Description
Everyone stood in silence, David trembled where he stood, shotgun shaking in his grasp. Ann’s eyes were hung on the front door, locked in a stare. Kevin felt his heart beating mercilessly against his chest, his rifle was emptied, and he ejected the clip and shakily reloaded a fresh one. Joel and Sally, both, by far the most brutal and dangerous of their respective groups, could only stare at the front of the battered cabin, fear in their eyes. And Jason felt fear well up in his gut, beads of sweat running down his brow.
Seeing everybody in such a fright, she knew that something really bad is coming. She then saw Joel and Sally, and Marigold had no idea the calamity of this situation, “C-come on guys! S-stop it!” she tried to get someone, anyone to talk.
*Grooooooooooooaaaaaaaaaaaaan*
After the howl, there was a large bang against the wall Marigold was closest too, but it didn’t break through the wall, yet. The blonde instantly jumped away from the wall, and slipped on the blood again, falling down face first this time in the gore, getting covered in more blood.
Joel cursed. “Alright, playtime’s over!” He yelled, getting everyone’s attention.
David ran over to Mari, helping her up as he said, “Things are about to get really serious right now.” He whispered, shaking where he was standing.
She gave a small understanding nod, her breaths quick, as she looked at the wall that, just then, another bang happened, the wood nearly giving out. One more hit, and the thing would be in. “W-we should get out in the open…” Marigold muttered.
Kevin felt beads of sweat ran down his brow as he looked at the walls of the cabin, “Staying inside, going outside, it doesn’t matter...”
To most of the group’s shock, it was Sally who said, “we’re fucked.”
Marigold stepped further from the wall, as an explosion happened in front of her, splinters of wood flying as the Goliath showed itself, obviously the same from the hospital. “That’s a thing?!” a squeak of surprise came from Mari.
David grabbed Mari’s arm, pulling her back as everyone stood in shock at the sight of the Goliath. It was indeed the same one from the Hospital, the tattered apron hung loosely from its body, its armored plates cracked and missing chunks from the last time they saw it. Blood covered the blade arm, dripping onto the floor as its growl filled the cabin.
Joel eyed the front door, wide open, and the area was open and devoid of infected. He growled to himself, raising his flail. “Get outside now!” He yelled to the others, rushing the Goliath.
“Joel!” Marigold cried, as she was going to charge the Goliath with him, but was intently dragged out by the crippled David.
As everyone rushed outside, Joel had jumped at the Goliath, a warcry escaping him as he smashed the flail against the monster…
George chose that exact moment to break into several pieces upon impact.
“Well shit.” Joel muttered as he fell to the floor. He raised his crowbar instead, and was about to smash it against the creature, if it hadn’t hit him with its fist, sending him flying backwards and through a wall, crashing into the bedroom.
Hearing the crash in the cabin, Marigold shouted, “We gotta help him!”
Kevin was about to agree, if several runners hadn’t made themselves known from the surrounding woods. “Shit!” He raised his rifle and fired at them, the bullets did little damage and he knew why.
They were wearing body army, military grade.
“Just fantastic.” Kevin grumbled, firing anyway.
David held Mari back as he fired at an infected, killing it instantly. “We need to get out of here!” He told her. “That Goliath is one of the toughest infected in this place!”
“He ain’t lying kid!” Sally yelled, smashing her now empty shotgun against a teenage undead. “That thing took hundreds of rounds and got plowed by a fucking bus, and it’s still alive! We ain’t got a chance!”
“But what about Joel!” she looked over to the cabin, as more fighting noises came from inside, “We can’t leave him! I can’t leave him!”
Meanwhile, inside the cabin Joel was pushing some of the wood off of him. “This ain’t good.” He grumbled as the Goliath charged, Joel barely managed to duck out of the way as the beast crashed through the remaining wall, and another wall sending wood and splinters everywhere. A distant creaking could be heard from the support beams of the cabin, Joel however, did not hear them.
The construction worker ran back out into the main room as the Goliath turned around and ran back inside, intent on killing the man and devouring what it could. Joel ran into the kitchen, quickly rooting around for something, anything he could use against the thing. Guns just wouldn’t cut it, nor would his pathetic crowbar.
“Who the fuck lives here in a cabin and doesn’t stash some damn booze somewhere?!” He wondered with an angry frown. This was ridiculous!
“Is there anything you guys can think of that might be able to hurt the Goliath!?” Marigold asked, becoming very anxious as she saw the Goliath outside for a second, only to run back in.
