The Walking
Dead Revelation
Season 4
Episode 2: A Precious Cargo
TIME: 7:34 P.M; ONE HOUR SINCE THE DEFEAT OF ANDERS COMMUNITY
Lee lay in the grass. The sky was
black, and the ground blanketed by fog. Orange light splashed into the air by
fire flickered out in the distance. Smoke replaced cloud. Lee’s right hand
barely tapped the shattered, gaping hole in his left collar bone. Blood caked
his fingers. He thought he’d die. But it took several minutes of waiting for
death to cradle him before he realized that tonight was not the night to die.
Lee
carefully pulled himself to his feet. Every movement of his left arm sent
knifing, jolting pains. He knew not to grunt and cry out. The dead were out
tonight, and they were hungry. He scanned the area. He
could make out three rovers out in the distance, and bodies littered
everywhere. He glanced over at the fairgrounds and winced when he noticed it
was up in flames. Most of the rides had fallen apart, and small waves of the
dead exited the grounds towards anything that made noise.
Anders must have known about the
bunker. It didn’t matter how he knew, only that he tried to steal supplies here,
and failed. He failed because Lee stopped him. The small band of pawns that
Anders led here as a last resort didn’t stand a chance once Gregonary found out
they were coming his way.
Gregonary…where was he?
He went down a few moments before
Lee did. Anders drew on Gregonary and shot him. Just before Lee fired at
Anders, and then Anders at Lee.
“Gregonary,” Lee called out. He kept
to his knees as he crawled across the tall grass. He saw shifting a few feet
out. As he crept closer, he found Gregonary rolling onto his back. A hole where
his heart would be pumped blood.
“Gregonary, hold on for me, man.”
Lee asked of the old man. The dying rancher slowly looked up to Lee.
“Lee…don’t tell anyone about the
Fairbunker.”
“What?”
“They can’t know my failure…they
can’t know…”
Gregonary died.
Lee pulled his knife from his belt,
and slowly scrunched the blade into Gregonary’s temple.
“He was a good man,” a familiar
voice echoed. Lee knew who it was. He turned to look and winced at Anders. He
stood firmly, ignoring the bullet wound in his side, “I didn’t want him to die.
But you made it come to this.”
“None of this would have happened if
you would have just negotiated!” Lee growled crawling to his feet. His gun was
still in his hand. Anders was weaponless.
“My weapon is a couple of feet away
and I don’t have the speed to retrieve it in time.” Anders smiled, “So let’s
get this over with. Just know that killing me will come with a cost.”
“Just like killing all my friends
cost you?” Lee fired back, raising his gun vengefully. Anders chuckled,
“No. Nothing like that.”
“What’s that supposed to mean?”
“Pull the trigger and find out.”
Lee’s finger carefully tapped the
trigger. Should he pull it? What if he’s bluffing? No, he couldn’t be
bluffing…could he? There was something in Ander’s eyes. Something fierce, like
he knew he was winning. Like he already won. Just then, the sound of
several vehicles speeding into the fairgrounds pierced Lee’s ears. He made his
decision.
THE PRESENT
“What you’ve
built here,” Abraham Ford grinned looking over Brittany’s shoulder sightseeing
the walls of The Church from the Valero gas station, “it’s something special.
You can tell you fought long and hard for it.”
“We did.”
Brittany agreed, her eyes staying fixed on Abraham and his group standing
behind him.
“Something
we’d be willing to do again if we had to. Understand that.” Zach added, his
fingers tenderly tapping the hilt of his Dao sword sheathed to his side.
Abraham smiled, “Won’t be necessary, partner. See we’re not looking for a place
to stay. That’s not the current mission unlike most people. Our mission is to
escort my friend here Eugen Porter to Washington DC.”
“What for?”
Bailey questioned.
“That’s
classified.” Eugene interjected. Abraham looked at Eugene, then back to
Brittany.
“Let’s just
say what he’s got in-between the back of his head and his eyebrows is somethin’
that’ll change the world.”
