Episode 7: Empire

Part Two

"Uncovering"

Episode 7

"Empire"

After finishing breakfast, Jake and Jess headed up to the roof. Jake wanted to me follow them up there. The rest of my group stayed back. We ran up the stairs, and got to the roof. He brought me to the edge and we overlooked the stranglers. They were all still piled up at the door, trying to break in.

"They're still at it?" I asked.

"Yeah," Jess said, "They never quit. That door will hold, but not for long. We need to kill them so they don't pile up on the door."

She grabbed a machine gun, and pointed it at them

"Wait," I said, she looked at me, "If you shoot, the other stranglers will hear it, and new ones will pile up against the doors."

Jess smiled, then looked back at Jake.

"Glad you asked, we have that covered. We have an operation, watch this."

Jake reached in a box that was sitting on the roof, then pulled out a small mirror. He then adjusted it to point at the sun, a glare bounced off of it and shined at a window of another building. The stranglers stopped pounding on the door, and turned to look at it. Jess started shooting at them while they were distracted, I noticed she had a silencer on her machine gun. That way it wouldn't make as much noise. She aimed for the had and chest, either one worked. She took them out in seconds, they were all dead, and no others really noticed. Jake put the mirror back in the chest, and that was that.

"Wow," I said, "You guys really have it going here."

"Sure do, maybe you can try next time more show up at the door." Jess said.

"So why did you bring me up here?" I asked, "Why me?"

"Well," Jake started, "Since you're the leader of your group, we thought you should know the basics of this place. We'll teach everyone else later, we just thought you should learn first. And if you need anything, Jess and I are happy to help."

"Thanks." I said, I headed down to the foodcourt with Jess and Jake.

Everyone else was still sitting around, just talking. I saw the faces of my group, they were smiling. We made it, it may not be a military safe zone, but this is just fine. Kayla was running around with Brandy, I think his leg has recovered. They were smiling and laughing. Their eyes were filled with joy. I went and sat down with Sabrina, she was looking lonely, but her eyes lit up when she saw me.

"Hey." I said.

"Hey, how do you like this place?" she asked.

"I love it, I think we can start a new life here."

"Agreed, I just hope nobody like Derrick comes by here."

"They won't, what are the odds of us running into another bad person? We've already run into Derrick, Clark, and Timothy. I think we've run into all of the ones possible. What's next? A bunch of assassins or something?"

Sabrina laughed, she leaned in closer to me, but I got up. I hope I wasn't rude or anything, I just didn't want to take things too fast. I am still getting over Samantha.

"I'm going to meet some of the new people." I said.

Sabrina nodded, and I went off to go speak to some people. I feel I should get a good name around here, so people would like me. I decided to start with Winston's family. I sat down next to them.

"Hi," I shook Winston's hand, "I'm Jeff Jones."

"What's up little man?" Winston grabbed my arm and shook it really fast.

I wasn't really small, but to him I guess I could be called smaller.

"Hello, I'm Heather. Excuse my over reacting husband." his wife shook my hand gently.

I looked over at Julie and smiled, showing that I was friendly. She didn't do much, she just let out a small smile, that was it.

"Julie, where are your damn manners? This man wants to meet us!" Winston exclaimed.

"Sorry," she said expressionless, "I'm Julie."

"Dammit Julie-"

"It's okay," I said, "It's a cruel world out there, I don't blame her for being secluded."

"She was like this before the apocalypse, I don't know what's gotten to her."

"Oh Winston," Heather said, "Give her a break."

"So how do you like it here?" Winston asked.

"Great, this is a great community you guys have built, how did it start?" I asked.

"Well, everyone piled up in this place when the apocalypse first started, everyone wanted to stock up on food and supplies. Jake, Ned and Jess were the only smart ones, they started to build something here. They held off the food court, and took people in who had nowhere to go. We personally didn't have anywhere to go after the apocalypse hit, so we took the offer. There were more of us, but it's been a brutal two months. Stranglers got in a couple times." Winston looked down.

"It's okay," I said, "We've lost quite a few people too. We recently lost a good friend, his name was Barry. I feel it was my fault, and my actions really hurt my other friend."

"Sometimes in this world," Heather said, "You have to take very crucial actions that you have no control over. They just happen."

"Thank you guys," I started getting up, "Nice meeting you."

I got up and walked around, all I had left to meet now were Ned and Wendy. Jake said Wendy was a bit odd, so I decided to meet Ned first. I sat at a table where he was, he was writing something down. As soon as I sat down he grabbed the paper and turned it over.

"Yes?" he asked.

"I'm Jeff," I said, "I wanted to meet everyone here."

"Okay."

Ned was kind of awkward to talk with, I wanted to strike up conversation, but it didn't come good to me.

"Okay," I said getting up, "Great."

"Yep."

I shrugged it off and headed to meet Wendy, if Ned was odd, I can only imagine how odd Wendy can be. Oh well, I might as well meet everybody.

