Episode 6: Resurrection

Episode 6

"Resurrection"

(Jeff)

Today was a grim day, for me, and for everyone once they hear the news. The journal of the dead man still sat there on the building, it somehow managed to stay on the building. I picked it up and looked at it. Anger built up inside of me, I screamed and threw the book off of the building. I needed to get back, that was Jess's last wish. That I return to Kayla, and my wife. I wasn't going to make her death for nothing. How was I going to do it though? I sat there for a while, and just thought. There were stranglers all over the place on the streets, surrounding the building. I looked around, and noticed that there were a lot of other building around this one, could I jump from rooftop to rooftop? It would be a stupid idea, but the only idea that I had right now. I stood up and walked to the edge of the building, there was another building that was the same size as this one, beside it. It was quite a ways away, so I was going to have to jump and hope for the best. I backed up and took a deep breath, I then sprinted towards it. I jumped off of this building and made it so close to the other building. I didn't quite make it though, as I fell short, I grabbed it with my arms. I almost fell. I took a bunch of deep breaths in and out and pulled myself up on top of the building.

There probably weren't as many stranglers below this building as there were the other one. I could walk down to the bottom, and sneak out. That's just what I did. I started walking down the building, and made it to the bottom. There weren't nearly as many stranglers down here, I could sneak out easily, and make my way back to the mansion. With no food, and one less friend.

(Mark)

I sat down with the prisoner in the basement. He wasn't talking to anybody, but I decided I could give this a shot. This was basically my profession before the apocalypse. He kept his head down, and he wouldn't look at me.

"My name is Mark, what about you?" I asked.

He stayed silent, not willing to talk to me. He just kept his head down, and kept a blank look on his face. I wasn't sure why he was so upset, we haven't done anything bad to him. Something else must be bothering him.

"The sooner you help us, the sooner we help you. We don't want to hurt you, we just want to know who you are. Then you can go."

The man kept his head down, unwilling to help us out. Maybe he is trying to be loyal to the other bandits. I'm positive this guy is a bandit, but I need to be sure.

"Why don't you want to talk?"

I sighed, I couldn't get to this guy. I guess I was just going to have to keep on trying.

"Keeping things in will destroy a person, did you know that?" I asked him, "If you keep something in, it will consume you like you wouldn't believe. I kept something in once, that destroyed me. Do you want to know what it was?"

The man stayed quiet, but he never rejected, so I told him.

"There was this woman by the name of Rachel. Rachel Mary. I could have helped her, I could have done so much, but I didn't. I didn't try hard enough, I kept it in. She was then murdered soon after. Keeping things in will destroy you, just answer my questions, and we'll let you go."

"I-I don't want to go." the prisoner whispered, still looking down in shame.

"Why not? Don't you want to get back to your group?" I asked.

"No, I can't go back now." he looked at me, his eyes looks terrified, he was scared of something.

"Go on." I said.

"Yeah, I'm from the bandits. Yeah, we're the ones who attacked you. Ryder doesn't like risking his men if he doesn't have to. He uses stranglers sometimes. He sent me back to see how you guys were doing, to see if our attack was effective."

"Why does he want to attack us so badly?"

"He wants the girl, Bay is her name I think." he continued whispering, like he was afraid of someone hearing him.

"Why does he want her?"

"I don't know, he just does. But I can't go back, now that I've been caught by you guys, I can't go back."

"Why can't you go back? We'll release you with no harm as long as you're telling the truth."

"You don't understand, I failed. Ryder will do horrible things to me, because I failed. Anyone who messes up, gets punished. I can't go back, don't make me go back to him."

I thought for a minute, then stood up.

"Thank you." I said, I then walked out of the basement, with a lot to think about.

I made it back upstairs, and Hudson was sitting on the couch, picking at his fingernails, waiting for me.

"So? He won't speak right?" Hudson asked, "Bastard is pissing me off."

"He spoke." I said.

He stopped picking his nails and looked at me, with a shocked look on his face.

"What the hell? Why wouldn't that asshole talk to me?"

"Maybe he just needs someone to comfort him, he's terrified Hudson. You playing the bad cop act probably made it worse."

"For God's sake Mark he's a bad guy! He is with the people who sent those stranglers after us, the people responsible for Julie's death! I'll scare him more if I have to!"

"He's not a bad guy, he's scared. He's just trying to survive."

Hudson looked like he wanted to argue some more, but he just stopped. I think I got the message through to him. He sat up and started walking away, grumbling. I paced the room, thinking about what I should do with this guy. We know the bandits attacked us, but what do we do to get them to stop? I guess I'll have to ask Jeff and Jess when they get back.

