Episode 8: Tension

Episode 8

"Tension"

(Jeff)

We arrived back at the mansion, I opened the front door and we walked in. Everyone else was awake now, just sitting around. They're depressed because of food shortages, and a loss of people. We've already lost two people, and things weren't looking up. We were going to lose more if Ryder attacks, how am I going to break the news to them? If we give over Bay, that will only push the group into more of a depression. Stan was sitting at the kitchen table, he was looking at his side.

"Hey." I said.

He jumped, he must not have heard us come inside. He stopped looking at his side and stood up. He walked towards us.

"Got your note, how did it go?" he asked.

"I don't want to be the one to add more bad news," I began, "but Ryder isn't accepting the trade. He wants Bay, that's the only person he cares about for some reason. He wouldn't tell us why."

Stan sat down again, he almost fainted. I tried to grab him so he wouldn't fall, but he told me he was okay.

"He said he's just going to keep bugging us until we give her back. We have three days, or else he'll kill us all and take her for himself."

Stan sighed with a shaky tone, and closed his eyes. He trembled as he sat in the chair.

"It was only a matter of time I suppose," he said, "I couldn't keep Bay hidden forever."

"You knew Ryder wanted her?" I asked.

"Well the bandits have been bugging us a lot more lately. They kidnapped her a while back, before you got here. Your daughter and Brandy saved her."

"So what the hell are we going to do?" Cora asked.

Stan looked up at her, looking sick and nervous.

"I don't know. Nothing."

"What?" Cora asked, "Jeff, what do you think?" she asked.

"I don't think there is much we can do." I replied.

"Nothing we can do? Come on! We escaped Lockwood! We can do something about a bunch of savages!"

"There are so many of them!" I yelled, "they would wipe us out in minutes!"

"Jeff?" I heard from another room.

The voice was familiar, but I haven't heard it in a long time. Who's was it?

"Yeah?" I asked, slightly confused.

Samantha walked out from the other room, she kind of stumbled. She grabbed the wall for support, and Kayla walked behind her. She wore ragged, ripped clothes she still had on from Lockwood. She was still as beautiful as ever. All of the worries in my life suddenly dropped, tears welded up in my eyes and I walked towards her, not believing what was happening. Everyone else in the room had faces of mixed emotions. Happiness, confusion, shock. She looked me in the eyes and I hugged her. We hugged for a long time, I lost track of time. Time stopped for me when I was in her arms. I wasn't scared anymore. As long as I was with Samantha.

I heard her crying while she was hugging me. I looked at Kayla over Samantha's shoulder. She was crying as well. I looked around the room while still hugging her, everyone else in the mansion came out and saw what was going on. Even Mark. He looked happy for me, but I could see his pain. He wanted to be doing that with Jess right now. I slowly let go and backed up from the hug.

"I can't believe it." was all I managed to say.

"Thank you," she said, "for keeping Kayla safe, for doing all of this."

"Of course. I'm just glad you are okay."

"I guess we have a lot of catching up to do." she said.

"We do, I'll start. I'll tell you everything that's happened, from start to now."

With that, I walked upstairs, while supporting Samantha as well. We needed some time alone to talk.

(Mark)

Everyone was happy in the room. After processing that Samantha was awake, everyone started smiling and some people were crying. Samantha waking up was what the group needed, we needed some hope. Of course, her waking up doesn't change anything. All it does it lower the tension the group has for some time. I didn't know what to feel. I knew it wasn't fair. Jeff was the reason Jess was dead, and now he gets his lover back? It wasn't fair at all. I wanted to feel happy for him, but I didn't. I felt worse and worse, knowing that I was alone, and I would never feel that same feeling ever again. I backed up and left the room. I headed into the basement where nobody else was. Tears fell down my face as I ran down to the basement. I collapsed onto the ground and sobbed in the darkness. It wasn't fair, none of it was. I pounded my fist on the ground, I wanted to scream. But I couldn't. If I screamed, everyone would come down here and see me for the big baby I was being. I just curled up into a ball and cried as quiet as I could.

I stopped, when I saw something in the corner of my eye. It was dark, but I could make out a bottle. I stood up and walked closer to it. I picked it up off of some shelf and blew the dust off of it. It was an old bottle of whiskey. It was heavy, meaning it was full. I unscrewed the lid and smelled it. I didn't want to turn to alcohol, because I never drank much of it before the apocalypse. This time was different though, if I drank this, my worries would go away for a while. I slowly tipped the bottle into my mouth, and the alcohol started going down. I knew what this would lead to, but I didn't care.

