up quickly. "No, you're not." Fox throws his hands in his pockets.
Now for the best part of your job. "Now listen, I'm not here to insult your leadership but from what the kids told me you are both bad leaders and I can see why, you're both still young but you're not mature enough to keep all twenty- seven of these people alive. How many people have you lost so far?"
"As if you care." You could see why these two got along, the attitude was there. Fox throws her a glare as if to tell her to stop.
"We've lost a few people but not enough to drag us down." Now it was just a test over masculinity.
"And how many have the people in this group killed? Who's killed the most?" You try to stop yourself from grinning.
"Four." Kara looks up at you. "Devyn, Spark, KingJuiceBox, and Leroy."
"And who killed those people?" The question strikes her as if you had punched her.
"I killed Devyn, she killed Spark and KingJuiceBox, and Willy killed Leroy. You happy now?" Just the information you wanted.
"Willy, the kid right? Man, that's sad that you got him killin' at such a young age." You think of something before they can say anything "And the blind man, Santiago? How is he being taken care of?"
"He's not blind, he's mute and Willy is none of your concern. He only killed because he was put in a stressful situation and it was at the cost of one life for another." You seemed to be cracking her with mention of Willy.
"And Fox, what about this Devyn character?" All you needed to do was bring up the deaths of the previous members of the group and eventually they would step down. "And what about Clementine? She told me her dad was dead? Who's taking care of her?"
"Listen, if you want to know then ask her. Leave us alone and stay out of everyone else's business." You back up and go back into the barn, leaving them alone.
oh now I want to see what is going to happen next, I have a bad feeling about we joining them like that, but who knows...
"Yes"
We'll know later tonight or tomorrow ¯_(ツ)_/¯
OMG this thread is back!!! I love this story
"Yes"
"Yes"
Welcome back!
Glad to be back xD
Yes
And it's good to have you back
I can't stand waiting until tomorrow to release this part so yes new part will be up in like an hour
"Yes"
Clarice
"Yes"
"Of course I would forgive them if I had the chance, I could only hope that they would forgive me for all the trouble, the pain, and the stress I caused them." You go back deep into thought.
"I'm sure they would forgive you. Now is no time to hold bitter grudges." Jessica may not have seemed that bright when you first met her but now you were seeing a complete different side of her.
"Well it's been a long day. Why don't we all just go to sleep and I'll keep watch." Emma stands up and stretches.
"Are you sure you want to keep watch? You've been keeping watch for the past three days, why don't you let me do it?" If you had to keep watch for three days then you would gladly accept her offer.
"Nah, I'm fine." Emma smiles and everyone gets up "Clarice, a word?" You follow Emma to the outside of the building where the group resided. "What happened to the leader of your group after the meeting place?" Emma sits down in a lawn chair and pats her hand on the seat next to her.
You sit down. "After the science center, we found the body of the girl who helped us find the group. We went back to storage facility where we first ran into the group and met up with a fucking psycho named Spark."
You take a drink from your water bottle. "Spark tried to contain these people but ended up getting bitten by one of the women. They wanted me to go along with them and try to find these people again but I started running and ended up in the river. Now here I am."
"She bit him? Was she bitten?" Emma sits up straight and put her hands on her knees.
"She wasn't bitten. Spark got a hold of the medical journal and start hurting the people where they were already hurt and she didn't want him to do that so she bit him. So why were you at the river?" Your curiosity always had a way of getting the better of you.
"It's uh. It's where my little sister is buried. She died when all this started, I promised her I would protect her but I couldn't and she got bitten and I can't help but to blame myself" Emma puts her face in her hands. "But maybe it's for the best. I don't want her to endure this because I hardly can myself."
You put you hand on her back without saying a word.
"Sometimes I think that she's still here, that she's still running around, asking me to play with her," Emma's breathing gets heavier "That she's still screaming for help." She stands up. "Maybe I should let Christa take watch."
Emma goes inside, asks Christa to take over watch, shows you where you would be sleeping, and goes to bed herself.
AC
"Threatening? That's not a very good pass time." Kylie looks up at you.
"Ever since my mom left the kids have been a little too much to handle. Especially with the condition that I'm in..." Condition? Hm that might spark a conversation sometime later on. "But the kids did recognize you and remember what you tried to do and so they probably won't be very open with you guys."