Ann and Jason both killed an infected together, Jason blasting its legs off and Ann stomping on its head. “It’s fucking huge!” Jason cried. “It’s practically a walking tank at this rate!”
Ann looked at the cabin, her mind quickly working on a solution. “Marigold, is there a still in the basement?”
“Still? That’s a thing?” Marigold asked in return, “I thought that was a verb?”
Ann shook her head. “A big metal tub in the basement, is there anything like that down there?”
“Yeah, but I don’t know what it’s for,” the blonde scratched the back of her head.
“I’ll tell you later!” Jason told her, running to the cabin as Kevin and Sally beat up several infected army personnel.
“Damn things are tough!” Kevin yelled, pushing the undead private back. The soldier had died in his armor and was infected, and it seemed the fungi grew over it, making it more tough.
In the cabin, Joel was not having a fun time. For one thing, he was out of blunts, which made him sad, he was being chased, which made him angry, and he was out of ammo and in a confined space, which made the worker wish he was back home, sitting in his easy chair.
Thankfully help came in the form of Jason, who ran inside and was almost decked by the Goliath’s blind haymaker. “Dang it! Joel!”
Joel backstepped a swing of the shovel blade, asking, “What?!”
“Basement!” Jason told him, running for the door and yanking it open, going downstairs.
Joel growled under his breath and followed. “Basements, deathtraps in this type of situation.” He murmured mostly to himself.
Marigold watched as Jason disappeared into the house, then turned back to the runners in front of the outer group. One made a dart for her, she had her knife held up in a defensive position, but wasn’t ready in time before it reached her.
Help came in the form of David, he pulled her aside and kicked the infected back, only making it stumble. “Stay behind me!” He ordered, holding up his shotgun and pulling the trigger.
*Click*
“Shit.”
Marigold’s eyes went wide with fear, but now her knife was ready. She shoved David aside just as the infected charged at him, and she stabbed it right in between the eyes.
David reached into his pocket, fishing for more shells only to find there were none. “I’m out!”
“Same here” Kevin called out, shouldering his rifle as Sally and Ann stood back to back, both holding their knives in a defensive posture.
“We’re all out of ammo!”
Words… no one wants to here ever.
Marigold, the only one not knowing the feeling of being completely out of ammo, remembered that Mink had actually given her some, if she had ever gotten a gun. “I’ve got some in my bag!” she shouted, pulling the knife out of the infected’s head first, then yanking off her backpack and fishing inside for the ammo.
David eyed the girl, “what kind of ammo?”
“There’s different kinds?” Marigold asked, looking up from her bag for a bit.
A smack could be heard from Sally as her hand had a lovely date with her face. “You gotta be kidding me.”
“N-no… I don’t know anything about guns, except you pull the trigger to make it bang” Marigold said quietly, then shuffled through her bag some more, “here they are!” She handed the 9 mil bullets over to David, a pack of at least 40 bullets.
David took the box, nodding to the girl and darting over to the Cabin, only to be stopped by Sally. “Gimme those you limpy gimp,” She told him, taking the box from him and saying, “Keep the kid safe.” She said, her tone unusually soft before she ran to the cabin.
Joel and Jason meanwhile were in the basement, Jason smiling at the Still and what could be done with it, and Joel, with his angry grumbling frown. “What a waste of booze.” Joel muttered sadly as he and Jason quickly poured out moonshine on the basement floor, the Goliath upstairs ripping the place apart looking for them.
Some stomping sounded behind them and Jason turned, spotting Sally running down the stairs. “Come on hurry up! that thing is getting angrier!” She said, shoving the box to Joel who took it, and deftly reloaded his pistol like a pro.
Just as Joel reloaded his clip, the Goliath had stopped moving above them. Making all three stop what they were doing, the sounds of creaking above them could be heard. Then more creaking, then a snap.
“Uh oh.” Jason squeaked as the floor suddenly caved in, an angry Goliath falling down towards them with a roar of challenge.
Joel and Sally backed away from the crash, Jason darting out of the way as the beast fell on top of the still, snapping a few lines and causing more of the hootch to spill out onto the floor and flood the floor. Jason jumped over the beast as more support beams in the basement cracked.
“The Cabin is going to collapse!” Joel yelled, firing his handgun at the Goliath.
Hearing all the crashes, Marigold turned to Ann, “What’s a still for? And why was it asked, because the cabin sounds like it’s gonna collapse!”
“A still it’s used to make illegal substances like Moonshine and other alcohol.”
“Are they gonna blow the cabin up?!” The last word came as a squeak as David knocked back an infected.
