Episode 5: Cleanse

Episode 5

"Cleanse"

(Jeff)

I tried going to sleep that night. It didn't work, and I only got about an hour or so of sleep. I watched the sun come up in my room. I walked into the infirmary to check on Samantha, she was still out. I checked her pulse, it was steady. She'll wake up soon, I told myself. Soon. I headed down to the living room where everyone else was, I guess they couldn't sleep either. Stan was making pancakes for everyone. I sat down next to Kayla, who was sitting with Bay.

"You get any sleep?" Bay asked me.

"Nope. You?"

"No."

"I slept fine, what's wrong with you guys?" Kayla asked.

I forced a laugh, but what Kayla said bothered me. That was meaning she was used to this, fighting off a horde of stranglers was no big deal to her anymore. She is growing up in this world, I guess I'll have to deal with it.

"Okay guys, pancakes are ready." Stan lifted the pan off of the stove, and he flipped one onto each of our plates.

"Should we tell everyone about the bandits?" Bay asked me.

I nodded, they deserved to know. I stood up and asked for everyone's attention.

"Alright guys, there is something that I learned from Bay last night. Last night she told me she thinks it might have been the bandits who launched the strangler attack on us."

People thought about it, and nodded, everyone agreed.

"It makes sense, it's the only people who would want to attack us right now." Jess said.

"Do you think the prisoner we caught is one of the bandits? Maybe they were scouting the place out." I asked.

"He very well might be," Hudson piped in, "I'll try talking to him again today. I'm sure after a nights sleep he's ready to talk."

After we finished eating, Stan offered to clean up. I decided to help him, since there were a lot of plates to clean. Hudson took a pancake and glass of water down to the prisoner in the basement, we don't need him dying on us. While I was cleaning the dishes with Stan, I opened the fridge, to see barely any food in there.

"Stan?" I asked, "where is all the food?"

He sighed and closed his eyes, when he was ready to talk he opened his eyes and looked at me.

"We've been running low lately."

"Why didn't you tell anyone? We could have been going on runs." I argued.

"With everything that's been going on, I didn't have time for anyone to go on a run. You arrived with two more mouths to feed, three if your wife wakes up, and then we get attacked by a horde of stranglers. There has just been no time for it, and I didn't want to tell anyone today, because we are still recovering, Bay's ankle is injured, and we just lost someone. I didn't want to send anyone out to their deaths today."

I closed the fridge and sat down at a chair, I was ready to explode in anger.

"It doesn't matter if we are still recovering today," I said, "we need food to stay strong, and whenever it gets close to running out, we go on a supply run. We don't take breaks in the apocalypse, it's impossible. There is always something to do, and if you keep putting it off, it will kill you."

Stan nodded.

"You're right Jeff, I don't know what I was thinking. I can be such an idiot sometimes. I guess it's just me getting older."

"If Bay is hurt, we'll get someone else to go. Heck, I'll go."

"Bay knows Kingston very well though, she knows how to avoid Lockwood's outposts. The bandits taught her." Stan said.

"Then I'll get her to draw me a map. Anything. But we can't go another day this low on food." I got up and went to go find Bay.

(Mark)

I sat down with Jess on the living room couch. Cora offered to take first watch. She told us that there needs to be someone on duty outside at all times, so we can be more prepared next time we're attacked. I agree with her.

"I hope that prisoner gives us some answers." Jess sighed.

"He will, I'm sure Hudson knows what he's doing. He's a pretty scary guy after all." I answered.

"Do you think the bandits will try the same trick again?"

"No," I said, "I don't think they will. They'll attack us again for sure, but I don't think they'll use the same idea again."

"Why? It almost worked last time."

"Almost, that's they key word. We were unprepared and we still won. If we're more prepared this time and they use stranglers again, it'll be a pushover."

I heard footsteps coming up the basement stairs, Hudson came out from downstairs, with the pancake still on the plate and a full glass of water. He looked angry.

"What happened?" I asked.

"Bastard won't speak to me. I don't know what his damn problem is. I told him he could go if he confirms it was the bandits that attacked us."

"It was obviously the bandits, why do we need him to confirm it?" I asked.

"Because by the slight chance that it wasn't the bandits that attacked us, if we accuse them, then we have another enemy. We can't afford to have any more enemies."

