Episode 4: No Mercy

Episode 4

"No Mercy"

I was driving, I kept both hands on the wheel and my eyes on the road. I can't wait to get back and see Kayla. Once we get everything together back at the mall we can try for another trip back to the lab. For now, we need to get our shit together. This trip was a fail, it was all because of Hilda and her snipers. Mark filled me in on what happened, on how they shot Jake and alerted the horde. It still bugs me that Hilda is out there somewhere, she needs to be stopped. As we headed back, I saw the lab in the distance, we were getting further and further away from it. The answers were so close, yet so far away. After some more driving and a couple turns, I saw the mall up ahead. I slowed down and stopped in front of the building. I got out and shut the door behind me, everyone followed. It was going to be great to finally have everyone back, it's still going to feel broken without Jake though. We had to stop this, we will always remember Jake as a great leader and person, but we can't let this death weaken us, we need to stick together. I opened the front doors of the mall and headed down to the food court. I stopped at the doors and opened them. My eyes widened when I saw what was in there. Winston was behind Kayla, he had her in a headlock and a gun waving around at everyone. He smiled like a maniac when he saw me.

"I've been hoping you would make it back soon!" he yelled.

I raised my hands in the air to show him I wasn't going to hurt him, but if he hurts Kayla, then he will die.

"Winston," I said, "You don't-"

"Shut up! No more of your manipulative stories! I am taking this place as my own! Julie and I!"

Julie looked at me and shook her head frantically.

"No Jeff, I had no idea this was happening. I'm on your side."

"What? You're on his side? Ever since he got here people have died! Jamie is dead, my wife is dead, Wendy is dead, and where is Jake? I don't see him with you guys! Did he die because of you too Jeff?"

Jess's eyes teared up even more and she buried her face in her hands.

"Exactly! We've lost too many people! I vote Jeff leaves!" Winston yelled.

"People have died before Jeff showed up too! You can't blame him for mom's death! He's tried as hard as he could to keep us together!"

"No!" Winston yelled, "What about Hilda? She showed up not long after you did Jeff! We lived in peace when Jake was leading. Now he's dead too? The only person that should be dead is you, and the rest of your group. I am taking this place back! If you don't like it anybody, leave with Jeff!"

"Dad please stop this! I thought you were changing! I want a family-" Julie started walking closer to him.

"Back up! I don't want to do this. You don't know what's better, you're just a teenager." Winston pointed his gun at her.

Julie teared up, and looked down at the ground. She then stopped crying, then looked up at her dad in pure anger. She screamed and tackled him onto the ground, Kayla was let free and she ran over to me. Julie and Winston fell to the ground, they wrestled for the gun as it slid away from them.

"Do something!" Sabrina yelled.

I darted for them to get the gun away, I was too late. Winston slid over to the pistol and pointed it at Julie, there was a bang, then a flash. I covered my eyes and looked away, I could hear the sound of blood splattering everywhere. I looked back and saw Julie lying on the ground. She was shot in the arm. She was lucky. I looked over at Winston, who was holding the gun with shock written all over his face. He didn't mean to go this far, I could tell. Julie squirmed around on the ground holding her arm. Winston dropped the gun and started crying. Jess walked over to Winston with a pistol in her hand, without hesitation she fired it at him. She shot once, then twice to make sure he was dead. Jess had killed Winston, with no mercy. We all looked over at Jess, she walked away without showing any emotion. Mark looked out a window, and looked away.

"There's no stranglers around to have heard that, thank god." he confirmed.

Sabrina fixed Julie up, she dug the bullet out, it looked really painful. She tried her best to hold in the screaming and crying from the pain. Sabrina cleaned the wound out the best she could, stitched her up and then bandaged her up. We were all still shocked on what happened, Jess locked herself in the storage room and wouldn't come out. Mark wanted to try and get her out but I stopped him.

"Just give her time." I said.

I dragged Winston's body to the roof and tossed it over to the outside. Jess had shot him twice in the head. It was brutal. Kayla and Brandy watched the whole thing. I don't know how Julie is going to function anymore, things were going so well too. After her mom's death she needed someone, I finally got Winston to be dad. I now know that he was faking the whole thing. Now Julie not only had to watch her mother die, now she had just watched her father die. I don't think she is ever going to recover from that. I sat down and closed my eyes, I rested my back against one of the soil tubs that held the vegetables. I ran my hands through my hair and sighed. We were having a shitty enough time with Hilda still out there and Jake dying, we didn't need this. Kayla didn't even seem scared, she looked more angry that scared. A normal little girl would freak out and probably get themselves killed, Kayla stayed calm. It's scaring me what she is turning into. Sabrina is downstairs comforting her, but I don't think she really needs it.