(Jeff)

I got out of the forest, and saw the mansion in front of me. I started walking through the yard towards the mansion, it felt like the longest walk of my life. How was I going to break it to everyone? How was I going to tell Mark that I let his girlfriend die? If only I was stronger I could have pulled her up, and we would have been walking home together. We're almost out of food too, what are we going to do? The mall was so much easier, there was food and supplies everywhere, all we had to worry about was being quiet so the stranglers in the city wouldn't hear. I sighed and looked up into the sky, the sun was setting.

"God give me strength." I said.

I got closer to the mansion, and the front door opened. Mark walked out, he looked stressed out.

"Hey guys, glad you made it back. I need help with-" he then stopped when he realized Jess wasn't here.

"Where's Jess?"

"Mark-"

"Where the hell is she Jeff?"

"She's dead!" I screamed.

Mark looked at me, surprised. He backed away from me, not knowing what to feel from what I said. I felt horrible, I was so tensed up from her death, that I just blurted it out in the rudest way possible. Mark walked back inside without saying a word.

I sat down in the snow and faced the forest, I buried my face in my arms and started crying. I normally never cry over deaths like this, but I couldn't help feeling like this was my fault. The way Jess just let herself die, destroyed me inside. I took a bunch of deep breaths in and out, trying to calm myself down.

I stood up after wiping all of the tears away, and turned to face the house again. I wiped the snow off of my pants, and walked in the house. Mark was nowhere to be seen. Who knows where he went. Kayla then ran down the stairs, she saw me and a big smile lit up on her face. She ran up to me and jumped into my arms.

"I knew you'd make it back fine. Bay told me it wouldn't be worth it to worry."

"She was right," I said, "you don't have to worry about me."

"What happened to Mark? He ran through the house in a hurry after talking to you."

I placed Kayla down on the ground and touched her shoulder. I looked her in the eyes.

"Kayla, I want you to go upstairs for the rest of the night. I'll be up soon. I need to talk to Mark about some things."

"Is everything okay dad?" she asked me.

"Yes, everything is fine. Just go upstairs."

She nodded, and ran up the stairs.

I looked through the house for Mark, I couldn't find him. He was either hiding very well, or he left the mansion completely. He wouldn't run from the mansion at nighttime, would he? That would be suicidal. He wouldn't actually think of doing something so stupid would he? I started to panic, I am barely holding up after Jess's death, if something bad happens to Mark, I will be done for. I won't be able to go on. I headed outside to look for him.

(Kayla)

I sat in the infirmary room next to mom. I hope she wakes up soon, there is so much I want to tell her, I haven't seen her since I was little, it was crazy to think she was right in front of me right now. Dad was bugging me though, he was scaring me too. Mark sounded upset, the way he was stomping through the house, and something was wrong with dad too. I'm so sick of things going wrong, I just want something to go right for once. I want to turn this mansion into a castle, and I want to eliminate all of the stranglers. Then, I want to be a princess in the castle and rule the world. I would make sure everyone had enough food and water to recover from the apocalypse. Then I could build a castle for everyone. I wanted to believe that my dream would come true some day, but I knew deep down that miracles only exist in the books. Ned is right, someday we will all die, there are no happy endings. A tear fell from my eye and landed on the ground. More started falling uncontrollably, and I curled up into a ball on the chair. I couldn't stop crying, I was flooding the room with my tears.

Something made me stop crying, I heard the sound of a cough. Right beside me. I turned to see mom, she was waking up! She was moving around, looking dazed and weak. She was coughing.

"Mom!" I cried.

She looked over at me and stared at me for a while, she smiled. I wasn't sure if she was fully conscious though. She extended her arm out and touched my face, she wiped a tear away.

"Its really you." she croaked.

"Yes it's me! You're safe now!"

"Impossible," she started, "I must be dreaming."

"You're not! You are awake! Trust me!"

Mom looked at me, she still looked confused. Her dazed face then slowly turned into a terrified face. She looked at me and started freaking out.

"Don't touch me! Don't touch me! Get away!" she cried.

I started crying and backing away from her, she was scaring me.

"Mom it's me! It's me!"

Nothing got through to her, she kept freaking out, then passed out yet again. Leaving me shocked, confused, and scared.

(Samantha)

"Its really you." I said, touching Kayla's warm face, and wiping a tear away.

I wanted to cry, Kayla was right in front of me. She had grown, and she looked strong. I hadn't seen her in a long time.

"Yes it's me! You're safe now!" she yelled, with a big smile on her face, and her eyes glowing with excitement.

I knew this couldn't be possible, I was kidnapped a long time ago, there would be no way I would be face to face with Kayla ever again.

"Impossible," I said, "I must be dreaming."

"You're not! You're awake! Trust me!" Kayla pleaded.