"I get it, I was with the guy and was all for killing you guys but those two stopped us so if you're going to hate any of let it be me." You and James look over at Sylvester. "Being nice isn't going to help you two live."
"But neither is ratting yourself out." You hear the little girl from before, you turn and she is sitting right next to you. "There's always someone next to you, huh, AC?"
"Most of the time it's James but yes usually. How do you know?" Wonderful conversation topic.
"Normally people would just shoo me away for being too close but you didn't, even Kylie still pushes me away." You look over at Kylie who simply shrugs.
"Well I won't push you away. Kylie, you seem tired, how long has it been since you got any sleep?" You look at the girl with concern.
"How long has it been since you guys looted us? Take that and add a day. Now that my mom is gone and we have no structured shelter there usually is no sleep for anyone except Crystal." Kylie holds onto her stomach.
"We could help you find your mom and a place to stay!" You jump up in the excitement that only you felt. "James and I could probably pull it off alone, the more people the more danger." You look over at James. "Come on, please, you have to!"
"Fine, I'll go." He stands up "What's your mom's name?"
"Thank you!" You run over and hug him.
"Her name is Vanessa. She's got long brown hair and brown eyes and she has glasses. Please find her." Kylie stands up and holds onto Crystal.
Sylvester looks over at James "You keep yourself safe too, don't put yourself in harm's way for her." James nods, you release him from the hug and think of the best place to look for her.
"Well we looted the motel and that's when the falling out happened, that's when the kids last saw her so we should check there." You grab James' wrist and pull him towards the motel.
Katherine
It had been a few hours after your last encounter with Emery. You stayed in the room for a good three hours now.
You hear Emery storm into the room. "Katherine, get up. Amario found the people again." You don't respond to her. "Katherine, get up now." She grabs you by the arm and pulls you up.
"Don't touch me!" You pull away from her. "I should never have let you in my life." Emery slaps you and pulls on your arm, forcing you out of the room.
"Wow, the princess has awoken from her deep slumber." You hear Amario's sarcastic tone the second you leave the room.
"Amario, where do we go?" Emery lets go of you but makes you walk faster than she does, to make sure you don't leave. Emery was set on something but you couldn't understand what she was thinking of.
"They were surprisingly close, I'm shocked that we just now found them. That tree did a number on me so I might be wrong." Yeah, sure. Blame it all on the tree and not your psychotic motives.
"You better hope your right because if you aren't we'll see where you end up." Emery always tried threatening people even though she wasn't a very scary person.
"Why did you feel the need to bring me along?" You feel the chill of the air that only Autumn could bring around, you cross your arms tight.
"You nearly got one of them and I want you to finish the job." Emery shows you her rifle. "You're going to look through the scope, take the shot and run. Show them not to mess with us."
"There is no us, just you and Amario. I never wanted to have anything to do with you and you know that." You give her an ice cold stare.
"Well there's an us now." She send off a stuck up grin.
After what seemed like an hour of walking you end up at a farm. You see about eleven people outside. Three women, two little girls, a little boy, and five men. "Take aim now." You hear Emery's whispers as she forces the gun into your hands.
You follow her order and take aim at the first person you see, one of the women. "Get ready. Fire on your mark." Emery backs away from you.
You freeze up and look down at the gun. "Katherine, shoot!" Amario raises his voice but not enough for the people to hear him.
You hear Emery's pistol click and look behind you to see her gun aimed at you. "Katherine, shoot or I'll shoot your gun and mine."
[Shoot] or [Don't Shoot]
Mike
After you leave Fox and Kara you go back down to the first floor where you see a young girl, a little baby, and two men sitting together.
You go over and sit next to them. "Hiya, name's Mike. How about all of you?"
"Pia, Richard, Paul, and Samantha." They didn't seem to care about talking to you but you made no progress with the leaders it's about time you try with the actual group members.
"So, how did you all end up with this group?" You lean against the wall.
"Richard and I got kidnapped and taken to the place where their group was and they felt that we would be a good addition to the group so they told us to stay. Richard saved Pia's life and she stuck around with him because she's only a kid, and Samantha was born into the group along with Madilyn." Wait so those two kidnapped people in their group?
"So they kidnapped you two? Why didn't you kill them?" You knew you would kill them if they tried to touch you.
