Episode 1: Refuel

Zero Blood

Volume 7

Part One

"Memories"

Episode 1

"Refuel"

(Jeff)

When I was a young boy, my father told me something important. I have, and always will remember it.

(34 Years Ago)

In fourth grade, I was having trouble with this one kid from my school. His name was Dominic. He was a bully, and he picked on anyone who he thought was weak. This kid had a large group of followers with him, the cool kids. I was on the monkey bars when the fight happened. I was swinging from them, and minding my own business. While I was swinging, I was shoved onto the ground. The monkey bars were high up, or at least they seemed high up from where I was. I hit the ground hard, knocking the wind out of me. I got up and looked to see Dominic. He was laughing with his group of friends. I clenched my fists and ran at him, I swung at him. I missed. I had never fought in my life then, and I made a fool of myself. Dominic found this a perfect opportunity to take some cheap shots at me. He kicked me in the groin, and I dropped to my knees. He then punched me straight across the jaw. I fell on my back and started crying, all of the kids laughing at me.

Later that day, my dad picked me up from school early and I went home. In the truck, I was telling him my side of the story. I was afraid he was going to think I was pathetic, I made a fool of myself and got beat up. But he didn't, he pat me on the back and told me he was proud of me for standing up for myself. I was surprised, because I didn't feel too proud of myself.

"Let me tell you something important, remember this as you grow up," my father started, "nobody is in power forever. Someday, the big bad bully has to fall. All of his friends he has now, will group up and move on. He will be a nobody soon, and you will grow up to be somebody."

(Present Day)

Three Weeks After War With Bandits

I was standing on the front yard of the mansion as the words of my father circled around my head. It has been quite some time since we attacked Ryder, and won. We took everything from them, I almost felt bad, but then I reminded myself of what the bandits did to us. They brought the fight upon themselves. They got what was coming to them. New gasoline for the generator, a bunch of food to keep us going for at least three months if we ration it well. We were back on our feet, a bunch of people were rebuilding the mansion. It got wrecked pretty badly when the bandits attacked. Bullet holes everywhere, walls collapsed, holes in the roof, shattered windows, it was ridiculous. But during these few weeks, we have accomplished a lot. All of the holes were patched in, and the bullet holes filled in and painted over. You wouldn't believe all the cool supplies Stan had locked away in his basement, paint, plaster, you name it.

I was standing a few yards away from the mansion, looking at it. Mark was on the porch, finishing up some work on the windows. We couldn't replace the glass that was broken, so we boarded the windows up with wooden planks. Ned was playing around with some walkie talkies he found from the raid on the bandits. Bay and Kayla were talking with each other by the side of house, painting over the bullet holes. I know painting over bullet holes wouldn't really be a priority, why would looks matter in the apocalypse? Stan had the paint in his basement, and we thought why not. It gives us a sense of security, almost like if our house is stable, then we are. Doug was recovering from the battle in the infirmary, and Samantha was standing beside me.

"We fixed the mansion, I'm glad. To be honest, a few weeks ago, I thought we were done for. We were so weak, and being picked on by a strong group." Samantha said.

"They weren't strong, they had a lot of people, but they were weak. They finally got a taste of their own medicine."

"Do you think we can finally relax now?" she asked me.

I sighed, I didn't want to be negative all the time. But I knew damn well that getting rid of the bandits was only a small part of our problems. We still have Lockwood to deal with, Samantha knows this too, but she doesn't want to admit it. So I answered with this.

"We can never relax, the stranglers are still roaming the planet. We can never let our guard down."

(Bay)

I was painting the house with Kayla, fixing it up. This was the least we could do, I felt so guilty. Stan welcomed us into his house with open arms, and we brought trouble, I brought trouble. We would have never had problems with them if I didn't come here. Stan was killed because of the actions of others. It was the bandits that let the stranglers in the mansion, it was their fault he died. It was my fault they even showed up in the first place. He was like the father I never had. He saved me from the bandits, and he continued to keep me safe until the day he died. I should have just given myself up, so nobody would have gotten killed. It could have been different, I'm just one girl, why did so many other people have to die for me? It's not fair. I feel so guilty.

