The main group walked through the woods a while, before coming across a road. They were now far enough away and deeper into the countryside that there were few houses they could see up and down the street they found. They'd taken refuge in the nearby house. Wayne and Anthony had gone south to the next house to look for any supplies. Patrick and Audri had done the same but to the Northern house. Everyone else rested while they were out. None of them slept the night before and it caught up to them, scattered throughout the house. Klaire had planned to be on watch but had managed to pass out against the wall by the front door.
All except Kate who sat at the corner of a couch, peering out the window that looked towards the forest they'd come from. Her thoughts lingering on Greg and Ryan. She and Jake had known them for years, they'd been close enough to be considered family. The guys knew which direction the group was planning ahead of time, and that they would follow if possible. She kept the hope that she'd spot them come strolling out of the forest. There was a reason she didn't protest when they'd told her of plan after she'd awoken on the schools rooftop, she trusted them to survive.
[][] 5 Years Ago [][]
A 13 year old Jake and 12 year old Kate were walking home from school, they'd been neighbors for five years and had grown into great friends over time. The bus had dropped them off and they were heading down the street behind their houses. "Can Jake come out to play?" a mocking voice came from behind them. The two of them turned their heads but kept walking. "Ignore them Jake, we're almost home." She gave him a reassuring smile.
"What's wrong? Mommy want you home right after school?" The boy snickered and chuckled with his two friends. Bryan, he always knew what to say to pull Jake into a fight. But he never did it when Ted and Ronnie weren't around, coward. "Oh screw off." Kate said turning around, now walking backwards. Jake's fists had already tightened from Bryan's comment. "Stay out if it bitch." Bryan said and before he realized it he was on the ground. Jake got a few hits before Ted and Ronnie pulled him off, like the usual before the three of them wailed on Jake together.
Jake curled up taking the kicks and punches, dust flying up. Suddenly he realized they'd ceased. Two older boys came out of nowhere pulling and slinging Bryan, Ted, and Ronnie by their backpacks off of Jake. "Three on one? You toddlers should grow a pair." Said one voice. The boys seeing the numbers now being fair did nothing but laugh and run off. A hand in front of his face Jake grabbed hold as he was hauled to his feet. Kate coming over and helping him knock all the dust off. "I'm Greg, this is my twin brother Ryan."
[][]
--Present--
A tear fell from Kate's face onto her arm below, it caused her to jump a little. Kate hadn't even realized the water in her eyes, she was too focused on the window, the memory of their meeting popping into her head.
Tony woke with a start in his tent ontop of the gas station, it took him a moment to gather his surroundings and remember where he was. He was drenched in sweat, he huffed before reaching over and grabbing his glasses. He had to go, mother nature was calling. It wasn't safe to leave the roof for this kind of bathroom break. They'd been simply standing on the edge of the roof and letting it trickle over. Which is where Tony was headed. He glanced at the other two tents where Shiloh and Austin slept before he stepped to the edge. It was still the middle of the night, the insects were an orchestra in the night. Tony couldn't help but smile, atleast something hadn't changed.
--
Austin was roused from his sleep by something rustling every so slightly against his tent. He rubbed his eyes before sitting up. "Seriously? Why do you guys always brush against my tent when you take a piss?" he yawned and considered getting out of his tent or just going back to sleep. After waiting a moment, and not getting an answer from outside his tent he stood up unzipped it and stepped out for curiosities sake. He looked at the other two tents, noticing Tony's tent flap was open. He smiled, glad it was Tony rather than Shiloh atleast. "Tony your kind of an ass." he said turning to the designated 'pee point' of the roof.
He froze, there was a man he didn't recognize staring at him. His heart felt like it dropped when he realized this man had Tony in a lock, one hand over Tony's mouth, the other held a knife directly under Tony's neck ready to slit, it was being pressed so close that Austin could make out the crimson color of blood dribbling over it. Austin could see the fear in Tony's eyes as he was practically shaking. He was staring at Austin his eyes wet, his glasses drooping, almost falling off of his face.