Ann only nodded, kicking at an infected toddler and knocking it back.
Joel, Jason and Sally managed to get to the stairs of the cabin, more beams snapping and the cabin beginning it’s collapse. Sally reached into her pocket, pulling out a zippo lighter and flicking it open. “Let’s send this bitch sky high!” She said, flicking the lighter on and tossing it as they ran upstairs.
The lighter bounced off of the Goliath’s head and hit the floor, setting fire to both its body, and the cabin floor which quickly began to spread. The basement proving to rather flammable. Joel led the group up the stairs, Sally taking the rear as they ran outside.
Just as Sally made it out, the still caught flames, the moonshine caught flames, the cans of gasoline behind the tarp in the corner caught flames, and the Goliath was set ablaze with a roar. It screamed in defiance, smashing its way out of the basement and trying to go up the stairs, only for them to give away and send it falling face first into a puddle of flames.
It gave one last roar before the still exploded in a massive explosion, everything quickly catching flames and sending Sally stumbling forward slightly. The cabin fell apart, the wood and beams and other heavy objects falling into the basement and burying the Goliath with the flames, adding more fuel to the raging fire.
Sally strutted forward, hands held behind her head as she muttered. “Burn baby burn.”
The explosion could be heard for easily a couple miles around, causing more infected to run up to the group of seven. David pushed Marigold farther behind him as well, trying to keep her safe from about twenty more infected appearing.
Joel and Jason, along with Sally and the rest stood in front of the now burning cabin, covered in sweat, grime, soot and blood. They held their hand weapons high, faces set in grim determination as they welcomed the challenge. Sally stood in front of them all, bloody knife in hand as she said.
“Bring it.”
The blond’s eyes scanned the surrounding trees more closely, seeing if any more would pop out, but was frozen to the spot as she saw an unwelcome visitor that only she knew. That visitor was deep in the shadows, waiting for his chance.
Everyone didn’t notice Marigold’s plight, instead focusing on the twenty infected. They stood as the runners charged them, Sally being the first one to spill their blood. With howls and hoots of laughter she jumped into the fold, slashing like a maniac. Jason and Ann, along with Joel and Kevin joined in, beating down on the infected, slashing their faces, stabbing through armor, breaking legs and arms and curb stomping them with no mercy in their hearts.
It was glorious bloodshed.
David stood back with Mari, machete raised as his shotgun dangled from his back. He wasn’t going to let a single one get to Mari, not while he still drew breath.
The unwanted visitor disappeared from the blonde’s eyes, causing her heart to race. She looked at the group in front of her, knowing this was an incredibly idiotic move, but she had to apologize to him.
Sally and Joel worked together once again, slashing and hacking away like pros that had been killing their whole lives. Joel grabbed the neck of an undead, snapping it violently with a loud snap and kicking it forward into a fat infected, making it topple forward with a groan. Sally did something David didn’t know she could do, she had ran towards an infected, and did a spin kick, slamming her steel toed boot into the head and smashed it in, snappings its head to the left rather violently.
Without any of the other teams noticing her, not even David, the 13 year old had managed to slip away, and disappeared into the forest.
Kevin stabbed at an undead in the face, taking out its eye and causing it to scream. Only a few more infected remained, and Kevin was glad of it. Cause he made it his mission to end this crap once and for all, and retreat into the biggest bottle of whiskey he could find.
Smashing in another head, Jason cracked the skull of a second infected, this one resembling a construction worker. He wasted no time in killing the infected, sending brain bits and gore flying. Ann worked with him, watching his back and stabbing at any infected who got too close. I need to upgrade my weapons. She noted.
As the group fought on, only four infected remained in the area. Sally and Joel, along with Kevin and Jason quickly went to work dealing with them. Ann and David stayed behind, both breathing heavily.
Ann turned to look at David and Marigold, only to spot one of them. “David, where’s Mari?” She asked as Sally decked the last infected, throwing a wild haymaker into its face and knocking lose several teeth.
“Mari?” David asked, looking to his side, he didn’t see her anywhere. Panic. “Mari!?” He called out, looking all around the battlefield. Everyone else looked to the man, also noticing she was gone.
“Marigold!” Kevin yelled, he didn’t see her, nor did anyone else.
“Where did she go?!” David cried, his head whipping to and fro, looking for his young friend. Did she get taken?!
Jason looked at the woods, then the cabin. “Did anyone see where she went?”
“No!”
“Damn it,” Joel cursed. “I am too sober for this shit.”