"Thing is, Fox and Kara didn't take us, some asshole who used to be in their group did. They kept us locked in a pantry with ATR, Gia, and Clementine until Lucy, Lana, and Kara found out, one of the men shot her so she shot him and killed him." Shot and killed him? That could be Spark or KingJuiceBox.
"What was his name?" You didn't feel the least bit guilty for prying into this group's business because soon it would be your group.
Richard answers your question "KingJuiceBox. He caught us and brought us there in the middle of the night. ATR, Gia, and Clementine got beaten until they got knocked out and then taken to the pantry."
"Who beats a kid?" The oldest of the three seemed to be Gia but she didn't look to be in her twenty's.
Fox and Kara come down and call a few people out with them. Richard and Pia go out, Paul gives Samantha to ATR and goes out. Some girl named Katie, Willy, Clementine, a man named Cole, and Nina go with them. You stand at the door and listen to the conversation.
"What do you guys think of him?" You can remember a voice that you heard no more than ten minutes ago, Fox.
"He seems a little nosy, asking us how we got here, who Kara killed, who brought us here." You look through the crack of the door, Paul tells the group of what you said.
"I knew he was going to be a problem from the first minute I laid eyes on him." You could only assume that this was Katie or Nina since you knew everyone else who went out.
Willy comes towards the door, you rush back to your seat. Willy calls you out to the rest of the group. "What's the big fucking idea?" Pia spoke her mind.
"Pia, hush!" Richard glares at her until she sits down on the ground.
"Listen, we know your family is a lie. Why are you really here?" You knew that this was Cole even though you hadn't really talked to him.
"I look at you people right now and I see family. From what Clementine told me Richard and Paul are brothers and Kara and Nina are sisters. Is that true?"
Clementine pipes up. "Hey! I never said that you big liar!"
Fox shushes the group, everything is dead silent for the moment.
[Don't Shoot]
[Don't Shoot]
I believe that eleven people went outside with Fox's group and Katherine is looking at a group of eleven people. Tricky decision, tricky decision indeed.
I see... thank you
No problem
Part should be out in a few hours
Nice 8]
[Don't Shoot]
[Shoot]
Everyone is choosing Don't shoot so that's the obvious answer right? And we all know it's not the obvious answer. B]
Katherine
[Don't shoot]
"I'm not doing it. Go ahead and shoot me but I'm not shooting any of them." You throw the gun at Emery's feet.
She pockets her pistol and picks up the gun. "Katherine, you're useless and so weak. The only reason you are here right now is because of me."
Amario chimes in "I would think you would want to finish at least one of the two girls for what they did to you."
"That's the point! They didn't do anything to me! They slammed your face against a fucking tree because you tried to kill them and now you're wanting revenge for something that barely hurt you." Did that really come out of your mouth?
"If you won't shoot then I will." Amario takes the gun from Emery's hand, looks through the scope, and shoots. "Got one. One that Katherine couldn't bare to hurt." You hear a scream that could only come from a little girl.
"Which one did you get?" Emery was having a blast now that things were going her way. "Amario, two of the people just disappeared, where did they go?"
"How should I know?" Amario throws the gun on the ground. You woud look but knowing that you caused someone's death would just pull you towards the end.
Some lurkers stumble toward the three of you, Amario walks to them with his knife out. Another shot rings out and takes down a lurker.
You and Emery jump up and look for who shot. Emery begins running, she grabs you and Amario. A second and final shot is fired, you hear Amario grunt as he is pulled along. "Emery, you forgot the gun." That's the only thing you notice before Emery takes the two of you to the road.
"Fuck the gun. I would rather leave the gun behind instead of a limb. Those people are maniacs." Now she realizes that people are going to fight back.
"They're not the maniacs, Emery. You wanted someone to kill for you and you knew that I couldn't do it without a reason." You knew exactly what she was going to say.
"You want a reason? They took Brian and Charlie, they encouraged AC to leave with everyone else." Those people had done nothing and Emery wanted revenge for it.
"They only took Brian and Charlie because you scared those two off and if you don't remember what they said when you "ran" into them, they believe in safety in numbers." Emery looks offended. "AC and the others didn't leave because of them, they left because of you."
"You want to leave then go ahead, I don't need you, Katherine. You're just dead weight." Emery turns away from you.
"Just because you're pissed off doesn't mean you need to send her away." The first and probably only time Amario would stick up for you. "Let her make the choice."