"I know what you're thinking," Kayla said, "and you couldn't have saved Stan."

"How'd you know?" I asked, partially freaked out.

"It doesn't take a genius to tell that you're upset. You look super depressed. Stan made sure he would keep you safe. There was nothing you could have done to save him. He wanted to help you. He would have been more upset to see you surrender to the bandits. He wouldn't be able to forgive himself. He wanted to keep you safe, and he went down making sure you would be safe."

I sighed and stopped painting the house, I looked over at Kayla and hugged her. I didn't let go for a long time either. She was so wise, she knew just what to say. And she was just a little girl. This world either breaks you, or revives you. I've done things I never would have done in the past world before. I've seen so many people that have changed. I wonder what Jeff was like before the apocalypse.

(Mark)

I saw Ned sitting on the ground, fiddling with some walkie talkies. I walked over to him, since I finished up with the windows. I knelt down next to him.

"How are you feeling?" I asked him.

"Pretty good, I think." he said, still focused onto his toys.

"So, you found those from the bandit camp huh. You think we can use them?" I asked him, trying to make conversation.

"Yeah, I think we can use these actually. There were a few other, but they got destroyed in the raid. We've only got these two here. We could use these to communicate to home when people go on runs?"

"Yeah, that's exactly what I think we should be using them for," Ned started, "these walkie talkies don't look cheap either. I think they can reach pretty far. I'm thinking whenever someone leaves home they take a walkie talkie with them, and if they are in trouble they call home. We might have less casualties."

"Okay, I'll let Jeff know." I said, getting up.

Just before I started walking away, Ned stopped me.

"Mark."

"Yeah?" I asked, turning back around.

"Do you think we did the wrong thing?"

"What to you mean?"

"We killed all of those bandits," he said, "we slaughtered them. Killed pretty much all of them, took all of their stuff and left. That's worse than what they did to us. The people I killed on that machine gun, I can't get over it."

"Hey listen," I started, feeling frustrated inside, "those people were scum. If we didn't put an end to it, they would still be out there, hurting innocent people, we would definitely be dead by now. If they didn't come back to finish us off, we would have been starved out. Simple as that. We did what we had to do, and we are still alive."

"Okay, thanks." Ned said, still looking unsure.

I walked over to Jeff, who was talking with Samantha, his wife. I stood beside them and looked at the house. It was coming back together, and I was happy about it.

"So," I said, "Ned thinks that whenever we leave to go on runs, we should take a walkie talkie with us, just incase we run into some trouble."

"Oh, that's why he was messing around with them." Jeff said.

"Yeah, what do you think?"

"I think it's a great idea, if someone is in trouble. They can call and people can come to the rescue."

"When do you think we will have to go on our next run?" I asked him.

"Hopefully not for another three months. Maybe we could stretch it to five months if we bring our food intake to twice a day instead of three."

"I could do that, if it means saving food I think everyone else will be okay with it." I said.

(Jeff)

It was nighttime. The sky was full of stars, no clouds, it was a clear night. The warm air blew around me, I heard crickets and owls making noise. I was sitting on a lawn chair on the porch, and I had a lantern on the porch next to me. It was a peaceful night, and I needed to come out here to relieve my stress. I took deep breaths in and out, while listening to the creatures of the night. I was scared, terrified. I didn't want to tell anyone, and I tried hiding it. I tried hiding it because I didn't want other people to worry. But Lockwood is coming, they will come back. They will keep coming back until we are all dead. Charlie is an insane man, he won't stop until he wins. Why can't we just have a break? Why can't we just rest for once? When this apocalypse first started, all I worried about was the stranglers. I was scared of them. Now, I wish that's all I had to worry about. I think everyone knows the threat of Lockwood, but they're trying to deny it. Because we've been through so much, we all know there is no way we can take on Lockwood. The only thing we can do is try to fend off against them. I'm planning on building some traps, after we finish fixing the house. We're almost done, the mansion is almost fixed again. We just need to fix a few more walls, and cover up a bit more bullet holes.