“What’s this
got to do with your group knocking on our door?” Brittany stepped forward, her
hand resting on her holstered firearm.
“Our vehicle
has just recently run out of fuel,” Sergeant Ford pointed south, “Fought to the
last drop and died just a few miles out. We didn’t want to find another vehicle
and risk losing all our supplies and ammunition that we’ve stocked up over the
year and a half. All that to say, ma’am, we need fuel.”
“I can’t
help you there. Our community is running low as it is.” Brittany confidently
replied.
Lee stepped
forward between Zach and Brittany, “You sure we can’t spare just a little bit
to get them by?”
“But we
can’t,” Brittany whispered back, looking over her shoulder up to Lee and Zach,
“I mean…finding fuel is tough as it is. If we run out, it’ll take forever to
find enough to get cars running again.”
Lee stepped
back. He nervously looked all around him. He looked at Abraham’s group, then
his friends. He knew exactly where to find a whole lot of fuel. But he made a
promise. But maybe he could work his way around that…
“What if I
help Abraham-”
“Sergeant Ford.” Abraham interrupted
sternly.
“I-yes,
sorry. What if I helped Sergeant Ford find fuel around the county? I mean we
know the area better than he does, and I think I could help them find some
places that could supply them and us.”
“Wouldn’t
driving around scavenging for fuel cost us fuel?” Bailey sarcastically grinned,
“Yeah, but
if we find some it’s a win-win for all of us. No losses. I can find some, I
know I can.”
“If the kid
can find fuel then I say give him the shot.” Abraham suggested.
“I’m making
the decisions around here,” Brittany made clear. She looked back at Lee, then
at Abraham’s group, “Only Sergeant Ford and Lee will go. The rest stays here
under watch. You have till sunset to come back and if we don’t see Lee by then,
Eugene starts losing body parts. Understand?”
Abraham
smiled, followed by a short, rumbly chuckle.
“You gotta
deal, ma’am.”
TIME: 7:15 P.M; 45 MINUTES SINCE ANDER’S DEFEAT AT COSTCO
The memory of Gregonary warning him
not to return to the Fairbunker haunted Lee amidst all the other horrors.
Suppose he did save the community and stopped Anders. What would Gregonary do?
Capture him and hold him captive? Or worse? Surely not, Lee thought. Gregonary
was a business man, and surely, he would understand that he would owe Lee
should he succeed.
Should he succeed.
Lee blinked hard and breathed deep
as he passed up a land marker that told him he was close. The space in his
lungs seemed to have expanded and he suddenly couldn’t seem to get enough air
in. He could feel the sweat developing around his palms gripping the steering
wheel.
Then he smelt it. The smoke. Then he
saw it: a rover wandering out of the wooded roadside with balloons tied around
it-a rover from the fair. Lee would never forget those things. Seeing this
sight, and smelling the smoke from the outside, Lee knew deep down he was too
late.
Slamming on the breaks, Lee parked
his vehicle to the side, and scrambled from out of the car. The ballooned rover
stumbled his way, but Lee quickly dispatched it racing into the wood towards the
smell that grew stronger the closer he got. Eventually through the cracks of
the edges of the woods he could see the flames lapping around the metal forms
that structured the different attractions of the rundown fair. All the weed and
brush that clung to the metal and crawled to the highest elements only fed the
orange flames. Rovers stood still within the fire, engulfed in violent
inferno-the light and crackling roars of the fire attracting them more than the
colorful traits of the fair itself.
In the distance Lee could see Anders
and the rest of his troops, which had to have been around half a dozen, all
walked around carrying different supplies with them. They had loaded a truck
full of gasoline, and another vehicle with food and other supplies. Anders
could be seen off to the side admiring his handy work, proudly standing with
his fists on his hips as if he was just as glad to receive a constellation
prize.