[Leave] or [Stay]
Clarice Two months, two days. September
Ever since your talk last night with Emma she seemed to be a little more quiet than she was the night before.
Maybe it wasn't in her best interest to talk about such a sensitive topic, it wouldn't be right up your alley either.
Jessica pulls you to the side. "Hey, what happened when you talked to her last night? She's just different, y'know?"
"Yeah, I know. I've only been here for the day and from what you guys have said, she usually wouldn't act like this. She told me about... a thing... a thing that really affected her last night and after she told me she wanted Christa to take watch so she did." You were going off what you remembered. It was way too early for questioning.
"What did she tell you and what did you tell her?" Jessica seemed to really care about Emma, the reason unknown.
"Well uh she told me about her family and she wanted me to tell her what happened to that leader from my old group." This entire time you had not even said his name once.
"What did happen to him? Did he die?" It's always fun to go off topic but not when it's about him.
"I'm not sure if he died but he went after those people again and they did say that if he messed with them again that they would kill him so if he found them then he's dead. They had at least twenty-four people and when I left it was just him and another man." You may not know of his fate but you hope the worst.
"Things could have changed though. People die by lurkers, people die by the elements, people die by others, and people die by their own hands." Jessica looks up. "That group of twenty-four could have easily become a group of twenty or less."
"That was deep. A little too deep if you ask me. The group seemed to hold onto their sanity and had a good standing for a fairly large group." You just didn't want to deal with the thought of death at the moment.
AC
You and James run down the road near the motel. The kids didn't say she was at or in the motel but on the road near it.
"So what exactly are you thinking? Just walking up to her and saying "Hey, Vanessa, we found your daughter and now we found you." might make the wrong impression, especially from two complete strangers." You actually hadn't thought about what you were going to say if you found her.
"We'll worry about it when we find her." When. Such a confident word. "We need to look everywhere, any little place a human could hide."
After what seemed like hours of searching you end up at the final place someone would consider a hiding place and it was actually a pretty good one. Under the bridge.
"James, this has to be it, she has to be here!" Again with the excitement that only you felt.
"She could have just simply left. It's been a few days since Vanessa was last seen by anyone and dead things might have gotten in the way of her returning." Did he really just say that?
You punch James' arm. "At least try and stop being so negative. For my sake."
The two of you go down the the area under the bridge. Someone had been set up recently but they were gone now, not dead gone but just missing.
"We've got a whole lot of nothing to come back with." You sit on the ground and put your chin on your hand.
"If I can recall something you told me just half an hour ago at least try and stop being so negative. For my sake." James grins and pulls you up. "We've still got the whole walk back to run into her."
"As much as I hate to admit it but you're kind of maybe right." You chuckle and start walking back up to the top of the bridge.
You and James walk back, hand in hand, talking about mindless things and jumping from topic to topic.
Time seemed to fly by so slow now but so long as you were with him you didn't care, you wanted all the time in the world.
Mike
"So, why are we so quiet?" You wait for Fox to give you an explanation which he doesn't.
You remain quiet for a few more seconds, right as you are about to speak a shot rings out, Clementine screams at the noise of the nearby gun. Fox and Kara bolt inside and up to the roof, maybe being in such a large group wasn't as safe as it seemed.
Instead of running inside Clementine, Pia, and Willy run to the other side of the barn with Katie. "Where are they going? Shouldn't they go inside?"
"If you want to stand there for five minutes and try to pull those doors open then be my guest, we go to the other side." You follow Cole, Richard, and Paul to the other side where you meet up with the kids and Katie again.
"Okay. Richard, Paul, Mike, Pia, Clementine, Willy, Cole, Myself, Fox, and Kara are accounted for." Katie takes a moment to think. "Where is Nina?"
No one responds, knowing the ultimate fate of Nina.
Two shots from on top of the barn ring out and the dead silence from before returns. "Willy, you think of something to keep Kara distracted while we think of a way to tell her."
"Why would you think of a way to tell her?" And why would you put a child to do a man's work?
"You don't know her and her... reactions.. like we do. She can be a little over the edge and the only one who can bring her back is Fox. We still don't know how he does it." They may not but you do.
