The Walking Dead Revelation

Season 4 Episode 1: Remember the Dead

            The Church stood firm. It survived the beginnings of the outbreak when the dead stopped dying, and the living fought to stay living. It survived under seemingly endless destruction, infiltration of the walking dead known as “rovers”. It survived until it lived with the manifestation of human lives embracing survival and calling the place home. It was under these circumstances that the Church was prepared for when man was desperate enough to kill each other for a chance. A chance to live. A chance to eat the next meal.

            A man named Anders waged war against the Church. They waged war against the people of the Church long before the church was reclaimed by the living. Anders had developed a community of survivors at a nearby Costco, only to find that the Church had supplies that were well needed. The people of the Church refused to give up what they had fought for, and Anders killed their friends.

            War was waged between Anders and the Church.

            Now as the sun rises three years since the waging of this war, the lights of the sun beat against the concrete walls surrounding the community of the Church. These walls were once sound barriers that lined highways, and now they serve a greater purpose. A giant crane was carefully positioned in the center of the Church’s territories and was turned into a make-shift watch tower.

            Fields were turned into crops.

            Parking lots turned into grounds for mobile homes.

            A community was built. Sustained. Maintained.

            None of this would be acquired if it had not been fought for. There is no fight without tragedy. The back corner of the community’s borders was the burial grounds. It was where the bodies of those that sacrificed lay six feet under. After the war against Anders and Coscto, the Church lost many. But Anders lost more. That is why the Church is still here, and Anders is not.

            Yes. Anders is dead.

            After the war, there were many that lived within the grounds of Ander’s reign that took no part in the war, there were people who simply wanted to live. The Church accepted these people; took them in. The populous of the Church grew immensely under the span of a month. Now to the present, three years later, lives have been born and survivors found. Now standing with 136 survivors, the Church has come out stronger than before. A strength unachieved without sacrifice.

           

            It was the third-year anniversary of the Church’s victory. Survivors called it “V-Day”. Today was going to be a busy day. Filled with candy, board games, sports, and fun, enjoyable things like that. At least…the ones who weren’t truly affected by the war were the ones who participated. Every now and then a veteran would smile and have fun and play games, but for the most part the people that fought, and survived, the ones that lived while their loved ones died…today was a solemn time. A day to remember. A day to remember that they didn’t want to remember. Yet there Zach Golden stood facing the burial grounds of his friends. His face scarred, his blond hair hanging humbly before his raw eyes, his callous knuckles gripping the leather-wrapped Dao sword with its blade dipped into the grass before the dead…he remembered.

            He whispered the names of the people who died. All of them.

            “Tray, Joan, Todd, Hannah, Parker…” flashes of their faces blinked across his memory. His grandfather bitten in the sanctuary, his father, brother, and sister’s walking corpse amongst a horde of rovers shifting towards him, the image of his grandmother falling to the ground, her hand gripping her heart,

            “Zack Castanon, Josh Merelet, Alyssa Merlet, Glenn Balusek, Robyn Balusek…” he remembered the Property, seeing so many families swallowed by the dead.

            “Hunter Reed, Hunter’s own mother…Lauren’s little brother, Hunter Rayphand…” he fought the memory flashes as best he could. He didn’t want to see their deaths in his mind,

            “Lashaun Johnson, Vergilio Cortez, Rich McDowell, Jenna Kirk…”

            A droplet of tear rolled from Zach’s eyes. He fought the memories as best he could, but he lost this fight. The memories tormenting him as he remembered,

            “Kelley…and Timothy Roland.”

            The tears were quickly wiped away. Zach forced a smile, “I wish you guys could be here and see what we’ve built. You made this happen; all of you. You deserve to see it.”

            Not daring to stay a minute longer, Zach turned and walked back towards the old student center now deemed the “town hall”.

            Walking up the balcony stairs was something that would never get old. It would remind Zach of the old days before the world fell apart; the old days of pulling up on Wednesday nights and seeing old friends chatting it up. Ian and Jenna amongst others were always up there talking it seemed. If Jenna were still here, she’d most likely be up there still. But she isn’t up there today-she hasn’t been for a long time. But that didn’t mean an old friend wasn’t up there resting against the balcony railing watching over the Church.