"He's right." Jess said.

"I'll talk to him, I was a therapist before the apocalypse. I'll see what I can do." I got up and headed down to the basement.

(Jeff)

I knocked on Bay's door.

"Come in." she said.

I opened the door and closed it behind me. She was reading a book, lying on her bed. She put the book down and looked at me.

"Yeah?" she asked.

"Listen, I'm going for a run into Kingston today. I need to gather more food, we're running low. Since this is normally your job, you must know what you're doing. Do you think you could draw me a map, so I could avoid the Lockwood outposts?"

"Yeah, of course," Bay sat up and grabbed a piece of paper and a pen, "you sure you want to go back out there? You were just reunited with your daughter, I'm sure she wants to stay close to you."

I sighed, she was right. But I had to, I needed to prove to the group I was a good person again. Back at Elise's cabin, I lost my shit. I did a horrible thing, I need to redeem myself.

"I'm sure. I have to do this." I said.

"Alright," Bay started, pointing at the map she sketched out, "Take this backroad here. You will pass a drug store, that means you are going the right way. Then you'll pass a small fire station, keep going until you find a fountain. Once you run into the fountain, stop there. That is the boundary for me. If you go past there, the outposts might see you. There are a lot of stores around the backroads, a lot I have not raided yet. You should be able to get a lot of food in those backroads. There are run down restaurants there, food stores, even a market. I don't know how much food is left, but just grab whatever you can. Winter is almost over, meaning we can start growing our own food soon."

"Thank you Bay." I said.

I turned to leave, Bay grabbed my arm.

"Be careful out there Jeff," she said, "you have a daughter to look after."

I nodded, then left the room.

I headed into the armoury room and looked around for some weapons. I grabbed a shotgun, a bunch of shells, a hunting knife a respirator, and a backpack to store everything inside. I strapped the respirator around my face, placed the knife into my sheath, and headed out of the armoury. I walked downstairs looked for Kayla, I had to say goodbye to her. I walked around looking for her, and I spotted her outside with Ned. I walked to the front door and Jess stopped me.

"What are you all geared up for?" she asked me.

"I'm going on a food run, we're low." I said.

"Well I'm coming with you." she said.

"No, I don't need you risking your life too. I'll go alone."

"But-"

"No Jess. It's too dangerous. Watch over Kayla for me while I'm gone."

I opened the front door and headed outside, I ran up with Kayla and Ned, who were talking on one of the watchtowers. I was climbing the watchtower and I overheard Ned talking to Kayla.

"There are no happy endings," said Ned's voice, "Happiness is temporary. There will always be something you could have done better, I could have saved Julie. But I didn't, so she's dead. Be careful with your actions, or you will end up the same."

I got to the top of the watchtower, Kayla and Ned looked at me. Ned still looked pretty upset from Julie's death, Kayla looked sad.

"What are you doing dad?" Kayla asked me.

"I'm going on a run. I came up here to say goodbye. I'll be back soon."

"No! Come on dad, you just got here safely. Please don't."

"What, you don't have faith that your old man can survive out there? I've made it this far haven't I? Trust me, I'll be fine." I said.

"Well you are getting old." she joked.

I laughed, then patted her on the shoulder.

"Kayla, could you go inside where it's safe?" I asked.

"It's safe up here." she responded.

"No Kayla, it's safer in the house. Just go in there, Jess will watch you."

"Fine." she said, climbing down.

I looked at Ned, he looked down, feeling sorry for himself.

"Listen here Ned. I know what you tell my daughter, and I want you to stop. She's too young to be hearing this shit. Of course she knows she could die someday, it's a dangerous world out there. But you don't need to keep scaring her like that."

Ned didn't say anything, he stayed silent. I grabbed him by the neck and forced him to look at me. He gasped and stared at me, frightened.

"Got it?" I asked.

He nodded quickly, and I let go of him. I climbed down the watchtower and started walking to the forest.

While I was walking away from the mansion, I heard footsteps behind me. I turned to see Jess, she was all packed and ready to go. She had a respirator on, backpack, two pistols, and a knife on her.

"What the hell Jess?" I asked, "I thought I told you-"

"You're not the boss of me Jeff. I'm a grown ass woman, and I'm coming with you."