Willy, Clementine, Pia, and Paul go back inside, you follow them. They split up, Willy lets Fox out but stops Kara. "Can we talk? What do I do if someone is pressuring me to do something and the situation starts to look bad but I don't feel it's the right thing to do?"
She takes a moment before answering him. "If things start looking bad you need to listen to your heart, not what someone else has to say."
She begins to walk back to the door but he cuts her off again. The kid is obviously stumped. You go over to them and say what was meant to be said. "Nina's dead." She looks away from Willy and turns her attention towards you. "You heard me, they shot Nina."
"Mhm. They." Her voice cracks "I wonder who they were working with or maybe it was just a coincidence that you show up and these people do too." She pulls out a knife and charges at you, pinning you against the wall, putting the knife up to your throat. "Do you wanna tell me who shot her? Do you wanna tell me who sent you here?" Tears start welling up in her eyes.
Maybe a more subtle approach would have been better.
(I was debating if I should have put this group in today. I chose to do it and it broke my heart because I go from AliveJames happy to this sad)
[Leave]
[Leave]
Looks like I have some late night writing to do. Gonna run and get some food and then throw words on paper so you guys can read it.
Link wouldn't post nevermind. Have Lonk from Pennsylvania instead
[Leave]
OH MY! ALIVEJAMES INTENSIFIES!!!!
THE ALIVEJAMES HYPE IS REAL!
It's time to finish the next part
Just a little thing so I can have time to finish the next part. So hard to focus http://strawpoll.me/2613783
Katherine
[Leave]
"Thank you for at least trying to respect my personal opinion and regard of my own life but if she wants to cast me out like some stowaway then let her. I think it would be best if I left before she gets me into anymore trouble." You turn away from the two of them and begin on your way.
You turn back and an angry Emery is following you. She just couldn't let you go.
"Katherine, you really aren't going to leave. You're weak, you'd come running back to me in a heartbeat." She was right. You were weak but leaving her only made you stronger.
"You might want to think of seeing who Amario killed, give the boy a trophy and a blue ribbon." You had never been so rude to anyone.
"I was sticking up for you, Katherine!" Amario seemed to take offense to that. You couldn't help it, you were trusting but anyone who abused your trust should probably stay out of your way.
"If she wants to be such a stuck up little bitch and leave only to get herself killed then let her, she's not our problem anymore." Emery gives you a snotty look and turns away.
Amario looks at you and back to Emery, back to you and finally follows Emery. You and them go your separate ways. You take a minute to think of where you could go and actually have a chance at survival.
You think back to when Amario shot the woman. He dropped the gun and left it, you could run back and grab it without a hitch or you could go on without it, with no defense from people or lurkers.
[Get the gun] or [Go on]
AC
You and James walk back to the camp site of Kylie and the kids, without Vanessa. You hated to show up without her but there was nothing you could do about it.
"I thought you said we had the whole walk back to find her?" You look up at James who was 6'4 when you weren't even 5'4.
"I thought we did but she must have left the area for good." James frowns a little.
"But does that really mean Ky-" You are cut off by the sound of a gun cocking behind you and James.
You turn to see a woman fitting the perfect description of Vanessa, based on what Kylie had told you. "You two look smart, why don't you answer what I said?"
Wait, she said something? You didn't catch it but James did. "My name is James and this is AC. We came looking for a woman named Vanessa, her daughter is looking for her. Would you happen to know where she is by any chance?"
The woman and the man next to her drop their guns. "You're talking to her. Where is Kylie?" Vanessa stands there in awe as the man does the talking for her.
"We were actually just going back to find her. I'm sure you would love to tag along." Vanessa runs up to you and James, the man following her slowly.
"Lead the way, fast please!" Nice to meet you too, Vanessa, I'm waiting for this man's name. Of course you wouldn't say that out loud but it would be nice to have his name.
You lead the way, breaking into a sprint which turns into a run, eventually leading you to where Kylie and the children were.
You return to the location deep in the woods Kylie jumps up at the sight of you. "Did you find her? Where is she?"
"She's back there with James, none of them could keep up with me." You smirk.
"Keep up with you? What do you mean by that?" Crystal begins to question you.
You let out a laugh. "Well it started out as a simple run back here but then it became a competitive run back here and I found out that I am the fastest out of the four of us."
"I bet you're not faster than me!" Crystal jumps up from the ground.
"You're on, kiddo!" Once a challenge arose, your confidence did as well.