            Zach reached the top of the stairs and leaned up against the railing next Brittany.

            “Why do we do this to ourselves?” Brittany asked, her eyes staying fixed on the boundaries of the Church watching the citizens play games and express their joy. Zach glanced at the entertained people before looking back at Brittany,

            “I feel like it’s more for them than it is for us. Bad things happened, but this date marks a good day; a day that should be remembered.”

            “Some of us don’t want to remember.”

            “I don’t either,” Zach carefully responded. He looked down from the balcony at the concrete below. He could still see the bodies that had once laid there, “but the people have to remember who fought for them. People have to remember who built this place. But I get it: this day hurts. It hurt for me just like it does for all of you.”

            “Some of us were hurt more than others.” Brittany responded, her voice barely a whisper. Zach nodded, “She’s strong. I’m just glad this was three years ago. Two years ago, was a completely different story.”

            “Where is she, do you know?”

            “Last time I saw her she was in her room.”

            Brittany glanced at Zach and grinned from the corner of her mouth. That was her goodbye as she stepped into the town hall. Zach remained on the balcony watching over the community.

            Retrieving a remote from his belt, Zach spoke closely into it,

            “Lee, how’s it looking?”

            Sitting up at the top of the crane’s bird nest, Lee scanned the perimeter of the Church the same way he had been for the last three hours,

            “Clean as my left cheek, jelly bean, over.”

            “You ready to come down?”

            “Nah, this is nice. I could stay up here for another hour or so.”

            “Alright, sounds good. Just don’t fall asleep.”

            “That’s a fat bet.”

            “Yeah, okay.”

           

            Brittany quietly stepped into her quarters that she shared with Lauren. Lauren was sitting at her bed. She wiped her tears as Brittany came in.

            “Hey.” Brittany spoke. Lauren looked up and then looked back down. In her hands was a polaroid of her and her brother, Hunter.

            “You’d think after three years I’d be over it.”

            “I don’t think that,” Brittany quickly responded, “my dad died when I was barely a teenager and I still struggle with it sometimes. I miss him. This pain you feel won’t ever leave, but over time it will get easier to hide.”

            “I was supposed to protect him,” Lauren gasped as she fought the welling tears in her eyes, “I promised my parents and I failed them. What does that make me? My one purpose here on earth and I failed it. What am I supposed to do?”

            Brittany sat beside her and put her arms around her friend,

            “You keep going. Just like all of us have had to; like we’ve been doing. And you do have a purpose here, Lauren.”

            “So, I talk to newcomers to make sure they aren’t dangerous. Big whoop.”

            “Without your help we could have killers within these walls. Because of you we stay safe. I can’t imagine how many lives you’ve saved because of this.”

            Lauren wiped her tears a second time, and pulled her dark hair behind her head,

            “Maybe. But it doesn’t make up for the one life I wasn’t supposed to lose.”

            Sherman combed his lengthy, red beard gently as he paced the walkway of the walls. Every ten seconds he’d scan the area around the main entrance gate, perspiring with anxiety. Audrey had fought for a solid two minutes as she watched Sherman, but inevitably let out a snorting chuckle.

            “What are you laughing at, girl?”

            “Why are you such a nervous little beard otter? They’ve done these supply runs a dozen times. They’re gonna be fine.”

            “Anything can happen, and on a day like this, the last thing we want is for anything to happen.” Sherman retrieved a pair of binoculars and scanned the area for the hundredth time, “I see them. They’re headed our way. Tell Dylan to open the gate.”

            Speaking into her remote, Audrey gave the order all while pulling her rifle out in front of her and securing the area as Christian and Maddy pulled up to the gate in a silver truck-the tailgate pull of supplies.

            Dylan slung his crossbow behind his back and pulled the steal-barred gate open allowing Christian to pull into the community. Christian gave a subtle nod to Dylan, who subtly nodded back.

            “You think we could get someone else to unload the truck for us?” Maddy wondered looking over at Christian. He ran his hand through his long, black hair and tied a bun around it, Christian shrugged,

            “Worth a shot.”

            “We’ll say we have to help decorate or something.”

            Christian smiled, “Okay.”

            Leaning forward in the back seat, Ian cleared his throat, “You guys do realize, I’m still here listening to ya’ll planning to ditch your own job, right?”

