As I opened my eyes, I felt tired. My eyelids were heavy, and I could hear the growling of walkers outside on the street. Slowly, I stood up.
"Aaghhh… that feels nice. Haven't had a sleep like that in ages. Not in the lab, anyway," I said weakly to myself. I dragged myself to the bathroom, brushing my teeth and washing my face.
"Nice. Still got running water," I muttered.
After freshening up, I walked over to my bag, where I had some canned food stored. I heated it up, ate quickly, then got ready to move out. I was heading near the shop owned by Lee's family.
I made my way to the closet and changed into my S.W.A.T. Special Ops outfit — one I bought for 10 points. Now I only had 7 left. After a few minutes, I was packed and ready. Food, water, essentials — all in the bag.
I opened the door and stepped outside, surprised to see that the street wasn't crawling with walkers.
"Well, seems like my lucky day," I whispered, walking slowly out.
"Target sighted," I said under my breath, spotting a lone walker. I crept up behind it, kicked its knees, and drove my knife into its skull. I kept doing this, one walker at a time, moving silently and carefully as the hours passed.
Then — I heard it. An engine.
"There they are," I smiled to myself, following the sound and spotting them — Kenny, Katjaa, and Duck. But I stayed hidden for now.
"Oh, I see them," I whispered.
"Look!" Duck pointed toward what looked like a person near a car in the distance. Kenny waved his arms to get their attention.
"Hey there! You friendly? Truck's run outta gas!" he shouted.
The figure raised its head. It was no person — it was a walker, feasting on a corpse.
"Sh*t!" Kenny yelled. Walkers emerged from the shadows, surrounding them.
"We're trapped!" Katjaa cried.
"Waaaahh!" Duck screamed as a walker lunged at him.
"Guess it's time to make my entrance," I muttered. I broke cover, running toward them. I shot the walker on top of Duck — clean headshot — while Carley fired at the others. Bang! Bang! Bang!
"RUN!" Glenn shouted.
We all ran into the store. Once we were in, Glenn slammed the gate shut and locked it with a padlock.
Inside, the group looked at me with panic in their eyes.
"Are you here to rescue us?""Where are the others?""Is help coming?"
"Hey, chill, guys. Don't pressure him," Lee said, trying to calm the group.
I was a bit startled. Then I realized — of course — I was still wearing the S.W.A.T. uniform.
"Thanks, man. First off, name's Jack Lied… you can call me Captain Jack," I said, flashing the fake ID that came with the uniform I bought.
"I don't know if there's a rescue. The others… my squad… they're all dead. I'm not here to save anyone. I just saw the kid and took out the walker," I lied. But that's fine — I am Jack Lied, after all. I chuckled to myself. The room went silent.
"We can't take a risk like this," Lilly said sharply.
"And we can't just let people die either," Carley fired back.
As the argument heated up, Kenny turned to me.
"Hey man… thanks for saving my boy."
"No problem, Mr...?" I asked.
"Rogers. Kenny Rogers," he replied. But before we could say more—
"Son of a bitch! One of them's bitten!" Larry screamed.
"He's not bitten!" Lee protested.
"Hell he wasn't!" Larry shouted.
"I shot the walker before it got to the kid," I added, raising both hands in front of Larry.
Larry stormed toward Duck, but Kenny stepped in, blocking him.
"Over my dead body," Kenny said.
"We'll dig one hole," Larry snapped back.
"No! I'm cleaning him up! There's no bite! He's fine!" Katjaa said in a panic, frantically checking Duck.
"Don't you f**ing* people get it?! We've seen this happen. We let someone with a bite stay, and we ALL end up dead!" Larry yelled.
"Shut up!" Kenny shouted.
"Chill, man," I said to Larry, trying to de-escalate.
"We gotta throw him out! Or smash his head in!" Larry roared.
"KENNY! STOP HIM!" Katjaa cried out.
"Lee, what do we do about this guy?" Kenny asked, desperate.
"Dad, it's just a boy, it's—" Lilly started, but she was cut off…
Suddenly, a loud crash came from the back of the store. Everyone froze.
"What the hell was that?" Carley said, raising her gun.
"We're not alone..." I muttered.
The lights flickered. Another bang. Then… the groaning of walkers — inside the building.