Lee could also make out Gregonary
who sat on his knees surrounded by a number of corpses laying around him. He
killed them all. Lee was surprised. At this point whatever sickness Anders
expressed only seemed like dark normality at this point. But he had to be
stopped. He’s not allowed to live. He doesn’t get to live. Not after what he’s
done. The people he’s killed. It’s over for him, and Lee will make sure that
it’s over for him.
Speeding across the woods to get a
closer shot with his long-range rifle, Anders managed to find a decent spot
that provided an open shot at Anders, an appealing target, for sure. However,
with his men standing about fully armed killed him would prove to be the more
likely death of Lee as well. The same result if he tried to take out his troops
one by one. Ah, but there was one particular target that was all too attractive:
the truck loaded with fuel.
One shot was all it took. The barrel
that was hit by the round flashed white light as the heat of the bullet ignited
the gasoline. The barrel burst open as the gas bubbled out in a splashing
reaction of yellow fire, which only caused the five other barrels in the
tailgate to go off as well. Within seconds the entire truck was in flames, and
only five seconds after did the truck explode in a fiery blast.
Lee didn’t take the time to watch.
He was already within a few yards by the time the black smoke cleared. Most of
Ander’s troops were wounded on the ground when Lee permanently downed them with
his rifle. He emptied the rest of his clip when the last two standing troops
attempted to fight back, but couldn’t see as well as Lee did through the smoke.
Dropping the rifle, Lee picked up a handgun from one of his corpses and peered
out carefully looking for Anders. By the time he saw him, Anders had already
seen him, firing a single shot into Lee’s collarbone. Just after he took the
shot, Lee fired a single round that skipped through the outer flesh of Ander’s
throat. They both dropped to the ground.
PRESENT
Although
Abraham’s group was allowed inside the walls of The Church, they were confined
into one of the rooms where they would stay under careful watch. They were fed
a large breakfast, and according to Rex it was the largest breakfast they’ve
had since the beginning. Rosita confirmed it, and Eugene supported the theory
by silently continuing to eat his share of pickles. Zach had been guarding the
door of the cell for about two hours now, and had managed to get more
acquainted with the eight collectives.
“So, you said you know the cure?”
Zach questioned. All eyes in the room suddenly fixed between Eugene and myself.
Eugene looked at me, then at Rosita before swallowing the last of his food. His
heavy build set him apart from the rest of the strong built group, but not
nearly as much as the greasy, dark brown mullet he sported proudly.
“I do, of sorts.”
Zach’s fingers tapped the pommel of
his Dao sword at an excited rhythm, but he made sure to keep his eyes focused
and stern.
“What is it?”
“Eugene…” Pam interjected, as if
telling Zach was forbidden, and Eugene needed reminding. Zach recognized the
lack of trust between the two, based on the eyes that darted strictly towards
Eugene, he understood that although he was the groups most precious cargo, all
he was was a brilliant mind.
“I’m aware of what is confidential,”
Eugene snapped. He looked at Pam, then he looked at Rosita, and then he looked
at Zach, “That information is strictly confidential.”
“We know you are good people,”
Rosita affirmed, “by now we can tell the difference. Being out on the road, we
just can. But we also know that there are bad people out there, people who do
terrible things to people. We can’t risk others sharing what Eugene knows. It’s
why we don’t even know. What Eugene knows will die with him.”
Zach understood. He communicated as
such with a subtle nod. Hearing footsteps behind him, Zach turned around seeing
Brittany and another civilian behind her.
“Sean will cover for you for the
next two hours if you want.”
Zach switched places with Sean and
gave one last look at Eugene before walking away with Brittany.
“You get anything from them?”
“Nothing,” Zach sighed, “they’re
good people though. From what I gather they’re all in it to protect Eugene. They
don’t even know what the cure is.”
“So, they’re just taking Eugene’s
word for it?” Brittany wondered with a tone of shock. Zach smiled,
“I guess so. What do you think the
chances are that Eugene’s lying?”