I sighed and shook my head, I cracked a smile. She was a loyal friend, she reminded me a lot of Patrick. We fought at times, but she would always stay by my side, just like Patrick.

"Alright fine. Let's go." I agreed.

We walked through the forest, just talking about things. How we think things might go with the bandits, so far they aren't looking good.

"The bandits were a big problem before you even got here," she began explaining, "They shot Brandy, and kidnapped Bay. Kayla and Brandy got her back, they snuck out of the house and saved her. Brandy was shot. Kayla is a survivor, she is determined too."

"We shouldn't let her sneak out like that, we need to keep tabs on her at all times. These bandit people seem dangerous, I don't want her running off into the woods on rescue missions."

"I know what you mean, but I think she's stronger than you think Jeff. She's adapted to the world, like it or not. She is a long term survivor, I think she might even make it through the whole damn apocalypse. She might be the one to stop the apocalypse, stranglers will be running away from her." Jess laughed.

"Thank you for accepting me back," I said, "I've been wanting to say that ever since the night I arrived back. The things I did before were horrible. I promise I'll get better. I have everything back in place, my daughter is back, and my wife is back."

"To be honest, I missed you when you were gone. It was so hard for me to pull the trigger when I shot you in the shoulder. It killed me to kick you out of the cabin. I hated doing it. I'm glad you've changed back Jeff, back to a strong leader, back to what these people need. Stan is too weak to lead, me and you both make great leaders. I think we can change the mansion for the better, I think we can survive Jeff."

"I think so too, I think so too." I smiled.

We made it into Kingston after a long hike through the forest, I looked at the poorly sketched map Bay whipped up in a few minutes. It was bad, but it might be just enough for me to navigate with.

"Alright, so we need to find this backroad here," I pointed at a map, "We should see a drug store."

"It must be close, Bay would have drawn more if it was further away."

A strangler came emerged from under a destroyed car, it grabbed Jess's foot. The strangler screamed, making a lot of noise. She stomped her foot down over and over again until the screaming stopped. After she killed it, I noticed several other stranglers making their way down this street, they didn't see us yet, so they weren't running. I grabbed her arm.

"We need to go." I started running with her.

We ran down the streets, and I spotted a drug store sign to my left, where it led into a bunch of backroads. I turned and Jess followed me. More and more stranglers formed around the main streets, we were going to have to hide in the backstreets. We kept running, and soon enough we passed a fire station. We turned right, only to run into a pack of stranglers. They screamed when they saw us, and started running at us.

"Oh damn." I said.

We took some more turns around the back roads, but the stranglers seemed to be everywhere by now. I that beside the fire station, there was a unfinished building, there was scaffolding on it. We could climb it and outrun the stranglers.

"Follow me Jess!" I yelled.

I jumped up and climbed up the first part of the scaffolding, Jess followed me. I leaped around the scaffolding, and as I got higher, I noticed how many stranglers were beneath us. The cities are always filled with stranglers, this is the exact reason why the mall wasn't safe. The city had too many people in it before the apocalypse, and there were too many when the virus hit.

We kept on following the scaffolding that was wrapping around the building. Jess stayed right behind me, and I was praying there was a way out of this. More and more stranglers just kept piling up below us.

"You okay?" I asked to Jess while climbing.

"I'm fine, are you?"

"Of course I am." I said, but I wasn't, this climbing was really taking the energy out of me.

I went through a lot of training at Lockwood, but it doesn't change the fact that I'm getting older and tired from constantly trying to fight for my survival. After climbing for a while, we finally made it to the top of the building. I climbed onto it and laid on the ground, inhaling and exhaling quickly. Jess got to the top caught her breath.

"That was one hell of a climb wasn't it?" I asked her.

"Sure was, but you were starting to worry me down there." she said.

I stood up and looked at out into Kingston.

"I'll be fine."

"Do you think Lockwood can see us from up here?" she asked me.

"I don't know, maybe, maybe not. Let's not worry about them right now, we need to focus on how the hell we are going to get out of here."

"Those stranglers sure built up quickly didn't they, man."

I noticed a dead body over at the corner of the roof. I walked towards it, it was of a man, who looked like he had just recently died. He hadn't decomposed yet. He looked younger than me, maybe late twenties, early thirties. He had a book clenched in his hands. I picked it up and looked at it.