Austin's eyes left Tony's and met the man's. Austin felt anger bubbling inside him, his fists tightened. Suddenly he was aware of movement on the rooftop. He looked over his shoulder to find another man standing up from behind his tent, letting himself be known to Austin. And a third standing beside Shiloh's tent. He turned his attention back to Tony's attacker, "What do you want?" he managed to muster. His hand going to where he would have normally kept his pistol, only to find it missing. He'd left it in the tent, he'd been stupid and careless and now he was defenseless. The man was large, Austin noted. Even if the knife wasn't on Tony's neck there was no way Austin could take him.
--
Shiloh was brought out of his sleep by voices. He opened one eye, it was still dark he noticed. Angrily he opened his mouth to tell Austin and Tony to shutup. He stopped himself as it occurred to him that one of the voices he didn't recognize. He was fully awake now and he looked around without moving. He could see a silhouette of someone on the left side of his tent, being cast onto it by the moonlight. He could hear Austin, the voice coming from towards Austin's tent. And the voice he didn't know was between them. His mind went to work with different scenarios. He could try to intervene, he could stay still wait and see if they leave him alone, and many others. He didn't want to be rash too quickly.
--
The large man holding the knife to Tony's neck nudged the knife tighter, moving Tony ever so slightly. "We want everything." He said simply. Austin gave a confused look. Suddenly the man behind Austin joined the conversation. "We came across this gas station, planning to raid it. Only to find the three of you bringing everything up here. Oh and thanks for not leaving someone on watch, made it much easier to catch you guys off guard." He shuffled the strap to the bag he had over his shoulder he was holding a few bags, all full of the supplies that Austin, Tony, and Shiloh had been gathering the last few days.There were still a few inside the three tents but Austin wasn't sure if they knew that. "You guys bagged it all for us, and we get the bonus of your weapons and anything you came here with. Don't be stupid, or my brother Dan here will end his life, and we'll take your other friends life as well." The man who had Tony, who Austin hadn't taken his eyes off of grinned, Austin could only tell because the whites of his teeth were bright in the dark.
"Fine." Austin said simply. "Take everything, just leave us alone." He held out his hand towards Tony. Tony's safety was the important thing at this moment. There was more supplies out there. They'd make do, Austin told himself. Tony's captor nodded to the guy behind Austin "Dave, take that haul down." 'Dave' walked to the ladder with his bags and made his way down. "Brothers huh?" Austin said. "Shut it, deals done. Keep quiet and we'll be gone." Austin wasn't sure how much he trusted that they'd be left alone after this. Surely this group would be afraid of some type of retaliation. They wouldn't just let the three of them live. But what could he do? "Your glock, where is it?" Austin nodded to his left towards his tent, "In the tent."
"Get it, very slowly. If it's not pointing at yourself when you bring it out the knife slices this one open." He smiled nuzzling the side of Tony's face. Tony whimpered a little with his eyes squeezed shut. The man beside Shiloh's tent raised the rifle they'd taken from Tony and aimed at Austin. "Alright, just let him go. I won't try anything." Austin pleaded raising his arms up. Dan snickered, "I think I'll hold onto him. Take him with us, we'll drop him off somewhere. A little...insurance policy." He said shrugging with a smile.
Meanwhile Austin had gotten the pistol out of his tent slowly and held it the way he was instructed. "No." Austin said simply. The mans smile vanished, "Your in no position to be making demands." the man growled. "Your not taking him anywhere." Austin was getting frustrated, he wasn't going to let this go down. There was no telling what would happen to Tony. Even if they did as they said and let him go he wasn't sure Tony would be able to make it back on his own.
--
Shiloh had been listening from inside the tent and on the occasions when there was noise or their voices were louder, he'd move ever so slightly so his noise would be muffled by theirs. He'd managed to get himself into a crouched position, his own weapon pointed at the silhouette on his tent, the one with the rifle pointed at Austin. He wasn't sure if this would work but he had to do something. These people were not only threatening to take the supplies they'd worked for, but also threatening to take his friends lives, and he wouldn't stand for it. He gritted his teeth and readied himself.
--
"Screw it," Dan said rolling his eyes. "Just shoot him." he said as he looked over to the other guy with the rifle. A shot rang and for a brief second Austin couldn't move, he thought he was dead but he couldn't feel anything. He was suddenly aware he was fine, and that Dan had dropped Tony to get to his sidearm, he was bringing it up and proceeded to point it towards Shiloh's tent. Austin twirled his own weapon so it was right way around and fired. Dan gasped as his hand went to his chest where he was shot. He took a step backwards raised his gun and fired one shot before barreling over the side of the gas station.