            “What do you mean,” Christian chuckled, “Brittany said she wanted us to decorate when we got back. Right, Maddy?”

            “Right.”

            “You guys are a couple of stupid idiots.”

            As the truck pulled up to the front of the Town Hall, Zach stepped back down from the balcony stares to help load the supplies. Exiting the building and meeting Zach below was Bailey, her face fixated on a clip board as she checked off some of the Church’s inventory.

            “I heard 23 canned goods over the radio was that accurate?” she asked. Stepping out of the vehicle Christian looked as a small slip of paper he had retrieved from his pocket, “Actually, its 28.”

            “Okay. Let’s get this loaded up already,” Bailey groaned as she carried a load of supplies from the tailgate and towards the Town Hall, “I’ve had a long day, and I don’t want to deal with people right now.”

            “The days just started,” Zach smiled as he followed her with two arm loads of food, “Today will be a fun day. At least it should be. Come to think of it, Bailey might ruin the day with her buoyant personality so maybe you should stay in your room the rest of the day.”

            “Sounds good.” Bailey grumbled back.

            “Also, Brittany asked us to help decorate,” Maddy called across to Zach before he disappeared by the entrance doors, “So we’re not gonna be able to help unload.”

            “That’s funny,” Zach looked back grinning sarcastically, “cause, I remember so vividly helping Brittany decorate this morning with the help of the several other community members…”

            “Plus, I’ve been keeping tabs on radio frequencies,” Bailey added, “she never said anything like that. Ya’ll have fun unloading the truck.”

            Christian chuckled, “Well we tried, I guess.”

            The original eleven members of the community dreaded sleep tonight. Throughout the rest of the day, there was tons of games and fun that took place within the walls of The Church. It was a time of joy and celebration, while also it was a time for mourning and remembrance. For most of the original members of The Church, they tried the best they could to keep themselves busy; to keep their minds off of the memories and the flashbacks. They knew that the moment they had the time to think about it, that was when the emotions and the crippling mournful waves would crash about them. This was why they dreaded sleeping tonight.

            The sun was beginning to set behind the Texan pines, the sky painted orange and blue, the trees blanketed under a black shadow, the air cooling a few degrees and the winds picking up ever so slightly. By this time, the rovers were known for growing much rowdier when night fell, so the Church’s leadership drew the civilians inside the commons building within the Town Hall.

            It had become the traditional act of giving a memorial speech every year. As the leader of The Church, the community naturally asked Brittany to give a speech every year. She had never been one for speeches, and frankly she had never enjoyed the spotlight, but once a year for the past three years she managed to get up in front of the entire community to remind them of how The Church got to where they came.

            “So, this is the third V-Day that the Church is celebrating,” Brittany began looking down to all the members of the community, “We’ve come a long way. In three years, we built walls, we grew crops and water purifying systems, we’ve created a safe environment for survivors whenever they came…but most importantly we’ve all grown in strength. At one point or another we have all fought for something here. Our friends, our family, our future. All of us have fought, but we’re not here because we fought. We’re here to remember those who died fighting.

            “Since the outbreak, we’ve lost someone. Our friends, our family, our future. But since then we found something new that we now have today: Our friends, our family, our future. Since we’ve formed these bonds, we have lost some of these friends, some of these family members. But their deaths weren’t for nothing. For every death we obtained everything. Everything we have here is because of your friends, your family, your future. The sacrifices they paid, the sacrifices we paid has earned us everything.

            “Because of our friends we have everything. Because of our families we have everything. Because of the future our loved ones gave to us, we now have everything. Because of this, their deaths will not be forgotten. They will be remembered. Without them, The Church would not be here. We would not be here doing what the church has always done: helping others and reaching out. It will be the church that brings back our world. It will be the church that destroys the dead, and paves the way to civilization. It has become this way because of our friend’s sacrifices. So, before I end this speech all I ask of you is this: please remember them. Remember the dead.”

            Those who had glasses raised them, and those who didn’t remained silent. As Brittany left the stand many of them wandered away while others slowly returned to socializing with fellow members of the community.

            Lee and Zach stood in the far back corner of the commons area watching everyone walking around and going about their business.