(Jeff)

I told Samantha everything. I told her about Patrick, I told her about how he took Kayla and I under his wing, and how he saved our lives. I told her about Derrick, and I told her about the mall and everyone in it. I even told her about Sabrina, because I think she deserved to know. I told her about Hilda, and Gus, and Patrick's brave sacrifice. I told her about how I went crazy and did some horrible things, but I overcame it. I explained my story at Lockwood, and how I ended up here. Samantha seemed shocked at first, I wasn't sure what part she was shocked about. There was so much to be concerned about. She then told me everything that happened to her. She told me she was kidnapped, and she was going to be sold. She explained how Charlie Lockwood saved her, but when she wanted to leave, he locked her up.

I hated having to ask this question to her, but I had to.

"What did, Charlie do to you when you were locked up?" I asked.

Samantha looked down, she didn't want to talk about it.

"He hurt me Jeff, he punished me for wanting to leave. He told me that everyone he loves leaves him, and how I was not going to leave him."

I can't believe someone had my wife locked up, and how he beat her for wanting to leave. It made me want to march over to Lockwood and put a bullet in Charlie's head, but I knew I couldn't. We had to deal with the bandits, I'm hoping that Lockwood will just forget about us. Charlie might already be dead, Hudson shot him in the back. I just wish I could have been the one to do it.

"I heard you talking in the other room when you got back, talking about these bandits that are threatening us?" she asked.

"Yeah," I started, "I really hate to tell you that you just woke up, but we are in danger of yet another enemy. These people called the bandits. They want this girl in our group named Bay. They said if we don't give her back, they'll kill us all and take her for themselves."

"This Bay girl, is she important enough to risk all of our lives for?" Samantha asked.

"Yes," I said without hesitation, "every single person here is important enough to risk our lives for."

What Ryder told me was true. He barely knew me and he called me out on my biggest flaw. Being responsible for people dying. If I didn't shoot Clark in the head, Margaret would have never died. If I didn't go back to fight Gus after he killed Sabrina, Patrick would have never died. If I was more careful on the roof, Jess would have never died. I am going to change. I am not going to be responsible for losing Bay as well. Ryder may not kill her, but betraying a group member is just as bad as letting one die. Bay is staying with us, and that's final.

"So what are you planning on doing?" Samantha asked me.

"I'm not sure, what do you think?" I asked.

"Well if these bandit people are as strong as you say, then they are just going to kill us and take her anyways."

Samantha was right, if I play my cards wrong, then I will be responsible for everyone here dying and losing Bay all at once.

"I see two options," I said, "we leave, or we fight."

"Do you think we could survive without shelter?"

"It's difficult, but winter is about over, and it would definitely be easier."

"What about fighting them? Do you think we could take them down?" she asked.

"Honestly, I don't think we stand a chance. They have a lot of people Samantha, and Ryder is crazy. He'll probably have no problem killing all of us."

"There must be a way." Samantha sighed.

Later that night, after doing a whole lot of catching up with Samantha, I called a group meeting. We all attended it, except for Mark, who was nowhere to be found. There was no point in looking for him, he's grieving, he needs time alone. We all sat in the living room, we turned off all of the lights and placed some candles around. The lights were a big mistake to turn on at night, since it shone the forest up like a beacon. Daytime was okay, but we tried to keep it to a minimum. Everyone sat in the couches and chairs while I stood in front of everyone.

"Alright people, I know you all must know by now what happened today. Ryder is not going to stop, he's going to attack again in three days. He will stop attacking however, if he gets Bay back."

Everyone in the room looked at Bay, she looked like she wanted to disappear. I know she felt like she was the reason for all of this happening. She's not, I don't want her to feel like that.

"But, we as a group are not going to let Ryder have her. We need to work together. Now I know things have been very rough for us lately, and Ryder is the last thing we need to worry about. But this world will throw its shit at us, we just need to learn to throw it back. We've all made it through some bad times before, what is stopping us from making it through this bad time? Nothing. We are going to survive this, and we are going to keep moving forward. Because that's what we do."

"So what do we do with Bay?" Ned asked, "if we're not giving her up, Ryder will come for her."

"Why don't we just walk over there and blast the camp to smithereens?" Hudson yelled out.

"Why don't we send stranglers after them? Give them a taste of their own medicine!" Cora yelled.

"No that'll never work!" Stan yelled.

"Yes it will! We get them before they get us!" Cora argued.

Everyone started yelling back and forth, and I was starting to lose my patience. Finally, Bay yelled to get everyone to stop.