"What are you looking at?" Jess asked, walking towards me.

"This guy has a book, I wonder what's in it." I said, flipping through the pages.

"We should just leave him, we need to focus on getting home." she said.

"Just give me a minute." I flipped through some of the pages.

Most of them were ripped, and some of them were burnt. From what I could read, it was a normal diary. It read.

January 21st

"I lost my best friend today. We were holding out in this abandoned building. It was raided by stranglers, they attacked and ripped Ben to pieces. He was the only person I had, now I'm alone. It's only a matter of a time before I go too, oh well. I have nothing to live for now. I need to get to Lockwood, it's so close, yet so far. It offers protection, I will be safe there. The only problem is the stranglers, there are a ton of them all over the streets. I can't get there. God give me strength.

February 4th

"I think I'm going crazy. I'm all by myself, in this abandoned building. I'm going to start drawing faces on inanimate objects soon. I need to get out of here, I need Lockwood. I bet nothing bad ever happens there."

February 9th

"I'm not alone, I'm not alone. I saw a man creeping around the building today, I swear I'm not crazy. He was looking for me. I tried hiding. I only got a small glimpse at the man. He was wearing a gas mask, and bloody clothing. It scared the living hell out of me. He had a bunch of syringes with him, I don't know what it was for.

February 16th

"He came back. Oh no he came back. I almost got caught by him. He came out of nowhere, I was sitting on the ground, eating some soup when I saw a gas mask pass the window. I almost had a heart attack. I hid under the table and laid there, in fear. He tried getting inside, but he couldn't. He finally gave up and left. I don't think I'm safe here anymore, I need to leave.

February 21st

"He found me. He's trying to break down the door as I write this. I ran up to the roof and I am thinking of jumping. He's going to get through the door eventually, when he does, who knows what he'll do to me? God give me strength."

The rest of the writing was smeared, and the rest of the pages were blank after that. There was a page at the very end of the book read, "Cleanse."

I looked at Jess, she read it too. She looked scared, she looked around to see if anyone was watching us. Cleanse? What does that mean? The man described him to wear a gas mask and blood coated clothing. I stood up and placed the book back in the dead mans hands. I looked down at the horde of stranglers filling the backroads up.

"Come on," Jess said, "We need to get out of here. You have a daughter and wife to return to. You're probably worrying Kayla sick."

"Yeah, you're right. Let's get out of here. I guess we'll have to find food another day."

All of a sudden, the dead man with the journal opened his eyes, but he wasn't alive. He was a strangler. He was infected, and we didn't even notice. He grabbed Jess and pulled her off of the building with it. I leaped forward and grabbed Jess's hand just before she fell. She dangled off of the building helplessly. The strangler strongly held onto her arm, and it didn't want to fall unless she was going to fall with it. They were both dangling off of the building. The strangler was trying to pull her down with it, and she was trying desperately to fight it off. I tried pulling Jess up, but the strangler was adding a lot of weight to the pull, and I wasn't exactly superhuman.

"I've got you Jess, don't worry." I said, but I wasn't too sure.

"I can't get it off of me!" she yelled, trying to get rid of the strangler.

The strangler yanked Jess with one strong pull, and I fell as well, I grabbed the edge of the building with my right hand, and held Jess's hand with my left. The strangler was trying as hard as it could to pull us off of the building, and it was making getting back up impossible.

"Can you shake it off of you?" I asked.

Jess struggled, but the strangler had an iron grip. She looked up at me, and tears fell from her eyes.

"You have a daughter and wife to return to."

"Jess, don't do this." I begged.

There was no time for negotiation, she let go of my hand and fell. I looked down as she plummeted for the ground, it all felt slow motion for me. I saw her facial expression as she fell. It was sadness, she didn't want to go, but it was also bravery. She was telling me that I needed to get home safe, and take care of everyone. She trusted me.

I pulled myself up on top of the building and looked into the sky, not believing what happened. Jess was gone, she sacrificed herself, so I could live. She knew if she didn't, we would both die. I started crying, that was something I hadn't done a lot. Jess was gone, I couldn't even get my head straight. I just laid there on the roof, and broke down into a mess of tears. I couldn't get the image of her falling out of my head. It just kept on replaying over and over again. Jess had fallen, so I could rise. So I could return to my family, so I could live.