            “Dang, man,” Lee commented as he stared off, “it’s crazy looking at how far we’ve come.”

            “I was thinking the same thing.” Zach replied. Lee carefully glanced over at Zach before looking once again off into the distance,

            “I don’t know why I thought of this, but it kinda just hit me randomly…you still think of our mom and sister?”

            “Everyday, actually,” he replied calmly, “I’ve accepted the fact that they’re most likely dead. I mean they were in the heart of Florida when everything fell apart. I don’t think they made it. If they did, I think we would have known by now.”

            “Yeah.”

            After a few moments of silence between the two, Dylan had found them within the commons area and stood next to them leaning up against the wall.

            “It’s been so busy today, none of us have had the chance to hangout.”

            “Yeah.”

            “We will later though” Zach slightly grinned, “I have no plans to sleep tonight.”

            Lee nodded in agreement. He knew why Zach wasn’t going to sleep the same reason he wasn’t going to sleep either.

            Night had fallen. Outdoor curfew was always eight o’clock. People found shelter in their mobile homes lining the property, while the Church always asked two men to stand guard. They switched off scanning the community via the watch tower and walking the perimeter wall. Zach and Lee volunteered for this job, but were soon replaced by two older gentlemen who almost forcefully took Lee and Zach’s place. Their reasoning being that they wanted to honor their service or something like that. Zach and Lee allowed them to take the job, and the two brothers returned to the Town Hall where the rest of the originals stayed.

            Maddy, Christian, Brittany, Dylan, Lauren, Ian, Bailey, and Audrey were all found sitting together in the large room that had once been the student center of their church. Zach and Lee didn’t have to search for them because they knew where they were gonna be. The two joined them as they all sat around the room. They were all quiet.

            “My assumption for how tonight was gonna was go,” Zach smiled, “was that we were gonna occupy ourselves to keep our minds off of everything. Not sitting around and thinking about it all.”

            “That’s kinda hard to do when there’s nothing to do.” Audrey replied.

            “Sure, there is,” Lee replied as he walked into the game room of the student center. He came back out with the eight-ball of a pool table, “It’s been a while since I beat ya’ll in a game of DORK-ball.”

            For almost two hours the family had played several rounds of DORK-ball, Lee losing every single round, ironically. He must have lost his touch. But, he did however best Zach and Dylan in multiple rounds of Ping-Pong, and that made him feel a little better. Christian had managed to smuggle a giant cooler of Mountain Dew and Dr Pepper from the supply run. A little snack they specifically kept quiet from the rest of the community. The drinks may have been flat, but it was enough to remind them of the good ol’ days. Then they got the call in from their radios.

            “Brittany, this is Davis,” one of the two guards called in, “We got a group of people outside the walls wanting to speak to the leader.”      

            Immediately jumping back into action, the group grabbed their firearms and weapons and rushed out the door towards the main gate. Standing in front of the steel bars the ten survivors of the apocalypse gazed at a group of other survivors. One helmed the front donning military equipment. His red hair and handle-bar goatee was tainted with blood and his knuckles dripping with rover-guts.

            “You’re the leader of this place?” the man asked,

            “I am. State your business.” Brittany coldly responded, her fingers gently tapping the AR-15 in her hand.

            “Me and my company are on a mission. We’ve run out of fuel and frankly, my group is starving. We’d like to seek shelter behind your walls until we’re resupplied and then we’ll be out of your hair.”

            “Do you understand the amount that your asking for? We don’t even know you.” Brittany countered.

            “I understand more than most, darlin’. I noticed a gas station down the road a ways, me and my group can hold up there. I’d like to negotiate a trade in order to obtain some supplies. Unless negotiations are out of the question for you and your people.”

            Brittany looked at each of the members of this man’s group. She didn’t trust him. Not one bit. But he’s shown potential for being trustworthy. She played every possibility in her head. She nodded when she came to conclusion that she can’t lose.

            “Stay there tonight. We’ll talk tomorrow morning. I need a name.”

            The man smiled and looked at the rest of his group, who’s faced folded into relieved grins. The man looked back at Brittany,

            “My name is Sergeant Abraham Ford. Thank you for your hospitality.” 

           

TO BE CONTINUED!