I sat down with Wendy, she looked at me, then looked away quickly.

"Hi," I said, "I'm Jeff Jones."

"Hi!" Wendy shook my hand really fast.

"So I just decided I was going to meet everyone here," I began, "I'm wanting to make friends."

"Me too!" she started, "But nobody here seems to like me, I don't know why. They call me awkward, and odd."

"Well that's okay," I said, "It's okay to be different, just don't let it get to you."

"So what's your story?" she asked me.

I told her everything, about the house, Derrick attacking it, and the whole trip here.

"Wow," she said, "You had a rough time from what it sounds."

"Probably could have gone smoother."

"Well nice meeting you Jeff Jones, I'm glad to have actually made a friend here."

I shook her hand again and left. To be honest, I hated meeting new people. I found it awkward, but I feel it is necessary when you all have to live together. Now that that's over, I can sit back and live here in peace. I went and sat down at a table again, just to relax. That's when I saw Jake, he was waving me over to him. I walked over to him, he opened a door and I followed him. Inside was a storage room, but he had turned it into an office room. Jess and Ned were already inside of it. It had notes scattered everywhere, the same things Ned was writing.

"What's this?" I asked.

"We decided we should let you in on this before anyone else in your group."

"Ok, what is it?" I asked again

"Well," Jake started, "We think we might be able to find more answers about the stranglers, we might be able to find out more of their weakness's, and maybe how to stop them."

"Really?"

"Yeah," Jess said, "You see, there is a laboratory not too far from here, if we can get to it, we might find answers. Jake used to work there as security before this went down, and Ned used to be a researcher, they think some scientists might still be in there."

"What kind of laboratory was it?" I asked

"It used to be a cancer research building." Jake said.

"So where is it?" I asked.

"It's on the other side of Toronto, that's the problem." Ned sighed.

"I guess it'll just be a long journey," I said, "You guys have a car?"

"Nope, that's the only downside to this little empire we're building." Jake said.

"Well, my group has been travelling for a long time, from Chatham, to here. I think we could manage." I said.

"That's why we wanted to tell you first, you seem to have led a stable group through some tough times. You seem like a strong leader to your group. We want you to pick a party, and then set off to find this place," Jake said, "Ned and I will be coming since we used to work there."

I already had who I wanted to bring in my head, I wanted to bring Patrick, Mark, and Sabrina. No doubt about it, Jamie is getting too old for long travel, and I'm sure she'll just want to settle down here and watch the kids.

"My friends Patrick, Mark, and Sabrina." I said.

"That fast?" Jess asked.

"I know my group very well, they're the only ones I want coming."

"Alright, so it's settled. Jake, Ned, and your group will go," Jess said, "I'll stay back and watch the group, and make sure Wendy doesn't have another one of her attacks."

"Attacks?" I asked.

"Oh, yeah we probably should have told you," Jake sighed, "Stay away from Wendy. She's a wreck, she'll be happy and cheerful one minute, and batshit crazy the next. And make sure the kids are away from her too."

"If she's so dangerous, why is she here? Why did you keep her?" I asked.

"We felt bad for her, if she hurts anyone, she's leaving. So far she has kept her cool to an extent. She's freaked out a few times, but not much."

I was just thinking back, when I was talking to Wendy she was very happy and pleasant. I was just lucky she wasn't in a bad mood. I decided to change the subject.

"So when are we heading out?" I asked.

"When everything is settled, we still need to work out a path. We can't just run blindly there. I'd say two weeks or so." Ned said.

"Alright, I'll let my people in on it." I left the room.

I saw Wendy at a table with Kayla, she was talking with her. I got nervous, I walked quickly over to the table.

"Hi." I greeted, grabbing Kayla's arm.

"Hey dad! I'm just talking with Wendy! She's pretty cool!" Kayla exclaimed.

I faked smiled at Wendy, she smiled back. She looked so harmless, but I can't take any chances here.

"Well I think it's time we go okay?" I asked her.

"Aw dad, but Wendy was telling me a cool story."

"Let's go." I said, I pulled Kayla away from her, Wendy looked disappointed.

"Talk to you guys again?" Wendy asked.

"Yeah, sure." I said.

I might have been a little hard on her, but if she is what Jake says she is, then I don't want Kayla anywhere near her.

"You were mean." Kayla said.

"I think you should stay away from her," I whispered to Kayla, "People say she is dangerous."

Kayla was silent for a little while, then said,

"Oh."

She walked away to go play with Brandy, and looked out a window. It was noon now, and there were a lot of stranglers out there. The only con of this place was it's location. It's very secure, but it's right in the middle of hundreds of stranglers. If we made too loud of a sound, it could set them off. It could be like the community centre all over again. I glanced over and Wendy, she was looking jittery, twirling her thumbs.

"I'm keeping my eye on you." I said to myself.