I wanted to believe her, I really did. But it was just too good to be true. Darkness started seeping in from the corners, and filling the room. I started getting scared. Kayla was not Kayla anymore, she had disappeared. Instead, I was lying on a bed next to Charlie Lockwood, who was grinning next to me.

"Don't touch me!" I begged.

Charlie laughed a cold, dark, rusty laugh. Like he always did when I was locked in his basement. He used to just sit there and laugh at me, sometimes he would hurt me. I just wanted out of this nightmare. I kept screaming, and I finally passed out, falling into the darkness.

(Jeff)

"Mark!" I yelled.

I yelled again, but there was no answer. I collapsed in the snow and punched the ground as hard as I could.

"Mark! I'm sorry!" I kept on yelling, over and over again.

I heard the snow crunching behind me, I turned around to see Mark. Standing behind me, with a knife in his hand. His face was filled with anger and revenge. He was breathing heavily. He started walking closer to me. I stood up and backed away from him.

"Mark." I lifted my hands in the air, to try and calm him down.

"No! No more from you!" he yelled, "you son of a bitch Jeff. You piece of shit! We should have never let you come back to the group. You only cause problems, the minute you show up, the bandits attack, Julie dies, and then you kill Jess? Screw you man, screw you."

Mark ran at me. I saw the blade coming for me, he was serious, he really wanted to kill me. I grabbed his arm and through him on the ground. He dropped the knife in the snow. He reached for it, but I kicked it further away. I got on top of him and tried to calm him down. He wouldn't listen, he punched me in the side of the head as hard as he could and I fell into the snow. I was pretty sure my ear was bleeding.

He walked towards the knife and picked it back up. I tried getting up, but he kicked me back down to the ground. I looked at the knife, and then looked at his face.

"Come on Mark! You're going to kill me?"

"If you go, then all of the bad things go with you! All you do is cause problems Jeff! If I kill you, then I kill all of our problems!"

"If you kill me, Jess's death will have been for nothing!" I yelled.

He stopped and looked me in the eyes.

"What are you talking about?"

"She died for me Mark! We would have both died if she didn't sacrifice herself for me. She went out a hero Mark! She died a hero. Her last wish was for me to get back safely to my wife and daughter. If you kill me, she would have died for nothing!"

Mark dropped the knife in the snow and fell to his knees. He fell down onto his side and just laid there.

"I can't believe she's gone." was all he said.

I stood up and walked towards him, but she stopped me.

"Just leave me Jeff, I just want to be alone right now."

I didn't argue, he's been through enough for one day. I leaned down and picked up his knife and brought it inside with me.

I crashed on the couch that night, I placed the knife on the table and fell asleep. I was out as soon as my head hit the pillow. It was a long day, one of the shittiest days I have had in a long time.

I woke up the next morning, the sun was shining right in my face through the window. I sat up and squinted. I looked over and saw that the knife was still on the table, nobody touched it, which meant Mark never tried to kill me again. I sat up and walked outside, there was a snow imprint where Mark laid last night, he must have came in later last night and fell asleep somewhere else so he didn't freeze to death. We need to have a funeral for Jess, she deserves it. So that's just what we did. Later that day, everyone gathered around, and we built a cross for Jess and places it into the ground. We all stood around it and said what we needed to say. I stood up and started speaking for her.

"Jess is the bravest person I have met in the whole apocalypse. That's saying something. We were put in a situation nobody should ever be put in. A strangler grabbed her, and tossed her off of the building. I grabbed onto her, and she grabbed onto me. I wasn't strong enough, and I fell too. We were left dangling from the building, inching towards our horrible fate. I tried to pull us up, but I couldn't. I couldn't do it. She looked me in the eyes, and gave me a look of safety. She told me I was going to be okay, and she fell. She let go of my hand, so I wouldn't fall as well. Any other person in that situation would have panicked, but she didn't. She was perfectly calm, she knew what to do. It was the only thing to do. She is in a better place now."

Mark was still mad at me, but I really hope it passes. He was probably mad at himself too, for letting her go with me on that food run. There was no stopping her though, she was determined to help me. That's just the kind of person she was. During the funeral, Kayla tugged on my shirt.

"Dad." she said.

"What?" I asked.

"Last night while you were outside with Mark, mom woke up."

"What? She did?" I exclaimed.

"Yes, but she passed back out. Before she passed back out, she looked at me and started screaming, like she was afraid of me.

"She's been through a lot, just let her rest some more, I'm sure she'll be fine."

"Okay."

As we started walking back inside, Stan fell onto his knee with a big thud. Everyone turned around to look at him, he was holding his side, and struggling to get up. Bay helped him stand back up to his feet.

"You okay?" she asked him.

"It's nothing, don't worry." he cringed.

Whenever someone says, don't worry, you have every right to worry. The last thing we need is for something to happen to Stan now, it better be nothing.