"Ladies, can we act like women and not go racing through dead land?" Kylie sends a glare to the two of you.
"This isn't over, AC." Crystal squints her eyes and sits back down.
"Hardly." You get out of your running position and turn back as James, Vanessa, and the man approach you.
Kylie faces her mother and runs at her, pulling her into a deep hug.
You, James, and the man look at each other. "We'd actually been looking for Kylie for a while. We thought we would never find her."
Sylvester smiles slightly. "You did good, kid."
You lean on James and grab his hand. "We did good. I didn't do everything on my own."
James looks at Sylvester and back to you. "Sylvester, can we talk real fast?" Sylvester nods and you stop leaning on James.
They walk a few feet away and speak to each other in whispers. James walks away from Sylvester and back to you, Vanessa and Kylie turn their attention to the two of you.
"AC," You don't know if you should be upset or happy. "Over the course of these two months we have spent together and the two months I have spent getting to know you," You look up, very attentive. "I just now realized that I love you." Before you can even respond he leans down and pulls you into a kiss.
You close your eyes and he pulls away.
Matt
ATR jumps up from her spot and runs to help you, pulling Kara off of you, she drops the knife and looks down at her own hands. "Why don't we just go for a walk or something?" ATR places a hand on her shoulder.
"What the fuck is a walk going to do?" She gives you a glare that tells you that you probably shouldn't sleep tonight or else you were going to die. "Actually, let's go, ATR." She picks up the knife and turns away from you. The two leave the area and go somewhere only they know.
Willy storms your way. "What was that?!" Richard comes in and grabs a shovel, rushing back out. Paul follows him out.
"You obviously weren't going to tell her so the big man might as well." You grin and look down at the young boy.
"Don't patronize me! I didn't tell her because those people who are now burying her sister were going to find a way to break it to her easily but now because of you and you're ignorant ways they might as well start digging because she's not going to be any help for a while." Willy crosses his arms. "Fox told me that every action has a consequence and so now I'm telling you because we have rules here to keep our group functioning and if you don't like that then you can just leave."
Willy goes out with Dylan, AWESOMEO, Lucy, Lana, Ethan, Brian, Charlie, Gia, and Adam. Leaving you with the kids and a few other people you didn't care to know the names of.
Now would be the best time of any to start some trouble.
You run to the upper level of the barn where all the hay was stored by whoever owned it before the group moved in.
You pull out a lighter, roll your thumb on the spin wheel, and hit the stone. Once the flame shows up you drop the lighter and bail. Flawless plan, no one would suspect you but Kara would be the perfect suspect.
The only problem would be ATR since she was with her when the fire was started. You run out the barn and towards the woods. "Matt, where are you going in such a rush?" Cole turns his attention towards you.
"I gotta take a leak." Cole looks as if he regrets asking and turns away, you continue running until you reach the tree line.
(People from other groups might actually meet each other I'm amazed but until then I'm going to sleep and since I didn't post much I'm going to post a teaser later tonight.)
[Get the gun]
[Go on]
I.... Yes.... Thank you...
ALIVEJAMES4EVER
How should I feel about this? xD
[Get the gun]
Teaser
"You're a pretty girl but you're also pretty dim-witted."
You get struck by a blunt object and fade out.
"I can't really say the same for you. You caught me but you didn't know when to tell anyone."
The boy runs into the trees, too fast for you to even think about catching up to him.
"You're one of the best fighters that I've seen and I couldn't let you go because of that."
You drop your weapon, shocked by the ruins that the flames had left.
"This is how it's going to be now. You all made the mistake of trusting me and I plan to make you people think about the mistakes you have all made. One by one you will all slip away until the last person stands."
It was all over now. There was no hope left.
The sound of the door slamming wakes you up.
"What does he expect from us? Why are we here?" You look down to the girl and frown.
"We can't just fight him. That'd be stupid." She stands up. "He has weapons but we have each other."
"I may not be with you but you need to stay strong." The spectral voice seems to fade away.
"I need you to tell me where he is!" He raises his voice and hits the wall.
Just look over your shoulder
(Most of those will be covered next weekend, maybe tonight)
Might as well write this next part ¯_(ツ)_/¯
Ha, I thought James was going to propose her. :-D Oh well...
[Get the gun]
You neveeeer know
Took the gif right out of my mind