After a couple seconds of silence, a deep voiced man, somewhere in the forest, shouted, “You fucking cunt! You’ve killed my family!”
There was Marigold’s voice afterwards pleading, “I’m sorry I di-” but was cut off by a loud smacking noise.
David whipped his head around to the forest, as did everyone else. “Marigold!” David yelled, running towards the woods, followed by Joel, Kevin, Sally, Ann and Jason. The group abandoned the field and ran into the woods, pushing past the brush and heading inside. As they ran, the group could hear a kind of thumping sound, like kicking. As they got even closer, the sound of slight cracks be heard as well.
“Mari!” Joel called out, checking his handgun and cursing once he saw the slide locked back. No ammo.
The group eventually came to a small clearing, in which they saw Marigold lying on the ground.
Hearing the group approach, the man standing over her suddenly yanked the girl up, putting his own gun against her head. “Don’t move, or I kill her!” the man shouted.
In that instant, everyone froze. Hands clutching bloodied hand weapons and empty guns. You could smell the tension in the air around them, the heat combined with recent events making the group tired and angry. This was just pushing their collective temper.
“Drop, the weapons” the man growled, pushing the gun further into the blonde’s hair.
“I’m sorry…” Marigold whispered, tears streaming down her face, a large red mark on her face.
“Shut up!” The man shouted.
Reluctantly, everyone put their weapons down onto the ground, all except Ann who had hidden her pocket knife in her hoodie sleeve the second they came into the forest. She could feel the cold steel and blood against her arm, but paid it no mind.
Joel stepped forward slightly, “just let her go.” He told the man, his eyes holding no mirth in them whatsoever.
“Fuck you! Get back or I shoot!”
Sally appeared from behind Joel. “Listen buddy.” She growled, teeth bared and her eyes wide. She was covered in blood, guts, and her own clothing was tattered. Her temper was slowly rising, and she was in no mood. “You either let her go, cause if you do anything to her...” She cracked her knuckles. “I will personally fuck you up.”
“What are you going to do, I’m the one with the fully loaded gun here” the man suddenly aimed at Marigold’s right leg and shot it, the bone protruding as the bullet went right through the leg.
“AHHHHH!” the girl cried out in pain. The man’s hand gripped Mari’s shoulder tightly, keeping her up right.
Everyone glared at the man, crows overhead cawing loudly as they directed every ounce of their hate onto him.
He laughed in enjoyment, “You’re probably all wondering why I would do this to such a sweet girl” he said in a sarcastically sweet tone. After a couple seconds of no response, he grinned, “Alright alright, I’ll tell you. She managed to get all of my food taken away from me and my family. She also got me kicked out of the survivors faction.”
“What do you think your family would think of this?!” David yelled at him, pointing a finger at the former survivor. “You think they would appreciate you attacking an innocent girl because of some petty grudge?!”
He started laughing, “She’s far from innocent! And who needs to tell them? They think I’m looking for food, which I’ve noticed she has plenty of in her little bag.” he smirked evilly.
Ann frowned. “Nobody’s innocent out here,” she told the man. “we’ve all done things we regret, that’s why we learn from our mistakes and try to do better.”
Sally only growled, looking more like an infected then a survivor. She twitched slightly, blood matting down her hair and her eyes bloodshot. Her hands were clenched into tight fists, teeth bared in a crazy smile. Come on, do something stupid so I can rip you apart!
“D-David! I’m sor-” Marigold tried to say, but was stopped by the gun getting smacked into her head.
“Little cunts don’t deserve to speak!” he shouted at her.
David - of the Remnants - eyeballed the other man, His name is David? The man didn’t think he could be more disgusted by the fact he shares his name with such an asshole.
“What do you want asshole?” Kevin asked, his normally happy attitude gone and replaced with that of an angry soldier wanting to rip someone’s balls off.
Specifically the man holding Mari hostage.
“What I want is for you guys to leave, so she gets the end she deserves” he growled.
A walker then appeared from the forest, one limping slowly towards the duo, it smelling the fresh blood from Marigold’s leg. “Ooooh, looky here! We have a friend! Maybe I should just have him devour this little girl here!” he smirked. He then yanked the girl to face the infected, as she started to try and squirm away, but the blood loss was obviously getting to her, as her struggling was weak and ineffective.
Ann saw her chance, every part of her telling her she might regret this. Mari, if I fail, I am sorry. She thought as her knife slid out of her sleeve and into her hand. Time slowed to a crawl as she held it by the blade, holding it up and aiming, she threw it.