(This Part of the Story is From Hilda's Point of View)

I peered out the window from an old warehouse. The streets were mostly empty for now, but they were filling up. The stranglers were regrouping. After that incident with Jake and his group, tons of stranglers had been attracted, but when we ran they followed us, we hid here and the stranglers kept running throughout the streets. They finally realized they weren't going to find anybody and started to regroup again. This warehouse isn't far from the hardware store. I turned and looked back at the rest of my team, I only had about five people left with me. A bunch of other snipers ran in separate directions when the stranglers showed up. The sad part is most of them are probably already dead now. I guess we were the lucky bunch. I can't believe what happened back there, I almost felt bad for them. They were just normal survivors trying to get by, and we attacked them. They held us off, because they were fighting for what they believed in. Then we found them again, and killed one of them. I've never killed somebody up close, I've never felt feelings that much. I have killed a couple survivors in the past, just by sniping them from afar. I've never been up close to feel the impact I had on some people. I ruined them. I almost felt a tear fall from my face, but I wiped it away. I can't cry, I have to stay strong for my people. When I was little, my dad trained me to be a seasoned hunter. I was good at it too, I was a really good shot. I grew up in a house full of boys, and I learned to not show feelings or anything, I grew up to be tough. When the apocalypse hit I was more ready than most people. I don't know where my family is now, I was living by myself when it hit. I hope they're okay. I assembled my sniper team over time, they looked up to me. We made it to Toronto and I decided the only way to live was to be tough. Kill anyone who thought different from you. We then started claiming parts of the city to scare off survivors. It worked several times, but when we got to Jeff's group it didn't go over so well.

"So what do we do next Hilda?" a sniper asked me.

"We survive." I said.

"We're not going to go after Jeff's group?"

"No."

"Hilda they killed many of our-" a sniper argued.

"And we killed many of theirs. We started to fight, we are backing down."

I went up to the roof of the warehouse that night, and just hung out there with my sniper. I picked off stranglers in the distance out of boredom.

"Hilda." said a voice from behind me, it sounded familiar.

I turned around to see my father, he was walking closer to me. I knew I was just seeing things, I haven't seen my father since the apocalypse hit.

"You are becoming weaker." he said.

"I'm strong." I argued.

"Then prove yourself. You are not backing down from a war you started. You have to finish it! Don't be a coward, don't let those wimps at the mall intimidate you. You are stronger than them, you have been training your whole life, they haven't."

"No!" I yelled, covering my ears, "Go away!"

"Kill them you coward! Kill them!"

"No!" I screamed, I shot off my sniper at him.

He disappeared, and the bullet strayed off into the distance. A bunch of my sniper team ran up to the roof.

"Are you okay Hilda?" They asked me.

"I'm fine, just go." I answered.

(This Part of the Story is From Jeff's Point of View)

It became nighttime, and I decided to take watch. Strangers were regrouping back and just roaming around the streets like normal. I liked to watch them, it was actually pretty interesting. It's like they all could somehow communicate with each other without saying anything. It was like instinct that they worked together on stuff. I just sat on the roof with a silenced rifle and shot a strangler that got too close to the building. Again, I didn't have to use the mirror since it was nighttime, the stranglers won't notice if I kill one or two of them.I heard footsteps by the stairs and I saw Sabina walking up them, she came and sat beside me.

"Hey." she said.

"Hey, shouldn't you be asleep?" I asked.

"Not really tired, not after today."

"I can't believe Winston would do that. He was a good man, and I thought he changed for the better." I said.

"I know, but some people don't change. There are just some people that are past helping. Like Derrick, you couldn't help him. You can't help everybody Jeff."

I sighed, Sabrina was right. I can't help everyone, and it bugs me. I wish people would just realize that if we all worked together in this world we would survive much easier. Sabrina moved in closer and held my hand.

"Someday, this world is going to change. It can't stay like this forever, can it?" she asked.

"I hope not."

Sabrina leaned in for a kiss, and one thing lead to the other. We both got undressed, and we did it right there on the roof.