"I'll turn myself over!" she screamed over the arguing.

Everyone stopped and listened to her.

"Ryder is here for me, and I don't want you guys getting hurt just to protect me. I was a bandit before, I can do it again." she said.

"No," Stan said, "it's not happening. You can't-"

"Stan I need to."

"No damnit!" Stan yelled, "Damnit Bay! You're like a daughter to me! You can't do this! You can't! This is my home, and I think I should have some say! You aren't leaving!"

Bay started crying, I can't imagine what she's feeling. I don't even know what the group is thinking, maybe some people want to fight for her, but I'm sure there are probably a lot of people that just want her gone so we can forget about the bandits.

"He'll just kill all of you and take me anyways," she sobbed, "it's suicide. If I give myself up, nobody has to get hurt."

"If I die protecting you," Stan said, "then so be it. I'd rather go out fighting for something I care about, than just dying later for nothing."

"Me too." said Kayla.

We all turned to her, I was shocked. Kayla, only around the age of seven, willing to risk everything for her friend. Samantha looked at me, she was even more shocked as I was. I don't think she knew how much Kayla has changed.

"I'm not giving up Bay, I'm not scared of these bandits. They don't know what we've been through," Kayla continued on, "we're stronger than they are. If they only knew the enemies we've faced, they'd be the ones that are scared. Not us. We can't be scared. Being scared only kills you. In three days, when Ryder steps on our property, he's gonna wish he never did it. Because we'll show him what we can do."

Kayla has changed so much, it scared me, but it also gave me confidence. Kayla was right, we've faced worse enemies than Ryder. I beat Gus down with my bare hands, we've made it through tons of stranglers, and we made it to this mansion. Our journey is not ending now because of a bunch of junkies. They may have the numbers, but we have the advantage. Because we care about each other, Ryder barely knows his people's names.

"Kayla's right," I said, "If Ryder wants Bay, he's going to have to go though me. Now raise your hand if you're in favour of keeping Bay safe."

I raised my hand, soon after Kayla did. Stan did as well, Hudson and Cora raised their hand with us. Samantha finally gave in and raised her hand as well. I waited, and looked around. Eric raised his hand, and finally Ned did as well. As long as everyone is willing to risk their lives, then we will go through with it. I don't want to be responsible for anyone dying, so I need to make sure that everyone here is willing to fight. We only needed Mark's vote, but I don't think he'll be turning up anytime soon, who knows if he'll even fight when it comes down to it?

"Then it's settled, Ryder is going to regret screwing with us."

After the meeting, I walked outside to get some air. We were really doing this, we were going to fight these bandits. This was a lot to take in at once. I don't know how well we will do against Ryder, but we need to believe that we can beat him, hope is the only thing that will keep us going. I was standing on the porch, leaning against the railing, looking off into the forest. The air was warm, and all of the snow had almost melted. Maybe this was a sign that we could win, the cold is leaving, and the warm air is coming. Or maybe it's just weather. Not everything is a sign I suppose. I heard the door open behind me and turned to see Eric walking out on the porch with me. He leaned up against the railing beside me.

"So we're really doing this aren't we?" he asked.

"Yep." I answered, still staring off into the trees.

"That's a beautiful thing you have going with your daughter, Kayla. She's brave." he said.

"Thank you, she's been through a lot, that's for sure."

"Can I tell you something Jeff?" he asked me.

"Sure? What is it?"

"I just want to get something off of my chest, I've had this weight that has just been sitting there for as long as I can remember."

I looked at him, showing him that I was listening.

"I used to have a daughter, her name was Rachel. Rachel Mary. She was older than your daughter, maybe around the age of Bay. Early twenties. I was such a shitty father, a horrible one. I was always nasty and mean to her, a horrible piece of shit. One day, I went off on her. Just because she had a boyfriend. I don't know why I went off so badly, but I hit her. I hit her Jeff. I kept hitting her, and hitting her. I didn't know what had gotten into me. I beat her to death."

I didn't know how to respond, Eric just admitted to me that he was a murderer. How was I supposed to respond?

"I needed to tell someone, because I've had this growing pain ever since the day it happened. Shortly after, the apocalypse came, the police never found me. I never told anyone. I just needed to tell someone, before my grief destroyed me. I needed to let it out."

"You aren't going to do anything like that again are you?" I asked him.

"No, definitely not. I'm going to change, for the better. I just needed to tell someone about my past, but now I am ready to move on."

"As long as you are ready to move on, I can keep it a secret. But if anything happens to someone in the group, I'm suspecting you." I warned.

He nodded.