The knife rotated through the air several times, everyone watching as the knife flew through the air, making a swooshing sound.
Marigold’s captor turned his head just in time for the knife to go in between his eyes, he crumpled, along with the blonde, her legs unable to hold her up anymore. Marigold seemed to go unconscious as she hit the ground, looking very pale.
Everyone wasted no time in running over to the girl, Joel being the first one to fall to her side and checking her. Sally and Jason took care of the walker, bashing its head in and rushing to Mari’s side.
“Fuck!” Sally cursed, seeing the blood pooling beneath her leg.
“She’s losing blood fast!” David cried, looking around the forest for anymore threats.
“We need to get her help, now!” Jason yelled as Joel picked up Mari, holding her close. Joel turned towards where he knew the survivors faction was, not bothering to tell everyone to run there. His heart raced as he ran through the woods, the girl’s limp form held close against him.
Just hang on kid, hang on. I ain’t losing you too. He prayed, he couldn’t lose another… not again.
---
After a couple of days, the emerald eyes of Marigold opened, her leg wrapped in a tourniquet. Her gaze was fuzzy, but she could see some shapes around her.
“You’re awake, finally.” Ann’s voice sounded from somewhere. “Bout time.”
The blonde’s eyes blinked slowly, as she tried to get her vision to focus, seeing everybody there in blurred outlines. They all looked to be cleaned up now, “W-where am I?” her voice was hoarse from non-use.
Joel’s voice was next, closer to her on her right. “You’re back in the survivors faction.” He told her, his voice gritty sounding.
“It’s been a few days kid.” Sally said, her voice softer than it usually is.
Her eyes moved slowly to the person who was talking, “Oh man… Did you guys really wait for me to wake up?” she asked, in a surprised hoarse voice.
“Of course,” Jason nodded his head. “You might be part of a different faction, but you’re one of us, Mari.”
A small weak smile crept onto her face, as her vision was continuing to clear.
“We look after our own,” Joel added, leaning back in his chair. “That’s how we do things.”
Kevin found himself nodding his head along with Joel. “Yeah, we may be part of different factions… but we’ve gone through some crap that a lot of people wouldn’t have survived.” He smiled brightly. “I’d say that’s a bond worthy moment.”
Her weak smile became a little stronger, “Kind of like… a family…?” she asked quietly.
Kevin chuckled. “Yeah, like a family.” He said, still smiling. Everyone else slowly smiled as well.
Everyone’s eyes flicked to the door of the room as the leader of the Survivors Faction walked inside. She smiled lightly at the scene, saying, “I know you guys want to stay, but Mari needs to get some rest if she’s going to recover.” She told them, jerking a finger to the hall behind her.
Joel nodded to her, looking back at Mari. “You get well kid,” He told her, patting her on the shoulder with a smile before getting up and walking towards the door. Jason and Ann flashed her smiles and wishes to get better.
“Looking forward to another battle with ya kid.” Sally winked, bounding out of the room like a child would, leaving only David and Kevin.
Kevin walked up to her bed, flicking his wrist up and making something appear in his hand David didn’t expect to see. A small lollipop.
Marigold smiled, then tried to lift her arm, only to fail, she frowned slightly at her own weakness.
Kevin chuckled, taking her hand and placing the piece of candy in her hand. “You keep that for when you get better. Candy’s always better when you’re recovering.” He told her, giving her a thumbs up as he turned around, walking out of the room leaving only David in the room.
“Well...” David said, rubbing the back of his head. “This is goodbye, for now that is.” He said, smiling sadly.
She returned his sad smile, her eyes starting to droop and look exhausted, “I’m glad to have met you…” she murmured, before allowing sleep to overcome her.
David brushed aside some of her hair as she fell asleep, leaning down and placing a small kiss on her forehead. “Same here… Marigold.” He whispered, standing back up and slowly walking out of the room.
The young man had walked through the building, meeting back up with his own teammates. The two had bid farewell to one another, Kevin and Joel sharing a drink of moonshine the older man had somehow snuck into his backpack from the cabin. His own words being. “Too good to blow up.”
Both groups left the area, heading back to their respective homes. After everything they’ve gone through, the battle at the cabin, the Goliath and the man that had Taken Mari hostage. The two teams had felt they have grown together as a single group instead of separate factions, along with the younger Survivor, Marigold.
In a way… they had become a family.
Something seldom seen in the world of today, with bonds stronger than most have.
What happens to these three teams now? Who knows…
That’s for another day.
~Fin~