I heard the front door creak, and I saw Mark walk out onto the porch. He looked like he was stressing over something, his hair was messy and he had bags under his eyes. He looked almost as terrible as me. He stood next to me and looked out into the tree line. He sighed and turned to me.

"So I'm guessing you're out here the same reason as I am?" he asked.

"What do you mean? I'm just enjoying this beautiful night."

"Jeff, I know you're scared. Everyone knows you are, you aren't very good at hiding it. I'm scared too, Lockwood is out there. They will be returning, they could wipe us out in one simple attack. They have the manpower, the weaponry, and the upper hand. We're crippled, and they're kicking it back with no problems at all. All we are to them is a scab they need to pick off. Simple as that. What are we going to do?"

I didn't answer, I just sat there, staring into the distance. I turned my head and saw that Mark had a whiskey bottle in his hand.

"Let me have some." I said.

He handed me the bottle, I tipped it over and poured it all out. I then threw the bottle off onto the front lawn. He looked at me with shock.

"What the hell man?"

"That's not going to help you," I said, "our best chance to survive is to stay alert. What happens when Lockwood shows up and you're piss drunk?"

"What's the point?" Mark asked, "they show up and I'm sober, everything still pans out the same. They kill all of us."

I stood up and headed to the front door, I had enough of my mind. I don't need Mark making this harder for me.

"Night Mark." I said, walking inside.

It was really dark in the mansion, we turn off all of the lights before sundown, so we aren't lit up like a beacon in the middle of the forest. I started walking upstairs, feeling my way around so I didn't crash into anything. Once I got to my room, I opened the door slowly and shut it as quietly as I could. I saw Samantha moving around on the bed, she was awake. I took my shoes off and dove into bed, I was exhausted. Samantha put her arm around me. I held her hand tight and closed my eyes, I passed out.

(Mark)

I walked over onto the front lawn and picked up the bottle. It was empty. I gripped it in anger, Jeff thinks he knows what's best. What an asshole. I threw the bottle off as far as I could, almost hitting the tree line. I dropped to the ground and started punching the ground a bunch of times, grunting in anger. I finally got tired and laid on the ground in exhaustion.

"What are you waiting for Lockwood?" I asked quietly, "just come and get us, we're broken."

I heard the sound of footsteps next to me, I groaned and got up.

"Jeff, if you're here to lecture me-"

I stopped dead in my tracks, in front of me, was a strangler. It looked angry. It was just standing in front of me, growling. It's red glowing veins illuminating it's body in the night. It gritted it's teeth and it started walking towards me slowly. I've always wondered why stranglers did that, they would catch up to you, then just stop. Then they would slow down, like they were savouring for the moment. Like they were planning in their heads exactly how they would tear you to shreds. If you ran from them, then they would rip you apart in no time. They were like animals, any sudden movements set them off. I slowly stood up and faced the monster. It made a deep, growling sound in it's throat. It clenched it's fists and walked slowly towards me, almost with a sadistic grin on it's face. I had no weapon on me, I must have left it in the house. It would be stupid to try and fist fight a strangler. As it got closer, I noticed that it had something sticking out of it's neck. A needle. What the hell?

I was almost frozen, I didn't move. Because I knew if I tried anything it would set the strangler off and it would kill me in no time. And for some reason, I didn't do anything because I didn't want to. I feel like it didn't matter if I died at this point, I was going to die soon anyways. Lockwood is coming, maybe I could just die here. Maybe this strangler was here for a purpose, it was here to take me out of this world before I experienced the horrors of what Lockwood will do to this place. I slowly reached my arm out to the strangler, welcoming it. Just before it was close enough to touch, something smacked it in the back of the head. It dropped to the ground, dead. Now standing in front of me was Ned. He looked angry at me.

"What the hell is your problem Mark? I came outside because I couldn't sleep. Then I see this? You were going to let it kill you?"

"What does it matter?" I asked, walking away from him, back to the mansion.