After that was done, we both fell asleep shortly after. I had another dream. It was about Samantha. I saw her running this time. She kept running and running, this vision was still from a birds eye view. She opened a door but was stopped by two guards by the door. She turned back and was cornered by the same man in the suit. He was wearing a black suit now, with curly back hair. He punched her across the face, I wanted to scream but I couldn't. I then woke up the next morning beside Sabrina, we were still on the roof. I was sweating. I need to act normal though, the last thing I need is for Sabrina to start suspecting something. A bed would have been a nicer place to do that on but we didn't have any of those. I got up and got some clothes on quickly before anyone woke up and came up here. Sabrina did the same. It was a nice morning, but I saw storm clouds in the distance. Sabrina and I both headed downstairs to make some breakfast, when I got down there I noticed Mark was still awake. That's it. I headed over to him and sat at his table with him, Sabrina came with me.

"Did you sleep at all?" I asked him.

He looked terrible, his eyes were droopy, and he was drooling.

"No, I was waiting for Jess to come out." he pointed to the door.

"She still hasn't come out yet?" Sabrina asked.

"No, she hasn't." Mark mumbled.

"You should get some sleep buddy." I pat him on the back.

"Maybe." he then dropped his head onto the table, and with a loud thump he was asleep.

I walked over to the gas stove and looked around for something to make, we were starting to run low on food, I guess we would just have to run to a food section in the mall soon. It was no big deal. I grabbed an egg carton, there weren't many eggs left in it. Only four, I made Sabrina and I each one. I cracked the egg on the frying pan I had placed on the stove. The water pipes and power lines were down, but at least the gas was still going. If only we could use some of that gas to fill up the generator, but we obviously couldn't do that. Once the eggs were done I took them off and put them both on plates. I carried them over to the table and set them down.

"We will go on a run for more food supplies later today." I informed.

"I'll come."

"You sure?" I asked.

"Yeah, it isn't dangerous or anything. We're staying in the mall for it."

"Who's going to watch Kayla? I don't think she trusts anyone else to watch her besides you or me after Winston's incident." I said.

"Maybe we could bring Kayla? I mean she was complaining to me last night that she gets bored cramped up here in the mall all the time. The mall is safe, it's cleared out."

"I don't know, if something were to happen-" I began.

"It won't, you have to teach her these things Jeff. What happens if you die, or I die? What if she gets lost? She needs to know how to survive. She's not the same little girl anymore."

"Fine, you're right." I finished off my eggs and picked up my plate and brought it over to the sink. It didn't work, but we could still store dishes in there. We would just clean them with water from the water bottles. We didn't want to use too much of it though.

Later that day, after everyone had woken up I gathered everyone together. I announced that we are going to need to go on a food run.

"So yes we are running low," I confirmed, "But that is no big deal. We will just run over to a supermarket located inside the mall. Who all wants to come?"

Sabrina and Patrick, raised their hands. I looked over at Kayla and Brandy.

"You two can come if you want." I said.

"Really?" Kayla's eyes lit up.

"Yes."

"Wow! Thanks Jeff!" Brandy said.

Julie and Jess would stay back here, Jess still hasn't come out of the storage room yet, Julie was depressed and wanted nothing to do with the group, and Mark wanted to stay back and wait for Jess to come out. He really cared for her. Ned just wanted to stay and work on another route to the lab. He was determined, and he wanted to get to that lab.

"Let's go, this shouldn't take long." I said.

I headed to the front door, and looked back. Patrick, Sabrina, Kayla, and Brandy were all following me. I opened the door and we headed throughout the mall, looking for something.

(This Part of the Story is From Jess's Point of View)

I sat in the corner of the storage room, I didn't know what to do. I didn't want to come out though, that's for sure. I killed Winston with no hesitation, right in front of everyone. Who am I? I don't even know anymore. Ever since Jake died I lost myself. I got out of control. Jake and I had been through everything, when I was born he was always a good big brother. My mom told me he would always want to feed me or carry me. When I got older, he protected me. I still remember the time when I was in a relationship with a guy, and Jake punched him out. My old boyfriend was abusive, I put up with it. I was weak back then. Jake finally set me straight, and taught me tons of things. When the apocalypse hit, Jake and I made it through lots together. He's gone now, and there is nothing I can do about it. I sat in the room for a little longer, then I finally figured out what I needed to do. I need to find Hilda, and I need to kill her myself. I stood up and headed to the storage room door. I opened it up and was greeted by Mark.

"Jess!" he said.

"Not now Mark." I said.

I headed over to my sleeping area and picked up my backpack, and put a few things inside. Backup food, ammo, medicine, and some weapons.

"Where are you going?" he asked me.

"I'm going to find Hilda." I said.