“Well, I mean we don’t have a reason
to think he’s lying-”
“We don’t have a reason to think
he’s telling the truth either.”
“Exactly. You think sending Abraham
and Lee out like that was smart?”
Exiting the town hall and into the
open outdoors, Zach turned facing Brittany,
“…yeah I think so. But what else
could we have done, honestly?”
Brittany’s eyes looked down to the
ground, stopping in her tracks, her back facing Zach. She rested her hands on
her belt, “I don’t know.”
“You’re doing that thing again,”
Zach said taking a few steps closer to Brittany, “That thing where you look at
the ground and turn your back on whoever you’re talking to in order to avoid
showing your face.”
Brittany only shrugged her
shoulders, looking back up at the sun.
“You’re doing the right thing right
now. Just as you made the right decision on that day.”
“Ha.”
“I’m serious.”
Brittany turned around and looked up
at Zach. His eyes were bluer than they usually were-he’s getting emotional.
“You made a hard decision,” Zach
continued, “we lost…people. But that doesn’t mean it wasn’t the right decision.”
“The right
decision means no one dies.”
“No, it
doesn’t. Sometimes it means we don’t lose as many people as we would if we made
any other choice. Sometimes the right decision means we don’t lose everybody.”
Brittany was
quiet for a time. She looked at Zach. Her eyes were almost completely white.
She was getting emotional too.
“He’s dead
because of me.”
Zach smiled
at about the same time a tear fell from his face. He wiped it immediately,
“You-you can’t talk like that. If you didn’t give that command, Anders would
have won and everything we were trying to build would have been gone. Everyone
would more than likely be dead. You know that. Timothy knew that too.”
Brittany
fell silent again. Zach chuckled, “I didn’t plan on crying today. The festivals
and celebrations are bringing everything back into memory.”
“Yeah.”
Zach looked
out in the distance at the different tents, and inhaled to take in the amazing
smells.
“I’m hungry.
Are you hungry? Cause I’m hungry. Let’s get food.” Patting Brittany on the
back, he made his way towards the source of the smells, being sure to take her
with him.
Pulling up into
the ruins of the Fairbunker, Lee and Abraham stepped out from the truck. By now
the fair grounds were rusted and collapsed, black with ash and buried in brush.
“You think
we’ll find fuel here?” Abraham wondered,
“We will.”
Lee assured, walking towards the iron door in the ground that would lead to the
underground community.
“I’m willing
to bet my nut sack you’ve been many times.” Abraham theorized. Lee glanced at
the Army-man just as he discovered the door and pulled it open.
“A few
times.”
Disappearing
under the ground, Lee headed towards the very back of the former bunker to
where the fuel was kept. Abraham followed close behind. The two carefully
stepped over the piles of useless junk that Gregonary had once traded.
“What was
this place?”
“It used to
be a trading community. They had everything. They had a system.” Lee turned a
corner and opened the entrance door to the fuel vault, revealing multiple
barrels of gasoline. Smiling at the sight, Abraham clapped his hands and rubbed
them together,
“Well mother
d***.”
“We’ll load
as much as we can and get out of here.”
Loading
eight barrels onto the tailgate, the two climbed back into the truck. Abraham
waited to start the truck. He looked at the fairgrounds and then looked Lee who
only kept his eyes forward.
“What
happened here, Balusek?”
Lee
hesitated, then he looked down, then at Abraham, “They trusted a madman and
their system failed.”
Abraham saw
right through Lee.
“You’re the
only one that knows about this, aren’t you?”
Lee didn’t
respond. Abraham chuckled, “Every group has their secrets. I get it. Now let’s
take the precious cargo and go home.”
As the truck
pulled away from the fairgrounds, Lee took one last look before it disappeared
behind the woods. It was a big risk coming here, but it was worth it. He
doesn’t know, and neither will anyone else.