Austin felt a pain in his shoulder as the bullet ripped through like a thousand needles, it brought him to his knees. Tony was on the ground in front of him, holding his hand to his neck where the knife had been. He looked up at Austin. "Austin!" he yelled in panic. Tony's voice sounded very far away and muffled which confused Austin, he could hear little pings as well, next thing he was staring up at the sky his back against the ground. He felt weight on his stomach, he raised his head up a little and looked down, there was an arm. Shiloh had burst out of the tent and tackled Austin to the ground, shots were being fired at them from below. Austin came out of his daze, everything felt normal again, especially his shoulder, that normal brought pain. He looked at Shiloh as he heard the shots zooming over them. "Down the ladder, now!" Shiloh yelled. Crawling, Tony and Shiloh grabbed what they could and quickly dropped down the ladder, Tony and Shiloh having to help the injured Austin down. Before running off into the forest behind the gas station.
"You stupid fucks killed my brother! I will find you and make you pay!" They heard as they were nearing the exit of earshot distance.
Ellis watched as the walker fell down in front of him. Shutting his eyes in fear. Then suddenly he felt himself being scooped up. He opened one eye, to find Ryan crouched down in front of him. "Shh." Ryan said raising a finger to his lips, Ellis nodded but gave him a quick hug. It was too late and they were being converged on. Ryan looked around quickly, there was no way to get across to the others. "We've got to move bud." He grabbed Ellis' hand and the two of them ran. Not going towards the school but simply parallel there was no other way. They were rounding a van when Ryan went to peek around the corner only to bump into a walker.
Ellis screamed in panic as he tripped backwards. Ryan shoved the walker over, helped Ellis back up but they were trapped. Ryan reacted quickly opening a car door and ushering Ellis in then getting in himself. Walkers drawn to Ellis scream scrambled about looking for the source. Ryan was breathing heavily and sweating, Ellis noticed. "Are we safe?" whispered Ellis, who moved slightly to a more comfortable position in the floorboard of the backseat of the car. He bumped Ryan's leg which caused Ryan to jerk away and grit his teeth, holding his breath as not to make any noise. "Sorry." Ellis said unsure of what he'd done. Finally Ryan let out the breath "It's fine, I just bumped my leg." Ryan said as he sank beneath the car window to stay hidden, he looked at his injured leg and then to Ellis. He wasn't sure he could get them out of this predicament safely. Ellis simply curled up as low in the floor as he could get.
Wayne's ears perked as he heard gunshots rang in the distance. He turned to look at Anthony who was looking out of the nearby window. "Is that ours?" Wayne stepped up beside Anthony. "No, too far. Patrick and Audri are pretty far but those shots are much further." Anthony took a breath in relief with that realization. "We should make sure to steer clear of that direction when we decide to move on. Don't want to get caught up in anything." Wayne said, turning his attention back to gathering anything useful. He wondered why he was still with these people. It was true that there is safety in numbers. But honestly, this group? It'll be torn apart. Do I want to be here for that? His thoughts lingered as he made his way through the house.
--
Audri and Patrick heard the shots as well. But it just made them gather even more quickly. "Pat" she said looking over at him. He didn't respond and kept searching the cabinet he was looking in. "Do you think we'll make it?" Patrick stopped what he was doing then turned to look at her. "Not with how we're going now. We need guns. Stabbing only gets you so far." He turned his attention back to grabbing what he could from the cabinet. He opened his mouth to say something but before he could a loud crashing noise came from the back of the house, followed by some hushed yelling, and yet another loud noise. Patrick moved towards the pantry and shut himself inside, Audri simply ducked behind the kitchen counter. Someone cried out followed by the footfalls of someone running into the kitchen.
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Next Time: How fatal will Austin's wound prove to be? Audri and Patrick find themselves in a difficult position. What will become of Ryan and Ellis?
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Merry late Christmas everyone.
I'm thinking Season 1 will be 12 episodes so episode 6 will be a mid-season finale type thing. I'm bad at planning these things out. I just roll with it. ^_^
For fun I thought I'd let you guys decide the name of the episode if you'd like. I'll pick one I like and edit it in. Might be a one time thing might not, who knows. (Nevermind I yolo'd. xD)