EIGHTEEN HOURS LATER
Abraham and
Lee returned to the Church safely. Their group made plans to journey back to
their vehicle which by their suspicion was about a fifteen-minute drive from
the community. Ian, Dylan and Maddy volunteered to take them back along with
Sean, who was happy to take everyone else’s guarding shift. That night, at two
o’clock in the morning, however, Lee had a small journey of his own. One that
brought him back to the Fairbunker, and one that called for a backpack full of
food.
Climbing
down into the underground trading center, Lee crawled through the piles of junk
for the second time in the last two days, stopping at one of the vaults. He
opened the door, hanging a lantern on a hook in the ceiling. The light cast a
shadow behind a man whose legs were chained together. Lee opened the backpack
and tossed the man a couple of cans of food and several bottles of water.
“That should
last you the week.” Lee affirmed. He sat down and looked at the man scramble
for the food, ripping one of the cans open and carefully pouring the contents
into his mouth. After several servings, the man lowered the can and wiped his
bearded lips.
“Thank you, Lee,”
Anders gasped, “how’s everything back home?”
“Great. Your
people love it there. We’re celebrating our victory against you guys so it’s
been fun.”
“Three
years…” Anders chuckled, “That’s how long I’ve been down here. And I only know
that because this is the third time you’ve told me about this celebration.”
“You’d be
free to go if you told me what I want to know.” Lee countered. Anders
immediately burst out laughing.
“Man, I
swear you young people can be so naïve sometimes.”
“It’s young
people like me that beat people like you.” Snarked Lee with a cocky smile.
“You’re
probably right. And it’s been three years so the fact you’ve been this
persistent…I’d say you deserved a reward.”
“I do.”
“Fine then.
I’ll grant you one answer, to one question. And you will have complete honesty
from me, I assure you.”
“I own you,” Lee stepped forward, his eyes
growing fierce, “you have no room for demands. I ask questions, and you answer
them.”
“No one owns
me” Anders smiled. Lee smiled back. Without warning, Lee pulled a knife from
his belt and jammed it into Anders’ leg. Screaming in pain, the prisoner laid
flat on the ground gripping his limb as blood leaked out of his quad.
“Shut up,
dude, it’ll heal somewhat as long as you can stop the bleeding.” Lee put away
his knife, then knelt down in front of Anders.
“I’m tired
of trying to speak the words out of you, man. Foreal, like, I’m actually pissed
now. So, tell me what I want to know, or I’ll start stabbing things that matter
a little bit more for your health.”
Anders
groans of pain slowly turned into chuckles.
“Lee
Balusek, you’ve grown up!” Crawling to one of the four walls, he sat himself up
against it and eyed Lee with such confidence, “Alright, buddy. You earned it.
What do you want to know?”
“That night
when we shot each other,” Lee responded, barely able to hide his eagerness to
know the truth, “you mentioned killing you would come with a cost. You think
you can explain that?”
Anders smile
got a little wider,
“That’s the
question you choose to ask? It’s a good one, not gonna lie. But, like you said,
you own me. So, I’m obligated to answer. You really think that the Coscto
community was its own independent structure? You think Denbury, before your
buddy Zach took it down, was independent?”
“No, because
you traded with them.” Lee replied firmly.
“You don’t
understand, Lee,” Anders leaned forward, his eyes fixed more carefully on Lee,
“why do you think we kept files on all of our supplies, all of our missions,
everything that happened at our communities was logged in, written down and
filed as reports. Why do you think we took the time for that stuff? Costco
wasn’t independent, Denbury wasn’t independent, sure, we traded with each other
but only because we were obligated to. Like us, Denbury kept track of
everything that as well, and like us these reports were sent elsewhere beyond
our communities.”
Lee’s face
was suddenly swept over with surprise, “Why were you sending out reports?”
Anders smiled even wider now, he was so excited, and Lee knew it. He could
smell the joy of have all of Lee’s attention on what he had to say.
“Because we reported to people, Lee. We weren’t our
own communities, we weren’t independent: we were outposts.”
TO BE CONTINUED
